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A UNIT of conglomerate Innscor Africa Holdings will today commission a $16 million bread-making plant as the company seeks to increase output as well as grow market share, the company has announced.
Report by Tarisai Mandizha
Speaking during a tour of the new bread-making plant in Harare on Tuesday, organised by Imara Capital Zimbabwe, Baker’s Inn general manager Ketan Patel said the new plant will increase daily output at its Graniteside and Lytton factories to
400 000 loaves.
He also said the company has plans to roll out more outlets in Zimbabwe as production had increased. Baker’s Inn, according to Patel, has a market share of 40%.
This comes at a time when small players in the sector have closed due to cash flow constraints.
“The new facility can take up to eight lines and has a maximum capacity to produce 640 000 loaves a day,” said Patel.
Patel said Baker’s Inn moved to the new site in Granitesite six months ago and within the facility there are eight boreholes and backup generators to mitigate water and power challenges in Zimbabwe.
He said currently, the country’s power utilty, Zesa, has capacity to meet 72% of the company’s energy requirements, thereby making them rely on generators to meet the deficit.
“The key to profitability is to ensure that each loaf conforms to a certain weight and our loaf of bread weighs 800 grammes,” he said.
He said the group also has plans to commission a pie-making plant in September which has the capacity to produce 80 000 pies daily from the current 12 000 pies per day.


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Israeli designer Lou Moria has used a vacuum-forming process to create pairs of plastic slippers that can be produced quickly and cheaply (+ slideshow). More
News: the catalogue for IKEA's 2015 collection is presented as if it were the latest tech offering from Apple in this short movie revealed on one of the Swedish homeware brand's YouTube channels. More
A huge terrace appears to have been carved out of the pixelated body of this mixed-use building in Oslo by Norwegian firm by A-Lab – one of the buildings that make up the city's waterfront Barcode Project (+ movie). More
London Design Festival 2014: Dezeen has collaborated with designjunction to create a free digital map of West End Design Quarter 2014 – one of the key areas during this year's London Design Festival – including the best fashion and design shops offering discounts to Visa card holders during the festival. More
This week's issue of Dezeen Mail includes construction images of Apple's "space ship" campus, a seemingly endless white void in a Venetian palazzo and a typeface created from over 900 font families. Click through for the latest news, jobs and reader comments from Dezeen.
News: Norman Foster and Mexican architect Fernando Romero have won a competition to design one of the biggest airports on earth for Mexico City, which the British architect says will be "like nothing else in the world". More
Dutch firm Wiel Arets Architects has completed a water-traffic control centre in the town of Maasbracht with a curved glass upper storey that offers panoramic views over the surrounding waterways (+ slideshow). More
News: the six houses shortlisted for this year's RIBA Manser Medal have been announced, including a cliffside home on Scotland's Isle of Skye, an angular house extension in London and a Welsh countryside residence near the remains of a Celtic fort (+ slideshow). More

domain: news


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The Singapore Ministry of Transport and PSA International have partnered with automotive companies Scania and Toyota Tsusho for the design, development and testing of an autonomous truck platooning system for use within the Port of Singapore.
Truck platooning design to be tested on container transfers within the Port of Singapore
Source: sattahipbeach / Shutterstock
Singapore’s Ministry of Transport (MOT) and PSA International, formerly known as the Port of Singapore Authority, have partnered with automotive companies Scania and Toyota Tsusho for the design, development and testing of an autonomous truck platooning system.
The agreements follow an October 2015 memorandum of understanding between MOT and PSA to cooperate on and jointly fund truck platooning research.
The concept of truck platooning involves a convoy of autonomous trucks that are lead by a single truck driven by a person. In theory, the use of driverless trucks will help mitigate a drayage driver shortage and ease road congestion by allowing for more nighttime cargo moves.
Once the system is developed, it will be tested with trucks transporting ocean containers between terminals in the Port of Singapore.
The first phase of the truck platooning trials, which will take place in two phases over a three-year period from January 2017 to December 2019, will focus on the design, testing and refining the necessary technology and will be conducted by Scania and Toyota in their respective research centers in Sweden and Japan in order to leverage their existing development work.
MOT and PSA will then select one of the two companies to proceed with the second phase, which will consist of local trials and some additional development of the technology in Singapore. The phase 2 trials will involve inter-terminal moves between the Brani and Pasir Panjang terminals in the Port of Singapore, but could eventually be expanded to include the entire port area, even the future Tuas Terminal currently under construction.
“Trucking as we know it today is a highly labour-intensive industry. We face a shortage of truck drivers. In this regard, truck platooning technology presents us with an opportunity to boost productivity in both the port sector and the trucking industry,” Pang Kin Keong, permanent secretary for transport and chairman of the Committee on Autonomous Road Transport in Singapore (CARTS), said in a statement. “It will also open up opportunities for truck drivers to take on higher-skilled roles as fleet operators and managers.”
“As PSA prepares for our future terminals at Tuas, it is timely that we move on to the next steps in developing autonomous truck platooning technology,” added PSA International Regional CEO, Southeast Asia Ong Kim Pong. “I am excited by the progress being made, as it underlines our joint commitment to being future-ready, while also helping us continue to serve our customers better through fast and efficient inter-terminal container movement.”


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Our 2011 Charger has been the talk among the motoring press since its introductions a few months back. Journalists and bloggers have commented on the fantastic retro coke bottle styling cues , new tail lamps, hood and side panel scallops that Dodge designers took from the Chargers forefathers of the late 60s.
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We know you high-octane gear heads out there want to see more of the stunning 2012 Charger SRT8. From the awesome6.4L HEMI® under that domed scooped aluminum hood to the great new interior complete with a new SRT exclusive steering wheel and paddle shifters, enthusiasts have been asking for more since we rolled it out. Therefore, we had a chance to trap chief engineer David McDonald during the recent Chicago Auto Show for the inside scoop on this stunning new super car from…


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A UK-wide investigation by ‘Which?’ magazine has ranked Ballymena Borough Council as one of the UK’s top enforcers of food safety.
For the second year running the Council was named as the sixth best in the UK and Northern Ireland’s best performing Council.
Although businesses, such as restaurants and food manufacturers are responsible for complying with hygiene rules, Councils are tasked with enforcement.
Nicola McCall, Ballymena Borough Council’s head of Environmental Services, said: “We’ve been able to create a specialist team that works with local businesses to help them achieve the best standards.”
The ‘Which?’ report cited the Council for the tailored advice sessions which it runs for local businesses as best practice for other UK Local Authorities.
Cllr. Beth Adger, Chair of Ballymena Borough Council’s Regulatory and Operational Services Committee, added: “Ballymena has a reputation for great eating establishments and is home to some of Northern Ireland’s largest food manufacturers.
“We’re delighted to be assessed as the sixth best Council out of 395 authorities across the UK and will continue to ensure that Ballymena has a reputation for the highest standards - consumers can have confidence about what they are eating in Ballymena.”


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ZAGREB, Oct 7 (Croatia Sun News) – Plava Laguna, Maistra and Valamar Riviera were the best businesses in the provision of accommodation and the preparation and serving of food according to net profit on the Croatian Adriatic coast in 2018, while HUP-Zagreb, Globalna Hrana and FTB Tourism were best in the country’s interior, an analysis by the Financial Agency (FINA) shows.
The analysis shows that in 2018 there were 82,200 businesses in the Continental Croatia region and close to 49,000 in the Adriatic Croatia region. Of those, around 7% or 5,700 businesses were in the sector of accommodation and food preparation and serving and were based in Continental Croatia while 6,392 or 13.1% operated on the Adriatic coast.
Noting that the number and share of tourism businesses was expectedly higher in Adriatic Croatia, FINA states that in 2018 those businesses employed more workers or slightly more than 46,200 as against close to 29,000 employed with businesses in the country’s interior.
Tourism businesses on the coast earned 2.4 times more revenues than businesses in Continental Croatia, their profits were 3.5 times higher and the average monthly pay was 43.7% higher than the average monthly pay paid by businesses in Continental Croatia.
Tourism businesses on coast earn HRK 20.5 billion in revenue
In Adriatic Croatia, the 6,392 tourism businesses last year earned HRK 20.5 billion in revenue. Their profit amounted to HRK 1.75 billion and they employed a total of 46,200 people.
Among them, the best performers in terms of net profits were Porec-based Plava Laguna, with a profit of HRK 308.4 million, followed by Maistra, with close to 283 million in profit, and Valamar Riviera, with a profit of 239.2 million.
In terms of revenues, Maistra had the highest revenues, in the amount of HRK 1.84 billion.
Among the top five performers in terms of profit were also Jadranski Luksuzni Hoteli (HRK 87.4 million) and Suncani Hvar (81.4 million).
Tourism revenues in Continental Croatia reach HRK 8.6 billion
Tourism businesses in continental Croatia (5,701) earned HRK 8.6 billion in revenue in 2018, while their total net profit amounted to HRK 184.7 million. They employed close to 29,000 workers.
In terms of net profit earned, HUP Zagreb was the best performer with 79.1 million in net profit, followed by Globalna Hrana with HRK 38.2 million in net profit, and FTB Turizam with HRK 30.2 million in net profit.
In terms of revenue, the best performer was Globalna Hrana with HRK 501.3 million.The first five performers in terms of net profit also include Adria Coast Turizam, with HRK 28.6 million in net profit, and Esplanade Oleander, with HRK 23 million in net profit.
(€1 = HRK 7.4)


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Glenn Morgan, president and CEO of Coast to Coast Newsstand Services Partnership, has been named the 2008 Newsstand Marketer of the Year. The award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated passion and innovation for a newsstand project (or in Morgan's case, several projects) in 2007. He will be honoured at the Canadian Newsstand Awards reception on June 3 at Mags University. “I’m honoured and humbled,” Morgan said.
The award specifically rewards Morgan for his involvement in four newsstand projects last year, including:
- The creation of the Canadian Newsstand Box Score, a benchmarking tool that ranks all publications sold in Canada based on newsstand sales;
- The development on Mynewsstandonline.com, a service that allows publishers, wholesalers and retailers to track single copy sales with greatly increased efficiency;
- The promotion and development of Hello! Canada’s single copy success (the magazine earned about $3.4 million on the newsstand in 2007, according our estimate);
- The successful launch of More magazine (the magazine sold an average of 37,000 newsstand copies per issues from June-Dec 2007, according to its Audit Bureau of Circulations statement).
Morgan entered the magazine business in 1972. After years of living the life of a “North American gypsy”—which included stints working at rodeos and as a marionette artist—Morgan decided it was time to get a stable job. When a friend at an employment agency told him of an opening at British-owned distributor Gordon & Gotch, Morgan quipped, “If it means selling subscriptions door-to-door, forget about it.”
The job did not involve door-to-door sales and Morgan accepted a position as a returns posting clerk. After eight years, he left the company to co-found the Canadian-owned distribution company, Disticor, with Bob Scott. “We both had a vision that Canada needed a new national distributor that could focus on representing new Canadian magazines here.”
Disticor was sold in 1991, but Morgan stayed on as president until April 1998. After just less than two years running distribution at the CMPA (now Magazines Canada), he took the position of general manager with Coast to Coast Distributing Company, which, at the time, was still an arm of Rogers Publishing Inc. When Rogers sold its majority stake, in 2000, Morgan assembled a “dream team,” which included former Disticor vice-president Frank Auddino and former director of consumer marketing at Toronto Life Scott Bullock, to help him run the company. Auddino and Bullock eventually sold their stakes, but Morgan has stayed on as president (even after the company was taken over by wholesalers in 2005) and Coast to Coast is now the country’s largest magazine distributor.
“I’ve been blessed and lucky to be surrounded by such good people who have done a lot of the hard spade work. And I get to take credit for it,” Morgan says with a laugh.


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While the parliamentary investigation into food inflation leans towards political theatrics, the real intrigue lies in the Competition Bureau’s study on the food industry, announced last fall. The Bureau has faced mounting criticism since last year for its perceived failure to foster competitive practices in the food sector, which has left consumers grappling with high food prices.
Canada’s food retail industry is essentially monopolized by a few key players. Over 85 percent of all food purchases in the country are through Loblaw, Empire/Sobeys, Metro, Walmart, and Costco. Despite this, the Competition Bureau did nothing to prevent this monopolization.
But rumours in the food industry suggest that things are about to change.
Over the years, the Bureau has green-lit many significant transactions, such as Loblaw’s acquisition of Provigo in 1998, Metro and A&P in 2005, and Empire/Sobeys and Safeway in 2013. The recent spike in food prices has illuminated the lack of competition in food retail, while also reminding Canadians of the industry’s controversial past.
One such controversy is the bread price-fixing scheme that allegedly occurred between 2001 and 2015 and which has been back in the news in recent months. Despite the investigation being ongoing for eight years, no progress has been reported, making Canadians wonder what the Competition Bureau has been up to for the past eight years. It was in December of 2017 that Loblaws declared itself as the proverbial ”whistle-blower” and gave all Canadians a $25 gift card to spend in their stores. Since then we have heard nothing about the investigation; no accusations, no fines and nobody sent to prison.
All we know is that by disclosing the identities of its purported conspirators and collaborating with the Competition Bureau’s inquiry, Loblaw, and Weston Bakeries, owned by Loblaw at the time and since sold, obtained protection from legal action. In essence, ills at the grocery store prompted Canadians to feel unprotected and vulnerable.
Rumours now suggest that the Competition Bureau is poised to make substantial breakthroughs. Nothing confirmed of course, but things have been weird. The Bureau has committed to making its study on the food industry public by the end of this month.
This development has left many industry experts on edge, prompting many to play nice or stay quiet.
We know now that Galen Weston who was himself at the centre of the bread price-fixing scandal announced he will leave his post as President in less than a year. Since he announced his replacement, he completely disappeared from airwaves and TV commercials for the company. His voice can be heard in the background of some commercials, but that’s the extent of it.
Michael McCain is another industry leader who has completely disappeared. The President and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods also announced he was leaving his position next year. He too was embroiled in the bread price-fixing scandal as the former owner of Canada Bread, which was sold in 2014, a year before the bread investigation started. Interesting coincidence.
Court documents from 2021 unveiled those emails between high-ranking industry executives, including some at Maple Leaf Foods, suggest an intention to synchronize meat prices, resembling the alleged co-ordination of bread prices. That right, meat. Because of the pandemic, this story barely made headlines, but the food industry is fully aware that the Bureau has evidence that something was up.
Eric Laflèche, the President and CEO of Métro, gave a rare interview in Montreal recently and openly endorsed the code of conduct for the first time. It surprised many. The code of conduct promises to bring more discipline and competition to the marketplace, and Metro has never been warm to the idea, that is until now. Many leaders like Laflèche are now recognising that things can improve, and some solutions ought to be considered. Again, an unexpected predicament from another leader.
One can only guess that the next few months will be interesting. With a government desperate to show Canadians how they are helping families with inflation, a more relevant Bureau may be what Ottawa needs right now. And that is why the industry is very nervous these days.
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is senior director of the agri-food analytics lab and a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University.
© Troy Media


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ClearDekho, an affordable and omnichannel eyewear retailer, has announced its plans to open more than 200 stores and expand across 100+ cities by the end of this fiscal. The tier II and III focused brand is looking at exponential growth to capture the market first across small towns/cities with plans to grow 100 percent in FY 21-22.
ClearDekho aims to standardise the unorganised optical market in rural areas and provide high-quality eyeglasses for as low as Rs 500 through both online and offline channels. The brand is also working to give a boost to micro-entrepreneurship by empowering the small-scale local optical business owners and helping them deliver standardized products & services.
Covid-19 pandemic was one of a kind global catastrophic event that left national economies & businesses counting the costs, as lockdowns around the world disrupted the normal functioning of life. Like others, ClearDekho was also forced to halt operations temporarily for a short span of time amidst the abrupt lockdowns imposed across the country in 2020.
Post lockdown, as business started to open up, ClearDekho saw a sharp increase in inbound franchise requests to open stores with the company across India. The growth is said to be on the heels of an unprecedented increase in screen time and digital activity as everyone is working from home and kids are learning online post COVID.
In the last fiscal, the company opened up 25+ new stores post lockdown. Almost 90 percent of these stores have been opened across Tier III and IV cities of India.
Shivi Singh, Co-Founder & CEO, ClearDekho, said, "Smaller towns lead the charge with maximum requests for franchise expansion as there is an exponential rise in the aspiring consumer base across such small towns/cities. Also, the business growth is back to pre-covid level, up to 15-20 percent growth owing to its affordable franchise model."
"The Tier II, III, IV markets are booming and here ClearDekho addresses a major need gap by improving access to high-quality affordable eyeglasses to the low-income mass-market consumers," Singh added.
Saurabh Dayal, Co-Founder & COO, ClearDekho, stated, "The phenomenal rise of ClearDekho franchise retail brand is a harbinger of change in consumers preference towards the organized sector and most importantly towards the affordable quality eyewear products as we have been able to credibly serve the latent demand of consumers."
ClearDekho is now looking at partnerships to build the biggest franchise base in affordable eyewear retailers of India in 2 years.


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The company will also offer a battery exchange facility for electric two-wheelers and electric three-wheelers or e-rickshaw’s and charging facilities for electric four-wheelers
Recycling company Nupur Recyclers announced its foray into the electric vehicle (EV) sector in India for which it will set up 200 EV charging points and several battery swapping stations in association with EVI Technologies.
The company said that the installation of these charging points has already been started in Dwarka and will shortly be expanded to other regions in Delhi NCR. The company aims to soon expand the installation of charging points as well as the battery swapping stations in other metro cities by the end of this fiscal year.
The company will also offer a battery exchange facility for electric two-wheelers and electric three-wheelers or e-rickshaw’s and charging facilities for electric four-wheelers.
It is also available to all players who adopt the connector standard 2000 AC/DC charging stations (Mix of 3 Socket, 1 Socket, Type2).
Rajesh Gupta, Founder, Nupur Recyclers said, “With these two initiatives, we aim to fast-track this transition and enable the entire ecosystem with reliable and trusted charging infrastructure. For us, this is just the beginning as we embark on a journey to encourage environmental sustainability through a variety of initiatives.”
Although EV charging infrastructure has lagged in recent years, a thriving ecosystem requires both vehicle volumes and requisite infrastructure. With the entry of both conventional legacy firms and new-age startups, however, electric vehicle adoption has already witnessed a major surge. Adequate charging infrastructure would only speed up acceptance, and Nupur Recyclers wants to be a key enabler in this space, it added.


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But, there's no word on a release date or window with the collaboration between Relic Entertainments and Microsoft's new Age of Empires studio - World's Edge - probably at least another year or two out. In addition the newly-released remaster of Age of Empires 2 and the lovely looking fourth entry, a remaster of the third game in the series is also now in the works, but has yet to receive an official release date.
Together, Tyler and Alyson will use their connection to solve mysteries revolving around their "loving but troubled" childhood in Tell Me Why , which means exploring picturesque small-town Alaska, encountering "true-to-life" characters while making hard, "gripping" choices.
The staffer was later identified as a counselor for political affairs at the embassy, David Holmes , who was accompanying Sondland while the European Union ambassador was in Ukraine on July 26. Holmes is scheduled to testify Friday before House investigators in a closed session. The whistleblower's complaint sparked the House probe, infuriating the president, who continued Thursday demand that he come forward.
The Walmart Black Friday 2019 2019 Ad has finally landed. In terms of housewares , the retailer is offering a Keurig K-Classic coffeemaker for $59.99 ($40 savings) and a Keurig K1500 coffeemaker for $129.99 ($50 savings). You can find the ad here . Last year, Amazon released new discounts daily throughout Black Friday week. You can ask the store to honour the price, but they are under no obligation to do so.
In a chat with the Wall Street Journal , the company's Caesar Sengupta also touted it as a way to further digitize the banking world. Google hasn't decided if it will charge consumers for the bank account and management remains open to including more banks in the future.
The original plan was supposed to include an appearance by lead producer Junichi Masuda and game director Shigeru Ohmori but The Pokemon Company has now cited "operation reason" for them canceling the event. Very little information on the Pokemon Home app has been released but it appears to be the new transfer app players will need to have all of their Pokemon in one game.


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01 August 2023, 19:44
Alikhan Smailov, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, and Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia, discussed key issues of cooperation in the spheres of trade, transportation and logistics in Almaty.
Alikhan Smailov emphasized that Georgia is an important and reliable partner of Kazakhstan in the South Caucasus. Over the past 6 months the volume of trade between the countries has increased by almost 30% and amounted to $190 million. At the same time, the relevant Intergovernmental Commission is working to further increase the volume of trade turnover.
Prime Minister also noted that within the framework of bilateral relations interaction in the transit-transport sphere plays an increasing role. Thus, today the partnership on the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) is rapidly strengthening between the countries. For 6 months of the current year, the volume of cargo transportation along the Middle Corridor has already increased by 77% and amounted to 1.3 million tons.
Alikhan Smailov added that the interstate agreements reached gave additional impetus to further development of this corridor. In particular, the promotion of issues on digitalization, ensuring stable tariffs for transportation and the creation of a single logistics operator along the route were of particular importance.
"We are interested in increasing the transport connectivity of the region and in the consistent improvement of transit conditions. In general, the Government of Kazakhstan is determined to continue multifaceted work to ensure the dynamic development of Kazakhstan-Georgia partnership in all directions," Prime Minister emphasized.
For his part, Irakli Garibashvili reaffirmed Georgia's readiness to strengthen effective interaction with Kazakhstan across the entire spectrum of bilateral cooperation.
#Alikhan Smailov #The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan #International Cooperation
"We previously discussed ambitious plans for the implementation of projects that are interesting for both our countries. We pay great attention to the development of the Middle Corridor and joint plans in this direction. A corresponding Road Map has been signed. I believe that our cooperation will continue to be effective," the Prime Minister of Georgia said.


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Mexico might be primed for a boost in consumer spending, but the country’s cash-only masses mean e-commerce could struggle to benefit from the surge.
While a Boston Consulting Group report earlier this year projected that consumption by middle-class Mexican households (defined as those earning between $1,200 and $9,000 per month) will increase by 7 percent annually through 2018, a recent Wall Street Journal article revealed that a lack of credit cards and an aversion to paying for goods online doesn’t bode well for e-tailers hoping to capitalize on bigger wallets.
According to Euromonitor International, online shopping accounts for only 2 percent of Mexico’s $203 billion worth of annual retail sales (though that’s four times what it was five years ago) and despite the consulting firm’s prediction that this number will double by 2020, Mexican consumers are still wary of paying by plastic.
WSJ pointed out that only 22.6 million credit cards are in use by the country’s 119.5 million residents.
But rather than encouraging consumers to use credit or debit cards, e-tailers are getting creative with payment options in order to gain people’s trust.
Amazon, for example, accepts prepaid cards sold at Oxxo convenience stores and it also offers gift cards that can be bought for cash at the chain’s 13,000-plus locations.
Likewise, Latin American e-commerce titan Linio also allows for payment at Oxxo, accepting PayPal, cash-on-delivery and cash in addition to credit and debit cards.
“It breaches the gap of the lack of trust that the average Latin American has to shopping online,” Linio CEO Andrea Mjelde told WSJ, noting that shoppers usually switch to online payment after a couple of satisfactory cash-on-delivery experiences.
Online marketplace MercadoLibre, meanwhile, provides a PayPal-like option called MercadoPage that also allows for payment at Oxxo and other select Mexican retailers.
But brick-and-mortar still leads the way. Retail association Antad reported that same-store sales of Mexican retailers grew 6.5 percent last year.


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Cisco Wednesday signalled a major shift in its approach to networking with the introduction of a new networking silicon architecture called Cisco Silicon One, which the company said will bring performance up to 25 terabits per second.
With Cisco Silicon One, Cisco also introduced plans to make the chip available to third-party companies looking to add high-performance networking to their infrastructures, with a couple large service providers already identified as customers.
Cisco also introduced a new high-performance router platform, the Cisco 8000, which is based on Cisco Silicon One and the company's new IOS XR7 networking operating system, and said it is qualifying its networking optics technology for use with Cisco and non-Cisco hosts.
Cisco's entry into the silicon side of networking comes just a couple of months after Cisco's former Chairman John Chambers, along with Cisco archrival Hewlett Packard Enterprise, teamed to form a startup, Pensando Systems, to develop new silicon and software-defined edge services to transform the 5G edge experience.
The Cisco Silicon One move comes as businesses look for new ways to build infrastructure that meet the performance requirements of new applications including virtual and augmented reality, high-speed streaming, artificial intelligence, 5G networking, adaptive and predictive cybersecurity, IoT, and others yet to be developed, Cisco said.
With Cisco Silicon One, the company gets "clean sheet silicon," or silicon that does not reuse any technology from previous generations, said Jonathan Davidson, senior vice president and general manager of service provider business at Cisco.
"Cisco Silicon One was built to be an architecture with all the features you would expect," Davidson told CRN USA. "But we also wanted to be power-efficient and compact."
Silicon One represents the first time that Cisco has built silicon that is available to third parties, Davidson said, although by far the vast majority of the chips will be sold via the company's new 8000 series router platform.
"We already have partners with Silicon One," he said. "We are working with the leading companies in the world to make sure we are building the right technology."
Davidson, however, declined to identify any third-party companies who are developing products based on Cisco Silicon One. He even declined to describe the kinds of companies who might be interested, saying there are only a handful with the necessary integration capabilities and other skills who could do so and describing them would be too big a hint.
Cisco describes Cisco Silicon One as the first networking chip designed for universal use across service provider and web-scale markets.
The initial version, the Cisco Silicon One Q100, provides routing performance of over 10 terabits per second, and future versions are expected to provide performance of up to 25 terabits per second.
The Q100 and subsequent Cisco Silicon One offerings are slated to replace the multitude of different silicon chips used in networking and even in specific devices, and offer programmability to help cut operation costs and reduce the time it takes to develop new services, the company said.
The first Cisco product to feature the Q100 is the Cisco 8000 series routers, which are optimised to support at least 10.8 Terabits per second of performance while providing cybersecurity and integrated trust technology for real-time insights into critical networking infrastructures. The Cisco 8000 series routers also take advantage of Cisco's new cloud-enhanced Cisco IOS XR7 operating system.
The Cisco 8000 series routers do not replace any existing router series, and Cisco will continue supporting its existing router families with new line card and software as needed, Davidson said.
Cisco has not announced what other router platforms will include Cisco Silicon One, Davidson said. He also declined to say whether the architecture would be available for non-router products.
Along with Cisco Silicon One, the company also released its new IOS XR7 networking operating system. IOS XR7 works with 12 different NPU, or networking processor families, and not just Cisco Silicon One, Davidson said. It is available for updating existing Cisco routers still under maintenance contracts, he said.
Compared to previous versions of the operating system, IOS XR7 has been significantly simplified by removing some of the software and eliminating several features no long needed, Davidson said.
It is also Cisco's first cloud-enabled networking operating system, which he said means it allows more rapid deployment by moving configurations to cloud environments to test to decrease the amount of time needed to deploy.
IOS XR7 also has an emphasis on assuring users via a cloud-based service that their hardware and software is trusted, he said.
Cisco on Wednesday said it also plans to offer flexible consumption models with its Cisco Optics networking portfolio in a program that will be expanded to include Cisco IOS RX7 and Cisco Silicon One.
While Davidson said he expects the bulk of the Cisco Silicon One business to go through Cisco hardware like the 8000 series routers, there is good potential for the vendor to actually see a significant impact from bringing the chips to market via third-party cloud companies, one observer noted.
Cisco, which has been operating in a cloud world where it was not necessarily monetising everyone in the cloud, now has that opportunity, said Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, a US-based analyst firm.
"Now, instead of zero revenue, I can see Cisco selling its chips to the cloud companies, and maybe putting a dent in Broadcom," Moorhead told CRN USA.
Cisco Silicon One is Cisco's first foray into merchant silicon, or chips it can sell to others, Moorhead said. Cisco, for now, either develops chips for its own equipment or purchases chips from other vendors, he said.
"This is Cisco's first opportunity to sell its chips to other companies," he said. "It would be a bold move. It could see high revenue selling its chips."
While Cisco declined to discuss what companies might be interested in purchasing its Cisco Silicon One, Moorhead said it is pretty easy to guess who is in line for them by looking at who showed up when Cisco introduced the chips in San Francisco.
Moorhead said one can look to the Open Compute Project for a guide. "Facebook, Microsoft, and Google are all doing whitebox hardware," he said. "It wasn't explicit that they will buy the Cisco chips. But Facebook and Microsoft Azure likely wouldn't have been on the stage if they are not buying Cisco Silicon One, or very close to doing that."


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The Beatles’ most expensive record was beaten by Wu-Tang Clan’s secret albumNews
"The Beatles’ most expensive record was beaten by Wu-Tang Clan’s secret album"
THE BEATLES are perhaps the most influential band of all time, selling over 500 million albums, and claiming 17 number on singles – but it has recently been revealed the most expensive record of all time was not one of The Beatles’ albums, but one of Wu-Tang Clan’s.
The Beatles sold an unbelievable amount of albums over the course of the past 60 years. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr made history by becoming the most sought-after artists of all time. Of course, the band have seen some of their albums go for incredibly high amounts of money over the years – but they did not sell the most expensive vinyl LP of all time.
Instead, it has now been revealed by Net Voucher Codes that The Beatles actually come second in the top ten of most expensive records ever sold.
The Beatles have been beaten by Wu-Tang Clan, whose 2015’s album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin sold for over double the most expensive Beatles album.
Once Upon a Time in Shaolin sold in 2015 at auction for $2 million to Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli.
The album was so sought after because the legendary hip-hop band recorded the record in secret, and only released one copy of the record.
Wu-Tang Clan recorded the music over the course of five years, and sold the single copy at auction in an unprecedented turn of events.
The new owner of the album was also given a contract which stipulated that they could not “attempt to sell or make money from the record” for 100 years.
Despite this, the owner is allowed to release the album for free, if they want to.
Second in the top ten was The Beatles, with their 1968 album The White Album.
The record in question was the first ever copy of the album, and featured the serial number “0000001” to prove it.
The album belonged to Ringo, and was sold in 2015 to an unnamed buyer for $790,000.
Speaking out about why these albums sold for so much, a spokesperson for Net Voucher Codes said: “Music technology is more advanced than ever before, but many people will agree that nothing sounds as good as vinyl.
“Records will never be as popular as they were in the 50s and 60s, but it has become something of a collector’s hobby amongst some music fans. Originals can fetch a pretty penny at auction and like most collectables, the rarer, the better.”


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Rycote Other Accessories For Microphones news
Rycote ORTF Windshield Kit
Rycote has announced a new Windshield Kit product, designed for stereo recording with a matched pair of microphones in an ORTF configuration.
[NAMM] Rycote Universal Studio Mount
Rycote is announcing a new product at the 2010 NAMM show in Anaheim, California — the InVision USM, a universal mic suspension for large-diaphragm recording microphones.
New Rycote Softie Mic Accessories
Rycote has announced the immediate availability of a redesigned version of its Softie windshield and microphone mount incorporating the company’s Lyre suspension technology.


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Carlingford Lough Ferry has announced today that it plans to operate weekend and holiday period sailings only from Monday 28th September 2020 to Friday 26th March 2021. The company will discontinue weekday sailings during this time.
The cross-border ferry service was launched in June 2017 following a ten million euro investment and operates a roll-on roll-off service across Carlingford Lough, between Greenore in Co. Louth and Greencastle in Co. Down. Since its launch, the service has introduced a valuable transport link between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland for local communities, commuters and the tourism industry, linking Ireland’s Ancient East with the Mourne Mountain Region in Northern Ireland.
While the service has seen consistent growth in traffic during the Spring/Summer seasons, the mid-week wintertime service has not delivered sufficient traffic volumes to support the daily service. The company believes that the uncertainties created by Brexit has had a significant impact.
Commenting on the service changes, Commercial Director, Irene Hamilton said “We greatly regret the disruption that this will cause to our commuter customers who have supported our business since launch. While we have seen a growth in our weekday traffic during the wintertime, the overall volumes are not sufficient to justify a continuation of the service. We know from experience that the only way to grow traffic is by running the service and we realise that a cross border commuter service will naturally take longer to develop, however, the added complications of Brexit uncertainty and Covid-19 have led us to this regrettable decision.“
The business has recently developed a range of additional products that have contributed to the company’s overall growth. This summer it operated twelve sell-out passenger only cruises to Haulbowline Lighthouse. Irene Hamilton went on say, “We’ve been delighted with the response to these new cruises despite the challenges of operating with reduced passenger numbers to facilitate social distancing. Carlingford Lough and the Cooley Peninsula is an area of outstanding natural beauty and we will continue to focus on developing our service on the Lough to add to the tourism offering in the area. We are greatly saddened with the decision that has to be taken for this winter and every effort was made to avoid this service suspension”.
The final week of daily service will run from Monday 21st to Friday 25th of September, with sailings every Saturday and Sunday continuing during the winter. In addition, full week operations will be introduced around Halloween and Christmas.


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Starting today, LG Optimus 3D, the 3D phone offered by LG, is available in the Old Continent’s markets. The much awaited gadget, which debuted in February at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, offers a fully 3D experience: recording, playback and the possibility to a video to all your friends.
LG Optimus 3D also has a Tri-Dual architecture, about which, the President and CEO of LG Mobile Communications Company, Park Jong-Seok said the following: "We believe that the Tri-Dual architecture opens a new chapter in the performance of a smartphone”.
What exactly the Tri-Dual technology is? The Korean company explains the unique architecture of their new smartphone during a press conference. "Unlike other smartphones – those with dual-core processors and of high speed – that are not using these technologies because of the inefficiency of the single-channel configurations, LG Optimus 3D has a dual-channel configuration, the transfer of the material can be made simultaneously between dual-core and dual-memory, resulting in a high performance.”
In addition to the Tri-Dual architecture and the ability to record 3D videos in 720p at 30 frames per second, the smartphone has other attractive specifications: a 4.3 inch WVGA screen, HDMI 1.4 connection, a double 5-megapixel camera and will be running on Google’s Android 2.2 Froyo.
Moreover, the owners of the tri-dimensional phone will be able to upload 3D content on the YouTube page dedicated to these types of videos.
LG Optimus 3D has firstly been released in Europe, but it will be available in a few weeks in more than 60 other markets in the world.
You may also want to read:
What You Should Keep in Mind When Buying a Smartphone
Windows Phone Will Dictate the Smartphone World Soon?
New Mobile Malware Droid Dream Affected around 120,000 Android Users Badly


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CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico -- Mitsubishi will focus its upcoming marketing on just two vehicle "families" -- Lancer and Outlander -- leaving the U.S.-built Galant sedan, Endeavor crossover and Eclipse coupe and Spyder out in the cold.
The new approach appears to preview the troubled brand's future U.S. model strategy, being formulated in Japan.
The Lancer and Outlander accounted for nearly two-thirds of the automaker's U.S. sales through September.
"They're our pillar models as we develop a strategy for growth," said Greg Adams, vice president of marketing and product planning for Mitsubishi Motors North America. "When you're as small as we are, you need to focus."
Mitsubishi offers two body styles and three significantly different trim levels for the Lancer small car, ranging from the nearly $15,000 base model to the more than $40,000 high-performance Lancer Evolution.
The Outlander crossover will be joined in November by a smaller vehicle, the Outlander Sport. The two nameplates are based on the GS platform.
The new marketing strategy is part of Mitsubishi's effort to end a U.S. sales drought. In 2007, the automaker sold 128,993 new vehicles in the United States. By the end of 2009, sales had plummeted to 53,986, and the brand is down 3 percent for the first nine months of this year.
The full details of the product plan will be unveiled next month by Mitsubishi Motors Corp. in Japan. The company also will lay out what it plans to do with the assembly plant in Normal, Ill., which builds the Galant, Endeavor and Eclipse coupe and Spyder. Those vehicles were conspicuously absent from the marketing strategy outlined during a press event here this month.
In a September interview with Automotive News, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. President Osamu Masuko said he hopes eventually to sell 200,000 vehicles annually in the United States. But he said overhauling the U.S. lineup, which has long leaned toward large sedans and SUVs, is essential to a turnaround.
"From what we know at the moment, it is not possible to continue with the models that we have had," Masuko said.
Adams, the North American marketing executive, said he didn't know what Japanese executives plan to do with the Galant, Eclipse and Endeavor.
"We have submitted a number of ideas about what we would like to do with all of the lineup," he said. "They're looking at it and how it fits with the overall strategy because Mitsubishi in Japan drives where we want to go."


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India's technology and outsourcing industry has got a new face: Rentala Chandrashekhar, the country's former telecommunications secretary.
Mr. Chandrashekhar, 61, took over from Som Mittal on Sunday as the president of National Association of Software and Services Companies, or Nasscom, the country's technology industry trade body. As its new president, he will lead the industry as it attempts to triple its revenue to $300 billion by 2020 from about $108 billion now.
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UPDATES with man charged with trying to burn police car, mention of surveillance video in county police report
FERGUSON • An attorney representing Ferguson Market & Liquor said Sunday night that a video clip highlighted in a new documentary showed Michael Brown in the store early the morning before he was fatally shot by a police officer, but said that it had been edited.
The attorney said the documentary falsely implied there was an exchange of marijuana for store merchandise. He pledged to release video of the interaction in full Monday.
Word of the new video drew a group of protesters that grew to about 100 Sunday night. Eventually the market closed, and police cleared the parking lot.
Shortly before midnight, 7 or 8 shots were heard from an area across the street from the market. There appeared to be no injuries. Someone stuffed a rag in the gas tank of a police car, but the damage was minor.
Henry L. Stokes, 45, of the 1500 block of Haviland Drive of Bellefontaine Neighbors, was charged with felony counts of attempting to cause catastrophe and resisting arrest. Bail was set at $25,000.
During the protest, police say Stokes stuffed a napkin in the gas tank opening of a St. Louis County police car and tried to ignite it with a cigarette lighter.
A Ferguson police officer suffered a broken nose when a woman punched him in the face as he tried to make an arrest, police said.
Chief Delrish Moss said the officer was trying to arrest a man on the parking lot around 10 p.m. when he was injured.
The documentary theorizes that Brown had an arrangement with employees to exchange store merchandise for marijuana, and that footage released by police in the days after the shooting shows the second part of such an exchange, not Brown robbing the store.
Ferguson Market attorney Jay Kanzler, who spoke with a group of angry protesters outside the market Sunday night, said the newly surfaced surveillance video of Brown visiting the store about 1 a.m. had long been in the hands of authorities and Brown’s family.
There was no exchange of drugs for anything from the store, Kanzler said. The footage in the documentary does show Brown putting what appears to be marijuana on the counter at the shop, but it has been edited to cut out Ferguson Market employees throwing back the bag, Kanzler said.
“The video has been out there,” Kanzler said, alluding to multiple people he said had seen it, including lawyers, prosecutors and Brown’s family. “This isn’t new.”
He later retreated into the store after protesters started swearing at him. Not long after, police arrested several protesters.
The protest Sunday at the market on West Florissant Avenue came after the documentary, “Stranger Fruit,” premiered Saturday at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. The film highlights surveillance footage showing Brown visiting the store about 1 a.m. on Aug. 9, 2014. That was about 11 hours before he returned to the store in what has been portrayed as a strong-arm robbery.
Brown was fatally shot in a confrontation with a Ferguson police officer just after that second visit to the store.
Filmmaker Jason Pollock argues that Brown exchanged a small amount of marijuana with store clerks for two boxes of cigarillos in that first, early morning visit to the store, according to a clip of the documentary included in a story by the New York Times. He suggests Brown left the merchandise at the store to retrieve at a later point, and asserts that the video footage of Brown in the store later in the day shows not a robbery but rather Brown picking up the merchandise.
“Mike did not rob the store,” says the film narrator.
Ferguson Market co-owner And Patel said Sunday that he was not at the store at the time of Brown’s 1 a.m. visit and was unaware of any arrangement between his employees and Brown. But Patel, 59, re-asserted that Brown robbed the store of a package of cigarillos in the second visit to the store just before noon.
Patel said Brown had “grabbed the cigarillos and stole them.”
Video footage of that incident was released by police days after Brown was killed. The video shows Brown strong-arming his way out of the store with the cigarillos. Brown is shown grabbing and shoving Patel in that video, recorded minutes before Brown’s fatal encounter with then-Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson on a street in the nearby Canfield Green Apartment Complex.
Pollock questions why only the second tape was released publicly by police in the aftermath of the shooting.
“They destroyed Michael’s character with the tape, and they didn’t show us what actually happened,” Pollock told the Times.
It’s unclear from the footage what’s contained in the small package that Brown handed to store clerks, but the footage appears to show clerks holding the contents to their noses to smell.
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar and former Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson told the Post-Dispatch Saturday that they hadn’t seen the video.
But the earlier visit by Brown and the video are mentioned in parts of the St. Louis County police report released by Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch after the grand jury's decision in November 2014.
The report notes that at 1:13 a.m., a four-door passenger vehicle parks in front of the business, and black man, presumably Brown, enters the store, alone, and walks to the refrigerated section and "appears to select several items," according to the report.
"He approaches the counter, where he appears to put the items on the counter and have a conversation with the two employees behind the counter. At one point, he pulls an item out of his pocket and tosses it onto the counter. One of the employees picks the item up, examines it and places back on the counter. The individual in the red baseball hat then takes a white plastic bag off of the counter, starts to walk away, returns to the counter, leaves the bag and exits the business," the report states.
Pollock was alerted to the existence of the surveillance when he saw Brown’s earlier visit to the store mentioned in police records, according to the New York Times. Pollock later obtained the footage, though it’s unclear how.
Business was brisk outside the market on Sunday with a steady stream of customers coming and going. Numerous customers said they were unaware of the newly released video.
Protesters arrived in the evening and stood outside with signs. Someone used chalk to write “Justice for Mike Brown” on the parking lot.
Ferguson and later St. Louis County police arrived on the scene to monitor the protest, which grew more heated later in the night. Police and protesters ducked behind cars when the shots rang out. West Florissant was closed for a time as police investigated the gunfire.
Nancy Cambria • 314-340-8238
@nanecam on Twitter


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The annual inflation rate in Finland climbed to 7.8% in June 2022 from 7.0% a month earlier. This was the fastest consumer prices since April 1984, with prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rising at record pace (10.9 percent vs 9.0 percent in May). Additional upward pressures also came from cost of alcoholic beverages & tobacco (3.0 percent vs 3.0 percent), housing & utilities (8.5 percent vs 8.2 percent), health (0.5 percent vs 2.7 percent), transport (19.0 percent vs 14.5 percent), recreation & culture (4.0 percent vs 3.9 percent), and furnishings (5.4 percent vs 5.8 percent). On a monthly basis, consumer prices increased by 0.7 percent in June, after a 1.3 percent gain in May. source: Statistics Finland
Inflation Rate in Finland averaged 4.58 percent from 1961 until 2022, reaching an all time high of 19.31 percent in January of 1975 and a record low of -1.54 percent in October of 2009. This page provides the latest reported value for - Finland Inflation Rate - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news. Finland Inflation Rate - data, historical chart, forecasts and calendar of releases - was last updated on August of 2022.
Inflation Rate in Finland is expected to be 7.00 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. In the long-term, the Finland Inflation Rate is projected to trend around 3.40 percent in 2023 and 2.00 percent in 2024, according to our econometric models.


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OpenSea, one of the leaders in NFT marketplaces, has stunned the space with a new announcement. So, from August 31, there are a number of changes coming for NFT authors in terms of royalties.
We launched our Operator Filter so creators could restrict secondary sales to web3 marketplaces that enforce creator fees.
But we relied on opt-in by the entire ecosystem, which didn't happen. So we’re making a few changes to our approach to creator fees. 🧵⬇
— OpenSea (@opensea) August 17, 2023
And here are the details of what changes are expected in the near future:
- The operator filter is disabled, which allowed creators to limit secondary sales on those marketplaces that charged fees from authors. But those collections that used this filter, the previous royalties to authors will remain until February 29th. After that, fees will become optional for everyone.
- Non-mandatory royalties are introduced on all secondary sales of new collections from August 31st. In essence, this will be a tip format, an optional percentage of the sale that sellers in the secondary market can choose for the author. In this case, the seller has the full right to completely refuse to pay royalties.
The reaction of the NFT market to the abolition of royalties by OpenSea
A wave of criticism hit the OpenSea marketplace after this statement. Most of the collection creators and authors opposed such a decision, which is expected. Many authors see this as a global decline in their own income, most of which was royalties.
One of the main NFT influencers DCinvestor focuses on the cultural assessment of the community, because, in fact, this is where the problem lies.
the NFT royalty problem is not technological, it is cultural
most participants want to flip for a near-term profit and don't want to pay a "tax" to do that
whereas long-term collectors have an incentive to pay to create a virtuous cycle, continually attracting the best creators
— DCinvestor (@iamDCinvestor) August 18, 2023
And the richest NFT artist, Beeple, raised a serious discussion on this subject, causing controversy and debate among many market participants:
i think the creator royalty argument is actually a lot simpler than people make it out to be.
There is ZERO way to FORCE royalties technologically so creators will have to build a collector base that WANT to honor these royalties…. It’s really that simple. 🤷
— beeple (@beeple) August 13, 2022
The decision by OpenSea comes in response to the downturn in the NFT market and the race between marketplaces to lower fees to attract merchants. Blur‘s main competitor also contributed to this strategy. Recall that in February 2023, Blur overtook OpenSea in terms of trading volume on the Ethereum blockchain. An aggressive approach to the market and non-binding royalties helped him achieve such fast indicators.


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It has been revealed that Audi Sport is setting up the final touches on what could be the newest member of the brand’s RS range. This comes just after Audi unveiled at the recently concluded 2017 Geneva Motor Show the new 2018 RS5 Coupe. Spotted lately has been the RS4 Avant which is undergoing the final stages of testing.
The question on everyone’s mind right now though is what is going to follow the RS4 Avant. X-Tomi Design though has presented a possible rendering of a Sportback version and even a RS5 Shooting Brake. The latter however is done more out of fun as there is little or no possibility that it will ever be developed.
To be clear though, Audi did not say that it will be coming out with a RS5 Sportback. However, fans have seen a dealer presentation conducted in Norway showing that this version is presently included in the pipeline. In the same presentation, it was also disclosed that the RS5 Coupe is expected to be in assembly lines by June. The RS4 Avant is then expected to be in the assembly line by December with a potential premiere during this September’s Frankfurt Motor Show. Should the brand proceed with the RS5 Cabriolet, or even the RS5 Sportback, either one could arrive sometime in 2018.
Regardless of the actual version that will come out, all of them will be powered with the 2.9-liter bi-turbo V6 engine capable of delivering 450 hp (331 kW). Maximum torque delivered to the Quattro AWD meanwhile is 442 lb.-ft. (600 Nm).
But with the RS SUV strategy being implemented by Audi, the release of these new RS models is just the beginning. While the actual models have yet to be confirmed, it is possible that these will be the Q5 and the Q7. It is even possible that it will include the Q8. The Q5 is likely to have the same V6 engine though the larger SUVs will have the 4.0-liter bi-turbo V8 engine.
There is also talk that a hypercar may be developed that is higher than the R8 though for now it appears to be more of a concept. However, should Audi Sport proceed with this project, it will be seen to compete with the Valkyrie from Aston Martin and even the Project One of Mercedes-AMG. That being said, Audi Sport should be aware as well that McLaren has plans to make a successor for the F1 slated for 2019.
The engine inside the RS5 Coupe combined with the low weight of 132 lbs. (60 kg) allows this model to go from zero to 62 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in merely 3.9 seconds. Under the dynamic package, offered as an option, maximum speed in measured at 174 mph (280 km/h).


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Your daily selection of the hottest trending tech news!
According to The Verge (This article and its images were originally posted on The Verge June 4, 2018 at 01:51PM.)
Siri is getting a significant update, Apple announced at its annual developer conference today. It’s getting a new feature called Shortcuts, which is basically a way to get Siri to go through a multi-step routine.
“We want to make Siri do much more for you,” says VP of software Craig Federighi. Now you can record and assign your own phrases as Shortcuts and once Siri hears those phrases repeated, it will perform a series of actions.
For instance, you can record the phrase “I lost my keys,” and it can activate your own Tile to ring your keys so you can find them. Shortcuts could even help you do grocery shopping.
Shortcuts will also work with Siri’s Suggestions feature, which is getting a few additional updates. If you’re running late for a meeting, Siri will now suggest that you text you’re going to be late. When catching a movie, Siri will suggest turning your phone on Do Not Disturb.
There’s also going to be a Shortcuts app, where you can prepare for an activity like heading to the beach to surf, with a list of suggestions such as checking the weather and preparing a beach towel.
Inside the Shortcuts app, there’s a gallery, where there are hundreds of Shortcuts you can download. There’s one called Heading Home, which will set your smart home gadgets like the thermostat to 70 degrees, turn on the fan, tell your contact that you’re heading home, and estimate how long it takes to get home. You can also add additional steps like tuning into your favorite podcast or radio station to a pre-made Shortcut.
Apple is releasing those new changes in hopes of addressing user concerns that Siri sometimes fails to understand a question or provides the wrong answers. The biggest problem is that Siri isn’t adept enough at voice recognition compared to its more skilled rivals, Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa.
In iOS 11, Siri gained new skills like being able to translate different languages and populating notifications about upcoming flights. But they seemed to distract from the point of Siri being a voice assistant, and not another silent program with notifications.
In light of these upgrades, maybe Siri can start to feel relevant again, especially as its rivals already have the ability to perform multi-step routines. People still consider it a voice assistant, and in that category, Siri isn’t standing out among its competition.
- Got any news, tips or want to contact us directly? Feel free to email us: firstname.lastname@example.org. To see more posts like this please subscribe to our newsletter by entering your email. By subscribing you’ll receive the top trending news delivered to your inbox.


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Let it flow! Let it flow! Can't hold it back anymore! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) Everyone pees, every day, followed by a flush. Those flushes add up to a lot of water, though, which is why the University of East Anglia has introduced their "Go With the Flow" program, to encourage their students to pee during their morning shower. Before you go ew gross and lunge for the Lysol, there are some very good reasons you should consider making it part of your daily routine.Read Full Story
Back in the late 1990s, a girlfriend forwarded me an email chain letter warning that women who used antiperspirants increased their risk of breast cancer. As a runner and workout fanatic — and, yes, I'm a woman who sweats — I could not imagine my life without antiperspirant. I shrugged off that letter as hyperbole and continued using my favorite commercial brand of antiperspirant. As it turns out, that chain letter had merit.Read Full Story
Urinary incontinence is such a pain in the… well, you know. It affects about 25 percent of women ages 14 to 21, and up to 60 percent of women ages 40 to 60 — though these estimates might be low. "Urinary incontinence is a common problem for women that is often underreported and underdiagnosed," says Dr. David Fleming, president of the American College of Physicians. "It's estimated that about half of women with incontinence don't report it to their doctor."Read Full Story
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SPRINGFIELD — Bakeries could be exempt from an artificial trans fat ban now moving through the Illinois General Assembly.
So far, the Illinois House has approved the measure, and it now goes to the Senate for further debate, where it may be changed to leave baked goods out, after complaints from bakery owners.
State Rep. La Shawn Ford, a Chicago Democrat and the House sponsor, said he was disappointed the legislation might be changed, after being agreed on in the House.
The legislation would make Illinois the second state, apart from California, to ban artificial trans fats from restaurants starting Jan. 1, 2013, but it would exempt pre-packaged goods.
Artificial trans fats are known to reduce the body’s levels of HDL, known as “good cholesterol,” while increasing levels of LDL, or “bad cholesterol,” putting people at greater risk for heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mark Peysakhovich, senior director of government relations for the American Heart Association, said that if the legislation were changed to exclude baked goods, then the group would oppose it.
“Not having trans fat regulations in place is better than having very misleading trans fat regulations,” he said.
The Illinois Restaurant Association has no position on the idea because its members have already phased out trans fats, said Janet Isabelli, a spokeswoman.
Some bakery owners, though, have been concerned that a trans fat ban in Illinois would negatively affect the taste of their products. The addition of a baked goods exemption to the legislation would put them at ease.
Susan Lillybeck, owner of Donut Delite in Moline, said shortening containing trans fat is ideal for frying doughnuts, and that alternatives would taste different and be more pricey.
“What they’re trying to do is bad for small business,” she said of a more complete ban.
The legislation is House Bill 1600.


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The Government General Secretary acquired, at the end of October, 72 bottles of hand creams worth EUR 500, according to the public acquisitions portal, checked out by Adevarul. The person in charge of this Government department is Toni Grebla, former Constitutional Court member, currently investigated for corruption.
The Government requests for the quality of the bottled creams were pretty specific: “Hydrating with antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-scaring properties (36 pieces), and 36 extra hand cream bottles with thermal water”, according to the description made by the Government. The winning company that delivered the products is S.C. Ultra Fresh Impex S.R.L. that, according to its CAEN code intermediates different type of products.


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Articles tagged with: WotC
D&D is back, and it’s stronger than ever.
This is potentially a huge game changer for Wizards of the Coast, which created a monster when it made their core rules open-source two editions ago.
Wizards of the Coast on Monday unveiled the new cover designs for the Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Master’s Guide.
Barnes & Noble recently, and briefly, listed some of the new Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game products that are due out this summer.
Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro today revealed a new multimedia storyline for D&D’s 40th anniversary.


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Apple 'Not Interested' in Outbidding AT&T to Acquire Time Warner
Apple is "not interested" in buying media company Time Warner currently, according to "people familiar with the thinking at the company" who spoke today with CNBC. Two weeks ago, AT&T announced its interest to purchase Time Warner for $85.4 billion, but as noted today, the regulatory process taken in such acquisitions "could last for months," and at any time another company could swoop in with a better offer. As of now, that won't be Apple.
The news comes from David Faber on CNBC's market coverage business show "Squawk on the Street:"
The question of course that has come back to focus on Apple. In fact Bewkes asked on the call were there any companies this year that showed interest in acquiring Time Warner. Mr. Bewkes' answer was let's focus on AT&T. What I can tell you about Apple guys, is right now, according to people familiar with its thinking, it's not interested. Apple is not interested in buying Time Warner at present. Now, these things go on for months and months, this regulatory review's going to take at least a year. The deal will not close. Certainly if you're in Apple, things could change. You watch the stock price as you see how things progress.
But anybody expecting an overbid from Apple at this point, certainly, it is not coming. Again, they are sort of not interested at this time. And it doesn't appear that there would be any other potential interest. Google certainly had been mentioned at one point or another. But right now, it's AT&T's, it will be AT&T's, and the question is do they get it through, what conditions do they agree to in order to get it through the regulators.
On the same day of AT&T's deal, it was reported that Apple was closely "monitoring" the workings between AT&T and Time Warner, especially due to its potential impact in regards to television deals that Apple could make with both companies. Back in January, an initial rumor suggested Apple was looking to buy Time Warner itself, most likely to bolster its rumored cord-cutting streaming TV service, but negotiations eventually stalled and the two companies ceased discussing a potential partnership.
Following the news coming out of AT&T's offer, last week investment banking firm Goldman Sachs reportedly began pushing Apple to put in a rival bid to beat AT&T's and acquire Time Warner for itself. Goldman Sachs was "left on the sidelines" as an advisor in AT&T's bid, but it's still unclear why the firm would heavily encourage Apple to enter an acquisition offer of its own.
Sources were reported as saying that Goldman Sachs was "freaking out trying to convince Apple to come in." A connection between the banking firm and Apple lies in the latter company's 2009 hiring of Goldman Sachs banker Adrian Perica, who now heads up Apple's mergers and acquisitions practices.
Networks like CNN, HBO, TBS, TNT, NBA TV, Cartoon Network, and Warner Bros. are all under Time Warner's umbrella, making it an enticing acquisition for multiple companies looking to bolster an existing, or upcoming, streaming package. Although AT&T appears to be the frontrunner, The Wall Street Journal originally reported that "a host of other contenders" were interested in Time Warner, including Google at one point.


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Allergan plc announces that its CoolTone device has received FDA clearance for the improvement of abdominal tone, strengthening of the abdominal muscles, and development for firmer abdomen. CoolTone is also indicated for strengthening, toning, and firming of buttocks and thighs.
“As the global leader in medical aesthetics and body contouring, Allergan invests in the ongoing innovation and advancement of safe and effective non-surgical aesthetic solutions,” says Brad Hauser, vice president, R&D and general manager, body contouring, at Allergan, in a media release. “We do this by developing differentiated technology, such as the CoolTone device, that helps meet the needs of our customers.”
Using magnetic muscle stimulation (MMS), CoolTone technology penetrates into the muscle layers and induces involuntary muscle contractions. The body responds to these contractions by strengthening its muscle fibers, resulting in improved muscle conditioning. Whether targeting abdomen, buttocks or thighs, CoolTone strengthens, tones and firms the muscles in the treated area, resulting in a more defined and toned appearance, according to Allergan in a media release
“By partnering with Allergan, I can offer my patients additional options in body contouring solutions,” states Dr Grant Stevens, founder and medical director of Marina Plastic Surgery, co-founder and chief medical officer of Orange Twist, and chairman of the USC-Marina Aesthetic Surgery Fellowship.
“CoolSculpting, for non-surgical fat reduction, is one of the most requested treatments in my practice, and now I can introduce my patients to CoolTone for muscle toning, strengthening and firming of the abdomen, buttocks, and thighs.”
Allergan is accepting orders for the CoolTone device, and the first units will ship early in the fourth quarter of this year, according to the release.
[Source(s): Allergan plc, PR Newswire]


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PS3 all about the games - Hirai
Speaking on the officially-backed ThreeSpeech blog, Kaz Hirai has said he believes the PlayStation 3 is now firmly perceived as a games console.
"I think that some of the initiatives that I put in place after I took over the job in Japan are starting to bear fruit. We talk about this all the time: the fact that we've repositioned the PlayStation 3 as being first and foremost a videogames console," Hirai is quoted as offering.
"I think that cleared up a lot of confusion in everybody's minds - certainly people in the press as well as consumers. And if we're saying it's first and foremost a videogames console, we've got to back it up with some big games.
"So we've put some initiatives in place to make sure we have more and more titles coming out on the PlayStation 3 from both first-party studios and third-party publishers. So those things, I think, are starting to come together."
The exec believes that upcoming releases like LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2, Home, et al could help boost the system, while the Blu-ray media format will remain the best way of delivering games for some time to come.
"That's not to say we're not doing the online stuff, which we are, through the PlayStation Store, but it's basically a combination that makes the most sense for us and consumers. That's why in some instances, we'll offer both versions, like with Gran Turismo 5 Prologue," the big cheese concluded.
- Metal Gear Online will return, reveal coming at The Game Awards 2014
- Ever wanted to know which next-gen console would survive a 30-foot drop?
- New Assassin's Creed: Unity patch is a bit on the large side
- Wonder what Zombie mode looks like for Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare? Here's a trailer
- Xbox 360 Titanfall players getting a massive update next week
- Ubisoft pulls the Assassin's Creed: Unity Season Pass, offering free DLC and games to apologize for the problems with the game
- Dark Souls migration over to Steam delayed into next month now
- Sony to give partial refunds to PS Vita early adopters over misleading launch advertising
- And here's the goodies that Games With Gold will get you in December


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DAR ES SALAAM – The Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF) is celebrating the impact of 73 reform initiatives that are making Africa a better place to do business. Implemented between 2007 and 2016, these initiatives are making it possible for businesses to register, pay their taxes, solve commercial disputes, clear goods through customs, and so much more, in a quick, simple and transparent manner.
Simplification and efficiency are helping to speed up economic growth, ultimately changing the lives of millions of Africans. Specifically, ICF has worked with 21 African governments, three regional organisations and the private sector to set up online business registration and licensing systems, to set up electronic single window systems for trade that speed up the clearing of goods at customs, and to set up online systems for paying taxes.
In addition, ICF has helped countries to create electronic land registration systems, to set up electronic systems for commodities trading, and to increase government’s ability to partner with the private sector in public-private partnerships.
ICF has also built the capacity of African governments, public institutions, private sector and citizens in a variety of areas including business skills, commercial law, hydropower plant maintenance, contract negotiation, financial markets and global food standards. Countries were encouraged to learn from each other and share best practices, further increasing the impact of investment climate reforms.
ICF Chairman Neville Isdell paid tribute to the team’s vision and commitment to delivering transformative change in Africa, calling out a series of key achievements, including 9 commercial courts created and 4 arbitration courts operationalised to resolve commercial disputes quickly and transparently, 5 single windows for trade established to modernize the clearance process of goods in key African ports and 6 online tax systems introduced to reduce the time and cost businesses incur in fulfilling their tax obligations.
“That ICF has played such an important role in galvanizing the transformation of the continent’s investment climate is a source of great pride. We are confident that our legacy – the blueprint for public-private partnership that we leave behind – will allow others to build their own success long after our departure,” said Neville Isdell.
Speaking about the achievements, ICF Co-Chair and Former President of the Republic of Tanzania, H.E. Benjamin Mkapa, said: “ICF was set up to prove that investment climate reforms can be done quickly, using little resources while creating great impact for the private sector, governments and countries in general. We have done this. We have shown that it is possible. Now it is up to African countries to follow the example set by ICF and to pursue greater investment climate reforms that will spur Africa’s development and unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of its people.”
Efforts made by many African countries to improve their business environments have been recognized by the World Bank in its annual Doing Business Report, which ranks how easy it is to do business in different countries. Over the past nine years, many countries that have worked with ICF have improved their rankings, including Cape Verde, Burkina Faso and Rwanda. The 2016 Doing Business Report ranked five African countries amongst the top ten improving nations, with sub-Saharan Africa alone accounting for roughly 30% of all regulatory reforms that make it easier to do business.


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A point of contention in the debate over California's Proposition 37 is whether consumers will be able to sue for damages if the measure were to pass. The No on 37 campaign has made the potential for "shakedown lawsuits" a major part of their argument
. Newspaper editorial boards have echoed this concern, with one paper even
suggesting that the enforcement provisions make Proposition 37 the worst proposition ever.
On the other side, the Yes on 37 campaign insists that these concerns are without merit. The campaign says on its website
that "any penalties from a violation go only to the state, not the plaintiff or lawyer." If this were true, then I would agree with the campaign that the proposition didn't provide any incentives for consumers to sue.
Of course, the text of the proposition is freely available
, so in principle anybody should be able to read the text and figure out whether consumers could sue for damages. It turns out it's a bit more complicated because the proposition says that violations "may be prosecuted under Title 1.5 (commencing with section 1750) of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code."
The Civil Code is also freely available, but I decided to put reading that off for later. My procrastination paid off when Karl Haro von Mogel, , posted a comment
at the Biofortified blog explaining his reading of the law and linking to the relevant sections of the code, which "states right away that the consumer who brings the action is entitled to damages, including punitive damages."
Though Karl emphasized that he was not a lawyer, I found his explanation persuasive and decided to share it on Twitter.


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Android users rejoice: Twitter’s popular Vine app has finally come to Google’s mobile operating system.
Vine, the app that allows people to take short videos and post them to Twitter through their smartphones, has only been available to iPhone users since Twitter launched it in January this year. The app has proven popular, with 13 million users, according to Twitter. Now that Vine has reached Android, expect that number to grow very quickly.
Vine for Android is a little bit different than it is for the iPhone. Twitter said that it is working to make the two flavors have the same capabilities in upcoming updates. The Vine for Android app lets you create the standard six-second video with sound and looping playback, an “Explore” button to discover popular Vine videos, a “Find Friends” feature where you can invite others to join and the ability to digitally zoom, the latter unavailable in the iPhone version.
Twitter will continue to add new features to Vine on both the iPhone and Android apps, including the capability to use the front-facing camera, search funtionality, Twitter mentions and hashtags and the ability to share Vine videos on Facebook. Vine will only be available to users on Android devices running version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or higher.


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'Reminds me of the Census': Shoppers hoping to score 70 per cent off overseas holidays left furious after sale's website CRASHES
- Shoppers took to social media to vent frustration on website crash
- Online sale to give Australians massive travel discounts launched tonight
- Flights, cruises and hotels have prices slashed by up to 70 per cent
- The sale is hosted by Click Frenzy and it started at 7pm on October 18
- Destinations including Los Angeles, Fiji, Japan and Bali are on offer
Angry shoppers hoping to score massive discounts on overseas holidays have taken to social media to vent their frustration after the website offering the sale crashed.
The 24-hour Click Frenzy online sale offering Australians discounts of up to 70 per cent began at 7pm on Tuesday, but users were already reporting problems within its first hour.
'Booking system gone into melt down. Origin and destination takes forever to load and when it does it crashed on the next page,' one shopper wrote.
Angry shoppers hoping to score massive discounts on overseas holidays have taken to social media vent their frustration after the website offering the sale crashed
Holidaymakers now have the chance to go to the likes of Fiji (pictured) for next to nothing
The 24-hour Click Frenzy online sale offering Australians discounts of up to 70 per cent began at 7pm on Tuesday, but users were already reporting problems within its first hour
'How disappointing... more than half the deals to click on come back with broken connection, another said.
Flights, cruises, tours and accommodation for some of the world's most sought-after holiday destinations are available on the website.
All the holidays are on a first-come first-served basis, so for the best chance to grab a bargain holidaymakers should first subscribe to the website to gain exclusive offers.
'We are encouraging people to subscribe first so that they can beat the rush,' Click Frenzy co-founder Grant Arnott told Traveller.com before the sale.
'Work out where you want to go and come to the website. We want people to have a plan. There are some retailers that will have every possible package combo you can imagine, so you'll find what you want.'
Holidaymakers have the chance to visit places such as Los Angeles, Japan, Bali and Fiji, as well as local destinations such as Port Douglas and the Gold Coast, at a fraction of the usual price in peak periods.
One Facebook user has compared the Click Frenzy crash to the Census bungle
Crashing already! Holiday makers hoping to score massive discounts on overseas trips have taken to social media vent their frustration after the website offering the sale crashed on Tuesday night
A flash 24-hour overseas travel sale offering Australians discounts of up to 70 per cent off holiday deals could see travellers get to the likes of Bali (pictured)
The sale will give holidayers the chance to visit places such as Los Angeles (pictured), Japan, Bali and Fiji at a fraction of the usual price in peak periods
The sale will include over 500 deals from in excess of 100 well-known travel brands (pictured is a holidaymaker at Beachcomber Island, Fiji)
The offers will stretch across holiday packages, cruises, flights, rental cars, accommodation, travel insurance and tours (pictured is a holidayer at the iconic Hollywood sign)
The sale includes over 500 deals from in excess of 100 well-known travel brands, giving consumers the chance to save thousands of dollars on their dream getaway.
But the other tip from organisers is for everyone not to rush into a quick buy. Make sure to check the terms and conditions of the deals so that you can get what you want when you need it.
Heavily discounted offers will stretch across holiday packages, cruises, flights, rental cars, hotels and accommodation, travel insurance and tours.
Travel brands including Webjet, TigerAir, Hotels.com, Accor, Mantra, Fast Cover, Europcar, AAT Kings, Intrepid tours, Fast Cover, and Covermore have already signed on to offer exclusive deals.
You could be lucky enough to spot Japanese dancers at the Jinja Shrine in Chiyoda
Trusted travel brands including Webjet, TigerAir and Hotels.com have signed up with Click Frenzy to offer exclusive deals (pictured is Likuliku Resort, Fiji)
The online sale will launch tonight, October 18, and will last exactly 24 hours (pictured is Pura Bratan water temple in Bali)
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What’s black, white, and cool all over? Bloom—one of five patterns of 3-D wallpaper created by Pratt Institute students in collaboration with architect and design professor Sarah Strauss.
It all started in 2011, when Strauss began teaching Pattern and Ornament, a Pratt graduate seminar in interior design. To mentor her students, she invited Kyra and Robertson Hartnett of design and printing studio twenty2, who, earlier this year helped to bring the students’ ideas from pen to (wall)paper.
The collection of wallpaper, named DEEP, debuted at New York's International Contemporary Furniture Fair in May and is now available worldwide. Perhaps most notable about the patterns is that the interactive experience is created by using eco-friendly, water-based inks. No 3-D glasses required.


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DURHAM, N.C. — The brand name logo on a laptop or a shirt pocket may do the same thing for some people that a pendant of a crucifix or Star of David does for others.
For people who aren't deeply religious, visible markers of commercial brands are a form of self-expression and a token of self-worth, just like symbolic expressions of one's faith, according to new research by a Duke University marketing professor and colleagues in New York and Tel Aviv.
In fact, the more religious a person is, the less those sort of brand expressions seem to matter, according to a series of experiments run by the team. Their paper, "Brands: The Opiate of Non-Religious Masses?," appears currently online in the journal Marketing Science.
"People with a high involvement in religiosity aren't necessarily as brand-conscious as people who don't practice religion," said Gavan Fitzsimons, the R. David Thomas Professor of Marketing and Psychology at The Fuqua School of Business. This is true at least for visible expressions of brand, like socks and sunglasses.
The team first conducted a field study in which they looked at several geographic areas for the number of Apple stores per million people, the number of brand stores such as Macy's and Gap, and a comparison statistic they called the "brand-discount store ratio." Then they compared these rough measures of brand reliance against the number of congregations per thousand and self-reported attendance in church or synagogue, controlling for income, education and urbanization differences. In every analysis, they found a negative relationship between brand reliance and religiosity.
To zero in on the question, they performed four laboratory experiments in which feelings of religiosity were manipulated before subjects went through imaginary shopping experiences.
In a group of 45 college students, one group was primed by being asked to write a short essay on "what your religion means to you personally," while the other group wrote about how they spend their days. Then each group was sent on an imaginary shopping trip in which they chose between products shown two at a time, national brand versus store brand.
Some of the products were forms of self-expression, such as sunglasses, watches and socks. Other products were functional items like bread, batteries and ibuprofen.
The group that had been primed to think about religion was less likely to choose branded products of self expression. This was particularly true for publicly viewable products that could be used to express identity.
A second, Internet-based experiment measured the self-reported religiosity of 356 participants, and then ran them through the same shopping experience. Again, those that were highly religious cared less about national brands for the self-expressive products. For the functional products, level of religiosity didn't make a difference.
Two more experiments demonstrated that religion reduces brand reliance by apparently satisfying the need to express self-worth.
"We don't think people are choosing these brands, consciously saying, 'I want to signal to everyone how I feel about myself through this brand,' " said Fitzsimons, whose iPhone rings with Johnny Cash singing "Ring of Fire." But sub-consciously, it's likely a different story.
"Brands are a signal of self-worth," Fitzsimons said. "We're signaling to others that we care about ourselves and that we feel good about ourselves and that we matter in this world. It's more than 'I'm hip or cool,' " he said: "I'm a worthwhile person, and I matter, and you should respect me and think that I'm a good person, because I've got the D&G on my glasses. "
So if you were the brand manager for a new kind of apparel, you might study the demographics of your markets in a different way, Fitzsimons said. "If you knew that your target customers were largely more religious, that'd probably suggest the store brand path would be easier. If you knew that your customers were largely not at all religious, that suggests that you might want to focus more toward building a national brand."
Co-authors on the study were Ron Shachar, chair of marketing at Tel Aviv University; Tulin Erdem, the Leonard N. Stern Professor of Business at New York University; and Keisha Cutright, a Duke Ph.D. student.


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Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has just announced Mad Max , a new open world, third-person action game where players become Mad Max, a lone warrior in a savage post-apocalyptic world where cars are the key to survival.
“ Mad Max places gamers directly into the driver’s seat of their ultimate customized vehicle to battle it out in the action-packed, open world of The Wasteland,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production & Development, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “We are very pleased to work with Avalanche Studios to provide a next generation gaming experience with robust fighting paired with dynamic vehicular combat.”
“Over a decade of creating open world experiences has led us to this point,” said Christofer Sundberg, Avalanche Studios Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer. “The Wasteland lends itself incredibly well to the high level of player freedom with which Avalanche Studios has become synonymous. This unforgiving environment inspired us to create a gritty and diverse experience where driving, fighting and scavenging are essential for survival.”
Mad Max is under development by Avalanche Studios for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC and is expected to launch sometime in 2014.


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Acer’s F1 smartphone was tipped to drop on October 6th by DigiTimes yesterday, and now the company themselves have confirmed that the 1GHz Windows Mobile handset will arrive “within weeks”. In fact, the handset will apparently arrive in time for the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5, itself expected on October 6th, and while they’re being coy on full specs, they have confirmed that retailer Clove’s technical run-down is accurate.
That confirms that the F1 has Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon chipset, 512MB of ROM and 256MB of RAM, and a 3.8-inch WVGA touchscreen. There’s also a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, accelerometer and 3.5mm headphones jack, as well as WiFi b/g and Bluetooth.
The Acer F1 is a quadband GSM, triband HSPA (900/1900/2100) device and measures 118.6 x 63 x 12 mm while weighing 130g. The 1,350mAh battery is rated as good for up to 5hrs talktime or 400hrs standby, and there’s both A-GPS and a microSD card slot. Clove have it listed for £295 (exc VAT; $479).
[via Register Hardware]


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- Walmart said it will kick off a pilot with Cruise, a General Motors subsidiary, to better understand how driverless cars could be used for deliveries.
- Starting next year, customers in Scottsdale, Arizona, can order from their local store and get their purchases dropped off by a Cruise car.
- Walmart is working with six autonomous vehicle companies, including Cruise, Ford and Alphabet-owned Waymo.
Starting next year, some of Walmart's deliveries of groceries and other items will be dropped off at customers' homes by a small fleet of electric-powered, driverless cars.
The big-box retailer said Tuesday it will kick off a pilot program with General Motors' all-electric vehicle subsidiary, Cruise. It did not disclose terms of the deal.
Tom Ward, senior vice president of customer product of Walmart U.S., said customers who live near Scottsdale, Arizona, can place an order from their local store and have it delivered by one of Cruise's cars. He said it could further two of the retailer's goals: getting customers what they need quickly and moving a step closer to the company's target of zero emissions by 2040.
"Technology that has the potential to not only save customers time and money but also be helpful to the planet is technology we want to learn more about," he said in a post on the company's website.
The retail giant has experimented with different tech-enabled ways to smooth out inefficient or expensive aspects of its business, from simplifying the restocking of shelves to expediting same-day deliveries to customers. One area of focus is solutions for the last mile — the term used to describe the final stretch of a package's journey that drives much of its delivery costs.
Walmart has testing underway with six autonomous vehicle companies, including Cruise, Ford and Alphabet-owned Waymo. It is also testing drone delivery with multiple operators, including one company that is delivering Covid-19 testing kits to people's homes.
Not all of Walmart's technology experiments have scaled up, however. The company recently ended a contract with a robotics company, Bossa Nova Robotics, after deciding humans could do similar work to the robots it used in some stores to scan shelves for inventory.
In late October, the retailer announced it would designate four stores as e-commerce laboratories where employees will test new digital tools. For example, it will test an app that uses augmented reality to scan multiple boxes in the back room rather than one at a time as they move them to the store floor.