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Google Stadia is a new gaming platform that allows gamers to play games on any device with a screen. Games are streamed to these devices from the Google… Continue reading
Update: A rep for Epic reached out to confirm that Switch players can still party up with users on PS4 and Xbox One. An earlier edition of this article… Continue reading
The Division 2 release is around the corner and people are interested in knowing about the download size of the game and when they can start downloading it…. Continue reading
The next-gen is finally shaping up when it comes to Microsoft and Sony’s future consoles.


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Exports by the timber industry contributed RM18.46 billion (US$4.54 billion) to the nation’s income for the first 10 months of 2019, says Deputy Primary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin.
He said of the amount, the wood-based furniture industry contributed RM7.26 billion in export value or 39.35 per cent, followed by sawn timber (RM2.89 billion) and plywood (RM2.88 billion).
He said the main markets for the country’s timber exports were the U.S. (RM3.82 billion), followed by Japan (RM2.92 billion) and China (RM1.45 billion).
“The government is optimistic the prospects for the timber industry this year would be better than last year, and we are confident of achieving the export value target of RM25 billion this year.
“In 2018, in terms of global furniture exports, Malaysia was ranked 12th, exporting to 160 countries globally, and this year we can expect to be on the list of the top 10 countries,” he told reporters after officiating the Melaka Wood and Lifestyle Fair (MWLF) 2020.

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The advantage of going to a chain restaurant is knowing what you're going to get. Digitalcoco3.com recently created a infographic, based on their survey, of the best loved chain restaurants.
The top brands included Starbucks, Peet's Coffee, Red Mango, Buffalo Wild Wings, Noodles, and the Hard Rock Cafe.
Surprisingly, Chick-fil-A, which has been rocked with controversy all year, ranked high on the list as well.
Of the women, ages 18-34, surveyed on brands, 29 percent valued good service and 23 percent of women ages 35-49 reported enjoying the brand experience.
Popular VideoThis young teenage singer was shocked when Keith Urban invited her on stage at his concert. A few moments later, he made her wildest dreams come true.
12 percent of guys in the 35-49 age group care about quality service, but 21 percent of men love good food.


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Good morning! Here’s the news:
- Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram has been approved by the Federal Trade Commission.
- Facebook had originally agreed to buy Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock back in April, but based on Facebook’s current stock value, that deal is now worth $747 million.
- Citigroup has come out and blasted Nasdaq for being “grossly negligent” in the way it handled the Facebook IPO.
- Fred Wilson says the problem with venture capital right now is that “there’s too much money in too few hands.”
- HP earnings were in line with Wall Street estimates as sales declined by about 5% to $29.7 billion.
- Business Insider’s Matt Lynley argues that Amazon may be the perfect company to buy Zynga. Amazon needs developers for games and for the Kindle Fire, and Zynga could use the guidance of a chief executive like Jeff Bezos.
- Google has come up with an algorithm to make sure that it hires and promotes enough women.
- Apple has pulled its terrible ‘Genius’ ads from YouTube and Apple.com.
- Here’s how much startup founders are allowed to pay themselves.
- In case you missed it: Here’s what it’s like working at LivingSocial’s Washington DC headquarters.
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Three years ago this month, the Chinese government imposed a lockdown in Wuhan and created travel restrictions for every city in the central province of Hubei. It was totally unprecedented at the time, but eventually, ‘lockdown’ became a word all of us became way too familiar with.
Now, after a period of mass unrest, Beijing is ready to reopen to the world. It also means the world’s second-largest economy now has to go through what most other nations did in 2021 and 2022 – a period of increased outbreaks and decreased economic activity.
In this wire, I’ll take you through the timing and the investing implications of China’s reopening. We’ll also get some insights from a slew of research as well as commentary from Casey McLean at Fidelity International, Andrew Clifford at Platinum Asset Management, and Diana Mousina, senior economist at AMP and permanent panellist of Livewire’s Signal or Noise.
Explaining the policy shift
On 27 December, the Xi Administration changed COVID-19’s legal classification from “novel coronavirus pneumonia” to “novel coronavirus infection”, and in the process, downgraded the management of the disease in such a way that infected persons no longer need to be confined to facilities nor will a quarantine requirement exist for incoming travellers.
For Chinese citizens returning to our shores, the policy announcement said outbound travel will be “resumed in an orderly manner”.
Top Australian Brokers
But that resumption is already coming with a few caveats, given Australia and 12 other nations have imposed travel restrictions – an announcement that was not viewed kindly by Beijing.
“We believe that the entry restrictions adopted by some countries targeting China lack scientific basis, and some excessive practices are even more unacceptable,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said recently.
What does this mean?
From an economic perspective, the views on whether this reopening could tip the global economy further into recession are split.
On one hand, manufacturing indices that measure economic activity at the ground level have fallen to their lowest levels since Q1 2020. Supply chain readings have also collapsed as firms are understaffed and firms continue to work out the logistics of what this reopening actually means for individual business operations.
Mizuho Bank’s Vishnu Varathan sees things slightly differently. Given that production is depressed and the consumer is not spending, Beijing is likely going to step in with some form of stimulus to cushion the economic blow. But even stimulus payments, he argues, won’t erase the “confidence deficit” caused by the lockdowns of the last three years.
So what does this all mean for Australia? Varathan argues the lucky country may find luck alone won’t save our trade balance this time:
“The Federal Reserve’s headwinds render commodity boost from China’s re-opening [will be] shaky, if not hollow. Moreover, the RBA’s tensions between sturdy jobs and housing risks could heighten risks of policy missteps hawks set to entrench. [It] looks like a bumpy commodity road out.”
One person who will no doubt be hoping Varathan is wrong is Mark Tinker. Writing in Livewire last month, Tinker argued China’s reopening has come at the right time for investors who spent all of 2022 more worried about inflation and central bank hikes instead of China’s plans:
“Perhaps ironically, investors concerned over inflation should probably be thankful that the central government delayed re-opening as long as it did…”
But what about the bigger “R” word: Recession?
When we talk about the likelihood of a global recession, that usually pertains to a US-led recession simply because the US is still the world’s largest economy in nominal terms. But China was in a recession long before the rest of the world, as Isaac Poole of Oreana Financial Services explains.
“The zero-COVID policy has done considerable damage to China’s economy through 2022. This is not a recession in the sense of two negative quarters of growth. This is a China-flavoured recession and we think it is closer to its ending than its beginning,” Poole wrote recently.
Mousina believes China’s reopening could gift the world a rebound in the second half of 2023 as consumption normalises and stimulus begins to kick in.
“We expect Chinese GDP to increase by 6% in 2023, after 2% in 2022 and above government targets and consensus estimates of around 5%. The strong rebound in GDP growth is likely to
push inflation up … but inflation is unlikely to be a problem for China in 2023 which means that there is scope to ease monetary and/or fiscal policy if it is required,” Mousina said.
McLean also believes policy settings will be pragmatically loosened. But whether the tiger economy can singlehandedly save a global recession is another matter. He says the recovery may not be smooth.
“We anticipate the recovery will not occur in a straight line, with growth acceleration more pronounced in the second half of 2023 and into 2024, meaning China alone is not likely to be enough to offset the slowdown in the other major economies,” McLean said.
How can Australian investors take advantage of the reopening?
Mousina also believes there is an opportunity coming for Chinese equities. But she is wary of the other risks around in the market.
“In the short-term, Chinese shares have room to increase given the big sell-off in 2022 but there are longer-term geopolitical risks around investing in China, including risks in the tech sector from US trade controls,” Mousina said.
UBS’ Richard Schellbach has already done some work on this. Schellbach’s number-crunching suggests there are 35 ASX stocks that could be considered “China plays”. The average discount of these stocks (as of mid-December 2022) was 18% – more than the ASX 200 average discount of 17.3%.
But even this figure doesn’t tell the whole story. Yes, it suggests a China reopening has not been priced into these stocks. But a closer look reveals that non-resource stocks are even more underpriced for the situation we are now seeing evolve. And that is where McLean is focusing his attention.
“Resources stocks have already rallied strongly as the noise of reopening was confirmed,” McLean noted. “Whilst the link to commodities is clear, what is often under-appreciated is the exposure of consumer-related exports to China be it in areas like travel, education, infant milk formula (IMF) or vitamins,” he added.
McLean says he’s watching the ASX wine, travel, and education trades closely. Put another way, the focus will be on Chinese or ASX-exposed companies with “limited earnings risk and/or fully pricing in a downside scenario.”
The other way to harness the Chinese reopening is, of course, to invest in Australian funds with exposure to Chinese equities. Clifford, who runs Platinum Asset Management’s Asia Fund, sees the reopening of China as the bottom for the beleaguered stock market.
“Our view is that the impact of the lockdowns and COVID spread is already reflected in the Chinese market, with the SSE Composite Index down 15% in 2022. As long-term investors, we … maintain our focus on China’s long-term economic rebound, which we think will be boosted by government policy support,” Clifford wrote in a fund report recently.
Seven of the Asia Fund’s top 10 individual stock positions are in either China or Taiwan. Some of the biggest weightings include world-famous names such as TSMC and tech giant Tencent. On the latter, Clifford was quick to praise its discount.
“Given investor scepticism about China, we were able to buy it at a discount to peers, and future growth prospects have been buoyed by this regulatory move,” Clifford wrote.


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Walmart is working on a new way to compete with Amazon’s shipping service. It is reported that Walmart may carry out a three-day policy to speed up the shipping service, which it will cost customers about $50 per year. It is half the price of Amazon Prime. But it is not clear yet if the additional benefits will be included while orders beyond free shipping. This policy will be on initial trail on Walmart.com this summer. If the orders are over one million sales, the three-day shopping policy will be applied to the customers.
If Walmart can avail of its distribution network to deliver products efficiently, the company will be in a positive position to compete with Amazon concerning the speed of delivery. Walmart is in difficult position to compete with Amazon due to its additional perks. Ravi Jariwala, Walmart spokesperson stated in Associate Press: Walmart is unable to compete with Amazon additional perks.
Amazon Prime charges double the cost of the Walmart proposal shipping service. But customers can access to a large streaming video library on Amazon instant Video, they can rent a free book for a month through the Kindle Lending library and download photos on Prime Photos, while streaming music on Prime Music. We can imagine that Walmart could eventually wrap a streaming video perk to Vudu which belongs to Walmart.
It is not clear that if the family members can share Walmart’s new shipping service when the customers purchase. While customers can share Amazon Prime’s shipping service with four household members living at the same address.
What is more, Walmart’s service was supposed to be tested during the 2014 holiday shopping season, but this proposal was suspended till 2015 because of some technical issues.


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Around 41% of Robinhood’s quarterly revenues were generated by crypto commerce.
Popular retail commerce app, Robinhood, has unconcealed crypto commerce surged in quality on the platform and currently represents 41% of its revenue.
Its second-quarter money results revealed the report on results Aug. 18, the firm generated $233 million from crypto commerce services for the quarter, up from $5 million for the whole of 2020. More than 60% of funded Robinhood accounts listed digital assets throughout Q2 2021.
With early 2021 witnessing the speculative dog-token commerce fury, a banging 62% of Robinhood’s crypto revenue was derived from Dogecoin trades.
The financial statement is the 1st issued by Robinhood since it became a public company. Vlad Teev, co-founder and corporate executive of Robinhood, stated:
“We’re inspired by the amount of individuals who are assessing the economic system for the primary time through Robinhood.”
Revenue labelled $565 million for the quarter overall, a 131% increase compared to Q2 2020’s $244 million. Monthly active users doubled year-over-year (YoY) from 10.2 million to 21.3 million, whereas funded accounts inflated by 130% over an equivalent amount.
The value of assets custodied by Robinhood additionally tripled YoY to tag $102 billion.
Despite the billowing crypto revenue, Robinhood reported an overall loss of $464 million for Q2. However, the losses are attributed to accounting changes relating to the unsteady warrants and notes controlled by the corporate.
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Welcome to podcast #62 and our Black Hills Shootout special. Fred and Jim have returned from South Dakota and feature images from the event and a few of the workshops. Turnout was great this year and Rick Sammon, the keynote speaker, remained for the entire weekend attending several of the workshops. Be sure to plan on joining us again next year!
In the news, Sony and Hasselblad have announced a partnership to produce a newE-mount compact camera, and Sony has invested in Olympus and now owns 10% of the company. Adobe just released Elements 11 for Photoshop and Premiere and you can pick up the pair for $149 and they just released the final versions of Adobe Camera Raw 7.2 and Lightroom 4.2. Finally, Nikon cameras D4 and D800 are the first DSLR video cameras to pass the rigid BBC Test to be approved for European television production.
Be sure to check out the Everglades workshop in November at www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com as well as the Northern Lights workshop to Iceland in February (still opening!), the workshop in Costa Rica in April and the Peruvian Amazon in June.


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By Sri Nagarjuna Parvataneni, Managing Director, Cameleo Fashion
In 2021, the footwear industry looks more than just being fashion-driven. Not only are luxury footwear brands developing their ingredient transparency— to address sustainability measures and regulations, but there has also been a real shift in consumers becoming more conscious and mindful about their choices.
Regardless, no one can have enough shoes…so what are you waiting for? Let the world be your runway with these upcoming trends within the footwear industry that is gearing to amp up your style quotient in 2021.
Goodbye heels and stiffed shoes!
Lately, we have felt the urge to invest in comfortable yet chic footwear rather than heels or stiff shoes, that may look appealing at first but in the end cause you irritation. People splurged on higher-priced options such as fur-lined Ugg products or thigh-high boots for the winter season. Crocs flats are known for their homely but comfortable signature foam clog, also have been super hot.
Return of classic items
We’ve seen the 80’s fashion paving its way back and we are all rooting for it. With that being said, classic pumps still remain a huge fashion statement for decades and as we enter into a new decade the classic footwear item still remains a favorite.
Sustainable footwear brands
The fashion industry was the second industry that was severely impacted by the travel industry. Although this somehow made way for a sustainable approach within one’s fashion choices as well. Footwear brands have emerged to be cruelty-free and environmental friendly brands, promoting a sustainable cause. This seems to have a long run in 2021 and the coming more years.
The emergence of homegrown brands
Our Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi’s vision of going #Vocalforlocal would mean buying local products to help reduce the footprints of transportation of goods and raw materials. Moreover, the idea is to focus on adapting to products that grow locally and are naturally occurring. Meanwhile, factors such as quality and durability would also become more important. Therefore, though sustainability is becoming a necessity today, it might turn out to be the trend tomorrow.
The emergence of an Infant High End & Luxury Footwear Market
Though compared to the other footwear segments in India, the premium and luxury segment is very small and in terms of sales, it amounts only approx Rs 450 crore as per ASSOCHAM data. Although this has not prevented many international players from making an India entry. In fact, their entry has hugely helped in raising the aspiration level of the consumers really high. Moreover, the trend of luxury footwear at affordable prices is set to be a big thing in the coming years.


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It was a busy week in cannabis news at StratCann. We looked into a trend of more consumers in BC discovering cannabis capsules in the wake of the disappearance of “ingestible extracts.”
British American Tobacco announced plans to increase its investment in Canadian cannabis producer Organigram, and Alberta’s OGEN had to shut its doors. We spoke with OGEN President Darren Brisebois about the move. The company’s lender is in the process of destroying around 25,000 cannabis plants.
Health Canada released its 2022–2023 Departmental Results Report, showing the evolution of cannabis regulations in Canada.
In Quebec, a strike at 24 SQDC locations could be ending soon.
In other Canadian cannabis news…
CBC ran a story on a study that found evidence of THC and CBD in the bones of two people, a woman around age 50 and a teenage boy, who both lived in 1600s Milan, Italy. The researchers say the finding not only suggests that cannabis was consumed by all ages and genders at the time but also that it was used recreationally, most likely prepared in cakes and infusions.
Centre Wellington, Ontario, could decide next week on whether to allow cannabis stores to operate within the city. A report going before an upcoming Centre Wellington committee of the whole meeting includes two options for council: either to opt in to permit the retail sale of cannabis or to continue to opt out. The region, located northwest of Guelph, has about 30,000 residents. You can read the full report here.
A town in Ontario is shocked to discover that banning legal cannabis stores won’t stop illegal ones from popping up. A new illegal business offers 24-hour service and deals on its cannabis despite the fact the Town of Newmarket opted out of allowing retail cannabis stores to operate within its boundaries.
In Manitoba, CBC spoke with Josh Giesbrecht, owner of Ashtown Market, about expanding his cannabis store to also carry groceries. The move was because the company was having a hard time making ends meet in the cannabis market.
CBC also spoke with Joshua Earls in the Northwest Territories, who runs several businesses, including the only licenced cannabis store in the area of Norman Wells, NWT, Sahtú sPOT.
CannMart announced the launch of its Roilty brand in Newfoundland & Labrador while enjoying kudos from multiple AdCann award nominations. They are also the title sponsor at the 2024 CannExpo in Toronto in March 2024.
Cannabis greenhouses in Delta, BC, were blamed for a pink glow in the early morning of November 6.
A group representing companies operating on the Hibernia oil platform off the coast of Newfoundland lost its court battle to fire an employee for using CBD oil for colitis.
A new study in animal models from Western University in Ontario has shown that even moderate exposure to CBD during pregnancy is linked to post-birth glucose intolerance, specifically in male offspring.
New Brunswick welcomed its seventh licensed private retail cannabis store, Pinnacle, located in Saint-Quentin in the north of the province.
In international cannabis news…
MJBiz reports that Portugal exported 5,438 kilograms of cannabis for medical purposes in the first half of this year, putting the Portuguese medical cannabis industry on pace to surpass last year’s record export figure of 9,271 kilograms.


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(CNS Business): The president of the Cayman Islands Small Business Association (CISBA) has said that financial institutions are setting up entrepreneurs for failure because of the cost of loans. This was one of a number of issues that Dawn McLean-Sawney raised with the new minister for commerce, Joey Hew, when he visited the offices recently.
McLean-Sawney said small businesses need better concessions on loans to make payments viable.
She told the minister that other difficulties that the small business sector faced included inadequate funding, too much red tape, securing venues to set up businesses, as well as challenges based on definitions of micro (1-3 employees) and small (4-10 employees) businesses in provision of employee benefits.
McLean-Sawney also said the small business sector needed more incentives, including a reduction in fees such as Customs and Trade and Business Licence fees, and encouragement for more women, especially single mothers, and retirees to be able to become small business owners.
After the visit Hew said it was an excellent opportunity to hear about the challenges entrepreneurs are facing.
“Government’s involvement, happily, does not end with merely providing annual grants to CISBA but also to follow their progress and jointly find ways to tackle and help find solutions to issues they face,” he said.
Hew, who is a former president of the CI Chamber of Commerce and a business owner, gave no indication whether he would be able to address the issues raised by McLean-Sawney, but he and his fellow Progressives spoke about their intention to help the small business community on the campaign trail.
CISBA, which currently has 120 members, was created to advocate for policies that are beneficial to local small businesses as well as to support and promote entrepreneurial spirit.


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Israeli healthcare technology startup Clair Labs and agri-tech company InnerPlant have raised seed funding.
Tel Aviv-based Clair Labs said it has raised $9 million in a seed funding round led by Israeli venture capital firm 10d. US-based SleepScore Ventures, Israeli fund Maniv Mobility and London-based fund Vasuki also invested.
Clair Labs will use the money to hire people for its Tel Aviv-based research and development centre, open a new office in the US, develop its sensors used in monitoring patients and enhance the scope of its clinical trials.
Clair Labs uses sensors to monitor people’s heart rate, body temperature, oxygen concentration, air flow and the rate of respiration.
The startup was founded in 2018 by chief executive officer Adi Berenson and chief technology officer Ran Margolin. Both were earlier colleagues at Apple Inc. Bernson had worked as a vice president with PrimeSense, a 3D technology company that was bought by Apple.
10d’s portfolio includes Stuff That Works, Acumen, Day Two and Obligo. It has earlier invested in and exited companies like Waze, Moovit, Argus, FreeD, Core Photonics, Applitools and DesignArt, to name some.
The agri-tech company has raised $5.65 million in pre-seed and seed funding round led by MS&AD Ventures, the investment arm of Japan’s MS&AD Insurance Group.
Bee Partners, Up West, and TAU Ventures also took part in the round, InnerPlant said.
The Us-headquartered company makes living plant sensors that detect disease within hours. This, the company says, helps farmers to quickly take corrective actions to protect their crops.
The company was startup in 2018 by CEO Shely Aronov and chief technology officer Roderick Kumimoto. The company said it will use the capital on product development for the crop risk management and food supply chain sectors.


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The most important things to know when shopping for a cell phone.
We hit the road in the 2015 Infiniti QX80, the automaker's largest vehicle and a strong competitor in the giant luxury SUV class.
Experts say the reported heist of 1.2 billion account credentials is legit, but caution that for most people there's little they can do -- or should be worried about.
After almost two years playing second fiddle, the South Korean electronics giant reclaimed the top spot as the world's largest UHD TV panel vendor.
Asus has revealed a prototype 32-inch curved monitor with WQHD resolution at Computex 2014.
The company's IPO hit a record $25 billion after it initially touched $21.8 billion. The jump was due to underwriters exercising an option to sell another 48 million shares.
The video game made by the team behind Halo is off to a strong start -- but questions still remain.
The PlayStation maker shows off its latest prototype, saying it's "close to the final consumer product." But is it ready to convert VR skeptics?
Samsung holds 12 percent of the Chinese smartphone market, according to Canalys, behind Xiaomi's 14 percent share.
The young Chinese company has quickly gained market share and now takes its place in the top 5 as the "star performer" in the second quarter, according to Strategy Analytics.


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RadioShack’s shambling remains were given another jolt of life today. Radioshack Vs Steren… when they were purchased by another business that prepares to relaunch the once-great retailer as an online-focused brand name.
The shop’s remains were bought by Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV), a start-up founded in 2019 that’s been scooping up brands from other faded retail giants also, consisting of Pier 1, Modell’s Sporting Item, Dressbarn, and more. REV states RadioShack’s site already has “strong existing sales and sales potential,” and the business is “confident” it can further raise awareness of the brand internationally.
REV declares it’s effectively turned around other companies it’s introduced as online brands. The Wall Street Journal reported that Dressbarn more than doubled its profits in between the second and very first quarter of 2020.
RadioShack was founded in 1921 and became a retail staple in the ’80s and ’90s for anybody looking to grab tech basics. REV didn’t state whether those RadioShack licenses would stick around. Radioshack Vs Steren
REV says it will “soon relaunch” RadioShack’s site. For those of you still clinging on to fond memories of the shop, there’ll be a familiar enough place to go when you desire to buy costly HDMI cables and knockoff earphones.


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The technology provides timely insights on root crops as they are lifted – presenting growers with valuable information on the size and count over whole field, which is otherwise absent from conventional sampling.
On 11 August, HarvestEye will be exhibiting at Potatoes in Practice, taking place at Balruddery Farm, Invergowrie, Dundee – home to scientific organisation The James Hutton Institute. The UK’s largest field-based potato event, Potatoes in Practice converges innovators in potato growing to showcase their latest machinery, crop protection technologies and research findings.
HarvestEye will be exhibiting at plot F, with the team taking media briefings at the event.
Charlie Flack, general manager at HarvestEye, said: “It is vital that HarvestEye engages with growers from across the UK to better understand their everchanging needs for technologies to effectively monitor crop variability and maximise yield.”
“The HarvestEye product is at the cutting edge of agronomic insights and will be in great company with the best of British farming innovation at The James Hutton Institute for the upcoming Potatoes in Practice event.”
Fitting to both existing harvesting or grading equipment, HarvestEye offers a value proposition for growers to market their crop better, understand crop viability and maximise returns.
To enhance the quality of the product, the latest iterations of the technology are undergoing trials and partnerships with growers on a global scale, most notably collaborating with growers in Mallorca throughout Spring 2022.
HarvestEye will once again be exhibiting internationally and is soon to feature at PotatoEurope, which takes place on September 7 and 8 at Rittergut Bockerode, near Hanover, Germany. The premier international potato trade show, more than 220 exhibitors are set to attend, with demonstration areas spanning more than 30 hectares of farmland.
HarvestEye will be exhibiting at booth A03 at exhibition area Z and is available for briefings.
Vee Gururajan said: “We are incredibly proud that once again HarvestEye is exhibiting on the international root crop stage. PotatoEurope is the ideal occasion to increase global awareness of the insights that HarvestEye offers to businesses across value and supply chains.
“We have had tremendous success internationally, speaking with organisations across potato supply chains at Fruit Logistica and the World Potato Congress, as well as engaging with growers across Europe, the US and Asia-Pacific.
“Altogether this is helping to strategically inform the decisions we make to HarvestEye, accounting for different global potato varieties and growing conditions, and therefore enhance the product that we can deliver better returns and increase ergonomic efficiency.”
For more information about HarvestEye, visit https://www.harvesteye.com/.


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There is a group of very bright and talented individuals working on a lead that could result in a usable jailbreak for the 3rd gen Apple TV. While there is no telling how long this process could take, we remain optimistic that a jailbreak for this device will be available in the future. For the record, no one at FireCore is involved in the jailbreak discovery process.
This follows a recent tweet from pod2g who said that he was not working on a jailbreak for the device and did not know of anyone who was.
While this news does offer some hope for Apple TV 3 owners; unfortunately, the latest device is viewed as the hardest of Apple's iOS devices to jailbreak since the attack surface is so small.


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We’ve discussed the Fujitsu IS12T a number of times here on TNWmicrosoft, mostly because it was the first Windows Phone running Mango to be officially unveiled.
Today it knocked down another record, and manged to be the first Windows Phone 7.5 handset to have an advertisement touting it hit the Internet. Why does that matter? Because Microsoft needs the hardware side of Windows Phone to improve enough to help the software side of its platform catch the eye of the consumer.
In other words, Windows Phone hardware has long been dull, if capable, and Microsoft is hoping that improved hardware for the second ‘wave’ of WP7 phones coming with Mango will change that. Don’t forget that this sales cycle will set the stage for the next several years of Windows Phone success as it should include Nokia devices, and that on the shoulders of Windows Phone rest the future of the mobile lives of most online Microsoft services. It’s a big deal, in other words.
Watch the ad, we’ll talk about it after the clip:
It’s very tile-heavy, is it not? Then again, perhaps that is the best thing to stress about the Windows Phone platform, its ‘live tile’ concept. The ad was put together by the Japanese carrier KDDI, and demonstrates the fact that the addition of native support of the Japanese language is likely to boost the phone line’s future in the country.
The ad in our eyes is merely passable. Microsoft will have to do better if it wants a truly transformative end of the year in terms of sales.


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Marshmallow Update for Mi Devices
After news of Motorola rolling out Android Marshmallow updates,Xiaomi Mi 3, Mi 4, Mi Note are ready to recieve updates soon.Xiaomi says that the devices are in final testing stage.
Here’s what will come with the new updates for Mi devices:
The new OTA update will update the phones to android v6.0 Marshmallow and with that there will also be a newer version of MIUI7,
Xiaomi released a MIUI 7 ROM based on Android 5.1 Lollipop and did not appeal to the users.Now a user of chinese website Weibo posted a screenshot on the MIUI 5.12.24 update based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
The phone which is first in the lineup for the update is Mi Note and Mi 4 flagship smartphone.Xiaomi Mi 4 was launched in 2014 and ran Android 4.4 Kitkat and the Mi Note which was unveiled this year also ran on Android 4.4 Kitkat version.Xiaomi released the Android Lollipop based MIUI 7 ROMs in October which was relatively late than other brands.
What does MIUI 7 pack?
MIUI 7 comes with features such like
- four built-in themes.
- a lock screen wallpaper that updates daily.
- lock apps with password or other security options.
Xiaomi claims that the MIUI 7 offers up to 30 percent better response time than MIUI 6.MIUI 7 also offers battery efficiency and keeps it light on battery consumption.There are some tweaks on the operating system which handles the background apps,reducing the battery consumption.
There are also rumours that claim that there is no update for the MIUI and only and update for the android ROM.The beta ROM which will be released before the OTA is meant for experimental purposes and novice users should not update to the ROM.It will be best to wait for a stable official OTA update which will be released in a few months or so.Be sure to be connected to a Wi-Fi network for the update as it is going to be a big one.


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Non sono particolarmente brillanti i dati trimestrali di Intel: il colosso dei chip ha infatti archiviato il periodo con utili in calo. L'utile per azione è stato di 23 centesimi contro i precedenti 35 (le attese sono state comunque battute, si parlava di 22 cent). La società perde anche quote di mercato a vantaggio della concorrente AMD (Advanced Micro Devices).
Ecco i dati così come riportati dal sito della società: • Operating income $1.7 billion ($2.1 billion excluding share-based compensation) • EPS 23 cents (27 cents excluding share-based compensation) • $585 million in cash dividends • $2.9 billion used to repurchase 138.5 million shares
Intel Corporation today announced first-quarter revenue of $8.9 billion, operating income of $1.7 billion, net income of $1.3 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of 23 cents. Excluding the effects of share-based compensation, the company posted operating income of $2.1 billion, net income of $1.6 billion and EPS of 27 cents. “We believe PC growth rates have moderated over the course of the past few quarters, leading to slower chip-level inventory reductions at our customers and affecting our revenue in the first half of the year,” said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini. “We made excellent operational progress during the quarter, shipping millions of 65nm dual-core processors, and saw strong market acceptance of the Centrino™ Duo mobile platform as well as the Viiv™ platform for the digital home. We plan to launch new processors based on the Intel® Core™ microarchitecture in the third quarter, giving Intel performance leadership across the server, desktop and mobile segments and setting the stage for a strong second half.”
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How shoppers are set to buy at peak trading 2019, why digital teams need to revisit their peak experience are covered in today’s updates on peak trading 2019.
How shoppers are set to buy at peak trading 2019
UK shoppers are already planning how they’ll buy on Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2019, a new report suggests.
Three quarters (75%) of UK shoppers planning to buy ahead of Christmas expect to buy in at least one peak event, according to an annual holiday shopping report from marketing intelligence business MiQ, which questioned 1,040 adults from the UK, US, Canada and Australia. It found that of those peak events, shopping online on Cyber Monday currently had the edge among UK shoppers in the run up to peak trading 2019.
More than half (57%) of British shoppers said they planed to buy via mobile, while 60% will use a laptop or PC for most of their purchases. Mobile devices will most commonly be deployed to track order status (62%), while 60% will use it to do research, and 47% to read reviews.
UK shoppers are planning to spend £1,049 on average on their holiday shopping this year – including £174.46 on alcohol. That means, says MiQ, that advertisers running holiday shopping campaigns in the UK must get to grips with how consumer behaviour affects the opportunity to show ads to target audiences and the cost associated with doing so.
Why digital teams need to revisit their peak experience
Meanwhile, another study points to the importance of focusing on the user experience, in order to keep customers loyal as peak trading approaches.
That’s the message from digital experience specialist Eggplant which says it found 60% of retailers are failing to measure customer churn, even though 30% of them have see an average drop off rate of 50% or more on their websites.
The study questioned 500 digital and IT teams in the UK and US retail sectors, and found that 92% are closely focused on delivering an omnichannel experience that delights customers. That’s seen in the 20% more digital products and apps that they are releasing, on average, each year. Some 30% of UK respondents said they release 11 products or apps each year, and 75% expect this to increase next year.
Yet, found Eggplant, one in five organisations, across both the UK and US, lacked testers to make sure that the omnichannel experiences they built were right for their customers – and 70% were trying to AI to do that testing. More than a third expect to use AI to improve the digital experience for customers, while 46% will deploy live chat, 46% native mobile apps and 45% front-end web technologies.
When it comes to the scale of the digital experience, 35% of organisations are maintaining five or more digital channels, and 72% measuring three or more channels. However, Eggplant also pointed to the recent closure of some 3,000 stores on UK high streets in the first half of this year.
The study found positives in that most US and UK businesses were now measuring metrics including the user experience (92%) via business outcomes such as customer growth (74%), company growth (71%) and revenue growth (65%). Those measuring customer churn believe drop-off rates are due to site navigation (51%), site functionality (48%), and site performance (47%).
Dr John Bates, chief executive of Eggplant said: “It’s great news to see organisations focusing on customer satisfaction and business outcomes when it comes to their digital experience. However, it’s concerning to see that one in three customers are still falling away due to user experience issues.
“With the ongoing trend from bricks to clicks and mortar, the growth of online products and services, organisations are under tremendous pressure in advance of events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
“The traditional high street retailers have to grasp with the enormous task of transforming their businesses to digital experiences. It’s no surprise they are turning to AI and new technologies to deliver an omnichannel experience that drives business growth and delights customers.”


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India seeks access to Chinese markets to reduce trade deficit
The trade deficit between India and China continues to remain high at $51.75 billion in 2017
Beijing: India on Tuesday voiced its concern to China over the huge trade deficit with the neighbouring country which has climbed to over $51 billion and pitched for greater access to its markets in sectors like IT services, agriculture products, pharmaceuticals and tourism to reduce it.
Bilateral trade between India and China rose by 18.63% year-on-year and reached a historic high of $84.44 billion last year. But the trade deficit continues to remain high at $51.75 billion in 2017.
Commerce secretary Anup Wadhawan, who is visiting Shanghai to attend the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Beijing, met Wang Shouwen, the vice minister of commerce, and discussed bilateral trade issues. He also expressed satisfaction over the progress made in talks regarding the export of soya bean meal and pomegranate from India, according to an Indian Embassy release here.
“The commerce secretary while expressing concern regarding the large trade deficit, acknowledged Chinese government’s efforts in clearing some of the market access issues such as for rice, rapeseed meal etc. during the past few months and expressed satisfaction over progress on soya bean meal and pomegranate and related issues,” the statement said.
India has been airing its concerns to China over the huge trade deficit for several years. New Delhi has been putting pressure on Beijing to take measures to bring down the over $51.75 billion trade deficit, which was one of the main focus areas of the informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Wuhan in April.
India has also been asking China to provide market access to its food and agro products, pharmaceuticals, IT and IT-enabled services, tourism and services in which it has proven strengths and significant global presence but minuscule presence in China. The Indian pavilion at the CIIE has showcased import opportunities of these products.
In his meeting with Wang, Wadhawan also informed him about the encouraging response to the business promotion events organised by the Indian Embassy and Consulates covering products like sugar, rice, tea, oil meals etc. He requested Wang to provide the guidelines of the Chinese ministry of commerce to its importers to source these products from India.
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Right on schedule, Samsung’s TouchWiz update began rolling out to Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners on Friday. The update provides a number of visual enhancements to the user interface including a live panel view, a new mini mode tray for quick access to open applications, a clipboard, an indicator quick panel and a photo editor. Samsung also added Amazon Music Player, Words with Friends, Samsung Media Hub, Social Hub, the Swype keyboard and Kindle software. To update simply go to Settings > About Tablet > Update. Unfortunately, it looks like Samsung hasn’t pushed the patch out to its Limited Edition Google I/O Galaxy Tab 10.1 or to Verizon’s 4G LTE version just yet, but we’re hoping it does soon.
Samsung held a special event in New York City on Wednesday where it upgraded Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners with its custom TouchWiz user interface. If you weren’t in the New York area, fear not, as Samsung announced on Wednesday morning that it will begin pushing out the update over-the-air on August 5th. The patch will add the Amazon Music Player, Words with Friends and Kindle software. TouchWiz includes the following updates user interface enhancements:
- Live Panel: Magazine-like widget view for immediate access to weather, social updates, email, news, photo gallery, all on the home screen. The visual layout of Live Panel is completely customizable for one-touch entry into each user’s most important information.
- Mini Mode Tray: One-touch access to commonly used applications—Task Manager, Calendar, World Clock, Pen Memo, Calculator, Music—which overlay in a pop-up window on display screen for powerful multi-tasking.
- Clipboard: Advanced copy & paste functionality allows Galaxy Tab 10.1 users to store photos, Web pages, YouTube links, etc., on the clipboard for easy sharing via email and social network sites.
- Indicator Quick Panel: Quickly toggle on/off Wi-Fi, notifications, sound, brightness and settings in lower right hand corner of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 display.
- Photo Editor: Rotate, crop and adjust colors on high quality digital images
Samsung’s update will also add Swype, a host of enterprise features, Social Hub and Samsung Media Hub. Read on for the full press release. More →
Samsung unveiled its new Wave 578 smartphone at Mobile World Congress on Monday, and the entry-level handset is the latest to feature the cell phone maker’s proprietary Bada mobile operating system. Beyond building smartphones that run Google’s Android OS and Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 platform, Samsung also maintains its own operating system called “Bada.” While Samsung has not given Bada much of a presence here in the U.S., devices carrying the OS have been quite popular in other markets. The Wave 578 looks to build on that success by including an NFC chip in the device alongside a 3.2-inch WQVGA touchscreen display, a 3.2-megapixel rear camera, a secondary front-facing camera for video chat, HSPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and push notification support. “With the Samsung Wave 578 handset, we will provide the latest innovation in mobile industry running on bada platform,” Samsung president J. K. Shin said in a statement. “The enhanced connectivity, design and social experiences enabled by this handset, represent Samsung’s commitment to democratizing the smart phone market and providing users around the world with access to rich experiences and content.” The Samsung Wave 578 will begin rolling out in May in Europe and other markets, and it is not expected to launch in the U.S. Hit the break for Samsung’s full press release and Wave 578 specs. More →


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United Parcel Service deliveries are near normal, but the company said Friday the volume might be pent-up demand from the strike and no decision will be made until next week on whether to lay off employees.
The company said it was expecting to pick up 11 million packages Friday and deliver 12.2 million. UPS, the nation’s largest shipping company, delivered 12 million packages a day before the strike.
But company spokesman Norman Black said pickups were trailing off as the backlog is cleared, while deliveries were expected “to skyrocket in the next three or four days.”
UPS projected it would deliver 12.2 million packages Thursday, but delivered only 11.6 million. UPS officials said no decision on layoffs can be made until a post-strike surge in backlogged deliveries levels off.
UPS was virtually crippled when 185,000 Teamsters went on strike Aug. 4 for 15 days with support from the company’s 2,000 unionized pilots.
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According to members of the Guesstimator’s Club, Amazon has sold a few million Echo and Echo Dot devices so that makes it a big success. Meanwhile, Apple has sold perhaps five times as many Watch units, and that’s a big dud, a failure. Go figure, right?
Amazon’s Echo device is pretty cool, though. Like Siri’s always on ‘Hey Siri…’ function on the iPhone, Echo really is always on, always listening to what’s going on in a room, thanks to a handful of always on microphones. Anybody see a problem with that?
Yes, as the saying goes, ‘inquiring minds want to know.’ With Amazon Echo in your home, it’s possible that authorities will know what you’ve been saying recently; for better or worse.
Arkansas police are hoping an Echo found at a murder scene in Bentonville can aid their investigation… investigators filed search warrants to Amazon (see below), requesting any recordings between November 21 and November 22, 2015, from James A. Bates, who was charged with murder after a man was strangled in a hot tub.
Uh oh. Not only is Big Brother watching, he’s listening, too.
While investigating, police noticed the Echo in the kitchen and pointed out that the music playing in the home could have been voice activated through the device. While the Echo records only after hearing the wake word, police are hoping that ambient noise or background chatter could have accidentally triggered the device, leading to some more clues.
This alleged perpetrator has all the wrong kinds of technology working against him. Why?
Amazon stores all the voice recordings on its servers, in the hopes of using the data to improve its voice assistant services. While you can delete your personal voice data, there’s still no way to prevent any recordings from being saved on a server.
And the police want those audio recordings as part of their murder investigation. All thanks to Echo’s Alexa always listening, and always recording what you say and when. That creates a treasure trove for fish hunting authorities. Or the Russians and Chinese.
What about Siri?
For now, Siri’s always on ‘Hey Siri…’ works on newer iPhones and I find that to be useful (other devices need to be plugged into power to get Siri the same functionality) but it’s not available on the Mac in macOS Sierra. No matter. Whatever you say to Siri gets sent back to Apple and Apple isn’t saying how much of what you say it saves for authorities casting fish nets for evidence. But Amazon’s Echo is always on, always recording, and that creates an even more massive amount of information– what you, your family, co-workers, or partners in crime say, night or day– that gets sent back and saved to Amazon’s massive server storage farms.
Anybody got a problem with that? Ask Siri what she thinks of Amazon Echo.
Apparently, the authorities on the drowning murder case mentioned above may have additional information also culled from a modern device.
With every home in Bentonville hooked up to a smart meter that measures hourly electricity and water usage, police looked at the data and noticed Bates used an “excessive amount of water” during the alleged drowning.


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MESA, AZ–(Marketwire -03/16/12)- Ulthera, Inc. — a global, growth-stage medical device company pioneering aesthetic and medical applications using its therapeutic ultrasound platform technology — today announced that it is now registered in Mexico to market and distribute its patented medical device, the Ulthera System.
In Mexico, the System — which combines time-honored ultrasound imaging with focused ultrasound therapy in a treatment known as Ultherapy — is “prescribed to produce stimulation in tissues to raise the temperature in a localized manner for aesthetic, non-invasive use.”(1) The procedure encourages the natural formation of collagen and elastin in the skin, giving it the ability to lift tissue. In Mexico, the technology will be used specifically to lift tissue on the face, neck, décolleté, knees and arms.
“Clearance of the Ulthera System in Mexico — and more than 35 other countries — is a testament to the value that markets around the world place in our platform technology and its use for multiple non-invasive applications,” said Matthew Likens, president and CEO of Ulthera. “We anticipate a high adoption rate of the System by Mexican medical professionals due to the growing demand for safe and effective non-surgical solutions to treat the aging skin.”
Arfamex, a leading distributor of ophthalmology and dermatology devices in Mexico, will be the exclusive distributor of the Ulthera System in this important new market.
“The demand for the Ulthera System in Mexico is already high, so we have been very eager to receive country clearance to sell it,” said Antonio Rodriguez, sales director for Arfamex. “We are honored to distribute the System and to partner with such an innovative and steadfast company pioneering ultrasound for non-invasive cosmetic procedures.”
“Arfamex was the clear choice as a Mexican partner to maintain the high customer service standard for which our brand is known in the U.S. and other countries,” said Likens. “Having an established and respected Mexican partner on board will help Ulthera rapidly broaden the reach of our technology.”
The Ulthera System is cleared by the U.S. FDA for use in a non-invasive treatment of the face to lift the eyebrow to achieve a desired aesthetic effect.
1 – Verbiage taken directly from Mexico’s Ministry of Health registration document. Public Health Registration No.0328E2012 SSA; Application No. 113300401E0574.
Ulthera®, Inc. is a global, growth-stage medical device company pioneering aesthetic and medical applications using its therapeutic ultrasound platform technology. The Ulthera® System is the first and only energy-based device to receive FDA clearance for a non-invasive aesthetic lift indication. The first application for Ultherapy® — the procedure enabled by the System — is a non-invasive treatment of the face to achieve a brow lift. Founded in 2004 and based in Mesa, Ariz., Ulthera is a privately held company backed by top tier venture capital firms, New Enterprise Associates and Apposite Capital. For more information, visit www.ulthera.com.
Arfamex S.A de C.V. is a Mexican company, establish in 1989. Since 1993, the company has been a Mexican leader for the sales of medical equipment in the fields of dermatology, plastic surgery and ophthalmology. Arfamex is a private company located in Mexico City with a national presence. For more information, visit www.arfamex.com.


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Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, this study aims to track the progress made by 17 of the most promising Midwestern and Northeastern cities in.
Meanwhile, Harris’s plan proposes, profits from drugs sold above their fair price would be taxed. Among 49 common brand-name prescription drugs in the U.S., 48 of them rose in price between 2012.
The data include historical U.S. and State-level farm income and wealth estimates as well as U.S.-level forecasts for the current calendar year. price Spreads from Farm to Consumer. ERS compares the prices paid by consumers for food with the prices received by farmers for their corresponding commodities.
Nearly One Quarter of 2017 U.S. Home Sales Were Above the Asking Price On average, homes that sold above their list price went for $7,000 over the asking price – The share of U.S. home sales that were above the listed price increased from 17.8 percent in 2012 to 24.1 percent in 2017.
NEW YORK/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Luckin Coffee Inc, the Chinese challenger to Starbucks Corp, on Thursday priced its U.S. initial public offering at the top end of its targeted range and sold more.
Service Men’s Relief Act Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Policy Manual . The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), previously known as the Soldiers and sailors civil relief act, was originally enacted in 1940 at the time of World War II when large numbers of individuals were entering military service or deployed into active service.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade program is the source of all U.S. trade data. We release the most up to date data every month and you can find the latest here.. and financial characteristics of our homes. housing main. 2017 features of ACE Exports Archive. 2016 Trade Webinars Archive.
Close to one in five homes sold in March went into contract within two weeks of hitting the market, and more than one in five sold for more than their list price, the report said. As a result, the.
BUILDER How Single-Family Home Affordability Has Shifted Since the 1960s.
No. 9: Fort Mitchell had three homes available for every home sold in May, when its average sale price was about 22 percent below the average list price. a 9 percent increase to $215,000 across the.
A quarter of homes in US sold above list price in 2017. by Chase Conner January 12, 2018. Home sales in 2017 showed nearly one-quarter (24.1 percent) of buyers paid more than the asking price, netting sellers an additional $7,000 on average over their initial offering price.
How Facebook and Instagram Are Changing American Home Design Mortgage Masters Group Worse, the median credit score for a new mortgage remained quite high at 756. That’s well above the average credit score of 695, and means that the typical American. them a less profitable segment.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sales of new U.S. single-family homes fell to a near two-year low in September. Nearly two-thirds of the houses sold last month were either under construction or yet to be.
US Experts Reviewing Low-Carb, Other Diets for Guidelines Some nutrition experts caution that evidence for low-carb diets is new and that it’s unclear what the long-term effects might be. They say criticism of the guidelines is overblown, and blame the food industry for distorting messages to market low-fat snacks full of sugar and massive portions.


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Tesla has just signed a deal with an Austrailian company to source graphite from its mines in Mozambique.
Tesla To Source 8,000 Tons Of Graphite From MozambiqueTesla has just signed a deal with an Austrailian company to source graphite from its mines in Mozambique.
Thieves Worsen Supply Chain IssuesThieves have been contributing to the recent supply chain issues by stealing from railroad containers.
Northern California Woman Ticketed In LA When She Wasn't There, She SaysA Northern California mom was ticketed and ordered to pay $186, but she wasn't in L.A. at the time of the infraction, she says. Fearing that fees would accrue, she paid the ticket but now wants a refund.
Slow Job Growth Despite More Jobs AvailableThe job market is moving closer to pre-pandemic levels, however, not as quickly as we'd hoped.
Champagne Sales Expected To Hit $6 BillionWith new year parties coming back, champagne sales are on the rise.
Call Kurtis: United Food & Commercial Workers Union Calling For ProtectionThe United Food & Commercial Workers Union is calling on retail chains to step up their COVID-19 protection protocols.
Dry Shampoo Recall Due To Cancer-Causing IngredientThe recall concerns brands like Pantene, Osi, Herbal Essense, and Waterless.
Holiday Shopping Deadlines LoomFor those wishing to send Christmas gifts by mail this year, the shipping deadline to get them there on time is Friday.
With Rising Prices, A Grocery Store In Downtown Sacramento Closes Its DoorsCBS13 investigates the reason for this grocery store closing its doors after only a few slow years.
New Dutch Bros Coffee Shop Opens Near Cal ExpoIf you're looking for your coffee fix, Dutch Bros just opened up a new location in Sacramento.
Apple Hit With Lawsuit Claiming Apple Watch Is UnsafeShould you buy an Apple watch this year? Well, there may be potential for a dangerous bug that the company didn't address resulting in a lawsuit.
Rising Costs Affect Shoppers During The HolidaysWith the rising costs of living as well as general goods, shoppers are searching for the best deals this holiday season.
Gift Givers Get Creative For HolidaysGift givers are getting creative this year, watch to see how.
Black Friday Is Over, But More Sales Still To ComeBlack Friday may be over, but there are still more deals ahead for the holidays.
New Shopping Option: Buy Now, Pay LaterNew payment options help Black Friday shoppers afford to shop away.
Scammers Using Fake Websites To Take Advantage Unsuspecting ShoppersAn expert says they're seeing an over 2,000% increase in scammer websites, which, they say, are driven by supply chain issues.
Call Kurtis: Where's My Trip Refund?Three Elk Grove seniors are out nearly $35,000 for a cruise they never took. How they paid is a big reason they're struggling to get their money back.
Call Kurtis: Elk Grove Senior Ticketed For Truck Donated Six Years AgoWe’ve reported before on agencies using old DMV records and ticketing the wrong person. One was issued in Salinas, a place Emily Blake-Kessel said she’s never been, six years after she donated the truck involved.
Onion Recall After Salmonella OutbreakThe US Food and Drug Administration along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are advising consumers to avoid purchasing certain onions due to a Salmonella outbreak reported in 38 states and Puerto Rico, according to a CDC news release.
Tracy Kid's Basketball Hoop Arrives Broken After Online PurchaseA Tracy 12-year-old was out nearly $500 after buying a basketball hoop that arrived broken.
SMUD Scam WarningA Sacramento business owner said he almost fell victim to what he called a smooth scam. He runs a golf shop and called the guys who tried to rip him off “villains."
Getting Answers: What Will It Take To Bring Down Gas Prices?California gas prices jumped on average six cents in a week. California has had a record breaking $4.68.What will it take for these prices to finally drop? Well, a drop in demand and chances are that won't happen until after holiday travel. The president could tap into the Federal Reserves, although it is a temporary fix. Right now, his administration says it doesn't plan to do that. Oil producing countries, including Russia, have said they will not ramp up oil production. So what's left? You driving less. Fewer drivers buying gas could bring prices down.
US Employee Resignation Rate At All-Time HighPeople across the US have been quitting their jobs in record numbers, with 4.4 million people resigning in September alone. It's a new all-time high. Some economic researchers say the arts, entertainment, and recreation sectors had the most resignations. Workers are more empowered to pick and choose where they work. In order to attract and keep workers, some companies are offering a unique benefit: cold, hard cash.
Call Kurtis: Golden 1 Credit Union Upgrade Leaves Members Struggling To Access AccountsEight days after Golden 1 Credit Union's online banking update, a Sacramento viewer says he’s struggling to access his account to pay his bills.


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Today was a day for memory for NVIDIA, as the company’s meteoric stock rise got them on top of Fortune 100 stock moves, ahead of Tesla Motors, Inc. The reason for the growth of the stock, are both second quarter results and upbeat announcement of third quarter earnings. Following the trading close on Thursday, NVIDIA announced its results which were on record levels, even though the company had some serious write offs ($167 million) due to Icera modem business and SHIELD tablet recall; $1.15 billion represents their best second quarter result, up from $1.10 a year earlier. Net income was only 26 million, but that came after
When it was originally introduced, the 8″ SHIELD tablet represented the highest performing tablet on the market, packing Tegra K1 SoC with 192 Kepler cores, world’s first tablet with desktop-like GPU. We were quite impressed with the performance Tegra achieved by using stock Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system, as well as overall built quality. The only negative was that the screen resolution wasn’t the greatest on an 8″ tablet, and it would heat up during gameplay – but not more than for example, Nexus 9 tablet (also powered by the same processor), or Texas Instruments powered Amazon Kindle HDX 8.9″. However, it looks like the tables have turned on
There is no doubt about it; gaming represents one of largest, if not the largest entertainment business in 2015. The growth in this market has been underpinned by innovation and technological advancement, as new hardware is developed to refine the gaming experience across multiple platforms. With modern-day hardware also enabling cross-platform gaming experiences, this sector is set for even further growth in the next decade. Software is also a key component of the modern gaming experience, and there are several must-have programs for aspiring designers and developers. Here are five of what I believe are the most important tools you need for flawless gameplay: Graphic Drivers
Just like in the world of sports, there is a lot of personal and below-the-belt attacks on companies we report about, and quite often the heated exchanges happen about Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo consoles, or if we go down to the chip level – discussions about Intel, AMD or Nvidia (interestingly though, we don’t see Qualcomm receiving a lot of flak). Recently, we saw a lot of heated media coverage and comments criticizing the company’s decision to rebrand some of its silicon again, now into the Radeon 300 Series moniker. As a part of its 2015 line-up, some Radeon 300 Series parts are based on silicon
While VR World is currently working on a detailed series of analysis into how AMD is changing its future by unveiling a completely new product line-up, we were informed by the company’s representatives that the company decided to lift the embargo on performance data for the AMD Radeon Fury X earlier than expected. Thus, while you wait for the architectural analysis of the part (this article will be updated in due course), we are pleased to bring you details from the AMD Radeon Fury X Review Guide, which contains internal performance data of this new, $649 graphic card. This price pitches liquid cooled Radeon Fury X
As we are approaching Computex and the majority of press and media analysts are in the plane en route Taipei, companies such as Intel, Nvidia and AMD are polishing their press releases for the first day of the show. One such product is GeForce GTX 980 Ti, a product refresh which does not have a lot to do with ‘refresh’. While the original GTX 980 was based of GM204 GPU, featuring 2048 CUDA cores attached to 4 or 8GB of GDDR5 memory. As you might have guessed, the chip was using 256-bit memory bus. When you combine GPU clock of 1.12 GHz and GDDR5 clock
Just as Intel’s (NASDAQ: INTC) CEO Brian Krzanich opened the regular staff meeting before a dramatically reduced IDF2015 conference, in Shenzhen, China – it is a good time to review how government and enterprises don’t see eye to eye when it comes to strategic business. Remember the Tianhe-2 machine at Guangzhou Supercomputer Center, the current World’s number one according to Top 500 Supercomputer list? Unlike some other China supercomputers with their mixed architectures – Tianhe-2 is a fully Intel based machine, the world’s largest assembly of Intel Xeon CPUs and Xeon Phi accelerators. Even after Intel ‘opened the kimono’ and gave a nearly 70% discount on its processors and accelerators, it
Today was a day of good news for all Nvidia Shield Tablet owners and potential owners.
Nvidia reported record revenues for the third quarter of this year and fiscal 2015 year, making these three months some of the strongest ever for Nvidia
Honda Connect is Honda’s newest infotainment system powered by Android 4.0.4 and Nvidia’s own Tegra SoC which will enable powerful user experiences.


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Last week we blogged about social networks, and how they are becoming more portable over time. This week, Google released Social Search, demonstrating this idea in action, in the context of the most popular activity on the web.
Google Social Search – a big step toward the traveler-centric future
Social Search is Google’s name for the ability to add the activity of people you may know to your search results. Google does this by looking at your Google contacts, and your networks on social sites like Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Google Reader. Without digging too deeply into the technology, it’s plain to see that there are some benefits here for travelers.
One of the biggest benefits is that you can get trip ideas and travel tips from friends and acquaintances without going any further than the search engine you’re likely to be using anyway. By applying a social filter to search data, the results should be much more personal and relevant, making it easier than ever to learn about travel from other travelers you know and trust.
Social Search has the potential to be a game changer for the travel industry and is a big step toward the traveler-centric future. You can learn more about this exciting new social development in the Google blog.


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"When you turn on DNT in your browser, we stop collecting the information that allows us to tailor Twitter based on your recent visits to websites that have integrated our buttons or widgets," according to a new Twitter page detailing how it's implemented Do Not Track. "Specifically, we remove from your browser the unique cookie that links your browser to visits to websites in the Twitter ecosystem. We then cannot provide tailored suggestions for you."
[ Read about the proposed Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights' Do Not Track provision. See ?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Do Not Track: 7 Key Facts. ]
Long-time Do Not Track proponent Mozilla applauded the move. "We're excited that Twitter now supports Do Not Track and global user adoption rates continue to increase, which signifies a big step forward for Do Not Track and the Web," said Alex Fowler, Mozilla global privacy and policy lead, in a blog post. "Current adoption rates of Do Not Track are 8.6% for desktop users and 19% for mobile users and we see the biggest adoption rates in the Netherlands, France, and the United States."
Twitter's backing of Do Not Track adds a boost to the Obama Administration's February 2012 proposal for a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. Although the White House has called on Congress to turn the proposal into law, and specifically enable the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce it, for now the measure remains voluntary.
The FTC first gave its backing to Do Not Track in December 2010, as part of a proposed framework for consumer privacy. Do Not Track was meant to address FTC-identified deficiencies in how online businesses created their own privacy policies and was meant to notify consumers about how personal information was being collected. "Specifically, the notice-and-choice model, as implemented, has led to long, incomprehensible privacy policies that consumers typically do not read, let alone understand," according to an FTC report released at the time. But the FTC left the details of Do Not Track to the companies who would have to implement it, such as Microsoft, Google, and online advertisers.
Twitter's backing of Do Not Track is further notable because the company has an advertising-driven business model. According to eMarketer, Twitter earned $134 million in 2011 from paid advertising, and is set to earn $260 million in 2012 from paid advertising. Although that doesn't count revenue from paid promotions, and Twitter doesn't break out its revenue, paid advertising likely accounts for the vast majority of what the social network earns.
The advertising industry had been a vocal opponent of Do Not Track--at least initially. But consumer demand for Do Not Track has been intensifying, especially after revelations over so-called supercookies and similar tracking technologies, and some legislators calling for the use of such surreptitious and unstoppable tracking technologies to be outlawed. In the meantime, Mozilla, Microsoft, Apple, and Google were adding some form of Do Not Track capability to their browsers, although in the case of Chrome it's so far only available as a third-party extension.
Also, online advertising associations have come to the table with the likes of Microsoft, Mozilla, Google, Apple, and various privacy groups to create Do Not Track standards, which are due out from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) this summer.
From clouds to mobile to software development, threats may be everywhere, but they're not equally dangerous. The new, all-digital IT Strategic Security Survey issue of InformationWeek will help you prioritize. Also in this issue: IT must decide how to deal with consumer cloud storage being used in businesses. (Free registration required.)


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The OnePlus 9 series was launched in the first part of 2021 and we will have to wait several more months before the presentation of the next generation, which should arrive on the market with the official name of the OnePlus 10.
This does not prevent the spread on the Net of rumors that try to anticipate some of the possible characteristics of the new OnePlus devices and so Yogesh Brar on Twitter also wanted to contribute to the flow of rumors on the OnePlus 10.
According to him, the OnePlus 10 line should keep the already known design of the OnePlus 9, but with greater “polish” to make the devices even more beautiful and with a greater premium appearance.
OnePlus has announced a major camera update for its OnePlus 9 series of smartphones. The headlining feature is a new Read more
OnePlus has teamed up with camera maker Hasselblad once again to develop a new camera feature for the 9 Series Read more
OnePlus today is shipping out a rather intriguing update for the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro. Today’s update is bringing Read more
A tentative launch date for the new smartphone from OnePlus, called the OnePlus 9 RT, has been leaked. It seems Read more
The OnePlus 9 Pro is precisely the kind of classy flagship phone that OnePlus itself once set out to undercut, Read more
OnePlus 9 RT is expected to launch next month in India and China and it will be the only numbered Read more
The OnePlus 9 launched in March 2021, and it sounds as though there might not be a OnePlus 9T at Read more
A new leak has now given a good look at Realme's next sub-premium device, the Realme GT Neo 2. The Read more
A new OnePlus smartphone with model number MT2111 model number has received approval from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). Read more
On the surface, the Sony Xperia 1 III and the OnePlus 9 Pro are two 2021 flagship phones gunning for Read more
OnePlus released a follow-up to its popular Nord phone in July, calling it the OnePlus Nord 2. The Nord 2 Read more
OnePlus 9R is the company’s cheaper variant in the OnePlus 9 lineup. Instead of releasing a OnePlus 9T this year Read more


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…say ‘we pay N4.38bn annually on demurrage’
·Blame yourselves, FG for delays – Terminal operators
Importers in the freight and forwarding sub-sector of the maritime sector in Nigeria have drawn the attention of the Federal Government to the way terminal operators and shipping lines allegedly delay the clearance of their containers at the Apapa port in Lagos, compelling them to pay demurrage worth N12 million daily. This makes about N4.38 billion annually.
Investigations by The Point revealed that while the owner of a 20-foot container was made to pay about N7, 000 as daily demurrage charge, the terminal operators also slammed a daily levy of N13, 000 on certain categories of cargoes and another N25, 000 on every refrigerated container.
Some of the aggrieved importers, who spoke with our correspondent in separate interviews, alleged that over 1,000 containers were delayed intentionally by both terminal operators and shipping lines on a daily basis. They averred that in most cases, some of the cargoes were delayed for weeks, not because the owners were not set to clear them but because the terminal operators claimed, either sincerely or otherwise, that there was no up-to-date infrastructure to fast-track the clearance of the cargoes.
“Yet we bear the brunt for no fault of ours,” Samuel Jide-Osarenren, one of the importers, lamented.
The Clearing Manager, Stelac Maritime Agency, Mr. Olasunkanmi Oguntunde, for instance, disclosed that importers in the maritime sector suffered huge losses in 2016 and were still suffering the same fate in 2017, as the terminal operators and shipping lines allegedly fleeced them, using unnecessary delays to stall the clearing of cargoes.
According to him, the poor state of the Nigerian economy in 2016 and early 2017, which was largely caused by economic meltdown and foreign exchange crisis, has not only created holes in the finances of the importers but made some of them go bankrupt.
He said, “As if that was not enough, the actions of the terminal operators are also frustrating us out of business. We end up spending N1.5million instead of N1million to clear goods from the port, because they lack basic tools to fast-track clearance of our cargoes, unlike their counterparts in Togo and Republic of Benin.
“We understand that the road is bad, but in most cases, cargoes are delayed for weeks because there are not enough computers to aid clearance. However, containers cleared by touts come out of the port without much delay, which means some people actually benefit from the development.”
Contrary to the directive of the Nigerian Shippers Council that some charges of terminal operators and shipping lines should be reduced, the Managing Director, Excellent Maritime Agency, Prince Ayo Adewunmi, alleged that the reversal of some of the charges, which was to take effect from November 3, 2014, had not been reviewed.
He explained that the progressive storage charge, free storage period, shipping line agency charge, container cleaning and maintenance fee, and container demurrage, had not also been touched.
Adewunmi said, “The Council had ordered an increase in the container storage period at the ports, from three days to seven days; and also directed shipping companies to reduce their charges, from N26, 500 to N23, 850 for a 20-ft container; and N48, 000 to N40, 000 for a 40-ft container. But these have not been implemented.
“The Council also directed shipping agencies to refund container deposits to importers and agents within 10 days after the return of the emptied containers. Today, they ensure your containers are not cleared within the days in order to forfeit the money. We had to pay more, which has really affected us. In most cases, we had to hike the charges on our cost of production and that means the consumers bear the cost.”
The Clearing Manager, Seal Logistics Nigeria limited, Mr. Jamiu Ogunsehinde, claimed to have also had a bitter experience with one of the shipping firms, CMA CGM Shipping Limited.
He said his client paid a sum of N400, 000 as container deposit to the shipping line for a 20-foot container that was meant to be delivered to the owner of the goods in Kaduna State.
According to him, the money was meant to be refunded after the client had returned the container to the shipping line. But to his client’s dismay, he got a debit alert that he had only N27,000 left in the deposit he made with the shipping line as N373,000 had been deducted for demurrage.
“I couldn’t believe my ears when my client called and threatened to sue me for fraud. The client told me that I must have connived with the shipping line to defraud him because the container was supposed to have been cleared within three days without accruing any charge. The shipping company deliberately capitalised on the bad roads to swindle our client and we have thus found that it is a deliberate act to cheat us,” he told The Point.
The Managing Director, Robel Automobile Limited, Mr. Ropo Akinboderin, explained that the advent of the hike in the tariff imposed on imported vehicles, from 20 per cent to 35 per cent in December 2015, had practically crippled his company’s operations as its businesses suffered a major setback.
He said, “The development has scared most of our clients from the port, as our clients now import cars from neighbouring countries like Republic of Benin, Togo, Ghana and Mali. In a way, the high cost of clearing goods in our ports is a blessing to other neighbouring countries.
“Government should see what could be done for the purpose of gaining back our cargoes from neighbouring countries. To an extent, the importation of cars into the country contributes its quota to the reduction of unemployment in the country.”
BLAME INCONSISTENT POLICIES – OPERATORS
However, the Seaports Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria has blamed the high cost of doing business at the ports on inconsistent government policies, improper documentation by port users and under-declaration by importers.
The Chairman, STOAN, Princess Vicky Haastrup, called for the harmonisation of ship inspection procedures by government agencies at the ports, in order to minimise vessel delays and reduce the cost of doing business.
To her, government’s inability to fix the access roads to the Apapa port also contributed to the delay witnessed by importers.
Also, Haastrup tasked importers and agents to embrace genuine declaration and support the Nigeria Customs Service to achieve success and fast-track cargo clearance on the platform of the Nigeria Trade Hub scheme.
“The time for trading blames by port users and port operators is over. It is important that all of us work together to drive efficiency at the ports. We must support the government to achieve its target of prompt cargo clearance and lower cost of operation. It is a herculean task but with unity of purpose, there is no limit to what we can achieve,” she said.
Haastrup added that most of the vessels bringing cargo into Nigeria were old, while their gears developed problems during discharge operation.
She added, “Under-declaration is also part of the reasons cargoes are delayed. A situation where an importer declares a container that weighs 60 tons as 50 tons and you, as terminal operator, deploy a 50-ton capacity equipment to lift a 60-ton container; what do you expect, if not cargo damage and
The Chief Executive officer, NSC, Alhaji Hassan Bello, however, said, “From now, we won’t allow any agency or operators to increase the cost of service without the consent of the NSC. There have been attempts to further raise charges, not only by the terminal operators, but also by some government agencies. Everyone knows now that you cannot increase cost without our
We understand that the road is bad, but in most cases, cargoes are delayed for weeks because there are not enough computers to aid clearance. However, containers cleared by touts come out of the port without much delay, which means some people actually benefit from the development
OPERATORS SHOULD NOT RELY ON GOVT ALONE – NASS
The Vice-Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Ports, Harbours and Waterways, Hon. Muhammad Kabir Ajanah, said lawmakers would investigate the allegations as long as petitions were written to the committee.
“But away from that, the truth is, Nigerians overburden the government. They expect government to do everything for them, even when they still make huge profits from the ports and the overstretched infrastructure,” he
Ajanah recalled when he was in New York in the United States and was surprised that terminal operators were happily building bridges in the port, because they needed to increase the height of the bridge in order for their ships
“They may just seek permission from government; but they don’t wait for government to fund the infrastructure upgrade. Waiting for government to do everything for you is like living in a rented apartment and expecting that your landlord will come and clean your house. So, we need a law that will provide for terminal operators to contribute to making the ports more conducive for business. When government gave lease of terminals to the operators, there was an agreement for them to maintain and improve on the terminals,” he told The Point.


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Prada is releasing a new shirt as a part of its unusual Time Capsule project. But this product is available to purchase for a 24-hour period.
Prada Time Capsule is a special collection of exclusive clothing for men and women, which is sold in a limited run of just 50 pieces. Every first Thursday of the month Prada releases a new wardrobe item from the collection.
The upcoming release set for Jan. 2 consists of a camp shirt crafted from cotton poplin splashed with an original drawing depicting mountain landscapes with skiers against a bright blue backdrop. The following Time Capsule will be available only for European customers. But Prada promises to make the collection available to other countries as early as next year. The following Time Capsule drop is scheduled for Feb. 6.
Last month, as part of the project, Prada also released a shirt with holiday winter motifs.


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SEM Settled? Good, Now On To Real Marketing
The e-business world is moving on from SEO and SEM. That doesn’t mean they aren’t important. It means that everybody seems to get it now (perhaps) and it’s sort of a standard practice, like tacking fliers to light posts. The next frontier has two branches: branding and making connections.
Where it’s not going: direct marketing (been there, done that for a decade now); single-channel.
Six months to a year ago, this list of 35 algorithmic influences collected by the search community would have lit up the blogs, forums, and comments sections. The eurekas weren’t exactly forthcoming though. It seemed to be old news to many.
But it’s not over, not by a long shot. It may be just set into place.
"SEO is a double edged sword – you don’t want to become too addicted," said Topix.net CEO Rich Skrenta at the Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco. "Obviously everyone would like to create their own direct relationships with their user base, but we have to accept the fact that Google is the start page of the Internet"
So everything begins with search, which puts SEO and SEM not in the past or the background. It’s in the foreground of the present. But these days there’s something different. That something different is the community to which search leads.
In those communities, audiences, or "customers," as Oliver Muoto, co-founder of vflyer.com, called them, are looking for feedback and connections. Those expecting direct response to thrive will be disappointed. This system is going global.
Watch Google as an indicator. Where the company once touted a "do one thing well" philosophy, the company has expanded its reach, dipping its fingers into everything accessible: TV, radio, print, contextual, banners, Web video.
In many ways, it’s the rebirth of the bubble: small companies being acquired by giants for exorbitant prices; tech careers paying more than ever; the best way to get ahead online these days is to be unique enough (or gather enough of an audience) to get bought.
Time will tell if it’s a sustainable bubble.
Until then, search is as standard as HTML. If marketers and online businesses haven’t implemented it by now, they’re already way behind. Those that have made a regular practice of it have their rankings and their AdWords campaigns and have moved on to branding and connecting one-on-one with their audiences (customers) via blogs, communities, et cetera.


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Years ago, people used to spend a lot of time looking at the local shelvesit could feel like they lived there. Now some special fans of the once mighty chain really can – for one night.
Sandi Harding, store manager of the World’s Last Blockbuster, will soon allow stays in Bend, Oregon, a facility through Airbnb, according to the company’s press release Tuesday.
But, there is a chance.
Only residents of Deschutes County, where Blockbuster is located, will be allowed to request store accommodation. The store is also open only for a limited time ̵1; for three individuals, one-night reservation on September 18, 19 and 20. Reservations are open to county residents starting August 17.
Harding allows county residents to stay in stores overnight to thank them for their support during “these uncertain times,” the statement said.
“To appreciate all that the local community has done lately to support their last people in these uncertain times, this late summer’s sleep will be for lovers of Deschutes County cinema had the opportunity to take a ’90s themed break to reflect on Friday night tradition as we remember it, “the statement explained.
According to the listing on Airbnb, up to four people are allowed in the store.
Harding, who has been running the facility since 2004, will ensure guests have a full-fledged movie stay, according to the statement. “Sandi will be yoursstore and reserve all the movies your heart desires before the key is delivered, “the release said.
In photos released by Airbnb, the rooms mimic a ’90s living room and appear to be right in the middle of the store. The design includes a pea-covered chair and a geometric bedspread, among other nostalgic accents.
The longtime manager is listing the venue for just $ 4 a night, plus taxes and fees – just a penny higher than movie rentals, according to the statement.
The release guides potential tenants to note host rules that adhere to local guidelines in context. In addition to being county residents, those requesting stay must also come from the same household “to minimize the risk.” Guests are also informed that they should follow the company’s safety guidelines regarding masking and practices away from society in public.
“This private stay has been planned with safety and guests can rest assured knowing that the shop will be cleaned and prepared according to CDC instructions and in line with our advanced cleaning procedures. Airbnb, ”the statement stressed.
For those unable to stay in Blockbuster, customers can see through the living room space for a limited time during the “after last guest check out” opening hours, according to the statement.
Bend, Oregon, becamelast spring, after a location in Australia closed.
Blockbuster used to be the largest video rental chain in the US, with nearly 9,000 stores worldwide. One new store was estimated to open every 17 hours at one point. But with the arrival of Netflix, the Blockbuster stores started to disappear. After going bankrupt in 2010, Blockbuster closed nearly all of its stores.


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RESTAURANT history has been made with 3,000 bookings made in just 72 hours for the reopening of the Chicago Rib Shack in London’s Knightsbridge.
Despite a ten-year absence, the restaurant hasn’t been forgotten and thanks to some clever viral marketing by Cowan Group, including the use of social networking site Facebook, it will now re-open with a record number of advance bookings.
The clever advance campaign also involved teasing hints at the restaurants secret location - which was only revealed recently - and an email out to interested parties which lead to a click-through to the site from 65 per cent of those who read it.
“Within 72 hours of opening the booking system over 3000 covers had been taken. We are extremely pleased with the response both for the return of the Shack and the website created by Cowan Group”. Said Jon Yantin, Chicago Rib Shack director.
The original Chicago Rib Shack was a classic London dining destination and one of the very first of its kind in the industry.
Tucked away down a quaint side street close to Harrods in Knightsbridge, it was the favorite stomping ground of many people from all walks of life, to enjoy a meal and some quality time. In fact, Princess Diana and Princes William and Harry used it frequently as their favourite local haunt.


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With PAX East going to an all-digital format this year, there are a few experiences that are missing from the event that probably can’t quite be replicated, such as getting a badge — oh, wait, what’s this? PAX Online East is selling a badge for the event? Well then, go figure!
This badge isn’t quite the same as access badges that fans would otherwise purchase, obviously, as it provides a number of specific perks for the event like a $10 coupon for the merch store, exclusive access to purchase a Pinny Arcade Pin for the year (lots of people genuinely live for these things), a seven-day Gold Pass subscription to the Tabletopia digital tabletop platform, eligibility to participate in this year’s Omegathon competition, and early access to the event’s official Discord.
It should be noted that the actual meat of the event — access to streams, merch, the digital expo hall, and the Discord itself — will still be free for all fans. But for those who have $15 and really like PAX, there’s now an option for you.
Introducing the PAX Online East Badge— The best way to get the most out of #PAXOnlineEast July 15-18. With exclusive merch and discounts, early Discord access, and more bonus perks! Online Badges go on sale June 10 at 3:00 PM ET. See all that's included at https://t.co/qgjVWtzU5I pic.twitter.com/mzHD0Mbjdu
— PAX (@pax) June 9, 2021


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Originally published: The Armchair Trader, 8 August 2023
More than three out of four crypto traders have made money in the first half of the year as retail investment in the digital assets market grows, according to new international research from GNY, a blockchain-based machine learning business.
GNY, which has developed the free AI-powered Range Report, a machine learning tool designed specifically to forecast the volatility of the 12 top cryptocurrencies by leveraging multiple data points and advanced algorithms, questioned non-professional traders trading at least $5,000 a month on cryptocurrencies.
GNY.IO commissioned the independent research company Pureprofile to survey 100 cryptocurrency traders who trade at least $5,000 a month. The survey was conducted in July 2023 with respondents from the UK, US, Germany, Brazil, Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE and South Africa.


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Since the scheme’s launch by BSI in September 2005 30 repair centres have been accredited and more are working to hit the requirements for full approval.
Bill Smith of Church Road Garage in Baschurch, Shrewsbury says that he was initially put off of the kitemark by the RMIF.
“Our garage was one of the original QC-approved sites, a status which we thought would make our business stand out from the competition,” he says. “It’s 10 years on now and we still haven’t seen any commercial advantages because of the high costs.”
Smith says that because of the QC scheme he believed the PAS 80 would be “another waste of time”.
“But since there does not seem to be any other viable future for the industry, we’ve decided to take advantage of an offer from Unipart to assist us in getting the accreditation,” he says.
Many of the garages working towards the kitemark are part of the Unipart Car Care Centre soft-franchise network, which is supporting its partners in the quest for accreditation.
Simon Wight of Whites Motors, Portsmouth has attained the PAS 80.
“It’s made a huge difference to my business, it’s probably the most important thing I’ve ever done,” he says. “Organizational weaknesses have become easier to correct, staff motivation is better and our service is more consistent.”
After achieving the kitemark, White’s Motors saw a 10% increase in average monthly turnover. Wight also says that having the PAS 80 makes it easier for him to expand his business. “We want to buy a third garage and if we do we can use the kitemark as a template for the new site.”


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A new plant-based food company, Woop4, has launched a line of vegan seafood products into the Canadian market including tropical piranha and mahi-mahi alternatives.
The company said its 100% plant-based and allergen-free products are ideal for vegans as well as pregnant women and those with food allergies.
Among the range, Woop4 is offering alternatives to salmon, smoked salmon and tuna in addition to the tropical piranha and mahi-mahi. It is also launching a range of vegan mayonnaise sauces to complement plant-based dishes, including regular, pineapple, sriracha and maple flavoured products.
Additionally, it is launching alternatives to soy, peanut and sesame mayonnaise, designed to imitate these flavours without the use of the allergens.
Its products offer omega-3 and a good source of vegetable protein among their nutritional benefits.
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Important Changes at US E-bike Market
WASHINGTON, USA - The USA has been a market that frustrates many in the electric bike world. While Europe has adopted e-bikes with great vigour and speed, the USA has lagged by about 10 years. But that seems to be both in the past. The USA market is growing significantly although it is not as big as anyone would like for it to be.
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