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TotemoTech - 2023-10-12
Hello and welcome to today’s news from TotemoTech on October 12th, 2023. In today’s news, Adobe has updated its AI model, Firefly, which allows users to generate images by simply pasting a prompt. The new model, called Adobe Firefly Image 2 Model, replaces the previous version and brings additional features. Meanwhile, Mitsui Real Estate has announced a new delivery system for its condominiums under construction in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward. The system allows delivery personnel to unlock the auto lock and deliver packages to the designated delivery area, even when residents are not present.
Moving on to other news, J-LIS has resolved the system glitch that caused processing delays for My Number Card procedures on October 10th. The company announced that the issue has been resolved, and local government procedures have resumed.
In the world of e-commerce, the app ‘Kauche’ has introduced a new feature called ‘Kauche Farm.’ Users can now harvest crops in the in-app farm, and the harvested products will be delivered to their homes. This feature provides a unique experience for users and allows them to receive the products they grow in the virtual farm.
Next, let’s take a peek into the bookshelves of IT and web-related company executives. This time, we’ll explore the bookshelves and reading preferences of the management team at LegalOn Technologies, a legal SaaS company that has recently raised 17.9 billion yen in funding. By looking at the books they read, we can gain insights into the influences and perspectives of these leaders in the IT industry.
Shifting gears to gaming news, the announcement of the new PS5 by SIE has sparked discussions about potential price increases. On social media platform X, keywords like ‘PS5 price increase’ and ‘controller price increase’ briefly trended. While some users expressed concerns, others acknowledged the efforts made by Sony Interactive Entertainment considering the exchange rate.
Lastly, Google Cloud has unveiled a new learning resource called ‘The Arcade,’ where users can learn about Google Cloud’s AI generation tools for free. This gamified learning platform allows users to earn points and even win prizes while exploring the world of AI generation tools provided by Google Cloud.
That’s all for today’s news. Stay tuned for more updates from TotemoTech. Visit JapanDailyNews.com for the news, yen exchange rates, and a daily Japanese proverb.
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Windows Phone’s mobile app store is now home to more than 50,000 apps. This number is pretty small when compared to Apple App Store and Google Android Market but it is getting better all the time.
With Nokia now selling Windows Phone devices, Read more [...]
Twitter launched their brand new mobile apps for the Google Android and Apple iOS platforms yesterday. The new app is a major update though not everyone is impressed.
On the iPhone at least, there is a cool alternative in the form of Tweetbot which Read more [...]
Facebook is launching a brand new update of their mobile app for the Google Android platform.
The new app features a user interface similar to their iOS and web app.
Facebook on Android has always been a second grade experience. Their iOS app Read more [...]
Online sources are reporting about a brand new Facebook app for the Android platform.
Facebook on Android has been a major disappointment. The app does not offer all the features of the Facebook platform.
It is pretty dumb when compared Read more [...]
Google is running a special promo on their Android Market.
The promotion is named 10 Billion Promo and the offers are enticing.
They are currently offering 10 premium apps for just 10 cents (around Rs. 5 here in India).
The apps included Read more [...]
Surprisingly, RIM’s Blackberry App World has not featured content ratings for the apps available through it until now.
Research in Motion is now fixing it by allowing developers to give ratings to their mobile apps available through this store. Read more [...]
Path has been one of the most interesting mobile app launches we have seen in the recent years. Unlike most other apps this one focused on very limited sharing.
The company has been adding new features based on user feedback and they have just Read more [...]

domain: news


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British energy giant BP announced on Thursday that it has agreed to acquire network of Australian petrol stations from supermarket chain Woolworths for USD 1.3 billion (1.2 billion euros).
BP said in a statement that it will establish a strategic partnership with Woolworths in a deal for the purchase, rebranding and operation of Woolworths' existing 527 fuel and convenience stores, plus 16 sites under construction, for the equivalent of Australian Dollars 1.8 billion.
"The development of high-quality, differentiated fuel and convenience offers is a key part of BP's strategy," said Tufan Erginbilgic, boss of its downstream business which includes refining, marketing and distribution.
"We are excited to be establishing this strategic partnership with Woolworths, one of Australia's largest supermarket retailers.
"Globally we have developed a winning retail formula where we partner with strong local brands, like Marks & Spencer in the UK, to provide our customers with a convenience retail offer that meets the needs of their busy lifestyles."
BP already owns 350 retail locations across Australia and supplies fuel to an additional 1,000 outlets owned by independent business partners.


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Consumer News: DOJ suing two major airlines, smoked brisket coming to Chipotle and more!
CNN– The Department of Justice sued two major airlines Tuesday. Department officials are accusing JetBlue and American Airlines of creating an alliance that raised prices and reduced choice for passengers traveling to and from major cities in the northeast. Last year, the two airlines created the “Northeast Alliance.” It operates out of four major airports in Boston and New York City. The DOJ says the companies committed to trading information related to flight operations.
McDonald’s is making more changes to its Happy Meal. On Tuesday, the fast food giant announced it would greatly lessen the use of plastics in its Happy Meal toys worldwide. That means, starting in 2022, kids can expect other prizes like 3D paper based items. Burger King pledged in 2019 to get rid of non-biodegradable plastic toys worldwide before 2026.
Chipotle is adding smoked brisket to its menu. Tuesday, the company announced smoked brisket will be available, for a limited time, at participating restaurants in the U.S. and Canada. Chipotle says its beef is seasoned with Mexican spices and has a sauce made from smoky chili peppers. You will be able to get chipotle’s new brisket at restaurants starting Thursday.
Aston Martin has built a little car for the little, or not so little, James Bond fan in your life. The small electric car is based on the classic DB5 made famous in the Bond film franchise. It can’t be driven on public roads. The car features toy machine gun headlights and a smoke screen device. They will sell for about $123,000.


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THE Scottish Salmon Company has announced a 23 per cent jump in earnings for the first three months of 2018, thanks to higher prices and an increase in exports.
Revenue for the first quarter totalled £53.5 million, up by more than £10 million from the 2018 figure of £43.4 million.
Harvest volume increased by 22 per cent, from 7,136 tonnes to 8,725 tonnes, while the revenue per kilo rose from £6.08 to £6.13, driven by strong prices.
The company said the underlying demand for Scottish salmon remained strong, with exports accounting for 65 per cent of sales, up from 61 per cent in Q1 2018, largely driven by strong demand from the US and Asia.
‘Supporting the strategy for responsible growth, further investment is planned for 2019,’ the company said.
‘During Q1 an upgraded harvest station opened in the south and investment continued in freshwater facilities.
‘The new Applecross Kishorn facility will be stocked in the summer, with the remainder of the facility opening in early 2020.’
The guided harvest forecast for this year is 33,000 tonnes, with a production target of over 45,000 tonnes by 2025.
‘This reflects the company’s substantial consent pipeline,’ the company’s report added.
Picture: Scottish Salmon Company CEO Craig Anderson


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Vancouver urged to
adopt ethical purchasing regulations
city of Vancouver
has purchased firefighter apparel made in Burma, a Southeast Asian
boycotted for the atrocious human rights record of the military junta
illegally rules the country.
collection of local
activists has the evidence and is calling on the city to amend its
policies to ensure that no goods made in international sweatshops are
councils have already banned buying goods from Burma
as part of a national
campaign against third-world sweatshops. The activists, including
international solidarity reps and the local Burmese community, want the
climb on board.
issue is the purchase of
uniform parkas for Vancouver
firefighters. The parkas were sold to the city by a Montreal
firm, Evin Industries Ltd., which buys clothing from Burma,
by its rulers.
should city of Vancouver
required to wear...something that is manufactured under the worst
labour conditions in the whole world," said Bill Saunders, president of
the Vancouver and District Labour Council.
Burma has long been under the heel of a
accused of using forced and slave labour, and of ruthlessly suppressing
dissidents. It was supposed to step aside in 1990 following the
of a movement lead by democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. Instead, the
tightened its grip on the country and placed Suu Kyi under house
thugs linked to the junta attacked a march by supporters of the
elected government, killing and injuring several, and sexually
supporters. Suu Kyi has been incarcerated in prison since the attack.
harsh repression has
drawn condemnation from the United Nations and sanctions from the United States, but Canada
has lagged behind. "The
official figures for 2000 show imports from Burma
have trebled since 1997," charged Soe Kyaw Thu of the Action Committee
called on the city to
adopt ethical purchasing regulations and on the province to back a 1999
legislative resolution condemning Burma's
junta and urging Ottawa
to recognize the democratically elected Suu Kyi government. The Action
to impose investment sanctions and "ban Canadian companies from doing
business with the brutal regime."
purchase of the Burma-made parkas
a "moral car wreck," Tom Sandborn of the BC Ethical Purchasing Group
remarked, "I think we can be relatively confident that this particular
horror show will be stopped." A mayor and councilors from the Coalition
Progressive Electors, a labour-backed civic alliance, dominate Vancouver city
Burma is bad but is only one part of an
system of sweatshops. "Every sweatshop plant anywhere in the Third
or in the city of Vancouver
is a little mini-Burma where people for profit can squeeze production
the workers. It's absolutely unacceptable that we don't have the simple
regulations in place," Sandborn declared. The ethical purchasing group
presented the city with a draft of suggested regulations and is calling
immediate action on the issue, he said.
Jim Green of COPE
said he was "shocked" to hear that the firefighter department had
purchased the Burma-manufactured parkas. "Everyone's going to have a
more critical eye about purchases in the future," he added.
couldn't give a time
when council would discuss the issue of implementing ethical standards
noted the city has been looking at models such as Toronto's No Sweat campaign. He said
has a guarantee that all purchasing for the 2010 Winter Olympics will
and manufactured according to Canadian labour standards.
Labour and other
groups have been waging a national campaign against low-wage sweatshops
several years. A national organization, the Ethical Trading Action
persuaded the cities of Toronto, Victoria, Moose Jaw,
Windsor and Saskatoon
to adopt ethical purchasing rules.


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Fans of the incredibly fast-paced Arc System Works cross-over fighting title, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, will be treated to a new update this coming May. The new update will introduce new characters from all over the developers fighting game universe.
The tweet from Arc System’s official Twitter page displayed which new characters are coming to BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, including Teddie from Persona 4, Naoto Shirogane from Central Fiction, Heart Aino from Arcana Heart 3 and Seth from Under Night In-Birth.
— BLAZBLUE OFFICIAL (@BLAZBLUE_PR) March 25, 2019
The new update including the four new DLC characters is set to be introduced this coming May with no official launch date revealed.
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is available for the PS4, PC and Switch which released last year.


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There’s no need to explain that Smartphones and Tablets are determining the world’s trend. It seems that consumers are moving away from using “single-use” devices, and they are more likely to opt those devices which could perform multiple tasks at a time. According to a recent survey report from Accenture, covering 11,000 consumers worldwide, the global trend is currently being influenced by Smartphones and Tablets. The firm has reported that Smartphones, PCs, HDTVs and Tablets are among the top gadgets that users are likely to buy in 2013. 41% of respondents are likely to buy Smartphone this year, followed by 36%, 33% and 23% consumers those are planning to buy PCs, HDTVs and Tablets respectively.
However, the survey was conducted on 16 different types of consumer electronics categories including Smartphone, Tablet, basic TVs and e-readers. Over the past four years, it has been noticed that consumers are increasingly being attracted towards those devices that let users to send/receive emails, watch TV shows and share images on social networking sites.
At present, majority of respondents (50%) in emerging countries are more likely to own Smartphone in 2013. However, just 33% of respondents in the matured markets are willing to purchase Smartphone in the next 12 months. At the time, consumers want to make distance from ‘single- use’ devices such as Gaming console, portable music players and more, and this is the main reason why just 6% and 9% of consumers in the matured and emerging markets plan to buy gaming console in next 12 months period.
It’s pretty much clear from the report that some factors like price, security solution against hackers, screen resolution, device size and more are responsible for the purchase of electronic gadgets such as Smartphone, Tablets and PCs. However, majority of consumers (75%) purchase Smartphone on the basis of price, followed by 71% and 67% consumers purchase these devices after considering security and screen resolution features respectively.
Furthermore, the online activities on Smartphone, Tablets and PCs have tremendously been mounting up. In 2012, 77% of consumers (respondents) accessed online mailbox service on their internet connected devices, followed by online gaming (41%), online photos-video storage (37%) and music streaming (29%).
Interestingly, each and every Smartphone users know the name of mobile operating system installed in their device. However, the awareness towards OS is little-bit lower among Tablet and Ultrabook users compare to Smartphone users.


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Tiger Woods is back in action this week and he’s finally revealed his new clothing company.
Woods officially announced the “Sun Day Red” clothing line with TaylorMade on Monday in Los Angeles. The line will include both clothing and shoes with a new tiger logo different from its previous “TW” brand logo. Its official launch is scheduled for May 1.
The announcement comes days before Woods makes his return to the course at the Genesis Invitational, which will mark his first tournament back on Tour since he withdrew from the Masters last April.
Woods announced on social media last month that he and Nike were ending their partnership after 27 years. Woods first signed with Nike in 1996, and he quickly became one of the clothing giant’s most prominent faces. His “Sunday Red” look – which he started wearing for the final round of every tournament because his mother, Kultida, told him it was a powerful color – became one of the most iconic of all. sports.
Woods last wore Nike in competition at the PNC Championship in December, which he played alongside his son, Charlie. His last contract with Nike was reportedly a 10-year, $200 million deal, signed in 2013.
Woods withdrew from last year’s Masters right after making the cut and didn’t play much the rest of the year. He competed in the unofficial Hero World Challenge and the PNC Championship with Charlie, but this week marks his first real test back on Tour. The Genesis Invitational is the third designated event of the Tour season and features a field of 70 players and a leaderboard that includes the top 50 players, ties and anyone within 10 shots of the lead.
Woods said he hopes to compete in about one tournament a month, depending on his health. He underwent surgery on his right ankle after last year’s Masters, which was just the latest in a long list of injuries, and spent most of 2023 recovering.
Now that he has a new contract and appears at least relatively healthy again, Woods’ comeback is officially underway.
Gn En sports


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Do most people really want a smart home, they just don’t know it yet? That’s what Lennar, one of America’s largest homebuilders believes, and that is why the 65-year-old company announced last year that it would outfit all its new homes with home automation tech as standard.
Those new homes – equipped with Wi-Fi Certified home design, Alexa voice control, and a starter kit of smart home tech – have now started to roll on to the market. We went to check one out in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
Read the full story here.


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New Delhi, Jul 1 (PTI) Equitas Holdings Ltd today said it has received final licence from Reserve Bank to launch a Small Finance Bank (SFB) and will commence operations in few months with a network of around 400 branches.
"The SFB, to be named Equitas Small Finance Bank Ltd (Equitas Bank), will start banking operations after receiving few other approvals from various departments of RBI and other agencies," the company said in a release.
The company hopes to start operations in the next few months with a network of around 400 branches, which would be established through the year.
"It is indeed a proud moment for everyone at Equitas to be a first Private Bank from Tamil Nadu and the city of Chennai," said P N Vasudevan, Managing Director, Equitas Holdings.
"With our ability to service the informal economy through our reach and efficient process and system, we plan to cater all sections of society," he added.
The company added that in June, the Madras High Court had approved the amalgamation of Equitas Micro Finance Ltd (EMFL) and Equitas Housing Finance Ltd (EHFL) with Equitas Finance Ltd (EFL).
With amalgamation coming into effect, Equitas Finance Ltd will be named as Equitas Small Finance Bank which will carry on the business of banking, said the release.
Chennai-based Equitas Holdings lends to individuals, micro and small enterprises that are underserved by formal financing channels.
The stock of the company closed 3.6 per cent higher at Rs 183.95 on BSE. PTI KPM DS ARS ABK


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To further service its growing business, UFI Filters has expanded its Aftermarket base in the UK market including a new, dedicated office and a new warehouse that benefits from the services of its recently appointed supply chain partner, DB Schenker. Thanks to its configuration, the new distribution centre will help to meet increasing market demand for the UFI brand – which, with 3,000 SKUs in its aftermarket catalogue, covers 96% of the UK car parc.
The developments mean that UFI customers nationwide, including buying groups, independents and specialist motor factors, will benefit from a highly flexible logistics service. Deliveries will be fully trackable and made overnight by trusted carriers such as UK Mail.
Luca Betti, Director of the UFI Group Aftermarket Business Unit, declares: “We are really proud of the results achieved in this country in the last two years, and we are on track to reach the ambitious target we set in 2017 of achieving a 10% UK market share. These new logistics and service measures will give a further boost to our presence on the ground, in the highly fragmented UK and Irish Aftermarkets”.
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A 27-year-old Vietnamese comic series based loosely on the popular 'Voltron' animated series of the 1980s is getting republished in Vietnam, stirring up excitement among a generation of readers while prompting worries about copyright infringement. Dung si Hesman (Hero Hesman) was a 160-volume comic series by ‘adaption arist’ Hung Lan. It was published for the first time in Vietnam in 1992. The sci-fi adventure superhero comic follows the protagonist, Hesman the robot, as he battles evil forces in the galaxy in a fictional future set in the 23rd century. It was a huge hit among Vietnamese children and youth at a time when entertainment options were scarce in the absence of computer games and the Internet, with its circulation reaching 160,000 copies per volume at times. Many Vietnamese millennials recall queuing up and fighting with other kids at local bookstores to rent the newest volumes of Dung si Hesman when they first got out. Collecting spin-off items were also … [Read more...] about ‘Voltron’ spin-off comic brings back nostalgic memories, causes copyright concerns in Vietnam
Best time to visit vietnam
Dung thanked the Thai government for facilitating flights bringing Vietnamese citizens home, and supporting those who are studying and living in Thailand. He suggested Thailand limit trade barriers, exchange information about export-import regulations and procedures, and further support and closely cooperate with Vietnam in regional and international organisations and forums. Thani congratulated Vietnam on the successful organisation of the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and its outstanding performance of the ASEAN Chairmanship 2020. Thailand attaches importance to and has worked to continuously consolidate and strengthen the fine bilateral friendship, the official said. Vietnam has become a model in the COVID-19 combat worldwide, he said, stressing that Thailand will continue its close coordination with Vietnam in fighting the pandemic and reviving supply chains, as well as in the efforts to access safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. Thailand … [Read more...] about Vietnam, Thailand agree to deepen enhanced strategic partnership
In the last decade .their investments in Vietnam swelled by an average of 13 percent a year. By the end of last year their total investment was only around $13 billion, not enough to put Thailand in the top five list, but still managed to have large market shares in several sectors by concentrating their investment in a handful of sectors. In the retail sector, some leading supermarket chains are controlled by two Thai companies, Central Group and TCC Group. Central Group, Thailand’s leading retailer, which belongs to the Chirathivat family, started off in Vietnam as a fashion merchandiser in 2012, distributing products from brands such as SuperSports, Crocs and New Balance. In 2015, it acquired a 49 percent stake in electronics retailer Nguyen Kim through its subsidiary Power Buy. In the same year, it bought out supermarket chain Lan Chi, which operates mainly in northern rural areas. In 2016, it bought supermarket chain Big C Vietnam from France's Casino Group for over $1 … [Read more...] about Which sectors in Vietnam are dominated by Thai companies?
VNA seeks nod for transporting Covid-19 vaccine to Vietnam By Le Anh A Vietnam Airlines aircraft is parked at an airport. Vietnam Airlines affirmed that it has sufficient facilities and resources for the transportation of Covid-19 vaccines – PHOTO: COURTESY OF VIETNAM AIRLINES HCMC – Vietnam Airlines JSC has proposed Vietnam’s national health authority allow it to transport Covid-19 vaccines to the country, affirming that it has sufficient facilities and resources for the transportation. A Vietnam Airlines representative today, February 24, said that the national flag carrier had prepared all the essential resources to meet the stringent requirements for transporting the vaccines by air, including logistics services, modern cold storage facilities, well-trained personnel and frozen product transportation procedures in line with international standards, especially ultra-cold containers to store the vaccines. These are special conditions for the transportation of the … [Read more...] about VNA seeks nod for transporting Covid-19 vaccine to Vietnam
The Hanoitimes - Test results have shown that at least five out of 20 Indonesian sailors have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and one suspected case. Five Indonesian sailors aboard Ocean Amazing ship that is anchored off Vietnam’s southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to the provincial Steering Board for Covid-19 Prevention and Control. Foreign sailors are tested Covid-19 upon entry into Vietnam in December, 2020. Photo: Dong Ha In the steering board’s report, the foreign ship has been on the way to deliver commodities from Indonesia since February 20. When it went across Vietnam’s waters, one of the sailors on the ship died due to an unidentified non-health-related issue. The Vung Tau province's Center for Disease Control (CDC) in coordination with related agencies have taken samples for the remaining 20 sailors on board in the first test for the novel coronavirus. Test results have shown that at … [Read more...] about Five Indonesian sailors anchored in Vietnam water positive for Covid-19


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Digital finance is one of the fastest-growing economic sectors in Europe. In 2023, 13 billion euros were injected into this sector, making it one of the most innovative sectors attracting significant capital in Europe. With thousands of startups and scale-ups in every European country, innovation is at the heart of digital finance. Alongside more traditional…
Digital finance is one of the fastest-growing economic sectors in Europe. In 2023, 13 billion euros were injected into this sector, making it one of the most innovative sectors attracting significant capital in Europe. With thousands of startups and scale-ups in every European country, innovation is at the heart of digital finance. Alongside more traditional players, these companies are bringing new services and products to European populations and businesses.
The European Digital Finance Association (EDFA) represents thousands of fintech, insurtech, and regtech companies to promote their offerings and also their importance within European society.
Brussels, March 14, 2024 – In recent months, EDFA has experienced a remarkable influx of new members, reflecting a growing demand for enhanced cross-border collaboration, visibility, and efficiency within the digital finance sector. This influx underscores a collective drive among industry stakeholders to foster a more interconnected and vibrant ecosystem. Currently representing over 15 countries, EDFA is an essential partner for understanding the digital finance sector in Europe. It allows policymakers and regulators to have professional representatives from this sector and major private players to find the hidden gems they seek to enhance their services and products. “With the number of interested associations, we should have about 30 associations representing around 20 countries by the end of the year» says Xavier Corman, the new co-Secretary General.
To meet this mission, the EDFA board has been refreshed with new directors representing digital finance ecosystems: Alessandra Guion (Fintech Belgium), Kristen Charvin (France Fintech), Rodrigo Garcia de la Cruz (Spanish Fintech and Insurtech Association), Gabor Davidhazy (Hungarian Electronic Payment Service Providers Association), Sergio Zocchi (Italia Fintech), Don Ginsel (Holland Fintech), Cosmin Cosma (Romanian Fintech Association), Tina Lūse (Fintech Latvia Association), and Daniel Isdal Furset (Norway Fintech). A new President has been elected: Don Ginsel of Holland Fintech. The goal of this new board is to create more interactivity and cooperation among European fintechs, advocate for the emergence of better services for European citizens, and stimulate creativity in the face of international competition.
To this end, EDFA invites all ecosystems active in digital finance to join our ranks!
About EDFA: The European Digital Finance Association (EDFA) is the premier organization dedicated to uniting and empowering the digital finance industry across Europe. By fostering collaboration, transparency, and inclusivity, EDFA endeavors to cultivate a dynamic ecosystem that propels the growth and competitiveness of its diverse members. EDFA indirectly represents more than two thousand fintech, insurtech, and regtech companies in the EEA.


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Groups will aim to foster a safe and supportive space, with a focus on finding personal strength, forming deeper relationships, sharing your story, discovering more meaning in life and seeing new possibilities.
Medicap Pharmacy is proud to announce their recent flu shot campaign success. This fall, they were able to provide 79,992 meals to the Food Bank of Iowa, with the donations staying right in the local community!
Walter Isaacson is a Professor of History at Tulane and an advisory partner at Perella Weinberg, a financial services firm based in New York City. He is the past CEO of the Aspen Institute, where he is now a Distinguished Fellow, and has been the chairman of CNN and the editor of TIME magazine.
As a chamber director I am constantly amazed at what the Norwalk area businesses have to offer. From dog grooming to custom apparel and even granite countertops. There are so many services and products produced and sold here locally.


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This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A library, traditionally, is a physical place where a person goes to find books and other informational materials made of paper.
But in today's increasingly digital world, Utah State Librarian Donna Morris said, library resources are available at the click of a mouse or a tap on a screen from anywhere at anytime.
"It's a whole new approach to learning and to finding information," Morris said. "Now you're looking at the library being a door to resources from the world. It's a portal."
The popularity of audiobooks, ebooks and other digital materials has grown steadily in recent years, prompting changes in the way libraries and schools operate, Morris said.
In 2011, Utah's public libraries offered a collective total of 111,670 ebooks and audiobooks, according to data collected by the Utah State Library.
By 2013, that number had grown to include more than 1 million audiobook and e-book titles.
"Utahns have increasingly relied on digital resources to answer day to day questions," Morris said, "to answer business questions, to answer life's questions, to answer whatever questions they may have."
Colleen Eggett, a program manager with the Utah State Library, said the rise in digital circulation has been "phenomenal." She said that over time, e-books are quickly becoming the preferred format for people looking for informational resources.
"Everyone is just clamoring to get ebooks and audiobooks," she said. "With all the tablets and everything else, it's what everybody wants."
Utah's digital revolution extends into school libraries and children's reading materials as well.
The mobile app FarFaria, which allows users to access one book for free each day from its library of digital children's books, recently released a report on its user data that showed Utah children were among the country's most regular e-readers.
FarFaria users in Utah read an average of 12 e-books each month during the summer of 2014, compared to the app's national average of 9.6 books.
FarFaria CEO and co-founder Ajay Godhwani said the mission of the app is not to replace traditional books, but to encourage children to read in whatever format they choose.
"If you want kids to grow up as readers, we need to give them all the opportunities we can to read," he said.
Many school districts in Utah have invested in creating digital libraries, either through their own ebook purchases or by partnering with statewide services through the Utah Education Network or the Utah State Library.
Compared to paper-based reading, e-books are more accessible and don't fall victim to wear and tear over time, said Cory Stokes, technology director for the Southwest Educational Development Center.
"They can read it anywhere," he said. "They can check it out anytime."
E-books and audiobooks are particularly useful in rural parts of the state, Stokes said, where libraries may not be located near a student's home but resources can be accessed through a computer, tablet or smartphone.
The Southwest Educational Development Center functions as a satellite office for the state Office of Education, assisting schools in Washington, Kane, Garfield, Iron, Beaver and Millard counties.
"They can't go down to a city library," Stokes said. "They can just log in, grab a book and read it."
Stokes said the center is in the second year of an initiative to increase its library of digital books for students, paid for with grant money from the Utah State Library.
The center has purchased mostly works of fiction for teenage children, but expects to continue expanding its selection and user base.
"We probably have about 20 percent of the students who are currently using it and they like it," he said. "They just pick it up and run with it."
Morris said one feature of e-books that often appeals to younger readers is the ability to incorporate multimedia content into a text.
The content of a paper book is static, she said, but a book on a tablet or computer screen will often include embedded video or animations that supplement the written information.
"You used to be able to just go page to page, but now the book comes alive," Morris said. "(Children) are used to the characters popping out and doing something."
Of course there are costs associated with a transition to digital resources, particularly when it comes to the devices that e-books are read on.
But Diana Suddreth, director of teaching and learning for the Utah Office of Education, says ebooks with multimedia and supplemental content offer a particular value to readers, which helps to justify the initial costs of entry.
"If we're going to go in the direction of e-books, it should be something more than what's available in print," she said.
Suddreth said a statewide transition to digital resources requires that all children and their families have equal access to technology, which is not the case currently.
Some digital textbooks require an Internet connection to access the text, she said, which imposes limits on where and when students can do their homework.
"It's both more portable and less portable, depending on the context," she said.
In the end, there's a very practical benefit to having all of a student's books loaded onto a single device:
"It just doesn't make sense for kids to be carrying around backpacks full of heavy books any more," Suddreth said.
Stokes said e-books and audiobooks are still relatively new, and educators continue to look at the research and new features available for digital libraries. But he doesn't expect digital reading to be a passing fad.
"I really do think it's the future," he said. "I think it's where we're going."


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While most states allow online gambling, there are a number of states that don’t. For example, the state of Nevada has banned online casinos and poker, but Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania have legalized online sports betting. Likewise, there are also a number of states that regulate sports betting and other types of online gambling, but they have not legalized it yet.
Online gambling has many benefits, including allowing gamblers to gamble anytime they want. It also allows them to play by themselves without the need to get up in front of others. In addition, most online gambling sites are open 24 hours a day. They also accept credit cards, which makes it easy to play at any time of the day. However, significant losses can have a negative effect on a person’s credit score.
The legality of online gambling is also a concern. Though many countries have banned online gambling, some states and provinces in Canada have legalized it. Most European Union countries and several Caribbean nations have also legalized online gambling. However, in these legal markets, online gambling service providers must have a license from a licensing authority. For instance, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and the United Kingdom’s Gambling Commission both regulate online gambling platforms.
Many of the most popular online gambling sites are virtual casinos, which enable gamblers to access traditional casino games through the Internet. Some online casinos have higher payback percentages than others, but these numbers are based on the rules of the game. If you want to maximize your chances of winning, choose games that you are comfortable playing. In addition to casino games, you can also play blackjack variants, sports betting, and poker games. If you choose the right sites, you’ll enjoy an enjoyable gambling experience online.
Online gambling is becoming more popular across the country. With the development of the Internet, gambling has never been easier. The PlayUSA site provides information on which states allow online gambling and a list of the top US gambling sites. It also has information on how to play the games, bonus offers, and other aspects of online gambling. Additionally, the site offers demos of popular Vegas slots.
French lawmakers are considering new laws to regulate online gambling. The new laws will tax and regulate internet gambling. However, there is still uncertainty over how the new rules will affect the online gambling industry. The state budget minister, Eric Woerth, has said that the country will have to adapt to the reality of the Internet. However, the new plans will allow online gambling if sites possess the appropriate licenses.
While online casinos can be illegal in some states, they are completely legal in many other US states. In 2012, New York legalized online poker and online casinos. This paved the way for other states to legalize online gambling. Most European countries and several countries in the Caribbean Sea have also legalized various forms of online gambling.


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A Birthday Bash Celebration at PIER 39
The PIER's Birthday Bash in 2017 has ended. Please visit PIER 39 online for current events and activities.
Head to The PIER to celebrate PIER 39’s 39th birthday and party with a purpose. As the PIER recognizes nearly four decades of amazing views, fresh seafood, unique local shopping and, of course, sea lions - donations for those affected by the North Bay fires will be accepted by the American Red Cross from 12-10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017.
From 5-10 p.m., birthday celebrations start, where you can enjoy roving glow-in-the-dark entertainment, live music by DJ Pauly Paul, a silent disco and a live performance by The Party Crashers.
Planned additional activities include the Coca-Cola Zero In Experience at the Entrance Plaza, a Dreyers birthday cake and illy coffee sampling mid-PIER, and an original street performer show with PIER favorites Fred Andersen and Michael Goudeau at the Carousel Stage.
This is the final celebration of The PIER's 39-week celebration for the anniversary, which has featured discounts and giveaways to fun special events like Movie Nights, beer and wine pours, and much more. For a full calendar of events and promotions, visit pier39.com.
Note: Event and event activities are weather-permitting and subject to change without notice.


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Izzo’s Illegal Burrito Suing Rouse’s For $10 Million
In the lawsuit, Izzo's accuses Rouse's of stealing its recipes. The suit alleges a manager was fired from the Lafayette Izzo's in 2012 and then got a job at Rouses and brought the recipe book with him.
The book was recovered from the supermarket through a court order.
Izzo's also accused Rouse's of blocking them from expanding by pressuring developers to keep Izzo's out of new shopping centers.
Rouse's has not yet responded to the lawsuit.


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Pigeon Forge is banking on a big finish to the holiday shopping season based on numbers yielded by the past couple of months, and compared to those from the same time last year. This is the big money season for Pigeon Forge and towns like Gatlinburg and Sevierville: more shopping, more reservations, and more green.
Tourism keeps the wheels turning around here and December is the key month to closing out a very profitable year.
It’s already happening at some places. Huck Finn’s Catfish reports that December has been a very lucrative month for them with Winterfest kicking into high gear, the Christmas shopping season, and all the shows, decorations and the lights permeating town.
Other popular stops along the parkway like the Comedy Barn report sold old shows because of families coming in to the area for holiday vacations and shopping opportunities. It’s THE time of the year to be in the Smokies and Smoky Mountain towns like Pigeon Forge and its neighbors.
Even the recent dip in gas prices has helped spur the Smoky Mountain economy – an economy that has been gradually picking up steam over the past couple of years.
One great example is the success of Pigeon Forge’s Winterfest over the years. Since its inception in 1990, annual sales tax revenue derived from Winterfest was in the $56 million range. Twenty-three years later that number stands at more than $213 million and climbing every year. It’s also number that is being built on this month with millions expected to come to town in December alone.


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Last week was a busy one for economic news, with detailed looks at inflation, some color on the Fed’s take on interest rates, and a consumer confidence update. This week, we’ll see data on housing and retail sales.
Last week’s news
On Wednesday, the consumer prices report was released. The headline index, which includes energy and food, rose by more than expected; it went from a 0.2-percent increase in February to a 0.4-percent increase for March on a rebound in energy prices. This result takes the annual rate from 1.5 percent to 1.9 percent, which is still below the Fed’s inflation target. The increase was entirely due to gasoline prices and will likely moderate as those prices stabilize. The core index, which excludes energy and food and is a better economic indicator, stayed low at 0.1 percent for both February and March. On an annual basis, it edged down from 2.1 percent to 2 percent, a 13-month low. Overall, these figures show that inflation remains under control.
Also on Wednesday, we got some insight into the Fed’s decision last month to leave rates unchanged as the minutes from the Fed’s March meeting were released. Although the committee’s economic expectations remained healthy for the most part here in the U.S., increased worries about the global economy were apparent, as well as the conclusion that inflation remained under control. The notes showed that Fed members are unlikely to raise rates this year, in line with expectations, but included little color on how they plan to stop reducing the Fed balance sheet. Overall, the notes reinforced market expectations of a steady rate policy.
The producer price report was released on Thursday. The headline number rose from 0.1 percent to 0.6 percent, well above expectations but again due to energy. Here, the annual rate rose from 1.9 percent to 2.2 percent. The core index, excluding food and energy, also rose by more than expected. It went from a 0.1-percent increase in February to a 0.3-percent increase in March, above expectations. But the annual rate dropped from 2.5 percent to 2.4 percent on base effects. These numbers are largely consistent with the consumer prices report and have the same meaning.
Finally, the University of Michigan consumer confidence survey, released on Friday, came in below expectations. It dropped from 98.4 in March to 96.9 in April. The decline was driven by lower future expectations and occurred despite the recent rise in the stock market and rebound in job growth. Although the number remains relatively high on a historical basis, the trend appears to have shifted to negative, which is also confirmed by the recent weaker results from the Conference Board surveys. This drop could signal slower consumer spending growth going forward.
What to look forward to
On Tuesday, we’ll see the industrial production report. It is expected to rebound from flat in February to a gain of 0.3 percent for March, largely on gains in utility production and possibly in oil production, as well as on higher prices. Manufacturing is also expected to improve, from a decline of 0.4 percent in February to a gain of 0.2 percent for March. Here, there is some downside risk on declines in hours worked in the sector. Although the expected rebound would be welcome, it would still leave both reports down over the past couple of months.
Also on Tuesday, the National Association of Home Builders industry survey will be released. It is expected to rise from 62 in March to 64 for April, reflecting rising confidence in the homebuilding market. With interest rates declining, affordability has improved, which would make such an improvement reasonable.
On Wednesday, the international trade report is expected to show the trade deficit worsening slightly, going from $51.1 billion in January (which was a sharp drop over December) to $53.6 billion for February. Despite the small move, this result would still be better than recent figures. Further, it would help first-quarter growth, or at least act as less of a headwind than expected.
On Thursday, the retail sales report will be released. The headline index is expected to rise sharply, from a 0.2-percent decline for February to a 0.8-percent gain for March, on a rebound in auto sales and higher gasoline prices. The core index, which excludes autos, is also expected to bounce, from a 0.4-percent drop in February to a 0.7-percent gain in March. If the numbers come in as expected, it would take the short-term trend back into positive territory but would still be weak by recent standards. Even with the rebound, the data suggests we may well see slower growth in the first quarter.
Finally, on Friday, the housing starts report is expected to show improvement, with an increase from 1.16 million in February to 1.23 million for March on an annualized basis. Such an improvement would indicate the housing market is stabilizing after a slowdown, which again would be consistent with the rise in affordability and be a positive economic indicator.
Have a great week!


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A recent conversation with a blubber-lined autojourno archetype:
He: “What’re you driving this week?”
Me: “2014 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited”
He: “I hate crossovers. People should just buy wagons. In Europe…blahblahblah…diesel…estate….shooting brake…nomnomnom…where’s the bar?”
Koo-Koo-Ka-Choo, my friend The Walrus doesn’t get it.
Everybody on the internet knows that buying new cars is just plain stupid. New cars, after all, are just “depreciating hunks of metal.” New cars depreciate an average of 20% immediately, and then go down another 15% each year after that, according to sources such as KBB and Edmunds. According to every message board I’ve ever read, buying a new car will probably cause you to lose your house, get divorced, and be sent to the Chateau d’If for thirteen years.
But how true is that? And if it is true, does it matter? Let’s find out.
Speaking at a preview event for the next-generation Hyundai Genesis, Hyundai CEO John Krafcik defended his company’s decision to forgo establishing a seperate luxury channel for cars like the Genesis and Equus. While the rationale put forth usually revolves around the exorbitantly expensive pricetag for launching a new brand and an all-new sales network, Krafcik put it from another angle.
Bowing at the LA Auto Show is the Veloster Turbo R-Spec, aimed at pulling in tuner-oriented shoppers through a halo inversion designed to, someday, have them drive away in a Genesis sedan.
Hyundai unveiled their entire 2014 Elantra lineup at the LA Auto Show with the aim of introducing to the world their much-improved elements of fun driving.
The Hyundai Sonata is the oldest car in its segment and a new model is expected next year. Normally, when a car is about to be replaced by the next generation of that model, automakers usually start increasing incentives to move the metal. Sonata sales are down 11% from last year. Now, Hyundai has slashed production of its midsize car, allowing it to reduce incentives to the second lowest in the segment. Average incentive spending on the Sonata is down to ~$2,200. Only Honda’s Accord, with about $840 in incentives available is discounted less.
At Hyundai’s technical center near Ann Arbor last week, the company’s CEO John Krafcik told reporters that the Korean automaker will introduce new versions of its Sonata and Genesis sedans to the U.S. market in the first half of 2014. The company will also launch a hydrogen fuel cell powered version of its Tucson crossover, sold in Europe as the ix3d, and it is expected to be unveiled at the Los Angeles auto show this week. The 2015 Sonata will likely be introduced at the New York auto show next April. (Read More…)
After consumer complaints over quality issues in its home market of Korea and a string of recalls there, in the U.S. and other countries. Hyundai Motor Group’s president for research and development, Kwon Moon-sik and two other executives in charge of engineering and electronics have resigned. The shakeup comes as the automaker prepares some important new vehicle launches.
Fuel cells are back in the news, with Toyota revealing the FCV concept and Tesla CEO Elon Musk comparing fuel cells to bovine excrement. Now Hyundai says that they are preparing an electrically driven CUV powered by a fuel cell for a North American debut next year. Just before he was apparently forced to resign over quality control issues, Kwon Moon-sik, Hyundai Motor Group’s president of r&d, told a media event that the Korean automaker sees fuel cells and not batteries as the future for EVs. He said that money is the reason, seeing greater opportunities to reduce the cost of hydrogen fuel cells than batteries.
“There is no problem with the technology — only with the cost and profitability,” Kwon said of battery EVs. “We cannot make a profit with them.” (Read More…)
Hyundai used the SEMA show to announce a new crate engine program starting in December that will offer the company’s Lambda 3.8-liter, direct-injected V6 and Theta 2.0-liter, turbocharged 4-cylinder engines to aftermarket tuners at significant discounts over the cost of similar replacement engines.
Just days after the 2015 Hyundai Genesis was spied in the flesh, these renderings were revealed. The car will get its official debut at NAIAS in January, 2014. Unlike the last generation, the new Genesis will have AWD.
It sure would seem so. Despite the best efforts of our IT crew, the TTAC Staff Robot is unable to read Korean,but we can read the word “Genesis” on this car’s front plate.
The head of Hyundai Motor Company’s U.S. sales unit, John Krafcik told the Bloomberg news agency that the continued partial shutdown of the United States government is affecting consumer confidence and may result in as much as a 10% drop in October sales. Krafcik said that the political impasse in Washington is creating “anxiety” for many people.
Kia has big plans for America. The Korean brand that was written off in the 1990s, and is best known for making inexpensive cars with long warranties, isn’t planning an assault on the mass market. Kia has bigger plans: compete head on with Lexus, BMW and Mercedes. Say what? Yep. By 2017 Kia promises they will be ready. Rather than leaping right into the market, Kia is dipping their toes into the murky waters of the near-luxury pool. In many ways the near-luxury segment is a harder place to compete. This segment is full of aspiring brands trying to move up (Buick and Cadillac), brands that are floundering (Acura), brands that are treading water (Volvo and Lexus’s FWD models ), brands trying to expand down (Mercedes with the CLA) and brands that have no idea what their mission is (Lincoln). Into this smorgasbord lands a sedan that managed to be the most exciting car I have driven this year and the most awkwardly named. Now that I have that spoiler out of the way, let’s dive into the Credenza. I mean Cadenza.
I own an 06 Sonata with the 3.3. It is paid off and has 79,000 miles on it. I love this car. (Read More…)


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Cosmicnode, the leading provider of highly reliable and scalable wireless mesh systems, has embarked on a strategic new partnership with EnOcean, a pioneer of energy harvesting wireless technology. This collaboration sees the combination of innovation and technology to provide cutting-edge solutions to customers.
EnOcean provides valuable data for the Internet of Things (IoT) with its resource-saving energy harvesting technology. For more than 20 years, EnOcean has produced maintenance-free wireless switches and sensors, which gain their energy from the surrounding movement, light or temperature, without need for batteries or cables. As an innovation driver, EnOcean is a strong partner for more than 350 leading product manufacturers and has already succeeded in deploying more than a million buildings worldwide with energy harvesting solutions.
Cosmicnode’s innovative Infinity IoT platform allows the user to monitor and control thousands of LED lamps wirelessly in real-time. A range of innovative and responsive features automatically ensure the ideal environmental conditions and optimise energy consumption – including a lighting management system, automated emergency lighting testing, occupancy and space management, asset tracking, and integration with Building Management Systems (BMS).
This partnership will allow EnOcean customers to benefit from Cosmicnode’s solutions as part of its product lines, granting customers the ability to easily integrate reliable and robust wireless technology into their projects and lighting schemes.
Building sustainability has become a major priority for leading companies across the globe. EnOcean is a key player in the development of smart buildings. The EnOcean energy harvesting technology, combined with IoT connectivity, empowers smart buildings to optimize energy consumption, reduce carbon emissions, and enhance occupant comfort. These self-powered, wireless devices are instrumental in creating efficient, eco-friendly spaces, where lighting, HVAC, and security systems adapt to real-time needs, reducing energy waste. With EnOcean at the forefront, smart buildings are not only technologically advanced but also environmentally responsible, furthering our commitment to a sustainable and eco-conscious future.
Stay tuned for more updates and product announcements as we embark on this exciting journey with EnOcean. Together, we will illuminate the future of wireless lighting!
For more information on the partnership, please contact: email@example.com


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Express Dairies seeks milk merger
EXPRESS DAIRIES is looking for a merger partner to help drive down the costs of its milk distribution business.
The dairy processor believes there is too much supply in the sector. Neil Davidson, the chief executive, said it was important to do a “big merger” to take some of the capacity out of the market.
Express reported a 10.4% rise in pre-tax profits to £26.6 million for the half-year. Lower raw milk prices and new contracts from the large supermarkets helped the bottom line.
Dairy processors have benefited from the strength of Sterling, which has reduced the costs of raw milk. Mr Davidson confirmed that these costs could rise if the Pound continued to fall.
- Wiseman disappointed by southern sites, FWi, 10 November, 1998
- The Times 12/11/98 page 31
- The Independent 12/11/98 page 25 (Investment)
- Financial Times 12/11/98 page 36
- The Guardian 12/11/98 page 25
- The Daily Telegraph 12/11/98 page 37, page 39 (City Diary)


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Grab asks LTFRB to hike TNVS cars to 80,000
Grab Philippines has asked the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to increase the supply base for transport network vehicle services to 80,500 from 65,000 to address the demand for ride-hailing services.
Leo Gonzales, head of Public Affairs at Grab Philippines, said Grab gets about 600,000 daily bookings but there are only 35,000 daily active drivers available to serve this demand.
Gonzales also noted that Grab’s allocation rate in Metro Manila ia the lowest in Southeast Asia as only four out of 10 bookings are effiiciently served.
?The Philippines, despite being the first Asian country to legalize ride-hailing in 2015, is facing a big setback with the current supply crisis. Supply is struggling to meet the massive demand from the riding public and only the LTFRB has the authority to address this,? Gonzales said.
“When Uber pulled out of the market last March, only 42,000 vehicles were left operating with Grab as not all vehicles were able to transfer from Uber, ” Gonzales said.
Grab also asked the LTFRB to review the demand quarterly, consistent with their earlier pronouncements. This will help bring more passengers home and will allow new TNCs to scale,? he added.


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“A lot of things are shaping what we will eat in the future,” says CSIRO Agriculture and Food Director, Dr Michiel van Lookeren Campagne. “Consumers want healthy, sustainably and ethically produced foods and farms need to remain viable in changing times.”
“If we look at what our research priorities for food and agriculture were 20 years ago, much of our work was in cropping systems, disease control, horticulture improvement and genetic advances for livestock and crops.
“Now, while we continue to improve productivity in these sectors, CSIRO has considerable research focused on growth areas such as alternative proteins, aquaculture, food processing and digital technologies to improve farm decision-making for greater profitability and sustainability.”
What consumers want
A 2019 economic analysis: Growth opportunities for Australian food and agribusiness estimates that the combined market for healthy and sustainable food products could reach $25B by 2030.
Increasingly, consumers are wanting assurances that their food is good for them and good for the planet. One in three Australians now consciously limit their meat consumption, according to a study commissioned by Food Frontier & Life Health Foods. While people’s reasons vary, many are motivated by concerns about the contribution of livestock to climate change and animal welfare.
This extends beyond consumer food preferences. The Strength of Purpose study which surveyed 8,000 consumers worldwide and 75 companies and brands found that global consumers are four to six times more likely to trust and buy from companies with a strong purpose and that align with the values of the consumer.
In recent years there has been a proliferation of farm to fork and paddock to plate restaurants and product sales, as consumers want to know where their food has come from and how it has been produced.
People are also cooking less and seeking convenient meals and snacks they can eat ‘on the go’ but which are also healthy and sustainable. The ready-to-eat/prepared meals market is growing at 5.4 per cent annually in the Asia-Pacific region.
Changing protein preferences
With more people choosing to limit their consumption of animal-based foods, the alternative protein market has grown considerably over the past couple of years. The largest share of this includes meat analogues made from legumes, such as v2food and alternative dairy products.
Insects and algae have not proven as popular for human consumption in Australia but are showing promise as a more sustainable and less expensive source of feed for livestock, including poultry, fish and pigs, and pets.
The increasing global demand for protein has also seen significant growth in aquaculture, currently the fastest-growing protein sector globally (at around 8 per cent per annum) relative to other meat sectors.
What does all this mean for Australian agrifood?
To satisfy customers’ requirement that their food is healthy and ethically and sustainably produced, farming in Australia needs to maintain its social licence to operate, i.e. operations need to be deemed acceptable by the general public.
For farmers, this translates to greater scrutiny of their operations such as treatment of animals, application of chemicals and contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.
For food production and manufacturing businesses, the pressure is on to transition to more sustainable processing technologies, reduce waste and utilise fully recyclable packaging.
In 2020, the EU Commission introduced its Farm to Fork policy with proposals to introduce mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling and a sustainable food labelling framework. The targets set by the policy include cutting the use of pesticides by 50 per cent and fertilisers by 20 per cent.
“It is only a matter of time before we see a similar approach in Australia,” says Dr van Lookeren Campagne. “Research is key to driving innovation and technologies needed to navigate these changes.”
Between 2018 and 2020 CSIRO released a range of sustainability related apps and technologies, such as the 1622WQ app that helps sugarcane farmers monitor and reduce nitrogen runoff onto the Great Barrier Reef. On the back of these advances, researchers are developing a major collaborative research mission aimed at creating new practices and technologies that reduce the reliance on pesticides and herbicides in agriculture.
Innovations like FutureFeed, a livestock feed additive made from seaweed which drastically reduces methane emissions in cattle, will make it possible for people to enjoy beef and dairy with reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
Our changing protein preferences are expected to see expansion in the aquaculture and legume sectors. For instance, pompano has been identified as a new target aquaculture fish species, which could be produced cheaply and efficiently at scale. New opportunities too are emerging for legumes, particularly in northern Australia and in the development of new processing technologies for lupin, chickpeas, soy and various other beans. Such opportunities are driving CSIRO to lead to a coalition of research and development organisations and industry, supported by public and private investment to develop the innovations required to meet our future protein needs.
At the other end of the value chain, food manufacturing companies are focusing on nutrition and sustainability in convenience foods. On example is NutriV, a company that is using CSIRO-patented technologies to turn surplus vegetables into ingredients, products and supplements that retain much of the vegetable’s natural colour and flavour.
Growing our exports
It’s not just Australian consumers that want to know more about how and where food is produced. Australia’s entry into international markets, especially for premium foods into Asia, demands verification of our ‘clean and green’ credentials.
With different markets demanding different information, from inputs to emissions and more, digital technologies that automate compliance systems and make it possible to trace products from the farm to the supermarket will be essential to meeting the National Farmers Federations goal of agriculture becoming a $100 billion industry by 2030.
“Growing the Australian agrifood sector will mean value adding and creating value here in Australia, transitioning away from just being an exporter of bulk commodities,” says Dr van Lookeren Campagne.
“It will also mean diversifying our markets and retaining and growing our existing markets in the face of threats like non-tariff barriers, declining consumer trust and food fraud.”
So, while eating bugs and vertical farming might be the trends most commonly popularly discussed, the greatest changes we can expect to our diets are a greater diversity of proteins and foods that are produced in less resource-demanding conditions. And we’ll know more than ever before about how and where our food is produced.


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WASHINGTON (WTXF/AP) - The United States Postal Service announced they will suspend regular mail delivery and retail service on Wednesday, December 5 as the nation remembers George H.W. Bush.
President Donald Trump has declared December 5 as a National Day of Mourning. To honor the life and legacy of President Bush, the Postal Service will observe the National Day of Mourning:
- All post office locations will be closed.
- Regular mail will not be delivered.
- Package delivery will be limited.
The USPS said, "We will provide limited package delivery service on that day to ensure that our network remains fluid and we do not experience any impacts to our package delivery operations that might negatively affect our customers or business partners during the remainder of our busy holiday season."
Four days of events for Bush, who died Friday at age 94, include a state funeral at Washington's National Cathedral, a private service at his longtime church in Houston and public viewings in both cities. He will be buried next to his wife Barbara and their daughter Robin who died in 1953.
President from 1989 to 1993, Bush died Friday at age 94.
- Former President George H.W. Bush dies at 94
- George and Barbara Bush, a 'storybook' 73-year marriage
- George H.W. Bush after The White House
- Former President George H.W. Bush to lie in state in Capitol


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Last year, Garmin launched the third device of its fitness tracker cum smartwatch series Vivoactive, the Vivoactive 3. Though widely regarded as an alternative to the Apple Watch and Fitbit Ionic, the device lacked one big feature: onboard music storage. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018, the company announced its first wearable with space to save offline music: the Forerunner 645 Music.
The Forerunner 645 Music has a user available storage space of about 3.5GB. This means users can store approximately 500 songs on their device, much more than Fitbit Ionic's 300 songs limit. The songs can be transferred from a computer or a music streaming service. However, music download from streaming services is currently available for paid subscribers of iHeartRadio's streaming service only. The company plans to further expand the list in the future.
The Forerunner 645 Music also supports DRM-free music downloaded from iTunes and Windows Media Player. To transfer music to the device, one would need to install the Garmin Express desktop application on their PC. Once transferred, you can pair the Forerunner 645 Music with Bluetooth earbuds and listen to music without your smartphone.
As of now, none of the Garmin's wearables had offline music storage, one of the most sought-after features by serious runners and athletes. Now that the company has introduced a device with onboard music storage, the next big thing that Garmin could work on is standalone LTE access.
Last year, Garmin launched its contactless payment service, Garmin Pay, with the Vivoactive 3. However, the lack of onboard music storage was something that many users couldn't digest. Now with Forerunner 645 Music, users can enjoy music on their morning walk and pay for a cup of coffee on their way back, even if they didn't carry their phone and wallet.
The Forerunner will be available in two models: the regular 645 (without music storage) and the 645 Music. The Forerunner 645 will have a battery backup of seven days in smartwatch mode, without GPS and music. In GPS mode, with music, the device will last up to five hours, the company says. The Forerunner 645 Music is priced at $449 whereas the regular Forerunner 645 starts at $399.


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Meredith approached Time again earlier this year, but those discussions also stalled when Meredith reportedly failed to secure enough bank financing for the acquisition. "I am proud of our accomplishments and thank the talented teams across the company for their extraordinary work, relentless commitment, and passion", Time Inc.
The pharma company - known as Merck & Co in the United States and Canada - also intends to move around 800 workers from its current headquarters in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, and says it is scouting out locations for the new site with the aim of starting operations in 2020.
Deb Wood said she went out past year for Small Business Saturday and enjoyed the national event enough to come back with a group of friends. Andy Kimerling, one of the original owners of Westchester Road Runner, has been in business for nearly 40 years.
Bezos owns almost 80-million shares of Amazon stock, earning him $2.4 billion on Friday alone. Unlike the number two and three on the list of richest people in the world - Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, respectively - Bezos has given comparatively little to charity over the years.
But it is not completely not out of the woods yet, with Fitch's peers S&P Global and Moody's due to give their own reviews later on Friday. In a statement on Friday released just after 11pm, S&P said the downgrade "reflects our opinion of further deterioration of South Africa's economic outlook and its public finances".
Whitman said that at the time, HP was an "enormous conglomerate" that confused customers because it was selling too many disparate products: servers, printers, computers, software, and others. Whitman said she has no intentions of joining politics. In one tweet she wrote: "We have a lot of work still to do at HPE and I am not going anywhere".


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Practical effects, including props, figures, masks, makeup, and more, are a much-loved mainstay in a special effects (FX) industry increasingly going digital. No amount of CGI can replace the visceral connection actors have, and audiences respond to, with practical effects. Major industry events as well, such as conventions, often benefit from showcase pieces that show off the design prowess of FX teams.
Advanced technologies including 3D printing are taking their place among and bridging the gap between digital and traditional approaches to FX. We see this with increasing frequency, as 3D printing can bring digital designs to life as a physical manifestation of movie magic.
In April, Monsterpalooza took Pasadena by storm. Lovers of monsters and movie magic come together each spring to celebrate the art of special effects. The team from Oculus Medium were excited to attend the event to share in that love — and showcase a new generation of monster making. Technology from the team is coming into play for designers and artists throughout their workflow, from concepting to prototyping to modeling, and in creating physical art installations for display.
With on-site live virtual reality sculpting and a series of 3D printed monsters, Oculus Medium brought attendees into the future of visual effects (VFX).
As a showcase piece, Oculus Medium had as a highlight among its creatures a new monster created through collaboration — and technology.
Concept art from Carlos Huante; modeling by Oculus Medium’s Gio Nakpil; 3D printing, molding, and casting by Christopher Dombos of Arcane Visionaries; and detailed painting by Tim Gore featured on this one-of-a-kind monster.
Standing almost two feet tall, the finished monster is the culmination of months of creative artistry and represents the approach creative teams take to develop looks for cinematic monsters. It also serves to highlight what Oculus Medium calls the seamless integration of virtual reality into an established professional pipeline.
The collaborative team, made up of “VFX legends,” put Oculus Medium to work and found the VR sculpting capabilities to be invaluable in the process.
This workflow is being shared in the team’s new behind-the-scenes documentary, Making the Monster, released today.
“I pitched that, for the next Monsterpalooza, we should do a creature based on Carlos’s design,” Nakpil says in the documentary. “I really wanted to pull off the very signature Carlos forms that you see in his work, which are essentially some of the toughest to do in sculpture.
“And I found that Medium is actually the perfect medium for achieving his style of design in CG. Where my hands are to where the surface is, is very immediate. You know, the mark that I do is on the surface, just like clay. In the end, we’ll have this piece that, you know, stems from Carlos’s design, my model, Chris [Dombos]’s engineering to print, and Tim [Gore]’s masterful paint.”
While monsters make magic on the silver screen, getting them there comes down to human efforts. Integrating virtual reality into 3D design and developing 3D printed models allows for a flexible, digital workflow for VFX teams.
“I’ve seen 3D prints from Medium. There’s something else going on. It’s something new and I loved it,” Huarte explains. He continues, “I’ve known Gio for many years—one of the few modelers on Earth that I trust.”
That trust was, it seems, well placed as the project came together for presentation at Monsterpalooza, where the reception was overwhelmingly positive. At the booth, Nakpil noted that seeing the collaboration come together into one piece was “just beautiful.”
“It makes all the time and effort spent on it, just, you know, worthwhile—being here and seeing the people who are fans of monsters and anything creature-related appreciate it,” he said.
VR design is coming to the fore for more applications, as this elaborate monster showcases. From movie VFX to 3D printed birthday pups to social media avatars, Oculus Medium is allowing for a broader reach in advanced design capabilities. In addition to design, the use of VR design with 3D printing affords savvy adopters significant business opportunity.
Check out Making the Monster to see more of the process:
For more fun with monsters, Son of Monsterpalooza is coming to Burbank in mid-September.[All images provided by Oculus Medium]
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Reported By:| Edited By: DNA Web Team |Source: DNA Web Desk |Updated: Jan 09, 2023, 01:00 PM IST
Realme 10 4G is here. Realme has launched the new Realme 10 4G in India today (January 9). The affordable smartphone from Realme succeeds the Realme 9 that was launched in India last year. The smartphone comes with an AMOLED display, MediaTek chipset, 50MP camera and a decent battery. The Realme 10 4G was available in other markets before it made its India debut. The Realme 10 4G will be offered in multiple RAM and storage configurations.
Realme 10 4G: Price and availability
Realme 10 4G comes in two RAM and storage configurations – 4GB + 64GB, 8GB + 128GB priced at Rs 13,999, and Rs 16,999 respectively. The 4GB variant gets an introductory discount of Rs 1,000. The smartphone will go on sale in India from January 15 via the Flipkart and Realme store.
Realme 10 4G specifications
Realme 10 4G features an 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate. The display gets Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection on top.
Under the hood, Realme 10 4G is powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 chipset paired with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The phone gets a dual rear camera setup with 50MP primary sensor with a 2MP depth sensor. For video calls and selfies, the phone gets a 16MP camera at the front.


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A U.S. trade agency says Apple infringed on its Asian rival Samsung's patent in its manufacture of some older models of the iPhone and iPad.
Bloomberg reports on the order from the U.S. International Trade Commission: "It's the first patent ruling against Apple in the U.S. that affects product sales, covering models of the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3, iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G made for AT&T Inc."
Philadelphia is training owners of Chinese takeout restaurants to cut some of the salt in their menu items.
The city is working with about 200 takeout restaurants, providing free cooking lessons and tips on adding flavor without salt. None of the restaurant owners were paid to participate in the program, which offers advice such as how to find suppliers who sell low-sodium ingredients at a reasonable price. Participants are also encouraged to limit the number of soy sauce packets they hand to customers.
Smoking is expensive, and not just for the person buying the cigs. Employers are taking hard looks at the cost of employing smokers as they try to cut health insurance costs, with some refusing to hire people who say they smoke.
But figures on the cost of smoking have been rough estimates at best, with a very general estimate of $193 billion a year nationwide.
Researchers now say they're got much tighter focus on the number: $5,800 per smoker per year.
I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Later in the program, we'll talk about a new poll about attitudes of African-Americans about issues like work, health, and relationships. It turns a lot of what you've been hearing in popular media on its head, so we hope you'll stick around for that conversation.
One week after the S&P/Case-Shiller indices showed a 10.9 percent jump in U.S. home prices from March 2012 to March 2013 — the biggest year-over-year gain in that data since April 2006 — there's another report showing a similar jump in April.
NPR's business news starts with GM's continued revival.
Four years after being kicked out of the Standard & Poor's 500, General Motors returns to the index this week. The Detroit automaker will rejoin both the S&P 100 and 500 indices this Thursday after the stock market closes. GM replaces H.J. Heinz, which will no longer be a publicly traded company.


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Narrow your search
The update to Apple's mobile-advertising platform would allow marketers to "retarget" ads based on a user's behavior within different apps.
The presentation was reportedly given by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin just months after the social network had launched.
Marketing agency Razorfish reportedly let it slip that it has been working on a pilot program with Facebook to deliver ads to mobile users. But both companies say it ain't so.
The software maker is in talks to build a paid service on Xbox Live that will include music, movies, sports, and TV shows, according to a Bloomberg report.
If deals are struck, they would allow Xbox users to watch programming from Comcast and Verizon Fios on the game console, according to a new report.
The iPhone is still the most popular mobile platform among app developers, though interest in Android is revving up, says a new study from Millennial Media.


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The holiday search for the hottest fashion is on, but 9-year-old Ava Gardner doesn't have any top brands on her wish list.
Instead, she's shopping at her father's sewing table.
"Anything daddy made me is my style," she said.
Ava is the star of "Daddy Dressed Me," a social media sensation created by her father, Michael Gardner."
Sewing became a tool that I've used to teach her about self-confidence, loving herself and believing in herself," said Michael.
His crafty hobby started about six years ago. With 17,000 followers on Instagram, Michael and Ava are sharing that contagious self-confidence around the world!
Watch more Philadelphia Localish videos anytime at https://6abc.com/localish or on our family of streaming apps (Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku).
Daddy-daughter social media team goes viral for custom threads
More TOP STORIES News


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Late on Sept. 26 it was learned that Pep Boys president and CEO Mike Odell had “resigned,” effective immediately.
Short-term, Odell is replaced by interim CEO John Sweetwood while the company searches for its four CEO over the last eight years. The company said it will look at both internal and external candidates for a permanent replacement.
Odell, 51, is an ex-Sears executive who joined Pep Boys in September 2007 as COO, and was elevated to CEO in 2008.
His departure came just two weeks after the auto parts retailer and service business posted yet another round of poor results. The company’s stock value has dropped by 24% this year, through Sept. 25.
Industry analysts weighed in on Odell’s departure. Seeking Alpha offered: “Shareholders in auto parts retailer Pep Boys are probably not the happiest lot after a negative stock price performance over the past year, including a roughly 20% drop in 2014. The company has been hurt by a decline in overall comparable store sales, as well as rising overhead costs of an expanding store base, which have combined to negatively impact its adjusted operating profitability, leading to a 54.7% decline in operating income in in fiscal year 2014.”
BB&T Capital Markets stated: “Not sure who will drive the bus. Following the ‘resignation’ of CEO Mike Odell, we have close to zero visibility regarding interim management’s strategy to turn around what is likely the most ‘complicated’ business model in the aftermarket. With limited details regarding the board’s criteria for the new CEO search (focus of new management) and given Pep Boys’ prior management volatility (three CEOs in the past eight years), we think significant uncertainty exists as to future business direction.
“Current store count remains a question mark. With roughly 800 stores, 70% of which are larger Supercenter and Superhubs (20,000-21,000 square feet), Pep Boys faces the task of operating an oversized, inherently inefficient ‘big box’ footprint. Notably, Pep Boys’ supercenters are roughly two to three times the size of a comparable aftermarket retail store. Similarly, we believe Pep Boys operates a challenged footprint given limited store density in certain western markets (e.g., Seattle and Phoenix), as well as recently underperforming remote locations in Puerto Rico. As management previously acknowledged ongoing exploration of a potential divestiture of roughly 10%-15% of the current supercenter footprint and given the current leadership question mark, limited visibility to store rationalization under new management puts us on the sideline.
“The Road Ahead less certain to be Pep Boys’ road ahead. We note Pep Boys’ management change occurs at a time of rapid store renovations as the Road Ahead initiative was expected to continue with relaunches in Denver, Cincinnati, and Baltimore by year-end following recent resets in Charlotte, Tampa, Boston and San Francisco. As prior plans to reset some 90% of supercenters may change under new management, we retain limited visibility to Road Ahead plans and associated capital spending.”


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Adobe Systems Inc. is rolling out several new features to its Adobe Analytics service, helping marketers carve out new trends from their data and analyze data collected from mobile apps.
In July, Adobe announced it’d be combining all of its marketing tools into the Adobe Marketing Cloud, including Analytics. However, the new version of the tool is geared towards improving marketers’ response time to all of the data they’re receiving about their customers and their campaigns.
“[The updates] are focused on really being able to allow the marketer and analyst to act on their data much more quickly than they used to be able to do in the past. And to do that a lot more accurately,” said Chris Wareham, Adobe’s director of product management, in a webinar last week.
Among Adobe Analytics’ new features is the addition of real-time reporting. That allows marketers, editors, and retailers to see things like how campaigns are performing, which content is getting the most play from readers or viewers, and on-site conversion. Marketers can also see data almost instantly, since the pages can refresh every five seconds.
Another new feature is Anomaly Detection, a form of predictive analytics that shows data points appearing outside the normal range of what might be expected. It shows what happened, as well as the magnitude of the difference.
That saves marketers a lot of time when it comes to identifying which campaigns and which trends are resonating with their audiences – especially if marketers are trying to keep an eye on more than 10 different kinds of metrics, Wareham said. This also works for retailers who may want to keep track of how different sales or promotions are performing amongst customers, he added.
There have also been upgrades to how Adobe Analytics visualizes data, allowing marketers to filter through their data streams. For example, said Wareham, if a florist wanted to check on his or her peak periods during the year, or to check whether certain offers were working, it would be possible to gauge those metrics in seconds, rather than in minutes.
Beyond the PC or laptop, Adobe has also ramped up analytics for mobile and for mobile apps. With a new mobile app software developer kit, marketers can analyze data collected from mobile apps. That also includes their customers’ locations when they access their apps, as Adobe has just added GPS location to Analytics.
With mobile apps, marketers can see how long users spend inside an app, as well as the actions they take while using it. That helps them improve in-app conversions, since they can start to see trends as to when users buy items after viewing them, or what barriers block them from completing a purchase.
And for marketers using video, Adobe Analytics now captures data every 10 seconds for content and every five seconds for ads. That helps marketers figure out when is the best time to run ads, what is the best number of ads they should show, and how long ads should run before viewers stop engaging with them.
Adobe’s own team has been using the new features, with team members finding it useful so far, Wareham said.
“Adobe, we’re a pretty good-sized business, and we can boil down what’s going on with Adobe.com orders into a pretty compelling single view,” he said.
“We have the ability to view the unique visitors coming to the site, and the number of visits to the site as well … and you’ll see all these graphs change every few seconds on the page.”
The new updates to Adobe Analytics are free for Adobe Marketing Cloud users. The updates should be rolled out before the end of November.


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Recently, a company calling itself Diet Doc issued a press release promoting its website, hcgtreatments.com, which offers HCG diet plans that supposedly help dieters lose weight fast. Unfortunately, according to the United States Food and Drug Admiration, this sort of promotion is luring unwitting consumers into taking potential health risks. Before you fall victim, learn what the FDA is saying about this so-called weight-loss strategy.
The FDA Issues Warning Letters
Recently, the FDA sent warning letters to companies that are promoting human chorionic gonadotropin as a weight-loss supplement. According to the agency, the hormone has not been shown to aid fat-loss, and many federal officials are worried that HCG diet supplements could lead to potentially dangerous health problems.
Diet Doc Attempts to Protect Itself
Although the hcgtreatments.com main page claims an HCG diet will help provide 100 percent natural weight-loss, it also readily admits that its claims are unfounded. On its disclaimer page, the site clearly states that human chorionic gonadotrophin is neither recognized nor approved as a dieting drug. Additionally, it also admits that no clinical study has provided scientific evidence that the hormone promotes fat-loss in any way.
Furthermore, the site's disclaimer warns that HCG may result in common side-effects, such as irritability, headaches and tenderness around the breasts; as well as more serious less-common problems, such as nausea, diarrhea, difficulty breathing and even weight gain.
What Consumers Should Know
It's normal for people to seek fast, effective ways to enhance their dieting strategies; however, hormone supplementation has not been proved safe, and consumers should be wary of websites like Diet Doc (hcgtreatments.com) which are clearly attempting to profit off consumer ignorance.
In the end, if you’re hoping to lose weight, you'd be well-served to heed the FDA's warnings and choose a safer strategy, such as the Dukan diet plan or some other method that encourages long-term healthy eating habits.


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teased the world with images of three new prototypes being developed in his company's labs -- there was a tablet, now known as the HP TouchPad, a smartphone that's since taken on the name of Pre 3, and something snaked around his wrist that looked suspiciously like a watch. Today, we learn more about this MetaWatch, as HP calls. It's a continuation of the company's overarching theme of mobile interconnectedness, however unlike its webOS devices, this connected watch is nowhere near ready for prime time (or maybe it's just like them since none are actually shipping yet!). The new Meta fella is still a research project as much as anything else, but it's seen as a key part of our future, acting as an easy-to-use information aggregator. It looks just like any old watch to us, but why not jump past the break and let HP's CTO enlighten you on what makes it special?
Update: Turns out this concept device is actually called MetaWatch, not Metal Watch. We've updated the post accordingly, but hey, Metal Watch doesn't sound too bad, either.


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Just like anywhere in the world, in Malawi the phenomenon of copying is not new.
This has not spared the fashion and business industries that are crammed with copycats that have no creative ideas to come up with their own products.
For example, if one ventures into fashion industry today, the next thing they realise is that copycats are stealing or have stolen from their ideas and claimed it as theirs.
It is also a common trend to see people simply replicating what others are doing, failing to generate their own ideas to achieve diversity and competition on the market.
But as the fashion industry booms and copycats continue to threaten the business environment, creativity and issues of copyright, a new fashion designer from Blantyre has emerged with a unique touch of designing bags.
His name is Bongani Kalambo who operates his trade at Chileka International Airport in Blantyre.
His main product that he has ushered on the market is a bag which he has branded Agnes, named after his mother.
But he creates bags ranging from hand, laptop and travelling bags using chitenje.
“Our business at the moment is the Agnes bag which is making impressive sales. However, the use of chitenje in designing is one of those techniques aimed at maintaining and promoting a traditional identity to the products,” said Bongani.
Chitenje is popular fabric which is used by several designers such as Lilly Alfonso, Nzika Arts, Chimwemwe Mwenyemasi, and many others to create their products.
Kalambo said he has established a company called 265 Gear which creates and sells Agnes bags and other products.
Currently, there is one selling point at Chileka Airport.
“Basically, I sell most of the bags in universities through networking with friends and clients. But plans are in the pipelines to create links to Ireland where there is also huge demand for Agnes bags,” said the 24-year-old fashion designer.
Apart from making Agnes bags, 265 Gear also creates men’s wear which is branded Fine Man and has since dressed popular musicians such as Saint and Zika B.
It also dressed the entire crew in Zika B’s video Ndinyamule.
His company started small, but now has grown to an entrepreneurship venture which has a founder, designer, tailor and a financial controller.
Kalambo, who is a shipping logistics officer at Chileka Airport, said he was driven by passion to venture into the bag designing industry. And his vision was to take it to international heights.


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Moments is designed to compile a combination of images, videos and Vines around a chosen topic, event or news story, providing users with “the best of what’s happening in an instant”. How far users can delve into a moment is completely up to them, and they can still retweet, favourite and take part in a discussion as they wish.
The feature is similar to Snapchat’s ‘Live City Stories’, and the content within Moments will provide instant and interactive updates.
"What we want to provide is a simplified way for users to get instant value from the platform and literally get the best of what's happening on Twitter right now," said Twitter VP of Sales Matt Derella”
So what does Twitter get from this?
Twitter is under immense pressure from investors to grow the platform. The company’s share price fell from $69.00 in January 2014 to an all-time low of $25.29 in September 2015, and the lack of growth in the user base is a key factor behind that.
To combat this, Twitter has made a concerted effort to position itself as a source of news discovery. It believes that by collating the millions of individual pieces of content, many of which are focused around a relatively small number of issues, stories or events, it can become something of a go-to source for news, opinion and debate.
It also means that Twitter can keep its users attention for longer. By bringing multiple sources together, the social network can create a stream of content that discourages the user from clicking away from the site or app, because they can get the essence of the story from Moments. As Facebook has done to great success, this is about ending the reliance on link sharing and about bringing external content into the app itself.
All of this, Twitter hopes, will attract new users and bring stagnant users back to the platform. Previously, finding the most influential twitter handles to follow, and the most relevant tweets, was quite a lengthy task and one that required a high level of patience in order to find and tailor your news feed. That is something that many believe discourages new users who are looking for instant gratification.
Crucially, Moments will be available to both users and non-users, significantly opening up Twitter’s content to a much wider audience.
So can brands get in on the act?
The ability for brands to “join the conversation” through Moments has increased, although it is worth noting that Moments will rely on an algorithm to determine which Tweets to display, so relevance, authority and quality is likely to be a significant factor.
For brands that are agile enough to respond to developing events and stories, there is a clear benefit here. Moments also has potential benefits on activity such as reputation and crisis management, where an official company statement may be featured in the context of a story.
Matt Derella, Twitter’s VP of Sales, has also claimed that Twitter will be giving brands their own moments called “promoted moments”:
“What it's actually going to be is a dedicated piece of real estate within the moments guide where a brand can curate a series of different tweets or Vines to actually tell their story”.
However user generated content has and always will be a large part of social media and this will be a key driver in engaging users with this new feature. Twitter hasn’t forgotten about this important reality and as such has started to create Moments by incorporating users’ content.
Twitter moments has the potential to be a fantastic improvement for both users and content creators (both publishers and brands). We will be following with interest to see how the idea of promoted moments is rolled out, and how brands take to the idea of moments in general.


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Welcome to the very first episode of our TV[R]EV podcast, Talking About A [R]evolution.
In this episode I talk with Sean Muller, who founded iSpot about seven years ago as a way to track TV shows and commercials using a nascent technology known as Automated Content Recognition (ACR).
Today iSpot’s become the go-to source for brands looking to track their own and their competitor’s advertising. Muller and his team have also used that data to track multitouch attribution, so that brands can see the effect of their advertising on the sales funnel.
And last week they announced a deal with LiveRamp to combine their data and allow brands to actually target their own custom customer lists across the entire television universe–all networks, all platforms, time-shifted and linear.
Muller explains the importance of this deal, where he sees the industry headed, why he’s a fan of ACR and what smart marketers and TV executives should be looking for next.