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Call it economic optimism or spring fever, but Wilmington has two new business beginning to bloom while others continue to blossom.
Lilies & Lace
A newcomer to Lumina Station but not a retailer newbie, Lilies & Lace opened its second location Monday.
Originally established in New York in 1989, this family business specializes in lingerie, swimwear, accessories and beach-to-brunch resort wear. Owner Stella Cortina Sardone, one of three sisters who has run the business, said the store offers higher end bras and lingerie, but also carries a range of merchandise to suit women’s styles and budgets. Lydia Cortina Karras, who opened Lilies & Lace in ’89, described her sister’s style as bohemian chic. She said each sibling left her own mark on the business over the years.
Sardone emphasized that the boutique experience doesn’t have to be a pretentious one. “We’re just a mom and pop store,” she said.
Lilies & Lace will offer custom bra fittings and Sardone is more than happy to help women find the perfect swimsuit for their body shape and size.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – bra fittings and swimsuit shopping are a circle of hell that Dante must have missed when penning his “Inferno.” But Sardone said not to fear.
“I am kind of like the bartender of bras,” she said.
With week under its belt, J.Mclaughlin at Lumina Station is making a splash with its bright colors and bold patterns.
The national retailer specializes in casual, yet sophisticated clothes for men and women. Ladies can peruse racks of wash-and-wear dresses and blouses or pick up a new bag or scarf to compliment an outfit. For the gentlemen, the shop carries swim trunks, button-ups, shorts, polos, belts and socks. Add an extra twist to those socks by adding a persona monogram. If you are looking for a gift for dad for Father’s Day, place and order for these monogrammed gifts by May 8.
The retailer hopes to be active in the community, so keep an eye out for upcoming events.
This Saturday, Camille’s Closet at 2619 N. College Road will celebrate its one year anniversary with an open house.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the shop will host a picnic with hot dogs, popcorn, drinks, cupcakes and sales. Jewelry and accessories will be 25 percent off while designer wedding gowns will be 50 percent off retail.
Prom season is also fast approaching, so snag a prom gown for your daughter during the event. Over 100 prom and wedding gowns will be available for $75. Enter to win a prom prize package that includes $50 off a prom dress, hair styling, makeup and a photo shoot.
This downtown retailer at 105 Market St. is kicking off its Wine Thursdays this week.
The first Thursday of every month from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Aqua Fedora has wine, snacks and 20 percent off clothing for its customers.
This Thursday, April 5, Wine Thursday has sales up to 30 percent off to mark Aqua Fedora’s moving sale.
Yes, the retailer is relocating – but not far. As of Azalea Festival weekend, Aqua Fedora will be open at 30 N. Front St., formerly the home of Flashbacks.
Got a tip? Send it to JJ Knight at Jessica.Knight@StarNewsOnline.com. For the most up-to-date retail news, follow @StarNewsShop on Twitter or “Like” Retail Details on Facebook.


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Jordan Brand is set to release a brand new Air Jordan 12 dubbed, “Reverse Taxi” as part of their 2019 holiday lineup.
Dressed in familiar Black, Gold, and White color scheme. The shoe features a Black suede upper with Metallic Gold on the eyelets atop a White outsole. A Red Jumpman and Taxi-colored “TWO 3” on the tongue completes the design.
AIR JORDAN 12 REVERSE TAXI RELEASE DATE
Look for the Air Jordan 12 “Reverse Taxi” to release on November 9th at select Jordan Brand retailers and Nike.com. The retail price tag is set at $190 USD.Air Jordan 12 “Reverse Taxi”
Style Code: 130690-017
Release Date: November 9, 2019
UPDATE: Detailed photos via @hanzuying of the “Reverse Taxi” Air Jordan 12.

domain: news


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Payless launches in Malta under RMC-brokered regional franchise deal
posted: 7 December, 2015
Payless ShoeSource launched its first store in Malta on Saturday under a regional franchise deal brokered by Retail Management Consultants.
RMC has been working closely over the last year with its client, Al Rowad Holdings, to create a retail franchising business which harnesses its existing expertise in real estate and logistics management. The launch is the first in a development programme which will see multiple stores opening across the region over the next five years.
This development signals Al Rowad’s intention to build a world-class portfolio of fashion and lifestyle retail brand. Furthermore, it demonstrates their commitment to investing in a region which offers huge potential as a consumer market, and indicates that North Africa is very much open for business.
Ed Kalush, Head of Business Development at Al Rowad Holdings, commented:
“This is another milestone in our company’s history and we’re delighted to see the results of our hard work today. It was a massive effort to get this far and I have a great team to thank for all their hard work. This is a great platform for us to build on.”
Joseph Leftwich, Head of Business Development at Retail Management Consultants, added:
“This is a great achievement and I’m just delighted for all concerned. The first store in Malta is looking fantastic but this is just the beginning. North Africa is often quite misunderstood, and it’s hugely gratifying to be involved in a project which highlights the region’s potential and showcases the ambition and confidence of Al Rowad specifically, and the business community here more generally.”
A Note on RMC’s Connections service:
Connections was developed in response to demand from brands and retailers for professionally managed expansion into international markets and access to quality franchise and joint-venture partners worldwide. In essence, we represent leading retailers and brands by identifying, assessing, and recommending potential partners in international markets, and then brokering joint-ventures and franchises.
Connections brokered a deal that will launch Kurt Geiger in Korea. Likewise, with Debenhams in Russia, Azerbaijan, and the Balkans which played an important role in helping Debenhams win ‘International Growth Initiative of the Year’ at the 2013 Retail Week Awards. In recent years, we have worked directly with investors and franchisees themselves to help create and improve their brand portfolios.
Learn more about Connections.


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Apple displayed new versions of several products on the first day of its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Monday. One is its redesigned mobile operating system:
The new operating system, called iOS 7, strives for a clean, simple, translucent impression. Apple is redesigning all its applications and icons to conform to the new look, driven by long-time hardware design guru Jony Ive. . . The operating system will show up on most iPhones, iPad and iPod Touches this fall, the company said. ¶ The overhaul represents Ive’s attempt to freshen the look of both the iPhone and iPad in hopes of deepening users’ attachment to the trend-setting devices. It comes at a time when rivals such as Samsung Electronics and Google are trying to get people to defect by developing their own lines of elegant and often less expensive products. ¶ The stiffer competition has slowed Apple’s growth in the increasingly important mobile device market, contributing to a 38 percent decline in the company’s stock price since the shares peaked at $705.07 in September.
Watch Apple’s presentation of the new operating system below:
The new design is a significant departure from past versions, and many of Apple’s products also look very different, including the Mac Pro, a cylindrical desktop. “Love it or hate it, that’s quite a bit of new stuff for developers to chew on,” writes Emi Kolawole.
Hayley Tsukayama writes that the company’s presentations Monday were “an aggressive defense of the company’s reputation as a technology leader”:
The firm, which hasn’t released a major new product in more than six months, is combating the idea that it’s losing the ability to innovate after the death in 2011 of its co-founder and lead visionary, Steve Jobs. It unveiled several new software and hardware products, including a dramatic makeover of its mobile operating system, iOS 7, and announced a new desktop operating system, OS X Mavericks. ¶
Executives, including Apple chief executive Tim Cook, took several jabs at competitors throughout the Worldwide Developers Conference, including poking fun at poor sales of Microsoft’s new operating system. ¶ “Can’t innovate any more, my ass,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president for worldwide marketing.
For past coverage of the WWDC, continue reading here.


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China hopeful on US trade talks: official
Published: 09 March 2019, 7:34:13
China and the United States have been locked in a bruising trade war since last year, imposing tit-for-tat tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, which has left global markets reeling.
Top-level negotiators have met three times in an attempt to reach an agreement before next week, when additional tariffs could be levied on Chinese goods entering the US as a truce period expires.
“When you ask about the prospects for the next Sino-US economic and trade consultation, I feel that there is hope,” Vice Minister for Commerce Wang Shouwen told journalists at a press briefing on the sidelines of China’s National People’s Congress.
He added that Beijing’s top economic official Liu He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer held talks over a packed lunch of burgers and eggplant stir-fried with chicken — a common Chinese dish — in Washington last month.
“Vice Premier Liu ate a beef burger, and Lighthizer ate eggplant and chicken (with rice),” Wang said.
“Throughout the consultation process, there was coffee and tea… but both drank plain water.”
“This was to find common ground,” he added.
Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan had on Tuesday said the negotiation process was very “difficult and taxing” with “lots left to do”, but that breakthroughs had been made in several areas.
But there have been conflicting comments from Washington and Beijing on the negotiations.
Donald Trump on Friday said he remains optimistic but will not sign a pact unless it is a “very good deal”, and a top economic advisor said the US president could walk away from a bad deal.
Some of the issues being worked out are what US trade officials call unfair trade practices, including Chinese subsidies to major industries, preferential treatment for Chinese firms and theft of US technology.
The subsidies were denied by China’s state-assets watchdog, which manages the country’s 102 state-owned giants.
“There are no institutional special arrangements or additional subsidies for state-owned enterprises,” State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission chief Xiao Yaqing said at a Saturday press briefing.
He added that state enterprises were “very concerned” with trade negotiations and hoping for a positive outcome leading to a “good environment for business development”.
– Investment law –
Commerce officials also said a foreign investment law — widely expected to be passed by China’s rubber-stamp parliament next Friday — will allow foreign companies to take part in government tenders.
Only 48 sectors remain on a “negative list” where foreign investment is either prohibited or requires special approval, Wang told journalists.
“The (whole process) is open and provides important legal protection for foreign investors.”
Aimed at assuaging concerns about China’s business environment for foreign firms, Beijing sees the law as a tool to attract more foreign investment as its economy slows.
The bill will ban the illegal transfer of technology and “illegal government interference” in foreign businesses, a key complaint from Washington.


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Triggerfish has been hired by the Event Production Show to promote the exhibition taking place 2nd-3rd February 2011 with the aim of increasing visitors and exhibitors.
Staged in Olympia’s Grand Hall, the exhibition attracts the wide scope of companies that make up the live event sector; from contractors and the supply chain to festival organisers, concerts, exhibitions, corporate events and experiential marketing through to televised spectaculars.
Triggerfish will be working on a campaign to position the Event Production Show as the UK’s ‘most diverse event exhibition’ and use the show to underline benefits of the event industry on the economy.
As well as working with key trade press the campaign will use social media to connect with potential visitors and exhibitors.
Triggerfish Communications is a specialist communications agency dedicated to the hospitality and leisure industry.
[lnk|http://www.eventproductionshow.co.uk/|_blank|The Event Production Show]
[img|jpg|Even Production Show / Triggerfish]


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Siri in Hindi
Apple’s iPhone 4S smartphone featuring Siri virtual assistant service currently supports English, French, German and Japanese languages. Recently, an iOS developer named Kunal Kual made siri connect to his Google API service and interacted in Hindi adding siri in Hindi language. This adds an addition to Hindi Language support for Apple’s Siri service.
While Apple has already promised to bring Italian, Chinese, Korean and Spanish Languages later this year, but there is no sign of Hindi language support for Siri until Kunal kual made this possible. iPhone 4S users will thus make Siri speak in Hindi.
The Developer talks to Siri and question her in English while Siri replies back in Hindi by vocal and via screen text. Also, the developer confirmed that the work is on progress and will take time to come up with a full fledged Hindi language support for Siri. We can soon have Apple’s siri in Hindi.
The developer also made a video showing Siri talking in Hindi. Check out the video right after this break.


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1)The January Philly index rose to 23.2 from 15.4 and that was 4 pts better than expected. Looking at the coming 6 months, the business outlook got back what it lost last month. Inflation expectations grew further. For prices paid, the outlook jumped by 22.6 pts to the highest since 1988. For those received, expectations rose 7.7 pts to a 5 month high. Capital spending rose 6 pts but after falling by 11 last month.
2)Housing starts in December totaled 1.7mm, 50k more than expected and up from 1.678mm in November. The upside was all in multi family as single family starts fell by 17k m/o/m. Multi family was up by 51k m/o/m to the highest since February 2020 at 530k. Of note was the permit print of 1.873mm, 170k higher than forecasted and up from 1.717mm in November. Again, mostly led by multi family where permits here were up by 134k m/o/m. Single family permits were up a more modest 22k m/o/m.
3)With another jump in mortgage rates to 3.64% for the average 30 yr rate, the highest since March 2020, people got off the fence and locked in a mortgage as purchases rose 7.9% w/o/w. They are still though down 12.8% y/o/y.
4)As we are approaching a time when the Federal Reserve will stop adding to their balance sheet, in November foreigners bought a net $66.4b of US Treasuries after selling $43.5b in October.
5)South Korea said its exports in the 1st 20 days of January rose 22% y/o/y with a rush to China ahead of their holiday next week. Exports to China were up 19% y/o/y, to the US by 28% and to the EU by 16%. That in addition to the world’s need for more semi’s (exports up 30%) and cars (up by 23%). Imports were up by 38.4% y/o/y.
6)Singapore said its December non-oil exports rose 3.7% m/o/m, above the forecast of up .8%. They were up by 18.4% y/o/y.
7)Exports out of Japan in December were higher by 17.5% y/o/y, just above the estimate of up 15.9%. Imports jumped by 41% vs the forecast of up 43%. Not surprisingly auto’s and semi’s led the export strength.
8)Japan said its CPI in December rose .5% y/o/y ex food, one tenth less than expected and ex both food and energy they were down by .7%. You can add back about 150 bps after they recycle fully the sharp drop in mobile phone fees I believe in April.
9)China cut interest rates modestly.
10)China’s economy grew by 4% y/o/y according to their statistics bureau. The estimate was 3.3%. Retail sales though were weak in December relative to expectations, offset by a bounce in IP.
11)Australia added a bit more jobs than expected in December and its unemployment rate fell down to 4.2% from 4.6% with a 66.1% participation rate.
12)Hoping that this is the last covid wave of substance in terms of restrictions, the German ZEW investor confidence in their economy for January jumped to 51.7 from 29.9 and that was well better than the estimate of 32. Current conditions though remain tough as this component fell to -10.2 from -7.4 and less than the forecast of -8.8. ZEW said “The economic outlook has improved considerably with the start of the new year…It is likely that the phase of economic weakness from the fourth quarter of 2021 will soon be overcome. The main reason for this is the assumption that the incidence of Covid cases will fall significantly by early summer. The more positive economic expectations include the consumer related and export oriented sectors and thus a large part of the German economy.”
1)As of Wednesday’s close, the CRB food price index rose to a record high, before pulling back a touch.
2)Initial jobless claims jumped to 286k from 231k in the week prior and that was well worse than the estimate of 225k. Smoothing out the influence of the holidays, the 4 week average rose by 20k to 231k. Delayed by a week, continuing claims totaled 1.635mm, about 70k more than expected and up from 1.55mm in the week prior.
3)From the weekly Langer weekly consumer confidence index: “The grip of decades high inflation pushed Americans’ ratings of the buying climate to a 9 year low this week and assessments of the national economy to their largest single week drop since the onset of the pandemic, leaving the overall Consumer Comfort Index its lowest since June 2020. Economic outlooks, for their part, turned acutely negative, deepening already pessimistic views. For the 1st time since May 2020, a majority now thinks the national economy is getting worse.”
4)The January NAHB home builder survey was down 1 pt m/o/m to a still very high 83. The estimate was for no change and compares with 83 in November and 80 in October. It peaked at 90 in November 2020. Present conditions were unchanged while future expectations slipped by 2 pts. Prospective Buyers Traffic gave back the 2 pt gain in December. According to the NAHB. “While lean existing home inventory and solid buyer demand are supporting the need for new construction, the combination of ongoing increases for building materials, worsening skilled labor shortages and higher mortgage rates point to declines for housing affordability in 2022.”
5)The January NY manufacturing index fell sharply to -.7 from 31.9 in December and that was well under the estimate of 25. That’s the weakest print since June 2020. The 6 month business outlook was little changed, down 1.3 pts m/o/m to 35.1 but that is the lowest since February 2021. Expectations for prices paid jumped 10 pts to 76.7, the highest on record dating back to 2001. Expectations for prices received also rose to a record high at 62.1, up almost 2 pts m/o/m. Capital spending plans, including tech, rose a touch m/o/m.
6)Existing home sales in December, measuring contract signings mostly in the late summer and into the fall, totaled 6.18mm, down 30k from November and below the estimate of 6.42mm. Blame high prices and little inventory. The median price rose 15.8% y/o/y and months’ supply fell to just 1.8 from 2.1 in the month prior. That is the lowest on record dating back to the record keeping that I’ve seen going back to the late 1990’s. The average in this time frame is 5.5 months. After a multi decade low seen in November at 26%, the number of 1st time buyers rose back to 30%.
7)That jump in mortgage rates led to a the 3.1% drop in refi’s and which are down 49% y/o/y.
8)In its fight against inflation, the Federal Reserve took its balance sheet to a fresh record high of $8,829,738,000,000, up $88.6b on the week.
9)The UK said its December CPI rose 5.4% y/o/y, 2 tenths more than expected while the core rate was higher by 4.2%, 3 tenths above the estimate. The retail price index jumped by 7.5% y/o/y, 4 tenths higher than forecasted. The only respite was the less than expected output and input charges but they were still up 9.3% y/o/y and 13.5% respectively, with the difference being a margin squeeze.
10)The strain of falling real wages resulted in a 4 pt drop in UK consumer confidence for January to -19. The estimate was -15 and that is the lowest since February 2021 and compares with -7 in February 2020. GFK said “Despite some good news about the easing of covid restrictions, consumers are clearly bracing themselves for surging inflation, rising fuel bills and the prospect of interest rate rises.
11)December UK retail sales number in the UK ex fuel fell 3.6% m/o/m, well worse than the estimate of down .8%. They are down 3% y/o/y.
12)When including the downward revision for November, the UK December jobs increase was below expectations. Jobless claims though fell by another 43.3k and November was revised to a drop of 95.1k which is double expectations. Thru November, the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% and wages ex bonuses rose 3.8% y/o/y as expected but that is below the rate of inflation.
13)The German PPI for December spiked by 5% m/o/m, well more than the estimate of up .8% and up by 24.2% y/o/y. The German statistical office said they’ve never seen a print this high since the stats began in 1949.
14)French business confidence in January fell 2 pts to 107 and that was below the estimate of 109. That’s the weakest since April and we can blame omicron as services and retail fell while manufacturing rose to a 4 yr high and employment was unchanged.
15)Proving once again that the Bank of Japan will be the last central bank on earth to tighten policy, Governor Kuroda today said after their meeting that “We’re expecting long and short term policy rates to remain at the current low levels, or fall even lower. Raising rates is unthinkable.”
16)For those of us who grew up in the 1970’s and ‘80s, we lost a part of our childhood, //www.youtube.com/watch?v=C11MzbEcHlw.


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Germany nevertheless entered recession last quarter
Germany’s economy contracted in the first quarter of the year by another 0.3% compared to the previous quarter, when the country’s GDP fell by 0.5%.
It is reported Bloomberg with reference to the statistical agency of Germany.
An initial assessment of the German economy last month predicted stagnation.
Thus, despite the fact that the country avoided the worst scenarios that were feared after the beginning of the great war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, it was still not possible to avoid recession.
The reason is in the key manufacturing sector, where a deepening recession casts doubt on the recovery many expect in the coming quarters.
Industrial weakness has a negative impact on business prospects, in particular, the Ifo institute’s expectations index fell in May for the first time in eight months.
A report from the Bundesbank this week was somewhat optimistic, suggesting that the economy may grow “slightly” in the current quarter as large backlogs, reduced logistics bottlenecks and lower energy costs will have a positive effect on manufacturers.
But demand for goods is falling as consumers, faced with higher inflation, prefer to spend money on leisure and travel. This makes economic growth increasingly uneven.
According to Commerzbank economists, a recession in the second half of the year looks more likely than the recovery that most of their colleagues continue to predict.


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The closer we get to E3, the more excited we become.
But even before E3, it seems Sony's new console may enjoy quite the positive week. According to popular industry insider Tidux, PlayStation 4 owners are in for a treat. This according to one of his recent Tweets :
"Next week is the most exciting in the whole year, are you ready? #GreatnessAwaits #PS4"
Tidux also confirmed that the long-awaited network update slated for the PS4 will arrive today (Monday). As for what to expect in the way of official news this week, it's hard to say. On the one hand, Sony probably wants to do something to counter the $399 Xbox One that will become available on June 9 in North America. On the other hand, they don't want to blow any surprises they have on tap for E3, right?
So, predictions for this week?


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The Australian supplier of chia seeds and manufacturer of the increasingly popular on-the-go Chia Pod product line was launched in 2003 by farmer John Foss, who said he had a vision “to improve the health of the global community” by making the omega-3-, fiber- and protein-packed chia seeds “available to everyone, every day.”
To successfully establish chia seeds as a viable, long-term food category and not just a passing fad, Foss knew he needed to ensure a consistent, high-quality supply of the superfood that could meet demand without falling victim to the “boom and bust cycle” that often characterizes food trends and can threaten farmers’ livelihood.
He also knew that he would need to educate manufacturers and shoppers about the health benefits and uses for the mini, but mighty seeds, and create final products that consumers not only wanted, but which also fulfilled unmet needs.
Creating demand and balancing supply
The Chia Co. began primarily as a supplier for manufacturers in Asia and the U.S. before it expanded into the retail space with it is own branded, finished products packaged in iconic orange in the U.S. in 2011.
It took this route so that it could first establish relationships with farmers and demonstrate to them the potential demand for the crop, while at the same time working with manufacturers to understand the supply requirement.
“The key for us is matching supply and demand and we have done that successfully because we work directly with the farmers in Australia when they grow our seeds … and there hasn’t been any intermediary between us and the farmers distorting communication,” Foss said.
“We also work with our manufacturers from the development stage,” which allows The Chia Co. to know when and how much seed they will need for a new launch and continued production, Foss added. “We can then plan ahead in our crop production process” to ensure enough crop is planted sustainably so that the quality of the seeds is not compromised by scrambling to fulfill a larger order than expected.
This strategy is different from other traders in the chia market that will lock in sufficient supply for one year, but not the next, which might leave manufacturers in a pinch for supply and willing to accept a lower quality seed, Foss said.
“Their goal is to buy cheap from the farmer and sell dear. Our goals are different. Our goals are about ensuring that the farmers are profitable, that we take care of the environment and that we are building awareness of chia for the long-term health and profitability of our company,” said Foss.
By taking the long-view, Foss said The Chia Co. can ensure its seed “quality has uniform, nutritional content, which comes from how and where we farm it.”
Foss acknowledged that he sees a lot of cheaper seed available than what he offers, but he said, “usually it contains half the nutritional content of The Chia Co.,” and includes brown seeds of lower quality.
Chia is “like any category, some shoppers will choose whichever product is cheapest and some shoppers are prepared to pay more for the best quality. We are becoming known as the market leaders and leaders in quality. We get consumers emailing us asking why other brands’ chia smells like fish or tastes bitter and we can provide them with information about how we farm it and why our product is different,” he said.
He explained The Chia Co. ensures high quality product by growing the seeds, which are photosensitive, on farms 15 degrees from the equator for the optimal development of omega-3s. His farmers also grow the seeds during the dry season so that they irrigate with just the right amount of moisture, which impacts nutrition.
“The other thing we do is sun-ripen the chia with a method call swathing,” which takes seven to 10 days, but is more sustainable than using chemicals to force ripening, Foss said.
Educating manufacturers and consumers
The Chia Co. also created demand for its seeds by doing the legwork to formulate prototype products and researching potential health claims.
“Being a new category, we had to commit a lot of time and money up front to research, as the chia industry is in its infancy there is not a lot of market research on chia available. So, we built our own bank of intellectual property on the functional attributes of chia in food manufacturing” over the last six years with third party research facilities such as Dairy Innovation Australia, CSIRO, the Bread Research Institute and Food Science Australia, Foss said.
Now, “we can provide formulation and processing advice on everything from bread to noodles, dairy and fruit smoothies,” he added.
Moving from supplier to manufacturer
The Chia Co. used some of that research, along with knowledge it gained by “physically walking supermarket floors,” to create its own branded Chia Pod line of products in the U.S., Foss said.
“We always knew we wanted to make a ready-to-eat brand and we got the product idea by talking to Whole Foods Market shoppers about how they eat chia. Many of them were soaking chia overnight in coconut and almond milk. We also had a lot of research showing that non-dairy breakfasts were growing exponentially. According to Mintel, there were four times as many consumers limiting dairy as there are gluten. So we chose to make our product non-dairy and plant-based,” Foss said.
He added: “We actually commercialized what a lot of people were making at home already.”
The company also has a lot of ideas for the breakfast space that do not currently exist in the market, Foss said.
He explained that The Chia Co. is focused on breakfast for now “because there are a lot of breakfast products out there that are highly refined and loaded with sugar and people aren’t conscious about what they are feeding themselves and their families. To me, it is very different to selling candy. When you sell candy people are making a conscious choice to have a treat. And if they want to have that treat every day, that is their choice. The problem with breakfast cereals is that people get tricked by claims and have no concept of what a reasonable amount of sugar is to have for breakfast.”
Expanding the category from natural to conventional
While the primary buyers of The Chia Co.’s finished products are health-conscious consumers or athletes who are interested in chia as a nutrient-dense superfood, Foss said the pods offer a lot to mainstream shoppers as well, which he says will help fuel sales as the line expands from the natural channel to conventional food stores.
“A lot of people tell us that mainstream America won’t buy our products, but I disagree, we look at the sales data and it is not just confined to major metropolitan cities. People everywhere, on all different sorts of income levels are unhealthy from the cheap, low-quality, high-sugar foods they eat and they are looking for alternatives,” Foss said.
To help convince mainstream consumers that Chia Pods are for them, The Chia Co. designed the products and packaging to fulfill an additional need: convenient on-the-go food.
“People are leading faster lifestyles and they are trading health for convenience,” but the Chia Pod is packaged so they can have both, Foss said. Each single-serving pod fits comfortably in the hand and has a spoon that was specially designed for people to use to eat quickly without worrying about chia sliding off and onto their clothes.
The company also positioned the Chia Pod as a status symbol so that workers “can feel confident taking it into a business meeting because of what it says about them as a consumer” – that they are busy, efficient and health-conscious, Foss said.
Before people can take a Chia Pod to an office meeting, they need to buy it. And to convince people to do that The Chia Co. heavily samples the products – attending 191 events in the U.S. in 2014, Foss said.
The firm also relies heavily on social media. For example, it ran an Instagram contest in 2014 asking followers to tag images of themselves in a #healthierplace and then awarded one winner a trip to Australia to visit the chia farms. The company also engages consumers by providing access to a registered dietitian who they can ask for advice about using the product.
This education is essential to the continued expansion of chia.
“No parts of the chia category are saturated yet, there are still so many people who don’t know what chia is and we have to keep working and educating about the nutritional value,” said Foss.
With this in mind, he is very optimistic about the future category growth, which Nutrition Business Journal predicted would reach $1 billion by 2020, he said.
“We aim to be the leading company in that growth.”


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Kawasaki's supercharged 'Z' series motorcycle teased - likely to be supercharged Z1000
Kawasaki released a teaser video on Monday hinting at a new supercharged motorcycle from the 'Z' family. The Japanese manufacturer seems to be in the mood to treat its naked roadsters just as their Kawasaki Ninja H2 sport motorcycle, Kawasaki H2R track-ready motorcycle and the Kawasaki H2 SX sports tourer.
The teaser video is an animated representation of a supercharger and ends with a glimpse of 'Z'. Going by the tradition of Kawasaki unveiling motorcycles at EICMA, it is safe to say that the upcoming supercharged Z will be showcased at EICMA 2019 in Milan, Italy.
The motorcycle could be based on an all-new platform but the power source could be a new iteration of the older engine design. That could offer more usable power outputs at lower revs. The styling could be a more aggressive form of the 'Sumogi' design language that we see on the current Z1000.
Like the H2, Kawasaki will bring their new offering to the Indian market but not so soon. Expect the new supercharged Z to hit the Indian showrooms by mid or late 2020.
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We’ve heard a rumour that the team at Rockstar North has refilled the paper towel dispensers in all of its Edinburgh-based office’s toilets with £50 notes, and now we know why: Grand Theft Auto V has raked in a whopping $1 billion (£625 million) in retail sales after just three days on the market. That’s absolutely, absolutely phenomenal.
“We believe this marks the fastest that any entertainment property, including video games and feature films, has reached this significant milestone,” said a flush Strauss Zelnick, the head honcho of parent company Take-Two. “Grand Theft Auto is a cultural phenomenon, and Rockstar Games continues to redefine what can be achieved in interactive entertainment.”
To put things into perspective, the fastest selling game ever was Call of Duty: Black Ops, which took 15 days to make $1 billion. Meanwhile, the Avengers movie set the box office record when it released last April, taking 19 days to accrue the same sum. Just to hammer things home: Grand Theft Auto V did it in three days. We suddenly feel all dizzy.
Earlier in the week, Take-Two revealed that the critically acclaimed open world adventure had coined over $800 million within 24 hours of its release. Sales aggregator Chart-Track added that the title shifted 1.57 million copies on launch day in the UK alone. The most impressive thing is that Rockstar releases always have legs. This is going to keep selling for a long time.
[source ir.take2games.com, via vg247.com]
At this rate, it won't be long till everyone owns it and the sales do stop. : ) glad to be part of the day-one-ers. This upcoming gen is gonna be insane with broken income records. Or does this speak more of the value(lessness) of the dollar? Shocked to see that £625 mil = $1 bil. We should really do something about that... But good job, Rockstar. Best game ever, apparently.
To be honest with you Rockstar North deserve every penny. Call Of Duty and FIFA recycle the same game year in and year out to get this coin whereas GTA work hard for 5 years solid, unlimited amounts of recorded audio and creativity. DMA/Rockstar North have earned every dollar for the sheer graphical push they have achieved from the current gen limitations. If we had more companies like RN & Naughty Dog the industry would be thriving. Thank you for the experiences, memories and humour Rockstar North. Im forever indebted.
Happy to hear this for Rockstar, they deserve it.
I want so badly to play GTAV now, but I don't want it for my old, runs-hotter-than-hell, 20gb hdd, component-cabled xbox 360.
I want it for my shiny new PS4 when i get it November 15th!!
I'm holding out for GTAV in hopes it comes to the next gen...
Hopefully with these sales numbers, Rockstar will feel like they can spare any time/money to port it over, and (hopefully sooner) by the end of next year (holiday 2014) they release a GOTY version of GTAV on PS4!
That would be something...
Very fitting photo lol
And to think that many foretold the death of AAA titles, if not of videogame industry, due to the heavy costs.
Rockstar is proving that quality, quantity and PR can sell not just good, but incredibly.
This is a milestone not just for R* but for the whole of the gaming industry, marking games as a serious form of entertainment. Like any other form of entertainment, films etc, Which some people cannot get there heads around. Hence the whole GTA is too violent for a video game rubbish, as the BBC News themselves have pointed out, "Games are no longer for the teen-age spotty boys/girls". Games have a certificate rating just like a 18 film, that are meant for adults. "R* making history".
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Some of the biggest tech companies and civil liberties experts have sent letters backing Apple in its fight against the government to the California district court that ordered the company to unlock an iPhone.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation asked the court to order Apple to build a new version of its iPhone operating system that nixes several security features. Apple asked the judge to throw out the order, saying the FBI is requesting a “dangerous power.”
A hearing is slated for March 22.
Apple is posting filings from its supporters on its website. You can read them here.


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Camanchaca chief executive, Ricardo Garcia Holtz, has been elected president of industry advocacy SalmonChile by a boardroom vote of of the Chilean Salmon Marketing Council meeting in Santiago, MundoAcuicola.cl has reported.
He’ll replace Arturo Clement who’ll stay on as secretary.
Holtz will likely be expected to lead the march of Chilean salmon in the United States, where the Council has ramped up sales and market activities. The US market absorbs 30 percent of Chilean salmon production, the Web site wrote.
“This is a strategic challenge for the Chilean salmon industry, which seeks a high positioning of our product in North America, our main market, and which should translate into an increase in the value of the industry,” Holtz was quoted as saying.


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[Sandy Bressner - email@example.com]
Sciara has several medical issues that prevent her from working full time.
"I have Crohn's disease, and I also have some other issues where it is really hard for me to hold a job," she said. "I'm a single mother and work part time at home."
The Wheaton pantry serves 2,000 families a month. Ken Madden, the food pantry director at People's Resource Center, said the pantry was revamped in order to provide a better experience for clients, volunteers and staff.
That includes a new and improved layout.
"Before, our clients would come in, they would go to our walk-in freezer and they would go out the door," Madden said. "That didn't work for us because we carry a lot of food from local vendors. And they would be coming in the same direction that the clients were going. There was a lot of bumping up against each other."
With the new layout, clients are given a shopping cart – which is color-coded to reflect the size of their household – and then they go shopping in the new configuration, which is S-shaped. Each area is now labeled so clients can know how many items they can take based on their household's size, Madden said.
"We're recognizing that bigger households may need more food than we were giving out," he said.


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As previously announced, a ballot committee has been formed to address the "flavor ban" ordinance in San Francisco to force a public referendum. For details on what this means, please check our Q&A. Since that announcement, signature gathering has started in order to get the nearly 20,000 required signatures to file. As of today, that goal has been accomplished!
Over the last few months, Not Blowing Smoke has spearheaded the fight against the local flavor bans in the San Francisco Bay Area along with a wider coalition of consumer, industry and small business partners. We have continued working closely with our colleagues and are excited to jointly unveil the beginning of a new campaign.
In the wake of the city’s passage of an ordinance that would ban the sale of most vaping products and e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes, and other tobacco products, a group of concerned residents, including small business leaders, retailers, adult consumers, and free choice advocates have announced the formation of Let’s Be Real, San Francisco.


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Update: Apple has confirmed that Time Capsule is now shipping.
Reports are coming in from various individuals who have pre-ordered Apple’s new “Time Capsule” that the product is ready to ship, and could begin shipping as early as today. As of the time of this writing there has been no official word yet on if the product will begin shipping this week, but if it is to ship on time, it will have to begin leaving warehouses before Friday.
Of course, Time Capsule is Apple’s latest variation on the Airport Extreme, this time adding an internal 500 gb or 1 Tb for automatic back-up through Leopard’s Time Machine software.
If you’ve ordered a Time Capsule please let us know what the status of its shipment is in the comments below.


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An eco-friendly recycled PVC payment card is one of the most recent innovations produced and supplied by IDEMIA, whose goals, like ČSOB, include environmental protection. To achieve this goal, IDEMIA has used sustainable resources and applied measures to reduce plastic waste and single-use plastics, etc. IDEMIA also obtained an “Environmental Claim Validation UL” certificate for its newest eco-friendly offering.
According to the current statistics of the Bank Cards Association, banks in the Czech Republic issue more than 3.5 million cards every year, each card using approximately 7 g of plastic. This is over 24 tons of plastic produced annually for this single-use plastic. The new eco-friendly ČSOB card, decreases the already-existing volume of first-use plastic discarded as waste. With the IDEMIA eco-friendly product, ČSOB is the first bank in the Czech Republic to make such a significant step towards reducing this ecological burden to save non-renewable resources, reduce the carbon footprint, and re-use plastic waste to issue new cards.
Care for the environment, ecology and sustainability has been an integral part of ČSOB for many years. We have one of the most environmentally-friendly office buildings in Europe, a green mortgage, a car loan system for cars with environmentally-friendly drive units, a fund investing in water wealth and an e-book full of tips about how to live economically and still help the environment. Now, we are the first on the Czech market to launch a card made from plastic that does not burden the environment. It also reduces our carbon footprint and its design emphasizes our environmentally-friendly stance.
Jan Sadil, the member of the ČSOB board of directors responsible for retail
We are proud at IDEMIA to work alongside ČSOB bank and to support the ecological transition on the Czech market. Our eco-friendly recycled PVC payment card has been manufactured with sustainable resources and significantly reduces plastic waste. At IDEMIA, we take sustainable development very seriously and we are using our expertise to create and promote more responsible and environmentally friendly solutions. The financial community is a key stakeholder in the promotion of green initiatives and we are proud to be part of this evolution. This is why we have also developed a sustainable end-to-end offer portfolio for financial institutions, GREENPAY. The launch of the first ECO PVC card in the Czech Republic confirms our objective to provide green solutions which protect our planet – because banking cards shouldn’t cost the earth.
Amanda Gourbault, IDEMIA’s Executive VP Financial Institutions


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Today in 2004, the game industry would receive an adventure quite unlike any it had ever seen before in the form of the first Fable.
We've got some bad news for those hoping to return to Albion in Fable 4.
It’s a story anyone who follows the gaming industry has become familiar with: a corporate Twitter account posted something that may have shown poor judgment. Responses were angry, Tweets were deleted, and an apology was issued. Microsoft’s Lionhead Studios, or the social media manager behind the account, certainly isn’t the first to commit this kind of gaffe, and I have no doubt that it was meant to be a harmless joke. Sadly, when you’re constantly bombarded with imagery that conveys the message that you’re not wanted, it’s not hard to read more into it.
The crazy antics of Lionhead Studios' long-awaited return to the Fable franchise expand to PC, offering cross-platform multiplayer gameplay.
Good news for lone adventurers hoping they could solo Fable Legends without the need for multiplayer.
A new trailer for Fable Legends debuted during the Xbox Gamescom 2014 press conference, focusing on what will happen when the bad guys win.
Lionhead Studios has just unveiled its E3 trailer for Fable Legends, and we're glad to see you have the choice to be the hero or the maleficent bad guy.
Lionshead Studios has announced the newest hero to join the ranks of its co-op action-RPG hybrid, Fable Legends.
Meet one of the characters in Fable Legends, a seasoned warrior named Rook.
We get to see firsthand how Lionhead Studios is trying to revamp the Fable series in the next-gen format.


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ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – Police say a thief spent two months targeting every Target store in Albuquerque. According to a criminal complaint, William Ainsworth hit five stores over the span of two months, stealing higher end goods typically locked in cabinets.
Police say Ainsworth would walk into stores and use what’s known as an “alpha key” to unlock cabinets protecting fragrances and electronics. In February, he hit the Lomas location and Montgomery location within an hour of each other.
In all, Ainsworth is accused of stealing $9,179 worth of goods including Beats by Dre headphones and speakers, smart watches, digital cameras and fragrances.
As of Saturday afternoon, Ainsworth was behind bars on a $20,000 cash or surety bond.
Online court records show Ainsworth has a lengthy criminal past including a 2007 incident where he later pled guilty to choking and stabbing Rozco the police dog while he was being chased by officers. The dog bit Ainsworth back and ultimately survived.
With all the surveillance, cameras on every corner, it’s hard to believe that someone could get away with this kind of crime. In fact, he would have to be pretty smart to do so. And for about, let’s say, six months of work, he got $9,000 worth of merchandise. He would re-sell that merchandise at a mark-up, let’s say 100%. He made $18,000 for six months of work, that’s $36,000 annually.
Well, at least he’s not dealing drugs, right? Just consumerism. He’ll be sent to prison, again, and that’s another person we’ve given to the prison industry, along with his family and friends, who now have to pay for the privilege of seeing and talking to him.
I don’t know how I would defend myself against an attack dog, but since I don’t carry a knife, I assume that if it had been me and the dog, I’d have lots of leftover scars from the encounter. Heck, I’ve been lucky not to get scarred by friendly dogs:


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In 2019, the packaging industry developed both broader awareness of its impact on climate change, and laser focus on reducing that impact. Moving into 2020, industry partnerships, smart technology adoption, and a shift to less or reusable materials will facilitate the packaging industry’s evolution into a more responsible global economic force.
Four significant trends represent the industry’s recent developments:
- Responding to climate change
- Brand partnerships with Loop
- The rise of smart packaging
- Decreasing packaging volume and increasing reusables
Below, we dive into what’s shaping future changes in packaging, and how to get ahead of the curve.
Packaging and Climate Change
If you’ve been paying any attention to mainstream media in 2019, you’ll have heard the name Greta Thunberg. She’s TIME’s pick for Person of the Year, and many others as well.
But, Thunberg isn’t the only one focused on climate change. In a report released mid-2019, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) singled out plastic packaging as a major culprit for rising emissions. CIEL found that “By 2050, the greenhouse gas emissions from plastic could reach over 56 gigatons—10-13 percent of the entire remaining carbon budget.”
That is a role the packaging industry simply cannot adopt.
Packaging Embraces Circularity
Thankfully, more brands are recognizing their environmental impacts, and embracing packaging that is both economically and environmentally sustainable.
A platform that spans retail sectors, Loop launched in 2019 to offer brands and durable, reusable metal or glass packaging. Their brand partners include Häagen-Dazs and Tropicana, Crest and Colgate, Clorox and Tide.
What makes Loop stand out is its emphasis on reusability, rather than recycling. The logistic challenges in shipping used containers, then cleaning and distributing back to manufacturers for repurposing are enormous. However, the upside is a world we can all continue to thrive in. That’s a noble goal an ever-increasing number of brands are getting behind, thanks to a push from consumer spending.
Smart Packaging Reduces Waste
A more sustainable future demands greater efficiency. Technology is poised to help us not only make a positive impact environmentally but also financially.
One solution highlighted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) integrates RFID tags, GPS, reusable packaging, and reusable packaging materials to create a supply chain where stock is continuously tracked, monitored, and automatically reordered.
Just how much money can these changes generate? The WEF cited an Ellen MacArthur Foundation study which claims “converting 20% of all plastic packaging into reuse models represents a $10 billion opportunity.”
Reducing and Reusing Ecommerce Packaging
The fashion industry, one of the largest polluting industries (second only to oil), is embracing reusable packaging. Rent the Runway patented its own line of eco-friendly garment bags comprised of cardboard boxes, vinyl garment bags, and plastic mailing bags. The company estimates it has “saved more than 900 tons of shipping waste” since launching its environmentally-friendly packaging in 2015.
Seeing the immense need, Returnity developed a new business model around designing and manufacturing reusable packaging for partner brands. The company aims to save ecommerce partners 50% of the cost of packaging materials, and in the meantime divert approximately 750,000 bags and boxes from landfills each year.
These initiatives aren’t only pursued by smaller companies. For 10 years, Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging Program has been designing, testing, and certifying sustainable packaging. After analyzing its impact, Amazon found that “To date, Amazon’s sustainable packaging innovations have eliminated 181,000 tons of packaging material and avoided 307 million shipping boxes – enough boxes to fill more than 550,000 semi-trucks.”
Where Packaging Goes Next
Whatever your company’s sustainability budget, there are numerous options to reduce environmental impact. Packaging for circularity, designing smart systems that avoid packaging altogether, or simply using fewer materials and reducing customer frustration with over-packaging are all viable packaging trends to embrace in 2020 and beyond.
Greg Heilers is the contributing sustainability editor at RaveReviews.org
Expert guest authors are encouraged to share their perspectives at PackagingRevolution.net. Reach out to firstname.lastname@example.org to find out more. Be sure to check out Reusable Packaging News (subscribe to the free newsletter).


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For decades, freight railroads have heavily reinvested profits to build the most efficient and cost-effective rail network in the world. Railroads are investing billions of dollars each year to modernize the 140,000-mile network, meet the obligations of an unfunded mandate, and maintain a skilled and highly compensated workforce. The current state of the U.S. economy doesn’t diminish the need for those investments. Even as rail traffic has fallen across numerous sectors in 2016, railroads must invest in the industry in order to provide competitive service, sustain the customer base, and facilitate prospects for future growth. This bargaining round must take into account the investment imperative amid difficult economic conditions.
Coal In Decline: The Impact on Railroads
This round’s labor negotiations are taking place against the backdrop of unprecedented change across the freight railroad industry and among its customers.
At issue is that the health of railroads is affected by the dramatic reduction in shipments of coal – their largest revenue source – and in other commodities as the nation’s economy faces major challenges. The economic outlook for the industry has significantly shifted from when the labor negotiations began in 2014 – a development that must be taken into consideration by negotiators and interested parties.
The decline in coal shipments parallels national efforts to generate power with alternative sources. In 2006, nearly half of the electricity generated in the country was from coal. Today, less than one-third of power is from coal. That matches the natural gas share, which has risen sharply in recent years due to favorable pricing and wide availability. Learn More.
Maintaining and Growing a Network
Unlike airlines, cargo ships and trucks, America’s railroads maintain the nation’s 140,000-mile rail network overwhelmingly with private funds. From 1980 through 2015, freight railroads reinvested $600 billion in the network. In 2015 alone, freight railroads spent well over $20 billion to purchase new equipment and improve rail lines and facilities. In recent years, railroads have invested about 19 percent of revenue on capital expenditures, far above the historical rate of three percent spent by the average U.S. manufacturer.
Positive Train Control
Since 2008, freight railroads have worked closely with the federal government and passenger railroads to meet the obligations of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 – an unfunded mandate to develop and install the most complex safety system in the history of the railroad industry.
The system, known as Positive Train Control (PTC), is costly. By the end of 2015, the freight railroads had spent $6 billion on PTC development and deployment. The estimated total cost for PTC development and deployment is $10 billion. Moreover, the freight railroads will spend hundreds of millions of additional dollars each year after that to maintain the system.
Investing in the Future
As evidenced above, freight railroads annually reinvest billions of dollars in revenue directly back into America’s rail network – an average of nearly $55 million per day in 2015. These investments allow railroads to meet customer demand, facilitate economic growth across the United States, and succeed in a competitive transportation landscape.
Moreover, America’s freight railroads must adapt to handle rapid shifts in traffic and prepare for projected volume increases in the years to come. Railroads must continue to contain costs in order to make necessary investments to grow and maintain the most efficient and cost-effective freight rail system in the world.


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FedEx is looking out for you -- not only will they deliver your package on time (generally), they’ll do it in an eco-friendly ride. FedEx announced that they will be converting 92 of their delivery trucks into hybrid cars using diesel-electric power.
The eco-friendly move by FedEx is a major one as the company is large and has many drivers that spend a lot of time on the roads. The 92 hybrid delivery trucks will be on the roads soon. Yay for eco-friendly companies!
Hybrid Delivery Trucks
4,476 clicks in 247 w
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Mixx, the Digg-like site that got a total makeover earlier this year, is launching a new site today that takes a different approach to surfacing hot links: Twitter. The site is fittingly called TweetMixx , and it’s currently in private beta. TechCrunch readers can grab one of 1000 invites by going here and using the following credentials: username=techcrunch, password=tweetmixx_beta.
TweetMixx works by skimming through tweets and looking for links. The more times a given link appears on Twitter, the higher placement it gets on TweetMixx. Likewise, you can log-in using your Twitter credentials and receive a personalized hotlist of tweets based only on the Twitter users you follow.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because the idea isn’t a novel one. TweetMixx is facing off with plenty of competition — Tweetmeme has become quite popular, and sites like twitrollr and tweetlinx do very similar things (and we just saw TuneIn launch this month at our RealTime CrunchUp).
But CEO Chris McGill says that there are a few differences that help set TweetMixx apart. For one, the site will figure out the name of the article being linked to, so rather than seeing something like http://www.beta.techcrunch.com/2009/07/24/adwords-gets-more-local/, you’d see the article’s title, “AdWords Gets More Local”. One other feature offered by TweetMixx is a much-improved version of Twitter Search. Using the standard engine offered by Twitter, you can only search through the text of tweets, but not the articles they’re linking to — if someone fails to explain what a link is in their tweet, then it won’t show up in results. Using TweetMixx, you can search through both standard tweet text and the names of the articles that are being linked to, which can turn up many more relevant results.
Mixx’s decision to launch TweetMixx is yet another display of how powerful Twitter can be when it comes to surfacing new content, as it’s often much faster than a Digg-like voting system. The biggest clash is yet to come, though: pretty soon bit.ly, the very popular URL shortener, is going to be launching its own Digg competitor, which is going to have a huge volume of metadata to draw from.


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Inter Emirates Motors, the official distributor of MG in the UAE, hosted a spectacular event to launch the all-new MG ONE at the W Hotel in The Palm, Dubai on Tuesday, 21st March 2023. The event was attended by high-profile guests, including Mr. Shamis Al Dhaheri, Group Managing Director, Ali & Sons Holding LLC., Mr. Mohamed Al Dhaheri, Managing Director, Ali & Sons Motors Division., and Mr. Hisham El Sahn, General Manager, Inter Emirates Motors.
The new MG One is built on SAIC Motor's self-developed SIGMA architecture platform, which optimises interior space and allows integration of various powertrain options. The MG ONE boasts a sporty mid-size SUV design, featuring a 1.5 Turbo engine with 181hp and a top speed of 195 km/h. The vehicle's high-tech interior includes a surround-type trip screen, Arkamys sound system, and a wireless mobile phone charger. Furthermore, the SUV comes with safety features such as Electronic Stability Program with eight safety functions and front, side, and curtain airbags.
The all-new MG ONE is now available for sale at Inter Emirates Motors, in three trims, with MG's acclaimed six-year/200,000 km warranty.
Mohammed Al Dhaheri
AS Automotive - Managing Director


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Home Depot reports $68 billion in 2010 sales
The Home Depot achieved its first year-over-year sales improvement since 2006, thanks partly to an "improving economy," according to CEO Frank Blake.
The Atlanta-based company posted 2010 sales of $68.0 billion, up 2.8% from 2009. Comparable-store sales for the company increased 2.9%. And in a difficult but improving economy, the world’s largest home improvement retailer earned $3.3 billion, compared with consolidated net earnings of $2.7 billion in 2009.
"In 2010, we continued to invest in our business and made solid progress against our key initiatives," said Frank Blake, chairman and CEO. "We completed the rollout of our Rapid Deployment Centers, an important part of our distribution network; we saw year-over-year improvement in customer service ratings; and we continued progress on our merchandising transformation. Our actions, coupled with an improving economy, resulted in positive sales growth for the year, the first time since 2006.”
In the fourth quarter, The Home Depot sales increased 3.8% to $15.1 billion, as comparable-store sales were positive 3.9%. Comp-store sales for stores in the United States were up 4.8%.
Net earnings from continuing operations for the fourth quarter were $587 million, compared with net earnings from continuing operations of $301 million in the prior-year quarter.
Looking ahead, the company expects sales to increase about 2.5% in 2011. It also expects to add 10 new stores and invest $1.35 billion on capital spending.
At the end of the fourth quarter, Home Depot operated a total of 2,248 retail stores — 1,976 stores in the United States, 179 in Canada, 85 in Mexico and eight stores in China. Last year, the company operated 2,244 stores at the end of the fourth quarter.
NRLA: Positive in Connecticut
Northeast Retail Lumber Association president Rita Ferris described the mood of the 2011 LBM Expo as “reflective, hopeful and positive.” Here are some scenes from the event, courtesy of NRLA photographers.
Menards expands in Columbus, Ohio
As Menards prepares to open its first store in Columbus, Ohio, the number-three U.S. home center chain made a deal to acquire more land for a second Columbus store, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
The company’s first Columbus store is expected to open in the spring. That’s about the same time that work is expected to begin on the second store, on the city’s east side. That second store will probably open in spring 2012.
Eau Claire, Wis.-based Menards has more than 250 Midwestern locations.


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In a world in which even our cellular companies now freely sell our realtime locations for profit and Facebook stalks selected users to see if they come near its facilities, it seems our physical location privacy is doomed to follow the rest of our privacy to the digital dustbin. The evolution of geotagging on Twitter, however, suggests users care much more about their locative privacy than thought.
One of the most interesting findings regarding the geography of Twitter is the way in which the willingness of Twitter’s hundreds of millions of users to broadcast their GPS-verified location alongside their missives has barely budged in almost seven years.
In fact, the overall percentage of tweets that include some form of geographic coordinate has plunged from over 3.5% in January 2012 to just 1.5% by the end of last year.
Even Twitter’s famously loquacious user community that has no problem sharing every thought that pops into their heads or photographing their every meal is reluctant to let the world know where they are when they post those missives.
In a world in which social platforms have replaced societal norms around privacy and sharing with a new fetishization of fame and oversharing, it is remarkable that there still appears to be one privacy boundary users are wary of stepping over.
Our unwillingness to share our physical location does not appear to be a technological limitation. After all, most Twitter users post from GPS-equipped smartphones and location data is becoming rarer even as smartphones proliferate to non-traditional geographies.
One intriguing statistic is the way in which geotagged tweets have remained stubbornly restricted to the same set of geographies in which they were prevalent seven years ago. Even as Facebook has expanded its reach deep into the rural countrysides of the world, geotagged Twitter has largely remained a fixture of the urban world in which was already popular in 2012.
Watching the movie above, which shows every geotagged tweet in Twitter’s 1% stream January 2012 to October 2018, it is not hard to notice that Twitter never really expands beyond where it began.
Compared with the surface of the earth humans reside in and care about, as captured in global online news coverage below, the Twitter animation above offers an exceptionally stark and barren view.
Why did geotagged tweets never really take off in the rest of the world?
Why is it that of Twitter’s hundreds of millions of users, just 1.5% percent today are willing to share their location when they tweet?
Why is it that of that tiny percent of Twitter users willing to share their location, 98.7% of those bounding box-tagged tweets are to cities, states and countries, rather than specific addresses?
The answer is that for some strange reason we still care about our offline privacy even as we are eager to eliminate our online privacy.
A spokesperson declined to comment on Twitter’s perspective on why its users have remained so steadfastly unwilling to share their locations on Twitter or what steps the company has been considering to increase location sharing.
Putting this all together, at the end of the day it seems that physical location remains one of the last bastions of privacy that social media users still care about. While the public has accepted the rapid erosion of almost every other form of privacy, it seems our physical location is still something that means enough to us to protect. Whether out of concern for our physical safety or an outdated view that our offline worlds are somehow separate from our digital lives, we still view location as sacrosanct. For its part Twitter has pushed to improve our location privacy by offering boundary-box geotagging through Twitter Places. If only the rest of the companies that track our location, from our cell companies to the other web behemoths, would honor our desire to maintain one last shred of anonymity.


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Fifty-seven Indian Companies To Attend Jewellery Arabia
The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said 57 leading names from the Indian gem and jewellery industry will participate in Jewellery Arabia 2015 from November 24 to 28 at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre.
The Indian pavilion will be spread over 840 sq m of exhibition space in the Main Entrance Hall and Hall 2, and will sport an entirely new look. The Indian participants are expected to showcase high-end jewellery, diamonds and colour gemstones with a special focus on the Gulf region. Diamond jewellery fashioned in palladium and platinum, too, will be displayed for the first time.
GJEPC chairman Praveenshankar Pandya said that the Middle East has emerged as one of the key leading markets and currently accounts for 30% of the total Indian gem and jewellery exports.
“Jewellery Arabia forms an important platform to increase trade with the region. The Middle East is one of the key focus markets for India and the GJEPC will continue to make concerted efforts to increase its share in the region. The jewellery preferences and design sensibilities of the Middle East are very similar to that of India, and our jewellery has gained substantial demand there over the years,” added Pandya.
Trade figures offer a clear indication of the booming trade relations between the Indian sub-continent and the Middle East: exports to the UAE alone stood at $10.5 billion in 2014.
The five-day trade show will feature over 600 exhibitors from 30 nations who will spread their precious wares across an area of 18,000 sq m. On display will be a huge range of finished jewellery, luxury timepieces, precious stones, antiques, objets d’art, jewellery packaging and technology from across the globe.
Last year’s show attracted over 50,000 buyers from 47 countries, marking a 3.5% increase in attendance.
Eminent jewellery houses will be making a return appearance at Jewellery Arabia, including major brand names. Many of these high profile international jewellery and watch brands will use the exhibition as a platform to introduce exclusive collections and limited edition pieces to the Middle East collector’s market.
Complementing these iconic brands are large national groups of retailers, designers and manufacturers from leading jewellery export countries. Collectively, these groups of companies reflect the very best manufacturing capabilities, design expertise and gemmological resources that their respective countries have to offer.


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Quietly launched a few years ago as Giants , but then formally announced as enormous at the D23 convention in 2015, the film was to have been directed by Tangled's Nathan Greno and Inside Out co-writer Meg LeFauve , with songs in the works from Frozen duo Robert Lopez and Kirsten Anderson-Lopez.
It has a rating of IPX8, which means it can withstand immersion in up to two meters of freshwater for up to 60 minutes. For years, we've been wondering why Amazon hasn't done more to support Audible for Kindle fans. In 2016, data showed that ebook sales were actually down , while sales of physical books surged. The device itself should also be a bit faster than before-an Amazon spokesperson said the new model runs on a dual-core 1GHz NXP i.MX7D processor, up from the Cortex-A9 chip in ...
The customer needs to make a down payment of Rs 2899 for the 4G smartphone . Besides, unlike in case of Jiophone , the Airtel phone does not need to be returned to the company at any point, and the ownership remains with the user. However, the unlimited calling might not include calls made while in the roaming network. If the user continues to do the recharge for a period of 18 months, they'll get a refund of Rs 500.
The upcoming asteroid will fly over the Pacific Ocean at 1:42 AM ET. With error bars still in the asteroid's orbit calculations, there's the chance it could get as close as 42,000 km - just above the roughly 36,000 km altitude of geosynchronous satellites - and that could make the pass visible to amateur astronomers.
The post was interpreted as a dig towards Chelsea following his recently limited chances, and although it's alleged that this wasn't the case, Musonda is failing to convince many given the post's evident frustrations. The wide man faced a huge summer as he weighed up whether to stay at Stamford Bridge or try his luck elsewhere in a bid to play first-team football - and he did have interest from other clubs.
HP Inc . retained the top spot and further lengthened its lead with almost 23% share of the market, helped in part by major wins in Asia/Pacific. In fact, HP is in an upward trend, as it has experienced five consecutive quarters of global PC growth.
Confirming this to media at the launch of the KUV100 facelift+ in Mumbai , Pawan Goenka , managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) also said that all the SUVs from the brand will have an electric variant in future. The console also includes an electronic temperature control panel, which means instead of the three dials now you get one single dial with buttons. Launched just 21 months after its earlier iteration, the KUV100 NXT is being offered in five variants, and eight colour options.
The Overwatch Halloween Terror 2017 event begins later today, and will wrap up on November 2. As we remember from previous year the Junkenstein PvE mode was set in the area before the castle's gate so the changes made now must mean something.
A term, Baryonic matter if used in the astronomy, which consists of a large number of particles of building-block that take place in the high school text book of physics including neutrons, protons and electrons. Both found evidence of gas filaments, and both teams' data suggested that this matter is much denser than the mean of the normal matter in the universe.
Dubbed Porsche Passport, the monthly subscription service allows users to receive on-demand access to up to 22 different Porsche vehicles via an app. Besides the models mentioned above, the Accelerate package includes the 911 Carrera S , Panamera 4S , Cayenne S E-Hybrid , and Macan GTS .
This 85-kilowatt-hour motor is located in the eight-speed ZF transmission in the center of the vehicle alongside a 7-kW on-board charger. The hybrid set-up means 64g/km of Carbon dioxide emissions are claimed by Land Rover , as well as 31 miles of pure electric range.
It might also ease your mind if you were anxious that Google's decision to pull Android Wear devices from its store might be representative of a retreat from Android Wear as a whole. One of those being the fact that Google can now push updates through the Android Wear app from Google Play. You'd be forgiven for thinking that Google was over and done with Android Wear , given the dearth of smartwatch news at its recent product launch event - not to mention the Android Wear ...
Around 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday, the Dow Jones began to publish erroneous headlines about the Mountain View-based company buying Apple to its newswire. Dow Jones has blamed a " technical error " for a series of fake news headlines on Tuesday morning which claimed that Google was acquiring Apple for the bargain price of $9 billion.
Richard Bernstein Advisors Llc decreased its stake in Fuller H B Co (FUL) by 23.3% based on its latest 2017Q2 regulatory filing with the SEC. While in the same Quarter Previous year, the Actual EPS was $0.71. Investors sentiment increased to 1.27 in 2017 Q2. It is positive, as 83 investors sold TSLA shares while 159 reduced holdings. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 160,274 shares in the company, valued at $51,505,652.64.
When the New York Mets played their inaugural season in 1962, the franchise was affiliated with the Syracuse Chiefs . Once it concludes, the Mets will establish Syracuse as its Triple-A affiliate. Flights last for over five hours, and by the time the minor leaguer comes to NY, that first day is essentially wasted. The Chiefs have struggled financially for years and lag behind other Triple-A clubs in attendance.
So while covering the central U.S.in wind turbines would still fall short of powering the US and China, they argue that wind turbines over the North Atlantic could generate three times as much energy, leading to "civilization scale power". The intension of this idea of floating wind farms across a deep ocean is actually a major step towards the wind energy technology. They efficiently mix energy from fast, upper level winds down to the surface of the ocean, speeding surface winds.
Paddock had smuggled 24 weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition into the hotel, concealed in 10 suitcases. Although Campos alerted hotel security, Lombardo said police were not aware of the incident until they stormed Paddock's room ten minutes later.
Snap said many locations will also have Stories integrated into their Context Cards. Snapchat's Context Cards launch partners are TripAdvisor, Foursquare, Michelin, Uber, Lyft, OpenTable, Resy, Bookatable and Goop , and this list is likely to expand as the feature grows.
Reports state that more than 11 payments bank licences were issued by the RBI past year, only a handful have started operations. "Therefore, delivery of Jio Phone will start this Sunday (24 September) in rural areas and small towns", the PTI report said , quoting an unnamed channel partner of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.
Another show, Bootcamp , will follow CS:GO team The Immortals as they find three new players and train for November's IEM Oakland event. Hulu is partnering with the world's largest eSports company, ESL, to stream four new series: Player v.


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Furloughed Sheffield couple sold pizza from a truck in lockdown – now they’re launching an exciting new restaurant
and live on Freeview channel 276
But words on how good their pizza was started to spread like wildfire, as they began to receive orders from strangers, not knowing how popular it would get.
Now less than a year later, Isabella Phillips, 28 and Imre von Schreiber, 26 are excited to announce that they are opening a brick-and-mortar pizzeria slash bakery called ‘Crumb’ in the summer by taking over the old Floor Decor shop in Millhouses.
Isabella said although they have no specific date for the opening yet, they certainly look forward to serving the community with their selections of mouth watering pizza and scrumptious donuts.
The former assistant manager said: "Now we are still waiting for our oven and it takes quite a while until we get all our machines before we can announce anything.
"We started out with my family like a year ago, in the middle of lockdown. Both Imre and I were furloughed so we started baking from home with a baking blog.
"Loads of people got in touch with us asking to buy our pizza and donuts and we started selling before our pizza truck arrived."
The pizza truck, which is located at a Dyson Place on Sharrowvale Road, is where the couple has been operating.
She added: "We were quite overwhelmed to be honest, we didn't think it was going to be popular.
"It started off just us selling for our friends and family and shared it on social media and it kind of blew up, where we were inundated with donut and pizza orders... we are very grateful."
Isabella said Crumb specialises in artisanal bread and handmade Neapolitan style pizza.
Asked where they got their recipes from, Isabella said Imre makes up all of the recipes.
Imre said: "I was a baker for seven to eight years and started as an apprenticeship. I have been working for Forge Bakehouse on Abbeydale Road for quite a long time."
They are also looking to grow their business by hiring staff when the shop officially opens.
"Maybe between five and 10. It will build organically and we are sure to have more people to work for us," said Isabella.


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Snowfall this morning will total a coating to an inch; watch for black ice
If you’re looking to experience the start of spring in all its glory (as many of us are after one of the worst winters on record), the National Cherry Blossom Festival makes a great weekend getaway or day trip to kick off the season.
As Samuel Magadua walked along the muddy seashore littered with clothes, shoes and other debris, he spoke of a sister still missing since Typhoon Haiyan devastated the central Philippines five months ago, leaving more than 7,000 people dead and millions still without livelihood and homes.
While in Ireland it was celebrated as a quiet, religious holiday for centuries, what we celebrate is vastly different from that tradition.
Dec 5, 2012; 5:00 AM ET Now that it's cold enough to hit the slopes, you may want to look more closely at what materials your winter sports gear is made of. As it turns out, not all waterproofing is created equal.


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Dutch tribunal rejects intervenors in PostNL/Sandd appeal
A Netherlands tribunal has held that a merger appeal is not the right forum for two companies to air their complaints that an already completed postal deal has induced the merged company to violate competition rules.
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Modernizing Dietary Supplement Oversight: Will FDA’s New Policies Impact You?
Although aspects of the eight-year-old Food Safety Modernization Act are still being rolled out, FDA has taken on a new modernization endeavor: dietary supplements. Similar to the expansive touting of FSMA as the most sweeping reform of our food safety laws in more than 70 years, outgoing FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has heralded the agency’s newly announced dietary supplement policy advancement plan as “one of the most significant modernizations of dietary supplement regulation and oversight in more than 25 years.”
But – and this is a big but – it’s not going to take a decade to get this plan implemented. Based on the requirements of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994, FDA has already sent 12 warning letters and five online advisory letters to companies whose products, many of which are marketed as dietary supplements, are being illegally marketed as unapproved new drugs. The products bear unproven claims to prevent, treat or cure serious diseases and health conditions, such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cancer and opioid addiction. Although dietary supplements can, when substantiated, claim potential health benefits, they cannot claim to prevent, treat or cure diseases like these, as that could discourage consumers from seeking FDA-approved medical products.
Why, after 25 years, is FDA doing this now? Besides the possibility that Gottlieb may have wanted to start the push before he retired, his statement on the new efforts notes that in the years since 1994, the dietary supplement market has grown from a $4 billion industry comprised of about 4,000 unique products to more than $40 billion, with more than 50,000 – and possibly more than 80,000 – different products. Dietary supplements have become a routine part of the American lifestyle with three of every four Americans taking vitamins, minerals and/or herbs regularly; four in five older consumers doing so; and one in three children. Gottlieb, himself, stated, “I’ve personally benefited from the use of dietary supplements and, as a physician, recognize the benefits of certain supplements as a part of a comprehensive care plan.”
But, as the popularity of supplements has grown, so have the number of products with unproven or misleading health claims, leading Gottlieb to express concern that changes in the supplement market may have outpaced the evolution of FDA policies and capacity to manage emerging risks.
So, in late 2015, FDA created the Office of Dietary Supplement Programs (ODSP) three years ago, recognizing that keeping up with the evolving marketplace meant giving dietary supplement regulation more attention and making it a higher priority. In December 2017, Gottlieb established a Dietary Supplement Working Group to identify opportunities in the agency’s organizational structures, processes, procedures and practices for modernization. And now, FDA is committing to new priorities for more effective oversight of the industry while preserving consumers’ access to lawful supplements.
Thus, FDA has established three priorities:
Ensuring safety to protect consumers from harmful products.
Maintaining product integrity to ensure dietary supplements contain the ingredients that they’re labeled to contain, and nothing else, and they are consistently manufactured according to quality standards.
Fostering an environment where consumers and health care professionals can make informed decisions before recommending, purchasing or using dietary supplements
New steps to achieve this include:
Communicating to the public as soon as possible when there is a concern about a dietary supplement on the market. FDA is developing a rapid-response tool to alert both consumers and industry to unlawful and potentially dangerous ingredients.
Ensuring the regulatory framework is flexible enough to adequately evaluate product safety while also promoting innovation through the submission of new dietary ingredient (NDI) notifications. To enable this, FDA is developing guidance for preparing NDI notifications, will be updating its NDI compliance policy, and planning a public meeting this spring on responsible innovation.
Continuing to work closely with the industry and collaborating on research and a shared understanding. FDA has established the Botanical Safety Consortium, a public-private partnership which will look at novel ways to use cutting-edge toxicology tools, including alternatives to animal testing, to promote safety and effectiveness.
Developing new enforcement strategies and taking action to protect public health, such as the warning and advisory letters previously noted and other actions taken throughout 2018.
Engaging in public dialogue for feedback from dietary supplement stakeholders, such as whether additional steps to modernize DSHEA are necessary and the potential of designing a product listing regime to protect consumers and level the playing field for responsible industry participants.
In the coming months, FDA will provide additional details on the steps it is taking to implement these priorities to protect the public from potential safety issues while promoting innovation and efficiency in the marketplace. So, if you are in the dietary supplement industry you need to pay attention to the increasing focus from FDA, and as with all things TAG does with our clients, focus on prevention but be ready to react if and when there is a problem.
IA Rule Guidance Updated
FDA has released the second installment of the draft guidance document for FSMA’s Intentional Adulteration (IA) Rule under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). FDA integrated the second installment into the first, adding new chapters and appendices and making minimal changes to the first installment. Keep an eye on this space next week as we provide an overview of the new guidance.
About The Acheson Group (TAG)
Led by Former FDA Associate Commissioner for Foods Dr. David Acheson, TAG is a food safety consulting group that provides guidance and expertise worldwide for companies throughout the food supply chain. With in-depth industry knowledge combined with real-world experience, TAG's team of food safety experts help companies more effectively mitigate risk, improve operational efficiencies, and ensure regulatory and standards compliance. www.AchesonGroup.com


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When the Galaxy S4 gained impressive sales performance in the world, many consumers are looking forward to the larger screen size and more powerful performance Galaxy Note III. Today, media got the news from Samsung inside that Samsung plans to hold a news conference on September 4 a few days before the consumer electronics trade show to launch this giant product. While some of the early advertising and propaganda will start in August, which are mainly related to Galaxy Note Series product line and Samsung’s history and so on.
Firstly, let’s review the previous two generations of Galaxy Note Series releae time:
- The first generation Galaxy Note was launched in 2011 IFA Conference held in October
- Galaxy Note II was launched in a special wireless exhibition in August, a few days before the IFA 2012
In addition to the launch time, more people concern about the specification of the Galaxy Note III. According to the relevant specifications exposed before, Samsung Galaxy Note III may be equipped with eight-core processor, eight-core Mali 450 GPU, 3GB RAM, 13 MP rear camera and 5.99 inches Full HD Super AMOLED display.


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Boys and Girls Pull-On Lounge Pants and Girls Boxers by Rigo International have been recalled because they did not meet the requirements of federal flammability standards. According to the federal agency, these products pose a burning risk to children who happen to wear them regularly. There has been one report of a garment catching on fire causing severe burns to a 9-year-old boy. No other injuries or incidents have been reported so far.
There’s a list of identification numbers that are being recalled in the original article for consumers who are concerned about this recall. These garments were exclusively sold at Academy Sports and Outdoor stores between January 2010 and March 2011.
For more details, read the full article here:
Children’s Lounge Pants and Boxers Recalled by Rigo International Due to Violation of Federal Flammability Standard


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We fell to our knees when we witnessed the death of the Supra. We bawled our eyes out when they announced the end for the MR2. We’re still trying to come to terms with the discontinuation of the Celica. If there is any saving grace for Toyota sports car enthusiasts though, it’s that the Japanese automaker has gone on the record saying that they’re working on a new speedy vehicle… and it just might be a fuel-sipping, high performance hybrid.
The world’s second largest carmaker – lagging only behind General Motors and their stable of sub-brands – is planning on making this new (unnamed) model a “global project, not one aimed at one region more than another.” It only makes sense for Toyota to do what they know best, and lately that has been the Hybrid Synergy Drive. Add to that the company’s “participation in Formula 1” and they just might have a winner on their hands with this new car aimed at “young, affluent buyers.”
While still conjecture at this point, there have been reports that this “new Celica”, so to speak, will sport a mid-engine layout, four seats, and all-wheel-drive. As far as the design itself, they’ve mentioned a folding metal hard top and “inspiration from the CS+S Concept” (pictured).


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The Eurostar transportation company is adding its own presence to the mobile marketplace by including a number of different initiatives such as iPhone and Android device apps, a mobile-optimized website, and mobile ticketing.
According to Eurostar – a high-speed passenger rail service in Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, and Belgium – approximately 80 percent of its customers use some form of mobile device when they travel. By providing these consumers with new tools that can be used on those devices, it allows them to check travel schedules, buy their tickets, and then use the mobile ticketing service in order to scan the tickets they have purchased.
Head of Eurostar’s product and partnerships, Chris Jenkin, said that the company first realized that it was important for them to offer mobile services when they noticed the sizeable amount of web traffic that was being generated from mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. However, at that time, the Eurostar website was not optimized for those devices.
He added that “We also wanted to make sure our consumers had a convenient and seamless way to travel.”
Most of the visits that Eurostar received to its website from mobile sources were from iPhones and Android devices, so the company made those two platforms into its main focus. According to Jenkin, approximately five percent of the traffic to the website was coming through mobile devices before the site had even been optimized.
The free apps are now available at Google’s Android Market and the App Store for Apple.


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Local News | Admin Over 80% of financial transactions in Sri Lankan is cash based and this should be further reduced, ICT industry veteran and new general manager and chief executive officer of LankaClear, Channa de Silva said. He stated that they are now looking at wooing more people to...
Local News | Admin wOw.lk, Sri Lanka’s premier e-commerce site, joins hands with Micromax Informatics Ltd. to offer its customers the best deals for the newly launched world’s slimmest and lightest smartphone, Canvas Sliver 5. The Canvas Sliver 5 runs on the latest Android Lollipop 5.0, with a... READ MORE
International News, Local News | Admin In line with its commitment to uplift ICT education in the country, Microsoft Sri Lanka hosted a conference between educators and technology experts to create awareness on using technological tools to educate young children. Held in participation with 150 schools and private educational institutes, the event... READ MORE
International News, Local News | Admin Sri Lanka would set two IT parks in the Pallekele Export Processing Zone and the Achchuveli Industrial Zone Jaffna, said Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade, Malik Samarawickrama. Speaking to employees of the Board of Investment(BOI), Department of Mahapola Trust, Department of Import... READ MORE


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Easy access to information at the touch of our fingertips is making it harder for us to remember things and creating digital amnesia.
Storing numbers and other vital information like pin numbers as well as treasured photos on smartphones is acting like an external hard drive for our memories, resulting in the majority of us being unable to recall these details with out a device.
Nearly half of us can't remember the phone number of our significant other, and even more have trouble recalling the digits of their children according to research by Kaspersky Labs. Nearly half of us can however, remember the phone number we had in childhood, when mobile technology was in its infancy for the majority of us.
We are increasingly handing over all our important memories to smartphones and devices, Kaspersky conclude, calling the modern phenomenon digital amnesia - "the experience of forgetting information that you trust to a digital device to store and remember for you".
And it's Brits who are suffering the most from digital amnesia, with those in the UK having a harder time recalling numbers than the rest of Europe.
One in three of us would turn to the internet for information before trying to remember a fact, and one in four forget that fact as soon as they have used it, Kaspersky's study found.
Read more: Robot kills worker in Volkswagen car factory
The researchers found men and women were equally likely to succumb to digital amnesia and that it's not just reserved for the young, finding it "surprisingly" prevalent among older generations.
“Reliance on digital devices, and the trust we place in them, can resemble a human relationship. The feelings are established in the same way - through experience. Repeated experience with a reliable individual builds a ‘schema’ or association for that individual in our memory, telling us that this person can be depended on. If a digital device is continually reliable then we will build that into our schema of that device,” explains UCL cognitive neuroscience researcher Dr Kathryn Mills.
If we were to lose our phones and access to those memories, the majority (40 per cent) of us would feel sad that we would never be able to get them back, while 22 per cent would be overtaken by panic. A similar number of sensible Brits would remain calm, however, saying they would be able to recall the memories stored on their device and keep hold of hard copies of pictures,


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A blockchain-related study conducted at EY has revealed that the complexity in regulatory policies is one of the biggest challenges facing the adoption of enterprise blockchains. Participants in the study were senior finance and technology professionals at EY’s Global Blockchain Summit held in New York this April.
Majority of the survey respondents (61 percent) said that complex regulation is the number one barrier to widespread blockchain adoption. Other stumbling blocks identified are integration with legacy technology (51%) and lack of proper blockchain education (49%). When asked what the main advantage of blockchain is, respondents pointed to increased operational efficiency followed by transparency and data integrity.
Analyzing the results from the survey, Paul Brody, EY’s Global Innovation Leader, Blockchain Technology said:
“As blockchain platforms become more mainstream, putting a robust governance model in place will be key. This coupled with establishing best practices for reviewing the integrity of cryptocurrencies and their applications can help build trust in the company’s underlying assets, ensuring stakeholder voices are heard and ultimately instilling greater investor confidence.”
Furthermore, he identified four stages of blockchain maturity. These according to him are;
- Transitioning from private to public networks to create an open system for all users;
- Shifting from synchronization to tokenization to improve accuracy and reduce risk;
- Moving from cryptocurrency to tokenized fiat currency to transfer value on public networks;
- Shifting from parallel separate systems to integration with laws and regulation from central banks and governments
Poll respondents indicated that changes made to blockchain regulations were key to broader enterprise integration. Adoption of digital currencies by top companies (23%) and acceptance of the technology among central banks (18%) play key roles too according to the study.
EY—short for Ernst & Young—have made strides in blockchain innovation. In April the company announced a pilot for blockchain audit technology. It developed a Blockchain Analyzer that will help to perform in-depth reviews of cryptocurrency business transactions. The pilot would lay the foundation for testing of blockchain assets, liabilities, equity and smart contracts as companies adopt blockchain technologies.
Solomon Sunny is the market reporter for Smartereum, one of the global leaders in Ethereum, blockchain and currency news. He produces technical price updates on digital currencies and writes recent developments about blockchain.