text:
AMD "Windsor's" Last Breath
Anh Tuan Huynh
July 31, 2007 6:00 PM
comment(s) - last by
AMD plans one last "Windsor" based Athlon 64 X2
AMD refuses to kill off its 90nm
core Athlon 64 X2 processors. The
Athlon 64 X2 6000+
is AMD’s fastest dual-core performance processor. The processor launched last February to the tune of 3.0 GHz with a 125-watt TDP.
The model continues to stay on AMD’s roadmap throughout the rest of 2007 and half of 2008. AMD plans a refresher for the Athlon 64 X2 6000+. Instead of moving it to the
core like many other Athlon 64 X2 models, including the 5200+, 5000+, 4800+, 4400+, 4000+, 3600+ and
, the refreshed X2 6000+ sticks to the
The refreshed model drops the thermal ratings down to 89-watts. Still, the reduced thermal envelope is still 24-watts higher than the highest-clocked
– the X2 5200+ at 2.7 GHz. However, the thermals match AMD’s upcoming
Phenom X2 GP-6800
based model slated for Q1’2008.
Despite the impending launch of the Phenom X2 series, the Athlon 64 X2 6000+ remains the only mainstream AMD dual-core desktop processor with a 3.0 GHz clock frequency. The upcoming Phenom X2 series top out around 2.4-to-2.8 GHz when the GP-6800 launches, according to a recent AMD roadmap. AMD does not have any plans to release a 3.0 GHz
on its roadmap yet.
Expect AMD to release 89-watt Athlon 64 X2 6000+ processors next quarter.
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: Not quite..
7/31/2007 7:49:59 PM
The E6850 is still the preferred option for people who don't care about the price difference. It's not mainstream, if you are average Joe, going to bestbuy to buy a computer. But "average" Joe is just that. There are plenty of well off people who will buy the expensive dell XPS with the latest 300 dollar processor, and plenty of enthusiasts who will spend the dough for bragging rights.
But your arguement holds water. I too, don't consider anything that costs 300 dollars mainstream. But then again, I also would not spend 170, if I can get one for 50.
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Some Harley-Davidson Employees Face Big Decision Overnight
Company Offers About 250 Workers Voluntary Layoff
Hundreds of Harley-Davidson workers are facing a tough decision: The company has set Wednesday as the deadline to accept a voluntary layoff.
Workers have known about the pending layoffs at the Wauwatosa and Menomonee Falls Harley-Davidson plants for more than a year, but they just got word two weeks ago about an offer to take a voluntary layoff.
It's certainly a major consideration for many families heading into this holiday season, and they're down to the wire to make that decision.
The game plan was set more than a year ago; when faced with the possibility the iconic Milwaukee company might leave town, union workers agreed to a contract calling for layoffs.
Up to 250 full-time workers would be gone by next April, many replaced by lower-paid seasonal workers.
Then, early this month, the company made the offer of a voluntary layoff, with unspecified incentives and now a specific number of layoffs.
A company spokeswoman told 12 News Harley is seeking 177 voluntary reductions in the workforce, adding that the company will assess whether there will be additional, non-voluntary layoffs after Wednesday's deadline for voluntary layoffs.
BizTimes Editor Steve Jagler said the changes will create a two-tier workforce.
"The newer tier, the lower tier of that workforce is going to be hard-pressed, even though they're making Harleys. They're going to be hard-pressed to buy the product that they're making," Jagler said.
Jagler said that in a business sense, the layoffs and concessions were necessary to keep Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee.
"Harley is doing what it has to do to survive," Jagler said.
WISN 12 News reporter Kent Wainscott spoke with several Harley workers Tuesday. None of them wanted to talk publicly, but one told Wainscott he is preparing to lose his job in April after more 12 years with the company.
They all said they have concerns about the company's future and their own.
WISN 12 News reached out to the local steelworkers union Tuesday, but a union official did not return the calls.
The company said the layoffs will be phased in over the next four months.

domain: news


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The new Ford Bronco is one of the must-have vehicles of the moment and the crew at Rabid Customs has just completed work on a particularly striking example.
This Bronco is a Badlands model that left the Ford factory painted in Eruption Green. It is a four-door and equipped with the available soft top. This specification alone is enough to make the Bronco stand out but the owner clearly wanted to make even more of a statement and sent the off-roader to Rabid Customs.
The most obvious changes made are the new cream-colored vinyl accents found across the wheel arches, rocket panels, hood, and a pinstripe running along the doors. Complementing the cream accents are lashings of bright orange, giving the Bronco a retro feel.
Elsewhere, the Ford has been equipped with a set of Pro Comp Vintage 69 wheels measuring 17×9 at all four corners and wrapped in BF Goodrich All-Terrain tires. The off-roader also benefits from a 2.5-inch suspension lift.
While the Bronco has caused a lot of fanfare since its release, it isn’t yet rivaling the Jeep Wrangler when it comes to sales. During the second half of 2021, Ford sold 35,023 examples of the Bronco. By comparison, Jeep sold 46,044 Wranglers in Q3 and 39,900 units in Q4. The Wrangler ended 2021 with no less than 204,610 sales. However, Ford has had trouble covering demand for the Bronco. It will be interesting to see how the Bronco will compare to the Wrangler in 2022, its first full year of sales.


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Lower cheese prices are just pie in the sky
Local pizza makers are weighing their options these days — to raise prices on pies, or to absorb skyrocketing costs for the ingredient they use most: cheese.
Cheese, explained Carl Byrne of Byrne Dairy, is one of four dairy commodities whose prices are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Butter, whey, non-fat dry milk and cheese prices are all determined by national demand for the goods, rather than by dairy farmers' input costs.
According to the latest available USDA price update, for the week ending June 23, block cheddar cheese — which in turn sets the price for mozzarella and other cheeses — averaged $1.94 per pound. That was up eight cents from the week prior, up 18 cents from the week ending June 9, and up 24 cents from the week ending June 2.
Because it takes so much cheese to make a pizza, pizzerias are among the businesses hardest hit by the increase.
National pizza chains have already started making adjustments. Pizza Hut and Papa John's have raised the price of their cheese-only pizzas to match the price of pizzas with one topping, since a cheese pizza uses more cheese than a topped pizza. The prices and the amounts by which they'll increase vary by location, with a Kentucky Papa John's, for instance, now charging $12.58 for a large cheese pizza that used to cost $10.99.
Domino's hasn't raised its pizza prices yet, but it might have to, said spokeswoman Lynn Liddle, if cheese prices continue to climb.
Dario's Famous Pizza in Farmington had to raise pie prices by about 10 percent three weeks ago, said owner Daryn Sapere. A medium cheese pizza that used to cost $8.50 now costs $9.64; a large cheese pizza that used to run $10.50 now costs $11.78. Prices on the four-cheese pizza increased a bit more, from $10.99 to $12.84 for a medium and from $13.99 to $16.06 for a large.
"In this business, [cheese] is the biggest cost," said Sapere, who previously had not raised his prices in several years.
The price increase was for all the pizzas, not just cheese, Sapere said.
Owner Tom Wilson said Hometown Pizza & Video in Canandaigua hasn't raised its prices yet but would consider doing so if the trend continues. Wilson would also consider following Pizza Hut and Papa John's lead in raising prices just on cheese pizzas. To date, the store has offered a "Tuesday night special" with $6 cheese pizzas. Wilson said "people like the cheapness," and hoped he wouldn't have to put an end to the special.
To counteract the price hike, another local pizzeria started buying block cheese instead of pre-shredded, saving a few pennies in the process. A worker there said another option would be to buy a lower-grade mozzarella cheese — an option he wasn't considering just yet.
Dominic Bocanelli, owner of Pudgie's Pizza, Pasta & Subs in Canandaigua, said his business would, for the time being, continue to absorb the extra cost, even though the shop uses 1,600 to 2,000 pounds of cheese a week.
If he were to raise prices, Bocanelli said, it's not just the customers who would be affected — Bocanelli would have to pay to print 10,000 new menus.
For now, it seems that local pizza chefs are holding their prices steady. But that could change soon, if cheese prices don't reverse their climb. And Bocanelli, for one, did not see that happening any time soon.
"Anything that goes up," he said, "it never comes down."
Includes reporting by the Associated Press. Hilary Smith can be reached at (585) 394-0770, Ext. 343, or at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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As the calendar heads into the dog days of summer, one local farm recently offered a new way for attendees to quench their thirst.
A number of people poured into the inaugural Beer Fest Saturday, July 9, at Konow’s Corn Maze, sampling 30 different beer varieties.
Christina Neitzke-Troike, event coordinator for Konow’s Beer Fest, said introducing the event to the area seemed like a worthwhile venture.
“There’s not a lot around here like [Beer Fest], so we wanted to bring it to the farm and let people try something like this,” Neitzke-Troike said. “We’ve never done anything like this before. Other areas do it, so we wanted to try it out to see how it went.”
The beers available ranged from India pales ales to seasonal summer brews, also including larger brand names like Samuel Adams and smaller local offerings like Pollyanna Brewing Company from Lemont.
Stacy Davis, of New Lenox, said she heard about the Beer Fest while listening to a local radio station that was giving away tickets, and she and her husband decided to give it a try.
Davis said she and her husband were enjoying their time spent sampling beers.
Her husband, Sean, said he’d tried roughly six beers.
“I like the wheat beer from Pollyannna,” he said, dubbing it his favorite drink of the afternoon to that point.
Stacy said she tried the Truly Spiked & Sparkling beverage and that it had been her favorite of all the selections.
Sean said between he and his wife, he’s more of the beer fan.
“I’m actually impressed she’s actually trying beers,” he said. “She normally doesn’t drink any beer.”
Rich Kowalczyk, of Lockport, said he and his wife were having a good time at the Beer Fest.
“She got me tickets for our anniversary,” he said.
Kowalczyk sipped on a brew from Revolution Brewing, Illinois’ largest independent craft brewery, and said he enjoyed the hibiscus ale.
“I love [Beer Fest],” he said. “I love trying new beers and kind of finding something else, something different. It’s better than just going and buying a random six-pack.”
Kowalczyk said he was looking for a nice, light beer to enjoy during the summer months.
“I would say every [brewer] we’ve gone [to] so far, there’s at least one beer I’ve been impressed by,” he said.
Of the various beers available at the event, Kowalczyk said there were some he had not heard of previously.
“Sam Adams has this one beer that I’ve never, ever seen before,” he said. “It’s kind of got a lemon kick to it. I’d definitely go buy that one.”
Kowalczyk’s wife, Beth, said she’d never been to a beer festival before.
“I’ve been to wine tastings and stuff, but this is different,” she said. “I like it.”
Beth said she considers herself a “big” beer fan, depending on what type it is. She added that she would be interested in attending Konow’s Beer Fest again in the future.
Neitzke-Troike said the goal of the event was to be another avenue for people to come out, socialize and enjoy all the sights and sounds on a summer day.
“[We hope] to bring people together for live music and have some beer,” she said. “We want the kids to be able to come out and enjoy the jumping hill, the spider webs, the tree house, all that stuff, while their parents can sit back and relax and have a cocktail and watch the band.”
Neitzke-Troike said Konow’s has plans to hold another festival next year, expanding it to also incorporate wine and whiskey.


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NEW Cordoba tour to launch in March!
During the FITUR Madrid travel trade show, City Sightseeing the worlds biggest open top tour operator announced their latest tour offering - Cordoba, Spain.
Set to launch during the first week in March 2013, City Sightseeing Cordoba will give visitors a taste of the City's rich history and culture from the top deck. The visitors can hop-on and hop-off the iconic red open top buses at either one of the routes 13 stops including the Mosque-Cathedral, the Royal Palace of the Christian Kings, the Calahorra Tower, the Royal Shipyards, the Palace of Merced and the Roman Temple - all these making up part of the UNESCO World Heritage city centre. The tour also offers a commentary in nine languages plus a special Spanish Childrens channel.
Enrique Ybarra, City Sightseeing Worldwide President and CEO, said: “As well as we are reaching locations from Moscow to Miami and Sharjah to Johannesburg, it was important that we continue to develop our brand in Europe. Our €2.2million investment in Cordoba brings another World Heritage destination to cultured travellers as well as the tour operators and our pre-sale agents.
City Sightseeing have already launched Sharjah - UAE, Johannesburg - South Africa and Miami - USA in 2013. Find out more about all of our tours here.Return to News Homepage
Published Date: 04/02/2013 11:37:00
by Stephen Morgan


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Whether you’re a millennial saving for a house, or a café connoisseur who can’t resist a cheeky smashed avo for brunch, chances are you’ve heard of the global avocado shortage.
With prices soaring as the demand for the fatty fruit rises around the world, researchers at UQ are about to become the heroes we not only need, but the ones we deserve.
A team lead by Professor Neena Mitter has used plant stem cell research to create a world first, cutting-edge system of growing avocados at twice the rate it currently takes avocados to grow on a farm.
Right now, the process to grow avocado trees is complex, can take up to 18 months and a successful tree is made from three different plants.
Researchers at UQ have devised a method to use less than a 0.1mm piece of plant material to produce around 500 plants.
Instead of relying on seeds to grow the plants, this new method works by taking a small piece of plant tissue which contains many different cells — each cell in this sample then has the capacity to grow one single plant.
The small buds produced in the lab are placed in a special growth solution developed at UQ, which encourages the plants to shoot and root. No land is required, meaning there’s no need for pesticides or fertilisers.
Not only have the researchers at UQ, or should we say miracle workers, made a huge leap for avocado lovers around the world, they have discovered a way to make robust stock in faster and fewer steps.
Currently, 20,000 avocado plants are growing in a tiny, 20-square metre room at St Lucia. These plants have are not dependent on seasons or seed supply and the lab predicts that they will produce resilient stock in just nine months.
The innovative method is set to double Queensland’s avocado production and has received a grant through the Advance Queensland Innovation Program to support this work.
While more avocado trees around the world seems like the best possible outcome, this technology also has the potential to generate new jobs and lead to huge industry and economic growth.
Let’s avo high-five for this ground-breaking research straight out of UQ (and into the mouths of some hungry avocado lovers!).


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New York Auto Dealers' Lobby Prepping New Anti-Tesla Legislation
Tesla is currently unable to sell cars in Texas, due to many American states' fascination with protectionist legislation for car dealers. Now some legislators in New York, apparently joined by the state's governor, want to adopt similar legislation in the Empire State. Precise practices vary from place to place, but the general spirit of the regulations is that instead of a manufacturer selling cars to consumers, they should sell cars to dealers who mark them up and then divide the profits with state legislators.
Oh, sorry, it's about protecting consumers.
[Deborah Dorman] said the bill was designed to protect consumers because it required companies to create a storefront in the state and was not directed at Tesla because it sold electric vehicles. Some environmentalists have claimed the bill unfairly targets electric car manufacturers.
But protecting them from what? OK, actually it's about protecting car dealers:
“Everyone is selling electric cars, it has nothing to do with that,” she said. “If you allow someone to come into the market with no overhead, that's an unfair advantage,” she said.
It's definitely an advantage but is it unfair?
One of the great things about the journalism industry is that thanks to the First Amendment, it's very challenging for incumbents to try to use this kind of business strategy. Owners of print magazines can't complain that it's "unfair" for Slate to enter the marketplace with its low-overhead Web-first strategy.
Scotland Mostly Sells Scotch Whisky
Scotland is best known for its Scotch whisky, but the economic aspects of the Scottish independence debate have mostly centered on North Sea oil. And yet it turns out that at the end of the day the Scottish people really are mostly selling booze not oil:
Malt state: over half of Scotland's exports fall into 6 categories, the largest of which is whisky pic.twitter.com/pe9NxHybkN-- Eric Rauchway (@rauchway) February 26, 2014
About half the world's whiskey is produced and consumed in India where UB Whiskey churns out beverages that have little appeal to people outside the subcontinent. But economic growth in China and environs has produced a booming demand for higher-end booze, greatly benefiting producers in Scotland and the United States alike. Because Scotland is really small, that adds up to a much bigger difference in their national aggregates.
The Entitlements Debate, in Two Tweets
Here's Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) arguing that it's bad for the government to try to reduce the amount of money it spends bolstering the living standards of senior citizens:
"These Medicare Advantage cuts are misguided, threaten a successful program for seniors, and must be overturned” http://t.co/tEh3zu8fLd-- Senator Hatch Office (@SenOrrinHatch) February 24, 2014
And here's Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) arguing that it's bad for the Obama administration to refuse to reduce the amount of money it spends bolstering the living standards of senior citizens:
It’s sad to know that Pres Obama has taken chained CPI off the table. We need to get serious about entitlement reform http://t.co/Gbcvl4JRDq-- Senator Hatch Office (@SenOrrinHatch) February 25, 2014
Do note here, however, that while there is hypocrisy about entitlements in the air, it's not a question of pure hypocrisy. The CPI issue and the Medicare Advantage issue differ from each other in that while some of the benefits of excessively generous Medicare Advantage payments make their way to senior citizens, a fair amount of the value is captured by insurance companies and doctors and hospital executives. Hatch's proposal on chained CPI is to simply reduce cash Social Security payments, directly taking money out of the pockets of the elderly.
Apple Doesn't Need a Mega-Acquisition to Think Bold
Recent large-dollar acquisitions by Google and Facebook have created a new surge of chatter about the idea that Apple is being excessively cautious with its cash and ought to be out there spending on some exciting high-profile acquisitions.
John Gruber is right to be skeptical of this idea. Firms tend to make mistakes when they betray their own cultures, and it's simply not in Apple's nature to make that kind of move. Apple does acquisitions, but they tend to be relatively modest in scale and aimed at incorporating specific technologies into Apple's products. The kind of thing Facebook is doing with Instagram and WhatsApp where it buys a big well-known company and then basically just socks it away for future consideration isn't the Apple Way, and there's no sense in trying to change that.
That said, I don't really think it can be denied that Apple's gargantuan stockpile of cash has become more of a distraction for management than a useful tool for flexibility. Adding more cash to the pile is hardly the best way to help the company over the long term at this point.
So why not cut prices?
The high prices and high margins for the flagship iPhone model—the iPhone 5S, currently—make a ton of sense to me. This is the most popular phone in the world at its current price, and during peak demand times Apple always struggles to produce as many phones as people want to buy. So thumbs up for high prices and high margins. But what about Macs? The PC industry is now shrinking, but it's shrinking slowly and Apple has such a small share of the overall PC market that it would be easy for Apple to increase sales and strengthen its overall platform by making some of this stuff cheaper. By the same token, the Thunderbolt Display is just a fantastic piece of equipment but almost nobody is going to buy it at its price.
But more importantly, it seems to me that there's a strong case for aggressively priced downmarket iOS devices. The iPhone 5C isn't on the cutting edge of technology, but it's hardly a piece of junk. If priced as a low-margin device, it would be a huge hit. Same with the non-retina iPad Mini. Apple makes so much money from its core sales of state-of-the-art iPhones and iPads that making the lower-end iOS devices genuinely cheap would still leave them with a growing cash stockpile. But it would also make these devices exactly the kind of devices Apple likes to make—great devices. The 5S would be the best phone, and the 5C would be the best value phone.
More NYC—a Progressive Campaign for Upzoning New York
It doesn't exactly have cutting-edge Web design, but yesterday Nathan Newman unveiled a new organizing campaign he's calling More NYC—essentially an effort to build a progressive pro-development coalition for New York City.
The core of the idea is to zone for more residential density in key high-demand areas of Manhattan (that's the pro-development part) and then do a left-wing value recapture scheme. Essentially instead of the backdoor tax of an inclusionary zoning mandate where for every seven units of market rate (i.e., very expensive) housing you need to include two or three subsidized units, he wants to make developers simply pay a straightforward tax. Then that tax revenue will be used to directly finance the construction of affordable housing units in other lower-cost areas of the city and to finance public services. This is very much the economically sound take on things like IZ—better to do it directly as a fee and then use the money efficiently than to create a tangle of mandates.
At any rate, it's a very interesting idea. Michael Bloomberg had a pro-development and pro-developer public image due to a handful of high-profile upzonings and his general rich guy-ness, but, as Sarah Laskow has recently written, the actual zoning record is much more complicated and vast swathes of the outer boroughs were actually downzoned during the Bloomberg administration.
Somewhat shockingly, she writes, "the city planning department doesn’t track, for instance, how much potential space was gained or lost" during rezonings so it's not actually possible to do a straightforward calculation of what the net impact of Bloomberg-era zoning was. The one thing we really can know for sure is that there are potentially huge amounts of economic surplus to be created through broad upzoning. The question is who can create the political coalition that would unlock that surplus, and what would its objectives be. One possibility would be a broadly libertarian or "pro-business" coalition, but another would be the coalition that Newman is proposing—one that would unite the interests of private-sector labor unions in the building trades with public-sector unions that need more tax revenue.
Morgan Stanley Predicts Utopian Society by 2026
A new Morgan Stanley report making an extremely bullish case on Tesla views them getting into the autonomous car industry and eventually helping to build a utopian society. As a firm believer in the utopian potential of autonomous cars, I was glad to see that they are even able to boil this down to a chart. Utopia is going to arrive very rapidly in the 2023–2026 period.
So look forward to it.
Watch This Creepy B-Roll of Taco Bell Breakfast
Breakfast is coming to Taco Bell! That's exciting on its own terms, but even more exciting is that the company's PR people emailed me some b-roll about it. I think the idea is that I'm supposed to take a small clip of this and integrate it into my local newscast with voice-over. Or something. But it's quite short, and rather entrancing in its current b-roll state:
Delicious? I am skeptical of the waffle thing. But more competition in the breakfast taco sector is always welcome.
The Ukraine Really Is Weak
Until breaking into the news recently, the country of Ukraine was probably best known to most Americans from its role as a territory on the Risk board. In particular, Ukraine-From-Risk is central to a very memorable Seinfeld scene:
This naturally raises the question—is the Ukraine weak? The answer, I believe, is yes.
Key to analyzing this question is Garrett Robinson's paper performing mathematical analysis of Risk (h/t to Walt Hickey whose summer 2013 writeup of the paper I recalled when looking into the issue). To understand the weakness of Ukraine, we need to start with the map. Here's Robinson's version, slightly annotated by me to make an important point:
One issue that arises here is that many Risk boards out there don't have a Ukraine territory. That's because the territory traditionally labeled "Ukraine" on Ukraine-having Risk boards is not even close to replicating Ukraine's location in the geography of the planet Earth. The same territory is sometimes called "Russia" (and it does, roughly, correspond to European Russia's location) or "Eastern Europe." You can consider this ambiguity over Ukraine vs. Russia to be somewhat emblematic of the current political crisis over there. But for our purposes, that's Ukraine all the way up to the Arctic Sea.
To analyze the situation correctly you want a schematic. Here's Robinson's:
Now what you see here is that the different territories have various different numbers of neighbors but this maxes out at six. Ukraine is one of a handful of territories that can be attacked from six different places, an extreme vulnerability in a game where the odds are generally on the side of the attacker.
Which is to say that Kramer was right: The Ukraine is weak (in Risk, at least).
*Correction Feb. 24, 2014: This post originally misstated that Ukraine was uniquely vulnerable to attack due to the number of territories that could attack it and that (unlike Ontario and China) it's not on the interior of the continent. West Africa, Southern Europe, the Middle East, and East Africa are equally vulnerable by this measure.
Oklahoma Schools Are Requiring Tough Financial Literacy Courses
Starting this May, Oklahoma is going to be experimenting with the toughest financial literacy requirements for high-school students that have ever been attempted in the United States:
Mustang High School teacher Carrie Hixon recently asked her students “What if you used your bank debit card to buy lunch at Taco Bell and you didn't have enough money in your checking account. What do you think Taco Bell will do?”
“Make you wash dishes,” the class clown popped off.
A serious Hixon countered, “Until recently, Taco Bell and your bank each could charge you a fee of $25 to $35. Thankfully, a recent law requires establishments to deny the purchase and hand your card back to you, if you have insufficient funds.”
I think there are three big takeaways here. One is that this is a good idea and financial literacy is very important. Another is that this underscores how mistaken I think it is for some self-styled progressives to underplay the importance of improving K-12 education in the United States—the foundation of financial literacy is basic math and literacy and people who don't master those skills are always going to be prey for scamsters. But the third is that regulation is really important and valuable. It's silly to create something like the 401(k) system, which is challenging for normal people to navigate in a sensible way, and then spend a lot of time in high-school preaching the virtues of low-fee passively managed index funds. The policy should be designed to push people into smart options and make it really hard for parasitical fee-collectors to get their hands on people's money.
How to Fix the Housing Component of CPI
For many purposes, including monetary policy, the federal government needs a statistical series to calculate the level of inflation in the economy. Because food and energy prices, though important to consumers, are highly unstable and deeply driven by nonmonetary factors (weather, political upheaval), it's conventional to strip those out when assessing short-term monetary policy. But when you strip out food and energy prices, then a very large share of the remaining "core" CPI is the price index for housing. And calculating the price index for housing is conceptually complicated because only a nonrandom minority of people rent, so you can't really just go around and tally up rents.
Adam Ozimek has a paper pointing to what he and I agree is a major practical failing in the way the Bureau of Labor Statistics currently handles this problem, and while I doubt a blog post about his paper is going to go viral on Facebook, it could help prevent future spells of mass unemployment if people read it.
My effort to make this issue a bit more digestable:
How Does the BLS Calculate Inflation for Owner-Occupied Housing Now? It completely ignores issues about the sale price of houses and prevailing mortgage rates and instead "imputes" rental value. Which is to say the question the BLS seeks to answer about your condo is not "how much would it cost someone else to buy your condo" but "how much money are you saving by living in your condo rather than renting an identical one." Equivalently, it's asking how much you could earn as a landlord if you started sleeping in your car and renting the house out. So what the BLS does is it surveys the prices that renters are paying for housing, tries to do quality adjustments as it does for all other kinds of goods, and then imputes an equivalent rental value to all the owner-occupied housing.
Doesn't That Sound Weird? Who Cares About Hypothetical Rents? It does seem weird. It's worth noting, however, that efforts to create a more "intuitive" price index by looking at what people actually pay have their own problems. In Sweden, for example, they look at actual mortgage payments which are tied to interest rates. That means that raising interest rates to curb inflation is seen as directly causing inflation in the market for owner-occupied houses. At any rate, Ozimek's point is to raise an issue with the way the rental imputation works not to argue about the merits of rental imputation as an underlying philosophy.
What's Wrong With the Current Approach to Imputing Rents? The issue is that rents for continuously occupied structures are generally quite sticky. One can debate exactly why this is, but it's clearly true and you see this very much in gentrifying urban neighborhoods these days. Look at someone in D.C. who's been renting a house in Shaw in D.C. since 2006, and she is almost certainly getting an outrageously good deal from her landlord compared with what someone trying to move into the neighborhood in 2014 would pay. The landlord fears that if he tried to raise the rent all the way up to the current market price that he would (a) wind up with several months' worth of vacancy and (b) run the risk of acquiring a problem tenant. Consequently, in an area where rents for new tenants are rising quickly the average rent paid will rise more slowly (and vice versa in a downturn).
What Are You Saying We Should Do About This? The proposal is to ignore average rents for the purposes of imputing rent to owner-occupied housing, and just focus on new rents. In other words, impute rental value to D.C. homeowners on the basis of what someone who just moved to D.C. would have to pay to rent a dwelling rather than on the basis of what existing residents are actually paying. That would create a housing CPI that fluctuates up and down more rapidly in response to changing conditions.
Is There a Thematically Appropriate Song We Could Use To Take a Break? Yep, enjoy:
Obviously in Rent you're supposed to sympathize with the tenants, but part of the issue here is that when a landlord finds a tenant who does regularly pay the rent on time that's a valuable relationship and the tenant enjoys a discount relative to what an unknown hypothetical new tenant would pay.
How Does This Relate to Housing Bubbles? Very closely. One of the problems with the existing method is that the housing CPI as currently constructed moves in ways that are unrelated to the ups and downs of housing sale prices. So for example in 2007 and 2008 when house prices were tumbling nationwide, housing CPI rose strongly. That's because "house prices" are current sales, while average rents embed lots of information about old agreements reached years ago. Focusing on new rents would let the inflation index see the price movements in real time.
Isn't It Crazy to Totally Ignore What People Are Actually Paying? Not really. Remember that the whole premise here is that we're imputing rents to homeowners. So however we choose to do the imputation, it's by definition not based on any rent the homeowner is actually paying. Conceptually we are trying to measure how much money you could earn if you moved out of your house, started sleeping in your car, and became a landlord. Which is to say that we are trying to measure exactly what Ozimek says we should measure—the current going rate for a brand new landlord-tenant match, not a broad average reflecting old agreements.
Does This Make Any Difference in Practice? A huge difference. Throughout the summer of 2008 the Fed was torn between evidence of a weakening economy and evidence of rising inflation. The key driver of inflation was higher food and energy prices, which policymakers knew not to make too big a deal out of. But "core" CPI was above target as well, which policymakers saw as evidence of a general inflationary trend. And, indeed, as measured by CPI the housing component of inflation (the biggest component of core CPI) was more than 2 percent throughout this period. Measured this other way, the housing component of CPI was consistently lower than 2 percent clarifying that the "inflationary" dynamic really was limited to commodities.
So if We Make This Adjustment All Will Be Well With the Housing Element of CPI? Absolutely not. There is a whole very difficult issue around how to account for neighborhood-level quality improvements. If nominal rents are rising and also vacant storefronts are turning into yoga studios and hip coffee shops, does that show that rich new arrivals are driving up prices and also like yoga and fancy coffee, or does it show that rent increases reflect noninflationary improvements in neighborhood quality because yoga and coffee are great? But fixing that would be really hard. Switching from average rents to spot rents is feasible, and we should do it.


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In spite of a lot of talk about “food with integrity,” fast food chain Chipotle has a history of bad environmental transparency. Which begs the question: what does Chipotle have to hide?
Chipotle brands itself as a socially conscious alternative to fast food giants like McDonald’s. But even McDonald’s has been issuing comprehensive sustainability reports since 2002. Meanwhile, Chipotle refused to back up its claims of environmentalism with statistics even when shareholder activists called for them to do so in 2014.
It’s disingenuous for Chipotle to talk big about being “green” while it refuses to disclose the environmental impact of its operations. From animal waste to international transportation, Chipotle is covering up whole sectors of its environmental impact. We need to push Chipotle to release the full facts about its climate pollution.
Tell Chipotle it’s time to come clean about its pollution record.
Chipotle’s track record leaves a lot of unanswered questions. We know the chain continues to import grass-fed beef from Australia all while touting its reliance on local ingredients. Even some of Chipotle’s “locally sourced food” travels thousands of extra miles so it can be processed in Chicago processing centers.
When the Climate Disclosure Project launched in 2013, it released climate data from over 80% of the world’s 500 largest companies. This data is crucial in enabling governments, consumers, and corporations to make informed decisions and take on our current climate crisis.
If Chipotle is so much greener than fast food chains like McDonald’s why isn’t it disclosing its own climate data?
To put the brakes on irreversible climate change, we need to use all the tools at our disposal. It’s going to take real corporate transparency to win this fight, which is why it’s so important we come together now to shine a light on Chipotle’s climate data. Let’s come together now to make sure Chipotle releases the full facts about it climate pollution record.
Tell Chipotle to follow the example of 80% of Global 500 companies and come clean about its pollution record.


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The victims of the Rana Plaza factory collapse are still struggling to cope financially, a year on from the disaster in Bangladesh.
Naneen Akter Nazma lost her husband in the collapse. She told ITV News that she is still too afraid to work as she is concerned that another factory could collapse like Rana Plaza.
"I'm very scared. I'm even scared to do any job and I don't want to go to any garment factory. I don't want to work anywhere like it. Another factory will collapse like Rana Plaza." she said.
More top news
The 'Let Our Kids Be Kids' campaign wants parents to keep their children off school saying they are "over-tested and over-worked".
Nicky Morgan is expected to defend the proposal when she fields questions at the National Association of Head Teachers' annual conference.
Phone charges in the European Union will drop by about 75 per cent from today as part of an interim cap ahead of a full ban next year.


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Facebook launched its answer to location-based services such as Foursquare and Gowalla on Wednesday -- a feature that automatically shares information on where users are with their online friends.
The hotly anticipated feature – which uses the GPS on smartphones – allows users to "check in" at locations which will then be shared with their friends and Facebook network. Users also will be able to browse shops, clubs and nearby venues to see which friends are in the neighborhood.
Places, as the features is called, is expected to help Facebook pull in local and small-business advertising, though the company said it had no immediate plans to pursue that revenue.
"Starting today, you can immediately tell people about that favorite spot with Facebook Places," Michael Eyal Sharon, Places product manager, said in a blog post."You can share where you are and the friends you're with in real time from your mobile device."
For early adopters of social media, Places is nothing new, though with Facebook's involvement there's a good chance that location-based social networking finally will go mainstream. The fledgling location-based sector is expected to become a billion dollar market, targeting advertising or promotions at people based on proximity. (Starbucks, for example, used a Foursquare promotion to attract a million customers to its stores in a day.) Media research firm Borrell Associates has estimated that such services could generate as much as $4.1 billion in annual ad sales by 2015.
"Location gives marketers a great way to target customers," Debra Williamson, an analyst with eMarketer, told the New York Times. "The whole idea is to reach people at the point of decision before they have to clip a coupon or perform a search."
Places is available first as an update to Facebook's app for the Apple iPhone, while other smartphone users can log onto touch.facebook.com. Updated apps for Blackberry, Android and other handsets are expected in the next few months. Nearly one third of Facebook's 500 million users access the site by mobile, the company says.
Other location-based services say they see Facebook's entry in the field as validation of what they're doing -- more as opportunity than competition. Foursquare, Gowalla, Booyah and Loopt all are building on top of the Facebook platform, as is online review site Yelp, which promised that a Places application for iPhones and Android-based smartphones will be out Thursday.
Places is likely to spark fresh concerns about privacy. After a string of controversies about the site's safety, Facebook simplified its privacy settings in May.
Critics will note that the primary location setting is switched on by default, which means any "places" tags will automatically be shared with immediate friends.
Ahead of the Places launch, Foursquare announced new privacy settings, which make it easier for users to hide their e-mail address and phone numbers, to opt out of automatic check-in at certain venues, and to choose which lists they appear on. It allows them to control whether or not they publish their Foursquare activity to Facebook and Twitter, and decide whether they want companies and businesses to know if they're a regular.


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Department of Health Launches eWIC Card to Makes Access to Nutritious Food Easier in Southwest Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced last week that the Wolf Administration launched the eWIC program on July 22, 2019, for families in Southwestern Pennsylvania who receive benefits in Pennsylvania's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).
"Families in Southwestern Pennsylvania will now be able to use the eWIC card instead of a paper check to purchase nutritious food," Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said. "This will allow for WIC families to visit a grocery store and purchase food as they need it instead of just once a month. This further expansion of the WIC program allows us to continue our mission to ensure Pennsylvania has healthy moms and healthy kids."
The counties where eWIC cards will be available include Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland. The program will be rolled out to other parts of the state through November.
The eWIC card allows families quick, easy and convenient shopping for food benefits. Families who receive eWIC cards will no longer receive paper checks, saving them time at the grocery store checkout. They can now buy WIC foods in as many shopping trips as they need throughout the month. Previously, the paper check had to be used in one trip. Participants also will have access to the WICShopper smart phone app, which allows them to scan a product's bar code to determine if it is a WIC-allowed food.
For more than 45 years WIC has offered participant-centered nutrition education, healthy food and breastfeeding support to eligible pregnant and postpartum women, infants and children under age 5 in Pennsylvania. In addition, the program also serves as a gateway for preventive health, and is considered one of the most successful, cost-effective and important nutrition intervention programs in the country.
The WIC program in Pennsylvania provides services at more than 260 locations and serves more than 205,000 pregnant women, infants and children under age 5. WIC families shop at more than 1,500 Pennsylvania grocery stores and spend $248 million a year with their WIC food benefits.
Pennsylvania's WIC program has appointment openings. For more information about WIC, visit www.pawic.com or call 1-800-WIC-WINS. The Pennsylvania WIC program is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture. This institution is an equal opportunity provider.


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This week LVMH-owned Swiss watch maker Hublot announced that it has entered into a partnership with the Dallas Cowboys as the official watch maker of the American football team. Specifying "American football" is important in this context because Hublot has most recently been in the popular media as the major sponsor of the FIFA 2014 World Cup. A hyper focus on soccer is now shifting to football as Hublot again pioneers a new marketing avenue of the luxury watch industry.
The Texas-based football team will now be able to claim that they were the first NFL franchise to work with a Swiss watch company, though such "novel relationships" aren't uncommon at Hublot. The company has always prided themselves on entering new and sometimes controversial markets. Former Hublot CEO Jean-Claude Biver (who is still involved in the company) once proudly exclaimed that he decided to be the first Swiss company to sponsor an African-American athlete - something that has since become much more common. Hublot can also claim to be the first luxury Swiss watch maker to work with basketball teams, and in 2007 they were the first luxury brand overall to work with the FIFA World Cup.
All of this is part of a grander goal of putting their brand name in front of the right buyers. The appeal to Hublot in a team like the Dallas Cowboys isn't just the wealthy players and owners, but the fans. Companies like Hublot fully realize that the majority of football fans aren't their target demographic, but they don't need to be. Hublot feels as though they receive just as much benefit from making their name more well-known to a larger demographic, as they do getting their name in front of luxury shoppers who also happen to be sports fans.
Hublot also happens to be a partner of Ferrari - producing high-end sport watches themed after the Italian supercar maker's vehicles. Something Ferrari can attest to is the power of wide awareness. One reason that Ferrari is so well known is because people both rich and poor know the Ferrari name. Ferrari knows that prestigious names which are known among the general population tend to do better in sales overall. When someone hits it big and wants to buy that nice car or watch, they tend to gravitate to brands they already know, at least at first.
In Texas the energy industry is booming and sheer statistics will tell you that many of the men and women in the oil business are sports fans. In addition to being popular in Texas, the Dallas Cowboys have fans across the United States. The Cowboys frequently appear in the Superbowl, and have an impressive number of wins under their belt.
Hublot will be selectively featured at the
It helps that Hublot recently opened a dedicated brand boutique store in Dallas, where the limited edition Dallas Cowboy watches will be available for sale. Hublot sees Dallas, as well as other parts of Texas as emerging zones of luxury watch interest, and they are keen to be on the minds of the biggest spenders who want timepieces that remind them of their favorite pastimes and hobbies. What Hublot does better than perhaps anyone else is create high-end watches built for a specific theme that mix in fun to the typical conservative formula most luxury products are known for.
The three limited edition Hublot Dallas Cowboys watches include two men's watches and one for women. Together, this initial set of timepieces adds up to only 150 pieces, but if successful, Hublot could easily produce new variations. Each of the watches has a Dallas Cowboys Texas star at 5 o'clock on the dial, and feature blue, black, and silver team colors. The watch collection will include the Hublot King Power Dallas Cowboys, the Hublot Classic Fusion Dallas Cowboys, and the Hublot Classic Fusion Ladies Dallas Cowboys. For more information about the limited edition Hublot Dallas Cowboys watches you can see our article here.
Hublot continues to push forward into territory not previously touched by luxury brands. Their activities continues to spark debate among the industry, but people are always talking about Hublot. With a unique approach to marketing, communication, and product design, Hublot is almost alone in its ability to tear down certain barriers. Their partnership with the almost exclusively American sport is further an indicator of how important the United States watch market is to the Swiss watch industry now and into the future.
Ariel Adams is the founder and editor of the watch review site aBlogtoWatch.com.


text: It’s a simple fact that, to this day, there are far more sneaker styles out there for men than for women, which has historically made the already-cultish world of sneaker collecting, buying, and selling a bit of a boy’s club. In fact, on a personal note: about a year ago a store clerk assumed I was male when I asked to try on a men’s style. (It was only when I removed my beanie that he realized his mistake.) But things are changing for the better, and on March 26th, which Nike has dubbed “Air Max Day,” the brand will release its new VaporMax shoe—a groundbreaking piece of footwear design for many reasons, one of which being that it’s the first unisex Air Max, ever. Influencers around the world have already gotten their hands on a pair, taking to Instagram to share some styling inspiration. Here, 10 fashionable female sneakerheads to follow on Instagram, from creatives like Ava Nirui to cool young models like Paloma Elsesser, Aleali May, and Diana Veras.


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October 13, 2021
By Adam J. Langino and Rachael N. Flanagan
As product liability lawyers, we know that one of the goals of every product company should be the safety of its users. Many companies take significant measures to ensure they follow this objective in terms of product design, manufacturing, and notification compliance. Occasionally a company may fall short of design standards and safety measures and/or fails to make it right.
Peloton saw significant growth and success during the COVID-19 pandemic. New work and lifestyle demands have necessitated the adoption of different methods of exercise and stress relief, including the creation of in-home gyms outfitted with Peloton bikes and treadmills. Unfortunately for Peloton, they have also realized that a rise in popularity and product demand can lead to a rise in consumer safety concerns. Since October 2020, Peloton has faced three Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) product recalls for three separate products based on three different types of product liability claims.
As the below three recalls show, Peloton has scored a product liability trifecta.
In Florida, under strict liability, a product is “unreasonably dangerous because of a manufacturing defect if it is different from its intended design and fails to perform as safely as the intended design would have performed.”1 It appears Peloton’s manufacturing is missing the mark.
In October 2020, the CPSC issued a recall on the PR70P Clip-In Pedals fitted on Peloton bikes (sold between July 2013 and May 2016).2 The CPSC received more than 120 consumer reports of pedal breakages, including 16 reports of leg injuries. Five of those injuries required medical care, such as stitches to the lower leg.
This recall was for approximately 27,000 bikes (54,000 pedals). According to Healthline and Reddit, the complaints go back five months to early 2020, when users describe that the pedal “snapped clean off from the arm while I was standing up riding.” The same user posted a photo, demonstrating that the break occurred where the pedal spindle joins the crankset.
The complete article can be accessed here.


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MATT OSCAMOU, co-founder, Frontier Snacks: Bite-sized innovation
By Elaine Watson
- Last updated on
Matt Oscamou started to attract some serious attention when he secured financial backing for his bite-sized fruit & nut snacks from Linkedin CEO Jeff Weiner, among others, and he is now doing a healthy trade in almost 1,000 stores nationwide from Sprouts to Costco, as well as a series of independent retailers, health clubs, cycling stores and online channels.
“Instead of having shoppers wade through the main chips or the crackers aisle to find something healthier, we’re seeing retailers start to put all these better-for-you snacks together in a smart snacking set, a place where people can go and grab a handful of things that will last them the week,” says Oscamou.


text: Wilsons The Leather Experts wlsn is surging $1.62, or 37.3 percent, to $5.96, after the Minneapolis leather goods retailer announced plans to liquidate its under-performing travel stores. The company also posted a third-quarter loss of $17 million, or 84 cents a share, 2 cents narrower than Wall Street's consensus estimate, but wider than its year-ago loss of $13.7 million, or 80 cents a share. Wilsons attributed the increase in its year-over-year loss to reduced revenue related to a slowdown in mall traffic. As for its travel stores, the company expects to liquidate their inventory in the next several months, and close them down, resulting in an estimated after-tax charge of $28 million to $32 million. Wilsons also said that it expects the recent West Coast dockworkers' strike to reduce fourth-quarter results by about 15 cents a share.


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The Brazilian Export Promotion Agency (Apex) and the Brazilian Furniture Industry Association (Abimóvel) signed July 8, an agreement to increase furniture exports to the United Arab Emirates.
The agreement forecasts investment of US$ 7.6 million in trade promotion activities.
According to the executive superintendent of the Abimóvel, Miguel Sanchez Junior, Brazilian furniture exports to the United Arab Emirates, from January to May this year, reached US$ 2.4 million, which represents half of the total for last year.
“The Emirates have potential to become one of the main Brazilian markets,” stated Sanchez.
Last year, exports to the Arab countries in general total led US$ 5.6 million, which represented a growth of 600% compared to foreign sales in 2003.
According to Sanchez, the Brazilian furniture export figures show that the Arab market is the one that has been presenting the greatest growth in percentage terms, whereas the United States is the country that purchases most in absolute terms.
In the first five months of the year, the US have already imported the equivalent to US$ 163 million in Brazilian furniture.
According to the project manager at the Apex, Rogério Bellini dos Santos, the civil construction and hotel sector are in expansion in the Emirates.
“The Emirates want to attract new suppliers. The market is therefore very attractive for Brazilian companies,” he said.
Currently, 181 furniture sector companies have participated in the Apex-Abimóvel project, baptized Brazilian Furniture.
With the new agreement, over 220 companies should start integrating the program and exporting. The project also forecasts the generation of another 8,500 jobs.
“This year we are forecasting an export growth of at least 20%,” stated the president of the Abimóvel, Domingos Sávio Rigoni.
Last year Brazil exported US$ 940.6 million, which represented an increase of 42.2% when compared to 2003. With the new agreement, the country hopes to export around US$ 55 million more in 2006.
Apart from the United Arab Emirates, the new agreement forecasts promotion on other markets, like Mexico, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan.
Fair in Dubai
Brazilian producers have already participated in four editions of the Index, the largest furniture fair in the Middle East. According to Sanchez, there are more and more businessmen interested in participation.
Last year, the fair, which also has the support of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (CCAB), counted on 35 Brazilian companies, which occupied a space of 500 square meters.
“For this year an area of over 1,200 square meters will be necessary at the fair so as to receive all those interested,” stated Sanchez. Index 2005 is going to take place between November 28 and December 02, in Dubai.
ANBA – www.anba.com.br


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The ship, the Marella Discovery II arrived at 7 with some two thousand tourists on board.
Over the weekend, the Port Authority of Jamaica, PAJ, was busy adding the finishing touches to the pier.
The PAJ says the pier will not operate strictly as a point of entrance and exit. It says there’ll be retail shops and restaurants by the pier.
The Port Royal Development, which has been years in the making, aims to bring much-needed cruise shipping and tourism back to Kingston.
Head of the PAJ, Professor Gordon Shirley, says several vessels have already expressed interest in docking at the Pier.
He says the aim of the development is to enhance the historic value of Port Royal and to improve Kingston, which he describes as the cultural gateway to the Caribbean.
Professor Shirley is also seeking to allay fears that the development will negatively impact the environment.
He says the development will also see the construction of a much-needed sewage system which will facilitate the entire Port Royal community.
Some $US45million has been budgeted for the project and Professor Shirley says the plan is to not spend a penny more.
In the meantime, Professor Shirley is assuring the nation that the facility will be safe and free from those who seek to harass tourists.
But, he says the local residents and their needs will be facilitated. He says the facility is just a first in several development projects in Port Royal.


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T-Mobile announced on Twitter today that the next phase of the Uncarrier initiative will be unveiled October 9. It’s unclear what the carrier might introduce or change; however, rumors include refurbished devices in stores and the removal of deposits for well-qualified customers. Additional speculation has T-Mobile
A lucrative Microsoft Server Management career begins with this 53-hour bundle that offers more than 200 lectures. Save 96% on the kit and kick-start your new career!
Google has announced upcoming plans to integrate Rich Communication Services in Android Messages, with the help of a service called "Chat". This is expected to become available later this year.


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Solutions providers have made a lot of money selling customer relationship management (CRM) software to manufacturers and other companies that want to keep a tight hold on dealings with customers. But partner relationship management (PRM) – which does the same thing for a vendor trying to keep track of dealers and distributors – hasn't been nearly as successful in the high-tech channel.
And companies that do buy it seem to use it to look out for their own interests, rather than to benefit their channel partners.
Unlike CRM – which is designed to help companies increase sales to specific customers – partner relationship management applications are designed to help the partner increase sales.
Partner relationship management started in the late 1990s, but for some reason never really caught on, said Forrester principle analyst R Wang. As vendors continue to compete against one another, he said, more may set up partner relationship management systems to differentiate themselves from competitors in resellers' eyes.
The most important feature for companies that buy partner relationship management is lead management, according to companies that use PRM, among other things, to see which leads are going through the pipeline quickly and which are stuck.
Partner relationship management can also be used as a deal registration system and to create a partner portal where resellers can find resources like sales manuals, training and – potentially – other partners that may complement their services.
Rather than making it a standard element in a partner program, some vendors roll out partner relationship management to their top resellers. GFI Software, a London-based company that develops network administration software, has about 2,000 partners worldwide, but only its top 150 or so subscribe to its PRM system, said the company's vice president and general manager of Americas operations, Kurt Shaver. GFI uses partner relationship management from Salesforce.com.
"The number one reason that we rolled out a partner relationship management system to our partners," Shaver said, "was to have a more efficient lead distribution." That was the cost-justifying feature, he said.
Once that was in place, the company added deal registration. It has also linked its online training with its information on resellers, so that when a partner completes a training course, the system automatically registers it as being qualified for more leads.
Although some companies, like GFI, use partner relationship management software to make their existing lead distribution more efficient, telecommunication vendor Avaya Inc. bought BlueRoads' SaaS PRM software two years ago in part to shake up the very way they went about leads, said the company's senior manager of integrated marketing Denny Head.
Before using BlueRoads, Avaya used a push method for its partners – that is, it identified which partner a specific lead should go to, and pushed that lead to the partner. But BlueRoads offered another approach, which it terms "pull" but Head called a "shark tank" approach. Once a lead is identified, it goes out to all qualified partners on a first-come, first-serve basis. Head said the new system helps ensure that the most motivated sales team gets the best leads.
The ability to push leads out to resellers and oversee how they are handled was also the top selling point for Ottawa-based business intelligence vendor Cognos Inc., which recently purchased Salesforce.com's partner relationship management to complement the Salesforce.com CRM system it had already deployed to its direct sales team.
Like GFI, Cognos has only bought partner relationship management subscriptions for its top-value resellers, rather than all of its 3,000-some partners. Signing every partner onto the PRM system would cost too much, and offering it just to the company's highest-value partners gives those partners an extra incentive to work with Cognos, said Peter Malandra, the company's director of partner strategy and support.
Allowing its channel managers to get a view of their resellers' pipeline helps Cognos quicken the sales cycle for those leads, Malandra said.
It can also help channel managers at the vendor company identify which partners are doing well and which are lagging, Head said. Although he admitted that the extra scrutiny gives Avaya more control over its partners – down to being able to tell how each individual sales representative is doing – the tradeoff is that Avaya is able to give its partners better, more qualified leads, he said.
Although the partner relationship management system Cognos uses includes deal registration that can help cut down on channel conflict – either between resellers and the direct sales team, or between different resellers – Malandra said the primary advantage for resellers is the same as it is for Cognos: quicker sales and better co-marketing.
Malandra said not all of the partner relationship management system's features were huge selling points. For instance, Salesforce.com PRM includes a partner portal, where the vendor can post sales tools and support documents. But Cognos had already had a portal in place that was working well enough, he said.
"Were the partners knocking down my door asking for this? No," he said. But Cognos knew that getting visibility within their channel isn't always easy, and Malandra said the company hopes the partner relationship management system will help with that.
Tackling candidates with too perfect resumes


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Brazil's Minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina, denied that diplomatic relations with China are strained and said that she does not see the continuation of the Chinese ban on Brazilian beef, which has lasted for nearly two months, as a political act.
Technical conversations with Chinese officials continue and the exchange of information necessary for the reopening of the market which is in its final phase said Minister Cristina.
In an interview with foreign media, the minister pointed out that no Brazilian beef has entered China yet. Earlier this week information circulated that beef cargo had been released in the port of Shanghai. Allegedly it was only a request for the necessary documentation for the entry of the product into Chinese territory.
“We have containers arriving in China, but none have been released yet,”Tereza Cristina underlined. However she did not stipulate with a deadline for the reopening of exports and also rejected the possibility that the embargo is in retaliation for criticisms against China made by President Jair Bolsonaro.
Anyhow, conversations have not yet evolved into an outcome and we are hoping reopening will take place in the very short term..We are advancing… we are now in the final phase of providing the information Chinese officials were requesting,” added Tereza Cristina.
Nevertheless the “China factor” remains decisive for Brazilian livestock prospects in 2022. With the domestic market weakened by the economic contraction and exports of almost 16% of beef production held back because of the Chinese suspension, the scenario is further complicated by rising costs and disincentives to investments, according to cattle industry experts.
University of Sao Paulo researcher, Thiago Bernardino de Carvalho, the trend is for costs to continue to rise in the first half of 2022 – the prices of medicines and nutrition should rise some 5%, along the whole twelve months”
At an event organized by the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil (CNA), the researcher said it is necessary to look at the farm as a company that can face a “scenario of uncertainties” if there is good cost management and sales of cattle. “The China factor and its impact on market prices was encouraging the cattle breeder. If China returns and the market settles, there will be investments”.
Consulting firm Agrifatto, CEO Lygia Pimentel, anticipates a reduction in profit margins for ranchers. Since 2017, the sector no longer lives “normal years”, she said, and China’s pullback increased the volatility of the grain market for livestock.
“It’s a challenging market. China’s absence will hurt, as we are subject to the international market and the domestic market is depressed because of the economic contraction,” she added.


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company, said it is developing software and hardware systems to support Mondex electronic cash for banking and retail industry applications. The company also said it will provide consulting services to facilitate national and international rollouts of Mondex, the British smart card system developed by National Westminster Bank and Midland Bank. The cash cards are currently being tested in the town of Swindon, England, and at Wells Fargo Bank headquarters in San Francisco. The Royal Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will implement a pilot of the Mondex system in Guelph, Ontario, next year.
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Samsung SDS announced Sunday that it entered an agreement with the Port of Rotterdam Authority that has the most port traffic in Europe and ABN AMRO, one of the three representative banks in the Netherlands, to launch a logistics project based on block chain.
It plans on completing a pilot project by February to apply its block chain platform Nexledger to logistics businesses of the Port of Rotterdam Authority by connecting it with ABN AMRO’s block chain platform Corda.
Block chain technology will be applied to the volume arriving at the Port of Rotterdam from Asia. They will be able to simplify trade processes such as checking import/export charges, share import/export documents in real-time and prevent document counterfeits once the project is complete.
It is also an opportunity to verify compatibility of Nexleger and other platforms as it will be interfacing with ABN AMRO’s platform.
Jae-Hee Kim firstname.lastname@example.org


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After all the desperate pleas to government to save the hospitality industry, the drop to level 2 lockdown and the opening up of our resorts to national travelers almost seems something of a let-down.
But we know that the tourism sector with its associated, travel, hospitality and restaurant businesses has been devastated economically by the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant national lockdowns. The world as those of us who are part of the all- important tourism industry supply chain knew it simply came to a grinding halt and we were left with nothing but frustration and uncertainty for months on end.
At S & A Marketing, we were initially as dazed as many of our clients in the hospitality sector as we watched our business struggle alongside theirs. Many of our clients are no longer with us but remain much loved friends and we look forward to welcoming everyone back as things in this sector of the economy begin to normalize.
Meanwhile, we are staying in touch and doing what we do best – helping to celebrate the return of domestic tourism and the wonderful tourism destinations countrywide that we and our families have come to know and love.
As we all know, the majority of our visitors during 2020 will be locals. International travel remains a no-no and, given that we are way behind many of our major international markets when it comes to the spread of the Corona virus, chances are that many will not be feeling too eager to pack for Africa just yet.
However, by way of encouragement, we’ve dug up a few stats to reassure you that all is not lost and that there are huge opportunities to be had when it comes to domestic tourism.
It seems that the latest figures date back to 2018 when, according to by the World Travel & Tourism Council, SA’s tourism sector accounted for 2.8% to GDP and contributed R139 billion to national coffers. This will have grown during 2019.
An estimated 44 percent of the tourism spend came from international travellers and 56 percent from domestic travel. So, even before latest developments, it made simple good sense to market to the local market which, according to StatsSA was growing at a far higher rate than international tourism anyway.
According to Statistics South Africa, tourist accommodation information for the month of December 2019 generated total income of over R4,7 billion with restaurant and bar sales estimated to be around R734 million.
Now, instead of dwelling on what we have lost during 2020, we need to realise that there are still opportunities out there – albeit closer to home than many of us would have thought.
All of us might need to shift our thinking when it comes to marketing to tourists over the next year. We need to realize that it has and will continue to be a long and difficult road. But we also need to grasp the fact that South Africans are likely to travel locally this year both to save money and for safety reasons – and realize that most South Africans haven’t even begun to explore their own land yet.
Most of all, whether we are travelers or service providers in this still exciting sector, we need to embrace the fact that South Africans are creative, innovative, and hardworking. We persevere and are ready to bounce back with gusto.
Be proud that this sector stood together to push for relief and even survival during tough times. We need to keep that spirit of tourism Ubuntu alive and continue to work together for the benefit of all.
Remember that you can create partnerships. Add a food experience to a special tour and help neighbouring businesses grow and build their tourism offering together. Brainstorm something unique that you can develop quickly and tap into new target markets. Now is the time for the tours and activity sector to work together, creating new partnerships and opportunities.
Don’t let this crisis define your business. Stick to it and you will probably find your business will come out the other end stronger than ever.
Most importantly of all, keep communicating. Whatever you do, don’t stop marketing your business. Right now, cutting through the clutter in lives dulled by lockdown is more important than ever. Keep that spirit of adventure and entrepreneurship alive.
Join with us and investigate new and different platforms to get word about your unique offering to domestic travelers. True, most are feeling the pinch and probably expect more bang for their bucks – but they are also desperate to escape the confines of their homes and enjoy the beautiful outdoors this summer.
While you begin dreaming up packages that are more tailored to the needs of local travelers, we’ll be thinking up ways for you to capture their attention and help them end the year on a more optimistic note. We hope that the establishment that they choose for their much anticipated getaway is yours….
If you’d like to contact S&A Marketing about a plan to market your business during this recovery phase, give us a call on 031 3031788 or email firstname.lastname@example.org . Then prep those rooms, fluff up those pillows, chill those beverages and tweak those menus to appeal to the people that you know best!


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- News tagged "7.1 surround sound"
Friday, 30 Oct 2015
First seen at Computex 2015 earlier this June, ASUS' new Strix Raid DLX and Strix Soar 7.1 gaming soundcards are now available in stores for users seeking an audio upgrade.
Friday, 15 Aug 2014
Prefer to don a headset when playing games? If you crave for ultra-realistic audio, you can take a look at the new Plantronics RIG Surround gaming headset that's capable of 7.1-channel surround sound. If you don't need that and prefer something lighter, there's also the new RIG Flex.
Thursday, 10 Jul 2014
ASUS has just announced a new high-end sound card for audiophiles, the Essence STX II 7.1, which features upgraded components for reduced jitter and interference and also support for true 7.1-channel surround.
Thursday, 18 Aug 2011
The Razer Tiamat headset range includes the world's first discrete 7.1 surround sound and 2.2 stereo gaming headsets.


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As a result of the US trade ban, Huawei will not be able to use US-made technology in its products.
HUAWEI P40 Pro +
Now the Associated Press reports that Huawei is running out of processors to create smartphones.
From next month, the company will no longer be able to create its own Kirin pieces.
Huawei’s upcoming Mate 40 mobile, which will be released in September, may be the latest with this type of chip, according to The Verge.
Qualcomm wants the restrictions to be removed
It was in May 2019 that the United States put Huawei on the so-called device list – a list of people, companies, organizations and the like that the authorities want extra control over due to security problems. In principle, American companies are not allowed to do business with those on the company list, unless they receive an application for this.
On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported that US chip maker Qualcomm has asked the Trump administration to remove the restrictions so they can sell their Snapdragon processors to Huawei.
Qualcomm claims that it is necessary for American companies to be able to be competitive with foreign chip manufacturers such as MediaTek and Samsung.
While Google is still not allowed to do business with Huawei, Microsoft has for its part been granted its application. This is why you will find new Huawei computers with Windows as the operating system.
Despite the US ban, Huawei climbed as the world’s largest smartphone maker in June.
TikTok also in trouble
Then it remains to be seen how the United States’ relations with China will develop in the future. Last week, President Donald Trump signed a presidential order banning transactions via TikTok and WeChat from the middle of next month, according to NTB.
The apps threaten US national security, Trump believes. He points out that they collect information about users and that the Chinese authorities can potentially access this information.
The United States must resolutely take action against the owners of Tiktok to protect our national security, it says in one of the two decrees.
It was recently announced that US Microsoft is considering buying Tiktok’s operations in North America, Australia and New Zealand. Trump has said that this must happen in mid-September if the app is not to be banned in the United States.
While Microsoft is also said to be interested in buying TikTok’s global operations, the Wall Street Journal reports that Twitter may also be interested in buying the popular video sharing app.
Read more in the case below:
Do you want to discuss?


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THORNTON — The world’s largest liquor store could be closed over allegations its owners violated Colorado’s liquor laws by operating a “hidden ownership” that results in an unfair monopoly over other liquor stores in the metro area.
The Sawaged family, which owns Daveco Liquors in Thornton and Davidson Liquors in Highlands Ranch, acted as agents for each other in purchases and contracts, even though they were not licensed to do so under Colorado’s liquor law, according to an investigation by the Liquor Enforcement Division of the State Department of Revenue.
The Sawaged family also failed to document clearly more than $2.6 million in cash payments to liquor wholesalers, according to the state.
“We’ve had cases of hidden ownership before but not to this extent,” said Laura Harris, division director for liquor enforcement.
The department and lawyers for the Sawaged family will meet at the end of this month to talk about a possible settlement of the case.
One resolution could involve selling one of their stores. If no agreement can be reached, the state could pull their liquor license and force the closure of the stores, Harris said.
“That would be the most severe penalty,” she said.
Closing Daveco would be a “shame,” said attorney John Lonn quist, who is helping represent the family, which includes five brothers, two of whom own the liquor stores.
“This could be part of a huge misunderstanding,” Lonnquist said. “We are just now trying to sort all of this out.”
In the meantime, Daveco remains open. In the Larkridge shopping mall at Interstate 25 and Colorado 7, the store was certified as the world’s largest liquor store by Guinness World Records in 2008.
At 102,000-square-feet, Daveco includes 66 beer cooler doors, a walk-in beer cooler, a humidity-and-temperature-controlled 7,500-bottle wine cellar, a wine tasting room and a humidor.
It opened in 2006 as a culmination of years of work by owner Hani Sawaged, an immigrant who fled religious persecution in Jordan.
Daveco is the largest revenue producing liquor store in Thornton, said Dave Boyd, the city’s finance director. It is also the third-largest revenue producer in the Larkridge development, after Costco and Home Depot.
All the tax revenue it generates goes back into Larkridge because it is part of an urban renewal area and a tax-increment financing district, Boyd said. So Daveco’s closure would not immediately impact city services, such as fire and police, Boyd added.
Still, Larkridge could suffer if it lost Daveco, especially after Circuit City shut its doors last year.
“It would hurt that project, and it wouldn’t help further development in that area,” Boyd said.
The allegations claim that from 2005 until Dec. 31, 2008, the Sawaged brothers negotiated the prices of major liquor purchases, signed leases and advertising agreements, oversaw employees and made other decisions on behalf of both stores, even though they were not both listed on the stores’ liquor licenses.
The state also said that from Jan. 1, 2007, to Dec. 31, 2008, more than $2.6 million in cash payments were made to license liquor wholesalers without a “sufficiently documented audit trail.”
Specifically, the state said, 104 of 113 payments made between January 2007 and December 2008 were made in increments of $9,900. Federal law stipulates that payments of $10,000 or greater must be reported.
Family members can own and operate liquor stores as long as they are separate entities, Harris said. But in this case, the brothers operated the two stores like a joint venture, creating one huge store that overshadows all other competitors.
“They enjoyed the privilege of negotiating wholesale purchases for both stores,” Harris said. “It created an unlevel playing field for other liquor owners in the state.”
Lonnquist said the allegations lack specificity and he hopes to flesh them out later this month.
“Right now, what they are saying is kind of goofy in our opinion,” he said.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or firstname.lastname@example.org


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Ofcom report shows UK addicted to smartphones
Almost half of teenagers in UK own a smartphone (47%), out of which 60% admit they are highly addicted, according to Ofcom’s latest Communication Market Report.
The survey covered 2,073 adults and 521 teenagers. The research shows people in the UK have become addicted to smartphones will people using them even at the dining table and in the bathroom and bedroom.
Over a quarter of adults (27%) now own a smartphone, with 37% admitting they are highly addicted.
Many (59% of those surveyed) got a smartphone in the last year, making many more calls and sending more texts than regular mobile users (81% smartphone users vs 53% regular mobile phone users).
This is affecting social interactions, with teenagers claiming to watch less TV and reading fewer books than before. Over half (51%) of adults and two thirds (65%) of teenagers said they have used their smartphone while socialising with others. This includes mealtimes, while in bed and in the toilet.
“Ofcom’s report shows the influence that communications technology now has on our daily lives, and on the way we behave and communicate with each other,” said James Thickett, director of research, Ofcom.
Read the full article: Click here


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What can a small, independently owned bookstore offer you that a big box store can’t?
A staff made entirely of booklovers, a warm and inviting experience, a chance to contribute to your local economy, and, now, a selection of books from some of Canada’s most underrated publishers.
Coho Books has partnered up with the Literary Press Group to offer Campbell River booklovers an extended inventory of books they won’t find anywhere else. “These small presses are creating books that are diverse and regionally unique. Their books are innovative, eclectic, and they don’t necessarily appeal to the masses. They hearken back to a time when literature was about trying out new ideas and sparking the imagination,” says Erika Anderson, manager of Coho Books.
Coho Books has created a “Think Independent” display that includes specific profiles of a handful of local publishers. “These publishers have one or two staff members. They make books because they have a passion for literature,” says Taryn Boyd, a representative of the Literary Press Group. “And because these books don’t sell thousands of copies, you’ll never see them at big box stores (who require a certain volume in order to offer them at a discount). These are artisanal books, if you will. They’re innovative and edgy for creative and curious readers.”
The featured books cover topics such as poetry, graphic novels, literary fiction, First Nations and local interest.
Stores like Coho Book rely on its loyal customer base. “A dollar spent at Coho has three times the impact on your community as dollars spent at national chains,” says Anderson. “When shopping locally, you simultaneously create jobs, fund more city services through property tax, invest in neighborhood improvement and protect the unique character of your local downtown community.”
Check out www.cohobooks.com and www.lpg.ca for more information


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Oskar Blues, which has experienced 198 percent growth from 2010 to 2012, according to the company, has blossomed into the second largest craft brewery in Colorado. This rapid growth has landed the brewery a spot on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies list for the fourth year.
In 2008, to meet the demands of existing markets, the brewery increased capacity by moving to a larger 35,000 square-foot brewing facility in Longmont, Colo. Their original location in Lyons, Colo., was then turned into a brewpub. In 2012, Oskar Blues introduced 16 oz. “tall boy” cans and the country’s first 19.2 oz. cans, and expanded its distribution for the first time in four years, entering Ohio, Illinois, Alabama and Kentucky.
In December 2012, Oskar Blues began operating at its second location in Brevard, N.C., which is on pace to brew 50,000 barrels in its first year. The brewery has jumped from 42,000 barrels in 2010 to a projected 125,000 to 130,000 barrels in 2013.
The full press release is below.
LONGMONT, Colo. — From 2010 to 2012 Oskar Blues Brewery, the Funky little brew-pub that has grown to ColoRADo’s second largest craft brewery and leader of the canned craft beer revolution, underwent an explosive 198 percent growth, landing them on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies list for the fourth year.
The 2008 addition of a 35,000-square-foot brewing facility in Longmont, CO and continual infrastructure improvements fueled the brewery’s growth in existing markets, until 2012, at which time the makers of Dale’s Pale Ale expanded distribution for the first time in four years to include Ohio, Illinois, Alabama and Kentucky. The brewery more than doubled barrelage production during the three year span jumping from 42,000 barrels in 2010 to 85,750 barrels at the close of 2012.
Innovation put the folks at Oskar Blues on the map in 2002 when they defied the status quo by canning their voluminously hopped Dale’s Pale Ale instead of bottling it. Cans keep beer fresher, longer by eliminating light & oxygen while being infinitely recyclable & portable. During the Inc. 5000 award timeframe (2010 — 2012) the brewery has continued to push the boundaries of canning options by canning two of their complex and challenging beers, Deviant Dale’s IPA & G’Knight Imperial Red IPA, in 16 ounce “tall boy” cans. In October of 2012 the brewery introduced America’s first 19.2 ounce can of craft beer into the single-serve bomber market.
Oskar Blues Brewery continues to experience explosive growth, kicking off brewing operations in December of 2012 at the craft brewer’s second location in Brevard, NC. The North Carolina location is on pace to hit 50,000 barrels in its first year while the brewery is on pace to produce 125,000 to 130,000 barrels overall in 2013.
About Oskar Blues Brewery
Founded by Dale Katechis in 1997 in the small town of Lyons, CO—Oskar Blues Brewery officially launched its canned craft beer revolution in 2002 by becoming the first American craft brewery to brew and can its own beer. Now based in Longmont, CO, Oskar Blues continues to expand both its brewery and restaurant operations that currently include the original Grill & Brew location in Lyons, the Homemade Liquids and Solids restaurant in Longmont, the newly opened CHUBurger craft casual burger joint in Longmont, a food truck, the REEB Cycles bike company, and a second brewing location opened in Brevard, NC in December of 2012.


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Microsoft has sent Neowin a statement stating they are "working with content owners" of the sites that have been turned into Windows Phone WebApps "to address any concerns they may raise. "
...of Google's greatest, the wait for Microsoft's latest, and BlackBerry's bad day
...of Lumia luxury, Android antitrust, Chinese Windows, and an iPad on a stick
Office 2016 available for Office 365 subscribers on Windows
office 2016 promo
Android Marshmallow officially announced for Oct 5 rollout
Leaked slides confirm Lumia 950 + 950 XL specs, 'Display Dock'
Southwest Airlines has told Neowin that Microsoft has removed the "WebApp" based on Southwest's mobile site from the Windows Phone Store after communication between the two companies.
Microsoft has confirmed it has created and released a number of apps for its Windows Phone Store that have been made from the content of popular mobile app sites.


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Cornucopia’s Take: The primary barrier to finding local organic meat in the market is the lack of local certified organic processing plants. This family plans to open a processing plant to bring their organic meat, and that of surrounding farmers, to market.
Kleins advance with processing plant plans
by Lisa Young
ELGIN, Minn. — For about 14 years, Eric and Lisa Klein have been at the forefront of the local food scene, selling their Hidden Stream Farm meat everywhere from the Rochester Farmers Market to high-end Twin Cities restaurants.
In May, the couple, who farm with their children outside Elgin, will venture into new territory with the opening of their own processing plant.
The to-be-named plant will be located in a building under renovation in Dover.
The 12-mile farm-to-plant journey will be a lot shorter and definitely more centralized than the occasional multi-town round trips the Kleins make often as their operation has grown.
“There’s not any one processing plant with the capacity to do what we need,” Lisa said. “At one point, we were going to three different processing plants.”
The idea to have a plant of their own cropped up four or five years ago, Eric said. With few places for certified organic meat processing in the area, a growing need exists for more.
The idea gained traction after the Kleins met a man who designs processing plants. Over time, funding came together through the Small Business Association’s 504 program, loans and private investment.
The Kleins found the right spot in a building that was unused in Dover. They are in the process of renovating the building to fit their needs with general contractor KBS of Plainview and Rochester. They are glad to give an existing building a new life and to have the advantage of having water, sewer and power already in place.
The finished plant will be U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected and organic certified. It will be approximately 8,500 square feet and include a space for on-site retail along with slaughter, processing and storage areas and a loading dock. It will be able to handle up to 21 beef cattle and 40 pigs and will also be used for lambs and goats.
Hidden Stream Farm is set to be the plant’s best customer.
Plant capacity will represent an opportunity for growth for Hidden Stream Farm. Via other vendors, they slaughter 20 pigs, three to four cattle and six to 10 lambs a week during their slow time.
Once it’s operational, the plant will be open to anyone looking for a slaughter slot. Customers could include fellow direct marketers or someone who wants just one animal custom processed.
The plant will include processing tools the Kleins haven’t used before, which they hope will open additional doors for them. Among other things, they will make snack sticks. They will also have tools that ensure product consistency. Breakfast links will meet exact weight specifications.
“We’re excited to know the quality will be maintained at the level that we want,” Lisa said.
The Kleins hope precision gets them in the door of more food cooperatives around the state and maybe even beyond.
“The market for local food is still growing,” Eric said. “This will give us the opportunity to branch into markets asking for good, consistent product.”
Learning about packaging, choosing a logo and navigating the building revamp have occupied their time left after animal chores. The learning curve is steep, but they are approaching it with patience, Eric said.
The Kleins may do some co-packing for other direct marketers at the plant if there is demand for it, particularly of more specialty items like brats or snack sticks.
The processing plant, a separate entity from Hidden Stream Farm, will run five days a week. The Kleins have hired on long-time butcher Geoff Hart, a Dover native, as their plant manager. Hart is starting on regulatory paperwork.
Eventually, the business will employ about five people full time. Ideas for the retail area are still developing, but the Kleins anticipate offering other local goods beyond Hidden Stream Farm meats.


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OAuth which is a privacy controlling open web authentication standard, has been adopted by Google for its widget platform Google Gadgets. OAuth provides a way for users to authenticate a website on which their personal information is stored so that they can share the data on other website or widget. According to Google’s senior product manager for security, Eric Sachs:
We also previously announced that third-party developers can build their own iGoogle gadgets that access the OAuth-enabled APIs for Google applications such as Calendar, Picasa, and Docs. In fact, since both the gadget platform and OAuth technology are open standards, we are working to help other companies who run services similar to iGoogle to enhance them with support for these standards.