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EchoStar Communications Corp.'s proposed merger with DirecTV Inc. has won
strong support from a national trade group representing a cross-section of the
While the deal has been described as anti-competitive by many, the U.S.
Internet Industry Association filed comments with the Federal Communication
Commission insisting that the deal would promote competition to cable and the
deployment of broadband, especially in rural areas.
If the companies are not allowed to combine, the USIIA said, neither one
would be strong enough to battle the cable industry in the pay TV market or
multiple competitors in the broadband market.
'The issue is not whether the merged EchoStar would stifle competition in the
markets for satellite distribution of television and Internet content. Rather,
the question is whether any of the existing satellite companies in and of their
own right will have the resources and capacity to offer consumers a choice in
areas that can not be otherwise well or economically served by the cable or
telephone industries,' the USIIA said.
The USIIA, based in Washington, D.C., described itself in the undated FCC
comments as a 300-member national trade organization engaged in Internet
commerce, content and connectivity.
The group's comments stood in sharp contrast to the views expressed by
opponents, which claim that the deal can't survive antitrust review because it
would create a direct-broadcast satellite monopoly with 90 percent share of the
DBS-subscriber market and a lock on millions of homes not served by cable.
The USIIA claimed that EchoStar and DirecTV operate in broader markets in
which they have small market shares.
'The issue is capacity, not competition. The new merged EchoStar . would
participate in the multichannel-television industry and the broadband Internet
industry, but would hold substantial market share in neither,' the association
The USIIA said a merged EchoStar-DirecTV would create a third broadband
platform that might lead to carriage for thousands of Internet-service providers
that have been denied access by cable operators and have been frustrated by the
slow pace and technology glitches in the digital-subscriber-line market
controlled by local phone companies.


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Bureau proposes ban on arbitration
NEW YORK — Consumers could band together to sue their banks or credit card companies under a federal rule issued Monday that’s likely to face resistance from Congressional Republicans and the White House.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau decided to ban most types of mandatory arbitration clauses, which require credit card or bank customers to use a mediator when they have a dispute — often giving up their right to sue in court.
Mandatory arbitration clauses are found in the fine print of tens of millions of financial products, from credit cards to checking accounts.
Banks have strongly opposed banning arbitration causes, arguing that arbitration is a more efficient way of handling small disputes and that class-action lawsuits largely benefit the lawyers handling the cases.

domain: news


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Germany pledges £179m to help preserve Brazil's rainforest
German development minister Svenja Schulze has announced her government will make 222 million dollars (£179 million) available for environmental policies in Brazil.
Of this, 38 million dollars (£30.7 million) is a donation to the Amazon Fund, Ms Schulze said in the Brazilian capital Brasilia.
It is the most important international co-operation effort to preserve the Amazon rainforest.
In 2019, former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who considered the Amazon an internal affair, dissolved the steering committee that selects sustainable projects to finance.
In reaction, Germany and Norway froze their donations.
Ms Schulze said: “With the new government and the team of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and (environment) minister Marina Silva, we have a great chance to protect the forest and to offer a new perspective to the people who live there.”
Under Mr Bolsonaro, deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon reached a 15-year high as he dismantled environmental protection policies in favour of agribusiness expansion.
Germany also pledged to provide 87 million dollars (£70.3 million) in low-interest loans for farmers to restore degraded areas and 34 million dollars (£27 million) for Amazon states to protect the rainforest.
“Despite all the difficulties, the increase in deforestation, the land grabbing, the fires, the dire state of the indigenous populations, we see this as an opportunity to reverse this whole situation,” Ms Silva said.
Mr Lula, who took office in January, pledged to end all deforestation by 2030. His four-year term ends in December 2026.
The Amazon, which covers an area twice the size of India, acts as a buffer against climate change because its trees absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide, and roughly two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest lies in Brazil.
It is also the most biodiverse forest in the world and holds 20% of the world’s fresh water.


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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:
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Save when you purchase two Google Homes at the Google Store: 9 (8 value)
Philips Hue White/Color Smart Bulb Starter Kit w/ a Google Home Speaker for 9 ( off)
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- The Black & Decker Electric 12-inch 20V Max Trimmer/Edger is on sale for (Reg. 0)
- App Store Indie Greats Sale w/ titles at ea: Botanicula, Bicolor, VVVVVV, Room Two, and more
- The NES-style throwback platformer Adventures of Pip: (Reg. )
- The highly-rated Leaf RSS News Reader app is now available for free (Reg. )
- App Store Free App of the Week: Bean’s Quest for iOS is now available for free (Reg. )
- iTunes 0 Gift Card from PayPal for with email delivery – save 15% on games, more
MORE DEALS STILL LIVE:
Toffee Cases offers 9to5 readers an exclusive 20% off sitewide discount, releases new Commuter Satchel for MacBooks
Make the move to 4K with this Dell 28-inch Ultra HD Widescreen Monitor for 0 shipped (Reg. 0)
If you pick up an Android smartphone today, odds are it’s running on top of a chipset from Qualcomm. The company’s popular Snapdragon processor lineup has been used on many Android smartphones and tablets for years now, and for good reason. The chips are reliable and perform well, along with bringing compatibility with certain exclusive features. One of those is Qualcomm Quick Charge, one of, if not the most popular charging standard available today. Now, that standard is getting an upgrade.
Most of the details regarding Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S8 have already leaked out, along with several images and even a video of the device. Now, though, we’re hearing some updated details on when we’ll actually be able to get our hands on the phone.
We’re in China this week to bring coverage of today’s LeEco (previously known as LeTV) event in Beijing at the company’s own LeSports arena. Known in China for its content services and partnerships and more recently for its TVs, smartphones, Bluetooth speakers, and other hardware, the Chinese conglomerate is growing quickly in a smartphone market that’s constantly driving quality up and prices down. Now, the company has announced its next phones, the Le2, Le 2Pro, and Le Max2…
Smart plugs are one of my favorite types of smart home accessories, but there are dozens of great options out there and quite a lot of them aren’t supported by Google Assistant yet. Today, though, one of the more popular brands offering smart plugs is getting Assistant support — D-Link.
Despite being a rather popular Android smartphone, there aren’t as many great cases available for the Google Pixel as there are for the Galaxy S8 or LG G6. Although late to the game, Mophie has finally released a version of its Juice Pack battery cases for the Pixel XL. The Juice Pack does add a bit of thickness to the handset but it also almost doubles its battery life and adds wireless charging.
But is it worth the pricetag?
With YouTube now providing alerts through the browser for new videos from subscriptions, Google Maps is the latest service to gain notifications on the web. The option is seemingly only appearing for members of the Local Guides program for now, but hopefully will expand to other users in the future…
With only a couple of months (or possibly weeks) left until Samsung reveals its Galaxy S lineup for 2016, a bunch of cases for the unreleased phone have shown up online. Some cheap cases now on sale from DHGate.com allegedly fit the S7 and S7 Plus…
Announced on October 4th at the Made by Google event in San Francisco, the new Daydream View is now available for purchase on the Google Store. Visiting the Google Daydream page between then and now presented you with an option to join a waitlist, but now you can give Google your if you want. more…
Google’s Boston Dynamics company, the people behind previous terrifying yet amazing robot videos, has today shared a glimpse at what it is calling the “next generation” of its Atlas robot. The new generation of Atlas is designed to operate both indoors and outdoors, the company says, and weighs a solid 180 pounds.


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Password managers are a great way to supply random, unique passwords to a high number of websites. But most still have an Achilles’ heel: Usually, a single master password unlocks the entire vault.
But a group of researchers has developed a type of password manager that creates decoy password vaults if a wrong master password is supplied.
A paper on the experimental software, called NoCrack, will be presented on May 19 at the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy in San Jose, California.
NoCrack is intended to make it much more time-consuming and difficult for attackers to figure out if they’ve hit pay dirt.
“As an attacker, you have no idea which vault is the real one,” said Rahul Chatterjee, a master’s student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and co-author of the paper. “He is left with no other option but to try the passwords on websites.”
One of the problems with password managers is that they store all of their passwords in an encrypted file. That file—if stolen from a victim’s computer—can then be subjected to so-called brute force attacks, in which hundreds of thousands of passwords are tried in quick succession.
If an incorrect password is entered, it’s easy for an attacker to know it’s wrong. The file that is generated is junk, Chatterjee said, and the attacker doesn’t have to bother trying the credentials at an online web service.
NoCrack generates a plausible-looking password vault for every wrong guess, an unlimited number of decoys. The only way to figure out if the credentials are accurate is to try them online.
That approach “is costly and slow,” he said.
Since most online services limit the number of password guesses, attackers wouldn’t get many chances to ferret out the decoy vaults, Chatterjee said.
NoCrack isn’t the first attempt to try this approach. Another system, called Kamouflage, is similar, but Chatterjee said his team found a weakness in how it generates decoy master passwords.
Kamouflage’s decoy master passwords are based on the real master password. Studying the decoy passwords actually helps an attacker learn the structure of the real password, allowing the true one to be more easily discovered. The NoCrack team looked to create better decoy vaults.
To do that, NoCrack uses natural language encoding (NLE) algorithms, which ironically have also been used by people trying to crack passwords. NLE algorithms decode a uniformly selected bit string and generate a fresh sample of natural language text, according to the paper.
The researchers found that using NLE made NoCrack resistant to simple machine-learning attacks aimed at sifting the real vault from the fake ones.
There is, however, one large problem: What if a person mistypes a password? In that scenario, a fake vault is generated, and a user is locked out of his or her accounts.
Chatterjee said they’re working on solutions. One possible fix is to create a hash of the master password that is linked to an image that is shown when the password is entered. The authorized user should recognize when the wrong image is displayed, but an attacker would not. Another possibility would be to auto-correct the password if it is just slightly off, he said.
There are no plans as of yet to commercialize NoCrack, Chatterjee said. The paper was also co-authored by Joseph Bonneau, Ari Juels and Thomas Ristenpart.


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When British rock band Muse release their ninth studio album, Will of the People, on August 26, the NFT (non-fungible token) edition will be the first release of its kind to qualify for the UK and Australian charts. It is the first new format to be added to the charts since album streams in 2015.
It will be sold via “eco-friendly” NFT platform Serenade, which sold official Brit Awards NFTs for £10 each in February.
Serenade’s founder, Max Shand, describes the Muse release as “the black T-shirt of NFTs”, a utilitarian, easy-to-buy digital format. “What a fan wants is something simple and understandable, but it gives them a sense of closeness to an artist and a sense of recognition from other fans,” he says.
Unlike many NFTs, buyers will not require a crypto wallet. After the purchase is made on Serenade’s website, a digital wallet is created and the NFT is transferred to that wallet. If users have an existing crypto wallet, such as for BitCoin or Ethereum, they can use it.
The UK’s Official Charts Company (OCC) made NFT albums eligible for the charts several months ago, but this is the first release where the provider, in this case Serenade, has been approved as a digital retailer for chart returns.
“There’s been a lot of noise about NFTs being the future of music, the future of entertainment, the future of ownership,” says Martin Talbot, CEO of OCC. – It is great that this is about to become a reality.
He says the Muse release did not force an update to the OCC’s map eligibility rules, it will be the first to meet the entry criteria.
In April, British indie rock band Amazons released a digital box set NFT, limited to 100 copies, to accompany pre-orders of their How Will I Know if Heaven Will Find Me? album, due in September. It was sold as part of a package rather than as a standalone release.
Serenade had been in discussions with Warner Records, home of Muse, about releasing an NFT album for months. Muse, which had worked with blockchain platform CryptoKitties in 2020 to create digital collectibles, was considered the obvious first choice.
“The band has always been at the forefront of technological innovation in their creativity and artistry,” says Sebastian Simone, Warner Records’ UK vice president of audience and strategy.
The Muse NFT album will retail for £20 and will be limited to 1,000 copies globally. As both an NFT and a limited edition format, the offer is relatively sparse. Buyers will get a downloadable version of the album – complete with a different cover – as high-resolution FLAC files; the members of Muse will digitally sign it, and each of the 1,000 buyers will have their names permanently listed on the associated buyer list.
“We wanted to keep it more about the product than about the add-on experience,” says Simone.
With a limited number of copies – and not all to be purchased in the UK – the release will not significantly skew the expected performance of Will of the People.
“If you want to have an impact on the chart, there are definitely ways to do it,” Simone says of the potential for NFTs to dramatically increase first-week sales. “With Muse, it’s actually not decisive what they are [already] on tens of thousands of pre-orders. We expect the number 1 spot to be very clear that week.”
As with other NFTs, the original buyer can resell it and 15% of the resale price will go back to the band and the rights owners – Warner Music for the sound recording rights and Universal Music Publishing for the composition rights.
OCC confirmed that reselling the album will not count as a “new” sale.
“There are absolutely no plans to change the basic principles [of the charts] where we count the sale of something when it is brand new and you first buy it, says Talbot. “We don’t count the sale to the other buyer.”
Future releases may include extras and fan rewards added to the album as the campaign around it develops. The OCC will ensure that the extras at release are not so inflated that they break the map rules. “What you’re always looking for is something of such high value or so desirable that it overshadows the music itself and people don’t buy it for the music, they buy it for [added extras]says Talbot.
As for the question of whether this could collapse into gimmickry, Simone says Warner is already planning similar releases for other acts. “It will become more widespread,” he says. “This is going to be the beginning of the doorway.”


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Apple, AT&T and Verizon have exhausted their pre-sale supplies of iPhone 4S available for delivery on Oct. 14, the day the firms will start selling the new smartphone at their retail stores.
By late Friday, Apple replaced the Oct. 14 delivery date for pre-ordered iPhone 4S phones with “Ships: 1-2 weeks.”
Also on Friday, AT&T said it had sold 200,000 iPhone 4S smartphones in the first 12 hours of availability, and boasted of “extraordinary demand” that made the day “the most successful iPhone launch we’ve ever had.”
As of Sunday, AT&T cited high demand when it told customers ordering the iPhone 4S through its website that their phones would ship in 21 to 28 days.
“To get iPhone 4S as soon as October 14, AT&T retail stores will have inventory available for eligible customers while supplies last,” a message stated during the ordering process.
Also on Sunday, Verizon’s site stated a delivery date of Oct. 21., while Sprint reported it had sold out of the lowest-priced 16GB iPhone 4S. Supplies of the more expensive 32GB and 64GB were still available from Sprint for delivery Oct. 14 or Oct. 15.
The sell-out wasn’t unusual.
Last year, Apple and AT&T—at that time the only U.S. carrier authorized to sell the iPhone—ran through their iPhone 4 inventories the first day of online pre-sales.
In 2010, Apple said that it sold 1.7 million iPhone 4 smartphones from the start of pre-orders on June 15 through June 26, three days after the new model reached retail.


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CHICAGO (April 2021) – The Main Street Preservation Trust in Gloucester Village, Virginia, is one of six winners of the Main Street Forward Awards, which recognize communities that have shown exemplary recovery and resilience efforts amid the multiple crises of 2020. Selected from 68 total submissions by a national jury of economic development experts, the Main Street Preservation Trust (MSPT) is being honored for its Downtown Dollars program, which raised nearly $150,000 in gift card sales to local businesses and benefited Gloucester healthcare workers.
“Gloucester Village has not seen one single business shutter due to COVID-19, and it’s a direct result of the Downtown Dollars program,” said Main Street America’s President and CEO Patrice Frey. “Not only was the e-gift card program a big success in Gloucester, but it also offers a local economic stimulus model for other commercial districts around the country.”
Downtown Dollars came to life when MSPT partnered with two Gloucester residents who wanted to help their fellow business owners. Dr. Ron Haggerty, who owns a medical practice on Main Street, and his wife, Kacki Haggerty, a nurse practitioner who runs a Main Street med spa, approached MSPT to ask what they could do to alleviate the issues local businesses were struggling with. Executive Director Jenny Crittenden invited them to collaborate on a project she had already started: a custom-built e-commerce platform that allows shoppers to buy vouchers for all retail, restaurant, and personal service businesses on Main Street.
Crittenden planned to launch the program with a 30% discount to buyers—and the Haggertys stepped up to not only help fund that discount with a $5,000 donation, but also to purchase $14,000 in gift vouchers to be donated to the staff of nearby Riverside Walter Reed Hospital, where Kacki Haggerty also works as a nurse practitioner. MSPT garnered another $10,000 in grant funding from Virginia Main Street as part of the Small Business Support Relief & Recovery Initiative, and an anonymous donor was inspired to give an additional $14,000 toward gift card purchases. Ultimately, MSPT was able to deliver gift cards to more than 400 healthcare workers at Riverside.
In the first 12 days after the e-gift card platform went live to the public, shoppers purchased another $60,000 in gift cards. While the cards were sold at a 30% discount, MSPT made up the difference in funding, so that the total value to local businesses was nearly $100,000. Overwhelmed by this initial response, MSPT turned the gift card platform back on for Election Day and sold more than $45,000 in gift cards within seven hours.
“We are so proud that this project positively impacted so many people in our community and proved to be a powerful economic tool, from the business owners on Main Street and the healthcare workers at Riverside Walter Reed Hospital to the general community,” said Crittenden. “To see the initial support by Dr. Ron & Kacki Haggerty and our anonymous donor that matched funding, as well as the overwhelming support by our community, it has been nothing short of amazing.”
While it was built as a response to COVID-19, the gift card portal is ready to use at any time in the future. It can be run with or without a discount to buyers, giving MSPT the flexibility to continue leveraging the platform in the future, regardless of economic circumstances. Built by TechArk Solutions of Norfolk, Virginia, the portal was also designed to be replicated and branded by other downtowns across the country.
“While Downtown Dollars generated an immediate impact to Main Street businesses, it’s also a sustainable tool for driving long-term economic growth,” said Joy Rumley, Program Manager of the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. “For the many businesses that do not have an e-commerce component, this marketplace offers them online representation and builds brand loyalty for Main Street.”
ABOUT THE MAIN STREET FORWARD AWARDS
Main Street America, a program of the National Main Street Center, has historically selected the country’s best examples of comprehensive commercial district revitalization each year. Given the events of 2020—including the converging impacts of COVID-19, a national and local reckoning related to racial justice and equity, and cascading climate crises—Main Street America decided to take a different approach to this round of awards. To recognize the inspiring tenacity and creativity Main Street programs have demonstrated over the past year, we introduced the Main Street Forward Awards, which honor six communities that serve as examples for the network—and for the country at large—of the power and perseverance of Main Street.
ABOUT MAIN STREET AMERICA
Main Street America has been helping revitalize older and historic commercial districts for 40 years. Today it is a network of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, who share both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. Main Street America is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, Inc., a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. For more information, visit mainstreet.org.
ABOUT THE MAIN STREET PRESERVATION TRUST
The Main Street Preservation Trust (MSPT) administers Main Street Center and other Trust assets for the benefit of the community of Gloucester, Virginia. Funds generated by the Trust’s assets are intended to be used to attract new and additional business to Main Street in Gloucester by enhancing the economic and business environment, preserving historical landmarks in the Gloucester Court House Village area, and promoting civic and cultural activities. The Main Street Preservation Trust works with the Cook Foundation and is a supporter of the Gloucester Main Street Association. The Main Street Preservation Trust is a 501c4 organization, and as such donations are not tax deductible.
ABOUT THE VIRGINIA MAIN STREET PROGRAM
The Virginia Main Street program nurtures successful local revitalization programs across the state based on the Main Street Approach. From 1984 to 2019, the Virginia Main Street communities created more than 7,000 businesses; 24,000 jobs; and generated more than $1.8 billion in public and private investment in Virginia. The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) is a Main Street America™ Coordinating Program and leads a powerful, grassroots network consisting of 30 accredited communities that are Advancing Main Street, and more than 90 that are Exploring Main Street. Virginia Main Street is committed to supporting the creation of high-quality places and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development.


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The power of the sun means that you'll never have to think about charging the Griffin SmartTalk Solar.
Logitech's clever Solar Keyboard Folio hooks iPad users up with a quality typing experience on the go, no USB charger required: it really does work as advertised.
With its built-in solar-powered battery, the sleek Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K760 will save you money in the long run and is a better deal than Apple's Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard.
Logitech's K750 wireless solar keyboard gets our Editors' Choice Award for being an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional input devices with convenient extras and an affordable price.
There's reason to believe that other planets might be better for supporting life as we know it, and they might not even be that far off, cosmically speaking.
Using an exotic form of carbon called graphene, researchers print antennas on paper and other materials with a process that could bring network links to many cheap devices.
The Planetary Society gets ready to launch its LightSail -- which travels via photon bombardment -- with the help of a Kickstarter campaign.
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope say the star nicknamed Nasty 1 (Miss Jackson if...) doesn't behave like a typical star of its kind. Hence its bad-boy image and name.
The sun engaged in some spectacular celestial fireworks this week when an enormous solar filament erupted out into space.
In a demonstration project, San Francisco unveiled three installations of an off-the-grid solar-powered charging station, allowing electric vehicle owners to pull up and charge for free.


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If you do not know what to look for when buying Buy Red Dresses for Valentine’s Day, it is not easy to make the right decision. There is a too big risk of choosing Buy Red Dresses for Valentine’s Day and being disappointed when you receive the product. This guide will help you. Source: https://saifkhatri.com/buy-red-dresses-for-valentines-day The post Top 10 Best Buy Red Dresses For Valentine’s Day Comparison appeared first on Saif Ahmed Khatri's Blog.
Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux last met up on the most romantic holiday of the year, one day before publicly announcing that they had split. “They saw each other late at night on Valentine’s Day in L.A.,” a source close to the actress tells PEOPLE. “They decided together that they would make the announcement the next day. Justin flew on a private jet to L.A. to see Jen one last time.” The insider adds that the former couple were divided on when to announce the breakup news, with the Friends star hoping to continue to keep the matter private. “Jen didn’t want to announce it for as long as possible, because she wanted to avoid the media attention,” the source says. The couple’s decision to split comes just days after the actress’s 49th birthday, which she and Theroux spent apart. Anisto
After wishing his wife Kim Kardashian a Happy Valentine's Day, Kanye West once again shut down his Instagram account! What's got the rapper averse to the app!?
Are wedding bells in the future for J-Rod? Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez were spotted jewelry shopping during a romantic date. Is he about to get her a ring?
There's no celebrity couple better at trolling each other on Instagram than Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. We've got their savage Valentine's Day exchange.
Awww! Katie Holmes and her rumored BF Jamie Foxx were spied enjoying a game of basketball on Valentine's Day! See the pics!
Kris Jenner's Valentine's Day was one for the books. The famous momager busted a move, and it's a must-see!
It looks like Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani couldn't be together for Valentine's Day, but he let her know he was thinking of her with a sweet gift. Watch her reaction here!
Aw! Sofia Richie took to Instagram to post an adorable pic and send a sweet Valentine's Day message to her beau Scott Disick. See it here!
You love to hate Cheryl Blossom on 'Riverdale' and now the actress behind the red lipstick is spilling ALL about her beauty routine, her boyfriend and more!


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For a little more than a year before Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) struck a deal with Softbank, it held merger and strategic partnership talks with four companies, according to a regulatory filing. Two of those companies were likely Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) and MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS), though Sprint is not disclosing the names of its would-be partners.
In a proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Sprint detailed its deal-making from roughly September 2011 up until it announced the Softbank transaction as well as its $2.2 billion deal to acquire Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR). Softbank is seeking to acquire 70 percent of Sprint for $20.1 billion, and still regulators need to approve both the Softbank and Clearwire deals, which Sprint expects to close by mid-year.
According to Sprint's filing, between September 2011 and February 2012, Sprint discussed a potential combination with "Company W," but the discussions did not result in a transaction. Company W is most likely MetroPCS, since a potential deal between the two companies first came to light in late February 2012. The filing states that as late as September 2012 a deal with Company W was considered as an alternative to a deal with Softbank but that such an option was eventually discarded.
The filing also notes that from May through September 2011, Sprint discussed with "Company X" a transaction in which Sprint would acquire additional spectrum from Company X, the shareholders of Company X would receive substantial equity in Sprint, and Sprint and Company X would enter into other commercial arrangements. It is unclear which firm Company X is, but it appears the deal never went anywhere.
Additionally, the filing also notes that in May 2012 Sprint began talking with "Company Y" about a potential business combination and a joint venture. Sprint's discussions with Company Y continued periodically through Sept. 6, 2012, but ultimately did not lead to a transaction. When Softbank first approached Sprint in July 2012 there was talk of a potential three-party transaction among Sprint, Softbank and Company Y.
Finally, Sprint notes that from May 2012 until September 2012, Sprint discussed with "Company Z" spectrum partnering opportunities. Company Z is likely Dish Network; Bloomberg reported in December that two firm held talks on the possibility of Sprint hosting Dish's spectrum on its network. The filing reveals that Keith Cowan, formerly Sprint's president of strategic planning and corporate initiatives, had talks in September with the CEO of Company Z. At the time, the CEO said that "he was currently focusing on certain regulatory issues affecting Company Z, that Company Z would require a significant period of due diligence before considering any business combination with Sprint and that he believed that Sprint's then existing market price was in excess of his view of Sprint's fundamental value."
That description, especially regarding the regulatory issues, seems to fit the profile of Dish. Last fall Dish was engaged in intense wrangling with the FCC over the final rules governing the terrestrial use of its AWS-4 spectrum, which Dish wanted to use to build a mobile broadband network.
The filing reveals that Softbank made an offer for Sprint on Sept. 11, in a deal valued at $19.2 billion. Over the next several weeks Sprint and Softbank hammered out the final terms of the deal, which was first rumored Oct. 11 and then announced Oct. 15.
- see this SEC filing
- see this Reuters article
Analyst: Softbank expects to boost Sprint's margins, capital spending in 2013
Clearwire leaves door open to Dish's offer, but still recommends Sprint deal
DOJ asks FCC to wait on review of Sprint/Softbank deal
Dish trumps Sprint with surprise bid for Clearwire
Clearwire investor Crest to urge FCC to block Sprint/Clearwire deal
Sprint to buy Clearwire for $2.2B
Softbank to buy 70% of Sprint for $20.1B


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New research from Britvic reveals that almost half of consumers (45%) are set to buy more soft drinks at Christmas as figures show that over a fifth (21%) plan to drink less alcohol.
In addition, 37% are planning to spend more on soft drinks at Christmas than previous years.
The research, conducted by Censuswide UK, also found that of those consumers planning to reduce their alcohol consumption this Christmas, 39% now drink less alcohol all year round.
Meanwhile, figures revealed that for over half (54%) of those that will be drinking alcohol this Christmas, the tipple of choice will be spirits. And with over three in five (63%) of spirits drinkers using mixers, keeping fully stocked with soft drinks for mixing will be key.
0121 711 1102 www.britvic.com


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Harvey Nichols chief executive Stacey Cartwright will step into the role of deputy chairman, as the department store reshuffles its management board.
Cartwright will take up her new role at the start of 2018. She will oversee the brand and continue to report to Harvey Nichols chairman and owner Sir Dickson Poon.
Group commercial director Daniela Rinaldi and group finance director Manju Malhotra will take on joint roles as co-chief operating officers.
Under this new structure, they will assume joint responsibility for the day-to-day running of the business and ongoing strategic development of the group. They will report to Cartwright and Poon.
Harvey Nichols confirmed that Rinaldi’s and Malhotra’s new roles are permanent, and that the company is not seeking a new chief executive.
Cartwright said: “Daniela and Manju each bring a wealth of experience to their new roles, with highly complementary skill sets.”
Rinaldi added: “We have made great strides in our strategy to transform the business and I am committed to driving Harvey Nichols forward through the next phase of our growth.”
Cartwright joined Harvey Nichols in February 2014 as chief executive, taking over from previous postholder Joseph Wan.
Rinaldi has worked at Harvey Nichols for more than 30 years after joining in 1986. She became controller of perfumery and concessions a decade later, and in 2009 was promoted to the board as concessions and beauty director.
Malhotra stepped into the chief financial officer position in 2010, after holding various roles at the department store. She joined Harvey Nichols in 1998 as internal audit manager.


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The Chinese government just recently announced plans to issue $2 billion in dollar-denominated debt, its first dollar-denominated debt issuance since 2004. With countries such as Iran, Russia, and Venezuela turning to the yuan both for political reasons as well as for oil sales, and with the yuan’s recent inclusion in the IMF’s basket of currencies that make up Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), China’s sudden decision to issue dollar-denominated debt is puzzling. But delving a little deeper show that, paradoxically, [...]
A group of Congressmen in Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies recently held a forum to propose the monetization of the Mexican Silver Libertad one ounce silver coin. The monetization of silver in Mexico has been a favorite project of Mexican businessman Hugo Salinas Price for years, and the idea continues to enjoy support among some members of Mexico’s political class. Supporters of silver monetization within Mexico claim that a silver monetary unit would help many Mexicans to save money. Looking at [...]
After the massive Equifax data breach, you might want to take proactive measures to check your credit history and prevent your identity from being stolen. Equifax’s measures to protect consumers in the aftermath of the breach have rightly been criticized, from setting up a site that asked for even more sensitive personal information, to sending consumers to an erroneous website, to charging them money to put a credit freeze on their accounts. Given the enormous size of the theft, many [...]
President Trump claimed today that rich Americans will “not be gaining at all” from his proposed tax reform plan. That runs counter to many analyses of the tax reform plans he campaigned on as a candidate, which found that the rich would in fact benefit. The devil, of course, is in the details, but this statement leads to speculation that key details of the tax reform plan may have changed, which could be bad news for investors and businesses. Capital [...]


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GameStop partners with Telos Foundation for blockchain-based Web3 gaming support.
The popular video game and merchandise retailer GameStop Corporation (NYSE: GME) plans to collaborate with the Telos Foundation to provide more Web3 games. Telos, the blockchain company powering the Telos blockchain, will support GameStop’s plan by providing blockchain infrastructure through Telos.
The partnership between the two companies will see Telos link Web3 games on its blockchain via GameStop’s Web3 gaming launchpad Playr. The aim is to attract new users with accessible gaming in the Web3 world and to solve performance problems plaguing the gaming industry. According to Telos Foundation Head of Business Development AJ Dinger:
“We are thrilled to enter into this transformative collaboration with GameStop. We believe this collaboration will be a meaningful driver of new users into the Web3 space. By combining GameStop Playr with Web3 games utilizing Telos’ high-performance blockchain infrastructure, we can break down many of the barriers currently deterring Web2 players from embracing Web3.”
GameStop and Telos Partnership Underscores Diversification
Despite being a brick-and-mortar service for a long time, GameStop is working on diversification. For instance, it announced a partnership with FTX.US in September last year to collaborate on e-commerce endeavors and online marketing plans. In July, GameStop launched a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace for creators, gamers, and other interested people to trade NFTs representing virtual assets. By November, the marketplace supported the ImmutableX blockchain platform, making Web3 games and assets on ImmutableX available for trading on GameStop’s marketplace. These include digital trading cards and land plots from games like Illuvium and Goda Unchained.
- DPAT secures private funding for Web3.0 ecosystem improvements.
- DeeLance, a decentralized platform similar to Fiverr and Upwork, has potential to be the next booming cryptocurrency.
- QORPO Game Studio joins Cointelegraph Accelerator for competitive Web3 gaming
GameStop Q1 Profit
In March, GameStop announced its first quarterly profit in two years. The company posted $48.2 million in profit for the quarter, equal to 16 cents per share, and net sales of $2.226 billion. Interestingly, GameStop did not post guidance for 2023, continuing its trend of sidestepping financial predictions since COVID started. To ensure profit, GameStop reduced its staff strength over the past year, including firing its Chief Financial Officer Michael Recupero in July and laying off employees in December.
- Battle Infinity gets $35M investment from top VC firm ahead of major product launches Is it time to buy IBAT?
- Transak, a web3 payments startup, raised $20M in Series A funding
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- Looking for the best crypto app for beginners? Check out Launchpad XYZ Also, learn how to find the next meme coin to explode
- Laos prioritizes blockchain for digital transformation
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- New metaverse platform ‘CyberDefender’ launched by Hong Kong Police Force


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The experts here at Bill Walsh GM Superstore know that one of the biggest events in the industry is the international motor show in Geneva, which just recently finished up. What’s even more exciting is that this year, Chevy brought a special surprise to the Geneva Motor Show – a special Camaro variant. There have been a number of Camaro concepts over the years, but the Camaro Track Concept gave attendees a glimpse at a sports car that doubles as a track-ready supercar.
In a press release, Chevrolet referred to the concept as “a fast sports coupe for daily road use with the high-performance features for track use on weekends,” targeting auto enthusiasts who need a practical, everyday ride but want the opportunity to tear up the track when they feel the need. In previous teaser images, Chevy revealed the Camaro Track Concept would be a vivid bright green and that was definitely the case, as it truly glowed in the showroom.
The Camaro Track Concept was joined at the Geneva Motor Show by a variety of other performance-focused cars from Chevrolet’s lineup, including another Camaro model and two Corvette variants. Experts in the industry have pointed out the Track Concept bears a strong resemblance to the SS trim fitted with the 1LE performance package.
We’re getting unbearably close to May 16, the day when the sixth-generation Camaro will finally be unveiled at Belle Isle Park in Detroit. Chevrolet has even lined up an entire special event, all anchored around the big reveal, which will be the culmination of the day. Fortunately, we expect the new Camaro to really live up to all that hype—especially after all the new design and performance tweaks we’ve seen.
For example, the Camaro now features a 28% more rigid body and the awesome new Drive Mode Selector. The extra tight body gives the Camaro the most advanced driving dynamics ever, with incredible steering and suspension systems resulting in the best handling possible. The Drive Mode Selector, for its part, gives you options between Snow/Ice, Tour, Sport, and Track modes—although the Track mode is only available on SS models.
“We wanted to build on the flexibility of the current Camaro ZL1, which is great for grand touring, commuting, the drag strip and track days,” said Aaron Link, Camaro lead development engineer. “The new Camaro will be even more adaptable, with up to eight vehicle attributes adjusted to fit a driver’s preference.”
Come see us here at Bill Walsh Chevrolet to learn more about the Camaro and its updated technologies and design today.


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Back in July, Valve boss Gabe Newell cracked open the floodgates of Windows 8 criticism, just ever so slightly, when he said Microsoft's new operating system, launching today, would prove to be a "catastrophe for everyone in the PC space."
Then you heard the echoes of other high-profile PC game backers, who vocalized their concerns about Windows 8, such as Blizzard's Rob Pardo and Minecraft creator Marcus "notch" Persson. "Stop trying to ruin the PC as an open platform," Persson told Microsoft, directly.
But aside from the random tweet or shallow game dev vox pop, few people (if any at all) really publicly broke down concerns surrounding Windows 8, until 17-year video game industry veteran programmer Casey Muratori did his due diligence and really put Windows 8's policies under the microscope.
A self-professed "grumpy old man," he criticized those policies for their lean toward a closed platform controlled by Microsoft. For him, individual Windows policy choices raised major red flags, but he found something much more worrisome than simple, yet potentially pernicious, policy changes.
"I look at it from a more holistic standpoint," Muratori tells me from his home base in Seattle. "What's happening right now with Apple, and with what Microsoft is about to do, very clearly represents a shift in the power structure of how software is developed. It's not just a policy change; it's not just another 'thing.'"
He continues, "There's an underlying mindset, and that mindset is a feudalistic mindset -- there is a plantation that a company will set up and own, and developers will work there, and they will pay whatever the tithing or tribute is, and developers have to pay that."
If you haven't been keeping up, here's the primary concern with Windows 8: This new OS sports a new "Metro" UI, which is now just referred to simply as the "Windows 8 UI." If a game developer -- or any developer -- wants their product to be compatible with all the fancy new UI features that Windows 8 offers, that software must be subject to Microsoft's policies, certified by Microsoft, and sold through the official Windows Store.
But that's not a problem, right? Developers will still be able to make and sell games via the older desktop interface -- the open interface -- many have argued.
"To some degree, I think that [argument] is almost immediately obviated by two things," says Muratori. "First, with Windows RT, there's no desktop on Windows RT. On one entire SKU that Microsoft is shipping, that [argument] is not relevant, because RT is not shipping with a desktop. So everything that ships on that platform goes through Microsoft.
"Microsoft didn't say [RT] is only going on phones. For all you know, the next set of desktops could be ARM-based processors. The next set of ultrabooks could be Windows RT. A whole slice of the Windows-based market could be Windows RT. There's nothing stopping that from happening."
Secondly, he adds that with the "proper" non-RT version of Windows 8, apps made for the old desktop cannot integrate with any of the new features offered by the OS. "What ships on Friday, all the new stuff, is off limits to you, if you don't play by Microsoft's rules. You can't ship a game with [Windows 8 features such as] Share if you don't ship through their app store and pay the toll."
A concerned PC game industry
When top people from places like Valve speak out against Windows 8, they're not just talking about restrictions on releasing their games, but about their own distribution services. If the desktop interface is marginalized or -- theoretically -- eliminated, under the current policies, Steam would not be allowed on Windows' new interface, or sold through the Windows Store.
Why? Because the new UI's certification requirements prohibit "Metro"-style apps from downloading executable content. That alone is a clear explanation of the whole "catastrophe" remark from Newell, and one can imagine that other digital storefront owners feel the exact same way.
While people like Muratori are skeptical, Microsoft has tried to assure gamers and developers that it won't mess with the desktop side. "We want the world of desktop apps to to keep existing [outside of the Windows Store]," Windows Corporate VP of Web Services Antoine Leblond recently told Gizmodo. "There's no reason to get in the way of that. Valve can keep being Valve."
Statements like that do little to allay concerns. PC game developers and executives have been quiet, even diplomatic about the changes Windows 8 will make. But rest assured, we know from highly-reliable sources that decision-makers in the game industry are extremely wary of the new OS. They just don't want to come forward about it quite yet.
These are what we hear are the most common concerns from the game development community:
-That Microsoft won't allow their digital stores onto the new interface, and that they'll have to pay a toll to Microsoft to get on the official store.
- That even if they can get onto the new UI with their app, there are concerns of being marginalized. The PC game installs look orphaned, compared to the Xbox Live-enabled content and games.
- That currently, to anyone’s knowledge, there's no rolling launcher that can take you seamlessly back and forth between the new UI and the old desktop interface. If there isn’t, then it inhibits PC games from being able to seamlessly launch games from the new UI in a couch-TV setting. This locks up that experience for the Xbox content that is featured on the new Windows 8 UI.
- There are still so many unknowns about Windows 8.
Matt Ployhar works at Intel's Visual Computing Software Division where one of his focuses is on games. On the side, he's head of the PC Gaming Alliance, a group of companies with a vested interest in the advancement of the PC as a game platform.
Previously, he was on the Windows 7 and DirectX planning teams at Microsoft, so he knows a thing or two about the company's ubiquitous OS. A through-and-through PC game advocate, Ployhar admits that when he was at Microsoft, he decried the idea of the Xbox, and wanted the company to instead focus on making Windows a better platform for games.
He's standoffish about saying anything specific about Windows 8 at this point, but as someone who played an integral role in planning Windows 7, he couldn't help but opine.
"Microsoft's smartest thing to do would be to move heaven and earth to work more closely with their OEMs in order to be more competitive with Apple," he says. "Some people might say they have done this and are competitive, but then look at Apple’s trajectory over the past decade. The uncertainty we're seeing by developers that's being covered in the press surrounding things like Windows 8 UI (Style/Metro), and Surface RT, make one think, 'Oh God...Please remove some of that ambiguity.'"
The success of Apple has shown how dominant a "managed experience" can become, says Ployhar. Apple platforms strike a managed balance, in that it has some of the advantages of an open platform, and some of the advantages of a closed one.
That doesn't mean that Microsoft should adopt the same tack with Windows. "[Microsoft] ought to replace the perception they've created in having Apple envy," he says. "They just have to stop that. I don't advise chasing Apple's taillights. They need to change the game, stop getting into the mud. Apple has so much critical mass right now, I'm concerned that a lot of people are going to get steamrolled by it."
The Ultimate OS
So we know the reasons why many PC game developers are wary of Windows 8, but if Windows 8 is so bad, what's the ideal -- the ultimate -- PC game OS?
Well, there's the open-source Linux, a platform that Valve's Newell said could be an option for game developers if this whole Windows 8 thing doesn't pan out. Steam now supports Linux, and Newell said games can be key to platform adoption.
Muratori argues that Linux just isn't stable enough, and it would take a concerted effort by big developers to make Linux a truly viable option. Who knows -- maybe Valve would spearhead such an initiative.
But before the situation would become so dire that game developers shun Windows, surely Microsoft would listen? What happened to "developers, developers, developers"? Ployhar says Microsoft could overturn some of the more restrictive policies, down the line. "This would play into one of Microsoft’s biggest core strengths, and what helped make them so successful and ubiquitous in the first place, which is to keep restrictions for developers to a minimum," he says. (Microsoft recently said it will fix a policy issue that would have restricted M-rated games from the Windows Store, for example.)
Muratori says that Microsoft does have a history of sometimes listening, and sometimes not listening, to developers. But even if Microsoft does hear pushback from the game development community, and even if it wanted to change, the new UI and app store are so much a part of the new OS's foundation and fundamental strategy, it'd be extremely difficult to roll back the moves, Muratori argues. "Something like this is a real bottom-line issue."
As for the "ultimate" PC game OS -- maybe that is exactly what the industry is beginning to lose with Windows 8.
"It's pretty clear that this was the best market -- an open market with a stable OS, that was actively supported by commercial companies, seems to be the best thing we've had," says Muratori. "Windows 'pre-this' was it. We were looking at the best thing that we had."


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Visualise our blinds in our new Window Planner app
We are happy to announce that we have just launched our augmented reality (AR) app called Window Planner in the iOS app store, with plans to launch on Android in the near future.
The Window Planner app has been developed to help our customers visualise our roman and roller blinds within their own window. It provides a fully immersive experience, where customers can take photos of their own window and then render our blinds, to fully realise how the blind will look in their window.
The functionality of this app now works for over 1,000 roman and roller blinds, with a further 1,000 venetian blinds, vertical blinds and made to measure curtains coming to the app very soon.
It is our firm belief that this is the future of shopping for furniture at home, this type of technology is in its infancy but over time customers will come to expect this type of AR experience when shopping online. View our video demonstration of the app below to see what it offers and how it can take the hassle out of choosing a blind. You no longer have to imagine what a blind will look like in your window, you can see for yourself with the Window Planner app.
Try the app yourself, by downloading it now from the Apple App store.


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We have today announced that the upcoming ARIAS will take place at the iconic London Palladium on Wednesday 4th March 2020.
Celebrating the best in audio and radio, there are 23 awards to be won in categories such as Best New Show, Best Music Breakfast Show, Funniest Show and Best Sports Show.
Judging has now begun with nominees being announced on 15th January 2020.
Once nominations have been announced, tickets will go on sale to join the biggest names in audio and radio at the Palladium.
Adding to what has been an exciting year for the industry, this year has seen a record number of ARIAS entires, up 30%
on the previous year.
We have also made our first sponsorship announcement, welcoming on-board AIM, Arqiva, PPL, PRSforMusic, and sip.audio. Find out more about these fantastic and generous partners here.
For sponsors looking jump on board with this year’s ARIAS and to celebrate all things audio and radio, contact info@


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Resource : Ada Derana


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Hillyard, Inc. announced today it will expand in St. Joseph, investing more than $50 million and retaining more than 200 high-paying jobs in the area. The expansion of the leading manufacturer and distributor of cleaning and hygiene solutions will redevelop an existing downtown location.
“We’re excited that Hillyard is growing and helping revitalize downtown St. Joseph with a local workforce,” Governor Mike Parson said. “As a Missouri-made company, Hillyard is creating good-paying jobs and supplying essential products that are needed across the nation. Hillyard’s expansion is great news for the community and our state, and we’re proud to see its continued success here in Missouri.”
Founded in St. Joseph in 1907, Hillyard manufacturers, packages and distributes commercial cleaning products for hospitals, colleges, school districts, and more. Its expansion follows the purchase of a 25-acre property in St. Joseph, where the company will build state-of-the-art manufacturing and warehousing operations. The new distribution center is planned to be fully operational by late 2023. The more than 200 jobs retained will pay salaries above the average county wage.
“This is a great example of a great company breathing new life into a downtown area to help provide new economic and social benefits to their community,” said Maggie Kost, Acting Director of the Department of Economic Development. “We’re grateful for the efforts of all who made this project a success, and proud our Brownfield Remediation Program could help Hillyard revitalize and reinvigorate this site.”
Through its expansion, Hillyard will remediate a previously owned downtown St. Joseph site to serve as an expanded campus and an attractive, modern distribution center. The company also operates three additional distribution centers in Missouri and played an integral role in supplying critically needed cleaning and hygiene products during the pandemic. For its expansion, Hillyard used the Brownfield Remediation Program, which provides financial benefits to redevelop contaminated commercial or industrial sites.
“Hillyard deciding to remain in St. Joseph, keeping 200 jobs here and redeveloping a former heavy industrial site is invaluable,” said Natalie Redmond, President and CEO of the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce. “The dedication of the company and the partnership between the State of Missouri, Buchanan County and the City of St. Joseph to make this endeavor possible is incredibly important to downtown revitalization and the future of manufacturing here.”
“Downtown St. Joseph has been an important part of our history; we’ve thrived here for generations. Hillyard is committed to St. Joseph, and plan to be here for decades to come,” said Brett Carolus, Hillyard Chief Administrative Officer. “This project was made possible by a public and private collaboration among Hillyard, the city, county and state, and it will be great for the community.”
About the Brownfield Remediation Program
The purpose of the Brownfield Remediation Program is to provide incentives for the redevelopment of commercial or industrial sites abandoned or underutilized due to contamination caused by hazardous substances. The State of Missouri provides incentives to applicants that redevelop and remediate approved sites in accordance with voluntary clean up procedures established by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The program may be used to rehabilitate an existing building contaminated with hazardous substances or to clear existing structures and build a new facility. The program may also be applicable for contaminated sites that have no existing structures.
Learn more about the Brownfield Remediation Program.
About Hillyard, Inc.
Hillyard is a privately-owned manufacturer and distributor of cleaning and hygiene products located in St. Joseph, Mo. Founded in 1907 by Newton S. Hillyard, the company is committed to helping organizations improve outcomes, lower cleaning costs, and deliver results that ensure clean, safe, healthy facilities.
To learn more, visit hillyard.com.


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Honda Announces Closure of Sole UK Plant
The sole production site of the Honda Civic Hatchback and Type R will close by the end of 2021, Honda told UK employees on Tuesday.
Honda’s Swindon facility, built on the site of a former WW2 aircraft factory, began building Accords for the UK and European markets in 1992, adding the popular Civic to the mix two years later. Amid a turbulent time for trade and auto sales, Honda plans to shutter the facility, throwing 3,500 employees out of work and leaving the future of the Civic Hatch and its variants in question.
While business operations will continue at Swindon, auto assembly will not. A communiqué released Tuesday morning points to a global restructuring of Honda’s production base and regional sales concerns as the reason for the closure, instead of worry over Brexit.
“This restructure comes as Honda accelerates its commitment to electrified cars, in response to the unprecedented changes in the global automotive industry,” the automaker stated. “The significant challenges of electrification will see Honda revise its global manufacturing operations, and focus activity in regions where it expects to have high production volumes.”
Certainly, the possibility of profit-sapping tariffs (and not just those levied by the EU) could be weighing on the minds of Honda execs, but it’s just one slice of a complex pie. As mentioned yesterday, the EU and Japan now have a free trade pact, making export from Honda’s homeland a more enticing prospect.
“This is not a Brexit-related issue for us, it’s being made on the global-related changes I’ve spoken about,” Ian Howells, senior vice-president of Honda in Europe, told the BBC.
It’s worth fleshing out the last few words in Honda’s previous statement. From a recent high of 311,801 sales in 2007, Honda’s European volume fell to 136,191 vehicles in 2018. Swindon cranks out about 150,000 vehicles a year, with North America receiving its Civic Hatch from this locale.
“It has to be in a marketplace of a size for Honda, where it makes investment worthwhile,” Howells said of the company’s assembly sites.
Honda also announced the closure of its Turkey assembly operations by 2021, leaving its business operations in that country alive.
“This [decision] has not been taken lightly and we deeply regret how unsettling today’s announcement will be for our people,” said Katsushi Inoue, head of Honda’s European business.
Honda currently builds Civic sedans and coupes in American and Canadian plants. In the future, the region could receive Civic imports from Japan, though it’s possible hatch models could be added to the current domestic production mix.
Highdesertcat on Feb 19, 2019
Honda is not the only co closing plants around the world. It's a sign of the times. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ford-motor-southamerica-heavytruck/ford-to-close-oldest-brazil-plant-exit-south-america-truck-biz-idUSKCN1Q82EB
Latest Car ReviewsRead more
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- Michael Dalia My first car was a 1966 Pontiac Lemans. I also owned a 1972 Catalina and an 1988 6000LE. Currently I drive a 2007 G6 GT convertible which which I love and probably will have until I can no longer drive. Pontiacs are great!
- Damage The mobile TV is a hoot. There wasn't a single thing on TV in the 70s that was good enough to justify the trouble and expense of putting a TV in your truck.
- Theflyersfan As a kid, a neighbor had one of these full-sized conversion vans with the TV and wet bar in the back. And it was so cool to go in - as a kid it was, driving it had to be terror at times with blind spots, iffy power and brakes, and the feeling that you're hauling your living room with you! Kids of the 1970s and 1980s had this experience. Afterwards with minivans and then CUV everything, not so much.And I'm crushed that a 1977 van doesn't have some kind of mural on the sides. Coyote howling at the moon, American flag, Confederate flag, bright stripes, something! You can't have a 1970's era van with plain sides! At least a "Don't Laugh. Your daughter's in here" bumper sticker on the back. I always get a Gacy or Bundy vibe with these vans...
- Jeff S In the EV market Tesla is not a niche player it is the major player. According to the latest data of the California-based vehicle valuation and automotive research company Kelley Blue Book, Tesla has the lion’s share with 75 percent market share in the electric vehicle market in the first three months of 2022.Tesla has dominated the electric vehicle market for years in the United States. The electric vehicles manufactured by Tesla accounted for 79 percent of the new electric vehicles registered in the United States in 2020 and 69,95 percent in 2021. The decrease in the market share in 2021 might be explained by backlogs and the global chip shortage, but the company is ramping up its sales and has already increased its market share to 75 percent in the first quarter of the year. According to Kelley Blue Book, the top 10 EVs sold in the US in the first quarter of 2022 are;[list=1][*]Tesla Model Y[/*][*]Tesla Model 3[/*][*]Ford Mustang Mach-E[/*][*]Tesla Model X[/*][*]Hyundai Ioniq 5[/*][*]Kia EV6[/*][*]Tesla Model S[/*][*]Nissan Leaf[/*][*]Kia Niro[/*][*]Audi e-Tron[/*][/list=1]Tesla has delivered 310,048 vehicles in the first quarter of 2022, another first-quarter record. The success of Tesla is proven once again as the company has three electric cars in the top 10 most selling electric vehicles in the United States, while no other manufacturer has even two different models on the list.Tesla leads all others, selling slightly over 936,000 units in 2021. This gave the company a market share of nearly 14%.Mar 30, 2022https://interestingengineering.com/transportation/tesla-ev-market-75-percent-market-share
- Jeff S I did not know Plymouth had a full size van prior to the mini vans. I did know about the Plymouth pickups and the Trail Duster.


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Slingbox is Discontinued, Will Shutdown Over Next 24 Months
One of the earliest ways to stream your channels from anywhere is going away.
Slingbox, the hardware device, along with the associated Slingplayer app, enabled streamers could watch live TV on their phones, tablets, Mac, and PC. Sling Media, which was acquired by Dish in 2007, released Slingplayer for Roku in 2013, which allowed streaming on the connected TV device.
According to the shut down notice as first spotted by Slashdot, “Slingbox servers will be permanently taken offline 24 months after the discontinued announcement date (November 9, 2020), at which point ALL Slingbox devices and services will become inoperable.”
However, according to Sling, “Until then, most Slingbox models will continue to work normally, but the number of supported devices for viewing will steadily decrease as versions of the SlingPlayer apps become outdated and/or lose compatibility.”
This also has no impact on Sling TV, which will continue to work across devices — which just shares a name with its predecessor.
One of the biggest advantages to the Slingbox is that it allowed you to bring your cable or satellite subscription with you. With addition of Live TV Streaming Services and TV Everywhere apps, it has more or less lost its purpose over time, but served as a pioneer in streaming live TV.


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The Navigon app for Android brings the quality maps and routes that we expect from a Garmin-branded navigation product, but the interface spoils the experience.
BringGo navigation works well as inexpensive in-dash navigation for certain Chevrolet vehicles, but as a standalone navigation app, it's not a very good choice.
Scientists have sequenced a nearly complete woolly mammoth genome, which should bolster efforts to resurrect the Stone Age zoological rock star.
Technically Incorrect: In another exciting interview to promote the new Avengers movie, Iron Man says Apple's new watch is small and not terribly interesting. He prefers his Omega.
Technically Incorrect: YouTube is ablaze with millions laughing at a piece of Indian footage that shows a man giving the finger to a monkey and then...
Technically Incorrect: Hai Lam, one of the famed participants in eSports, has to give it all up because of a repetitive strain injury.
Watch laser enthusiast Patrick Priebe show off the blasting abilities of his slick Iron Man glove in a new YouTube video.
Revenue in China helps boost the company to a record second quarter, but the iPad remains a weak spot for Apple.
The world's largest software maker has to convince developers to write apps for the new version of its widely used operating system. But it also needs to win over customers, from consumers to businesses. That's no simple task.
The Apple Watch rollout hasn't been the smoothest experience, with buyers facing long shipping delays and confusion about how to actually buy the device, which was released Friday.


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Café y Chocolate, the local restaurant serving Oaxacan culture through its drinks and more
Oaxacan’s culinary culture is obviously one of the most distinct and historic in gastronomy that was created and perfected by indigenous peoples over hundreds of years in southern Mexico.
Cheese, mezcal, mole, and chocolate are just a few of the staple foods that Oaxaca is known for. Tangy, spicy and savory ingredients are what take cooking to the next level and make it a global phenomenon.
One woman who brings this culture to South Philadelphia is Maricela Tellez, the owner of Café y Chocolate.
Ultimately, they are at the heart of what Tellez does at every location, including Café y Chocolate.
“I have clients who come all the time, and to me they are my family, they have been so supportive,” she said in a recent interview with News AL DIA.
Tellez was introduced to cooking as a little girl working in her uncle’s restaurant in Puebla, Mexico.
It was there that she learned to make mole, salsa verde, and other sauces that represented her culture.
When she first came to the United States nearly 15 years ago, she worked in an Italian restaurant, where she was also exposed to and learned to prepare dishes that were unfamiliar to her.
Her first restaurant, Café y Chocolate, was a dream for Tellez and her husband, who opened as soon as they had the chance.
But like most businesses in 2020, she admitted the past year has been one of the biggest struggles she has ever faced.
As several small businesses across the city closed, she feared her restaurant might be next.
“We applied for government grants, but unfortunately we didn’t receive any help,” Tellez said.
It’s a similar story to many Latino-owned businesses across Philadelphia that haven’t received any loans or grants given amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the lack of government support, Tellez’s three businesses have been able to stay strong and remain a force in Philly’s shaken but busy food scene.
Café y Chocolate is known for its authentic Oaxacan chocolate, created using a Mexican brand of chocolate, while adding different spices – one of the most notable being cinnamon.
Another favorite is their café con chocolat.
“We put two shots of espresso, Mexican chocolate, and topped it with whipped cream and cinnamon,” Tellez said.
People also stop by for their famous brunch specials, like their chilaquiles, a hearty and generous serving of homemade tortilla chips smothered in salsa verde, salsa roja, or taupe topped with sour cream and queso fresco alongside black beans and rice.
“We also have calves which are also popular,” she said.
Their molletes are made with a long buttered and grilled Portuguese roll covered in refried black beans and melted Chihuahua cheese and topped with queso fresco and a side of pico de gallo.
Beyond drinks and brunch, the Tellez spot is also known for its homemade desserts such as tres leches, flan de leche, and creamed plantains, which are made by frying sweet plantains and topping them. queso fresco and sour cream.
Check out their impressive menu and supporting a Latino-owned business.


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Media Musings Blog Archive Fairfax Needs You
Nike magistax proximo ii tf nike magista ag earlier this week in my otherwise innocuous Twitter steam, this journo clickbait from The Sydney Morning Herald tech reporter jumped out at me:Fairfax Media is delving deeper into the taxpayer rort, the iceberg tip of which was exposed earlier this week with Tony Abbott loose expense claiming, including travelling to Port Macquarie to compete in the Ironman event.
The legacy brand is asking for citizens to help them trawl through four years worth of government data.
Of course, sifting through such a huge amount of data is time consuming, and takes a special amount of skill to cross check dates with activities.
This is not a new idea, mind you. The Guardian had an identical project in 2009 to investigate UK MP expenses.
But it staggering to imagine the struggling Fairfax brand blithely asking for help, considering last week they laid of 45 staff,axing their (melbourne) and (sydney) magazines.
Shortly afterward, theyjacked up the price of the weekday compact by 15 per cent and the Saturday editions by 10 per cent.
Interestingly, the article does not state what it is prepared to pay people for contributing to the investigation, if anything.
Another glaring question is, if a major metro masthead doesn have the time or resources to commit to poring over government documents, who does?
Full time workers with a penchant for data mining in their spare time? Retirees? The unemployed?
As Barry Tucker blogged on Truth In News Media, opportunity also presents some danger, especially in regard to careless or inaccurate reporting by, hopefully, well meaning amateurs. The rules involving politicians’ expense claims are detailed, complicated and variable. this year the graduate diploma of journalism students were given a guest lecture by Craig Butt, The Age king of data journalism.
A huge emphasis was placed on us on the importance of data journalism as a skill for journalists navigating the new media landscape.
Perhaps if legacy media doesn have the resources to support the thirst for data journalism, it opens the opportunity for the little guys to make it happen.
So then why help Fairfax if you can sell it to someone who willing to pay more for your time?Posted under: Blogging, Future of media, Multimedia journalism
Dated: Oct 11 2013
I don really have a problem with this type of crowd sourcing, citizen journalism. I understand the problems that can arise, as you both point out, you can rely on the public to do a great job. But it can certainly help a news organisation go through a tremendous amount of data rather quickly. At the end of the day, journalists are still going to be double and triple checking whatever the citizens come up with. Best case scenario they notice something a journalist might not. After all the audience have their own areas of expertise that might shine a new light one whatever material they are analyzing.
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Facebook is launching its "dynamic ads" for mobile app installs which could help target people who might actually download an app—and who might actually also want to use it.
Facebook's latest ads product—which officially launches today after it was announced earlier this year—will be able to help app marketers serve ads to people who have recently browsed products and might be interested in trying out a brand's mobile app. The dynamic ads personalize themselves for each user based on which products someone has recently browsed for online.
The company points to research from Gartner, which said smartphone sales last year rose 10 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the first three quarters. Facebook said App Store installs peak in December but still are strong through February, but only 6 percent of people still use an app after 30 days.
"The holiday period aside, app businesses are also facing a very unique challenge, and that challenge is that app businesses are no longer looking to just get discovery," Christine Di Martini, app ads marketing lead at Facebook, said in an interview. "It's not that it's not important, but the fact that it's getting discovered by the right people and by the people who will use your app and use it over time is becoming increasingly important to their business."
While the ads unit is rolling out globally today, Facebook has been testing the product with various brands over the past few months. In one test campaign, Facebook worked with Hotels.com to find users as they were planning and upcoming trip. Di Martini said download frequency increased while cost-per-install decreased.
In another test related to app event optimization—a way of targeting users who are likely to tact action within an app after downloading—Facebook worked with Zynga to drive downloads for the mobile gamemaker's Wizard of Oz Slots game. Early results showed the personalized app install ads doubled the conversion-to-player rate and increased installs by 60 percent. (Overall, return on ad spend for Zynga was 4.5 times higher than before.)
"Businesses want to find people who are likely to install and then purchase, or install and then book a trip or install and then reach another level in the game," Di Martini said. "They really want to know that they're finding value in their app beyond the install."


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Is your new car a national security threat? Through the Cold War, both sides of the Iron Curtain resolved the question of expanding aerial surveillance capabilities by signing the Open Skies Treaty—providing clear rules on how and when both NATO and Warsaw Pact nations could spy on each other from the sky, while also regulating flight paths for these surveillance missions. Instead it tries to stop them altogether.
Consumer vehicles are a recent addition to the national security equation. But thanks to the globalized economy and modern product development, they are perhaps an even trickier challenge.
As it stands, Teslas are arguably the most connected and widespread of the new generation of vehicles. Not only do they collect massive amounts of data on the driver, from call logs to on-board browser history to average speed and route history, but their outward-looking sensors and cameras can transmit significant information about the surrounding world. .
Early this year, David Colombo, a 19-year-old German programmer, demonstrated that it wasn’t possible to access sensitive data on Tesla customers—it was that simple. Using a third-party application with access to Tesla’s API, Colombo hacked into the systems of more than two dozen Teslas around the world, controlling their locks, windows, and sound systems and downloading a huge bundle of information.
“I was able to see a large amount of data. “Where the Tesla is, where it’s charged, current location, where it usually parks, while driving, travel speed, navigation requests, history of software updates, weather history around the Tesla and much more,” Colombo Posted in Medium post Published in January, it details his exploits.
Although the specific vulnerabilities Colombo took advantage of have been patched, his hack demonstrates a huge flaw at the core of these smart vehicles: sharing data isn’t a bug; It is a feature.
The amount of data Tesla collects and uses is only the tip of the iceberg. We haven’t yet seen fully autonomous vehicles or “smart cities” with 5G-enabled roads and traffic lights.
In the near future, cars will collect information not only about their driver and passengers, but also about the vehicles, pedestrians, and the city around them. A car needs some of that data to function properly—to minimize collisions, plan routes better, and improve vehicles.
“The United States and Europe are asleep at the wheel,” said Tu Le, managing director of Sino Auto Insights. The US, Canada and Europe may continue to be the world leaders in producing conventional vehicles, but that lead will not last long. Whether it’s cobalt mining, lithium battery innovation, 5G-enabled technology or big data analytics, Le says China is several steps ahead of its Western competitors.
“All unrelated things are converging into this smart EV,” Le said.
However, not all of Beijing’s success has come honestly. Accusations were made against Chinese nationals theft Intellectual property from American companies to promote China’s growing industry. Le said that spying certainly helps but is not the main reason for Beijing’s explosive growth in the automotive sector.


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Though Apple claims that Samsung copied gadget design elements from the iPhone and iPad, Samsung employees are actually working themselves to the bone in the race to beat Apple.
"I slept perhaps two hours, or three hours a night," Samsung app icon designer Jeeyuen Wang said in court recently, recalling her three-monthlong work on the Galaxy S handset, according to the Daily Mail.
Her admission to shockingly long hours came out during the Samsung-Apple trial, currently raging in California. The Korean company on Tuesday brought several witnesses to the stand to testify against accusations that its Galaxy S smartphone copied the design of Apple's iPhone.
The Verge also reports Wang had just given birth around the inception of the Galaxy S, and she was obligated to spend many hours on the project, away from her baby. "My recollection was that the breast feeding had to come to a stop," she stated.
“Those were difficult times," Wang said, according to EE Times. "Samsung is a very hard company to work at -- it’s a very hard-working company."
Employees at other large tech companies are known to log grueling hours, particularly when new products are soon to be released.
In her book, "The Boy Kings: A Journey into the Heart of the Social Network," former Facebook employee Katherine Losse gave audiences a glimpse into the company's culture.
"To most of its users, Facebook seemed to come from nowhere; to me, it had meant long and sometimes very exciting hours — and some difficult experiences that didn't belong on my Facebook 'wall,'" The Wall Street Journal reprinted from her tell-all book.
Google, too, has been said to require long hours from its staff. In 2009, TechCrunch posted an email thread allegedly from Google HR, asking ex-employees "why they quit." One worker stated the following:
If you don’t put extra hours then you won’t get promoted, no promotion means no salary hike… [I] feel sad about my decision on choosing Google over IBM … Small pay, No work, No Team spirit, No Hike in 12 months, No balance between Family Life and work are few things which motivated my move out.
And of course, Apple is no exception.
"You’re going to work harder than you ever have in your entire life,” Apple's VP of mobile software Scott Forstall told workers during the making of iOS. He explained the late nights and overtime hours to the courtroom in his court testimony last week. “You’re going to have to give up nights and weekends probably for a couple of years as we make this product," he said, per Bloomberg Bussinessweek.
Have you or anyone you've known worked for a company that demanded long hours from employees? What are your thoughts on the impact such requirements could have on employees? Let us know your opinions in the comments section below.


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New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) announced on Thursday the launch of its vehicle subscription programme, called ‘Maruti Suzuki Subscribe’, for individuals in Delhi, NCR region (Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurugram) and Bengaluru.
The programme allows a customer to use a new car without actually owning it by paying an all-inclusive monthly fee that comprehensively covers complete maintenance, insurance and roadside assistance, MSIL said in a statement.
MSIL has partnered with ORIX Auto Infrastructure Services India, a subsidiary of ORIX Corporation, Japan, to launch the programme in these cities.
Through this service, the customers can choose to subscribe to a new Swift, Dzire, Vitara Brezza and Ertiga from Maruti Suzuki ARENA and a new Baleno, Ciaz and XL6 from NEXA, the MSIL statement said.
Customers can select a duration ranging from 12 months to 48 months. They will be required to pay a monthly subscription charge of INR 14,463 (including taxes) for Swift Lxi in Delhi for 48 months.
“This subscription is all-inclusive and covers expenses like maintenance, insurance and 24x7 roadside assistance. On completion of the subscription tenure, the customer can also opt to upgrade vehicle, extend, or buy the car at the market price,” the MSIL said in the statement.
Shashank Srivastava, executive director - marketing and sales, MSIL, said, “The vehicle subscription market is new to India and as such offers huge untapped potential. Globally, the penetration of such leasing programme varies between 5% and 30%.”
“The programme is especially focused on bringing convenience to the individual customers. Besides the flexibility of tenure, it offers nil down payment and includes registration costs, insurance and its renewal as well as routine maintenance. Additionally, the roadside assistance service brings total peace of mind to the customers. Progressively we aim to offer Maruti Suzuki Subscribe in 40-60 cities in the next two to three years,” he said.
Sandeep Gambhir, MD and CEO ORIX India, said, “We are excited to partner with Maruti Suzuki in the efforts to create customised, flexible propositions for customers which will provide them a hassle-free and convenient car driving experience.”
Maruti Suzuki Subscribe offers the car in white number plate (registered in the name of the customer) or black number plate (registered in the name of Orix). Orix will take care of the vehicle maintenance, insurance coverage and roadside assistance through Maruti Suzuki’s dealer channel, MSIL informed.
Since the fiscal benefits are available, if the investment in the state is substantial, the government will be willing to offer these benefits to whoever buys the Ford factory. Apart from this, the government will also enable and fast track all necessary approvals so that the sale goes through smoothly in an effort to bring a quick resolution to the issue.


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It’s not news that the oil and gas sector is expanding in Brazil. Newspapers and magazines publish daily articles about the developments and investments in this industry, as well as, the need for a qualified workforce. Oil gained tremendous importance in the world during the XX century, when most nations became dependent on it as a source of energy.
The Brazilian fashion industry has begun to gain ground abroad and the forecast for the sector is that it will increase both inside the country and internationally - once people work hard for it. Read on to learn more about it.
Everyone knows that Brazil is one of the biggest commodities exporters in the world, but do people know the Brazil also exports badminton rackets? Or tortoise shells? This article outlines some weird items exported from the country.
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The sector of ornamental flowers and plants have increased a lot in the last past years, being considered as one of the most promising and important segments of agribusiness in the world. Brazil is conquering markets and gaining space in this sector.
Having been analyzing the Brazilian market for few years, the Swedish company, Ikea, has finally shown real interest in starting its first commercial activities in the country.
The Brazilian consumer market is growing, and, with the purchasing power of the middle class, the country became a good target for foreign investors that are seeing huge possibilities in Brazil for their business expansions.
The difficulty in finding suitable partners and the huge bureaucracy were some of the reasons that made foreign brands stay out of Brazil for the last few years, but for 2013 and 2014 the growth of the Brazilian market moved the country on the radar of these major companies.
The spa and well-being market is becoming a very lucrative trend in Brazil. Concerned with a better quality of life, Brazilians are answering more and more frequently to this type of services. Find out how this market is organized and how it works in Brazil.
For two years Brazil has occupied an important position on the map of the cruise ship market internationally. This article explains why this activity is so intense in the country and what possibilities the market offers.
In Brazil, the film production industry has many possibilities for growth, that's why the government, private sector companies and even other countries are betting on this Brazilian sector through investments.


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Pretend stories and information involving Starbucks and cryptos
Starbucks as enterprise chief in coffee-related services has printed an official report, the place it says clearly concerning the impossibility at current time of accepting Bitcoin and different various cash as fee methodology, after loads of information platforms and media even with acknowledged fame posted about that risk two days in the past.
On Friday, August threerd the NYSE or New York Inventory Market, in addition to the ICE or Intercontinental Alternate introduced conjoined plans to create an “modern and world ecosystem for digital belongings and cryptocurrencies”, being referred to as with the title of “Bakk”. Such undertaking entails nice technological and related corporations like BCG, Microsoft and Starbucks.
Like this, as a result of this announcement a number of predominant information media and others printed mistaken and even pretend and with out supply stories on the direct partnership between Starbucks and Microsoft, in addition to the brand new present risk to pay moccas, frappuchinos and different merchandise from the corporate by paying with Bitcoin and different altcoins.
So, as a Starbucks consultant clarified the data on information media like Motherboard, it was stated clearly that “clients won’t be able to permit to pay with Bitcoin or another altcoin”.
Additionally, the consultant highlighted that the espresso firm is concerned in an awesome scale monetary undertaking that together with different enterprises, it would permit to create an modern platform to “trade digital currencies into American , which clearly will be spent in Starbucks because the buyer likes”.


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SPARTA, NJ – A Sparta woman was faces shoplifting charges after being detained at the Stop and Shop in Sparta.
On February 2, around 9 p.m. Sparta Police Officer Steve Guido and Cpl. Craig Grauerholz went to the store on Town Center Drive to find Jennifer Sheridan, 39, in the security room. Sheridan, a Stop and Shop employee had been seen by the manager putting items into her bag. When she checked out she only paid for some of the items but not all, police report.
When questioned by police, Sheridan admitted to taking the items without paying. The value of the stolen items was $25.76 according to police.
Sheridan was taken into custody and brought to the Sparta Police Department headquarters for processing. She was charged with shoplifting and released pending a court date.