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Automotive News writer Larry Vellequette reports that the next-generation Jeep Wrangler will most likely remain a body-on-frame design and remain in Toledo.
At the Paris Auto Show, which ended last Sunday, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne said FCA was considering switching the Wrangler to an aluminum body and unibody construction. He also said converting the Toledo plant to produce an aluminum body would be prohibitively expensive and that there was capacity available in two FCA plants to handle unibody assembly.
FCA has just two body-on-frame plants, Toledo and the Warren Truck Plant, both of which are already maxed out.
Marchionne’s remarks directly contradicted the promise he made at the Detroit Auto Show last January that Wrangler production would remain in Toledo. At that time, Marchionne said “…one of the commitments we’ve made is never to produce a Wrangler outside of Toledo….”
The news was a bombshell: Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins and representatives of Ohio Governor John Kasich immediately set up discussions aimed at keeping the iconic Wrangler in the Northeastern Ohio city. They met in Auburn Hills on October 9.
Jeep loyalists were also upset: a steel body is superior to aluminum for severe use, such as demanding off-road trails, and the strength of body-on-frame construction is integral to the Wrangler’s capabilities.
However, FCA is faced with the same challenges as every other automaker: the need to reduce weight to improve fuel economy. Ford’s switch to an aluminum body for its F-150 pickup shaved hundreds of pounds off the trucks weight.
Vellequette writes that knowledgeable sources inside and outside of the company are saying the Wrangler will remain a body-on-frame design though it’s likely there will be a switch to an aluminum body.
On Tuesday of this week, the Toledo city council approved the purchase of 32 acres of land near the plant. While it is assumed the purchase is intended to help keep the Wrangler in Toledo, city officials and Chrysler declined to comment.
Ram and Jeep have shown off their SEMA concept cars ahead of time, including a Ram ProMaster done up as the Hospitality Van or Man Cave; the Outdoorsman pickup; and a pair of Jeep Renegades to go with Moab Wrangler and Cherokee concepts.
See the full story (and photos).
Dodge is showing four concept cars at SEMA: a Dart, Charger, Challenger, and Viper ACR. You can now see them all at Allpar, courtesy of Patrick Rall — now with the story behind them. Coming soon: Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, and Fiat concepts.
See all the Dodge concepts
Long before the Challenger Hellcat was officially launched, Allpar noted that the engine — which we estimated at “620-680 horsepower” (depending on when the stories were written) — was being tested in the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Then we wrote that it had probably been ruled out, for various reasons.
Today, one source wrote that the trademarked Trackhawk name, which we had thought was a Jeep replacement for SRT (since SRT is increasingly associated with Dodge and only Dodge), may be a special Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 707 horsepower Hellcat engine.
It might not reach quite that power rating in the Jeep, given available space and the effect it has on other systems, but would certainly provide more power than the already hefty 6.4 liter Hemi.
The 2015 Chrysler 200 has earned a five-star (the highest possible) overall safety rating from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It scored five stars in frontal collisions, two-vehicle side-impacts, and single-vehicle-with-pole side impacts. It got four stars for rollover resistance.
The 2015 200 had already earned a Top Safety Pick Plus rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
The car’s many optional active safety systems do not factor into the ratings, though NHTSA provides recognition on their safety-ratings page for them. Collision-warning systems are required for IIHS Top Safety Pick+ status.
One segment-exclusive feature is the standard Electronic Park Brake (EPB) with SafeHold. This automatically activates the parking brake if the driver’s seatbelt is unlatched and their door is opened while in Drive or Reverse, to prevent rollaways.
Other standard and available features include Electronic Stability Control (ESC), electronic roll mitigation, four-wheel anti-lock disc brakes, ParkSense rear backup sensors, ParkView rear backup camera, blind-spot monitoring, Rear Cross Path Detection and LATCH child seat anchors.
The 2015 Chrysler 200 is built in Sterling Heights, Michigan, a short drive north from Detroit.
US prices for the 2015 Dodge Charger have already been announced; Chrysler Canada has just released Canadian prices. Both are shown here for comparison, including destination charges. Ironically, while Chargers are assembled in Canada, the destination charge is much higher for Canadians (the equivalent of C$1,119 vs C$1,695). However, AWD is sold at a lower cost, as is the Road & Track package which creates the Charger R/T R/T.
Dodge claims that the Hellcat model is the quickest, fastest, and most powerful sedan in the world. It has a top speed of 328 km/h.
Readers should note that as of posting time, US$40,000 equalled C$44,978. Thus, in US dollars, the Canada Charger SE would run $32,598 — still below the Canadian price, but not by quite as high a margin. In comparison, the Hellcat is actually cheaper in Canada — US$64,990 is equivalent to $73,078. Rates fluctuate constantly and Chrysler may have built some reserve into the lower-margin, higher-volume cars to prevent losses if the Canadian dollar falls or the U.S. dollar rises.
||S/C 6.2 V8
||Road & Track*
* $3,000 extra in the United States.
AWD $2,200 extra in Canada; R&T $2,000 extra in Canada
** Includes destination charge ($995 in 48 states, $1,695 in Canada)
Dodge has released pricing for the full Charger lineup, starting with the V6/eight-speed Dodge Charger SE at $28,990 (all prices include $995 destination for the “49 states”). Charger was thoroughly renovated for the 2015 model year, with a new look, suspension and electronics revisions, a standard eight-speed automatic for ever engine, and other upgrades. The top Charger, the SRT Hellcat, has [...]
Allpar’s informal sources have agreed that there are plans for a new Dodge Viper ACR, debuting for the 2016 model year, possibly replacing the current TA (Time Attack) model. Artist suzq044 provided the following rendering, which uses SRT’s trademark black wheels and a Dodge concept-car semi-rendering. The Viper ACR may have a mild power boost, but will be mainly a suspension and/or airflow upgrade, to increase track [...]
The 2017 Jeep Wrangler may leave its historic steel body-on-frame construction and Toledo plant behind, according to Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, as quoted by Automotive News’ Larry Vellequette. The current Wrangler has good mileage for rugged four wheel drive vehicles, but poor economy overall, at around 17/21 mpg (depending on model and transmission). Mr. Marchionne said the Wrangler will need to lose weight [...]
Keeping a years-long tradition, Chrysler today released a number of “teaser images” for concepts to be revealed at the SEMA aftermarket show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Each brand is covered, though Chrysler has but one car — the 200S. That can be explained by the status of the brand’s three cars: the 2015 300 has yet to be launched, and the [...]
Months after unconfirmed reports made it to Allpar’s pages, the power of Automotive News, in the person of reporter Larry Vellequette, pried a key fact from Chrysler executives — that they cast and build “Ferrari” engines for Maserati. As our sister site pentastars.com reported, the engines are actually cast in Kokomo, and machined in the Trenton Engine plant, using a mixture of [...]


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U.S. equities are bolting higher on Wednesday as President Donald Trump and Chinese officials prepare to sign the “Phase 1” trade deal that has been hinted, rumored, and teased for what feels like an eternity. The deal will see the U.S. hold off on new tariffs in exchange for Beijing promising to purchase some $200 billion in American exports.
Optimists are hopeful this will open the door to additional agreements that can roll back the multi-year trade spat.
Stocks are responding strongly to the event, pushing the major averages to new highs as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes in on the 30,000 mark.
Driving the move are a number of beaten down technology stocks. Here are four tech stocks worth a look:
Everyone’s favorite former VC-backed “unicorn” is coming back to life after an embracing post-IPO selloff that saw shares fall by roughly 50% from the highs set last summer. Uber (NYSE:UBER) shares are testing resistance in the mid-$30s that would open the door to a rally of around 30% back to last summer’s levels. The rally comes despite reports Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) has sold its stake in the company, thanks to the tailwind from rumors an activist investor could be accumulating a position.
The company is expected to report results on Feb. 6 after the close. Analysts are looking for a loss of 52 cents per share on revenues of $4.1 billion.
International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) shares are pulling away from their 200-day moving average, pushing off of a basing pattern going back to late May amid a long sideways pattern going all the way back to 2011. Similar to Uber, the chatter is that activist investors could be accumulating a position in the company as it continues to struggle in an environment where the likes of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) are going from strength-to-strength in the cloud computing space.
The company is expected to report results on Jan. 21 after the close. Analysts are looking for earnings of $4.70 per share on revenues of $21.6 billion.
Snap (NYSE:SNAP) is pushing to new highs with a move above its July record, marking a rise of roughly 30%, returning to levels last seen in early 2018. Bernstein analysts gave it a “buy” rating and Jefferies analysts gave it an upgrade to “buy” from “hold.” The company is generating some attention for its augmented reality “Scan” app that unlocks experiences by, for instance, pointing your smartphone camera at a Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) can.
SNAP is expected to report results on Feb. 4 after the close. Analysts are looking for break-even results on revenues of $561 million.
Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) is another turnaround play to watch, ending an eight-month downtrend pattern with a push above its November high. Watch for a run at last summer’s levels, which would be worth a gain of roughly a third from here. Growth has been strong as telepresence becomes more of an everyday part of business, growing earnings 85% last quarter from the prior year’s period.
ZM is estimated to report results on March 5. Analysts are looking for earnings of seven cents per share on revenues of $176.8 million.

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Life&Style writer Alice Gawthrop outlines how companies have responded to COVID-19
The news has been dominated by coronavirus since January, but it’s not all doom and gloom. In the midst of these difficult, uncertain times, some brands have taken the opportunity to give back to the communities in which they operate.
Many supermarkets have organised special opening hours that cater to specific groups, whether those be the vulnerable and the elderly, or NHS and other key workers. In an email to customers sent on 25th March, Tesco CEO Dave Lewis wrote, ‘We have introduced a special hour in stores for NHS workers as a thank you for all they are doing. On Sundays, they can browse our large stores and select their shopping an hour before the checkouts open. […] To ensure our more vulnerable and elderly customers can shop for what they need in our large stores, we have prioritised one hour every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning between 9-10am.’
Other supermarkets have taken similar measures. The Sainsbury’s website notes that since 23rd March, NHS ID holders have priority Monday to Saturday from 7:30am to 8am, while elderly customers, carers and disabled customers have priority Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8am to 9am. Meanwhile, Iceland has temporarily limited online orders to customers who are over state pension age, self-isolating or otherwise vulnerable, asking anyone who does not fall into these categories to shop in person.
There can be no doubt that these measures are critical at a time like this, taking some of the burden off those key workers who are putting themselves at risk to go into work and help our country fight coronavirus. Additionally, it gives those more vulnerable members of society the chance to do their shopping safely, to save them from getting left behind by the rest of the country’s panic-buying and being put doubly at risk: both from COVID-19, and from malnutrition.
Ewa, who works for the NHS, said, ‘I think it’s a really good thing. Obviously when you’re in a high risk job you’ve got enough anxieties about the work itself without also having to be worried about if you’ll have anything to eat when you get home from a long shift. Normally after I finish work, all the shops are closed or everything is gone already, so having an opportunity to get your essentials takes that extra stress away. It’s great to have that opportunity to feel safer and appreciated.’
As well as supermarkets, other brands have been taking this opportunity to do their bit in any way they can. In a post to her Instagram page on 17th March, Olivia Bowen, known for Love Island 2016, announced, ‘In light of the evolving global situation surrounding COVID-19 and in response to Age UK’s call to the government today for further support, In The Style pledges to donate 100% of all profits from ‘In The Style X Olivia Bowen’ sales to Age UK, a registered charity dedicated to supporting elderly people across the UK who find themselves in a more vulnerable situation and facing uncertainty.’
At such a critical time, it can be all too easy, without even realising it, to make the most vulnerable members of our society feel like a burden, whether that be in the way we talk about who is at risk or by forgetting them altogether in the way we respond to this crisis. By taking steps like Olivia Bowen’s or the various supermarkets around the UK, brands can remind these people that they are not forgotten and they are not a burden; they are valued members of our society and we will pull together to protect them as best we can.
Internationally, designer brands have redirected their efforts to help battle the pandemic. On 15th March 2020, LVMH, the luxury conglomerate that owns Louis Vuitton, Dior, Givenchy and more, announced it will be producing its own hand sanitizer to help manage the shortage in France caused by the pandemic. Meanwhile, in Italy, Prada released a statement that the brand’s Co-CEO’s and Chairman have each donated two complete intensive care and resuscitation units to hospitals in Milan.
For the more cynical among us, there may perhaps be an ulterior motive to all this. According to a study done in 2013, 89% of participants thought businesses should support charities and their local communities, and nearly half were more likely to buy from companies that donate to good causes. There is an argument to be made that actions such as those outlined in this article are not taken in good faith, but rather are a calculated move, taking advantage of crises to improve public image and profits.
But at a time like this, when there is so much uncertainty and confusion, we can at least have faith in one another. Even if there are some ulterior motives at play, it is undeniable that these brands are doing a good thing, helping countless individuals as well as contributing positively to the global fight against this pandemic. It is reassuring to see brands trying to find ways to ease the burden on consumers, rather than exploit their panic and desperation by hiking prices. At a time like this, we need all hands on deck.
More Redbrick coverage of coronavirus:


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Get your Samsung smartphone serviced at the 2018 Rand Show.
Samsung South Africa has revealed that the Samsung service team will be at the 2018 Rand Show, which will be held at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in Nasrec, South Africa. The team at Samsung will be offering customers free software updates, discounted screen repairs and no labour charges for phone repairs. In addition, customers can stand a chance to win an extraordinary Samsung Galaxy S9 phone if they get a screen repair done at the Samsung Service Stand.
Richard Chetty, Director of Customer Service for Samsung South Africa, says, “We’re looking forward to participating in this wonderful tradition and offering our customers a peek at our new flagship devices, the S9 and S9+, as well as showcasing our first-class customer service.”
Whether families are keen to experience the adrenaline-fueled helicopter and amusement park rides and spend time in the Animal Kingdom, or browse the myriad stands displaying the latest products and services on offer, there’s no doubt that fun will be had.
“Visitors can simply drop their phones off for repair at the Samsung stand and leave it behind while they continue enjoying the Rand Show’s sights and sounds,” concludes Chetty.
The Rand Show opens on Friday, the 30th of March at 10:00 and will remain open until 8th April, giving families ample opportunity to join in the fun and spend great quality time together.
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Whilst EA Sports may have not yet confirmed that FIFA will be headed to Wii U, lead producer David Rutter has expressed that the console is “pretty exciting.”
It had been expected that the publisher would share news regarding their support for the console last week, where the publisher had confirmed they would make Wii U announcements at an EA Sports Open House event.
“It’s pretty exciting actually,” Rutter explained to CVG, asked to his thoughts regarding the system.
“I’ve been talking to a bunch of the guys about the games that they’re working on here, and about what they want to do with Wii U or with SmartGlass and stuff like that.
“And if you look at it from a different perspective, I’m not going to tell you exactly what because it’s kind of competitive advantage, I think there were a few kind of ‘Wow, that’s a pretty cool way of looking at it!’ moments, so that idea of a second screen, I think it has some really, really big positives.”


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The Impact Of The Ukraine Crisis On Construction
We look at the impact of the Ukraine crisis on construction and how it will affect the cost and supply of building materials.
Prior to the Russian invasion, the sector was far from normal. The pandemic alone had resulted in material shortages and significant price inflation, resulting in a “new normal” establishing itself within the sector.
Coupled with Brexit, which threw up a whole new set of challenges, stability was a long forgotten feeling and until the end of February both factors contributed to project delays, cost increases and, in some cases, the abandonment of construction projects.
On the 24th February, Russia invaded Ukraine and given the already rocky start to 2022, the invasion added a further unneeded air of unpredictability within the construction sector.
We wanted look into what direct effects this is having on the construction sector, and how long the impact could last.
Oil, Gas & Fuel Costs
The UK imported 13% of its total fuel from Russia in 2019. Compared to mainland Europe, the UK is less reliant on Russia for its energy supply.
However, any disruption to the supply of energy for our continental friends will affect wholesale prices in the UK to a greater extent than implied by direct trade links.
As the conflict progresses experts have warned that petrol prices could reach £2.50 per litre, with diesel reaching £3.00, on top of potential rationing. With natural gas and oil prices being affected, there will be a knock-on effect with the cost of plastics and fuel.
Therefore every delivery, every vehicle and every employee traveling between sites will have greater costs associated with them. Additionally the cost of a bottle of gas is currently 25% higher than 6 months ago, with projects requiring hot works likely to face further cost increases.
Russia is a major exporter of metals such as nickel and palladium, which if withheld could create disruptions in the supply chains of multiple sectors including construction. Nickel, a key ingredient for making stainless steel, has reportedly doubled in price since the invasion began.
Scaffolding has also been impacted greatly by the invasion due to the surging costs of various metal products used in its production, impacting projects heavily reliant on such access equipment.
A ban on “Conflict Timber” from Russia and Belarus, has resulted in trade body Timber Development UK warning that consumers should brace for a fresh wave of price volatility. Currently much of the imported timber from these regions is considered part of pre-invasion stock, so forecasts are predicting that the sector is just about to see the effects of import bans.
Tender documents usually require costs to be fixed for a certain duration, this can range anywhere between 3 to 12 months. However, in today’s market, knowing where costs will be in 3 weeks poses challenges.
Manufacturers and suppliers, like contractors are in a tricky position, do they build in potential cost increases (which are completely assumptive, albeit likely) and risk losing a project on cost?
Or should the emphasis be on the client to anticipate increases due to volatility, and therefore include a contingency in the contract sum for material cost increases?
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) have warned that “Without price continuity, it is harder for trades to quote for projects on fixed price contracts, and then seek to pass onto their customers any price increases for materials that would otherwise erode their profit margin,”
“Furthermore, as manufacturers reprice materials and SME contractors continue to be required to sign up to fixed price contracts in advance of project delivery periods, considerable pressure is mounting on SMEs at delivery level.”
What To Expect (For The Foreseeable Future)
First and foremost, it’s important to accept that costs very rarely go down. So, when the invasion in Ukraine reaches its end, whatever that conclusion may be, it is unrealistic to think costs will subside to pre-invasion, pre-Covid and pre-Brexit levels…Sadly those days are most likely gone.
Supply networks and supply chains will change and materials will be sourced from new regions. However, the reason that we are not stocking our shelves currently, is cost. So while your timber may no longer be sourced from Russia, it is likely to be more expensive.
The CLC has warned that the impact from the invasion of Ukraine on UK construction is “only beginning to be felt”. While reporting a 10-15% price inflation on energy-intensive products such as steel, cement and glass over the last 3 months.
Costs will remain volatile for some time however, as seen through the pandemic and Brexit, the sector will manage to preserver and prosper.
Projects should have anticipated cost increases built-in to make sure they are not delayed (incurring further cost increases) and ensuring contractors are not working to cost, looking for opportunities to cut corners and make up for lost margins. The inclusion of ‘material cost increase contingencies‘ should be a consideration.
Educating clients on the volatility of the sector is critical, as this will ensure planning takes into consideration the volatility and therefore mitigates its effects.
While certainly not gleeful reading, it’s not all doom and gloom. The sector will certainly continue to face challenges for months, if not years. But if we work collaboratively and intelligently on projects, educate our clients and plan in and anticipate volatility, the sector will continue to deliver projects as planned.


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Folience named ESOP of the year
Cedar Rapids-based Folience, The Gazette’s parent company, received the ESOP Association’s National 2022 Employee-Owned Company of the Year award Thursday in Washington, D.C.
Folience Acquires TravAlum Assets to Grow Cimarron Capacity
(Feb. 15, 2022 / Cedar Rapids, IA) – Folience, a Cedar Rapids-based ESOP-owned holding company, announced today that it has acquired the assets of TravAlum, an aluminum trailer manufacturer based in Manhattan, Kansas, to increase capacity for its Cimarron Trailers company. “Folience’s business model is to find successful companies with good cultures that are looking […]
Folience Acquires Cimarron Trailers
(Cedar Rapids, IA) – Folience, a Cedar Rapids-based ESOP-owned holding company, announced today that it has acquired Cimarron Trailers ®, an industry-leading aluminum trailer manufacturer based in Chickasha, Oklahoma. “Cimarron Trailers ® has everything we look for when bringing a new company into the Folience family,” said CEO Daniel Goldstein. “It is a successful company […]
Folience Acquires Life Line Emergency Vehicles
(Cedar Rapids, IA) – Folience, Inc., and Life Line Emergency Vehicles Inc. announced today that Folience is acquiring Life Line Emergency Vehicles (www.lifelineambulance.com). This will continue Life Line’s 32 year history producing superior quality emergency vehicles. This is also a commitment to the employees of Life Line, who will join Folience’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan […]


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Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky Reaches 200,000 Units Five Years After Release
PSP's upcoming The Legend of Heroes Ao no Kiseki reached retail orders of 200,000 units even before its release. The series wasn't always such an instant success though.
The Legend of Heroes Sora no Kiseki FC, the first part of the trilogy that's known internationally as Trails in the Sky, was released for the PSP on October 28, 2006. The game's initial shipment was just 30,000 units.
Despite the slow start, Sora no Kiseki FC apparently kept on selling. The official Falcom Twitter revealed today that the game has finally crossed the 200,000 shipment mark. This feat comes just ahead of the game's five year anniversary.
It seems that Sora no Kiseki FC sold slowly and consistently. According to Falcom, orders for the game never once dropped below four digits.


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New York-based restaurant chain Just Salad plans to pilot its popular reusable bowl program for digital orders in the near future. The announcement comes as part of the fast-casual chain’s annual sustainability report, which was just released, and tracks company progress on making its business more eco-friendly.
If you’ve ever set foot inside a Just Salad, you’ll know the company’s line of colorful bowls made from heavy plastic resin that can be washed and reused on a regular basis. Just Salad started its reusable bowl program back in 2006 with the aim to cut down on single-use packaging for to-go orders. Customers could purchase a reusable bowl (mine cost $1 when I bought it in 2012), take it home, wash it, and bring it back for a refill each time they bought a meal from the restaurant.
In its most recent sustainability report, Just Salad said that sales of its reusable bowls grew more than 100 percent year-over-year in 2019 — then were abruptly halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In New York City and elsewhere, reusable containers were banned from restaurants in an effort to lessen the spread of the coronavirus. Simultaneously, homebound customers switched to digital ordering and delivery formats, neither of which lend themselves to reusable packaging.
Now, in 2021, Just Salad said it plans to expand its reusable bowl program to serve off-premises channels like delivery. Under the new phase of the program, customers can order digitally for delivery and pickup. Food arrives in a Just Salad reusable bowl, which can be returned to any Just Salad location for cleaning and sanitizing afterwards. The phase is currently in beta and only available at one location, at the chain’s 3rd Avenue spot in Manhattan.
Just Salad told Nation’s Restaurant News this week that without any extra marketing done, roughly 30 percent of customers have already used the program since it launched earlier this year.
The expanded reusable program is one item on a growing list of initiatives Just Salad has around sustainability — an area the company was championing long before the pandemic. Another notable item this week’s report mentions is Zero Waste delivery pilot. In partnership with NYC-based company DeliverZero, the Just Salad location in Park Slope, Brooklyn offers delivery items in reusable containers. Customers have six weeks to return the containers to either a delivery person or at a Just Salad location. Multiple other NYC restaurants work with DeliverZero, many of them local businesses.
Hopefully that number grows, and quickly. If delivery and off-premises restaurant formats aren’t going away, nor is the mounting packaging waste problem, not if we don’t do anything to stop it. Restaurants account for 78 percent of all disposable packaging, much of it plastic. And plastic production has increased 200-fold since 1950, growing at a rate of 4 percent per year since 2000, with most plastic winding up in the landfill or ocean. Needless to say, our appetites for off-premises aren’t helping this problem.
In response, circular-economy-style delivery is slowly but surely making its way into the restaurant industry. Reusables are by no means the norm yet. However, major chains like Burger King and McDonald’s have various tests underway, which is encouraging for the industry as a whole.
Just Salad, meanwhile, has a number of other sustainability initiatives on the table, including its meal kit program aimed at combating both packaging food waste and a partnership with food “rescue” company Too Good to Go.


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CEO Behind 5,300% Inventory Achieve Says Secret Is Elevating Salaries
(Bloomberg) — Masaru Tange says the technique that turned his firm into one among Japan’s best-performing shares could also be shocking: He buys smaller companies and boosts their employees’ pay.
Tange’s Shift Inc., a software program tester, acquires different companies close to the underside of the trade provide chain and raises their engineers’ salaries. He says he’s ready to do that and nonetheless cost aggressive costs by chopping out layers of corporations that function middlemen within the outsourcing course of. And having extra employees results in increased gross sales.
Shift’s shares have risen greater than 5,300% because it went public in 2014, the second-best efficiency on Tokyo’s benchmark inventory index. The corporate’s market capitalization has surged to about $2.3 billion, pushing the worth of Tange’s 33% stake to about $745 million.
Tange, 46, says his enterprise mannequin is an try and take away inefficiencies in Japan’s software program trade, the place layers of subcontractors take cuts on orders earlier than passing the work to a different firm under. It’s additionally, he says, a break from the M&A method of shopping for a enterprise and seeking to scale back prices.
“I’ve a powerful urge to rescue these younger workers,” Tange, Shift’s founder, president and chief govt officer, mentioned in an interview. “I wish to create a good working setting by means of M&A.”
Tange grew up in what he describes as an abnormal household in Hiroshima in southwestern Japan, the place each his dad and mom had been civil servants. He established Shift in 2005 after majoring in mechanical engineering and spending greater than 5 years working for a consulting agency.
Shift began out advising corporations on enhance income. In 2009, it entered the software program testing enterprise.
Tange mentioned he wished to alter engineers’ notion that software program testing was a second-rate job, together with by paying them more cash.
For instance, for a service the place the market value was 2 million yen ($18,320), Shift would cost 1.5 million yen. This is able to allow it to win clients. On the identical time, it will elevate the quantity paid to the engineer to about 800,000 yen from 500,000 yen. It might accomplish that, Tange mentioned, by eliminating middlemen.
Shift acquired Yusuke Sato’s firm in 2016. Since then, the software program developer says his wage has jumped by greater than 70%.
“Becoming a member of Shift was an enormous turning level in my profession,” Sato mentioned.
Shift has 3,308 engineers as everlasting workers as of the top of February, up greater than 14-fold from 228 on the finish of November 2015. The corporate acquired not less than 14 companies throughout that interval.
Growing engineers leads on to income progress as a result of it allows the corporate to do extra enterprise, in line with Go Saito, an analyst at Credit score Suisse Group AG who initiated protection on the inventory in February with an outperform ranking.
“Gross sales might be derived by multiplying the variety of engineers and the unit value for engineers,” Saito wrote in a report that month. “The corporate has already created a framework for the talents improvement of engineers, enabling it to domesticate high-quality human assets.”
Income rose to twenty-eight.7 billion yen within the 12 months ended August 2020, greater than triple the extent three years earlier. Revenue elevated to 1.6 billion yen, in comparison with 208 million yen three years earlier than. Shift forecasts that gross sales will soar to a report 45 billion yen this fiscal yr.
Software program engineers are underpaid in Japan in comparison with the U.S. and there’s a scarcity of them, in line with Saito. That’s one cause why Shift’s mannequin of outsourcing software program testing works, he mentioned.
“We’re the largest in Japan on this space,” Tange mentioned. “I do see income reaching 100 billion yen,” he mentioned, referring to the corporate’s purpose for the fiscal yr ending August 2025.
Shift’s hovering shares haven’t been proof against pullbacks. They’ve fallen about 22% from a report in October as traders bought high-growth know-how shares. Even after the drop, the corporate trades at about 87 instances estimated earnings.
For veteran investor Mitsushige Akino, the inventory might even see extra volatility in coming months and will fall in market downturns. However its “fundamentals are stable and Shift is making progress on the imaginative and prescient it laid out,” the senior govt officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Administration Co. mentioned. “It gained’t be unusual to see extra shopping for of all these shares if traders focus as soon as extra on progress shares.”
Credit score Suisse’s Saito says the important thing shall be whether or not Shift is ready to proceed to extend its variety of engineers.
Whether or not that can occur stays to be seen, however Tange, not less than, isn’t in need of confidence.
“We’re simply getting began,” he mentioned.
(Updates numbers all through)
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Nike can turn its snarled supply chain to its advantage
A pedestrian walks past American multinational sport clothing brand, Nike store and its logo seen in Hong Kong. Budrul Chukrut…
Costco, Nike and FedEx are warning there’s more inflation set to hit consumers as holidays approach
A worker wearing a protective mask removes rotisserie chicken from skewers inside a Costco store in San Francisco, California, on…


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The German E. Coli outbreak seems to be one of the first fresh food global supply chain problems that have come to the fore. Germany imports 40% of its cucumbers from Spain a total of 182,000 tonnes a year. Initially, German authorities blamed Spanish cucumber contamination for the deadly outbreak and now the Germans are saying that while Spanish cucumbers were contaminated, they did not have the problematic E. Coli strain.
As of today 18 people have died and 1600 are sickened and all had traveled to north Germany, 17 of the dead are Germans and one is a Swede. It turns out that Germany is the largest importer of fresh produce with a 6.6B$ import per year and US is the second largest importer importing about 6.5B $ of produce mostly from Mexico. Regional free trade and movement of fresh produce facilitates commerce and brings new challenges to health and regulatory authorities.
It's sort of inexplicable how the Germans accused Spanish cucumber and banned that produce – ruining Spanish farmers while sparking outrage in Spain.
The German response is the classic "pre-globalization" response to such type of problems. "Ban first and study later" is the mantra and strategy for regulatory agencies in each country. Can't really blame the Governments who are trying to protect their citizens and consumers what with up to the second news from social media beyond the 24 hours news channels putting pressure on Governments to act.
If most of the produce is imported and that too from a multitude of countries as in Germany, things become tough to trace. There are hundreds of companies and contamination could have occurred at either the farm or at the retail packaging points.
Since we are talking fresh produce and farmers here who earn only during the season , the old response of simply banning produce is not an answer, given that Russia has now banned all EU produce. Global fresh food regulatory regimes would need to redefine co-operation and fresh food supply chains would need to build more easy tracking.


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GBM-TV will allow ABM member companies to post video content for free and receive â€śguaranteed monetization,â€ť said Tad Davis, VP-marketing and creative services at Tremor Media.
ABM members that join the network and contribute video content will receive a share of ad revenue. Although many of the specifics have not yet been worked out, Davis said, â€śWe expect to charge industry standard CPMs with industry standard revenue sharing.â€ť
As an ad network, Tremor places video advertising on more than 800 media sites for hundreds of brand marketers, such as American Express and Dell. Davis said the biggest brand marketers are moving video budgets online, fueling the demand for more video content in which to place their advertising. The b-to-b audience â€śhas proven to be elusiveâ€ť for many of these marketers, he said. â€ś[Therefore] they are willing to pay a CPM on the higher side of average to reach that audience.â€ť
Davis added: â€śWe want to have conversations with each of the publishers to make sure we donâ€™t have any channel conflict, to make sure weâ€™re not selling advertising at a lower rate to a publisherâ€™s current customers.â€ť
Joshua Kuvin, ABM chief technology officer, likened GBM-TV to the TV network formula under which affiliates provide programming for the network and use programming provided by fellow affiliates. â€śBy aggregating content created by all the members of GBM-TV, we can help members reduce production costs while at the same time improving the quality of the video,â€ť he said.
When ABM relaunched its Web site earlier this year, it unveiled an upgraded video player. â€śWe were already working with Dragonfly, and we both wanted to have a high-definition [HD] video player on the site,â€ť Kuvin said.
â€śThe quality of our new player is fantastic, and we want to encourage our members to invest in HD.â€ť
In addition to helping members increase the quantity and quality of their video content, ABM is committed to assisting members in monetizing it. â€śThe strategy behind GBM-TV is to break out video as a distinct revenue stream,â€ť Kuvin said.
Currently, many b-to-b media sites monetize video by packaging it with events, print and online advertising. GBM-TV offers media companies an opportunity to monetize video assets one at a time, as well as within packages, he said. ABM will be recruiting half a dozen to a dozen members for a beta test of GBM-TV shortly. Based on the success of the beta, GBM-TV will be rolled out to the full ABM membership.


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Google is trying to sway lawmakers from banning its Glass mobile computing device off of driver’s faces.
AutoGuide News Blog
The AutoGuide News Blog is your source for breaking stories from the auto industry. Delivering news immediately, the AutoGuide Blog is constantly updated with the latest information, photos and video from manufacturers, auto shows, the aftermarket and professional racing.
Google Glass has been rules an official no-no for drivers in the U.K. before becoming commercially available.


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DALKEITH gardener Susannah Morris knew something was wrong with her homegrown grapefruit when one dropped off its tree with a mystery yellow blight several weeks ago.
Ms Morris is one of about 430 gardeners in the suburb helping the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) fight an outbreak of threatening Queensland fruit fly detected in the suburb last month.
“I noticed one of the grapefruits dropped off with a little patch and thought ‘that was strange’,” she said.
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Fruit flies caught in department traps on the verge opposite her Minora Road home confirmed the presence of the invader, which endangers WA’s $1 billion fruit and vegetable industries because it attacks a wide variety of produce.
Movement of fresh homegrown fruits and fruiting vegetables is banned in Dalkeith, Nedlands and Claremont for six months to stop the pest.
Ms Morris registered for the eradication program after she received a letterbox card from DPIRD asking to inspect the gardens of 1540 homes in the outbreak area in the past two weeks.
“I trim back the trees to see which fruit is affected, pick up fallen and fly-blighted fruit daily, put them in a sealed bag to be hit by the sun to kill any fruit fly eggs, before DPIRD staff come round and pick them up,” she said.
The staff also spray her fruit and olive trees’ trunks to stop the fruit fly each week.
Ms Morris said DIPRD’s help was invaluable.
“No private landholder can know the difference between the pest Queensland fruit fly and the Mediterranean fruit fly we already have here in WA when they look at their fruit, so I suggest gardeners register to be part of the eradication,” she said.
More than 100 male flies were caught in the outbreak area in traps since March.
Chief plant biosecurity officer Sonya Broughton said prevention measures included about 100 gardens that had been or were scheduled for inspection and more than 350 traps being set over the three suburbs.
“We are continuing to trap Queensland fruit fly in the area, which means there is a breeding population,” Dr Broughton said.
Gardeners must regularly remove citrus and stone fruits, olives, tomatoes, chillies and capsicums to stop the pest laying eggs.
The produce can be disposed of by immediately eating or refrigerating, boiling or microwaving it, freezing for minimum of 24 hours, or solarising in a sealed, heavy-duty black plastic bag for seven days.
Suspect Queensland fruit fly should be reported on 9368 3080 or email firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Some mandoline slicers are being recalled.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the blades in the Sharper Image and Frigidaire slicers can separate from the plastic and cut people.
There have been four reports of the blades coming off.
The slicers were sold at HomeGoods, Kohl's, Marshall's, Target, Ross and TJ Maxx stores nationwide, from May 2016 though April 2018.
Anyone who has them should contact Premier Kitchen Products for a refund.
You can read more about this recall here.


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Traditionally a high-investment, high-return targeted attack, WatchGuard predicts that automation tools will replace manual techniques to help cyber criminals launch spear phishing campaigns at record volumes, by harvesting victim-specific data from social media sites and company web pages. And as society continues to grapple with the impact of COVID-19, it is likely that these automated spear phishing attacks will prey on fears around the pandemic, politics and the economy. Conversely, the research team at WatchGuard believes that automation will also help cloud-hosting providers such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google to crack down on cyber criminal groups abusing their reputation and services to launch malicious attacks. Endpoints have become a high priority target for attackers during the global pandemic and many personal computers are still running legacy software that is difficult to patch or update. Cyber criminals always look for the weak links, so the growing ranks of home workers are an obvious target and when it comes to new technologies such as automation and AI, what can work for good, can also be exploited for malicious activity.
- AI & Machine learning
- Engineering & Scientific
- Virtualization & Network Resources
- Data Management


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International phone company TravelSim in administration owing $2.2m
Terragen chair has invested heavily in the company since its float
Aviation Gin company delivers perfect troll ad following Peloton controversy
“This approval will ensure Bellamy’s can continue to support jobs."
Shoppers filmed brawling over baby formula
The $5 products behind an Aussie family’s fortune
Luckily, no jobs were lost.
Maroochydore-based firm goes into voluntary liquidation
“She started crying from the very first note she read"
“They were reaching out for each other"
Victoria’s Secret in steady decline as company struggles to survive
Liquidator appointed to long-serving business.
Here’s a roundup of six world-famous companies.
How Elizabeth Holmes seduced the world’s most powerful
The Weinstein Co film company is being sued by its founder
Shoppers can cash in while big companies regroup: expert
Company announces sale of mine to United Mining
Supply us, BMA tells local businesses
Company claims new form of underwear makes farts 'disappear'
Channel Nine saved from administration after debt negotiations


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Shoppers describe chaos after car crash at Publix
PALM COAST — Shoppers in a Central Florida supermarket say their routine was shattered by a car that plowed through a store entrance.
Ten people were injured Saturday when a 76-year-old woman crashed her car into the Publix in Palm Coast.
Two people were seriously injured, including an elderly man pinned beneath the car, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Eight others suffered minor injuries, including a baby strapped into an infant seat in a shopping cart and a teenage girl, troopers said.
Customers told The Daytona Beach News-Journal (http://bit.ly/IZ0wpr) that the crash hurled shoppers into flower arrangements and potato chip displays.
Mark Tsistinas was near the store’s frozen seafood section when he heard a loud crash followed by screams. As a Publix employee organized a group to lift the car off the man trapped underneath, Tsistinas said he ran to the store’s pharmacy for protective gloves and gauze to help tend to the wounded.
“I didn’t think Publix would mind,” he said. “I felt like I was running in slow motion.”
Charges are pending against the car’s driver, Thelma Wagenhoffer of Palm Coast, who was not injured, said Trooper Daniel Schlosser.
FHP Cpl. Randall Naugher said he examined Wagenhoffer’s car and determined that the wreck wasn’t caused by any mechanical failure.
“We don’t know what happened,” he said.
Flagler County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Debra Johnson said Saturday that Wagenhoffer was pulling up to a stop sign in front of the store when she apparently hit the gas pedal instead of the brakes.
Alexander Wagenhoffer, who answered the phone at the woman’s Palm Coast residence Saturday night, said Thelma Wagenhoffer told him that she doesn’t know what caused her to crash into the Publix supermarket.
“She’s trying to put the pieces together,” he told the newspaper.
Earlier this month, a sputtering small plane crashed through the roof into the meat department of a Publix in DeLand, injuring five people.
Publix employees’ reactions in both crashes, rushing to help the victims, showed their “mental toughness,” said Dwaine Stevens, a spokesman for the Florida-based supermarket chain.
“Our associates continue to raise the bar,” he said. “We’re really proud of them.”


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Buying Back Spinoffs
from the what-once-seemed-like-a-good-idea... dept
Here’s a NYTimes article talking about the many companies that are suddenly deciding now is a good time to buy back the company they spun out a few years ago. It makes sense. Back then, the spin out would raise a ton of money to do stuff – and now those companies are cheap (very cheap). The article also talks about a legal judgment that has also made it easier for parent companies to take back over their subsidiaries, without necessarily going through a big process to prove the deal is fair. I wonder, if the economy really bounces back, if we’ll see a trend to re-spinout companies that were spun out and bought back. It will be the corporate yo-yo.
Comments on “Buying Back Spinoffs”
We are also seeing a need for spin-outs now as the economy worsens and the parents need the cash. Or, the parents and in trouble and the management team wants to spin out the company. Our team is working on two such deals. We have room for more, if any one has ideas or knows of potential spinouts, contact me.
Mike Clouser, Founder, HVP firstname.lastname@example.org
The corporate yo-yo? I like that!
Maybe you just coined a new buzz-phrase 🙂
Re: The corporate yo-yo? I like that!
corporate yo-yo = vacillating equity.
Much like many equities we know in the public marketplace. Key to success is to buy low and sell high; then short sell when high. More patience required. More effort. But the potential returns are big.


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← Family Car Wars Revived as Nissan Ships New 2013 Altima
With more than 4.4 million Altima cars sold to date, Nissan’s highest volume vehicle is also projected to become a major U.S. export for the Japanese company since the strong Yen is making shipping out of Japanese plants a difficult proposition.
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Facebook remains the number one social media target for cyber criminals, security firm Kaspersky Lab has warned. A regular ruse used by cyber criminals is to set up fake versions of popular websites,...
The company has notified guests whose information was compromised in the incident
The protocol is used to authenticate message and information distribution in 4G networks
The group, linked to South Korea, used bugs in Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and the Windows Kernel to target North Koreans
Chubb rejects the ransomware pgroup's claim, however, saying its network is fully operational
The new group includes professionals from technology firms like Amazon and Microsoft


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It wasn’t too long ago that discussion at the ARG Netcast included a look at The Way Their World Ended, a game that launched through a Twitter account on Christmas day of 2008. At the beginning, a few of the players that followed Intimation on Twitter were discouraged by the flood of cryptic updates to the account, but once the messages were decoded, the game began dropping references to the Halo universe.
In the past week, there have been more discoveries which lead at least one player to believe that this game’s narrative takes place, “after the events of ILB, since this AI knows about ‘the legendary Melissa.'” ILB, for those who may not know, is short for I Love Bees, the massively popular alternate reality game from 2004 which was a promotion for Halo 2. There have also been references to material discovered through the Iris ARG, which Bungie/Microsoft put together for the release of Halo 3.
So, is it an official tie-in to some sort of Halo product, or a fan creation? We’ve sent off an email to Bungie to see what they have to say, and we’ll update once we get a response. In the meantime, if you’ve been waiting for something to fill the void until Halo Wars hits store shelves, this may be just the thing.
In-game YouTube account
Unfiction Forum thread
In Late May of 2008, “The Superintendent” registered on the Bungie.net forums. The iconic figure was seen wielding his trusty plunger, informing forumgoers to “KEEP IT CLEAN” while giving a big thumbs up.
Numerous iterations of the “KEEP IT CLEAN” message resolved to indicate that something would happen on July 14, 2008 at 10:30AM, Microsoft’s E3 slot. While nothing happened at E3, a countdown ending on July 16, 2008 at 7:07:07AM turned up. When this countdown expired, Harold Ryan, the President of Bungie, posted a letter announcing that Microsoft altered the plans, but that they looked forward to sharing an exciting announcement “when the right time comes”.
The right time is apparently now, as the Superintendent has returned to the Bungie.net forums with a cryptic post. The post includes a transcript from a conversation between the Superintendent, an Urban Infrastructure A.I., and Prowler “Tokyo Rules”, a Comm. Duty Officer.
It’s too early to tell whether this is an alternate reality game or something else. Whatever it may be, the buzz surrounding the Superintendent has been building steadily despite frequent delays, as the icon has been sighted on top Bungie employees at numerous gaming events.
Image courtesy of Tech Artist
Click Here for a walkthrough of the story so far on the Bungie.net forums
Click Here for the discussion at Unfiction


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WDS 2021: Tony den Hoed interview
By KHL editorial staff09 December 2021
Volvo Construction Equipment demolition industry specialist Tony den Hoed took time out from the recent World Demolition Summit in Chicago to talk about returning to in-person events and the company’s plans for fully electric products. Interview by Jenny Lescohier.
Delivered directly to your inbox, Demolition & Recycling International Newsletter features the pick of the breaking news stories, product launches, show reports and more from KHL's world-class editorial team.
CONNECT WITH THE TEAM
Steve Ducker Editor, Demolition & Recycling International Tel: +44(0) 1892 786 210 E-mail: email@example.com


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A specialist in advanced recycling – a technology that chemically allow to decompose waste plastic into monomers – SK Chemicals will supply The Estée Lauder Companies with resins incorporating advanced recycled materials such as Ecotria CR and Skypet CR, or that can be incorporated into a recycle stream, such as Ecozen Claro.
The Estée Lauder Companies will use the materials supplied by SK Chemicals to develop eco-friendly circular packaging for its entire portfolio of more than twenty brand names including Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, Aveda, Clinique, Tom Ford, Glamglow, Jo Malone London and La Mer.
SK Chemicals and The Estée Lauder Companies said they will gradually increase the amount of recycled materials in their products and replace other non-recyclable materials, with designs that incorporate recyclable or recycled materials.
"Through this agreement, we believe positive synergies can be created in both business and environmental aspects (…). We will continue to work harder to create a sustainable cosmetics container ecosystem,” said Ahn Jae-hyun, the CEO of SK Chemicals, in a statement.
In March, SK Chemicals signed a business agreement with Yonwoo, a subsidiary of Kolmar Korea, which holds the highest market share in the Korean cosmetics container market, to develop and commercialize packaging solutions using recycled materials. In June, the company signed another business agreement with Cosmax, a global leader in cosmetics original development manufacturing (ODM), to "build a cooperation model for cosmetics container proposal" with the use of sustainable plastic materials.
Moreover, in March, SK Chemicals signed an agreement to aquire the circular recycling raw material and circular recycled PET business of Shuye, a Chinese company specializing in green material, thereby strengthening its production system.


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We don't generally get too involved in development news here on Pocket Gamer (for that, you should visit our sister site PocketGamer.biz) but Resident Evil news gets us all giggly and excited. We'd already heard it's coming to N-Gage, but the news that Capcom is adopting the Airplay SDK for Resident Evil: Degeneration means it could be a much bigger game than previously expected.
"It has been an honour to share our technology with Capcom, to help them deliver a truly revolutionary mobile game," said Rob Hendry, Ideaworks3D's head of studio. "The Resident Evil franchise demands a level of graphical subtlety and depth of gameplay which until now has been impossible to deliver on mobile. Airplay's unique tools and technologies have allowed Capcom not only to create a ground-breaking mobile game, but to deliver it on multiple native platforms from the same application binary."
Airplay is a programming platform that allows developers to create a cross-platform game without the need to alter any of the code between different versions. "Bully for Capcom", you might think, but this has benefits for us, too.
For one, it means Capcom has picked up on a software system that's got a proven track record for creating awesome looking games that run smooth and stable (so long as the developers keep the code tight, of course), but more importantly it means Resident Evil: Degeneration is likely coming to almost every handheld platform. Why else would Capcom spend money on an SDK that caters for all open native operating systems in the market today, including BREW (Verizon and KDDI), iPhone, Nokia N-Gage, Symbian OS (Series60 and UIQ3), Windows Mobile and Linux?
"To realise Resident Evil: Degeneration on mobile platforms, Capcom required a mobile technology that could deliver outstanding 3D graphics, animation and effects across multiple platforms including BREW, N-Gage and others," said Takeshi Tezuka, general manager of Capcom's mobile division. "We highly valued Airplay SDK as the one-stop solution to enable deployment of our key franchise title across various mobile platforms."
No firm details on exactly which platforms we can expect to see Resident Evil: Degeneration just yet then, but Airplay comes packaged with a plethora of cross-platform anticipation. Hit 'Track It!' now, if you haven't already.
Want more? Check out our growing collection of Resident Evil: Degeneration news stories!


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THE UK economy suffered two shock setbacks last month – proof that Government policies are failing.
Output figures revealed Britain’s factories saw a shuddering slowdown in June.
And other data for the month showed the UK’s trade deficit widened by £500million to £4.5billion, the biggest this year.
The double whammy came as share prices went on another rollercoaster ride and Chancellor George Osborne got back to work after flying home from his California holiday.
The FTSE-100 Index plunged more than 5% before staging a recovery to end the day almost 2% up. But Wall Street again suffered falls in early trading, plunging by more than 100 points at one stage.
Tony Dolphin, chief economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said the figures were a serious blow to the coalition, with attempts to cut dependence on the service sector failing.
He said: “The Government wants to see growth led by exports and manufacturing and a narrowing of the persistent trade deficit.
“These figures show the trade deficit is widening, exports are falling and output is flat. Attempts to rebalance the economy have gone into reverse.”
Tony Burke, Unite’s assistant general secretary, slated ministers for handing the £1.4billion Thameslink train contract to German firm Siemens instead of Derby-based Bombardier.
He said: “Growth won’t just happen by magic. The German government supports German manufacturing so it’s no surprise theirs is a manufacturing success story.
“The Tory-led Government on the other hand is failing British manufacturing, and failing to protect and create the jobs which are so crucial to our economic recovery.”
Analysts said the recent falls on stock markets could also have an impact on jobs.
James Knightley, an economist at ING, said: “The worry is plunging equity markets will hurt business confidence and lead to firms cutting orders and further falls in output.”


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Equens successfully processed its first SEPA Credit Transfer payments today, 28 January. This means that from today, Equens’ systems are fully in line with the international agreements of the European Payment Council on this subject, and comply with the SEPA requirements. In terms of processing cross-border payments using bank cards, the Equens infrastructure has been compliant with the SEPA Card Framework since 1 January 2008. Michael Steinbach, Chairman of Equens’ Board of Directors: “SEPA became operational today.” SEPA will contribute to greater competition, new products, improved efficiency and lower costs as a result of economies of scale. “Thanks to our strategic choice to process both giro-based and card transactions, we have already distinguished ourselves from our competitors. Equens also aims to discover the full potential of new transaction types in several markets. This has resulted in an ever-growing product line of innovative payment solutions with regard to, for example, the mobile payments industry, e-invoicing and the prepaid card market,” Mr Steinbach stated.
The annual BNP Paribas Cash Management University kicked off on Thursday morning with treasury professionals congregating in Paris from across Europe.
APIs may be a solution to MT940 challenges, says Karen Fagan, treasury operation manager, for British television company, ITV.
Kicking off the first day of the Singapore Fintech Festival, issues with cryptocurrencies were addressed by MIT media labs director, Joi Ito, and panels of technology leaders discussed how they’re using data analytics.
Sibos 2017 day two highlights: Brexit and banking, and why ‘data is the new oil’ in financial services
How nation first politics can impact global financial organisations It’s clear that data and regulation are the two key topics that are ... read more


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Banks give them the really difficult sell to sign up for more also, whether that’s a credit credit card or a home loan or a retirement accounts. Surveys done last 12 months by consulting company cg42 showed that roughly 40 percent of wells fargo customers asked said their simply no.
It seems apparent, and it is perhaps. . A year ago, it was 3.
80 percent. Curt long, key economist for the national association of federally covered credit unions, sees uncertainty in the central standard bank, too.
Cash-back programs now seem steady for, likely because consumers prefer money rewards. The shareholder patronage for 2016 raised the total patronage amount made available by co-op since the cuso became a cooperative in 1996 to $367.
9 million. , and the tech firm now keeps four patents for its image catch features.


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Recipharm Launches Serialization Line
Recipharm, a contract development and manufacturing organization, has launched a showcase line for serialization offering pharmaceutical companies the chance to view and trial its solution to the new European Union Falsified Medicines Directive (EUFMD) Safety Features Delegated Regulation, which makes the serialization of licensed drug products in Europe a legal requirement from 2019, and the new US Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), in which serialization will be enforced starting in November 2017.
The showcase line at Recipharm’s Fontaine, France, site is now operational. The showcase line will perform activities, including the downloading of serial numbers from a Level 4 solution, serialization of the package, and the application of tamper-evidence labels. It will also demonstrate manual aggregation, including labeling of boxes and pallets and post-serializations work, including the reworking and uploading of data to Level 4.
Recipharm’s new line is the latest step in a EUR 40 million ($45 million) project to implement a solution for its customers’ serializations requirements across its 75 production lines in Europe. The project will be carried out over the next three years.
As part of the serializations roll-out, Recipharm has developed a pricing model that spreads the cost of the process across each customer’s ongoing supply agreement. From early 2017 Recipharm will offer the service free of charge until it becomes a legal requirement.


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28 Dec 2017 In this case, the buyer or buyers paid an average of $3,600 per bitcoin – a fee roughly equivalent to one-fifth of a bitcoin at today's exchange rate – to lock in a price of $50,000 until Dec. 28, 2018. If the trader exercises the full value of that option, they will have to pay $13,750,000, bringing the full value of british bitcoin 16 Oct 2017 Julian Assange has made a 50,000% return on Bitcoin thanks the the U.S. government. The founder of Wikileaks tweeted that after the U.S. government forced companies to stop processing payments to his organization in 2010 he turned to Bitcoin and has made a 50,000% return since then. He tweeted: 7 Dec 2017 Quote from: Maxnetlabs on December 07, 2017, 10:31:09 PM. Bitcoin is going high with the speed of light. Its not too far when bitcoin will cross $50,000. The question is do you want the bitcoin to cross $50,000 in 2017 or in next years? If the rate of increasing it's value wont stop or fall. it might cross $50,000 bitcoin withdrawal limit Modeling the Future Price of Bitcoin - Is $1,000,000 Possible? wealthfront bitcoin 4 Jan 2018 BITCOIN price could rise to levels of up to $50000 in 2018, over double its highest price in 2017, Blockchain Capital partner Spencer Bogart has said.
$50,000 Bitcoin Could Come Sooner Than You Think, According to
21 Dec 2017 Someone wanted a BIG bet on Bitcoin for 2018 and they placed that bet on LedgerX, an electronic marketplace for Bitcoin derivatives. The trader, whom LedgerX CEO Paul Chou declined to identify, bought calls that gave him, or her the right to buy 275 Bitcoins at $50,000 with a December 28th 2018 expiry Bitcoin Price Alert. Receive bitcoin price fluctuations notices by email or telephone. When there is a price change of more than the % you have set in the setting page within a 15 minutes time span you will receive a notification. For example, if the bitcoin 50,000 BTC/JPY rises to 50,500 BTC/JPY the % difference will be bitcoin wifi D1STP - Bitcoin to hit 50,000 by the end of 2018, analyst predictsThere's a self-regulating mechanism that keeps the network running so that it's not as fast as the fastest validator (as that would make attacks too easy) nor as slow as the slowest validator (as that would provide poor performance). But Ripple has never claimed on ledger transactions rates that high. To get donate me bitcoins bitcoin de expresshandel 14 Oct 2017 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange claims his organization has made a 50,000 percent return on bitcoin after investing in the cryptocurrency in 2010 — and it's all thanks to the U.S. a tweet over the weekend, Assange posted a screenshot of bitcoin prices on July 18, 2010 and October 14,
(2018-01-04) - Meltdown & Spectre - World Crypto NetworkBitcoin future buy bitcoin now with credit card USMS Asset Forfeiture Bitcoin Sale - U.S. MarshalsBitcoin Satoshi to United States Dollar, Chinese Yuan, Euro, British Pound Sterling Quick Conversion. paypal owner bitcoin 10 Ways to Buy Bitcoin with Credit Card or Debit Instantly - 50000 man buys 27 dollars of bitcoin 'bitcoin 50000$' in La chronique de la Cryptomonnaies | Scoop.it
7 Dec 2017 YES if the price is strictly above $50,000 at any point between now and Jan 31 2018 23:59 UTC, using the Bitstamp exchange as the point of reference. NO if the price never goes above $50,000 during the time period. In case of Bitcoin fork and chain split "Bitcoin" is the most valuable bitcoin chain.@25/12/2017@ ⑵ how to get Bitcoin username. get 50000 satoshi porque sube bitcoin Bitcoin 100000 2018Earn huge bitcoin - nura how to donate bitcoin 16 Oct 2017 Since he's been running from the U.S. government, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange says he was forced to become an early investor in bitcoin--resulting in returns of over 50,000%. He took to Twitter to gloat. “My deepest thanks to the U.S. government, Senator McCain, and Senator Lieberman for pushing 11 bitcoins to usd Bitcoin exchange rate aud - Amoa Konoya
22 Dec 2017 Medicalchain COO Mohammed Tayeb shared a similar prediction. “Bitcoin could reach $50,000 by this time next year, if not more,” he told Futurism. “I think all of us are less and less surprised by the headlines that are coming out nearly monthly about the breakthrough Bitcoin is making and it should come 23 Nov 2017 We see that right now bitcoin is still in a 'price discovery' phase. And this is all happening as the wider world switches on to the opportunity. shopify bitcoin stores Can Bitcoin Be Worth $50,000 This Year? | Newsday24 Dec 2017 While bitcoin haters are continually predicting the downfall of the most valuable cryptocurrency, there is a bitcoiner that has surprised the global crypto ecosystem by placing a $1 million bet on the probability bitcoin price reaching $50,000 by the end of December 2018. For even the most enthusiastic bitcoin bitcoin login india 6 Mar 2014 All continues to not be well in the world of Bitcoin and related cryptocurrencies. Another exchange has been hacked, with the perpetrators making off with 76.69 bitcoins (a little under $50,000 at current trading rates). On Tuesday, the owner of the Poloniex exchange admitted on the Bitcoin Talk forum that bitcoin growth fund review UC Berkeley blockchain research skyrockets alongside price of bitcoin
25. Okt. 2017 In fünf Jahren wird die Marktkapitalisierung von Bitcoin höher sein als die von Apple, dem derzeit wertvollsten Unternehmen der Welt. Dieser Meinung ist jedenfalls Ronnie Moas, Gründer und Direktor von Standpoint Research. 25.10.2017.12 Jan 2018 Initially, Coinbase imposes a limit of purchasing $1,000 (£750) worth of Bitcoin per day; when you're fully verified this limit increases to $50,000 (£37,000) daily. The value of Bitcoin is shown in US dollars. Once a purchase has been agreed, the user will transfer the Bitcoin to their digital wallet to keep the bitcoin mining with azure University of Texas at Austin - WikipediaEarn Bitcoin 50000 every 5 min смотреть фильм онлайн в hd 720 building a bitcoin miner with a raspberry pi (30/01/2018) ⒇ get Bitcoin with cash. i5 3570k Bitcoin mining contract mining bitcoin 5 Jul 2017 Ronnie Moas, who for the past 13 years has made more than 900 stock recommendations via his one-man show at Standpoint Research, is now venturing into cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin will double to $5,000 next year, and reach $25,000 to $50,000 in the next decade, the Miami Beach, Florida-based Moas
$50,000 Bitcoin In The Next Couple Of Months? - GoldSilver.comFree bitcoin 50000 - PIVX to KC | Bancor to DXO coinbase price bitcoin Long shares win if the price of one Bitcoin is greater than (or equal to) 50000 USD at the end of 2018. Contract Rules. Predictious will use the Bitcoin close price for the end of 2018 at 23:00:00 UTC from Bitstamp (USD) using Bitcoin Charts (see details below). If that information is not available, or if Bitstamp (USD) was not 4 Dec 2014 NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Marshals Service on Thursday received more than two dozen bids for 50,000 bitcoins seized from the alleged owner of Silk Road, an Internet black-market bazaar on which authorities say drugs and other illegal goods could be bought. A Bitcoin (virtual currency) coin is trading bitcoins for beginners pdf Bitcoin price (BTC/USD) could reach $50,000 this year, says Blockchain Capital partner. Spencer Bogart thinks retail and institutional investors will push the cryptocurrency higher. Dimitar Bogdanov. by Dimitar Bogdanov Thursday, 04 Jan 2018, 14:31 GMT. Bitcoin price (BTC/USD) could reach $50,000 this year, says can i buy bitcoin on bittrex with usd Convert satoshi to bitcoin and vice versa and also use the calculator to find out how much one satoshi costs in dollars, euros and other currencies.
My new bitcoin faucet - get earn up to 50,000 satoshi - Bitcoin Forum
Bitcoin 50000 Satoshis - Celulares e Smartphones no Mercado Example. Hitesh trades 8 BTC @ Rs.2,00,000/BTC (Total Rs.16,00,000) of gross volumes over thirty (30) calendar days on the BTC/INR order book. As a result, Hitesh is now eligible for a Seller fee of 0.20% and a Buyer fee of 0.25%. a). If Hitesh buys 2 BTC at Rs.2,25,000/BTC,. The base price is 2 x 2,25,000 = Rs.4,50,000. bitcoin apple store 21 Dec 2017 Bitcoin is currently trading at $15,299.05, according to Coinbase. The cryptocurrency has dropped in value by more than $1,000 since yesterday, but is up almost 86% since last month and up more than 1,743% since last year. From there, the math is simple: In order for Bitcoin to reach $50,000, it would Earn Bitcoin 50000 every 5 min how can i buy bitcoin with paypal 27. Nov. 2017 Ein Future könnte der Kryptowährung Bitcoin die Schleusen in den Massenmarkt öffnen, glauben Experten. Kritiker hingegen warnen vor dem Platzen einer Blase. how to get bitcoin cash from coinbase Bitcoin price to hit $ 50,000 in next 10 years - Report.az
You also can earn 20,000-50,000 satoshi for completing simple offers, that won't take you more than 2 minutes to complete - I believe we all can win, so I have set the satoshi amount very high - I have been through the net looking at bitcoin faucets and none of them give out that many satoshi for doing such 22 May 2017 So, how high can Bitcoin (BTC) go? In other words, what is the “fair value” of this crypto-currency? According to the Winklevoss Twins legit bitcoin gambling Trader Doesn't Just Predict Bitcoin's Price Movement; Puts Money Where Mouth Is. Options trade reveals roughly $1 million spent in anticipation of Bitcoin's price being $50,000 by the end of 2018. author by Tedra DeSue , 30 December. Subscribe. articleStartImage. At least one Bitcoin trader has put his or her money 6 Jul 2017 Research, ventured into the field of cryptocurrencies this morning when, in a note to clients he predicted that Bitcoin will double to $5,000 in 2018 – roughly in line with Goldman's recent bullish outlook which sees Bitcoin rising just shy of $4,000 in a best case scenario — then hit $25,000 to $50,000 in the bitcoin market penetration 4 Dec 2017 Arthur Hayes, CEO/Co-Founder, BitMEX, discussed the outlook for bitcoin with Doug Krizner and Juliette Saly. He sees volatility in bitcoin as being a good thing and went on to say he sees it continuing to rise in 2018, with 5 times the current value being … Read Full Story. About; Latest Posts ultra bitcoin miner online 16 Oct 2017 Bitcoin: Jamie Dimon still hates it; IMF backs it. And, Wikileaks makes 50,000% return on it (Image: Reuters). Digital currency bitcoin has smashed $7,000 barrier for the first time ever on Thursday, chalking about a seven-fold increase in its price this year. That's a good news for those who invested in
Bitcoin forecast 2018 - Severinova27 Dec 2017 According to Business Insider, Ari Paul, the chief information officer and co-founder of cryptocurrency hedge fund Blocktower, has purchased $1 million worth of options that offers a 30-fold payout if the bitcoin price hits $50,000 by the end of 2018, on behalf of Blocktower. “On Wednesday, an unidentified best bitcoin wallet exchange Assange Trolls US Gov Over 50,000% Bitcoin Gain As Putin Poloniex countries - Iron House CrossFit bitcoin wallet with card 16 Oct 2017 Julian Assange ha vuelto a tuitear. Después de meterse de lleno en el tema de Cataluña, el fundador de WikiLeaks se jacta en un tuit de 280 caracteres del gobierno de Estados Unidos. Y lo hace porque, según él, gracias a ellos WikiLeaks se vio obligado a invertir en Bitcoin. ¿El resultado? Un retorno de bitcoin wallet on external hard drive ~12/12/2017~ P(E8 Bitcoin mining ohne pool | 50000 satoshi faucet
20 Dec 2016 Weeks lost about $100,000 worth of bitcoin, and was cleaned out of his holdings in lesser known cryptocurrencies such as Ether, Ripple and Monero. Additionally, his friends also collectively gave the hacker, who posed as Weeks requesting to “borrow” money, $50,000 worth of cryptocurrency. (Weeks has 2 days ago And since the Bitcoin market is becoming more popular and traders are beginning to understand it better, many will be more relaxed about the characteristic volatility of the crypto currency. +. Sing believes that in 2018 "Bitcoin definitely can cost 50000", but warned: "We may experience a period of terrible how to make bitcoins anonymous Dash bitcoin priceTrade Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with up to 100x leverage. Fast execution, low fees, Bitcoin futures and swaps: available only on BitMEX. Price. Size. Total. 9897.5. 28270. 28270. 9896.0. 50000. 78270. 9894.5. 748. 79018. Chart (XBTUSD). Recent Trades (XBTUSD). 9897.5442110:59:27S. 9898.019710:59:27B. big bitcoin payouts 12 Dec 2017 Under the terms of the court-ordered Mt Gox liquidation, about 25,000 former depositors who filed claims will eventually receive their portion of the overall payout, either in cash or bitcoin, at an exchange rate of about ¥50,000 ($440) per bitcoin. That is the market price set, in accordance with Japanese law, foreign bitcoin exchanges Market Cap Prediction 2017 - MBK Real Estate
1 day ago Welcome to Crypto Daily News, this news piece "Bitcoin To Hit $50000" is breaking news from the Crypto sector.26 Dec 2017 Ari Paul, the CIO at Blocktower Capital, told CNBC on Tuesday that he made a wager that bitcoin's value will hit $50,000 at some point next year. He purchased options on LedgerX that will give him the right but not the obligation to purchase bitcoins at that lofty price, which could be significant if the digital how to create bitcoin paper wallet Will China's $50,000 Quota Matter For Bitcoin After Jan.1? | NEWS 2 Oct 2017 Nick's Note: Regular readers know we're big fans of cryptocurrencies. And it's no surprise why… Bitcoin is up 784% since we recommended it in our Palm Beach Letter portfolio in April 2016. Another one of our picks is up 3,083% over the same time span. And two of our smaller crypto plays are up an buy bitcoin with netspend 18 Dec 2017 There are a number of fundamental elements coupled with a favorable technical setup which implies the current buying wave can propel Bitcoin's price significantly higher. Bitcoin is likely to compete for a dominant position in two primary markets down the line, the worldwide store of value market and the bitcoin exchange san francisco 18 Oct 2017 - 55 secWikileaks made a 50000% return on bitcoin thanks to the U.S. government. (via CNBC Crypto)
19 Dec 2017 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange thanked the U.S. government, claiming his organization has made a 50,000 percent return on Bitcoin after investing in the cryptocurrency in 2010 in an effort to keep the international whistleblower outfit going after the U.S. government forced Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal 18 Dec 2017 The entry of big players such as CME Group and TD Ameritrade is a good sign for Bitcoin jimmy song bitcoin developer What is a Satoshi? Each bitcoin (BTC) is divisible to the 8th decimal place, so each BTC can be split into 100,000,000 units. Each unit of bitcoin, or 0.00000001 bitcoin, is called a satoshi. A Satoshi is the smallest unit of Bitcoin.5 Dec 2017 - 4 minJehan Chu, Kenetic Capital managing partner, discusses his forecast for bitcoin and the global bitcoin 6500 18 Oct 2017 Julian Assange Just Reported 50,000% Gain On His Bitcoin Investment. At the start this week, WikiLeaks found Julian Assange published the following tweet to his personal Twitter account: "My deepest thanks to the US government, Senator McCain and Senator Lieberman for pushing Visa, MasterCard, bitcoin mining asic buy (17/12/2017) 5JZ* what is mining in Bitcoin. get 50000 satoshi
New Prediction Says That Bitcoin Could Hit $50,000 In 2018. If you think that Bitcoin will rise soon, some experts think more. According to one of them, the volatile cryptocurrency will remain volatile but could hit $50,000 meteorically. Jeet Singh is the expert behind this prediction and a cryptocurrency portfolio manager who 14 Jan 2018 The Road to $50,000. Fundstrat, though, believes that bitcoin continues to exhibit strong fundamentals, namely a growing user base and a steady uptick in transaction volume. These factors, Lee has said in the past, account for the bulk of bitcoin's 2017 price rally and make the firm bullish on its outlook why bitcoin will fail 2017 Wpisy opisane tagiem: "bitcoin 50000". Gorący temat. 175 interakcji Artykuł/Biznes · Bitcoin przekroczył 50000 zł. To się w głowie nie mieści. Mateusz Nowak 07.12.2017 · Patronat medialny/Biznes · Poprzedni laureat programu Think Big już pracuje z UPC. To szansa dla przedsiębiorców · Karol Kopańko 16.01.2018.24 Oct 2017 Bitcoin is here to stay and its price could jump up to USD 50000 in the next decade and even earlier if people get used to it and start to use it. valuta bitcoin euro Bitcoin alerts - İstanbul Proje Yapı bitcoin worth in 2009 21 Dec 2017 Since the trade grants the user the option to buy Bitcoin at $50,000, the better supposes that BTC will exceed that price by the end of next year. If BTC tokens fail to surpass $50,000 the money spent on the bet will be forfeited. Was this bet motivated by realistic expectations, or just FOMO (fear of missing out)


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Technology news for Australia's largest enterprises
These search results are from across the Techday network of sites
Android Pay integration, Einstein Predictive Sort features announced for Salesforce Commerce Cloud
The new features allow online retailers to integrate artificial intelligence into the customer experience more.
Millisecond delays can hurt conversion rates on online transactions – Akamai report
Online retail benefits from delivering better customer experiences, especially on mobile devices.
Online retailers need to up their delivery & returns services game, survey finds
Australian online retailers need to pick up their game and start improving their delivery service or risk losing customers, says Blackbay.
Consumer confidence high, but electronics aren't top of Santa's list
Consumer confidence is high leading into Christmas trading, with spending expected to be up on last year, but tech isn't top of Santa's list.
Kogan.com ramps up Kiwi play launching flagship ranges
Online retailer steps up its play for the New Zealand market, launching its flagship range of 'affordable' smartphones locally.
Poor online experience hampering NZ businesses
Poor website performance is driving New Zealand shoppers to the competition and driving user spend back to bricks and mortar retailers.


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Obviously as soon as the plant goes operation, they will need to introduce some of their products here in India to draw some attention for which they have started testing Peugeot 207 small car and Peugeot 508 sedan. Both the above mentioned cars were spotted without a camouflage near Pune assuring us that the launch time come soon.
Talking about one of models, the 207, it is one of the most popular hatchback globally and is the successor of again a successful model, Peugeot 206. Today Peugeot has released the official images of the so called Peugeot 208, which is soon going to replace the 207.
image – Peugeot 208 Hatchback Side View
The next generation 207, i.e the 208 is a more finely tweaked version of the 207 and features a partial re-generation over the latter. Re-generation here is synonymous to improvements made in specific areas which make the new car more agile and efficient.
image – Peugeot 208 Hatchback Rear Side View
208 is 110 to 173 kg lighter, more aerodynamic and compact than 207. The car features a ‘Floating’ grille, light signature, and boomerang rear lamps which enhance the detailing on it. The interiors have also been renovated and are now more intuitive and clear. The instrument cluster surrounds the small starring wheel and the central console is now elevated ensuing utmost convenience.
image – Peugeot 208 Hatchback Interiors
In fact the car not only has improved aesthetics but also improved emissions. With average CO2 emissions of 34g/km lower than the 207, it becomes the leader in its segment. Thanks to the e-HDi micro-hybrid system(Stop Start System) and its latest generation engine technology, all the engine units are not more efficient. Another unique thing about the car is that it features an eco-design where, the world’s first, rear bumper and the fan assembly are manufactured from green materials(recycled or of natural origin).
The maker is going to launch 208 in Europe during 2012 Springs while its UK launch is scheduled for summer of 2012. The 207, as said above, will be launched in India soon and once it enters the market we can expect 208 to replace it here after a while.
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Senior citizens could start using food stamps to pay for groceries to be delivered to their homes.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently proposed allowing homebound seniors and disabled persons touse benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to cover the cost of food delivery from government and non-profit agencies. The Department is currently seeking 20 programs to host the one-year pilot program.
In a conversation with TIME, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the programs could help more seniors live as independently as his wife’s aunt. He recalled that the 93-year-old did not like the idea of living in a nursing home, but wasn’t able to go to the grocery store on her own because of a broken hip.
“Having services delivered to her enabled her to stay in that home with greater dignity for a longer period of time,” says Vilsack. “I’m sure that there are a lot of…
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Austrian bike maker KTM AG is preparing for an onslaught in 400-500cc twin-cylinder motorcycle segment with its new 490 series. The upcoming range will be between the 390 and the 890 Series and will be the more accessible parallel-twin cylinder motorcycles to come from the brand so far. Now, a new report suggests that there will be at least five KTM 490 motorcycles coming in 2022. And that has us all excited.
In a recent presentation by Pierer Mobility, KTM’s parent company shared details about the range of upcoming motorcycles wearing the KTM badge. The manufacturer could introduce the motorcycles towards the end of 2021 while production and sales will begin by early next year. KTM fans will remember that the bike maker traditionally unveiled its new motorcycles at the EICMA motorcycle show in Milan, Italy, every year. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, that plan could be altered in favour of a vulture launch.
KTM’s 490 Series will be exciting and wholesome with the 490 Duke, RC 490, 490 Adventure, as well as the 490 Enduro and Supermoto bikes part of the line-up. Positioned directly above the 390 range, the bikes promise a higher level of refinement, improvement power levels (possibly between 50-55PS) and a more satiable torque curve. It’ll also be more feature-loaded with the hardware to likely include adjustable suspension, ByBre brakes, dual-channel ABS, TFT screen and more. The design and styling are most likely to mimic the brand’s larger displacement motorcycles across the model line.
Speculations are rife that the KTM 490 series of motorcycles will be made in India and built on a new platform. The all-new frame has been developed by Bajaj Auto and KTM at the former’s R&D centre and will be produced at the company’s upcoming plant in Pune, which will also manufacture Husqvarna models as well as the Bajaj Chetak electric scooter. The new plant will also produce the upcoming motorcycles developed by Bajaj and Triumph.
It will be safe to say that the KTM 490 series will eventually spawn Scandinavian cousins wearing the Husky badge. The new twin-cylinder bikes will be global and are likely to see CFMoto badged versions specifically for the Chinese market.
Keeping in mind KTM’s aggressive pricing nature in India, the new offerings could be priced between Rs. 5-6 lakh (ex-showroom), depending on the model. We expect the 490 Duke, RC 490 and the 490 Adventure to land up at Indian dealerships.


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Kia Motors has unveiled a new logo as it enters the year of transformation with the Plan S long-term strategy. The company has also changed its slogan to ‘Movement that inspires’. The Kia KY MPV arriving next year would be the first ‘new’ Kia car in India to feature the updated slogan and logo. It gets a minimalist design, and resembles a handwritten signature with an unbroken line forming the lettering.
It was just last week that ElectricVehicleWeb.in revealed that the Kia compact MPV that is being developed for India is codenamed ‘Kia KY’. The new Kia MPV for India (represented in the display image) would be launched in January 2022, as per an official Kia Motors document EVW accessed.
Kia has been launching locally manufactured models in India since its entry in 2019 to grow the brand, and it plans to continue that strategy as the country is now regarded a new volume growth driver. The company is working on a second strategic model (after the Kia Sonet) designed mainly for India, and it’s an MPV internally designated the codename ‘KY’.
The Kia KY MPV would be a compact 7-seater competing with variants of the Maruti Ertiga, Toyota Innova Crysta, and the Mahindra Marazzo. While we don’t have its name, a poll conducted by the company in 2018 found Kia Trazor and Kia Tusker popular among the Indian audience. Like with Seltos and Sonet, it would adopt a global name for the MPV and like the Carnival, expect an SUV-inspired exterior design on the people mover.
The Kia KY MPV would ride on the same platform as the Kia Seltos (Kia SP2) and the second-gen Hyundai Creta (Hyundai SU2). There is a possibility that it turns out to be a sister model of the Hyundai MPV for Indonesia that is rumoured to be called Hyundai Staria and scheduled to enter production in the second half of this year. Hyundai is taking the SUV route to realize its premium 7-seater ambition, and the launch is due this year.
The new Kia MPV for India is likely to share powertrains with the Kia Seltos, which is available with a 1.5-litre N/A MPI petrol engine (115 PS/144 Nm), a 1.4-litre turbocharged GDI petrol engine (140 PS/242 Nm) and a 1.5-litre turbocharged CRDi diesel engine (115 PS/250 Nm). The Kia KY at some stage its in lifecycle will come with a mild-hybrid system. The CAFE II (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) and RDE (Real Driving Emission) norms effective from 2022 compel automakers to electrify cars. Mild-hybrid technology is seen as the cost-effective solution at large for the regulatory compliance.
The Kia KY MPV would slot below the third-gen Kia Carnival (Kia YP) and will be manufactured at the Anantapur factory. The company has set an annual sales target of 76,000 units for this model, 50,000 units of which would go to Indian customers. The remaining would be allocated to export markets, which would be mostly or only emerging countries where the Maruti/Suzuki Ertiga, Mitsubishi Xpander and the Toyota Avanza are dominant.
The Kia KY MPV’s price in India could start around INR 11 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The Mahindra Marazzo and Toyota Innova Crysta are priced starting at INR 11.25 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) and INR 16.26 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) respectively.


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Monday, October 29, 2012
It's Just Around the Corner
Just around the corner is November 1 and the opportunity to bid on some great quilts.
CELEBRITY INVITATIONAL QUILT AUCTION
STARTS NOVEMBER 1ST
The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AlzQuilts.org) offers an online auction during the first 10 days of every month. Each November, in honor of National Alzheimer's Awareness Month, the AAQI offers 12 very special quilts. This year the auction quilts have been made by world renowned quilters Alex Anderson, Hollis Chatelain, Caryl Bryer Fallert, John Flynn, Diane Gaudynski, Becky Goldsmith, Pat Holly, Libby Lehman, Marsha McCloskey, Sue Nickels, Mary Sorensen, and Ricky Tims.
The quilts are about 16" x 16" and the auction is open to the public.
Last year the 12 quilts offered in the November auction raised more than $14,000 for the AAQI, an all-volunteer effort to raise awareness and fund research through art. Think about bidding on these wonderful quilts and help Alzheimer's Research. Happy Quilting!


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NEW YORK - Walmart Stores Inc. (WMT) reported an almost 15 percent decline in fourth-quarter profits as the world's largest retailer's U.S. namesake business continued to rebound over the critical holidays.
The discounter says net income was $5.16 billion, or $1.50 per share in the three months ended Jan. 31. That compares with $6.05 billion, or $1.70 per share, in the year ago period.
Including results from certain tax benefits, the retail recorded $1.51 per share for the quarter.
Net sales rose 5.9 percent to $122.28 billion.
The company's namesake business had a 1.5 percent increase in revenue at stores opened at least a year, its second consecutive quarterly gain after facing a more than two-year slump.
Analysts were expecting earnings per share of $1.46 on revenue of $123.9 billion.


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Economists: Most of the merchants without a banking culture
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Economists agreed on the importance of enhancing the culture of small merchants banking, attracting them to apply the conditions of the electronic platform, and facilitating the process of obtaining dollars in order to mitigate the effects of the parallel market.
The Central Bank recently launched three reform packages to facilitate obtaining dollars, especially after the introduction of the electronic platform for remittances, as the country relies on importing most goods and merchandise by merchants.
The economist, Dr. Mustafa Hantoush, told Al-Sabah: The Central Bank continues the process of attracting small merchants, because most of them lack the banking culture in terms of bringing the invoice, customs and tax processes, carrying out dollar purchases and retail sales, and withdrawing bills.
He added that the third package of reforms of the Central Bank aims to increase the supply, but some companies and individuals have violated this mechanism to obtain dollars and benefit from the parallel market for the currency.
Hantoush added that the central bank moved to a wiser mechanism, which is selling cash at a rate of 2000 dollars, so the amount became useless for fictitious companies that took advantage of that when the specified amount was 7 thousand dollars, in addition to its tendency to fill out the (Master Card) when going to any country in the world, As the card holder performs the withdrawal process, reinforcing the currency of that country, and the dollar withdrawal is at the official rate.
Despite the Central Bank's extensive treatment packages and its high hard currency sales, the dollar's exchange rate is still high in the parallel market, with a difference of up to 200 dinars from the official rate.
For his part, economist Dr. Nabil Al-Marsoumi told Al-Sabah: The dollar crisis is not in the money supply, but rather the import remittances crisis that pushed the price up and put pressure on the dinar.
He warned that the current year will be difficult for the country because of this crisis, although Iraq possesses large reserves that exceed 100 billion dollars, and this is a paradox that requires a solution, because the central bank is shackled and cannot use the reserves to defend the exchange rate of the dinar, and thus the price of dollar exchange.
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An Apple leaker with a good track record, @Majin Bu claims that the tech giant is working on a new iCloud Time Machine for macOS 13 and AirPort routers. As no one else has reported on the alleged devices, therefore, we are taking this information with a pinch of salt.
Apple launched AirPort routers in 2013 but discontinued the line in 2018. However, the recent discovery of Apple’s mysterious “Network Adapter” in FCC filings has given rise to the speculation that the tech giant might introduce its next-generation routers. The unreleased adapter is codenamed “A2657” and features two Gigabit Ethernet ports, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB-C port, and NFC antennas. It also has two models: 32GB and 1.5GB of RAM with a USB-C port and 32GB and 1GB of RAM with a Lightning port.
The alleged iCloud Time Machine would work with the new AirPort router
Currently, iCloud Drive or Time Mac sync users’ data across their Apple devices. So, if a file is deleted from or added to one device, it automatically gets removed or saved on other devices on the same Apple ID. However, an ideal backup solution would prevent such deletion from syncing across devices and offer more storage space.
A redesigned iCloud Time Machine would allow the tech giant to keep users in its ecosystem and boost the sales of Apple’s wireless devices like the alleged AirPort router. Apple Insider writes:
If Apple is bringing back AirPort, it will likely continue as the Mac’s main backup solution apart from external drives. Transferring files inside a local network is far faster than uploading to iCloud. And, downloading an internet-based backup to restore a completely crashed drive would take a very, very long time.
In that light, maybe iCloud Time Machine would work alongside AirPort.