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Prepaid Cards: Candy For Criminals?
It's the holiday season, which means that many shoppers will solve their gift-giving dilemmas by buying prepaid gift cards from retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Starbucks (SBUX ). But there is a darker aspect to the prepaid card boom, which involves a new kind of card that can be used almost anywhere -- including ATMs worldwide.
Law enforcement officials say these newer cards, many of which can be reloaded online or at check out counters, are an ideal tool for credit-card thieves, drug rings, and even terrorist cells. "It is a great concern to DEA and the FBI because of the terrorist financing angle," says Don Semesky, chief of the office of financial operations at the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Prepaid cards have grown rapidly into a $63.4 billion business. There are two kinds. So-called closed-system cards can be used only at the retailers that issue them. The newer open-system cards, in contrast, can be used at almost any retailer. Better yet, you can use many as ATM cards and withdraw the amount you put on the card anywhere in the world. Sunoco (SUN ), Rite Aid (RAD ), and Safeway (SWY ), among others, all sell these open-system cards, and will replenish them as well.
Most of the open-system cards sport MasterCard or Visa logos: Their networks provide the ATM privileges the cards enjoy. "It's the first blending of a bank and nonbank product," says Patrice Motz, a special counsel at Washington law firm Bryan Cave LLP and a former official at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Treasury Dept.
That bank/nonbank link is the key to the problem, since the cards have ATM privileges but are not linked to personal bank accounts, which are closely monitored. "It's a very easy way to launder money," says Larry D. Johnson, head of the Secret Service's criminal investigative unit. Cards are easier to smuggle than cash across the border. Although at some point purchasers are supposed to provide basic identification to vendors of the cards, in reality it can be hard to trace ownership. "This is not just an issue in the U.S., but throughout the global financial community," says Daniel Glaser, deputy assistant secretary for Terrorist Financing & Financial Crimes in the Treasury Dept.
Law enforcement officials have not yet prosecuted many cases involving prepaid cards, but they see the impact already. In one case this year, a Mexican criminal caught at the border used stolen credit cards to transfer funds onto prepaid cards. And U.S. police in the Southwest have noted clear changes in money movements across the border, where they closely track suspicious wire transfers. The number of dodgy transfers is drying up. "The dollar numbers that we're looking at are declining dramatically," says Arizona Assistant Attorney General Cameron H. Holmes. "The use of stored-value cards is, if not the main reason, at least one reason they are able to escape our scrutiny."
OUTSIDE THE LAW
Organized criminals further avoid detection by "smurfing," or breaking down large amounts of cash into smaller sums that are then loaded on to many different cards. The industry, though, claims that law enforcement officials are overstating the threat. "The perception is very different from the reality," says Rhonda Bentz, a Visa USA vice-president in charge of public affairs. "We have many sophisticated fraud systems in place."
Officials counter that such transactions need even more scrutiny, since they fall outside the purview of federal statutes, including most money-laundering laws and some provisions of the Patriot Act of 2001, that govern banks and other financial institutions. "In a cash-based world we had built up a world of controlled monitoring," says Carol R. Van Cleef, a money-laundering expert and partner at Bryan Cave. "Those laws have not been revised for the very new world we are in today."
The bigger question is whether these cards can be used for far more frightening purposes. An internal U.S. Treasury report notes that the September 11 hijackers were later identified by their bank accounts, card signatures, and wire transfers. "Had the terrorists used prepaid cards to cover their expenses, none of these financial footprints would have been available," the report said. A chilling thought.
By Chester Dawson


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Google DeepMind can predict almost exactly where and when it’s going to rain, but for years the artificial intelligence company hasn’t figured out how to stop going into debt.
On Tuesday, however, DeepMind said it has now made a profit. ultimately: hope for all brave little startups with the backing of a $ 1.7 trillion parent company.
Artificial brain drain
DeepMind, which is arguably the largest AI research operation in the world, has a very unique revenue model: it makes 100% of its money selling the technologies it develops to other Alphabet subsidiaries, the parent company of Google.
But while Alphabet generated $ 182.5 billion in revenue last year, DeepMind has been hemorrhaging money for years, losing more in 2018 and 2019 (roughly $ 680 million each year) than Google does. paid it in 2014 ($ 545 million). Alphabet also forgave $ 1.5 billion of DeepMind’s debt in 2019.
So what has changed?
- Tuesday, DeepMind say it made a pre-tax profit of $ 63 million in 2020, mainly because revenue more than tripled to $ 1.1 billion.
- These revenues are on the rise as the expensive research of DeepMind begins to find practical applications. Like a Google Maps collaboration that used AI to improve arrival times on the service by 50%. And a feature on Google’s Android Pie phone operating system that uses DeepMind technology to save battery power.
Big Brains, Big Bucks: The costs of DeepMind are incredibly high because the big tech companies are engaged in an all-out war to hire the best human minds in AI, which is still a relatively nascent field but could transform everything. In 2020, DeepMind’s personnel costs were $ 1 billion, up from around $ 977 million in 2020.
Corleone Silicon: Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft have all reportedly poached tenured university professors by offering them up to 10 times their college salary – an offer few turn down.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

domain: news


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Official Media Newsroom
YOKOHAMA, Japan (May 12, 2016) – Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. today announced financial results for the 12 months to March 31, 2016. The company delivered increased full-year revenues and profitability. Rising demand for new products in North America, ...
YOKOHAMA and TOKYO, Japan (May 12, 2016) – Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation announced that they have signed a Basic Agreement today to form a far-reaching strategic alliance between the two Japanese automakers.
Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
Several Ontario drivers are newcomers in the series this year, including Peter Dyck who has completed very promising off-season testing.
Olivier Bedard defends title with the number one on his Nissan Micra this season.
Ashley Sahakian, one of three female drivers who will compete in all race weekends this season.
LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 17, 2016)


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"U.S. Netflix members will have access to Disney films on the service through the end of 2019, including all new films that are shown theatrically through the end of 2018", Friedland said. It's good since movies and TV shows will appear on the Disney network at a relatively fast rate. The company is very particular for its top movies that are only available for purchase rather than rent. Disney proceeded to waste no time spelling out what this deal meant, saying that they planned to launch a Disney-branded streaming service in 2019.
But this isn't because Disney has bad blood with Netflix. "Strange" are expected to disappear from the service at the end of 2019 unless a new deal for Marvel and LucasFilms content is reached. But it's not clear if that original content extends to Marvel and Star Wars.
"For many sports fans, this app will become the premier digital destination for all their sports content", Disney said in a statement.
On the other hand, one has to assume that the Disney streaming service will have all of their movies.
Iger added that the acquisition marks a new strategy for Disney, while leveraging the "strength" of Disney's well-known brands.
The ESPN-branded multi-sport service will offer a robust array of sports programming, featuring approximately 10,000 live regional, national, and worldwide games and events a year. Like Disney's upcoming project, the BBC created its own streaming service called "BritBox" which features classic episodes of "Doctor Who".
On top of offering its major new releases on its streaming service, Disney also plans to make a wide variety of content that will be exclusively provided on this streaming service, offering an extra incentive for people to sign up.


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When Morwell’s Lance McDonald created a “little computer strategy game” he never thought it would one day be showcased among the best independent games in the country.
The 27 year-old’s computer game has been steadily generating a buzz since he started creating it in April 2012 and a year later was chosen as one of six games to be showcased at PAX Australia from 19 to 21 July.
“PAX is the biggest video game festival in the world, and this is the first time it’s even left the United States, so the fact that it was coming here was a huge deal alone,” Mr McDonald said.
After first paying a fee to exhibit his game in a small stall, he entered it into a competition to be showcased in a larger space for free, knowing only the six best “indie” games Australia and New Zealand-wide would be chosen.
“At the start of March the game was utterly unplayable. Everyday I stayed up until 2am working on the game and updating my blog. I sent it off to the judges the day before the deadline at the end of March,” Mr McDonald said.
The game, Black Annex, involves working for and running a spy business and was made in program writing software QBasic, which is part of the game’s appeal.
“QBasic was what kids used to learn to make games on. So, it plays off the nostalgic angle,” he said.
“The game reminded me of what games used to look like when I was 12 years old.”
Even though the game has only been played by a handful of people, Black Annex already has thousands of fans, who have been watching Mr McDonald’s every move via his blog updates.
Mr McDonald recently returned from Electronic Entertainment Expo in the United States, where he said he gained a perspective of what PAX Australia might be like and what was required to allow the public to play Black Annex this weekend.
He said the game would be sold through an online distributor, which he did not expect to make a lot of money from.
“If I could live off just making my own games at home then I would do that, but I’ll keep making games in my free time anyway,” Mr McDonald said.
“I can’t wait until I’m finished working on Black Annex so I can start again. All of the time I’m thinking of ideas for how I can do it differently next time.”


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The High Times Cannabis Cup is looking for judges in Illinois.
For the first time, the High Times reinvented its awards to include public judges for the People’s Choice IllinoisCannabis Cup Awards.
Participants can register entries in eight possible categories. Hundreds of citizen-judges will evaluate the chosen categories (Judges Kits) from home.
High Times website states, “The High Times Cannabis Cup Illinois: People’s Choice Edition is aimed to identify and award the best cannabis products in all of Illinois, across a wide range of different categories. This event will be the first-ever competition that is open to the Illinois public and will see the largest pool of judges in history. This is a sampling dream to get your products into the hands of hundreds of new customers who will provide feedback on your entries, plus thousands of impressions. May the best products win!”
The public judging is open to adults 21 or older and medical patients 18 or older.
The judging kits will be available for purchase from Aug. 25-Sept. 23.
The awards virtual show is scheduled for the end of September.
Judges will rate Illinois brands of cannabis on several criteria, including appearance, aroma, flavor, and effects.
The competition includes eight categories.
- Indica Flower
- Sativa Flower
- Hybrid Flower
- Non-Solvent Concentrates
- Solvent Concentrates
- Vape Pens & Cartridges
As a judge, intake dates to pick up Judges Kits are Aug. 17-20 at participating dispensaries, which include Zen Leaf St. Charles, Beyond/Hello Sauget, Beyond/Hello Normal, Rise Effingham, and Rise Niles.
The contest is open only to cannabis products licensed by the state of Illinois.
While normally 28-35 experts and celebrity judges would determine the rankings, the competition has pivoted into crowdsourced rankings, offering 224 kits per category to consumers in statewide competitions across the country.
Participants may apply to be a judge here.
For Illinois New Joint reviews of Illinois brand products, click here.


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It seems that more and more of us have decided that “cord cutting” is the way to live our lives in the 2010’s. And actually, it’s not a bad idea. “Cord cutting”, for the uninitiated, is getting rid of your cable or satellite company and using the internet for the source of your television viewing.
It’s going there anyway…as I’ve pointed out countless times. And it seems to be accelerating.
The second quarter results have been released by the Leichtman Research Group, who measures these sorts of things. In the 2nd quarter, there were about 1.53 million cord-cutters…people that cancelled their cable or satellite TV. That compares with 420,000 who quit traditional TV services in 2018.
Companies such as Comcast, Cox, and Charter actually did better because they offer internet subscriptions along with cable. It was companies like DirecTV and Dish that suffered the most. DirecTV lost 778,000 subscribers, about half the the overall total, and Dish did relatively well with their best quarter in a LONG while, losing only 79,000 people!
The reason for the decline is clear. When the average cable bill is over $105 a month, you can basically get the same viewing for around $15 a month by going to places like CBS All Access ($6/month with an annual subscription), and Hulu (with commercials) for about $6 a month. If you happen to be an Amazon Prime member, you have movies and several TV shows at your disposal on the Amazon Video channel (though you have to be careful…there ARE some pay-TV options on the same site!)
A lot of the internet streaming companies are starting to offer the “live channels” for upwards of $50-$60 a month. Of course, it’s a lot cheaper to go with an off the air antenna, which you can pick up for a few bucks. That will give you upwards of 80 local channels for free!
And all of this is falling into the hands of exactly what I’ve preached here for years. TV is dying as we know it. Radio is dying as we know it. Streaming is going to be the next wave of the future, in fact, it’s already here. On a recent trip around the country, where we traveled to 18 states in about three weeks, I was able to listen to my old radio station every single day, regardless where I was. I could stream it right on my cell phone and bluetooth it into the car’s audio system. It was like I was listening to the Toledo station, even though I was a thousand miles away! And watching TV has changed as well.
One of the things we used to do was clamor around the TV at 8pm on a Thursday night, say, for a special program we wanted to watch. Now, we wait and when we have the time, we stream it. It’s on our schedule, not the networks. And if we want to watch three or four episodes of a show all at once, we can do that. My wife found “Dark Shadows” on one of the streaming channels. She must have watched five episodes a day for months (it was on five days a week back in the 70’s and 80’s).
Sorry to say that if you’re a subscriber to cable TV, you are throwing literally thousands of dollars out the window each and every year. Same goes for satellite. Those companies are antiquated. And while you may want to subscribe to a cable company’s internet feed, that’s about all they’re good for in this day and age!
Carry on world…you’re dismissed!


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Nepra Foods (CSE:NPRA) went public in September 2021 in an oversubscribed $7.5 million IPO that underlined the interest in plant-based meat, a market which, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, could top US$162 billion in size by 2030. The company has its roots in the gluten-free ingredients sector and is led by food industry veteran David Wood, whose grandfather started a butchers’ supply business in the 1930s.
Wood and partner Chadwick White, a master baker and now Chief Innovation Officer and Co-Founder of Nepra, were involved in the success of Udi’s Gluten Free Foods and Gluten Free Baking Solutions.
Nepra was born from a desire to create a consumer brand business using the company’s own innovative formulations. Today, it is a vertically integrated group, producing and selling multiple products across four segments: proteins, dairy alternatives, baked snacks, and spreads and ingredients. Sales in the nine months to September 30, 2021, totaled C$4.26 million, up from $1.75 million in the year-earlier period. Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine spoke to Wood, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, to find out what he anticipates the next phase of the Nepra story will look like.
Why do you think there is such a big move toward healthy foods and plant-based meat alternatives?
I think people have different reasons. Obviously, the environment is one big one. A lot of people want to do whatever they can and raising animals in the way we do is not the best for the environment. I also think the pandemic has brought on people’s concern about their personal health and they realize that what they eat is instrumental to how they feel. When people go plant-based, most of them don’t go fully vegetarian or vegan. They just eat more plants and less meat, and I think when they do they find out that they feel better. Their immune system response is better and their digestive systems work a bit better. And then there’s the animal cruelty side that a lot of people are concerned about, and just how we treat animals in general.
Tell us more about your proprietary THP (textured hemp protein). What is it? How did you get into it? Why is it such a game-changer?
When you make a meat alternative, you’re taking the protein from the plant and you have to texturize it to give it a similar texture to an animal product. Mostly it’s done with soy. But now they are texturizing all sorts of things – pea and chickpea and fava bean. But we are texturizing hemp, and as far as we know we’re the only ones currently doing that and we’re having really good luck.
The biggest advantage is the flavour. Soy has an off flavour so you’ve got to cover that up when you make products out of it, and you end up using a lot of salt and other ingredients. Hemp has a very mild flavour. When we texturize it, the base product actually has a turkey flavour so it’s much easier to formulate meat analogues out of. Soy has some negative health aspects to it, too.
The reason we got into hemp is that our historical business is ingredients in the gluten-free space, so when you take gluten out of a product you have to replace it with something. And that’s how we came across working with hemp and found out that it’s very functional. Not only does it have good flavour, it’s functional when you bake with it or make food products out of it. It has a similar structural quality to eggs. You can take hemp protein and whip it into a meringue, so this really gives us an advantage on the food development side to come up with new products. As we started playing with it more, we found that not only could we use it for baking, but we could also make a lot of other products out of it.
Meat analogues are only one category. New products we’re coming out with include spaghetti and meatballs, a frozen food line and a pasta line. The spaghetti is actually made out of hemp as well because it’s high in protein, high in fibre and very healthy. So, as people eat more plant-based diets, they’ve got to come up with good protein sources. And they don’t necessarily want to eat things that look like meat. We’ve got formulations like pasta that is a good source of protein, or we also came out with snack items like pretzels.
You raised $7.5 million in your IPO. How are you going to use these funds to grow the business?
The company was founded in 2016 and our core business is ingredients. We import and distribute ingredients to all kinds of manufacturers across North America. We’re growing that business and because supply chains are a problem, especially when you’re bringing products in from overseas, we’ve used some of that capital to increase inventory, just so we can weather some of the shipping delays.
We’re also building out our facility in Colorado to produce more of the textured hemp protein and more of our high-protein flour. We’re currently selling hemp flour that is used in baking and that’s about a 55% protein content. And we’re putting in a pilot production line so we can produce the ProPasta meals here in our facility in Colorado to a point. When we really get into big distribution, then we’ll go to a co-manufacturer that has larger lines that can build the ProPasta meals. We’ve also hired a lot of staff. We’ve had to bring on quality control people and commercialization people. So that’s been some of the spend as well.
What other news should investors expect in the short to medium term?
We’ve announced the launch of our ProPasta line. Our big retail push is going to be in March, when there’s a big trade show in the US that is the place to bring your products to market and get in front of all the retailers.
Then we’ve got some new meat alternative products we’re working on. We’re finishing the purchase of the equipment for that. We will have some products coming out probably toward the middle of next year.
The other thing we’re working on is the egg replacement capability that hemp has. In the food industry, when big food companies use eggs, they usually don’t use liquid eggs, they use egg powder and normally egg white powder. But because it’s an allergen and because it’s an animal product, a lot of food manufacturers want to get rid of it. We’ve developed an egg white powder replacement using hemp that will sell commercially. We use it in our own products, but we’ll also sell it. That’s going to be a game-changer because it will be a unique product. There are very few plant proteins that can mimic eggs so this is going to be a big item for us on the B2B side.
What would you say to investors looking at this space? What makes Nepra Foods stand out?
You look for innovation, you look for companies that are meeting the needs of consumers, and consumers are looking for nutrition and taste and texture. A lot of the plant protein companies are using old ingredients – soy or gluten. It’s not very innovative. I think a lot of companies, too, if you look at small public companies, don’t have revenue, or have very low revenue. We are not a new company. We’ve been around for years and we’ve got existing revenue and we’ve got multiple revenue streams because we sell ingredients B2B. And then we also have our own consumer side. I think it really gives us a leg up for success in the future.
This story was featured in the Canadian Securities Exchange magazine.
Learn more about Nepra Foods at https://neprafoods.com/.


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From a press release:
Leading Australian games developer, Torus Games, has pushed the bounds of electronic gaming with its ability to simulate the physics, appearance and sensation of white water rivers.
Torus Games Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Bill McIntosh, says that the new technology, known as X-Stream will make a significant difference to the gaming experience.
"To date, games developers have struggled to create a true depiction of water," Mr McIntosh said. "With X-Stream, gamers can now immerse themselves in an authentic white water adventure."
Not only does X-Stream recreate the physical flows, ebbs and eddies of a thundering river, it also boasts underwater refraction, surface reflection, realistic waterfalls, mist and more.
For authenticity, designers employed real water physics when designing X-Stream."
While a publisher is still unconfirmed, Torus Games expects the game will be ready for release in 2004. The preview videos have provoked a good response, such as this from Avault...
"We have seen footage of this game - and wow? The water effects are unlike anything we have ever seen except for actual white water rapids. But enough dribble.."
You can view higher-res of the images and video at Ausgamers.com...


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The gov’t desires approval to amend legal guidelines to permit personal companies to extract lithium, the important thing uncooked materials for EV batteries.
India is searching for to vary legal guidelines to permit personal miners to extract lithium, the important thing ingredient for batteries used for electrical autos and power storage, because the nation goals to be extra self-sufficient in inexperienced applied sciences.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities desires lawmakers’ approval for amendments to present insurance policies within the present session of parliament, in line with individuals conversant in the plans. Eight minerals, together with lithium, beryllium and zirconium can be faraway from a restricted record that at present prohibits manufacturing by personal firms.
The adjustments would enable the federal government to public sale permits to take advantage of lithium reserves, the individuals stated, asking to not be named because the matter is just not but public. They’re additionally aimed toward decreasing India’s dependence on imports for some key minerals, and to place the nation in a greater place to compete within the profitable battery provide chain, in line with the individuals.
A mines ministry spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
India desires so as to add native manufacturing of a swathe of zero-emissions applied sciences because it chases a goal of turning into carbon impartial by 2070 and to seize alternatives from the worldwide transition to cleaner power. The nation has pledged to construct 500 gigawatts of fresh energy capability by 2030, and the deployment of giant volumes of battery storage is seen as very important to allow round the clock use of renewables.
Authorities companies have been exploring for lithium and found a small useful resource at a website in southern Karnataka state, in line with the mines ministry. Nonetheless, to provide lithium at any significant scale and scale back reliance on imports, India would wish to seek out and develop additional deposits.
Australia and Chile at present dominate uncooked supplies output, whereas China on the planet’s largest refiner.
India’s imports of lithium-ion batteries jumped 54% from a 12 months earlier to $1.83 billion within the 12 months ended March, commerce ministry information present. Nearly 87% of the purchases got here from China and Hong Kong, regardless of India’s efforts to shun imports from its northern neighbor
In addition to effort to spice up native output, the nation can be scouting for lithium and cobalt belongings abroad. A three way partnership has been shaped with three state firms — Nationwide Aluminium Co., Hindustan Copper Ltd. and Mineral Exploration Corp. — to amass mines abroad.


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ATMs play a really crucial function in everyones life, there are lots of people who use ATMs to withdraw cash straight. However, the threat actors are now targetting the ATMs to execute their arranged strategy.
These ATM network attacks appear with high threat, in this sort of ATM attack, the risk stars needed to access the USB port physically, and this action is rather dangerous for the risk stars to perform specifically in daytime.
Apart from all these things, the researchers declared that this kind of attack usually damages some part of the ATMs, however the danger stars choose this technique of attack due to the fact that getting into a bank straight, then looking for various ways to reach out to the ATM is more harmful and these techniques do require more skills too.
According to Joseph Rodriguez, a very serious defect has actually been found by a cybersecurity expert of the IOActive in the NFC system of ATMs, and in the POS.
Researcher hacked ATMs using phones NFC and an Android app
During an investigation, Rodriguez asserted that he has actually discovered an extra bug in addition to this hack, and he also declared that it has actually been cleared that the “jackpotting” hack only operates in a mix with some other additional bug.
This attack can be utilized in numerous ways, thats why, the threat actors can quickly chain the attack and likewise send out a distinct payload to an ATMs computer, doing this will assist them to get a prize of the ATM cash-out, simply by tapping your phone.
This attack is constantly impacting a large variety of contemporary makers, for that reason Rodriguez decides to disclose some of the technical information in the upcoming weeks.
Its been mentioned in the Wired report that this kind of attack not only exploits ATMs but likewise makes use of other vending machines in several methods such as acquiring payment card information, putting malware, and even poisoning an ATM.
Not just this but the specialist also verified that if one can connect an ATM computer, then, in that case, they can quickly withdraw cash with a simple click of your smart device..
After understanding everything about this defect, its rather obvious that this kind of flaw is major, specifically if we think about that POS is now the favored payment system in every shop, dining establishment, shopping center, and much more.
Rodriguez has not yet disclosed any key details concerning this flaw due to the fact that of the nondisclosure arrangements with the ATM suppliers..
Also Read: ATM Penetration Testing and Methods.
Using the phones NFC and Android app is a more hassle-free method for the risk actors to carry out such attacks. After examining the entire attack, Rodriguez came to understand that simply utilizing a proprietary Android application in addition to that a smartphone with an NFC module, will easily help someone to exhibit installing some sort of ransomware on these gadgets.


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A report released just yesterday by market research firm Canalys shown that nearly 50% of all wearable sales are made by just one company: Fitbit. The Californian company is well known for producing a variety of health and fitness-tracking devices, and has been seeing massive success within the wearables market.
Fitbit is seeing massive success within the wearables market.
The company has followed a model of providing consumers with a low cost and bare-bones portfolio of products, linked with software for smartphone and computer. Its range of colorful fitness bands are worn both for functionality, and indeed for fashion, which in turn drives their sales performance. Furthermore, the brand has a reputation for quality, which has remarkably emerged relatively unscathed from a recent embarrassing recall of its new Fitbit Force product due to complaints of allergies.
This being said, the wearables market is still relatively small. The same Canalys report states that the estimated number of global sales in the wearables market was around 2.7 million units. These low figures have lead to some analysts to proclaim that wearables are indeed a so-called ‘failed market’ - an area where huge investment has been made, with little to no return. Some have suggested that it was this perception that drove Nike to abandon its Fuel Band line earlier this year.
However, 2014 could be the year that the wearable device breaks out into the mainstream. In the coming months we can expect major smartwatch releases from Motorola and LG, coming in tandem with the release of the Android Wear operating system from Google. Should these devices succeed, or should Apple release its long awaited iWatch, the mass market appeal of wearables would increase significantly, and sales of all wearables would be expected to skyrocket.


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Customers may come to The Juice House for the namesake selection of fresh fruit juices but they return for the food, says co-owner Maribel Reyes.
"We've got 16 different varieties of fresh juice," said Reyes, "but we've also got a great selection of good Cuban food."
Co-owners Amarilis Garcia and Reyes opened The Juice House in November at Key Largo's Central Plaza, mile marker 103.2.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner selections are available, along with takeout and specialty catering.
In addition to traditional morning juices like orange and grapefruit, The Juice House can serve up exotic specialties like guanabana, also known as soursop. "It's really good, you should try it," Reyes said with a smile.
Other fresh-squeezed juices on hand include mamey, watermelon, coconut, cantaloupe, passion fruit, guava and sugarcane.
Breakfast specials start at $2.50.
The steak-and-onion sandwich for $4.50 is a luncheon favorite, Reyes said. Turkey, fish and pork sandwiches are also on the menu, along with Cuban favorites like arroz con polo.
Paella is a popular catering selection for group lunches.
The Juice House is at 103200 Overseas Hwy. Hours are 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. Call 451-4270.


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Samsung Loses 3G Patent Case Against Apple in Germany
January 20, 2012 8:42 AM
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The ruling comes only days after Apple filed another lawsuit to ban the Galaxy S II smartphone in Germany
A judge from the Mannheim Regional Court in Germany ruled that Samsung's claim regarding Apple's 3G/UMTS wireless communication patent violation is not valid.
Apple and Samsung's patent war began back in April 2011 when Apple claimed Samsung was an
"iPhone, iPad copycat."
More specifically, Apple said the Galaxy S 4G, Epic 4G and Nexus smartphones infringed on Apple patents.
Apple worked its fingers to the bone to ban Samsung's smartphones and tablets around the world, and successfully did so in countries like Australia and Germany. However, Samsung began launching a few patent suits of its own to retaliate and keep its property safe from Apple's harm. Samsung was able to
lift the ban on its popular Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia
in December 2011.
The two tech giants flung lawsuits back and forth through much of 2011, and it doesn't look like 2012 will be much different. Today, Judge Andreas Voss of the Mannheim Regional Court ruled that Samsung's claim against Apple, which is one of three pertaining to the 3G/UMTS wireless communication patent violation complaints in Germany, is invalid. Judge Voss did not mention why the claim was void. According to Florian Mueller, independent patent expert, two possible reasons could be that Apple's products didn't infringe on the patent in a technical sense or that the court believes Samsung's rights are "exhausted," while Apple has a technical license by extension.
"We are disappointed that the court did not share our views regarding the infringement by Apple of this specific patent in Germany," said Samsung.
The other two patent infringement claims against Apple regarding 3G/UMTS wireless communication will be determined on January 27 and March 2.
"This ruling related to only one of 13 patents that are currently in suit
between those parties
in Germany, and dozens of patents on a worldwide basis," said Mueller. "It's not the first rejection of a complaint involving these two players, and barring a major surprise, it won't be the last."
However, Samsung's technology isn't the only one at stake with these Apple-related patent wars. Android, which is Google's mobile operating system that runs on Samsung's mobile hardware, could stand to lose too. Just last month, the United States International Trade Commission ruled that some smartphone features are protected by Apple, such as the ability to tap a phone number within a text or email and call that person directly, and the ability to schedule a calendar appointment with the tap of a finger on a date in an email. These features, which are common throughout most smartphones now, could really hurt Android if Apple succeeds. However, most of these features require trivial changes that can work around Apple's constant griping.
The latest patent ruling comes only days after Apple filed its most recent lawsuit against Samsung in Germany, asking that the court ban Samsung's Galaxy S ll smartphone as well as nine other smartphones and five tablets.
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: Here we go again..
1/20/2012 7:59:16 PM
when you ask other business people
Apple constantly ranks as one of the most innovative companies in the world."
Business people? That's like asking a kid if he likes cookies. It's irrelevant that the cookie has no nutritional value. The kid is going to say "Hell yeah!"
Business people shouldn't even be given a choice to decide if something is innovative.
RE: Here we go again..
1/21/2012 5:47:40 AM
While I do think that apple is very innovative and they do make great products and sadly are 5 years ahead of anyone else in seeing the trend of where software is going most of these patents should never have been issued.
For one The patent about clicking a date in an email and adding it to a calendar has been around for a very very long time way before ios was even conceived and this patent should never hold up. Hell, my old windows 3.1 PDA had this ability with an application I had.
The other patent should be listed as obvious and never been granted in the first place due to similar preexisting things such as clicking an e-mail address in any web browser and it opening your e-mail program, and many browsers have parsed e-mail addresses and opened a program without a mailto link way before we had touchscreen phones
I actually think it was possible to highlight a number and call it with the older smartphones. You just had to use the stupid pen and highlight it and hold it down on it and not just touch it.
The fact that they literally got patents on preexisting ideas by just using the touch semantic instead of click. This is just insane as when your programming its actually the exact same thing(ontouch event and onclick event are the exact same thing) and should be treated as such for touchscreen devices with the finger as a pointing device. Most of the time for me programming for touch is almost no different than programming for a mouse unless I am doing something with multitouch and even then its usually just a replacement for right click.
RE: Here we go again..
1/21/2012 6:05:17 AM
Addendum: This is the reason that Apple will never go after microsoft on any of these patents. Microsoft could pretty much kill any patent that parsed anything in an e-mail or message and created a link or manipulated it from just prior examples in works/office alone not to mention all the touch patents they could kill from their early windows PDAs.
A good lawyer could probably kill a ton of multitouch patents just from gathering up some old digitizers(wacoms and the like) and software from them, I know a few of the odd ones had gestures and supported multitouch.
The problem is there is such a need for patent reform, they need to have a better system in place with stricter rules and a shorter duration for Technology patents(5-7 years max probably 2 or 3 on many things).
RE: Here we go again..
1/21/2012 4:02:04 PM
Ah, who should then? If you were to survey consumers they would probably rank Apple pretty high. Or maybe you're the only one to get a vote.
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text:
Sprint Launches Rental Program For Samsung Galaxy S5 and S5 Sport
Earlier in the month of October, Sprint introduced a rental program that lets its customers lease the new iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus for a flat monthly fee. The program was a success, helping the carrier achieve its best iPhone launch ever.
Now, Sprint is expanding the rental program, this time to two Android smartphones: the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the Samsung Galaxy S5 Sport. The carrier is now offering these two Galaxy devices for leasing on a two-year period, with payments of $20 each month. This means that when the contract ends, customers will pay $480 in total for either of the two Galaxy phones.
By that time, customers have the option of either trading their phones for a new device (with similar terms and conditions), continue leasing the Galaxy S5/S5 Sport on a month-to-month, or end their Sprint service.
The iPhone-for-Life program that Sprint launched last month seemed to suggest that those who lease iPhones can only upgrade to new iPhones. However, for the iPhone or Android rental program, there appears to be no restrictions. And unlike other carriers' upgrade plans, when the customer's rent agreement is done, the customer can always start a new one.
Also, the $50 per month unlimited plan (with unlimited calls, text messaging, and data use) that the carrier is offering to new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users is not made available to Android users. If Android users want to avail of that play anyway, they will have to fork out $60 each month instead.
Lastly, customers who do decide to avail of the rental program for the Samsung Galaxy devices will qualify for a $15 per month loyalty credit, but only until January 15th of next year.
The past few months have seen Sprint being aggressive in winning back subscribers. Indeed, ever since the new Chief Executive Officer, Marcelo Claure, took over two months ago in August, the carrier has been offering new program after new program -- from family share plans to data plans that offer double the data. All of these new offerings are clearly an effort to protect its customer base, especially from competitors like T-Mobile who are always looking to grab subscribers away from Sprint.
The rental program, while quite a new concept, may be the solution Sprint is looking for in order to strengthen its market share. For a long time, wireless carriers have always preferred selling devices instead of leasing them to their customers. But with a major carrier like Sprint adapting the idea (and maybe soon other major carriers too), smartphone renting may just become the popular thing to do before we know it.
Know more about Sprint offers now -- start comparing Sprint plans here.


text:
SEOUL, South Korea (July 20, 2010)—Hankook Tire Co. Ltd. built on its strong results in the first quarter and posted a 22.7-percent increase in operating profits on a 13-percent rise in sales for the second quarter.
The tire maker said record-breaking figures were driven by strong business performance in the emerging markets such as the Commonwealth of Independent States region and Latin America, with stable growth in China, Europe and North America. This occurred despite rising raw material prices.
The South Korean tire maker said its quarterly operating profits rose to $151.8 million, on sales of $1.2 billion, compared to a year earlier.
Profits generated in South Korea reached record levels for the quarter, rising 22.4 percent from the year earlier.
The firm predicted continued growth in the second half.


text:
Bengaluru, Hyderabad Top Indian Cities In Job Creation For IT Employees; These Skills Needed Urgently By IT Firms
India is bouncing back from the disastrous second wave of the ongoing pandemic. Businesses are opening up and are ready to get back on track. And to achieve the feat of getting back on track the companies are gonna need the most important resources, the human resources. And according to a survey conducted by staffing firm Teamlease Services, the cities Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad are going to lead job creation in urban centers.
Jobs in Sales and Technology are in high demand
As companies are looking at both business continuity and growth, the jobs involving Sales and Technology are in high demand. In technology, the deep tech jobs involving high specialization are in high demand and at the same time are fetching high salaries.
“High expertise-based job profiles have steadily grown in criticality over the last 12 months and are seen by employers to be indispensable. These attract around 11% salary increment or more as compared with market averages ranging between 1.73% and 14.07% across sectors and cities,” the survey said.
According to the survey, IT, e-commerce, healthcare, and edtech were among the sectors that remained largely unaffected by the pandemic. Other sectors such as banking, finance and insurance, telecom, manufacturing, and engineering were set to revive relatively at a faster rate. At the same time, unexpectedly, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and fast-moving consumer durables will take a few more months before showing signs of revival. Other sectors such as retail, lifestyle, and hospitality will take longer to recover.
Other important insights from the survey
Rituparna Chakraborty, executive vice-president and co-founder of Teamlease, noted, “Cities like Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Kolkata are going to be the drivers of job creation as we are coming out of the second wave. This is because the reach of vaccination is high in these cities. So, revival will happen faster there”.
Salary increments have been on a higher side in the health and pharma sector in the national capital Delhi. Salary increments were higher in banking and financial services in Bengaluru. The survey had tracked 14 sectors. It included agriculture and agrochemicals, automobile, construction and real estate, e-commerce, and tech startups, industrial manufacturing, and financials.


text:
Business closures and rent losses in the coronavirus crisis have made banks even more cautious about retail properties and shopping centers. In the case of refinancing, portfolio holders have to calculate with higher interest rates and additional equity.
Recruitments, promotions and appointments...
“Outlets will probably have a longer recovery: domestic and foreign tourism usually contributes a lot to the total turnover.”
The shopping resort in Saint-Etienne with its about 70 shops and restaurant cannot open as planned due to the ongoing crisis.
An attempt to explain the current situation faced by retail tenants.
In light of the Covid-19 crisis, the management teams of several industry players express their solidarity with tenants and shareholders. The management board members of URW, Eurocommercial Properties, and Werelhave waive parts of their salaries or remunerations.
However, according to Otto Ambagtsheer, CEO of VIA Outlets, the way in which customers shop will change, at least on a temporary basis. For example, in some of the company’s markets, they will not be able to let guests try on clothes before they buy them, and clothes that are returned will need to be quarantined for three days.
At the end of 2020, we intended to celebrate the opening of Nivy Station and welcome our first customers. We planned to change the face of Bratislava by working together and presenting a unique public space designed for travelling, shopping and relaxation. Due to the effects of the pandemic and state implemented measures, the possible opening date has become Spring 2021, when the project will be in construction readiness.
Now is the time to stand together.
The reign of retail is over. The Covid-19 crisis is not a black swan for the shopping mall industry.
The Covid-19 pandemic will cause lasting change in the way that we live, work, play, and particularly in the way we shop.


text:
- November 15, 2021
- |Bitcoin, Blockchain, Crypto News, Cryptocurrency, Events
Taproot has finally been implemented even though it has been in talks for years. The Bitcoin upgrade will bring a higher level of transaction privacy, leading to smart contracts. So what does this mean for BTC? Well, Taproot will do away with the need for intermediaries in transactions, a move that will bring greater efficiency and drive down costs.
The last major Bitcoin upgrade focused on separating transaction signatures to increase the block size limit on a blockchain, implemented four years ago. SegWit, or Segregated Witness, freed up space to add more transactions to the blockchain. But Taproot has been in the conversation since 2012 when Bitcoin Core developer Mike Hearn came up with the idea to reduce computational expense by adding new cryptography to the batch verification of signatures.
That process would require the use of the Schnorr signatures algorithm, an algorithm created by Claus Schnorr. He also held the patent until it expired in 2008. So, to bring you forward, it’s now 2021, and the latest Bitcoin upgrade known as Taproot is here. Unfortunately, the signature method used until now caused a little bit of division in the Bitcoin family. Still, Taproot has nearly universal support, which will be a positive aspect of Bitcoin’s growth.
The first benefit is the storage of fewer data. The Schnorr signatures have a maximum size of 64 bytes compared to the elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA), which comes in at 72 bytes for just one digital signature in each transaction. Thus, when there are nearly half a million transactions a day, Schnorr signatures save a great deal of space.
Another benefit is the efficiency of verifying each transaction. When each signature has to be validated one by one, this process can consume a lot of CPU power. But Schnorr signatures can be batched together and solved at once, leading to substantial computational savings.
There are plenty of benefits that Taproot brings to the table, and Bitcoin investors are glad it’s finally here. Transactional costs are being driven down while efficiency and speed are increasing. So what could be the downside of such a Bitcoin upgrade?
With Bitcoin always on the rise, Byte Federal is the place for all your cryptocurrency needs!


text:
Developer Scott Beck has one more hurdle to clear before he secures approval for the development of Trophy Club Town Center, which is planned for the last parcel of undeveloped land within the North Texas town.
Beck will need approval from the town's council, which he hopes to get on Monday after plans were passed by Trophy Club's planning and zoning commission.
"The city wanted to make it very punitive if I needed to turn the ground floor from retail into multifamily," Beck told the Dallas Business Journal."I wasn't surprised by this because it was the one thing that concerned residents."
In January, Trophy Club denied Beck's original plans for Trophy Club Town Center -- a 26-acre project expected to cost $150 million to $200 million to develop -- after a flood of disgruntled Trophy Club residents brought concerns about Beck’s request to increase the number of apartments from 250 units to 350 units if the project is unable to secure enough retail tenants.
Beck's revised plans cap the number of apartments at 283 units, which is 33 more units than originally zoned for the tract, if the retail space doesn't lease out. The conversion of retail space to apartments can only occur after the retail space has been marketed for two full years, Beck told me.
"I'm hopeful the City Council takes the recommendation of the planning and zoning commission," Beck told me. "My hope is that we can move forward and begin construction by the end of the year. " If plans move forward, Beck said he could begin construction by December after working with the Texas Department of Transportation to plan access roads to the project from State Highway 114.
The portion of the project in dispute is roughly a sixth of the entire Town Center project.


text:
A new battery project, named BATMAN (Lithium ion BATteries - Norwegian opportunities within sustainable end-of-life MANagement, reuse and new material streams) has now started up.
Increasing needs for raw materials
We expect an increased use of batteries, and because of that it will be an increased need for raw materials used in batteries. If we are going to follow UN´s sustainable goals, recycling of this material will be of high interest. Specially because Norwegian process industry produce several of the raw materials used in battery production.
Norwegian companies are in lead
This project will put Norwegian companies in lead concerning battery development, developing a dynamic and strategic tool, based on analyzes of material flow. In this way, the raw materials stay in the value chain and the values can be reused.
Started in 2019
BATMAN-project had its first meeting June 5th 2019. Represented: Glencore, Elkem, Hydro, Fiven, Agder Energi, research partners at NTNU, University of Agder, IFE (Institute for energy technique), Transport economical institute and Eyde Cluster.
BIA program in The Research Concil supports the project with 11,75 MNOK. This is 50 percent of the project costs. 50 percent is financed by the companies participating in the project.
by Associate Professor Stina Torjesen at the University of Agder and one of the project’s PhD student Terese Birkeland.
“The Movement of Li-Ion Batteries through the Norwegian Transport Sector From Market Penetration to Vehicle Scrappage” by Chief Research Engineer Erik Figenbaum from The Institute of Transport Economics and his team.
Stephen Sayfritz: email@example.com
Lars Petter Maltby: firstname.lastname@example.org


text:
Mobile and wireless network technology
- June 18, 2014
Dimension Data announced its mobility as a service offering for enterprises interested in simplifying mobile device, application and expense management.
- April 02, 2014
SN blogs: This week, analysts discuss mobile application platform providers and speculate about this week's Interop 2014 conference.
- March 06, 2014
SN blogs: MWC highlights new mobile technology, Apple comes out with improvements to its MDM program, and analysts discuss big data and security.
- January 29, 2014
Networking blogs: This week VMware becomes a top player in mobile device management and analysts predict the future of enterprise engineering.
- January 29, 2014
Aerohive adds the ability to manage mobile devices to its Wi-Fi management platform, combining mobile device management and network management.
- January 23, 2014
The NFL will use Extreme's wireless analytics to give its IT organizations insight into how fans are using in-stadium Wi-Fi.
- December 16, 2013
Two new series of Dell switches and OEM Aruba access points give the vendor an end-to-end campus networking portfolio.
- November 13, 2013
Multiple SSID network configurations can be trimmed down with dynamic policy controllers in order to boost wireless LAN performance.
- August 14, 2013
The Cisco Meraki Cloud Networking Group has announced a cloud-managed Wi-Fi 802.11ac access point -- the Cisco Meraki MR34 -- for SMBs.
- June 12, 2013
Mobile workers are more productive than their peers, but still are frustrated by confusing BYOD policies and lack of ubiquitous Wi-Fi.
- April 24, 2013
In this week's blog roundup, read about the risks and benefits of the BYO access point trend and get advice for timing packet capture.
- October 02, 2012
In BYOD management, IT is considering virtual desktop infrastructure for secure application delivery, but data containers may be a better approach.
- July 05, 2012
NPR's Planet Money podcast recently did an episode on Ford's luxury car brand Lincoln, and how far it's fallen. "Can Lincoln be cool again?" Apparently there was a time when the Lincoln Town Car ...
- January 10, 2012
A number of vendors are showing off early demonstrations of gigabit Wi-Fi at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week. By choosing CES as the venue for these demos, the ...
- October 26, 2011
CCIE security track version 4 is approaching and will include new Cisco ASA firewall features and troubleshooting information. Cisco's CCIE security track manager explains.


text:
December-2020 Export-Import Status
exports shrank for the third straight month in December but the pace of
contraction slowed to 0.8% from 8.74% decline in November even as the country’s
trade deficit widened.
data released by the commerce and industry ministry showed Saturday Outbound
shipments in December were $26.89 billion and in sectors like petroleum,
leather and marine products witnessed contraction,
deficit in December widened to $15.71 billion, as imports grew by 7.6% to $42.6
billion due to a sharp increase in gold imports. Gold imports rose 81.8% in
December 2020 to $2.01 billion.
items that witnessed an increase in imports include electronic goods, vegetable
oil, chemicals, textile yarn and fabric, machine tools, pharmaceuticals and
precious & semi-precious stones.
The ministry said in a statement that “India is thus a net importer in December 2020”
by the US and UK. Singapore was the top destination for India’s exports last
month with an increase of $241.63 million led by petroleum products and
commodities of export which recorded growth during the month under review
include Oil meals (De-oiled cake, Iron ore, Carpet, pharmaceuticals, spices,
electronic goods, fruits and vegetables, and chemicals.
FIEO - Federation
of Indian Export Organisations President, Sharad Kumar Saraf said “The monthly exports have moved towards
positive territory as major export products show signs of further revival as
expected,” The order booking position have continuously improved besides more
new orders in the offing.
In December 2020, oil imports declined 10.37% to $9.61 billion.
Exports during April-December 2020-21 fell 15.8% to $200.55 billion compared to the same period last fiscal. Imports posted a decline of 29.08% to $258.29 billion
To give a leg up to exports, FIEO sought notification of the RoDTEP- Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products
rates, addressing issues such as adequate availability of containers, softening of freight charges, release of the required MEIS benefits and clarity on SEIS benefits and risky exporters.
Bhatia Jagdish owner of Bhatia Export Training & Consultancy, having 44 years of Export Import knowledge.


text:
After Sears made headlines for its bankruptcy filing and store closures, the next retailer facing similar hardships is now JCPenney.
The department store will shutter 27 of its 860 locations by the end of the 2019. Of the affected locations, 18 consist of department stores while the remaining nine are home and furniture
Image courtesy @HistoryInPix
04 January, 2019
Owner cites minimum wage hike in closing of landmark Boston restaurant opened in 1827 when John Quincy Adams was president
Massachusetts has been among the national leaders in the race to raise the minimum wage. In 2014, then-Gov. Deval Patrick signed a law raising the minimum wage from $8 to $11


text:
2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 Convertible Price Sees Huge Price Bump
Drop-top is considerably more expensive than the coupe
You only need $59,995 to get your hands on a new C8 Corvette, if you plan on buying the coupe. But what if you have your heart set on the drop-top? Today, GM revealed that the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette convertible will cost $7,500 more than the base 1LT coupe, bringing its starting price up to $67,495.
The new C8 Corvette convertible is a pretty good deal when you compare it to other convertible sports cars. You'll have to pay $72,650 for a 350-hp Porsche 718 Boxster S, and the 380-hp V-6 Jaguar F-Type will set you back $88,425. If you want an Audi R8 Spyder, you're looking at a price tag of $183,350. Chevrolet hasn't announced full pricing information for the new convertible, so we don't know how expensive it can get with options or higher trims.
Everything you ever wanted to know about the 2020 Corvette Stingray is here.
The 2019 Chevrolet Corvette C7 convertible carried a starting price of $61,495. The price gap between the base 2019 Corvette coupe and convertible was just $4,500.
Expect the big upgrades from the C8 Corvette coupe to make their way to the convertible. That includes the mid-mounted 6.2-liter naturally aspirated V-8 churning out 495 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque when equipped with the performance exhaust. The engine pairs to an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. Chevy says the convertible boasts the same amount of storage space as the coupe.
The new C8 Corvette convertible is the first hardtop Corvette convertible ever. The top is powered by six electric motors, and retracts in a Chevy-estimated 16 seconds. The weight penalty for the power hardtop is less than 80 pounds, according to Chevy, who also says the convertible model offers "nearly the same performance as the coupe" thanks to springs and dampers tuned specifically for the drop-top. We'll need some seat time to verify that, however.
The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible C8 goes into production late in the first quarter of 2020. Production on the C8 coupe starts later this year.
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text:
Munich Apple Store opening draws huge crowd
Here's a familiar story -- an Apple Store opening draws a huge crowd. This time, the store in question was Germany's very first. Construction on this location began all the way back in July of 2007, and we started to see job postings in May of this year. Some reports state that 4,000 people visited the store in the first few hours.
iPhone Savior reports that the day was busy but the crowd was handled efficiently. To get a glimpse of the throng, check out this cool Quicktime VR.
Congratulations, Munich! Enjoy your new Apple Store.
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Software Updatesmore updates
- iOS 8.0.1 update now available (Updated -- Don't update!)
- NFL Mobile updated for 2014 Season with new Fantasy Football features, NFL Now integration
- Yahoo Mail improves email inbox searching with new filtering options
- Ember for Mac gains 'hugely-requested' screen recording feature
- Spotify update adds equalizer, refreshed Artist page and more
- Fantastical 2.1 for iOS adds new snooze, search and notification features


text:
Retail Supplier Acquires Book Of Customers, Continues To Actively Seek More Books
December 22, 2021 Email This Story Copyright 2010-21 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • email@example.com
The following story is brought free of charge to readers byEC Infosystems, the exclusive EDI provider of EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Source Power Company announced the purchase of a portfolio of electricity supply customers in New York State from Buy Energy Direct, LLC.
"We are pleased to announce the purchase of a portfolio customer book from Buy Energy Direct," said Vincent Palmieri, Chief Operating Officer of Source Power. "The feedback from the market has been positive, and we see this as yet another signal that our hybrid product has been able to fill a void for a consumer product that offers the standard of value that aligns a meaningful savings with inclusive renewable energy programs that further the state's clean energy goals."
Palmieri added, "We continue to actively seek new development partners, books of business, and land suitable for development."
This latest acquisition follows Source Power's previously reported purchase of a book of electricity supply customers in the NiMo service territory in New York from Renaissance Power & Gas, Inc last month.
"With roots in the solar development industry through its sister company Source Renewables, Source Power sits strategically at the intersection of project finance, renewable generation, and energy supply. This allows Source Power to match solar generation with power consumers and use its vertical integration to ensure efficiencies are passed along to customers at competitive prices. Source Power represents a reboot of the retail energy industry and is on a mission to further the energy transition by changing the way people think about energy with an improved customer experience and innovative products and services that help advance clean energy goals and democratize those same benefits for all," Source Power said
Source Power Company is a trade name of Icon Energy, LLC


text:
Registrations open for Beetroot conference “Europe’s Emerging Tech Driver”
March 2021 — Beetroot AB has opened registrations and announced the agenda for the online conference “Europe’s Emerging Tech Driver: Scale Your Business with Ukraine,” which will be streaming live…
March 2021 — Beetroot AB has opened registrations and announced the agenda for the online conference “Europe’s Emerging Tech Driver: Scale Your Business with Ukraine,” which will be streaming live on March 17th, 2021, from 15:00 to 18:00 EET.
Details and free registration for this event can be found here.
Accelerated during the COVID outbreak, global digitalization and a tech talent shortage force savvy business leaders to look more closely at dynamically growing tech havens, particularly Ukraine.
Join prominent experts representing the Ukrainian government and international tech industry to learn the latest updates on digital transformation in Ukraine and discuss the opportunities the Ukrainian tech market offers to companies and entrepreneurs in 2021.
The list of speakers includes
- Tobias Thyberg, Ambassador of Sweden to Ukraine
- Valeriya Ionan, Deputy Minister for Eurointegration at Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine
- Dominique Piotet, CEO of UNIT.City
- Leo Berghald, Founder and CEO of Zwapgrid
- Mathias Eklöf, Founder and CEO of Hype Ventures
- Artem Petrenko, Managing Director at Sigma Sweden Software AB
- Andreas Flodström, Co-Founder and CEO of Beetroot AB
Panel moderator: Sebastian Streiffert, CMO at Beetroot AB
All registered attendees will receive free access to the live event, corresponding recordings, and a copy of our 2021 Ukrainian Tech Market Report, which Andreas Flodström will present for the first time during the event.
About Beetroot AB
Beetroot AB is a Swedish tech company that provides IT solutions and builds teams of tech experts in Ukraine to help clients around the world realize their technology visions. Founded in 2012, the company is on a mission to create sustainable social, economic, and environmental impact at scale.
Beetroot AB is the first member of Beetroot Ecosystem, which additionally includes Beetroot Consulting AB, Beetroot Academy, Beetroot Tech Hub, and a vast network of pre-vetted development houses. Beetroot Academy is a well-established network of IT schools in Ukraine. Transferred to work entirely online in 2020, the academy has educated approximately 2% of Ukraine’s tech talent.
Currently, the Beetroot Ecosystem comprises over 500 specialists in Ukraine and Sweden.
Read more about Beetroot here.


text:
The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV) is pleased to confirm that the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards will be held in 2020 with entries now open.
Conducted by RASV for more than 135 years, the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards (RMWA) is Australia’s premier wine event, built on a longstanding tradition of celebrating excellence and innovation in Australian winemaking.
The judging of Australia’s best wines will occur over five days from 5-9 October, at Melbourne Showgrounds.
RASV CEO, Brad Jenkins, is excited to confirm that the Wine Awards will be conducted in October 2020, in a year that many events have been forced to reschedule or postpone.
“With so much uncertainty for businesses throughout 2020, we are delighted that the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards will continue its longstanding tradition as Australia’s premier wine event,” said Mr Jenkins.
Recognising that 2020 has been a challenging year for the wine industry with devastating bushfires, drought and the COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacting many people and businesses, the RASV is offering discounted entries to early bird exhibitors.
“The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria understands these are challenging times for the wine industry and with the announcement that entries open today we are offering a 10% saving on entries received by Monday 15 July,” said Mr Jenkins.
“The health and safety of all those involved as well as the integrity of the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards are critical elements of the 2020 program. We are constantly monitoring the government health regulations regarding COVID-19 and will follow the recommended guidelines available at the time,” Mr Jenkins concluded.
The RMWA presents wine-makers large and small with the chance to enter their products and have them benchmarked by industry experts with a full marketing kit supplied to medal winners to assist them in sharing their success with the world.
RMWA competition manager, Kirsten Stubbings, encouraged wine makers to take advantage of the comprehensive feedback on offer and have the opportunity to win some of Australia’s most prestigious wine awards.
"Last year we improved our judging process to increase the judges' feedback supplied to all Royal Melbourne Wine Awards exhibitors. For every wine entered, exhibitors will receive detailed comments from up to three judges.” said Ms Stubbings.
“We are pleased to be able to proceed with the 2020 Royal Melbourne Wine awards and are excited to award Australia’s most sought after wine trophy, the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy for Best Young Red Wine.”
“Winning the ‘Jimmy’ is a life goal for every Australian winemaker and has the potential to transform a business and generate fantastic sales,” concluded Ms Stubbings.
All trophies are set to be awarded at the Virtual Award Presentation, streamed live from Melbourne Showgrounds on Thursday 22 October.
The Royal Melbourne Wine Awards are open for entry until Friday 14 August – for all details on how to enter head to rasv.com.au/wine.
Entries Close: until Friday 14 August
Judging: Monday 5 to Friday 9 October
Virtual Awards Presentation: 22 October
Stay up to date with the latest developments and engage with RMWA on Facebook and Instagram using the hashtag #MelbWineAwards
For all media enquiries, photo opportunities and interviews, please contact:
Grant Coverdale, Communications Manager
The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria
firstname.lastname@example.org | 0427 015 552


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NEW DELHI: To weed out
of a store
selling spurious liquor
printed on the bottles and the cartons, the excise department
of the Delhi government is adding
more security features
The new barcodes prepared by Security Printing and Minting Corporation India Limited (SPMCIL) are at the testing stage and the final version will be rolled out in the next financial year, said officials.
Once the security features are added to the labels, a customer will also be able to scan the barcode through the department’s mobile app, which is being upgraded, and know all the dates from bottling of the liquor at the distillery to reaching the store.
SPMCIL is a government establishment known for printing currency notes and security-feature-rich excise adhesive labels that can’t be copied or duplicated.
If there is a mismatch of details that appear on the app on scanning the barcode and the bottle purchased, the customer will be able to complain to the authorities online. The consumers will also be able to check the price and the availability of the brand of their choice at liquor stores with just a tap on their smartphone.
Currently, the excise department uses 2D barcoding on its bottles and cartons, which helps tracking the inventory right from the distillery to the consumer. The barcodes also incorporate a comprehensive database of liquor, date of bottling, batch number, distillery name and other relevant information.
While the barcodes with a unique number for each bottle and carton are generated using a special software and sent to the distillery, the manufacturer prints the label and affixes it on the inventory. This helps the excise department keeping a track of every single bottle and prevents smuggled, spurious and non-duty paid bottles from entering the system.
Officials, however, said the decision to add more security features was taken after the excise department found a few cases where the liquor companies allegedly duplicated the barcodes. The distributors and manufacturers of a couple of popular beer, vodka and whiskey brands had even been blacklisted for allegedly using unauthorised and loose barcodes, which can be misused.
Government officials said copying or duplicating barcode would be next to impossible with the new labels. “Photocopying the labels printed by SPMCIL will be impossible as it will blacken the page. The colour codes in the new labels will also keep changing making it difficult to copy,” said an official.
According to another official, the new barcodes have 10-12 security features, making them the most secure ones. SPMCIL has supplied the labels with similar security features to a few more states to be used for different products and the results have been encouraging, he added.
The official said the new barcoding would be a fool-proof system to prevent the sale of any other liquor bottle — smuggled, spurious or not meant for sale in Delhi — to be sold from liquor shops and restaurants in the capital.


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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Dave Matthews Band has announced dates for its 2020 North American summer tour which will include a show in Grand Rapids.
The show is set for 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 29, 2020 at Van Andel Arena.
An online ticket presale for members of the DMB Warehouse Fan Association will begin on Thursday, January 23, at 10 AM ET online.
Citi cardmembers will have access to purchase presale tickets through Citi Entertainment® beginning Tuesday, February 18, at 10 a.m. through Thursday, February 20, at 10 p.m.
Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Friday, February 21 at 10:00 a.m.
Tickets will be available at the Van Andel Arena and DeVos Place® box offices and online at Ticketmaster.com. A purchase limit of four (4) tickets will apply to every order.
Dave Matthews Band has sold more than 25 million tickets since its inception and a collective 38 million CDs and DVDs combined.
With the release of 2018's Come Tomorrow [smarturl.it], Dave Matthews Band became the first group in history to have seven consecutive studio albums debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.


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The company said the main reason for locating the centre in the capital was to gain access to top talent.
The 100 new roles include software development engineers, user interface experts and graphic designers.
“The number one reason that we located the new Amazon development centre in London is because we believe that the capital is brimming with world-class tech talent,” said Paula Byrne, managing director of the centre in London.
“We are now looking for the most innovative and creative people to join us in designing and developing the next generation of TV and film services for a global audience,” she said.
Boosting London's tech and media workforce is key to driving the capital's economy and helping to create jobs and growth
Boris Johnson, mayor of London
Boris Johnson, mayor of London, who visited the 47,000ft2 centre in Glasshouse Yard, said it gave London a vote of confidence from IT innovators.
“Boosting London's tech and media workforce is key to driving the capital's economy and helping to create jobs and growth," he said.
The centre is focusing on new digital media projects, including the creation of interactive digital services for TVs, games consoles, smartphones and PCs; the development of the digital media experience on Amazon websites around the world; and the building of services and application programming interfaces (APIs).


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Subir Bandyopadhyay is getting quite a bit of attention these days.
Along with his upcoming recognition as Small Business Advocate of the Year by the Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Center, the marketing professor at Indiana University Northwest recently was featured in a Yahoo Small Business Advisor article that looked at how innovation by small companies can create big brands.
“There are many cost-effective ways for small companies to brand themselves,” Bandyopadhyay told article author Mark Taylor. “Small businesses must identify and target their customers: are they end-users of their products or services, or do they serve other businesses? They must identify what their customers are seeking.”
Other northwest Indiana businesspeople appear in the article as well. They include Lorri Feldt, regional director of the Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Center; Carmella Saraceno, a Chicago entrepreneur who operates Miller Beach Market Place in Gary; and Jorge Benavente, an optometrist who practices in Munster, Ind., and Country Club Hills, Ill.
Read the entire article here:


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AT&T is sort of doubling the number of markets through which it offers its 5G community, with protection in NINETY new spaces beginning as of late. the brand new additions convey AT&T’s overall quantity up to over A HUNDRED NINETY markets overlaying greater than A HUNDRED AND TWENTY million folks.
a snappy recap of AT&T’s different 5G manufacturers:
5G E — in reality simply upgraded LTE 5G — uses low-band 850MHz spectrum era, similar to T-Cellular’s 600MHz community, on the way to contain the bulk of the service’s 5G network across the US 5G Plus — mmWave 5G, primarily based in prime-band radio frequencies
New cities on the listing include Sacramento, Chicago, New Orleans, Seattle, and Madison. For the entire record, check out AT&T’s announcement right here. For now, the brand new cities are only getting get right of entry to to AT&T’s low-band 850MHz network, not its sooner (but shorter-vary) mmWave network.
AT&T’s low-band 5G community launched in December 2019, and it has been steadily expanding when you consider that then, even though as of late’s news marks the most important growth for the network up to now. AT&T’s mmWave community — which introduced for shopper get admission to again in March along the Galaxy S20 Plus and S20 Ultra — hasn’t noticed nearly the same rate of expansion, even though, providing coverage in portions of 35 towns.


text: Demand for organic produce has been steadily growing in recent years and the trend is projected to continue apace. Much depends on better consumer awareness through information campaigns, as well as on prices, which are at high levels today, a study by business research firm ICAP says. The current difference in price between organic and conventionally grown vegetable produce varies between 20 and 100 percent, while for animal produce the gap grows to 300 percent. Market players take the view that an acceptable and realistic divergence in price should be around 20-30 percent. According to the survey, the total retail value of the Greek organic produce market in 2002 reached 18.5 million euros, up 19.4 percent from 2001. Preliminary estimates put 2003 growth at around 10 percent. Organic cultivation in Greece began with a clear orientation toward exports. Until recently, the number of retail outlets for organic products in Greece was relatively limited. A big boost came when supermarkets agreed to put them on their shelves. Further positive developments included the growth of specialized chains and street markets selling only organic. Such shops are estimated to have accounted for about 50 percent of sales in 2002, with supermarkets’ share approaching 40 percent. Olive oil, wine, citrus fruit and wheat products accounted for most of the sales. Consumption of organic olive oil grew at an annual average rate of 16.45 percent in the 1999-2002 period, of wine 53.74 percent, and of citrus fruit 108 percent. The total number of firms active in the sector, including producers, manufacturers and importers of organic produce, was 6,482.


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In almost exactly two months, the doors of the Old Billingsgate will be thrown open for the London Summit 2018. As the event draws near, we are proud to present our extensive crypto agenda, featuring the CEOs of Coinbase UK, Coinfloor, eToro, DX.Exchange, and Swissquote, to name only a few.
Below you can consult relevant sessions, and on the agenda page you can contact the speaker and pose your questions early on.
Crypto Believers Unite
Crypto prices are currently plummeting, making investors frustrated (and meme creators flourish), however, cryptocurrencies remain a key concern for the financial services industry.
Therefore, the agenda is addressing the full scope and challenges that this not-so-new asset and technology currently presents. From the visionary to the rank and file, from market opportunities to payment solutions, if it matters to the industry, you can hear about it at the London Summit 2018.
“I’m personally a crypto believer, what you might call hodler,” says Finance Magnates’ CEO, Michael Greenberg, “but regardless of that, since crypto and the blockchain changes the way we transfer value, it bears a fundamental impact on financial services. Anyone in the industry should keep a close eye on market developments, and it is a top priority for us that the Summit’s agenda will allow it.”
Industry-leading CEOs Talk Crypto’s Future
As is customary, every year of the London Summit features one of the most important discussions, i.e., the CEOs panel. Featuring a hand-picked panel of some of the industry’s top talent in a roundtable discussion, cryptocurrencies will once again be a marquee topic.
Attendees can expect multiple different topics to be included during the panel, with this year emphasizing the role of cryptocurrencies in OTC trading. The topic is of particular note as demand for these instruments has grown throughout the year – this is one panel you do not want to miss.
Opportunities in Crypto in 2019
The cryptocurrency industry is a forward-thinking one. Though its rise has been touched on and analyzed at length, the most important implications are yet to come. More than twelve months since its meteoric rise, it’s time to look ahead to 2019 for cryptocurrencies and what the future may hold for the nascent industry.
A panel of veteran specialists will delve into this discussion during the London Summit, attempting to chart a course forward in what could very well be one of the most key segments in 2019. Be sure to stay ahead of any regulatory headwinds or surprises and attend this panel.
Cryptocurrency Trading: Breaking down Retail and Institutional Models
Crypto trading is no longer just a retail phenomenon, with leading institutional venues such as CME Group and CBOE embracing Bitcoin futures at the tail end of 2017. This year’s panel will touch on the specifics of cryptos in both the retail and institutional space, as well as the impact of regulations.
As recently as last week, for example, CME Group’s CEO has gone on record saying they will no longer be introducing more crypto futures. Does this represent a changing perception around these instruments or just a corner case?
The ABCs of Price Risk HedgingGo to article >>
The Cryptocurrency Survival Kit for Brokers
Few spaces have been through more upheaval during the past 12 months than the cryptocurrency industry. Following its rise to prominence, the industry has transformed, rather quickly, into a fully-fledged segment. However, 2018 presents its own unique challenges, many of which have threatened to extinguish many an exchange or broker.
Indeed, as a fundamental component of many retail brokers’ offerings, cryptos are here to stay. In this seminar, attendees will learn from three leading experts about the most critical components surrounding the successful integration of cryptocurrencies. This includes tips and tricks for proper risk management and a step-by-step guide to smoothing out the payment process as well as linking up with exchanges.
Impact of Regulating ICOs: A Global View
Initial coin offerings (ICOs) have managed to eclipse 2017 already and are only increasing in frequency and worth. For these reasons, regulators and global authorities have moved to police this segment perhaps more so than any other, given the large swaths of cash changing hands.
Will ICOs continue to flourish moving forward in a more regulated manner? This year’s seminar will address this and other concerns, such as the large percentage of projects that have resulted in disaster for investors. With ICOs now firmly on the radar of regulators, new projects and startups have had to adapt to a newly defined playing field.
Blockchain, DLT, and the Future of the Behemoths of Finance
Emerging technology has always changed the way humans transfer value. Blockchain is at the forefront of innovation today, transforming the machinery of the existing financial system, as well as offering new mind-boggling possibilities.
This panel will explore some of the questions brought about in this brave new world. What’s the impact of the adoption of distributed ledger technology on the financial sector to date? What challenges await the buy-side in keeping up to speed with innovation? What will the short- and long-term future of financial services look like, and how should it look?
Attendees can expect a review of the current state of major DLT projects and a forward-thinking discussion about blockchain and the future of financial services.
Blockchain Innovation Stage
As the buzz around blockchain technology remains at an all-time high, cutting through the noise to find the products and concepts that will take your business to the next level can be difficult. In this session, you will meet startups and firms that harness blockchain technology to drive innovation in the finance system.
They will showcase their wares, and battle for your vote for the Most Outstanding Blockchain Product Award. Industry participants and crypto enthusiasts alike are welcome to join the Blockchain Innovation Stage and have a glimpse at tomorrow’s economy today.
Cryptocurrency: Creating an Open Financial System for the World
Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are paving the way for the most open and transparent financial system ever created. This session will delve into what goes into open finance and what role cryptocurrencies has to play in what may very well be the future of the industry.


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The CalvinAyre.com team returned to Amsterdam Noord’s Pakhuis de Zwijger this morning for the second day of Gaming in Holland 2015.
Willem van Oort, the main man behind Gaming in Holland, was pleased with the turnout this year with over 200 people in attendance. The sessions were well attended and productive, plus he added a series of demos on day two allowing service providers to showcase their goods to prospective Dutch clients and others.
Today’s sessions covered different terrain than yesterday’s lottery and regulatory-heavy discussions, focusing more on broader topics such as marketing strategies, mobile gaming, taxation, start-ups and financial betting.
Today’s “Mobile Gaming” panel featured mobile industry heavyweights Johan Stryen, CEO of LeoVegas and Rogier van den Heuvel, VP Benelux & Nordics at mGage. With 2014 being regarded as the year for mobile, both panelists provided facts and figures to emphasize the importance of mobile, discussed current and future projects and talked on innovation in mobile gaming.
“Mobile is the most disruptive technology ever. No technology has impacted us like the mobile phone”, said van den Heuvel.
Mobile has taken over desktop and according to research on mobile usage in the Netherlands, when asked what would they rather live without instead of their mobile responses were:
84% would rather miss alcohol for one month
75% would rather miss their tablet for one month
46% would rather miss sex for one month
46% would rather miss coffee for one month
These figures are certainly fun, but they also support the importance of a focus on mobile in iGaming and in so many any other industries globally.
Styren founded his online gambling company LeoVegas with a “mobile first” focus and has enjoyed great success since its launch. So why is it possible to create this kind of business on mobile? One of Styran’s slides illustrated what people use mobile phones for…you would think calling would be at the top of the list, but its not:
#1 reason: Entertainment
#2 reason: Communications/Social Media
#3 reason: News
#4 reason: Calling
Users want entertainment, so that is what LeoVegas will give them. He also explained casino gaming has gone from a niche product to more of a main stream product with the spread of internet and mobile, at the same time becoming more socially acceptable.
LeoVegas is good at converting social gaming players to real money and converting customers who have never gambled online before into real money players. “Its simply more fun to win for real”, he said.
Google made a change to their algorithm back in April, now taking mobile pages much more into consideration. Styren said this move of Google’s was great for his business from many perspectives- finally the affiliates are starting to focus on mobile and regarding mobile as an area to focus on, he said. In fact, the industry as a whole is almost forced to focus more on mobile.
van den Heuvel agreed with Styren and added it was a huge step when Google made their change in April- it proves to the tech world that mobile is here and now- its important.
When asked about innovations in mobile and what to expect in the future, Styren mentioned the Apple Watch and said its more of an add-on to the mobile phone rather than a switching of a platform, but its still certainly something to consider. He said LeoVegas will use the Apple Watch as another channel to reach customers.
van den Heuvel said wearable tech and virtual tech will change a lot in the iGaming industry. He specifically mentioned Oculous Rift and how groundbreaking the technology really is- “its still early days but will definitely influence our lives”, he said.
This afternoon’s “Start-ups and Innovation in iGaming and Lotteries” panel featured David Sargeant of iGaming Ideas, Annelies in’t Veld of Amsterdam in Business, Alex Rutherford of William Hill and Reinout te Brake of iQU.
Sargeant kicked off the session with a slide listing the top 10 perceived start-up cities in the EU:
in’t Veld talked on the start-up friendly atmosphere in Amsterdam, with numerous and accelerators and incubators creating a “very strong atmosphere of innovation”. Her hope is to rise to the number two spot, just under London who Amsterdam considers a “big brother” when it comes to start-ups.
She went on to explain a lot of starts ups and tech companies like the village feeling of Amsterdam as it encourages crossover between different starts ups and different companies. Her plan is to encourage more incubator events in Amsterdam and travel around the world to educate start-ups on why Amsterdam is an excellent location for their business.
The issue of regulation hindering innovation in iGaming and other industries was also discussed. Sargeant said “Regulation and iGaming innovation don’t go hand in hand” and “if you can’t test it, you can’t regulate it”. Rutherford said regulation is to blame for great ideas missing the market over the past three years.
In Amsterdam, of course we’re waiting for iGaming regulations to solidify, but hopefully they won’t be too restrictive and iGaming start-up companies could potentially find a nice home in Amsterdam.


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What happened to the Coke polar bear commercial?
While the bears aren’t included in the brand’s Christmas TV ad, Advertising Age reports, they will be featured on some packaging. That hasn’t happened in the U.S. since 2013, according to a Coca-Cola Co. spokeswoman.
Why does Coca-Cola use polar bears in their ads?
Creator Ken Stewart initially got the idea for the groundbreaking commercial called “Northern Lights” from his Labrador Retriever, which reminded him of a polar bear as a cute, fluffy puppy. In the ad, the polar bears watch the aurora borealis (the Northern Lights) and drink Coca-Cola.
How old is the Coca-Cola polar bear commercial?
Coca-Cola’s first polar bear print advertisement appeared in France in 1922, and for the next 70 years, polar bears appeared sporadically in print advertising. In 1993, The Coca-Cola Company made a dramatic shift in its advertising by introducing the “Always Coca-Cola” campaign.
When was the last polar bear Coke commercial?
Why Coke Is Ditching The Polar Bears For Its 2013 Super Bowl Ad.
Why is Coke being Cancelled?
In October 2020, Coca-Cola made a huge announcement: The company had decided to discontinue 200 of its beverage brands in an effort to rid its portfolio of underperforming brands and prioritize those that showed the most opportunity for growth and scale.
Why did Coca-Cola get rid of the white polar bear?
The company claimed it had intended a “disruptive” campaign to get its conservation message across. “The white can resonated with us because it was bold, attention-grabbing” and “reinforced the campaign theme,” Scott Williamson, a spokesman for Coca-Cola told the Wall-Street Journal.
Is Coke dropping the polar bears?
The Coca-Cola Company is, additionally, donating $3 million to the WWF’s polar bear conservation efforts. “We want to help the polar bear — a beloved Coca-Cola icon since 1922 — by helping conserve its Arctic habitat,” said Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company.
Is Coca-Cola dropping the polar bear?
A campaign by Coca-Cola to draw attention to the plight of the polar bear is being diluted after consumers complained that the cans were changed from red to white.
Who is the Sprite Boy?
Sprite Boy is the elf-like character that served as a Coca-Cola ambassador in the 1940s almost 20 years before Sprite soda was created in 1961. The exhibit shares Sprite Boy’s story and history through artifacts, original paintings, print advertising and photos from around the world.
Who designed the Coca-Cola polar bear?
director Ken Stewart
Although Coca-Cola featured a polar bear in a print ad in France in 1922, the animated bears that the brand is known for today were created by director Ken Stewart in the early ’90s.
What brands are Coke canceling?
10 Coca-Cola Products You Can’t Buy Anymore
- TaB. TaB, introduced in 1963 as the company’s first diet soft drink, was one of the products on Coca-Cola’s 2020 hit list.
- Zico Coconut Water.
- Coca-Cola BlaK.
- Coca-Cola C2.
- OK Soda.
- Diet Coke Lime.
- Diet Coke Feisty Cherry.
When did Coca Cola start advertising polar bears?
Coca-Cola’s first polar bear print advertisement appeared in France in 1922, and for the next 70 years, polar bears appeared sporadically in print advertising. Check out this story and more news from The Coca-Cola Company.
Does Coca-Cola use polar bears in their products?
This notwithstanding, the use of polar bears has given rise to some controversy. In 2011, Coca-Cola pledged $2 million toward saving the species from extinction, and helped raise a further $3 million from consumers. Nevertheless, in 2011 to 2013, the company spent approximately $9.8 billion on marketing, and generated $8.7 billion in profits.
What animal is Coca-Cola’s mascot?
On top of Santa infamously donning the Coke-red robes, Coca-Cola introduced the polar bear as a mascot back in 1922. They’ve periodically used a mother bear and cubs in seasonal advertising for decades to follow.
What makes Coca Cola a good holiday brand?
Coca-Cola is a brand that knows how to establish an emotional connection between its product and the holiday themes of families gathering and togetherness. Animals can provide ever-popular characters to sell your product; give them recognizable human characteristics for consumers to identify with.


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Italian packaging production, according to the latest statistics, is increasing since 2014, and the market is continuously growing. At last, a turnaround, much awaited by Italian companies in the packaging industry, which brings hopes for an ever-brighter future. Indeed, this growth is mainly the result of [...]
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