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Fintech is big news this year in Africa, and throughout the world for that matter. Bitcoin, and other crypto currencies have brought the potential of new financial mechanisms to the forefront of those that had never considered changing their financial instruments previously. As people speculate on crypto currencies, and mobile money becomes even more popular across the African continent, there is more of an awareness that simply using cash, or a bank account, is not the only option any more.
With this awareness comes a craving from the market for more solutions to financial problems. We have seen this across many financial instruments. Mobile money has made payments more convenient, brought many new individuals into banking, enabled people to get credit ratings, and even helped people with medical insurance. Micro loans can now be facilitated online, enabling people to develop their small businesses, and people even have new ways of paying for their mini solar grids for the house.
Another big issue, that is yet to be solved fully in Africa is in the remittances sector. The figure seems to very, but around $33 billion in remittances flowed into the continent in 2016. That is a significant amount of many African economies, with 10 countries receiving 3% of their GDP through this method.
The problem is, that it can be time consuming and costly to send money from outside of Africa into Africa, and even within Africa itself. Western Union and Moneygram have, for a long time, cornered the market, but the percentages on payments that they take are relatively enormous! And, the safety of such payments must come into question. Although ID is required to collect money, I have personally seen a Western Union payment being collected with no ID at all. Bank transfers often also have hefty fees placed on them, as well as unfavourable exchange rates. All this makes it difficult and also a waste of money for people to send money back to their families, which common, and even for companies to pay salaries to those working for them in Africa.
But technology is beginning to solve this issue. One of the first to compete with the likes of Western Union and Moneygram, as well as bank transfers was Transferwise. Their clever system means that no money actually travels across borders. A user transfers the money to a local bank account, and a bank account in the destination sends the cashto the bank account of the receiver. This cuts out the costly transaction fees, and leaves the receiver with a larger percentage of the transfer. Sadly, Transferwise is not yet available across Africa, and in my experience, payments to South Africa were not as quick as they could have been.
One service that is trying to make it easier to send money to various countries in Africa is Mukuru. This service enables people in the UK to send money to Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Fees are relatively low, with £10,000 bringing a fee of just £2.49. Which is extraordinarily low! With a quick registration process, including verification of ID which is vitally important for safety, it is possible to quickly transfer funds through to a bank account, a mobile money wallet, or even for cash pick up.
Worldremit are another firm that have jumped into the market in a big way. They are currently more established than Mukuru, and offer quite competitive rates to a huge number of countries. One of the things that makes them standout from the rest is the incredibly quick availability of the funds at the other end. Transfers to banks, and cash are instant, as are airtime and mobile money transfers. The fees for a bank transfer to south Africa are similar to Mukuru at £2.30, with fees for a cash pick up a lot higher at £16.85. (Mukuru’s prices stay the same for cash pickups) It also makes a great difference that their service is available across many different countries and platforms.
There are still some problems to be ironed out. Mobile money seems to be the perfect channel for the future of remittances. But with so many different mobile companies, it is important to be able to somehow create collusion between the different mobile money systems within one wallet. Mobile Money is not so popular in South Africa, and especially not in Europe and America, but if it were to become so, it would make the process a lot easier, and possibly even cheaper. These new innovations are just the start for international money transfers, with many more to bring down the price and make international payments more convenient.
How do you send or receive money in Africa and into Africa? It would be wonderful to hear if you know of any further innovative ways of doing so.
If you know of any innovations in Africa, an innovation that is changing lives, or you also want to be a guest blogger, get in contact with us on Twitter @inventiveAfrica or via email. Please share the blog with your network on Twitter and Facebook.
Also, don’t forget to check out and like our Facebook page! For more interesting blogs about African Innovation, check out our homepage.
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1 February 2023
The British Motor Show teams up with Coryton to deliver sustainable V8 sports car
When it comes to sustainable car choices, most people think of an EV over a 5.0-litre V8 muscle car, but The British Motor Show is about to change perceptions by running a Ford Mustang for six months to see if an old-school muscle car can clean up its act.
“Let’s make one thing clear from the outset – we’re big fans of electric cars, they are the future for sustainable motoring,” says Andy Entwistle, CEO of The British Motor Show, as he fills the event’s 5.0-litre V8 Ford Mustang with Coryton SUSTAIN BioFuel. “However, for some people they may not be able to change yet, they may live in an unsuitable location such as an apartment block, can’t afford a new EV or maybe they don’t want to lose their fantastic classic. This doesn’t mean they don’t want to be more environmentally friendly, so we want to know how sustainable they can be in their motoring here and now.”
Using SUSTAIN from Coryton– a second generation BioFuel thatuses agricultural waste such as straw, or by-products from farming, food production or forestry, recycling carbon from the atmosphere – the team behind the show will be running a 5.0-litre V8 Ford Mustang, covering over 1,000 miles a month promoting the event around the UK. As well as using Coryton SUSTAIN fuel, the “Sustainable V8 Project” Mustang will also be run on sustainable oils, use eco tyres and will be maintained using reuseable service parts or second life spare parts when needed.
“We want to know if you can run a V8-powered car sustainably,” added Andy Entwistle. “This will be of real interest to classic, performance and supercar fans as even the most ardent petrolheads still want to make a difference”plus the low ethanol content of Coryton’s fuel will make it much safer for use in classic cars than standard E10 petrol.”
The British Motor Show team will be keeping a diary of all energy, fuel and parts used over the six months and calculating the carbon footprint, which will be offset at the end of the year. The team will also calculate the cost to do this against running a Mustang normally, and the cost of running a conventional EV.
The team will deliver regular updates before revealing the results at the show in August, looking at how close they managed to get to running an EV and how much more sustainable bio fuel is compared to regular petroleum.
Coryton is one of the world’s leading suppliers of advanced sustainable fuels, creating special blend products using agricultural waste, such as straw, by-products and waste from crops that wouldn’t be used for consumption, and capturing carbon from the atmosphere to generate 100% fossil-free fuel. It’s a clever science.
The fuel operates in the same way as conventional petrol – you simply fill up the tank and go – whilst the company also produces specialist sustainable fuels for motor sport.
David Richardson, Coryton’s Business Development Director, said: “We’re delighted to be working with The British Motor Show on this project. We want to demonstrate to people how effective sustainable fuel can be – products are ready now which can be dropped into any type of engine – and how there’s no lack of performance whilst there are significant savings in greenhouse gases compared to traditional fossil fuels. If we can show what can be achieved with just one car, imagine what could be achieved across the whole fleet?
“There are 36 million existing cars on the UK’s roads, and we need to be tackling those emissions now – sustainable fuel can reduce those, whilst EV technology and infrastructure is given the time it needs to develop. The internal combustion engine (ICE) is often seen as the problem, but in reality it is the fossil fuels consumed that render the ICE harmful to the environment. It’s our belief that we need a range of solutions working together to help meet our net-zero target and that sustainable fuels could play a significant role.”
The sustainable V8 project was launched in conjunction with Sam Hard, founder of Hard-Up garage and well-known for his exploits on YouTube, as well as across the classic car and muscle car scene.
Sam Said: “I’ve loved American muscle cars all my life, so to see a way forward that allows you to run one sustainably, with renewable fuels and without having to modify it in any way is a real boost for car fans everywhere.”
You can watch Sam’s intro video and find out more about the Sustainable V8 project here (link to video).
Regular updates on the Sustainable V8 project will feature on The British Motor Show website throughout.
The resurgent British Motor Show 2023 takes place at Farnborough International once again on August 17-20, delivering a great mix of new cars, live entertainment, supercars, classic cars and celebrities. With an additional 30% display space for 2023, the show will deliver even more cars and even more entertainment.

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Victoria’s Secret runway shows have shaken up the lingerie industry for years, making way for more than simple nude staples.
Their signature element, of course, is the Fantasy Bra, a dreamy lingerie piece that is reinvented every year for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
The 2018 Fantasy Bra was unveiled this week, and it is undoubtedly one of the most exquisite pieces of lingerie ever seen.
Swedish model Elsa Hosk was chosen as the lucky Angel to wear the US$1 million bra this year.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Victoria's Secret (@victoriassecret) on Nov 5, 2018 at 12:34pm PST
So, what’s so special about the US$1 million bra?
Well, to begin with it entails over 2,100 jewels and more than 71 carats.
Man-hours are valued at over 930.
The chic style is based on the Dream Angels bra, and features a longline silhouette with underwire.
While the Fantasy Bra may be out of our reach for most, a similar bra encased with Swarovski crystals will be on sale for US$250 on November 29 at selected stores and also online.
This article originally appeared on Luxurylaunches .


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Abu Dhabi will has confirmed it will take its multi-faceted cruise destination proposition to the international industry at Cruise Shipping Miami, one of the sector’s leading business gatherings.
The event runs for five days from today.
At the same time, Abu Dhabi is also preparing to host the first P&O liner to call in the UAE capital.
“We will be in Miami to spell out to the event’s highly influential audience the case for using the UAE capital as a port of call for winter itineraries and its advantages as a home port station,” said Noura Al Dhaheri, acting leisure products development, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority.
“Last year, the show brought together more than 1,800 cruise line owners and operators from 66 companies, with a post-event survey illustrating that 56 per cent of these were sourcing new destinations – precisely the audience we want to hear the Abu Dhabi message.”
Abu Dhabi’s roll out to the international industry comes as it prepares to welcome P&O’s Aurora to its Mina Zayed temporary cruise terminal.
The Aurora, which has a 2,865-capacity, will make its first port-of-call at Mina Zayed on March 20 as part of a 13-night voyage from Singapore to Dubai.
“This is great news for Abu Dhabi and adds to the growing list of operators now using Mina Zayed,” said Al Dhaheri.
“We will leverage our host port and transit port capability in Miami by drawing attention to existing cruise services to Abu Dhabi which, vitally, run during the winter season when traditional heavyweight cruise markets, such as Europe, the Caribbean and North America, slow down for the cooler months.
“The current, 2011/12 season has been Abu Dhabi’s busiest to date with 77 calls from cruise ships delivering 160,000 cruise passengers to the emirate.”


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On Thursday, Beth Stern, the animal-advocate wife of Howard Stern, and David Diehl of the New York Giants, will host an opening for the Los Angeles-based artist Chris Collins, at Pop! International Galleries in SoHo. It is being billed as the "world's only exclusive bulldog exhibition."
Yes, Mr. Collins, paints exclusively bulldogs. "I won't paint anything else," he said. "Even if someone offered me an exorbitant amount of money."
Mr. Collins, 41 years old, started painting bulldogs six years ago, after things went sour in his business life. He had run a successful BMW BMW 2.23 % dealership in Orange County, Calif., then purchased a Chrysler Dodge dealership as the economy was tanking. His partner embezzled cash; he went through a divorce; and his first bulldog, Rocky, died.
But he found solace in painting bulldogs. "I just started painting them like crazy, but never with the intention to sell them." When he moved into an office in downtown Los Angeles, he put a portrait he made of former President Bill Clinton (with the face of a bulldog) in the window. It "got a lot of inquiries," and, circuitously, led to the art show this week in Manhattan.
Some of Mr. Collins's portraits are of famous people, like Tiger Woods and Mr. Diehl. Mr. Collins, whose favorite artist is Banksy, said his goal with the bulldog portraits is "to make more people smile. They're nothing crazy." He doesn't expect to be able to quite his day job, working in the auto turnaround industry, but he said he won't ever paint anything else.
"I don't know what could ever become boring about them," he said.


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Elon Musk has achieved remarkable and unexpected things with Tesla TSLA in the 16 years since his electric-car maker debuted its first prototype. Add to that list the likelihood the billionaire entrepreneur is closing in on the last requirements to win a stock jackpot worth $600 million or more–in the middle of what’s shaping up to be the worst economic slump since the Great Depression.
Six weeks ago, with U.S. stock indices and Tesla shares plunging as the scope of the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, the odds Musk would achieve the first tranche of his 12-part $55 billion compensation package looked slim. Yet Forbes now estimates the stock’s 100% rebound from a recent low-point on March 18 has Tesla on track to hit both six-month and 30-day market cap averages of $100 billion in early May. Once that happens, the company’s board would award Musk 1.69 million Tesla shares that, factoring in an exercise price of $350.02 share, would have a net value of at least $600 million. Tesla’s rebound far outpaced the 18% increase in the S&P 500 and GM’s 30% rise since March 18.
Musk’s compensation package runs through 2028 and was unveiled more than two years ago, well before the current health crisis. A review of it by The New York Times NYT in January 2018 called it the “boldest pay plan in corporate history.” Never one to think small, Musk told the paper: “I actually see the potential for Tesla to become a trillion-dollar company within a 10-year period.”
Certainly, the timing of the award is awkward. Tesla’s South African-born CEO and cofounder, with a net worth Forbes estimates at $40 billion as of April 27, would be getting the biggest payday of his life at a time of widespread economic turmoil and job loss across the U.S. and major developed economies. More than 26 million Americans have filed unemployment claims in the past six weeks of the coronavirus shutdown, which in turn appears likely to trigger a recession and a continued, unprecedented level of Federal spending. Tesla itself implemented across-the-board pay cuts for all employees and furloughed thousands of U.S. factory workers.
“This is like Marie Antoinette telling the peasants to eat cake if there is no bread. Still, Musk has never been troubled about appearances and may feel that he earned it,” says Columbia Law School Professor John Coffee.
The electric-car maker’s shares rose 10% to $798.75 in Nasdaq NDAQ trading Monday, boosting its market cap to $147 billion. The daily increase boosted Musk’s wealth by $2.6 billion, the biggest gain among billionaires tracked by Forbes.
Tesla’s average market capitalization is $95.5 billion, from Oct. 25, 2019, through April 24, based on data from S&P Global Capital IQ. The Palo Alto, California-based company’s 30-day average market cap is $104 billion. If the share price stays at its trailing 10-day average of $718.57 for eight more sessions, the six-month average market cap would be achieved by the trading close on May 6.
A Delaware judge ruled in September that Tesla’s board must defend Musk’s compensation package in a suit brought by a shareholder. Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights of the Delaware Court of Chancery rebuffed Tesla’s request to dismiss the lawsuit by shareholder Richard Tornetta, which says it unjustly enriched Musk.
Tesla reports first-quarter earnings on April 29, after the close of regular market trading. If it tops consensus expectations, which Barclays equity analyst Brian Johnson sees as a possibility, that could propel the stock even higher.
“While consensus has drifted down to a 32c loss for 1Q, no doubt due to lower than ingoing deliveries and the likely ramp costs in China, we would not rule out a non-GAAP profit for 1Q20, which (on top of the recent stock price rise) would add further fuel to the bull narrative that Tesla is set to dominate global automaking,” Johnson said in a recent report. He also noted that Musk would likely achieve the performance target in early May, increasing the odds of a new fundraising round by Tesla in the weeks ahead. Johnson estimates Tesla will report adjusted earnings per share of 61 cents for the quarter that ended on March 31.
Currently, Tesla’s main U.S. auto plant in Fremont, California, is idle owing to the coronavirus shutdown, though its new Gigafactory in Shanghai that opened in January is ramping up production of Model 3 sedans. The company, which briefly defied a local ordinance in Fremont to stop making cars last month, may call some workers back as early as April 29, Bloomberg reported. Tesla has told employees it wants to restart production at Fremont by May 4.
Much larger payouts to Musk will come in the form of 11 additional awards of 1.69 million Tesla shares, assuming he meets ever-larger targets for market cap, revenue and adjusted profit through 2028. If he falls short in a particular period, he gets nothing. To receive the maximum payout of 20.3 million shares, Tesla’s market cap must hit $650 billion, more than five times the current level. Annual revenue from Tesla’s electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels has to be $175 billion, with adjusted earnings of $14 billion.
Tesla said in its annual report on Feb. 13 that Musk fulfilled “two operational milestones,” with annual revenue of $24.6 billion in 2019 and annual adjusted pre-tax earnings of at least $1.5 billion. At that time, “no market capitalization milestones have been achieved,” the company said.
It’s not a problem that the market cap goals are likely to occur months after a fiscal year, Tesla said in a 2018 SEC filing. “A Market Capitalization Milestone and an Operational Milestone that are matched together can be achieved at different points in time and vesting will occur at the later of the achievement certification dates for such Market Capitalization Milestone and Operational Milestone.”


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The crypto community is excited about the news released this week that payments platform Square bought Bitcoins worth of $ 50 million as part of a larger investment in the digital assets.
The news Square bought bitcoin was announced on Thursday this week. Square bought a total of 4,709 Bitcoins, representing 1% of the payment platform’s total managed assets.
Square was founded by two businessmen- Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey- who founded Square, Inc. (SQ) in 2009, with a mission to create technologies capable of aggregating merchant services and mobile payments into a single, easy-to-use service.
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter cum CEE of Square has long been an advocate of Bitcoin and decentralized technologies such as blockchain. He personally owns Bitcoins in his portfolio, although it is not disclosed how much Bitcoins Mr. Dorsey possesses.
Earlier this year, Jack Dorsey also stirred up the crypto community by posting on Twitter that Twitter wanted a decentralized standard for social networking. In the tweet series, Dorsey explains how blockchain technology can provide a decentralized model for storing content, monetizing, and monitoring content produced. The visualization microblogging platform enables people to build social media services that can interact with existing detectors. “It will allow us to access and contribute to a much larger repository of public chats, focusing our efforts on building open suggestion algorithms that help drive conversation. healthy… ”he said.
Square added bitcoin to its Cash app in 2018, and last year the company founded Square Crypto, an independent team that contributes to open-source bitcoin devel. Last month, Square launched its nonprofit Open Crypto Patent Alliance, which aims to keep the open-source nature of cryptocurrencies alive by aggregating patents in a shared library to “Protection against patent invaders”.


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The Lincolnshire Chef, Steven Bennett, said: “Select Lincolnshire celebrates the great food and drink industry we have here in Lincolnshire, and I am delighted to be able to share my passion with their members and attendees at the awards evening in September.”
Steven’s experience spans over 23-years, with his early years working his way up the ranks in various award-winning and Michelin starred restaurants, followed by a five year stint as owner and Chef Patron at his multi award-winning two Rosette restaurant, The Comfy Duck, before taking over ownership of Healing Manor.
Alex Turnbull, Business Development Executive at Select Lincolnshire, said: “We are delighted to have Steven talk at the Select Lincolnshire Awards, we have so many great food, drink and hospitality businesses across the county and it’s great to have Stephen share his experiences on the night.
“The Awards are such a great opportunity to showcase the amazing work you do which contributes to what the industry is today, entries are still open and will remain open until 5th August, to enter just visit .”
The Awards are taking place at Lincoln Minster School on 19th September to celebrate the businesses who have helped to promote the county and its local produce.
To book your tickets please visit the Select Lincolnshire website .
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4 September 2017, Sydney, Australia - eBay.com.au has today launched its latest brand campaign, encouraging shoppers in a sea of sameness to break free, celebrating the individual way Australians shop on one of the world’s biggest online marketplaces.
For 18 years eBay has played a leadership role in the transformation of the Australian retail industry, with over 40,000 small businesses, 80 of the top 100 online retailers and more than 11 million monthly unique visitors now calling ebay.com.au home.
Recent research has revealed that 72 per cent of Australians want a personalised interaction when shopping online, and eBay is recognising just that with the Fill Your Cart with Colour campaign. Launching on Sunday 3 September across television, cinema, out of home (OOH), display, digital and social channels, the new brand campaign is a rallying cry for the diverse Australian community of buyers and sellers to express who they are and break free from conformity.
“At the heart of eBay is a colourful and dynamic community, who turn to the marketplace to express their individuality through the way they shop,“ chief marketing officer Tim Mackinnon says.
“Our new brand positioning tells this story and is a reflection of the tight-knit, yet global community eBay has fostered.”
The brand campaign launch is particularly timely with a number of international competitors primed to enter the Australian market in the coming months.
“The timing couldn’t be better. With an 18 year history in Australia, we are now home to the largest base of connected commerce anywhere in the world,” Mackinnon continues.
“Our key point of difference is the breadth of our unique and interesting inventory and the strength of our community, entirely powered by the people of Australia. Now, more than ever, eBay empowers shoppers to find exactly what they love and express who they are.”
Research also found one in five local shoppers are pledging to seek out smaller Australian sellers when shopping online, proving one-of-a-kind, personalised experiences are important to the consumers of today.
“At a time when the Australian retail sector is experiencing change, we are proud to celebrate our leadership in keeping Australian small business competitive, something that shines through in the campaign,” Mackinnon says.
To create the brand platform, 72andSunny commissioned three directors to capture the uniqueness of eBay, following members of the eBay community to understand their diversity, personality and perspective.
72andSunny Australia executive creative director, Johnny Tan says: “We took a completely different production approach, collaborating with multiple directors to show real people, their passions, interests and hobbies, and how they express themselves through what they shop.”
The campaign will roll out in two key phases in Australia. The first phase will be focused on showcasing the eBay difference, celebrating the colour and individuality of the community and the large and diverse selection of product available. This will be led by a 30 second TVC and a series of outdoor executions from 3 September. In the second phase of the campaign, eBay will be asking consumers nationwide to think again, directly challenging them with the question: “Did you check eBay?”. This creative will roll out from 10 September onwards and will span television, outdoor, online and cinema.
eBay is the largest online marketplace for businesses of all sizes, with millions of sellers worldwide. Currently 90 per cent of Australian sellers are exporting worldwide – compared to just 5 per cent of Australian registered small businesses. Nearly 3000 Australians have made more than $1 million in sales on eBay Australia since it launched in 1999.
You can view the hero TVC for the Fill Your Cart with Colour campaign here.
For media enquiries, please contact:
0407 044 727
About the research:
Research was conducted by PureProfile, with over 1000 Australian online small business retailers, and 1000 Australian online consumers in July 2017.
About eBay Marketplaces:
eBay is one of the world’s largest online marketplaces, connecting people with the things they need and love virtually anytime, anywhere. eBay has 171 million active buyers globally and more than 1 billion live individual and merchant listings at any given time. With mobile apps available in 190 countries that have been downloaded more than 370 million times, eBay delivers a personalized shopping experience and seamless access to inventory from down the street and around the world. Tailored shopping experiences customize buying and selling; and eBay provides variety and choice for sellers by enabling them to offer goods through online, mobile and local channels to consumers around the world. For more information, visit ebay.com.


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Was gasoline costing $8.88 a gallon at a Murphy USA gas station in Jasper, Alabama, in early June 2022? No, that's not true: A representative for Murphy USA emailed Lead Stories to say that the Jasper location was not open for business when this picture was taken because the station was still under construction.
The claim appeared in a Facebook post on June 7, 2022. The post reads:
The new Murphy's in Jasper done went full Joe Biden on us. #buildingbackbetter
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
Lead Stories reached out to Murphy USA about the post, and a representative emailed us on June 9, 2022, to explain what was actually going on in this picture:
... I can confirm that the store referenced by your link was not open at the time the image was taken. It was still under construction at the time and therefore we were not offering to sell fuel for $8.88 per gallon. Upon its open, we look forward to providing fuel and convenience items at competitive prices to customers in that location.
The store is expected to open the week of June 13, 2022, the representative said. If it had been open at the time of writing, regular unleaded gasoline would have been $4.49 a gallon, but that price would be subject to change based on "future market movements and other factors," the company said.
As for why any price was posted at an unopened gas station, the Murphy USA representative said:
Once installed the sign has to display numbers. The installer defaulted to 888 but could have just as easily defaulted to 000, which if interpreted wrong would indicate free gas.


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While Sony hasn’t released official sales figures yet, Japanese magazine publisher Enterbrain has announced that an estimated 321,407 PlayStation Vita units were sold in the two days after its release. To put this into context, 371,326 Nintendo 3DS units were sold in the first two days of its launch in February of this year and many considered that to be a poor showing for Nintendo. The PlayStation Portable sold 166,074 on its launch day in Japan in December 2004. Considering there were reports on Friday that Sony shipped an extra 200,000 Vita units due to “massive pre-order demands” (making for a potential shipment of 700,000 units), sales figures aren’t spectacular. Presumably, the launch lineup of 26 games (including Uncharted: Golden Abyss and LittleBigPlanet) meant to entice fans into picking one up hasn’t quite worked as planned.
There have also been numerous reports of problems with the device. These include issues with the device crashing, lagging during gameplay, frequent freezes and problems registering a PlayStation Network account. While there are often issues with new systems and Sony were quick to release a new system update, many early adopters are reporting that the process of configuring a PlayStation Vita is excessively complex. Cheap Ass Gamer founder David “CheapyD” Abrams uploaded a video explaining how he had to set up a temporary PSN account to download the update due to a glitch stopping him from using a pre-existing PSN account. While the update only took a few minutes and fixed many of the problems, the process involved is something that’s bound to infuriate many new Vita owners until it’s rectified.
Sony has issued a statement on ther Japanese PlayStation Vita website roughly translated as “Currently, our information centre regarding PlayStation Vita as well as our usual customer service centre are receiving many enquiries. We apologize if your phone isn’t connected straight away.” Sony has also been keen to reassure users who do have problems by providing Japanese users with advice on how to deal with common issues like device freezes or power failures.
The PlayStation Vita is set for release February 22 in the US. Hopefully by that time, these teething problems will all be rectified.


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People who received automated reminders were more likely to refill their blood-pressure and cholesterol medications, according to a study published in the American Journal of Managed Care.
Robin Leedy & Associates on Friday announced the addition of Puracyn Plus Duo Care Wound & Skin Cleanser and the Jolen Creme Bleach brand to its client roster.
CRN on Monday submitted comments to the Food and Drug Administration advocating a new qualified health claim for EPA+DHA and blood-pressure reduction.
The Consumer Healthcare Products Association on Friday elected Patrick Lockwood-Taylor as chair during its fall board meeting.
Vitamin Angels earlier this month launched its holiday campaign through Dec. 31.
Ferndale Healthcare on Friday announced that its Heliocare brand has committed to support Vitamin Angels and Walgreens in their effort to help at-risk populations in need.
Pharmaceutical sales through HDMA-member traditional primary distributors reached nearly $305 billion in 2013.
CVS Health has confirmed a report that it is planning to open a CVS Health Digital Innovation Lab this winter in Boston that will focus on “building customer-centric experiences in health care.”
People being treated for COPD in the hospital who received nutrition treatment had reduced lengths of stay, hospital costs and chances of returning to the hospital within 30 days.
Holoma on Monday announced it will place advanced video capabilities into the hands of consumers this holiday season as part of a Walmart exclusive.


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Michigan customers, once more, reported many about business collection agencies, pay day loans along with other products that are financial.
Michigan customers, again, reported many about commercial collection agency, payday advances along with other financial loans.
Michigan’s Attorney General Bill Schuette circulated the utmost effective 10 customer Complaints list today, predicated on almost 9,000 penned complaints filed because of the customer security group during the state’s AG workplace this past year.
Cash problems can connect you up in knots. However it may assist anybody experiencing the strain to analyze this kind of list as a kind of group therapy, and that means you realize you aren’t alone dealing with these headaches. Regulators additionally seek out styles of punishment and areas that need regulatory action because they review complaints.
Nationwide customer Protection runs from Sunday through Saturday week. The Federal Trade Commission, which received significantly more than 3 million complaints year that is last saw a rush of task concerning abusive business collection agencies methods, ID theft and impostor frauds.
The FTC noted that Florida, Georgia and Michigan had been the very best three states for fraud as well as other complaints, while Missouri, Connecticut and Florida had been the most truly effective three states for identification theft complaints.
During nationwide Consumer Protection Week, their state AG’s workplace will host two free seminars pertaining to email and phone frauds.
One occasion will soon be held from 12:05 p.m. To 12:50 p.m. In Detroit at Cadillac Place at 3068 West Grand Blvd monday. Room L150.
One other occasion would be from 12:05 p.m. To 12:50 p.m. Tuesday in Lansing at the G. Mennen Williams Auditorium at 525 West Ottawa Street tuesday.
Schuette’s workplace received 1,137 complaints in 2015 associated with credit and monetary issues — including business collection agencies methods, credit repair outfits, home loan brokering, and payday lending. Customers often reported of aggressive commercial collection agency strategies.
Here is the menu of top ten complaints year that is last
No. 1: loan companies, pay day loans, other products that are financial.
No. 2: Robocalls, cordless, telecommunications, cable and satellite television.
No. 3: Warranties, pricing disputes, product quality as well as other issues with stores.
No. 4: Complaints with car dealers, brand brand new vehicle dealers, and fix stores.
No. 5: difficulties with online shopping, fake e-mail solicitations, complaints with online sites providers.
No. 6: problems involving services that are dating beauty shops, security alarm and fitness companies.
No. 7: tenant cash central and landlord disputes.
No. 8: Complaints about gasoline solution channels.
No. 9: Landscaping, construction, building along with other specialist complaints.
No. 10: Health care-related complaints doctors that are involving dentists, medical clinics as well as others.
Nations have actually radically lending that is different, so an individual global two-month rule does not sound right, Flannery had written. After Branch started providing the two-month choice to conform to its knowledge of Google’s policy, few Kenyans decided on the longer payment term, however in India, where Branch also runs, one-third of the latest clients did, he stated.
“Instead of iterating in one rule that is global the world’s loan providers, ” he published, Bing “should just defer into the real central banking institutions. “
Kenya’s electronic credit growth ended up being permitted must be big share associated with the country’s population utilizes mobile-money reports for day-to-day re payments and expenses. Probably the most service that is popular M-Pesa, had been started more than a ten years ago. That created an opening for online loan providers pitching short-term loans that might be funded and paid back through phones.
Within the last couple of years, a large number of loan apps have sprung up in the eastern African country. They provide short-term loans of as low as a few bucks at high rates of interest to any or all from workers in offices in Nairobi to village road vendors. Scores of Kenyans have actually lent.
A September study by MicroSave Consulting stated that 91% of loans in Kenya in 2018 had been electronic. The apps are controversial, criticized by politicians when planning on taking advantageous asset of the indegent.
“What the lenders that are mobile doing is ripping down Kenyans, ” Jude Njomo, a part of Kenya’s Parliament, stated in a October meeting. “Who could ever conduct business having to pay the interest that is high? “
In Kenya along with other countries where mobile financing is popular, numerous users have not lent from the bank before and also have small experience with financial agreements. Google’s policy ended up being directed at pressing designers to loans that are longer-term which are generally easier for borrowers to control.
“People go after the loans away from desperation for cash, ” said Gilbert Kiprono, 28, whom works well with a mobile-phone business in Kitale, in western Kenya, and contains lent from mobile loan providers. “They are often available but very exploitative. “
This story was posted from a wire agency feed without customizations into the text. Just the headline happens to be changed.


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Mobile/ Smartphone press releases - 323 news release online.
Pervasive Group is excited to announce MMGuardian™, one of the first optimized parental control solutions for carriers. MMGuardian is a CTIA E-Tech Awards Finalist in the mobile category and Pervasive will conduct a live demonstration of MMGuardian on the Exhibit Innovations Stage at booth 5646 within CTIA World on Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 12:30pm.
by Paul Grossinger (few years ago!)
Countless apps for Android smart phones are available in the market however Suresh Babu Gaddam Topeka list outs the must have apps for Android smart phones launched out in 2013.
by Sunshine PR (few years ago!)
Bharatbook.com introduces a report "Market Opportunity: Mobile Marketing and Advertising" within a large bucket of things that include mobile customer relationship management, mobile search, mobile entertainment and personalization, mobile couponing, and mobile advertising. We define each here to create a reference regarding the relationship of each to "mobile marketing".
by sandhya nair (few years ago!)
Colombian based 1tucan today announces the release of Potty Training for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Potty Training is dynamic childrens education app that turns helping toddlers to learn the concept of using the bathroom correctly into a fun game adventure.
by 1tucan (few years ago!)
With thousands of mobile apps and a plethora of app developers churning out apps for a few million device activations every passing day, there is a robust and ever vibrant, functioning app world.
by Prince Sinha (few years ago!)
Japan-based Ateam Inc. today announces the English language release of its critical and commercial hit personalization app, [+]HOME for Android. A flexible, user-friendly solution enabling users to choose backgrounds and other visual features for their mobile devices' home screens which match their unique style.
by Brady Mehagan (few years ago!)
The Alchemist announces a gold and diamond iPhone for 1 Million Dollars. If King Tut owned one, this would be it. 5,000 years later we have one and only one for sale
by Nader Khan Durrani (few years ago!)
White and Light Production has announced the recent update of SexyShake live wallpaper for Android devices running on Android 2.2 and up. Featuring wide range of dancing models, app offers more customization options than any other app of its kind. SexyShake live wallpaper is $1.99 and available exclusively through the Google Play in the Personalization category.
by Ekaterina Pokhylenko (few years ago!)
Sheena Allen Apps has announced that is has officially released its popular double image/cloning app, Dubblen, for Android. The app, which has already seen much success in the Apple App Store, allows users to take two photos that will result as one photo
by Sheena Allen (few years ago!)
iGurucharitra is a step to give you that literary and spiritual fulfillment without snatching time away from your daily demanding schedule as this scripture is now available to you in audio format.
by Vidushi Bhatia (few years ago!)
German based ZEDOnet GmbH has announced the recent update of ClonErase Camera, their recreational photo editing app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. ClonErase Camera automatically combines several consecutive shots with the same camera perspective to a new picture - either with people cloned multiple times on the same photo in various poses or without any objects or people on the background.
by Stefan Donhauser (few years ago!)
Angell Echo today announces the release of Magikid Circus for the iPad and iPhone.
by Peter Feytser (few years ago!)
Get it all! That's the simple message conveyed by our new Android app called GetThemAll - an app that will make your day-to-day use of smartphones and tablet computers much easier. It has been created by the developers of multiple Firefox, Chrome and Opera plugins boasting of millions of downloads and matchless convenience that they brought to people using those browsers.
by Kuzma Safonov (few years ago!)
French based IRAI has announced the recent update of Road Signs Eye on the Google Play market. Compatible with Android devices running on 2.2 this revolutionary app allows users detect road speed limits signs by using the device camera. Version 1.02 features Automatic system for speed limit signs spotting that makes your driving careful & lets you avoid possible problems with the traffic police.
by Stephane Massart (few years ago!)
Russian based mobile application developer STOIK has announced the release of Lectures Scanner for the Android devices running on 2.2 and up. Lectures Scanner is a wildly practical scanner & note taking solution for modern high school & college students, this application offers users a centralized academic hub where they can scan, upload or send any lecture notes quickly, manage multipage docs.
by Harchenko Dmitriy (few years ago!)


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WASHINGTON — Makers of a weight-loss additive called Sensa will return more than $26 million to consumers to settle federal charges that the company used deceptive advertising claiming that consumers could lose weight by simply sprinkling the powder on their food.
Federal Trade Commission officials said Tuesday the company used bogus clinical studies and paid endorsements to rack up more than $364 million in sales between 2008 and 2012.
The FTC will also collect $7.3 million from LeanSpa, a company that promotes acai berry and ‘‘colon cleanse’’ weight loss supplements through fake news websites. Also swept up in Tuesday’s action are skin cream maker L’Occitane and HCG Diet Direct. The companies will together return about $34 million to consumers to settle the federal charges.


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6th April 2018
Just and ILC-UK ‘Innovating for Ageing’ project calls for submissions on problems relating to consumer vulnerability.
For Immediate Release
Friday 6th April 2018
Just and ILC-UK ‘Innovating for Ageing’ project calls for submissions on problems relating to consumer vulnerability
Innovating for Ageing – a joint initiative between Just Group and ILC-UK – today launched an invitation for submissions from organisations and individuals who understand the most common problems relating to consumer vulnerability that need to be addressed.
The project aims to identify solutions to the growing problem of vulnerability in later life. To achieve this the project will bring together experts and innovators with organisations best placed to understand the vulnerabilities that affect consumers in later life.
This initial phase will identify the most prevalent and problematic issues faced by people in later life who are at risk of vulnerability due to physical disability, serious illness, dementia or financial exclusion. Innovators and entrepreneurs from the “solutions community” will then be invited to devise and share solutions to these challenges.
Innovating for Ageing is being led by the International Longevity Centre (ILC-UK), and the specialist financial services provider Just Group.
ILC-UK and Just Group plan to:
- Bring together innovators and designers with groups representing vulnerable consumers;
- Promote better understanding of the issues;
- Identify solutions to specific problems facing vulnerable consumers;
- Organise events and awards to recognise collaboration and new thinking;
- Identify and highlight key lessons and good practice; and
- Report back on public policy implications.
David Sinclair, Director of ILC-UK, said: “Our ageing society is a driver for increasing levels of vulnerability – more people with dementia, with sight and hearing loss, and multiple long-term health conditions, for example.
“This project aims to seek out technological and policy innovations and solutions, with an aim to removing barriers and ultimately rethinking the products and services that are available on the market. We have already had lots of interest in the project and we are looking forward to receiving input from many people and organisations.”
Stephen Lowe, Group Communications Director at Just Group, said that consumer vulnerability is a growing priority for regulators, with greater focus on how firms handle vulnerability, whether in utilities, transport, financial services or other sectors.
“In financial services and other markets regulators are calling on firms to deliver better products and services,” he said. “This project will be a rallying point for those seeking to respond positively to this challenge, and an opportunity to address the issues vulnerable consumers face, so that they are better treated and get better outcomes when interacting with the market.”
Innovating for Ageing will look at all sectors and disciplines and is inviting proposals from all organisations interested in addressing vulnerability to ensure standards are raised in how vulnerable consumers are treated. The need is clear and demonstrated by research from the Financial Conduct Authority which suggests half of UK consumers – more than 25 million people – currently show “one or more characteristics of potential vulnerability”.
Innovating for Ageing also aims to respond to the vision set out by regulators such as the FCA. In its recent Our Future Approach to Consumers document, the FCA set out its expectation that firms must ensure:
- Consumers are enabled to buy the products and services they need because the environment in which they are sold is clear, fair and not misleading, with a good choice architecture;
- High-quality, good value products and services that meet consumers’ needs;
- Inclusion – where everyone is able to access the financial products they need and the needs of vulnerable consumers are taken into account;
- Protection – consumers are appropriately protected from harm.
Submissions are being sought ahead of the 29th April deadline, with full details available on the new website www.innovatingforageing.org.
Dave Eaton at ILC-UK email@example.com 020 7340 0440 or 07531 164 886.
The International Longevity Centre – UK (ILC-UK) is a futures organisation focussed on some of the biggest challenges facing Government and society in the context of demographic change.
Much of our work is directed at the highest levels of Government and the civil service, both in London and Brussels. We have a reputation as a respected think tank which works, often with key partners, to inform important decision-making processes.
Our policy remit is broad, and covers everything from pensions and financial planning, to health and social care, housing design, and age discrimination. We work primarily with central government, but also actively build relationships with local government, the private sector and relevant professional and academic associations.
Just (Just Group plc) is a FTSE-listed specialist UK financial services company created by the merger of Just Retirement Group and Partnership Assurance Group.
A leader in the individual retirement income, care and defined benefit de-risking markets, Just has been trusted to manage over £15 billion of customers’ retirement savings and has helped customers release over £3.5 billion from their properties.
Just provides a wide range of products, advice and professional services to individual customers, financial intermediaries, corporate clients and pension scheme trustees.
Notes to Editors
The Innovating for Ageing website was launched in February and now hosts the submissions form for entrants at https://www.innovatingforageing.uk/get-involved/
The programme is currently inviting individuals and representatives from charities and bodies that work with and represent vulnerable people to submit their issues to be addressed.
An announcement will be made through the Innovating for Ageing website and mailing list when innovators and entrepreneurs will be invited to submit their competition applications.
The first Global Citizen Science for Health conference was held from 29 October to 1 November 2023. This is the registration of the keynote "The Participatory Turn in Health Research: Its Roots, Methods, Ethics, Validity and Future" by professor Dr Tineke Abma.
With contributions from 21 authors, the book "Prevention of frailty among older persons in Japan: A community-wide approach" reflects the decades of first-hand experience of Prof. Tsujii, a former senior official at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
16 October 2023
On 16 and 17 October 2023, the ILC Global Alliance held a meeting in Tokyo, Japan, co-chaired by Julie Byles and Margaret Gilles. The attendees included representatives from ILCs in Australia, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, the UK, and the USA as well as the Secretariat.
16 and 17 October 2023


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Monday, Dec 18, 2017 | Last Update : 12:23 PM IST
The new patent reveals that the device will sport two large displays with a metal strip between them.
08 Dec 2017 10:52 AM
Registrations for the second flash sale that is scheduled for December 14, have now commenced.
07 Dec 2017 8:37 PM
A new report suggests that Huawei’s P11 phone could come with unprecedented camera setup.
07 Dec 2017 5:15 PM
The next-generation iPhone will feature a metal back alike iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
07 Dec 2017 5:03 PM
The Redmi 5 will sport a 5.7-inch 18:9 HD display whereas the Redmi 5 Plus comes with 5.9-inch 18:9 full HD display.
07 Dec 2017 2:43 PM
Earlier there were reports that the device might be showcased at CES in January 2018, but the new reports state otherwise.
07 Dec 2017 2:20 PM
Qualcomm's flagship SoC is faster, smarter, more efficient and may power even your laptop.
07 Dec 2017 1:21 PM
The Honor 7X is the successor to the Honor 6X, and brings significant improvements in terms of a new display and camera quality.
07 Dec 2017 10:56 AM
The Honor View 10 at first glance is a well-conceived package with flagship-class specifications and premium build.
06 Dec 2017 9:47 PM
Microsoft’s next generation utility notebooks will be utilising Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile chips for greater battery life.
06 Dec 2017 3:32 PM


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The first Israel eCommerce Innovation Virtual Summit, consisting of seven live webinars from leading Israeli startups, will take place June 24-27, 2019. Topics will include personalization, visual search, customer data platforms, online journey hijacking prevention and global commerce. Retail case studies from Men’s Wearhouse and APMEX will be featured along with presentations from Deloitte and Microsoft.
“Israel’s retail-tech sector is growing and quickly becoming one of the hottest and most innovative ecosystems for retail technologies, with startups offering solutions from supply chain logistics to the in-store experience,” according to Coresight Research, which co-sponsors the webinar series along with the Retail Innovation Club.
Registering for one webinar entitles attendees to all seven events, which will be presented live and offer opportunities for audience interaction.
“The concept behind the series is that we’ve combined forces with the biggest e-Commerce startups in Israel, but you don’t have to fly 12 hours to visit them,” said Ohad Hagai, SVP Marketing at Namogoo, who was instrumental in organizing the event. He added that the Israeli retail-tech ecosystem spans more than 500 startups and received $428 million in funding during 2018, with companies attracting investment from Amazon, Walmart, Nike and McDonald’s.
To see the agenda and register, visit ilecommerce.com.


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New payments star Zepto gives banks a hurry-up after raising $25m
The chief executive of a Byron Bay-based payments start-up that lets businesses make payments directly into the accounts of others, has expressed frustration at three of the big four banks’ slow progress on enabling new types of payments, but said it won’t halt his company’s expansion after it sealed a $25 million funding round.
Zepto CEO Chris Jewell said its Series A funding round would help it build out its products and expand internationally, despite the disappointing failure of ANZ Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac to hit a June 30 deadline to switch on a new service on the “new payments platform” (NPP) called PayTo.
PayTo will let Zepto and other fintechs develop services like providing e-commerce payments direct from accounts rather than using credit cards.
The company has closed a Series A funding round led by Sydney venture capital firms AirTree Ventures and Decade Partners, which it intends to use to ramp up hiring and build new products based on the NPP.
“The delay is less a blow to Zepto than Australians who want smarter, more cost-effective and secure ways to pay,” Mr Jewell said.
“I don’t know that banks are necessarily dragging the chain deliberately, but there are frustrations, given we’re such a fast-paced company and the lag from banks is holding up the industry’s progression.
“The delay is a symptom of slow-moving legacy financial institutions, which is why fast movers like Zepto have been created to shake up the industry.”
Originally known as Split Payments, Zepto claims to have delivered 10-times year-on-year revenue growth for each of the last four financial years, and says it is facilitating more than $4 billion in payment volume each month. Its client roster includes fintech operators including Binance Australia, Superhero, Novatti Group, Nimble, Till Payments, Bluestone and RentBetter.
Last year Zepto became the first fintech to be directly connected to the NPP – a real-time payment system, opening up the possibility to develop new products for merchants that remove the risks and delays of waiting to be paid.
One use-case it has highlighted is that it gives employers the ability to pay workers immediately after a shift, at any time of the week, and over long weekends. PayTo is planned to allow merchants to take a payment directly from a customer’s bank account with consent, effectively replacing existing direct debits.
The big banks clearly recognise the potential value of the market being tapped by Zepto, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia acquiring a 20 per cent stake in its rival Paypa Plane in February.
Other start-ups developing products around PayTo include GoCardless, Monoova and Azupay, in which Andrew Forrest has a strategic shareholding.
Mr Jewell said the new capital will be used to hire more staff across engineering, product, sales, marketing, people, and culture departments.
“We have our eyes on expansion into international jurisdictions, starting with New Zealand, followed by the US, and the funding will enable us to deliver on that,” he said.
Like most of Australia’s tech start-up sector Zepto’s ambitious hiring aspirations come amidst a national and international tech skills shortage, which is shaping as an election issue for the industry. It has increased its headcount more than 100 per cent year-on-year since the start of 2020 and now employs nearly 100 staff.
Mr Jewell said it intends to double this again by the end of the year.
“Surprisingly and thankfully, we haven’t had a problem hiring, and we are not personally seeing a skills shortage, despite the issues impacting the broader tech industry,” he said.
“We have hired 50 incredible new team members in the last 75 days alone. As our Chief of People, Matt O’Leary, puts it, ‘we are creating a beautiful, conscious and humane technology business, and people in the market are intrinsically inspired by and attracted to this.’”
AirTree Ventures partner James Cameron said Australia was punching well above its weight in fintech innovation internationally, citing examples like Afterpay, Athena Home Loans and Airwallex. He said Zepto was on course to join that list of local success stories.
“The global payments landscape is in the middle of its biggest upheaval in decades, as open banking and real-time, bank-to-bank payments are transforming how we pay and get paid,” Mr Cameron said.
“With open banking and the NPP, Australia has found itself at the centre of this disruption – and Zepto is the leading innovator in this space.”
Decade Partners co-founder Tom Hordern meanwhile said it had invested based on its faith in Mr Jewell and its broader team.
“Financial infrastructure businesses are the backbone of the fintech revolution,” he said.
“Zepto has scaled to facilitate more than $50 billion per annum in transactions on a run rate basis in just a few years – securing its position as one of the fastest growing players in this space.”
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Shopee, Southeast Asia’s latest mobile customer-to-customer (C2C) marketplace officially launches in Malaysia last week. The platform was soft-launched earlier this year in the region, including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan.
“Today, a large part of online purchases in Southeast Asia takes place on mobile. In Malaysia, mobile penetration is very high and stands at 140% (1.4 phone per person) with 45% smartphone users having made a purchase via their phone in the past year. With the trend leaning towards users purchasing through their smartphones, we see an opportunity here to get users to shop on Shopee’s mobile marketplace. With Shopee’s intuitive interface, anyone can buy and sell in less than 30 seconds, anywhere and anytime”, said Chris Feng, Chief Executive Officer, Shopee.
Fuss-Free and Secure Customer-to-Customer Shopping Experience
Shoppers can now purchase their favourite products from the app through a secure payment service called Shopee Guarantee – which ensures that if products are not received in the previously agreed upon condition, payment will be refunded to buyers in full. The Shopee Guarantee is designed to give more assurance to buyers who purchase from first-time sellers from Shopee, while protecting the rights of both the buyer and seller at the same time. Shopee addresses common issues faced by users on other customer-to-customer marketplaces such as fraud, transaction risks and the hassle of face-to-face meetings.
Socialising the Mobile Shopping Experience
Featuring a user-friendly interface with an in-app Live Chat function, Shopee enables users to shop and communicate at their own convenience. Designed to truly embody a social commerce platform, Shopee integrates social features including hashtag functions, allowing users to easily search for the most popular trending product or keep up with the latest trends. They will received updates in real-time, similar to any other social media platform.
By allowing a real time conversation between the buyers and sellers, Shopee Live Chat fosters a better understanding of both the seller and the product before a purchasing decision is made. Shopee’s social sharing features also allow users to share products with their friends on various social media platforms via a simple tap. Buyers can also ‘follow’ their favourite sellers to stay updated about the latest deals. Whether it is trendspotting or trendsetting, users will now be able to collectively organise their products and define the latest trends happening in the marketplace.
"Shopee brings together individuals who are passionate about online buying and selling”, shared Feng. “Our team aims to create a secure, fun and fuss-free customer-to-customer shopping experience with integrated social experience. With live chat, social sharing and hashtag features, our platform has brought a truly social marketplace to life.”
Empowering Sellers across Southeast Asia
Soft-launched in June 2015, Shopee has since accumulated several million active users across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan, of which, 30 percent are already selling products on Shopee. The platform currently has more than three million product listings, a result of engagements with influencers and retail entrepreneurs. For budding entrepreneurs, Shopee also empowers them to be more effective sellers by providing access to millions of consumers at zero cost, with integrated tools to manage inventories and customer relations.
“I tried out Shopee to explore the online market. The platform provides me with ample technical help and guidance to list my items”, said student seller Bryan Tham, store owner of 91 loading. “With the support and tools from Shopee, I was able to develop my business on Shopee’s platform, market my items better and bring to my items added exposure and reach out to more customers – all while pursuing my studies at the same time.”
Christy Ng, a brand seller of the same namesake added, “I’ve never sold anything on a mobile marketplace before. When Shopee approached me, I thought I give it a go. Ever since then, my business has picked up tremendously with two to three times the amount of sales volume. Shopee’s user experience is also seamless and convenient. The best thing about the platform is the interaction we have with the buyers which makes transactions easier to manage.”
Finding the Fun in Shopping
As a customer-to-customer platform, Shopee believes in empowering its users to shop in a unique and personal way, while passing on the quirkiness to others via social sharing. The app launch also brings Shopee's activity offline with a series of interactive fun-filled offline bazaars featuring exciting deals from participating Shopee sellers throughout December at several locations. These events and locations includes; Vodelle Fashion Fiesta at Paragon Penang on 5– 6 December; Markets17 at Jaya One on 12 – 13 December; and a Shopaholic’s Den at PARKAMAYA, Fahrenheit88 on 18 – 20 December.
To download Shopee, users can head to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store now. Shopee is available across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Shopee is a mobile-first social marketplace where everyone can browse, shop and sell. It is a platform tailored for Southeast Asia, combining the authenticity of a customer-to-customer (C2C) marketplace with payment and logistical support, making online shopping easy, secure and fuss-free.
The Shopee team believes in the transformative power of technology. As shopping on mobile devices becomes the ‘new norm,’ Shopee aims to continually enhance its platform and become the region’s mobile commerce destination of choice. Shopee is supported by Garena, Southeast Asia’s largest internet platform provider.
Shopee is now available for download for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan.
For more information, visit www.shopee.com.my.


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One of Ghana’s youngest millionaires, Ibrah One has said that actress Salma Mumini has a smelling pu$$y.
According to Ibrah One his friends who have been sleeping with her revealed that to him.
Ibrah One has claimed that his friends who have been sleeping around with Salma Mumin have lamented about her pu$$y.
Ibrah One noted that his friends said that her pu$$y stinks a lot.
He also added that Hajia4Real is pretty on the outside but stinks in the inside.
Ibrah One took to his Instagram page (Instagram stories)to make this announcement.
Ibrah One is one of Ghana’s richest young men .He is well known for his lavish and extravagant lifestyle and he is always well dressed in expensive designer clothes and shoes.


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Sony's Xperia Z1s makes some common-sense spec upgrades alongside creative camera changes. We go hands-on with the T-Mobile exclusive.
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It’s the dream of every researcher, where the n-sample reaches into millions, with clear accuracy. That dream will soon be a reality, thanks to Apple’s ResearchKit, an open source software framework that can be used by research and developers to create apps for all things medicine and healthcare.
At it’s launch today, Apple rolled out apps for asthma, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, breast cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Hundreds of millions of people around the world have an iPhone in their pocket. Each one is equipped with powerful processors and advanced sensors that can track movement, take measurements, and record information — functions that are perfect for medical studies. The sheer number of them being used across the globe opens up new possibilities for researchers. With ResearchKit, researchers can easily create apps that take advantage of iPhone features to gather new types of data on a scale never available before. – Apple
The possibilities are endless, with the amount of data, the more people contributing their data (data contribution is an opt-in feature) the better the representation of results across the population. The accessibility to global data in one platform will have untold potential for the kind of medical research that can be done.
To learn more, click here to read at Apple’s site.


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Small and medium enterprises in the Western Province have failed to pay up their business licenses.
This was revealed by the Provincial Treasury Division after visiting all the business operators between Marovo and Shortlands last month.
Western Provincial Government (WPG) Provincial Secretary, Jeffrey Wickham in an interview on Tuesday said the treasury staff visited businesses operating in the province to check their business licenses.
PS Wickham said it is the first time the treasury office staff visited the rural businesses.
“The outcome of the visit has seen many small businesses operating illegally throughout the past years up to date.”
As such he said the Western Provincial Government is expecting all businesses to pay up their business licenses during the financial year of the province.
The financial year starts from April to May where all the businesses must pay up their licenses at Gizo, Munda, and Seghe, he added.
“The problem at the moment right now is for quiet sometimes, the rural business operators have never paid their licenses.
“Yet, they expect the province to go down to the rural areas to check on all the businesses license.
“There is a lack of understanding and communicating between the business houses and the province,” he said.
He said it’s the obligation of the business operators to pay up their licenses.
The PS said the province now already has a list of data of all businesses that are operating within the province.
He warned that all business operators are required to pay up their business licenses before running their businesses.
“By early next year all the local business operators are asked to come forward to pay up their business license and just simply follow the rules the province has set,” he said.
BY ULUTAH GINA
GIZO NEWS BUREAU


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What’s going on?
Nvidia released the RTX 3090 in September of 2020 at a retail price of $1,499. Today, it’s available on Amazon for over $3,000. No amount of Prime Day deals are going to make that price tag any less absurd. It’s not just new products that are being sold way over value, even older computer components are being sold at prices that suggest they’re anything but e-waste. Everyone knows why, its the chip shortage. Any product with a grain of silicon in it, no matter how outdated and obsolete, is being hoarded, scalped, and price hiked at an absurd level. The shortage has affected every industry from computers, to automobiles, to fridges. But today we will only be focusing on how it as affects you, the consumer. Is it possible to buy tech now, and is it even worth it?
Is it going to stop?
Most people decide to wait it out, eventually the prices have to return to normal, right? No one wants to be the fool who takes the loss and buys an absurdly overpriced product, just for the price to return to normal in a few weeks. The problem is that prices haven’t been dropping for a long time. Normally supply tends to meet demand, but in this case the supply has been maxed out for months, and still isn’t showing signs of improving. But this isn’t a lecture on economics, you want to know if, and where you should buy tech products right now.
What are your options?
The answer is two-fold; if you need your tech now, then there really is only one option aside from taking a hit from absurd online markups. The only place to get fair priced tech right now is in-person in-store. To go back to our example of the RTX 3090, it’s available right now online for $3,000, but at a Micro Center store, they have them in stock at normal retail price. “Normal” includes a small markup that varies based on brand, and store location, but usually under a couple hundred dollars. However compared to online price markups, it’s basically nothing. Bottom line is, if you need computer components now, you go in-store.
When will it end?
Is it worth waiting out the chip shortage? This really depends on your situation. People have been waiting out the price hikes for almost a year, and while we have seen slight decreases in markups, everything in online stores is still way over MSRP. If you have the patience, there’s nothing stopping you from holding out. But most people don’t want to wait a year to get what they want. In that case, your only options are to give in to the scalpers, and take the loss of online prices, or try to find your products in-store. Of course manufacturing is bound to increase eventually, it’s just a matter of when. So be smart, don’t waste your money, and hold out if you can.


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Maui home sales rise by double digits in July, prices mixed
- Staff Pacific Business News
Home sales in Maui County rose by more than 20 percent in July, while prices were mixed for single-family homes and condominiums, according to the Realtors Association of Maui.
The median price of a single-family home declined by 3 percent to $475,000, from $488,000 in July 2012. That was based on sales of 93 homes in July — including five on Lanai and two on Molokai — an increase of 22 percent from 76 sales during the same month last year.
Condominium sales in Maui County rose 30 percent to 108 units, including one each on Lanai and Molokai, from 83 units last year. The median price of a condo rose 11 percent to $370,000 from $332,000 last year.
Renewable Energy Analyst Hawaii State Energy Office | Honolulu, HI
Audience Development Account Executive Pacific Business News | Honolulu, HI
Maintenance and Facilities Manager Honolulu Museum of Art | Honolulu, HI
PURCHASING ASSISTANT WALSH PURCHASING INC | Hollywood, FL
PROPERTY MANAGER ASSISTANT Bhatt Properties | San Antonio, TX
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Xerox is throwing its entire Office range open to the channel to widen its reseller base from its Xerox-only VARs.
Until recently a percentage of the Office range was sold through its concessionaire or Xerox-only resellers, but the vendor is now hunting for more diverse resellers to join its ranks.
Joe Browne, director and general manager for Office business at Xerox, also said this recruitment drive will be initiated through its three core distributors, Midwich, Micro Peripherals and Computer 2000.
"Xerox is 100 per cent committed to the channel. There's no grey areas; it's black and white. We are looking to become a serious player in the sub 19-print pages per minute market," Browne said.
Channel recruitment will be done through marketing schemes, as well as internally developed initiatives.
Alex Ward, commercial director at Midwich, said the expansion sounds positive. "I think the expansion will be done in stages, with some sections sold through controlled channels for a while.
"The process has already begun and it?s been positive for us as a distributor," he said.
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Ken Scarratt, director of the American Gem Trade Association’s Gemological Testing Center (AGTA-GTC) says the lab now can determine clearer parameters for the color description of padparadscha sapphires. “We didn’t just home in on our own science or opinion,” notes Scarratt. “We talked to people in all corners of the world—the Japanese market, the Thai market, the U.S. market, of course—and 99.99% of those we spoke with were very clear that padparadscha required a mixture of orange and pink.”
The research project examined every potential padparadscha submitted to the lab, “We measured the color of each stone using the GemSpec spectrophotometer,” says Scarratt. “We then formed a 3-D model of theoretical and actual data to see where the various colors fell in the corundum gamut, and then looked to see if they were separable by visual means.”
The researchers discovered a distinct group of stones that had a pink-orange component. “They were visually different from ruby, pink sapphire, and orange sapphire,” says Scarratt, who notes that this distinction allows the lab “to set color boundaries for padparadscha.”
One issue that arose during the study was country of origin. “Some purists felt that the name ‘padparadscha’ is distinctive for a locality,” says Scarratt. “To be a ‘pad,’ the gem has to have the color plus be from Sri Lanka.” But the test results showed that stones with exactly the same color of Sri Lankan padparadschas were available in Madagascar and Tanzania. “Looking at the stone, they had the same color,” Scarratt notes.
The laboratory’s board of directors agreed that country of origin is not a necessary parameter for identifying padparadscha, which should be a color-only call.
Knowing country of origin is important in terms of value. Richard Hughes, a sapphire expert now working for Pala International, an AGTA member in Fallbrook, Calif., notes that there’s a huge difference in price between Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) padparadschas and those from Africa. “Value is really a combination of color, history, lore, and treatments,” says Hughes.
And history includes locality. “Untreated Sri Lankan padparadschas command the highest price.” Most African stones, including those found in Tunduru (Tanzania) and Madagascar as well as the borderline colors from Umba and Songea (both from Tanzania), are treated, says Hughes.
Hughes says color can be subjective as well. In Sri Lanka, for example, he finds that padparadscha is a subcategory of ruby, because of its predominantly pink color. The name “padparadscha” is Singhalese for “lotus blossom.” “The lotus flower is pink in the center and a little orange around the edge,” says Hughes.
Padparadschas are commonly pastel in tone and saturation, which leaves the darker-toned and richly saturated African “padparadschas” out of the historical lotus blossom definition. The GTC study revealed a consensus that padparadscha must have both pink and orange combined but found differing views on tonality and saturation. Noting the traditional pastel color, GTC will go “a little darker, a little more saturated—up to a point,” Scarratt says.
“At the end of the day,” says Hughes, “everyone has their own opinion as to what a padparadscha is.”


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LAST UPDATED : Oct 24, 2019, 03:58 PM IST
- Business boom for traders in Bihar at khadi mall
Shoppers from across the state and other parts of the country are making a beeline for Patna Khadi Mall, which was inaugurated by CM Nitish Kumar on November 5. Located on the eastern side of Gandhi Maidan near Udyog Bhawan, this khadi mall is one of the largest stores of khadi products in the country.
- Bombay Times Fashion Week opens in style
One of the most-anticipated fashion events of the year, Bombay Times Fashion Week (BTFW), will commence today at The St. Regis Mumbai. The three-day fashion extravaganza will open with Shaina NC and close with a grand finale by Suneet Varma. The couture show, titled Anaya, has been inspired by the traditional motifs and embroideries from India’s decorative arts.


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Hyundai is betting big to expand its presence in the automobile industry with aggressive strategies and expansion plans. The automaker has now revealed a big plan for developing a new test center at the Nurburgring track in Germany, in order to work on the performance and overall driving dynamics that include ride and handling of their future product line-up. Hyundai is investing around 5.5 million Euros (Rs. 40 crores) for the construction of the new test centre facility at the Nurburgring track. Hyundai also aims to participate in future motorsport activities.
Hyundai’s engineers from the Research and Development center in Russelsheim, Germany will be using the new test centre for conducting and improving the quality and overall performance of their upcoming cars. Allan Rushforth, Senior Vice President and COO of Hyundai Motor Europe, says that the company is focusing on improving the customer experience of the vehicles, most importantly the quality of ride and handling. The Nurburgring features one of the best race track built in 1984 around the village of Nurburg, Germany.
Some of the leading German automakers also use the track for testing their cars. Hyundai is taking a good step forward for improving the driving dynamics of their cars as we have seen underwhelming feedback from the ride and handling setup of their new fluidic design line-up. Currently, Hyundai is known for providing a long list of high-tech features with stylish interiors as well as exteriors at a good price point, but the automaker needs to catch up with its European rivals offering better ride and handling characteristics.


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Smartphone market is something in which trends keep on changing with almost every passing year. This year, giant smartphone companies like Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi have been competing with each other specifically for the ‘ Flagship Mobile ‘ tag. The whacky updates include features like Pop-up camera and bezel-less display.
But for hard-core Android users, good amount of RAM and a good processor are the basic necessities since no one wants to invest money in something that goes slow with time. Xioami has always been one of the best Smartphone brands out there that comes up with phones which have a good configuration and are affordable at the same time. Apart from the Note series, Poco F1 was also sold in good numbers and now Xiaomi is planning up to bring a successor to this model. Xiaomi India had already hinted at bringing the Redmi K series to India. The top-end K20 Pro with the Snapdragon 855 chipset will surely come to the Indian market. But we expect it to launch next month. With the Redmi K20 Pro, Xiaomi wants to challenge the likes of the recently launched OnePlus 7 series phones, the Honor 20 and Asus ZenFone 6.
It is basically going to be a Redmi K20 Pro which is expected to be sold as ‘Poco F2’ in India. The Chinese launch date is May 28. However, the launch date for India isn’t revealed yet.
A spec sheet of the mobile has been leaked and it reveals that Poco F2 will come packed with a 6.39-inch no-notch display having a Super AMOLED Panel. The screen is said to be protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.The Redmi K20 Pro will also come with a 7th generation in-display fingerprint sensor which should make unlocking the handset pretty easy. Given the earlier pricing trends, the Redmi K20 Pro is probably going to be the cheapest smartphone to come with an in-display fingerprint sensor.
Camera: The phone is said to come up with a triple camera setup at the rear and a pop-up camera at the front. Rear camera is a 48-megapixel primary along with 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera and an 8-megapixel telephoto camera whereas the front one is going to be a 20-megapixel setup. The handset will come up with a 960 fps slo-mo video recording. With the given set of cameras, it can easily challenge the higher priced flagship phones in terms of photography.
Battery: It will be supported by a 4000 mAh battery which should last for a day, at least. It is expected to come with 27W fast charge support as well.
Performance: It will come in three variants. A 6GB+64GB, 6GB+128GB and a 8GB+128GB variant. It’ll be running on a Snapdragon 855 which is undoubtedly one of the best processors in the market. So, one can surely not complain about performance here.
Price: Xiaomi will be hitting some of the top flagship phones with it’s aggressive pricing. Earlier, Poco F1 killed sales of a lot of mobile phones including those of One Plus 6. According to the pricing of the K20 in China, in India it is expected to launch at 26000 INR for the basic 6GB+64GB variant. The second variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage will come for Rs 28,199 INR. The top-end variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage has been priced at Rs 30,200 INR.
We expect the Redmi K20 Pro or Poco F2 to launch in June as Xiaomi launches most of the phones in India after one month of their launch in China.


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Wickes believes the classic 1960s kitchen ‘work triangle’ design of cooker-sink-fridge fixed at three points of a triangle has changed in response to consumers’ evolving lifestyles.
The home improvement business conducted a study of British residents and design consultants and found that in 2021, Brits are prioritising many more points around the kitchen. A point or designated area for tea, coffee, and drinks preparation was named by 29% of respondents as an essential element in any new kitchen design – the fourth most wanted feature behind the traditional work triangle.
Originally developed in 1929 by US time and motion studies expert, Lilian Moller Gilbreth, the kitchen triangle concept suggests that the three main ‘work points’ of the kitchen should form an imaginary triangular shape to maximise efficiency and cut down on wasted steps.
Other popular answers on the study were a seated ‘feet on the floor’ dining area (23%), and space for home or school working (13% and 12% respectively). Also, the increase in domestic pet ownership during the pandemic means one in five Brits now believe the kitchen needs a dedicated pet area.
Michaela Williams, design consultant at Wickes, said: “While the distance between cooker, sink and fridge is still important in modern kitchen design, we’re increasingly seeing people wanting room for appliances such as a coffee machine, which may or may not be on display. We’ve also seen a need for a flexible worktop space so customers can plug a laptop in for working from home or home-schooling, but equally bake or craft and clear everything away.
“From bespoke built-in pet beds to an area to make guests their tea or coffee, today’s kitchen design requests are more varied than ever,” Williams added. “It’s our team’s job to enquire which shape our customers need, and ensure these complex layouts are designed intelligently so they can make the most of their space.”
Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan, design historian at the University of Portsmouth, who was contacted as part of the study, agrees with Williams. “We’re moving away from the nuclear family with multi-generational households, as ‘Generation Rent’ means children are living longer at home with parents. In addition, social factors like varied eating habits means people now come and go in the kitchen to do their own thing, whereas once it was expected that the solo housewife was central to everything that happened there.
“Working from home is also here to stay, which means millions of us seeking a space in the kitchen on a daily basis, if not to work permanently then to drop in with our laptops or tablets. Everything points to the modern kitchen needing more flexible surfaces for what we want to do — and that means the kitchen work triangle will be updated with more design points.”
Wickes says that the changing use of the kitchen means that the latest design shape requirements can be anything from a triangle to a hexagon and rising to a heptagon for some householders.
The study also found that 43% of respondents say there were two people in the average British kitchen at peak times, and in 10% of homes the kitchen has four additional people at peak times. Furthermore, the study revealed that the average Brit now spends one hour and 49 mins each day in the kitchen.
The Wickes study was carried out by Mortar Research, which conducted an online survey among 2,010 respondents across the UK.


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BT Sport plans to tempt pubs from Sky with a sports package which it claims could be 78% cheaper than its rival.
BT is offering pubs and clubs 12 months' subscription for the price of nine, which BT said for many independent pubs works out at £135 per month.
Hotels, golf clubs and betting shops will also be offered sport packages which BT said "massively undercut" its rival.
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Trump was given the boot off social media platforms after his role in the Capitol insurrection, but he announced his plans to create his own social media platform.
He’s launching the Trump Media & Technology Group and called the app “Truth Social.”
He plans to create a rival to the tech companies that took him off of their platforms.
He has stated that the Taliban being allowed on Twitter but not him is unacceptable.
Data shows that conservatives make up a large part of social media, and content wise do well overall.
The media company not only plans to launch Truth Social, but also a streaming and entertainment service called TMTG+.
The plans also eventually include going up against payment services like Google and Stripe, and services that Amazon offers.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to [email protected].


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A car buyer from Singapore has purchased a 1992 Porsche 911 RS from a dealership in Oxfordshire after the seller used CitNow video technology to save him travelling the 10,000km distance.
Steve Rogers, co-founder of prestige car retailer Maundrell, followed up the initial enquiry with a personalised video presentation. On receiving the video, the buyer decided to bite the bullet and despite never seeing the car in person, owing to the level of detail captured in the short clip.
Using CitNOW video technology, Maundrell has embraced the era of digital car buying, bridging the distance between rare cars and potential customers.
And it’s not a one-off either, since introducing the use of video presentations in 2016, the dealership has secured a steady stream of buyers who purchase on the basis of video alone.
CitNOW launched its personalised video technology to make buying and maintaining a car more transparent and convenient for motorists, car dealers and workshops alike. Last year, over 7.5 million videos were sent to motorists worldwide.
Maundrell adopted CitNOW video to give its remote customer base a more visual experience during the enquiry process, and has used video to build meaningful conversations which are both personal and convenient.
Steve Rogers, Co-Founder of Maundrell said: “Technology is constantly evolving to empower buyers from all walks of life, and what we’ve seen from this latest prestige customer is how important this is becoming to the car buying process.
“Despite living on another continent and a 12-hour flight away, a customer has still managed to make an informed buying decision through the application of next-gen video to the purchasing journey. This can only be good news for discerning car buyers who are pushed for time.”
For more information on CitNOW, please visit www.citnow.co.uk


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Oregon and 28 other states do so little to inform consumers about the cost of medical procedures that they deserve an “F” for health care transparency, according to a new report.
Transparency is a hot topic these days, with articles and documentaries increasingly focusing on seemingly inexplicable costs – usually hidden ones -- for a variety of medical procedures. It’s a favorite topic of businesses and insurers who contend making more information public will drive prices down in ways that recent health reform laws do not.
Now, two business-backed groups have released a “report card on state price transparency laws.” Only 14 states get a C or better. Just two states, Vermont and Massachusetts, get an A, and that’s because the group gave a curve, according to the report. It cited research showing the cost of procedures can vary by 700 percent in a given market.
“States can play an important role in ensuring that consumers have access to both quality and price information by setting policies and implementing laws that advance transparency. The most comprehensive, consumer-friendly laws ensure ready access to information and data about a broad range of providers and services," according to the report, which was produced by the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute and the Catalyst for Payment Reform.
Oregon does poorly because individual consumers are given scant information about what procedures actually cost – as opposed to the sticker price that typically shows up in bills, known as the “billed charge.” Want hospital-specific information? You can try a web site offered by the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems that is difficult to navigate and in which the information is incomplete. Contrast that to the Massachusetts site.
For more information, go to the report or catch the webinar on transparency scheduled for Wednesday at 10a.m.