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Endorsement: Yes on L.A. County Measure C for regulated cannabis sales and use
As of today, voters have approved California’s first measure to regulate marijuana, with Proposition 64 and Measure C, two separate initiatives to take effect that would impose stricter regulations on the sale of and possession and use of cannabis.
The measure would create a system with licenses, limits on packaging, and more stringent background checks. The goal of Measure C was to create a framework that would allow the state to use tax revenues and create jobs, all while reducing the black market.
However, it was a vote against Measure C that gave cannabis advocates a big win on Election Day, as Prop. 64 and Measure C both passed, and that gives voters now the opportunity to weigh in on both measures.
Support in Proposition 64 and Measure C
The California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) will now weigh in with their analysis, which will be released as part of a final report from their Office of Cannabis Research.
If the report indicates increased revenue for the state due to Prop. 64, that would lead to increased tax revenue. This revenue would then help to provide services and programs for underserved communities in California, including affordable housing, schools, public safety, and employment, as well as the development of social and medical infrastructure. It also would help to ensure more effective law enforcement in enforcement of any illegal activity, as well as provide for the development of infrastructure for the cultivation of the plant and the eventual creation of new jobs, through the creation of new cannabis farms.
If the report indicates a loss of revenue due to Prop. 64, that would cause the state to see a drop in tax revenue and would also help to create opportunities for the state to invest its savings in other areas of the state.
There are other ways that Prop. 64 would reduce the black market and increase the use of legal cannabis, through the licensing and regulation of cannabis products.
The Prop. 64 legalization initiative would require all licensed dispensaries, cultivation facilities, and manufacturing facilities to be registered with the state prior to opening the doors. That would ensure that cannabis products are traceable, and that the products are not in violation of the state’s labeling and packaging laws.
As a result of Prop. 64, cannabis dispensaries


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Expedia selects Japan as the top priority market globally in 2016. Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who recently visited Japan to attend an event for lodging partners, said that Japan is particularly an important market for Expedia in the Asia Pacific region. Led by Khosrowshahi, a group of 40 Expedia executives visited Japan to understand the market trends for a week. It was very rare that Expedia CEO joined a partner event for a particular market.
Michael Dykes, Expedia Director Marketing Management Japan & Micronesia, said of the Japanese government’s new goal of 40 million international visitors to Japan by 2020, “To achieve the goal is the entire travel industry’s responsibility and mission, and lodgings and foreign-based OTAs have to play a big role for that.”
Expedia successfully increased dealing in Japan more than the growth rate of 47.1% of international visitors to Japan in 2015, according to Expedia. In addition to bookings by inbound travelers, bookings by Japanese travelers in Japan have certainly increased in accordance with penetration of mobile devices. The dramatic increase in international visitors as well as the positive change in the domestic travel market result in selection of Japan as the top priority market.
Expedia already opened six offices in Japan and doubled marketing staff to look for new lodging partners in local regions especially. In Tokyo, the point is to ensure inventory because it is currently difficult to ensure rooms for international visitors in a weekend under a competition with the travel in Japan market.
Dykes emphasized that a key to send travelers is technology, and Khosrowshahi also revealed that Expedia has continued investing its resources to technology developments to send high-quality travelers.In Japanese

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This weekend is the time to get a checkup. And it's free.
- Walmart offering free health checkups on Saturday, Oct. 15
- The four-hour period runs from noon to 4 p.m.
- More than 4,600 Walmart stores participating
For a four-hour period on Saturday, Oct. 15, nearly everyone in America will have access to free health screenings, education, services and products as Walmart stores nationwide host Walmart Wellness Day.
Based on the impact of America's Biggest Health Fair held by Walmart last year, the company is again hosting the largest single-day health event in the United States with free health screenings expected to benefit hundreds of thousands of people, some whom may be taking an active role in their health for the first time.
The newly named Walmart Wellness Day will take place from noon to 4 p.m. local time on Saturday, Oct. 15, in more than 4,600 Walmart stores across the country, the company announced Friday.
The event will provide free blood glucose, blood pressure, vision screenings (where available), product samples and information on health insurance options. More than 10,000 of Walmart’s licensed pharmacists will offer immunizations in all Walmart pharmacies in the United States.
"As more than 90 percent of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart store, we're committed and uniquely positioned to providing accessible and affordable health care that helps busy families live better," said George Riedl, senior vice president and president of Health and Wellness, Walmart U.S. "Walmart Wellness Day is at the center of that commitment. These screenings provide customers with a basic yet vital understanding of their general health conditions and ways to improve it."
To learn more about Healthcare Begins Here and Walmart's assortment of affordable wellness solutions, visit Walmart.com/healthcare.


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A Public Health Alert Has Been Issued For Meat and Poultry Imported From China.
A public health notice has been issued for Chinese meat and poultry products. They’ve been ruled “ineligible” for entry into the United States.
The products in question lack an appropriate establishment number on the packaging and were not submitted to the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) for “import reinspection,” according to the FSIS.
The FSIS is in charge of ensuring that all imported meat, poultry, and egg products are “safe, wholesome, unadulterated, and appropriately labeled and packaged,” according to the FDA.
Its import certification checklist includes ensuring that the products comply with the same labeling rules as domestically manufactured goods. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must inspect such imported goods as well.
The impacted products are regarded “ineligible to import into the United States, making them unfit for human consumption,” due to their lack of an eligible establishment number and reinspection.
The problem was discovered after an inquiry by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, according to the agency (APHIS). The inquiry is still underway, and no recall has been issued because officials have yet to identify or contact the products’ importers. Furthermore, the total amount of damaged merchandise is yet “unknown.” The FSIS has released a list of the products that are subject to the public health alert, as well as images of their labels and specific codes to search for. With particular UPC codes or serial numbers, these products include “Hao Wei Wu Foods Meat Pork Sausage Spicy Orange Box/Chinese Noodles (Sour),” “Master Kang Spicy Gravy Beef,” “Xiu Wen Food Duck Family Pack,” and “Fuding Ding Wei Foods Honey BBQ Wings.”
There have been no complaints of any adverse effects associated to the intake of these items as of the announcement date, according to the agency. However, shops who may have purchased these items should not sell them. Consumers are also advised not to eat the products and instead dispose of them in double bags to prevent animals from accessing them.


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JBM Solaris Electric Vehicles, a JV between JBM Auto Limited and Solaris Bus & Coach, has launched its 100% Electric Bus series ECO-LIFE at Auto Expo 2018. The vehicle was launched by S K Arya, Chairman, JBM Group, Nishant Arya, Executive Director, JBM Group, Solange Olszewska, CEO, Solaris Bus & Coach and Dariusz Michalak, Deputy CEO, Solaris Bus & Coach.
This Zero Emission Vehicle will save around 959 equivalent tons of carbon dioxide and 350,000 litres of diesel over 10 years of operation. It can run 150-200 km in 10-15 hours of city bus operation, claimed the company. The lithium batteries are chargeable through pantograph as well as plug-in charging system.
“India is promisingly advancing towards graduating to a non-fossil fuel based public transportation ecosystem. Our Government is aggressively looking at incorporating 100% eco-friendly and self-sustainable mass transport solutions by 2030. In line with the Government’s vision, our focus is to bring path-breaking innovation in the Electric Vehicle space. ECO-LIFE is our first offering in this direction,” said Nishant Arya, Executive Director, JBM Group.
ECO-LIFE will be manufactured at the company’s hi-tech facilities in Faridabad (Haryana) and Kosi (Uttar Pradesh). These plants have an installed capacity to manufacture 2000 buses annually.
“We have delivered memorable travel experiences in over 30 countries and now we are excited to be present in India, the hub of innovation. JBM and Solaris together are set to revolutionize public transportation in India with ECO-LIFE. The buses will be ‘Made in India’ with our proven technology,” said Solange Olszewska, CEO, Solaris Bus & Coach.


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We still don’t have an exact opening time for the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley development in Orlando, but construction continues to be steaming ahead. MiceChat has posted a series of new pictures that shows how the development is coming along.
Pictures have been revealed of the new shop front for Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Orlando (Hogsmeade). The shop front, which reveals the window for the cozy tearoom Harry visits with Cho in “Order of the Phoenix”, currently features an Easter cake for the holiday. The interior has also been revealed.


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Waylens Secures $2.2 Million in Funding for First Product Launch
BOSTON, MA--( Sep 22, 2015) - Waylens, an intelligent camera system company based in Boston, has announced $2.2 million in external funding secured. The startup has allocated its funding to launch a high-performance, score-keeping camera system for enhancing the driving experience. Investors in the round include IDG Capital Partners and E14 Fund, which was launched to help researchers coming out of the MIT Media Lab start companies.
"Waylens' exciting new product gives auto enthusiasts a unique new way to enjoy and share their driving experiences," said David Strand, president of E14 Fund. "Waylens has jumpstarted their development stage, and this funding positions them as a serious contender in the automotive tech industry."
The founding team includes two MIT Media Lab grads: Chief Technology Officer Dawei Shen and Chief Creative Officer Phil Salesses. The duo met while studying at MIT in 2010 and are now bringing MIT Media Lab innovation to the world of automotive technology.
Waylens will fully launch and open pre-orders for the product on Kickstarter in October 2015.
Waylens is a Boston-based tech startup creating the next big thing in automotive technology, including an intelligent camera system capable of sensing its environment and merging data with video to create compelling visual experiences. The first product will be a high performance, score-keeping camera making it easier than ever to share driving experiences.
For more information about Waylens, visit www.waylens.com or follow the company on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
SOURCE: Waylens through Marketwired by press release ©
Media Contact: Raven Brajdic/ Uproar PR for Waylens/ 321-236-0102 x226
Company Contact: Mike Schmidt/ Co-founder & CMO/ Waylens Inc./ 404-895-8950


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The market experienced a nasty reversal on Thursday after trading to record highs earlier in the day. The panel at CNBC's" Fast Money" dissected the change of heart in the market for investors.
According to Pete Najarian, the market reversal was caused by a JPMorgan analyst who lowered his estimates on
. Jeff Macke disagreed with Pete and doesn't think the Baidu downgrade meant anything; it just gave traders an excuse to sell. Furthermore, he suggests the selling will continue on Friday.
Karen Finerman found the reversal was interesting and like Macke expects a lot more to go. Guy Adami tells investors to take profits on
after volume suggested to him a move lower is in the cards. Investors can buy these back cheaper after they come in.
Gasparino and Citi
is set to report earnings on Monday.
Charlie Gasparino joined the "Fast Money" crew to discuss his take on Citigroup. Gasparino comments that a lot of traders think that CEO Chuck Prince is about to resign from Citi. With the stock trading up, Adami recommends investors get long Citi here before Prince goes with a stop at $45. In Najarian's opinion, the trade in Citi is to buy the stock, buy the $47.50 put option and sell the December $55 call. On the other side, Macke is bearish on Citigroup and he doesn't think Prince is going to leave.
Gasparino mentioned Wall Street speculation that some
( MER) top executives aren't happy with the high pay CEO Stan O'Neal is receiving. He predicts that a possible a pay cut is coming his way, but it will not be an easy thing to enforce. Adami notes that viewers should always be long
Credit Card Plays
A way to play the growth in internet shopping for the holidays is through credit card companies. Electronic transactions with credit cards are the preferred way for consumers to purchase products online. Macke suggests getting long
and the credit card companies like
because they will benefit from all the transactions online. Finerman was kicking herself for not buying MasterCard at $127, which she still likes. She also favors
and Adami agreed on both plastic plays.
(For more ideas on credit card stocks, check out this portfolio on Stockpickr.com,
Word on the Street
is near a break out at $31 Adami loves Microsoft and he likes it as a trade into earnings. Don't be surprised if there's a big share buyback from the software giant. Najarian contends that Microsoft is always late to the party with new products. Instead, he prefers EMC and he bought call options on the name Thursday.
( ERTS) buys $860 million for a variety of video game titles owned by Elevation partners. Macke doesn't like Electronic Arts as much as
The FDA will come to a decision on Monday if
can market Tsyabri for Crohn's disease. Najarian suggests the drug could be a blockbuster by 2009.
Crude oil trades up 2% to close over $83. Adami maintains
is a good trade here and he feels it will reach $60 before the end of the month. Najarian likes the bullish action in the
Oil Service HOLDRs
News broke Thursday that Madonna is close to signing a revolutionary deal with
for $120 million.
Media reporter Julia Boorstin visited the "Fast Money" show to give her thoughts on the Madonna developments. She contends that Live Nation is paying too much for the Material Girl. Boorstin also noted that
Warner Music Group
went up on the news because a lot of Wall Street analysts think its smarter for the record label to lose her then pay that kind of money. At the end of the day the music companies are losing money with album sales down 15% across the board and digital music sales aren't making up for the decline. Najarian says Madonna is the winner here not Warner Music Group and can't find a trade off these developments.
Fans of the show write in with their own questions to be answered.
Trent from Washington writes, "Can you please comment where you see
Research In Motion
( RIMM) going in the next 6 month and please provide a price target. Adami thinks Apple will miss in the coming quarter and will trade down to $135, where it will be a buy. His target is $170. Adami says if Research In Motion trades below $100, then buy it. His target is $125.
Chas from California asks, "With
gaining shelf space in grocery stores over Folgers, how will this affect sales at Starbucks stores for the very same item? Macke tells Chas that Starbucks is a short.
Pops & Drops
traded up 6%. Finerman thinks Ford might avoid a strike with the Union.
traded up 1%. Najarian maintains that the Macau trade is working and he still likes WYNN and
Las Vegas Sands
traded up 1% on a strong profits report. Adami points out that the move here is done..
popped 6% after same-store sales increased 2.7%. Macke wants investors to take some gains because the numbers weren't fantastic.
traded up 2%. Najarian is positive on the story at the advertising giant.
fell 10% after missing Wall Street estimates. Adami jokes that he hopes the stock doesn't foreshadow the show because it has "FAST" as a ticker symbol.
fell 10% after lowering guidance. Adami thinks problems could be developing because of higher input costs.
Happy 52-Week High
The team gives their best trade idea as they close the show
- Macke advises investors look at UltraShort QQQ ProShares (QID) - Get Report for a trade.
- Adami recommends Short Dow30 Proshares (DOG) - Get Report.
- Finerman calls for shorting Baidu.com (BIDU) - Get Report and covering by Monday no matter what.
- Najarian likes EMC (EMC) and declares it's cheap on valuation.
Stockpickr is a wholly owned subsidiary of TheStreet.com.


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- Robinhood Markets’ (HOOD) stock has collapsed, falling 74% since last autumn.
- The company is losing users on its trading app and racking up big losses.
- While Robinhood has launched several initiatives to improve its situation, HOOD stock continues to fall.
Down 74% in the past six months and 88% below its 52-week high of $85 a share, Robinhood Markets’ (NASDAQ:HOOD) stock has literally collapsed.
The online brokerage that promised to democratize stock trading for the masses has instead come to be associated with the meme stock rally and day trading that became popular during Covid-19 lockdowns when retail traders were gambling their stimulus checks in the market. Worse, many of the young acolytes who once championed Robinhood on social media sites, such as WallStreetBets, have now turned on the company, accusing it of deceptive practices and swindling them out of their money. This has led to souring sentiment and an exodus from the online trading platform that has resulted in HOOD stock tanking to its current price of below $10 a share.
|HOOD||Robinhood Markets, Inc.||$9.60|
Robinhood, which attracted Generation Z and millennial traders to its stock trading app by eliminating trading fees and forcing larger brokerages to do the same, is now struggling to grow and retain investors. In January of this year, Robinhood forecast first-quarter revenue of less than $340 million, which would be 35% lower than the same period last year. In the fourth and final quarter of 2021, Robinhood said that its number of monthly active users fell to 17.3 million from 18.9 million in the previous third quarter.
The forward guidance anticipating decelerating growth, along with the declining active user numbers, has not helped HOOD stock. Neither did the company’s fourth quarter 2021 financial results. Robinhood reported a massive net loss of $423 million for the fourth quarter of last year. While losses were reported across the company’s trading segments, analysts singled out the fact that revenue generated from cryptocurrency trading is steadily eroding at Robinhood. The brokerage reported cryptocurrency trading revenue of $233 million in the second quarter of last year. By the fourth quarter, crypto-based revenue had fallen to $48 million.
Swinging For The Fences
Of course, Robinhood is doing everything it can to stop the bleeding. Recently announced initiatives include the launch of a new debit card that allows users to invest their spare change. Robinhood is also offering customers the option to receive their paychecks up to two days earlier than they normally would through a direct deposit scheme. And, in a bid to eventually offer investors around-the-clock equities trading, Robinhood announced at the end of March that it will offer extended trading hours for its clients.
Robinhood’s stock-trading app is now available from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. each business day. Previously, Robinhood offered trading 30 minutes before the opening of stock markets in New York and two hours after the end of trading. While Robinhood’s efforts are being applauded by some analysts, they have so far done nothing to reverse the downward trajectory of its share price. And it remains to be seen if the young investors who have soured on the online brokerage will find it in their hearts to forgive and return to the fold.
Don’t Buy HOOD Stock
While the narrative could eventually change, right now, Robinhood Markets looks destined to go down in history as part of the chaotic pandemic trading era that brought us meme stocks, non fungible tokens, special purpose acquisition companies, GameStop (NYSE:GME), Bitcoin (BTC-USD), diamond hands, Roaring Kitty, and the implosion of high value, unprofitable technology companies that Robinhood helped to champion. As just about everything associated with the pandemic continues to fizzle, so, too is Robinhood Markets’ share price. As such, investors should stay far away. HOOD stock is not a buy.
On the date of publication, Joel Baglole did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.


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Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation has announced a voluntary recall of 36 million pounds of ground turkey after it was discovered that the meat may be contaminated with salmonella, a bacteria that causes diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and fever. At least 76 in 26 states have reportedly been sickened.
Federal health officials advise customers to always cook turkey to 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 Celsius) and to follow safe handling guidelines because properly handled and cooked turkey will not sicken anyone even if the meat is contaminated with salmonella.
For a full list of recalled Cargill products, click here. Customers may return an unopened recalled packages to the stores where they were purchased for a full refund.
(image via: http://www.local12.com/)


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As the third earnings season of 2010 starts turning its heavy gears, there's an early sign of life for the entire technology sector. Novellus
Sales bounced back from last year's gloomy lows with a 169% year-over-year improvement to $321 million. Order bookings landed at $385 million, producing a book-to-bill ratio of 1.2. That means more revenue in coming quarters, and is a data point of utmost importance to a manufacturing specialist like Novellus.
CEO Richard Hill predicted that we're at the start of a "multi-year recovery in the semiconductor equipment industry," thanks to global trends such as Chinese consumer strength and a worldwide "gentrification" of communications equipment. Networking specialists Cisco Systems
"We watch companies like Intel
Indeed, Intel will confirm or undermine that world view when it reports earnings tonight, and I think it'll be the former, more optimistic option. Aside from buoyant consumer sentiment and rah-rah quotes like what we're getting out of Novellus, I'd like to point out that Intel's spokespeople took proactive steps to make sure I'm covering this earnings announcement. "Intel has posted earnings results above Street expectations for the last year," they told me. That's not the kind of heads-up you're handing out to the press if you expect to miss the next mark.
Like its larger semiconductor equipment peers Applied Materials
Do you read a different message in Novellus' tea leaves? Please share your insights in the comments box below.
Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies discussed here. Intel and Microsoft are Motley Fool Inside Value picks. The Fool has created a covered strangle position on Intel. Motley Fool Options has recommended buying calls on Intel. Motley Fool Options has recommended a diagonal call position on Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletters today, free for 30 days. You can check out Anders' holdings and a concise bio if you like, and The Motley Fool is investors writing for investors.


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Aurora officials are discouraging redevelopment of the former Carson's store building on Lake Street as a storage facility.
John Curley, Aurora’s chief development officer, said city officials have told the new owner of the land, Storage of America, based in Anderson, Ind., that it would be an “uphill climb” for them to get the special use and entitlements they need for a storage facility.
Storage of America bought the Carson’s building through a bankruptcy sale, getting it for what officials described as a good price. The company recently met with Aurora’s Economic Development officials and admitted the price was so good, they could sell it and make money.
The company first showed interest in the property last summer, and Aurora officials told them any storage use would require “a lot of public use back” on their part, such as open areas, and some kind of retail use, Curley said.
Ald. Michael Saville, 6th Ward, said because the city did not hear back from the company, “we thought they walked away.” But last December, the company surprised city officials by closing on the property, which is in Saville’s ward.
Both Curley and Saville confirmed they told the developers there would be no outside storage allowed at all. The company talked about the possibility of developing an outlot for some kind of retail use.
“They said how about a car wash, and I said, I don’t particularly want a car wash,” Saville said.
The alderman held a ward meeting to “have an open discussion with neighbors” about the property.
“My constituents in Riddle Highlands (neighborhood) are very on top of this,” he said.
Curley said the city is working on a corridor plan for Lake Street, which is a main entrance into the city and into downtown. He said the city has to “juggle” the reality of certain money-making uses against what the city would rather have along that entryway — retail, commercial or restaurants.
But everyone realizes retail is changing.
“We’ve been getting a lot of questions about storage units because they are one of the areas that’s making money,” he said. “We’re trying to retain as much of a retail footprint as possible facing the entryway.”
City officials are adamant about no outside storage. Any special use for that would have to get full City Council approval.
The situation is somewhat similar to what happened to the Cub Foods redevelopment proposal several years ago on the far West Side. The developer there wanted to put a fitness center into part of the building, but use the other part for storage units. He also wanted outside storage in the parking lot.
Aldermen discouraged the outside storage, and also insisted on an agreement that would require that at least one-third of the building remain in a use that was not storage. The developer wanted to be able to convert the entire building to storage, in case the fitness center did not work.


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Strong demand for electric vehicles in China and Europe is expected to bolster the output of cobalt and copper in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s mining sector. Today, the DRC is the Saudi Arabia or cobalt. 60-70% of the world’s cobalt originates there and China is becoming increasingly dominant along the entire supply chain of this strategically vital mineral. Eight out of 14 of the world’s largest cobalt mines are owned by Chinese companies.
Cobalt is an essential element in the production of batteries used in electric vehicles, aviation and various other electronics. Much like rare earths, cobalt is also considered a resource vital to many countries’ national security and key industries.
- Get a daily email packed with the latest China-Africa news and analysis.
- Read exclusive insights on the key trends shaping China-Africa relations.
- Full access to the News Feed that provides daily updates on Chinese engagement in Africa and throughout the Global South.


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OCC: Disclosures Have Too Much Information
In a recent speech, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Julie Williams said, "Disclosures are the heart of the consumer protection system, but the system is on the verge of breaking down and fundamental changes are needed. The current approach does not serve consumers well, and imposes unnecessary burdens on bankers. Currently, consumers get too much information, not too little. And the information overload means consumers who see just a haze of fine print, instead of the information they want and need, may understandably conclude that certain information is deliberately being obscured."
Williams went on to challenge Congress, consumer advocates, regulators and bankers to take a fresh approach to the way information is provided to consumers. She suggested that "...drafting consumer disclosures is a task that must not be left to the lawyers, because, no matter how talented, they are not likely to come up with disclosures understandable to most people."
At the same time, she warned that bankers must accept the fact that abbreviated, understandable disclosures, which will do much to alleviate regulatory burden, will provide information that may result in consumer choices that some banks might not like - such as opting out from information sharing.
She compared banking disclosures to nutrition labels on food packages, and noted those labels took years to develop, so we may expect that change in financial disclosures "...will not happen overnight."
Copyright © 2005 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 14, No. 11, 1/05
First published on 01/01/2005


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Therma-Tru to 3D Print Face Shields for HospitalsApril 21st, 2020 by Drew Vass
Officials for Therma-Tru announced today that the company has found a way to utilize 3D printing at its Maumee and Edgerton, Ohio-based facilities to produce protective face shields. While technicians typically use 3D printing to develop prototypes for exterior door technologies, the company obtained a template from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for products clinically proven to limit the spread of COVID-19. Officials say shields and other personal protective equipment will be donated to local hospitals and first responders throughout Ohio.
Technicians say they’ll produce 80 shields within the next week, but they’re exploring designs that will allow the company to manufacture shields at a faster pace in the days ahead.
“While collaborating with industry 3D-printing technologists, we determined we had a unique opportunity to play a role and help out,” says Connor Funk, lab technician. “The particular design of shield we are making offers added protection with the visor. We are also exploring other designs without a visor that are even faster to print to increase the number of shields we can produce daily for healthcare staff.”
As an Ohio-based company, Therma-Tru is committed to doing its part, says Mark Ayers, senior vice president of marketing and product development. “On behalf of Therma-Tru, we would like to thank all healthcare workers nationwide for their dedication during these challenging times,” Ayers says.
For other manufacturing companies equipped with 3D printing technologies, the company shares the following link to NIH’s template: https://3dprint.nih.gov/discover/3dpx-013359


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|Changes in California new vehicle retail share. Click to enlarge.|
New light-duty vehicle registrations in California declined 5.5% during the first half of this year versus a year earlier, according to the latest quarterly report from the California Motor Car Dealers Association (CMCDA). Overall, the US market has declined 2.3% in the first half of the year, according to the data compiled by AutoCount, an Experian Company.
The report, California Auto Outlook Second Quarter 2006, predicts that new light vehicle registrations (including retail and fleet transactions) in the state will decline 3.1% from 2005 to 2006. There are a multitude of reasons for the projected decline in registrations this year, according to CMCDA, among them being high fuel prices, elevated consumer debt levels, and rising interest rates.
Domestic brand market share (the traditional Big Three) in California is 42.2% so far this year, well below the 54.9% share in the Nation. Ford and GM lost 1.4 and 1.2 market share points, respectively. Chrysler’s share was down 0.5 of a point.
Japanese brand market share increased 2.7 points, with Toyota (including Lexus and Scion) increasing 2.4 points. Nissan market share declined. European brand market share improved 0.6 of a point, with Mercedes up 0.4 of a point. Korean brand market share declined 0.2 of a point.
In terms of the segment mix, an increase in Honda Civic registrations led the Sub Compact Car segment to the highest increase this year, up 0.9 of a market share point.
Compact Pickup, Standard Mid-Size Car, and Large Mid-Size Car market share each increased 0.5 of a point or more. Rising fuel prices undoubtedly impacted sales of Full-Size Pickups, Mid-Size SUVs, and MiniVans, as market share for each segment declined by more than 0.5 of a point.
Despite that drop in pickup share, the Ford F-Series remained the best seller in California with a 3.9% share, followed closely by Toyota Camry.


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FB, Google 'manipulate' users to share data despite EU law
The Norwegian Consumer Council found that the tech giants' privacy updates clash with the new General Data Protection Regulation, which forces companies to clarify what choices people have when sharing information
Facebook and Google are pushing users to share private information by offering "invasive" and limited default options despite new EU data protection laws aimed at giving users more control and choice, a government study said yesterday.
The Norwegian Consumer Council found that the tech giants' privacy updates clash with the new General Data Protection Regulation, which forces companies to clarify what choices people have when sharing information.
"These companies manipulate us into sharing information about ourselves," the council's director of digital services, Finn Myrstad, said. "[This] is at odds with the expectations of consumers and the intention of the new Regulation," the 2018 study, entitled "Deceived By Design", concluded. Myrstad said the practices showed "a lack of respect for their users, and are circumventing the notion of giving consumers control of their personal data".
The case for the new laws has been boosted by the recent scandal over the harvesting of Facebook users' data by Cambridge Analytica for the 2016 US presidential election.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
DISCLAIMER: mid-day and its affiliates shall have no liability for any views, thoughts and comments expressed on this article.
Mumbai protests against the Pulwama terror attack


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Around a dozen services operated by Apple suffered from a massive outage on Wednesday that left millions of users unable to watch TV programs, stream music, listen to podcasts or download apps.
The outage started around 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time (3:30 p.m. Pacific Time), and impacted users of Apple’s core consumer services, including Apple Music, Apple Fitness, Apple TV Plus, Apple Podcasts and the Apple App Store.
A message on an Apple website that tracks service-related disruptions said the company was aware of it and investigating the problem, but offered no insight into what the cause of the bug or when Apple might have a fix in place.
The full list of services affected by the outage appear below:
- Apple App Store
- Apple Arcade
- Apple Books
- Apple Fitness Plus
- Apple Music
- Apple Sports
- Apple TV Channels
- Apple TV Plus
- Apple Books (audiobooks)
- Apple Podcasts
- AppleCare on Device
- Mac App Store
In addition to the above consumer services, Apple said it was also experiencing service disruptions related to three enterprise-focused products: Apple Business Essentials, Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager. Those services were suffering from unknown bugs since at least 8:40 a.m. Eastern Time (5:40 a.m. Pacific Time), with no known solution or estimated time of restoration.
Other services like Apple Cash, Apple Card, FaceTime, Apple HomeKit and Find My were unaffected by the outage.
The outage was the second large-scale disruption on Wednesday, after Meta Platforms reported a global connection issue with its WhatsApp messaging platform. The glitch caused issues for other Meta-owned products around the same time, including Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
Large-scale disruptions have become common over the past few months, with similar outages impacting Meta, AT&T and X (formerly Twitter), resulting in several hours of downtime for services relied upon by hundreds of millions of users.


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Ford Fiesta best-selling car of 2010
The Ford Fiesta was the best-selling new car in 2010 and Ford was again the best-selling brand to complete a great year for the blue oval company.
The Fiesta supermini took the gong for best-selling car of 2010 for the second year running, notching up 103,013 sales, making it the only car to sell over 100,000 units during the year.
There was more good news for Ford, with the Focus hatch the third best-selling car of the year with 77,804 cars sold.
Ford sold 280,364 cars during the year – making it the best-selling brand by far, with only Vauxhall within sight of Ford.
Vauxhall sold 247,265 cars in 2010 – slightly up on the previous year, taking a greater market share in 2010 than in 2009.
Vauxhall’s Astra hatch and Corsa supermini were also the second and fourth best-selling cars in the UK respectively in 2010, while the Insignia large family car also sold well throughout 2010.
Vauxhall was the best-selling brand, and the Astra the best-selling car in December 2010.
Ford and Vauxhall sold over 25 per cent of all cars sold in the UK in 2010 between them.


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Earlier this year, several news outlets stated that one of the largest food retailers in the world (and based in Germany) was poised to make its move into the US, and was targeting locations in New Jersey as a key entry point.
UPDATE: The map image and text was updated to reflect a more accurate location of the property on Cross-Keys Road.
The Gloucester Township Council meeting agenda for April 25, 2016 lists a referendum authorizing the agreement of sale of a portion of the old Erial/Sicklerville Nike Missile base to German Supermarket Chain LIDL. The Nike property is located on Cross-Keys next to the Acme supermarket.
While it wasn't clear from the meetings notes what the actual usage would be for the property, considering the location in a growing retail corridor... building a new supermarket would seem to be a primary reason for the purchase.
Read nore about LIDL and the Erial Nike Missile base over at 42Freeway.com!
Like our Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/42Freeway/


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Update: Titan International, Inc. Announces First Quarter Cash Dividend
QUINCY, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Board of Directors of Titan International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI ) has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $.005 (one half cent) per common share for the first quarter of 2013. The cash dividend is payable Monday, April 15, 2013, to stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28, 2013.
Titan International, Inc., a holding company, owns subsidiaries that supply wheels, tires, assemblies and undercarriage products for off-highway equipment used in agricultural, earthmoving/construction and consumer applications. For more information, visit www.titan-intl.com.
Titan International, Inc.
Krista Gray, (217) 221-4773
Investor Relations Manager
KEYWORDS: United States North America Illinois


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Ratchet & Clank HD Trilogy Delayed in Europe
The first rumored, then later announced Ratchet & Clank HD Trilogy Collection has officially been delayed in Europe. Originally slated to release on May 16, the collection will now release in early June, says developer Insomniac.
“We’ve been informed the Ratchet & Clank HD Trilogy has been pushed back a bit in Europe to early June. Will share more when we have date.”
According to the game’s Amazon listing, it will see the light of day on June 8. That date might not be set in stone though, so don’t leap to mark your European calendars just yet.
As for North America, the game is supposedly still set for a tentative Fall 2012 release, let’s hope it stays that way.
I’m imagining all the European Ratchet & Clank fans right now, they’re all like:


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E-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart are now facing an investigation from Indian government authorities following complaints by small traders of deep discounts during the current festive season sales alleged to amount to predatory pricing.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade has told the big companies to disclose the names of top five sellers on their platforms, price lists of goods of preferred vendors and the kind of support provided to sellers, Business Standard reports, quoting unnamed sources.
The department has also sent them a questionnaire seeking details regarding their capital structure, business model and inventory management system.
This was done following complaints by a traders’ body, Confederation of All India Traders, that e-commerce companies have been violating the foreign direct investment policy by hiding behind festive season sales. The confederation time and again has raised the issue of alleged unethical, predatory pricing by the two e-commerce companies.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal confirmed the investigation against Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon. Executives from both the companies were summoned to meet commerce ministry officials last week to discuss the matter.
The companies have, however, denied allegations of involvement in deep discounting and claimed that the discounts were offered by the brands.
According to the consulting firm RedSeer, e-commerce companies such as Flipkart and Amazon could generate up to 390 billion rupees (US$ 6 billion) in sales this festive season.
In February India introduced new e-commerce rules, which were aimed at protecting small-scale retailers who reportedly employ around 130 million people. These retailers have also been strong supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The rules forced e-commerce firms Amazon and Flipkart to tweak their business structures. The online firms were to function as mere technology platforms and were prohibited from influencing directly or indirectly the prices of goods to be sold on their platforms.
These measures drew criticism from the United States, and trade ties between New Delhi and Washington became further strained. The Donald Trump administration has been critical about the huge tariffs imposed on products imported from the US.
While Amazon and Flipkart claim they have complied with the new rules, trader groups allege that the two companies are violating them by providing incentives to sellers to offer discounts – in some cases more than 50% – during the ongoing festive sales.
In order to attract shoppers during the Diwali festival, both the e-commerce went gone on an advertising blitz in various dailies to showcase discounts for products ranging from mobile phones and television sets to apparel.
The traders’ confederation secretary general, Praveen Khandelwal, alleged that because of steep online discounts, sales at offline businesses are down 30-40% in October. The confederation claimed it had emails sent by Flipkart and Amazon to sellers offering partial funding of discounts.
Traders have been the BJP’s core support base for nearly four decades. This makes it very difficult for the government to ignore their complaints – even though the targeted e-commerce platforms have deep pockets.
However, the government is also keen on attracting investments as a part of its ambition to expand India’s digital economy. This means it has to arrive at a fine balance between keeping its core base happy and taking note of investment plans by global e-commerce platforms. Amazon recently announced a significant reduction of its planned investments in India.
A recent report by Reserve Bank of India revealed that consumer confidence dipped to a six-year low in September as sentiment regarding employment, income and discretionary spending declined. People were less optimistic about their income over the year ahead. Under such circumstances, customers get attracted to deep discounts that help them limit their festival spending.


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The benefits of widespread use of broadband are clear. Some studies suggest as much as $500 billion in economic benefits and 1.2 million new jobs will come with greater broadband usage. While these may not be the precise numbers, this much is evident: We will realize these benefits if, and only if, more people get high-speed Internet access. And there is a battle being fought in Washington and in state capitols around the country over two dramatically different and competing visions for how to make that happen.
One school of thought--currently supported by the Federal Communications Commission--favors allowing local-phone monopolies to maintain their dominance and extend that monopoly into the high-speed Internet market. It relies on corporate monopolies making investments to spur broadband penetration. The second school of thought relies on the lessons learned in international broadband markets and in the domestic long-distance market and local-telephone market. In each case open access to networks and functional wholesale markets spurred lower prices and competition.
The Bells' vision advocates a position that follows in the footsteps of companies like Standard Oil and Microsoft. At the beginning of the previous century, Standard Oil's monopoly extended up and down the oil market--from wells to barrels. Microsoft seeks to control its market from operating systems to browsers, and makes a great effort to shut other software companies out of the market.
SBC, with 95 percent of the local phone network in its region, is certainly in a class with Microsoft and Standard Oil. It wants to move its local monopoly "downstream" to control the high-speed Internet market. Proponents of this view believe that allowing monopolies to dominate in their market will give them the incentive to invest in the kind of upgrades that will speed a broadband rollout.
According to the other vision, one reason the United States lags way behind the world in access to high-speed Internet is that other countries have taken steps to keep their Internet wholesale markets free from monopolies. This openness promotes competition, lowers prices and stimulates demand. Use of broadband in Japan's Internet market doubled in one year after the Japanese government started to open up the market to competitors.
The Bells' vision advocates a position that follows in the footsteps of companies like Standard Oil and Microsoft.
California officials have adopted this philosophy successfully in the local-phone market. In recent years, SBC's "wholesale" rates for the local-phone network were artificially high. The results were felt: Competing local phone companies couldn't afford to enter the market and consumer prices stayed high. When the California Public Utilities Commission stepped in and lowered wholesale prices in May 2002, nearly a million consumers switched to a competing local-phone company. By my estimate, as a result of the competitive offers, local-phone bills have dropped by nearly $189 million a year.
Despite these successes, the Bells appear to have persuaded the Federal Communications Commission to rule that they no longer have to share their Internet networks with competitors. Such an action hands complete control of the telephone Internet market over to the Bells and defeats the purpose of the Telecommunications Act before giving it time to work.
The United States is the world leader of the technology industry, but has so far conceded its potential leadership in broadband access.
The U.S. is the world leader of the technology industry, but has so far conceded its potential leadership in broadband access. Once these circumstances reverse themselves and governments make a stand, we will see great strides made in the Internet and telecommunications sectors. The U.S. Internet market holds too much promise for it to be squandered through a mixture of misguided policies and a lack of conviction.


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Smart wristbands, one of the beloved helpers among wearable devices, rank first among the preferences of millions of people. Whether it’s cheaper than smartwatches or tracking basic activities at a minimal level, it works for many people. Naturally, new devices are being developed to respond to this demand in the market for smart wristbands. The OnePlus Band smart bracelet is also being developed at the moment. In addition to revealing when the smart bracelet will be launched, the features and price have also leaked.
OnePlus Band aims to rival Xiaomi’s Mi Band series
We recently reported that OnePlus is working on a smart bracelet. The bracelet is expected to go on sale in India on January 11. The characteristics of the bracelet, which are also listed on Amazon’s website, are remarkable as far as they have been leaked.
The device has a 1.1 inch AMOLED screen. The device can measure, among other things, the heart rate and the oxygen content in the blood. In addition, it is possible to monitor sleep on the wristband with special sensors. OnePlus has also added sports modes to this device to track 13 exercises.
Exclusive: OnePlus Band will launch on January 11 in India
-24/7 Monitoring of heart rate + SpO2 blood saturation
-1.1 “Touch AMOLED screen
-14 days battery
-13 training modes
– About INR ₹ 2,499
– Ishan Agarwal (@ ishanagarwal24) January 4, 2021
The wristband, which is IP68 certified, is extra resistant to dust and water and offers up to 14 days of use on a single charge. This smart bracelet, which is expected to cost around $ 35, has similar features to Oppo’s smart bracelet. The features of the device became apparent when it was leaked on Twitter by Ishan Agarwell, who is known for its leaks.


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This year’s COVID-19 pandemic—the disaster of the century—has spread fear of infection and death around the world. And in the pandemic’s wake, people’s lives, socializing and livelihoods have been completely overturned. Furthermore, there has been a global surge in country- and city-wide lockdowns, school closures and factory work stoppages. As of mid-October, 41 million people had been infected by the virus, and deaths had exceeded 1.2 million. But although the pandemic has wreaked havoc on many industries, it has spared, and even benefited, the bicycle industry. In order to avoid the risk of infection while taking public transportation, many people have switched to riding bicycles, and governments in the European Union are supporting cycling and using subsidies to encourage members of the public to ride bikes and e-bikes. Because bike sales began recovering in April and May, and retailers began running out of stock in June, manufacturers started receiving a flood of urgent orders around that time. As a result, the cycle industry in Taiwan and China has been working overtime try to fill its orders, and many companies won’t be able to fill their their orders until the middle of next year.
Taiwan export statistics
According to Taiwan customs draft data, Taiwan exported 1,223,583 bicycles during the first 9 months of 2020 - a decrease of 25.3% compared with the same period of 2019. However, the average unit price of US$657.69 represented an increase of 7.25% compared to 2019. The EU and US remained the two largest markets for Taiwanese bicycles in 2020. Taiwan’s fastest-growing product is currently the e-bike, and Taiwan exported 543,395 e-bikes during the first 9 months of 2020, which represented growth of 21.2%. The average unit price of exported e-bikes fell by 2.49%, however, slipping from US$1,317 in 2019 to US$1,285. Europe was the largest market for Taiwan’s e-bike exports, followed by the US. Taiwan has replaced China as the largest source of the EU’s e-bikes imports since 2019. Because e-bikes are currently one of Taiwan’s focal products, a rapidly growing number of companies are developing such key e-bike parts and components as controllers, batteries and motors, including auto, motorcycle, and IT companies. This trend has given tremendous impetus to the development of Taiwan’s e-bike industry. Giant’s Hungarian plant has also begun production, while Merida is expanding its German plant, and these plants will help boost the firms’ e-bike capacity and cope better with their overflowing orders. I hope that everyone will “Think E-Bike, Think Taiwan” in the future.
Taiwan exported 2.12 million bicycles in 2019, which was a drop of 3.85% compared with the 2.21 million exported units in 2018. The EU and US were the two largest nations for Taiwan’s bicycle exports, and the 985,000 units exported to the EU in 2019 represented a drop of 10.7% compared with the roughly 1 million units shipped to the EU in 2018. Britain was the largest importer of bicycles from Taiwan during the year, and was followed by the Netherlands and Germany. In contrast, bicycle exports to the US grew dramatically in 2019, rising to 700,000 units, which represented growth of 34.4% compared with 2018, but the average unit price fell by 20.4% to US$670.
The meteoric rise of e-bikes
Taiwan’s bicycle industry has focused heavily on the development of e-bikes during the last few years, and although such key components as electronic controllers, motors, and batteries are still controlled by international brands including Bosch, Brose and Shimano, Taiwanese companies are vigorously developing their own key components. Taiwan exported over 640,000 e-bikes in 2019, which was a huge 124.96% increase compared with the 286,000 e-bikes exported in 2018. In addition, the average unit price of US$1,339.43 was up by 1.57% compared with 2018. The EU was the largest market for Taiwan’s e-bike exports, and imported 440,000 e-bikes from Taiwan in 2019; this was a whopping 129% increase compared with the 190,000 e-bikes exported to the EU in 2018. The Netherlands was the largest EU market for Taiwan’s e-bikes, and its import of 230,000 units was up by 202% compared with 2018. Germany, Britain, Spain, and Italy were the next largest EU importers of Taiwan’s e-bikes in 2019. In order to prevent the laundering of place of production and maintain the cycle industry’s longstanding reputation in international markets, Taiwan’s Board of Foreign Trade, MOEA has imposed strict controls on exporters’ original place of production certification.
Now that Taiwan’s cycle industry is busy producing, although the surge in orders is a good thing, there are many problems associated with filling rush orders and outsourcing work. One issue is that companies working frantically helping their customers resolve delivery problems seldom have the time to develop new products. The fact that most companies have full order books until at least the end of the year, if not until the middle of next year, reflects the problem that numerous key parts are in short supply, which has caused delivery times to be delayed. In order to fill their urgent orders, many firms are working overtime, or have even outsourced work to contractors. Because of the increased cost of these moves, while companies’ have plenty of orders, their profits have in fact fallen. But in order to serve their customers and make on-time deliveries, there has been no choice but put up with these stopgap measures, and at least these are the problems that the industry is glad to have. As the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to continue to rage through fall and winter, it is incumbent on the industry to perform planning early, make necessary changes promptly and ensure that it can respond properly to circumstances. Let’s hope that by enduring the crisis of the pandemic the global cycle industry will develop even greater toughness, strength, resilience and problem-solving ability.
The quality and service provided by Taiwan’s bicycle industry has earned a favorable reputation around the world. Apart from offering mature production technology, the industry has long been very active and enthusiastic at promoting cycling, and has successfully created a cycling culture in Taiwan. In addition, the establishment of bicycle museums has lent even more energy to the development of bicycles in Taiwan. Pacific Cycles was the first company to establish a bicycle museum, Giant’s Cycling Culture Museum formally opened in July of this year, and KHS quickly followed suit by opening its own bike museum. The establishment of so many bicycle museums is sure to have a positive impact on the development of bicycles and bicycle culture in Taiwan.
According to data from the China Bicycle Association (CBA), China’s bicycle output of 65 million units in 2019 was down by roughly 20% from 80 million-unit annual output reached in some past years. In addition, China’s 2019 exports of 52 million bicycles was down by 5-6%, while its top 5 export markets consisted of the US, Japan, Russia, Indonesia, and Korea. China produced 36 million e-bikes in 2019, and 97% of these were sold on the domestic market. Due to this year’s COVID-19 pandemic, there was a sharp drop in China’s bicycle and e-bike output during the first half of the year, but production has been gradually picking up since May. It is expected that China’s final production figures for 2020 will be pretty much the same as in 2019, but exports (such as to the US) will be less than in 2019 due to work stoppages and city-wide lockdowns during the first half of the year. Facing the US-China trade war and punishing EU anti-subsidies and anti-dumping tariffs, the Chinese bicycle industry is under great pressure. These hardships come on top of steadily increasing production costs and falling competitiveness in China. This has prompted numerous companies to establish plants and offices overseas.
In 2020, apart from the devastation done to the global economy, cross-strait relations have also grown increasingly tense. As far as business people are concerned, peace and political stability are the most important things. I hope that the leaders of Taiwan and China will have the wisdom to defuse any crises that may occur.
Vietnam & Cambodia
More than 30 Taiwanese firms have been establishing plants in Vietnam, and now Chinese bicycle and electric vehicle parts manufacturers are also opting to move production there. Those companies that have made this move are enjoying excellent business. However, because Vietnam has become a new investment magnet in the past 5 years, the price of land has been soaring.
Cambodia has become the leading source of bicycles imported by the EU, and produced close to 1.5 million bikes during both 2019 and 2018. The EU conducted a human rights, democracy, and rule of law investigation of Cambodia in February 2019, and announced that it would revoke the “Everything but Arms” (EBA) import privileges of some Cambodian products after the results of its investigation were published during February 2020. Fortunately, the preferential import of bicycle products remained untouched, which will preserve the advantage of Cambodian bicycles in the EU market. A steadily growing number of Chinese and Taiwanese firms have established plants in Vietnam in recent years, but these companies must remain aware that the rapid increase in Vietnamese bicycle exports to Europe may attract the attention of the European Committee (EC).
Due to the ongoing lack of low-price bicycles in the US, customers are often forced to purchase a bicycle with a higher price level. This has given a particular boost to the sale of bicycles in the US$1,000 price range, and sales of these bikes soared by 63% during the first half of 2020. Because of the likely continuation of the pandemic, EU consumers are expected to buy more e-bikes, e-cargo bikes, and electric scooters, and Taiwan has already become the largest source of the EU’s e-bike imports. While the competitiveness of Taiwan’s e-bikes is undeniable, companies must speed up integration of motor, battery and electrical control systems in order to boost their competitive advantage further. Apart from Taiwan, the bicycle industries of Vietnam and Cambodia also cannot keep up with demand. Due to their booming business, many bicycle firms in China are working day and night trying to catch up with order backlogs extending into the first half of 2021.
Because of pandemic control issues and the fact that Taiwan’s border controls on entering international visitors have not yet been withdrawn, this year’s Taichung Bike Week was postponed until next year in a last-minute decision, which forced companies with new product announcement needs to hold their own activities. With the new COVID-19 spike in Europe, many countries have imposed new lockdowns to curb the pandemic’s spread. While the original plans were for the Eurobike show to be held at the end of November, the show was cancelled in October during the virus’s resurgence. As a result, many people are very concerned about whether the Taipei International Cycle Show will be held as scheduled during the first quarter of next year. According to TAITRA, although Taiwan’s border controls have not yet been loosened, the 2021 Taipei show will still be held at the scheduled time, and coordinated online and offline exhibitions are planned to let buyers get new product information in real-time without coming to Taiwan. The Shanghai cycle show has announced that it will move to a venue in Pudong in 2021, but we will have to wait and see how effective the show will be. If the pandemic continues to rage during fall and winter, and no effective vaccine has gone on the market, everyone will have to keep taking precautions and not take the risk lightly.
While high-tech industry leaders fill out close to one-half of individuals selected in the 2020 “Top-100 CEOs in Taiwan” issued by the Harvard Business Review, the bicycle industry also did well, and two cycle industry bosses made the top-100 ranking: Merida President, Michael Tseng ranked 77th and Kenda Group CEO, Ying Ming Yang ranked 84th.
Green production & circular economy
Responding to global warming and the greenhouse effect, the development of a circular economy has become a global industrial development trend. Many international brands and channels have announced plans for reducing CO2 emissions, reducing waste, and using green energy, and are even requiring their vendors to disclose their CO2 emissions and comply with environmental protection standards. The bicycle industry is a green industry, and should therefore place even more emphasis on green production; by positioning itself ahead of time and entering green supply chains, the industry can lay the foundation for its sustainable development.


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- Daniel Caesar dons cape for whiteness—and gets canceled Wednesday 4:29 PM
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- The Awkward Family Photos game is Cards Against Humanity for meme lovers Wednesday 11:50 AM
- London firefighters’ organization accuses ‘Peppa Pig’ of sexism Wednesday 11:41 AM
- YouTuber accused of abusing her children to make kid-friendly content Wednesday 11:20 AM
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- Sarah Sanders mocks CNN reporter with ‘dear diary’ tweet Wednesday 9:03 AM
- Know what you’re signing up for thanks to these dating site reviews Wednesday 8:58 AM
Atlantis aimed to be a slicker, more user-friendly competitor to industry leader Silk Road.
Atlantis, the Deep Web black market that made huge waves in the media with its public YouTube commercials, is shutting down due to “security concerns outside of our control,” said the founders of the website in a statement released earlier today.
It’s unclear what has prompted the shutdown, which comes only two months after the fall of Freedom Hosting and an FBI malware attack on the Deep Web, and amidst widespread rumors that law enforcement agents are engaged in a campaign against online black markets like Silk Road.
Atlantis was established in March 2013 as a rival to Silk Road, the best-known online black market. It offered cheaper fees, a more modern website and, its founders claimed, better security. Apparently, that security has been breached.
“Believe us when we say we wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t 100% necessary,” read a post on the Atlantis Facebook page and the site’s forums. Vendors and customers have one week to withdraw Bitcoins from the website. Anything remaining will be donated to a drug-related charity of the staff’s choosing.
Atlantis’s moment in the sun came in July when it launched a slick commercial that spread across the web through influential websites such as The Verge, The Huffington Post and BuzzFeed. Just prior to the the commercial’s launch, Atlantis had passed the milestone of $500,000 of products sold. It’s unknown if Atlantis ever made it to $1,000,000 in sales overall, a threshold that Silk Road likely beats every single month several times over.
This announcement has prompted a bit of gloating and a lot of uncertainty across the Deep Web. Since its inception, Atlantis has been accused of being a police set-up and a poor imitation of Silk Road. Right next to that sense of victory, though, will be the all-important question: If someone can get to Atlantis, is it possible that they can get to Silk Road?
Over the last three weeks, Atlantis has suffered from overwhelming downtime that the staff blamed on problems in the Tor network. Silk Road and Black Market Reloaded, the two leading Tor black markets, have been relatively stable during the same period.
In an interview earlier this summer, Atlantis founder Loera said that the site processed “in the low hundreds of orders a day. These do fluctuate though. Sometimes we have low days. We have close to 600 vendors at this point (half of SR’s vendor count according to a blog I read recently), so they’re distributed across all of them.”
Atlantis may never have overtaken Silk Road, but its modern interface promoted Silk Road founder Dread Pirate Roberts to upgrade his own market with improvements in feedback, security and design.
Canman, a cannabis vendor on both markets, compared the two black markets:
“Experience wise, Silk Road contains the critical mass of buyers which is the main difference,” he wrote. “I would say I sell 20-30 times the volume on Silk Road, compared to Atlantis as it stands. Silk Road core site functionality works well, but Atlantis has the feel of a more seasoned development team in looks and the rapid deployment of new features.”
Atlantis’s exit from the world of Deep Web black markets leaves Silk Road and Black Market Reloaded unchallenged in their dominance.
Illustration by Max Fleishman
Patrick Howell O'Neill is a notable cybersecurity reporter whose work has focused on the dark net, national security, and law enforcement. A former senior writer at the Daily Dot, O'Neill joined CyberScoop in October 2016. I am a cybersecurity journalist at CyberScoop. I cover the security industry, national security and law enforcement.


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|Microsoft Chief Executive Officer, Steve Ballmer|
Microsoft has announced it is dropping its bid to acquire one of their Internet competitors, Yahoo, after a three-month courting effort by Microsoft.
Microsoft chief executive officer, Steve Ballmer notified Yahoo chief executive officer, chairman and co-founder, Jerry Yang via a letter that Microsoft was dropping their bid for the Sunnyvale, California based search engine giant.
In a press release from Microsoft, Ballmer said, “Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo! has not moved toward accepting our offer. After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo! do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal”.
Microsoft withdrew its bid effort after raising their bid from $44.6bn to $47.5bn, which works out at $33 per share, however Yahoo were waiting for a bid of around $53bn, which was more than Microsoft were willing to pay.
Microsoft had previously wanted to takeover Yahoo in-order to compete with Google, the market leader in online advertising. The online advertising market was worth $40bn in 2007 and will rise to an expected $80bn in 2010.
Some observers, however, are speculating that the bid withdrawal could just be another tactic in their attempt to acquire Yahoo.


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The economic crisis has hit automakers all around the world, and although manufacturing plants are already taking drastic cost cutting action, Honda Motor Company has spear-headed the UK’s effort by slashing production of the three- and five-door Civic by 22,000 units, or about 10 percent from the 228,000 units it had planned. This is despite the recent announcement that its new Jazz will be built alongside the Civic at its Swindon plant.
Honda CEO, Takeo Fukui, is upbeat on the move even though the Japanese manufacturer has seen global profits decline during the year. Honda’s global operating profit fell 48.0 percent to $1.38 billion and sales dropped 4.9 percent $26.18 billion.
Nissan has also taken dramatic action and said it would halt production at its Sunderland plant for two weeks and shorten working days for three weeks between late October and November due to a slide in sales of the Micra and Note models. European Executive Vice President Carlos Tavares, said earlier this month that Nissan was still on track to meet its sales target of 3.9 million vehicles this year. Despite the gloomy picture Nissan’s global sales were up 5 percent in the first half, against an annual growth target of 3.5 percent.
This comes as Ford Motor Company denied filing for bankruptcy. During the first half of 2008, Ford U.S lost $8.6 billion, and analysts expect further losses in the third and fourth quarters. In May, Ford abandoned its plan to restore profits in 2009. Since 1995, the company has shed U.S. market share annually. This year, its sales have plunged 18 percent. CEO, Alan Mulally, declined to say if he will cut more jobs or shut more U.S plants as sales continue to fall and the economy worsens. He said he is unable to talk about that because Ford is in the so-called quiet period between the end of the third quarter and the release of its results on November 7th. “People aren’t going to buy cars from bankrupt companies when they have great choices” Mulally says.
With the crisis worsening, VW owned Seat is yet another manufacturer cutting production by 5 percent starting in November following a deep plunge in its core domestic market, Spain. This comes on the back of its new premium model, the Exeo, joining the 2009 line-up which Seat hope will boost sales amidst falling demand. A corresponding agreement that for the moment lasts until the middle of next year was reached with its unions recently. Spanish new car sales have fallen sharply this year, dropping 40 percent in August alone, and little improvement is expected due to a real estate crisis. “It did not look much better,” a spokesman for Seat said, when asked about the month of September.
The announcement of General Motors that its global sales fell by 11.4 percent in the third quarter, and it having been hurt by weak demand in North America and growing economic pressures in Europe, couldn’t have come at a worst time. GM’s global sales fell to 2.1 million, with sales in North America, its largest market, down 18.9 percent. This comes as the US government has been asked for a $10 billion rescue package as GM try to merge with Chrysler. The merger funds would also be in addition to an already approved $25 billion programme to provide low-interest loans to the industry for retooling to make more fuel-efficient cars.
Industry analysts are predicting at least a 2 year slump in global car production as the global economic crisis seeks out unsuspecting victims.


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VMware is transitioning to a subscription-based business model and will launch vSphere+ and vSAN+ in late July 2022, the company said at an online news conference in Asia-Pacific.
There are many subscription-based models that are appealing to customers, and this is an industry trend, said Krish Prasad, senior corporate vice president and general manager for Cloud Platform Business and Cloud Infrastructure Business Group at VMware. Various cloud services integrated by VMware, including cloud computing products developed by Amazon, Microsoft and Google, are provided on a subscription basis, Prasad noted, adding that the VMware Cloud Provider program is also based on a subscription model.
VMware’s business has evolved from server and CPU virtualization to data center virtualization and is currently focused on multi-cloud strategies and efficient workload delivery, Prasad said. In particular, Project Arctic announced at VMworld in 2021…


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he company initially announced that the truck would have a 500 miles (805 km) range on a full charge and with its new batteries it would be able to run for 400 miles (640 km) after an 80% charge in 30 minutes using a solar-powered “Tesla Megacharger” charging station. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the Semi would come standard with Tesla Autopilot that allows semi-autonomous driving on highways.
Elon Musk unveiled the Tesla Semi, the company’s first electric 18-wheeler. The truck is capable of going from 0-60 mph in five seconds, and has a range of 500 miles on a single charge.
Watch the video below :


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In an unexpected move, American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlines, US Airways, Frontier Airlines, AirTran Airways and Midwest Airlines are waiving their holiday advance-purchase requirements – dropping some ticket prices by as much as 79%
Take for example an American flight between Dallas and New York: On Wednesday, it sold for $1,858 roundtrip. A day later, the price had been slashed 79% to $388 roundtrip. Delta’s Atlanta to Seattle no-advance purchase airfares were priced at $1,198 before diving some 78% to as low as $258 roundtrip.
Still, there are requirements around the no-advance-purchase requirements. The sales are date-specific for the lowest fares and tiered on peak travel dates. Here’s a breakdown:
Tier 1 is the cheapest and available on Dec. 16, 17 and 25, and Jan. 1 and 4.
Tier 2 fares are about 30% higher than the lowest and available only on Dec. 18, 20, 21, 24, 30 and 31. That Dallas to New York flight, for instance, is $478 those days.
Tier 3 tacks on another 25% to the price with travel dates restricted to Dec. 19, 22, 23, 26, 28 and 29. For the Dallas to New York travel, the ticket price is $100 higher than tier 2.
Tier 4 fares have not been included in the holiday airfare sale and are more expensive. These fares – as expected – cover Dec. 27 and Jan. 2 and 3.
Here’s some more travel news you can use:


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BMW better hurry, or it won't have much left to reveal of the new M3 Touring. Last week, images of the wagon leaked online, showing off the model without any camouflage. Patent images hit the internet the next day, providing our best look at the alleged design. Today, a new YouTube video from SRK Designs uses those patent images to create a realistic rendering of what the new wagon could look like when it debuts.
The patent images revealed a wagon designed based on the current-generation M3 sedan, with the rendering using the four-door as the base vehicle. The Touring's design isn't all that surprising. It wears the company's prominent kidney grille and angular face, narrow intakes, and fender vent garnishes. The rendering doesn't depict the wagon's rear end, but spy shots have revealed BMW M's trademark quad tailpipes poking out the back.
Gallery: 2023 BMW M3 Touring patent images
The long-roofed M3 will pack BMW's twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six engine that will deliver 503 horsepower (375 kilowatts) and 442 pound-feet (600 Newton-meters) of torque. The powertrain can send the sedan to 60 miles per hour (96 kilometers per hour) in 3.4 seconds. Expect the M3 Touring to be a bit slower, with the brand's eight-speed automatic sending power through BMW's xDrive all-wheel-drive system.
Interior spy shots have already revealed that the wagon will arrive with a large screen across the dash, adopting the brand's latest infotainment technology. However, BMW hid much of it under a sheet, concealing the center console and instrument panel. This interior should proliferate throughout the 3 Series lineup as the model undergoes its mid-cycle refresh.
BMW hasn't announced a debut date for the model, but rumors suggest that the cover will come off sometime this summer. A debut could happen sooner, too, as BMW has already kicked off the car's teaser campaign. There's not much left to reveal, but we can't wait to learn all the details. Sadly, we already know this won't be a model BMW will bring to the US. While this is the brand's first official M3 Touring model, we won't get to enjoy it here until we can import it.


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Late last night, the latest version of Google Maps began rolling out through the beta channel. For many people, this will likely bring new notifications with convenient shortcuts to local area transit maps. There are also signs that Google is adding integration with bicycle sharing services, a vague hint of new activity around speed limits, and possibly some new perks for Local Guides. Read More
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got an impressive BMX game, a tricky top-down driver, and a collaborative 3D platformer. Without further ado:
Pumped BMX 2
This game uses a 2D racing setup that will be familiar to Trials players, but the focus is on tricks, not time. Read More
Bicycles have been a fairly major part of society for the last couple hundred years, and a lot of technological advancements have made their way into the cycling world over time. What was once purpose-built for getting from A to B has become so much more – everything from racing on the streets to singletrack in the mud, there's a bike built for it. Of course, all around the globe there are millions of riders who hop on their commuter and head off to...wherever. To some people, the very idea of owning a car instead of a bike is simply alien. Read More
As long as bicycles have existed, those who wish to steal said bicycles have found new and inventive ways to get around whatever locking mechanisms are put in place to keep them safe. As a result, lock manufacturers have to come up with new ways to ensure their products do what they're supposed to: keep the locked bike from being stolen. Among all the different designs, the U-style lock has widely been adopted as the best and overall strongest.
Of course, all bike locks have a common issue: the lock itself. Not only are locks pick-able, but keys can be lost (or stolen), essentially making the lock itself useless. Read More
I recently took up bike riding as a good way to get outside and get active. Being a tech-junkie and overall stat-lover, though, I immediately wanted a good way to track my rides in detail, including real-time MPH, distance traveled, and all the other info that may help me better keep up with my progress. Instead of going the traditional "bike computer" route, though, I decided to use my smartphone to accomplish the task at hand.
After finding a couple of terrific apps to get the info that I wanted (Move! Bike Computer and MapMyRide+) and creating an NFC tag so I could quickly put my phone into "bike mode," I was still missing one key component: a way to keep an eye on my phone. Read More


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Updated News Analysis: Cambodia-China Free Trade Deal Signed but Concerted Efforts are Needed to Benefit
AKP Phnom Penh, October 13, 2020 --
Finally, the Cambodia-China Free Trade (CCFT) deal inked on Oct. 12, 2020 sends a powerful message to friends near and far that Cambodia has expanded its greater market to the more than 1.3 billion strong Chinese market. It has great potential but just a legal framework alone is not enough to maximise the benefits of the deal - Cambodia’s resources are limited in terms of human resources, technical and financial aspects, in addition to our infrastructure and logistics areas.
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is on his two-day visit, witnessed the signing of the agreement in Phnom Penh.
China’s Commerce Minister Zhong Shan signed in Beijing at the same time Cambodia’s Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak did so in Phnom Penh. They could see each other by videoconference.
One must look into the different aspects needed to make it work—although the country has great potential in agriculture and others—when putting such deal into practice in a competitive and globalised world.
Cambodia and foreign investors, not just those limited to China, must join hands to translate this opportunity into reality for mutual benefit. Foreign investors, such as China, may look to transfer of technologies and know-how when implementing the deal, this will help Cambodia to improve its productivity, its value-added products, improve efficiency in manufacturing, services and agriculture, among other factors.
So, the 950 million Chinese Yuan (US$141 million) financial grant assistance—as part of the economic and technical cooperation—provided by China announced at the ceremony can be invested in areas that improve product quantity and quality for export.
Not a Bed of Roses
Even with the trade deal in place, it is not going to be a bed of roses for tens of hundreds of small and medium sized enterprises, SMEs, in Cambodia. These have to be recognised and get qualifications before securing financial support from different sources for their business operations. This will require another government’s legal, technical support and maybe loans as well, beyond what our own government can provide.
The country currently has nearly 38,000 registered companies and nearly 10,000 enterprises both local and foreign. I hope they are ready, or preparing, to take advantage of the trade deal; otherwise they must do so soon because the agreement is expected to be implemented by early 2021.
Companies operating in Cambodia need to improve in many ways, especially in the areas of human resources, to deal with digital business operations as the government shifts to the digital economy. The country’s Industrial Development Policy (2015–2025) has been put in place to address the coming challenges, promote productivity and find markets for its products, such as rice, rubber, and others.
Cambodia’s main potential is rice with commodity planting of 4 million hectares nationwide. It also has 6 million tonnes in paddy rice (or 4 million tonnes in milled rice) a year in surplus from domestic consumption.
Cambodia’s stakeholders, such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Education and Labour Ministries must play their parts in developing Cambodia’s human capital and help companies achieve their goals and objectives in global trade.
However, the coming trade deal is another plus to the existing legal framework of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) established in 2010, paving the way for the export of tens of hundreds of goods to China. Such an agreement also falls in line with the framework of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) of 164 members, which Cambodia joined in 2004.
Cambodia has greatly benefited from the ACFTA, since her resources are limited. That explains the Cambodia-China trade value of US$8 billion, of which Cambodia’s exports were US$1 billion a year. An even more positive prospect is dangling before us and the trend will contribute to developing Cambodia’s economy with more jobs creation, imports of know-how and technology from China and elsewhere will help Cambodia economy to leap-frog the challenges it faces.
Although Cambodia has potential from rice to sugar, rubber, black pepper and fresh-water fish to livestock, and other products, Cambodian officials and experts have expressed to me their concerns that Cambodia needs to work as clusters when it comes to commodities, such as rice, for export, to ensure good quality, and competitive prices.
This nation needs more silos and better equipped rice mills for rice processing, packaging, and logistics, and so forth. Although Chinese experts have recognised more Cambodian rice processing mills Cambodia’s Rice Federation needs to be more oriented towards working as a cluster, and that will help to boost exports to China where you have a market of billions of consumers.
Let us keep our fingers crossed, although we cannot achieve everything overnight. The government does not just stand and watch and that can be understood when the government, after wrapping up the trade deal with China, took measures to provide loans and supporting other technical and legal assistance for local companies, Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs), so that they can take advantage of exporting 340 items to China, of which 95 per cent are now tariff-exempt. The remaining 5 per cent will be exempted over the next five to ten years.
In August, the government announced that it has allocated US$500 million in loans, and of that US$300 million will be provided for financing support and US$200 million will go for credit guarantee projects.
Cambodia, which is still an export oriented country, must improve its productivity, quality, packaging, valued added goods, along with a cluster community of production, otherwise she will not get much profit from the trade deal.
The agreements can show us the way but we must be committed and step up to the plate if we are to benefit.
Today, Cambodia can export more than 10,000 items to China while China can export 8,000 items to Cambodia.
Cambodia’s commerce officials said that, among those 8,547 tariff lines of China, there are only 181 lines not included in tariff elimination and reduction schedules. Cambodia and China, however, will work closely to promote these products after the date of entry into force of CCFTA.
So far this year, Cambodia has exported more than 300,000 tonnes of milled rice to China, less than its target of 400,000 tonnes.
Two-way trade value with China alone was US$8 billion in 2019 from more than US$7 billion in 2018.
Phnom Penh, with the coming trade deal, hopes to increase exports to China by as much as 25 per cent a year. But this is just a calculation alone and the reality will depend on the actual efforts with the strong commitment of Cambodia, China and others.
The bilateral trade value expects to reach US$10 billion by 2023.
Fruitful Economic Diplomacy
It is fair to say that the coming free trade agreement expected to be signed in Beijing by the two commerce ministers before mid-August 2020, presided over by each country’s leaders, will be another historical diplomatic milestone between the two nations.
Such an event would not happen without the strong political and diplomatic moves by Prime Minister Hun Sen and Chinese President Xi Jinping since early this year.
The whole trend also reaffirms the two nation’s commitment diplomatic ties in place since 1958. They reached a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2010 and nine years later inked a 2019-2023 action plan to build the two-country’s shared future. It covers a number of measures in the areas of economies, people-to-people relations, politics, security and mutual cooperation.
Cambodia’s foreign policy maintains its friendly posture with countries that respects each other's independence, sovereignty and equal footing. This South-East Asian nation goes for wealth, not war, because she has endured more than enough of fighting and wars one after another which brought nothing good for the country; but tears and blood, massive destruction of national assets, and infrastructure. It went on from the late 1960s till late 1998, the year that Premier Hun Sen championed the win-win policy that ended the Pol Pot-led Khmer Rouge political and military organisation, notorious for its killing fields.
Khmer’s Ancient Smile
Some wrongly interpreted that with the CCFTA, Cambodia put aside its ties with the EU and embraced China. That is a wrong perception. Since day one, Cambodia has made it clear that she wants to make friends near and far for mutual interest base on equal treatment and respect for each other’s independence and sovereignty.
Cambodia’s foreign policy is open and friendly to everyone who wants to make friends with us. But if you do not want to follow those simple rules of engagement, there is nothing we can do.
Recalling that Prime Minister has said repeatedly that the U.S., China and the European Union are Cambodia’s friends. Our ancient smile of welcome remains with us, proven by the fact that for 900 years, the smile of Angkor, at the ancient Angkor complex has had inscribed on it since 1992, the plaque that it is a U.N. listed world heritage site, in Siem Reap.
Working as a spokesman, I do get inputs from various sources on different topics as much as possible, although I do not talk much; but I keep penning certain pieces so that the whole world can see a clearer picture of the goodwill of the Royal Government of Cambodia in many ways, starting from the national interest and contributing protecting global peace and development.
Cambodia is a member of the United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), ASEAN, and other key organisations.
That is to say that the government, under the great leadership of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his team, has put the interests of the country and her people before their own.
China’s government may also look to support Cambodia in the area of human resources, technology, and other related fields, given the fact that Cambodia’s logistics and infrastructure that help to reduce production costs are yet there. This is needed in today’s competitive world. Thus, support from China will enable both sides to take greater, if not full, advantage of the trade deal. I also see that the trade agreement is considered as part of the Belt and Road Initiative that both countries are committed to, to realise joint dreams and a shared future.
The benefits of the CCFTA will not drop like ripe mangoes from the tree, we have to be pro-active, and prepare, and shake the tree.
By Ek Tha
Standing-Vice Chairman of the Royal Government Spokesperson Unit,
Spokesman of the Council of Ministers,
Advisor to the Ministry of Information.


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Nokia unveiled the much awaited 41MP camera phone last month that was being sold via AT&T. The phone received decent ratings from people around US; however, it still isn’t selling like hot cakes. The only thing that has caused the demand to fall is its high price tag. The phone is available for $299.99 with a 2-year contract, a price in which you can get smartphone that may offer users with better specifications.
According to the folks at BGR, AT&T has reduced the price of Lumia 1020 to $199.99 with a 2-year contract in some parts of the country – that is $100 less than its original price. The report claims that this price is available at some places in Floride as well as a few Southeastern states. It is also confirmed by an AT&T spokesman who confirmed the price drop and mentioned that it’s a small scale, limited time promotion.
The price listed in the store is still $299.99 but it appears as AT&T expected a little too much from the device. There are no official sales number released as of now but I think the device didn’t get the same response Nokia and AT&T thought it would get. Now, AT&T’s is trying to attract customers to buy the device by offering a lower price, and if the outcome of this promotion is positive, the carrier may extend it to other parts of US. However, no such details are available as of now.
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Just when you thought they were done with it, Samsung has started pushing out Android Marshmallow to the Galaxy S5, something that’s now two years old. Unlocked models in Korea with the number SM-G900L will see the update first, with other countries like the US receiving the update some time in the near future… hopefully.
Android 6.0.1 is the official version number of the update for the GS5, with such features as Doze mode and more manageable app permissions making their way to the 2014 Samsung flagship. Notably, Samsung opted out of the option to make microSD cards act as internal storage with the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, so don’t expect such a tool to be present in this software upgrade either. However, there is a reason apparently, and that’s because of performance issues… at least according to the company.
To find out if you’ve received the update yet on your device, head to Settings > About phone > Software Updates. If there’s an update available that weighs a lot, be confident that this is Marshmallow.


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21st Century Fox in talks with Walt Disney to sell most of the business - report
Tuesday, 7 November 2017 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOX) has reportedly held talks with Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) about selling a large chunk of its assets. Rupert Murdoch recently held discussions with Disney about selling Fox’s movie and TV production studio studios, cable networks FX and National Geographic and international assets such as the Star network in India and its stake in Sky, CNBC reported. READ: Twenty-First Century Fox counting the cost of USA's World Cup elimination The deal would leave Fox a media company focused on news and sport while boosting Disney’s content offering as it prepares to launch its own direct-to-consumer streaming services in 2019. Disney recently announced that it would pull its movies from Netflix and create its two streaming services – one for sport and another for its key franchises such as Star Wars - in 2019 as more consumers turn to digital video content. Disney and Fox declined to comment. READ: Walt Disney and Altice reach tentative deal to keep ESPN, ABC on air in New York The news comes as Britain’s competition watchdog investigates Fox's proposed £11.7bn bid to buy the rest of the shares in Sky PLC (LON:SKY) that it does not already own.
Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal. People familiar with the discussions told NBC News on Thursday, the company is in talks to buy some of the assets of 21st Century Fox. According to the sources, the talks were ongoing and in an early stage. Fox has also been having on-again-off-again...
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. had rejected an offer from cable conglomerate Comcast Corp., only to ink a deal with Walt Disney Co. instead. Now, a jilted Comcast... bizjournals - BusinessAlso reported by •FinanzNachrichten.de


text: Number of the day $16 billion That\u2019s how much Walmart is paying for a controlling stake in Flipkart, India\u2019s online retailer known for its ubiquitous delivery drivers on motorcycles with oversize backpacks. In its biggest acquisition ever, Walmart is pushing not only to have a substantial foothold in a country with 1.3 billion people, but also to shift toward the future of retail. That includes its decision last month to sell its British unit, Asda, which primarily operated a chain of traditional supermarkets. Other number of the day 145.5 million That\u2019s how many Social Security numbers were accessed by hackers in the Equifax breach, the company revealed this week in documents filed with Congress and federal regulators. Among the other numbers: 99 million addresses, 20.3 million phone numbers, 17.6 million driver\u2019s license numbers, 1.8 million email addresses and 97,500 TaxIDs. Wings not flying so high Surging demand for chicken wings last year sent costs to lofty heights. Now, that\u2019s left them \u201cpriced out of menus\u201d and some restaurants are promoting boneless varieties instead, CEO Joe Sanderson Jr. of Sanderson Farms said at a Goldman Sachs conference on Tuesday. Wholesale wing prices in the Northeast neared $2.19 a pound in September, but the cost since has slumped about 37 percent and now sits at a seasonal four-year low. Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com.