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How Johnnie Walker became India’s whisky of choice
Frank Coleman, the senior vice president of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a trade group, told Time, “Indians are preordained whisky drinkers. They’ve developed a taste for whisky.” Kevin R. Kosar, a senior fellow at the R Street Institute and author of Whiskey: A Global History, agrees adding that their palate is due in part to English imperialism. He explains, “Wherever the Empire went, Scotch whisky would go to.” However, Irish whisky “was not nearly as popular [in India] despite the fact that there was more of it being produced in the late 19th century than Scotch whisky. This is because the Irish did not get along well with the crown.” While the Scots he continues, “had a positive working relationship with the mainland early on.”
Johnnie Walker became a big whisky brand by “aggressively marketing itself,” says Kosar. “It was everywhere, the way Budweiser is everywhere. Budweiser is drunk a lot in part because it is always available. You go to a ball game or something and when you want a beer, they have Budweiser, so you just drink Budweiser.” That is how ubiquitous Johnnie Walker was. However, unlike Budweiser, Kosar notes, “Johnnie Walker is also an exceptionally good product … and the quality was there.” While the whisky has been around for over 200 years, the drink really took off in 1908 when it underwent an art direction shift, which resulted in its very recognizable logo known as “the Striding Man.”
The Striding Man was a crucial part of Johnnie Walker’s rise to the top. The Pittsburgh Post- Gazette notes that while most other brands played up traditional Scottish imagery like bearded men, kilts, and bag pipes, the Striding Man was a “gentleman on the move.” The logo solidified Johnnie Walker’s place as an “aspirational brand,” says Kosar. “[The rise of Johnnie Walker] fits in neatly with India as a rising economic power over the course of the twentieth century. Everybody was going up brand.” Plus, the logo was easy to identify, says Junoon’s Pathak. Combined with the “simple color coding of the blends” — i.e. Johnnie Walker Black, Johnnie Walker Blue, and Johnnie Walker Red — the logo “helped the brand resonate with, and be understood by, everyday people.”
Serving as a luxury drink also helped Johnnie Walker overtake gin — another popular British export. “There was plenty of gin sloshing around in India thanks to the British Empire,” Kosar explains. But gin was sold at a lower price point and it didn’t quite “carry the same cache as Scotch whisky.” He adds, “It wasn’t seen as luxurious.” Essentially, gin didn’t have the marketing campaign around it that Johnnie Walker had…
…Johnnie Walker has always had a good reputation and it’s a spirit that “… at least three generations of Indians are familiar with,” says Kosar. “The company itself has generally operated in a way that is above the board. It has not had any major scandals, or any incidents that would sully its reputation. Johnnie Walker has not been implicated in any bribery schemes, either.” He explains, “This is not often true about other companies in the spirits business.” In addition to having a pristine moral reputation, Johnnie Walker is also considered to be a “safe” spirits brand.
India has a major issue with bootleg liquor, and “illicit, poisonous moonshines are a real peril in India,” states Kosar. In June, toxic moonshine killed 102 people in Mumbai and “sickened scores of others,” writes CNN. Just a few months earlier, 25 people were killed and 125 were hospitalized in the state of Uttar Pradesh after drinking an illegal home-brewed spirit. These deaths from “cheap, illegally brewed liquor,” which often contain methanol — a toxic chemical — are unfortunately not uncommon in the country. Johnnie Walker, however, has never had such issues during its “long footprint” in India. Per Kosar, this is what has enabled the company to “not have its spirits pulled from the shelf.”
But perhaps most importantly, Kosar notes that above all, Johnnie Walker appeals to the Indian palate. “Scotch whisky puts a lot of people off,” due to its potent flavor. “But in India? Scotch whisky is not going to strike as overwhelming.” The bold flavors common in Indian food means that generally Indians don’t have to “overcome” the taste of the whisky.


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After binging on ‘hating going to the office and not wanting to work‘ reels on social media, Kim Kardashian‘s office tour left us wishing we had an office like that. We might not get much work done but at least we would have fun! Kim has everything she needs to get inspired in her office.
The business mogul recently tapped into TikTok’s viral “of course” trend by displaying her wildly bizarre SKKN BY KIM headquarters, which features everything from a 3-D model of her brain to a red light therapy bed. The trend features creators giving insights into their lives based on a specific characteristic they identify with.
She joined in on the viral trend to reveal she is releasing 15 shades of lip liners through SKKN BY KIM. Kim briefly showed off the collection at the end of the clip before dramatically dropping them.
The TikTok video begins with her dressed in a white robe from her SKIMS collection. “I’m Kim Kardashian, of course, I have all my magazine covers covering my walls,” she says, showing off a wall of framed magazine covers she has graced over the years.
“I’m Kim Kardashian… Of course, I have my mannequin with my custom body measurements in my glam room,” she continued, while the camera focused on her mannequin. The camera then zoomed in to highlight the curves of the life-size figurine.
Next up, the billionaire shows another room that features “a big TV wall” that plays her “beauty campaigns on loop.” Lying across her desk in her office in the next clip, Kardashian shows two items sitting in pride of place — “I’m Kim Kardashian, of course I have 3-D models of my brain and my plane in my office,” she noted with a smirk.
The mom-of-four reveals that her office also has some pretty incredible amenities for her to enjoy between meetings and calls: a tanning bed and a red light therapy bed. The latter is used to treat inflammatory skin conditions such as psoriasis.
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disorder characterized by scaly patches of skin. It is fairly common, affecting about 3% of adults in the US — or almost eight million people. The controversial treatment has become a topic of debate given that it’s not FDA-approved.
The 43-year-old businesswoman showed off her “product shrine” — an immaculate makeup room, where rows of beauty products sat pretty on top of multiple shelves. As the final kicker, Kim closed her video by humbly bragging about how fashion’s coolest designer created her SKKN office. She said, “Of course my whole office is custom Rick Owens.”
The TikTok received 8 million views and over 8.5k comments, many of which appeared to be impressed, but not at all surprised, by the elaborate office features. Some questioned Kardashian’s use of a tanning bed, while others praised the social media mogul for how well she pulled off the TikTok format and used it to highlight her upcoming products. “This trend suits her the most,” one viewer wrote.
Kardashian was labelled “iconic” by her followers, who couldn’t get enough of her content. “I want to be Kim Kardashian when I grow up,” one person quipped. “Imagine being Kim Kardashian, omg,” another added. “My mouth literally dropped,” another chimed in.
Kim Kardashian has come under fire for showing off her red light therapy bed worth $78,000. The treatment is known to help conditions like psoriasis, which Kim has openly battled with before. But fans were worried when she called it a “tanning bed”, as these can greatly increase skin cancer risk.
Kardashian previously uploaded a video to YouTube in August 2022 showing off the interior of the space after it was completed. In that tour, she said the office is roughly 40,000 square feet. She also showed off its minimalistic open-plan kitchen, amphitheater room, and photo studio.
The reality TV star’s luxurious office tour comes off the heels of her latest business endeavour, the re-launch of her makeup line—which closed in August 2021—and will now live under her SKKN brand. “I’ve recently been taking a skin-first approach towards my beauty routine,” Kim shared on her Instagram.
“In developing @SKKN BY KIM Makeup, my goal was not only to create universally-flattering cosmetic essentials, but also to ensure that our products are clean, hydrating, and help improve the look and feel of skin with every wear” she added.
But seriously, how cool is her office? Okay enough fantasizing, we’ll get back to work now…

domain: news


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Kraft Attends U.S.-China Trade Conference
Bob Kraft Chairman and CEO of FirstPathway Partners, shakes hands with Siva Yam, CPA, CFA, President of the U.S.-China Chamber of Commerce.
Monday, November 14, 2011 – This week Bob Kraft Chairman and CEO of FirstPathway Partners attended the 12th Annual U.S.-China Trade Conference in Chicago sponsored by the U.S.-China Chamber of Commerce. The Honorable Yang Guoqiang, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Chicago, was the keynote speaker at the event.
FirstPathway Partners is a proud supporter of The United States of America-China Chamber of Commerce (USCCC) , a not-for-profit, bi-national membership organization dedicated to developing increased U.S.-China trade and investment activities by assisting American and Chinese companies, professionals and the general public to better understand the business environments and cultural traditions relevant to successfully doing business in both countries.
Tags: 12th Annual U.S.-China Trade Conference, Bob Kraft Chairman, CEO, CFA, Chicago, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Chicago., CPA, FirstPathway Partners, President, Siva Yam, U.S.-China Chamber of Commerce, Yang Guoqiang


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Bitcoin asic chip manufacturer
Bitcoin miners use what are called application-specific integrated circuit.
Japanese Company Will Launch New Bitcoin Mining Operation
3 Best Bitcoin Mining Hardware Machines 2017
What is an ASIC Bitcoin. of the largest producers of Bitcoin mining hardware and chips. is an Israeli based mining hardware manufacturer.
Chinese Bitcoin Miner Might Be Trying To Corner ASIC Chip
Unknown Chinese Bitcoin Mining Hardware Manufacturer. which are 14nm Bitcoin ASIC chips.The companies that produce ASIC chips also produce other products for other industries.Selling directly has a few advantages, most notably that the money is received by BitMain instantly.
Bitcoin ASIC in Chips-to-$ Race | EE Times
We make ASIC Bitcoin Mining Gear using ASICs from various manufacturers.Become the best Bitcoin miner and learn how to mine Bitcoins with the best Bitcoin mining hardware,.Several manufacturers produce their own ASIC chips. it is not worth it to buy bitcoin mining hardware.
If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.Bitcoin hardware company BitFury has produced its new 28nm ASIC chip for bitcoin mining.
HashFast co-founder Simon Barber may have been way ahead of the game when he sought investments for an ASIC chip.What made you jump into the Bitcoin ASIC arena and. based company rather than just a Bitcoin company.
TerraHash to Provide a Hosted Bitcoin Mining - PRWeb
Bitcoin News: BM1385 ASIC Chip Makes Bitcoin Mining More Energy-Efficient.
Unknown Chinese Bitcoin Mining Hardware Manufacturer Aims
Bitmain, the bitcoin mining ASIC provider, reports that the BM1385 chip was produced on the 28-nanometer process of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.Cheap Gridseed ASIC Miner for Litecoin and Bitcoin Mining,You can get more details. 2122 suppliers can give.Butterfly Labs manufactures a line of high speed ASIC bitcoin miner and encryption processors for use in bitcoin mining hardware and research, telecommunication and.
The company conducts heavy research into the bitcoin ecosystem.Hashing on each board 63 are located on the chip ASIC BM1387,.
New Bitcoin mining chip could double efficiency - Geek.com
At their core, these companies are silicon chip factories, and there is lots of demand for custom silicon chips in the market.
Bitcoin ASIC Archives | Digital Money Times
I understand that some people have access to cheaper electricity than others.
They also have a cloud-mining service which allows customers to purchase hardware that is operated by BitMain.In Bitcoin, it refers to an Application Specific Integrated Circuit, which is a silicon computer chip.
BM1385 ASIC Chip Makes Bitcoin Mining More Energy
GoldStrike1 and will be a 28nm chip,. there is about this new company and their new custom ASIC.
Litecoin and BItcoin ASIC - Crypto Mining Blog
It is possible that they mine with in-stock units waiting to be shipped or sold.
Find the best selection of asic bitcoin here at Dhgate.com. Source cheap.Bitmain Antminer T9 The BM1387 ASIC Chip bitcoin mining ASIC based on the 16nm.Startup Cointerra described its bitcoin mining ASIC at Hot Chips, painting a picture of the headlong race to virtual money -- and logic power density -- that the.Several manufacturers produce their own ASIC chips and miners.KnC, another mining hardware maker, announced in 2014 that they would only produce hardware for their own purposes, following numerous customer complaints about their business practices.
Silicon Valley Startup to Sell ASIC Based Bitcoin Mining
A project is now showing on IndieGogo.com for the development of 14NM ASIC MINING CHIPS for Bitcoin mining gear.
BitFury's Georgian Technology Park to Create new Jobs
ASIC mining chip manufacturer, HashFast Technologies, has been found guilty of fraud for unfair business practices, and the way it handled returns from their 2013.An application-specific integrated circuit. or a high-efficiency Bitcoin miner is an ASIC. choose an ASIC manufacturer and implement their design using.
I was able to find a few, just add your list if ever you find other.The difference between them and KnC is they have not made it a cornerstone of their business model.If that is not possible, then a joint miner with those miners would seem more profitable than selling the most profitable newly invented ASICs chips to the general public.
How to Setup a Bitcoin ASIC Miner – Bitcoin.com


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Canada has reportedly banned the importing of British foods including Marmite and Irn Bru because of the additives they contain.
Tony Badger, who owns a British foods shop in Saskatoon in central Canada, said he had lost $20,000 (Canadian) - over £10,000 - when his shipments from the UK were seized.
“My understanding was we were importing legally," he told the local CKOM news outlet. "We’ve been declaring it through a customs broker and we’ve never had an issue until now.”
Irn Bru contains the Ponceau 4R food colouring, while Marmite, Lucozade, Penguin Bars and Bovril are all "enriched with vitamins and minerals" unacceptable to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, according to a letter from the body to Mr Badger.
More top news
Yorkshire Water says the tap water in Thorne, near Doncaster, is still not fit to drink after a contamination scare.
In December 2012, gunman Adam Lanza shot dead 20 children and six teachers in the Connecticut school, before turning the gun on himself.
The study, conducted by the European Banking Authority, looked at how much capital would be used up in adverse economic conditions.


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Godzilla Goes Faster: Nissan GT-R Scorches 'Ring in 7min/26.70 sec
The April 15 score was set under ideal weather conditions, but the circuit was reportedly riddled with sand and dirt. Nissan's team promised subsequent runs once the track was clean. Their wishes eventually came true and they trimmed almost another full second off their old time on April 23.
As a whole, the small Nissan GT-R outfit just keeps getting better on track, and according to GT-R chief engineer Kazutoshi Mizuno, it'll be an annual occurrence to try to best each year's Ring times.
"This record demonstrates our commitment to the continuous evolution of the Nissan GT-R," says Mizuno. "We would like to continue delivering the passion and pride of ownership to our customers by improving its performance every year."
Nissan's previous records have been hotly contested, most notably by Porsche and its 911 Turbo and GT2.
Below are the GT-R's past Nurburgring lap time achievements:
- 7min/27.56 sec on April 15, 2009
- 7min/29.00 sec April 2008
- 7min/38.00 sec in September 2007
Will Nissan continue its improvement streak? Will Porsche answer back once and for all?
Interestingly enough, Nissan made no mention of how the lighter, more agile GT-R SpecV managed around the Green Hell.
Like you, we'll just have to wait and see. Be sure to keep tuned here for your full coverage.


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The reduction in the world’s bee population has made headlines in recent years, with the impact on global food supplies making it certainly worthy of study – some 77% of all the food we eat depends on pollination, and 1.4 billion farmers’ livelihoods rely on pollinators. This is why Oracle teamed up with the World Bee Project in 2018 to use the latest technology to try and understand the decline, including AI, data visualization, and cloud technology to. Recently they have added another technology has recently been added to the mix – blockchain.
Oracle Buzzing About Blockchain Potential
The World Bee Project’s Hive Network operates hundreds of interconnected beehives worldwide using IoT sensors to capture a wide variety of data on the hives, such as sound, humidity, temperature, and the weight, data that is stored and shared across Oracle’s blockchain. The use of a transparent blockchain will allow another partner, the University of Reading in London, to analyze the data for patterns that will help inform and implement global actions that contribute to improving biodiversity.
BeeMark Label of Authenticity
Alongside the data collection aspect is the creation of the “BeeMark” label, a stamp of authenticity that ensures honey is being produced from sustainable sources. The eventual aim of the partnership is to allow consumers to scan QR codes from the BeeMark label to validate that the honey they wish to buy came from a particular source. The system uses Hyperledger Fabric, the same underlying technology as IBM’s Food Trust which is running food tracking pilots with Nestlé, Walmart, and Carrefour. A key difference here though is that Oracle has partnered with a non-profit organization hoping to reverse world bee decline by raising customer awareness through the BeeMark as well as using the data provided by the latest technology, including blockchain.


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Moxie Marlinspike, CEO of encrypted social networking platform Signal, has dubbed “Web3.0” the next generation of the Internet. In a detailed blog, Marlinspike criticized the prevailing reliance of Web3.0 applications on centralized platforms. The component that differentiates Web3.0 from the last two generations of the Internet is its “decentralized” nature. Marlinspike says that for the Web3.0 space to fully mature, it needs to establish itself further away from the Internet that is currently controlled and governed by regulatory authorities.
applications built on web3.0 drive either blockchain Or decentralized networks of peer-to-peer servers (nodes) or even a combination of both. The apps are called “dapps” (decentralized apps). Thanks to these protocols, cryptocurrencies act as a financial incentive for anyone who participates in creating, controlling, contributing to or improving a dApp projects themselves.
Marlinspike notes that Web3.0 needs to be tuned in such a way that it can function without any dependency on the existing monitored Internet.
“Whether running on mobile or the web, a dapp needs to interact with the blockchain somehow in order to modify or render state. It is not really possible to do this from the client, however, since the blockchain can’t live on your mobile device (or in your desktop browser realistically),” the 42-year-old entrepreneur and cryptographer said in his Post
“So the only option is to interact with the blockchain via a node that is running remotely on a server somewhere. But, as we know, people don’t want to run their own servers.”
Signal The CEO essentially means that dapps are currently running on controlled and monitored servers under the existing Internet infrastructure, which violates the core principle of the Web, which is “decentralization” of the Web.
According to Marlinspike, there should be more cryptography involved in shaping the Web3.0 space. The technology of cryptography secures information and communication through the use of codes to prevent unauthorized access to information.
“We must accept the premise that people will not run their servers by designing systems that can deliver trust without deploying infrastructure. This means architecture that anticipates the inevitable outcome of relatively centralized client/server relationships. and accepts, but uses cryptography (instead of infrastructure) to distribute trust,” the tech enthusiast said.
Marlinspike posted a link to his blog on Twitter, on which Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin Responding said that the new technology is giving people the best of both a centralized and a decentralized world.
I think the status quo comes from a current “missing middle” where we have centralized-but-easy things and decentralized-but-hard things, but new technology (a lot of cryptography!) is really on the verge of giving us . the best of both worlds.https://t.co/XIx8f2oiVi pic.twitter.com/phTSrGW0OR
— vitalik.eth (@vitalikbuterin) 8 January 2022
Meanwhile, Marlinspike’s Signal app is also participating in integrating the crypto element into the lives of its users globally.
The app has added a payment feature that allows its users to use a new, privacy-focused . allows you to pay with cryptocurrency Called “Mobile Coin”.
In order to bring privacy protection systems to financial transactions, MobileCoin is loaded with features that make payments and transactions difficult to trace but easy to confirm, a report good Said by Wired.
The feature that went to the test last year is rolling out to Signal users internationally.
MobileCoin has been praised on Twitter for its low reliance on centralized platforms.
MobileCoin (Signal’s new unified coin) uses Stellar’s consensus mechanism. Who is running the MobileCoin nodes? Is it less centralized than these other web3 services that Moxie outright ridicule?
— Lyle Pratt (@lylepratt) 8 January 2022
Get the latest from the Consumer Electronics Show at Gadgets 360, our CES 2022 Hub.


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ST. THOMAS, US VIRGIN ISLANDS--(Marketwired - October 12, 2016) - It's not even Halloween, but the Black Friday faithful are already prepping for their annual excursions, and the Black Friday experts at Brad's Deals are already helping shoppers prepare.
"This year, we're focusing on the stories our readers care about most," said Rebecca Lehmann, Manager, Content Marketing, Brad's Deals. "Besides collecting the top Black Friday ads in a single place, our readers will have access to in-depth analysis and breaking news to help them get ready for their Black Friday shopping trips."
One example of the kind of reporting that readers can expect is their exploration of the Black Friday ads of years past. Brad's Deals put ads side by side and discovered that the sales and items on offer don't change very much from one year to the next - a shocking revelation to shoppers who have bought into the Black Friday mythos of once-in-a-lifetime low prices.
"The truth is that once you get past the doorbusters, it's the same $10 sweaters, the same $20 boots, the same $199 stand mixer," Lehmann pointed out. "Even the doorbusters are predictable. You know there will be TVs, iPads, gaming bundles, all in roughly the same price ranges as last year. You can easily look at last year's ads to plan this year's budget and shopping list."
Shoppers looking to heed that advice will find the last three years of Black Friday ads published in Brad's Deals' Black Friday shopping guide for their perusal.
They'll also find specific Black Friday predictions for Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Kohl's; a continuously updated list of stores that will be staying closed on Thanksgiving; and predictions for when Black Friday ads will arrive. Once the ads themselves are out, Brad's Deals will take a deep dive into the ads to find the best deals. And of course, the best of the best will be selected for founder Brad Wilson's annual list of top Black Friday deals.
"There are always a few early leaks, but most of the Black Friday ads our audience asks for don't usually arrive until early to mid November."
Fresh Black Friday news and related deals, such as the site's popular annual "60 Days of Exclusive Deals" will be posted as they happen from now through the end of December.
Brad's Deals brings together the best deals on the internet, all in one place, and has been a hub for Black Friday ads, deals, and news since 2009. The company has grown from a one-person operation in 2001 to a dynamic, 70-person team that helped shoppers save more than $190 million in 2015 alone. Learn more at www.bradsdeals.com.


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Personal data is being collected and transmitted insecurely by thousands of apps using code from the Chinese net giant Baidu, say security researchers.
Millions of Chinese people are believed to have been affected by the data leaks, said security experts at the University of Toronto.
The data reveals where people are, search terms, sites visited and the ID numbers of devices they own.
Baidu said it had tackled the problems with the insecure computer code.
The code is found in a software development kit that can be used to create apps for Android phones and programs for Windows.
Baidu itself used it to make web browsers for Android and Windows and many other firms have used the kit too.
Apps and browsers made using the Baidu kit have been downloaded hundreds of millions of times, said researchers at Toronto’s Citizen Lab in the report. As part of a long-running research project, the Lab has focussed on privacy and personal data use in China. Last year the team found shortcomings in the Alibaba browser.
The latest report found several security and privacy shortcomings in the Baidu code.
Some data, including GPS coordinates and search terms, is sent in plain text.
In addition, the protections added to other forms of information, such as unique device IDs, could easily be broken.
Poor protection of apps made with the kit also made users “susceptible” to fake updates that could give an attacker access to a phone or a Windows computer.
“The transmission of personal data without properly implemented encryption can expose a user’s data to surveillance,” said the authors in their report.
Worryingly, they added, users would have no warning that the data was being transmitted or gathered.
“The leakage of such user data is particularly problematic for individuals who use these applications and their devices to engage in politically sensitive communications,” said the report.
“It’s either shoddy design or it’s surveillance by design,” Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab, told Reuters.
Citizen Lab said that Baidu had fixed some of the bugs in the code since it had first been told about them in November last year.
However, it added, the poor encryption scheme was still being used on sensitive data.
Baidu said it was collecting the data about users for commercial purposes. Occasionally, it said, it shared the data with partners.
It added that the information was not handed over wholesale to the Chinese authorities.
It said it “only provides what data is lawfully requested by duly constituted law enforcement agencies”.


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In 2016 and 2017, Oregon State University researchers assessed pesticide use in Oregon with a focus on worker safety. Unfortunately, this is awful news. Today we will talk about dangerous pesticides in medical cannabis.
The EPA has declined to disclose cannabis industry pesticide rules (and with Andrew Wheeler at the helm, that may be a good thing). Therefore, states must set their own restrictions by prohibiting and “recommending” the pesticides they think suitable. Public health experts at Oregon State University assessed pesticide use in Oregon between 2016 and 2017 with an emphasis on worker safety in order to begin addressing the issue.
The World Health Organization has identified fifty pesticides, nine of which are categorized as very or extremely harmful. Oxamyl and cyfluthrin are two of the most toxic chemicals permitted in California’s cannabis. But it gets worse. In average, failure of medical items included four times as many pesticides as failed recreational products. About 2700 samples from the recreational market failed, compared to 900 from the medical market (this may reflect different market sizes). Concentrates contained the lowest quantities of pesticides.
Previous research demonstrated that more than one-third of cannabis business employees suffer from pesticide exposure. Due to the fact that laboratories do not record the pesticide name or concentration for samples that pass, only batches that failed pesticide testing were analysed in the current study. This is a separate issue that requires legislative intervention. However, without regulations and a legal market, these contaminated products would have been sold to consumers without their knowledge. In Oregon, around 6.7% of recreational products fail pesticide testing, and over 50% of all tested extracts contained unacceptable levels of dangerous pesticides in medical cannabis.
Marijuana Smoking Safely
As marijuana policy evolves, states are expected to impose stricter controls on producers and shops in order to protect the safety of cannabis consumption. When it comes to dangerous pesticides in medical cannabis, these limits may need tougher requirements for marijuana product labeling.
Many pesticide-free stores, for example, come back positive for myclobutanil.
Some tricks to detect pesticide residue on a cannabis plant include:
- Looking under a magnifying lens for a white crystalline powder is one approach to identify pesticide residue on a marijuana plant.
- Looking for a chalky feel in the plant.
- Keep an eye out for a strong, unpleasant taste in the smoke.
However, the best method to prevent the hazards of marijuana use is to cease consuming it.
Have you ever wondered if indoor or outdoor cannabis is better?
Well… in this article we will shed light on the pros and cons! ???


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YouTube is bringing shoppable ads to TV screens.
As the platform regularly emphasizes, more and more people are watching YouTube content on their TVs–to the tune of 120 million unique viewers per month, according to internal stats from December 2020. These days, YouTube says, one-quarter of logged-in users who watch YouTube videos on TV screens spend the majority of their time watching on TV rather than on phones, tablets, and computers.
For YouTube, that means “the living room is becoming an essential place for brands to drive incremental conversions with new audiences,” Romana Pawar, YouTube’s director of product management for ads, said in a blog post today.
Subscribe for daily Tubefilter Top Stories
YouTube debuted shoppable ads on mobile and desktop in June 2020. At the same time, it introduced Video Action Campaigns, which let advertisers run one campaign that places interactive ads in multiple high-traffic areas, like YouTube’s home feed.
With this new update, YouTube is expanding shoppable Video Action Campaign ads to TV screens.
How will shoppables work on TV screens? According to Pawar, when viewers see shoppable ads on their TVs, “they are invited through a URL at the bottom of their screen to continue shopping on the brand’s website from their desktop or mobile device–without interrupting their viewing session.”
Pawar claimed that in “early experiments” for Video Action Campaigns on TV screens, “over 90% of conversions coming from [connected TV] would not have been reachable on mobile and desktop devices.”
Advertisers will see performance metrics for shoppable TV ads in the beta version of Conversion Lift, a YouTube system that measures “the impact of YouTube ads on driving user actions, such as website visits, sign ups, purchases and other types of conversions,” Pawar said.
Shoppable is not the first ad format YouTube has expanded to TV screens. In 2019, it began offering a TV version of the masthead, its most prominent and most expensive desktop/mobile ad spot, and in 2020, it brought over both skippable pre-rolls and Brand Lift, which surveys users about consumer products. It also recently added Nielsen measurement for TV ads, again citing its growing TV audience.


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Alibaba Group, the largest e-commerce player in China, could become the biggest-ever initial public offering in the tech space. The company's listing on either the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq could come as soon as the end of July, according to Reuters.
With more employees than Yahoo! and Facebook combined, Alibaba's sites are said to account for nearly 60% of the packages delivered in China. The company is by far the king of e-commerce in the second largest economy, as two of its websites handled over $170 billion in sales in 2012, way above the combined sales volume of competitors eBay (EBAY -2.03%) and Amazon.com (AMZN -1.90%). Alibaba's dominance is admirable, especially if we consider that China's online retail industry is full of competitors, from online discount retailer Vipshop Holdings to sites focused on business-to-consumer such as E-Commerce China Dangdang. How did Alibaba conquer China's retail industry?
A long journey
Alibaba Group began operating in 1999, with the web site Alibaba.com, which was conceived as a business-to-business portal that would connect local manufacturers with overseas buyers. The website was the second serious attempt of Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, to conquer China's e-commerce space. Previously, he had launched Chinapages.com in 1995, a directory of companies.
Although Alibaba.com was quite succesful, the company barely survived the dotcom bubble crush in 2000. The real uprising of Alibaba Group came with the release of Taobao in 2003, currently the largest online shopping marketplace for consumers in China.
Only two years after its release, Taobao overtook rival eBay, which was the previous leader in the consumer-to-consumer segment in China.
To capture market share from eBay, Taobao equipped its marketplace with tools that would allow a strong relationship between customers and suppliers. This strategy was consistent with China's focus on "swift guanxi," a concept that involves building high-quality social interactions before doing business.
Unlike eBay and other rivals, Taobao offered users several tools to carry out social interaction from a very early stage. For example, Taobao developed the Wangwang chat program, which allows users to ask any questions to the seller. Of course, bargaining is also possible.
Not surprisingly, Taobao customers spend on average 45 minutes using instant messaging and chat rooms to ask sellers questions about themselves and their products before doing a purchase. By helping buyers and sellers to build close personal relationships, Taobao quickly became popular.
Thanks to the massive success of Taobao, in the fourth quarter of 2012, the gross merchandise of Alibaba surpassed the combined volume of Amazon.com and eBay. Moreover, although other competitors have started to focus on "swift guanxi" as well, Taobao now enjoys enormous enormous scale advantages and network effects, as it has become a gigantic bazaar with roughly 760 million products.
To remain competitive, Alibaba is constantly adding new features to its services. For example, to solve the problem of buyers trusting unknown merchants, the company created Alipay, an online payment escrow service that currently accounts for roughly half of all online transactions within China. The company's also going beyond the traditional scope of e-commerce, as it launched a money market fund that allowed its sellers to reinvest the gains obtained from Taobao. In only eight months, the fund became one of the world's largest.
Final Foolish takeaway
In the past ten years, Alibaba has built a massive online empire in China. Like Amazon.com, the company operates in the business-to-consumer segment via Tmall.com. However, the real star product is Alibaba's marketplace Taobao, which has more than 760 million products listed. Furthermore, like eBay's PayPal, Alibaba is well aware of the importance of having its own online payments platform. As the owner of one of most well-diversified, successful portfolios of Internet assets, Alibaba is likely to become one of the largest initial public offerings in the tech space, raising about $15 billion.


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Apple just made a big move toward ditching Intel and outfitting its laptops with custom chips. Per a Bloomberg report, the Cupertino giant hired a lead engineer from ARM, the company that designs and licenses processors.
In May, Apple reportedly hired Mark Filippo, a lead architect behind the chips that power most of the world’s smartphones and tablets, including the Cortex-A76, which was used in Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 855 SoC… Bloomberg suspects Filippo will slot into a position left open when Gerard Williams III, the head architect for chips in the iPhone and iPad, left the company. Apple doesn’t use Arm’s chip designs, but it does employ the company’s instruction set, which forms the basis of its internal processors.
The move would let Apple have more control over its laptops while enabling Macs, iPhones and iPads to work more seamlessly together. We’ve seen the power of Apple’s in-house A-series chips in the latest iPads and iPhones. The A12X Bionic chip in the latest 12.9-inch iPad Pro blew away the competition in our synthetic benchmark tests and even outpaced many premium laptops outfitted with Core i7 CPUs, including the Dell XPS 13.
MacDailyNews Take: Bring on the new Apple-powered Macs!
Apple has been, for years, building strength in the enterprise via BYOD and the rise of mobile which Apple ushered in with iPhone and iPad. “Compatibility with Windows” is not nearly as important today as it was even a few years ago… We expect to see Apple begin the ARM-based Mac transition with products like the MacBook and work their way up from there as the apps are brought over to ARM via Xcode and as the rest of the world continues to throw off the Microsoft Windows shackles into which they stupidly climbed so many years ago, lured, wrongly, solely by Windows PC sticker prices. – MacDailyNews, June 19, 2019


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Fintech company Ebury has announced the acquisition of Frontierpay, an international payroll payments provider with offices in the UK and Singapore.
The acquisition is the first from Ebury as the business looks to accelerate growth in new markets. Following recently announced banking partnerships with SACE Simest and Unicaja Banco, Ebury is investing in technologies that will accelerate the automation of treasury and international payments functions
International payroll payments specialist, Frontierpay, will expand Ebury’s capabilities in technologies that automate international payments for SMEs.
Juan Lobato, Ebury’s Co-founder and CEO, commented: “I am delighted to announce Ebury’s first acquisition. This transaction comes during a period of change for our business, as we partner with more financial institutions and invest heavily in the technologies that will change the way SMEs trade and make payments internationally.
“We know Frontierpay well so are confident of the product, client and geographic benefits and, most importantly, the cultural fit. The addition of Frontierpay’s founders to our team will complement our entrepreneurial spirit and add valued experience to our team.
“The continued addition of products to Ebury’s core platform demonstrates that as the platform matures, revenue opportunities develop through new service lines as well as geographic expansion. The development of an acquisition strategy will accelerate our growth, as we can reach more clients with more services than ever before. We look forward to another exciting period ahead.”


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Dark Net Markets Are Booming From Better Quality & Safety
Dark Net Markets (DNM) are growing bigger than ever, with the Economist reporting over $50 million USD in transactions flowing through these marketplaces. The publication used data collected from Gwern Branwen’s dark web archive and broke down quite a bit of the behavior taking place in the Dark Net Market environment.
Also read: The Hitchhikers Guide To The Invisible Internet
Dark Net Markets are Booming
Since the fall of the original Silk Road and the arrest of its creator many Dark Net Markets have continued to rise on the outskirts of the deep web. DNM’s have been hosted throughout the hidden web and can be found using Tor with buyers and sellers transacting with cryptocurrency and illicit goods.
From 2013-2015, Gwern Branwen scraped data on a daily and weekly basis from all the English-language DNM’s. Branwen’s comprehensive collection of data helped the Economist report on its editorial “Shedding light on the dark web.”
Since the original Silk Road shut down, DNM’s, or what the Economist calls “cryptomarkets,” have continuously set up businesses that offer vendors a place to sell drugs — and even legal goods.
Many of these DNM’s use escrow services, feedback and reputation features, anonymity services, and use moderators to handle complaints. Operating in a similar fashion to Amazon or eBay, users supply feedback on products and vendors. Most notably, Alphabay is currently the top dog in the DNM space, with the Dream Market taking second place.
The Economist reports that drug dealers today are dropping the trade within the streets for online vending as it is less dangerous, easier to manage, and can be done in a pseudo-anonymous manner. However, all of these markets are being regularly scanned by law enforcement as the Deep Dot Web reports that researchers from Northeastern University found hundreds of spy nodes targeting Tor services. If certain websites are not protected by HTTPS encryption, exit nodes can know just about everything you’ve done within the Tor service.
Drugs Pricier But of Better Quality
The findings also reveal that drugs purchased on these marketplaces are typically better quality, though at a relatively higher price. The most sold narcotic by value on DNM’s is MDMA (ecstasy), but the most popular drug sold by an overwhelming amount is cannabis. Additionally, prescription drugs such as oxycodone and diazepam have been increasing in sales over the years.
The paper explains that even though bargains can be found, predominately most drugs cost a lot more than the street value. A gram of heroin costs double compared to the street price and cocaine is 40% higher as well.
Nicolas Christin of Carnegie Mellon University says that competition internationally makes these markups rise as there are more sellers convening together in certain marketplaces. Christin also reports some of the higher costs are due to special packaging, which includes vacuum sealed bags, parcel techniques that help with odor, and other postage and packaging methods involved.
Furthermore, the quality of product sold on the deep web are typically far superior to narcotics found on the street. Energy Control, a Spanish think-tank, has tested some samples to discover that purity levels are a lot higher by comparison. The group found cocaine’s purity to be at 71.6% as opposed to the 48% product purchased on Spanish streets. Judith Aldridge of Manchester University explains that since the purity is higher, the price is actually lower because the customer gets more bang for his buck.
More People Are Using DNM’s
The increasing popularity of these markets has a lot to do with better quality, vendor reputation, and less risk. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of fear from law enforcement and the fallout from exit scams such as the Silk Road 2’s departure.
The publication states that buyers typically have multiple accounts across many DNM’s and leave the market as soon as signs of insolvency or authorities are recognized.
Violence ‘Useless’ Online
Another notable insight is the fact that most large drug cartels have stayed away from these online markets. The biggest reason for this the Economist explains is “their special skills—smuggling, intimidation, and violence—are useless online.”
According to the data, some believe that the drug market is experiencing the same type of retail boom experienced in the early nineties online.
Dark Net Markets are becoming a phenomenon governments and cartels cannot contain as people are flocking to these shops in greater number every week. The Silk Road was shut down only to serve as the predecessor to better platforms, tighter security and ways to conduct business using stronger reputation systems. It is only a matter of time when law enforcement will no longer be able to obstruct these services as DNM’s coalesce into a global network of untouchable decentralized marketplaces.
Do you think Dark Net Markets will always remain a step ahead of the authorities? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of the Economist, and Pixabay
Special Thanks to Gwern Branwen’s collection of data over the years.


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UPS Removes Ban On Natural Black Hairstyles and Facial Hair
The policy change comes amid a growing national movement to ban racial discrimination based on people’s natural hairstyle.
UPS will allow workers to have facial hair and natural Black hairstyles like Afros and braids as it becomes the latest company to shed policies widely criticized as discriminatory amid nationwide demands for racial justice. “These changes reflect our values and desire to have all UPS employees feel comfortable, genuine, and authentic while providing service to our customers and interacting with the general public,” the company said in a statement.
In 2018, UPS agreed to pay $4.9 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which said the company had failed to hire or promote Muslims, Sikhs, Rastafarians, and others whose religious practices conflicted with its appearance policy. The commission said the company had for years segregated workers who wore beards or long hair in accordance with their religious beliefs into nonsupervisory, back-of-the-facility positions without customer contact.
The company’s new policy clarifies that beards and mustaches “are definitely acceptable as long as they are worn in a businesslike manner and don’t create a safety concern,” according to UPS documents reviewed by The Journal. The new rules took effect immediately. The policy also permits natural hairstyles “such as Afros, braids, curls, coils, locs, twists and knots,” according to The Journal. And it eliminates guidelines specific to men and women. “No matter how you identify — dress appropriately for your workday,” the policy states.


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- Tyne Tees
- 6 updates
MPs and councillors say they want to talk to the Direct Line Group over plans to close one of its call centres. They say they would like to see a compromise made after the company announced that 530 jobs will go on Teesside.
Stockton South MP James Wharton has called the announcement of 500 job losses on Teesside 'a shock'.
A Teesside call centre is to close with the loss of 500 jobs. The Direct Line Group has started consultations with staff over plans to axe a total of 900 jobs across the country. It will mean the closure of the centre in Stockton.
The group, which owns the Churchill and Green Flag brands and employs around 15 thousand staff in total is planning the redundancies as part of a £100 million cost-saving programme.
Latest ITV News reports
500 jobs could go under plans to close a customer services site in Stockton-on-Tees.


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Slick Pig Smyrna could reopen as early as New Year's Day
Plans are in the works to reopen Slick Pig Smyrna, a company spokesman confirmed.
“We could possibly open by Jan. 1, but we won’t know for sure until the end of December,” said Matt Nelson, manager for the original Slick Pig BBQ in Murfreesboro.
The Smyrna location, 1303 Plaza Drive, was the company’s first foray into franchising the brand. But it failed.
“We had to revoke the franchise license after repeated attempts to get the franchisee to cooperate with our operating standards,” Slick Pig Murfreesboro manager Matt Nelson.
Nelson said the parent company worked with half of the the two-owner franchise operation to keep the doors of the Smyrna restaurant open “without interruption.”
But legal constraints took the company back to the drawing board and doors to Slick Pig Smyrna were closed Dec. 3.
“Everything you do in business is risk. When we expanded this, it was a risk and it was one that paid off,” Nelson said. “But I think the future story is that Smyrna was a great place for us because the customers were awesome. We had a ton of support.”
When doors do reopen in Smyrna, it will be a company-owned restaurant and no longer a franchise.
Once the opening date is released, Nelson said Slick Pig Smyrna will begin taking orders. And don’t worry if you planned to have Slick Pig wings for your Super Bowl party.
“By Super Bowl, there should be no reason we couldn’t be open there and continue doing what we were doing there,” Nelson said.
► Slick Pig makes the list:Who has the best wings in the Nashville area?
Although the first franchise didn’t work as planned, it hasn’t discouraged the Slick Pig owners from moving forward with expanding — in Smyrna or in other locations.
Slick Pig opened the original location at 1920 E. Main St. in 1995. Since then the restaurant expanded twice, including the addition of a separate to-go area, covered patio and larger dining room.
“We hope to grow the Smyrna business one day to the size of this one. That’s the goal,” said Nelson, who wanted to assure customers that the Murfreesboro location is “going stronger than ever.”
In the meantime, Nelson said Slick Pig customers can call the Murfreesboro location at 615-890-3583 for any needs.
Keep up with the latest restaurant news in Rutherford County with a subscription to The Daily News Journal.
Reach reporter Nancy DeGennaro at email@example.com and follow her on Twitter @NanDeGennaro.


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“We want to make sure that everyone who is involved in the production of our raw materials… that those lives are being respected and that labor is not being exploited,” says David Bronner on Food Talk.
On Food Talk, Thomas McQuillan, Vice President of Strategy, Culture, and Sustainability at Baldor Specialty Foods, talks about how to change the course of food waste.
On Food Talk, Sara Brito talks about what better food means for the food system: “to be really good, food has to be really good for everyone involved in the food chain.”
On “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg,” Executive Director of Fairtrade America Hans Theyer talks about what it takes to support the faces behind the world’s food.
On Food Talk, chef, restaurateur, and advocate Spike Mendelsohn talks about the food issues that motivate him to expand beyond his restaurants and into policy and advocacy spheres.
On Food Talk, Executive Director of the Global Harvest Initiative Margaret Zeigler talks about the private sector’s energy to address sustainability and food productivity.
On Food Talk, George Siemon, CEO of Organic Valley, talks about what drives the co-op: an exciting mission, love for organic, and care for farmers and their communities.
On Food Talk, Hunter Lovins of Natural Capitalism Solutions describes the new story she wants to write for the economy: prioritizing wellbeing, sustainability, and profits all together.


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NVIDIA’s Titan X Graphics Card Takes Center Stage at GDC
During EPIC CEO Tim Sweeney’s keynote address, NVIDIA CEO Jen Hsun Huang made a surprise appearance carrying a box containing NVIDIA’s latest and greatest graphics card: The Titan X. Not much details were revealed yet but what is known is that the Maxwell-based graphics card will have eight billion transistors and a 12GB framebuffer. The unveiling was a response at the topic Virtual Reality in gaming and NVIDIA promises that this latest evolution in their graphics card solution aims exactly to do that combined with efforts from Oculus and developers such as EPIC with their Unreal 4 engine. The Titan X card itself was sporting the familiar sleek design of the original Titan except clad in black with a glowing green fan. No wood screws here.
source: NVIDIA blogs


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Jio will Charge 0.60 paise per min for calling Non-Jio users
Jio established a new plan with a combination of good and bad. Jio’s new plan is that if a jio user calls another network user. Jio Jio will Charge 0.60 paise per min.
But, We can freely call Jio to Jio users without any additional charge.
Sounds like a good and bad Right ?
Jio has announced this new plan on 9th October 2019. Everyone was shocked by the new plan brought by Jio.
Jio didn’t charge any jio user additional charges for calling other network users for all these days.
Till now, Jio had been paying IUC ( Additional charges) to all other network operators even though Jio didn’t charge users. And they even offered unlimited and free calls despite of other network users without any charges.
Jio says in official statement that “So far, in the last three years Jio has paid nearly Rs.13,500 crore as NET IUC charges to the other operators.”
So, From now Jio has no longer offering any unlimited and free calls to other operaters.
Jio brought four IUC Top-Up Vouchers for their customers for calling non-jio calls ( Other networks )
We will get 1 free GB and 124 mins for Talktime ( Non-Jio) in just 10/-
20/- for 2 GB and 249 mins to talk
50/- or 5 GB and 656 mins Talktime
100/- is last plan that we will get 10gb in just this price and 1362 talktime to Other network.
There is bad news and good news in this plan. The good news is that we can get 10gb free only in 100/- and the bad news is restrictions for calling Non-jio users and a piece of bad news for other operators too. This plan impacts other operator business because the plan that jio brought is very smart that they are forcing non-jio users to JIO users. So, this may impact other operator business.
Let’s see how Airtel, Vodafone, and Idea operators react to this and Will they implement like Jio did ?


text: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao wrote in a statement this weekend that the country must continue to curb inflation through policies to control increases in the price of food and housing, Bloomberg reported. Authorities must increase the output of farm products, limit the non-food use of corn and increase land supply for residential housing, according to the statement, which was posted on the central government’s website on October 22. Wen said during a trip to Nanning in southern China’s Guangxi province that Beijing plans to offer farmers subsidies to maintain animal feed prices and increase hog production, as well as limit the use of corn to produce starch and bio-chemical products, the statement said. Inflation has moderated since reaching a three-year high of 6.5% in July, but remained high at 6.1% in September. Former central bank adviser Yu Yongding has estimated that the figure will drop to 5.8% by the end of the year, and fall below 5% next year.


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VOD.PL has established itself as the go-to platform for super-aggregation of online video content in Poland.
NENT Group’s streaming service Viaplay has experienced blackouts in Poland during the coverage of two key sporting events.
Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has initiated proceedings against UPC Polska for allegedly infringing collective consumer rights.
Over two thirds (69.7%) of homes in Poland now receive their TV services via cable or satellite.
Close to half of internet users in Poland are now accessing Netflix.
The Polish alternative telco Netia has introduced a new offer based on fibre-optic technology and featuring internet, TV and the new EvoBox 4K receiver.
Alinda Capital Partners has entered into a binding agreement to sell the Polish national transmission company Emitel to Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited for an undisclosed fee.
Polish President Andrzej Duda has vetoed the so-called Lex TVN, an amendment to the Broadcast Law that would have forced Discovery Communications to sell up its interests and leave the country.
Poland’s Polsat Plus Group has decided to establish a third strategic pillar to add to its existing ones of connectivity and content.
The classic movies VOD service Entclick has been relaunched on a new platform powered by Redge Media.


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The June 2023 security update is here, with over 50 security fixes. It is recommended to install the update as soon as possible.
Smartphone manufacturers are constantly working to improve the security and performance of their devices. In line with this, Samsung has taken the initiative to release the June 2023 update for its Galaxy cell phones. This update brings a host of new features and enhancements, including an Android Security Bulletin that addresses various vulnerabilities present in the Android source code. It is crucial for users to promptly install this security patch to ensure the safety of their devices.
Numerous Security Patches
The June 2023 update is particularly noteworthy for its extensive list of security patches. With over 50 patches included, this update aims to address vulnerabilities in several Android versions, including recent iterations such as Android 11. Additionally, the patches cover various components from different partners, such as ARM’s Mali GPUs, PowerVR GPUs, certain Unisoc components, and multiple components from Qualcomm chipsets. By addressing these vulnerabilities, Samsung is actively working to enhance the security of its Galaxy cell phones and protect users from potential threats.
Importance of Prompt Installation
To safeguard your device against potential security risks, it is crucial to install the security patch as soon as it becomes available from your manufacturer. However, it’s important to note that the availability of updates can vary depending on factors such as the age of the device. Samsung follows a monthly update schedule for its current models, ensuring that users receive the latest security patches promptly. However, for devices that are several years old, updates may be provided on a quarterly basis. Regardless, it is essential for users to stay vigilant and install updates as soon as they are made available to ensure the ongoing security of their devices.
Benefits of Installing Updates
Installing updates promptly offers several benefits to users. Firstly, updates often include essential security patches that address vulnerabilities discovered in the operating system and various components. By installing these patches, users can protect their devices from potential exploits that could compromise their personal data or device functionality. Additionally, updates often bring new features, enhancements, and optimizations that can improve the overall user experience. By staying up to date with the latest updates, users can take full advantage of the advancements offered by their device manufacturers.
Device manufacturers play a vital role in ensuring the timely delivery of updates to their customers. Companies like Samsung understand the importance of providing regular updates to address security vulnerabilities promptly. By adhering to a monthly update schedule for current models, Samsung demonstrates its commitment to customer safety. However, it is equally important for users to understand that older devices may have different update schedules due to hardware limitations or other factors. In such cases, manufacturers often release updates on a quarterly basis to ensure that even older devices receive necessary security patches.
In conclusion, Samsung’s release of the June 2023 update for its Galaxy cell phones highlights the company’s dedication to user security. With an extensive list of security patches and improvements, this update aims to protect users from potential threats. It is imperative for users to promptly install these updates as they become available, even if the frequency of updates varies depending on the age of the device. By doing so, users can enhance the security of their devices, enjoy new features, and ensure a smoother overall user experience.


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The Delta has risen. Many economists are worried that this phase of the COVID pandemic could choke off the economic recovery – or at least slow it down. Looking for evidence? It is all about jobs. If the economy continues to add jobs at a decent clip, the economy will continue to progress toward a full recovery, as nothing spurs economic growth like having more of our population going back to work.
Since the August jobs data was disappointing as a whole, all eyes will be on the employment report this week. A strong report will allay the concerns of many. Another weak report will start to show a trend. Keep in mind that even the weaker reports of today would be considered a solid report in normal times if we were not catching up from the jobs lost during the pandemic induced recession. In that regard we are close to 75% of the way back.
The market analysts will be looking at more than just the addition of jobs. They will also be looking at the rise in wages as they watch for additional signs of inflation. The types of jobs added will also be important. Many jobs were lost in the food service, retail and entertainment sectors. If consumers are eating out and going to shows, this is another sign of economic re-awakening. Thus, there will be a lot for us to chew on come Friday. There are also signs that malls are coming back to life and many thought that might never happen.
Dave Hershman is the top author in the mortgage industry. Dave has published seven books, as well as hundreds of articles and is the founder of the OriginationPro Marketing System and Mortgage School. Want to send this commentary and other news in a personalized format to your sphere database or on social media? Sign up for a free trial at www.OriginationPro.com.


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New York’s city council voted Thursday to prohibit use of electronic cigarettes in indoor public areas where smoking regular cigarettes is also banned, CBS New York reports. The five boroughs join the states of Utah, North Dakota and New Jersey, which have already enacted similar bans in bars and restaurants.
The e-cig ban will take effect in four months, and restaurants and other private establishments will have six months to post signage informing customers of the new rules.
Proponents say the battery-powered nicotine inhalers are safer alternatives to regular cigarettes, which contain tobacco and have known health risks. But health authorities, including the World Health Organization, stress that health effects of electronic cigarettes are still unknown, and some studies suggests they could be harmful. Opponents of e-cigarettes also point out that the products are offered in candy-like flavors that are appealing to kids.
The still largely un-regulated U.S. e-cigarette market is expected to exceed $1.7 billion in sales in 2013, and major tobacco companies like Lorillard and Altria Group have made significant investments in the technology.
Anticipating regulation from the federal government, cities around the country have been moving forward with their own legislation. The Los Angeles City Council voted earlier this month approved a measure requiring venders to obtain licenses to sell e-cigarettes and banning their sales outright in street kiosks and self-service kiosks.


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Campus Dining assistant director of Duncan Student Center restaurant operations Jim LaBella was named Restaurant Manager of the Year at the Indiana Restaurant and Lodging Association’s annual Stars of the Industry Awards Dinner in Indianapolis on November 14, 2018. This award recognizes an individual who consistently goes above and beyond their job duties to provide outstanding customer service in the hospitality industry through professionalism, teamwork and guest interactions.
Under Jim’s leadership, Star Ginger, Modern Market and Hagerty Family Café were successfully opened simultaneously, with a precise timeline and flawless execution in January of 2018.
"Jim took ownership of the staff hiring, training and development for the three restaurants. This ownership ultimately led to a success that not surprisingly became the center of attention for campus as it opened, and continues as a focal point of campus today," said Luigi Alberganti, director of retail dining. "From product consistency to employee and guest satisfaction, Jim was able to capitalize on his extensive industry experience, delivering results that surpassed industry standards for new operations."
Prior to his oversight of the Duncan Student Center restaurants, Jim led the food and beverage operations at LaFortune Student Center. During his tenure at LaFortune, he was in charge of opening more than a dozen franchised operations in addition to many more self-branded concepts.
During his 25 years at the University, Jim has proven himself to be an integral member of the Campus Dining team, known for his integrity, responsibility and dedication. Congratulations, Jim, on this well deserved honor!


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Atlanta United has sold more than 40,000 tickets for its season-opening game against New York Red Bulls on March 5 at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Club President Darren Eales said the team is on pace to sell out the stadium, which has a capacity of 55,000.
“We are going to go for it and look to sell it out,” he said.
The team sold more than 10,000 single-game tickets in seven days starting Feb. 2, when those ticket sales started. Those and sales of season-tickets spiked again following last week’s 4-0 win over Chattanooga.
Eales said the team is past 27,000 season-tickets sold and approaching 30,000, which was going to be the soft cap. Eales said they will consider increasing that cap if demand persists.
He said the MLS expansion franchise is selling more than 100 season tickets a day since Saturday.
Evidence of the interest could be seen on Saturday when more than 12,000 people attended the game at Finley Stadium. The walk-up crowd exceeded 7,000, which Eales estimated was mostly Atlanta United fans.
The 40,000 sales for the opener has exceeded the soft cap that the team planned as the soccer-configuration capacity for Mercedes-Benz Stadium. MLS average attendance last season was slightly more than 21,692.
Eales said season-tickets will be distributed later this week. The package will include the season-ticket card, a lanyard and commemorative box.
Eales said marketing will increase the home opener. Those efforts will include billboards and wraps on MARTA trains, busses and bus stops.
Other Atlanta United stories posted on Tuesday:
Here’s how to read the AJC’s coverage of Atlanta United:
Web: On the
Atlanta United channel
Facebook: On our Facebook page at
Atlanta United News Now
Twitter: Follow Doug Roberson on twitter @DougRobersonAJC.


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* NOW UPDATED with the Top 25 best-selling models! Click on title to see *
New Zealand car sales continue to hold very well in this start of year, up 3% year-on-year in March to 8,528 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 24,394 units, up 10% on 2011. After a few months of disruption due to the floods in Thailand, the Toyota Hilux is the best-selling vehicle in the country for the first time since last August with 280 sales and 3.3% share, ahead of the Nissan Navara at 242 units and 2.8%.
Rounding up the overall podium but leading all passenger cars is the Holden Cruze with 229 sales, just above last month’s leader the Suzuki Swift at 227 units. Excellent month for the Toyota Hiace, up 5 spots on last month to #5, while the Toyota Yaris is back in shape at #7 and the Ford Ranger is up 5 ranks to #8. #2 last month, the Toyota Corolla is down to #9 as the Holden Commodore is down to a devastating 12th position. Other good performers include the Toyota Camry at #11 and Mitsubishi Lancer at #13.
Previous month: New Zealand February 2012: Suzuki Swift climbs on top
One year ago: New Zealand March 2011: Toyota Hilux and Corolla on top
Full March 2012 Top 25 Ranking Table below.


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Previously this week, , a person of Ukraine’s biggest privately-owned laptop or computer museums, was destroyed during the siege of . spotted news of the celebration following its owner, Dmitry Cherepanov, took to Fb to share the fate of Club 8-bit.
“That’s it, the Mariupol pc museum is no longer there,” he on March 21st. “All that is remaining from the collection that I have been accumulating for 15 a long time are just fragments of recollections on the FB webpage, internet site and radio station of the museum.”
assortment bundled a lot more than 500 items of personal computer record, with products relationship from as considerably back as the 1950s. visited the museum in 2018, describing it at the time as “one of the major and coolest collections” of Soviet-era computer systems to be located anyplace in the planet. It took Cherepanov extra than a decade to acquire and restore numerous of the PCs on display at Club 8-bit. What makes the museum’s destruction even far more poignant is that it documented a shared background concerning the Ukrainian and Russian individuals.
Luckily, Cherepanov is alive, but like many inhabitants of Mariupol, he has lost his residence. If you want to guidance Cherepanov, he has a PayPal account accepting donations to support him and other Ukrainians influenced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Given that the get started of the war, practically have been displaced by the conflict, producing it the speediest-expanding since the next entire world war.
All products and solutions recommended by Engadget are chosen by our editorial crew, independent of our dad or mum business. Some of our stories contain affiliate one-way links. If you get a little something as a result of one particular of these hyperlinks, we may well gain an affiliate fee.


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The DW picture archive can be a hoot. It unearths a treasure trove of the great and good of the design industry, complete with black clothes, big hair and Eighties poses – favourites include meaningful stares while standing on fire escapes or leaning on bare brick walls at the wrong end of town. This one is a new picture, though, commemorating the launch of North Yorkshire-based graphics consultancy Eye 2 Eye.
Created by in-house designers, the store aims to have an “immersive” feel to help customers imagine products in their own homes.
From 20-23 September, London’s Designjunction takes place on the South of the River Thames, and will see installations, exhibitions, talks and its well-known fair spread across three venues including Doon
The education website now offers a more personalised teaching service for students aged three to 16+, and the new look hopes to represent this broader scope.
Design studio The Team has given the charity a new identity centred around the equals symbol, in a bid to highlight its aim to make the UK a better place


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Israeli company CTS Labs announced that the AMD chips Ryzen and EPYC discovered 13 critical vulnerabilities that allow to access user data or to install malware. Of particular concern is the fact that the vulnerabilities affect a special protected area of the processor, which stores critical data.
Ryzen chips used in desktop PCs and laptops, and processors EPYC used on servers.
From AMD replied that security for them is one of the main priorities. Experts just started to get acquainted with the report CTS Labs in order to understand the methodology of the researchers and the results of their work.
However, security professionals have criticized the Israeli company, which gave AMD less than 24 hours to prepare a response prior to publish your report. At the same time, standard procedure was to notify the company about this vulnerability for 90 days. The website Cnet.com in turn, reminds that the researchers Google gave Intel six months to fix problems related to hardware vulnerabilities Spectre and Meltdown.


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Thomas Buberl, CEO, AXA
Between AXA’s move to list its US operations and its acquisition of XL Group, 2018 has been a challenging year for CEO Thomas Buberl. Nevertheless, AXA’s operating results for the first half of the year have managed to meet market expectations, which suggests an upward trajectory for the company heading into 2019.
Buberl joined AXA in 2012 as CEO of its German operations and became a member of its executive committee. In 2015, he became CEO for the global health business line, and in 2016, he was appointed CEO for the global business line for life and savings. After serving as deputy CEO from March to September 2016, Buberl was named CEO and director of AXA.


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LaVar Ball joined the Colin Cowherd Wednesday and it was everything except uninteresting. The often outspoken father of Lonzo Ball told Cowherd that if Nike or Under armor wanted to sign his son who is “headed to the Lakers” to a deal, they will now how to pay $3 billion instead of the original $1 billion that both companies believed was too much money.
“Now that Lonzo’s headed to Los Angeles, what they should have done is give me a billion dollars and let me be on my way,” he said.
“Now you know … if they want to talk to me now, it just went up to $3 billion. Triple B’s — billion, billion, billion,” he said, adding: “That’s the only way they going to come at me. I’m already in the building. I don’t need them for nothing, as you can tell.”
The interview later became extremely intense when Colin Cowherd’s co-host Kristine Leahy said she would not personally purchase his brand because it was not marketed toward woman. Ball responded saying he doesn’t need to market his brand to Kristine Leahy or other women before refusing to even look at Leahy for the remainder of the show.
Cowherd explains why he did not step in for Leahy.


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PITTSBURGH - Friday, February 19th 2016 [ME NewsWire]
(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Furthering its Right to Grow strategy, today Westinghouse Electric Company announced management assignments as part of its global business strategy. This alignment helps Westinghouse deliver on its strategy to be a customer-centric, global technology company.
Through this transition, Westinghouse will be further aligned to enhance commercial and marketing development in its operating regions – the Americas, Asia, and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), while leveraging deep industry knowledge for emerging product lines in established markets.
"The Westinghouse leadership for our regions and product lines have worked carefully together to position our company to be best-in-class innovators, focused on providing safe, clean, reliable energy solutions to our customers,” said Danny Roderick, president and chief executive officer of Westinghouse Electric Company. "This strategic move to enhance our regions management while leveraging our global talent within the product lines enhances our ability to better hear the voice of the customer, ensuring that we deliver superior value, drive results and are the first to innovate the next.”
Under this transition, Mark Marano, president, Americas Region will now also have EMEA customer responsibilities as president, EMEA Region. With nearly 30 years of industry experience, Marano has been leading Westinghouse’s Americas Region for the past three years. He has successfully managed Westinghouse customer relationships, commercial and marketing, strategy, as well as government and regulatory affairs.
Yves Brachet will transition into the role of senior vice president, Decontamination, Decommissioning, Remediation and Waste Management (DDR&WM) services; this new global product line will be headquartered in Europe. With more than 30 years of nuclear industry experience, Brachet will provide DDR&WM customers a deep understanding of the product line. He will enhance Westinghouse’s position as a comprehensive and integrated services provider with state-of-the-art solutions for spent fuel and the treatment and handling of waste fuel. Brachet’s vast industry knowledge will help the company meet and exceed customer expectations, particularly in the well-established European nuclear market.
The management transition will be effective April 1, 2016. Both Marano and Brachet will continue to report to Danny Roderick.
To learn more about Westinghouse Electric Company and our 130-year history of innovation visit www.westinghousenuclear.com.
View this news release online at:
Westinghouse Electric Company
Courtney Boone, 4123742707
Director, Press Relations and Public Affairs


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George Staby said he hoped the Chain of Life Network website and related resources would be taken over by a consortium of three universities and a floral trade group in the next month. Final negotiations are under way now, he said in a recent interview.
Staby, 70, a founder of the floral resource network, retired in 2012. The Chain of Life Network currently has about 10,000 individual members from more than 100 countries, he said. It offers computer links to hundreds of databases and thousands of floral-related research articles worldwide, with instant access to historical as well as the latest published research findings.
Other holdings include about 19,000 scientific and trade articles, numerous trademarks and copyrighted materials, Perishables Research Organization Institute materials, and a website with almost 24,000 pages of searchable floral post-harvest care, handling and marketing information.
The original Chain of Life program was started in 1975 by Staby and three other professors from Ohio State University and the University of Florida. The death of two of its founders, along with other factors, led to the program’s decline in the late 1980s, Staby recalled.
In 2002, Staby oversaw the rebirth of the program as a free website called Chain of Life Network. The advent of the Internet allowed industry members, educators and students much greater access to floral post-harvest and marketing information.


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Rapid Fire News!
Time to get your daily mega-dose of all things gaming! Snakedoctor has scoured the internet to bring you all the gaming news in one spot! Hey, we saved you a click! As the Mules present to you the Mulehorn Gaming Rapid Fire News for June 1, 2020.
Free Games For June
- Call Of Duty: WWII
- Star Wars: Battlefront 2
Games With Gold
- Shantae and the Pirates Curse(X1) – June 1 to June 30
- Coffee Talk(X1) – June 16 to July 15
- Destroy All Humans(Xbox) – June 1 – June 15
- Sine Mora(360) – June 16 – June 30
Epic Games Store
- Borderlands: The Handsome Collection – until June 4
- Mystery Game – will be revealed at 10:00am on June 4
Kingdom Hearts Headed to Game Pass?
It appears that Kindom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue will be added to Game Pass soon.
According to the Xbox Game Pass website, Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue will be on Game Pass (says it's available now but doesn't seem to be yet) https://t.co/VjKc660D8O pic.twitter.com/orzRygBaOV
— Wario64 (@Wario64) May 29, 2020
PS5 Event Scheduled
Sony has announced a digital event that will focus on the future of gaming on Playstation 5 and feature “a first look at the games you’ll be playing after the Playstation 5 launches this holiday”, according to Sony President and CEO Jim Ryan.
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) May 29, 2020
Source: Playstation Blog
IGN Summer Of Gaming
IGN has revealed the line up for its upcoming digital event, Summer Of Gaming.
Rapid Fire News Community
In this section we let all of you gamers know the community happenings around the internet. If you have any community events that will be going on, let us know! We can post it here for you under the community topic of Rapid Fire News. Send us an email at firstname.lastname@example.org
MHG streams games on Twitch! Make sure to check us out Monday and Tuesday for a live stream from 9:00 pm-midnight, the Analog Assault Podcast on Thursday at 8:30 pm and catch Star Wars Sunday at 7:30 pm CST!
You can also catch our morning backlog stream at 6:15 am Monday through Friday!
Don’t forget to join the Official Discord of Mulehorn Gaming!
If you like what we do and want to help us create more quality content, consider supporting us on Patreon.
Check out the latest Analog Assault Podcast.
If you want some mule swag check out our store!
Check out our Rapid Fire News landing page to get caught up on all the gaming news happening across the internet.


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Speaking at a City and Financial Conference today, John Glen said authorities need to regulate stablecoins due to the threat it poses should a major firm dominate the sector.
“There is the potential for some firms to swiftly achieve dominance and crowd out other players due to their ability to scale and plug into existing online services,” the financial services minister was quoted as saying.
Regulating the Wider Crypto Market Not Pressing
Despite calls from financial experts to create a legal framework for the broader global crypto market, Glen noted that regulating “wider cryptocurrency markets” is not as pressing as stablecoins.
According to him, it is imperative to do so because they have, over the years, become the largest cryptocurrency by trading volume with Tether USD (USDT) leading the way.
The UK Finance Minister warned that while no dominating player has been allowed to conquer the market, things could change overnight when a popular firm gets the necessary regulatory approval to launch one.
Recall that in mid-2019, Facebook had planned on launching its stablecoin, originally known as Libra, which was later rebranded as Diem.
The project, which is governed by the Libra Association, will be with Facebook alongside other top entities as its members plan on launching a cryptocurrency that will not have volatility issues found in other cryptocurrencies.
However, global regulators have kicked against the move because of Facebook’s dominance in the social media space, with the firm having more than two billion active users monthly.
“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity here to make vast strides in the efficiency of financial services, and ultimately benefit consumers and the economy as a whole,” Glen added.
While Britain has previously considered regulating stablecoins, the country’s financial watchdog declined to issue its e-money rules for the cryptocurrency because they do not have the same features.
Alex Roy, head of consumer distribution policy at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said it is impossible for stablecoins and e-money to have the same set of rules because the former is backed by a fiat currency or asset.
BLOCKCHAIN NEWS • crypto news


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The other night I got a telephone call from someone who identified himself as an employee of Windows. He informed me that there was a major hacking threat to my computer and said Windows would take care of it.
“Give me your email address and some other information, and I’ll stop it right now,” he said.
“Thanks,” I replied, “Just give me your name and company phone number, and I’ll call you right back.”
“I can handle it right now, just give me the information,” he said. “OK,” just give me your number and after I call back you, you can handle the problem,” I said. “F — off was his expletive response as he hung up. Obviously, he was trying to hack into my computer.
I understand this scam has cost some local folks thousands of dollars and a nightmare of a problem because they fell for the pitch. Don’t be fooled. Insist on getting his company phone number and say you will call him back. Better yet just tell him to buzz off. Costs to people like you and me, caused by hackers, can cost a lot of money, but not near as much as what hackers are costing businesses every day.
According to Richard Power, the editorial director of the Computer Security Institute, the costs of cyber attacks on businesses is hard to estimate, but generally losses run between the tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars, mostly attributed to clean-up and investigations. One fortune 500 corporation was hit by the “Melissa” virus when it came out and their own internal tabulation set their loss at $10 million. The costs of the “love letter” virus, which could have affected everyone, ranges between $4 billion to $10 billion. It was caused by one individual.
If you’re conducting an e-business and you’re counting on $600,000 an hour, for instance, you could lose that much for every hour you are down. It could be a staggering amount. Just imagine the costs to Amazon, for example. If you’re Cisco you could lose $7 million in online revenue for every day you’re down. That’s where you start!
Most every corporation values its inside information. If a trade secret is compromised online or through some ki9nd of hacking, inside or outside, the loss in dollars is impossible to estimate. On-line crime costs are hard to measure, but world wide it is estimated that hackers have probably cost victims an estimated amount in excess of $400 billion. The Wall Street Journal estimates the costs of cyber espionage and cyber crime to the U.S. alone may reach $100 million this year. The costs are staggering.
Bloomberg reports the China hackers who stole personal date on 4 million government employees from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sneaked past a sophisticated counter-hacking system called Einstein 3, the highly touted, multi-million dollar, most secretive technology that’s been years in the making. It cost about $1 billion between the years 2012-2014, three years in development.
Last year venture capitalists spent billions in cyber security. The government is trying to figure out how to tap into the technologies coming out of that. Despite its seemingly advantage, the government is now playing catch up to the private sector.
Just how do we go about stopping the international cyber espionage on the U.S. government. not to mention state and local governments which are also potential victims of hackers and cyber crime? That’s the question. Attacks upon government agencies could easily reveal personal information of individuals, such as Social Security numbers and drivers license numbers. This information, falling into the wrong hands could cost many individual thousands of dollars. The total amount could be unfathomable.
Your personal information could wind up in the hands of Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping. With all the cyber espionage reportedly going on by China and Russia, and by individuals in those countries, anything could happen. This may be the most perplexing, costly, and possibly most dangerous problem we face. It is not unthinkable that foreign countries could get their hands on the identity of our espionage agents, putting them at great risk.
Life used to be so simple. I could get by giving simple warnings, such as Don‘t pick up hitchhikers. Don’t drink liquor in excess, or smoke, chew or dip tobacco, and don’t go out with those who do. Don’t change horses in the middle of the stream if you want to keep your britches dry. And never, I mean never, believe a word Donald Trump has to say.
Some things never change. Life was so easy back then
Glen McAdoo, a Fallon resident, can be contacted at firstname.lastname@example.org


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ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s export promotion agency is targeting 18 billion US dollars in goods and services exports in 2020, up from 16.1 billion US dollars in 2019, officials said after seeing marginal growth during the year, officials said.
Merchandise exports grew 0.13 percent to 11,906 million dollars in 2019, and services exports grew 5.3 percent to 4,243 million dollars based on provisional data, the Export Development Board said.
For 2020, the agency is targeting 13.5 billion US dollars in merchandise exports and 5 billion US dollars in services exports.
EDB’s Director General Jeevani Siriwardena said 1,280 million US dollars in services exports came from information technology and business process outsourcing, 78 million from construction, 229 million from financial services.
Another 2,577 million dollars came from transport which include shipping, warehousing airlines and ports
Newly appointed EDB Chairman Prabhash Subasinghe, who owns a solid rubber manufacturing business said he was keen to diversify the country’s export basket, which has been relatively unchanged over the years.
You may also read
Sri Lanka should strike trade deals with China, ASEAN to access Asia: EDB Chief
He said Sri Lanka should strike free trade deals with China and the Association of East Asian Nations to boost exports to Asia. (Colombo/Jan30/2020)


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Mr Hegglin (the ‘Claimant’), a businessman who lived in London but now resides in Hong Kong, sought to have removed a number of abusive and defamatory allegations about him that had been posted on various websites by unknown persons. Google was a defendant in the case as portions of the offensive material appeared in search results, and because Mr Hegglin requested the court to order that the identities of the anonymous posters be disclosed to him.
In a recently reported study released by the the Global Privacy Enforcement Network (“GPEN”), the GPEN found that a testing sample of 1,211 mobile apps accessed during May of this year failed to provide users with adequate privacy protections under current regulatory provisions in the United States and in other countries. The GPEN is a coalition of privacy officials from 19 countries, including the United States Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”).
The GPEN report concluded that 60% of mobile apps accessed raised significant privacy concerns based on the following criteria:
Seemingly every day, new types of wearable devices are popping up on the market. Google Glass, Samsung’s Gear, Fitbit (a fitness and activity tracker), Pulse (a fitness tracker that measures heart rate and blood oxygen), and Narrative (a wearable, automatic camera) are just a few of the more popular “wearables” currently on the market, not to mention Apple’s “iWatch,” rumored to be released later this year. In addition, medical devices are becoming increasingly advanced in their ability to collect and track patient behavior.
Last week, the FTC released a study it conducted in connection with price-comparison apps, deal apps and apps that allow people to pay for purchases using their mobile device while shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. The newly released study is the latest commentary from the FTC in a long line of workshops and reports that started in 2012 on the issue of mobile apps, mobile payment mechanisms and related matters, such as mobile cramming and mobile security. Here are the key takeaways from the latest study:
Do you know where your data is? According to the Federal Trade Commission, the answer is “no.”
The agency wants Congress to intervene against data brokers – companies that collect personal information and resell it, mainly for marketing purposes. The FTC released a report on Tuesday of the top nine data brokers in the US and how most Americans don’t know that their personal information is being collected.
the FTC states that consumers may benefit from increased transparency into the operations of data brokers. It notes that data brokers collect and store billions of data elements covering nearly every U.S. consumer, in many cases without consumers’ knowledge. The FTC recommends that Congress consider enacting legislation to make data broker practices more visible to consumers and to give consumers greater control over the handling of their information by data brokers.
The data collected by firms like Acxiom, Datalogix and Corelogic range from the innocent (what sports you follow) to the personal (health and financial information) and everything in between (what kind of car you drive and general shopping habits).
I had today’s column dealing with confidentiality provisions all set to go. However, given the Baylor Law School fiasco, I changed topics to another very contentious issue in business-to-business terms and conditions negotiations: data security. I will take some liberties with the factual scenario of the Baylor data release in order to make the issue more relevant to those of us in-house.
Let’s assume that instead of an employee of Baylor’s admissions office allegedly being responsible for the data release, it was an outside contractor who had been hired to perform data collection for Baylor. Let’s further assume that the contractor acted negligently in releasing the information. Finally, let’s assume that Baylor’s legal counsel vetted the Agreement and Statement of Work (“SOW”) between Baylor and the contractor, and included a data security provision. What should happen now that prospective students’ personal information, including LSAT scores and GPA, are in the public domain? I would begin by stanching the bleeding and assessing the damage….
OmniVere’s delivery of end-to-end technology & data consulting to position the company as a true differentiator in the global legal technology and compliance space.
CHICAGO, IL, September 29, 2014 – OmniVere today announced the creation of the company’s technology & data consulting arm and the addition of several industry-renown experts, including the former co-chairs of Berkeley Research Group’s (BRG’s) Technology Services practice, Liam Ferguson, Rich Finkelman and Courtney Fletcher.
This new consulting practice will provide and expand existing OmniVere eDiscovery consulting services to corporations, law firms and government agencies with a special focus on compliance, information governance and eDiscovery. This addition of this top talent now positions OmniVere as a true industry leader in the technology and data consulting space offering best-in-class end-to-end services.
Ferguson, Finkelman & Fletcher are nationally recognized experts and seasoned veterans in the areas of overall technology, electronic discovery, and structured data. At OmniVere, the team will be focused on all global consulting activities with respect to legal compliance, complex data analytics, business intelligence design and analysis, and electronic discovery service offerings.
The Trust Women conference is an influential gathering that brings together global corporations, lawyers and pioneers in the field of women’s rights. Unlike many other events, Trust Women delegates take action and forge tangible commitments to empower women to know and defend their rights.
This year, the Trust Women conference will take place 18-19 November in London. From women’s economic empowerment to slavery in the supply chain and child labour, this year’s agenda is strong and powerful. Speakers include Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Laureate and founder of the Grameen Bank; Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women; Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO of Women’s World Banking and many other influential leaders. Find out more about Trust Women here.


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As traditional media continues to feel the squeeze and downsize, the demand for news content online is steadely growing. This demand for good news content opens the door for brands to become publishers and to collaborate with media outlets to produce content.
That means that their PR department needs to up ther game. They have to start to operate like a newsroom. And they have to make all content visible to search engines.
Watch this on-demand webinar. with Sally Falkow, President of PRESSfeed and Doug Brown CEO of Newswire.net, talking about the need for an online newsroom approach and why you need a wire service that can effectively get you better Google visibility in both News and Web search.


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The rich world of the Star Wars Universe is coming to a toy store near you, as ViacomCBS Consumer Products announced a licensing deal with Playmates Toys.
ViacomCBS says it has awarded the global toy company with the licensing rights for action figures, vehicles and ships, role play and other toy categories for all Star Trek properties. Playmates will launch its new Star Trek toy line in 2022, following Star Trek’s entry into kids’ content with the premiere of Star Trek: Prodigy, the first Star Trek series aimed at younger audiences.
ViacomCBS says the qualities that attracted it to a deal with Playmates are its attention to brand detail, authentic portrait sculpting, and new product innovations it plans to introduce to its forthcoming Star Trek collections. Fans can look forward to a new lineup of action figures and accessories from Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Picard, and other Star Trek series throughout the universe coming soon, and future selections from the expansive Star Trek Universe of series and motion pictures, including the Paramount+ CG-animated series Star Trek: Prodigy produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio and CBS Studios.
Details on forthcoming product lines from Playmates will be announced at a future date.
“As Star Trek readies to beam into the kids’ space for the first time with Star Trek: Prodigy on Paramount+, we are thrilled to also enter the toy aisle with Playmates, offering a new generation of fans out of this world toys that will allow them to embark on their own Star Trek adventures at home,” said Dion Vlachos, Executive Vice President of Hardlines and Retail for ViacomCBS Consumer Products. “Playmates Toys has deep experience in developing Star Trek figures and playsets. The expertise and ingenuity they plan to bring to figures, ships and more will elevate the play experience for kids and collectors alike.”
“We’re excited to be transported back into the Star Trek Universe, a brand and world that we know very well,” said Karl Aaronian, senior vice president, Playmates Toys. “Our product team includes some lifelong super fans, like me, and we are honored to join with ViacomCBS again to help further engage fans with the wealth of new content coming, as well as captivate a new generation of kids with the positive values that Gene Roddenberry introduced in his Trek world.”
Playmates was the master toy licensee for Star Trek from 1992–1999, launching award-winning collections of action figures and innovative accessories from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and classic Star Trek. In 2009, the company also released the official figures and accessories based on the J.J. Abrams Star Trek motion picture.
With a history of more than 50 years, Playmates Toys is among the most well-respected and innovative marketing and distribution companies in the global toy industry, with a proven record of creating imaginative products and developing and managing profitable, long-term brand franchises. Some of the company’s key brands include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spy Ninjas, Miraculous Ladybug, Godzilla vs. Kong, Ben 10 and more.