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(Host) All across America this week people topped off their Thanksgiving dinners with pumpkin pie. The spices in some of those pies, and that cup of organic coffee on the side, are helping to preserve the world’s shrinking rainforests and the cultures that live in them.
A Brattleboro company called ForesTrade is in large part responsible for making that connection, as VPR’s Susan Keese reports:
(Keese) In the Brattleboro Food Coop this week, shoppers were stocking up on cinnamon and spices for the classic Thanksgiving dessert.
(Shopper) “I’ll probably make a pumpkin pie.”
(Keese) But ask them where cinnamon comes from, or exactly what a clove is and many are not sure. Sylvia Blanchet knows. The sample room in her company’s Brattleboro headquarters is pungent with organic spices her company imports:
(Blanchet, opening bags of spices) “Let’s get some allspice and some cinnamon sticks, yes?”
(Keese) Cinnamon, Blanchet says, is actually the bark of the cassia tree:
(Blanchet) “A different genus and species of cinnamon is common in Europe, but the Americans are used to this type, which has a much stronger flavor. And it’s called cassia and it’s grown in Sumatra and that’s what we supply the U.S. with.”
(Keese) Blanchet and her husband Thomas Fricke are the founders of ForesTrade. The company is the world’s largest distributor of organic spices. It also imports fair trade organic coffees for retail roasters. Earlier this year the company was honored by the UN for its socially conscious business practices.
ForesTrade links farmers in the rainforests of Indonesia and central America to the high-priced organic food trade. Organic certification involves caring for the watershed and soils as well as growing food without chemicals. The premium prices allow farmers to earn a decent living without destroying the environment.
At first, ForesTrade operated as an importer of cinnamon. But a trip to the Cerinci region of West Sumatra revealed to Thomas Fricke that cinnamon farmers were clear cutting in the rainforest to expand their operations. And the rainforest preserve was the home to the last surviving Sumatran tigers. Sylvia Blanchet:
(Blanchet) “And the first thing he saw was that the farmers were largely cinnamon farmers and they were clear cutting and moving on, and clear cutting. And so he developed this whole plan to see if he could create incentives for farmers to stay on one farm and really learn to grow their products sustainably and agree to honor the boundaries of the park.”
(Keese) Many Cerincis were already worried about erosion on their clearcut slopes. The people had a tradition of protecting their resources, obscured in many cases by poverty.
(Blanchet) “It’s a fascinating culture. They have these homes that are quite remarkable. Great sloping roofs, they’re made to replicate water buffalo horns. And the houses have carvings all around the outside that are all about ethics and morality and what’s important in life.”
(Keese) When cassia trees are cut they send up new shoots. If managed well and cut selectively they can last for centuries and yield enough to eliminate the need to expand into the rainforest.
Fricke and Blanchet looked first for local farmers who understood sustainable practices and helped them meet European and U.S. standards for organic certification. Others became interested when they saw their neighbors earning more. In exchange for premium prices the Cerincis agreed to stop clearing in the rainforest.
Cerinci farmer groups now supply more than half of the world’s organic cinnamon. That’s about a half of 1% of the total cinnamon sold. ForesTrade is counting on the organic market to expand.
In other parts of the world, in Guatemala, for example, ForesTrade imports cardamom and allspice. Fricke says the company also supplies vanilla for Ben and Jerry’s ice cream:
(Fricke) “Vanilla is an orchid, and it has to grow up on trees. So it’s absolutely wonderful and essential that it be grown ecologically sustainable.”
(Keese) But it’s still an uphill battle. ForesTrade has a staff of 70 in Indonesia and Guatemala to offer advice and monitor farming practices between yearly inspections by outside organic certifiers.
For Vermont Public Radio, I’m Susan Keese in Brattleboro.


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BEP to celebrate Panama-Canal in 2015 intaglio prints
- Published: Dec 12, 2014, 9 AM
Dec. 17 is the first day of sale for a subscription to receive all three 2015 intaglio prints produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The prints will mark the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal.
A subscription costs $99, which is a savings of $21 off the individual print purchase price, according to the BEP.
Subscriptions must be ordered by Jan. 26, 2015, to ensure delivery. Each intaglio print will ship after its first day of sale.
The prints will feature compilations of engraved vignettes including the images from the 100th Anniversary Panama-Pacific International Exposition Certificate. Postage stamps related to the Panama-Pacific Exposition are part of the designs.
The first day of sale for the first print will be Jan. 8, 2015, followed by the second print on March 24 and the third and final print June 9.
Paper Money Aug 8, 2022, 12 PM
US Coins Aug 8, 2022, 11 AM
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Paper Money Aug 6, 2022, 12 PM

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Sarah Elenany ‘frustrated’ with Muslim ‘fashion’
A LONDON fashion graduate has launched her own clothing line that unites urban chic with Islamic culture.
Sarah Elenany, from Mitcham in Surrey, has developed her new label ‘Elenany’ by drawing inspiration from Islamic art and combining it with contemporary styling.
The 24-year-old launched the label after becoming frustrated with the lack of fashionable clothing that adhered to a Muslim woman’s desire for modesty.
“As a Muslim woman I have always found that the only options for me are the traditional Islamic clothes, or buying high-street brands in sizes too big so that I was covered. There was no compromise.” explained Sarah.
“I started to design and make my own clothes and other Muslims began complementing me on them. That was when I realised there is a real demand for Islamic clothing with a modern edge.”
After graduating from London South Bank University (LSBU) with a degree in Engineering Product Design, Sarah applied for a place on LSBU’s Enterprise Associate Scheme which supports students with entrepreneurial flair.
After completing the course she received a formal academic qualification in the form of an MSc in Enterprise by Learning Contract.
As an Enterprise Associate she successfully applied for £40,000 from The Emerald Fund to create the new collection – which Sarah describes as “relevant to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.”
“I have used bold shapes and vibrant colours, and I expect they will completely turn any preconceptions on their heads. At the same time I think Muslims will appreciate the wit of the designs that borrow from Islamic imagery,” she adds.
Sarah is now in the process of sourcing a manufacturer for her clothes and constructing a website for online orders.


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Political uncertainty is slowing trade growth, a World Bank report has concluded, indicating that the rise of Donald Trump may already be casting a shadow over the global economy.
Major international institutions such as the IMF, the OECD and World Bank have recently upgraded their forecasts of global economic growth largely due to expectations that tax cuts, rising infrastructure spending and a wave of deregulation will boost the US economy under the new president.
But the report by World Bank economists, released on Tuesday, highlights the fragile state of one historically important engine of global growth — trade.
The study avoids naming Mr Trump, but highlights rising protectionism and threats to unwind trade agreements — such as those made by the president.
It also raises the prospect that attempts by the Trump administration to force companies to repatriate global supply chains to the US could undermine efforts to boost lagging productivity growth.
To the extent that the policy uncertainty will remain high we should continue to expect [global] trade growth to be subdued
International trade has been growing below historic trends for the past five years. The 1.9 per cent growth recorded in 2016, according to the team at the bank, was the slowest since the 2009 collapse in commerce that followed the global financial crisis.
The team found that some of the reasons for the anaemic trade growth, which affected both developed and developing economies, were broader trends such as slow economic growth around the world and a collapse in commodity prices.
But in 2016 the principal change was a surge in uncertainty about economic policy. According to the World Bank’s calculations, such uncertainty was responsible for 0.6 percentage points of the 0.8 percentage-point fall in trade growth between 2015 and 2016.
The team at the bank based their figure on a study of the relationship between trade and economic policy uncertainty in 18 countries over three decades. They added they expected the impact to continue in 2017.
“To the extent that the policy uncertainty will remain high we should continue to expect [global] trade growth to be subdued,” said Michele Ruta, one of the authors.
The World Bank team also sought to quantify the impact of trade agreements on global trade growth. World trade grew at an annual rate of 6.53 per cent between 1995 and 2014, they calculated. Had no new members — including China — joined the World Trade Organisation or no new trade agreements been signed, international trade would have grown at just 4.76 per cent annually, they found.
One of the big consequences of the explosion in trade deals in recent decades has been the emergence of global supply chains. Such chains are widely seen by economists to have made businesses more efficient and boosted productivity.
But Mr Trump and his administration have said they want to unwind those international supply chains and bring them home.
“It does the American economy no long-term good to only keep the big box factories where we are now assembling ‘American’ products that are composed primarily of foreign components,” Peter Navarro, one of the president’s top trade advisers, told the Financial Times last month.
According to the World Bank team such a move, coupled with unwinding existing trade agreements that have encouraged the establishment of international supply chains, would hurt productivity growth.
“Preserving and expanding the reach of trade agreements, rather than backtracking on existing commitments, would help to sustain the growth of productivity,” the bank’s economists wrote.
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LVMH makes €2bn on stake in rival Hermes
LVMH, the luxury goods giant, has made a paper profit of around €2bn (£1.8bn) after it revealed at the weekend it has built up a 17 per cent stake in rival Hermès International.
Shares in Hermès, which makes silk scarves and Birkin handbags, rose as much as 17 per cent yesterday. The stock closed up 15 per cent at €202.85 valuing the firm at €21.4bn.
LVMH, home to Louis Vuitton and Moet champagne, said it has no plans to takeover its rival. Hermès said it wants to remain independent.


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Intel, aiming to alleviate Hollywood’s concerns about piracy, is building security into a new chip design that would let Warner Bros. and other studios sell high-definition movies online for viewing on computers. The chipmaker will announce the Intel Insider feature this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, said Tom Kilroy, head of sales at Intel. Warner Bros. will use the technology as part of a plan to make more than 300 titles available in February. The feature is designed to prevent illegal copying of high-definition films, providing the assurance studios need to make more movies available on the Internet, Kilroy said. For Intel, the technology gives consumers another reason to upgrade their computers. “Online distribution is where all of the growth is,” Kilroy said. “This is a major breakthrough.”
— Bloomberg News
New formats gain
Spending on DVDs, Blu-ray discs and video-on-demand in the U.S. fell about 4 percent last year, as growth in newer formats slowed the decline in the home entertainment industry. Sales topped $18 billion, down from $19.2 billion in 2009, according to preliminary estimates from IHS Screen Digest. Precise totals aren’t available yet, Tom Adams, principal analyst and director of U.S. media, said Monday. Rising sales of Blu-ray discs and online rentals may ease industry concern over the decline in DVDs and competition from free content on the Internet. DVD revenue slid to about $8.3 billion from $9.8 billion in 2009, Adams said. “They’re finally big enough that growth is starting to eliminate the decline in DVD,” Adams said of the Blu-ray and online sales.
Buys software firm
DemandTec is buying Boulder, Colo., software developer Applied Intelligence Solutions for an undisclosed amount. The San Mateo company said Monday that the deal gives it access to Applied’s knowledge in software application development for softline retail categories, which include jewelry, linens, footwear and clothing. DemandTec, which provides software services for retailers and consumer products companies, said the transaction includes a U.S. patent related to behavior recognition.
— Associated Press


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Bitcoin Needs Improvements, Says Barry Silbert
One well-known person in the cryptocurrency space who has been promoting growth and positive change for Bitcoin is Barry Silbert. Silbert has been instrumental in the growth of the cryptocurrency industry as the founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, one of the biggest cryptocurrency investment firms. He is contributing to the increased usability and accessibility of digital currencies for the general public through his numerous businesses and projects.
As an investment and holding business that focuses on blockchain and cryptocurrency entrepreneurs, Digital Currency Group was founded in 2015 by Barry Silbert. Coinbase, Genesis Mining, and Grayscale Investments are all part of its holdings, which have allowed it to grow into a dominant participant in the cryptocurrency market. Hundreds of bitcoin businesses have benefited from Digital Currency Group’s nearly $2 billion in investments made through these and other companies. They want to play a role in building the financial system that will let cryptocurrencies gain widespread adoption.
One of Barry Silbert’s most notable companies is Grayscale Investments, which manages over $30 billion in crypto assets. Grayscale offers some of the only regulated crypto investment vehicles, such as their Bitcoin Trust, providing an easy way for institutional investors like hedge funds and family offices to gain exposure. Their products have helped drive billions of dollars of institutional capital into the crypto space. Silbert saw the need for these types of regulated investment products early on and Grayscale has become the dominant player in this segment of the market.
Along with building significant businesses, Barry Silbert has assisted in the beginning of projects to promote the development and use of cryptocurrencies. He is one of the main sources of cryptocurrency news and information, having co-founded CoinDesk, an offshoot of the Digital Currency Group, in 2015. CoinDesk assists in informing the public and industry about significant advancements. Silbert established Foundry, a policy branch devoted to lobbying legislators and promoting pro-crypto regulations, more recently, in 2021. Their group seeks to inform policymakers and draft reasonable legislation that safeguards consumers and fosters innovation.
By filling a number of positions, Barry Silbert has kept many prominent bitcoin companies from failing or going bankrupt. In 2018, Silbert’s Digital Currency Group purchased Cryptopia’s assets from bankruptcy after the cryptocurrency exchange was hit hard by a hack. In the time after, they were instrumental in the company’s revival under new leadership. During the bear market of 2018-2019, Silbert arranged for DCG to acquire Genesis Trading, a major cryptocurrency brokerage, when the company was experiencing financial troubles. The company’s demise was likely averted because of this.
By establishing major firms like Genesis Trading and Grayscale, as well as non-profit advocacy through Foundry, Barry Silbert is working to strengthen the crypto ecosystem and make digital currencies more resilient. As the industry leader of one of the largest crypto investment conglomerates, he understands the need for strong companies and policy support to ensure long term viability and growth. Silbert recognizes that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have the potential to revolutionize financial systems worldwide, but changes are still needed for mass adoption. Through his promotional efforts, deals, and advocacy work, he is helping to guide Bitcoin and the overall crypto space towards a brighter future of greater acceptance and utility.
Refer to: discover here


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Tim Cook Lands Fresh Pay Package
|Photo credit: tua ulamac on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons|
Tim Cook, the Chief Executive of technology giant Apple, has been granted a new pay package that’ll run from this year through 2025, as indicated by a filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) by Apple. According to the filing, Tim Cook will receive 333,987 units of restricted stock that’ll vest in thirds on an annual basis beginning 2023. The Apple CEO has also clinched a separate pay package of 333,987 units of stock that’ll vest in 2023 and with an option to double if Apple meets certain performance targets. Under the compensation plan, Cook could pocket as much as 1 million shares over the next five years, shares worth $114 million going by Apple’s current (as of writing) trading price of $114, and with even more potential to grow if Apple’s share price climbs over the next five years.
Cook, who took up the CEO position at Apple in 2011, has been handsomely paid over his career and just recently bagged a $280 million stock bonus as part of an equity award granted in the very year he became CEO. In fact, he’s estimated to be a billionaire (Bloomberg rankings) thanks to a handsome compensation package through his nine years as Apple’s CEO coupled with the company’s soaring stock and, in turn, market capitalization. For reference, Apple ended the year 2011 with a market capitalization of $377 billion but has since soared to a current market capitalization of roughly $2 trillion. In 2011, Apple recorded $108 billion in revenues, compared to $260 billion in 2019.
A yet another significant stock grant for Tim Cook signals confidence in his leadership by Apple’s board. Cook has throughout his career been one of the highest paid chief executives globally, now with a payment contract to stay through 2025. If he stays till that year, he’ll mark a 14-year tenure that makes him Apple’s longest-ever serving CEO after the late Steve Jobs.


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Forget malaise, and let’s start talking Grinch. With supply-chain issues still festering for months and inflation beginning to roar, retailers wonder whether they can provide the goods for the holiday season on which they rely for fiscal solvency. The White House offered its advice yesterday, which was … get used to disappointment:
White House officials, scrambling to relieve global supply bottlenecks choking U.S. ports, highways and railways, warn Americans may face higher prices and some empty shelves this Christmas season.
The supply crisis, driven in part by the global COVID pandemic, not only threatens to dampen U.S. spending at a critical time, it also poses a political risk for U.S. President Joe Biden. …
“There will be things that people can’t get,” a senior White House official told Reuters, when asked about holiday shopping.
“At the same time, a lot of these goods are hopefully substitutable by other things … I don’t think there’s any real reason to be panicked, but we all feel the frustration and there’s a certain need for patience to help get through a relatively short period of time.”
“Substitutable”? That’s already a feature of holiday shopping, albeit more toward the last week before Christmas. If consumers have to start dropping down to Plans C, D, and E before Black Friday, that’s going to create massive discontent. And that massive discontent will only make Biden’s polling woes worse.
It looks as though that will be the case, because the Biden administration has let this fester for something much longer than “a relatively short period of time.” Container ships have backed up for months off the coast of California, thanks to a lack of access and labor to unload them and then ship their contents throughout the country. One of those ships reportedly busted an oil well head with its anchor, causing the Huntington Beach spill that briefly closed beaches. The lack of access to goods has spurred inflation even further, while consumers have already made do with “substitutable” goods for the last several months.
Politico reports that Joe Biden and his team have taken a sudden and belated interest in the chaos, having spent the last few months insisting it wasn’t a problem in the first place:
With just over 10 weeks until Christmas, the White House is leaning heavily on port operators, transportation companies and labor unions to work around the clock unloading ships and hauling cargo to warehouses around the country. Biden will meet virtually Wednesday with industry leaders before delivering a speech on the administration’s efforts to address the bottlenecks.
The supply-chain mess risks creating new economic and political turbulence for Biden in the coming months. Empty store shelves could undermine the administration’s economic recovery plans and weigh on consumer confidence. And memories of a disappointing Christmas could linger into 2022, with supply-chain problems expected to last much longer than many officials and economists expected just a few months ago.
There’s a growing fear among retailers that Washington’s efforts can do little at this point to save the all-important holiday shopping season.
“There’s no political intervention that’s going to get this done, and there may not be a human intervention that gets this done because this issue is now going to last well into next year,” said Steve Pasierb, the president and chief executive of the Toy Association.
For months, the White House has pooh-poohed concerns over inflation and supply, insisting that both would be momentary hiccups for the economy. Now, with a holiday-season meltdown staring them in the face, they’re suddenly taking a more active role. The Biden administration insists that they can’t do anything more than facilitate, but thus far they haven’t offered up any military or federal resources to help expedite unloading and shipping — presumably to keep from crossing the unions that work in those fields.
As for inflation, the Fed has stopped calling it “transitory,” the AP reported this morning:
The Biden administration has argued that higher inflation is temporary. Yet the supply chain issues have persisted months after the economy began to reopen and recover after vaccines lessened many of the risks from the pandemic.
Economists expect that Wednesday’s consumer prices report will show that prices climbed 5.3% from a year ago, significantly above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic said in a Tuesday speech that he no longer calls inflation “transitory” as he expects this current “episode” of inflation could last into 2022 or longer. …
Republican lawmakers have frequently blasted Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package for fueling higher prices. A recent analysis issued by the investment bank Goldman Sachs estimates that “supply-constrained goods” account for 80% of this year’s inflation overshoot, yet the political criticism continues to sting as housing and oil prices add to inflationary pressures.
Inflation and shortages … say, it feels like the 1970s all over again! And if Bostic is correct, That 70’s Show will last perhaps all the way to the 2022 midterms. At that point, we can expect a role reversal, with voters taking on the role of the Grinch and taking away Democrats’ roast beast dinner for Christmas 2022.


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Local News County Durham
Police in Barnard Castle find suspected stolen goods in car
Police in Barnard Castle discovered a huge 400 haul of suspected stolen goods in a car including, booze, chocolate and kids' toys in their second find in two days.Northern Echo
Police confirm firearm shot at house on Shetland Avenue Thornaby
Police have launched an investigation after a firearm was discharged at a house on Teesside late on Friday night.Northern Echo


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Downtown Berkley is perhaps best known for its retro look and quaint stores.
But now the city’s Downtown Development Authority and Chamber of Commerce are ready to share some cutting-edge marketing techniques with area business leaders.
The Berkley DDA and Chamber are offering local businesses a two-hour training course on using social media to attract and communicate with customers. The Social Media Boot Camp, Oct. 22 at the Berkley High School Collaborative Center, will teach attendees the basics of networking via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The course will be free for members of Berkley’s DDA and Chamber of Commerce and $20 for nonmembers from all communities.
Recent research shows an increasing number of Americans get much of their product information online. A Retail Advertising and Marketing Association study published in September concludes that one major consumer demographic, women with children at home, is more likely to use social media Web sites such as Facebook than the average adult.
“Retailers who aren’t engaging customers through social media could be missing the boat,” said Mike Gatti, RAMA’s executive director.
“Businesses have to learn how to incorporate these new tools into their marketing plans,” said DDA board member Shannon Kubenez. “Using programs like Twitter and Facebook, you’re getting your message out there in a different way and we all need to be brought up to speed on how to use them.”
DDA members believe use of the new media may help attract younger consumers to the city.
“I think we have to try cutting edge marketing, which is the Internet,” said Alan Semonian, president of the Berkley DDA. “If you talk to people younger than 25, print media just doesn’t do it for them. That’s why it makes sense to go this route. If we’re going to attract this generation, we’re going to have to speak their language.”
The City of Berkley and the DDA are already practicing what they preach. Both are up and running on Facebook and Twitter. In August, the DDA rolled out a new Web site, logo and social media campaign of its own, designed by Visual Fuel Media, a Troy firm that will also run the boot camp.
“We’ve seen an increase in our followers on Twitter and more people are becoming fans of the Berkley DDA Facebook page,” Kubenez said. “We’re also giving area businesses a way to promote themselves on these pages.”
“The social media components are really important to the future of the Berkley DDA,” Semonian said. “We are able to connect residents with business owners not only in the city of Berkley, but in the whole Metro Detroit area.”
Berkley Social Media Boot Camp, sponsored by the Berkley DDA, Chamber of Commerce and Vision Fuel Media, will be 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday Oct. 22, with networking 6:30 to 7 p.m. at Berkley High School Collaborative, 2325 Catalpa, Berkley. The event is free for Berkley DDA and Chamber of Commerce members, $20 for nonmembers. For more information, visit www.berkleydda.com, or call Alan Semonian at (248) 584-1040.


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From exhaust pipes to vacuum cleaners, mail carriers have their hands full
London mail carrier Annette Cromp says she's delivering three times the usual number of parcels
Annette Cromp walks down Regent Street in London, parcels and letters in her arms, and bluetooth headphones in her ears while she chats with London Morning's Rebecca Zandbergen over the phone.
Cromp, who has been with Canada Post for nearly 17 years, recently moved to this route in Old North about a year ago.
"I absolutely love it," she said.
But the job is busier these days. Cromp slides open the door to her mail truck and takes a look inside.
"As I look in the back of my truck, I currently have a Bissell vacuum sitting in here, a steam mop. Lots of stuff from Amazon. Anything goes at this point."
In fact, Cromp said she's delivering three times the usual number of parcels these days.
"When I hear news reports say that we are at Christmas volumes, that is correct, if not worse," said Cromp.
"It's absolutely insane. I normally, on my specific route, at this time of the year, have about 16 parcels a day. I'm looking at 40 to 50 a day."
"We have delivered bumpers before. I delivered an exhaust pipe, two weeks ago, to a customer. I normally don't deliver bikes, but I've been delivering bicycles from Toys R Us to one of my customers, because no one can get out to get stuff."
Knock, Drop and Go
In a recent news release, Canada Post advised customers across the country to expect delays with their parcel deliveries.
"The heavy incoming parcel volumes, combined with the important safety measures we've implemented in our processing facilities, mean it is taking longer to process."
The company doesn't require signatures for parcels anymore. The new approach is called 'Knock, Drop and Go.'
"We basically ring the doorbell, knock on the door — which I prefer to knock on the door because then I'm not touching everything that everybody else has touched potentially," explained Cromp.
Cromp, who is working overtime in an effort to keep up with demand, admitted some of her customers get frustrated when their parcels don't arrive on time.
"I've had customers kind of chase me down the street unfortunately to ask where their parcels are."
"It can be stressful listening to the negativity that we unfortunately hear.. We can only deliver the product that we're given," Cromp said.
"We just come to work everyday. We try to stay as positive as we can. We reassure our customers that we're doing the best that we can, and at this point that's all we can do. But it can be stressful and it can be tiring."


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We all spend a lot of time on the roads, both in transit and in traffic. While technology has not yet come up with an alternative to the daily commute (unless you work from home), several Israeli startups are developing technologies to make our daily drive smoother, safer, and more pleasurable.
Here are five Israeli companies using technology to change the way we drive:
Mobileye: Preventing accidents
Making driving safer, Israeli company Mobileye develops driver assistance technology to prevent accidents, but is also one of the major developers of autonomous car technologies.
Mobileye’s systems use video cameras and advanced algorithms to identify and respond to other vehicles, bends in the road, pedestrians and traffic signs, providing advanced warning for drivers and thereby preventing road accidents. Mobileye has already embedded its technology into cars made by Audi, Tesla Motors and others.
Founded in 1999 by Ziv Aviram and Amnon Shashua, the Hebrew University professor who developed the technology, Mobileye raised nearly $1 billion in its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in July 2014, making it the largest ever Israeli IPO.
Radiomize: Staying connected while driving safely
Wish that you could answer your text messages while driving? Israeli IoT startup Radiomize has created a wheel cover embedded with text-to-speech technology and a thumb-sized touch screen. The patented gesture-controlled steering wheel cover fits most vehicles, allowing drivers to control their phones without taking their focus off the road.
Radiomize also comes with an app that creates a personal playlist which learns user preferences so drivers don’t need to listen to songs and news they don’t like.
“With Radiomize, commuting will be a safer and more pleasant experience,” CEO Shmulik Kaz said in a statement. “Our technology has the ability to reduce distracted driving by 23 percent while simultaneously providing a radio station that is tailored perfectly to each user.”
The company recently launched a crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo to raise funds for mass production. With less than a week remaining on the campaign, Radiomize has already raised over 140 percent of their original $50,000 goal.
VocalZoom: Anyone can be a Knight Rider
If you’re a fan of the hit 1980’s TV show Knight Rider, you can picture David Hasselhoff having a dialogue with his car, KITT, not only with the windows down, but at 60 miles an hour on the freeway – and with the wind blowing through his hair.
While voice recognition technology, like Siri and other similar products, have become more and more commonplace, these technologies tend to work effectively mainly in a sterile environment, in a quiet room in your home or office. But what about in your car on the open road?
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VocalZoom, a Yokneam-based Israeli startup, delivers natural, personalized and effective voice-controlled user experiences. The company developed an optical microphone that measures the vibrations on the face of people who are talking and eliminates all background noise. The result is more precise speech recognition.
VocalZoom is in the process of selling its components to smartphone makers and car manufacturers, so in the very near future we may all be able to feel like Knight Rider.
StoreDot: The quick-charging car battery
StoreDot, an Israeli startup that can charge a smartphone in 30 seconds, is also developing a battery that can charge your electric vehicle in five minutes.
StoreDot’s new type of electric-car battery consists of proprietary organic compounds – based on the innovative materials used in its FlashBattery for mobile devices. This new battery will enable a charging experience which is similar to fueling a gasoline-run car.
According to the company, the EV FlashBattery enables full charge in five minutes, providing 300 miles (480 km) of driving distance. The electric vehicle will have a pack comprising of hundreds of EV FlashBattery cells that can store enough energy for a 300 mile (480 km) range on a five-minute charge. This translates into 60 miles of travel on a 1-minute charge.
This quick charging technology shortens the amount of time drivers have to wait in line to charge their cars, thus reducing the number of required charging posts in each station.
Waze: Saving you time on the road
Of course no list about Israeli startups changing the way we drive would be complete without mentioning Waze.
Launched in 2008 in Israel, and now owned by Google, this navigation app uses a complex algorithm and the real-time speeds of its users to determine the best driving routes. Waze’s strength is its crowd-sourced reports. It’s stronger in denser areas than in rural ones and has the advantage of using both human and machine knowledge. Waze’s initial mission was simply to save five minutes a day for every motorist, but now it has become a must-have app for any driver.
As the world’s attention focuses on news of Google’s self-driving cars, Waze’s innovative technology will certainly play a major role in their development.
Whether you are seeking to avoid traffic, charge your electric car quickly, or just be able to ‘talk’ to your car better, there are many Israeli technologies that will help make your drive better – and safer, too.
Photos and videos: Radiomize, StoreDot, Waze, Mobileye


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I HEAR the Government plans to make supermarkets charge 5p for carrier bags to cut down on use of plastic bags.
But unless fresh meat bought is in different-coloured bags, someone could re-use a bag previously used for meat to carry home something like bread.
You don’t wash bread first, so there is a big risk of cross contamination.
How is this scheme going to work?
Wojciech Simpson, Chestnut Grove, New Earswick, York.


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Oct. 25, 2012 — -- Despite boycotts from pro-gay marriage groups, fast food restaurant Chick-fil-A may have benefited from remarks by president and chief operating officer Dan Cathy that he supported the "biblical definition of the family unit."
The number of people who said they visited Chick-fil-A in the "past month" increased 2.2 percent, according to a third quarter study by chain restaurant market research firm Sandelman & Associates' Quick-Track study. The research firm conducts research for all major fast-food chains in U.S. media markets.
A spokesman for Chick-Fil-A declined to comment.
In an article published on July 16 by the Baptist Press, a news services for the Southern Baptist Convention, Cathy said, "We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that."
In response to Cathy's comments, the company was sharply criticized by the gay community. Civic leaders in Chicago and Boston also criticized the company, saying they would not welcome Chick-fil-A to their cities. In September, Chicago alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno later said he would not block the chain from a neighborhood called Logan Square.
Chick-fil-A's supporters responded by organizing an unofficial Chick-fil-A "Appreciation Day" on Aug. 1, during which the company said it had "record-setting" sales.
The company repeated that it does not discriminate against gay employees or customers.
"The Chick-fil-A culture and 66-year service tradition in our locally owned and operated restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their beliefs, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender," the company said in a statement. "We are a restaurant company focused on food, service and hospitality; our intent is not to engage in political or social debates."
The company has also stated that its intent "is not to support political or social agendas."
Jeff Davis, president of Sandelman & Associates, said the entire episode was "something that brought Chick-fil-A to the forefront of peoples' minds."
"There are a lot of people who have an affinity to the brand and when you drive those things together it drives some action," he said.
Two days later, gay-marriage proponents staged a "kiss-in" at Chick-fil-A stores to celebrate National Same-Sex Kiss Day.
The company founder and CEO, Truett Cathy, is a Christian who has kept the business closed on Sundays since opening his first restaurant in 1946. Based in Atlanta, Ga., the company's more than 1,600 Chick-fil-A restaurants continue that practice in 39 states and Washington, D.C.
Its 2011 sales were $4.1 billion, a 13.08 percent increase over 2010's figures, and same-stores sales increased 7 percent, according to Chick-fil-A.
Davis said the company is already known for its "eat more chikin" television and billboard ads featuring animated cows, but the controversy around Cathy's comments drove the company's brand awareness.
Sandelman & Associates asked consumers which chains they have seen advertising in the past month or so.
Chick-fil-A's ad awareness increased 6.5 percent in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period, which was "up significantly," Davis said.
Sandelman also asked consumers where they which restaurants they frequented in the past month, and the responses shows Chick-fil-A's marker share had increased 0.6 percent.
"It's an unusual situation," Davis said of Chick-fil-A's positive outcome as a result of what many companies would call a public relations stumble.
Other companies are usually able to weather the storm of a negative media cloud if they have strong loyalty from customers. Examples include Apple's missteps in changing features of its much-beloved iPhone. In 2010, Apple released its iPhone 4 with some complications around its antenna, dubbed "Antenna Gate." Facebook has also faced similar resistance when it has changed its features, though the number of users continues to climb.
"The commonality is brand affinity. In both cases, people feel very strongly about the brands," Davis said.


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For teenagers of a sure age — suppose 9 to fifteen — choices for enrichment are considerably restricted to highschool, sports activities, and camps, whereas the flexibility to make cash is essentially non-existent.
A brand new startup referred to as Mighty desires to supply them with a brand new various by a platform it’s constructing that, like a form of Shopify for youths, permits youthful youngsters to open their very own retailer on-line and hopefully study a bit within the course of. In actual fact, Mighty — led by founders Ben Goldhirsh, who beforehand based GOOD journal, and Dana Mauriello, who spent almost 5 years with Etsy and was most not too long ago an advisor to Sidewalk Labs — sees itself as smack dab within the heart of fintech, ed tech, and leisure.
As typically occurs, the idea derived from the founders’ personal expertise. On this case, Goldhirsh, who has been dwelling in Costa Rica, started worrying about his two daughters, who attend a small faculty and he feared would possibly fall behind their stateside friends so started tutoring them after faculty. He says he was utilizing Khan Academy amongst different software program platforms, however their response wasn’t precisely constructive.
“They had been like, “F*ck you, dad. We simply completed faculty and now you’re going to make us do extra faculty?’”
Uncertain of what to do, he inspired them to promote the bracelets they’d been making on-line, figuring it might educate them wanted math abilities, in addition to educate them about startup capital, enterprise plans (he made them write one), and advertising. It labored, he says, and as he instructed buddies about this profitable “project-based studying effort,” they started to ask if he might assist their youngsters rise up and working.
Quick ahead and Goldhirsh and Mauriello — who ran a crowdfunding platform that Goldhirsh invested in earlier than she joined Etsy — say they’re now steering a still-in-beta startup that has grow to be house to three,000 “CEOs” as Mighty calls them.
The curiosity isn’t shocking. Youngsters are spending extra of their time on-line than at any level in historical past. Lots of the real-world kind companies which may have as soon as employed younger youngsters are shrinking in measurement. Apart from babysitting or promoting cookies on the nook, it’s additionally difficult to discover a job earlier than highschool, given the Division of Labor’s Fair Labor Standards Act, which units 14 years outdated because the minimal age for employment. (Even then, many employers fear that their younger staff is likely to be extra work than is price it.)
Investor suppose it’s a fairly stable concept, too. Mighty not too long ago closed on $6.5 million in seed funding led by Animo Ventures, with participation from Maveron, Humbition, Sesame Workshop, Collaborative Fund and NaHCO3, a household workplace.
Nonetheless, constructing out a platform for youths is hard. For starters, not numerous 11-year-olds have the tenacity required to maintain their very own enterprise over time. Whereas Goldhirsh likens the enterprise to a “twenty first century lemonade stand,” working a enterprise that doesn’t dissolve on the finish of the afternoon is a really completely different proposition.
Goldhirsh acknowledges that no child desires to listen to they need to “grind” on their enterprise or to comply with a sure trajectory, and he says that Mighty is definitely seeing youngsters who present up for a weekend to make some cash. Nonetheless, he insists, many others have an undeniably entrepreneurial spirit and says they have a tendency to stay round. In actual fact, says Goldhirsh, the corporate — aided by its new seed funding — has a lot to do to be able to maintain its hungriest younger CEOs completely happy.
Many are pissed off, for instance, that they presently can’t promote their very own do-it-yourself gadgets by Mighty. As a substitute, they’re invited to promote gadgets like hats, totes, and stickers that they customise and that are made by Mighty’s present manufacturing associate, Printful, which then ships out the merchandise to the top buyer. (The Mighty CEO will get a proportion of the sale, as does Mighty.)
They’ll additionally promote gadgets made by world artisans by a partnership that Mighty has struck with Novica, an impression market that additionally sells by Nationwide Geographic.
The thought was to introduce as little friction into the method as attainable on the outset, however “our prospects are pissed — they need extra from us,” says Goldhirsh, explaining that Mighty absolutely intends to someday allow its smaller entrepreneurs to promote their very own gadgets, in addition to companies (suppose garden care), which the platform additionally doesn’t assist presently.
As for the way it makes cash, Mighty plans to layer in subscription companies finally, in addition to gather transaction-based income.
It’s intriguing, on the entire, although the startup might have to fend off established gamers like Shopify to ought to it start to achieve traction.
It’s additionally conceivable that folks — if not youngsters’s advocates — might push again on what Mighty is attempting to do. Entrepreneurship will be alternately exhilarating and demoralizing, in any case; it’s a curler coaster some won’t need youngsters to trip from such a younger age.
Mauriello insists they haven’t had that form of suggestions thus far. For one factor, she says, Mighty not too long ago launched a web-based group the place its younger CEOs can encourage each other and commerce gross sales suggestions, and she or he says they’re actively participating there.
She additionally argues that, like sports activities or studying a musical instrument, there are classes to be discovered by making a retailer on Mighty. Storytelling and the right way to promote are amongst them, however as critically, she says, the corporate’s younger prospects are studying that “you may fail and decide your self again up and take a look at once more.”
Provides Goldhirsch, “There are positively youngsters who’re like, ‘Oh, that is more durable than I assumed it was going to be. I can’t simply launch the positioning and watch cash roll in.’ However I feel they like the truth that the success they’re seeing they’re incomes, as a result of we’re not doing it for them.”


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As broadband adoption reaches the 50 percent mark, users are changing their habits — opening the door for marketers to reach them with rich media and with integrated campaigns. That’s according to a new report released by Yahoo featuring findings from Forrester Research and Mediaedge:cia.
The report shows that users are spending more time online, looking at more Web sites and are able to handle multiple tasks online at a time.
“Dial-up users might pay a bill online, however broadband users manage their life online,” said Beth-Ann Eason, vice president of category management at Yahoo Eason emphasized that high-speed connections make it practicable to book a vacation, buy a home or car, or research topics.
The study found that users accessed the Internet throughout the home with 80 percent surfing in their bedrooms, 61 percent reaching the Web while in the family room, 51 percent access from their kitchens and 21 percent of users find a way to get online from the bathroom. Yahoo’s study found that homes with wireless access were six times more likely to go online from the kitchen or other unconventional spaces, as compared with wired broadband homes.
A new trend that emerged in the Yahoo report was something researchers called “Media Meshing,” in which users enhance their experiences by accessing multiple media at the same time. Increased access allows users to gain perspective by digging deeper into something they see on television, personalize their experience by creating preferences on the information being aggregated, and getting involved by interacting with actors on a show, or other viewers voicing their own opinions. Through Media Meshing, users can become more involved with their hobbies, interests and other aspects in their life where they have a passionate involvement, the researchers found.
The researchers concluded that Media Meshing enables marketers to use integrated campaigns to reach people across media.
Despite the fact that it faces growing competition from Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, Google-owned YouTube is still one of the most popular ... read more
Amazon prides itself on being the most “customer-centric” company in the world, but according to investigative journalism non-profit ProPublica, Amazon’s algorithms are often anything but ... read more


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Roughly a year after reports suggested the UK could become home to a gigafactory, AMTE Power and Britishvolt announced plans to investigate collaborating to build the UK’s first full cycle battery cell GigaPlant, servicing the automotive and energy storage markets. Both parties have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) focussed on each other`s complementary ambitions to create and expand an onshore manufacturing supply chain. The successful outcome of the collaboration would enable scalable production of a diverse product portfolio of lithium ion batteries to support the country’s Road to Zero targets and unprecedented transition to electrification.
As we all now know, Boris Johnson became the United Kingdom’s new Prime Minister on 24 July. The first thing he did was replace almost the entire cabinet, with a reshuffle of unprecedented proportions. Next, he gave his maiden speech on the steps of 10 Downing Street, with an address that sought to build a platform for economic and political optimism against the recent backdrop of Brexit stagnation. Not only will we leave the EU by 31 October, we are going to do it in style, he effectively said. In doing so, Boris – as he is affectionately known – revealed as much about the changing nature of the automotive manufacturing industry and its suppliers as he did about British politics.
While the UK new car manufacturing business has taken something of a battering in recent months, The Sunday Times reports that government ministers are considering offering state support for a huge shared electric vehicle battery “giga factory” modelled on Tesla’s enormous US battery manufacturing plant in the Nevada desert. That plant, which is known as Gigafactory 1, is set to have the biggest factory footprint in the world and already employees 3000 people. The UK project has so far been valued at around £1.7 billion.


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A lot of you folks are wondering when Asus’ much-acclaimed tablet, the Eee Pad Transformer, is coming to town. Well, Asus Philippines recently announced that you can buy this tablet
starting this Wednesday, July 20. as early as today in major malls around Metro Manila.
The Eee Pad 16GB (tablet only) will go for Php22,995.
While the Eee Pad Transformer 16GB (with keyboard dock) will go for Php29,995.
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer is not only a tablet for entertainment, but also for productivity and creativity. Powered by Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, this Android 3.1 Honeycomb tablet has a unique mobile dock. That’s a full QWERTY keyboard and touch pad with multiple I/O ports 2 USB slots, mini HDMI and HDMI ports, Micro SD and SD slots.
This is the tablet for content creation, social communication, HD media playback and smooth realistic game play. If you are currently looking for a tablet for media consumption and mobile productivity, the Eee Pad Transformer is it. This is probably the 10-inch Android tablet to beat.
Win a free trip to anywhere in the Philippines
As a treat for early adopters, Asus Philippines announced that it is offering those who buy the Eee Pad/ Eee Pad Transformer on July 20 ““ 23 in any Asus authorized dealers in SM Megmall a chance to win a trip to any Philippine destination.
After purchasing, customers will receive a raffle coupon from the dealer store they purchased the item from. Customer must fill in their name, address, e-mail, contact details and serial # of purchase. Customers must drop off their raffle stubs at ASUSworld Megamall, 4th floor Cyberzone, SM Megamall.
Entries will be accepted until 6pm on July 23. Raffle entries will be drawn by an ASUS representative on July 23, 7pm. Log on to http://ph.asus.com or find Asus Philippines on Facebook, facebook.com/asusph.


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Russell Westbrook celebrated the launch of his first signature shoe by interacting with fans and customers inside Penn Square Mall's House of Hoops in Oklahoma City on Saturday, July 11.
Westbrook says, the Jordan Westbrook 0 is a lifestyle shoe meant for anyone to wear and enjoy.
The shoe costs $130 and is currently available in white and black, with other colorways available in the future.
According to a release from Jordan Brand, "Westbrook's off-court shoe boasts a sleek design, inspired by his fashion-forward personal style."
The shoe launched nationwide on July 11.
To get a look at the new shoe and hear from Russell watch the video above.


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Ripple Acquires Fortress Trust Used by Swan Bitcoin
Ripple has acquired Fortress Trust few months after it splashed $250 million on Swiss custody startup Metaco. Fortress is used by popular bitcoin exchange Swan Bitcoin, and is being run by former Prime Trust founder and CEO Scott Purcell.
“As an early investor in Fortress Blockchain Technologies, we’ve had a chance to get to know the team, its vision and technology. Since their launch in 2021, they’ve built an impressive business with recurring revenue and a strong roster of both crypto-native and new-to-crypto customers,” said Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse.
"Fortress Trust, which provides financial and regulatory structure for blockchain companies, was formed by Scott Purcell, who has a long history in the industry. He was CEO of crypto custodian Prime Trust until 2020."
The acquisition may put one of the more popular Bitcoin-only businesses Swan Bitcoin into uncomfortable situation yet again. The firm has already been forced to shift custodians earlier this year, prior to the collapse of now-defunct digital asset custodian, Prime Trust.


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News - Walkinshaw
New car brand for Walkinshaw
Walkinshaw working on performance pack for new brand as it looks beyond Holden
15 May 2014
LONG-TIME Holden performance car partner Walkinshaw is preparing to launch a performance package for a vehicle from another manufacturer as it spreads its wings in Australia ahead of the demise of Holden local manufacturing.
The company also has conceded that Holden might not figure in its future once the production of Commodore – the basis of its Holden Special Vehicle range since 1988 – ends in 2017.
The new Australian Walkinshaw project – set to be revealed in the fourth quarter of this year – is likely to come under the Walkinshaw Automotive Group (WAG) wing of the British-owned company founded by former Scottish racing champion Tom Walkinshaw and now controlled by his son Ryan.
Melbourne-based WAG, which this week launched a suspension-and-wheels aftermarket enhancement package called Xtreme for Holden Colorado (see separate story), is responsible within the Walkinshaw group for developing and marketing performance packages for non-V8 cars that so far have included a range of Holdens – Captiva, Barina, Spark, Cruze and now Colorado.
Another division, Walkinshaw Performance, looks after the V8 Commodore aftermarket enhancement business, including supercharged engine modifications, while the flagship company, Holden Special Vehicles, runs the official Holden factory-backed hot shop producing highly enhanced vehicles such as the ClubSport and Senator sold through a national network of HSV dealers.
Walkinshaw marketing and media officer Tom Reynolds told GoAuto today that the company had other projects under development as it looked to expand its business beyond its current boundaries.
He said that despite the “doom and gloom” surrounding the closure of the Australian car industry by Holden, Ford and Toyota, Walkinshaw was looking to new horizons.
“It is a pretty exciting time for us,” he said.
Details of the non-Holden project are still under wraps, but Mr Reynolds said it involved another manufacturer and would be rolled out before the end of the year.
“We are looking at a much bigger picture and it does not necessarily include Holden,” he said.
Over the years, the Walkinshaw company has had relationships with several other car companies, including Volvo and Jaguar, in countries such as the UK, while also dabbling in the sportscar business by taking over Australian niche manufacturer Elfin, tucking it under its Walkinshaw Performance arm.
Walkinshaw last year launched into the import business in Australia with Indian light-truck brand Tata, founding a new company, Fusion Automotive, run by former HSV executive Darren Bowler.
However, Mr Reynolds confirmed that the upcoming new project due this year was nothing to do with the Tata business that so far has concentrated on establishing the Xenon ute.
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Promising to deliver the ultimate grown-up chocolate fix, the design-led Marbled Salted Caramel and Marbled Strawberries & Cream Luxury Eggs are designed to make the most of the upcoming Easter sales period and are available to purchase via Love Cocoa, and UK stores John Lewis and Liberty.
Handmade in the UK, the eggs are palm oil free sporting 100% plastic-free recyclable packaging. Love Cocoa’s Easter range also supports the brand’s ‘Plant A Tree’ commitment, which has seen over 1.5 million trees planted to date across Cameroon and Kenya to fight against climate change and combat deforestation.
The brand has also teamed up with English Heritage for the first time to give Limited Edition Love Cocoa Milk Chocolate Bars to children who complete the Easter Adventure Quest across their 26 sites in the UK.
James Cadbury, Love Cocoa founder and the great-great-great grandson of the original Mr Cadbury, said: “In spite of the cost of living crisis, consumer appetite for premium chocolate continues. Our eggs were a huge hit last year, and we believe these luxury marbled options will satisfy consumer demand and drive incremental Easter sales.
"And our Easter range covers everything from a £4.50 Honeycomb Limited Edition Bar through to a Giant Luxury Egg retailing at £40. We hope that offering a range of different price points means that everyone can enjoy some Love Cocoa chocolate this Easter.”


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In most market environments, a company with one of the lowest valuations in the Nasdaq 100 Index, a solid balance sheet and sales growth averaging 34 per cent a year would be an obvious buy. In the case of Meta Platforms, it is not so obvious.
Since the company’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement a year ago of a name change and strategy overhaul for the owner of Facebook, the stock has wiped out more than half the gain it had accumulated since its initial public offering a decade ago.
That’s cost Meta $600 billion in market value and a spot in the elite club of the US’s 10 biggest companies.
Analysts predict Meta’s revenue will drop this year for the first time ever, as competition and cooling economies, among other factors, cut into ad sales. User growth at its flagship product, Facebook, has slowed as a younger generation flocks to newer sites such as TikTok.
Meanwhile, the company is spending billions to realise Mr Zuckerberg’s vision of the metaverse, that still-to-be-realised virtual world where people will work, shop and socialise.
“There’s so many red flags relative to Meta,” said Matthew Kanterman, director of research at Ball Metaverse Research Partners.
Which brings us back to the case for Meta being an obvious buy. So-called value investors, who love stocks that are widely out of favour, already started to build positions in the company this year.
They may find it even more attractive now that it’s priced at only 10 times forward earnings, down from an average of 28 over the past decade and cheaper than old-school, dotcom-era tech favourites such as Intel and Cisco Systems.
Analysts predict that sales growth will resume in 2023 and rebound to double digits the year after that. The Menlo Park, California-based company is focused on capitalising on Instagram Reels, its rival to the TikTok video-sharing app.
And Mr Zuckerberg last month said the company will freeze hiring and restructure some teams to trim expenses and realign priorities, an acknowledgement that its days as a growth darling are over.
“While macro challenges persist, we believe improved Reels monetisation, newer ad formats and a greater focus on expenses create a compelling risk/reward in shares,” Ronald Josey, a Citigroup analyst, wrote in a report last week. He predicts the stock gaining 70 per cent in the next year.
Still, Meta is one for the brave in a world where tech stocks face an uphill battle of rising interest rates. The stock has fallen 61 per cent in 2022, almost double the decline of the Nasdaq 100, pushing its market value down to around $350bn from more than $1 trillion at its peak last year.
Updated: October 16, 2022, 6:23 AM


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PIERRE, S.D. (WNAX) – Attorneys General from 11 Midwestern states are urging the U.S. Justice Department to expedite a federal investigation into suspected national price fixing by meat packers.
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg says South Dakota joined the other attorneys general in asking U.S. Attorney General William Barr to look into the matter.
He says investigators should look for anti-trust violations. Ravnsborg says these market activities should be alarming to all cattle producers and consumers.
Ravnsborg says he’s not saying there is definite collusion by meat packers but given the market prices an investigation is warranted.
In their letter to the Justice Department the Attorneys General say they believe the pricing margins are a sign that meat packers are using their ability to control the market for processed beef and take advantage of the situation in a manner that could violate federal antitrust law.


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The initial public offering of the game company King Digital Entertainment Plc didn’t have a very good opening. The shares plunged approx 15 percent soon after its debut on Wednesday. What could have possibly gone wrong? The company seemed to do quite well since the official launch of Facebook game “Candy Crash Saga” in 2012.
Diversity is indispensable for sustainability. No tech companies can live on one specific business idea nowadays. What has made King famous lately is its recent addition of Candy Cash Saga to its gaming library. Now, how long it expects to survive based on a handful of hit games on its plate? King needs to take peer pressure seriously. Before a rival company takes over its place, the mobile gaming company has to meticulously analyse its position in the market. The company has to understand its industry trend and the pattern of evolution. It has to be more observant in terms of identifying the key driving factors of the industry.


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In Mexico, there are 36.4 million smartphones lines were recorded in the end of last year, with the South Korean Samsung lasting favorite among the population which have a market share of 25 percent.
The Competitive Intelligence Unit revealed that last year the adoption of these devices grew 49.1 percent from 2012 when there were only about 24.4 million smartphones.
According to Rolando Alamilla, the Mexicans has changing their old cell phones because of they lack the ability for the internet connection, which prevents them to download applications, edit documents and now seek touch technology, which is more modern.
In second place were placed Canada’s BlackBerry, which once dominated the industry, and Finland’s Nokia, which has also going down and was recently purchased by Microsoft. Have 16 percent market share each, followed by Apple, which ranks third with 13 percent.
The Mexicans prefer smart devices from the Asian firm which has also stressed that Android, Google’s operating system, is the most used in the country. In late 2011 it had 16.4 percent of the national market and the end of 2013 increased to 52.3 percent, which means that one in every two smartphones in Mexico has Android. According to the specialist, the use of these devices has led to a change not only in the market but also in the habits of people.
Therefore, considered that one of the elements that people in the country take into consideration when purchasing a smartphone is connectivity, the main tool that can connect to a Wi-Fi network, because only half of these devices are attached to mobile broadband services.
Written by Delfina Fanucci
Photo Credit: Flickr/Cherry Desuasido


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Even amidst slowing growth, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is having to refund advertisers owing to an ad-metric error. Should you sell out of TWTR stock? Or should you buy the dip?
Not long after Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) reported a spate of miscalculations in key metrics, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) seems to have caught the ‘bug’. Late on 22nd December, Twitter announced that it had discovered technical errors which “affected some video ad campaigns” Unlike in Facebook’s case though, Twitter’s measurement errors will cost the company directly in Dollar terms.
Coming on the back of a long list of recent setbacks, the news comes at possibly the worst time for the micro-blogging site. More so because advertisers allocate sizeable advertising budgets for this time of the year, the holiday season, implying that the monetary impact is likely to be bigger than it would, at other times. And according to Business Insider, the error inflated video ad-metrics by as much as 35% in some cases.
A Costly Bug For Twitter?
According to the announcement by Twitter, the company has already communicated the discrepancy to advertisers. Quoting from the press release, the company said “Once we discovered the issue, we resolved it and communicated the impact to affected partners.” And according to Business Insider, which claims to have been informed by a “person familiar with the matter”, Twitter has even issued refunds to advertisers.
The micro-blogging platform has reportedly refunded advertisers to compensate the over-billing for video campaigns that ran on the platform between November 7 and December 12. Twitter seems confident that the mess up is a one-off glitch. In its press release, Twitter said, “Given this was a technical error, not a policy or definition issue, we are confident it has been resolved.”, referring to the bug in its Android app, which caused the error.
Also Read: One Simple Fix Can Make Twitter Inc Profitable (1)
However, the last thing Twitter needed right now, more so after Facebook’s fiasco, was an error that even slightly questioned the accuracy of its advertising metrics. And if there was anything that could be worse, it would have to be an error that hurt advertisers. The only real positive probably comes in the form of the prompt action that Twitter has taken to reassure advertisers. Even though these refunds will cost the company a piece of its waning advertising revenue, Twitter has made a bold decision that will inspire greater confidence in the management’s integrity, if not in its ad-metrics.
It’s worth noting at this point that Twitter does have its fair share of admirers. Take for instance, Larry Kim, a credible voice on digital advertising, who hails Twitter’s platform as “the best ad platform you’ll find – though ultimately it will depend on what you hope to accomplish.”


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CHARLOTTE, NC — Swisher Hygiene Inc. has acquired Professional Service and Supply Inc. a Minnesota-based hygiene and chemicals company, according to a press release.
Pro-Serv supplies specialty chemicals and services to the foodservice and hospitality industries in the Minneapolis market, the release stated.
According to the release, Swisher will pay $450,000 in cash, assume some liabilities, issue 62,000 shares of common stock and provide a promissory note convertible into 101,625 shares.
"We continue to build our presence in the specialty-chemical industry, and today''s acquisition will help us further expand our coverage," said Steven Berrard, chief executive officer (CEO).
Click here to read the complete release.


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Dell EMC Storage Dominating Over HPE And NetApp Worldwide
Dell EMC’s storage charge is paying off as the infrastructure giant has widened its worldwide market share gap over Hewlett Packard Enterprise and NetApp in the second quarter of 2018, according to new data from IDC.
For the second quarter of 2018, Dell captured 19.1 percent of the global storage market share, up from 18.3 percent year over year, according to IDC. Dell generated $2.52 billion in enterprise storage sales in the quarter, representing a nearly 27 revenue increase compared to the same quarter one year ago.
"They have a really motivating channel program, a strong portfolio across the board, a [Future Proof Storage] Loyalty program that customers are loving – Michael Dell's big bet on EMC is now coming to fruition," said Scott Winslow, president of Winslow Technology Group, a Waltham, Mass.-based Dell partner and CRN 2017 Triple Crown Award winner. "They do have additional channel incentives if you take out competitive gear, whether it's HPE, NetApp or others, that is definitely motivating and we've been involved in several of those opportunities."
HPE's worldwide storage market share dropped from 20.6 percent in second quarter 2017 to 17.3 percent share. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based vendor's storage sales slightly increased from $2.25 billion to $2.28 billion, representing a 2 percent increase year over year.
NetApp captured 6.3 percent of the global market share in the second quarter 2018, down from 6.4 percent share in the same quarter last year. Although NetApp's market share slightly fell, the company increased storage revenue from $695 million to $832 million year over year.
Dell partners said their storage numbers are increasing this year for several reasons, including better synergies between the legacy Dell and legacy EMC sales teams and channel incentives to replace competitor solutions.
"There's very much an emphasis on attacking non-Dell storage install bases," said Josh Lee, director of sales for Nanuet, N.Y.-based Dell partner VirtuIT Systems. "There's a lot of incentives in the partner community and in the Dell rep community to take out competitive install bases. There's a lot of great programs in the Dell partner world to go do that."
Dell storage sales for VirtuIT Systems are up more than 20 percent already in 2018 compared to the previous year. Michael Murphy, president and founder of VirtuIT Systems, said storage sales are exploding due to strong demand for Dell's hyper-converged infrastructure solutions VxRail and VxRack.
Dell is enabling VirtuIT to sell "millions" in hyper-converged sales this year by providing complete VxRail training for partners, said Murphy.
"What we're leveraging a lot of is the VxRail Test Drives. It’s a Dell program where we do a full day of training and overview of what the VxRail value proposition is. So it gets the customers hands on it before they buy it," said Murphy. "They walk away understanding exactly what the value of the solution is, what the benefit is and what type of savings it will bring. We do phenomenally well when we go through that ride with customers."
On Thursday, Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Technologies reported that storage sales for its second fiscal quarter 2019 increased 13 percent year over year to $4.2 billion.
"We've made a lot of changes in our primary storage business over the past year. The product line is far more competitive today," said Jeff Clarke, vice chairman, products and operations at Dell, during the company's second fiscal quarter earnings call. "Demand was up in file-based arrays, high-end storage and data protection offerings. Our focus remains on driving velocity in the midrange as this is a key area of growth in the array segment."
Dell storage sales for Winslow Technology Group for the first half of 2018 were up 30 percent year over year. Winslow pointed at Dell's Future Proof Storage Loyalty Program as a significant competitive and channel incentive advantage. The program, launched in November, enables partners to give customers a three-year, money-back guarantee; a storage efficiency guarantee; trade-in credits towards new Dell EMC storage products; and a 10 percent allocation and one year of built-in Virtustream Storage Cloud on Unity all-flash products, to name a few incentives.
"That program is helping a lot. They have a clause in there that says any upgrade that they make in the future will be non-disruptive," said Winslow. "Overall, it’s making their solutions more cost effective and eliminating risk for customers."
According to IDC, total worldwide enterprise storage sales increased 21 percent year over year to $13.2 billion during the second quarter. Total capacity shipments were up 70 percent year over year to 111.8 exabytes.


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Toby Rowland, co-founder of troubled e-tailer Clickmango.com recently opined in this column about the need for dot-coms to focus on their niche audiences and avoid extravagant and wasteful ad campaigns (MW July 13).
Within a matter of days of the column appearing, rumours emerged about Clickmango’s own cash burn rate, and by the end of July the company admitted it was down to its last few chips at the dot-com roulette table. Obituaries were written by the same journalists who had previously given such generous publicity to the Joanna Lumley-fronted health and beauty site.
Rowland and co-founder Robert Norton fed the media machine by saying the company would officially go out of business by the end of August. But this week they announced a reprieve until September.
As well as flexible suppliers and loyal staff, “customers of Clickmango have also supported the company over the past week. In addition to messages of support, the company has seen site traffic quadruple and an increase in sales of 20 per cent.”
This back-from-the-dead manoeuvre is becoming standard fare in the new economy. Online news service Netimperative did the same thing a month or so ago, and now claims to be in the best of health.
One can’t help wondering if this is a kind of “guerilla marketing” to which increasingly cash-strapped dot-coms are resorting. After all, a 20 per cent sales increase – if true – is not to be sniffed at. The threat of receivership appeared to do more for Clickmango than any amount of stardust from the lovely Lumley.
But there is one aspect of this latest dot-com soap opera which has yet to be tapped as another source of free publicity. Toby Rowland is the son of the late Tiny Rowland, famous for his failed takeover of Harrods and his long-running feud with Mohamed Al Fayed.
Rowland Junior could presumably make very good use of just a tiny proportion of this old economy fortune in his brave new economy venture. Yet it transpires that neither he nor co-founder Robert Norton has invested a single penny in their beloved Clickmango.
Rowland’s reasoning? “Supporting a company in the Internet industry is a high risk investment and as such is a job for a professional investor who can balance the risk against multiple sectors. This is not really a place for private investment.”
How very prudent.
Robert Dwek is editor of e-volve


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18 Dec Citing economic slowdown, Forrester lowers 2008 tech spending estimate
Cambridge, Mass. – While it stopped short of predicting a recession, the prospects of a slowing economy has prompted Forrester Research to lower its 2008 IT spending forecast, according to a report in ComputerWorld.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based analyst firm has lowered its expectations for U.S. IT hardware and software investment from eight percent to five percent, the publication said.
That report quotes Forrester analyst Andrew Bartels as saying that 2008 is shaping up as a replay of 2007, when IT spending started slowly and recovered later in the year.
Under the revised forecast, IT spending for software, computers, and communications equipment will reach $377 billion in 2007 and rise to $394 billion next year. Meanwhile, Forrester predicts that total IT spending, including expenditures on hardware, software, IT salaries, and outsourcing, will be an estimated $775 billion this year and increase to a projected $815 billion in 2008.
Companies still are expected to increase spending on IT staffing and outsourcing by six percent in 2008, the same rate of increase as this year.
Globally, Forrester predicts nine percent growth in IT purchases next year, down slightly from this year’s estimated 12 percent growth rate.
• Dane County tech businesses show strength despite talk of downturn
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• Worldwide IT spending to break $3 trillion in 2007, says Gartner


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Limited-time Sprint deal: unlimited talk, text and data for just $25/month
Mobile network operator Sprint has brought back one of its best offers. Switch to its current Unlimited Kickstart deal and you can get unlimited talk, text and data for just $25/month . That’s an unbelievably cheap smartphone deal . But it’s a limited-time offer – it ends July 18, 2019 – so don’t wait too long to take advantage of it.
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Sprint is the nation’s fourth largest carrier. There’s no annual contract with the Unlimited Kickstart deal – which is only available online – and you can either bring your existing phone with you if it’s unlocked, or buy one of the best smartphones around to use on Sprint, if you’re ready for a new model. In fact, Sprint will throw in a $100 Prepaid MasterCard if you buy one of its eligible cell phones outright.
Bear in mind that despite the ‘Unlimited’ name of the plan, there are, in fact, some limits. Video streams are standard definition and capped at 480p, music streams at 500 Kbps, and gaming at 2 Mbps. Calls are also only unlimited within the US, as you’d expect.
More problematic for some will be the fact that you can’t use your device as a mobile hotspot (there’s no shareable data). And data deprioritization may occur during times of network congestion.
Nevertheless, if you’re after a ridiculously cheap deal – for a second phone, say, or a child’s device – the $25/month Unlimited Kinckstart deal is going to be tough to beat.
Alternatively, Sprint’s Basic Unlimited Plan might be worth looking at if a mobile hotspot, or extras such as a free Hulu account, are important to you. There’s a deal on that at the moment, too.
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It’s more expensive than the Unlimited Kickstart plan for one line ($60), but once you start looking at four lines, the Basic Unlimited Plan currently costs the same as the Unlimited Kickstart plan ($100/month). And if you get five lines, it’s cheaper ($100/month again, verses $125/month for five lines on the Unlimited Kickstart deal). Those are promotional prices though – the Basic Unlimited deal will run until 30 June.


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In July, the first month of the current financial year, the export of garment products from Bangladesh decreased by 1.96 percent. Sometimes the export was positive for two months. Then five months in a row is negative again. However, in the recently concluded March, exports have returned to the positive trend. Exports have increased by 7.12 percent.
According to data compiled by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and compiled by BGMEA, a total of 228.17 million was exported to the international market in March this year. In July last year, garments worth 215 crore 3 lakh 30 thousand dollars were exported. As a result, exports have increased by 6.12 percent.
According to the EPB, in the first month of the current financial year, the growth in garment exports was negative 1.98 percent. The growth in the next two months was positive. In August the growth was 2.56 percent and in September it was 3.9 percent. The growth for the next five months was negative. From October to February, the growth rates were negative 7.8, 2.8, 9.89, 5.63 and 5.81 percent respectively. Last March, the export growth was 7.12 percent positive.
According to the data compiled by BGMEA, garment exports in the first nine months of the current financial year (July-March) amounted to 2,331.47 million dollars. During the same period of the last financial year, the amount of export was 2,399 crore 8 lakh 50 thousand dollars. As a result, in the first nine months of the current financial year, compared to the same period of the last financial year, the export has decreased by 2.75 percent.
As the second largest supplier of garments in the world, the owners and workers of the garment industry in Bangladesh have suffered a lot from the global outbreak of Kavid-19. According to BGMEA, a sector-owned company, the first wave of Kavid has led to the cancellation of about সো 3.5 billion in purchases by April last year. Public and private export figures also support the slowdown in garment exports. The people concerned say that the effect of Kavid is the reason for the miserable export.
According to the EPB and BGMEA data collected from the NBR, Bangladesh has exported a total of 2,631 crores worth of garments to the world market in the last 12 months of 2020. Garment exports in 2019 were worth 3,293 crore. As a result, exports fell 16 percent or more than 571 million. This amount of dollars has been lost due to the impact of covid.
The covid-19 outbreak occurred in Wuhan, China at the end of December 2019. Between February and March 2020, it spread to most countries of the world. Under the influence of Corona, the country’s ready-made garment sector first faced a crisis in the supply of raw materials. This is because about 70 per cent of the oven products in the garment sector are imported from China. The country imports 15-20 percent of its raw material. Later, although the supply of raw materials began to slow down, the demand crisis at export destinations was created.


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Gintama 'Project Last Game's' English-Subtitled Asian Release Teased in Video
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Bandai Namco Entertainment Asia began streaming an English-subtitled video for its "Gintama Project Last Game" action video game on Monday. The video is an English-subtitled version of the game's teaser video.
The game will ship for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in Japan, and for the PS4 with English subtitles in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia.
Gintama inspired its first smartphone game titled Gintama Kabukichō Daikatsugeki (Gintama Kabuki District Great Action Movie) for iOS and Android that launched last year. The manga has inspired previous games for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Wii, and PlayStation Portable.


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Business gear up for big sales
Published 7:37 pm Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Business has been slow for many stores in Chilton County and across the country, but many store owners are hoping the Christmas season will help bail out their bottom line this quarter.
The Christmas season officially begins tomorrow with the unofficial holiday designated Black Friday by many business officials. The day after Thanksgiving usually offers shoppers many discounts to help kick off the busiest sales time of the year.
Bennett’s Department Store in Clanton is one of those stores offering sales of at least 25 percent this weekend. Some items are marked down to as much as 50 percent off.
Store manger Larry Culpepper said business has slowed due to the economy in the last few weeks, but he hopes the Christmas season will help the store meet its budget.
“We hope our traffic picks up during the holidays beginning with this weekend,” he said.
The quarter from October to December is usually Bennett’s busiest period of the year as it makes up a larger percentage of sales than any other quarter the whole year.
Culpepper said there are no plans to extend regular business hours Friday for Black Friday.
“We expect to see steady traffic all day Friday,” he said. “We aren’t as busy as some stores [on Black Friday], but we hope to have a big weekend to help get the Christmas season started well.”


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iKaaz, a Bangalore-based mobile payments solution provider, founded by ex-Nokia Money team, has launched a Tap & Pay reader that works on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to enable cashless transactions.
Interestingly, with iKaaz’ technology both, merchants and consumers, need not have NFC enabled devices. Note that only couple of high end smartphone come with the NFC technology, and India is majorly a feature phone market. iKaaz has tried to bypass the requirement of NFC technology on consumer’s or merchant’s device.
Instead of requiring users to have an NFC capable phone, it provides consumers with NFC stickers to make their phone NFC enabled. These NFC Stickers are priced between Rs 40 and Rs 70, depending on the model. iKaaz has informed MediaNama that these stickers come in the form of college or corporate id cards, which are available for Rs 40. If the card needs to be inserted inside a mobile phone, then it’s priced at Rs 70. The NFC stickers can then connected to Mobile Wallet for payment.
The iKaaz NFC Reader can be connected to any mobile phone to convert it into a mobile Point Of Sale (POS) device. The device is available for Rs 1000.
In October 2012, iKaaz had launched its NFC based Tap & Pay solution for merchants. It appears that the company may have realized that NFC did not quite take off in the country as feature phone handsets still do not come with NFC capability.
NFC technology did not take off in the country is due to the high cost of NFC terminals and NFC-enabled phones. While iKaaz has smartly bypassed that barrier, it’s not clear who bears the cost for NFC stickers — the consumer or the merchants. For consumers it wouldn’t make sense to invest in NFC Stickers as initially this technology won’t really be that widely used. Besides, why would any consumer attach a sticker to their mobile with no visible benefit?
iKaaz has informed MediaNama that they currently operate on a B2B model to sell NFC Stickers, which indicates that it expects merchants to bear the cost of stickers and reader. Note that with the technology, merchants would have to distribute the stickers to every consumer who wants to make a payment via iKaaz Tap & Pay. We are skeptical about how financially viable this option would be for merchants.
Contactless Payment Solutions
In 2009, Belgium based payment solution company Tikitag had launched its do-it-yourself RFID kit in India, however, the company seems to have shut down. In December 2010, Ojas Venture Partners funded mobile payments solutions company Tyfone had partnered with First Data to enable mobile contactless payments on mobile handsets using MicroSD cards.
In February 2011, telecom operator Tata Docomo had announced that it will trial Near Field Communications based mobile payments in Hyderabad, in partnership with XIUS. Initially it had planned to offer operator based services like mobile phone top-up (expectedly), as well as content like ringtones and wallpapers. We haven’t heard any progress from Tata Docomo after the NFC trials.
Other recent mPOS solutions
Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited that operates voice and data services, under the MTS brand, had launched MTS mPOS, a mobile point of sale device that can be attached to MTS mobiles for point of sales transactions.
PayMate, the mobile payments company, had launched a PayPOS mobile application, which also enabled credit and debit cards payments and electronic transactions on mobile phones at the point of sale (POS). However, unlike MTS’ mPOS service, PayMate is an application based payment application and is available on all Android/iOS devices.
Ezetap is an mPoS service incubated by by AngelPrime, startup incubator founded by Bala Parthasarathy, Shripati Acharya and Sanjay Swamy. There’s also MobiSwipe Technologies, another mPoS company, has raised money from One97 Mobility Fund, and MSwipe that recently raised an undisclosed amount of money from Venture Capital firm Matrix Partners.


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Far Cry Primal has been officially announced by Ubisoft for PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One.
The next chapter in the multi-million selling Far Cry franchise will be released on February 23, 2016, and as previously reported via online leaks, will take place during the Stone Age and is currently in development at Ubisoft Montreal in collaboration with Ubisoft Toronto.
With the series now transporting its acclaimed mix of open-world exploration and action to a period 10,000 years BC, players find themselves controlling a seasoned hunter named Takkar. The goal is simple: survive in a hostile world where humans are hunted as prey by the multitude of savage beasts that inhabit the majestic land of Oros.
“The interesting thing about Far Cry is that it’s flexible, so when a team proposed to explore the idea of a Far Cry taking place during the Stone Age, we just said ‘let’s hear it!’ And the more we heard about it, the more we realised how much of a damn good idea it actually was,” commented Ubisoft Executive Producer, Dan Hay.
“The Stone Age is the perfect setting for a Far Cry game,” added Jean-Christophe Guyot, Creative Director at Ubisoft. “Far Cry usually puts you at the edge of the known world, in a beautiful, lawless and savage frontier. The Stone Age is, in a way, the very first frontier for humankind; it’s the time when humans put a stick in the ground and claimed land for their own, the time when we started climbing the food chain. That came with conflict against other humans, of course, but also against nature itself.”
Far Cry was launched back in 2004 on the PC, and wouldn’t arrive on a PlayStation console until a decade later, when PS3 owners got a taste of the action as part of a remastered version of the original title. Developed by Crytek, Far Cry focuses on Jack Carver, an ex-Special Forces member who finds himself stranded on a mysterious archipelago in Micronesia while escorting a female journalist.
Far Cry 2 saw the series’ first instalment on consoles, launching in fall 2008 for PS3, PC and Xbox 360. The sequel presented a considerably larger game world, with players having access to 50km of African terrain ripe with towns, local wildlife, forests and more. This time around, the plot sees two factions engaged in a brutal war with each other as a result of meddling by the notorious arms dealer known as The Jackal; the player’s objective is to assassinate this war criminal by whatever means necessary.
2012 saw the release of Far Cry 3, and switches things up once again in terms of plot. This time around, players are put in control of a simple tourist known as Jason Brody, who, along with a group of friends, find themselves captured on a remote Pacific island by pirates serving an insane, malevolent individual known as Vaas. Brody escapes their grasp, and must survive in hostile territory while attempting to extricate his friends from the pirate’s stronghold.
Finally, this brings us up to date with 2014’s Far Cry 4, which is the franchise’s first entry to see a release on PS4 alongside existing last-generation versions. Set in the fictional country of Kyrat, which is ruled by an Iron Fist by the self-appointed king, Pegan Min. Gamers control Ajay Ghale, who finds himself caught in the middle of an on-going war when returning back to Kyrat to lay his mother’s ashes to rest. New features this time around include a branching campaign and the ability to ride elephants, alongside the usual Far Cry staples as a massive open-world to explore brimming with secrets, hostiles and a huge arsenal of weaponry.
Far Cry 4 was a massive commercial success, selling over seven million copies worldwide since its launch late last year, beating out Ubisoft’s initial expectations. Furthermore, the adventure sequel sold through most of its copies on the PS4, and enjoyed the fastest-selling launch in the franchise to date.


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Supply chain woes delay cruise ship debuts
Cunard Line announced in 2017 that it would grow its fleet to four vessels for the first time since the late 1990s.
The addition of the Queen Anne, the first new ship for the brand since the Queen Elizabeth launched in 2010, was slated for 2022.
But that’s not what happened. The ship, being built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy, was eventually rescheduled to launch on Jan. 4, 2024.


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China Yurun Food Group, a leading meat product processor, posted a 78.7% rise in net profit for the 12 months ended 31 December 2007, as a result of rising pork sales.
Net profit rose from HK$481m (US$110m) last year to HK$859m this year. Revenue also saw a year-on-year rise of 86.9% to HK$8.64bn, the company reported.
The chilled meat and low temperature meat product business remained the main growth driver of the group’s overall revenue in 2007. The former hit HK$1.75bn, up 51.2% from the previous year and the latter jumped 124.6% to HK$4.7 bn.
“Through economies of scale, selective capacity expansion, strong R&D and nimble pricing strategy, we have achieved robust turnover growth,” said Zhu Yicai, chairman of Yurun.
The Hong Kong-listed company is hoping to focus on brand-building, diversifying distribution channels and penetrating mid- to high-end markets to achieve higher profit margins for the future, it reported.


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HOW VIDEOFIED MOTION VIEWERS SAVED THE DAY!
Our customer is in the construction, demolition, concrete waste recycling business. They had been having a lot of break-ins through their chain linked fence. The thieves were stealing items such as copper, tools, metals and other materials. Read More.
H&S SNAPSHOT HELPS IN CAPTURE OF WAUKESHA BANK ROBBER
A snapshot of an H&S Protection video clip helped lead to the apprehension of a Waukesha, WI bank robber recently. The clip was pulled from a video system recently upgraded for the bank by H&S. Read More.


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Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving Day that is widely renowned as the first day of Christmas shopping, has already seen several people fighting over purchases at America’s most famous retailer.
A number of people tweeted that they had got involved in disputes over domestic appliances and technological gadgets at Walmart, as soon as Black Friday began.
One woman said she saw people fighting over a $29 tablet, while another posted a picture of an ambulance coming to the shop. Someone else posted a video of a crowd of people running and jostling to catch the items that were on sale at the best prices.
The day after Thanksgiving celebrations is well known for the shopping fever that takes over many Americans, who run to the shops in search of deals.
Over the past few years, the festivity has prompted some large retailers to open at midnight on Thanksgiving.
Despite representing a large source of income for many big stores, Black Friday often comes with its troubles, as assaults, shoplifting and even shootings are known to have taken place on the day.
Last year, two people were shot in Florida during a dispute over a parking space, while in 2011 a woman used pepper spray on other customers to grab an Xbox360 first.
A number of apps have been developed to notify customers when certain products hit their best prices, or which shops are likely to launch offers.
Critics of the wave of consumerism that takes place on Black Friday launched the Buy Nothing Day back in 1997, as a way of raising awareness of the issue of over consumption and waste. The event, which takes place on the same day of Black Friday, has been renamed Occupy Xmas.
A different campaign called Shift your Shopping calls for a more responsible shopping to drop large retailers in favour of local and smaller businesses, while in 2012, fair trade non-profit Global Goods Partners launched Fair Tuesday as an ethical alternative to Black Friday. The 2013 event is set to take place on December 3.
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