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The sharing economy has arrived, but what has it brought with it? It is too early to tell what impact changing consumer patterns will have on mainstream industry, and how this in turn will affect the demand for products and services. Fraunhofer IAO’s newly formed Shared Systems Design competence team is helping companies tackle the challenges posed by the sharing economy.
More and more of us are seeing the virtues of “using” rather than “buying.” While individuals are taking advantage above all of the chance to share such things as cars, holiday homes or consumer goods, the attraction for companies lies in sharing infrastructure, facilities or high-end equipment. Not only do these sharing trends make sense as an efficient use of resources, they also open up a vast array of new operator and business models.
There is already a wide range of offers out there, borne out of greater awareness for sustainable development and based on information and communication technology systems with advanced functions. Whereas to begin with, most ideas were worked up by end users, now a raft of new companies is offering sharing as a service.
Chief among them are newly formed companies such as accommodation portal airbnb and lending community whyownit, as well as offshoots of established companies such as Car2Go.
Even though the bulk of sharing opportunities available today are still improvised and aimed at a very specific audience, the market for sharing already boasts significant turnover. Recent studies are predicting not only strong growth, but also that sharing will spread to new areas of application. To tap this potential, Fraunhofer IAO has formed the Shared Systems Design competence team. The team brings together experts in technology and innovation management and pools their know-how to work with companies to develop concepts and solutions for the sharing economy. The business-to-business (B2B) segment is taking center stage, with B2B infrastructure in particular offering plenty of opportunity to make more efficient and effective use of resources.
Strategic development of technological and organizational solutions for the sharing of resources is one key aspect of this work. But before established industry companies can successfully position themselves amid changing consumer patterns, they have to understand what is motivating people to share products in the first place.
The new Fraunhofer IAO team engages in trend analyses, works up scenarios and creates sharing systems with a focus on their organization, business models and platforms. The experts also determine which products are suitable for sharing and the technologies required to make sharing them a success.
Juliane Segedi | Fraunhofer-Institut
Blockchain Set to Transform the Financial Services Market
28.09.2016 | HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
Paper or plastic?
08.07.2016 | University of Toronto
Ultrafast lasers have introduced new possibilities in engraving ultrafine structures, and scientists are now also investigating how to use them to etch microstructures into thin glass. There are possible applications in analytics (lab on a chip) and especially in electronics and the consumer sector, where great interest has been shown.
This new method was born of a surprising phenomenon: irradiating glass in a particular way with an ultrafast laser has the effect of making the glass up to a...
Terahertz excitation of selected crystal vibrations leads to an effective magnetic field that drives coherent spin motion
Controlling functional properties by light is one of the grand goals in modern condensed matter physics and materials science. A new study now demonstrates how...
Researchers from the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo led the development of a new extensible wiring technique capable of controlling superconducting quantum bits, representing a significant step towards to the realization of a scalable quantum computer.
"The quantum socket is a wiring method that uses three-dimensional wires based on spring-loaded pins to address individual qubits," said Jeremy Béjanin, a PhD...
In a paper in Scientific Reports, a research team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute describes a novel light-activated phenomenon that could become the basis for applications as diverse as microscopic robotic grippers and more efficient solar cells.
A research team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has developed a revolutionary, light-activated semiconductor nanocomposite material that can be used...
By forcefully embedding two silicon atoms in a diamond matrix, Sandia researchers have demonstrated for the first time on a single chip all the components needed to create a quantum bridge to link quantum computers together.
"People have already built small quantum computers," says Sandia researcher Ryan Camacho. "Maybe the first useful one won't be a single giant quantum computer...
14.10.2016 | Event News
14.10.2016 | Event News
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25.10.2016 | Earth Sciences
25.10.2016 | Power and Electrical Engineering
25.10.2016 | Process Engineering


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Yell shares plunge on poor results
There was little to shout about at Yellow Pages-owner Yell, as shares plummeted to a 20-month low on the back of poor results, despite unveiling its new boss.
First-half pretax profits fell to £33.2million, compared with £38.7million a year ago, on sales of £895.7million, down 14 per cent.
Departing chief executive, John Condron, explained: 'Small businesses continue to see little evidence of economic recovery, hence their reluctance to invest in marketing.'
New head: Yell has appointed former Cisco manager Michael Pocock as its new boss
Yell (down 3.19p at 12.37p) said Condron's replacement will be former Cisco manager Michael Pocock, probably best known for turning around Polaroid.
Richard Curr, analyst with Prime Markets, summed up the mood saying there was 'an overall impression of a company in terminal decline'.
But a bullish finance director, John Davis said: 'To characterise Yell as "going to the wall" is completely inappropriate. We are embracing structural change through internet growth and new products such as our mobile phone app (pictured). We're not just sitting here doing nothing.'
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domain: news


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A retired builder who contracted skin cancer has warned people to heed skin care warnings this summer.Read the full story ›
Cancer Research UK says there is a need for people to be more aware of skin cancer and how to protect themselves.Read the full story ›
A doctor who was diagnosed with skin cancer is now urging holiday makers to put on factor 50 and stay out of the midday sun.Read the full story ›
Whatever your age, the best way to enjoy the sun safely and protect your skin is a combination of shade, clothing and sunscreen.Read the full story ›
Skin cancer rates are continuing to rise. In this series we're looking at the terrible impact & finding out what to do to reduce the risk.Read the full story ›
Rate of skin cancer in 20 to 49-year-olds have increased by almost a fifth. Many experts claim it's down to the boom in package deals.Read the full story ›
Skin cancer is a pertinent issue for our very own Kylie Pentelow.
In an emotional video, she tells us why in her own words:
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the UK, and rates are continuing to rise - with at least 100,000 new cases being diagnosed each year.
In this special series we're looking at the terrible impact of the disease, and finding out what we can all do to reduce the risk.
Many believe the increase in numbers is down to jetting off for two weeks of sun.
One expert at Bristol Oncology Centre told our very own Kylie Pentelow, getting burnt as a child can increase your risk of skin cancer by 80 per cent.
She's been finding out just what that holiday sun can really mean - under the skin.
The parents of an 18-month-old boy who needs a life-saving operation have made an emotional appeal for £150,000.Read the full story ›
The wife of a man with leukaemia who raised £400,000 to access life saving treatment in America says so far its going well.Read the full story ›


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A pair of OC residents (one full-time, another part-time) looking to disrupt the healthcare industry bookended the multiple covers of the latest edition of Forbes, which has its annual list of the 400 Richest People in America.
Mark Cuban, who counts a secondary home at the Montage Residences in Laguna Beach, was on the first of the five separate covers for the special October-November edition of the magazine; a feature noted the Shark Tank star/Dallas Mavericks owner’s push into upending the model for providing prescription drugs. His wealth was pegged at $4.6 billion by Forbes.
The last of the five cover stars is Masimo’s Joe Kiani, described by Forbes as “medtech’s newest billionaire.”
The Business Journal listed Kiani as a billionaire in its OC’s Wealthiest list the past two years. Forbes notes that Kiani’s sold more than $500M of shares of his Irvine-based health monitoring device maker (Nasdaq: MASI) since its 2007 IPO, and still owns a stake in the company valued around $650M.
Forbes placed its highest valuation to date on Irvine Co.’s Donald Bren: $17.4B, still below our latest estimate of $18.2B, placing him No. 39 on the 400 listing.
Olen Properties’ Igor Olenicoff is second among locals on the Forbes list at $6.9B, also below our July 2022 estimate of $8.2B.
Broadcom Chairman Henry Samueli comes in at $6.7B on the Forbes list, a half-billion dollars below our 2022 estimate of $7.2B. For more on the Samueli family’s own investment into new types of healthcare research, see Peter J. Brennan’s front-page story.
Irvine Co. is still pushing ahead on getting city approvals to turn a portion of the Irvine side of the Market Place along Jamboree Road into an apartment community, the first of its type for OC’s fifth-largest shopping center by taxable sales of $495.5 million for the 12 months ended June 30, 2021.
The developer earlier this year proposed building up to 1,400 residential units on its land at the Market Place to address “the quality of life and economic needs of recent graduates, young professionals, and essential service providers” in the Irvine area, according to city filings.
Recent moves on the 79-acre Irvine portion of the regional commercial shopping center by some of the larger tenants hint at where the new project will be built.
La Habra-based appliance retailer Howard’s last week announced that it had opened its newest store, on the Tustin side of the center. It had been located on the Irvine side, near the existing 24 Hour Fitness center, next to Bryan Ave.
The gym operator, meanwhile, is looking to relocate elsewhere at the shopping center, where the shuttered Bed Bath & Beyond store was located, and near the existing Amazon Fresh grocer, city filings indicate.
Along with the now closed Office Max and Hobby Lobby in the same section as the existing 24 Hour gym and former Howard’s, and a large section of the Irvine center now appears poised to make way for new uses.


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With a steep drop in gas prices offset by an increase in the cost of shelter, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing an unexpected uptick in U.S. consumer prices in the month of June. The Labor Department said its consumer price index inched up by 0.1 percent in June, matching the slight increase seen in May. Economists had expected consumer prices to come in unchanged.
Read Full Story
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- UK Unemployment Rises; Employment Falls Most Since 2015 - October 15, 2019
- China Inflation Accelerates On Food Prices; Factory Gate Prices Decline Further - October 15, 2019
- Dollar Rebounds After Recent Weakness - October 14, 2019


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BioWare Austin shared a tease of Shadow Realms
, its new IP at EA's Gamescom 2014 presentation. It's a 4 vs. 1 online action RPG arriving on PC next year. Players can manipulate the environment as the above shadow lord, or align with friends against it. Group General Manager Matthew Bromberg explained that Shadow Realms
' overarching story will develop "like a great TV series," with each episode being "experienced together, by the community, as it's released."
Bromberg says that Shadow Realms
began as a "quest to recapture the feeling" of a D&D table adventure, with parties facing a foe capable of guiding the challenges they're faced with. Those interested in an early, alpha-flavored taste can head to official site
to sign up, as the first round of closed testing will happen next month.


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Michael Giberson For a while now Exxon-Mobil Corporation has been seeking clarification from the State of Florida, Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DACS) on just how the state’s price gouging law is applied. (Some background in this post from a year ago.) The company wants to know what it needs to do to comply … More How to Avoid Violating Florida’s Price Gouging Law
Michael Giberson From a NERC press release: The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council (FRCC) have reached an agreement regarding the role of the FRCC Reliability Coordinator in the February 26, 2008 power outage that left nearly one million homes and businesses in … More Nerc, Ferc, and Frcc Agree on 2008 Florida Blackout
Michael Giberson Last year thousands of Florida consumers called the state to complain about price gouging on gasoline after Hurricane Ike. This year, hoteliers, gas stations, and other business owners are saying they are being price gouged by the Florida Department of Transportation. The issue: the fee the state charges business owners who wish to … More Is Florida Agency Price Gouging or Just Charging What the Market Will Bear?


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As of Dec. 31, 2016, the minimum wage standard has increased to up to $15 an hour statewide. The initiative has been stated as the major priority of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2016 Built to Lead Agenda.
Minimum wage rates remain to be under $15, as businesses are given time to adjust to the pay raise. Series of wage increases are slated to begin as the fiscal year progresses.
As stated on the governor’s website explaining the increase, New York City will see raises of $2 per year, reaching $15 an hour by 2019. The rest of New York will see increases of $1 per year, with the minimum wage at $15 by 2021.
According to the New York Department of Labor, the current minimum wage hourly rates are dependent upon region and sector of the state. In the metropolitan area, large employers must pay their employees $11 an hour and small employers are to pay $10.50. On Long Island and Westchester County, the minimum wage is $10 an hour with the remainder of New York State requiring $9.70 an hour.
This action is an extension of Cuomo’s decision in September of 2015 to raise the wage of fast-food workers to $15 an hour by 2018 in New York City and July 2021 in the rest of New York State.
“The economic effects of minimum wage small increases aggregate affects a differential consensus,” Jeff Miller, political science professor and department chair, said. “It is definitely a prudent idea to phase it in gradually.”
Although it may be to the confusion of some businesses, Miller emphasized the importance of the continuation of dividing minimum wage rates by sector in New York State. The cost of living in a worker’s given region should directly affect how much they get paid, depending upon factors such as cost of rent, Miller said.
“People in the lower brackets of the economy who hold minimum wage paying jobs will likely take that $3 or $4 extra and spend it, putting it back into the local economy,” Miller said.
As the initiative anticipates, the impact of raising the minimum wage will lead to an estimated $15.7 billion of direct economic gains once fully implemented.
Marc Schain, CPA of Schain and Company and small business owner said that he supports the minimum wage increase, but has some reservations about a possible drastic increase for small business owners.
“This can possibly provide a hardship for certain employers to move drastically upward shooting for $15,” Schain said. “If it is slated to have a phase in, I would be supportive of that.”
In regards to the differing economic needs of areas in New York State, Schain said certain areas should have some modifications so that they can continue to grow at a steady rate, rather than a drastic increase that may shake the economic foundation.
“Some small business in more depressed areas perhaps should have the option of modifying the minimum wage,” Schain said. “As you go towards the more north-west part of the state you may see areas like this.”
From Schain’s vantage point, the New Paltz small business is flourishing and continues to benefit from the built-in revenue source that SUNY New Paltz provides; the stores and shops in the village and town directly meet the needs of college students, therefore creating an active consumer-producer relationship.
“The restaurants, bars and stores are frequented by not only students but visitors of the village,” Schaine said. “Every person has needs that are met in the parameters of New Paltz.”
The minimum wage increase, although met with some dissent and disagreement, is still slated by many to improve local economy.


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Target is attempting to facilitate a mobile app devise by merging a some-more renouned Cartwheel assets app into a categorical Target app, before eventually shutting Cartwheel for good. Today, formation side of things is finish – a categorical Target app can now offer as a approach to both emporium online and in-store, with support for lists, smoothness and pickup options, and now, Target’s possess digital couponing experience, famous as Cartwheel.
The change is important since Cartwheel is indeed Target’s some-more renouned application. While a categorical selling app is mostly a tip 20 app in a App Store’s “Shopping” category, Cartwheel tends to lay in a tip 10. The Cartwheel app itself has been downloaded around 40 million times, and users have saved a billion dollars in-store around a deals – adult from a $600 million reported final year.
Target will have a challenging plea on a hands in removing that many business to make a switch. Not usually will they have to download a Target app, if not already installed, the tradesman says that Cartwheel users who sealed adult with a amicable account, like Facebook or Google, will have to pierce to a Target.com app in sequence to pier over their existent offers list and lifetime assets to a categorical app.
You can also select to usually pointer adult for a new comment directly in a Target app, if we don’t caring either or not your list and story carries over.
The tradesman had formerly announced a skeleton to combine a apps progressing this year, observant that a change would take place this summer. It also pronounced Cartwheel will be left alone for now, as it favors a slower transition. However, it eventually won’t make clarity for both apps to continue to be confirmed – generally when a Target app will be a one removing all a new upgrades.
Target had also pronounced that other new features, including an in-store map display your plcae and a plcae of Cartwheel deals, as good as mobile payments support will also come to a categorical app in time. The tradesman has been operative to bring mobile payments to a app some time this year. But we know it might need to pull that behind to early 2018, as a accurate deadline is in flux.
Cartwheel’s transition, however, is a initial step towards ancillary mobile payments. In a future, a devise is to concede business to uncover a barcode during point-of-sale, afterwards accept their Cartwheel assets and compensate for their products with usually one scan.
Target isn’t a usually tradesman to connect a apps. Ebay did a same a integrate of years ago. Meanwhile, Target competitors like Walmart, Kohl’s, and CVS, all offer their payments and assets facilities within their categorical selling app, not in a apart one.


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While 2022 is already well underway, gamers are still learning new information about how well video game companies performed in 2021. For example, Steam, the video game digital distribution service from Valve, recently released details about its platform growth throughout 2021, and the results were what many probably expected: excellent.
This news about platform growth came as part of the company's year-end review for 2021. In the report, a wide range of statistics was given regarding the number of users on Steam over the past year. Among the data, the company reported that it had a total of 132 million monthly active players. On top of this, 69 million users were logging on each day. As a result of this high number of players, Steam saw an increase in spending by 27% compared to 2020. Furthermore, the total playtime on the platform reached close to 38 billion hours, which resulted in a growth of 21% from the previous year.
Beyond these impressive statistics, perhaps the most amazing piece of data was that Steam managed to add 31.2 million new users over 2021. Based on the report from the company, approximately 2.6 million “first-time purchasers” joined the platform every month, equalling the growth seen in 2020. It is worth pointing out that Steam often refers to new user accounts as “first-time purchasers.” This is because some players have multiple accounts on the platform.
While these statistics are noteworthy on their own, they are made even more impressive when considering the success of Steam in 2020. According to the company report, Steam had experienced “unprecedented growth” during that period, partly due to the impact of the pandemic. However, 2021 has managed to carry on that incredible upward trend.
In addition to pointing out these statistics, Valve gave a reason for the increase in new users. Based on the year-end review from the company, a significant factor driving the popularity of the platform was the amount of formerly console-exclusive games that had arrived on the platform in 2021. Some examples of titles that had made their way onto the digital storefront last year included popular Xbox and PlayStation properties such as God of War, Days Gone, and Forza Horizon 5.
While this platform growth is exciting for fans of Steam, it is not the only news regarding Valve. Recently, dataminers discovered new details about a potential Half-Life game called Citadel. These details reportedly came from code uncovered in the recently released Aperture Desk Job, a bite-sized game meant to show off the controls of the Steam Deck. It will be interesting to see if this leak turns out to be correct and whether even more details about the possible project are revealed in the coming days.
MORE: The Steam Deck Gives Valve Good Reason to Revive Old Franchises
Source: The Gamer, Steam


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AxonX gets on the A-list
BALTIMORE, Md.-AxonX, a start-up company that develops fire detection hardware and software, secured $2 million in funding from Johnson Controls earlier this month.
The funding will propel AxonX further into the marketplace. AxonX's technology will fuse with that of Johnson Controls. For a year, the company will license its software to Johnson Controls while retaining the right to sell its hardware to other customers, said Mac Mottley, chief executive officer at AxonX.
Johnson Controls said that the investment positions the company to provide new analytics tools to the industry.
With the funding, AxonX plans to add four more employees in the first quarter, focus on additional product development and secure approvals from Underwriters Laboratories in the fire safety and detection devices arena.
As a start-up company, founded in 2002, it was understood that "one of the things we had to do is find a strategic partner," Mottley said. "Johnson Controls is a large fire safety integrator, which fits with what we are doing."
Video analytics has gained speed in the market, "but one of the things we feel is the real value is fire detection," Mottley added. "Fire is not smart; it just gets bigger. Analytics provides early warning fire detection."
The company's signature product, SigniFire, developed by owner George Privalov from Russia, applies four algorithms that detect fire. The system analyzes live video images through security surveillance cameras.
AxonX is on its way to target the fire detection market with an emphasis on large volume structures, such as warehouses. Already the company has five pilot launches in commercial sectors dotted throughout North America.
See Security Systems News' February issue for more on AxonX's technology and its recent funding.


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Last week, Marshawn Lynch filed for the trademark to the phrase, “I’m just here so I won’t get fined.” If those words sound familiar, it’s probably because you remember the line as Lynch’s answer to over 20 questions on Super Bowl XLIX media day. Lynch’s Beast Mode apparel will sell shirts and sweatshirts emblazoned with the phrase within the month. Lynch has been down this road before; he filed for a trademark to “About that action BOSS” last year, and, according to ESPN, expects to own that trademark by the summer.
With his attempt to take ownership of “I’m just here so I won’t get fined,” Lynch is the latest in a wave of celebrities making suspect-sounding trademark claims. Taylor Swift filed for trademarks for a variety of lines from her album 1989, even seemingly banal phrases like “Nice to meet you, where you been?” Since last October, 37 applications have been filed on her behalf, including 16 different applications for “this sick beat.” (Filed for trademark, not to be confused with trademarked — as her requests are pending and denied by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office — or copyright, which is a different legal term altogether.) Beyoncé went after Etsy for selling mugs with “Feyoncé” written on the side (the “o” was an engagement ring) until the seller removed those items from the site.
And, perhaps the most ridiculous-yet-hilarious fight of all, Katy Perry sent lawyers after Fernando Sosa, a sculptor who rendered the Left Shark from her Super Bowl halftime performance as a 3D computer file and made it available for download. After posting a Left Shark figurine for sale at $24.99, Sosa got a cease and desist letter from Perry’s lawyers. Sosa responded by hiring an attorney: Christopher Sprigman, a professor at NYU Law. When Perry’s initial copyright claims went nowhere — as Sprigman pointed out in a letter to Perry’s counsel, costumes can’t be copyrighted, and besides, Perry didn’t create the “Left Shark” meme; the internet did — her lawyers filed trademark claims for “left shark,” “right shark,” “drunk shark” and “basking shark.”
In a phone interview, Sprigman said that Sosa usually makes “funny, scathing sculptures of international despots, like Kim Jong Un. He makes fun of them.” So far, Perry is the only one to raise hell over Sosa’s products. “Vladimir Putin, as of yet, has not sued him or sent out a KGB hitman.”
How unprecedented are these broad trademark claims made on behalf of the uber-famous? “I haven’t seen any direct analogues to this. This seems to be a relatively recent phenomenon,” said Sprigman. He hesitates to call it a “trend” (“Maybe the New York Times would do a trend story about it”) but does think there’s a larger cultural shift at play, and artists like Perry, Swift and Beyoncé are the most highly visible representatives of that change.
“The music industry has always been kind of a rough and tumble place. It’s always been difficult to make a living as a musician,” said Sprigman. Today, while the recording industry’s revenues “have shrunk by about 60 percent, adjusted for inflation,” he said, “other aspects of the music industry are doing very well: live performance and merchandising.” File sharing “shifted the way the music industry makes its money, more toward live performance and merchandise and less toward recording. So what is Taylor doing? She’s trying to monetize her lyrics, not as part of a recording but on tote bags and on Christmas stockings.”
Trademark law doesn’t exist to protect a creator from the loss of profits; its purpose is to protect the consumer from confusion upon purchase. It gives protection to the words, phrases, designs, or even sounds that “identify the source of products. Because if consumers see three stripes on a sneaker, they think Adidas. And we don’t want consumers to be defrauded,” said Sprigman. “Trademark is very practical. So the question is whether people, if they see a Christmas stocking with ‘This sick beat’ on it, will think it’s been licensed by Taylor Swift. They will think that she is the source of the product.”
“So [trademark law] is not just about money, and no one should think it is,” said Sprigman. “It’s really about consumers, and maintaining consumer choice… It’s about making sure that I’m not fooled.”
It seems unlikely, though, that anyone would actually be confused about the source of any of these potential products. If a person saw a wind chime (yes, one of Swift’s applications includes “wind chimes”) with “this sick beat” written on it for sale on Etsy, would they really believe that it was Swift who created and is selling that merchandise? Does anyone actually see those “Feyoncé” mugs and think: from Beyoncé’s brain to my hands? Or, to pick what Sprigman thinks is the funniest of Swift’s applications, “Knitting implements. If someone sees a pair of knitting needles with ‘this sick beat’ on them, do people think, ‘Taylor Swift made these’?”
Then again, “Ten percent of people will always be confused about anything you ask them.”
Still, “If I wrote ‘this sick beat’ on a coaster, and if people are not confused about the source of the products, she has no rights,” said Sprigman. Lyrics, however, are copyrighted, so if you were to write out all the words to “Shake it Off” on the side of a battery-activated glow stick, Swift would have grounds to sue.
It’s the idea that, ‘I was the genius who came up with the phrase ‘this sick beat.’ I don’t want some punk on Etsy making baby bibs.’
The problem is that “the law in the books is different from the law in the streets,” said Sprigman. Most people don’t know the nuances of trademark law, so if “some woman on Etsy is making ‘this sick beat’ baby bibs, they get a nasty letter from Taylor Swift’s lawyer, just like the Left Shark sculptor got a nasty letter from Katy Perry’s lawyer, setting forth claims that are mostly baloney. But unless you’re willing to hire a lawyer, you just stop doing what you’re doing. One of the problems with trademark law is often they give people rights in the real world that they don’t actually have in the law world. But to access law world, you have to have a lawyer, and that’s expensive.”
Should the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office actually grant all these trademark claims, that action could lead to the very problem trademark law intends to prevent. “It’s what social scientists would call an endogenous problem. If we enforce trademark law every time, and we just keep enforcing them like bang, bang, bang, life evolves such that regular people walking around begin to think that every time they see some phrase associated with a celebrity on a t-shirt, that shirt must be licensed by the celebrity. So trademark law is, theoretically, kind of troubled. It becomes circular.”
What is this really about, anyway? It’s not like these stars need the cash. “You’re always tempted to say ‘money,’ but I actually don’t think it’s the money, because Beyoncé and Taylor have more money than they know what to do with. Only a sociopath would go to this trouble for the extra money,” said Sprigman. “I think it’s about control. It’s the idea that, ‘I was the genius who came up with the phrase ‘this sick beat.’ I don’t want some punk on Etsy making baby bibs.’”
Take Katy Perry who, Sprigman points out, is trying “to grab hold of an internet meme… She thinks whatever happens at the halftime show, she owns. Nobody else can have any fun with it. It’s all about her.”
Thinking about these trademark claims as a power issue, not an economic one, actually makes more sense when you think about the stars in question. Beyoncé and Swift are two of the most famously controlling people in the music industry. Remember when Beyoncé tried to have unflattering images of her Super Bowl halftime performance scrubbed from the internet? Or that GQ profile of her in which it was revealed that she keeps “virtually every existing photograph of her… every interview she’s ever done; every video of every show she’s ever performed; every diary entry she’s ever recorded while looking into the unblinking eye of her laptop” in a “temperature-controlled digital-storage facility,” all compiled by a visual director employed by Beyoncé to shoot “practically her every waking moment, up to sixteen hours a day, since 2005,” so that she can profit from and (more importantly) dictate the nature of their distribution? Swift, too, is famous for her “insanely driven, hyper self-controlled perfectionism.”
I say this not to bury but to praise — it is this kind of Tracy Flick-focus that separates the Beyoncés from the Michelles, so to speak — but the point is, while money is never not a factor when considering the decisions of the uber-wealthy, it’s not the factor for people like Swift, Beyoncé, or even Perry. There’s no reason to be surprised that the woman who sings “bow down, bitches” wants total supremacy over everything even tangentially related to her image, her name and her work. You can practically see her, Mufasa-like, surveying her kingdom: everything the light touches is hers. Or at least, that’s what she wants and feels entitled to have. And maybe she’s right, though that kind of effort could backfire, optics-wise, if fans start to resent the way a star behaves toward the fans.
Sprigman compared Perry’s actions to a celebrity demanding a civilian switch seats at a restaurant so the star can get the table he or she wants. “That is, too often, the kind of mentality that people who live at a remove from the rest of us adopt… Attitudes like this will eventually get Taylor and Katy in trouble with the internet. The public’s opinion about celebrities is kind of like quicksilver; it can flow in a whole bunch of directions very quickly. My view is, if you live by celebrity, you’ve got to be extremely careful about the little people that you step on. Because the internet really just doesn’t like a bully.”
Besides, the internet is an unwieldy place. Katy Perry can’t stop the masses from making the Left Shark into a meme. Beyoncé might be the queen, but there’s still plenty of Feyoncé merchandise for sale on Etsy. There are even a few “this sick beat” items up for grabs, along with a mug that reads: “THIS IS NOT A TAYLOR SWIFT COFFEE MUG. (Please don’t sue me.)”


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It will be the first vehicle of its kind to be built in Latin America.
Tech companies and mobile telecoms providers are playing an increasingly important role in the auto industry, with their technologies used in navigation systems, vehicle-to-vehicle communication and self-driving cars.
There will be an increase of Rs 5,000 to Rs 73,000 across the models, the company said in a release.
A major fire broke out at a two-wheeler show-room in the GIDC area in Sector 26 in Gandhinagar on Wednesday afternoon in which property worth Rs lakhs were gutted, said fire official. No human casualty was reported in the incident.
The order comes after the apex court's decision making it mandatory for three-year third party insurance policy.
In his complaint to the forum on 14 September 2016, Jagdev pleaded that he got his Maruti Swift car insured with the insurance firm, and the policy was valid from 5 August 2015 to 4 August 2016.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked why people were "running after" the firecracker industry when it seems vehicles are a "bigger" source of pollution.
The online auction of fancy vehicle registration numbers in KL 01 CK series, the first ever e-auction to be conducted under regional transport office (RTO) here, will conclude at 10.30am on Monday.
IDV is calculated by considering the manufacturers listing price of the vehicle minus depreciation. However, the cost of registration and insurance premium are not included.
As part of a strategic partnership between HPE and Continental, the new platform was jointly designed by HPE Pointnext and Continental’s Interior division and is expected to be available in 2019.
Insured Declared Value means the maximum value for which your car is insured in case of total loss/theft in a particular year.
The proposed incentive is aimed at encouraging the use of electric vehicles to address the problems of air pollution and rising fuel prices.
German car interiors maker Novem is exploring a sale or stock market flotation, as its family owner considers to lock in robust company valuations ahead of a possible sector downturn, people close to the matter said.
“The policy recognises that a new approach is required to kick-start electric vehicle adoption in Delhi and seeks to put in place several measures that address the key hurdles,” said state transport minister Kailash Gahlot.
NTPC signs MoUs with vehicle aggregators Ola, Lithium, Shuttl, Bikxie, Bounce, Electrie and Zoom Car for development and utilization of public charging infrastructure.
Experts have said there is a need to strengthen public transport before taking this decision.
Hot Trends ›
Editor's Picks ›
Indus to utilise telecom towers to charge EVs / Ducati announces new dealer partner, North Star Automotive for Delhi NCR / Kia Seltos gets 6,046 bookings on the first day / China now home to 1 million EV charging posts / Auto Inc seeks BS-VI fuel delivery by February 2020 / India-bound MG ZS EV launches in UK / India-bound MG ZS EV launches in UK / Droom launches Eco Lab enabled with IOT cloud and large fleet management service / Groupe Renault to invest 128.5 million euros in Chinese EV company eyeing 50% stake / Pallavi Singh joins BMW India as Marketing Director


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Electric powered scooter organization Gogoro proceeds to develop outside its dwelling region of Taiwan in a huge way, as it just declared new partnerships with a pair of China’s leading two-wheel brands.
DCJ, the best fuel-powered motorcycle enterprise in China, and Yadea, one of the biggest makers of electric scooters, bikes, bikes and mopeds, have each individual agreed to develop new two-wheelers that will use Gogoro’s swappable batteries and electric powered drivetrains.
Gogoro CEO Horace Luke tells The Verge the deals with DCJ and Yadea have been in the will work for all-around two several years and that the Chinese corporations dug deep into Gogoro’s engineering just before deciding to companion up. The 3 businesses are announcing the bargains just as the Chinese governing administration has started to embrace battery swapping in a big way, like adopting a national regular for the tech in greater passenger cars.
To that close, DCJ and Yadea will deploy networks of Gogoro’s vending device-sized battery swapping stations, starting off in Hangzhou, as they operate on new cars designed on the Taiwanese startup’s tech. Gogoro’s battery swap stations can also assistance a neighborhood electrical grid fulfill moments of substantial demand.
“We are on the route to make Gogoro’s standard the de facto normal with the intention of making these metropolitan areas cleaner, greater, and safer for all of us in the upcoming,” Luke says.
The announcement comes just a couple of months following Gogoro discovered that it’s entering the Indian sector by way of a partnership with that country’s foremost two-wheel producer, Hero MotorCorp.
But although Gogoro will be functioning with Hero to essentially develop the current market for electric scooters in India, China offers the opposite possibility. It is the biggest industry for electric two-wheelers in the globe, but lots of of people scooters are utilizing older battery technologies that is a ache to cost and undesirable for the setting.
“China is entirely the reverse, [where] a bulk of the two-wheelers on the road now are electrical. Having said that, they’re shitty electric. The scooters are making use of guide-acid batteries that are clunky, [and] they really don’t previous very prolonged,” Luke states. “When they use lithium battery, you [have to] carry the lithium ion battery back household to cost, it’s unsafe.”
Gogoro’s batteries, in the meantime, are compact but strength dense, and can be quickly popped in and out of the battery swapping stations. Luke claims they are incredibly durable, as well, claiming that the incredibly initial ones that Gogoro launched into the wild are however getting swapped in Taiwan now.
Terms of the bargains had been not disclosed, but increasing into China is a enormous phase for Gogoro, which came out of stealth mode in 2015 at the Consumer Electronics Exhibit. In the many years since that debut, Gogoro has constructed out a huge community of scooters and battery-swapping stations throughout Taiwan, but Luke now refers to that as a “trial” forward of these substantially greater partnerships.


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MOUNTAIN VIEW (KCBS) – Google is holding a special event in Los Angeles on Wednesday and all indications are that it will involve plans surrounding Google Music.
CNET Editor-at-Large Brian Cooley said that the service could initially have some problems as it doesn’t have deals in place with all the major record labels.
“There’s a pretty good likelihood that (they announce) they might have some progress on getting those deals. The big label EMI was recently broken up and sold to Universal and Sony, which are the only two labels Google already has a deal with,” Cooley said. “So they might have things coming together.”
CNET Editor-at-Large Brian Cooley:
He said there is also some speculation that the tech giant might also unveil its “at home” service, which would allow everything in a consumer’s house to be put on a “mesh network,” where appliances and electronics can be wirelessly talking to each other, while also being reachable from a smartphone or tablet running Google’s Android system.
Cooley said what is not known is the wireless technology that would be used to connect all these devices.
You can hear Brian Cooley’s Tech Watch report Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:50 P.M. on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM.
(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)


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Do you remember when Windows 8 was released and everyone was raging about the missing Start button and the introduction of the Start screen? Well, it looks like people are getting interested in using Windows 8 again.
According to NetMarketShare, Windows 8 is now responsible for almost 8 percent of all active PC use worldwide. NewMarketShare states that there are 1.5 billion active PC users, so in essence there are a whopping 110 million users on Windows 8!
In comparison, Apple reported in June that only 72 million users were using Mac OS X. Mac OS was initially released on March 24, 2001. Now, compare this to when Windows 8 got released. If you don’t remember, it was October 26, 2012. With only 10 months since it was released to the public, Windows 8 had 1.53 times the amount of users compared to Mac OS X.
Between July and August 2013, Windows 8 usage jumped 2 percent from 5.4 percent to 7.41 percent. This is Window’s 8 biggest usage jump ever since it got released. But it’s not like a couple hundred thousand people came out of nowhere, right? Windows XP users dropped from 37.19 percent in July to 33.66 percent in August. Let’s not forget Windows 7, where 45.63 percent of users still use it.
In case you’re wondering how this happened all of a sudden, we don’t know yet. This may be because of Microsoft decreasing prices of their Surface devices, or students buying devices during back-to-school sales, or just a one-time thing.
30 million new Windows 8 users is indeed very good for Microsoft’s part, but the results would have been better if the Windows 8 team released Windows 8.1 in time for the back-to-school sales.


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March 6. 200 block E. Willow Grove Avenue. Complainant states that while she was waiting for the bus, an unknown black male jumped out of a silver vehicle and pulled a Vera Wang shoulder bag off her shoulder and fled in same vehicle eastbound toward Stenton Avenue. Reported at 2:20 p.m.
March 6. 100 block W. Springfield Avenue. Complainant states that an unknown person stole an Apple laptop, Ser. #W89263N866H from a black 2006 Jeep Cherokee.
March 10. 8500 block Germantown Avenue. Complainant states that a black male, John Anderson, walked into store and walked out with a silver tray without paying. Reported at 5:45 p.m.
March 10. Unit block Abington Avnue. Between 12 p.m. on March 6 and 3 p.m. on March 10, an unknown person forced open rear door. Nothing was taken.
Summary — Four crimes for week: one robbery, one burglary, one theft and one theft from vehicle.
Town Watch, 215-248-1320.
If you have been the victim of a crime and would like information, service or support, call Northwest Victims Service, 6301 Germantown Ave., Second Floor, Suite One, 215-438-4410. The service is free.


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There’s a lot of confusion around the Internet about the FBI’s recently announced idHSC program (seen by some as ldHSC), where you can voluntarily submit your fingerprints at the post office (USPS) to find out what agencies have associated with your fingerprints. Here’s the real info.
In a stunning decision, a Federal court has held that a user has no expectation of privacy for their personal computer if they have connected that computer to the Internet. While the case and holding is fairly complex, this part of the holding boils down to this: in this day and age we know that computers that are connected to the Internet can be hacked, and knowing this, we are not entitled to an expectation of privacy on our personal computers.
In the latest round over the Feds’ effort to force Apple to help them break into the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, and Apple’s refusal to do so, Apple has come out with both fists up. The Feds most recent court filing accuses that “Apple’s rhetoric is not only false, but also corrosive of the very institutions that are best able to safeguard our liberty and our rights.” In response, Apple’s general counsel, attorney Bruce Sewell, said during a press conference call that “…it seems like disagreeing with the Department of Justice means you must be evil and anti-American.” (Full text below.)
In a novel twist in the FBI versus Apple iPhone case, the San Bernardino District Attorney’s office has filed a motion (full text below) to submit an Amicus Curiae brief, stating that, among other things, the phone could harbor a “lying dormant cyber pathogen.” Of course, there’s no such thing as a lying dormant cyber pathogen, but why let a little thing like the facts get in the way of a good argument?
As we recently reported, the FBI (and so the Federal government) is trying to force Apple to assist them in unlocking the iPhone that belonged to San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. A Federal court ordered Apple to do so, and so far Apple has resisted. Part of the heart of the FBI’s argument is that this will affect only one phone, while Apple has insisted that it’s much larger than that – that an order to help unlock one phone will lead to a dangerous precedent of being ordered to help unlock any number of phones. The Feds have steadfastly insisted it is “just this one.” However, recent court filings have revealed that in fact there are as many as a dozen iPhones in other cases just waiting for Apple to be ordered to unlock them.
In Round 2 of the Apple iPhone FBI court dispute, in which the court ordered Apple to alter the iPhone used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook, the Feds have filed a Motion to Compel Apple to comply with the order, in which they mention, in passing in a footnote, that the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health (SBCDPH) actually changed the password to the iCloud account to which the phone was backing up, thwarting any further backups of the phone’s data, between the time it was recovered from Farook’s vehicle, and handing it over to the FBI.
Late yesterday afternoon a Federal court ordered Apple to assist the FBI in their investigation into the San Bernardino shootings by unlocking the iPhone belonging to the shooters. In response, this morning, Apple CEO Tim Cook released a public statement in which Apple refuses to comply, explaining the reasons that even if Apple can comply with the order, they will refuse to do so.
We’ve always said that submitting your DNA for DNA analysis at services like 23andMe, and AncestryDNA by Ancestry.com, is a bad idea, because regardless of what ‘good’ can come from it, the potential for bad is just too great. Having unknown actors have access to your DNA information is a violation of privacy of the most basic, and intimate, kind. Sadly, we were right. Law enforcement agencies are now using what is known as “familial DNA search” to go on DNA fishing expeditions, searching for near matches to DNA found at a crime scene.
Last month the U.S. Justice department announced the takedown of the Darkode (get it? DarkCode – Dark Code?) international cybercrime ring, which the DOJ called one of the “gravest threats” to the security of online data. But what exactly does that mean to you, the average user sitting at home behind your computer?
Both the Federal Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee heard today from FBI Director James Comey, and from Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates, that they need a backdoor (or a “front door”, as Comey calls it) that allows them to decrypt encrypted email and messages in order to fight terrorism.
The FBI glossary of Internet slang acronyms reads like a leet speak (l337 5p3@k) primer, albeit a massively over-inclusive one. Indeed, in the time it would take an FBI agent to skim through the Internet slang glossary looking for a particular term, one would hope they could have just inferred it from context. Put together by the FBI Intelligence Research Support Unit (IRSU) and starting with ADN (Any Day Now) and ending with ZOMG (“emphasized OMG”) and ZUP (“what’s up?”), and everything in between, the FBI primer on ‘net slang is a whopping 83 pages containing nearly 3000 terms, many of them, if not most of them, not even really a thing. Although we are fond of BOGSAT (bunch of guys sitting around talking) and are now using it every chance we get.
Move over, NSA, the FBI, having obtained the entire Tormail email database is the newest organization to be revealed to have engaged in massive breaches of email privacy.
The FBI, in conjunction with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has released their list of “Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities Related to Internet Cafe” (sic). It may surprise you that your own Internet cafe activities render you suspicious. For example, if you attempt to shield your screen (like when, you know, you are entering a password?) you may be a terrorist. Or, if you travel an “illogical distance” to use an Internet cafe, you may be a terrorist. (We can’t help but hear Jeff Foxworthy’s voice as we read this list.) The list also includes suspicious computer activities and uses, as well as advice on what to do if you suspect that the guy next to you sipping his double light-foam mochaccino latte is a terrorist.
GPS. It can be invaluable in helping you to get from Point A to Point B (of course, GPS can also lead you to a near death experience). However, it turns out that GPS can now be surreptitiously attached to the outside of your car, and used to track you – without a warrant – by the FBI (and who knows to what other law enforcement agencies this may extend).
From our “Now I’ve heard it all” department, Gregory McKenna (misreported in many articles as “George McKenna”) is suing, among others, the St. Louis County Police Department, the FBI, and Apple Computers for allegedly allowing the Mafia to bug his iPods (along with his house, his cars, and more) and allowing them to play sinister songs with hidden messages to him on his iPods.


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A shiny new Lexus is set to take some autonomous spins around Ottawa’s L5 test track.
That’s the latest news from the annual Consumer Electronics Showcase in Las Vegas as an Illinois-based company announced plans this week to set up a new research facility in the capital.
AutonomouStuff, which develops a test platform for companies looking to develop apps for self-driving vehicles, announced its expansion plans to Ottawa on Tuesday.
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The company will operate out of the L5 test track, a 16-kilometre gated facility with all the infrastructure tech firms need to experiment with autonomous driving. The site, which opened last year, is spearheaded by Invest Ottawa with support from BlackBerry, Ericsson, Nokia and other industry heavyweights.
Reached by phone Thursday from the annual tech showcase, AutonomouStuff CEO Bobby Hambrick told Techopia he has already hired nine engineers to work out of the firm’s offices at the L5 site. After the company gets acclimated to Ottawa’s tech scene – and at-times frigid temperatures – Hambrick said the plan is to keep growing its local headcount.
Ottawa’s talent pool was one of the key factors in choosing the capital for a new Canadian research facility, Hambrick said, citing the city’s post-secondary institutions and the strength of its AV sector. Ottawa is also cost-effective for a business expansion, he added.
And with the L5 site ready for AutonomouStuff to hit the ground running on its next major development project, setting up shop in Ottawa quickly became a no-brainer, Hambrick said.
“It hit all the checkmarks that we were looking for,” he said.
The first project Hambrick’s company will tackle in Ottawa is its Open Autonomy Pilot, which it will build on a Lexus RX450h testing vehicle. AutonomouStuff is developing an autonomy-ready platform – from the vehicle itself to the software on board – that companies can use as a testbed for their app development. Some clients might use AutonomouStuff’s tech to make an app for hands-free food delivery, while others might build software to remotely guide massive trucks through a mining site.
At the end of its initial trials at the L5 site, Hambrick said, the company’s clients will have access to a platform that is equipped for driving in “simple urban environments.” What they then do with that capability is simply a test of imagination.
“They get this platform in their hands on day one, and it’s autonomous-ready. And then they can build apps on top of that,” Hambrick said. “So I kind of refer to like a ‘smartphone on wheels.’”
AutonomouStuff isn’t the only company in Las Vegas this week showing off tech developed in Ottawa.
California’s Karma Automotive, which is showcasing its Revero electric vehicle at CES, has leaned on local software developers and Ottawa’s weather conditions in developing its latest vehicle. Among contributors to the Revero concept car is BlackBerry QNX, which is also in Las Vegas to demonstrate new capabilities for its platform following the company’s integration with Cylance.
AutonomouStuff’s parent company, the publicly traded Swedish firm Hexagon, also unveiled its Smart Autonomous Mobility portfolio of products at CES this year, staking its claim in the AV market with offerings aimed at speeding up the adoption of autonomous tech.
Hambrick said that when AutonomouStuff’s Open Autonomy Pilot wraps up, the company will continue to work on projects directly related to Hexagon’s SAM product line in Ottawa, making the capital and its L5 site a critical piece of the billion-dollar company’s overall strategy.
“The L5 track is allowing us to continue to develop and enhance the software piece for autonomous driving,” Hambrick said.
“I would say it’s a very important part of that initiative of a very large company.”


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Beware hungry hackers raiding your fridge for company secrets
The boss of cyber-security company Darktrace says internet-connected kitchen appliances can leave businesses at the mercy of crooks
Nicole Eagan drops everything, including her smile. There is a knock at the door and someone slips in to speak to her. The chief executive of cyber-security firm Darktrace immediately strides off to a nearby room.
A crisis has just been averted, she explains when she returns a few minutes later. Computer hackers had managed to break into one of her client’s systems — via the fridge.
The business, a fast-food company, had started using a “smart” refrigeration system that connects to the internet. Yet even smarter hackers had just used it to crowbar their way into the company’s data.
Luckily for Eagan, 52, the Darktrace system had spotted the breach before any data leaked or any other damage was done. “We’ve seen attacks on


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Woolworths debuts ‘next generation’ store
WOOLWORTHS has unveiled the first in its “next generation” of stores featuring overhauled fresh food sections and an increased health range.
The Woolworths at Warringah Mall on Sydney’s Northern Beaches reopened on Thursday after a multimillion-dollar upgrade, offering a “more modern and convenient shopping experience”.
3S Lighting supplies Woolworths stores with Linear LED Luminaires for the Grocery Aisles.
More information on the latest "new generation" store development here.


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August 21, 2008
Mahindra Renault Launches Logan in Nepal
Mahindra Renault, a joint venture between Mahindra & Mahindra and Renault, has launched the Logan passenger car in Nepal.
The company said that Agni, the current distributor of Mahindra vehicles in Nepal, will be the local distributor for the Logan. Customers will be able to purchase two variants of the Logan, the 1.4 GLE petrol and the 1.5 DLS diesel initially and other variants subsequently.


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Todd Hougaard, Deseret News
DRAPER — RC Willey is getting ready to open its first Utah store in 24 years.
The new store at 13301 S. 200 West will be the company's largest store when it opens Wednesday.
The store has 160,000 square feet of space on two floors, with roughly 130 employees.
The new store concept is unique to the company, featuring an open, modern design in a two-story building. Glass exterior walls and skylights will allow natural light to fill the space, and the store’s interior is graced with 14-foot ceilings on the ground floor.
“It’s fun to bring back and invest in a community that really helped build RC Willey and give back to the customers a little bit and show what a new RC Willey is,” said Scott Hymas, the company's CEO.
RC Willey officials said they're happy with the location.
“We are a housing-related company, and with all the growth happening out here in southwest Salt Lake County and northwest Utah County, we feel for the next 20 to 30 years that this is going to be a great place for furniture shopping,” Hymas said.
The first floor will have furniture displays, with appliances and electronics on the second floor.
The store will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday and closed on Sunday.
— Viviane Vo-Duc
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SOUTH CENTRE TOWNSHIP, COLUMBIA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — More concerns from customers of a Columbia County Home Building Company that abruptly closed its door last week.
Eyewitness News has been reporting on the closure of Vision Home Builders near Bloomsburg. Customers of the company say they were left financially high and dry because of the unexpected shutdown and now have unfinished homes.
We were contacted by two more customers of vision home builders. One said she learned about the company closure when she saw our reports on eyewitness news earlier this week.
We can tell you there are many more questions than there are answers in this case.
“The biggest question is where did our money go. Where did the money that you drew go? What’s the next step we have walls that could collapse and fall in,” stated Ron Herbst, a Vision Home Builders customer.
That’s the question Herbst wants to be answered work on his new home near Gordon in Schuylkill County has been at a standstill earlier this week he showed us his foundation he says he understands businesses fall on hard times but.
“Pay for what has been done, give back what you haven’t used that’s a substantial amount of money that has not been used, roughly $115,000,” explained Herbst.
We know at least several customers received an emailed letter from Jeffrey McCreary the president of vision home builders last Thursday saying the company had no choice but to close its doors.
“Vision has tried every way that we know possible to continue operating amid an increasingly dismal financial situation. Loss of revenue has crippled our ability to sustain homebuilding operations,” stated Jeffrey McCreary- president of Vision Home Builders.
We spoke with attorney Tom Marsilio who handles home construction cases he is also a former federal, state, and county prosecutor he advises customers.
“The remedy for these people is to immediately call the attorney general’s office bureau of consumer protection. There are statutes on the books that deal specifically with contracting and these contractors are subject to not only fines but penalties which include incarceration in their failure to comply,” explained Attorney Tom Marsilio, who handles consumer cases.
Marsilio offers this advice to anyone who is entering into a contract to build a new home.
“Obviously the contract has to be as specific as possible in the event they are building a home and are spending a lot of money. Perhaps consult with an attorney to make sure everything is covered A to Z,” stated Marsilio.
A spokesperson for the State Attorney General’s Office urges anyone who might have issues with any contract to take action.
Consumers should file complaints with our office if they feel they have been harmed,” said Molly Stieber, from the PA Attorney General’s Office.
We must point out there is no indication that law enforcement is involved in this case.
It does appear to be a civil matter. We spoke to a woman from Lycoming County who told me she is out some $50,000 and very little work has been done at her construction site.
We reached out to Vision Home Builders for comments to get their side of the story. We have not heard back.


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Apple has just launched a new, more colourful HomePod Mini. The company also announced the 3rd gen AirPods. The AirPods are up for pre-order.
Apple has just launched its new colourful HomePod Mini range as well as the 3rd generation AirPods TWS. The original HomePod Mini launched alongside the iPhone 12 series and will see a colourful upgrade this year. The Apple HomePod mini is quite compact at 3.3-inch tall and delivers decent audio. The HomePod mini follows the HomePod smart speaker that made its debut back in 2017. The new HomePod Mini will come in a range of colours such as Yellow, Orange, Blue and more.
The new AirPods were also launched and feature a similar design to the AirPods Pro. Apple made sure to highlight Dolby Atmos on the new AirPods, paying special mention to spatial audio. The new AirPods will also come with adaptive EQ, giving users a more balanced audio experience. The AirPods also feature a redesigned low-distortion driver that the company claims will deliver better audio. They will also come with a bunch of new sensors. What they’ll do has not been revealed yet. The new AirPods will set you back by about Rs 18,500 and are currently available for pre-order.
The new AirPods will also be water and sweat resistant, making them ideal for runners and athletes. The company has also said that the new AirPods will come with longer battery life, Upto 6 hours of use with another 30 hours of power in the case. In fact, Apple has claimed that the AirPods can now deliver an hour of usage with just a 5-minute charge in the case. We will just have to wait and see if this claim is true once we get our hands on the new Airpods. The new AirPods will also be available in stores starting from October 26 onward.


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by Adam Pursell, Honorary Secretary, SDC North of England Region.
‘A History of Pigments – Cave painting to Modern Day’ was the title of this recent event organised by SDC’s North of England Region.
The evening started with a hot buffet, once again spoken very highly of by all in attendance! Conversation flowed and was enjoyed by all, a mix of attendees from all aspects of industry and academia, even a couple of officers of the Midlands region!
Dr Christine Holdstock was introduced by Dr Muriel Rigout, Honorary Chair of the North of England Region. Christine started the evening by showing the group a ‘hand-crocheted-space-dyed’ cardigan.
by Dr K S Murthy, Pidilite Industries Ltd
This event took place recently at Rachana Sansad School of Fashion and Textile Design in Mumbai, India. It was jointly organised by the Mumbai Chapter, SDC EC and Rachana Sansad. It was a capacity event, reflecting the enthusiasm of the delegates and was attended by over 180 students, faculties, heads of department and principals from various institutes as well as industry professionals and participants of the competition.
By Dr K S Murthy, Pidilite Industries Ltd
Charles Darwin said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones responsive to change.”
The textile industry and fashion industry are global and through online, on demand information, the SDC is ensuring these industries can be responsive to change. Embracing the concept of the ‘circular economy’ SDC EC in conjunction with Rachana Sansad School of Fashion and Textile Design, organised Innovations in Textile Technology and Fashion towards Circular Economy in Mumbai, attended by 200 delegates.


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New bill could allow nationwide digital shutdowns
Digital closures have become extremely popular during the pandemic. With social distancing making traditional home closings difficult, many buyers and investors have relied on online processes to get the job done. In fact, according to the American Land and Title Association, the use of remote online notarization – a requirement for any fully digital closure – has skyrocketed 547% last year.
The only problem? The service is only legal in just over half of all US states.
Fortunately, that may soon change with the introduction of a new bill in the Senate. Dubbed the SECURE Notarization Act, the bill would allow remote online notarization services across the country. Here’s what you need to know about this bill, as well as the possibilities it presents to real estate buyers.
The SECURE Act was introduced to the Senate by Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and Senator Kevin Cramer (RN.D.) on May 13. If passed, the legislation would allow remote notarization services for all licensed notaries in the country. The bill would also require certain security measures – such as “tamper-proof technology” and multi-factor authentication – to prevent potential cases of fraud.
Cramer said, “The pandemic has exposed several loopholes and outdated methods used in the US economy, and the notarized process is a prime example. Our bill would bring this process into the 21st century, allowing people to securely complete notarized documents remotely, just as they do with many other important forms.
So far, the bill has been approved by a number of major industry players including the National Association of Realtors, Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), National Association of Home Builders, ALTA, Zillow, and more.
Here is what Bill Killmer, senior vice president of legislative and policy affairs at MBA, had to say about it: “The SECURE notarization law is essential in supporting new owners and would help apply a transactional freedom measure to the flow. essential real estate fence. activities as Americans begin to fully emerge from the pandemic.
To be fair, this is not the first time that the SECURE Act has seen the light of day. The two senators initially presented an almost identical version of the bill in March 2020, just after the outbreak of the pandemic. It stagnated, however, and never went further than an initial introduction. The current version of the bill has already been referred to the Judicial Committee for further consideration.
For real estate investors and home buyers, the passage of the SECURE law could be huge, making closings more convenient and hassle-free than ever before – especially for those buying or relocating from far away.
This could mean closing an investment property from your living room or home office, regardless of what state it is in (or the property is in, for that matter). It could also help online notary platforms like Notarize and NotaryCam to explode.
But remote notarization isn’t just for buying a house. It can also be used to execute wills or to finalize countless other types of documents.
Warner said, “Remote online notarization is a transformative technology that offers consumers a convenient way to securely complete important documents. While the COVID-19 pandemic has presented a number of barriers to essential tasks such as executing wills, drafting documents while selling a home, or buying or selling a car online, many states have showed how to effectively deploy this type of technology to meet the needs of Americans. “
The bottom line
The SECURE law could be a game-changer for real estate investors, especially those looking to explore other markets and locations. Make sure you stay tuned Millionacres; We will keep you updated with the latest news regarding remote notarization as we go.


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Telco Singtel Optus has teamed up with retailer Harvey Norman to set up Optus Business Hubs for small businesses which would function as a one-stop shop for SMBs to obtain select telecommunications products.
Telco Singtel Optus has launched a new mobile plan that it says will offer small and medium-sized businesses a means of cutting down on their communications costs.
Many Australian businesses are struggling to keep pace with technology changes critical to their business success, despite over 40% of SMBs believing that adopting smart technology to improve business efficiency will have the biggest impact on their business in the next three years, according to newly released research from Optus.
Thank you for the data shown on this article. It's a bumpy ride for Australia but on the other hand,[…]
I am really not surprised that the ABC has resorted to monetising its data.When the Coalition Government is doing everything[…]
Thanks Peter! A story well worth reporting.A tiny step in a better direction except that 2035 will be far too[…]
Pyramid payments for the rollout and the smallest chunk for the actual guys doing the rollout. What a surprise from[…]
By moving away from fibre and sticking with an archiac mess of copper the Coalition ensured that wireless would be[…]


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Bermuda: Latest beverage news & analysis
Bacardi has confirmed the pending departure of another senior executive in North America, with its US sales director set to quit the firm.
Bacardi has confirmed a change of president for the North America region.
Bacardi has appointed a new regional president for Asia Pacific after the incumbent announced his decision to step down.
Bacardi has lined up an interim CEO as the company continues to search for a permanent replacement.
Bacardi has announced that its president & CEO, Ed Shirley, has left the company after two years in the role.
The head of Bacardi has called on spirits producers to do more to improve consumers' knowledge of cocktails to help drive growth in the overall category.
Bacardi has appointed a former Foster's Group and Diageo executive as its new chief marketing officer.
Bacardi has recruited a former employee of Miller Brewing Company as its chief communications & corporate affairs officer.
Bacardi has confirmed that its CMO is to leave the company, just over two years after assuming the role.
In a busy HR week for Bacardi, the company has confirmed the appointment of a senior global category director of rums.
- Scottish Independence and Scotch Whisky
- SABMiller spurned by Heineken: The start of the en
- Comment - Heineken's 'No' Cuts SABMiller Options
- Irish whiskey eyes a slice of Scotch's global pie
- Whisk(e)y leads vodka in US, but for how long?
- LIVE BLOG: Industry responds to Scotland 'No' vote
- Diageo ups Johnnie Walker Formula One presence
- Diageo's Special Releases 2014
- William Grant opens Tullamore D.E.W. distillery
- Rabobank warns of "mountainous task" for Scotch


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McDonald’s is ramping up its use here of a menu-marketing tactic that has worked for it overseas: the multi-person meal bundle.
The corporate recommendation is a two-person box.
McDonald’s co-ops have the option of offering a new FIFA World Cup Bundle Box, which includes food for two (or more) in a box thematically tied [...]
McDonald’s is letting UK customers handle the tricky matter of menu development, if only briefly, through its popular crowdsourcing promotion, My Burger. First introduced in Germany in 2011 as “Mein Burger, the program invites burger lovers to create their own dream burger. McDonald’s will put five winning burgers on its menu this fall as one-week [...]
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers is proving itself an exception to the general decline of the casual-dining segment of the restaurant business. The Colorado-based chain reported a strong Q1, including a 5.4% increase in same-store sales. Helped by heavier ad spending and the continued success of its top-price Finest burgers, guest counts increased by 0.5% and [...]
It would take something very special—the 2014 World Cup tournament, say—for McDonald’s to change the look of its iconic fry box globally for the first time. And as long as they were doing that, they might as well make the box the entrance to an augmented-reality game.
And so, beginning May 26, McDonald’s will roll [...]
Burger King’s 40-year-old “Have It Your Way” slogan has morphed into a new positioning, “Be Your Way,” that the company says better fits the times and the brand.
The new tagline begins appearing this month.
Fernando Machado, SVP_Global Brand Management, told BurgerBusiness.com that the new tagline is the result of a company reexamination of [...]
McDonald’s once again is paying homage to the home of the burger with the “Great Tastes of America” promotion it has run for the past few years in the UK. But this time it has taken the program up a beat, celebrating music as well as burgers.
Agency Razorfish/London has equipped the chain with a [...]
Every day there are new burger creations that, while not necessarily worthy of a separate post on the site, at least merit a nod of recognition and appreciation. On an occasional Monday, I’m going to round up “The 7”: the past week’s seven most intriguing burgers. It’s a chance to credit burger joints that have [...]


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IT major Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCSL) on Monday pointed out that Tata Sons’ ousted Chairman Cryus Mistry has caused enormous harm to the company and its shareholders.
“Mistry’s conduct has caused enormous harm to the Tata group, TCSL and its stakeholders, including employees and shareholders,” the company said in a regulatory filing to the BSE.
“Subsequent to his replacement as executive chairman of Tata Sons, Mistry has made certain unsubstantiated allegations, which cast aspersions not only on Tata Sons and its board of directors, but also on the Tata group as a whole, of which TCSL is an integral part,” the regulatory filing said under the “explanatory statement” note.
The company made the regulatory filing to inform the BSE that an extra ordinary general meeting (EGM) will be held on December 13, 2016.
On November 17, the board of directors of the IT major decided to convene an EGM to remove Mistry as a director of the company.
Earlier, TCS issued a special notice under Section 169 (read with Section 115) of the Companies Act, 2013, and made a requisition for an EGM of shareholders to consider Mistry’s removal as a director of TCS.
TCS has already replaced Mistry as its Chairman and appointed Ishaat Hussain as the new Chairman of the board of directors of the company with immediate effect.
“It may be noted that the board of directors of Tata Sons has lost confidence in Cyrus P. Mistry to lead Tata Sons for a combination of several factors,” the company’s regulatory filing elaborated.
“The Tata Sons’ board, in its collective wisdom, took the decision to replace
Mistry. The Board had felt that the removal of Mistry as Chairman was absolutely necessary for the future success of the Tata group.”
Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group companies, removed Mistry, 48, as its Chairman last month and reinstated Ratan Tata in an interim capacity.
Tata Sons in an earlier statement has said that ousted Chairman should resign from all group companies and deplored the manner in which Mistry has sought the support of independent directors of Indian Hotels to continue as its Chairman.


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An earlier version reported an incorrect U.S. dollar equivalent for net income. It has been corrected.
Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
shot up 4.6% in active premarket trade Thursday, after the China-based e-commerce giant reported fiscal first-quarter profit and sales that rose above expectations. Net income for the quarter to June 30 increased 96% to the equivalent of $2.07 billion, while earnings per share rose 92% to 83 cents. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted EPS came to $1.17, beating the FactSet consensus of 93 cents. Revenue grew 56% to $7.40 billion, above the FactSet consensus $7.12 billion. Mobile monthly active users increased 24% to 529 million. Cloud computing revenue rose 96% to $359 million, as cloud computing paying customers increased 75% to 1.01 million. "Our technology is driving significant growth across our business and strengthening our position beyond core commerce," said Chief Executive Daniel Zhang. The stock has soared 82% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500
has gained 10%.


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Meet 8 tech startups vying for on-site funding at the Pure Pitch Rally
F“From the gig economy and healthcare companies to startups tackling supply chain issues, the solutions to today’s challenges come from promising innovators in Kansas City,” said Karen Fenaroli, announcing the eight competitors for this fall’s Pure Pitch Rally.
The invitation-only event brings together top executives and investors to provide mentorship, networking, and financial support to emerging technology companies, and to collaborate on how we, as a community, can best encourage success. additional entrepreneurship in our city and region.
“We couldn’t be more excited about the diversity of ideas, industries and experiences represented in this year’s cohort that will be exhibited and evaluated by our land sharks,” said Fenaroli, Main Sponsor and Founder of Pure Pitch Rally. “Most importantly, we continue our mission of facilitating critical connections across the Kansas City entrepreneurial ecosystem to improve our community and our region.”
The one-of-a-kind pitch competition is about to return for an in-person, invitation-only event on October 12 at the Neptune Ballroom at the new downtown Loews Hotel Kansas City.
Mimicking the popular “Shark Tank,” Pure Pitch Rally brings together more than 80 investors – or “land sharks,” a nod to Kansas City’s landlocked geography – to assess each presentation. Each land shark donates $ 1,000 to one of the startups at the end of the contest. Up to $ 1 million in cash and resources will be awarded.
Click on here to learn more about Pure Pitch Rally.
Competitors for this year’s event include:
- AgButler Inc., Kevin Johansen – The concert economy platform serves as a solution to a labor shortage in rural America. AgButler provides jobs on demand, giving farmers and ranchers access to a high-quality workforce while boosting rural economies.
- Air traffic awareness, Merwan Abdelmajeed – What started as a classroom project at the University of Missouri-Kansas City is now a startup providing solutions to improve situational awareness for general aviation to increase in-flight safety.
- AWA technology, William Walls – AWA technology streamlines processes and reduces costs in the automotive fluids industry by eliminating the need to transport water, minimizing end-use plastic waste, and dramatically reducing storage time and problems shelf life.
- Stand Navigator, Alan Harris – The supply chain mobile app is designed to manage inventory and streamline transactions for suppliers at sporting events, concerts and festivals.
- Plasmonic Diagnostics LLC, Syed Barizuddin – The startup’s cutting-edge technology platform, P-Libres, enables faster, easier, and less expensive diagnoses of diseases such as tuberculosis and SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) through advanced technology from detection of single molecules.
- PMI Pro Rate, Nomi Smith – This unique scoring tool allows loan officers to complete a short form and receive results from all national private mortgage insurance (PMI) providers in less than six seconds.
- Relay Trading Solutions, Delvin Higginson – The collaborative supply chain platform connects shippers, carriers, origins and destinations for seamless ordering on delivery, saving up to 50% on back office costs.
- SureShow Inc., Shelley Cooper – This platform helps medical practices replace walk-in appointments with income-generating telehealth visits, with a focus on populations that need better access to care.
In addition to access to funding opportunities, participating startups are invited to four bootcamps that aim to help them build a solid foundation for their business. Bootcamps focus on honing their pitch, branding, product development, and scale-up advice in finance, mergers and acquisitions, and legal support.
Click on here to see the winners and photos from the 2019 Pure Pitch Rally event.
“The fifth annual Pure Pitch Rally will be bigger, better and safer than ever,” said Fenaroli, who is also CEO of Fenaroli & Associates, leading talent consultancy, with a focus on COVID-19 awareness and efforts to address concerns well before October in person. 12 event. “We will take the utmost precautions to ensure the safety of founders, land sharks and sponsors at one of the only events for the startup community this year.”
Click on here to learn more about the reasons for the shortage of other tech and startup events this fall.
The 13,000-square-foot ballroom at the Loews Hotel will leave enough space for social distancing, and masks are required, Fenaroli added. Participation should be capped at just over 100, she said previously, noting that more than 80 land sharks are expected to participate by handing out cash funding, which is the largest in Pure Pitch Rally history. .
New and notable land sharks include Kansas City business leaders such as:
- Toby Rush, CEO of Smart Warehousing and Founder of EyeVerify / Zoloz
- Zane Burke, CEO of Livongo and former chairman of Cerner Corp.
- Dominique Davison, CEO and founder of PlanIT Impact, a former student of the Pure Pitch Rally 2017
- Christopher Jones, CEO and Founder of MatchRite Care, a 2019 Pure Pitch Rally alumnus
- Bek Abdullayev, CEO and Founder of Super Dispatch
- Maria Flynn, founder of Orbis Biosciences and serial entrepreneur
- Joel Worcester, partner and co-founder of Worcester Investments
- Mary Ann Camacho, Executive Director, National Customer Service Operations for Quest Diagnostics
- Maria Maffry, Director of Business Development at BNIM
- Eileen Weir, Mayor of Independence
- Simone Curls, Executive Director of the Prospect Business Association
- Nia Richardson, Assistant to the Director of KC Bizcare
- Matthew Mellor, Serial Entrepreneur and Chief Strategy Officer for Startland
The incubator event and academies are sponsored by Artisan Technology Group, BKD, C3 Capital, Circle Sideways, Fenaroli & Associates, First Business Bank, Morningstar Communications, Park University, Polsinelli, Real Media and Paradise Productions KC.


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Chinese regulators have visited several Microsoft offices in China, in relation to an apparent antitrust investigation.
Officials from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, which investigates antitrust and other matters, visited several Microsoft offices Monday. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the investigation.
Microsoft confirmed that the Chinese government has been in contact with the company and said it will cooperate with regulators, but it declined to give any further details on the situation.
"We aim to build products that deliver the features, security and reliability customers expect, and we will address any concerns the government may have," the company said in a statement.
U.S. technology firms and the Chinese government have had a rocky relationship in the past year, in light of the information leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that detailed the technology industry's role in U.S. government surveillance overseas. The revelations have directly led to lower sales in China for many U.S. tech firms, such as Cisco and IBM.
Microsoft, in particular, has faced several obstacles in China over the past year. In May, the Chinese government banned the use of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system on government computers due to alleged security concerns, highlighting a growing rift between the United States and China on cybersecurity and other technology issues. The relationship has become even more strained following the U.S. indictment of five members of the Chinese military on hacking charges.
Chinese newspapers reported last week that regulators have leveled an antitrust charge against Qualcomm, one of the world's largest mobile chip makers, accusing it using a "monopoly" to charge excessive fees for its technology.
The way that China has been applying its new law has drawn criticism from some U.S. officials. Last year, Federal Trade Commission commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen gave a speech in Beijing, encouraging antitrust regulators there to provide clear, advance notice to companies under investigation. Reuters reported that the U. S. Chamber of Commerce had sent a letter to Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, saying the Chinese government has applied its anti-monopoly laws to protect Chinese businesses, rather than Chinese consumers.
"It has become increasingly clear that the Chinese government has seized on using the AML to promote Chinese producer welfare and to advance industrial policies that nurture domestic enterprises, rather than the internationally accepted norm of using competition law to protect consumer welfare and competition," the U.S. Chamber's letter said, according to the report.


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Today CitationAir by Cessna announced an alliance with The Eliot Hotel, a historic boutique hotel in downtown Boston. Through this new relationship, guests of The Eliot Hotel will be eligible for “unique benefits” to fly privately with CitationAir, including 50 percent off the minimum purchase of a Citation Air Jet Card, a discount that could be as much as a $50,000, the company said. For CitationAir customers, The Eliot Hotel will offer exclusive guaranteed rates for a one-bedroom suite when they visit Boston.
NEW ORLEANS, LA.– September in this Crescent City typically unwinds much like a sizzling escape valve. After the steamy summer, and a few degrees of cooler temperatures, this tropical town simmers down. Fall is prime time for exhibitions and conventions–a virtual industry for the city. The prospect of hosting NBAA 2001 was a highlight on the hospitality community’s to-do list.


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At the RoboBusiness conference in Boston, engineers are showing off a sample of commercial and still-under-development robots for music, the military, health care, and even the inspection of bridges.
Here is the A.M.P., or Automated Music Personality, from Ologic which is expected to go on sale in 2013 for about $400. It's a self-balancing entertainment robot which can play music and move around based on commands from a smartphone. The company is designing it to be an open-source-style product, said company co-founder Bob Allen. By removing two screws, the top of the robot comes off and can be fitted with a cell phone or tablet computer. Developers will be able to write apps to send instructions to the movement platform, Allen said.
A close look at iRobot's SUGV (Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle) which is used by the military to get "situational awareness." In a talk at the RoboBusiness conference, iRobot CEO said that robots should be developed for practical, important purposes rather than futuristic humanoid models. Thousands of robots like this are deployed in Iraq to dispose of roadside bombs or for surveillance.
At the RoboBusiness conference, SRI International showed off a prototype of this remote- controlled robot that can climb walls. The adhesion works electrostatically by creating a positive charge on one end and a negative charge on the other. The research and development company envisions that the wall-climbing robots could be used by first responders or to inspect buildings and bridges.
Here's what a toy robotic dinosaur looks like under its skin. Manufacturer Jetta showed off this toy robot to demonstrate the precision required for manufacturing involved in toy robots.


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March 29, 2010
Star Wars: The Old Republic coming to Xbox?
Microsoft has sent mixed messages about bringing massively multiplayer role-playing games to the Xbox 360. Today bioware has shot down the rumors the the much famed MMO will be coming to consoles. The developer in a interview said “Star Wars: The Old Republic is currently being developed for the personal computer (PC) using the Microsoft Windows operating system. While we recognize that there are other operating systems and platforms available for games today, our development is specific to the personal computer using the Windows operating system at this time.” After the release of Champions online on the Xbox360 console gamers have been wondering what the next MMO on consoles would be????


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Spurred by tweets Tom Hanks posted showing himself admiring an iconic communist-era car, Poles have raised the cash to buy a tiny Fiat 126 p for the Hollywood star, organisers said Tuesday.
The Oscar-winner posed next to several of the cars affectionately dubbed "Maluch", or "little guy" in Polish, during a shoot late last year in the Hungarian capital Budapest.
"I got a new car! Hanx," reads a caption on one of the tweets that caught the attention of Poles after going viral.
Monika Jaskolska, a 42-year-old mother who lives in Bielsko-Biala -- the southern Polish town where Italian carmaker Fiat produced over three million "Maluchs" between 1971 to 2000 -- dreamt up the idea to send Hanks one of them as a gift.
The vintage Fiat 126p from 1974 is seen in the car workshop in the town of Bielsko-Biala, southern Poland. (AFP)
Although cramped and clunky, the ultra-compact cars were prized during the communist era in Poland and other socialist bloc countries where consumer goods were in very short supply.
Jaskolska, who told AFP Tuesday she wanted to show Hanks "how fond Poles are of this car", raised 2,000 euros ($2830) via a Facebook page to buy a 1970 model.
An autobody shop has volunteered to renovate it free of charge before it is flown to Los Angeles by an airline that has also agreed to cover the cost of the flight.


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TokenFi (TOKEN) surges soared by 45% after a $10 million investment from DWF Labs
TokenFi, a platform that allows users to create and tokenize assets, has received a $10 million investment from DWF Labs, a crypto trading fund that plans to develop a suite of products using TokenFi’s technology.
The investment, which will be made over a two-year period, will help TokenFi expand its product offerings, which include a generative AI for NFTs and a smart contract auditor. The tokens will be purchased from TokenFi’s treasury, ensuring that the platform has enough resources to fund its development.
DWF LABS TO PURCHASE $10,000,000 IN TOKENFI TOKENS
DWF Labs will purchase $10,000,000 in $TOKEN as part of their commitment towards supporting #TokenFi’s vision of becoming a dominant player in the tokenization industry, which is projected to be worth $16 trillion by 2030.
— TokenFi (@tokenfi) March 5, 2024
The news of the investment boosted the price of TokenFi’s native token, TOKEN, which soared by 50% to nearly 9 cents, breaking its previous all-time high. TOKEN is used to pay for fees and access premium features on the platform.
“This will give TokenFi an edge as the tokenization and AI wave catches on heading into what will be crypto’s most explosive bull run,” said B, the founder of DWF Labs, in a message.
TokenFi was launched in 2023 as a sister project to Floki, a former dog-themed meme coin that has since pivoted into a metaverse and decentralized finance platform. TokenFi aims to make tokenization easy and accessible for anyone, enabling users to launch or tokenize anything from real estate to art to music.
- FLOKI (FLOKI) Price Could Drop In The Next Few Days, Here’s Why?
- Hong Kong Regulator Questions Floki And TokenFi Staking Programs For High Promised Returns


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has partnered with The Bookseller on a new preview section for self-published authors in the UK named ‘The Bookseller’s Independent Author Previews.’ NOOK Press will sponsor the new section and will be the exclusive source of self-published titles for preview consideration through April 2015.
Each month, beginning in October, The Bookseller will select approximately 10 NOOK Press titles to feature on the new section.
Using multi-layered designs that allow for multimedia, images and even music to be presented to readers as they consume literature, the new format they’ve come up with allows a new way of interfacing with what we read… Downloading ( Kindle & Audible — ed .) ebooks from untrustworthy websites might result in your Amazon account data being compromised, reports one German researcher.
Play one of our most played games on the home page or dive into your favorite category in the menu. And enjoy your time on Games Freak - the ultimate site for free online boys games!
In the meantime we will do our best to deliver the best possible gaming experience by further improving our website.
Pro Quest Ebooks has partnered with O’Mahony’s, Irish booksellers and library suppliers, to deliver key content from leading publishers to institutions across Ireland and the UK.
This new partnership will enable O’Mahony’s customers to purchase over 600,000 ebook titles, which can be chosen title-by-title and then owned outright by the library.
The titles are offered through Pro Quest ebook companies ebrary and EBL.
Changes in ebook production and conversion technologies are opening up new opportunities when it comes to digital content.
Gumroad currently offers 35,000 ebooks and digital comics in addition to 8,000 movies and 15,000 music products…
THE lost works of Scottish authors including James Hogg, Neil Munro and Robert Louis Stevenson are being resurrected by the company behind e-books for the biggest names in contemporary publishing.
Since May, Amazon and the publisher Hachette have been locked in a battle over the pricing of e-books. And it’s upset many authors because it’s made their work less available.


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Infinix Hot 10 Lite: Last month Infinix has launched its Infinix Hot 9 Pro smartphone in India which received a lot of mixed reviews. Infinix is trying very hard to make its strong establishment in the mid-range and entry-level markets, but it seems like they are failing over and over again. Now, another entry-level device from the company has appeared online revealing its key specs.
Well, the Infinix Hot 10 Lite appeared on Google Play Console listing. The model number of this device is mentioned as Infinix-X657B. As soon as you take a look at the specifications, you will remain surprised as the device comes with 2048 MB memory. That means the Infinix Hot 10 Lite is coming with 2 GB RAM.
Yes, in the world of 12 GB and 8 GB of RAMs, 2 GB sounds unnecessary to consider, but this is an entry-level smartphone. We can expect the company to launch this device at around 5000 to 6000 INR, which again almost touches the entry-level smartphones from Redmi and Realme.
Moving on, the device is powered by MediaTek MT6761D SoC which was announced two years ago. The MediaTek MT6761D SoC here is coupled with the Imagination Tech PowerVR GE8300 graphics unit, which obviously cannot even run medium titles on the Play Store. But then again, at this price point, we cannot as much.
A render of the device also appears in the listing. At first glance, it looks like Redmi Note 7’s render, but if you look closely, it is not a waterdrop notch. It is a tear-drop one. The volume rockers and power key reside to the right of the device and we can expect the device to launch with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.
The display here is 720 x 1600 pixels with a screen density rate of 320 DPI. Among all these specifications, one thing everyone would love to know is that the device is grounded on Android 10.