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XFlow CFD offers a new approach to highly dynamic fluid flow simulation. Next Level will concentrate on its simulation for visualization products.
Dassault Systemès and Next Limit Technologies (NLT) have announced the sale of NLT’s Dynamics division to Dassault. The purchase moves a popular new approach to computational fluid dynamics (CFD) into the hands of the world’s largest dedicated CAD software vendor.
XFlow CFD has become popular in several industries, including aerospace and defense, transportation, energy, and high-tech. Named customers include Airbus, Caterpillar, Doosan, Ford, Google X, Honda, Mitsubishi, NASA, Safran and Toyota.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Next Limit Dynamics’ 2015 revenue was approximately 1.6 million euros. NLT, based in Madrid, Spain, says it will now focus on its 3D visualization and related simulation products, including the popular Maxwell Render. “With this transaction, Next Limit will focus its resources and investment in developing cutting edge 3D simulation technologies for current and new markets such as virtual reality, big data, product design and others. By investing in these high growth areas, Next Limit can expand the breadth of our portfolio and attract new partners worldwide who depend on the company to deliver world-class solutions,” the company said in a statement released today.
XFlow uses what is known as the Lattice-Boltzmann method for simulation. Customers use it to predict and enhance the performance of complex designs. This methodology helps with tasks like improving an automobile’s fuel economy and lowering emissions, reducing aircraft noise, and increasing the efficiency of wind turbines for power generation.
What do we think?
The leading vendors keep gobbling up the smaller simulation players. But it is the smaller vendors who have the newest technology based on the latest research. Tech companies grow by building or buying. Simulation and analysis technology is so complex it is usually better for the large vendors like Dassault to let somebody else build it and then buy it when the technology is proven.


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However, Long said he has been slowly forced out of his most profitable lines by competition and other realities in the Whistler retail scene, as well as things like Internet comparison shopping. Rather than compete with bigger chains he's tried to stay ahead of the curve by branching out into specialty goods like musical instruments, longboard skateboards and head-shop-style products — bongs, rolling papers, vaporizers, that kind of thing.
In the end, Long said it was a combination of issues that got the better of his store.
Too much competition?
One of the main reasons Katmandu has been forced to close is competition. When some larger chains moved into his area his revenues went down $350,000 in the first winter. The next year he cut his order and his revenues dropped again by roughly the same amount.
He used to have a few exclusive high-end brands, but when those brands decided they wanted to be in the bigger stores it took his advantage away.
The result was that those companies now had more exposure, but lost the enthusiasm that Long and his staff had for their products.
In the summer months Katmandu used to specialize in bikes, but Long said that margins are low and the opening of the bike park favoured stores closer to the mountain. As well, Katmandu backed a few bike brands that were themselves mismanaged.
After watching accounts that used to be $100,000 or more drop to $10,000, Long started to diversify his product selection — a strategy that has met with some short-term success. But anywhere he diversified successfully, competition inevitably followed. Now Katmandu is one of three head shops in the village.
As well, Long said Internet comparison shopping has taken a bite out of retail, especially where the tourist market is concerned.
"There was a guy who came in here a few weeks ago looking at badge glue, to stick a badge on his jacket and he agonized over the decision for half an hour before saying, 'I think I'm going to buy online, I feel safer that way.' For badge glue," said Long, shaking his head.
Cal Jelley, who has worked for Long the past five years, said it's a common problem these days. "People would rather go to the web even when there's an actual human being in front of them who's used the product, who's telling you it's going to work," he said.
The long recession
For a lot of people the latest global recession started in late 2007 with the collapse of several U.S. investment banks, but Whistler's busiest winter ever was back in 2000-2001 before the economy took a hit after the September 11 terror attacks. Cross-border travel has become more difficult since then, while the Canadian dollar rose to parity with the U.S. greenback.

domain: news


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Minnesota's new tourism slogan will challenge potential visitors around the U.S. to "Find Your True North."
Keeping up the theme of the recent movement to re-brand Minnesota as "The North," Explore Minnesota unveiled its latest tourism campaign on Monday.
"Find Your True North" will debut this spring, featuring in a series of TV, print and digital ads across the Midwestern states of Wisconsin, Iowa, the Dakotas and across Minnesota.
It'll also run in cities including Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Omaha, and Winnipeg.
"This new strategy will reach people who are passionate about hiking, biking, and arts and culture, and are willing to travel and take on new experiences," Explore Minnesota announced.
As for the slogan itself, Explore Minnesota says the campaign is "designed to tell specific stories that make Minnesota stand apart as a unique travel destination."
"Research shows that travelers want to experience new and unique things when they travel," Explore Minnesota says.
"The True North campaign not only highlights the hidden gems and popular attractions found throughout Minnesota – including distinct outdoor adventures, urban cultural experiences and notable landmarks – but the passion points of travel and human connections that all visitors can relate to. True North isn’t a direction. It’s a state of mind."
The shift to "Find Your True North" brings an end to the "Only in Minnesota" catchphrase that Explore Minnesota has been promoting since 2014.
It will continue using the hashtag, #OnlyinMN, that it says has had more than a million uses over that time, with the new campaign slogan stating: "Find Your True North. #OnlyinMN."


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A true iPad killer appeared? Does Google release Motorola and Android 3.0 tablet that produced "DROID X"?
High-end iPhone killer and renownedAndroid smartphone "Droid X"To be released on the release date of iPhone 4, Motorola focusing on Android smartphone apparently released a tablet that adopted "Android 3.0" which is the latest version in cooperation with Google became.
In addition, the above image is the one of "Droid X".
Details are as below.
Google may cooperate with Motorola for Android 3.0 tablet, says Digitimes Research
According to this article, many smartphone makers are now looking for partnerships with Google to launch tablet devices that currently employ Android 3.0, but among them the most likely to partner with Google is Mr. Mingchi Kuo, senior analyst at Digitimes Research, said Motorola is expected.
Motorola 's Android tablet is expected to be released by major American mobile phone company Verizon as well as' Droid X', which is a matter of concern but adopts Sharp 's 10.1 inch touch panel and NVIDIA' s Tegra 2 platform Although it is lower than the iPad, the liquid crystal brightness is supposed to be a thinner model than the iPad.
To improve usability, Google has deeply incorporated the user interface of Android 3.0, etc. In 2011, Mr. Kuo adds that if Android 3.0 tablet shipment quantity reaches 2 million units.
in Mobile, Posted by darkhorse_log


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'Metro Redux' Release Date: Remastered HD Title Bundles '2033' & 'Last Light', Announced For PS4, Xbox One & PC
Two Metro titles are coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in one package called Metro Redux. The title contains Metro: Last Light and Metro 2033, remastered and running at 60FPS in 1080p.
This will be Metro 2033's debut on a PlayStation system, while Last Light already had these HD upgrades on PC. The developer says that the new graphic effects and gameplay enhancements seen in Last Light will be present in 2033 on PS4 and Xbox One. The title was confirmed in late March following a leak of the box art that was soon confirmed by the developer.
The Metro Redux package will cost $49.99, but you can also purchase the titles individually on PSN for $24.99 each. No exact release date has been given, but developer 4A Games said to expect the games this summer.
4A Games ensures fans that Metro Redux is more than just a graphical remastering, promising to deliver gameplay upgrades too. The title will include "advanced enemy AI, improved combat and stealth mechanics, superior weapon handling and more responsive, intuitive controls". It will also include "signature features from Last Light" such as the 'mask wipe' mechanic, weapon customization, and silent kills and takedowns.
A generous inclusion is that of all past Season Pass content, which they say is roughly 10 more hours of gameplay. They've also added two different "Play Styles", which allow you to experience each campaign in different fashions.
"[Survial Mode] is a fraught slow-burn fight for survival with limited resources, deadlier enemy AI, and slower reload speeds," the press release states. "Those who enjoyed the more action oriented gameplay of Metro: Last Light can try the 'Spartan' Play Style, providing Artyom with a powerful set of combat skills and more plentiful resources."
Check out the official announcement trailer below, and keep an eye out for an official release date.


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Since March 2020, South Africans have had to comply with various Covid-19 restrictions implemented by the government to contain the spread of the virus.
To this end, businesses have dealt with limitations on capacity and their operational hours, while patrons must meet face mask and sanitisation requirements. Since the reopening of alcohol sales, it would appear that these restrictions have become less important to hospitality businesses.
The over-crowded bars and restaurants indicate that people seem to have forgotten that we’re still in the midst of a pandemic. To avoid another hard lockdown under which businesses will be completely shut and alcohol sales prohibited, South Africa needs stricter Covid-19 compliance enforcement measures.
Current attitude: casual non-compliance
It’s a Friday night, and the restaurants and bars are all pumping. Face masks are few and far between, and social distancing is non-existent despite Covid-19 State of Disaster regulations. A few of the compliance regulations for restaurants and bars include halved capacities and a mandated distance of 1.5 meters between table and patrons to name a few.
READ MORE ARTICLES ABOUT ALCO-SAFE
There are rumours of nightclubs putting a table and two chairs on the dance floor to masquerade as restaurants and continuing business as usual. Non-compliance seems blatant, which is extremely frustrating for those responsible businesses and citizens who make every effort to comply with pandemic restrictions.
READ MORE ARTICLES ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA
Adding to the frustration is the fact that concerned citizens have no means to report non-compliance to the authorities because there is no national hotline to dial. Even more infuriating for those staying home is the complete lack of Covid compliance shown on social media – people attending super-spreader events without a mask in sight.
What can be done about non-compliance?
Businesses that fail to comply with Covid restrictions can be charged with breaking the Disaster Management Act. Unfortunately, the fine associated with contravening the Act is nominal and will need to be reassessed and increased to have a deterrent effect. In addition to an increased punitive fine where non-compliance is related to the sale of alcohol, the establishment in question should have their liquor license revoked or suspended. This would have a further deterrent effect, and when combined with the possibility of an increased fine, would bring Covid compliance in the hospitality and retail industries under control.
Yet there is a lot more that can be done to deter non-compliance. Businesses outside of the hospitality industry that fail to enforce Covid-19 regulations can be reported (by workers or members of the public) to labour department inspectors and at labour centres around the country. Such failure to comply with Covid health and safety protocols can result in the business being shut down or taken to labour court.
For minor transgressions, companies will receive an improvement notice, which is effectively a warning. If this notice is not adhered to, a prohibition notice will be issued, and the business will not be able to operate unless the specific transgressions have been addressed. Failure to comply with a prohibition notice will result in a contravention notice which will require the business owner to then appear before a labour court.
Cracking down on non-compliance
In order to avoid a third wave or another hard lockdown, compliance with Covid health and safety protocols – particularly around the sale and consumption of alcohol – needs to remain top of mind for every business and every citizen. A national hotline for reporting businesses that contravene Covid regulations is necessary to give concerned citizens a centralised touchpoint.
Fines for contravening regulations need to be heftier, both from a financial perspective and an ability to operate. Businesses that risk their liquor license or their ability to trade will be more likely to enforce compliance. With the virus showing no signs of disappearing and so much uncertainty surrounding the vaccine, it is critical to get compliance back under control as quickly as possible.


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AT&T bids for Yahoo's internet business: Bloomberg
[NEW YORK] AT&T Inc, the No 2 US wireless carrier, has made a bid for Yahoo Inc's internet business, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
AT&T had previously decided against making an offer, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg in April.
Digital advertising company YP Holdings LLC, which is backed by AT&T, is no longer pursuing a bid, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
Yahoo and AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters, citing sources, reported on April 29 that Yahoo had shortlisted close to 10 bidders in an auction for its internet business, including Verizon Communications Inc, the biggest US wireless carrier.


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Here Are the Best and Worst Stores for Deals On Black Friday
If you're going to face the masses on Black Friday, which usually means jammed packed stores, and some people not being nice when fighting over the last toy that their kid just has to have, you'd better get some insane deals to make up for it.
A new study analyzed the Black Friday ads from 29 of the biggest retail chains in the country to figure out who's offering the best average deals this year and who's offering the worst.
The average deal overall is 40.4% off. That's an improvement from last year when it was 37% off.
And the best deals this year are at , Stage department stores. That includes Stage, Bealls, Palais Royal, Peebles, and Goody's where things are an average of 69.8% off.
The other stores that are averaging at least 50% off are Belk, that one Tom and I had to look up, we had never heard of it..probably because it is Maryland, JCPenney, Kohl's, New York & Company, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Kmart.
The other stores that are averaging less than 30% off are True Value, Costco, Harbor Freight, Amazon, Big Lots, Dell and Best Buy.
Another way to handle Black Friday shopping, go local with smaller hometown businesses.


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YU is back after 9 months of hiatus since the launch of YUREKA S August last year. Even after rumors about the company shutting down, it teased the launch of a new smartphone earlier this month. The company has sent out invites for the launch of its YUREKA Black smartphone in June 1st. Continue reading “YU YUREKA Black smartphone with metal body launching on June 1”
YU Televentures has announced that its four devices – YUNIQUE, YUPHORIA, YUREKA, YUREKA Plus – will receive stable Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow OTA update in next 30 days. Continue reading “YU YUNIQUE, YUPHORIA, YUREKA Plus to receive Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow update next month”
It is that time of the year when Google reveals the most searched events, people and things that were on top of its search list. In case of India, Flipkart topped as the most searched thing on Google while YU Yureka was the most searched mobile device.
Continue reading “YU Yureka and Flipkart top Google India’s ‘Year in Search 2015’ list”
Looking to buy an Android smartphone below Rs. 10,000 price bracket? Here is something you should definitely look at before making a final choice. Continue reading “Top 10 Android Smartphones under Rs. 10,000”
YU YUREKA got the Cyanogen OS 12 update (YNG1TAS0W0) based on Android 5.0.2 (Lollipop) last month. Now the smartphone is getting a new incremental software update that is said to improve the battery life of the smartphone. The update doesn’t change the Android version from 5.0.2, but the smartphone is expected to get the Android 5.1.1 update soon. Continue reading “YU YUREKA incremental update for battery life improvements starts rolling out”
YU Yureka will be up for grabs without any registration in a two-day open sale on May 6 and May 7. YU on Twitter and Facebook noted that the 48-hours sale on Amazon.in will have ‘no time limits’ to purchase the Yu Yureka smartphone or any pre-registrations for participation. Continue reading “YU Yureka to be available without registrations on May 6 and May 7”
We recently caught up with Rahul Sharma, the man behind Yu which has launched the Yureka device in the market and is having a tough time keeping up with demand on Amazon India.Yu is a new brand in the Indian smartphone market. The company is a 100% subsidiary of Micromax, one of the most popular names in the sub-continent.We had a chance to talk to Rahul Sharma – the co-founder and the CEO of Yu about the company’s progress and of course we asked questions that would answer all your queries. Continue reading “An Interview with Rahul Sharma, Co-founder and CEO Yu”
Amazon India has announced that the YU YUREKA smartphone will be available today for select customers those who have shown a high level of interest to buy the smartphone but were unable to get it. The sale happens today, Wednesday, February 18, 2015 from 2 PM to 5 PM. Only registered customers who were unable to purchase the YUREKA will be eligible to participate in today’s sale and will receive an email from Amazon.in informing them of their access to the sale, said the company.
Continue reading “YU YUREKA will be available on Amazon on Feb 18 for some who tried and failed”
YU today announced that it has sold 10,000 units of YU YURKA smartphones in just 3 seconds in the third flash sale on Amazon.in. It sold 15,000 units of Yureka smartphones in 4 seconds in its second flash sale last week. Next sale is scheduled for next Thursday, February 5th at 2PM. Registrations for the next sale will begin at 5PM today on Amazon. Users will have to register to participate in the weekly flash sale and registrations of previous sales will not be valid for future sales, said the company. Continue reading “10,000 units of YU YUREKA sold out in 3 seconds in 3rd sale”
Micromax’s YU launched the YU YUREKA (AO5510) smartphone last month for Rs. 8,999. We brought you the unboxing, photo gallery, benchmarks and battery test results of the smartphone recently. Here we have the camera samples. The Yukrea has a 13-megapixel auto focus rear camera with single LED Flash, 5P lenses, Sony Exmor RS IMX135 sensor, f/2.2 aperture and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, OmniVision 5648 sensor, 4P lenses and 71-degree wide viewing angle. Since it runs on Cyanogen OS, it comes with Cyanogen camera app that has several modes.
Continue reading “YU YUREKA Camera Samples”
Micromax’s YU plans to sell 10,000 units of YUREKA smartphones on its first flash sale on January 13th, tomorrow at 2PM on Amazon.in, according to a report from PTI (via ET). The company has received over three lakh registrations for the smartphone, and it had to close the registration a day before the actual date of December 25th due to tremendous response, said Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma to PTI. Continue reading “10,000 YU YUREKA units to go on sale on Jan 13th, receives over 3 lakh registrations”
Micromax’s YU launched the YU YUREKA (AO5510) smartphone running Cyanogen OS last month for Rs. 8,999. We already brought you the a hands on impressions,unboxing and a comparison gallery of the phone with the OnePlus One. Now let’s compare the phone with Xiaomi Redmi Note in our comparison photo gallery. Continue reading “YU YUREKA vs Xiaomi Redmi Note Photo Gallery”
Micromax’s YU launched the YU YUREKA (AO5510) smartphone running Cyanogen OS last month for Rs. 8,999. We already brought you the hands on impressions from the launch event and unboxing and photo gallery recently. Now lets compare the phone with OnePlus One that was recently launched in India for Rs 21,999. Continue reading “YU YUREKA vs OnePlus One Photo Gallery”
Micromax’s YU launched the YU YUREKA (AO5510) smartphone running Cyanogen OS last month for Rs. 8,999. We already brought you the hands on impressions from the launch event last month, here we have the unboxing.
Continue reading “YU YUREKA Unboxing”


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Love, Bonito expands relationship with Adyen
By Digital News Asia January 1, 2019
- Able to offer a unified payment experience across its online and offline stores
- Adyen also manages Love, Bonito’s transactions across its global e-commerce platform
LOVE, Bonito, a home-grown Singaporean women’s fashion brand has embarked on a partnership with Adyen, a payments platform, to optimise its payments process and checkout experience across both the brand’s online and offline platforms.
Love, Bonito’s latest store at Jem offers a unified commerce experience through Adyen’s point-of-sale (POS) system.
“The fashion and retail industry is one that is always evolving and businesses like ours need to continuously innovate to remain ahead of the curve. By partnering with Adyen, we are able to offer our customers a seamless payment experience that works for our millennial audience,” said Dione Song (pic, right), Love, Bonito’s chief commercial officer.
“Adyen offers us a unified commerce solution that aligns with our ongoing business strategy to creating meaningful in-store experiences that enable easier and more frictionless customer experiences.”
Love, Bonito’s fashion-forward customers fall into the Spendsetter category. Spendsetters are a rapidly expanding category of shoppers who embrace technology and set trends for how people shop and spend.
This group make up 55% of Singaporean shoppers – they are avid users of technology and demand seamless digital and offline shopping journeys.
This reflects in payment method preferences. While cash and credit cards are still the preferred mode of payment for everyday transactions, Spendsetters increasingly look for contactless payments.
Through the collaboration with Adyen, Love, Bonito will be able to offer a unified payment experience across its online and offline stores. Adyen’s all-in-one payments solution allows Love, Bonito to tailor and enhance customer shopping experiences, thereby improving brand loyalty.
Additionally, Adyen manages Love, Bonito’s transactions across its global e-commerce platform, serving customers across the region from Hong Kong to Australia and the United States.
“To encourage brand loyalty, Love, Bonito is putting the customer at the center of its business by creating a unified experience across online and offline sales channels. They know that for Spendsetters, shopping with a smartphone is a given, so tailored experiences are crucial to continuing to build loyalty and trust.
“As a company, Love, Bonito is working hard to deliver a trusted and seamless experience that enables them to increase their footprint into regional markets as well as to optimize existing customer conversions. We are excited to be working with Love, Bonito, a vibrant and innovative brand in the fashion space that understands the importance of unified commerce in the customer journey,” said Warren Hayashi, president of Adyen, Asia-Pacific.
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Symantec spokesman Chris Paden sees Microsoft "leveraging a monopolistic position to limit customer choice" as the company works to include better security features in Windows Vista. Robert McMillan wrote for Macworld UK: "Microsoft says it is adding these features to lock down the operating system, but Symantec believes that they will be harmful to customers by making it harder for them to use third-party software."
However, Mr. Paden didnit want to accuse Microsoft of engaging in anti-trust violations, a delicate topic given the legal proceedings against the company in the U.S. and Europe. He noted: "Itis not anti-competitive behavior, because Vista hasnit even hit the market yet,."
As it did during the browser wars by tying Internet Explorer so closely to its operating system, Microsoft is being so close to the vest with security that it is keeping developers from accessing the Windows kernel. Eric Sites, vice-president of R&D at Sunbelt Software, said: "There are a lot of new exploits coming out that exploit kernel-level drivers, " he said. "If weire able to get into the kernel, we can watch for things like that, but with what Microsoft is doing we canit do that."
Microsoft declined requests for comment, but Mr. McMillan cited a quote from Stephen Toulouse, the companyis senior product manager in the security technology division, given to IDG News last week: "What weire doing is weire walling off the kernel from attackers, because the functionality that is currently there was never meant to be used by anybody -- by software vendors or attackers."


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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Belgian plastics firm Ravago has acquired UK recyclers Venture Polymers and Aurora Manufacturing for an undisclosed sum, said the company.
Cheshire-based Venture and Lancashire-based Aurora produce reprocessed PP and HDPE, with a joint 20,000 tonne capacity. Ravago said it intends to grow its operations further in the UK.
Manuel Gayo, Ravago Manufacturing Europe business director, said: “This is a key step in Ravago’s growth strategy in post-consumer recycling based compounds as we continue to support our customers with solutions to meet the ever-increasing demand for post-consumer recycled plastics."
Alex Cook, Aurora Manufacturing managing director, said: “Following two decades of work within the UK plastics recycling industry we are pleased to announce the acquisition of our businesses into the Ravago group.
As per MRC, Neste and Ravago aim to establish a joint venture to build an industrial facility for chemical recycling in North Sea Port in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. The facility is intended to be the starting point of joint global chemical recycling (often also called “advanced recycling”) activities, built upon the advancement of the thermochemical liquefaction technology of US-based Alterra Energy, an innovative chemical recycling technology company.
As MRC reported earlier, Ravago Group has carried out routine maintenance at its expandable polystyrene (EPS) plant in Schkopau, Germany. Thus, the turnaround at this plant with a capacity of 70,000/tonnes of EPS per year began on April 20, 2021, and was completed on April 28. Thus, the maintenance works at this plant lasted for one week.
Ravago represents more than 6.6 million metric tons of annual polymer sales, serving more than 50,000 active customers through more than 325 locations across more than 55 countries worldwide. Ravago's production capability consists of more than 45 manufacturing facilities, 19 of which are recycling and compounding plants in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa with a combined annual capacity of more than 775,000 metric tons; 13 of which are production plants in Europe that offer finished product solutions for the building sector; and seven of which are chemicals plants and 6 are application laboratories for its chemicals business.


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Dark Horse To Release Oh My Goddess! Omnibus Manga
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
North American publisher Dark Horse Comics announced during its Oh My Goddess! 20th Anniversary panel at Anime Expo on Saturday that it will release omnibus editions of Kosuke Fujishima's Oh My Goddess! manga. The series will span 15 omnibus volumes with a larger art size, improved paper, and extra color art inserts.
Fujishima began the manga in Monthly Afternoon in 1988, and Dark Horse Comics published the 45th manga volume in North America last December. The manga inspired an original video anime series, three television series with a special, and three additional original anime DVDs. Fujishima ended the manga series in April.


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The Bieber-ific is known to do cool things for his fans and he's doing it again today, announcing a surprise concert in New York City at the Apollo Theater via Twitter.
To celebrate his new perfume hitting Macy stores, Bieber tweeted a surprise show and its location. He also prepped his fans for some special guests too!
Could it be Carly Rae Jepsen? Selena Gomez? Why don't we live in NYC?! Whyyyyyy!
To get tickets to Justin's private show, you must be one of the first 500 customers to purchase his fragrance package at the Herald Square Macy's store.
The JB perfume package is $168 and includes products from the GIRLFRIEND line – a 3.4 oz spray, 1.7 oz spray, hair mist, body lotion, his Believe album and two tickets to his show tonight, which allows access for one parent and one child.
Get to Macy's now Beliebers!
Justin took over NYC and the Today Show last week too. After tonight's concert, he's headed to the MTV TRL studios tomorrow to celebrate the release of his new Believe album.
Let us know on Facebook or Twitter if you make it to the private JB show tonight!
Check out Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen at the MMVAs last night.


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When will the next-generation Subaru Crosstrek be available for U.S. customers? The 2023 Subaru Crosstrek gets a complete remodel and won’t arrive until spring 2023. Before the new subcompact SUV hits U.S. shores, sales of the hot 2022 Crosstrek cooled off, but only slightly in May.
In February, the hot Crosstrek pulled off a first-ever and was the number one selling model in Subaru of America’s (SOA) all-wheel-drive lineup, passing the Forester and Outback. In May, Crosstrek dropped 1.2 percent compared with May 2021. Subaru of America delivered 9,894 models to customers compared with 10,013 in May 2021.
photo credit: Subaru USA via Maggie Bradshaw Says
The Crosstrek is still one of the few Subaru models in positive figures for the year, up 2.7 percent. Subaru has sold 59,374 Crosstrek models in 2022 compared with 57,799 during the same period in 2021. Ascent is the only other all-wheel-drive SUV up year-to-date (+9.3%).
Why Crosstrek sells well before the remodel
Typically a model slows down ahead of a significant remodel, but not the Crosstrek. The subcompact SUV remains a top seller for SOA because it’s affordable, fuel-efficient, offers standard all-wheel-drive, has 8.7-inches of ground clearance, X-Mode for off-pavement, all-weather capability, and gets top safety scores.
photo credit: Schumacher Subaru
What is the price of the 2022 Crosstrek?
Customers should be aware of a recent $800 price increase on April 26, 2022. The base trim is now priced from $24,320, Premium ($25,470), Sport ($28,670), Limited ($30,170) and Crosstrek Hybrid ($37,520). Prices include destination and delivery fees ($1,175).
What is the Crosstrek fuel mileage?
With gas prices rising this summer (AAA average price is now $4.76), the Crosstrek is a fuel-efficient SUV. The Subaru Crosstrek Sport and Limited trim levels use direct injection on its new 2.5-liter four-cylinder Boxer engine and get 27/34 city/highway mpg and 29 combined mpg. The standard 2.0-liter engine gets 28/33 mpg and 30 combined mpg with the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) automatic, contributing to better mileage.
What are Crosstrek’s safety scores?
The 2022 Subaru Crosstrek was just rated by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and is now a Top Safety Pick winner for 11 consecutive years. The 2022 Crosstrek Hybrid earns the highest Top Safety Pick + award.
What’s next for the 2023 Crosstrek?
The 2023 Subaru Crosstrek gets a complete remodel, and sources close to Subaru say the Japanese automaker will launch a new Crosstrek Wilderness trim level in 2023. Look for Subaru to announce the next-generation Crosstrek soon. Stay tuned.
Ahead of a complete remodel for the 2023 Subaru Crosstrek subcompact SUV, the 2022 Crosstrek cooled off slightly in May and is the second best-selling model for Subaru of America behind the number one selling Outback.
You Might Also Like: Subaru Shuts Down Forester And Crosstrek Assembly Lines For The 6th Time
Denis Flierl has invested over 30 years in the automotive industry in a consulting role working with every major car brand. He is an accredited member of the Rocky Mountain Automotive Press. Check out Subaru Report where he covers all of the Japanese automaker's models. More stories can be found on the Torque News Subaru page. Follow Denis on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Subaru Report - We’ve got you covered! Check back tomorrow for more unique, informative SUBARU news, reviews, and previews you can trust.
Leave your comments below, share the article with friends and tweet it out to your followers!
Photo credit: Subaru USA via Maggie Bradshaw Says


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Eric Kessler, President HBO, has just announced that the company is finally adding stupport for Airplay to its iOS apps. Kessler also said that he expects that he’ll be getting on Apple TV eventually — as part of a larger trend of HBO trying to get on as many different devices as possible. HBO Go is apparently enough for the company to feel current — not opening up to earlier windows for purchasing shows or selling HBO content separate from cable subscriptions. “We never want to become your father’s Oldsmobile,” Kessler says, saying that HBO Go keeps the company up with the times.
Proposed ad for Jawbone Up (assuming they implement a heart rate monitor feature in the next release of the product).
I absolutely love the simplicity (its my jam). Not to mention the materials are perfect for the brand! The package design is incredibly well thought out and and gorgeous without hampering the functionality.
I’m obsessed with Mohawk’s re-branding and the simplicity of their logo and how it can be manipulated to create such vibrant and mesmerizing patterns. I also love how much meaning the logo holds from the M in Mohawk to the shape of mohawks to the actual process used to make paper. Really just brilliant.
Redesign by Pentagram
Proposed ad for Tide Stain Release using the upcoming remake of the movie Carrie. The idea for the campaign would be to have stills of various famous “messy” moments in film history. The food fight from Hook could possibly be another.
In early February, a suicide bomber attacked the American Embassy in Turkey. The moments and hours afterwards were captured on video by Turkish TV reporters and CNN — and by a contributor for news site Al Monitor, who captured some of the first Vine-based breaking news.
Awesome that Vine was used. I love that new forms of social media are being used for various purposes. Now if we can get some sort of interactive ad campaign on there…


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THE NOKIA COMEBACK
BRAND NOKIA IS AN INSPIRATION TO THE TECH WORLD WHERE COMEBACKS ARE RARE. T2OS FINDS OUT WHAT MAKES IT PING
- Published 5.11.17
February 2017. Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The big news was the return of a brand that many have grown up with — Nokia. A revived edition of the iconic 3310 took centre stage and suddenly the world forgot that the Finnish brand had been missing from action for long. It was nostalgia at work. And HMD Global, the other Finnish company responsible for Nokia’s revival, knew nostalgia alone wasn’t enough to make a brand survive.
For those who haven’t followed the story closely, here’s a recap. Nokia lost the battle to Apple’s touchscreen technology and sold out to Microsoft in 2013 for $7.2 billion. But luck didn’t favour the Bill Gates-Paul Allen-founded company and Microsoft sold the brand in two parts in 2016 for $350 million. The brand name was sold to HMD Global, formed mostly by former Nokia employees in Finland. The manufacturing arms of Nokia were bought by iPhone manufacturer Foxconn, which also agreed to build the new Nokia phone for HMD.
Since December 2016, HMD Global has used its brand power to rollout 11 mobile phones in 11 months, with all of them proving to be a success. In fact, Nokia 8, the company’s flagship product which launched last month, has taken the challenge to all the big names in the market. And it has not just been about making a comeback; the brand is creating a buzz among the youth with a feature called ‘bothie’ that fires up both the rear and front-facing cameras at the same time, shooting video or photos to be shared live directly to Facebook or YouTube. Wow!
So, why does Nokia still rock? Why is Nokia relevant to millennials? Why is Nokia still the people’s brand? t2oS took the train from 55/56 Rapid Metro Station in Gurgaon in late October. The fellow passenger? Pekka Rantala, the man who spent much of his career at Nokia is now chief marketing officer of HMD Global. Excerpts from our conversation.
We can’t live in the past
We started our journey as HMD only 11 months ago, so we are a young start-up, a start-up from Finland. It’s early days but when we began our journey last year, we were already listening to phone buyers. We learnt that many didn’t feel secure about their smartphones. We learnt that many were running old versions of their smartphone software. Many of them were frustrated with preloaded software applications that came with their phones. These were issues that were addressed by our special take on Android… keep it pure, secure and up to date, providing frequent security updates, providing frequent software updates and not loading anything extra to our devices.
We are working on a brand that everyone out there knows about. We are a brand that people are still passionate about. There is so much equity we can leverage. We don’t want to live in any kind of nostalgia world. We want to move forward and live in the present. We have been and will be taking selective things from the past but those too need a modern spin. I understand the word nostalgia. Many people out there — young or old — they consider retro to be a phenomenon and we can benefit from that. But we can’t live in the past. So we will be staying true to the core values of brand Nokia, which is about reliability, quality and trust. And then there is innovation.
A new beginning
We have a wonderful marriage with Nokia Corporation and we haven’t just loaned a name from them. It’s a new beginning. We want to be, once again, one of the leading mobile phone players out there. We strongly believe that we can achieve that in both feature and smartphone segments. We may reach the target quicker in the feature phone segment because we have had a flying start and we inherited the feature phone business.
When it comes to smartphones, we have to innovate, which we have been doing for the last 11 months. Competition is tough and not a walk in the park. We need to make choices and we need to listen to people. It’s not necessarily about looking at what competition is doing. We are trying to have a good conversation with our consumers.
We know that Nokia is a unique brand (and not just a trademark) that has been around for over 150 years. So, we have a big responsibility. The brand has always had a purpose and has always been very different from any other tech products out there. And millennials always look for brands with a purpose. We are that brand. Over 80 per cent of the Indian visitors to our dot.com site or social media accounts are millennials. Which means we are moving in the right direction.
We are taking India seriously
India is a very special place for us. The bonding between consumers here and the brand has always been exceptional. In India, Nokia is everyone’s brand, which means we can be present at every single price point. With our smartphone and feature phone range, we are covering a number of relevant price points but, of course, we still feel it’s possible to evolve and develop the portfolio further. We can always come up with products at price points that we haven’t discovered yet. That we are taking India seriously can well be seen with the launch of Nokia 2 (will hit the market mid-November), which rolls out from your country.
We keep hearing about flagship model features cascading down to lower models of smartphones. The most important feature of Nokia 2 can reverse the trend. Many people feel frustrated and uncertain about the number of times one needs to charge the phone in a day. Can I trust my phone if I am out for nine hours and even if I have to make calls, browse the Net? Will my phone have enough charge? That’s why we decided to design a phone that makes a perfect companion for two days. So two-day battery life is a promise we are giving with Nokia 2. The two-day battery life of Nokia 2 isn’t there in Nokia 8. That’s a good example of good things not always starting at the top. Even though it would be priced around Euro 100, we haven’t compromised on quality. The phone is packed elegantly and has the Nokia design. It’s a solid package.
Nokia has always been a brand that wants to democratise technology. We ensure that all our phones are secure, be it Nokia 2 or Nokia 8. We are also partnering with companies that add value to consumers, like Carl Zeiss, which is a 170-odd years old optical giant. You will see more of this in the future. Moving forward, there will be more companion brands available.
A happy Finn
I admire the vibrancy of your country. All the people I have met here are full of energy and always wanting to progress while looking at the future. This is as much home as Finland, where people are emotional about Nokia. I get goosebumps when I speak about the responsibility brand Nokia has in Finland (the company in its heyday contributed greatly to Finland’s GDP). I am in a very lucky position because I get to do a job that I enjoy. But the job also has a purpose and as a Finn, it’s a privilege to be a part of this journey. It’s on us to bring back one of the most loved consumer brands of all time. Finland is now the first country where our market share has exceeded 10 per cent. This has happened only in a few months. They are proud and happy.
— Mathures Paul
Our mission is very simple. We want to be one of the top mobile phone players in the world in the next couple of years, a journey in which India will play a crucial role. By the end of the year, we will be selling in 100,000 stores. Since we started 11 months ago, India has contributed significantly to our growth story. We see maximum engagement on our social media from India. India is in the top three countries in terms of Nokia smartphone activation
— Florian Seiche, HMD Global CEO
The man spearheading the plans to revive a phone brand that many Indians consider their own is the kati-roll loving, cheese-omelette chomping Ajey Mehta, vice-president, India, HMD Global. Though his job has taken him all over the world, he returns to Calcutta now and then to be with his parents who live in New Alipore. “Calcutta at its heart is always the same. I remember hanging out at The Saturday Club, having cheese omelette. Calcutta taught me simple living and high thinking. I do believe having your feet planted on the ground is very important to being happy. The city has given me a lot.” Here’s what the man told t2oS over coffee.
Redefining and reinventing Nokia
Our target consumers are the purpose-seeking millennials. The Nokia of the old and the Nokia of the new, what remains common are the core values — simplicity, reliability, transparency... these are aspects we want to stay true to. What worked then, will not work now. Legacy is good but legacy can also pull you back. We are in the process of redefining and reinventing Nokia on the same core values.
Here’s a story. When we launched the 3310, the first person to call me was my niece. At that time we didn’t realise the demand that was there in the market. She calls me and asks for a 3310. She also said she wanted 20 pieces of the 3310! Obviously, I couldn’t give her that. Nokia has this very unique appeal to the millennial.
Our focus is on providing the best Android experience. So, when I hear other companies offering stock Android, I really feel flattered because it’s something we started talking about; the others have joined in. We believe in what we want to deliver and not base our proposition on what others are doing. I want to continue pursuing what Nokia stands for, otherwise we will be chasing our tail.
What’s a ‘Bothie’?
Speaking of features that people are talking about, one of them is the bothie on our flagship offering, the Nokia 8. The bothie comes with a dual-sight camera (with Carl Zeiss lens), delivering a split-screen experience. You can live stream on both cameras simultaneously and upload on social media with a single touch. This is a top-of-the-line feature. The speakers come with Nokia OZO Audio, which provides spatial audio and a better reproduction of ambient sounds. Bothie is becoming a word.
I joined Nokia in 2005 and have been on this journey through the ups and the downs. I have used multiple Nokia phones, starting with the 3310, the Communicator, the N95.... The important thing for me is to believe in the brand. There is a word in Finnish... sisu... which means perseverance, staying the course despite all odds. Nokia has reinvented itself multiple times. I simply identify with this brand. I have moved my daughter across 11 schools; I’ve moved 18 homes. I was all in when HMD announced Nokia phones.


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Secret Weapon Miniatures have posted a preview of a Trench Works terrain piece they are producing.
From their website:
Preview of the upcoming Trench Works terrain release. They measure 6″ long, 1″ high and 1″ deep (155x25x25mm). They’ll be available in February with an anticipated price of $25.


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RETRO LOOKS, BODY MOLDERS HIGHLIGHT LYON SHOW
Byline: Suzanne Lynch
LYON — Prospects for next summer’s beachwear looked bright and retro at the Lyon, Mode City show, as 168 international brands laid out the latest in versatile swimwear and accessories.
The trade show, which also spotlighted intimate apparel and fabrics, ran for three days through Sept. 8. It drew 14,605 visitors from 17 different countries and saw a generally lively give-and-take between buyers and vendors.
European and foreign buyers alike were weaving in and out of booths packed with vividly colored bikinis, one-piece suits, pareos, and coverups in colors like turquoise, lavender, and lemon yellow.
Exhibitors included such brands as Gottex, Banana Moon, Pascal Creations and Janine Robin. Niche brands such as Rondissimo Bains showed collections for larger women. There were also the French subsidiaries of large American groups like Vanity Fair’s Tropic line and Warnaco’s Rassurel.
Favored looks included nonrevealing swimsuits in one- or two-piece versions with romantic touches — a modernized Fifties starlet look. Exotic references and prints were integrated into scarf styles and draped sarongs in bright colors, and jeweled accessories were added to suits.
An athletic influence was apparent in T-back swimsuits jazzed up with geometric interplays — done with either cuts or prints — and colorblock treatments reinforced by finishing details, such as two-tone edging.
Along with color and silhouettes, fabrics were a matter of strong interest, particularly lightweight body-molding, tummy-flattening microfibers blended with Lycra or Dorlastan spandex. Shaping suits were attention-getters at the first-ever American Pavilion, where they shown by such firms as MiracleSuit by Swim Shaper and Carol Wior Swimsuits.
In all, a half-dozen U.S. swimwear companies displayed their wares at the Pavilion. Others included Ritchie Swimwear; Parisa by Amir; Malia Mills Swim Wear, and Authentic Fitness.
“Looking 10 pounds lighter is a universal desire,” said Bruce Waldman, executive vice president of MiracleSuit. “We’ve been getting a strong reaction to our product. The consumer with a larger build is tired of being put down, so there is a lot of demand.”
“We would have to change the slogan to ‘Lose five kilos in five minutes” instead of “Lose 10 pounds in 10 minutes,”‘ joked Michele Frotte, a buyer from the French department store Galeries Lafayette browsing the MiracleSuit booth, as she asked questions about the weight of the suit’s shapeholding Miratex fabric.
Mainly, the Americans were there to make contacts and find distributors or agents rather than expecting to write major orders, although the strength of the dollar against European currencies was seen as a hurdle by some.
“We’re here trying to expand our market,” said Ritchie Beger, owner of Miami-based The Ritchie Collection, which already sells some products in Switzerland, France, Germany, and Australia. “But the dollar’s rise makes things harder. It may curb the value of our exports into Europe. We may have to make a little price adjustment in 1998 for our European distributors.”
Showing independently from the American Pavilion was Peter Skelton, general manager of Raisins, the junior swimwear line from the U.S. produced by Quiksilver. The line was showing at Lyon, Mode City to further build on Quiksilver’s already established distribution network in Europe.
“I’m here just to introduce our products, and let people know we’re out here,.” said Skelton, “but I haven’t seen many French buyers yet. Mainly Italians and Eastern Europeans.”
Among the European exhibitors, Hans Spaan, marketing director for BeachLife, an Amsterdam-based company that does 50 percent of its $15 million (30 million guilder) volume via exports to the Mideast, Northern Europe and Korea, said, “The fair has been good for us, much better than last year. Last year people were buying less because they were overstocked, but now the stores are more or less empty and they need a new collection.”
Accessories such as dresses, pareos, skirts and tops have become increasingly popular, he noted, as have larger busted suits. “Five years ago the B-cup was in demand,” he said, “but now we are getting more demand for C and D cups.”
As for selling to the U.S., Spaan noted, “Because of import duties it’s very hard to enter the market. Right now, we sell to a few speciality shops near Miami but we don’t have any regular business.”
According to Uccello Mario, manager of Il Gabbiano, an Italian company featuring inexpensive, brightly colored swimsuits, the show this time around was “a little better than last year.”


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Virgin Mobile forges media partnerships
Virgin Mobile has announced it has developed strategic partnerships with five media companies: PBL Media (Ninemsn and ACP magazines), Nova FM, Pedestrian TV and Pagesdigital.
The aim of the year-long partnerships is to build on Virgin Mobile’s media presence through print, radio, OOH executions, targeted events and promotions and digital media, as well as develop existing Virgin Mobile offers, such as the Virgin Mobile Members’ Lounge.
Rob Nolan, head of brand and relationship marketing at Virgin Mobile said, “We have developed unique offers with each media partner that actually give something back to our Members.”
In partnership with Ninemsn, Virgin Mobile aim to extend awareness of the Members’ Lounge through ‘The FIX’, Ninemsn’s online entertainment portal. This involves reaching non-members through online editorial.
Virgin Mobile will sponsor select programs on Nova FM – Sunday afternoon’s Sounds Like News and a new evening program rebranded as The Virgin Mobile Download with the Action Battle Team.
The aim of partnering with pop culture websites Pedestrian TV and Pagesdigital is to deliver specific content for the Members’ Lounge.


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*This post originally appeared as an article on Sustainable Food News.
Sustainability initiatives have taken on increasing significance in the food and beverage industry in recent years. With an increased focus on branding through social media and consumer demand for environmentally conscious business practices, companies are under increased pressure to demonstrate a commitment to conservation.
This has led many companies to begin investing in developing alternative business practices, aimed at creating an overall positive environmental impact and staying current in a market that has experienced rapid changes in recent years.
Leading the wave of sustainability are brands such as Ben and Jerry’s, who is no stranger to incorporating social causes into its business model. Since its founding, the company has produced ice cream flavors centered around various philanthropic causes, such as supporting family dairy farms and non-profits. In January 2019, the company began eliminating single-use plastic in its stores, transitioning to wooden spoons and paper straws. It has also begun researching alternatives to the paper coating of its ice cream tubs, in order to make them biodegradable.
The company claims it has a three pronged approach to business: its product mission, its economic mission, and its social mission. This approach is aimed at building brand loyalty, especially among younger and increasingly socially conscious consumers. The company has recently partnered with the Sierra Club to organize events aimed at promoting clean energy in local communities and combating climate change. Free Ben and Jerry’s ice cream will be served at many of these events, making sustainability a key pillar of the brand’s consumer outreach.
Another company that has taken a strong lead in sustainability reform is Barilla Group, who has focused on reforming its supply chain from the local level of agricultural production. Barilla Group has been working with around 5,000 farms in Italy in order to secure supply chain cultivation contracts, with the goal of establishing long-lasting changes at each step of its product production. Additionally, in its 2019 sustainability report, Barilla Group highlighted the most recent sustainability milestone of the company—as part of a ten year endeavor, the company had reduced its water consumption by 21% and its carbon emissions by 30%, with one of its brands even going so far as to become the first to fully compensate its carbon dioxide emissions.
In some instances, companies have decided to go outside of the food and beverage sphere in order to address certain environmental issues, which has led to unique partnerships for certain industry leaders. In January 2019, Tyson Foods announced a strategic partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund (E.D.F.), a non-profit advocacy group which works on issues such as restoring ecosystems, mitigating the effects of climate change and researching economic incentives to find solutions to ongoing environmental issues. The partnership was formed in order for the company to work with environmental experts in order to create efficient farming practices that both maximize the profit of certain products and have minimal negative environmental impact. The first project that the partnership has begun working on focuses on scaling 500,000 acres of land used for corn production in order to test out practices that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase the profitability for farmers, and also focus on developing cloud based technology to gather data as different programs are piloted.
Changing the Market
While large companies have begun to implement new initiatives, the movement is not localized to only long-established firms. In fact, the desire for more sustainable business practices has also highlighted a need for sustainable food in the market, which newer and smaller players have been quick to take advantage of.
Several new companies are seeing impressive and rapid growth due to their innovative solutions to this emerging trend. The company Beyond Meat is one example. Beyond Meat was created in response to increased consumer demand for alternatives to meat or meat-based products. The company, founded in 2009, is known for releasing the first plant-based burger in grocery stores. In 2017, the company reported revenue of $32.6 million. Just one year later, the company saw a 170% jump to net sales of $87.9 million. This year, Beyond Meat ended its third quarter with reported net sales of $67.3 million, with its full year revenue outlook reaching $240 million. The company has expanded beyond grocery stores and brought its products into chains such as Tim Hortons and Dunkin’ Donuts.
The need for sustainable food has also led to partnerships among smaller industry players and environmental researchers. In states such as California, which has experienced record droughts in the past few years, farmers and companies have needed to come up with creative solutions to improving water consumption. The Nigiri Project, founded in Yolo County, California, is a project whereby researchers and farmers are using rice farms to encourage the growth of salmon, an endangered species in the area. Rice paddies, where grains are typically flooded, are being converted into flood plains that flow into the Sacramento River. Rather than having water immediately soak back into the earth, farmers have allowed the growth of algae near their rice plants, which has encouraged the emergence of water bugs, a food source for salmon in the Sacramento River. The project, if successful on a large enough scale, may fundamentally change the way companies conduct farming in areas where the necessary resources are becoming more finite.
Legal Implications of the Changing Environment
Despite the rising popularity of alternative food and sustainability programs, they have not come without their fair share of backlash. The legal implications of these initiatives has already begun to take effect.
In July 2019, Tyson Foods was sued by the non-profits Food & Water Watch and Organic Consumers Association (OCA), who allege that Tyson Food’s marketing around its environmental stewardship and humane animal treatment constitutes false advertisement. The plaintiffs in these lawsuits also allege that undercover investigations have brought to light the fact that the company has had issues with various environmental violations and animal treatment in the past. The company has not commented on the litigation, but has made statements regarding the transparency of its business practices, pointing to its annual sustainability reports as evidence. The rise of false advertising litigation in a time where companies are under pressure to highlight their sustainability contributions leaves many in the industry with difficult decisions regarding how best to embrace the changing culture.
In some jurisdictions, the fight to preserve traditional spheres of the food and beverage market has been taken into the courts. On August 28, 2018, the Missouri Senate passed Senate Bill 627, which amended the Missouri meat advertising law and prohibited “misrepresenting a product as meat that is not derived from harvested production livestock.” Proponents of Senate Bill 627 sought to provide protections for ranchers and cattle farmers in light of the rapid popularity of plant-based meat alternative brands such as Tofurkey. Violations of the labeling law are considered a Class A misdemeanor, carrying fines up to $2,000 and the possibility of one year in jail. The Missouri Department of Agriculture has published guidelines for complying with the law on its website.
Turtle Island Foods, which owns the Tofurkey brand, along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) appealed the legislation on the grounds that the new laws were a violation of the company’s First Amendment rights and sought a preliminary injunction against its enforcement. On October 4, 2019, a federal judge in Missouri declined to issue the preliminary injunction. Similar laws have been passed in Arkansas, Montana, South Dakota, Louisiana, and Wyoming and are currently being considered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for application at the federal level.
From supply chain reform, to efficient packaging, to alternative food, the industry has begun seeing an influx of ambitious plans that may dramatically change the way business is conducted in the decades to come. The competition between longstanding practices and the pressure to change will continue to create unique legal challenges for companies, which will require equally unique solutions.


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MONTPELIER, Vermont — Vermont ski resorts lost an estimated $100 million this winter during the pandemic, according to the Vermont Ski Areas Association.
State officials estimate that equates to $700 million in losses for the economy, the Rutland Herald reported.
“I think we are just beginning to see what the long-term effects of the pandemic will be,” Vermont Commissioner of Tourism and Marketing Heather Pelham told the newspaper. “We do expect economic recovery will take several years. I don’t think the economic impacts on our restaurants and innkeepers can be understated.”
Season pass holders got to the resorts more, and sales of those passes were up at some areas, but ticket-buying skier visits were down about 40 percent through the end February, said VSAA president Molly Mahar. Lodging revenue dropped by 60 percent and food and beverage revenue was down by 70 percent, Mahar said.
“Even on a day we had a lot of skiers, you’d go into the cafeteria and there were crickets,” Bolton Valley Resort President Lindsay DesLauriers said. “There was no way around that. There was no way around taking a hit.”
Mahar acknowledged doubts that skiers visiting from out-of-state were complying with Vermont’s quarantine rules.
“It was a difficult thing to enforce,” she said. “If I tell you I’ve quarantined, how do I prove that I have? The state chose not to put any penalties in place, and I don’t know how they would do it. … I think it set up an unfortunate us-versus-them thing with Vermonters not wanting to see out-of-state people.”
There were no COVID-19 outbreaks associated with Vermont ski resorts and no resorts closed because of the virus, she said.
Some resorts are hoping to have a strong wedding season to start to make up the gap in revenue, Mahar said. The state is also planning another $50 million in economic recovery grants, Pelham sai.


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Sea Ltd., the parent of gaming company Garena, reported that its loss more than doubled in the third quarter on surging marketing costs at mobile-shopping unit Shopee.
In its first earnings announcement as a public enterprise, the Singapore-based gaming and e-commerce company said its net loss was $132.8 million, compared with $65.6 million a year earlier and the $156.6 million loss projected, on average, in a survey of three analysts. Total consolidated revenue rose 3.9 percent to $94.1 million in the period through Sept. 30, in line with predictions.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer Forrest Li is relying on a steady flow of revenue from Sea’s online gaming business to fund investments in e-commerce and digital payments. While concerns about profitability loom, the company’s initial public offering in New York raised about $884 million after Sea pitched itself as an emerging growth company with operations in Southeast Asia and Taiwan.
“The market share does turn into monetization,” Sea President Nick Nash said in a conference call, adding that Shopee is now the largest e-commerce firm in Taiwan and Indonesia in terms of daily orders. “We want to grow this orchard in a patient way. There is no point trying to grow a Christmas tree in three months.”
Sea’s American depositary receipts fell 1.9 percent in extended trading. They fell 4.6 percent to $14.78 at the close in New York Tuesday, before the results were released. The share price has fluctuated since the public debut. After selling stock in the IPO at $15 apiece, it jumped 8.4 percent on the first day of trading, before falling as low as $13.73.
Sea said sales and marketing expenses more than doubled from a year earlier to $131.6 million, with 78 percent of that devoted to Shopee. Sea is forecasting Shopee’s gross merchandise value to reach $3.8 billion to $4 billion in 2017. Shopee’s third-quarter GMV was $1.1 billion, up from $333.3 million a year earlier.
“As GMV nears $4 billion and possibly doubles again next year and as monetization efforts expand to the rest of its markets of operations, it should begin turning closer to profitability in the e-commerce business,” said Matthew Kanterman, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst.
About 85 percent of Sea’s total revenue during the third quarter came from the games unit, Garena, with the rest coming from the e-commerce and digital payments business. Sea had $581.5 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of September, which doesn’t include proceeds from the IPO held in October.


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opens new shop in Burnham-On-Sea's High Street
RNLI has opened a new shop in Burnham-On-Sea's High Street this
The existing temporary shop on the forecourt of Burnham-On-Sea's
lifeboat station in Pier Street has closed and the charity now
has a new permanent home instead.
new shop is in the High Street and is selling a wide range of
the RNLI's branded merchandise.
Mike Lang told Burnham-On-Sea.com: "We first opened a shop
on the seafront in Burnham in 2006 but due to a lack of footfall
and inclement weather conditions, we decided to move and opened
a temporary shop instead at the lifeboat station. We've been looking
for a permanent location ever since and when the opportunity arose
for a small shop premises in the High Street we took it."
volunteers to help at the shop are being sought by the charity.


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KUALA LUMPUR: Olympia Industries Bhd
is in talks with interested parties to dispose its equity interest in Jupiter Securities Sdn Bhd.
“The board of directors of Olympia wishes to state that the company has plans to dispose its equity interest in Jupiter Securities and has been in discussions with interested parties,” Olympia said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.
“Olympia will make the necessary announcement upon finalisation of the terms of the proposed disposal,” it added,
Last week, StarBiz
reported that CIMB Group
was looking at acquiring Jupiter Securities from Olympia Industries Bhd for more than RM50mil as part of a larger corporate exercise to facilitate its joint venture (JV) with China Galaxy.
Sources said that CIMB was looking at acquiring Jupiter Securities mainly to get an additional licence for its stock broking business that would eventually merge with China Galaxy Securities as part of a wider exercise to expand its reach and reduce cost.
In a separate filing with Bursa Malaysia, CIMB Group said it had in October 2016 entered into a strategic partnership with China Galaxy International Financial Holdings Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Galaxy Securities Co Ltd, in the cash equities business comprising institutional and retail brokerage, equities research and associated securities businesses.
“As part of the Proposed Partnership which is envisaged to involve multiple countries, CIMB has been undertaking preliminary assessment on its options and this entails engaging in exploratory discussions with its stakeholders and various parties.
“We will make further announcement of any material development on this matter,” CIMB said.


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OnePlus and McLaren have officially unveiled the 6T McLaren Edition smartphone during a "Salute to Speed" event at the McLaren Technology Center. This piece includes and embedded McLaren logo, the Speedmark, recreated in McLaren-designed F1 AA grade carbon fiber - the same material used in the McLaren MCL33 2018 Formula 1 auto. He said he's most excited for a potential green-screening feature, which lets you magically remove the backgrounds from photos. The OnePlus 6T McLaren edition costs $699.
In an email interview with Cnet, Lau confirms that the 5G phone will launch before May 2019, and reiterates that will be at least $200 to $300 costlier than the OnePlus 6T due to expensive 5G components used in the device. First, McLaren Edition device now comes with 10GB RAM. The McLaren logo is placed towards the bottom of the rear shell.
As a special bonus for purchaser's too, each box of the new phone includes a small presentation case featuring a McLaren-shaped piece of carbon fibre produced from the same batch that went in to the 2018 MCL33. It's interesting OnePlus chose to launch a new charger alongside a limited edition smartphone like this, but it's a nice bonus all the same.
US sales of the OnePlus 6T in the first 30 days were up 249 percent compared to the OnePlus 6. The Indian venue of launch is at Richardson and Cruddas, Byculla, Mumbai. The OnePlus 6T McLaren edition will be available for $699. The handset is priced at £649 (approx Rs. 58,800) and will be available in Western Europe and North America on December 13th followed by India, China, and Nordics.
The OnePlus 6T McLaren edition has 10GB RAM, warp charging, and a $699 price tag
With that in mind we've created this article, highlighting all their similarities and differences, covering the design, power, price and more to get you up to speed on this speedy new flagship. It also comes with 256GB of storage which, as ever, is not expandable. It will be interesting to see at what price the special edition launches in India tomorrow.
Rumours are rife that the new OnePlus 6T McLaren edition will come packing a whopping 10GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage.
OnePlus only sells one phone at a time in a six-month update cycle, so it relies on new versions of its phone to maintain interest in the brand and to spread the word of the phone to new markets. OnePlus points out that McLaren was the first to use carbon fiber in Formula 1, but rather than cladding the phone in carbon fiber, the company says that "this iconic material has inspired the pattern found at the heart of the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition's back cover". The back contains a label with the serial numbers and other licensing info from Qualcomm and McLaren. Warp Charge 30 takes fast charging to new heights and never leaves people wanting, offering a day's power in just 20 minutes.
There are some other Easter eggs with the McLaren edition of the handset that should please vehicle racing fans.More news: Reacquiring Delly Was the Perfect Move for the Cavs Right Now
More news: Journey is headed to PC through Epic Games' new storefront
More news: Resolving 26/11 Mumbai attacks case is in Pakistan’s interest: Imran Khan


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The study, carried out on behalf of Royal London, of more than 1,400 UK adults assessed customers’ motives for lapsing and the emotional effect of their decision.
The research found that policy cancellations were often driven by financial difficulties but the loss of protection left them in a more vulnerable situation.
The process for cancelling policies was revealed to be too easy and quick. The mutual is calling for providers to be transparent about options available to customers if they are struggling to pay and wants them to try to find an alternative solution for borrowers wishing to cancel a policy because of financial difficulties.
The mutual wants the industry to design more customer-focused products which have built in safety features but to do this it said the industry needed a ‘major rethink’ of life insurance product standards.
The report, High and Dry, accused life insurance providers of abandoning their over-50s customers at a critical time when they are struggling to keep on top of their payments.
A quarter who were unable to maintain payments on their policy had no savings or investments.
Some 33% of customers chose to cancel their policy because they no longer needed it but 20% said it was due to long-term money issues.
Two-in-five policy holders had cancelled their premiums because they were unaffordable or because they needed to prioritise other bills, such as heating and rent, instead.
Jerry Toher, CEO of Royal London’s consumer division, said: “This research highlights how poorly designed products affect customers especially those on low incomes and confirms why the over-50s life cover market must change current practices.”


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After debuting last week in an iridescent black colorway, the Air Jordan 1 High Zoom will continue to make appearances in the new year.
Expected to drop next month is a "White/Racer Blue" take on the Zoom Air-equipped sneaker. Like the black colorway that came before, this white variation experiments with a mix of materials seldom seen on the Air Jordan 1 including leather overlaid with a translucent plastic and a woven texture around the collar. Color accents come in the form of a Racer Blue liner and a multicolor outsole.
According to zsneakerheadz, this Air Jordan 1 High Zoom is on target for a spring release with a retail price of $175.
UPDATE (03/05): An official look at the upcoming "Racer Blue" Air Jordan 1 High Zoom surfaces, and is scheduled to release on March 14 for $175.
Air Jordan 1 High Zoom "Racer Blue"
Release Date: 03/14/20
Color: White/Racer Blue-White
Style #: CK6637-104


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Dubai Virtual Currencies Wallet Cryptocurrency Exchange
【速報】Dubai Regulator Grants VASP License to Backpack, Launches Backpack Exchange
VARA License for Backpack Exchange in Dubai
The Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has recently issued a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license to Backpack, a crypto wallet company. This has resulted in the launch of the Backpack Exchange, which offers crypto exchange services in Dubai. However, the license is limited to exchange services and does not cover other virtual asset products and services provided by Backpack.
Features of Backpack Exchange
Backpack Exchange incorporates various features, including zero-knowledge proof of reserves (zk-proofs), Multi-Party Computation (MPC) for custody, and low latency order execution. These features aim to enhance transparency, compliance, and the overall user experience. In addition, Backpack has obtained operational licenses in multiple jurisdictions worldwide over the past five months, reflecting the company's commitment to expanding its services globally.
Transitioning from Fiat to On-Chain Applications
While the flagship product, Backpack Wallet, currently operates as an unregulated product, it is designed to facilitate the transition from fiat to on-chain applications in the future. Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante aims to bring transparency to the crypto exchange industry, criticizing the lack of proof of reserves and auditability in many existing exchanges. By leveraging cryptographic techniques such as zk-proofs, MPC, and state machine replication, Backpack Exchange aims to set a higher standard for transparency and compliance.
Availability and Future Plans
Existing Backpack and Mad Lads users will have initial access to the Backpack Exchange starting from November 2023, with public access expected in the first quarter of 2024. During this period, Backpack plans to expand its offerings by introducing various trading functionalities, including derivatives, margin trading, and cross-collateral. The company has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding these recent developments.


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While Thailand is opening itself up to cannabis and hemp products, and 8 billion Baht in potential revenue, experts argue that farmers will not see much of it. With limited medical use providing only slim margins, unless the industry overcomes skepticism and institutional barriers to reach a larger (potentially international) recreational cannabis market, it is unlikely to become a true cash crop.
Last year, Thailand removed cannabis and hemp leaves from its list of banned narcotics (seeds and buds remain banned). A huge step for the Southeast Asian tourist destination infamous for tough drug laws. One that opens Thailand’s markets to a billion baht medical cash crop: cannabis.
It is still forbidden to grow cannabis for sale without a license, but individuals, universities, community businesses, health professionals and traditional medicine practitioners can apply for a license to grow it for commercial purposes.
“We believe cannabis has great potential as a cash crop, as more and more patients will soon start using cannabis-based medicines,” said Ravissa Suchato, an economist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Kasetsart University. And much of the evidence agrees.
Want to know more about the steps being taken by countries like Thailand to legalize cannabis, need to stay in the know about legal and regulatory hemp news? Download our free companion Hemp.IM mobile app!
Cannabis’ role in Thai society is expanding, especially on the medical frontier
Ravissa led a study titled “Economic Impact of Commercial Cannabis Cultivation in Thailand”, which was funded by Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI) and looked at both traditional and modern medicine.
The study found that modern medicine has used cannabis to treat patients suffering from three key conditions: cancer, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.
Two natural compounds found in cannabis plants, cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), are used in both traditional and modern medicine.
THC produces a feeling of euphoria, while CBD has been shown to be effective in helping patients suffering from anxiety, depression and seizures.
In Thailand, cannabis-based drugs are used for the palliative care of cancer patients, not as a cure for the disease, Ravissa said, adding that nearly one million (996,743) patients were reported to have taken cannabis-based drugs in Thailand last year.
Money matters in modern Thai medicine
Based on an average consumption of 170 grams per person per year, the estimated market value of medical cannabis in Thailand will increase to 4.4 billion Bahts in 2025. Compared to approximately 1.2 billion Bahts of medical cannabis consumed last year.
If the average consumption per person is 240 grams per year, this value will reach 8 billion Bahts in 2025.
The market value of modern cannabis pharmaceuticals will vary depending on the price of cannabis and the quantities used.
The price of cannabis used as an ingredient in modern medicines is estimated to be between 153 and 744 Bahts per gram, based on the price set in other countries.
Thailand does not yet have a market price for cannabis because it is not sold commercially. Yet.
Soon however, Cannabis-based pharmaceuticals are expected to be produced by the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO), Chao Phya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital and the Division of Herbs and Traditional Thai Medicine of the Ministry of Public Health.
Cheaper cannabis and low demand mean little revenue for Thai farmers
The market value of traditional cannabis medicines is much lower, estimated at about 10.4 million Bahts last year.
It is expected to increase by about 30 percent annually, reaching 38 million Bahts in the next five years.
Just under 700 kilograms of cannabis, at a price of 15 Bahts per gram, were used in traditional medicines last year.
In comparison, up to 2.2 tons of cannabis were used in modern medicine last year, and this figure is expected to rise to 10.8 tons in 2025.
“Based on these estimates, we will only need a relatively small planting area of about 19 rai (3.04 hectares) to meet the demand for cannabis from the pharmaceutical industry and traditional medicines,” Ravissa said.
This means that farmers will not gain much from growing cannabis for medical purposes.
However, this study does not cover the use of hemp-cannabis in food products or in the textile industry. Nor the possibilities for export.
The global market for legalized cannabis in 2018 was 8.5 billion euros and is expected to reach 32.5 billion euros in 2023.
Of this amount, cannabis for recreational purposes represented 4.3 billion euros in 2018, and is expected to increase by 38.7% to reach 22.1 billion euros.
“Worldwide, recreational use of cannabis has grown much faster than pharmaceutical use, so the prospect of exporting cannabis-based medicines from Thailand remains remote” Ravissa added.
Cannabis use could lead to billion Baht revenues for Thailand
Somporn Isvilanonda, senior researcher at the Knowledge Network Institute of Thailand, agrees that both cannabis and hemp have the potential to become cash crops.
In addition, if the stems and leaves of the cannabis plant can be used as an ingredient in food and beverages, the potential for cannabis as a cash crop will increase even further.
Investors have recently expressed interest in purchasing shares in Thai companies that are expected to use hemp-cannabis oil in their products, including Charoen Pokphand Foods, Carabao Group, T.A.C. Consumer, Osostspa and Ichitan.
Hemp also has great potential in the textile industry, especially since its fiber has been used to make fabrics in Thailand before.
Viroj Na Ranong, research director at Thailand Research Development, however, has doubts about the profitability potential of cannabis. Emblematic of the societal skepticism that still exists around the plant.
“At this stage, we don’t know exactly how many diseases cannabis can treat.
As far as I know, it can only be used to help people “feel good,” and it can also be addictive,” he said, adding that politicians may be exaggerating the benefits of cannabis to gain votes.
DISCLAIMER: This article was written by a third party contributor and does not reflect the opinion of Hemp.im, its management, staff or its associates. Please review our disclaimer for more information.
This article may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believe,” “project,” “estimate,” “become,” “plan,” “will,” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks as well as uncertainties, including those discussed in the following cautionary statements and elsewhere in this article and on this site. Although the Company may believe that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, the actual results that the Company may achieve may differ materially from any forward-looking statements, which reflect the opinions of the management of the Company only as of the date hereof. Additionally, please make sure to read these important disclosures.
First published in Toutelathailande, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.
Although we made reasonable efforts to provide accurate translations, some parts may be incorrect. Hemp.im assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions or ambiguities in the translations provided on this website. Any person or entity relying on translated content does so at their own risk. Hemp.im is not responsible for losses caused by such reliance on the accuracy or reliability of translated information. If you wish to report an error or inaccuracy in the translation, we encourage you to contact us.


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As we have said, one of the great technological issues of recent years has been the proliferation of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles have been deployed in countless contexts, from saving lives to delivering packages to giving better shots to video clips.
At the same time, however, drones have the same limitation that many emerging technologies: access to it for money or materials. As common as they are, they are still complex machines.
Most require a long supply chain, high-tech components, and expert manufacturing. Hence, there are engineers who have begun to try other, cheaper and more accessible materials.
According to the specialized media Interesting Engineeringa Yemeni engineer has built a drone that works and can be piloted using only a few wooden sticks and a simple motor. not the first Unmanned aerial vehicle that we see like this, but the most original.
This is how a drone made of wooden sticks flies
The anonymous individual who built the wooden drone started with the most basic components possible: a few rotors, a motor, some wiring, and a handful of wooden sticks. A video shared on Twitter shows the result: a perfectly functional DIY drone that achieves level and responsive flight.
This wooden drone isn’t the only case of brilliant engineers using unusual materials to overcome market constraints. According to Spectrum IEEEexperts from the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (Switzerland) presented in November 2022 a drone with wings made of rice cakes, accompanied by a working model.
Drones have countless uses, which is why their use and accessibility are so important in the actual world. In the future, they are expected to do all kinds of tasks, from carrying medicines to controlling traffic. In any case, to get there you have to try and innovate. Like today.


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Online retailer Overstock really doesn’t want to be in the e-commerce business anymore.
Patrick Byrne, the CEO of Overstock and a blockchain evangelist has made no secret of the fact that he wants to run a blockchain business, not a retailer. But investors aren’t exactly sure what that means.
“It’s still confusing to most people — even our own investors. Very few have done their homework,” Byrne told CNN Business on Friday.
That’s why Byrne said he plans to give a lot more detail about the big picture plans for Overstock’s blockchain businesses when it reports its latest earnings sometime in March.
The company has made some moves into blockchain over the past few years.
It launched the Medici Ventures investing firm to focus on blockchain technology, a public digital ledger of transactions, and it is also developing its own tZero security tokens for e-commerce and trading.
Byrne told CNBC in December 2017 that the goal was to sell or reorganize the core Overstock business within 60 to 90 days so he could go all-in on blockchain. That didn’t happen.
The CEO reiterated his plan to get out of online retail last November, telling the Wall Street Journal he hoped to have a sale done by this February. Investors seem to believe him.
Shares of Overstock have shot up more than 20% since then, even as bitcoin prices have tumbled nearly 15% during the same time frame.
Despite the emphasis on switching Overstock to a blockchain company, Wall Street seems more focused on trying to figure out when the online retail business will finally be sold — and who might buy it.
Some on Wall Street believe that Walmart, which has made numerous digital commerce acquisitions already in order to become more competitive with Amazon, could be interested. Walmart did not respond to a request for comment.
However, Overstock shares have pulled back sharply as Byrne’s February target draws near without any sign of a deal being imminent. Overstock fell 9% on Thursday.
“It does not surprise me that nothing has happened yet,” said Bill Baker, an analyst with GARP Research. He notes that retail is a notoriously tough and competitive business and that Overstock has been losing money in it.
But Baker thinks a sale for Overstock’s retail business could still materialize and that it could fetch about $100 million.
Bet on blockchain may eventually pay off big
Overstock’s current market value is just north of $650 million though. So does that mean that the company’s blockchain businesses are really worth more than half a billion dollars?
Baker believes they are. He said Overstock is making the right call to focus on the more rapidly growing blockchain world instead of the perennially challenged retail business and that the stock could rally further thanks to tZero and Medici.
Byrne sounds frustrated by how difficult it is to remain in retail as well.
He noted that online home furnishings company Wayfair, a rival to Overstock that offers very low prices, is unprofitable and has lost nearly $1 billion during the past three years.
“There’s no point in trying to compete,” Byrne said. “It’s way too expensive.”


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The Daily Mail City team explains the significance of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
What is it?
The International Air Transport Association is the trade body that represents 230 airlines from more than 140 nations around the globe.
It is headquartered in the Canadian city of Montreal, but was founded in Havana, Cuba, in April 1945 as the successor to the International Air Traffic Association.
The lobbying group has grown since its inception, when it had 57 members from 31 nations, mainly in Europe and North America.
What does it do?
Promotes the industry among key decision-makers and raises awareness of the benefits that the sector brings to national and global economies.
It fights for the interests of airlines, challenging rules and charges it believes to be unreasonable, and holds regulators and governments to account for their action or inaction.
It also collates industry data on passenger and cargo trends, which are a useful economic indicator.
Why do we care?
IATA's members make up 93% of scheduled international air traffic, so it speaks for most of the beleaguered industry.
The director general, Giovanni Bisignani, believes further airline mergers are essential to help ailing carriers cut costs and improve their competitive position, as the global industry heads for a combined £1.8bn loss this year.
BA and Iberia are already cementing their marriage vows.
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Bringing wireless indoors, which was once just a matter of antennas carrying a few cellular bands so people could get phone calls, has grown far more complex and demanding in the age of Wi-Fi, multiple radio bands and more powerful antennas.
Finnish startup Jolla has announced its first smartphone, which shows off its Sailfish OS on a 4.5-inch screen.
Samsung will host a US$800,000 contest for developers that build apps for the Galaxy S4 using the company's peer-to-peer software interface.
Samsung will host a $US800,000 contest for developers that build apps for the Galaxy S4 using the company's peer-to-peer software interface.
Devices built around Apple's iOS operating system have been approved by the U.S. Department of Defense for use on its networks, as the department moves to support multivendor mobile devices and operating systems.
Forget Glass, self-driving cars or a smartwatch. Developers, not physical consumer products, were Google's darlings at the company's annual I/O conference this week.
T-Mobile USA has dropped a pending challenge to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules.
While Google promotes its Glass head-mounted display as a new way for people to receive and document information on the fly, several social networking companies including Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr now want a piece of the action, by offering social...
Google has introduced an IDE (integrated developer environment) aimed at easing development of Android apps.
Google has shown off new features that can reduce data consumption and improve Web performance on Android-powered mobile devices, drawing partly from capabilities already supported in the Chrome desktop OS.
Google has introduced new APIs to help developers build better games for its Android OS.
Google's Android OS has more than 900 million users, the company said Wednesday at its I/O event began in San Francisco.
BlackBerry will launch BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) on both iOS and Android this summer.
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Sawgrass hit with rash of purse snatchings
Authorities think people let down their guard at Ponte Vedra shops
After several recent purse snatchings in the Publix supermarket parking lot at Sawgrass Village, investigators are looking for a man described in the most recent case.
Police described him as a neatly dressed Hispanic, dark-haired man between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-11. He was last seen wearing jeans and a baby blue vertically striped shirt and a cloth belt.
The man drove out of the Publix parking lot in a gray Nissan Maxima model car that was manufactured between 2008 and 2011 and had no license tag.
In the most recent attack, on April 9, the man snatched a 62-year-old woman's purse from the driver's seat of her gold 2010 Chevrolet Malibu. His car was backed into the parking space in front her car.
The woman ran after the man when she noticed him leaning into her car reaching for her purse when she came back from the shopping cart return area, police said. She grabbed his shirt while he was in his car, but was forced to let go when he drove out of the parking lot heading toward Florida A1A.
"This is not normal," said Chuck Mulligan, St. Johns County Sheriff's Office spokesman. "This is a person or a group who have chosen this location for whatever reason, targeting certain individuals. They are looking for individuals whose attention is diverted."
Bill O'Malley, Ponte Vedra Beaches Coalition president, said people have to realize that a crime can occur anywhere. When criminals see a shopping center like Sawgrass, where people tend to not be security conscious, they jump on that chance and take advantage of them, he said.
"The Sheriff's Office tries to stress that the people in this community are really lackadaisical about security; people come into this community, notice that and take advantage," O'Malley said.
On April 8, an 88-year-old woman's purse was snatched from her shopping cart.
Another woman didn't discover her purse missing until she got home. The 94-year-old had her purse in the child compartment of a shopping cart.
On April 7, before a 79-year-old woman began loading her groceries into the trunk of her SUV, she put her purse on the seat of her car and closed the door. When she got back into the car after loading her groceries, she discovered that her purse was gone. Along with her purse, she lost her keys, cell phone, wallet and other items.
"We've seen four citizens [victimized] in the same area; that is priority," said Mulligan. "We are investigating it."
Deputies intend to step up their enforcement with tactics they won't discuss publicly, he said.
The crime trend is similar to a recent South Florida case, Mulligan said. While women pumped their gas, a car would pull up and a thief took their purses out their cars without the victims realizing it.
"You have to be observant," he said. "Lock your doors. Most crimes are crimes of opportunity."
Police said people should scan the perimeter when they're in parking lots or other public areas. If they do see something out of the ordinary, they should call the police.
Shakaya Andres: (904) 249-4947, 6319