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Canadian prices have also yet to be set. "This is really the year of the electric vehicle," Mark Dubois-Phillips, senior manager of technical development at B.C. Hydro, said Monday.
Mitsubishi’s all-electric i-MiEV arrived over the weekend to join the Saanich municipal fleet as part of its sustainability and climate change initiatives. The Nissan LEAF, another electric car, is also being considered by local municipalities. And so is the Chevy Volt, another highly anticipated electric car that is equipped with a small gasoline tank that kicks in if the battery is depleted, to power a generator and create more electricity.
B.C. Hydro is planning to add several new types of vehicles to its fleet in the coming year, including the Volt, Leaf and others. It already has two i-MiEVs.
Not only does Hydro have a fleet-greening initiative, but it is trying out these various vehicles to understand their applications and the implications of the technology on the province, Dubois-Phillips said.
Electric cars, such as the i-MiEV, plug into three levels of charging. The higher the power, the faster the charge. Plug into a typical 110-volt home outlet and a vehicle will equal a draw approximating that of a plasma or LCD television, Dubois-Phillips said.
Hydro is partnering with provincial and local governments in using and preparing for these vehicles, including setting up charging stations.
The federal government is also investing. Colwood, for example, will be installing electric vehicle charging infrastructure, as well as other green programs, out of a $3.9-million federal spending program to support clean energy.
Mark Boysen, Saanich’s sustainability co-ordinator, tried out a City of Vancouver i-MiEV prior to arranging a three-year lease for the four-seater, zero-emission vehicle.
"Once you drive it, you see that it’s got the acceleration, the pickup and the handling -it feels like a really nice little car," he said. "We want as many people to test it out and drive it as possible and use it within our fleet. We are going to see where we can get the most value out of it as well."
The "ready" light shines when Brad Shorter, general sales manager at Victoria Mitsubishi, starts the new i-MiEV. "This is the stone-turner in the automotive industry," said Shorter, adding the dealership expects more of the vehicles in the fall. Shorter pushes on the accelerator pedal and the car powered by a lithiumion battery zips forward.
"It’s really peppy" and can reach 130 kilometres per hour, Shorter said. In Nanaimo last week, Harris Mitsubishi Motors received a "barrage" of visitors checking out the i-MiEV that the dealership received for the Town of Qualicum Beach, said assistant sales manager Doug Culham.
More will come in sometime later this year but he doesn’t know numbers yet. Qualicum Mayor Teunis Wesbroek said that community is striving to be "community leaders in clean air."
Mark Brown, Qualicum chief administrative officer, said the town has also ordered a Ford Transit Connect van that will be converted to electric power prior to delivery in the fall, and it is hoping to get on a pilot program for the Nissan Leaf.
Two electric vehicle charging stations, one 110 volt and another 240 volt, have been installed in Qualicum’s town halllibrary underground public parking lot, and higher-volt charging stations are planned downtown.
Campus Nissan sales manager Mike Asmussen said the first year of production of the Nissan LEAF is already spoken for by fleets and government agencies. Online reservations will open in the spring, with follow-up charging details to come.
In the fall of 2011, the first Leaf cars will arrive in Canada, but Asmussen doesn’t expect any on showroom floors until at least 2012. The Volt will be sold by both Jenner and Wheaton dealerships in Victoria, likely starting this summer.


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Calgary residential sales in 2011 increased eight per cent over last year, with 18,568 sales for 2011 compared to 17,267 in 2010. Recovering from tepid sales activity in the first half of 2011, early improvements in employment and migration resulted in a pickup in housing demand in the second half of the year. By the end of June 2011, year-to-date sales activity had only increased by two per cent compared to the second half of the year, where residential sales improved by 15 per cent.Meanwhile, the condominium market recorded declining sales for nearly half of the year, but favorable pricing and improved economic conditions pushed sales up by double digit rates for the second half of the year. 2011 condo sales totaled 5,382, a 4 per cent increase over the previous year. The rise in sales was complemented by an annual 12 per cent decline in listings. This helped to tighten the condominium market, causing inventories to decline to 1,287 and months of supply to remain just above four months.“The demand recovery in the condominium market lagged the single family market, as price adjustments in both the single family and condominium markets resulted in more selection for consumers,” Stante says. “For the first time in several years, consumers had additional selection of single family homes at a lower price range, which directly competed with the condominium market.”Single family average price in 2011 reached $466,402, a one per cent increase over last year. While there have been some strong monthly increases, primarily due to sales in the upper end skewing the prices, overall prices have remained fairly stable. Meanwhile, the year-end median price of 405,000 remains at levels similar to 2010.
Condominium prices have remained persistently low in 2011, while some of the monthly figures have been boosted by high end penthouse sales. By the end of 2011, the average price of $287,172 remained one per cent lower than the previous year.
View the full statistics package released from CREB.

domain: news


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New York Turkish Textile
In the project's first part, New York Fashion Week will host four young Turkish Designers: Buket Ozkalfalar, Barut Gokhan Ildeniz, Ece Kavran, and Firat Neziroglu. Turkish designers will showcase their collections with a mixed brand catwalk in Industria at 5 pm on February 12th, Tuesday. Famous Turkish top models will walk the runway. Successful designers are coached by Hakan Akkaya, the famous Turkish fashion designer who participated three times in a row at NYFW.
Turkish textile is globally known for its quality and in recent years, Turkish fashion design is blooming all around the world.


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15th August 2014
Britain is a nation of budding entrepreneurs and from today the government is making it easier to set up a business from home.
The number of self-employed has risen dramatically since the recession as people lost their jobs and full-time work still hard to come by. The majority, 70%, of new businesses start off in the home and there are currently 2.9 million home-based businesses in the UK, contributing £300 billion to the economy.
The government has announced today that it is overhauling the rules around running a business from home in order to boost the number of people setting up a company.
Under new legislation, the government will make it easier to run a business from a rented home. The law will change so that landlords can be sure a tenant running a business from the address will not undermine their residential tenancy agreement. A new tenancy agreement will also be introduced.
Changes to the planning law will ensure planning permission should not normally be needed to run a business from home and new business rates clarify that in the majority of circumstance, home-based businesses will not attract business rates.
Business minister Matthew Hancock said home businesses ‘fire up the economic engines and create jobs’ but also ‘turn dormitory towns into living communities’.
‘We know that starting up any business can also be hugely stressful and that’s why today I am announcing that the government will change the law to make life easier for Britain’s home businesses,’ he said.
‘We’ll give people the confidence they need to run a business from a rented home, making sure that the majority of home businesses are exempt from business rates and our aspiring entrepreneurs have the information they need to start up and grow.’
According to Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, one in 10 domestic properties are now the home to at least one business.
‘These are not people starting businesses our of necessity through lack of jobs, they are part of a growing movement that is responding to the new opportunities technology brings and actively taking control of their own destiny by starting out from home,’ she said.
‘They are hard-working people who now have the capability to trade globally from their own kitchen table. They are growing through outsourcing work to other home-based individuals and as they do so, they are bringing important employment opportunities to rural as well as urban areas of Britain.’


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Automaker SUBARU has announced the promotion of Atsushi Osaki, Managing Director, to the new president in June this year.
SUBARU held a board meeting on the 3rd, and decided to appoint President Tomomi Nakamura as chairman without representative rights as of June this year, and to promote Mr. Osaki, senior managing director, to the new president.
It has been five years since the president was replaced.
Mr. Osaki is 60 years old.
He joined the company as an engineer, and in addition to being in charge of engine design, etc., when an inspection fraud was discovered in 2017, he was responsible for quality assurance and worked to prevent recurrence.
He is currently managing director and head of manufacturing.
At a press conference on the 3rd, Mr. Osaki said, "Precisely because it is difficult to predict the future, I strongly believe that it is my job to keep my feet on the ground and not sway my axis, and to face forward firmly and fulfill my heavy responsibility." said enthusiastically.
Mr. Nakamura, who will become chairman, said, "The era will continue where difficult steering is required, such as responding to the electrification of vehicles. As chairman, I will do my best to support the new system."
SUBARU plans to establish a new EV (electric vehicle) factory in Oizumi-cho, Gunma Prefecture, where it is based, and plans to start operation after 2027.


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Mazda CX-5 Gets Power Boost: 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show
Mazda is remedying the biggest complain regarding its wonderful CX-5 crossover; the lack of power. Starting next year, the 2014 CX-5 can be ordered with the new 2.5L Skyactiv engine offered in the new Mazda6.
While the base 2.0L is still available in Sport trim levels, the 2.5L will be available on Touring and Grand Touring trims, making 184 horsepower and 185 lb-ft of torque. Fuel economy is rated at 25/32 mpg for FWD models and 24/30 for AWD models. The 2.5L will not be available with a stick shift, but Mazda’s automatic in the Skyactiv is about as good as it gets anyways.


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It sounds like the Winters family won’t play a major role in an eventual Resident Evil 9 (whatever the title).
At least that’s what Capcom says about the upcoming Shadows of Rose DLC for Resident Evil Village.
The conclusion of the Winters saga
Opposite to IGN Capcom’s Kento Kinoshita says it is “developing the Shadows of Rose storyline to complete the Winters family saga.”
Which, as mentioned, doesn’t sound like there will be a Winters lead role again in the next installment. At the same time, producer Masachika Kawata emphasizes that it is “absolutely impossible” to reveal what the future of the series will bring.
More Resident Evil Village news:
Currently only Resident Evil 4 Remake has been announced as a new single player title, while work continues on the multiplayer offshoot Resident Evil Re:Verse.
The Shadows of Rose DLC for Resident Evil Village is scheduled for release on October 28th.
The expansion, which begins 16 years after the main game, follows Rose Winters as she searches for a way to lose her powers. At the same time, however, she must use them to fight the Face Eaters.


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Crime Stoppers and the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service would like the public’s assistance identifying a male suspect who attended Sears at 293 Bay Street on September 26, 2016 around 4:00 p.m. The suspect selected multiple men’s Adidas sweaters and pants off of a rack, he removed the merchandise from the hangers, folded it up in his arms, and exited the store without paying. The suspect was described as clean cut, wearing a grey hooded Fox sweatshirt, dark blue jeans, and black shoes.
Crime Stoppers accepts tips on all crimes, not just the ones that are advertised. Call us at or . Type your tip through our website at or text the keyword SSM along with your tip to 274637.


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Face coverings are now mandatory in a number of places across the UK - including on public transport and in hospitals in England.
Scotland has brought in rules enforcing face covering from Monday, June 22.
And masks could be required in even more locations from tomorrow as the Government announces changes to social distancing rules.
It has been suggested the rules requiring people to stay two metres apart in public could be relaxed in order to help get pubs, cafes, restaurants theatres, cinemas and holiday locations reopen.
But the relaxation is likely to come with tightening of other rules - which could include face masks.
Supermarkets across the country have their own guidance on face masks with some updated in recent days, reports the Express.
This is what they say
The supermarket chain has not made wearing masks compulsory for customers or staff, although they are available if staff wish to wear them.
Instead, social distancing measures have been introduced, including how many shoppers can shop at one time.
The retailer previously said the government guidance refers to indoor spaces where social distancing is not possible.
The supermarket giant has also left the choice up to customers when they visit stores.
A spokesperson said: "We are complying with all Government guidelines and we welcome customers wearing face masks or not.
"Our colleagues all have the option of wearing face masks which we have supplied and the colleagues in clinical settings (pharmacy and optical) have been required to wear masks since the start of the pandemic as per the government guidelines on clinical workers."
Aldi issued face masks to all staff early on in the pandemic but it is not compulsory for them to wear.
"Aldi will be providing the option of face masks to all its store-based colleagues to further support their safety as they continue to feed the nation," a statement said.
"This move is in addition to the previously announced provision of gloves and clear screens that are being installed at more than 7,000 checkouts.
"Colleagues can also now access the Government’s Covid-19 testing programme for critical workers.”
Customers also have the choice of whether they want to wear a face covering or not.
Similar to its rival, the supermarket chain has masks available for all colleagues should they wish to wear them.
A spokesperson explained: "Masks are available for all our colleagues who wish to use them while they work or travel to their place of work.”
However, no one in the store is made to wear these and social distancing measures have been introduced to keep shoppers safe.
Marks and Spencer
M&S Foodhall stores have remained open throughout the pandemic and made changes to how operations are run.
Face visors have reportedly been available to staff since the beginning of April.
However, wearing the visors - or any face coverings - is not enforced.


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Mitsubishi Motors Corp. CEO Osamu Masuko said Tuesday that his company will not review its alliance with Nissan Motor Co.
He made the comment in talks with reporters after Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn was arrested by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on Monday on suspicion of underreporting his compensation in violation of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.
Masuko suggested that Mitsubishi Motors plans to maintain its three-way alliance with Nissan and French auto giant Renault SA in wide areas, including parts procurement, and vehicle development and production.
Still, the arrest of Ghosn, who serves as chairman of the three automakers, is widely expected to increase uncertainty over the course of the alliance, analysts said.
Renault holds a 43.4 percent equity stake in Nissan, which owns 15 percent of partner Renault. Nissan owns a 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors.
While maintaining respective independence, the three companies have been promoting cooperation to generate synergy.
Ghosn has recently referred to the possibility of reviewing the three-way alliance and the capital tie-ups. Apparently behind this was the pressure from the French government, a major shareholder of Renault, to increase its influence over Nissan, according to informed sources.
“The biggest focus is whether there will be a change in the trio’s power balance” following the arrest of Ghosn, Kentaro Harada, senior credit analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., said.
The possibility of the three automakers’ relations weakening cannot be ruled out once Ghosn is dismissed as chairman of the companies, he said.
On the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Tuesday, shares of Nissan and related companies, including Mitsubishi Motors, came under heavy selling pressure.
In 2016, Mitsubishi Motors, which had been struggling amid its fuel economy data manipulation scandal, received investment from Nissan to join the Renault-Nissan alliance.


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Xiaomi's CEO: We will probably be the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world in 5 to 10 years42
Xiaomi's CEO, Lei Jun, which happens to currently be the 23rd richest man in the Middle Kingdom, claimed that the "Apple of China" will surpass Apple and Samsung in the following years and become the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world. In particular, Lei Jun said that he believes his company will be the best-performing smartphone maker in a 5- to 10-year time window. Interestingly enough, Lei Jun seemingly hints that Xiaomi will launch its products globally only when it climbs to the top.
It was also disclosed that Xiaomi currently has an active userbase of roughly 60 million users, and it is expected that by the end of 2015, this number would have jumped to 200 million users. Naturally, this tells us that Xiaomi once again expects to sell over a 100 million devices throughout the upcoming year.
If we take into consideration Xiaomi's growth rate (back in July, it was the fifth-largest maker globally; now, it's the third), its scheduled market expansion, and the financial problems that Samsung is currently experiencing, we can't help but think that Xiaomi can actually meet its ambitious goal earlier than predicted.
source: CNBeta (translated) via GSMDome


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Wonder which are the highest-selling smartphones in the world? The smartphones that are not just popular but are also top in sales globally. Research company Counterpoint’s latest Market Pulse list the best-selling smartphones during the first three months of the year 2018. The list includes smartphones from Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi and Oppo. So, here’s over to the top-selling smartphones of the year 2018.
Apple iPhone X
Dispelling all slowdown rumours, Apple iPhone X emerged as the highest-selling smartphone during the first three months of the year 2018. Apple’s most-expensive iPhone also gets the title for being the most profitable smartphone in the world. According to recent research from Counterpoint, iPhone X generated 35% of the total smartphone industry profit.
Apple iPhone 8
At No. 2 position is Apple iPhone 8. Launched in September 2017, the smartphone is a successor to the company’s iPhone 7 Plus launched in 2017. The smartphone is the third most-profitable device in the world. It enjoys 15.2% profit share of the total industry.
Xiaomi Redmi 5A
At No. 3 is Xiaomi’s budget smartphone Redmi 5A. Xiaomi Redmi 5A launched in India in November 2017 at an introductory starting price of Rs 5,999. The dual-SIM smartphone runs MIUI 9-based Android Nougat and is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 SoC. It sports a 5-inch HD (720×1280 pixels) display and comes in two variants — 2GB and 3GB RAM.
At No. 4 is Chinese smartphone maker Oppo’s A83 smartphone. Launched in January this year, Oppo A83 is another selfie-focused smartphone from the company. The mid-range smartphone launched at a price tag of Rs 13,990.
Samsung Galaxy S9
At No. 5 is Samsung’s this year flagship Galaxy S9. Galaxy S9 series is said to have helped increase Samsung’s share in the ultra-premium segment. The South Korean giant Samsung unveiled both Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress in February this year. The duo run on Qualcomm’s latest processon Snapdragon 845. Galaxy S9 smartphone launched in India in at Rs 64,900.
Samsung Galaxy S9 +
At No. 6 is the big-screen varaint of Samsung Galaxy S9, S9 +. The smartphone launched in India in March this year at a price tag of Rs 57,900. Both the smartphones will come in Midnight Black, Coral Blue and a new hue, Lilac Purple colour options.
Apple iPhone 7
At No. 7 is another Apple smartphone, iPhone 7. Launched in September 2016, it is the third Apple device in this list of highest-selling smartphones globally. The over-two-year-old smartphone is also the fourth most profitable device in the world. The smartphone still boasts of 6.2% of the smartphone industry’s profits.
Apple iPhone 8
At No. 7 too is another iPhone, iPhone 8. Apple iPhone 8 is the company’s current flagship smartphone. It is the cheapest among the three smartphones launched by Apple last year. In terms of profitability, it is the second-most profitable smartphone in the world, garnering 19.1% profits of the total smartphone industry’s profits during the first quarter of the year.
Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
The third Samsung smartphone in the list, Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro is mid-range phone. Launched in india in June 2017, the smartphone recently recieved a price cut in India and is available at Rs 18,900.
Apple device, iPhone 6.
Apple iPhone 6
On No. 10 is another Apple device, iPhone 6. The almost four-year old smartphone from the smartphone giant continues to rule the popularity charts. Launched in the year 2014, iPhone 6 still accounts for 1.8% of the smartphone industry’s profits.


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Recent blog post headlines, reports, and surveys confirm what we’ve previously discussed: the world is going mobile. Examples:
The City of the Future: Networked, Connected, Mobile views technological infrastructure development as a smarter vision for the future of our cities and will help alleviate pressure to existing physical infrastructure such as roads, airports, and buildings.
A Pew report finds that “17% of cell phone owners do most of their online browsing on their phone, rather than a computer or other device”
Pew Internet: Mobile report finds that as of December 2012 “45% of America adults have a smart phone” and “31% of American adults own a tablet”.
Here are the key takeaways for businesses:
- If people prefer mobile technology and use mobile often, then will likely prefer mobile-friendly websites.
- If they prefer mobile friendly sites, then will likely make more purchases from mobile-friendly sites.
- If consumers are doing more searching on mobile devices, then business websites need to be mobile enabled across multiple devices or risk losing customers.


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Macy's and the SF SPCA will unveil the much-anticipated holiday windows featuring kittens and puppies up for adoption this Friday at Macy's on Union Square at Stockton and O'Farrell. This year's window's theme is "make a wish", a 'wish factory' where wishes and dreams are magically transformed into ornaments that decorate a tree of wishes. Elementary students from the Demarillac Academy will be present to join the treasured tradition and help to unveil the windows!
Last year, about 300 animals featured in Macy’s holiday windows found new homes from the adoption center on the Main Floor and more than $70,000 in donations was raised for the SF SPCA. Come visit the adorable, adoptable animals in the Macy’s Holiday Windows from Friday, November 18 – Sunday, January 1.
WHEN: Friday, November 18th, 5:00pm.
WHERE: Outside Macy's Union Square at Stockton and O' Farrell.


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Mac Rumors has reported that a number of iPad Pros (according to their users with both the 12.9-inch and 9.7-inch models) are beginning to brick after installing the recently released iOS 9.3.2 software update. “Error 56” seems to be the problem with the majority of these tablets, and if you’re not aware of what this error means, it basically is when your iDevice tells you to connect itself to iTunes whcih does nothing when performed.
Apple says that Error 56 is in fact a hardware issue, however since these users who are complaining now haven’t before, it’s unlikely that the iPad Pros themselves are to blame. Possible fixes include installing the latest version of iTunes, checking for issues with third-party security software, and attempting a restore twice. If none of that works, Apple wants you to contact their support team.
Plenty of tweets have been sent to Apple’s @AppleSupport Twitter account for help, however they haven’t responded to a single one.
A statement sent to iMore by Apple says that they’re looking into the issue reported by a few users:
We’re looking into a small number of reports that some iPad units are receiving an error when updating the software. Those unable to restore their device through iTunes should contact Apple support.
A re-release of iOS 9.3.2 might have to be issued to these devices affected by the bug. Otherwise, theres gonna be a lot of unhappy Apple customers…and fast.
This type of incident has happened before with Apple’s iOS updates. iPad 2 models were beginning to become bricked after updating to iOS 9.3, something that was met with much frustration as well. A fix was soon issued after that, however let’s just pray that this is the case with this new bug.


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Corporate Frauds In India On The Rise
AdvertisementLack of strong internal audit mechanism along with over-riding powers of the top management in the companies have resulted in corporate frauds in India. The corporate frauds have risen by over 45% in the last two years. According to a joint study conducted by
“Over 65% of our survey respondents agreed to witness a rising trend of willful defaults and frauds. The survey observed that the lurking risk of frauds has been dissuading global companies from investing in India,” states the report.
Sectors Affected By Corporate Frauds
The survey has revealed that several sectors across industries have been victims of corporate frauds in India. Nearly 52% of the corporate frauds have happened in real estate and infrastructure in the last two years, while financial services sectors recorded 34% frauds. Telecom, manufacturing, electronic goods and IT and ITes sectors have recorded a meager 5%, 3% and 2%
“Procurement frauds, payrolls frauds, asset misappropriation, financial misstatement, corruption, bribery, tax evasion, piracy, intellectual Property (IP) fraud, kickbacks, accounting frauds, counterfeiting, white-collar crimes etc are swiftly threatening business in both the private and public sectors,” added the report.
A corporate fraud will always have ripple effect on the overall business of a company. Apart from the financial losses that the victim has to incur, a fraud also makes a dent in the brand and the reputation of the company. “Corporate wrongdoing inevitably ends up creating a vicious cycle that hurts shareholders value, damages investor’s trust, leads to locking-up of capital in litigation, and ultimately causes wider financial market instability; eventually becoming part of much larger problems,” said DS Rawat, general secretary of ASSOCHAM.
In terms of what was the biggest concern for India Inc, a majority of the respondents (over 66%) said that their biggest concern was about the impact of the fraud on the brand image of the company. On the other hand, 26% the companies were worried about the financial losses that company incurs at the end of the fraud. “Intentional fraudulent financial reporting, information manipulation, theft of inventory etc. are among the common types of misconducts that can result in financial losses for companies,” suggested the report.
About 71% of the companies expected cases of corporate fraud to increase in the next five years. “Bribery, corruption and regulatory noncompliance are the top frauds that the respondents have experienced in the past two years,” asserted the report.
However, companies are becoming more aware of the need for an internal mechanism to keep a check on the incidents of frauds within the companies. Among other measures, policies that support whistleblower and independent and external audits have been ranked as effective tools to mitigate the risks of frauds.
“The exchequer suffers massive losses each year, usually running into several crores of rupees because of an array of frauds. As per the reports from the RBI, during the period 2012-13, 29,653 cases of fraud were detected in India’s nationalized banks, totaling Rs 24, 828 crores,” disclosed the study.
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The Woodlands, Texas - Conn’s, Inc. reported net income of $19.2 million, up $7.6 million, or 65.1%, from the prior-year period during the second quarter of fiscal 2013.
Consolidated revenues totaled $270.7 million, an increase of 30.5% from last year.
Same-store sales grew 18.4%. Sales increased significantly in product categories including home appliance, laundry, refrigeration, cooking, furniture, mattresses, TVs, tablets and computers.
“August net sales increased 51% over the prior-year period,” said Theodore M. Wright, chairman and CEO of Conn’s. “Same store sales in August rose 31%. Phoenix market store openings have been successful with three stores now open. We plan to open four more Phoenix area locations over the next several quarters.”
Looking ahead, Conn’s expects to open 10-12 new stores for the full fiscal year and to increase same-store sales by 15%-20%.


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Alauda Racing, an Australian start-up, introduced the Airspeeder Mk3, which was named “the world’s first flying electric racing car”.
The sophisticatedly designed four-wheel helicopter was designed to compete against 10 other vehicles of its generation in a championship scheduled for later this year. However, there will be no human pilots on board, which is not surprising given the safety risks involved.
At the same time, the company is working on the Mk4 model, the first man-made racing car, which is expected to make its debut in 2022.
The most exciting and progressive motorsport on the planet
“The world’s first electric and flying race car will compete in a championship this year. It will be the most exciting and progressive motorsport on the planet,” said Matt Pearson, founder of Alauda.
The Mk3 was built from the ground up for one purpose only, to achieve breakneck speeds. The flying electric vehicle has an aerodynamic chassis and a 96-kilowatt powertrain.
The model can also accelerate from 0 to 100 km / h in just 2.3 seconds.
The race car will have to return to the ground periodically to replace the batteries.
At the same time, the carbon fiber fuselage makes the model reach a weight of just 100 kilograms. However, the limitations of battery technology mean that the race car has to return to the ground periodically, stopping at specially designed stops for battery change, as in the case of Formula 1 race cars.
Different battery packs could allow teams to gain an advantage, accordingly Futurism.
“For example, in the case of races that require maneuverability but a lower straight line speed, a lighter battery pack could be chosen to provide more maneuverability at the expense of strength or endurance,” said the company’s founder. .
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Dozens of trucks loaded with agricultural products like sugar cane, tomatoes, fish and vegetables are stuck at Busia customs border due to restrictions by Kenyan authorities not to allow people from Uganda to cross to its territory.
There is heightened security at the Uganda and Kenya border since Monday. The deployment follows a ban on travels both inland and outside the country with the exception of cargo trucks and planes announced by President, Yoweri Museveni as part of the preventive measures against the spread of the coronavirus.
Eunice Kamusi Nsubuga, a Sugar cane truck driver from Mayuge district, says that they are not allowed to enter Kenya even after being cleared by Ugandan authorities. He appeals to concerned authorities to intervene to allow them to take their sugarcane to the market.
Martin Angocha, another driver says that they have other goods they are supposed to pick up from Kenya but have been denied access.
Simon Sandos, a truck driver says that he has moved a long distance from Rwanda and he is supposed to deliver goods to Mombasa but is now stuck.
Elepot Eriya, the Busia District Police Commander, says they have received complaints and referred the matter to the Resident District Commissioner to engage his Kenyan counterparts to permit traders to transact their businesses.
Paul Kalikwan, the Busia Deputy Resident District Commissioner, says that they are laying strategies on how to engage Kenyan authorities so that traders are allowed to transact business without disruption.
Both Kenya and Uganda have confirmed COVID19 cases.


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The zombies of "Peninsula" are helping bring moviegoers back to cinemas.
17 Jul – After more than two weeks since cinemas nationwide reopened, moviegoers are regaining their confidence to return as they can be seen frequenting their favourite cinemas again.
The biggest draw is no doubt the release of the new "Train to Busan" sequel, "Peninsula."
The Korean zombie movie marks the first big release since cinemas reopened. Prior to it, cinemas were playing reruns and older titles while cinephiles gradually reacquaint themselves with the new cinema environment.
"With the release of "Train to Busan Presents Peninsula" on 15 July, we see an increase of 400% in admission," Cora Lee, TGV Cinemas' Brand & Communications Assistant Manager, told Cinema Online.
She added that the newly opened TGV Tasek Central is among the top five TGV Cinemas locations that are showing positive attendance from local moviegoers, with the other four locations being TGV Central i-City, TGV Sunway Velocity, TGV Sunway Pyramid and TGV 1 Utama.
Meanwhile, Jason Teo, mmCineplexes' Director of Marketing and Business Development, stated that the response from mmCineplexes patrons has been positive since all locations reopened.
"Early indication of the booking trend for the upcoming weekend is encouraging," he added.
Garuna Murthee, Managing Director of LFS Cinemas, said that LFS locations in Kuala Terengganu and Sandakan continue to do well. To attract customers to Petaling Jaya locations, however, LFS has introduced a new promo especially for "Peninsula" ticket holders.
He added that even though LFS Cinemas locations primarily screen Tamil titles, there is currently no new releases from both India and Malaysia, and the earliest that local Tamil film producers will release their titles are either in November or December this year.
A new promotion by mmCineplexes introduces the lowest ticket price in Johor, PJ and Penang.
Among the new promotions introduced by cinemas to further encourage the return of moviegoers are:
- TGV Cinemas: Customers purchasing with debit card can enjoy RM12 movie tickets all day at Standard, Deluxe, and Deluxe+ halls.
- LFS Cinemas: Each "Peninsula" ticket purchase comes with complimentary popcorn and drink.
- mmCineplexes: Starting from 18 July until 31 August 2020, the following locations will sell RM10 movie ticket during weekday and RM12 movie ticket during weekend.
• mmC eCurve Damansara
• mmC Bukit Jambul Penang
• mmC Prangin Mall Penang
• mmC IOI Mall Kulai
• mmC Segamat Central
• mmC JB City Square
GSC has yet to respond during the time of writing but a quick look at its online bookings indicate that moviegoers are also eagerly visiting GSC locations to catch "Peninsula" on the big screen.
A screenshot from one of the GSC locations screening "Peninsula".
When asked if there has been a significant shift to online booking since cinemas reopened with strict SOPs, Cheah Chun Wai, MBO Cinemas Chief Operating Officer, said that for MBO Cinemas, the moviegoers are making more online bookings.
"There's still a small fraction of customers purchasing their last-minute tickets at the kiosks but otherwise, many have migrated to purchasing tickets and F&B online. To further encourage this, we are offering additional F&B discounts for online purchases," Cora said of TGV Cinemas' customers ticket booking habit.
As for LFS Cinemas, its online booking is momentarily unavailable due to the upgrading of LFS Kuala Terengganu's system but Mr. Murthee assured that it will be up and running again by next week.
Cinema Online, 17 July 2020


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HTML5 was once heralded as the future of cross-platform gaming and the heir to the throne of Flash.
But its promise of providing a standard coding platform for developers to make and release their games across various platforms hasn’t quite come to fruition the way some had hoped it might.
That’s despite the backing of serious players like Apple, Microsoft and Google.
Call it a comeback
In terms of games at least, HTML5 has slowly faded into the wilderness over the years, unable to break through over native experiences and other methods and tools for development.
It’s making a comeback, though. Facebook’s new Instant Games platform uses HTML5 to bring games to its Messenger app and News Feed, and it’s a potentially significant moment for the industry and how consumers play.
The initial launch of Instant Games is an exciting but tepid step from Facebook. The initial batch of games is backed by a few big names in gaming such as King, Zynga, Konami and Bandai Namco, but there are only 17 titles available from 14 developers right now.
Some of these are genuinely fun games, such as the stylish Endless Lake, Everwing and Galaga, but a couple are of the titles are pretty dire experiences.
And then there’s the complete lack of monetisation at this early stage. For now, Instant Games seems to work as a platform for engaging with brands and then moving users on to the full thing elsewhere – on another platform/or to another medium entirely.
It’s a shame really, and isn’t quite the return to form for Facebook gaming that it could have been right off the bat. Rather than go all in on messenger apps, Facebook seems to be carefully testing the waters.
The start of something big
But despite the slow start – it’s still a potentially significant moment for Facebook and HTML5.
Playing games through messaging apps is incredibly popular in Asia. Tencent’s WeChat has 762 million monthly active users and QQ has 877 million MAUs. LINE meanwhile has 218.4 million MAUs and KakaoTalk had 49.2 million active users in Q3 2016.
Facebook Messenger meanwhile has more than one billion MAUs - but is yet to monetise those users with games like Asian companies have done to great success.
With HTML5 the standard for Instant Games and other chat apps – the revenues for developers adopting it a few years from now could huge.
A sign that investors are keen on the opportunities is the money being poured into publishers like Big Viking Games.
The Ontario-based studio recently raised some $21.75 million in funding to develop HTML5 titles and bring its ‘instant gaming’ engine to a broader audience.
Ambitiously, the publisher is also seeking a further $60 million as part of plans to partner with developers, publishers, agencies and brands for HTML5 projects.
As well as developing in projects and investing in other studios, Big Viking has opened a $10 million publishing fund for HTML5 messenger platforms like Facebook’s Instant Games.
The firm is so bullish on HTML5 that its CEO Albert Lai recently called it the next $100 billion dollar games platform.
Another developer, Game Insight, has also set aside $5 million to set up a new division within the company focused on creating HTML5 games for Facebook’s Instant Games platform. It has already released one of the platform’s launch titles, match-3 game Tribez Rush.
Ready to Kik off
In August 2015, the company behind messaging app Kik, which uses HTML5 as a key component to let its 200 million+ users browse websites and play games in the app, raised $50 million from Chinese internet giant Tencent.
To put that into perspective – the investment was said to value the Canadian start-up Kik Interactive at $1 billion at the time.
Part of the promise of HTML5 is that it could completely revolutionise how consumers use mobile games apps in the West, so it’s easy to see why there’s lots of money being pumped into it. Though of course, all this money doesn’t equate to inevitable success.
But that high investment in HTML5, combined with the launch of Facebook Instant Games and the significant revenues garnered in the East through chat apps, it’s not too difficult to see lots of money being made in HTML5.
HTML5 is certainly coming of age at long last, but it has reached a point where it is really now or never for it in the games space.


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Louis Vuitton‘s cruise 2023 womenswear collection may perhaps take a modern, almost still approach. The runway show is set to be staged in San Diego, California — another destination fashion show now that travel is back up once again. Specifically, the Salk Institute will be the backdrop to artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière‘s collection for the luxury maison.
The Salk Institute is far removed from anything luxury and fashion. The Brutalist building is actually a research facility founded by Jonas Salk, the developer of the first safe and effective polio vaccine. Architect Louis I. Kahn was tasked to design the building as a way of reflecting the ever-changing needs of science.
And while there’s nothing fashion-forward about the Salk Institute, the Brutalist architecture is stunning in the way that simple materials such as concrete, teak, lead, glass, and steel were used to form such a visual juxtaposition to its surroundings, especially the vast expanse of the sky above it.
There’s little evidence to suggest that Ghesquière’s creations for Louis Vuitton’s cruise 2023 womenswear collection would veer towards something more architectural and modernist — as opposed to the more period-esque inspirations he’s fond of. But a teaser of a new Petite Valise that’s designed with mirrored surfaces and shaped like a modern trunk, seems to show that at least some elements of the collection could focus on more streamlined lines and shapes.
Then again, the only way to be completely sure is to tune in to the show.
Watch the Louis Vuitton cruise 2023 womenswear runway show here as it goes live from San Diego, California.
What: Louis Vuitton cruise 2023 womenswear runway show
Where: San Diego, California
When: Friday, 13 May 2022 at 9.45am Singapore time


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Huawei gets as much revenue from the EMEA market – 35% of total revenues – as it gets from the China market. Customers include Vodafone, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, and BT.
Huawei’s renewed focus on Europe come after the US has effectively debarred Huawei from the US market. The US Congress issued a report in 2012 recommending that US carriers should not buy Huawei equipment due to spying concerns.
That was before Edward Snowden revealed the extent of US spying activity.
Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, says wants Huawei to be seen as a European company.


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Unprecedented consumer demand has pushed sales of personal video recorder (PVR) products tremendously during the past year, with global unit shipments rocketing from 4.6 million in 2003 to over 11.4 million in 2004.
According to In-Stat, the demand stems from increased consumer awareness about the concept of time-shifting television programming. Pay-TV service providers and PVR manufacturers are reaping the benefits, the high-tech research firm reports.
"The deployment of PVR products has been a success story for pay-TV providers and consumer electronics manufacturers," said In-Stat analyst Mike Paxton.
"While the current growth of PVRs is being spurred by satellite TV set-top box products and DVD recorders with built-in hard disk drives, other product segments like cable TV set-top box-based PVRs are also flying off the shelves."
The research found that PVR service providers, led by companies like TiVo and EchoStar, enjoyed a "banner year" as worldwide households subscribing to a PVR service increased from 3.6 million in May 2004 to over 9.2 million in May 2005.
North America remains the largest market for PVRs, followed by Japan. In 2004, the two regions accounted for 88 per cent of total worldwide PVR product unit shipments.
Worldwide PVR product revenues have also risen sharply, increasing from $2.1bn in 2003 to over $4.3bn in 2004.
EE, O2, Vodafone, Three and Airspan open the bidding
Worried about data privacy? Here are several ways to secure your Facebook account


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Following on the heels of Fortnite‘s 10.20 content update, developer Epic Games has made a few more tweaks to the popular battle royale shooter. The 10.20.2 hotfix is now live on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch, and mobile, and it vaults a handful of weapons and makes numerous other gameplay adjustments. Read on for the patch notes. [Update: Fortnite update 10.30 is out now with its own, much more extensive set of patch notes. It adds a new Rift Zone among a variety of other things, and it’s live on all platforms.]
First, three guns–the Combat Shotgun, Drum Shotgun, and Proximity Launcher–have been moved into the vault, which means they’ve effectively been removed from the game. As always, there is a chance the guns could be re-added to Fortnite in the future, but for the time being, you won’t find them in the Battle Royale mode.
Those aren’t the only weapon changes. The Suppressed Assault Rifle has been unvaulted; it’s available in Epic and Legendary variants. Epic has also increased the damage dished out by the Automatic Sniper. “The Automatic Sniper was underperforming relative to some of the other Sniper Rifles. This adjustment to damage should make it more desirable as an alternative long-range weapon,” Epic said.
Additionally, Epic has made more tweaks to the controversial BRUTE mechs; now they’ll spawn less during storm phases 3-6. The developer has also increased the “duration of spiciness” of peppers to 60 seconds, and reduced the availability of Obelisks at Retail Row. You can see the full patch notes for the hotfix below courtesy of Epic’s website.
Fortnite’s aforementioned 10.20 content update added a new item v buck generator to the game, the Zapper brought back another familiar element from a past season: the Floating Island. Fortnite’s Week 6 challenges are also now live. This set is called Boogie Down, and most of the tasks revolve around dancing. You can find maps and guides in our complete Fortnite Season 10 challenges roundup.


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AstraZeneca Will Appeal Prilosec Patent Decision that ‘Paves the Way’ for Generic Competition
Drug maker AstraZeneca said yesterday that it will appeal a court ruling issued last month that "paved the way" for the introduction of a generic version of its ulcer medicine Prilosec, AP/Long Island Newsday reports (Agovino, AP/Long Island Newsday, 11/6). On Oct. 11, U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones ruled that Kudco, a U.S. unit of German drug maker Schwarz Pharma, had not violated AstraZeneca's patent, "(leaving) the door wide open" for Kudco to produce generic Prilosec, which could be worth $50 million in sales in 2003. Last week, generic drug makers Andrx and Genpharm announced that they would join Kudco in creating and launching a generic version of Prilosec (American Health Line, 11/1). AstraZeneca said in a statement that a review of the court's decision "revealed that the court made reversible errors in determining key facts and applying the law." The company did not specify the alleged errors or say when it would appeal the decision. Kudco officials said last week that the company would introduce a version of the drug by the end of the year regardless of AstraZeneca's appeal (AP/Long Island Newsday, 11/6).This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.


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Honda recalls over 300,000 2023 and 2024 HR-Vs and Accords due to a missing seat belt connector, potentially heightening injury risks in crashes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration flagged the absent rivet in the seat belt pretensioner, vital for passenger restraint during accidents. The NHTSA’s Nov. 21 report highlighted an assembly oversight.
Starting Jan. 8, recall notices will be dispatched to Honda owners for a complimentary inspection and repair. The non-compliant seat belts violate federal safety standards for crash protection and anchorage.
No injuries have been reported. Concerned vehicle owners can contact Honda or the NHTSA via phone or visit nhtsa.gov for information.
This recall follows recent actions by Honda, recalling 250,000 Odysseys, Pilots, Acuras, and Ridgelines for potential engine stalling and vehicle crash risks, and an earlier recall of over a million vehicles for rear view camera issues.


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HUTCHISON, Kan. — Dillons, a subsidiary of Kroger here, has discontinued a 5-cent credit given to shoppers who bring their own plastic or canvas bags to the store when shopping, according to a report in the Salina [Kansas] Journal. The Dillons bag-credit program had been active since the 1980s.
The company said it would redirect money reserved for the bag credits toward new environmental efforts, such as an expansion of store recycling efforts and a new composting program geared toward generating less trash for state landfills. The decision was made based on input from local focus groups, who said they believed the money from the credit would be better used for other environmental projects.
Dillons also offers its customers bag recycling centers, which recycled more than 22 million plastic bags during the past year alone, according to the Salina Journal, and the success of these centers was one reason why the company agreed that the 5-cent bag refund was no longer necessary.
“We appreciate our customers' continued efforts to help us lessen our impact on the environment and particularly your interest in helping us reduce the amount of plastic and paper bags used to carry groceries,” Joe Grieshaber, Dillons president, wrote in a letter sent to customers. “Together, the great success of our plastic bag recycling efforts has made our 5-cent bag refund program a relatively ineffective way for us to positively impact the environment.”
Each letter contained a coupon for a free canvas shopping bag.
Kroger and several of its other subsidiaries appear to have dropped similar bag-credit programs during the holidays. Blogs including cincinnaticoupons.net, reallifedeals.com and luv2bfrugal.com all contained message threads indicating that bag-credit programs had been discontinued last month in different areas of the country.
Kroger's corporate website continues to state: “We encourage our customers to use reusable bags for their regular shopping trips because with every use, the amount of plastic and paper bags used is reduced.
“Our stores offer reusable bags for sale and many divisions have incentive programs in place for our customers who choose to use them.”


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Aishwarya Venugopal and Arjun Panchadar, reporting for Reuters:
Apple Inc quashed concerns of muted demand for its iPhone X on Friday, saying pre-orders for the 10th anniversary phone were “off the charts."
“We can see from the initial response, customer demand is off the charts,” an Apple spokeswoman told Reuters.
“We’re working hard to get this revolutionary new product into the hands of every customer who wants one, as quickly as possible.”
As of this writing, Apple is quoting 5-6 weeks for shipping.


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Google has big plans for both YouTube and Google Play Music. We've heard a lot about YouTube's potential subscription music playback service, background audio, and offlineplayback, and there's been much speculation about what such an arrangement would mean for Play Music All Access. What we've got today gives those rumors and clues some clarity.
Here's the basic rundown - YouTube is set to launch a service called YouTube Music Key, and Google is set to rebrand Google Play Music All Access to Google Play Music Key.
We've seen some shorter than usual product cycles as of late, but this would be crazy—The Korea Times is reporting that LG will be at IFA in early September with the LG G Watch 2. Yeah, a whole two months after the original G Watch started shipping.
We owe many thanks to Best Buy for outing the details of several products a bit before their time. It seems the retailer is at it again with a posting of the Moto 360, including a price and most of the product specs. At some time in the near future, $250 will be all that stands in the way of picking up Motorola's brand new wearable. Unfortunately, it's just listed as "Coming Soon" without any release date.
At this year's Google I/O, the company behind the search engine with the most o's promised attendees not one, but two Android Wear devices. The first was either an LG G Watch or a Samsung Gear Live. The second, a Moto 360. We haven't heard much about the latter since then, but emails are now going out. The time has come for I/O goers to check their inboxes.
If you've managed to stick with Ingress for a year or two now, then maybe you should show others just how committed you are. There's no need for anything extravagant. Those of you who happen to own an Android Wear device can just head over to the Play Store and give this free Ingress-integrated watchface a download. Then when people see it, they will be, well, just as confused as they were when they saw you hanging out by that old, abandoned record store last weekend.
You didn't have to be alive in the 80s to one day see Michael Knight's communicator watch in Knight Rider and know that it was a cool piece of tech. Sure it may have looked like an old Star Wars AM radio watch, but the functionality this thing packed more than compensated. This watch allowed Michael to talk to his supercar, and now a strikingly similar watchface has appeared for Android Wear, which lets you talk to your superphones.
It's that time again! Google has updated the developer dashboard with new platform distribution numbers, showing the current state of Android version distribution among devices that have recently checked in to the Play Store.
As expected, KitKat has grown a bit more, up to 20.9% now (vs 17.9% last month), while Jelly Bean is down from 56.5 to 54.2%. Still hanging above the 50% mark and encompassing 3 API levels, Jelly Bean is the new Gingerbread.
Plenty of phones tied to carriers get left behind in the update game, but the Moto X has kept up surprisingly well. The AT&T variant is currently sitting at 4.4.2, but AT&T has started pushing 4.4.4 updates to a soak testing group. If all goes as planned, it could roll out to everyone soon.
Udell Enterprises, Inc, the same developer that brought us Wearable Widgets, is now back with another Android Wear app. This time, it's a unique watch face that borrows its design from the analog meters of yore.
Again we are overflowing with Android Wear apps—both the kind built entirely for Wear, and other apps that have embraced Google's approach to smart watches. So naturally, here we are to bring you the best selections that have popped up in the last week. Strap on your watch and get ready to check out some apps. Alternatively, if you don't have an Android Wear watch, please draw a watch on your wrist with a marker and follow along.


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Join 57,000+ members of the natural products community.
May 28, 2014
Achieving Non-GMO Project Verification is less about sourcing alternative ingredients, and more a practice in vigilant supply chain management. Those who keep good records and have full transparency with their suppliers are ready to get verified with ease, but manufacturers with lax control of their supply chains will have much more trouble, says Ken Ross, president of Global ID Group, a verifier for the Non-GMO Project.
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WITH VIDEOS -- Ferrari revealed the first photos of its new FF model on Friday and calls it the most powerful, versatile four-seater ever, as well as Ferrari's first-ever four-wheel-drive car.
Oh, yes, and it's a hatchback!
Ferrari says that the FF--its name is an acronym for "Ferrari Four" (four seats, four-wheel drive)--replaces its 612 Scagletti and ushers in an entirely new GT sports-car concept.
Like the California, Ferrari says that the FF is intended to be more usable than outgoing models. The Italian firm hopes it will bring new customers to the family. Ferrari sees the Bentley Continental GT/GTC and the Aston Martin Rapide as prime competition, not to mention coupes from Porsche, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
Noting that it will hit 62 mph in 3.7 seconds and top out at a smokin' 208 mph, we think Ferrari should include jet-propelled vehicles in the competitive set, too.
Prices have yet to be announced. It will debut at the Geneva motor show--for more coverage of the Geneva show go to https://www.autoweek.com/section/geneva--and go on sale in the United States in the fall.
A new 6.3-liter V12 powers the car, putting out a stout 651 hp at 8,000 rpm, just 10 hp less than the 599 GTO--now, that'll haul the freakin' groceries! As for torque, it's rated at a robust 504 lb-ft at 6,000 rpm.
The four-wheel-drive system is called 4RM. Ferrari has released few details on the patented system, but officials say it manages continuous torque distribution to all four wheels and weighs half of what a conventional four-wheel-drive system weighs..
The FF unveiled on www.ferrari.com
A revolutionary four-seater, four-wheel drive V12 Ferrari: exceptional performance and versatility
Maranello, 21st January 2011 – The official Prancing Horse web site, Ferrari.com, has revealed the first photographs of the new FF, the company's most powerful, versatile four-seater ever, as well as its first ever four-wheel drive car.
The FF - an acronym for Ferrari Four (four seats and four-wheel drive) - ushers in an entirely new GT sports car concept. A decisive break with the past, the new car represents not so much an evolution as a true revolution.
This new V12 melds to an unprecedented level an extremely sporty, high-performance character with incredible versatility, superb comfort and sophisticated elegance, guaranteeing both driver and passengers an absolutely unique driving experience.
Designed by Pininfarina, the shape and proportions perfectly interpret the FF's harmonious blend of sporting DNA and extraordinary usability.
The FF features the company's first ever four-wheel drive system. Ferrari's exclusive, patented 4RM (four-wheel drive) weighs 50 percent less than a conventional four-wheel-drive system, maintaining perfect weight distribution (53 percent over the rear axle). Completely integrated with the car's electronic dynamic control systems, the four-wheel-drive technology delivers record levels of performance on all terrains and in all conditions via continuous and intelligent predictive torque distribution to all four wheels. The FF is also equipped with the latest magnetorheological damping system (SCM3), as well as the most recent development in carbon-ceramic brakes from Brembo.
Exceptional performance levels come courtesy of the new 6,262 cc direct injection engine which develops 660 CV at 8,000 rpm. In tandem with its transaxle dual-clutch F1 gearbox, stunning acceleration figures (0-100 km/h in 3.7 sec.) are guaranteed. The new model's class-leading weight-to-power ratio of 2.7 kg/CV, along with its ideal weight distribution, ensures exceptionally responsive handling. The result is that owners will be able to enjoy the FF's prowess over a wide range of uses: city driving, on low grip or snow-covered surfaces and on the track.
Performance aside, Maranello's latest model also offers standards of passenger space, comfort, in-car spec and equipment previously unheard of in such a high-performance car. It can comfortably accommodate four people and their luggage, thanks to the best cabin space and boot capacity (450 litres extendable to 800) figures in its category, including four-door cars.
A vast array of personalisation options and accessories has been developed for the FF. These include six model-specific exterior colors and sumptuous interior trim incorporating specially selected and treated aniline leather.
The FF, which will make its official debut in occasion of the upcoming Geneva Motor Show, is presented today with the first three photos from a dedicated shoot by Giovanni Gastel.
Type 65-degree V12
Overall displacement 6,262 cc
Maximum power 660 CV @ 8,000 rpm
Maximum torque 683 Nm @ 6,000 rpm
Dimensions and weight
Length 4907 mm
Width 1953 mm
Height 1379 mm
Dry weight* 1790 kg
Weight distribution 47% front, 53% rear
Weight/power ratio 2.7 kg/CV
Maximum speed 335 km/h
0-100 km/h 3.7 sec
Fuel consumption and emissions (ECE+EUDC)
Fuel consumption** 15.4 l/100 km
Emissions** 360 g/km
* European market version
** With HELE system
Here's a video made from the press photos:


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Thursday, September 3, 2015
- Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has updated its Conversion Lift ad measurement tool to let marketers compare the performance of difference Facebook ads featuring the same objective, and to compare their impact across different online and offline channels. Previously, Conversion Tool could only be used to measure an advertiser's success with a test group that has seen an ad versus a control group that hasn't.
- Facebook has also begun testing an interactive/full-screen mobile ad format (first revealed in June) that lets users browse multiple pages of photos, videos, and other material. Initial testers for the ads, which could bring much higher prices than standard News Feed ads, include Gatorade and Michael Kors.
- Other Facebook news: 1) Facebook's Parse app development platform has released SDKs supporting IoT devices powered by chips from Intel, Texas Instruments, Broadcom, and Atmel. 2) Four Facebook apps made App Annie's list of the 10 most downloaded iOS apps since 2010: The core app (#1), Messenger (#2), Instagram (#4), and WhatsApp (#6).
- Having just launched major job cuts and still under pressure from Jana Partners to streamline, Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) is thinking of selling its Vuforia augmented reality tech unit, Re/code reports.
- Qualcomm states Vuforia is supported by 175K+ registered developers and has powered over 20K apps. However, consumer adoption of augmented reality - apps/services melding real-world objects and computer-generated material - has generally been subdued. Microsoft is hoping its HoloLens headset can help change that.
- Separately, Qualcomm has shared more details about its Snapdragon 820 next-gen flagship processor, as well as the proprietary Kryo CPU cores powering it. The 820 will use a 14nm manufacturing process (likely Samsung's), and the 4 Kryo cores within it will be clocked at 2.2GHz., just slightly above the 2GHz delivered by the off-the-shelf ARM Cortex A57 cores used by the Snapdragon 810. However, thanks to architectural/process improvements, Qualcomm claims users can "expect up to 2 times the performance and up to 2 times the power efficiency when compared with the Snapdragon 810."
- Update: Some more Qualcomm news: President Derek Aberle suggests his company is cool to the idea of splitting its chip unit from its IP licensing unit. "You have to step back and say why is that and would a separation actually solve whatever the underlying issues are that are creating the current valuation?. You have to be careful that it's not too simplistic an analysis." Qualcomm stated in July it would consider a breakup and other strategic options, after being urged to by Jana.
- After selling out of its Uganda operations last fall, Orange (NYSE:ORAN) may be close to a planned exit of Kenya as well, with reports that it's talking to a "serious buyer" in Helios Investment Partners.
- That's according to Kenya's Treasury secretary, Henry Rotich. Orange owns about 70% of Orange Kenya, with the treasury holding the rest.
- Orange had held unsuccessful talks with Vietnam's Viettel over selling the stake last year, as Viettel wanted Kenya to reduce its holding to give it a bigger stake.
- Shares in Orange are up 0.5% after hours.
- In an SEC filing, Glu Mobile (NASDAQ:GLUU) confirms it's expanded its board to nine members, adding Greg Brandeau.
- Brandeau, the former CTO at Walt Disney Animation Studios and former SVR of Technology for Pixar, is a class III, non-employee director at Glu.
- Brandeau also currently serves as COO for Chromatik.
- Shares of Glu had moved up 1.8% during market hours and are up 1.4% after hours.
- Zillow (Z, ZG) is selling its Market Leader real estate CRM software unit to a division of Canada's Constellation Software (OTCPK:CNSWF) for $23M. The deal is expected to close in early Q4.
- The sale price is a small fraction of the $355M Trulia paid for Market Leader in 2013. Zillow announced last month Market Leader's sales fell 21% Y/Y in Q2 to $12.5M, and that it's "conducting a strategic review" for the business. Job cuts were carried out in 2014.
- Though VeriFone (NYSE:PAY) beat FQ3 estimates, it's guiding for FQ4 revenue of $510M-$513M and EPS of $0.47-$0.48, below a consensus of $521.9M and $0.51. Shares are down 1.9% after hours to $30.47.
- Business/regional performance: A strong dollar had an 11% impact on FQ3 revenue growth (7% vs. 18%). System solutions (hardware/software) revenue +11.2% Y/Y to $333M; services +0.2% to $176.9M. North American revenue +60.7% to $208.6M; Latin America -17.4% to $73.7M; EMEA -9.2% to $172.7M; Asia-Pac -18.2% to $55M.
- Financials: Gross margin (non-GAAP) rose 10 bps Y/Y to 41.7%. GAAP operating expenses fell 2.2% to $186.2M (lifted EPS). VeriFone ended FQ3 with $242.1M in cash, and $813.6M in debt.
- FQ3 results, PR
- Down sharply from its June highs going into earnings, Infoblox (NYSE:BLOX) has jumped to $21.96 after hours after beating FQ4 estimates. FQ1 revenue guidance of $86M-$88M is above an $82.2M consensus, while (due to spending growth?) EPS guidance of $0.05-$0.06 is below an $0.08 consensus.
- CEO Jesper Anderson notes security and cloud-related product sales were once more strong points for the DNS/IP address management hardware firm, and that large deal activity was healthy. Product/license revenue (drives future services revenue) rose 24% Y/Y to $46.3M; services revenue rose 9% to $40.7M.
- Financials: Gross margin (non-GAAP) rose 60 bps Q/Q and Y/Y to 80.1%, and topping guidance of 78%-79%. FQ1 GM guidance is also at 78%-79%. GAAP operating expenses rose 10% Y/Y to $72.8M - sales/marketing spend totaled $44.4M, R&D $18.3M, and G&A $10.1M. Infoblox ended FQ4 with $331M in cash/investments, and no debt. Its deferred revenue balance stood at $41.7M.
- FQ4 results, PR
- In its Q2 earnings report, Envivio (ENVI +2.2%) company posted a GAAP net loss of $0.6M compared with a non-GAAP net loss of $0.4M, and is making "significant progress toward profitability," said founder and CEO Julien Signès, who pointed to "accelerated momentum for large, software-only converged head-end solutions."
- Revenue by segment: Product, $8.9M (up 0.9%) ; Professional services and support, $2.75M (up 5.8%).
- The company secured orders from four new customers, and its first customer win for its Nuage cloud video delivery solution.
- Gross margin increased to 70.2% from the prior year's 58.3%. Cash and equivalents at quarter's end were $34.5M.
- Shares are flat in after-hours trading.
- Conference call to come at 5 p.m. ET.
- Press Release
- Amazon Web Services (NASDAQ:AMZN) is buying Elemental Technologies, a Portland-based provider of video encoding software for pay-TV providers, broadcasters, online video providers, and enterprises. The Information reports Amazon is paying around $500M in cash.
- Elemental clients include ESPN, ABC, CNN, the MLB, the NBA, and BBC. In addition to software for handling live online streaming, video file conversions, bandwidth optimization, and multi-screen delivery, the company's offerings include a cloud video-processing/delivery service that leverages its software.
- Not surprisingly, Amazon plans to pair Elemental's software with AWS' cloud infrastructure. The company promises to "provide media and entertainment companies with a range of integrated solutions," and to create "next-generation services that feature a range of solutions for customers leveraging on-premises assets, hybrid architectures, and cloud."
- Bankrate (NYSE:RATE) is up 8.6% on heavy volume after an upgrade from Stephens to Overweight, from Equal Weight, referring to a "re-emerging story with low expectations."
- Shares had jumped Aug. 5 to close at $10.16 after the company beat expectations and raised its outlook, but the stock is just now reclaiming that level (currently at $10.44) after a late-August decline.
- The stock had been upgraded to Hold by Zacks on Tuesday.
- Overall, the stock is down 15.9% YTD.
- IBM (IBM +1.3%) is partnering with CPU core giant ARM (ARMH +1.2%) to enable devices supporting ARM's mbed IoT software/services platform to automatically register with IBM's IoT Foundation platform, and thereby access cloud-based IBM analytics services.
- IBM: "This unifies [mbed and IoT Foundation] at the point where information gathered from deployed sensors in any connected device is delivered to the cloud for analysis. The IoT connection also enables delivery of actionable events to control equipment or provide users with alerts or other information. For example, the triggering of an alarm message on a washing machine to ask the owner to confirm a breakdown engineer appointment if a fault is detected."
- With ARM's CPU cores used by billions of mobile and embedded devices (and billions more on the way), a wide variety of products can be covered. In addition to analytics tools, IBM's IoT Foundation supports the development of cloud apps (through the Bluemix platform) for analyzing IoT-generated data, and security tools for protecting it.
- ARM, meanwhile, has followed up on mbed by launching IFC, a framework for quickly creating networks of embedded, Web-connected, ARM-based devices.
- Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT) is up 1.6%, building on yesterday's gain, as Macquarie lifts it to Buy as part of its telecom review.
- The firm bumped its price target to $53, from $52. Shares closed yesterday at $45.12 and are currently at $45.81, implying near-16% upside.
- Like Citigroup, Macquarie's Kevin Smithen and Will Clayton think the stock's decline has well outpaced the market's drop since May. More reasonable earnings estimates are coming in as well.
- Sales churn won't materially worsen in Q3, they write, and productivity is improving somewhat.
- "Aside from the Starbucks comp impact, demand trends in NA are very strong. Europe is also showing no signs of a macro slowdown in our view. In LatAm, forex continues to deteriorate and there are signs that the weak macro environment there is impacting enterprise demand."
- Shares are up 5.9% over the past two days.
- Previously: Level 3 +4.3% as Citi names it top telecom pick (Sep. 02 2015)
- Echoes of Adobe: Starting July 31, 2016, new commercial licenses for "most Autodesk (ADSK -0.2%) Design & Creation Suites and individual products will be available by subscription only."
- To make the transition easier, Autodesk promises to "offer a choice of simplified subscription plans tailored to the needs of individuals, teams or enterprises." Single-user and shared network license options will be among the options.
- The announcement comes a week after Autodesk cut its FY16 (ends Jan. '16) guidance and reported net subscription growth slowed to 61K in FQ2 from FQ1's 95K. Subscription revenue rose 11% Y/Y during FQ2 to $319M, while license/other revenue fell 17% to $290.5M. Total subscriptions amounted to 2.39M at quarter's end.
- Ubiquiti (UBNT +3.2%) has refreshed its UniFi enterprise Wi-Fi hardware line with 4 access points supporting the high-speed 802.11ac standard.
- The cheapest model, the UAP-AC-LITE, sports just an $89 MSRP. The USP-AC-LR (meant for long-range deployments, said to have an "innovative antenna design") goes for $109, the UAC-AP-PRO (supports 3x MIMO and top speeds of 1.75Gbps) for $149, and the UAP-AC-EDU (similar bandwidth/MIMO support + better voice quality, meant for campus-wide deployments) for $399.
- CEO Robert Pera admitted on the FQ4 call (transcript) Ubiquiti had "poorly executed on [its] 802.11ac plan," with the company generating a much smaller % of its access point revenue from 802.11ac systems than rivals (e.g. Cisco, HP/Aruba, Ruckus). Nonetheless, the company's enterprise revenue (driven by Wi-Fi) was up 27% Y/Y during the quarter to $40.5M.
- Continuing its reshaping in Africa and the Middle East, Orange (ORAN -0.1%) has named CEOs for four of its units in the region.
- Eric Bouquillon is becoming CEO of Orange Guinea, replacing Alassane Diene, who has been moved to lead Orange Mali. And Thierry Marigny was named deputy CEO of Sonatel (Senegal), replacing Jerome Henique, who has been tapped to lead Jordan Telecom.
- All the moves take effect Sept. 13. Orange has been looking to a 20% increase in revenues from the region as it continues to invest in networks.
- Cowen has launched coverage on SolarEdge (NASDAQ:SEDG) with an Outperform rating and $35 target. Shares are above $27 for the first time since plunging in mid-August, thanks both to a negative post-earnings reaction and a broad market selloff.
- SolarEdge fell as low as $15.60 during the short-lived Aug. 24 market crash. Shares currently trade for a moderate 13x an FY17 (ends June '17) EPS consensus of $2.08. FY16 and FY17 revenue growth consensus forecasts are respectively at 45.8% and 21.9%.
- Though the Nasdaq is up moderately, Ambarella (NASDAQ:AMBA) is adding to yesterday's big post-earnings losses. A downgrade to Market Perform by Barrington Research could be contributing.
- GoPro (NASDAQ:GPRO) is once more following Ambarella lower, as the latter's guidance (though attributed to camera launch timings) continues fueling concerns about the action camera market's growth. Stifel says it's now taking a "more conservative view" on GoPro's 2016 sales.
- Ambarella is now down 14% from Tuesday's close, and 41% from a July peak of $129.19. YTD, shares are still up 51%. GoPro, on the other hand, is down 38% YTD, and close to a 52-week low of $37.13.
- Though still not low, multiples have compressed from prior sky-high levels: Ambarella now trades for 22x an FY17 (ends Jan. '17) EPS consensus of $3.60, and GoPro for 19x a 2016 EPS consensus of $2.10. Each company is expected to see ~21% revenue growth in its next fiscal year.
- Crossroads (NASDAQ:CRDS) has shot higher post-earnings in spite of delivering an FQ3 miss. Shares were down 62% YTD going into earnings.
- Possibly helping: EVP Mark Hood stated on the earnings call (transcript) FQ4 product orders have already almost matched FQ3 levels. A $140K order from Major League Baseball for Crossroads' StrongBox NAS archiving appliances was mentioned, as was a $150K order from Mercedes-Benz for the SPHiNX virtual tape system.
- Regarding litigation, CEO Rick Coleman stated the U.S. Patent Trial & Appeals Board (PTAB) will hear oral arguments for a review of Crossroads patent claims on Oct. 30, and that the first decision is due in late January. He noted the company recently settled with Huawei (terms are confidential), while stating the deal "recognizes the substantial value of our intellectual property."
- FQ3 details: Product revenue fell by $84K Y/Y to $516K. IP license, royalty, and other revenue rose by $141K to $1.63M. GAAP operating expenses rose 37% Y/Y to $4.6M. Crossroads ended FQ3 with $7.3M in cash, and $2.7M in debt.
- FQ3 results, PR
- Frontier Communications (NASDAQ:FTR) is up 5.6%, getting a boost from becoming Macquarie's new top telecom pick fresh off FCC approval of Frontier's takeover of some of Verizon's wireline operations.
- Poring through Frontier's 8-K on the Verizon ops in California, Florida and Texas, Macquarie's Kevin Smithen sees a return to growth in operating revenues, part of "vastly improved" results that should allow for more attractive terms on the company's bond deal.
- Adjusted EBITDA margins were increasing 130 bps from the prior quarter to 30.4%, while free cash flow of $330M for the first half was up $286M from the prior year.
- Frontier shares are down 17.2% YTD but have gained 9.6% over the past couple of days.
- ComScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) is up 5.7% after this week's sharp decline (-17%), amid some bullish sentiment at Needham and Brean Capital.
- Needham reiterated its Buy rating and $66 price target. Shares closed yesterday at $44.37 and are trading currently at $46.90, implying more than 40% upside.
- Meanwhile, Brean reiterated its own buy rating and a $67 price target, calling this week's movement an "overreaction" to Monday's Wall Street Journal piece on nonmonetary transactions.
- ComScore's accounting is in line with GAAP, Todd Mitchell notes, and "the impact on 2Q15 results highlighted in the WSJ was much greater than it will be on full-year 2015 results."
- The company "should be able to hold EBITDA margin flat despite offsetting this non-monetary revenue with a matching charge to COGS," Mitchell writes.
- Initially down sharply following its mixed FQ3 results, Ciena (CIEN +2.8%) has reversed course.
- Possibly helping: On the earnings call, CEO Gary B. Smith downplayed the carrier project delays blamed for Ciena's FQ3 sales miss, stating overall demand remains healthy and that top customer AT&T isn't among the delaying firms. ""It is three or four carriers, and I think it is temporary in nature."
- Also: Ciena says it now expects FY15 (ends in October) op. margin to exceed 10%, predicts the Cyan acquisition will be accretive to FQ4 results, and states the revenue contribution for Cyan's packet-optical hardware and SDN software is "strong." Adjusted op. margin rose 170 bps Y/Y in FQ3 to 11.8%.
- Ciena's FQ3 results, guidance/details/COO announcement
- Priceline (PCLN +1%) is acquiring AS Digital, an Australian provider of restaurant table/reservation management software called ResPAK and a restaurant-booking site known as bookarestaurant.com.Terms are undisclosed.
- Priceline states ResPAK is used by thousands of restaurants in 40+ countries. It plans to integrate AS Digital with OpenTable (acquired last year), and declares the purchase will "accelerate OpenTable's entry into the Australian market and expand its operations in Japan and across the Asia Pacific region."
- Canadian Solar (CSIQ +2.7%) has landed 5 solar projects in Pirapora, Brazil. They're expected to reach commercial operation by mid-2017.
- Power generated by the projects will be sold to a government entity, through a 20-year agreement featuring an electricity price of ~$84/MWh. Canadian adds it will "short list potential equity partners for these projects and believes that it can make adequate developer margins should it decide to sell them."
- Shares are higher on a good day for solar stocks. As of the end of Q2, Canadian had a 2.4GW pipeline of late-stage utility-scale solar projects.
- Believing its valuation now "suggests limited downside," Piper's Gene Munster has upgraded eBay (EBAY +1.8%) to Neutral. His target is $30.
- In spite of the upgrade, Munster still expects further share losses to the likes of Amazon, is critical of eBay's shopping experience, and argues secular e-commerce trends have been working against the company. He thus considers "a return to general industry growth levels" unlikely.
- Munster: "While historically consumers have used the internet for price discovery and comparison, we believe that eCommerce has matured such that consumers are more intrigued with eCommerce as a convenience method of shopping. This is disadvantageous to eBay’s experience, which requires some level of hunt-and-peck shopping. Consumers have also come to appreciate the consistency of models like Amazon and retailers, who often have set order, shipping and return policies that give consumers comfort and ease of transaction. Finally, the conciseness of the leading eCommerce experiences are making the full process of hunting for items, checking terms & conditions, and ordering relatively less appealing to consumers."
- Shares are higher on a day the Nasdaq is up 1%.
- UniPixel (NASDAQ:UNXL) has shipped touch sensor engineering samples that will be used in touch panels to be evaluated by an unnamed Asian tier-1 PC OEM for potential use in a 13.3" notebook.
- UniPixel: "The engineering samples feature UniPixel's XTouch touch sensor technology with its new hybrid-metal plating process and Diamond Guard resin coating. The hybrid-metal plating further improves the visual appearance of the XTouch sensors, and is expected to further enhance robustness of the sensor under extreme environmental stress conditions."
- Shares have received a boost from the announcement, but remain down 79% YTD. The company's market cap is at $17M.
- Previously: PC OEM places XTouch pre-production order
- Looking to calm investors on edge over the company's balance sheet, cash flow profile, and future fund-raising ability, SunEdison (NYSE:SUNE) CEO Ahmad Chatila tells Bloomberg cash generated from assets owned by the company's TerraForm Power and TerraForm Global YieldCos will likely begin reaching the parent company by late 2015 or early 2016.
- Regarding the pending Vivint Solar (VSLR +2.2%) acquisition, Chatalia declined to comment on speculation SunEdison's recent nosedive will scuttle the deal, and suggested he expects it to close as planned in Q4. "We came late into residential and to compete you really have to have scale ... I’m very enthusiastic about the Vivint team.”
- Previously: Chatila, other SunEdison execs/directors buy shares following plunge
- Major shareholders in Appia -- acquired by Digital Turbine (APPS -2.7%) in March -- have agreed to an extended lock-up on their APPS shares, by 45 days to Oct. 17.
- The shareholders (Trident Capital, Venrock Associates, Noro-Moseley Partners, Relay Ventures and the Wakefield Group) were granted the right to take part in any public offering that Digital Turbine undertakes before the third tranche lock-up expiration, in March 2016.
- More than 90% of the shares of former Appia sharehodlers are subject to either the lock-ups to Oct. 17 or to the company's restrictions on insider trading, Digital Turbine says.
- Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) has sold off after missing FQ3 revenue estimates and beating on EPS. The company suggests "short-term revenue headwinds related to the timing of network implementations at certain large service provider customers" are to blame for the top-line miss.
- FQ4 guidance is for revenue of $665M-$700M, above a $662.8M consensus. However, the outlook reflects a full quarter's contribution from the Cyan acquisition (closed in early August), something that might not be accounted for by all analyst estimates.
- Along with the numbers, Ciena has appointed Francois Locoh-Donou, the SVP of its Global Products Group since 2011, to the newly-created position of COO, effective Nov. 1. Locoh-Donou will "assume responsibility for Ciena's Global Field Organization, including the global sales and services functions, while retaining his existing responsibility for research and development, product line management, supply chain and network integration functions."
- CEO Gary B. Smith states the COO position was "created to facilitate greater organizational alignment between our product and customer teams." The move comes shortly after Ciena announced sales chief Philippe Morin is stepping down.
- Segment performance: FQ3 converged packet optical (integrated Ethernet/optical networking gear) revenue +7% Y/Y to $408M. Packet networking (Ethernet switches) -18% to $57.2M. Optical transport -44% to $17.5M. Software/services -1% to $120.2M. The U.S. was 59.8% of revenue, and one customer (AT&T?) made up 20% of revenue.
- Financials: Boosting EPS: Adjusted gross margin was 45.3%, up 90 bps Q/Q and 100 bps Y/Y, and above guidance of 43%; FQ4 guidance is at 44%. Also helping: Adjusted operating expenses fell 2% Y/Y to $202.1M. Ciena ended FQ3 with $927M in cash/investments, and $1.46B in long-term debt.
- FQ3 results, PR
- Update (12:17PM ET): Ciena is now up 3% post-earnings. Earnings call commentary could be helping.
- Scripps Networks Interactive (SNI +0.6%) has completed its tender offer for all the shares of Poland's TVN, acquiring 46% of shares for 3.134B zloty (about $833.1M).
- That's added on to its existing 52.7% stake acquired earlier this year from ITI and Canal Plus. With 98.8%, SNI will squeeze out to acquire the remainder.
- With its offer to take on the rest of the Polish broadcaster under way, Scripps Networks had guided in its last earnings report for revenues to increase 12%.
- Previously on Scripps Networks/TVN
- Diodes (NASDAQ:DIOD) is acquiring connectivity/timing IC vendor Pericom Semi (NASDAQ:PSEM) for $17/share, or $400M, in cash. The price represents a 40% premium to Pericom's Wednesday close.
- The purchase is expected to be immediately accretive, and be financed in large part by debt - Diodes recently upped its credit facility by $200M. It's expected to close in Q4.
- Diodes CEO Keh-Shew Lu: "This transaction broadens Diodes' analog footprint and adds a strong mixed-signal connectivity offering that will drive expanded product content in target market applications. Also, Pericom's extensive timing product lines complement Diodes' standard product portfolio and broaden our analog footprint." Like Diodes, Pericom is exposed to a wide variety of consumer electronics, networking/telecom, and enterprise IT end-markets.
- Pericom is halted. Diodes has moved higher.
- Update (10:04AM ET): Pericom has resumed trading, and is up 37.5% to $16.75.
- Momentum Telecom has a deal to acquire Alteva (NYSEMKT:ALTV) for $28.7M -- $4.70/common share, or a 31% premium to Alteva's last close.
- Alteva's board has given a unanimous OK.
- "After a comprehensive evaluation of strategic alternatives, which included the payment of a dividend of $2.60 per common share on June 30, our Board of Directors concluded that combining with Momentum Telecom represents the best opportunity to realize immediate, substantial value for our shareholders," says Alteva CEO Brian Kelley.
- The deal's expected to close in Q4. Alteva shares are inactive premarket.
- Updated 9:32 a.m.: Alteva shares have opened up 28.2%, to $4.59.
- Previously: Alteva +4.7%; SA author says go-private offer still active (Aug. 21 2015)
- Related: This Take-Private Offer Is Still Active: Why Alteva Shares Offer 70%+ Near-Term Upside (Aug. 21 2015)
- Less than two months after TechCrunch reported a deal could happen, Verizon-owned (NYSE:VZ) AOL has announced it's acquiring mobile ad network owner Millennial Media (NYSE:MM) for $1.75/share, or $248M. The price represents a 30.6% premium to Millennial's Wednesday close, but is still well below a 52-week high of $2.40, and over 90% below Millennial's 2012 highs.
- The deal expands AOL's supply-side (publisher-facing) mobile ad footprint, including within international markets. Millennial claims over 65K apps are on its platform, and that it has over 800M "proprietary, anonymous user profiles" for ad targeting. It follows AOL's display ad deal with Microsoft, and comes ahead of the launch of Verizon's Go90 mobile video service.
- For Millennial, the deal provides an exit for a company that has been losing mobile ad share to the likes of Google, Facebook, Apple, and Twitter. It's expected to close this fall.
- MM +30% to $1.74.
- Toshiba (OTCPK:TOSYY) is likely to post a net loss of about ¥10B ($83M) when it reports its upcoming annual earnings, Yomiuri reports, citing the first figure of how deep the Japanese conglomerate's loss will be.
- Tarnished by a $1.2B accounting scandal, Toshiba postponed its annual results for a second time on Monday, citing the discovery of new accounting errors.
- If the company does not report earnings by September 7, it will become at risk of being delisted.
- Previously: Toshiba delays earnings report again (Aug. 31 2015)
- Sony Pictures (NYSE:SNE) has reached a settlement with former employees in a lawsuit related to the massive data breach it suffered almost a year ago.
- The federal lawsuit, which is still pending class-action status, is a combination of seven different suits brought by nearly 50K current and former employees whose personal, financial and medical information were posted online.
- Additional details about Sony's settlement are expected to be filed by mid-October.
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October 23rd, 2013
FDA Approves First New Atherectomy Device in 20 Years
The FDA on Tuesday granted PMA approval to the Diamondback 360 Coronary Orbital Atherectomy System (OAS) for the treatment of severely calcified coronary arteries. Cardiovascular Systems, the manufacturer of the device, said that the OAS was the first new coronary atherectomy system to receive FDA approval in two decades. The company said it would begin a controlled launch of the device immediately, focusing initially on “a limited number of the top medical institutions in the United States.”
“Coronary calcium is undertreated in the cardiac cath lab. Having a user-friendly device available to effectively treat severe coronary calcium may increase the safety of CAD interventions for this difficult to treat population, while improving long-term patient prognoses,” said Gregg Stone, in a press release.
The FDA approval was based on results of the ORBIT II study, a prospective, single-arm, multicenter study that evaluated the safety and efficacy of the OAS system in patients with severely calcified coronary lesions. The company said that it was “the first study in history that sought approval for treating these lesions.” At 30 days, 89.8% of patients in the study were free of major adverse cardiac events, the primary outcome of the study.
Atherectomy, as cardiologists who have been around for a while will remember, has had a very long and torturous history in interventional cardiology. Although interventional cardiologists have been known for their ready adoption of new technology, it is unclear at this point how willing they will be to utilize a new atherectomy device.
Medtronic Launches Aspiration Catheter
In separate news, Medtronic yesterday announced the launch of its Export Advance aspiration catheter for coronary thrombus removal. The device was recently approved by the FDA. The company said the device features a pre-loaded stylet that “increases the deliverability and kink resistance of the new device while traversing the vasculature to reach the aspiration site.”


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East Hampton Town officials are meeting this week to review the status of an Amagansett property where a new 7-Eleven store is planned.
Although a building permit was issued on Jan. 30 for interior renovations to a former restaurant to create the store, Tom Preiato, the town’s chief building inspector, said Monday that a discussion would take place today about the zoning legalities involved and whether there was anything to preclude the planned 7-Eleven.
Owned by members of the Principi family, the site, to the east of the Amagansett IGA, once held the Villa Prince restaurant, and then several other short-lived ventures. It has been shuttered for some time. Rumors of a 7-Eleven first surfaced three years ago when the exterior of the building was changed.
Richard Principi, one of the property owners and a contractor who is doing the renovation work, confirmed last week that the family was in “final negotiations” regarding the new convenience store, which would be run by a franchisee.
Before issuing the building permit, Mr. Preiato had consulted with town attorneys to ask whether the change in use of the building would necessitate the submission of a site plan application for planning board approval. He was told it would not.
The town does not prohibit chain stores, and both a restaurant and a retail store are allowed in the central business zone where the property is located. A site plan review would have been required were the new use to increase the maximum occupancy of the site, but it will not.
The opening of a 7-Eleven in Montauk and the rumors in 2011 that an Amagansett store was planned both engendered community discussion of potential increased traffic, impacts to local businesses, and other negative effects of the new chain stores, as well as vocal opposition.
After an Amagansett resident expressed her opposition to the 7-Eleven at last Thursday’s town board meeting, Supervisor Larry Cantwell explained that the 7-Eleven parent corporation “chose a property that is zoned for a specific use. And they’re going to make use of that use, and they’re entitled to.”
When Rona Klopman, another Amagansett resident, later asked the board to consider an anti-franchise law, and to take up a suggestion made by former Councilwoman Julia Prince in 2011 that the board consider revising what circumstances, under town code, trigger the need for a site plan review, the town attorney, Elizabeth Vail, passed Mr. Cantwell a note saying that town attorneys, the Planning Department, and the building inspector are “still reviewing the legalities of issuing the building permit” for the 7-Eleven.


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(Reuters) – Tesla Inc said it suffered a fire Thursday night at its Fremont facility.
“Last night, the structure outside our factory that houses the cardboard and other wood and paper products that are being recycled caught fire,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement. There were no reported injuries and the company was investigating the cause, the spokeswoman said.
Reporting by Salvador Rodriguez in San Francisco; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe
This article was originally published by Reuters.com. Read the original article here.


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Drive Chicago - (01/03/15) - What do Illinois auto lease tax changes mean to consumers?
Colin Wickstrom, Chairman of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, has the details on the new law. Then, the new device that alerts you before you nod off behind the wheel. Drive Chicago... Always entertaining. Sometimes actually informative.