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Today our friends from close circles reported that big changes.Markets Insider Bitcoin is off the lowest levels of its plunge on Thursday, which was the worst in two years.But if the SEC does approve this Bitcoin ETF, the price of Bitcoin could double in a.
Bitcoin Price - Money Morning
The New York Stock Exchange | NYSE
Fortune may receive compensation for some links to products and.
China is planning to ban Bitcoin January 8, 2017 by Bright Titan. Russia Bans Bitcoin: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know February 7, 2014 by Heavy. Thailand.CoinMarketCap.com has slumped about 75 percent from its January peak to.
Infographic: Visualizing the Journey to $10,000 BitcoinCharts providing a snapshot of the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) ecosystem.
Start accepting bitcoin, store and spend bitcoin securely, or get the BitPay Card.
Did Sean Spicer Tweet a Nefarious Bitcoin Address in January?
iPhone chipmaker TSMC says high-end smartphones - 9to5Mac
Bitcoin Price Chart (BTC/USD) | CoinGecko
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency on Twitter:. Up 56.9%, Boosted by Bitcoin The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition.
12 Reasons Bitcoin Could Fall Below $1,000 - Forbes
Bitcoin India: Latest News, Photos, Videos on Bitcoin
Coinbase to explore the addition of 5 new crypto-coins to its platform, as bitcoin slips.
Bitcoin Magazine - Bitcoin and Blockchain News, Prices
5 Bitcoin Rivals That Are Rapidly on the Rise | Fortune
If You Bought $5 in Bitcoin 7 Years Ago, You'd Be $4.4Bitcoin Difficulty. 5.01%: 9 Feb 2015: 44455415962: 7.71%: 27 Jan 2015: 41272873895.
While the latest crash has been painful, it is best to step back and assess the current state of Bitcoin relative to its past.
Bitcoin: Von $20K auf $5’900 - bloomberg.com
Bitcoin ETF - Money Morning
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
Bitcoin Difficulty History - Bitcoin mining profitability
CRYPTO INSIDER: Bitcoin is doing even worse than stocks
The company announced in late January a repayment program that will fully repay users who were.
Bitcoin Investment Trust, GBTC Quick Chart - (OTC) GBTCGet the latest price on Crude Oil WTI (NYMEX) as well as the latest prices for other major commodities at Nasdaq.
An Alpine Bitcoin Bunker Wants to Be Your Next Swiss Bank
How to make money mining bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies without.CoinGecko aims to collect all the data required to quantitatively and qualitatively rank.January 18. iPhone chipmaker. a Chinese-startup that focuses on Bitcoin mining chips and mining products,.


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Uninterruptible Power Supplies Limited (UPSL), a subsidiary of Kohler Co., and the exclusive supplier of PowerWAVE UPS, generator and emergency lighting products, is changing its name to Kohler Uninterruptible Power (KUP), effective March 4th, 2019. Among the changes will be updates to its legal name, logo and website URL, which will change to www.kohler-ups.co.uk.
UPSL’s name change is designed to ensure the company’s name reflects the true breadth of the business’ current offer, which now extends to UPS systems, generators, emergency lighting inverters, and class-leading 24/7 service, as well as highlighting its membership of Kohler Co. This is especially timely as next year Kohler will celebrate 100 years of supplying products for power generation and protection.
The UPSL name was first adopted more than two decades ago and has achieved recognition across the United Kingdom.
David Renton, Managing Director for UPSL/KUP commented: “It is ten years since we became a part of Kohler Co., and in that period, we have seen the UPS market and our business develop significantly, both in the UK and overseas. Our membership of the Kohler Co. organisation, one of the largest privately-held US companies, gives us significant benefits in terms of financial stability, infrastructure and world class management and employee development processes. So as Kohler Co. approaches its 100th anniversary in power products and as we now supply much more than uninterruptible power supplies, the name change feels absolutely right.”
“The rise of digitalisation and the rapid adoption of several new technologies, such as Edge and the Internet of Things (IoT), creates countless opportunities for us as a business. With the commitment of our incredible team and the support of our parent company, we see major opportunities to broaden our portfolio further and take a leading position at the forefront of these exciting developments in the coming years.”

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|Games & Hobbies||23|
Love Xbox? IGN's Podcast Unlocked is your source for everything Xbox One and Xbox 360. If you live and breathe Halo, Gears of War, Forza, and more, Podcast Unlocked has you covered. Tune in every week for the latest video game news for Xbox junkies around the globe.
July 27th, 2016
Episode 288 of 333 episodes
On this week's Xbox show, a lack of current Xbox news leads us to reminisce about the past, including our favorite original Xbox games as well as what dormant Xbox series we'd like to see brought back. Plus: Xbox One S bundles, Summer Spotlight returns, Sonic's new 2D game, and more!


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Get Alerts »
Susquehanna Valley group to house children caught-up in border crisis
Manheim is an area that’s used to seeing flooding. But the borough and its residents would like to change that.
Click here to see the full story.
If you've picked up fruit at Costco, Trader Joe's or Walmart stores recently, keep reading.


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January 10, 2001, 3:16 PM — SOFTWARE MAKER COMPUTER Associates International has made a working production version of its anti-virus software for the Palm OS handheld computer available for free download, the company announced Wednesday.
Computer Associates' anti-virus program -- InoculateIT for the Palm OS -- is immediately available from the company Web site at www.ca.com/products/inoculateit/palm.htm, according to CA's announcement. InoculateIT works on handheld computers running PalmOS Version 3.0 or later, including most Palm III, Palm V, and Palm VII series handhelds, the Palm m100 handheld, and Handspring Visor and Visor Deluxe computers.
Anti-virus vendors are just beginning to address virus threats on PDAs, said Simon Perry, CA's vice president for security solutions. "It's really only in the last few months that the threat has become real ... and it's only just started," he said. "You've only got three real viruses out there ... the bigger threat is consumer fear and the erosion of confidence in the platform."
Consumers already are loath to put mission-critical information on a PDA, according to analysts.
"Anyone who has backed over their PalmPilot, dropped their PalmPilot, or flushed their PalmPilot down the toilet knows that it is imprudent for the PalmPilot to be the database of record," said Frank Prince, a senior analyst at the technology market research firm Forrester Research.
Researchers found three viruses in September affecting Palm OS handhelds. The "Liberty" crack Trojan horse program can wipe all the files from a Palm handheld computer. The Palm "Vapor," virus, another Trojan horse, renders all third-party application icons invisible, appearing as if they had been deleted. The more malicious "Palm OS/Phage" virus fills a device's screen with a gray box, crashes the application that is running, and then replicates itself.
Symantec released a beta-test version of its Antivirus for Palm OS in September. The software can be downloaded for free from Symantec's Web site at www.symantec.com/avcenter/palmscanner.html. Islandia, N.Y.-based CA's Palm OS anti-virus is out of the testing phase and, at 4KB, is one-third the size of Symantec's, CA's Perry said.


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The heirs to John D. Rockefeller’s oil fortune are getting out of the fossil fuels business, as you may have heard from their many media admirers. That was the news last month after the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, with close to $860 million in assets, announced that it would divest the roughly 7% of its funds currently in fossil fuels.
“The action we’re taking is symbolism, but it is important symbolism,” said fund president Stephen Heintz. “We’re making a moral case, but also, increasingly, an economic case.” Mr. Heintz and the family he represents can reach their own moral conclusions about disavowing the energy industry that made them rich. But allow us to report a few of the economic—and environmental—facts.
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In the aftermath of the AMSOIL Dover Raceway eSports event held late last month, Gregory Moore, Chairman and CEO of Jamaica eSports Initiative (JEI) is bullish on the growth of sim-racing locally.
The virtual sim-racing event which was sanctioned by the Jamaica Race Drivers Club (JRDC), took place over three days (November 19 through 21) with over forty gamers from across the Caribbean spending the weeks leading up to the event finals practicing in the pre-event qualifying sessions.
Its main draw, other than the prize pool of USD$4,000 put up by title sponsor AMSOIL via local distributor Motorlubes — the automotive products arm of Miracle Corporation Limited, was the first ever virtual representation of the iconic Dover Raceway in the Parish of St Ann using the racing game Assetto Corsa.
“It was a very good move, and it will only make eSports better for Jamaica, opening up the eyes of many persons,” said Moore.
The JEI headquarters at the Technology Innovation Centre on the grounds of the University of Technology, St Andrew, played host to several drivers, two of which found varying levels of achievement in the event, PC gamer Stephen Stewart and video game console user Mario Mills. Stewart qualified in the Silver class, using the given turbocharged four-wheel Lancer Evolution, but was unable to make it into the top three.
Despite the setback, Stewart admitted he liked the event and would enter again. Mills, on the other hand, while slower in the Bronze class, found more success driving the front-wheel Honda Civic EF sedan given to those competitors. He finished second overall, winning USD$300 in the process.
“I feel good about my performance,” said Mills.
He also thanked Moore and the JEI as he competed using the equipment at their head office. He however, didn’t use the full motion commercial grade sim-racing rig that was available, instead opting for a desk mounted setup similar to that of his video game console. With the victory Mills plans to invest in a PC as soon as he can to keep his skills up.
“People can enjoy sim-racing because there are a lot of affordable stationary rigs out there like Playseat, and like RSeat. If you have a good computer desk you can also use that with a simple steering a pedal arrangement that starts at about USD$400 to $500,” explained Moore.
He went on to explain that the JEI is looking to secure financial assistance packages for those serious about entering the eSports arena, regardless of genre.
The JEI was setup in the 90s to help promote video games as a viable sporting genre in Jamaica.


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Can Canada’s Online cannabis dispensary ever catch up to our neighbors from the United States? Recently in Toronto a new cannabis boutique store has opened and is allowing customers from across the country the ability to place orders for pot and bud. The United States marijuana industry has come out of the closet and is selling legal marijuana to stateside residents. Canada’s Online Dispensary will most likely follow suit and implement an online purchase system similar to what the United States has done. However, if Canada can accomplish one thing in the United States it is bringing tax revenue to their struggling economy. Source – https://toptiercannabis.co/
Making Your Next Weed Eater Purchase an Easy One
When you think about it doesn’t make sense to have people buying marijuana in Canada for free because it costs so much to get it over the border. Why should the government regulate the production and sale of this herb and allow criminals and drug dealers to take advantage of the free market? The fact is that marijuana is very expensive and anyone who can buy it for cheap and sell it for expensive is simply too good an opportunity to let slip by them. Perhaps a system similar to the online purchase system could be implemented with Canadian visitors ordering from their home countries and paying a nominal fee to get the oils or capsules they need. This would bring the costs down drastically, which would benefit the Canadian industry tremendously.
Just like the online stores the “commerce by mail” stores would thrive on the online market. However, the online industry is already seeing many success stories and lots of new business is being built every month. In Canada the Liquor and Tobacco Review Board has stated that the online industry will continue to grow at a tremendous rate over the next five years. Considering that the Canadian cannabis industry is currently valued at over $6 billion dollars. It’s a very safe investment considering all the promises Canadian authorities have made.


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Bitfinex Addresses Institutional Demand With New Sub-Account Feature
Bitfinex, a digital asset trading platform, formally announced the addition of a sub-account feature which allows users to set up multiple trading accounts under one master account.
“There is a huge pent-up demand among institutional traders for a more sophisticated way of accessing crypto markets,” Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Bitfinex said in a statement. “The sub-account feature will facilitate myriad trading strategies across different accounts, and further underlines our capacity to meet the needs of institutional traders pursuing increasingly complex strategies.”
The following are core features:
- Shared volume with fee discounts across all accounts
- Simultaneous deployment of various trading strategies
This development comes after a round of increased interest in digital assets; last week, CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CME), a derivaitves and options exchange operating in Chicago and New York, formally announced the launch of options on Bitcoin (BTC) futures, delivering on growing retail and institutional interest demand for levered exposure to the cryptocurrency market.
© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.


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Last week I attended an excellent webinar on personal finance management in the time of corona, hosted by one of the local banks. I was surprised to find a large attendance, with at least 1,200 attendees at its peak, which spoke to the relevance of the topic in the current environment.
The key message that came through from many of the speakers was slow down your expenditure and measure your personal runway to ensure you don’t run out of space to keep yourself afloat.
One speaker was very specific: if something doesn’t generate cash for you, and is not related to food or shelter, this is not the time to be thinking of buying it. Most late afternoons, I have now taken to walking for exercise down the beautiful paved footpaths of the recently expanded Ngong Road.
In the approximately three kilometre stretch between the Junction and Prestige Mall, there are tens of used car yards packed with luxury and mainstream cars awaiting new owners but what I often see are solitary security guards and, in a few cases, the odd hopeful salesman waiting to catch that elusive lucky break.
At the risk of using a pathetically small statistical sample, my uneducated conclusion is that folks are already making decisions around unnecessary expenditure in the form of vehicular purchases.
The same Webinar speaker warned attendees against starting and investing their savings in businesses based on a whim without having done the requisite research and feasibility studies on the product or service so desired to be sold. Which led me to ponder over what the hundreds of thousands of Kenyans who have lost their jobs in the last three months must be doing, some trapped in the major cities of Nairobi and Mombasa without the chance to go to their upcountry homes to lay low and take economic cover.
I have opined about the resilience of the Kenyan entrepreneur since we were first hit with the Covid-19 scare in March this year.
On May 18, 2020, I noted information from the Companies Registry that from an average of about 700 private company registrations per week prior to Covid-19, registrations dipped to about 480 when the government announced the partial lockdown in March and were now ticking up to about 550 per week.
Business names, which represent sole proprietorships, moved from an average of about 1,400 per week to a low of about 800 and is now ticking up to about 1,000 sole proprietorship registrations per week.
Progressively, in the week ending June 19, 2020, business names registered were 2,206, a slight increase from the 1,953 registered in the previous week. In that same period, there were 1,141 private companies registered, also a slight increase from the 1,027 registered in the previous week. As you can see, this is a notable increase from the May 2020 numbers I had reported In the same period in June 2019, there were 1,039 business names and 818 private companies registered with no Covid-19 in sight.
Without interviewing the owners of the capital behind these registrations, one can only take an uneducated guess as to what is driving the significantly increased number of business registrations per week especially since we haven’t seen any external interventions in the form of angel investors suddenly floating into the Kenyan entrepreneurial space.
There is clearly an upsurge of interest in opening businesses and, noting the absence of concrete evidence, it is likely that these are previously employed persons who are moving into the entrepreneurial space.
Other anecdotal evidence is found in the number of private car owners now selling fruits and vegetables from the boot of their cars on various roads in Nairobi’s suburbs. Either your traditional mama mboga got a vehicular upgrade in the last three months, or car owning citizens, who are working from home, have found a better way to spend their unsupervised office hours making an extra shilling or two.
Whatever the case, the resilience of the Kenyan spirit has never been so evident.
The challenge is now to ensure the continued commitment to the ease of doing business that our government has demonstrated, not only in the registration of businesses but in finding ways in which these fledgling entrepreneurs can create a marketplace devoid of baffling tax encumbrances and byzantine county administrative licences.


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According to the bi-yearly report by KPMG, it has been recently discovered that, in 2016, there was a 200% increase in fraud that amounted to 168 million pounds. Fraudulent statistics ruffle business growth.
According to Private Investigator Grays a Nationwide Commercial Investigations Detective Agency situated in Essex, an investigation agency working with numerous private, open and legitimate associations over the UK has found that dubious crimes is reported more frequently than before. When companies utilize abrupt audits, employee education, and programs that support employees, fraud can be minimized by up to 50 percent, according to research. Most often it has been noticed that companies lack in internal fraud controls and enforcement, and these matters become apparent during expert investigations.
Furthermore, outside assistance may be needed, since Internal fraud cases aren’t always comprehensively looked into, since companies lack the necessary skills to conduct a systematic inquiry and also because Police is usually abused. For input on maintaining security in your organization beyond just the bricks and mortar, Private Investigator Grays (https://privateinvestigator-grays.co.uk) a private investigator for criminal case can help. Quite a few devices like external and internal CCTV, computer and phone monitoring systems along with listening devices are some of the security devices that are consistently being used by our professional investigators with great success during the past.
A spokesman from Private Investigator Grays has stated, if a fraudster has knowledge about how a company operates along with information about their processes and procedures often due to the help of an insider, they are easily able to exploit any vulnerabilities and therefore, get an opportunity to commit fraudulent activities. Private Investigator Grays has superior quality fraud investigation services and sound advice posted on social media and communicated through telephone to educate and inform business across UK on crime safety. Private Detective representative goes ahead to state It is central the organization’s completely comprehend the significance of how misrepresentation is submitted and what measures can be taken to forestall such untoward incidents. The following is provided by our professional team –
Please use the website https://privateinvestigator-grays.co.uk or drop an email at firstname.lastname@example.org or call 01375 440004 to get more details from Private Investigator Grays regarding these problems. Private Investigator Grays in Essex has a staff of proficient and caring private detectives and investigators both in the UK and abroad. You can visit our offices in Grays located in Chafford Hundred, Chadwell St Mary and Tilbury respectively.
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Sony decided to invest $ 250 million in Epic Games. General level of investment in developers Fortnite now stands at 1.83 billion dollars.
According to both companies, this will strengthen the already warm relations, as well as expand cooperation. True, they are not talking about specifics yet, confining themselves to general phrases about the use of joint technologies and ecosystems aimed at creating unique projects for consumers and developers.
At the same time, it is emphasized that although Sony now owns the minor part of Epic Games (1.4%), developers will continue to be able to release their products on other platforms. The Chinese Tencent, by the way, has a 40% stake in the American company.
According to Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida, Epic Games is at the forefront of technology for game developers, which confirms the capabilities and flexibility of Fortnite.
More on Gambling


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Software to stop phone tapping
New software that stops the ability to tap into mobile phone conversations has been launched in the UK.
New software that stops the ability to tap into mobile phone conversations has been launched in the UK. The susceptibility of mobile phones to tapping was recently highlighted by the controversy involving members of the Royal Household, ministers, MPs and celebrities.
Babylon nG has developed a new system available from One Day Mobile that offers privacy and can be installed on any 2.5 or 3G phone allowing users to encrypt some, or all, of their conversations.
The release of the software is a move away from the bulky handsets traditionally associated with voice encryption and means standard mobile phones can now be used for encrypted calls. Jointly developed with German partners Safe-com and the military, Babylon nG software is activated simply by using the handsets GPRS capabilities.
The software ensures that the voice call is encrypted while the receiving handset unscrambles the call.
When the encryption is not required, the handset maintains all the usual functions of a mobile telephone making standard voice calls, sending texts and surfing the web on the users usual network.
One Day Mobile says there is a common misconception that when using mobile digital handsets, the signals are already encrypted. Whilst the signal between the mobile phone and base station is scrambled, the transmission between the sending and receiving transmitter is not – leaving the signal open to hackers.
Joe Francis, operations manager of One Day Mobile, said: Babylon nG uses 256k-bit technology with a 1024k-bit key to give several layers of encryption. With online banking services, for example, encrypted using 128k, it shows how secure the system is.
The encryption, which has been rigorously tested by the military, changes every time a call is made and each handset has its own unique encryption key. When two of these telephones communicate it really is impossible for someone to unlock the signal. An encrypted message service is also available.
Where Babylon nG really scores is that the option to use the encryption or not means that the mobile phone does not have a limited use and maintains all the functions of the handset. It is cost-effective to use GPRS as the calls are subject to networks data transfer plans.
Babylon nG is available to verifiable organisations through a license from One Day Mobile. Full details about obtaining the software are available at www.babylonng.co.uk


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By Nosa Akenzua, Asaba
Export Quality Yellow Garri, the Pilot Product Of the Delta State Government’s Foods Export Initiatives (FEI) has hit grocery shop in the United Kingdom.
As a significant Milestone of Okowa led administration to develop Agricultural value Chain, the state government on Thursday said it was a diversification of the economy towards a Stronger Delta
The Cassava Product, Packaged in 2kg and 10kg bags, was Produced under the Utmost hygiene to meet international export Standard by the Project Committee on Delta Foods Export Initiatives.
Speaking to Journalists in Asaba, the Chief Job Creation Officer,Prof Eric Eboh said that the Delta Foods Export Initiatives was a market Oriented Agricultural value Chain development intervention, with Garri as its Pilot Product, adding that the Central goal was not only to Create a Sustainable assured market for Delta State Agricultural Products based on Fair Prices and to bridge the gap between the farmers and Precessors , but to Create Job and wealth towards building Stronger Delta.
He said that Export Quality Yellow Garri meets all the required international Standards of Food Quality, Particularly the limits to Moisture Content, hydrogen Cyanide and Crude Fibre as well as being free from microbial Contaminants and extroneous materials and Organoleptic Properties of Colour, taste and Odour.
Accordingly, the Delta State Foods Export Initiatives has Secured Product trademark registration of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investments and quality Certification by the National Food and Drugs Administration Council (NAFDAC) .
It would recalled that the 2kg and 10kg high quality Packaged Delta Yellow Garri was launched by the State Governor Dr Ifeanyi Okowa on the 24th of January 2019 in Asaba
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MILF sex videos and pirno are now available for download on Amazon, Apple, and Google Play.
Milf sex video site Pirno has released a new version of its Milf porn channel, dubbed MILF Sex Videos.
The site also has a selection of other content, including clips from the likes of Pornhub, Vimeo, and YouTube.
While the original version was only available in English, the new site adds a variety of languages, including Chinese, Korean, Russian, Hungarian, Czech, Portuguese, French, German, and Spanish.
Milf Sex Videos is currently available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK.
The new version includes subtitles for Chinese, German (translated), Hungarian, Portuguese (translator), and Spanish (translate).
The site’s homepage lists its other languages, as well as links to a list of other pirno-related videos.
The Milf channel is currently live in the UK, Germany and Spain, as part of the Milf Play Store, and it has since become available in France and Canada.


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But what often trends along with these protective hairdos are the common challenges associated with achieving them: increased pricing, long hours in the chair, lack of included services like hair washing and, sometimes, safety considerations—since many braiders require clients to travel to their home.
Swella is a new braid bar with a mission to address these concerns. The idea for the concept emerged nearly a year ago when Brooke Hill hosted a five-week pop-up salon in Philadelphia that made $9,000 in revenue and served 30 customers. Success from this “braid cafe” combined with a $25,000 grant from the 2021 Visible Hands Accelerator was the impetus for the launch of the Swella brand—the now Atlanta-based storefront for which Hill is a co-founder. Swella opens its doors this week, with a plan to offer customers a full-service, luxurious yet affordable braiding experience.
Swella vows to be a one-stop shop that provides everything clients need once they walk through the doors. Prospective customers can book their desired service on Swella’s website, a selection of cornrows and box braids of various sizes, all of which come with a wash and blow dry, plus options for braid takedowns and touch-ups. All hair is sourced from Black-owned supplier Dosso Beauty and available in-store. In addition to booking their hair service, customers can customize their experience by answering questions about how they would like to be entertained (options include a laptop tray for remote working or the use of streaming platforms like Netflix or Hulu), as well as the choice of a complimentary refreshment.
“We thought, ‘how can we make this experience better and more safe, particularly for Black women or any woman of color who has kinky or curly hair and likes to wear protective styles,’” says Hill. “It’s widely known that women of color spend nine times more on their hair than any other demographic, and it makes you wonder, ‘How come we don’t have these convenient luxury services?’”
Atlanta, home to a slew of HBCUs and a known hub for Black excellence, was deemed the best place to launch Swella. Leaning on the city’s appetite for innovation, Swella is taking its offerings a step further with Unravl, technology aimed at automating the braid takedown process. The handheld device works by being applied once the braids are cut loose, unraveling strands two times quicker than the manual way.
Swella’s second cofounder, Zanbria Asante, who is leading the development of Unravl says it is a “win-win” for both the client and the stylist. While the team is still in the fundraising stage to flesh out the patent-pending product, her hope is to be implementing the technology in Swella salons by early 2024.
“Sustainability for our braid stylists is a big thing,” says Asante. “We’re trying to decrease braider burnout by providing the technology to automate some of those monotonous tasks within our salons.”
For Swella, Atlanta is just the start. The long-term goal for Asante and Hill is to turn Swella into a franchise and, in the process, continue to facilitate wealth and ownership in the Black beauty industry.
“We like to say we’re just planting roots in Atlanta,” says Hill. “But we do recognize that hair braiding is global. It’s been around for a long time. And we do believe that our technology will allow hair braiding to be far more effective and scalable.”


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Sausages will be a firm favourite at many a bank holiday BBQ this weekend - but not all sausages that claim to be low fat are quite as healthy as they seem, new analysis has claimed.
The consumer body Which? tested packs of sausages from a range of supermarkets and brands over a five month period and found some contained almost three and a half times more fat per 100g than on the label.
The amount of fat in sausages does vary, because they are made out of different cuts of meat. Manufacturers are also allowed some leeway with the amount that is contained in foods versus what is stated on pack because of this, according to food labelling rules in the UK. But Which? said it found several sausages that contained far more than this.
The sausage with the highest single variation was found to be Heck Super Lean Thins. On pack, it states they contain 2.7g of fat per 100g when grilled but during one testing session Which? said it found it contained 9.3g of fat per 100g.
Sainsbury’s was found to be the worst repeat offender – in six samples, its Butcher’s Choice Reduced Fat pork sausages “repeatedly contained at least 60% more fat than the label stated”. Morrisons Eat Smart Counted 8 Butcher’s style Cumberland sausages contained 5.7 g when cooked, according to Which?, more than the 3.6g stated on pack.
Porky Lights 6 premium British pork sausages were found to contain 9.1g compared with the 7.1g stated on pack.
“Shoppers picking the low-fat option for health and dietary reasons will be horrified to discover that the fat content quoted on the labels can be so different to reality,” a Which? spokesperson said. “Manufacturers must do better: labels must be clear, consistent and accurate, so that people can make informed decisions when choosing food in store.”
Here’s what the companies had to say about the findings.
Sainsbury’s said it was “concerned” by the results and has temporarily withdraw its Butcher’s Choice Reduced Fat pork sausages from sale while it investigates with the supplier. “No other products are affected. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause,” the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for G. White & Co Limited, which owns Porky Lights, challenged the findings and said that a “degree of deviation” was inevitable when using natural ingredients because the raw materials will have inherent variance within them. They said their own testing showed the sausages to be in line with permitted variations in fat content.
An Asda spokesperson said: “As a responsible retailer we test our products to ensure we provide accurate information to our customers. Whilst the results conducted on this sample do not reflect the information we hold on the product, we will be carrying out further investigations with our supplier.”
Morrisons said it would look into the findings. Heck had not responded to requests for comment at the time of writing.


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‘If we want the euro to unite rather than divide our continent, then it should be more than the currency of a select group of countries. The euro is meant to be the single currency of the European Union as a whole’, said Commission President Juncker in his State of the Union Address on 13 September 2017.
Since expansion of the monetary union (‘the euro for all’) can only be really achieved in the medium and long term, the EU Commission has instead identified key areas where they can score in the short term with a ‘value-added euro’. One of these options was taken up by the EU Commission on 28 March 2018 when it published its proposal for a Regulation (COM/2018/163), which seeks to amend Regulation (EC) No 924/2009.
Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 equalised fees for cross-border payments in euro within the Union with payments in euro-area Member States. Citizens and businesses in non-euro area Member States do not yet benefit from the Regulation because domestic euro payments are either very expensive or are not permitted.
The proposed amendment wants cross-border payments in euro to be charged in the same amount as corresponding domestic payments in the non-euro national currency.
The Commission states that the proposal will contribute to the better functioning of the Single Market, for example in cross-border online trade, and the medium-term expansion of the Economic and Monetary Union.
The proposal for a Regulation can be read here.


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For people who know bitcoin, they know that this anonymity is not entirely real, since any transaction in the bitcoin blockchain is traceable. That is why the bitcoin blockchain is considered a pseudo-anonymous network, since the transactions that occur in it are fully accessible and transparent to all, but the author in most cases is anonymous.
Jun 26, 2020 · Achieving reasonable anonymity with Bitcoin can be quite complicated and perfect anonymity may be impossible. As Bitcoin.org put it, Bitcoin is designed to allow its users to send and receive payments with an acceptable level of privacy as well as any other form of money. Nov 18, 2015 · It’s less obvious to many, however, why Bitcoin is not really anonymous by default, and what can be done to de-anonymize Bitcoin users – and what Bitcoin users can do to reclaim their privacy. Below is an advanced beginners guide to get a better understanding of the nuances of Bitcoin and anonymity. Jul 15, 2020 · The network difficulty for the Bitcoin network spiked over 9.8% on Monday bringing the difficulty to its highest point ever. The record high of 17.35 trillion makes it much harder for bitcoin To characterize the anonymity of Bitcoin’s P2P network, we need to model three key aspects of the system: the net-work topology, the spreading protocol, and the adversary’s capabilities. 2.1 Network Model The Bitcoin P2P network contains two classes of nodes: servers and clients. Clients are nodes that do not accept in-
May 26, 2020 · Well, the short answer is: not exactly. Conceptionally, anonymity is pseudonymity combined with unlinkability. That means, I am only truly anonymous if my interactions with the network that I do under my pseudonym cannot be tied to each other by someone else. That is not the case in Bitcoin. Bitcoin is pseudonymous and not anonymous.
Thanks to the use of TOR (The Onion Router) Network, bitcoin nodes are now becoming completely anonymous to run. According to data from Bitnodes , the first two weeks of January have seen the number of anonymous nodes increase from 2.1% to 19.7%, which is the largest contribution that the TOR network has ever had. anonymity - To what extent would Bitcoin be private
Jan 02, 2019 · Wasabi wallet is a complete gamechanger for Bitcoin privacy, anonymity and fungibility. It is brand new and has just released version 1.0.5 which you can download here. Wasabi wallet was created
Jul 15, 2020 · The network difficulty for the Bitcoin network spiked over 9.8% on Monday bringing the difficulty to its highest point ever. The record high of 17.35 trillion makes it much harder for bitcoin


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Indonesia to boost trade ties with Vietnam
Economic trade ties between Vietnam and Indonesia are expected to be strengthened so as to improve trade activities with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). According to Indonesian Trade Minister Mr Enggartiasto Lukita, the strategy is to improve the strength of Vietnam’s position as Indonesia’s main regional chain of supply in ASEAN.
In this article, we would be analysing the strengthening of trade ties between Indonesia and Vietnam and also what it could mean for the two countries as well as ASEAN.
Indonesian Trade Minister Mr Enggartiasto Lukita mentioned that it only made sense that Indonesia should cooperate withVietnam instead of directly competing with the nation. This statement was issued during the seventh Indonesia–Vietnam Joint Commission on Economic, Science, and Technical Cooperation (JC-ESTC) held on Saturday, 12 August 2017.
During the JC- ESTC event, the Indonesian representatives talked about access to the Vietnamese market with many products such as medicines, coal, wagyu beef, eggs and many more. On the other hand, the Vietnamese counterparts mentioned about Indonesia’s trade safety policy, horticulture imports, and local contents.
Mr Enggartiasto Lukita stated that Vietnam is third largest market in the ASEAN region, which is right behind Indonesia and Philippines, which has about 93.3 million people and has a rapid growth in its middle class of about seventy percent.
It is critical for Indonesia to partner Vietnam not only because it is a country of massive economic potential but also how it is starting to open its borders more to foreign investments in the form of bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with many of its neighbouring countries.
Some Indonesian firms run businesses in Vietnam’s property, cement and coal sectors while Vietnamese firms are interested in Indonesia’s coal industry.
Indonesia has observed a trade deficit with Vietnam from 2012 to 2016 with the largest deficit of US$966.5 million occurring in 2014 before improving to $182.6 million, last year.
Total trade reached $6.2 billion last year, with Indonesia exporting $3 billion, dominated by many items such as copper, pepper, ground fruits, coconuts, coal, palm oil and its products.
In the first five months this year in 2017 however, Indonesia has managed a trade surplus of $5.1 million
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ILLINOIS/Missouri – Due to the extreme weather conditions caused by Winter Storm Jayden, the U.S. Postal Service will temporarily suspend regular delivery service throughout the Gateway District for Thursday, January 31, 2019, to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees. Specific information about the areas affected is being posted to the USPS Service Alerts page: http://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/.
In the Gateway District, mail delivery will be suspended for all or portions of the 618, 619, 623, 625, 626, 627, 634, 635 ZIP Codes in Illinois and Missouri. Post Offices will remain open to offer retail services.
Customers can call 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777) to obtain information, including available, alternate Post Office retail locations, or check the Postal Service website: www.usps.com. The Post Office is always open at www.usps.com. The Postal Service’s smartphone app makes it even quicker to use the most popular functions on usps.com, anytime and anywhere.
Postal employees are reminded to call the National Employee Emergency Hotline at 1-888-363-7462 for updated reporting information.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.


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Drake will reportedly switch his sneaker endorsement from Jordan Brand to adidas, which would be a major splash in the basketball world too.
Not only is he the favorite musician of many modern players, but he has worked with the league in various capacities as well. Whether we are discussing his longstanding relationship with the Toronto Raptors or his recent hosting gig at the 2017 NBA Awards Show, he is more than a casual basketball fan.
Beyond his enormous commercial success as a musician, he is also a wildly influential tastemaker who also carries clout in the sneaker world. After signing to the Jordan Brand in 2013, his own brand (OVO) and Jordan have released collaborations that are among the most popular in their collection.
Kanye West took shots at Nike on the song “Facts” when he released his album The Life of Pablo. West, who worked in some capacity with Nike for years before switching his endorsement deal to adidas, rapped that the brand would have nothing without Drizzy.
Without diving into the merits or flaws of such an argument by West, losing the Toronto-born sensation would be a significant shift for the swoosh. Even though such a decision wouldn’t be critical for a powerhouse that is as strong as Nike, it represents an interesting next step for their competitor.
Nate Jones, an expert in the sports business industry, reacted to the news on Thursday (via Twitter):
“Nike still takes the approach that they are an athletic brand and won’t break the bank for endorsement partners outside of that realm. adidas believes they are a brand of ‘creators’ and pay artists like they do athletes. adidas is also letting these artists build signature categories of products — similar to signature athlete deals … Nike has done tons of collabs with artists, but never really gone in on endorsement deals and signature product with artists the way adidas has of late. Almost all of adidas’ cultural turnaround is directly related to their focus on cultural influencers outside of just athletes.”
As suggested by Jones, the willingness to allow an entertainer like Drake the same privileges and paycheck provided to players could have a truly massive impact on the sneaker game.
Each year that passes, the more we’ll see players entering the league who grew up idolizing Drake. With so much talent in the NBA originally from Canada like Andrew Wiggins or Jamal Murray (who are both signed to adidas) and so many fans around the world, players will eventually wear his inevitable signature shoe on the court – assuming he does indeed make the switch.
Even though Nike took over the apparel deal for jerseys on the court and signed a much larger class of rookies this season, this would be a huge step back in the right direction for adidas.


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After announcing the first collaborations as part of its “Moncler Genius” project back in February, Moncler is set to unveil the next chapter of the series. The first collaborations included capsules with London-based designer Craig Green, as well as Hiroshi Fujiwara, Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli and Franceso Ragazzi of Palm Angels.
As it stands, Moncler is remaining tight-lipped on who will participate in the second “Moncler Genius” collection. Announcing the project earlier this year, the Italian label explained that all of the collaborators are “exceptional minds” who have been”chosen on instinct to shape visions of uniqueness.” The full list of collaborators will be announced at a special Moncler event to kick off Milan Fashion Week later today.
In other fashion news, take a look at Harry Style’s in Gucci’s Cruise 2019 tailoring campaign.
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Back in the early days of the internet-capable mobile phone – and by this I mean 2006, the pre-iPhone(s aapl) era – Opera Mini came out, and it was the best way to surf the web from such a device. The browser uses server-side compression to squeeze data by up to 90 percent, so it meant faster page loads and less data usage.
That was then, this is now. But it turns out the popularity of Opera Mini is still growing like mad – in fact, last December saw the biggest month-on-month growth for the tiny browser in its history, up 6.3 percent from 195.5 million to 207.8 million users. The Mini servers handled more than 143 billion pages and compressed more than 12 petabytes of data during the month. What gives?
The answer is a bit of a mixed bag. Firstly, the big growth in mobile internet usage these days is in emerging markets, and data can be much more costly – relative to earnings – in such markets than in the ‘developed’ world. This is why other players are also adopting compression techniques, such as Blaast and, somewhat controversially, Nokia(s nok).
As Norway’s Opera says in its latest State of the Mobile Web report, issued on Thursday, the earliest adopters of Opera Mini were in Europe and the U.S., with Asia hot on their heels. Adoption in Latin America took off back in 2011, and Africa in particular saw growth at the end of last year. Bear in mind that we’re now talking those areas where internet-capable feature phones and low-end smartphones are becoming people’s first computers.
Interestingly, Opera says 32 percent of its users are now on smartphones – that takes into account the 21.5 million users of Opera Mobile, which is designed specifically for smartphones, but as Opera Mini users outnumber Opera Mobile users roughly 10:1 that percentage spells big-time adoption of the lightweight browser on smartphones, too.
But there is another reason why December was so hot for Opera Mini, and that’s good old seasonality. As Pål Unanue-Zahl, the man behind Opera report, told me: “December is generally a strong month for the sale of mobile phones and a lot of users are discovering the internet on their newly acquired smartphones.”
Either way, Opera Mini is still doing really well, and its popularity should serve as a barometer for anyone designing apps for the emerging markets. Remember, not everyone has the option of being a data hound, and lightweight still rules for many.


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Since July 29, the ACFTU's drive to set up union branches in Wal-Mart stores in China has snowballed rapidly, with a total of 17 union branches now having been formed in Wal-Mart stores in cities around the country. They include three unions in Fuzhou and one in Quanzhou, Fujian Province; one in Nanjing and another in Shanghai; three in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province; two in Shenyang and three in Dalian, Liaoning Province; and others in Jinan and Qingdao, Shandong Province, and in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province.
Wal-Mart first entered China's domestic market in 1996 and currently employs around 32,000 workers in some 60 retail stores nationwide. Since 2003, the company has been under sustained pressure from the ACFTU to permit the formation of union branches in its China stores. In November 2004, the company caved in and publicly stated: "Should associates [i.e. employees] request formation of a union, Wal-Mart China would respect their wishes and honour its obligation under China's Trade Union Law." For the next year and a half, however, the ACFTU tried in vain to persuade Wal-Mart to cooperate in the actual establishment of union branches in its China stores.
That all changed after Hu Jintao, China's president and Communist Party leader, directly intervened in March of this year. A lengthy article published on August 15 in the Beijing daily newspaper Xin Jing Bao (New Capital News) explains why the current spate of Wal-Mart union branches in China has emerged so suddenly and unexpectedly:
"According to the ACFTU's records, On March 14 this year CPC Central Committee General Secretary Hu Jintao issued instructions on a report titled A Situation Analysis on the Factors of Instability in Foreign-invested Enterprises in China's Coastal Area, and Some Proposed Countermeasures. Hu Jintao ordered: "Do a better job of building Party organizations and trade unions in foreign-invested enterprises." This created a new and opportune moment for union building in foreign enterprises. On March 16 the ACFTU instructed its staff to study Hu Jintao's comments, and it set the target of unionizing 60 percent or more of the country's foreign-invested enterprises by the end of 2006, and 80 percent or more by the end of 2007."
ACFTU Fulfils its Quota – Wal-Mart Accepts Fait Accompli
On Saturday, July 29, 25 Wal-Mart workers in the city of Quanzhou, Fujian Province, formed a seven-member trade union committee, thus breaking the long-standing absence of unions in Wal-Mart's China stores. On August 4, 42 more workers at a Wal-Mart store in Shenzhen formed a union. The retail giant saw its third union in China set-up the following day in its Xinjiekou store in Nanjing, where 31 employees elected a local university graduate to head their trade union committee. Several hours later, another union was formed by 12 workers at a second Wal-Mart store in Shenzhen; and then on August 8, 27 employees of yet another store in Shenzhen voted to form the company's fifth union branch.
All the union branches are relatively small, with around 25 to 35 members each. But what mainly distinguishes them, according to official Chinese reports, is that they were all set up "on the initiative of the workers themselves", and in accordance with provisions of the PRC Trade Union Law of 2002 mandating the formation of unions in enterprises employing more than 25 workers. Regulations enacted by the Guangdong government in 2004 lowered the union-building threshold still further, in that province, to as few as 10 workers in a single enterprise.
For the first couple of weeks, Wal-Mart representatives remained uncharacteristically silent about the sudden unionization drive within the company's China stores. On August 9, however, the official Xinhua News Agency quoted the vice president of Wal-Mart China, Li Chengjie, as saying it wanted to cooperate with the ACFTU "in a more effective and harmonious way." The same day, the ACFTU warned Wal-Mart not to retaliate against workers who form unions. The group, "led by the Communist Party of China and backed by the government, will take measures to protect these workers," Xinhua reported, paraphrasing Guo Wencai, director of the ACFTU's department of grassroots organizing. Wal-Mart then asked for direct negotiations with the ACFTU and requested that "no media" be allowed to attend such meetings. The 12 most recent Wal-Mart union branches have all been formed over the past week, and it now seems clear that the ACFTU's goal is to unionize all 60 Wal-Mart stores around the country.
Wal-Mart Finally Finds a Union that it can Live with
However, the company has publicly implied that some of its workers may have been bribed by the ACFTU into applying to set up union branches. In an August 5 interview with a mainland newspaper, 21 Shiji Jingji Baodao (21st Century Economic Report), Ms. Wang Pei, Deputy CEO of Wal-Mart's China Division, stated that Fujian ACFTU officials had given unspecified "gifts" to the company's workers in Quanzhou prior to their formation of the first union branch on July 29. While flatly rejecting this allegation, a spokesman for the Fujian ACFTU did not deny that the gifts had been given: their purpose, he said, had been merely "to help the workers through the current season of hot weather". He added that the ACFTU had given similar (as yet unidentified) gifts to the employees of other companies located in the same building as the Wal-Mart store in Quanzhou.
Finally, on August 10, a senior Wal-Mart spokesman, Jonathan Dong, confirmed that the company had agreed to open up its China stores to the state-run union. "We're working now to achieve that goal," he said. Asked to explain why the company had made this concession when it refuses to allow a union presence in its stores in all other countries, Dong revealingly replied: "The union in China is fundamentally different from unions in the West…. The [ACFTU] has made it clear that its goal is to work with employers, not promote confrontation."
Attempts by Chinese workers to form independent unions remain strictly prohibited by law in China, and the organizers of such efforts are usually sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. The principal role of the ACFTU over the past few decades has been to act, in essence, as the labour-discipline enforcement arm of the Party and government. It rarely if ever intervenes on the side of workers when disputes arise with management or in cases of worker protest and unrest.
But regardless of whether or not the ACFTU's new union branches can actually deliver any tangible benefits for the Wal-Mart workforce in future, the fact that the company's worldwide "no unions" policy has now been breached clearly opens a hornet's nest for the company's operations elsewhere. According to Bloomberg News:
By allowing unions into its Chinese stores, "Wal-Mart's applying a complete double standard here," said Nu Wexler, a spokesman for Wal-Mart Watch, a coalition of labor, religious, community and environmental groups that wants the company to boost wages and benefits. "Why are they comfortable with it in one country and fighting it in another?"
[Sources: 21 Shiji Jingji Baodao (August 5), China Daily (8 August 2006), Xin Jing Bao (August 15), Reuters (9 and 11 August), Xinhua News Agency (9 and 15 August), Associated Press (9 and 10 August), Agence France-Presse (8 August), Bloomberg News (August 10), and China Business Weekly (12 December 2004).]
15 August 2006


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India Beats China, US To Become World’s #1 In Digital Payments; 71% Of All Payments Will Be Digital!
According to a report, next few years are going to see rapid increase in digital payments. Also it is going to account for a 71.7 percent share of all the payments in India by 2025.
According to the report by ACI Worldwide, only 28.3 percent share will be occupied by cash and cheques, the other payment alternatives.
India Beats China In Digital payments
According to the report, in the year 2020 India with 25.5 billion real-time payments transactions was ahead of China 15.7 billion real-time payments transactions
Overall breakup in payments as of 2020:
- Paper based Payments System – 61.4 percent
- Instant Payments – 15.6 percent
- Other Electronic Payments – 22.9 percent
Projected share by 2025 :
- Paper based Payments System – 28.3 percent
- Instant Payments – 37.1 percent
- Other Electronic Payments – 34.6 percent
The report said that by 2024, in the overall electronic transactions space, the share of real time payments will exceed 50 percent.
Kaushik Roy, Vice-President said that the proliferation of rapid payments and digitisation as well as the goal of financial inclusion is realized due to the synergy between the government, the regulator, banks, and fintechs in India.
The New ‘Digital’ Payment Ecosystem
There are many consumer and business behaviour changes due to the pandemic and all the entities of the payment ecosystem such as banks merchants and intermediaries are adapting quickly and prioritising the shift to digital amongst all other priorities.
Top five countries generating real-time transactions according to the report:-
- South Korea
Mobile wallet which was 18.9 percent in 2018, 40.6 percent in 2019, is at its historic high of 46 percent and we gauge that this is nowhere the apotheosis.
Also the likes of Brazil, Mexico and Malaysia where people are traditionally inclined to make payments by cash are also in the list of the fastest adopters of mobile wallets.


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Mark Zuckerberg had a secret tool to delete his Messenger messages after he had sent them. After being caught, Facebook now says it will give everyone access to that privacy tool.
According to TechCrunch, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg was able to retroactively delete all traces of messages, after they had been sent through Facebook Messenger. Last Friday, Facebook was caught red-handed, Mark’s secret tool was uncovered, and now the company promises to introduce the feature to everyone in the coming months.
“We will now be making a broader delete message feature available. This may take some time. And until this feature is ready, we will no longer be deleting any executives’ messages. We should have done this sooner—and we’re sorry that we did not.”
A Facebook spokesperson also explained that the “unsend” feature was given to a select group of top Facebook executives. The feature was developed to prevent personal communications from leaking, in the wake of the Sony hack of 2014.
Anyway, it’s nice to know it’s coming, but one will forever be reminded that we would have never even known about the ability to delete sent messages should Facebook had not been caught…
Are you looking forward to the feature?
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Facebook has announced several new shopping updates across its apps, including the expansion of Shops to WhatsApp and Marketplace.
Facebook has announced the official launch of Live Audio Rooms, one of the social audio features it announced recently.
Facebook has announced several new features that will help Group admins manage and moderate their groups more effectively.


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Project ARA is a name we remember back from two years ago, when Google announced some pretty ambitious plans, for making its own modular phone. It was what I would like to call the "Geekiest Dream" of smartphone afficionados. But that dream could well be over, according to a Reuters report, which says Google has shelved the plans for Project ARA.
The news outlet reports that Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group, aka ATAP, which is now handled by Rick Osterloh (former President of Motorola Mobility and an ex-Googler), decided to axe Project ARA in favour of a unified Google hardware brand.
We saw some reports yesterday that say that Google is rebranding its Nexus phones, under the Pixel brand, and that the HTC Sailfish Nexus and HTC Marlin Nexus will be called Pixel and Pixel XL respectively. So, it wouldn't surprise us if Project ARA was abandoned, because the company wanted its ATAP team to design the Pixel phones and tablets.
Reuters also says that it spoke to Google employees familiar with Project aRA, and that they think that the Mountain View company could be working with other manufacturers to bring Project ARA to the market. Google could license some patents to OEMs for doing so, and if this is true, the project is not completely abandoned.
But don't get your hopes up, like we did last year, when Google wanted to test Project ARA’s market in Puerto Rico, and instead we now stand at a point where ARA is on the verge of going poof. Here's my take on why Google may have abandoned Project ARA. There are already devices, with modular accessories which kind of do what ARA set out to achieve, but only slightly. The main problem is the cost of these mods.
Earlier this year, LG made the headlines with its 2016 flagship device, the LG G5 which came with modular accessories. These were camera mods, and a bunch of accessories, including a replacable battery mod which slides out of the bottom of the phone. While I found the design of the LG G5 to be dull, the mods for the device were quite intriguing.
Motorola, on the other hand, had a much more impressive line of modular accessories, called Moto Mods, for its flagship phones, Moto Z and Moto Z Force. The mods which included a projector, a speaker and camera mods, snapped on to the back panel of the phone to transform the device into a much more powerful one. Even the recently announced Moto Z Play with its Hasselblad camera mod, is pretty impressive.
But I don't think any phone comes close to what Project ARA was originally designed for. Attaching mods to the phone (as described above) to give it some new features, when you need it is cool, but swapping a hardware part to give it some functionality was way cooler. I think Project ARA also had the potential to let the user upgrade it with new hardware, similar to what desktop users do with their PC. You could probably buy some new mods and use them with ARA, instead of upgrading an entire device. It was this interchangeability, the customization it offers, which made us look at Project ARA in awe.


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Cost of indemnity cover rises 20% for law firms
Small law firms are increasingly struggling to meet the cost of professional indemnity insurance.
PII, which is compulsory for lawyers, protects them against the cost of defending negligence claims by clients. Law firms have until October 1 to secure PII cover before the annual deadline.
But experts warn that the rising cost of the cover is putting a strain on smaller law firms.
Rising: The cost of Pll cover is putting a strain on smaller law firms
It has been pushed up by a rise in the number of claims made since the recession began, with many clients looking to recover steep falls in the value of assets, citing poor legal advice.
Insurers are also looking to pay for the risk of insuring small law firms by putting up costs.
Syscap, an independent financial provider, says it has seen the average premium for law firms with three partners or fewer jump nearly 20 per cent, rising from £42,300 last year to £50,100 this year.
Law firms that cannot secure cover are put into the ‘Assigned Risk Pool’, which means they pay typically 27½ per cent of the firm’s turnover for the cover, threatening their profitability.
Philip White, head of Syscap, says: ‘Small firms are increasingly coming to us for help funding their PII renewal. Very few are able to cover this hike in premiums.’
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CDC Provides Salmonella Investigation Update
The CDC has posted an update regarding a multistate outbreak of Salmonella linked to contact with poultry in backyard flocks. Since the last update on July 19, 2019, an additional 235 ill people have been added to this investigation. Throughout 49 states, 1,003 ill people have been reported, with 175 hospitalized. Two deaths have been reported, one in Ohio and one in Texas. The CDC reported that an increase in Salmonella infection linked to live poultry is typically seen in the spring and summer, due to more people purchasing chicks, ducklings, and other live poultry.
The largest number of Salmonella illnesses in outbreaks linked to backyard poultry occurred in 2017, resulting in 1,120 cases and one death. People who fell ill in the 2019 outbreak reported purchasing chicks and ducklings from...
Outbreak of Drug Resistant Salmonella Linked to Contact with Pig Ear Dog Treats
The CDC and FDA are advising consumers not to buy or feed pig ear dog treats to pets, including any that may already be in homes. People may contract Salmonella after handling the treats or caring for dogs that have eaten the pig ears. Dogs may also become sick after consumption. A total of 127 people infected with the outbreak strains of Salmonella have been reported from 33 states. While 26 people have been hospitalized, no deaths have been reported. About 21% of reported illnesses are among children younger than the age of 5.
Laboratory and traceback evidence indicated that contact with pig ear dog treats from many different suppliers is likely the source of the Salmonella outbreak. State health and regulatory officials in several states along with...
Final Investigation of Salmonella Infections Linked to Raw Turkey
The final public update by the CDC of a Salmonella outbreak linked to raw turkey products has been released due to the number of newly reported illnesses decreasing. About a month has gone by since people reported getting sick. Illnesses in this outbreak occurred from November 20, 2017 to March 31, 2019. However, consumers can continue to get sick because this Salmonella strain is present throughout the turkey industry, including raw turkey products, packaged raw pet food, and live turkeys. The CDC stated that it will continue to monitor the Pulsenet database for any new illnesses, and public health partners will continue to investigate any newly reported illnesses.
State and local health departments interviewed people about foods consumed and other exposures in the week before they became ill. Of the 200 sick people interviewed...
CDC Investigating Listeria Outbreak Linked to Deli-Sliced Meats and Cheeses
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating a multistate outbreak of Listeria infections linked to deli-sliced meats and cheeses. Eight people have reportedly been infected and hospitalized across four states (Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania) and one death has been reported from Michigan. The affected individuals report eating different types and brands of product, including meats and cheeses purchased from and sliced at deli counters in multiple retail locations. A single, common supplier of deli products has not been identified.
There were two cases reported in early 2019, and the other six were reported from November 2016 to February 2018. During an initial investigation of three cases in...
CDC Suspects Ground Beef is Source of Latest E. coli Outbreak
As of Friday, April 12, 2019, 109 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O103 have been reported from six states. The CDC is reporting the 109 illnesses that the PulseNet laboratory network has confirmed are part of this outbreak. States are now investigating additional illnesses that might be a part of this outbreak.
Illnesses began on dates from March 2, 2019, to March 6, 2019. Ill people range in age from less than 1 year to 83 years, with a median age of 18. Of those infected, 53 percent are female. Out of 81 people with information available, 17, or 21 percent, have been hospitalized. No deaths and no cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome have been reported at this time. Illnesses that occurred after ...
FDA Investigating Outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 Infections Linked to Romaine Lettuce from California
The FDA, along with CDC, state and local agencies, is investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses linked to romaine lettuce grown in California this fall. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) are also coordinating with U.S. agencies as they investigate a similar outbreak in Canada.
As of December 13, FDA has further refined the traceback investigation down to the farm level, which narrows the list of romaine growing areas that FDA recommends consumers and retailers avoid down to the following counties: Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Barbara.
San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz and Ventura counties in California have been removed from the list at this time. Other growing areas, for example Florida, Mexico and the ...
JBS Tolleson, Inc. Recalls Raw Beef Products Due to Possible Salmonella Newport Contamination
Class I Recall Health Risk: High
Editor’s note: This release is being reissued as an expansion of the Oct. 4, 2018 recall. The scope of this recall expansion now includes an additional 5,156,076 pounds of raw beef products, which were produced and packed from July 26, 2018 to Sept. 7, 2018. FSIS is concerned that some product may be frozen and in consumers’ freezers. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.
Editor’s Note: FSIS and our public health partners, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state public health officials, are investigating a Salmonella Newport outbreak. Please note that FSIS is continuing to investigate illnesses associated with this widespread outbreak, and additional product from other companies may also ...
National Turkey Federation Statement on CDC Investigation of Salmonella Reading
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) posted an update today to their investigation announced in July into multistate illnesses attributed to Salmonella Reading. Epidemiologic evidence suggests raw turkey products and raw turkey pet food are possible sources. No specific product, brand, facility or company has been linked to the illnesses, nor is the CDC recommending consumers stop eating any turkey products.
The National Turkey Federation (NTF) released the following statement on the investigation:
“Food safety is a top priority for the turkey industry, and we take great pride in providing safe, nutritious and delicious food for consumers. Although NTF members work diligently to prevent foodborne bacteria on their farms and in processing, it is well known that bacteria are naturally present in the environment. As a result, raw meat and...
NCC Statement on CDC Investigation of Salmonella Infantis
Attributable to Tom Super, National Chicken Council spokesperson:
“We are aware that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating illnesses attributed to Salmonella Infantis, reported in multiple states over the last six months.”
The CDC says epidemiological evidence suggests raw chicken products and raw chicken pet food are possible sources. No specific product, brand, facility or company has been linked to the illnesses, nor is the CDC recommending consumers stop eating chicken.
“The chicken industry is cooperating fully with the CDC and USDA in their investigation...
Sold-Out Global Protein Summit a Smash Hit in Chicago
Cattlemen Participate in White House Event Spotlighting Federal Overreach
EPA, USDA Announce Agreement on Promoting Biofuels
Rabobank: A Global Update on African Swine Fever
Throughout the World, Convenience Stores Are a Rapidly Growing Venue for U.S. Red Meat
URNER BARRY INDICES


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News Organisations can enjoy all the collaboration benefits of Workspace, regardless of their email provider, for free
News Legacy G Suite users have been able to continue using their custom domain accounts for free for ten years
News Hackers have found a way to use Google's comment function to dupe victims into clicking on malicious links
News The tech giant recommends that users transition to the new service by the end of September
News Full-spectrum key management solution allows customer-controlled import and export of cryptographic keys
News The move means all of the tech giant's three billion users can access the full Google Workspace platform
News We've rounded up all of the biggest announcements from Google's in-person developer conference
News The app takes photos of your bills, receipts and papers and AI organises them into Google Drive
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Apple has been cleared of wrongdoing in the recent antitrust case on iPod and iTunes Store lock-in, The Verge reports. The decade-old class-action lawsuit accused Apple of putting procedures in place in iTunes 7.0 that would remove music found on iPods from competing music services. Apple, for its part, claimed that the measures were simply “extra security” that the company added to its iPod and iTunes platforms in 2006. The lawsuit originally asked for damaged of more than $350 million to be distributed across 8 million consumers who bought affected iPod models between September 2006 and March 2009. Had Apple been found guilty of violating antitrust laws, however, the company could have potentially been liable for damages of more than $1 billion.
In a unanimous decision today, the eight-person jury in the trial rules that iTunes 7.0 was a “genuine product improvement” that was good for consumers, rather than a deliberate attempt by Apple to thwart competition by limiting purchased music to only Apple’s platform, as plaintiffs in the case had tried to argue. During the trial, Apple had repeatedly compared its iTunes and iPod ecosystem to integrated systems such as video game consoles, stating that it had simply built all of the pieces to work together. Further, the company’s lawyers noted that the DRM that ultimately locked out competitors was a necessary requirement of Apple’s deals with the major record companies, and that Apple was contractually obligated under the terms of those deals to patch any security holes that could have led to piracy of purchased content.
Apple Pay now supports cards that “represent about 90 percent of the credit card purchase volume in the United States,” Apple has told The New York Times. Apple has repeatedly and consistently announced Apple Pay partnerships with more companies — ten more banks will back the mobile payment option today. Though the total amount of Apple Pay transactions on the supported cards is still a small number, the report notes that all of the partnerships “suggest that Apple has generated more traction for the service than any competing service.”
Speaking of competing services, Re/code reports that Samsung is discussing a deal with LoopPay to launch its own wireless mobile payment system in 2015. A deal would enable Samsung smartphone users to pay by waving their phones, though a source notes “the deal could still fall apart.” LoopPay’s technology mimics a credit card swipe, conceivably allowing it to work in more locations than Apple Pay. LoopPay CEO Will Graylin said his company is talking with Visa about how to make the payment process more secure — the company looks to use tokenization in its payments, as Apple Pay does.
Apple is now enforcing more stringent requirements for case manufacturers in its Made for iPhone (MFi) program, 9to5Mac reports. The new requirements are intended to ensure that cases provide better protection for Apple devices from impact, as well as providing proper glass coverage. Case makers will now be required to ensure that devices are protected from drops of up to 1 meter onto a hard surface, from any possible device orientation. Cases will also be required to protect an iPhone, iPad, or iPod’s glass when resting flat on a surface such as a table, providing a buffer of at least 1mm between the cover glass and a flat surface — this can be accomplished either by including full screen protection or having the front lip of the case protrude slightly to keep the glass from touching a flat surface.
The report also notes that Apple is now listing a number of restricted substances and materials in order to lessen the environmental impact of MFi cases. The list of newly restricted substances includes “Formaldehyde, Endangered species of flora and fauna, PFOS, PFOA, PBDE, PBB, and Phthalates.” While companies are not required to be part of Apple’s MFi program simply to produce cases for Apple devices, Apple’s licensing program provides certification for third-party accessories, allowing manufacturers to include a “Made-for-iPhone/iPad/iPod” logo on their packaging.
Apple has announced the Chinese release of the cellular models of the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, noting that both versions will be available in China “starting this week.” Both tablets are now available on Apple’s Chinese online store. A single cellular version of each model provides support for the Chinese TD-LTE and FDD-LTE standards, as well as TD-SCDMA, DC-HSDPA, HSPA+ and other fast network technologies, providing cellular connectivity in both China and most other countries.
Apple has released the second beta of iOS 8.2 to registered developers, following up on the first 8.2 beta released with the debut of WatchKit last month. The latest beta features a build number of 12D445d and appears to contain mostly minor tweaks and fixes, particularly focused on enhancements to WatchKit as developers prepare apps for next year’s debut of the Apple Watch.
Apple has announced the first group of enterprise apps born out of the landmark Apple-IBM partnership. Targeted at enterprise organizations in the banking, retail, insurance, financial services, telecommunications, government and airline industries, IBM MobileFirst for iOS solutions are designed to strengthen the role of the iPad and iPhone for use in large-scale business applications. The first IBM clients with MobileFirst solutions include Citi, Air Canada, Sprint and Banorte.
The IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps are delivered in a secure environment directly to enterprise customers, rather than appearing on the App Store, and are tailored to meet specific organizational needs and integrate with core enterprise processes. However, IBM provides a framework where apps can be easily customized for any organization and deployed, managed, and upgraded via IBM’s iOS-specific cloud services platform. The first suite of apps includes flight planning and passenger services for the airline industry, mobile client profile and portfolio access for the banking and financial industry, retention management for insurance companies, caseworker and law enforcement applications for government, and sales and inventory systems for the retail industry. IBM is continuing to develop additional applications that will address various mobile data and analysis needs across a variety of enterprise markets.
Apple and IBM are also providing additional services related to the IBM MobileFirst for iOS platform, including enhanced mobile device management through IBM’s enterprise cloud systems, streamlined end-to-end procurement to allow enterprise organizations to properly manage the lifecycle of their iOS device hardware and keep pace with the latest device releases, and AppleCare for Enterprise to provide 24/7 telephone support from Apple for IT departments and end users, with on-site hardware service delivered by IBM.
Apple has officially released iOS 8.1.2 to the public, a minor maintenance release that notes “bug fixes” as well as addressing a problem with missing ringtones previously purchased through the iTunes Store. The ringtone issue has been noted in an Apple Support article, which provides instructions for either restoring missing tones by syncing with the associated iTunes library containing those tones, or visiting http://itunes.com/restore-tones from Safari on an affected iOS device after updating.
iOS 8.1.2 is available as an over-the-air update or by updating via iTunes on a Mac or PC.
Bose products might be making a return to Apple Stores, according to a new report from French blog iGen.fr. A report earlier this fall speculated that Apple’s acquisition of Beats may have caused the company to end its retail relationship with Bose, possibly due to the exclusive deal between Bose and the NFL that prohibited players form wearing other branded headphones during televised interviews. This latest report suggests that Apple and Bose may have now come to some kind of new agreement and that Bose products may begin reappearing on Apple Store shelves as early as next week.
Update: A number of Bose products have indeed turned up again on Apple’s online store.
Former Apple global supply manager Paul Devine has been sentenced to one year in prison for selling confidential information to Asian suppliers that they were able to use to negotiate more favorable deals with the company, the Associated Press reports. Devine pled guilty to wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering three years ago, agreeing at the time to give up around $2.28 million in money and property. While the charges carried a potential maximum prison sentence of 20 years, Devine has ultimately been sentenced to only a year in prison. However, he has also been ordered to repay $4.5 million – twice what was offered during his guilty plea. The U.S. Attorney’s office declined to provide any reasons for the lengthy delay in Devine’s sentencing, which was originally scheduled for June 6, 2011. Devine was a global supply manager at Apple for five years prior to his arrest in 2010.
Apple has announced its Best of 2014 picks on iTunes, a list that chooses the best content selected by Apple’s iTunes Editorial team in each of the various sections of the App Store. Apple’s 2014 App of the Year was Elevate - Brain Training (free) by Elevate, with Instagram’s Hyperlapse (free) coming in as runner-up. Other notable runners up for Apps include Yahoo News Digest (free), SwiftKey Keyboard (free), 1Password (free), and Camera+ ($3).
The Top Game of the Year was Sirvo’s Threes ($3), with Leo’s Fortune ($5) by 1337 & Senri as the runner-up in the Games category. Other notable runners-up in the category include Monument Valley ($4), Hitman Go ($5), and Smash Hit (free).
Apple is reportedly planning to open 500 ‘iOS’ retail stores in India, according to The Economic Times. While Apple has had a presence in India since 2011, it has not been a “mainline” brand there, and has relied exclusively on two major distributors and a collection of independent authorized resellers. This new initiative would see the company opening a large number of its own stores, albeit in the smaller 300-600-square foot range as compared to its usual 2,000-square foot Apple Stores. The new stores would be sited mostly in smaller towns and cities, the report says, and it seems likely that the focus would be on iPhones, iPads, and iPods, rather than Macs. The report notes that Apple also plans to increase direct advertising spending in the country.
A new job posting on Apple’s web site suggests that the company is looking to expand upon certain features in the iOS Maps application for “crowdsourcing improvements to the Maps experience.” The job opening, for a “Maps Community Client Software Engineer,” appears to be primarily focused on the user interface and architecture for the “Report a Problem” feature in the iOS Maps app, but also interestingly notes that the position will involve work on frameworks and plugins to integrate Maps with Siri and Passbook to “extend and enhance the feedback experience.” Apple has struggled with data accuracy since the inception of its own Maps app in iOS 6, and although the company has become much more responsive to user reports in recent months, it appears to also be seeking to streamline the reporting process itself. [via 9to5Mac]
In recognition of Computer Science Education Week, Apple will be running various free programming workshops and other events at its Retail Stores throughout the U.S. from Dec. 8-14, including a special one-hour introduction to the basics of computer programming on Dec. 11 for Code.org’s Hour of Code campaign. The annual campaign, sponsored by non-profit website Code.org, aims at teaching basic programming techniques to students around the world through free workshops. In addition to the programming workshops, a number of other individual special events are being held throughout the week at major Apple Retail Stores around the world, including Tokyo, Chicago, London, New York, Berlin, and Osaka. [via MacRumors]
Apple has been accused of deleting music from users’ iPods that had been downloaded from competing music services, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal. In the recently commenced class-action antitrust suit against Apple regarding iPod and iTunes Store lock-in, lawyers for the consumers told jurors that between 2007 and 2009, Apple knowingly had procedures in place to delete music found on iPods from competing music services without telling users. When users who had downloaded music from a rival service attempted to sync an iPod to their iTunes library, an error message would be displayed by iTunes instructing the user to restore to factory settings, a process that removes all content on the portable device and then reloads it from the user’s iTunes library. This process caused songs from rival services to disappear, the lawyers said, further alleging that Apple directed the system “not to tell users the problem.” The plaintiffs in the case claim that this demonstrates that Apple was stifling competition for music players and downloads from other services; they are seeking $350 million in damages based on the claim that Apple’s lock-in forced them to pay more for music players by being forced to keep buying iPods rather than being able to consider competing options.
Apple responded by stating the moves were legitimate security measures, with the company’s security director, Augustin Farrugia, testifying that Apple did not provide detailed information as the company doesn’t “need to give users too much information,” and doesn’t “want to confuse users” – an approach that is typical in the software designed by the company. Farrugia noted that Apple was “very paranoid” about protecting iTunes in light of hackers that were working to crack the FairPlay copy protection used by iTunes and the iPod, and that updates which removed non-Apple music files were intended to protect customers. “The system was totally hacked,” Farrugia said. E-mails from Steve Jobs presented in evidence revealed similar security concerns.
Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine was recently profiled in GQ as one of the publication’s “Men of the Year,” where he provided some additional commentary on Apple’s acquisition of his company. Iovine explains that he approached Apple more than two years ago, telling them that he wanted to work for “Steve’s company” and nobody else, as he believed them to be a company capable of of understanding popular culture.
I convinced them that they had to buy this company. I said, ‘I don’t want to work for anybody else. I want to do this at Apple. I know I can achieve this at Apple. I don’t want to shop it. I wanna come here, to Steve’s company. I know you guys; I know what you’re capable of; I know you get popular culture. I know you have a hole in music right now; let me plug it.’ I think it was two years before they said yeah.
Iovine describes the “hole” in music as Apple’s need to do something “after Steve died” to respond to the rise in streaming services, and that he felt Beats Music was the right fit for Apple to get into the streaming business. The article also goes on to note that he spends time at Apple headquarters each week working on “this music service we’re doing.”
A decade-old series of lawsuits regarding iPod and iTunes Store lock-in is nearing trial, according to the New York Times. Having circulated in various Bay Area federal courts for years, the collection of lawsuits was amalgamated, accusing Apple of using Digital Rights Management (DRM) on iTunes Store purchases to lock customers into continuing to purchase iPods from Apple, rather than cheaper alternatives. The report notes that previously-unreleased e-mails from Steve Jobs during that timeframe will likely factor into the evidence, revealing anticompetitive statements made by Jobs regarding ensuring that the iPod could not be used with competitors’ music stores. While Apple dropped DRM completely from iTunes music purchases in 2009, the class-action lawsuit dates back to when the alleged lock-in was occurring, and could result in damages being awarded to customers who purchased iPods during that time.
With Apple’s contract with Google for default search placement in Safari scheduled to end next year, both Yahoo and Microsoft are now actively courting Apple to be the next default search provider, according to a new report from The Information (subscription required). Google and Apple last renewed the contract in 2010, a deal that reportedly nets Apple around $100m per year. Yahoo and Microsoft both have existing relationships providing data for Apple’s built-in iOS apps, such as stock data and Bing search results, and executives from both have apparently approached Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP of Internet Software and Services to attempt to woo Apple into considering one of them as the default search engine for iOS devices and Macs.
Apple had discussions with Microsoft about having Bing replace Google Search back in 2010, and a report last spring suggested that Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer was already attempting to influence Apple in Yahoo’s direction for some time as well; iOS 8 notably switched away from Yahoo for weather data, opting to get its data from The Weather Channel instead. There is no other indication that Apple is considering making any changes to its current arrangements at this time, and the company is likely to focus on whichever company can provide the best user experience. [via MacRumors]
A new report from The Information (subscription required) as summarized by MacRumors provides some insight on internal issues that Apple has apparently been experiencing in developing new cloud-based features and services. The report specifically alleges that “deep organizational issues” are holding up development on new features for iCloud such as iCloud Drive and iCloud Photo Library. New iCloud features introduced with iOS 8 got off to a somewhat rocky start, with the promised iCloud Photo Library feature basically removed from the iOS 8 release, later to return as a “public beta” in iOS 8.1, whilst a companion desktop app is not expected to be introduced until sometime next year. The report cites interviews “with nearly a dozen current and former Apple employees” that “paint a different picture” from the progress that Apple executives repeatedly claim the company is making in this area. This latest report of problems in the iCloud team resembles recent reports of Apple’s struggles in other areas, including CarPlay delays and problems with iOS 8.0.1 and Apple Maps.
In addition to the new (PRODUCT)RED app collection announced earlier today, Apple has released information on the Product(RED) iTunes Gift Cards that it will be giving out with qualifying purchases on Black Friday, with a percentage of each Gift Card donated to the (RED) Global Fund. Qualifying products include the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, all iPad Air and iPad mini models, iPod touch, iPod nano, Apple TV, all current iMac and MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models, and Beats Headphones and Speakers. iPhone and iPad buyers will receive a $50 gift card, Mac buyers a $100 card, and iPod, Apple TV, and Beats buyers will receive a $25 card. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus purchases are limited to two gift cards per household, as are iPad Air and iPad mini purchases. [via MacRumors]
To mark World AIDS Day 2014, Apple has announced that a collection of (PRODUCT)RED apps will be appearing in the App Store over the next two weeks to generate donations for the (RED) Global Fund to fight AIDS. Updates to popular apps such as GarageBand, Monument Valley, Star Walk, and Threes began appearing on the App Store yesterday, and Apple has now created a special “Apps for (RED)” section of the App Store offering 25 apps containing special new in-app content, in which all proceeds from the purchase will go directly to the (RED) Global Fund. In addition, Apple will be donating a portion of all of its sales at its retail and online stores on Black Friday (Friday, November 28th), and Cyber Monday (Monday, December 1st).
Examples of new (PRODUCT)RED content include an exclusive “(GarageBand)RED” loop pack in Apple’s iOS GarageBand app, an Ida’s (RED) Dream chapter in Monument Valley, a free (PRODUCT)RED theme in Threes, and an in-app purchase of detailed information on the RED Planet: Mars in Star Walk 2. Many of the special (RED) edition features are only available until the end of the promotion.


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An Indian automotive group with global ambitions has taken over an award-winning West Midland components manufacturer.
Mumbai-based Mahindra & Mahindra has acquired 98.6 per cent of the equity of Stokes Forgings, which has two factories in Dudley and one in Walsall, for an undisclosed sum.
The largest supplier of automotive castings in the UK, Stokes makes a wide range of components, including powertrain, chassis, suspension, axle and door parts.
The company, which dates back to 1908 and which employs about 240 people, counts Land Rover, Ford and Jaguar among its customers.
It also does work for Koyo Bearings of Japan, which in turn supplies Toyota, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler.
It picked up business after the 2002 crash of UEF Bromsgrove, the descendent of the former Garringtons forgings business.
Stokes had combined sales of £27 million last year, M&M said in a statement to the Mumbai Stock Exchange yesterday.
Its success in bucking the outsourcing trend by selling products to China resulted in Stokes taking one of the top honours in last year's award scheme run by Accelerate, the West Midland body that supports the automotive supply chain.
M&M is part of the £1.5 billion a year Mahindra Group and is India's market leader in off-road vehicles and tractors, employing about 11,500 people.
The group is also active in the technology, engineering, marketing and distribution sectors and has a joint venture with BT which provides software solutions and services.
Analysts said that M&M needed a presence in the European forgings industry as part of its global expansion ambitions.
They also said the group would channel some of the business it acquires along with Stokes to its low cost manufacturing base in India.
Stokes, however, said yesterday there would be no threat to jobs from the deal and the Black Country operations would continue to be run by the existing senior management team lead by managing director Ian Young.
M&M managing director Anand Mahindra said: "We believe the Stokes acquisition demonstrates our commitment to build a world-class business that serves its global customers."
Mahindra said that Stokes would become part of its engineering and automotive components division, Mahindra Systems and Automotive Technologies (MSAT), and that it planned to grow the business.
MSAT president Hemant Luthra said: "Indian customers will get access to world class technology."
Outgoing Stokes chairman Esther Horwood, a member of the Jennings family that previously controlled the business, said: "Our faith in M&M and their promise to uphold the Stokes traditions and hold the company in trust for future generations was instrumental in our decision to hand over the reins to Anand and his excellent team."
Founded in 1908 as John Stokes & Sons, the company made items for horse and cart transport.
The Jennings family bought a substantial holding in 1938 and during the Second World War the company installed and operated a forging plant producing components for the Admiralty.
The Stokes family sold its remaining stake to the Jennings family in 1947.


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EXO’s Lay is currently filming a MV in Korea!
Yumi Kim , Sept. 13, 2017, 3:38 p.m.
It seems like EXO’s Lay is preparing to release a solo! According to netizens, Lay was spotted filming near the LaVeniche shopping center in Gimpo. Lay was seen wearing red outfits with backup dancers behind him. We can only assume that the new MV is for Lay’s upcoming solo release. Lay has not been a part of EXO’s current promotions for ‘Ko Ko Bop’ and ‘Power’. Due to his absence, fans are extremely excited for the speculated solo release. SM Entertainment has not released any information in regards to the filming.
Stay tune for more updates!