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Author Archive: Bob Golfen
Bob Golfen is a longtime automotive writer and editor, focusing on new vehicles, collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle.
He is the former automotive writer and editor for The Arizona Republic and SPEED.com, the website for the SPEED motorsports channel. He has written free-lance articles for a number of publications, including Autoweek, The New York Times and Barrett-Jackson auction catalogs.
A collector car enthusiast with a wide range of knowledge about the old cars that we all love and desire, Bob enjoys tinkering with archaic machinery. His current obsession is a 1962 Porsche 356 Super coupe.
The Ford GT40 that won the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans and led a stunning 1-2-3 sweep by the automaker’s cars in the classic endurance race, is arguably the most-significant American race car of all time. With a team led by the legendary Carroll Shelby, the newly developed GT40s not only accomplished the goal […]
After witnessing all those high-end collector cars selling for nosebleed prices during Arizona auction week, I thought I would come back to earth with a clean-looking piece of classic America muscle that won’t cost more than your house. Or the entire neighborhood, for that matter. So the Pick of the Week goes to this attractive […]
While million-dollar-plus collector cars are seen relatively frequently these days, the very idea of a million-dollar motorcycle still seems far-fetched. But Dana Mecum, head of Mecum Auctions, believes he might have a potential seven-figure motorcycle coming over the block Saturday at Kissimmee, Florida. The bike is a 1959 Harley-Davidson FLH with just over 2,000 miles […]
The Simeone Automotive Museum will feature its latest acquisition, a 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport Coupe, during the Philadelphia collection’s next Demo Day, which takes place Saturday and will showcase significant European competition rally cars. The public event – called “Rally!” – starts at noon and includes four of the greatest examples of vintage race […]
Infiniti’s Q60 has been with us for quite awhile, back even before the Nissan luxury brand decided a couple of years ago to preface the names of all its cars and SUVs with the letter Q. Though it’s never been entirely clear to me what Q has to do with Infiniti, that’s how the marketing […]
I walked into the Gooding & Company auction in Scottsdale last Saturday just in time to witness a 1966 Porsche 912 being hammered sold for $75,000. No, not a proper six-cylinder 911 but a mild-mannered four-cylinder 912. With auction fee, the sale price was $82,500. I don’t mean to be disparaging, but this seems like […]
Rare British motorcycles led the pack as Bonhams’ fifth annual Las Vegas bike auction reached $4.47 million recently at Bally’s Hotel & Casino, while an antique Harley scored because of its Steve McQueen connection. Two world records were set by Vincent motorcycles: a 1950 Vincent Series C White Shadow, one of just 15 produced, sold […]
Another sign of the generational shift in collector cars: The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance has announced that the once-humble Porsche 914 will be among the honored marques in March. Of course, this is the prestigious Amelia Island Concours, so you won’t see your neighbor’s 914 driver sitting on the lawn among the classic car finery. […]
With the massive crowd at Barrett-Jackson on their feet, many of them waving tiny American flags, and an honor guard of military veterans on stage, the huge Futurliner crept slowly up the ramp toward the auctioneers like some behemoth from a science-fiction movie. The 1950 General Motors Futurliner tour bus, a brawny piece of modern sculpture […]
Rising values, worth vs. drivability, and the fact that high-value collector cars are too-often seen today as precious commodities rather than classic automobiles meant to be enjoyed – these were the overarching themes of Thursday’s second annual Sports Car Market Scottsdale Insider’s Seminar. “As you heard, we are all slightly saddened that collector cars are […]


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Nearly 100,000 members of eBay’s Main Street program from all over the country reached out to their elected officials in 2022 to lobby on issues related to ecommerce, according to the company.
eBay sent a letter to members of the program on Thursday thanking them for participating in its grassroots campaigns. The company said members across all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico sent over 280,000 letters, phone calls and tweets to legislators. “Time and time again, it’s been proven that elected officials listen to their constituents,” eBay said.
eBay worked to get buyers and sellers to reach out to legislators on issues at both the state and federal levels, including the INFORM Consumers Act, SHOP SAFE Act, and what it called the “unfortunate lowering of the 1099-K tax reporting threshold.”
In the fall, eBay posted a video explaining the program and encouraging people to join. It said eBay Main Street was a key component of its Global advocacy work – members care about how public policy impacts their ability to sell and buy online, it explained.
eBay also has a Small Business Ambassador Network (SBAN) whose members it flies to Washington DC to meet with their legislators to discuss issues, such as the trip in May to lobby on the consequences of the Shop Safe Act on “eBay Advocacy Day.”
In its December 29th letter, eBay’s Government Relations team told members of the Main Street program, “Together, we helped protect all eBay users from unreasonable ecommerce laws and regulations. This was only possible with your enthusiastic support. Thank you again and we look forward to working with you in 2023!”

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A new port navigation system consisting of 12 off-shore buoys and two land-based range markers, will allow for night time operations at the Liberian port for the first time in three decades, APM Terminals said in a statement.
The agriculture shipper advocate praised container weighing methods recently outlined by the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association and G6 Alliance carriers, saying terminals nationwide should adopt similar methods.
The Port of Oakland commissioners have unanimously awarded Executive Director Chris Lytle a new three-year contract, keeping him on board through July 2019.
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The S.C. Ports Authority has spelled out how it will use on-terminal scales to help shippers comply with new SOLAS rules for declaring the accurate weight of containers to their ocean carrier.
An American Shipper report released Tuesday found that nearly three-quarters of shippers and forwarders believe they will have containers held when the new verified gross mass mandate kicks in July 1.
The 12,500-TEU containership MSC Fabiola was successfully refloated early Saturday morning, allowing vessel traffic in the important cargo gateway to resume as normal, according to a customer advisory from shipping agency GAC.


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Steve Perlman, CEO of a company called OnLive that's readying an on-demand video game service, cringes whenever Google's gmail or other high profile Web services conk out. After all, his company's bold plan is to offer streamed access to a slew of br...
Servers & Storage
A storage company emerged from stealth mode this week with software designed to efficiently manage the file serving needs of Internet applications such as social networks, online ad serving and software-as-a-service.
The amount of storage needed for increasing amounts of data will rise ten-fold in the next five years, yet only one in three users are actively backing up their files, data from a recent Western Digital study revealed recently.
Seagate Technology has announced it is shipping its Seagate self-encrypting drive (SED) across its portfolio of enterprise-class hard drives.
Zoho has added a discussion forum application to its Web-hosted software suite, the company announced Tuesday.
Two technologies currently under research by IBM may hold the key to being able to process and store the Exabyte (one thousand million Gb) of data expected to flow per day from the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope project.
A start-up company founded by former Microsoft and Amazon engineers is launching a distributed cloud storage service that uses the spare disk drive capacity in the back offices of small and medium-size businesses to create a collective pool of storag...
Seagate Technology LLC today started shipping a 6Gbit/sec serial ATA hard disk drive, which doubles the throughput of its previous high-end SATA drive.
A new SATA interface to be introduced Monday at the Intel Developer Forum will provide a standard for solid-state storage vendors to use when building components for netbooks and laptops.
Despite the first ever USB 3.0 motherboard being delayed, the authors of a recent report think that our wait for Superspeed USB may be nearing an end.
HP has announced it will offer 60GB and 120GB solid-state disk (SSD) drives as an option across the full range of HP ProLiant G6 servers, as well as in select ProLiant G5 servers.
A few months ago I reviewed Pogoplug, a gizmo that lets you connect USB drives directly to the Internet for access from anywhere. I said the best thing about it was the slick, simple service that let you get to your files from any browser. Seagate se...
Addressing complaints about slow Windows startup times, Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to introduce a new business desktop PC that comes with a solid-state disk drive (SSD) to speed up Windows 7 and other applications.
Pillar Data Systems Inc. said this week that it's replacing Intel's X25-E solid state disk (SSD) drive as an option for its storage arrays with a drive from STEC Inc. because of firmware problems with the Intel's drive that lead to performance slowdo...
Google will offer cloud-computing services designed specifically for U.S. government agencies starting next year, the company announced Tuesday at NASA Aims Research Center.
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A 10-second preview of a [article id="1678444"]Super Bowl ad[/article] took the internet by storm on Thursday. The clip featured actor Matthew Broderick throwing open the curtains of a window, looking into the camera and asking, "How can I handle work on a day like today?"
That's before the classic "bow-bow-chicka-chicka" from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" plays, ending the preview with just the date of the Super Bowl left to tease us.
It seems clear that Broderick reprises the role of Ferris Bueller, but the preview told us nothing else. The YouTube video listed no company and didn't suggest the product that the ad would ultimately feature.
MTV News reached out to both Broderick and one of the producers of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," Tom Jacobson, for comment, but neither responded to our requests.
Then Friday (January 27), the automotive blog Jalopnik reported that a source "familiar with Honda's operations" revealed that Ferris will appear in a commercial for the car company during the Super Bowl. "The source also added that the spot was going to mimic much of the original film, except this time prominently featuring Hondas," Jalopnik reported. "The big jump the two valets do in Cameron's dad's Ferrari? We hear this time it's going to be a Honda CR-V."
Jalopnik's source also said Honda apparently put a lot of money behind the ad, even going as far as to hire "The Hangover" director Todd Phillips to create the spot.
Although the Honda story sounds likely, we will have to wait until February 5 to find out exactly what Ferris has been up to.


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Ms Rowland said retail providers’ capacity on NBN connections appeared to be adequate at the moment but a further surge could force telcos to absorb greater costs or suffer speed congestion.
“Labor considers these unique circumstances do lend themselves towards NBN Co providing retail providers with temporary and targeted capacity relief should these circumstances arise over the COVID-19 period,” she said.
Internet providers Optus and Vocus backed the idea of CVC relief, emphasising the importance of protecting online connectivity for the economy.
“As we manage deepening challenges from COVID-19, our industry is critical in helping families, friends and colleagues stay connected and business maintaining continuity,” said Andrew Sheridan, Optus’ vice-president of regulatory and public affairs.
“We need to work collaboratively as an industry and look at all options to identify ways to maintain connectivity and improve customer experience during this crisis.”
A spokeswoman for Vocus said resilient telecommunications infrastructure was essential.
“Vocus would welcome capacity relief to help the millions of Australians who will be impacted and juggling working and schooling from home. This is a fluid situation and we and the industry will need to adapt how we operate as it evolves,” the spokeswoman said.
CVC pricing has been a consistent source of tension between NBN Co and telcos. Internet providers have viewed the CVC charge as too expensive and a barrier to them buying adequate bandwidth for their products.
NBN Co said it was expecting a surge in residential demand and engineers were working to strengthen the network.
“These are unprecedented times and we are already seeing a steady increase in demand on the NBN, and this is set to continue,” NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue said in a statement. “In terms of the expected requests for additional CVC capacity, we will work with the industry to find the best solution. Clearly we all need to play our part.”
Mr Rue said the company was working with retailers and had the complete support of the government to do “everything possible” to confront the challenge.
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher hosted a teleconference with telecommunications industry representatives on Monday. Internet and phone network operators, equipment manufacturers and NBN Co all participated.
Data-hungry streaming services and video-conferencing are expected to drive internet traffic. Monday’s second-most-searched coronavirus-related term on Google was Zoom internet conferencing services.
Ampalavanapillai Nirmalathas, from the University of Melbourne’s department of electrical and electronic engineering, said internet service providers generally assumed their customers would be online at different times of day. That means that for every 100 customers, for example, they might have only enough capacity for 20 homes.
“But once a few people are staying home, they might want to listen to music because there’s nobody else about to bother … or they might from time to time go and access in their breaks streaming content. That’s when it changes in a big way,” Professor Nirmalathas said.
NBN Co’s chief customer officer, Brad Whitcomb, said most home internet plans had sufficient download speeds but working from home might require greater upload speeds to handle large files and video-conferencing.
“Speak with your internet retailer to make sure your plan has the upload speeds you need to work from home,” he said.
Fergus Hunter is an education and communications reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Zoe Samios is a media and telecommunications reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Rachel is a breaking news reporter for The Age.


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Tag: Quality Meat Scotland
QUALITY Meat Scotland (QMS) has launched a new marketing campaign with health and wellbeing at its heart.
QMS campaign aimed at young adults
A £500,000 campaign to promote Scottish beef has been launched by Quality Meat Scotland .
An Edinburgh butcher has been named ‘Scotch Lamb Butcher of the Year’ by a panel of experts in a competition run by Quality Meat Scotland
SCOTTISH lamb should be on every shopping list. That’s the message from Quality Meat Scotland’s new campaign, launched last month by champion curler Eve...
TWO Perthshire farming families dedicated to producing top quality cattle – the McGowans of Incheoch Farms in Glenisla and the Flemings of Aberbothrie farms...


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We are celebrating!
The St Andrew’s Hospice Donation Centre has celebrated its second birthday.
The charity took over the vacant Blockbuster building on Lock Hill roundabout to offer a new way of shopping for customers: the hospice’s first ever combined donation centre for unwanted goods and homeware store.
Since officially opening its doors in the spring of 2015, it has taken more than £405,000 for St Andrew’s, which costs £1.4-million a year to run and looks after both adults and children with progressive life-limiting illnesses. The hospice’s retail portfolio now has 14 shops around the region, with another currently being fitted out, and two tea bars.
Mike Ibbett (pictured), who manages the Donation Centre, said: “When it opened, it was an exciting project for the hospice and we continue to be delighted to be offering customers somewhere to shop in Grimsby town centre.
“The hospice has played an important role in Grimsby and the wider area since it first opened in the 1980s; we really are committed to being at the heart of the community.
“It’s been great to see the Donation Centre’s customer base build over the last two years. We have regulars who pay a visit several times a week, and it’s always good to see new faces too. People say they enjoy it because it’s not only a place to shop for high quality goods, but also convenient and easy to drop off their donations.”
The large building had stood empty since December 2013, when national movie and games rental company Blockbuster went bankrupt.
“The building is in great shape now and it’s pleasing that the community continue to support what we’re doing,” added Mike.
“Every single donation really does make a difference to the free care the hospice provides to people with life-limiting illnesses. We are an entirely local charity and rely on the support of the people of North East Lincolnshire to continue our work.
“Stock will be changing constantly, so a visit to the Donation Centre is always guaranteed to be interesting.”
The next venture for the charity is the opening of a new shop in Cleethorpes. Work is currently underway to fit it out.
The Donation Centre opens Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm, and Sundays 10am to 4pm. A collection service is available for your unwanted goods and furniture by calling 01472 241972. If you are interested in volunteering, please call the same phone number. There is a current volunteering vacancy for a driver’s mate.


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The best way to learn about the nitty-gritty of the haulage business would be to go down to Italy on a truck, my boss decided. That’s why, as a young reporter, I found myself in the passenger seat of a Volvo Globetrotter heading for Rome with a groupage load.
The only problem, warned driver Bob, was the risk of hijacking – particularly prevalent in southern Italy in those days.
“What do you do if that happens?” I asked.
He reached under his seat and pulled out the biggest machete I’d ever seen. “This…” he said.
The image of heroic drivers fighting off hijackers came back to me when I was reading the TT Club’s annual cargo theft report for 2018.
It turns out that hijacking is only the second most common type of theft, accounting for 18 per cent of incidents globally. In fact, the most common is slash-and-grab at 27 per cent. And lorries are by far the most common target – 84 per cent of all theft are from lorries, compared to 13 per cent from facilities and only one per cent from rail.
The most common commodities stolen are food, drink and tobacco at 30 per cent. Consumer products come second at 13 per cent.
The report, produced in partnership with BSI Supply Chain Services and Solutions, takes a global view of trends in cargo theft.
In Europe for instance, it points out that lack of secure parking for trucks is a major driver of cargo theft. And it highlights the fact that drivers’ hours rules can force drivers to park up at insecure locations. Thieves primarily relied on the slash-and-grab tactic, which accounted for nearly 50 per cent of incidents.
In Asia, theft from facilities was the most common type at 43 per cent of all thefts. Hijacking was second at 19 per cent. In North America, hijacking was the most common type of theft at 37 per cent, while in South America it accounted for 52 per cent of all cargo thefts.
Not surprisingly the report includes some advice on minimising risk and it highlights the insider threat. TT Club’s Mike Yarwood says: “Criminal organisations are increasingly recruiting employees of targeted companies to gain data, cargo information, delivery routes and destinations and access to IT systems. Due diligence in recruiting and managing staff is paramount. In general full or part-time salaried staff are less of a security risk than sub-contractors.”
In recent times, it has been the potential disruption due to Brexit, or protectionist trade policies, that has tended to dominate discussion of supply chain risk. So this report is timely as a reminder that cargo theft is still a massive problem and should not be forgotten.


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While Microsoft (MSFT 6.16%) and Sony (SONY 1.02%) have had early success with their new game consoles, rival Nintendo (NasdaqOTH: NTDOY) has struggled to find customers for its Wii U. Those struggles, coupled with the fact that the company's last hit -- the Wii -- did not lead to high levels of revenue-generating game sales, has left the company needing to power up.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata summed up the brand's struggles in a presentation to shareholders on Jan. 30. "As a platform in its second year, Wii U is currently in a very difficult position…. Obviously, under the current situation where the company has to report an operating loss, simply executing a price reduction as a way to defuse the situation is not an option."
"The whole point of a hardware play is to sell software," independent videogame analyst Billy Pidgeon told Fortune. "Nintendo does make money on the hardware while others don't, but in the end that is really inconsequential."
How bad is it?
Engadget reported that in all of 2013, Nintendo sold 2.8 million Wii Us, bringing the total unit sales for the console to 5.86 million since its November 2012 launch. That's particularly dreadful because in the couple of months its rivals' consoles were on the market, Sony sold 4.2 million PS4s and Microsoft sold 3 million Xbox Ones. Given that the original Wii was a runaway success that has sold 100 million units, these numbers are very troubling for Nintendo.
Piers Harding-Rolls, director of games research at IHS Technology, told Fortune that while Nintendo has acknowledged the poor position the Wii U is in, the company has done little to suggest that it can fix the problem quickly. Instead of lowering the price for the console, Harding-Rolls said, Nintendo plans to put an increased marketing focus on the Wii U's GamePad.
"These improvements are welcome for a platform struggling in the market, but appear 'bitty' or piecemeal and less than comprehensive," Harding-Rolls said. "There was no mention of significant further investment in marketing to actually tell consumers what the Wii U is, and to make it clear it is different to the Wii."
3DS is a bright spot
Worldwide hardware sales of Nintendo's handheld 3DS have reached 42.74 million units, according to the company. Nintendo has dominated this space, with only Sony offering any real challenge with its original PSP. The successor to that model, the PS Vita, has struggling to gain an audience.
"Being open and honest, I think we would have hoped for higher sales," PlayStation UK Managing Director Fergal Gara told VG247.com. "The market Vita entered was more complicated than it was when the console was originally thought about and designed. Games on tablets and phones have changed the marketplace and people can't carry too many things around at one time."
Though Nintendo's boss remains upbeat about 3DS sales and its prospects, that device faces all the same challenges as Sony's. The 3DS may even be more vulnerable as it's largely aimed at younger players and parents may opt for a tablet -- which has more educational uses -- over a dedicated gaming device.
"The fact remains that Nintendo 3DS was the top-selling game device around the world last year," Iwata said during the presentation. He added that independent market research company NPD reported that in the last calendar year, Nintendo 3DS became the game device with the highest share in the U.S. market with lifetime hardware unit sales exceeding 11.5 million units.
Can it be fixed?
Nintendo's bosses are not expecting a quick turnaround. The company has dramatically cut its revenue forecast for 2014, which Iwata explained in a press conference.
"We revised our full-year consolidated financial forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, that we announced at the beginning of the fiscal year by estimating new net sales of 590 billion yen against the initially projected net sales of 920 billion yen, new operating loss of 35 billion yen against the initially projected operating profit of 100 billion yen." (100 yen equals around $1.)
Moving from projecting a profit to projecting a loss is not good news for Nintendo, but it shows that the company understands the depth of the challenge it faces. Wii U faces a tough battle to win market share -- it's not as cool as the Xbox One or the PS4 and not nearly as revolutionary as the first Wii was. Still, Nintendo still has a powerful brand and franchises like Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda maintain major fan bases.
Perhaps the future of Nintendo lies in bringing these characters to other devices?
Harding-Rolls told Fortune that this could lead to short-term revenue growth as Mario and friends move to mobile devices and tablets. But, he added, it appears that the company has already opted to stick to its core strategy.
If that's the case and Nintendo's bosses stick stubbornly with a failing console as the main delivery device for the company's games, soon there may not be anyone left to rescue the princess.


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The forum on non-sectarian politics at the book launch
A last-minute letter from Gerakan politician Chia Loong Thye’s lawyers failed to stop the launch of a controversial new book on Gerakan by authors Neil Khor and Khoo Kay Peng at the E & O Hotel.
The letter was sent to the authors during the book launch at the hotel. Issued by the legal firm Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill, it put the authors on notice that Chia would “claim for any aggravated damages that will arise from the launch of the book….”
The book “Non-sectarian politics in Malaysia: The case of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia” had already ruffled the feathers of certain quarters within Gerakan even before the launch.
High Court Judge Abdul Wahab Patail had earlier today denied Chia’s application for an injunction to stop the launch and sale of the book.
The book launch – along with a forum promoting non-sectarian politics – proceeded without a hitch in front of a packed hall at the hotel. Among the crowd of about 150 were Gerakan politicians, Penang civil society activists and even “old boys” of St Xavier’s Institution, the authors’ alma mater. The media showed up in full force. All quite extraordinary for the launch of a book in Penang.
Among the speakers at the forum were Gerakan stalwart Toh Kin Woon and veteran activist Anwar Fazal who spoke about the importance of adopting a non-sectarian, universal approach to politics and public life to counter communal trends.
The books put up on sale outside the hall flew like hot cakes and there wasn’t a single copy left.
The initial print run is 2,000 copies. An additional run of 2,000 copies is expected soon.


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It looks like it may incorporate the Archie comics
Remember that amazing Mega Man Board Game that was revealed a short while back? Now it has an official Facebook page, promising updates and info very soon. While we don’t know a whole lot right now, due to the first Facebook update, it looks like the Archie comics may be an inspiration, or the main art style focus.
It seems like everyone other than Capcom is ready to honor the Blue Bomber’s legacy these days. Collectors, ready your credit cards!


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When an industry lays off 100,000 or more people, you usually think it’s in big trouble. It’s probably not the best profession to pursue. If you are already employed, you may want to consider changing jobs.
At the very least, it will measure the depth of your passion for your work given the harsh realities of your field. Many tech workers certainly have time for that now. His 10% of the workforce here, 13% there. 18000 disappeared on Amazon. 12,000 people on Google. 11000 in meta. 10,000 at Microsoft. Is this really worth it? Do you love what you do enough to repeatedly face unemployment if necessary? (As a journalist, I can tell you these are very good questions!)
But more than 150,000 people have been laid off in the tech industry in the past six months, prompting headlines about the “new economic reality” and saying, “Tech workers have been choosing jobs for years. Those days are over.” ”, and there should be few workers who are currently spending the dark night of the soul.
As you might imagine from the pink slip-colored blood the tech giants have been bleeding over the past two months, the reality is that tech jobs are still plentiful, well-paid, and generally among the best. is part of the work of Technology and computer science continue to be the single best choice to study for college students looking for income potential and plenty of options.
It wasn’t the tech bubble that burst, it was the arrogance of big companies. Companies that quietly reveled when the pandemic required global reliance on their products have been forced to consider the fact that there is a price to pay for aggressively expanding amid global tragedy. Gone. Logically, when the tragedy starts to wane, or when people decide it’s over, or define this oddity of the pandemic, business goes down with it.
In retrospect, the term “pandemic darling” is a term attached to companies that have prospered as America retreats indoors, a moniker that’s clearly cursed. This represents a weakness inherent in the business model. So the consumer didn’t choose you, they had to take advantage of you.
The leaders of these companies have admitted their mistakes. They thought the pandemic would reshape the world and it would continue. Alphabet CEO Sundar in his Pichai memo announcing his 12,000 layoffs clearly states: To keep pace with that growth, we have adapted for economic realities that differ from those we are currently facing. ”
What Pichai doesn’t do is explain what that mistake really means or why it happened. Doing so leads to admitting deeper failures.
What none of these leaders say is that in the “last two years,” technology companies have realized they can make incredible amounts of money. At a time when everyone is afraid to leave their homes, it makes sense that the largest consumer retail delivery business would suddenly be $100 billion (a nearly 40% increase) over the previous year. If everyone’s life is literally trapped online, it makes sense that Google and Meta, both of which rely on online advertising, will see his 40% revenue growth in 2021.
But as the highly respected leaders of Google and Amazon, shouldn’t we understand that the pandemic situation is literally unprecedented? Adding 50,000 employees in less than a year so shouldn’t it be paused?
If you’re wondering why these companies didn’t ask these questions a year ago, you don’t understand the spirit behind their thinking. The Black Swan event for global health is an opportunity they can seize. Amazon’s head of retail, Doug Herrington, acknowledged essentially the same thing in a January employee memo. In Silicon Valley management, this was perfectly logical. If you truly believe in your own business, and in moments of global terror everyone turns to you with gratitude, then it’s simply validating your company’s premise. I caught up with your genius.
In October 2021, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella really felt the moment. “All the disruption and suffering that the pandemic has wreaked on our lives and communities has also become a catalyst for an unprecedented digital transformation. and create significant new opportunities for our customers and Microsoft,” he wrote in our annual shareholder letter. “This moment was made for Microsoft.”
What Nadella and his peers hadn’t asked in the moment was whether rising ad spending and massive growth in cloud adoption were signs to worry about. followed by capital flowing into the economy, prolonging an era of bottom-line interest rates and creating cheap debt that could easily be swallowed in the name of growth. (Now that interest rates are higher, you can’t find cheap cash anymore.)
And if you’re making all these assumptions, you’re also going to adopt them all. Because more adoption means you’re taking advantage of the moment. This is a way to tell the world, and more importantly, investors who continue to push your stock to new heights, that you believe this is not temporary.
If leaders were really paying attention, one company’s arc foreshadowed the current problem: Netflix. It experienced a surge and broke past growth records. Unlike other companies, its leaders were quick to warn investors that this growth would likely be reflected by a decline. And they were right. The company hadn’t yet realized just how bad the fall would be. When In addition to the layoffs, they cracked down on password sharing, but at least they were well aware that subscriber growth wouldn’t last forever. If not, of course I was going to sign up. Everything was a hostage situation.
It’s not that the technology itself is completely unpopular, structural and unimportant. We live in what is defined as the Internet age. A global tragedy has left everyone hostage to these particular corporations, whose vaunted history makes false assumptions about the future. workers are paying the price.
Compare Nadella’s previous confidence with his memo last week announcing 10,000 layoffs. “Each of us, and every team across the company, must raise the bar and outperform the competition,” he wrote. “It’s as simple as that.”
But in some ways, these companies have achieved what they set out to do. They have made us reliant on technology extensively in the way we build our world.Today, more than half of all tech jobs are actually outside of major tech companies. Every other industry relies on the same kinds of work that takes place within these companies, but only those industries benefited less when their entire customer base was confined to their living room. Did. Finance is not going anywhere. Most finance jobs are technical jobs. Logistics is one of the world’s most vexing problems. Solutions are technical solutions.
The labor market has finally started to cool off from the record highs of 2021, but the market added about 223,000 jobs in December. This is almost double the 145,000 jobs he added in December 2019 before the pandemic began. For those still worried about tech workers being laid off from the world’s most famous companies, here’s a quick list of jobs I found in his 30-second browse. 850 positions at Deloitte. Four hundred and forty-five at Ford.
The people who run these tech companies can find jobs if they want and get paid well for their work. What changes is that they may never return to the tech giants with the glowing halo of fame and prestige.With these layoffs, even the people inside the once-sanctified halls, the corporations themselves are, after all, just enterprise.


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Can you guess which A-list hip-hop head has been selected by Karl Lagerfeld has selected as the new face of Fendi?
I gotcha didn’t I!! 😯 …the answer is rapper/entrepreneur Jay-Z!? Although I can only imagine how hurt Kanye is right now!??
According to Dr.Jays, Jay-Z was recently seen with Fendi head Karl Lagerfeld at a New York Fendi photo shoot. But Jay wasn’t there to watch the shoot…he WAS the shoot. Apparently Jay-Z will be actually be a model for Fendi’s upcoming marketing campaign. I bet Beyonce is mad jealous. No word yet when the campaign will launch. (Source)


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Microsoft is showcasing the Surface Book 2 and Surface Precision Mouse in a pair of new videos on YouTube. The Surface Book 2 video shows a scientist using the Surface Book 2 to visualize and design a robot,
The iPad is a great tablet. It’s well designed, and for the most part, it’s dead simple to use. The iPad is a tablet that sits on your bedside table or coffee table in the living room to quickly browse the web with, check email, read an e-book, and maybe play the occasional game.
The Abyss is coming to No Man's Sky, an update to the game which will be available on PS4, Steam and Xbox One arriving next week
The Event starts on the 4th of December at 8:30 PT
Following the launch of Microsoft’s AI for Earth Program to help solve the world’s biggest environmental problems, the company has recently tasked a team of Garage Interns to improve aerial imagery with AI.
The US Labor Department has been working to resolve claims that Microsoft discriminated against women on the job, but negotiations have hit a snag. The Labor Department in July nearly did a deal until they turned an about face in an undisclosed deal without admitting to claims.
Asus is looking to take on Microsoft’s recently released Surface Studio 2 all-in-on PC for artists and creators with their new Asus Zen AiO 27
Now that Halloween is almost upon us, Microsoft has just announced a limited-time Shocktober sale featuring many horror video games franchises.
Forza Horizon 4 already received a couple of bug fixes updates since launch, but the first content update for the critically-acclaimed open-world racing game will be available this Thursday, October 25.
Microsoft yesterday announced Star Wars' John Boyega as the next celebrity guest in Mixer's Xbox live Sessions
The collaborative platform for learning based on the massively popular sandbox game now has more than 2 million users across 115 countries.
The new promise sets Microsoft on the goals of the Paris climate agreement and is part of the company's ongoing commitment to using renewable energy and investing in energy efficiency.
虽然宇航员Reid Wiseman、Steve Swanson、Alexander Gerst身处遥远的太空，但这仍不能阻止他们对世界杯的狂热。在世界杯开幕之前，他们自己率先在国际空间站内踢起了足球。
对于前五十位的品牌中很多是真正的美国象征，这并不令人惊奇。然而值得注意的是，一些品牌在今年的榜单中上升很快：Apple , Amazon, Google , Sam Adams, American Express ,Facebook和Bay.
Twitter's top execs sent a clear to message to Twitter analysts and investors on Wednesday: Yes, we really do have a planDuring the company's first Analyst Day event in San Francisco,


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Streaming TV Surpasses Broadcast TV in Nielsen’s New Monthly Snapshot
In their new TV and streaming snapshot “The Gauge,” Nielsen reported 26 percent of all television consumption was done through various streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+. Netflix led the pack with 6 percent of the streaming share, but YouTube (which also includes YouTube TV) and Hulu (which also includes Hulu Live TV) were close behind.
Streaming’s 26 percent narrowly edges broadcast TV’s 25 percent and is inching closer to cable’s 39 percent share. The full split can be seen below, courtesy of Nielsen:
“The past year has categorically shifted the television viewing landscape,” said says Brian Fuhrer, SVP of product strategy at Nielsen. “Even as people begin to dive back into their pre-pandemic activities, based on the changes many made to enable streaming coupled with the variety of newly introduced services, we expect people to keep sampling and exploring their options. Maybe just as importantly, as production ramps back up, new content will enter the space, driving additional traction.”
Streaming usage has exploded since the pandemic began last year, though subscriber growth is slowing as the world returns to some sort of normalcy. 2020 subscription and consumption numbers were stellar across the board, though the early 2021 number seem to be a bit off the mark for certain companies. Netflix missed its subscriber projections for Q1 of this year, as did Disney+ in Q2.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom — HBO Max has grown tremendously over the past year, thanks to blockbuster films like “Wonder Woman 1984,” “Zack Snyder's Justice League,” “Godzilla vs. Kong,” and “Mortal Kombat” coming to the service, and should continue to grow due to its new ad-supported option. Discovery’s streaming service discovery+ has also grown exponentially, powering the company to 15 million total streaming subscribers across all of their channels. These two companies will join forces in the near future and become Warner Bros. Discovery, which should offer plenty of growth opportunities in the future.
HBO Max has two tiers, an ad-supported plan for 9,99 $US and ad-free plan for 14,99 $US. HBO Max without ads also includes features like the ability to download offline and 4K streaming.
They also will get Max Originals that aren’t available to HBO channel subscribers, like “The Flight Attendant” (Kaley Cuoco), “Love Life” (Anna Kendrick), as well as reboots to “Sex In The City” and “Gossip Girl.”


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AstraZeneca announced Thursday that it will buy at 55% stake in biotech company Acerta Pharma. AstraZeneca will pay an initial $2.5 billion for the stake and a further $1.5 billion upon the regulatory approval of Acerta's cancer drug, acalabrutinib, or the end of 2018, whichever is first.
AstraZeneca has been scrambling to boost its drug portfolio as generic equivalents to some of its top-sellers, such as Crestor, will be hitting the market in the next several years. Acerta's acalabrutinib is a type of cancer drug known as a BTK inhibitor. Competitors AbbVie (ABBV - Free Report) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - Free Report) are already selling a BTK inhibitor.
Last month, AstraZeneca agreed to buy California-based biotech company ZS Pharma for $2.7 billion. Just yesterday, AstraZeneca said it will purchase the respiratory business of Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceutical (TKPHF) for $575 million; in another announcement, the company said it will invest $100 million in Chinese bio-drug maker WuXi AppTec.
The New Normal
It's clear that AstraZeneca has been busy with M&As this year, and this is indicative of what might become the new normal for pharmaceutical manufacturers. Since the Affordable Care Act went into effect, the entire healthcare sector has been scrambling to sure-up efficiency and profits. Drug companies in particular have been consolidating with the competition to boost revenues.
The most obvious example of this is the $160 billion deal between Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) and Allergan (AGN - Free Report) . This all-stock merger was the largest ever in the pharmaceutical industry. What's even crazier is that right before that deal was made, Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA - Free Report) bought Allergan's generic business for $40.5 billion and Allergan purchased biopharma firm Naurex for $560 million.
Since the massive Pfizer-Allergan deal, the M&A activity in the sector has cooled off a bit. Nevertheless, in the first half of 2015 there were $221 billion worth of pharmaceutical deals completed, tripling the amount during the same time-frame in 2014. With the Pfizer-Allergan deal going down in the second half of the year, this year's total numbers should crush 2014's.
What we are looking at is a reinvention of the pharmaceutical industry as it becomes more shareholder-focused. Investors want revenues now, and in today's complex world of scientific innovation, it is often much cheaper and faster to buy out the next big drug maker rather than commit money to research and development.
In fact, it has been investors that have been pressuring the industry to make these moves. We are even seeing prominent activist investors make their voices loud and clear. For example, Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital, made headlines late last year by campaigning for Valeant Pharmaceuticals to buy Allergan.
While that deal never went through, Ackman's large stake in VRX gained value and he committed to being a long-term investor in the company. In 2015, Valeant has notably acquired Salix Pharmaceuticals for about $16 billion.
AstraZenaca's deals this week are important not only to its own business, but also for the rest of the pharmaceutical industry. These mergers are the latest in a massive wave of pharmaceutical deals this year. It is clear that these deals are for a calculated purpose—boosting revenues ASAP. This investor-focused industry is what we should all expect to be the new normal.
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The government of Japan is looking into the idea of charging platform owners like Apple and Google a Consumption Tax over mobile game in-app purchases.
According to The Asahi Shimbun, the government are trying to increase revenue from the mobile game sector by updating how the current consumption tax model works for games made outside of Japan.
Currently, the tax is paid on the publisher side- however, the Finance Ministry alleges that by virtue of not being Japanese companies, many game publishers don’t pay the consumption tax for revenue gained in Japan.
As a result, the Japanese Government is looking into passing the buck to platform owners, ie Apple and Google to pay the tax instead.
In that sense, it’s safe to speculate that the Finance Ministry is looking into taxing the platform owners’ cut rather than the sale itself, which could in turn lead to the app store taking a bigger cut and driving up sales.
Japan As A Mobile Game Consumer
While the report doesn’t specifically name any companies for dodging taxes, it’s easy to see why the ministry would be getting antsy over the missed revenue- many mobile games are associated with the anime aesthetic yet not produced domestically, instead being developed by Chinese or Korean companies.
More importantly, the Japanese playerbase are often some of the biggest spenders on mobile games: According to AppMagic, Japanese players accounted for 23% of total spending in Genshin Impact in the past month, with a total of 23 million USD.


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Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are locked in love and have the tattoos to prove it.
Lopez posted a carousel of photos of herself and her husband, Affleck, through the years smiling, embracing and kissing – but the first photo displayed a fresh infinity tattoo that the “Shotgun Wedding” actress will be sporting on her ribcage.
“Commitment,” she wrote with an infinity sign emoji. “Happy Valentine’s Day my love.”
The collection of pictures also showed a tattoo on Affleck which includes two crossbows and the initials J and B.
Many celebrities commented on the adoration post from Lopez, including Keke Palmer and a brand near and dear to the Bennifer couple, Dunkin’ Donuts.
“Gon’ head girl,” Palmer wrote while the coffee and donut company sent heart-eye emojis.
The couple made an appearance on Super Bowl Sunday for a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial, as social media has heavily associated Affleck with the brand after he was seen holding cups in several paparazzi photos through the years.
In the ad which Affleck also directed, the actor mans the drive-through booth at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Medford, Massachusetts, with a Boston accent and shocks customers. Lopez comes through the line of cars and asks him what he’s doing.
More:Super Bowl ads use celebs, humor, lots of dogs
“You’re embarrassing me in front of my friends,” he says. “Grab me a glazed,” she demands.
While filming the Super Bowl ad onlookers took viral photos of the actor in the drive-thru window stirring up conversation on social media.
One customer, Lisa Mackey, shared a picture on Instagram of Affleck on the job, thanking him and his wife, Lopez, “for my coffee this morning.” Mackey also described Affleck as “quick-witted and funny” to NBC10 Boston and said she was told by crew members that they were filming a commercial.
Story Credit: usatoday.com


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Last updated: May 19, 2011 - 9:07am
Sen John “Jay” Rockefeller (D-WV) asked Google and Apple whether their mobile applications and those of third parties partners are complying with child Internet privacy laws.
Ahead of a May 19 hearing on mobile device privacy, Sen Rockefeller sent letters to Google, Apple and a trade group representing apps companies probing their privacy practices and asking whether they are seeking permission from parents for any information about youths under 13. Many applications on the iPhone and Android phones appear targeted to children and routinely collect location, addresses, phone numbers and other personally identifying information. If those users are children, the Child Online Privacy Protection Act requires companies to gain parental permission before collecting that data.
In one letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Sen Rockefeller asked: “Very little is publicly known about Apple-approved mobile applications that collect and use information about children in possible violation of” child privacy laws, he wrote. A similar letter was sent to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.
The lawmaker asked whether Apple has produced its own apps that violate COPPA laws and if it requires third-party applications to comply with the law.
- Senate tussles over online privacy
- Online Privacy: Can the U.S. Get Its Act Together?
- Who Could Become the Data Sheriff?
- Privacy Rules
- Chairman Rockefeller Introduces Do-Not-Track Online Act
- S. 913 Do-Not-Track Online Act
- Internet data collection: The privacy line
- What’s next for privacy on the Hill?
- Facebook, Google, Yahoo Fight "Do Not Track" Privacy Measures
- Chairman Rockefeller Announces Do-Not-Track Legislation to Protect Consumers When They Are Online
- April 16-22: Privacy
- FTC, White House urge Internet privacy measures
- Spectrum Legislation Tops List of Tech Leftovers Awaiting Congress This Fall
- March 5-11: Gearing Up for the National Broadband Plan's Anniversary
- Rush Reintroduces Privacy Bill


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I love real estate investment trusts for one reason.
They make gobs of money.
Now for those who don’t know…
Real Estate Investment Trusts (or REITs) are publicly traded companies that own commercial real estate and generate massive amounts of cash flow from tenants.
And they’ve crushed the market for decades.
Equity REITs were the top-performing asset class in the stock market dating from 1972 to year-end 2019.
NAREIT reports that equity REITs have returned 11.82% a year since the days of the Nixon administration.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has averaged 7.35% a year.
That’s nearly 50 years of outperformance.
It feels like a secret, doesn’t it?
Well, there’s a reason for that. Real estate doesn’t get a lot of attention because – let’s be honest – there’s nothing sexy about office space, storage buildings, or industrial centers.
But when you follow the money, you learn fast that this is where long-term investors build wealth.
NAREIT estimates that the value of the commercial real estate industry in 2018 sat between $14 TRILLION and $17 TRILLION.
And all of this property generates incredible amounts of money for investors from rents, tax benefits, and price appreciation.
But there’s one other benefit to REITs.
They can tell us what the markets think will thrive and what will survive in the COVID-19 crisis.
Check this out.
Ignore Earnings Season
“What companies will survive?”
That’s the question swirling across trading floors, media channels, and even Zoom cocktail parties.
The COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. has peaked right at the start of the earnings season.
Over the next few weeks, we’re going to see some wild swings in stock prices. Companies will release earnings, offer mixed outlooks, and likely eliminate any forward guidance on financial expectations for 2020.
We’ll see dividends slashed. “At-home” stocks like Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) will likely rally.
But many GREAT retail and hospitality companies – which thrived before this outbreak – now face potential bankruptcies and defaults.
So, who does the market think will thrive during and after the coronavirus outbreak?
The answer is found inside this chart.
This chart highlights the performance of Real Estate Investment Trusts in March and since the beginning of 2020.
Now just to remind you, REITs own a variety of different types of properties that offer steady cash flow and provide steep appreciation upside. REITs also offer incredible tax benefits including pass-through income and the ability to deduct depreciation (you can write off about 3.6% of your property value every year against any income you’ve generated from property).
Now, some REITs own properties like warehouses or timberland.
And some own apartment buildings or office space.
Others like Tanger Factory Outlets (NYSE: SKT) own shopping centers, which are suffering due to social distancing guidelines and the shut down of the economy.
There are many different categories, and all of them offer a glimpse into real-time expectations for the economy, various industries, and their tenants.
Rising rent prices and occupancy rates suggest an expansion of a sector and expected success for companies in those industries.
Falling occupancy rates, rising delinquent rent payments, or lower rent prices suggest lower demand for products and services in a specific industry.
I track REITs to get a better sense of how big financial institutions – which own the lion’s share of these publicly traded stocks – feel about specific industries moving forward.
It also tells us who is surviving or even thriving.
For example, data centers – the companies that own storage facilities for technology companies, servers, and call centers – they were up more than 10% in March.
This makes sense.
The economy has shifted dramatically from large office space to work-from-home setups.
And more people have embraced e-commerce, a data intensive industry.
It’s honestly that simple. When you count companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google as customers, you have a sector that isn’t going to run out of demand.
That 10% gain for Data Center REITs indicates that Wall Street believes a lot of technology companies are safe right now.
Meanwhile, lodging REITs – which own hotels and conference centers – plunged. Retail REITs – particularly ones that own shopping malls – are trading at levels that suggest massive bankruptcies for their clients.
So, we will likely avoid hospitality companies and retailers until we start to see optimism about the real estate companies that count them as tenants.
Other sub-sectors that have held up well include industrial REITs – which are expected to see extraordinary demand as companies move their manufacturing back to the United States.
Also, we’ve seen higher demand from cannabis growers that use warehouses for cultivation to meet rising demand.
The market thinks a lot of deep-pocketed pharmaceutical stocks and supply chain companies are going to meet their rent agreements and rebound in the future.
Infrastructure REITs – which include cell towers – were also off just 1.7% in March. Shares have risen this month – as companies expect continued demand from their customers that include AT&T Corporation (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ).
Also, these REITs will see an explosion in demand from the widespread adoption of 5G technology.
Yet when I look at this chart – something really surprising stands out. I think that these big investors are overreacting with a 33% drop in March for one sector.
And that has created a unique long-term opportunity that might never return again.
Make Medical Real Estate a Long-Term Holding
While the REIT chart tells us a lot about equity REITs, it does reveal a somewhat surprising disconnect in a few different industries. I see some bottom-feeding opportunities right now.
Medical REITs – the firms that own hospitals – are still off sharply from their February highs.
Given that we are facing a health crisis, how exactly are hospitals going out of business or lacking the money they will need to pay rent? After all, the U.S. government has pledged unlimited funding to the hospital industry.
For example, Medical Properties Trust (NYSE: MPW), for example – owns acute care hospitals.
These are the same hospitals that are being overrun with patients. These hospitals are going to pay their rent and aren’t going out of business. Yet it’s trading about 29% lower than its 52-week high and pays a dividend of 6.2%. The dividend has effectively been guaranteed by the U.S. government over the next year thanks to funding efforts to keep hospitals running.
I’m going to dive into this opportunity tomorrow.
But more importantly, I’m going to show you how to make even more than 6.2% on that dividend and generate real money from a mispriced opportunity in the market.
If you’d like to learn more about my investment strategies then make sure you’re signed up for the Strategic Investors Summit. You’ll receive my brand new eBook, the 10X Portfolio Blueprint, hear interviews from industry experts. As well as, the main event when I go live April 21st at 8 PM ET.


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Retail recovery dashed after shock sales fall
Retailers suffered a setback after official figures showed sales volumes fell again last month as shoppers stayed at home.
Sign of the times: Retail figures continue to dip
Shoppers decided they could do without a new summer wardrobe and shunned clothes and shoe shops in particular.
Overall retail sales fell 0.6% between April and May, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), while clothing and footwear stores saw a 1.9% decline over the month. Other retailers - such as photography and sports - reported a 3% fall.
The falls were way below market expectations of a 0.3% month-on-month increase.
Although total sales volumes in the three months to May were up 0.6% on last year, it marks the lowest growth since December 1995.
Analysts said today's result was well below market forecasts.
Vicky Redwood, of Capital Economics, said: 'We wouldn't be surprised if this marked the start of a period of rather weaker sales growth than of late. The credit crunch-driven nature of the slowdown so far appears to have primarily hit spending off the high street.
'But as the deteriorating labour market and future tax rises hit household incomes more generally, we expect a prolonged period of weakness in both retail and non-retail spending.'
Shares in retailers were among the biggest fallers on the stock market following the news.
Clothes stores in particular suffered, and that was reflected in falls for ASOS, down 6.3% to 370¼p, Debenhams, down 15% to 74¼p, M&S, down 9.5% to 282¼p and Next, down 6% to 1,433p.
Evidence that High St stores are scrambling for sales came as some of London's biggest department stores, including Selfridges and Liberty, announced they are offering customers huge savings on designer goods.
The bargain events are targeting shoppers buoyed by reports of green shoots before further predicted rises in unemployement.
Selfridges opened its sale today, a week earlier than usual, featuring price cuts of up to 75%. Certain items are reduced even more, such as a Lulu Guinness bedspread down by more than 85%, from £1,800 to £250.
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COCA-COLA COLLABORATES WITH CONSTELLATION BRANDS TO LAUNCH FRESCA MIXED CANNED COCKTAILS
Coca-Cola’s 2022 is off to a flying start with the announcement of its plan to launch a range of ready-to-drink canned cocktails in partnership with Constellation Brands. Launched through its Fresca brand, the Fresca Mixed line will reportedly hit the market later this year.
Fresca is considered to be a leading alcoholic beverage company, along with other Constellation Brands names like Corona, Modelo and Casa Noble Tequila. The partnership and product launch is the latest big announcement for Coca Cola, which at the end of 2021 announced the multi-billion takeover of sports hydration brand Bodyarmor.
Coca-Cola and Constellation Brands strike a deal
On January 6th, Constellation Brands announced that it had made a brand authorisation agreement with Coca-Cola. The agreement is to add an alcoholic drink line, Fresca Mixed, to the Fresca brand. Fresca Mixed will be launched as a range of spirit-based, ready-to-drink canned cocktails.
Bill Newlands, CEO and president of Constellation Brands, detailed the deal in a statement. “The Coca-Cola Company’s FRESCA® brand is not only trusted by consumers, but also directly delivers on consumer preferences for refreshment, flavor, and convenience”, he said. “[These are] attributes that also play well within beverage alcohol and where we can leverage our expertise”.
As noted by Constellations Brands market research, Adult Alternative Beverages such as ready-to-drink cocktails represent almost an €7.1 billion ($8 billion) segment. This is predicted to grow at a 15% to 17% compound annual growth rate over the next three years.
Fresca continue to build momentum
The Fresca brand is recognised to be increasingly popular with consumers. Research from Nielsen in November 2021 highlights the brand as the fastest-growing soft drink trademark in Coca-Cola’s U.S. portfolio. Research provided by Bev360 noted that for consumers, Fresca is the number one most unique and different soft drink product. This could be partly because the drink has zero calories and sugar. Fresca products have reportedly been used by consumers, and even celebrities, as a mixer for cocktail drinks. The launch of Fresca Mixed is therefore a natural progression for the Fresca brand.
Mallika Monteiro, chief growth, strategy and digital officer at Constellation Brands, added more detail in a statement. “One of the core tenets of our innovation strategy is a belief in the power of extending strong and trusted brands in thoughtful ways to bring to market unique products that resonate with consumers”, she said. “This is an exciting agreement that allows us to continue expanding our premium portfolio in ways that deliver distinctive consumer value propositions that include things like more flavor, different alcohol bases, and functional benefits”.
Coca-Cola expands its alcoholic portfolio
The recent agreement with Constellation Brands is another foray into the alcoholic beverage market for Coca-Cola. Last year, the company collaborated with Molson Coors to launch Topo Chico Hard Seltzer. After a successful launch across nine U.S. states, the beverage will be released nationwide in 2022. It has also been announced that Topo Chico Hard Seltzer will be launched in Canada this summer. “The Coca-Cola Company and Molson Coors have created a strong relationship to bring Topo Chico to market and we are excited to expand to Canada”, said Dan White, Coca-Cola’s North America’s chief of new revenue streams, at the time.
Commenting on the Fresca Mixed announcement, White said “The Coca-Cola Company and Constellation Brands have a shared passion for building some of the world’s most loved brands and for building best-in-class beverage experiences”. He added that “Our new relationship with Constellation Brands is ideal due to their consumer-focused approach to brand building, expansive distribution network, and distilled distribution expertise. With the launch of Fresca Mixed by Constellation, people will have an entirely new way to enjoy the taste of Fresca, now mixed with real spirits”.


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Brooks BrothersBrooks Brothers, a 182-year-old mainland retail clothing chain, plans to open its first store in Hawaii at the Waikele Premium Outlets on April 27.
to open first isle
store in Waikele
The retail clothing chain will
debut April 27 in the former
Bugle Boy site
By Tim Ruel
The company-run factory outlet will take up 5,615 square feet of leased space formerly occupied by sportswear retailer Bugle Boy, which left in January.
"That's a pretty good size for an outlet store," said retail analyst and real estate agent Stephany Sofos, who was not involved in the lease.
Brooks Brothers, based in New York, operates 80 retail and 72 factory stores nationwide and sells merchandise in 70 locations in Japan, five in Hong Kong and and two in Taiwan.
"I know that Hawaii's always been on the radar screen," said Brooks Brothers spokeswoman Geri Corrigan. The company initially filed a business registration with the state Department of Commerce & Consumer Affairs in 1988.
"It's going to be a wonderful addition to the shopping center," said Michele Rothstein, spokeswoman for mall owner Roseland, N.J.-based Chelsea GCA Realty Inc.
Other newly opened stores at Waikele Premium Outlets include Old Navy and women's Italian fashion retailer MaxMara.
Sofos said she thinks Brooks Brothers will do well with the location and probably look to open other stores. "Where they want to be is Ala Moana, like everyone else," she said.
The company probably picked Hawaii because of Brooks Brothers' popularity with Asian tourists, who are more steady shoppers, she said. "You have a more controlled environment. You know that people are going to be coming," especially men who don't ordinarily shop for clothing as much as women but tend to shop more when on vacation, Sofos said.
The company's main competitors in Waikele Premium Outlets would be retailers Bass and Geoffrey Beene, Sofos said.
Brooks Brothers was founded by Henry Sands Brooks in 1818 as H. & D.H. Brooks & Co. in New York City. In 1850, Brooks' two sons took over and established the name Brooks Brothers. The company's trademark became the symbol of the fabled golden fleece. The company was bought by a Washington, D.C.-based specialty store chain in 1946 and opened its first Japanese stores in 1979.
In 1988, Brooks Brothers was purchased by its current owner, London-based retail store operator Marks & Spencer plc. In the same year, the publicly traded company bought Kings Super Markets in the United States. It also owns retail outlets in the Middle East. In 1997, the company formed a franchise agreement to open stores throughout Southeast Asia.


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Chris Hook and Heather Lennon have both left Intel – after only a short stint in the Intel Xe graphics marketing team. Both AMD veterans, Hook left Radeon for Intel in April 2018, joining Intel as marketing lead for visual technologies. Meanwhile, Lennon departed AMD in April 2019 to become senior manager of digital marketing for graphics at Chipzilla.
As SemiAccurate reports, that’s two of Intel’s key marketing pros reportedly out on the eve of its first legitimate foray into the discrete graphics card game, which is led by ex-AMD RTG chief Raja Koduri. Both had been a part of the mass migration of AMD staff over to Intel for its upcoming dGPU project, joining the likes of Jim Keller, ex-AMD Damien Triolet, and ex-Nvidia Tom Peterson. However, it now appears both are leaving for a yet unnamed startup.
Intel recently lost marketing lead Jon Carvill to NuVia, a CPU startup founded by ex-Apple engineers hoping to challenge Intel and AMD in the data centre market. The company has already received substantial first round funding from major tech firms, including Dell.


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Lookout, MA Residents: Odometer Fraud Is Rampant Statewide
Attention Massachusetts drivers: The contents in this article requires your immediate attention: Did you know it just takes seconds for criminals to tamper with vehicle odometers as they have the capabilities to read any number they want and in the long run that could cost an unsuspecting buyer thousands of dollars while shopping in particular for a used cars.
In this "so-called" digital age, odometers in modern cars are essentially a computer that can be reprogrammed and you would be unable to recognize the actual mileage of that particular vehicle that you are interested in. According to CARFAX, statistics show that Massachusetts is 16th in the country in odometer fraud, with an estimated 31,900 cars on state roads with rollbacks as we speak. that number is alarming in nature.
Consumers are unaware about these horrific changes once they head to the lot in search of a new vehicle. there are some suggestions to alleviate this rampant problem. The CARFAX web site suggests you can check a free report on any used car purchase to flag issues to avoid future problems.
You also should take a used car to a mechanic before buying. It is suggested to take the vehicle for a routine independent inspection. This procedure will set you back about $100 but a trained mechanic will give the potential customer a complete analysis as they will look for a lot of things including if the wear and tear does not match up to that reading on the odometer. And that’s critical to avoid future car repair bills that could be expensive in the long run.
According to Emilie Voss from CARFAX, it can cost you thousands and thousands of dollars, not to mention headache and heartache over the lifetime of ownership of a vehicle. We know we’re seeing the numbers trend in the wrong direction.”
Here is a recent video clip on this hot button topic that recently aired on the syndicated TV show "Full Measure" with Sharyl Attkisson:
(video clip courtesy of YouTube)
The horrific part of this story is criminals can get the equipment to change an odometer would have cost $10,000 a few years ago. But now the total cost is only a couple hundred as the average price increase from the fraud is about $4,000 a car as the estimated value of the vehicle in question can make the capability of a used car seem more valuable to the potential customer.
BOTTOM LINE: BUYER BEWARE! Do your homework and with extensive research, you can avoid being a future victim of odometer fraud. It's that simple!
(Featured Image photo courtesy of Jesse Stewart, Townsquare Media)
(Some information obtained in this article, courtesy of FOX 25 Boston and www.yahoo.com)
LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving


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Tarantella Thursday said it would acquire New Moon Systems in an effort to expand its product line and more effectively compete against Citrix Systems, the dominant player in the server-based computing market.
Under the terms of the deal, expected to close June 5, Tarantella will purchase all of the stock in privately held New Moon in exchange for nearly 8 million shares of Tarantella common stock. In addition, Tarantella guarantees New Moon shareholders will receive a minimum royalty on the acquired products of $2 million over a three-year period.
New Moon targets small and midsize customers as well as departments of larger customers with its Canaveral iQ product line. It markets the products as a simpler, cheaper alternative to Citrix's MetaFrame platform for hosting and centrally managing Windows applications in a Windows Terminal Services environment.
Tarantella's Enterprise 3 software runs on Unix or Linux and provides enterprise customers with access to Unix, Linux, mainframe, AS/400 and Windows Terminal Server applications.
With the acquisition, Tarantella and its channel partners will have a product line to offer customers that want to run server-based computing environments on Windows systems, said Guy Churchward, chief evangelist at Tarantella, Santa Cruz.
"That's a space we've inherently been walking away from," Churchward said.
Tarantella plans to maintain the Canaveral iQ brand name and operate the New Moon business like a separate unit, retaining the channel support infrastructure New Moon solution providers currently utilize, Churchward said.
The vendor also expects to maintain New Moon's channel program for now, with plans to blend the two programs over time, he said.
The acquisition will add 200 New Moon channel partners to Tarantella's 300-member solution provider community.
Qualified partners will be able to sell and service both product lines, he said.
Tarantella last week said it was granted a temporary extension to continue listing its stock on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market after failing to meet minimum bid price and shareholder equity requirements as of March 18.
After the close of the New Moon transaction, which is expected to add approximately $3 million to Tarantella's cash position, the vendor plans to execute a reverse stock split and issue one share for every five held by shareholders.
Churchward said the bulk of New Moon's employees would join Tarantella, including Marc Lowe, president and CEO of San Jose, Calif.-based New Moon.
The vendor did not disclose New Moon's employee head count.
Shares of Tarantella closed up 4 cents at 47 cents Thursday prior to the announcement.


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'Bounces Back After Flood' - VTPB Moves To Morrisville (listen)
Monday, 12/26/11 5:50pm
(Host) Vermont Peanut Butter Company may be the state's next gourmet specialty food producer to hit the big time.
Business is booming, despite the fact the company lost everything in its Waterbury manufacturing facility to Tropical Storm Irene.
VPR's Amy Noyes has this post-Irene success story:
(Noyes) Chris Kaiser is determined to make a go of his premium peanut butter. And he's not going to let something like a devastating tropical storm get in his way.
He lost everything in his Waterbury factory to the flooding from Irene. But Kaiser decided to start over, even though he didn't have any flood insurance.
Kaiser says all on its own, Vermont Peanut Butter Company found a new space, bought new ingredients, new equipment, and found new manufacturing space in Morrisville.
(Kaiser) "So now here we are. I mean, we're going to make a mark. We're definitely going to make a mark and become one of those companies that Vermont is known for. That's the goal and we have it. We have it."
(Noyes) Vermont Peanut Butter Company had only been in business two years when Irene hit. Its peanut butter had quickly progressed from an experiment in Kaiser's kitchen to a product in demand.
With specialty flavors like cinnamon raisin and banana nut crunch, there's no other peanut butter quite like it. It's also formulated to be highly nutritious. It's like a sports protein bar, but in a jar.
It's sold in sports shops, health food stores, tourist destinations and country stores throughout Vermont. Outside the state, it's being picked up by big retailers, including Whole Foods.
On August 28 everything came to a grinding halt - at the factory at least. But its customers still wanted Vermont Peanut Butter.
(Kaiser) "And the business actually grew while we were shut down. Because demand picked up and people were putting signs on their shelves saying, you know, ‘Vermont Peanut Butter was affected by the hurricane. They will be back.'"
(Noyes) They weren't gone for long. The day after Irene, Kaiser and an employee picked up the pieces in Waterbury. The next day he found the new space in Morrisville.
(Kaiser) "We were up and running in seven weeks. We were shipping stuff out the door in seven weeks. Brand new facility. We got all the equipment we needed. Scraped the bank, you know and we've been running ever since, literally."
(Noyes) Kaiser says he never envisioned running his business in Morrisville, but he's glad it worked out that way.
(Kaiser) "I'd never given Morrisville a thought before. And I thought maybe it was too far away from 89 and then I came up here and I saw Turtle Fur up here and Concept 2. Way Out Wax was here and, you know Butternut Farms and all these great businesses. I thought, ‘Man, this is a great place to do business.'"
(Noyes) Now Kaiser says he hopes his business can give back by helping to revitalize its new community.
(Kaiser) "Morrisville's on the cusp, it seems. We have all this wonderful manufacturing here. I mean if you took all the businesses, including myself, from an economic standpoint we generate a ton of cash in this little area with these businesses. So maybe with us coming here that will entice some other business to come in and take a look as well."
(Noyes) If all goes according to Kaiser's plan, he'll help to make a name for Morrisville as the home of the Vermont Peanut Butter Company.
For VPR News, I'm Amy Noyes.
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The U.S. had plans to hike duties on at least $250 billion in Chinese goods to 30% from 25% on Tuesday. Despite the partial trade deal, some banks on Sunday wrote that tariff...Marketsread more
The industry has pulled in $322 billion over the past six months, the fastest pace since the second half of 2008.Marketsread more
The potential deal would shift Neumann's already diminished voting power to the Japanese conglomerate, according to the Journal.Technologyread more
Hunter's vows to forgo any foreign work follow a slew of unsubstantiated attacks by President Donald Trump accusing him of corruption.Politicsread more
Fisher was initially defiant amid the backlash in an interview with Bloomberg, in which he said he had "given a lot of talks, a lot of times, in a lot of places and said stuff...Personal Financeread more
Airlines continue to delay when they plan to have the planes back again with no sign from regulators on when the planes will be approved again.Airlinesread more
Turkey's invasion of northeastern Syria began Wednesday after Trump ordered U.S. troops to pull back from the area.Politicsread more
While Warren's ad about Facebook isn't true, the company's own policy allows politicians to make such false claims in paid advertising.Politicsread more
Typhoon Hagibis made landfall south of Tokyo on Saturday evening. By Sunday around 376,000 homes were left without electricity, and 14,000 without running water across Japan....Weather & Natural Disastersread more
SpaceX and Boeing are each in the final stages of developing the spacecraft needed for the U.S. to once again fly astronauts.Investing in Spaceread more
Bryn Mawr's Jeffrey Mills believes the market needs more time to break out of its slump.Trading Nationread more
Earlier that day an A.B. Bernstein analyst downgraded the equity to underperform from market perform, citing "too high" valuation and that investors are "overestimating" its growth prospects. The analyst Brandon Fletcher was also concerned that customers would shop elsewhere if the economy continues to slow down.
Shares of the membership warehouse club fell 1.57% during the session. Cramer called it "the first real price break" in Costco's stock in the past year.
"The next time some analyst knocks down a best-of-breed stock with a cogent downgrade that's focused on valuation, you need to take advantage of that best-of-breed-opportunity weakness and you need to do some buying," said the "Mad Money" host, who ranks Costco among his so-called WATCH group of retailers with scale.
The acronym includes other giant retailers in Walmart, Amazon, Target and Home Depot.
"Costco is a best-of-breed retailer that has repeatedly reinvented itself, and if they need to reinvent themselves again, that's exactly what they'll do," Cramer argued.
He is convinced that the downgrade from Bernstein, an investment firm with $581 billion in assets under management as of June, will have an ephemeral impact on the Costco's shares. The stock price has run more than 41% this year — it was due for a pullback, but it should still be in your shopping cart, the host said.
Investors must be willing to "pay up for best of breed," he added.
"I'd give it a day or two more to make sure all the weak hands get shaken out," Cramer said. "After that, though, I have no doubt that Costco's worth buying into weakness."
Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Amazon and Home Depot.


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(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) The Apple Blossom Festival Association has officially announced the theme for the 2018 festival.
The 94th annual Apple Blossom Festival's theme will be "Viva St. Joseph: Celebrating Cinco de Mayo."
The traditional parade is scheduled to begin to officially kick off the festival on Saturday, May 5 at 9:30 a.m. starting a Noyes Boulevard and traveling along Frederick Avenue.
- "Viva St. Joseph" Theme Announced for 2018 Apple Blossom Festival
- Performers Announced for 2018 Trails West! Festival
- Mosaic Announces Partnership with Apple
- Living Community's western-themed concert
- Mustangs Announce 2018 Schedule
- Outlaw Film Festival
- McDonald's changes apple pie recipe
- Southside Fall Festival Royalty crowned
- Southside Fall Festival kicks off


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Habeeb Okikiola popularly known as portable zazoo again become the brand ambassador of the sujimoto, a luxury real estate in Nigeria.
Reports have it on social media that, the zazoo crooner Portable new endorsement deal with Sujimoto called “The Rolls Royce Of Luxury Real Estate” worth N40million.
However, the new endorsement deal is coming after the singer Portable signs the one worth N50M with the celebrity billionaire Obi Cubana’s herbal drink brand, known as Odogwu bitters few weeks back.
The singer taking to his official verified Instagram handle shares photos and video with the CEO of sujimoto Group in the office.
According to singer portable post, he said ; “It been God always 🙏❤Another Endorsement deal cooking🔥🔥🔥🕺🕺🕺🕺 @sujimoto81 don show love oooo Bizza Bizza❤”
Confirming the endorsement in another post via his IG page, Portable wrote; “Na God dey run am anybody pray for your downfall go fall @sujimoto81 don carry me Trabaye Big thanks 🙏 to all those people way dey show me love ❤ ZAzuu.” he said
For publication of your news content, articles, videos or any other news worthy materials, please send a mail to [email protected]
For Advert and other info, you can send a WhatsApp Message to +2348084076066
How To Make Money On Freshreporters=>https://freshreporters.com/make-money/
That’s good idea


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Like it or not, movies are evolving.
The latest action-packed, family friendly blockbusters include a nice perk to entertain audiences on a larger scale. Some films, including Avatar and Alice in Wonderland, are now transferred to the big screen using 3-D technology. Call it 21st century cinema.
Moviegoers were not shy to grab 3-D glasses and enjoy the Nav’i leap through the screen at local IMAX theaters this past winter. Avatar, the highest grossing film of all-time, earned more than $2.7 billion, some of which was helped with increased ticket prices and 3-D surcharges.
However, there’s a debate heating up in Hollywood regarding the true value of 3-D technology; whether new advancements will eventually kill traditional cinema remains a question. Despite mind-blowing visuals, 3-D may cause serious problems for award-winning dramas that don’t include comparable action sequences to summer blockbusters. For example, Iron Man 2 or Clash of the Titans might deliver incredible special effects to compliment 3-D, but audiences would have a different experience with The Departed or Slumdog Millionaire.
The economy has a huge stake in the success of 3-D technology, especially in the coming year as general audiences experiment with movies and television. Electronic corporations, cable networks, and home video (Blu-ray) outlets are exhausting resources to change movies forever. But a complete takeover by 3-D films will most likely consume low-budget, independent pictures by squeezing out more screen space across the country for higher revenues.
3-D technology has ironically created an all-too-real effect for some moviegoers who felt severe headaches, dizziness, and nausea at several screenings. Personally, I have yet to feel any side effects from 3-D, (despite some problems with 2-D Cloverfield). Nonetheless, potential health issues could decelerate the production of 3-D films, but only if experts diagnose the technology as a real hazard.
Consumers will ultimately dictate the success of 3-D cinema. The ultimate pitfall for 3-D is the cost. Theaters charge an additional $3-$5 extra on top of general admission for hit-or-miss technology. For every film like Avatar, there will be a motion picture that fails when transferred to 3-D. Simply put, there are no guarantees.
In the end, most movie fans reach a general consensus on the current landscape in Hollywood. Movies aren’t what they used to be. The industry is still reeling from the writer’s strike two years ago, which dismantled some scripts into oblivion. The quality of movies continues to diminish, while ticket prices increase. According to Ben Fritz of the Los Angeles Times:
The National Assn. of Theatre Owners reported Tuesday that the average ticket price in the first quarter was $7.95, up 8% from $7.35 in the same period last year. That’s the largest year-over-year increase since the association started tracking quarterly ticket price data in 2001.
The increase comes as consumer prices have risen modestly in the nation. In 2009, the consumer price index rose just 2.7% before seasonal adjustment, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The primary culprit at movie theaters is 3-D. The three highest-grossing movies in the first three months of 2010 — “Avatar,” “Alice in Wonderland” and “How to Train Your Dragon” — generated the majority of their ticket sales on digital 3-D screens, which carry ticket price surcharges.
Avatar is the only 3-D film I truly enjoyed at the IMAX theater, and it was a treat that won’t soon be forgotten. The 3-D shift, however, continues to concern me because I feel that authenticity should be preserved for appropriate moments.


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It’s almost Super Bowl Sunday 2023 and Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty clothing and lingerie brand has just revealed that it will be launching a limited-edition Game Day Collection in advance of her scheduled Super Bowl half-time performance. The Game Day collection will feature seventeen pieces. The pieces include feature hoodies, sweatpants, varsity jerseys, tops, hats, beanies, boxers, and a bandana. The performance, which is scheduled to take place in Glendale, Arizona at the State Farm Stadium on Feb. 12 will also be prefaced by a three-day retail pop-up experience in Los Angeles taking place from January 27th to January 29th.
At that time, consumers will have a chance to shop the Game Day collection in a store that will feature football-themed mannequin heads and goalposts which will serve as clothing racks, photo moments, and branded giveaways.
Rihanna, the headliner of the Super Bowl halftime show, has consistently attracted thousands of concertgoers for past performances. Her popularity, however, could mean that she may run into ticketing issues as fans prepare for the performance by purchasing tickets to the Super Bowl or by buying merchandise from her highly anticipated collection. This issue may be largely due to counterfeit ticketing which has been widespread in sports since last year., Many fans may expect that her merchandise will sell out quickly For Fenty, who is choosing to add a layer of Super Bowl spirit by offering the collection. Because of this, Fenty’s brand may have to contend with online ticket and merchandise scalpers at various levels. The issue of ticket scalping and selling fraudulent merchandise asks the legal community to consider how we can protect consumers and brands from profiting off a brand’s value.
Proponents of brand protection have cited that the only way to protect a brand is through using artificial intelligence, which includes NFTS. “NFT stands for ‘non-fungible token’. Non-fungible means that something is unique and can’t be replaced. By contrast, physical money and cryptocurrencies are fungible, which means they can be traded or exchanged for one another. Every NFT contains a digital signature which makes each one unique. NFTs are digital assets and could be photos, videos, audio files, or another digital format. NFT examples include artwork, comic books, sports collectibles, trading cards, games, and more.” A lack of NFTs has made it easier for patrons to scalp, resell, or repurchase fraudulent tickets to attend sporting events. Although NFTs have become more popular recently and brands such as Adidas and Patron have cited success while using NFTs, the issue of fraudulent ticketing during sports events will likely continue to pervade the sports industry. Fraudulent ticketing during sports events has largely resulted in delays and congestion for eager fans who often spend hundreds of dollars to attend various kinds of sporting events. The effect of fraudulent ticketing during sports events has affected athletes’ competitiveness in winning games.
Last May, pandemonium ensued at the UEFA Champions League Final in Paris, with claims of fraudulent tickets causing massive delays and bottlenecks at security checkpoints. This resulted in clashes between fans and authorities. If Rihanna is seeking to launch a Game Day Collection in anticipation of her Super Bowl Sunday Half-Time performance, the singer could likely be losing thousands of dollars in merchandise, due to fraudulent purchases in addition to a possible melee due to the limited variety of merchandise being offered to consumers online. Instituting NFTs could be a viable solution to this potential issue since the technology offers complete veracity of the tickets' authenticity. It is not possible to forge NFTs since blockchains are built on top of NFTs Blockchains are systems of transactions made in cryptocurrency.
Using blockchain makes cryptographic hash easier to separate. The complete history of the ticket is then recorded from the moment it is minted through the sale of the ticket and revitalization.
If the Fenty brand is looking to protect its merchandise and the value of her Super Bowl half-time performance, she should also consider RFID tags for any potentially fraudulent activity that could occur in counterfeiting and pirating her merchandise. “RFID tags are a type of tracking system that uses radio frequency to search, identify, track, and communicate with items and people. Essentially, RFID tags are smart labels that can store a range of information from serial numbers to a short description, and even pages of data.” Using this system would allow consumers and the Fenty brand to protect merchandise that is likely worth a large amount of money. If Fenty chooses to implement RFIDs and NFTs, the brand’s value could increase significantly since consumers will have to verify the authenticity of the merchandise which will make it difficult to resell without any repercussions. We’d like to think that fans would rather decide the authenticity of the plays being called on the field as opposed to whether they purchased authentic limited-edition merchandise from Fenty. Introducing NFTs and RFID chips is the best cause of action to ensure that the brand remains intact as we near Super Bowl Sunday.
Lauren E. Johnson is a graduate of Touro Law Center located in Central lslip, New York where she received her Juris Doctor degree. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Political Science from St. John's University and a Master of Arts in Criminal Justice from Boston University. She is the chairwoman of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association Sports and Entertainment Law Section, and has participated in numerous initiatives to propel the fields of fashion, arts, media, sports, entertainment, and criminal justice in a new direction. Her passion for these industries is also evidenced by the many volunteer opportunities in which she has participated.


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Mazda hard at work on Skyactiv 2 engine technologyWed, 08 Jan 2014
As Mazda continues the current rollout of its still-new Skyactiv technology, the automaker is already looking at improving its family of engines for even better fuel economy and emissions reductions. Automotive News reports that with stricter fuel economy and emissions regulations planned for 2020 and 2025 in Europe, Mazda will likely release engines with next-generation Skyactiv 2 technology by the end of this decade, and Skyactiv 3 units just five years later.
The latter is expected to focus on improved engine cooling and lessening energy losses, but the big news in AN's report is that the next-gen Skyactiv 2 engines will use Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition, or HCCI. This type of ignition is very similar to how a diesel engine operates (with high compression and using the compression stroke for fuel combustion rather than spark plugs), a method said to provide a cleaner and more efficient fuel burn – to the tune of a 30-percent improvement in fuel economy compared to current Skyactiv engines. Other automakers, including Hyundai, have already announced they are developing HCCI powerplants with similar technology and characteristics, so Mazda likely won't be a lone wolf here.
Equipped with HCCI technology, Mazda figures to be able to compete with larger automakers in terms of fuel economy and emissions without resorting to hybrid powertrains, continuously variable transmissions or automatics relying on more forward gears (eight or more) for optimal efficiency. Some of the challenges of HCCI, according to AN, include the need for better engine cooling, risk of misfire at high and low rpm and uneven engine performance based on fuel properties.
By Jeffrey N. Ross
See also: Mazda begins building Mazda3 in Mexico for US, Mazda details diesel prototype at Daytona test, Mazda2 with extended-range hybrid rotary tech shown.


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Plans for third McDonalds in seaside town approved
- Credit: Archant
Plans for a McDonalds restaurant and drive-thru on a supermarket car park have been approved.
The bid to bring another fast food outlet run by the franchise chain to Great Yarmouth brings the total number to three.
The scheme at Asda in Acle New Road is said to create 35 full time and 30 part time jobs, according to the applicant.
In determining the proposal officers at Great Yarmouth Borough Council noted the new restaurant was not near any schools.
Although it was noted it could lead to more traffic queuing in the area a report said the impact was unlikely to be severe.
The restaurant and drive-thu will sweep away 119 parking spaces, although 445 will remain.
It will also involve the reconfiguration of the click-and-collect area.
- 1 Sammy, 6, finds 'once-in-a-lifetime' rare fossil on beach
- 2 Man died on 50th birthday at Norfolk coastal campsite
- 3 Bid to extend life of quarry in Broads' village to 85 years
- 4 Seaside bar taken over for three weeks by Hollywood crew shooting film
- 5 Six ways Yarmouth wants to solve its housing crisis and 'compete with Norwich'
- 6 Roadworks will see a Gorleston road closed for three months
- 7 Gorleston murder accused not yet fit to enter plea
- 8 Port boss disappointed over cruise ship non-docking
- 9 Mayor left waiting as cruise ship can not dock at Yarmouth due to winds
- 10 Birthday card plea for 'amazing' Rita who is turning 108
In the papers McDonalds says it is seeking to increase its representation in key locations.
The restaurant will have an outdoor patio and play area, and likely be open 24/7.
Yarmouth already McDonalds restaurants in the town centre and at Gapton Hall retail park.


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Burberry has allegedly prevented other designers from using the same male models as them during Wednesday's (08.01.14) London Collections: Men shows.
Burberry has reportedly banned other designers from using their male models.
The British fashion house placed a last-minute ban on their favourite models from walking in more than one show at London Collections: Men today (08.01.14), according to Patrick Grant, the creative director of Norton & Sons tailors.
The designer told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: ''Burberry have just decided that none of the models who walk in their show can walk in any other shows that day. Of course, my show is on Wednesday, too, so I now have to book four new boys at the last minute.
''It's ridiculous, though, because models are always booked to walk more than one show in a day. It happens all the time. Just when you think you are all ready for something, someone like Burberry comes along and do something like this.''
Spearheaded by Christopher Bailey, Burberry has been an avid supporter of London Collections: Men since its inaugural showcase in June 2012 and is one of the hot tickets for this week's event.
Fashion heavyweights including Dolce & Gabbana, JW Anderson and Tommy Hilfiger have gathered in the English capital to present their autumn/winter 2014 collections.
The late actress will go down in history as one of Disney's greats.
Queen have confirmed their biopic is ''finally happening'' and is due to start filming in September.
The actor teases the "unexpected" with the franchise's future.
The actress would take the season 7 premiere's opening scene to another level.