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Symmetrical speeds of up to 1 Gig x 1 Gig are available now
HIGH POINT, NC (SEPTEMBER 16, 2020)—NorthState, a premier provider of fiber-to-the-premises internet for residences and businesses, is expanding its fiber optic network to additional areas in Kernersville and Guilford County. With the expansion, NorthState will introduce service to select neighborhoods in the Brassfield area of northwest Greensboro, the Groometown area, Summerfield, and northern Kernersville.
“NorthState is excited to be expanding our fiber footprint during these challenging times so that more people in our community have fast, reliable fiber internet, which is necessary since so many of us work and learn from home,” said Karen Hoch, Director of Marketing Communications for Lumos Networks and NorthState. “Our new areas of service represent several rapidly growing communities, and we plan to continue expanding service to other parts of Guilford and Forsyth Counties.”
“Fiber Internet from NorthState is unique because we provide not only the fastest in speed options (up to a gigabit speed), we also provide symmetrical speed as a standard offering. Symmetrical speeds send data going to and from the internet at the same speed, which is crucial for things like video conferencing,” Hoch added. “In addition to offering lightning-fast internet, we are committed to outstanding, local customer service.”
“Access to high-speed fiber internet is crucial now more than ever for consumers and businesses alike,” Piedmont Triad Partnership President and CEO Stan Kelly said, “NorthState’s expansion in parts of Guilford and Forsyth Counties also is very appealing to businesses that are considering moving to or expanding in those areas.”
Guilford County and Kernersville residents who want to find out if service from NorthState is available in their neighborhood should visit northstate.net or call 336.886.3600.
NorthState is a premier fiber-based telecommunications provider and part of Segra, one of the largest independent fiber bandwidth companies in the U.S. NorthState offers an innovative portfolio of fiber-based services, including high-speed broadband Internet, managed Wi-Fi, hosted digital voice and entertainment. The full suite of services is supported by local sales, service, and care professionals. For more than a century, NorthState has helped communities in the Piedmont Triad stay connected. For more information, visit northstate.net.
Segra is one of the largest independent fiber infrastructure bandwidth companies in the Eastern U.S. providing Ethernet, MPLS, dark fiber, advanced data center services, IP and managed services, voice, and cloud solutions, all backed by its industry-leading service and reliability. Customers include carriers, enterprises, governments, and healthcare organizations. In addition, Segra delivers high-speed, fiber-based integrated telecommunications services to residential and business customers in portions of Virginia under the Lumos Networks brand name and in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina under the NorthState brand name. For more information about Segra’s technology and commitment to customer care, visit segra.com.


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Honor X40 GT
– Photo : Honor
hear the news
The launch date of Honor’s new phone Honor X40 GT has been revealed. Honor X40 GT will be launched in China on 13 October. The launching poster and video of Honor X40 GT has also surfaced. Honor X40 GT will be a gaming phone whose features have also been revealed. Honor X40 GT will be launched with Snapdragon 888 processor.
Honor X40 GT will be launched in China at 5 pm Indian time. The teaser of Honor X40 GT has been released by the company on Weibo. Snapdragon 888 processor will be available with Honor X40 GT, which is a 4G processor. There will be three rear cameras on the back panel of Honor X40 GT, which will also have LED flash light.
Pre-booking is going on for the Honor X40 GT on the Honor Mall website and other online stores, although the price has not been revealed yet. It is known from the picture that the phone will get a punchhole display and will get black shades. The power and volume buttons will be on the left.
The price of Honor X40 GT will be close to that of Honor X40 which has been launched a few days back. The starting price of Honor X40 is 1,499 Chinese Yuan i.e. around Rs 17,100. This phone has a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz. The phone has up to 12 GB of RAM and up to 256 GB of storage with Snapdragon 695 processor.

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Honda gets into passing lane for 2013
With production constraints and bad press in the rearview mirror, and new vehicle launches powering sales, 2013 could become the best year ever for Honda Motor Co.
John Mendel, executive vice president of the company’s American Honda Motor Co. sales arm, said the company’s 2007 sales high point of 1.55 million vehicles is within reach.
“That’s no easy talk,” he said at a Jan. 15 media roundtable at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. “But I think it’s doable.”
Honda has momentum, coming off 1.42 million cars sold in 2012, its fourth-best year. Maybe more important, problems that have hindered sales in recent years seem to be in the past.
“I wouldn’t say a lot of things have gone well for us,” Mendel said of the past four years.
There was the uncontrollable, including the Great Recession and natural disasters in Japan and Thailand that snagged production for much of 2011.
There was the controllable, such as a rare miss with the 2012 Civic redesign, which prompted a quick refreshing of the compact car.
“There’s a lot of rhetoric about how we lost our way, how we suddenly got stupid,” he said.
To surpass the 1.55 million goal, Honda sales would need to climb more than 8 percent, which would outpace projections for the industry.
The car trade last year enjoyed sales just shy of 14.5 million vehicles, a 13 percent gain from 2011 and the third-consecutive year of double-digit percentage growth. Projections for this year vary, but many forecasters agree sales will continue to climb, but the growth rate will fall back to anywhere from 3 percent to more than 6 percent.
Dan Eaton covers retailing and restaurants for Columbus Business First.
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At LG's CES 2020 press conference, the company reveals its plans to link its devices' ThinQ AI systems together in the future.
LG President and CTO I.P. Park talks about the company's AI future.
LG partner company Element AI outlines the levels of AI experience.
The ThinQ Washer can sense your clothes' fabric and pick the best laundry cycle.
The washer's AI will send maintenance notifications based on your use and let you know if you're using it inefficiently.
The InstaView Door-in-Door fridge can automatically produce slow-melting CraftIce.
The CraftIce spheres are designed to fit in standard household glasses.
LG's InsaView Oven has an air-fry feature that requires no preheating.
LG's smart appliances offer recipe suggestions.
The company's home entertainment marketing boss Michelle Fernandez and Senior Director for Product Development Tim Aleesi extoll the virtues of LG's 8K TVs.
LG's gaming phones include the G8X ThinQ and the Dual Screen, which came out in the US on Nov. 1.
Alessi stands among the company's 2020 OLED TVs.


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This week, European outlets reported on Mueller’s potential departure for an unnamed company. Now, we know she will head up Germany’s Douglas as its chief executive officer. She will replace Isabelle Parize who is stepping down as CEO. Mueller worked in the cosmetic industry for 20 years before joining Opel in 2013. She has received awards for her brand building and approach to Opel’s marketing.
Mueller’s appointment is effective as of November 1. Opel has not announced a successor to Mueller as of this writing. She’s also the second high-profile exit after former Opel CEO, Karl-Thomas Neumann, stepped down as CEO after PSA Groupe acquired the brand.


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Facebook-owned photo-sharing app Instagram is rolling out a much-needed boost to image size.
The iOS and Android apps are adding support for pictures 1,080 pixels by 1,080 pixels in size, an Instagram spokesman confirmed Monday. The feature is "gradually rolling out," but the spokesman did not confirm when all users would receive the update.
Instagram is one of the most popular image-sharing services in the world with over 300 million monthly active users. The application allows users to snap photos and share them with friends, as well as apply filters to add artistic flare. The service, which launched in 2010, quickly caught fire and in 2012, Facebook paid $1 billion to acquire the service.
The one feature Instagram has stubbornly held onto, however, has been the size of images it will allow to be uploaded and displayed. Since its founding, the company has limited its image size to 640 pixels by 640 pixels, which, at the time, was sufficient, since many mobile devices couldn't produce larger images. As times has gone on, however, that has changed and many users see limiting image size to 640 pixels as archaic.
Bumping up the size limit to 1,080 pixels means users' images -- at least those taken by the latest cameras in mobile devices -- won't get crunched down, which results in a loss of detail.
Hints of a changeover to 1,080 pixels was first discovered on Friday and tipped off to The Verge. The discovery was made by analyzing Instagram's source code, or behind-the-scenes code that drives the look and feel of the front-end of a website, and seeing a reference to "1080px."


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Wall Street analysts have been revising down their EPS estimates for the two companies
Alibaba stock is down 18% year-to-date while Baidu has declined more than 8%. But Credit Suisse analysts Sakthi Siva and Kin Nang Chik believe that stocks of the two Chinese technology giants have not bottomed yet. Analysts’ earnings revisions and a look at Alibaba and Baidu’s valuation suggest that the stocks are still expensive.
Alibaba trading at 438% premium to companies in Asia
Using price-to-book versus return on equity as a metric, Credit Suisse analysts found that Baidu was trading at 294% premium to companies in Asia Pacific, excluding Japan. Though its premium has declined from 433% in November last year, its premium in 2012 had plunged below 200%. Alibaba doesn’t have a long trading history. The Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant is trading at 438% premium to companies in Asia Pacific.
ValueWalk's Raul Panganiban interviews Dr. Kathryn Kaminski, Chief Research Strategist at AlphaSimplex, and discuss her approach to investing and the trends she is seeing in regards to quant investing and hedge funds. Q1 2021 hedge fund letters, conferences and more The following is a computer generated transcript and may contain some errors. Interview with AlphaSimplex's Read More
What’s more, Wall Street analysts have been revising down their EPS estimates for the two companies. Alibaba has seen 7% downward revision in earnings estimates since September. Baidu’s EPS estimate has been revised down by a whopping 13.9% this month after the search engine giant issued a weak guidance for the current quarter.
Massive lockup expirations looming for Alibaba
Baidu expects its first-quarter revenue to increase 35.4% to $2.1 billion. Analysts were anticipating its Q1 revenue to jump 42% YoY. Nevertheless, Credit Suisse has a Buy rating on both Alibaba and Baidu. The research firm has set $252 price target for Baidu and $113 for Alibaba. Shares of Alibaba declined almost 10% after the company reported December quarter revenues that missed the consensus estimates.
Alibaba stock was also hurt by regulatory scrutiny into its business practices. Chinese regulators accused the company of not doing enough to prevent the sale of fake goods on its platforms. Upcoming lockup expirations may also affect Alibaba stock. A lockup on as many as 429 million ordinary shares of the company will expire on March 19. Another 1.58 billion Alibaba shares will become available for sale in the public market on September 21.
Full Disclosure: Vikas Shukla has no position in Alibaba or Baidu. He has never owned either stock, not does he intend to.


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NEW DELHI: Removing legal hurdles in the way of running of e-rickshaws as last-mile connectivity, the transport ministry has exempted such vehicles from requiring permits for plying on roads.
Obtaining permits for operating in states was proving to be the biggest obstacle for e-carts and e-rickshaws, a senior road transport and highways ministry official said, adding that they can now operate pan-India.
However, the state governments may impose restrictions under appropriate traffic laws on plying of these vehicles in specific areas or specific routes.
"The central government hereby orders that the provisions of sub-section I of Section 66 of the said Act (Motor Vehicles Act, 1988) shall not apply to any transport vehicle of the category e-cart and e-rickshaw...for the purpose of carriage of goods and passengers with their personal luggage," according to a notification issued on Tuesday.
This sub-section requires that "no owner of a motor vehicle shall use or permit the use of the vehicle as a transport vehicle in any public place whether or not such vehicle is actually carrying any passenger or goods save in accordance with the conditions of a permit granted or countersigned by a regional or state transport authority."
The ministry has already set guidelines for e-rickshaws and allowed them to operate under the Act. However, many states were not following the guidelines .
As per the notification, e-rickshaws have been allowed to carry four passengers and 40 kg luggage while e-carts would transport goods up to 310 kg. The rules define e-rickshaw as a special purpose battery-operated vehicle 'having three wheels and intended to provide last mile connectivity to passengers'.


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TransUnion and Equifax lured consumers into buying costly credit scores not really used by lenders, consumer watchdog says
Two of the big three credit bureaus will pay a combined $23.2 million in refunds and fines for unfairly luring consumers into paying for costly credit scores, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Tuesday.“TransUnion and Equifax deceived consumers about the usefulness of the credit scores they marketed, and lured consumers into expensive recurring payments with false promises,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a statement on the action, which includes $17.7 million in consumer refunds. “Credit scores are central to a consumer’s financial life and people deserve honest and accurate information about them.”
The companies offered low- or no-cost credit scores online as bait for costly recurring subscription programs, the CFPB charged. Consumers who failed to cancel the subscriptions were billed for recurring charges, usually at a cost of $16.99 a month.
Sold scores seldom used by lenders
The credit bureaus also misrepresented the scores as being the same as those used by lenders to make credit decisions, the CFPB said. TransUnion sold VantageScore scores while Equifax sold its in-house educational scores, neither of which are usually used in lending decisions.
In a statement, VantageScore President Barret Burns said that lenders may use one of dozens of FICO scoring models, as well as one of three VantageScore models, to grant credit or manage loans to existing customers. “When a score is provided to a consumer, he or she should be clearly informed that a credit score is only one of many factors considered by lenders,” Burns said, “and that the particular score being provided is unlikely to be the one actually used to make any given credit decision.” VantageScore is owned by the three major credit bureaus.
Credit scores are central to a consumer’s financial life and people deserve honest and accurate information about them.
|\u2014 Richard Cordray|
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Refunds and fines
TransUnion agreed to pay refunds of $13.9 million and fines of $3 million to the agency’s penalty fund, which underwrites future investigations. Equifax will pay about $3.8 million in refunds and a $2.5 million fine.
The credit bureaus said in statements that they believed their credit score marketing was not outside the law; however, they said they committed to improve their marketing. In their consent orders with the agency, the companies neither admitted nor denied the CFPB’s charges of legal wrongdoing. Equifax said it modified its credit score marketing three years ago, shortly after the agency began investigating the issue.
The CFPB charged that both companies violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act with deceptive marketing of credit scores. It also charged that Equifax violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by placing ads on the AnnualCreditReport.com website before consumers could access their free credit reports as provided under the act.
Who is eligible for refunds
TransUnion: About 700,000 customers who enrolled in opt-out or “negative option” subscription programs since July 2011 through the present, and who canceled within two billing periods without receiving a refund.
Equifax: An unspecified number of consumers who enrolled in an opt-out free trial subscription in response to company ads from July 21, 2011, through March 14, 2014, and who canceled within two billing periods, or within four billing periods if the ad was run by an affiliate marketer.
Under the CFPB order, the credit bureaus will submit their plans for identifying customers who are owed reimbursements within 60 to 90 days. If the total ordered refunds are not distributed, the unspent portion will be turned over to the Treasury.
The federal action follows an October 2016 crackdown on credit bureau marketing and credit report errors by Mississippi’s attorney general. That action included Experian, the third large U.S. credit bureau, which was not involved in the CFPB’s consent orders announced Tuesday.


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Following an initial trial in 2020, Kellogg’s is ready to launch its accessible boxes for the blind and visually impaired in the UK. And how it works? Well, the packaging includes a color code that can be scanned with a smartphone to reproduce the ingredients, nutritional information, allergens and other information included on the label.
Kellogg’s has decided to use NaviLens technology, which works in a similar way to QR codes: its application allows you to scan the color codes to transmit information through audio.
These boxes will begin to appear on the shelves of supermarkets in the United Kingdom at the beginning of 2022. An advance in terms of inclusion that the brand intends to share with other companies, passing on its experience to improve the accessibility of supermarkets for blind and disabled people visual.
The idea for this packaging came from a meeting between Kellogg’s and children from a Liverpool school for children with sensory disabilities. There, they set out to find a solution that would help them overcome the barriers of vision loss in everyday moments such as grocery shopping.


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The FDA is testing shipments of imported orange juice from all over the world for traces of fungicide.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it has halted shipments of imported orange juice from all over the world and will test each one for traces of fungicide.
The decision to test orange juice and orange juice concentrate shipments, which was announced Tuesday, came after an unnamed juice company alerted the FDA last month that it found low levels of the fungicide, carbendazim, in products imported from Brazil.
The FDA said it will examine all container shipments of orange juice that arrive at U.S. ports. The agency will sample contents from multiple parts of each shipment; the subsequent testing could take between five and ten business days.
Shipments that test negative for "detectable levels" of carbendazim will be allowed to enter the country.
But "orange juice that shows a level of carbendazim equal to or higher than 10 parts per billion, a baseline FDA level of quantification, will be denied entry into the U.S.," according to the Juice Products Association, the trade organization that represents the fruit and juice products industry including giants like Coca-Cola (Fortune 500), owner of Minute Maid, and PepsiCo ( , Fortune 500), owner of Tropicana.,
The FDA said that if three of a company's shipments test negative for carbendazim, that company's shipments will no longer have to go through mandatory testing. It "remains to be seen" exactly how many companies will be involved in the tests, the FDA said.
Shipments that test positive for the fungicide, which is legal in Brazil and other parts of the world but considered an "unlawful pesticide chemical residue" under U.S. law, will be "turned away or destroyed," said the FDA.
About 25% of all orange juice consumed in the United States is imported, while the rest is supplied domestically, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Only 11% of all orange juice consumed in the United States is imported from Brazil, the agency said.
The levels of carbendazim that sparked the testing were "very low," the FDA said, and the Environmental Protection Agency said those levels do not raise safety concerns, according to a preliminary risk assessment.
However, the EPA is continuing to conduct risk assessments, and said it will have more results next week.
At that level, the fungicide does not raise safety concerns, according to a preliminary risk assessment from the EPA.
The FDA insists that "consumers can be confident that the orange juice in their refrigerators is safe."
Orange juice futures jumped almost 10% Tuesday amid fears that the U.S. government could ban Brazilian orange juice, but retreated in trading on Wednesday.
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Honey Bear’s BBQ closes iconic central Phoenix restaurant
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) – It’s been an icon in central Phoenix for decades – Honey Bear’s BBQ on Central Avenue on the south side of Thomas Road. The owners recently sold the unique A-frame building surrounded by high-rises, so the place has served its last plates of ribs and pulled pork and is now closed.
But owners Mark and Anna Smith had some good news for people who love Honey Bear’s BBQ. The Van Buren location, which has been around longer than the central Phoenix restaurant, is open and thriving. “Honey Bear’s is still in the game, Mark Smith said. “We haven’t stopped. We’re just changing the way we’re doing it.” The plan is for the Honey Bear’s on Van Buren Street east of 48th Street is to focus on to-go orders. Smith also said he’s “looking for more locations.”
Like many other businesses on the Central Avenue corridor, Honey Bear’s ran into tough times with the construction of the Valley Metro light rail in 2008. But when the pandemic hit, the business took a major hit, forcing the Smiths into a difficult decision. It’s not one they made lightly.
As for that iconic A-frame building, Smith told Arizona’s Family another well-known barbecue spot bought it.
Copyright 2022 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.


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August 23, 2012 BY Aaron Hope / 1
It’s an exciting time to be a Reebok fan, as the Vector brand continues to dazzle us with upcoming Classics releases that reinforce just how valuable Swizz Beatz has been as Creative Director. After a period of missing out on opportunities to resonate with trending themes, we’re seeing a bunch of new retro releases including models like the DMX Run being treated to their first taste of casual luxury. These new Reebok Workout Plus lowtops are quite similar in their approach, utilizing monotone suede uppers whose white lining/laces give the off-white outsoles a vintage feel. These two are executed to perfection and have us hoping for more colors, so have another look below and stick with Sneaker News because the Japanese release suggests a stateside drop isn’t too far off.
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Tags: Reebok Workout Plus


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“If you come visit our store, it’s kind of like taking a little mini trip to Japan,” Asahi Imports owner Sally Matsumae said.
After moving from Japan, Matsumae’s grandmother, Shigeko Burnie, discovered a need for ethnic food suppliers in Austin. Burnie soon began selling imported goods out of her garage in early 1967 and opened Shigeko’s Imports off West North Loop Boulevard months later.
In the 1980s, the store began offering solely Japanese products as Asahi Imports under the direction of Matsumae’s father, Tetsutaro Matsumae, and relocated to Burnet Road in 2004. Matsumae, who assumed ownership in 2018, is the third generation in her family to run the business. In December, she helped Asahi Imports open a second location on South Lamar Boulevard.
“We knew that a lot of our customers come from all parts of Austin,” Matsumae said. “Being more accessible to the customer or shoppers was something that we really wanted to offer, and I think that there is also a lack of Asian representation on that side of town.”
From noodles and rice, produce, fish, Japanese snacks, sweets, drinks and more, Asahi Imports’ two locations offer all the ingredients and staple brands needed for the complete Japanese meal experience, Matsumae said.
At the in-house Onigiri Corner, employees prepare fresh rice delicacies known as onigiri, or rice balls.
“I want us to be that common thread of the Japanese community,” Matsumae said.
Matsumae said one of her main goals is making sure shoppers feel comfortable, as the Japanese shopping experience is unfamiliar for many Austin residents.
“We’ll help you gather all the ingredients you need for it and kind of walk you through it,” Matsumae said. “We definitely want to make our store approachable for everybody.”
Main: 6105 Burnet Road, Austin
South: 3005 S. Lamar Blvd., Ste. B-105B, Austin
Hours: Tue.-Thu., Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; closed Mon.


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A University of Edinburgh project might just be the first fully autonomous business. The Pi-powered BitBarista accepts Bitcoin payments to dispense coffee, pays users to restock supplies, and will call a technician should a fault occur.
BitBarista is not some glorified kettle with WiFi, though. Using the Bitcoin from coffee sales, BitBarista “pays people for small services such as filling its water tank and replenishing it with coffee beans,” according to Dr Larissa Pschetz, Programme Director of Product Design and Researcher at the Centre for Design Informatics, University of Edinburgh and co‑creator of BitBarista.
When coffee stocks run low, BitBarista asks the user to select a restock vendor. These options could be ranked in price order, or by ethical preference. Larissa explains, “I was also intrigued by this idea of an autonomous coffee machine that would reduce intermediaries in the coffee trade, potentially supporting smallholder famers in developing countries.”
BitBarista is currently on a long-term trial throughout the UK, “which is revealing reactions to the machine’s autonomous features,” according to a University of Edinburgh spokesperson.
So far, Larissa has seen that “some rituals such as making coffee for colleagues were lost while others, such as watching who chose the ‘best price’ option, were created.”
The Pi controlling BitBarista uses Raspbian “and different plug‑ins to simplify tasks and connect things together,” Larissa reveals. “We also use Electrum for the BitCoin payments.” The code is on GitHub.
BitBarista might be useful for other vending machines, but Larissa warns, “The machine still needs to follow the social rules of the context where it is placed. If people think it is inappropriate they will probably turn it off.”
Asked whether there were machines where BitBarista technology might not ever be appropriate, Larissa replies, “Of course there is always space for malicious practices, but people are careful and good at figuring these things out so it wouldn’t last in the long term.”


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The House of Lords this week denied Customs leave to appeal a decision which allowed an outsourcing company, First Data Europe, to charge for its services without VAT.
Customs had contended that the company’s services, which largely involve processing credit card transactions, were subject to VAT. The case has progressed through the courts since the mid-1990s ending in a Court of Appeal ruling in favour of First Data, previously known as FDR.
The decision will save First Data’s clients tens of millions of pounds in VAT every year, and could encourage banks to outsource more of their services because it has removed an extra cost.
Peter Jenkins, a partner at Ernst & Young, which represented the company, said: ‘This is vindication of the company’s stand in what has been a six-year struggle.’
He added: ‘This puts egg on the face of Customs officials and is an embarrassment for Treasury ministers returning after the election.’
A Customs spokesman described the decision as disappointing and said it would work with the trade on implementing it.
However, he warned that it was likely there would be more litigation in this area.
Click here to read more on this story.
Crowe Clark Whitehill , the top 20 accountancy firm, has announced the promotion of Chris Mould to partner
The latest opinions from Accountancy Age on Making Tax Digital, and outline plans to evolve the UK's corporate governance regime
Five million taxpayers are ow using digital personal tax accounts (PTA) as part of the making tax digital strategy, HMRC said
UK-based non-doms have paid ten times more tax than the average taxpayer, raising concerns over the Brexit impact on non-dom contributions and therefore, the economy


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Rhino revealed as villain in “The Amazing Spider-Man: The Game”
Classic Spidey bad guy Rhino has been unveiled in a new trailer as one of the villains in the upcoming “The Amazing Spider-Man: The Game.”
Set shortly after the events of Columbia Pictures’ new film, “The Amazing Spider-Man” throws New York City’s brand new hero back into free-roaming, web-slinging action, as he protects the Big Apple from a deluge of unimaginable threats. Experience the new Web Rush mechanic as Spidey twists his way through the NYC skyline with unprecedented speed and grace. The game’s original story also explores beautiful indoor environments, as you’ll encounter everything from skirmishes with everyday street thugs to pulse-pounding confrontations with Spider-Man’s most lethal foes.
See the trailer after the jump.
Our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man looks like he’s also going to fight a giant spider-like robot from the previous trailer.
“The Amazing Spider-Man: The Game” is slated to be released June 26 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS. Pre-orders are being taken. The movie is slated to be in theaters a week later.


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FRANKFURT: Car sales advance in Western Europe will be choleric this year by political ambiguity surrounding Italy and a new emissions analysis aeon which is arch to college readings of carbon dioxide abuse (CO2), forecasters LMC Automotive said.
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LMC has bargain its full-year anticipation for 2018 sales advance in Western Europe to 1.7 percent from 1.8 percent aftermost month, LMC’s European analyst David Oakley said on Tuesday.
Several carmakers including Volkswagen accept said they face challenges adapting their agent fleets to accommodated a new Worldwide Harmonised Light Agent Analysis Action (WLTP), which is based on real-driving abstracts rather than abstract scenarios.
Because the new WLTP administration gives college CO2 readings than the old NEDC system, it will force some carmakers to adjournment alley acceptance and sales or advance cartage into a college tax bracket.
“The albatross in the allowance at the moment is the acknowledgment of civic governments – and manufacturers – to the new WLTP emissions and ammunition abridgement testing procedure, which has the abeyant to account cogent tax increases in countries which accept taxation regimes based on CO2 emissions,” Oakley explained.
Western Europe sales in May were collapsed back compared to the aforementioned ages a year ago, which LMC Automotive said was a acceptable aftereffect accustomed that there were beneath affairs canicule than in the year-earlier month.
Sales in Italy, which was rocked by political agitation aftermost month, fell 2.8 percent in May.
Based on the seasonally adapted anniversary affairs amount (SAAR), appeal bigger to 14.8 actor cars a year, up from 14.4 actor cartage in April, admitting anemic appeal in Britain, which is bottomward 6.8 percent year-to-date, LMC said.
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Last week I was delighted to attend the launch of the ‘Enjoy Milk’ campaign and brand.
Last week I was delighted to attend the launch of the ‘Enjoy Milk’ campaign and brand. I must admit the day started a little bizarrely when I was discussing the recent milk price rises with a milk processor who wondered aloud whether the prices would rise above the cost of production before dropping again.
It is a funny old world isn’t it, the idea of selling something for more than it costs to produce. It will never catch on.
The dairy industry needs innovation to add value and enthusiastic ambassadors who want to champion better ways of doing business. Fairer contracts attempting to fix terms and share more equitably the available margin should be something we can all get behind.
The campaign hopes to create more choice by allowing customers who want to support grazing-based systems the chance to buy milk in the full knowledge that when conditions are right the cows have access to grass and the freedom to graze.
I would hope it is something we can get behind and I look forward to watching this brand and campaign grow. What would top it off nicely is if a road map into how this could become a farmer-owned producer organisation could be forthcoming.
There is a lot of uncertainty about how our industry will cope with Brexit. I am guessing handouts for low prices will become something our governments are less likely to support and so the £25.6 million package secured by the Government to help livestock and dairy farmers as part of the EU Adjustment Aid Scheme will need to be invested wisely as there will not be much coming in the future.
It was interesting to read reports of Andrea Leadsome’s speech at the Oxford farming Conference that our future lies in exports with countries like China. What could we do to facilitate this transformation for farmers?
Could Defra have invested a chunk of the money in a new farmer-owned export-company with UK-branded products utilising existing spare contract processing capacity, I suspect if we were entrepreneurial enough we could.
If we had allocated shares and used the money for leverage we could probably have doubled the pot with farmer contributions, appointed an experienced chief executive and begun our journey into the Far East, benefiting all dairy farmers. Instead we have invested in slurry store covers, an easily administered tick box exercise for civil servants with little ambition.


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Big retail stores across the country are now accepting old devices in exchange for cash, gift cards, coupons, and more.
Retail Stores Turning Devices Into Cash
Big retail stores and companies are now turning old devices into cash, gift cards, coupons, and more. Target and Walmart are now letting people to trade in their unwanted goods like gaming consoles and smart devices instead of throwing them away.
Kim Komando, from Walmart, said that they are accepting the following, according to MSN News:
- mobile phones
- game consoles
- voice speakers
Those who have old devices stated above just need to answer the question why they don’t need the gadget anymore during the trade-in program. Additionally, Walmart also offers prepaid shipping labels which means that a person does not need to personally drop the item anymore.
Target’s Trade-In Program
Target is also offering a trade-in but unlike Walmart, Target accept seats that are broken or damaged. Once you bring your old stuff, the company will give you a new car seat, seat base, travel system, stroller, or select baby gear, and with a coupon worth 20% off for the new item.
In a published report in Yahoo News, Target’s Trade-In program the 2022 Car Seat Trade-In Event through April 30 this year. There are other companies that are offering the same program also and that includes companies like Best Buy, Apple, and Amazon.


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Burn! 40 Percent of Top-Selling Sunscreens Don't Meet Dermatologists' Guidelines
Here's an alarming fact: 4 in 10 sunscreens fail to meet basic sun safety guidelines established by the American Academy of Dermatology, according to a new study.
Health Day reports that researchers looked at 65 sunscreens that accounted for the top 1 percent of all those sold by mega-online retailer Amazon.com, and they found almost half don't offer the minimal water and sweat resistance needed to be effective. Also annoying: More expensive sunscreens were not found to offer better sun protection.
Most of the products that were reviewed by researchers were creams, many of which offered broad-spectrum protection. More than half boasted water- or sweat-resistance on the label.
But as study author Steve Xu, M.D., a resident in dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, explains, "The definition of a 'sunscreen' has broadened a lot." In other words, a product can be called a sunscreen if it's a moisturizer with added sun protection. "This is probably why so many of the products that didn't meet AAD guidelines ... because of a lack of water or sweat resistance," he said.
So what are consumers to do? Here's the takeaway: If you're hanging at the pool or the beach, make sure the sunscreen you are buying for your family is water and sweat resistant. Look for a sunscreen that maintains its effectiveness after 40 minutes of being in the water. Incidentally, you won't find a product labeled "waterproof" due to FDA regulations that ban that wording.
The AAD also recommends looking for a product that offers "broad-spectrum protection" against UVA "aging" rays as well as UVB "burning" rays, and a "sun protection factor" (SPF) of 30 or more, which will block out almost all the sun's harmful rays. And although some products may not offer the sun protection they claim to, it's definitely worth wearing an imperfect sunscreen than skipping it all together, according to experts.
Also, reapply sunscreen regularly, outfit your family with hats, and sit in the shade when possible.
Melissa Willets is a writer/blogger and a mom. Follow her on Twitter (@Spitupnsuburbs), where she chronicles her love of exercising and drinking coffee, but never simultaneously.


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In honor of its 30th anniversary, the popular fighting game Mortal Kombat has unveiled a brand-new logo and a special video.
The official YouTube channel for Warner Bros. Games’ multibillion-dollar gaming brand just uploaded a short film featuring snippets from games, movies, and other animations spanning three decades. The video mashes together scenes from the original Mortal Kombat (1992) and the upcoming Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate (2020), as well as footage from the 1995 live-action Mortal Kombat feature, the re-imagined 2021 film.
The movie opens with footage from an old interview with Ed Boon, during which he says, “This one arcade game that we produced in 1992 has managed to spawn off all these different forms of media.” Afterward, a graphic highlight reel features great fighters like Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and more, interacting both in the past and the present. Included in the film are clips from behind the scenes, giving a glimpse into the process of making the game through motion capture and computer-generated imagery. In addition to the video, a new piece of artwork was released on October 8, 2022, depicting the famous dragon logo shape created from aspects from the Mortal Kombat franchise, including game modes, plot moments, characters, and finishing moves. Additionally, fresh merch has been produced and sold exclusively on the Warner Bros. website.
Mortal Kombat’s Legacy
In honor of the occasion, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has scheduled the October 11, 2022, release of Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind on Digital with 4K Ultra HDTM Combo Pack and Blu-ray. Mortal Kombat movies, both live-action and animated, have been shown on HBO MaxTM. Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, initially aired in 1996, can also be purchased on several digital platforms.
Mortal Kombat was developed by Midway and conceived by Ed Boon and John Tobias. On October 8, 1992, the first game in the brutal fighting video game was published in arcades, and since then, the series has sold approximately 80 million units. Mortal Kombat 11 has sold over 15 million copies worldwide, making it the fastest-selling entry in the series’ history. Nonetheless, Mortal Kombat Mobile has been downloaded over 150 million times.
Classic Movie Raiden, voiced by Christopher Lambert and based on his appearance in the 1995 film, is a limited-time playable character in Mortal Kombat: Mobile. He will be accessible until October 11, 2022). Until October 14, 2022, players can celebrate the game’s anniversary by claiming a free gift every day.
- Black Adam: DCEU to adapt one of DC’s bloodiest crossovers
- Dead Space Remake is expected to launch in 2023, Not for PS4?
- Super Mario Movie trailer looks cursed as we imagined
“Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Google News for more such updates.”


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Apple was said to be different to all other technology companies in that it broke the laws of price elasticity. It could get away with increasing prices significantly without fear of crushing consumer demand.
But times are changing.The creator of the smartphone pulled forward lots of demand with the release of the iPhone X, but once that initial demand was satisfied sales have fallen away.
That is not to say that Apple is losing its mojo in China. It has lifted its market share in that country’s smartphone market from 19 per cent in June to 20 per cent in November.
But as with any statistics there are wheels within wheels. Huberty says the increased market share is largely a function of lower iPhone churn and longer replacement cycles as smartphone shipments through the third quarter showed that the iPhone lost unit share to the benefit of Huawei.
Improved data analytics
Huberty’s insights into the Apple business have benefited in the past year from the combination of her own analysis with the work of a division at Morgan Stanley examining big data using software such as Python.
Traditionally, analysts have worked with Excel spread sheets to analyse data and make informed judgements about the future performance of companies. But spread sheets do not have the capacity to analyse much larger data sets.
Huberty now has access to big data analytics which are used to examine the performance of all of the suppliers in the iPhone supply chain. This information is used as a predictive tool for iPhone sales.
But Huberty showed her insight by not being fooled last year when the supply chain numbers suggested iPhone sales would be higher. Using her own channel checks she picked the fact that Apple’s inventory was rising and, therefore, that meant sales would be lower.
Early last month she followed that up by lowering her iPhone shipment numbers by 13 million to 200 million for fiscal 2019.
On Thursday, following Apple’s first negative announcement in 15 years, Huberty said she was lowering her iPhone shipment number by another 20 million to 180 million.
She lowered her share price target from $US236 a share to $US211 a share, which is about 44 per cent below the after-hours price for Apple shares on Thursday of $US146 a share.
Huberty remains bullish about Apple for several reasons but the main one is its platform services business, which accounts for 14 per cent of revenue and 21 per cent of gross profit dollars. She says it will grow to 27 per cent of revenue and 40 per cent of gross profit dollars by 2022.
“As more Apple users buy multiple products and services, loyalty rates increase materially, helping expand the installed base even when shipments decline – a dynamic not fully appreciated by investors,” she said.
Huberty believes Apple will accelerate its innovation on the back of its strong research and development expenditure. It spent $US11 billion on R&D over the past three years, compared to $US1 billion ahead of the release of the iPhone and the iPad.
Disclosure: The author’s super fund owns shares in Apple.


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http://www.enet.com.cn/enews/ 2012 years 05 27 09 : 58 Source: from the Forums of: 21st Century Business Herald
[Abstract] continuous recession in Taiwan has a “cottage machine, the king,” said chip maker MediaTek MediaTek recently seems to have started the road to recovery. Chip king of this era of feature phones, is it possible to make a turnaround in the smartphone era?
continuous recession, Taiwan has a “cottage machine, the king,” said the chip maker MediaTek recently seems to have started the road to recovery. Chip king of this era of feature phones, is it possible to make a turnaround in the smartphone era?
May 25, 2009, MediaTek mainland China area general manager Lu is an interview, acknowledged that the smartphone era cottage is unlikely to reproduce the situation of the function machine “letting a hundred flowers blossom” . Cottage king of the recovery, or very difficult to rely on mobile phone firms.the
smart phone chip shipments soared
in the process of feature phones to smart phones, a slower pace than half a beat MediaTek subsequent internal high-level shake-up when the reuse entrepreneurial veterans.
2011, MediaTek to sell about 500 million 50 million chips, which only about 10 million smart phone chips. At the same time, the world’s mobile phone market has been drastic changes in the transition from feature phones to smart phones is inevitable. MediaTek 17 percent decline in revenue last year, In contrast, the Spreadtrum of the one of its major competitors last year revenue has jumped 95 percent.
in the mobile phone industry, MediaTek, with its “Turn Key” (turnkey) solutions and the rise of MediaTek customers need the phone features are integrated in the chip. The mobile phone manufacturers purchased the MediaTek chip, just need to add cell phone case, the placement of the panels can be finished products out, the phone into the barrier near “overcome”.
but in the process of feature phones to smart phones, MediaTek’s pace was slower by half a beat. MediaTek’s smartphone program has been launched into the second half of last year, MediaTek and Lenovo was the first to cooperation, the introduction of the Lenovo smartphone platforms based on MediaTek chip shipments limited production early, most of them supply Lenovo, overall shipments.
At the same time, the 2G chip market started in MediaTek, Spreadtrum, Morningstar couplet MediaTek launched a fierce price war, which MediaTek very uncomfortable, is a sharp drop in its performance . MediaTek Tsai Ming-Kai, founder of the end of 2010 to regain the reins, Tianyu, customers and personally pitched in to visit. At the same time, MediaTek big shake-up of the internal high-level, reuse veteran entrepreneurs.After this, the the company’s situation has improved. From March, MediaTek smartphone chip shipments soared, many vendors, including Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, OPPO uses MediaTek’s smartphone programs. For example the market ubiquitous Huawei 360 special for the machine, “Shine” MediaTek MT6575 chip solutions.
In this case, the recent MediaTek smartphone chip full-year shipment target by 50 million increase to 75 million. The reason why the MediaTek chip shipments this year is better, largely because the mobile phone market this year “fast fish eat slow fish” market situation caused.
characteristics of the domestic smartphone market in the first half of this year, the industry described as “fast fish eat slow fish”, that is fast shipping companies can account for much cheaper. This is because the experience of last year’s market development, awareness of domestic consumer smartphone greatly enhance operators thousands of intelligent machines offensive.
market industry chain is also more mature, smart phone applications become very rich, so the domestic replacement tide of the transition of a wave of feature phones to smart phones. At the same time, the market to choose from low-end intelligent machines is relatively small, an introduction of new models will be able to get good results.the MediaTek
“Turn Key” solution, it is precisely in line with fast shipping needs of the domestic mobile phone manufacturers to enable them to be the most effortless way to develop a mobile phone.
mobile phone manufacturers to get the MediaTek program, the fastest one or two months can be designed to complete a smart phone and then shipped. The mobile phone manufacturer has always been the center of gravity in the high-end manufacturers Qualcomm (microblogging), its programs also tend to need larger secondary development and adaptation on the basis of, 3-4 months or even six months before shipment .
the cottage intelligent machine is no longer flourishing
in which the estimate MediaTek smartphone chip shipments this year, there is no brand or brand small mobile phone manufacturers, only shipments of around 20%.
the MediaTek performance changes inseparable cottage mobile phone industry in China in recent years experienced a major landslide.
Lu is admitted, the cottage phone is difficult to reproduce in the era of smart phones in the era of feature phones, “letting a hundred flowers blossom”. Smaller brands or brand mobile phone manufacturers in the estimate MediaTek smartphone chip shipments this year, only about 20% of the volume of the market position of the cottage manufacturers have been significantly weakened in the era of intelligent machines.
in 2007, 2008, the cottage phone no longer is the mainstream market. “Pan Jiutang of Shenzhen Huaqiang Industry Institute research team leader pointed out. This is because the typical users of the cottage for the first time to buy the lower end of the phone’s population before 2007, ushered in the first wave of replacement climax of this group of people, most people tend to choose a replacement when brands, more secure mobile phones in recent years the cottage phone industry has been in recession conditions.
cottage market was mixed, some unscrupulous companies began smoking costs the software and other things for profit against the interests of consumers, the Chinese government thus improving the admission threshold of the mobile phone. Tell laboratory tests required under the Ministry of Industry, all mobile phones sold in the market must be sent to the Ministry of Industry passed, but the process is time-consuming, a mobile phone is no more than a million of expenditure is difficult to smooth by detecting Many cottage mobile phone manufacturers do not have this ability.
In addition, barriers to entry of smart phones is still more than feature phones, is much higher, even if it is MediaTek’s “Turn Key” program matures, mobile phone manufacturer is no longer the battery, with a plastic shell “will be able to ship. Do a 3G smart phone also need to pay patent licensing fees to Qualcomm, small and medium-sized mobile phone manufacturers are also difficult to get a better display, touch screen tight parts, not a cottage manufacturers have the ability to make a transition to a smart phone.from the point of view of the entire mobile phone market, the large mobile phone manufacturers smart phones priced at the same pressure is very low. Such as Huawei and 360 co-operation special for the machine “shine” the market has a very high price, the price is not higher than the price of medium and small and cottage manufacturers, which further compresses the space of the cottage manufacturers.
Pan Jiutang Yulong Coolpad brand manufacturers such as the reason why the recent shipments rapidly, largely because they pushes prices lower this year, many brands strategy is to quickly seize the market, first occupy market share to say.
recent cottage mobile phone manufacturer in Shenzhen, mostly forced to make a transition in exports. This Lu is said that in the developed countries in Europe and the United States market, the domestic small and medium-sized mobile phone manufacturers is difficult to penetrate, so most of the manufacturers or from third world countries to start.
“many of the more backward countries, 3G networks also not built up and sold to their 3G mobile phone does not make sense, but some users have Wifi Internet needs, so the sale of 2G smartphone is also good to give them market “Lu is therefore MediaTek also supply many 2G smartphone chip to the cottage mobile phone manufacturers.
“cottage manufacturers need to upgrade to upgrade to become the norm, the brand manufacturers.” Lu is pointed out that China’s mobile phone will become increasingly standardized, market concentration will be higher.
couplet MediaTek, the decline of the cottage manufacturers group is precisely a major challenge, which means it had to actively explore the smart phone market, Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE and other major brands. this one is precisely what the Qualcomm focus on developing areas.
the end of last year, Qualcomm launched the “Turn Key” solution, and to launch its own low-cost chip, low-end smartphone market, Qualcomm and MediaTek Division must have a big engagement. Lu to being pointed out, MediaTek’s strengths is its experience in the “Turn the Key” program, and domestic small and medium-sized mobile phone manufacturers of long-term cooperation among them, MediaTek and they accumulated a good partnership, and therefore associated hair Division of Intelligent phone “Turn Key” program easier to program than the number of international companies allow small and medium-sized manufacturers to get started.
MediaTek smartphone chip solutions began to heavy volume, a direct effect is to drive the price of smart phones has dropped significantly.
last year, domestic carriers thousands of intelligent machines of war have made the price of smart phones for the first time a substantial drop-down, the biggest change of the domestic mobile phone market in the second half of this year will be a number of second and third line, cottage mobile phone manufacturers to enter the smart phone market because the operators are limited financial resources to begin to reduce the subsidy intensity, a large number of difficult to enter the mobile phone operator subsidies sequence, shipping will depend on the price advantage.
“MediaTek in the short term will not be considered to rely on the Internet, software, etc. to make money.” Lu says that the era of smart phones rely on these methods to make money is tempting, but MediaTek will focus on short-term IC design field of hardware.
MediaTek reported a 2012 first quarter of a single month average revenue performance at about the level of NT $ 6.6 billion, NT $ 13.58 billion from January 2010 record single-month record high, has been cut by more than half. MediaTek in order to return to glory this year is a crucial year.
of: 21st Century economic resources from the Forum)


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I’m Not Price Fixing, You’re Price Fixing!
With so little information at the moment this should be treated as nothing but a rumour; though history suggests a grain of truth is likely to emerge. Flash memory and controller makers and distributors such as Adata and Phison seem to think it is likely that flash memory prices will soon start to creep upwards. As there is crossover between those who make the memory and those who sell the finished products, that prediction could well be self fulfilling.
There is little more information available, but a 10-15% price increase in coordination with the release of PCIe 4.0 SSDs could mean we start moving far away from the magic $0.10/GB we were starting to see and deeply enjoy.
Taiwan memory modules makers including Adata Technology, Phison Electronics and Team Group are mulling a 10-15% hike in SSD prices and enforcing a limited-supply policy amid growing expectations that both NAND flash and DRAM chip prices may rebound


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Impact Report August 21, 2020
To help our clients navigate this ever-changing environment and allow them to make the best decision for their brands, we collect the latest restaurant data and consumer insights. The following information for your consideration is as of Friday, August 21:
For the week ending August 9, US YOY traffic numbers improved to the best level we have seen since mid-March, trending at negative 10% to 15% YOY. Europe’s YOY traffic numbers improved slightly and are trending at negative 20% to 25%. Asia’s YOY traffic remains at negative 20% to 25% YOY and the Middle East/Africa stabilized at negative 15% to 20% YOY.
For the US
QSR v. TSR
QSR performance has remained at the same level for the past four weeks. Traffic is between negative 10% and 15% YOY, while sales are still flat to 5% YOY.
- Drive-thru continues to out-perform other channels. Traffic is up 15% to 20% YOY and sales are up 35% to 40% YOY.
- Dine-in YOY traffic and sales remain low, down 65% to 70% YOY.
TSR traffic and sales are trending at negative 30% to 35% YOY.
- Delivery and to-go meals maintained steady growth. Traffic and sales are both up close to 100% YOY.
- Dine in traffic and sales saw another slight improvement this week, trending at negative 50% and 55% YOY.
- Dinner began outperforming lunch in the middle of June and continues to do so in July and August. YOY traffic is slowly and consistently improving after a dip in late July — down just 5% YOY compared to declines of 10% back in June. Sales are up 10% YOY.
- Lunch YOY traffic also improved slightly from negative 10% in June to negative 8% in August. Lunch sales are growing now at 5% to 8% YOY, in line with July trends.
- Late night continues to lag other dayparts but is showing improvement. Traffic for the segment improved about 5ppt from a low in late July and is down 18% YOY. Sales are down 5% to 10% YOY.
By Food Category
- Chicken remains a winner, but overall growth has slowed. Traffic for chicken concepts is flat to negative 5% YOY. Sales continue to grow at 18% to 22% YOY.
Regional / Category
- New England outperformed other regions this week. Traffic for the region is negative 5% to 10% YOY and sales are positive 5% to 10% YOY.
- Pacific, South Atlantic, Middle Atlantic and West South Central were the worst performing divisions, with traffic down between 5% and 10% YOY and YOY sales trending between positive 5% and negative 5%.
Traffic and sales improved slightly this week. Traffic is down 20% to 25% YOY and sales are down 5% to 10% YOY. Many European countries have implemented stimulus packages to support and revive their restaurant industries. While overall these schemes are encouraging customers back, a recent increase in COVID cases led to local governments reintroducing quarantine rules. During the peak summer holiday season, these new closures will have a direct effect on restaurants.
Parts of Asia that seemed to have COVID-19 under control have recently witnessed fresh outbreaks. China, Japan, Philippines and Indonesia, which had few or no cases in the past months, saw a resurgence. Overall traffic and sales remained static. Traffic is down 20% to 25% YOY and sales are down 25% to 30% YOY.
For Middle East/Africa
The Middle East/Africa dropped slightly. Traffic is negative 15% to 20% YOY and sales dropped slightly to between 0% and negative 5% YOY.
Consumers Moving Away From Bunker Mentality?
Stockpiling food became a natural behavior during quarantine. Cooking at home was a necessity and consumers wanted a ready-supply of food with limited grocery trips. In a positive note for restaurants, recent Sense360 data shows a decline in consumer “hoarding behavior.” In the early days of the pandemic (April 10-16), the majority of Sense360 respondents were stocking groceries for 1 week or longer. That percentage is now down to 43%, indicating that people are starting to feel comfortable leaving their homes more often. In the same survey, the number of consumers expecting to increase their use of drive-thru or pick-up at a fast food restaurant increased by 2 ppt this week.
Reviving the Restaurant Industry – News From Around the World
The virus continues to affect every region of the world, but some countries are experiencing high rates of infection, while others appear to have mostly controlled the virus. To better understand the effects on the restaurant industry, we talked to our associates from around the globe. In Asia, our team reports that QR codes and contact tracing are boosting consumer confidence. In the UK, tax (VAT) decreases and a stimulus scheme are giving hospitality a much needed boost. And in Europe, restaurants are turning pain into productivity through innovation.
Drivers for Restaurant Choice are Shifting
In our April and May surveys, respondents told us that they were dining out to “break the routine” or feel “more normal.” The choice of where to eat was driven by the “type of cuisine I want to eat” or simply “convenient to my location.” But as the pandemic continues and consumers are starting to go out more often, the drivers for where to eat out are shifting. Recent survey insights shared by Sense360 show that consumers are changing their attitudes: “best food” and “value” now the key drivers of restaurant choice.
Pepperoni Shortage Might Drive Up Pizza Prices
Commodity pressures continue to put a burden on restaurants, and the shortage of pepperoni has many pizza restaurants considering price increases. Other commodity shortages have impacted restaurants throughout the pandemic, and consumers have felt the impact personally when shopping for groceries. This has led, we believe, to a greater acceptance of price increases. In our recent survey, 79% of respondents expected restaurant prices would increase as a result of the pandemic.
Working From Home & Homeschooling – Mealkits Reprieve Families From the Question “What’s for Dinner?”
Mealkits have been gaining popularity since the start of the pandemic as restaurants looked for different ways to reach customers. Some that have found a permanent home in Quick Service extend the experience into the home (think pizza building or finalizing a dessert with toppings) and all provide brands an opportunity for diners to continue to engage with the menu. In our latest US consumer survey, 20% more family households stated that they are using Mealkits. More on why mealkits work and how brands can connect with families is reported in our COVID recovery blog.
The Future is Digital
Supercharged by recent events, restaurateurs are improving the new guest experience by creating efficiencies in their contactless systems. Long-term, these improvements will have a profound effect on the data restaurants are able to obtain and analyze, guiding operations and bringing a new understanding of guest behavior. Translating these data points into actionable insights that enable clients to make faster and more informed business decisions will contribute significantly to the brands’ success.


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The first shots for Kylie Jenner’s Puma ad campaign have been released. Kylie herself released the first image for the campaign when she posted it to her Instagram and Twitter accounts. In the photo she’s wearing a blue sports bra, some patterned blue pants, and a pair of black sneakers that are called the Puma Fierce.
The Puma Fierce won’t actually be released until April 1st, but based on her past collections it’s pretty likely to sell out in a hurry. A caption on Puma’s Instagram about the shoe says it’s a “a lightweight trainer with zero excuses.”
Earlier in the month it was reported that Kylie’s brother in law Kanye West was not cool with Kylie signing the Puma deal, since he is a loyal Adidas man with his own Yeezy footwear collaboration.
Before Kanye knew that Kylie had already signed the deal, he tweeted:
“1000% there will never be a Kylie Puma anything. That’s on my family! 1000% Kylie is on Yeezy team!!!”
He went on to say that Puma could keep their million dollars, and then later took back his outburst when TMZ asked him about the incident.
“She already signed. And I was mad for a little bit. I’m really happy for her, though.”
Puma’s official statement came from the company’s global brand and marketing director, Adam Petrick.
“I am pleased and excited to be able to confirm that Puma is indeed working with Kylie Jenner. Kylie will be featured in the brand’s Spring/Summer women’s training campaign launching in April 2016. Kylie represents a fresh and exciting new era for fashion and we couldn’t think of a more fitting and influential female to headline this campaign for Puma.”
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what stores have the best black friday deals
Apple iPhone snaps out of sales slump but firm diligent ahead It said the total represented a new record for quarterly iPhone sales helping it to own best revenue performance for a three month period to $78.
4bn ( So called year plays the main for Apple taking in Thanksgiving, Black Friday and black friday 2015 electronics xmas with the fourth quarter numbers following an established deals on black friday pattern of product launches in September. The revenue feat helped cheer bankers, With shares rising during 6% in wed trading, But effects statement still highlighted the extent to which Apple is relying on iPhones to drive sales at a time when global demand for smartphones is slowing and cheaper Android methods from China are flooding the market. While Apple pointed black friday sales canada to record routines from websites, Such as App Store, Mac and fruit wriststream, It was more cautious on the time to come mainly due to the strong US dollar. Nevertheless, The results of the iPhone in the final quarter was enough to help Apple reclaim the title as our planet's top smartphone seller as sales beat Samsung's black friday shopping 2015 77.5 million in unaffected quarter. Tech data firm Strategy Analytics said it was for starters Apple had held the crown since 2011.
The iPhone 7 is almost certain to have rooked the calamitous failure of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7, Which was withdrawn from sale because of fire risk. Apple's 10th partner's iPhone, Counted upon in sept, Is expected to feature better touchscreen display technology, Wire less charging and a shift to a higher rez OLED display. Leader Tim Cook told lenders he was"Very obsessive" About products in the pipeline adding that he was hopeful Apple could repatriate quantities of dollars held offshore to help drive innovation.
Prev: target black friday sale
Next: black friday deals this year


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A wave of warm, rich chocolate is flowing into Ottawa.
This week, Cacao 70, a Montreal company, opened a new chocolate bistro on William Street in the ByWard Market, the first of its kind outside Quebec.
While the menu does include some sandwiches and salads, mostly it is all about chocolate: chocolate crêpes, chocolate fondues, chocolate pizzas, chocolate ice cream volcanoes, chocolate-chunk oatmeal topped with melted chocolate for breakfast and, once it gets a liquor licence, even chocolate beer. You can sample chocolate from more than a dozen countries — everything from 31-per-cent French-style white chocolate to 75-per-cent chocolate from Tanzania — then make your own hot chocolate with your favourite type of chocolate melted to order and a side of steamed milk.
Cacao 70’s “Sharing Sharing for Two or More” ($31.95) is a chocolate extravaganza, including a quarter of chocolate pizza, served hot, a banana-split waffle, brownie bits, chocolate wafers, chocolate-coated cereal, chocolate-covered ice cream, marshmallows for grilling at your table, and a milk chocolate fondue for dipping.
“People come with a bunch of friends, but they also come alone to enjoy some chocolate while they study,” says manager Samy Kadoch, who previously worked at a Cacao 70 bistro on Montreal’s Sainte Catherine Street. “We have Wi-Fi.”
Just a few blocks away, on Rideau Street at Nicholas, Nestlé Toll House opened quietly last month and a grand opening is planned in the next few weeks. Capitalizing on a famous American chocolate-chip cookie recipe, the café features a half dozen flavours of fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies, ice-cream sandwiches, sundaes, brownies and hot chocolate.
The Rideau Street Toll House franchise is the third to come to Ottawa, with ones opening in Barrhaven and Kanata in the past year, and plans to open another in Westboro, at 111 Richmond Rd., this fall.
“We’re also hoping to open one at Lansdowne,” says Moe Falah, owner of the Rideau Street franchise. “There could be 10 in Ottawa soon.”
Chocolate appeals to all demographics, says Kadoch.
“People are starting to realize that chocolate — the good, dark kind — is actually good for you.”
Meanwhile, A Thing for Chocolate, a chocolate café that opened on Wellington Street West in January, now has a 96 per cent rating on the restaurant-rating website Urban Spoon.
“Business has been great,” says owner Omar Fares. “Interest in chocolate is big time. It’s quality chocolate that people are looking for now. I get requests for 70-per-cent, 72-per-cent, dark chocolate.”


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Econ Watch: SNB Decision, U.S. Retail Sales
Linda Yueh reports on the most important economic data for today including SNB decision, U.S. retail sales and Japan Tankan survey.
Most Recent Videos
Here's Why Facebook Might Owe $5 Billion to the IRS
36:50 - Facebook's future cash flows and results could suffer a major blow if it loses a battle over new U.S. tax liabilities related to the transfer of its global operations to Ireland in 2010. Bloomberg's Kartikay Mehrotran has more on "Bloomberg Markets." (Source: Bloomberg)


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ABB has completed its acquisition of a majority stake in Chargedot Shanghai New Energy Technology.
The transaction was announced on 28 October.
Since its establishment in 2009, Shanghai-based Chargedot has made a contribution to the uptake of electric vehicles in China. The company supplies AC and DC charging stations, as well as the necessary software platform to a range of customers, which include EV manufacturers, EV charging network operators and real estate developers.
It has around 205 employees and its other shareholders include Shanghai SAIC Anyo Charging Technology, a subsidiary of SAIC.
The acquisition is expected to further strengthen ABB’s relationship with Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers and broaden the company’s e-mobility portfolio with hardware and software developed for local requirements, as well as service offerings.


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While most 21-year-olds spend their days slaving away at boring casual jobs or downing Midori-lemonades, Tara Sargant was busy building her own fashion brand.
The Sydney university student, now 23, is the founder of bikini label TJ Swim. She started the business out of her parents' laundry at age 21 while studying full time and working part time in the fashion industry.
"I found myself struggling to find a good quality, seamless Brazilian bikini," Tara told news.com.au.
"I was always living in bikinis and had a passion for high fashion and thought there was a gap in the market," she said.
She had been saving money for a big overseas holiday but instead decided to invest her $10,000 savings into her business.
Tara designed the bikinis herself and sourced a manufacturer in Bali who handmakes TJ Swim's products.
Her growth strategy then involved gifting bikinis to social media "influencers" who she believed were aligned with her brand. They would upload a photo of themselves wearing the bikini, tag the brand and encourage consumers to click through and buy the product.
"The label took off so quickly in a short space of time, largely due to the fact that we were able to build such a strong online presence working with influencers to grow our following.
"Our posts were going viral and we were able to reach a large market," Tara said.
She said she was "fortunate to work with some strong, positive influencers who have a really good influence on young women".
Tara has given bikinis to celebrities such as Chrissy Teigen, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and hair stylist Jen Atkin. She always sees an increase in sales after a celebrity is photographed wearing one of her designs.
"In that instance, Chrissy [Teigen] didn't have to tag the brand but she was spotted wearing one of our best-selling bikinis on a trip to Italy and she got papped," Tara said.
Instead of hiring traditional models for TJ Swim's ad campaigns, Tara books social media influencers with large Instagram followings.
For example, Australian model Belle Lucia, who has 1.2 million Instagram followers, models TJ Swim's latest collection on its online store.
Since launching in late 2015, TJ Swim has built a six-figure annual turnover and the business is currently valued at $3 million. In its first year, it experienced a 500 per cent growth in sales.
"I'm finally able to move out of my parents' laundry and we're at a point now where we're moving into a larger warehouse office," Tara said.
But with dozens of online bikini brands vying for space in a crowded market, Tara is aware of the challenges her business faces.
"The swimwear market, especially in Australia, is so competitive," she said. "So we put a lot of time working on differentiating ourselves. We're making sure we're using more details and ribbed fabrics, which are really popular at the moment."
And with the conversation about body diversity getting louder, she's realised brands like hers need to keep up.
"We've expanded our size range to include a larger size and that decision was based around customer feedback and demand. We want to empower women of all shapes and sizes to feel their best, so we're going to keep working on building up the size range."


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It's called Cayla, it's about a foot tall, and it can be used to listen to and talk to the child playing with it. But who is doing the listening? Anyone in Bluetooth range, reports Germany's Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur).
An official watchdog in Germany has told parents to destroy a talking doll called Cayla because its smart technology can reveal personal data. ... The Vivid Toy group, which distributes My Friend Cayla, has previously said that examples of hacking were isolated and carried out by specialists. However, it said the company would take the information on board as it was able to upgrade the app used with the doll.
But experts have warned that the problem has not been fixed.
The Cayla doll can respond to a user's question by accessing the internet. For example, if a child asks the doll "what is a little horse called?" the doll can reply "it's called a foal".
Watch the BBC's video of Cayla, in its squeaky, sinister voice, say "I've been hacked to say all sorts of scary things."
Cayla was on Boing Boing last year when the FCC received complaints about it. Cayla is on Amazon for $45.
It's so easy to hack that everyday YouTubers are at it!
Illinois is one of 18 states where Right to Repair legislation has been introduced -- rules that would force manufacturers to end the practice of undermining the independent repair sector with hidden service documents, unavailable parts, and DRM.
Good-Night TOKYO was video recorded in 1992 using a high-definition camera with features that didn’t become standard on consumer devices for 20 years: 1080 lines and 60 frames per second. The world depicted is clearly from decades ago, but is recorded with a sharpness and starkness that signifies the present day, at least in the […]
There’s a huge sale on MacBook Pros right now at Best Buy, but Casey Johnston convinced me not to upgrade. The current models’ keyboards have severe reliability issues, and are so badly-designed that service and replacement can take hours or days under warranty and cost hundreds of dollars out of it. And on top of […]
Our computers are home to a myriad of files and documents, many of which contain sensitive information. While storing this data on your computer is convenient, it’s not exactly safe, and with news headlines highlighting data leaks and ransomware attacks on what seems like a daily basis, moving them to a safer location is a […]
Total versatility isn’t something you’d typically find in a telescope. While magnification tech has come a long way, most telescopes are designed to either gaze upon the stars or view the landscapes beneath them. The Omegon Maksutov Telescope MightyMak 60 lets you do both, and thanks to its compact design, you can easily incorporate some sightseeing into […]
The web is an invaluable tool for connecting small businesses with their target audiences. However, when it comes to building a website and marketing online, the learning curve can be steep if you’re doing it on your own. The WordPress Essentials Lifetime Bundle can help you out by getting you up to speed with the platform […]


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Free games roundup: ‘Civilization VI’ suggests ‘Borderlands,’ ‘ARK’ to come, ‘Crucible,’ ‘Hitman Sniper’
Now that the Epic Games Store has gone live with “Civilization VI” as its latest weekly giveaway (and the latest with a hefty slate of optional, paid-for add-ons), it would seem that the second two “Borderlands” games and then “ARK: Survival Evolved” will be next in line.
That’s because a purported leak suggested that the May 14 server-crumpling giveaway of “Grand Theft Auto V” would be followed first by “Civ VI” on May 21—now verified—then “Borderlands: The Handsome Collection” (i.e. “Borderlands 2” plus add-ons and “Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel”) on May 28 and 2017’s dino-survival sensation on June 4.
The “Civ VI” giveaway coincides with the historical, educational, immensely absorbing game’s third major paid expansion, the New Frontier Pass, which will add eight new civilizations and several new game modes by March 2021.
Virtual pea shooting gallery “Hitman Sniper,” which replaces the straws, rounded legumes and fairground targets of youth with realistic weaponry and humanoid features, is once again temporarily free on iOS and Android, as it has often been before.
Less temporary, one would hope, is Amazon Game Studios’ first big-budget original property, “Crucible,” which launched this week on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC.
The free team action game has been positioned to overlap with a clutch of popular contemporaries: not only “Fortnite,” “Apex Legends” and “Free Fire” with its spin on a smaller-scale Battle Royale, but also “Dota 2” and “League of Legends” thanks to AI enemies and resource gathering as well as “Overwatch” and the extremely well anticipated “Valorant” thanks to character-based special abilities. CL /ra


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1 in 5 people in Japan have a smartphone, most are Android
Japan was a bit slow to jump on the smartphone bandwagon, mostly because so-called feature phones in Japan were always pretty feature-rich with games, apps, and even broadcast TV, but the country has gone for smartphones, and the uptake has been impressive. In Japan, DoCoMo's 4G service took just one month to jump from 4 million users to 5 million.
The most recent data says that 1 in 5 people in Japan has a smartphone, which adds up to just about 24 million people. This is even more impressive given that back in February, there were only 19.3 million smartphone subscribers. Back in February, that number meant that 1 in 5 mobile phone users in the country had a smartphone, but now the number is 1 in 5 people in the country. That's a solid jump.
Android has been pretty dominant in Japan, again after a slow start. The iPhone took an early lead a couple years ago, but now Android holds 64% of the smartphone market in Japan, which is up 1.9% from March. Apple and Microsoft (the data doesn't distinguish Windows Phone vs Windows Mobile) both dropped in that timeframe, with Apple now at a respectable 32%, and Microsoft well behind at 3%.


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US officials ask for brand owners’ help to fight fakes
US government officials said yesterday that increased engagement from the private sector is crucial to curbing the sale of fake goods
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New Windows netbooks may harbor malware
Kaspersky finds worm, rootkit on out-of-the-box M&A Companion Touch
Computerworld - After discovering attack code on a brand new Windows XP netbook, antivirus vendor Kaspersky Labs warned users yesterday that they should scan virgin systems for malware before connecting them to the Internet.
When Kaspersky developers installed their recently-released Security for Ultra Portables on an M&A Companion Touch netbook purchased for testing, "they thought something strange was going on," said Roel Schouwenberg, a senior antivirus researcher with the Moscow-based firm. Schouwenberg scanned the machine -- a $499 netbook designed for the school market -- and found three pieces of malware.
"This was done at the factory," said Schouwenberg. "It was completely brand new, still in its packaging."
With a little more digging, Schouwenberg found multiple Windows system restore points, typically an indication that the machine had been updated with new drivers or software had been installed before it left the factory. One of the restore points, stamped with a February date, included the malware, indicating that it had been put on the machine before then. And the malware itself hinted how the netbook had been infected.
"In February, the manufacturer was busy installing some drivers for an Intel product in the netbook," said Schouwenberg, citing the restore point. Among the three pieces of malware was a variant of the AutoRun worm, which spreads via infected USB flash drives.
"The USB stick they used to install the drivers onto the machine was infected, and [it] then infected the machine," said Schouwenberg. Installed along with the worm was a rootkit and a password stealer that harvests log-in credentials for online games such as World of Warcraft.
Kaspersky has reported its findings to M&A, said Schouwenberg, but the netbook maker has not been in contact with the security company since then.
Although factory-installed malware is rarely found on consumer electronics, there have been cases. Last December, for example, Amazon.com told customers it had sold Samsung digital photo frames before the holidays that came with a driver installation CD infected with a Trojan downloader. "These [cases involving computers] are much rarer than picture frames," said Schouwenberg.
To ensure that a new PC is malware-free, Schouwenberg recommended that before users connect the machine to the Internet, they install security software, update it by retrieving the latest definition file on another computer and transferring that update to the new system, then running a full antivirus scan.
"That's the best course of action, even though it sounds like a lot of work," said Schouwenberg.
Read more about Security in Computerworld's Security Topic Center.
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- Mobile First: Securing Information Sprawl Learn how the partnership between Box and MobileIron can help you execute a "mobile first" strategy that manages and secures both mobile apps...
- AIIM Trendscape: The New Mobile Reality This AIIM Trendscape report shares data, expert opinions, and a unique perspective on the impact of cloud and mobility in the enterprise, surfacing...
- Empowering Your Mobile Workers A modern mobile IT strategy is no longer an option, it is an absolute necessity. Here's how some of the nation's most progressive...
- Why do you need an enterprise mobile platform? Today companies must offer great apps that run on a range of devices, and connect to an exploding set of backend data. Appcelerator...
- Technology for Everyone A Kansas school district modernizes teaching and learning and paves the way to a one-to-one program with a comprehensive upgrade of its wireless... All Mobile/Wireless White Papers | Webcasts


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"we just need the SECTOR to fly once again."
Here's probably why Paladin sold off today:
Paladin Energy Ltd. (PDN - TSX) “chief John Borshoff has sold shares in the company he founded for the first time,” reports MiningNews.net. “It was revealed last night that Borshoff sold 6 million shares for around Aus$5.6 million for personal reasons. .... Borshoff still holds 16 million shares.
Borshoff likened the state of the uranium industry to a ‘supply train wreck’....’I can confirm that Paladin will definitely not be adding to production unless the price, in our case, is $85 or more,’ he said.”


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Bulten is now the majority owner of TensionCam In 2020, we started a successful collaboration with Bulten AB, where they acquired 27% of our shares. And now, we are proud to say that Bulten has acquired an additional 36.5%. This makes Bulten the majority owner – with 63.5% of TensionCams shares. What triggered this exciting development? If you ask Anders Nyström, CEO at Bulten, the reason is simple: ”During the [...]
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Honor may be bringing back a new Magic phone this August, as per tipster @RODENT950.
In his tweet he lists only the supposed time of announcement – August – and an old promo image of the Honor Magic 2 from 2018.
The Honor Magic 2 hid its selfie camera, front-facing sensors and earpiece in a slide-away portion of the phone that tucked under the display. That aside the Magic 2 was a competent phone for its time with a Kirin 980 chipset, three rear cameras and a 6.39-inch AMOLED display.
If Honor is indeed bringing back the Magic line we’d expect it to be for its first foldable phone as that series has always been about innovative design.


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Marketers have heard about the hype surrounding Ojamu, a technology that will revolutionize how brands have digital campaigns. It is a MarTech platform, which is short for marketing technology, and it combines aspects of NFTs, AI, and blockchain together. It then automates and creates effective digital marketing campaigns for brands to implement.
Now, they have made announcements about their upcoming IDO, which stands for Initial DEX Offering. It involves their OJA token, and it will be held on three distinct token launchpads. These are the PAID Network Asia, PAID Network India, and Ignition.
Despite the different sounding name, Ignition is no stranger to the PAID Network. It is the company’s decentralized swapping protocol that assists blockchain projects in offering auctions. While the auctions themselves can be public or private, the protocol vets the numerous projects and only chooses the top-best ones.
Earlier, Ojamu held a private sale for investors, and needless to say, it was oversubscribed. Numerous investors were in attendance, such as Chain Capital, Waterdrip Capital, X21, Vendetta Capital, Genesis Block Ventures, and A195 Capital. Major industry players like Morningstar Ventures, Moonrock Capital, Master Ventures, and Ascensive Assets, also participated. It’s no wonder that Ojamu ended up raising around $1.7 million.
Ojamu’s IDO public sale will be held between the 5th and the 7th of this month. By pulling this off, Ojamu will successfully become the first blockchain project to launch on PAID Network’s upcoming India platform. It will also make them the first blockchain to launch on the PAID Network’s Asia platform. It’s also the first blockchain to simultaneously launch on three different platforms,
Once the public sale begins, buyers can purchase from a supply of over 2.5 million OJA tokens. They can purchase these at a price of around $0.1180. As for the USD 300,000 IDO, it will be categorized into three platforms.
The OJA token is quite diverse in terms of applications. It can act as a governance token for the Ojamu DAO. Furthermore, it is also a marketplace token using which holders can access NFT assets. The design of the token will boost the health platform and ecosystem’s growth. Of course, it aims to give users a new voice while building the market’s resiliency. Token holders can also be a part of crucial discussions, like voting on future proposals about the Ojamu network’s ecosystem.
Ojamu is designed to be interoperable through various major blockchains like Solana, Polkadot, Polygon, and Ethereum. Using its AI capabilities, it helps brands reach their full potential by making data-backed predictions. It also recommends your next move across various marketing channels as well as social media business space. It does so by using real-time data to generate trend shifts.