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One thing that won't change is that you can stay safe by showing basic vigilance: Keep your security software updated and run it regularly. Click only on links from trusted sources; the same goes for buying cellphone apps. Be smart about where and how you navigate in cyberspace.
Five areas where scammers are likely to expend extra energy:
Ransomware. It begins when you open a malicious attachment, click on a link in a scammer's email or instant message, or visit scammer websites that promise such things as enticing videos or free prizes. Ransomware locks your computer, usually displaying a screen message that appears to be from a law enforcement agency. Pay us, you're told, and you'll get back control of your computer.
Once considered a niche scam, ransomware attacks exploded in 2012, hitting some 70,000 computers per month. About 3 percent of victims pay the ransom fee — thanks, in part, to cyber-criminals increasingly using online payment methods to collect, says cyber-security firm Symantec, which recently published a detailed report on this ruse. "In 2013, attackers will use more professional ransom screens, up the emotional stakes to motivate their victims, and use methods that make it harder to recover once compromised," predicts Symantec's Kevin Haley.
Cloud-based botnets. For years, spammers have been distributing about 150 billion junk email messages per day with the covert help of the computers of everyday users — maybe even yours. To entice folks to watch videos on social networking websites, open email greeting cards and the like, spammers infect random computers with botnet malware that makes the machines secretly send out spam.
In 2013, predict Georgia Tech researchers, scammers will also turn their botnet schemes to what's known as "the cloud," the global network of Internet-connected computers that store huge amounts of data, shuttle it around and offer data services. If you share your family photos online, for instance, you're using the cloud. As more and more companies put customer data and computing power on the cloud, there's an ever-growing collection of prized targets. "One possible example is for attackers to use stolen credit card information to purchase cloud computing resources and create dangerous clusters of temporary virtual attack systems," say Georgia Tech researchers.
Madware. Short for "mobile adware," you may know them as pop-up ads or texts on your cellphone. At best, they're irritating; at worst, they give scammers sensitive data such as your location and stored contacts. After seeing the most aggressive forms increase by 210 percent since mid-2012, Symantec expects more madware problems as companies try to make money off free mobile apps by selling collected info to advertisers.
Social network payment sources. Social networks are offering more pay services, such as opportunities to send gifts or promote status updates. So expect cyber-crooks to follow that money trail.
"Symantec anticipates an increase in malware attacks that steal payment credentials in social networks and trick users into providing payment details and other personal and potentially valuable information," notes Haley.
Search history poisoning. First, malware-spreading scammers created their own fly-by-night websites. Next, they upped the ante — and believability — with "search engine poisoning" — manipulating search engines such as Bing, Google and Yahoo to display search results that lead you to dangerous destinations. And while these efforts will continue, the latest threat is "search history poisoning." This involves exploiting the record that's kept of websites that you've visited. When stored as part of an online profile, a search history lets hackers extend their scamming potential.
"If you compromise a computer, the victim can always switch to a clean machine and your attack is over," notes Georgia Tech's Wenke Lee. "If you compromise a user's search history and hence his online profile, the victim gets the malicious search results no matter where he logs in from." You can help foil this one by clearing your browser's search history frequently, or turning it off altogether.
Sid Kirchheimer is the author of Scam-Proof Your Life, published by AARP Books/Sterling.


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Mega-merger kills 10,000 jobs
ABOUT 10,000 jobs will be lost as a result of JP Morgan Chase's $58bn (£31.7bn) purchase of Bank One, Chase chief William Harrison indicated today.
Harrison said he hoped many jobs would be lost through natural wastage, but the plan was to save $2.2bn costs over three years.
The executive team of the merged bank presented its vision to investors today.
The deal has sparked global speculation on Wall Street that it could trigger a wave of consolidation in the sector, though future mergers may not be as big as yesterday's, which creates a bank with $1.1 trillion in assets that is second only to Citigroup in size in the US.
The JP Morgan-Bank One deal was welcomed by most analysts. 'It's a blockbuster of a transaction,' said Denis Laplante of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. The merged bank will control 7% to 8% of deposits in the US, below the 10% allowed.
Harrison will be chairman and chief executive. Bank One's Jamie Dimon will be president and chief operating officer, succeeding Harrison in 2006.
Laplante said: 'JP Morgan gets diversification out of capital markets into retail banking and Dimon gets to run the combined company with the brokerage capability he was coveting.'
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domain: news


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Latest News on Alexa Voice Remote
Showing of 0 - 10 from 4 results
Alexa Voice Remote - Total results - 4
Apr 16, 2019
Amazon Fire TV Stick's latest update gets you a new screen mirroring featureAmazon had announced a new Fire TV Stick, along with a new Alexa voice remote in India back in January.
Jan 16, 2019
Amazon Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote launched at Rs 3,999 in IndiaFire TV Stick and Alexa Voice Remote are available for pre-order and will start shipping by Jan-end.
Oct 03, 2018
Amazon India brings Fire TV Stick 4K and Alexa Voice Remote to India for Rs 5,999The "Fire TV Stick 4K" and the "Alexa Voice Remote" would start shipping in India from 14 November.
Sep 28, 2017
Amazon Fire TV with 4K HDR support launched for $70 with Alexa Voice RemoteAmazon has launched a bevy of Echo products and in addition to them, an upgrade to the humble Fire TV. The latest generation Amazon Fire TV will come with 4K HDR support


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The 2023 vacation packages have just been made available to guests and they have revealed some big news about the .
The without all the worries and hassles options. When it was time to sit down for a Customers can use to cover the costs of a and every subtracted from the number of “credits” a Guest had, depending on the they had bought. has long been a favorite addition to a holidays for guests of all ages. The allowed customers the flexibility to enjoy a day at a time
Restaurants like Chef Mickey’s at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Cinderella’s Royal Table at the Magic Kingdom, and 1900 Park Fare at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort had a higher value than restaurants, but both were included in the , as are snacks. The guests got to know the plans, and many knew what options, like , used more credits. Blueprints were available for maximum use and as usual, make a only helped the whole process.
There was even a Disney Deluxe dining plan that gave guests even more flexibility and options.
But Disney suspended the in March 2020 when the parks closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic. But when the parks reopened in July 2020, the didn’t come back. Since then, guests have been wondering if and when Disney will bring back guests’ favorite vacation package option.
And although we wish we could announce that the 2023 vacation packages, which just became available for booking on Wednesday, included the which could be used for options and options, rather the opposite is true.
From the offerings the official website ofit is clear that the will not be available as an add-on for the foreseeable future of park planning. And that’s not the only thing that’s not available.
As has been pointed out previously, Customers will not be able to pre-purchase the Genie+ option when they book their vacation packages. Instead, guests will have the option to purchase Genie+ in the My application every day if they want to use these benefits and services.
The one thing many guests hoped would go away in 2023 is clearly here to stay through next year. it is Park Pass Reservation System rolled out when the parks reopened in July 2020, and many believed it would be a temporary arrangement to manage park capacity as the world recovers from the global pandemic. But the Park Pass system is still operational, and it will continue to be the way of the world (Disney) until at least 2023.
In some cases, Disney even imposes “no-show” penalties for visitors who book a Park Pass and then do not show up at the Disneyland parks.
It remains to be seen when dining plan options will become part of the additions for Disney World Vacation Packages, and while it sometimes seems hopeless, we’re still holding out hope that dining plans will return — and sooner, rather than later !


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OnLive VP of Engineering Joe Bentley said in an interview that OnLive is “chatting” with Microsoft and Sony about OnLive’s cloud-based game delivery technology. It’s far from an announcement of a potential deal, but his comments are very interesting nonetheless.
“Our controller is a hybrid between a PS3 controller and an Xbox controller,” Bentley told CVG.
“It’s all compatible, it would just work. There are OnLive guys chatting [with Sony and MS], but we’ll see where it goes,” he added.
OnLive does seem to be exploring its options pretty vigorously. Just last week, Bentley said that Valve really likes OnLive, and that they’re in talks with them as well.
Bentley added that Valve and the console manufacturers see benefits in OnLive as a way to get their games onto mobiles devices like the iPhone and iPad without having to craft expensive ports.
While not a confirmation by any stretch of the imagination, it’s exciting to think about the potential ramifications of Microsoft or Sony teaming up with OnLive to deliver cloud gaming. Most companies are well aware that disc-based retail games are headed out the door, and OnLive’s technology could make for a compelling option for Microsoft or Sony.


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If you haven't heard, something exciting is happening over at CityPlace. In an attempt to draw in consumers looking for a shopping experience, CityPlace is launching an innovative way to sip, shop and support local businesses.
This Saturday WPB Collective will open its 4,948 square foot space to the public. The former home of Restoration Hardware Baby & Child has been transformed into an experiential pop-up shop that promises to be chock-full of amazing food, drinks and merchandise from carefully curated local businesses. From December 2 through to April you can enjoy a rotating mix of local, regional and national artisans, fashion lines, jewelry designers, specialty food and beverage brands and more. At its launch, the space will become home to Dreamallows, Pumphouse Coffee Roasters, Vagabond Apparel Boutique and until December 10, the nationally recognized brand, Uncommon James by Kristin Cavallari, who will be making a guest appearance from noon to 3pm this Saturday at the grand opening.
WPB Collective will be open to the public starting Saturday, December 2 at 11am. Store hours will be Tuesday and Wednesday from 11am – 8pm, Thursday through Saturday from 11am – 9pm, and Sunday from 11am – 5pm.
For more information about CityPlace, please visit CityPlace.com or call (561) 366-1000.


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The head of Xbox just wants to deliver a “complete package”.
Bethesda, as you might recall, was officially acquired by Microsoft earlier this year for the sum of $7.5 billion. It’s naturally raised a lot of concerns about the future of Bethesda games on other platforms, like the Nintendo systems.
While we previously heard how future Bethesda titles would be “where Game Pass exists”, and that “some” new Bethesda titles would likely be exclusive to Xbox and PC, in a new interview with GQ focused on Xbox’s 20th anniversary, questions have once again popped up about The Elder Scrolls 6’s possible exclusivity.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com


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Former fraudster turned fraud fighter Brett Johnson, founder and CEO of AnglerPhish.com, shared the story of his criminal exploits with attendees at today’s CNP Expo in San Francisco. His life of crime began when he was 10 years old and culminated in the U.S. Secret Service dubbing him, “The Original Internet Godfather.”
After scamming a woman out of $1,500 in a fraudulent online sale, Johnson said, “The first lesson in cyber-crime that I ever learned was that if you delay a victim long enough, they get so exasperated, they walk away. Very few ever report anything to law enforcement.”
In 2004, Johnson himself was scammed by a fraudster, which gave birth to Shadowcrew, a communication forum that helped criminals confirm the “trustworthiness” of their peers, all of whom are motivated by either status, cash or ideology Johnson said.
A cybercriminal needs to have knowledge, willingness and ego, Johnson said. When those traits coexist, the criminal then needs to gather the data, commit the crime and cash out. However, a single criminal is rarely ever skilled enough to do all of these, which is why they rely upon each other for support using forums, marketplaces, Dark Web and surface Web groups. These networking groups ensure maximum success, Johnson said.
Everyone’s information is available on the Internet, and criminals know how to manipulate human beings, “that’s the way cybercrime works,” Johnson said.
“The game now is about fake ID scams, which has evolved into synthetic fraud—the fastest growing form of identity theft which resulted in $50 billion in losses last year. Over 80 percent of all new account fraud is synthetic fraud.”


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USA: Retrospettiva Order From Boscov's Department Stores
Retrospettiva, Inc (Nasdaq:RTRO), a leading supplier of women's apparel, today announced it has received an additional order, valued at approximately $350,000, from Boscov's Department Store Inc. Borivoje Vukadinovic, president and chief executive officer for Retrospettiva, stated: "We are delighted about our progress at Retrospettiva, as we continue to process orders from highly reputable companies like Boscov's. We anticipate future relations with Boscov's and other businesses like it as we further expand our product lines and gain the capability to fulfill many of their alternative merchandise needs."
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Minister of Commerce and Industry Donville Inniss has promised to carry out an investigation into claims by one garment manufacturer that some clothing are entering the island with fraudulent labels.
This follows complaints from managing director of River Bay Trading Ian Pickup that some items of clothing were being imported from Trinidad with Made in Trinidad labels but, upon closer examination, it was discovered that the original tags were replaced.
“Illegal imports, re-labelling and false labelling and false invoicing are real problems again,” Pickup told Inniss during a tour of his company in Wildey, St Michael today.
In response, the minister said: “I think we are duty bound as a Government, as the competent authority, to do our investigations to ensure that the items entering our port are actually made where they say they are being made. And I give the assurance that this is a matter we will take up immediately with the competent authorities – in this case Mr Pickup has identified Trinidad – and I will have some investigations done prior to my visit to Trinidad next month on other business.”
The minister also gave the assurance that concerns about River Bay Trading being under threat because of imports from the Dominican Republic (DR) flooding the market, were being addressed.
Pickup noted that between October 2013 and this month, his company had been hit hard by the imports and it had seen a 19.5 per cent decline in adult t-shirt sales and a 20 per cent drop in the sale of children’s t-shirts. This, he said, was due mostly to duty free products being imported from the Dominican Republic.
“The Dominican Republic imports are a real threat and had a dramatic effect on our business this year . . . If you put DR imports against River Bay sales . . . overall we are being outsold in our own market by the Dominican Republic imports. It is a serious matter, a very serious matter,” said Pickup.
“The problem with the Dominican Republic imports is the duty under the CARICOM/ Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, so they are able to enter and sell their shirts at about 30 to 40 per cent lower than our regular price.”
Armed with statistics, Pickup told Inniss that between January and June this year, total imports from the Dominican Republic were 76,196, compared to his sales, which stood at 58,553 for the same period. He said while total revenue for last year stood at $2.4 million, he expected that to drop to $2.3 million by the end of the financial year, September 30.
The clothing manufacturer who employs 40 people said high electricity costs, high transportation costs and continued increase in input costs, especially cotton, were also stifling his operations.
Pickup said despite drawing the problems to the attention of the relevant authorities and having “several meetings with ministry individuals” no action has been taken to date.
“I have been banging on about this for a really long time and I am really angry . . . . What this does is it demonstrates how easy it is to cheat,” he said.
However, Inniss insisted it was not correct to say that no one was doing anything about it.
“I wish to give the assurance that the Government is not turning a deaf ear to the manufacturing sector. We recognise that it is still a significant contributor to the economy – almost five per cent of GDP – employing quite a number of Barbadians, earning and saving foreign exchange,” he said.
The minister also promised that “the necessary surveillance” would be carried out to ensure “we are getting the taxpayers and the Government what is right fully theirs” by ensuring the appropriate rates of duty are applied to items based on their origin and using the correct tariff rates.


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Largest portrait of the Queen made from stamps unveiled for Diamond Jubilee
09:54 26 May 2012
Â© Mark Bourdillon
The world’s largest stamp portrait of Queen Elizabeth II has been unveiled at Whiteleys shopping centre in west London to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.
Renowned pop artist Peter Mason used 30,000 postage stamps to create the 20ft artwork.
On display until August 28, the artwork uses recycled stamps as pixels in a larger image and took more than 400 hours to complete.
Mason has previously produced portraits of celebrities and politicians including Sir Cliff Richard, Simon Cowell and Margaret Thatcher.


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Generation RED Pre-release
Updated: Jul 2, 2020
What's a city without youth? Monster Fight Club's new Generation RED miniatures are available to pre-order now, shipping in early July!
As a web special figure to commemorate our new city, we also have a budding street artist for sale:


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Qualcomm just released more details about its upcoming Snapdragon 820 Soc that will be included on all 2016 flagships devices starting by the ned of this year.
A major missing puzzle piece was connectivity and at today's Qualcomm event in China it became clear that the Snapdragon 820 will offer top-notch mobile data bandwidth up to 600Mbps downstream and 150Mbps up over LTE-Advanced (X12 LTE). Also Wi-Fi 802.11ad will be supported for next-gen local connectivity.
The Snapdragon 820 will use four custom 64-bit Kryo cores, so no more standard Cortex solutions. The Kryo processor has been manufactured via Samsung's 14nm FinFET process, so it promises to go easy on the battery as well. And speaking of the Korean tech giant, rumors hint that it is already busy testing the Snapdragon 820 for integration inside the next Galaxy S7 flagship.
The company also confirmed that the new chips will support its latest Quick Charge 3.0 standard. The technology claims to be 27% faster that version 2.0, while using less power will help preserving the health of the battery pack longer. More details are coming, stay tuned.


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The world’s largest contract manufacturer is offering an open platform for electric vehicles that will include solid state batteries.
Foxconn Technology, previously called Hai Hon Precision Industries, makes the Apple iPhone and many other phone brands and aims to dominate the manufacture of electric vehicles in the same way. It has teamed up with a car maker, Yulon Motors in a technology joint venture, battery makers CATL and SES and component maker Yageo on the key technologies for an open platform. It plans to be the first to launch commercial solid state EV batteries in 2024.
“We believe that after 2025 whoever masters solid state batteries will dominate the industry,” said Jerry Hsiao, chief product officer for Hai Hon. “Solid state batteries will be one of the next technological revolutions for electric vehicles and Hon Hai will secure its foothold in this field,” he said.
The platform, launched at the Hon Hai Technology Day this week, combines key components, software and hardware in an open platform called MIH. The modular skateboard platform integrates all the components of an electric autonomous vehicle, optimised for low cost manufacturing. Different structures can be added to the platform to create sedans, SUVs and even commercial vehicles using different battery packs adn motor modules.
Open software is a key trend for the company. It says it has learnt from Apple opening up the App store, and Android opening up the whole hardware and software infrastructure of mobile phone.
“The closed system adopted by Tesla and other manufacturers requires a long development cycle and does not open to other people in the development cycle, and the development cost remains high,” said William Wei, CTO of Foxconn. “If Tesla is the iPhone of the EV, who will be the next Android of EV? We believe this is our mission,” he said.
The development builds on a deal with Chinese car maker Yulon Motor and a more recent deal with component supplier Yageo, but it is the batteries that are a key element.
“We have become a leader in key EV technologies,” said Hsiao, who joined from leading HMD Global as the maker of Nokia phones.
“Hai Hon has developed six ‘black box’ technologies for electric vehicles,” he said. These cover battery charging low temp optimisation, low swelling and high energy density battery technology, a cloud-based battery management system and solid state batteriesd.
“We are working with battery manufacturers CATL and SES in Silicon valley and we expect to launch the first commercial solid state battery in 2024 ahead of other players,” said Hsiao. “Hai Hon has developed key materials for solid state batteries with LMNO positive electrodes and a silicon carbon anode as well as electrolytes and additives that reduce the weight by 50 percent and increase the capacity by 10 percent.”
The $500m joint venture with Yulon Motor in February deal was followed by a strategic deal with the Yageo group in September. Yageo has been acquiring power component companies, the latest being KEMET. Hon Hai and Yageo’s strategic partnership will differ from traditional supply chain deals at the two will share R&D and also cooperate with global end customers.
After acquiring KEMET and Pulse, Yageo Group will not only focus on high-end 5G, automotive, industrial, aerospace, and medical segments, but also provide the group’s expertise and one-stop shopping platform in special semiconductor packaging and testing from Tong Hsing, automotive inductors and magnetic materials from Chilisin, and aluminium electrolytic capacitors from Kaimei. Yageo Group certainly will become the best strategic partner for Hon Hai Group in the development of electric vehicles.
“Yageo is an industry leader in many technological fields. The solid cooperation with Hon Hai will be able to demonstrate the wisdom and advantages of Taiwan’s manufacturing industry. Through this strategic alliance, we will focus more on the development of new customers and products with joint resources to meet global customers’ needs in the supply chain support and functional design development and come up with more value-added solutions,” said Young Liu, Chairman of Hon Hai.
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Power Africa, the U.S. government’s initiative to help improve access to electricity across the continent, is helping Nigeria to access innovative private sector financing that will provide clean, safe, affordable and reliable electricity to market places, shopping centers, and industrial facilities across Nigeria.
Fully funded by the private sector, a new Energizing Economies Initiative (EEI) by Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency (REA) will support rapid deployment of off-grid electricity solutions that aim to provide electricity access to over 80,000 retail shops, empower 340,000 micro, small and medium size enterprises, and create over 2,500 jobs while serving over 18 million Nigerians.
Nigeria’s flagship Power Africa intervention, the Nigeria Power Sector Support Program (NPSP), worked with the REA and the Central Bank of Nigeria to develop an innovative financing solutions that resulted in over $1.5 million of local lending into EEI, increasing Nigeria’s capacity to self-finance development objectives. NPSP is managed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
To establish the financing scheme, Power Africa provided technical support to Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency, which is implementing EEI that is already transforming businesses in Sabon Gari market, Ariara market, Sura shopping complex and other “economic clusters” with sustainable, clean and affordable power supply by increasing economic activities, spurring business growth, fostering job creation and enhancing the business experience.
“This is a significant milestone in the financing of the Energizing Economies Initiative,” said Damilola Ogunbiyi, Managing Director of the REA. “Since the deployment of off-grid electricity solutions at various markets, we are already seeing positive environmental and economic impacts. This is the sort of intervention we look forward to across the country with support from financial institutions.”
PrevFirm Seeks Loan to Provide Power to Schools, Markets27 July 2019NextREA Partnership with AEDC & Wuse Market26 October 2019


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Ocado challenges claim over Autostore ‘patents’
Ocado has hit back in a legal dispute with Norway’s Autostore over robots by filing a counterclaim of patent invalidity.
Autostore filed claims in Britain and America in October alleging that Ocado’s Smart Platform — the technology it has licensed to its joint venture with Marks & Spencer and overseas supermarkets including Kroger — had infringed several of its patents.
The Norwegian company has asked the courts to stop Ocado from exporting its technology to retail partners and followed up with a second legal claim last month saying that it was the inventor and rightful owner of patents filed by Ocado.
Ocado was founded in 2000 and has grown from a business that sold Waitrose products online to a technology group worth almost £17 billion.


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TikTok Shop, TikTok’s ecommerce platform, is now live in the U.S. for a select group of companies. A soft launch, TikTok Shop isn’t rolling out widely just yet. The company has opened its application process to business owners interested in selling on the app, but is currently only available to merchant corporations with a special “invite-only” access code. Companies who are accepted will pay a 5% commission on every sale.
This launch comes on the heels of a restructuring of its US operations, in what some analysts believe is a move to drive more revenue from gaming and live shopping and lessen its dependence on advertising.
Even though TikTok is one of the fastest growing social media apps in the U.S., with 94 million users, the future of social media ecommerce shopping in the U.S. is still uncertain. TikTok Shop is already available in the UK and parts of Asia, but fell flat in Europe after it failed to meet expected targets, saw poor sales and was dropped by important influencers. In a statement, an unnamed TikTok employee attributed the live shopping service’s poor performance to a market that “just isn’t there yet” and described general consumer awareness and adoption as “low and nascent.”


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The headliner for the 6th Annual Shiner Music Festival was named one of “10 New Country Artists You Need To Know” by Rolling Stone in 2018.
The festival is 2 p.m.-midnight Saturday in Green Dickson Park in Shiner.
Parker McCollum sounds like “a no-holds-barred, confessional singer-songwriter who excels at relatable tales of twenty-something angst,” according to the quintessential music magazine. And folks should pay attention, the article continues, because his new album is honest. It was “crafted in the wake of a devastating breakup” with a “steady stream of gut-wrenching songs including ‘Hell of a Year’ and ‘I Can’t Breathe.’”
The festival will feature four other musical acts including Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, Jarrod Birmingham, Cory Morrow and American Aquarium.
General admission tickets are $30 each, and VIP tickets are $125. The VIP guests will have access to a private tent with an open bar including beer, snacks, a catered dinner and air-conditioned restrooms. The VIP tickets are limited to 250, and 200 are already sold, said Jake Jalufka, president of the Lions Club, the nonprofit festival organizer.
“(The Spoetzl Brewery) quit having Bocktoberfest, but they support us in bringing back a festival,” Jalufka said. “Our Lions Club started in 2012, and we needed a project.”
Proceeds from the event support scholarships and local nonprofits. For example, the club provides a meal for senior citizens once a month. Last year, the club gave two $500 scholarships to Shiner High School and St. Paul High School.
Festival-goers can purchase meat-laden Shiner rice, pizza and other typical festival foods. Werner’s 5 Ninety 4 Grill food truck will be on hand selling a variety of foods as well. Guests can buy 12-ounce cans of Shiner, Budweiser and Karbach beer for $4 each, in addition to soft drinks and water.
Last year, about 1,500 people attended the festival. Jalufka is expecting closer to 2,000 this year.
“We’re excited about Parker McCollum because all the kids are pretty hot on that,” Jalufka said. “I have four kids, and they are all super excited to have him there.”


text: VTech Holdings has recovered about US$8 million by selling one of three factories in Mexico it bought as part of a US$113.32 million acquisition of loss-making assets from Lucent Technologies in March last year. The company, the world's largest indoor cordless-phone maker, has also accepted an offer for another Mexican factory which might fetch more than US$10 million, chairman Allan Wong said following yesterday's annual general meeting. When VTech announced its final results in late June, Mr Wong said the three Mexico factories could be sold for about US$40 million. VTech is in a legal dispute with United States telecommunications giant Lucent, which is expected to be heard in the middle of next year. VTech claimed that Lucent failed to disclose that sales of the acquired operations were lower than forecast and that inventory levels were too high compared with demand, resulting in excess inventory and under-utilisation of the Mexican plants. Mr Wong repeated VTech's expectations of booking a net profit this financial year after posting a record US$215 million loss in the year to March 31. VTech was planning to produce more than 10 million cordless-phones this year. He declined to disclose the planned mobile-phone production volume for the year, but said it would be very small, in view of the flood of handsets on the global market. 'When the European market's huge inventory becomes more or less cleared up, we would consider raising our production volume,' he said. Meanwhile, the company is in talks to sell intellectual properties owned by Sensei, a British mobile phone technology research firm it bought last year.


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Cyber security needn’t be a daunting challenge for small business owners.
Following the five quick and easy steps outlined in The Cyber Security Small Business Guide could save time, money and even your business’ reputation.
Implementing these steps will protect your business against the vast majority of cyber threats:
- Backup your data
- Prevent malware
- Keep your devices safe
- Use passwords to protect data
- Avoid phishing attacks
Cyber Security in Cumbria
Cumbria Chamber of Commerce recently promoted a seminar on cyber security for businesses with Cumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Peter McCall.
Listen here as he explains why the issue is so important …
Access the guide
Download The Cyber Security Small Business Guide here
This guide can’t guarantee protection from all types of cyber attack, but the steps outlined can significantly reduce the chances of your business becoming a victim of cyber crime.
For more information visit the Small Business Guide for Cyber Security.


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Pentaho Business Analytics Earns Prestigious Software Industry Recognition
March 27, 2013, — Delivering the future of business analytics, Pentaho Corporation today announced that Pentaho Business Analytics was named a finalist for the 2013 SIIA Software CODiE Awards for Best Big Data Solution. The SIIA CODiE Awards are the premier award for the software and information industries, and have been recognizing product excellence for 27 years. The awards have over 75 categories and are organized by industry focus of Content, Education and Software.
This year there were 27 software categories, including twelve new and updated categories that reflect the continued growth and evolution of cloud computing, mobile, big data, and video. Winners will be announced during a special Awards luncheon on May 9 in San Francisco during the industry's most comprehensive ISV conference, All About the Cloud.
Pentaho offers companies the unique ability to drastically reduce the time to design, develop and deploy analytics solutions. Pentaho’s full big data analytics solution supports the entire big data analytics process, from data integration through interactive data visualization, exploration and predictive analytics. Pentaho natively supports Apache Hadoop, Cloudera, Cassandra and MongoDB as well as high performance analytic databases like Greenplum and Vertica, among other big data sources and traditional data sources.Pentaho serves numerous big data customers.
“The SIIA defined its criteria for this year’s CODie Award for Best Big Data Solution as enabling ‘the capture, analysis, and mining of large data sets,’” said Rosanne Saccone, chief marketing officer, Pentaho. “Pentaho’s selection as a Best Big Data Solution finalist in this year’s SIIA Software CODie Awards is both an honor and a reflection of the fact that Pentaho Business Analytics for Big Data with its data integration, business analytics and native support for big data sources is completely in synch with the award criteria and big data market requirements.”
“The CODiE Awards competition was extremely competitive this year, and all of the finalists should be commended for their innovative products and services,” said Rhianna Collier, VP for the Software Division at SIIA. “We look forward to honoring the winners at our awards program in May at All About the Cloud.”
SIIA is the leading association representing the software and digital content industries. SIIA represents approximately 700 member companies worldwide that develop software and digital information content. Information technology (IT) and software security are critical issues to SIIA’s members, many of whom strive to develop safe, secure and state-of the-art products that effectively serve their commercial and government customers alike, while protecting their intellectual property.
The SIIA Software Divisionprovides a forum for companies developing the applications, services, infrastructure and tools that are driving the software and services industry forward. For further information, visit www.siia.net/software.
About Pentaho, a Hitachi Group company
Pentaho, a Hitachi Group company, is a leading data integration and business analytics company with an enterprise-class, open source-based platform for diverse big data deployments. Pentaho’s unified data integration and analytics platform is comprehensive, completely embeddable and delivers governed data to power any analytics in any environment. Pentaho’s mission is to help organizations across multiple industries harness the value from all their data, including big data and IoT, enabling them to find new revenue streams, operate more efficiently, deliver outstanding service and minimize risk. Pentaho has over 15,000 product deployments and 1,500 commercial customers today including ABN-AMRO Clearing, BT, EMC, NASDAQ and Sears Holdings Corporation. For more information visit www.pentaho.com.


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Zestimate: These two Zillow iBuying lawsuits won’t be the last
Burned shareholders allege company misled investors, delayed disclosing adversity
Zillow is facing two class-action suits for allegedly misleading investors and failing to inform them in a timely manner about the struggles of its iBuying business.
More lawsuits may be forthcoming as Zillow does damage control in the wake of closing Zillow Offers, through which it used a proprietary algorithm to buy and sell thousands of homes. The company shuttered its iBuying business in early November just after apparently pausing it. It laid off a quarter of its staff as it canceled Zillow Offers, citing the unreliability of its model for forecasting home prices.
“Put simply, our observed error rate has been far more volatile than we ever expected possible, and makes us look far more like a leveraged housing trader than the market maker we set out to be,” Zillow CEO Rich Barton said at the time.
It’s not clear that its real-time pricing was accurate either, as accusations flew that Zillow was overpaying for homes.
The federal lawsuits, filed Nov. 16 and Nov. 19 in Seattle, are similar, and both seek class-action status on behalf of shareholders who acquired the stock between Feb. 10 and Nov. 2.
Both lawsuits accuse the company of drumming up positive sentiment about its iBuying activities with “materially false and/or misleading statements” in the months before it closed the operation, and of failing to disclose “material adverse facts” surrounding them.
The suits name co-founder and CEO Richard Barton, CFO Allen Parker and COO Jeremy Wacksman as defendants alongside the company.
“We are aware of the lawsuit filed yesterday and are currently reviewing it. As a general practice, we do not discuss pending litigation,” a Zillow spokesperson said by email.
Zillow’s stock price has fallen by nearly 50% since late October, when it first revealed the challenges within its iBuying business. It is common for shareholders to seek redress after a public company’s stock falls steeply in value.
Zillow’s board of directors made the decision to “wind down” Zillow Offers “in light of home pricing unpredictability, capacity constraints and other operational challenges faced by Zillow Offers that were exacerbated by an unprecedented housing market, a global pandemic and a difficult labor and supply chain environment,” the company said in a third-quarter filing.
Attorneys representing the lead plaintiffs for the two lawsuits, Dibakar Barua and Steven Silverberg, could not be reached for comment.
Earlier this month, New York City-based Pretium Partners inked a deal for 2,000 of the nearly 10,000 homes Zillow acquired through its iBuying activities for an undisclosed price.
Zillow has said it will sell the rest to all types of buyers, from individuals to institutional investors.


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|On the Scene|
|Tuesday, April 20, 2010|
BY KEVIN MANAHAN
SplashCast was supposed to be the next big thing to come out of the Portland digital-media scene. Founded in 2007 and supported by over 70 individual investors, SplashCast eventually raised over $4 million in funding and went on to partner with giants like Hulu and Nike. But just a couple of years after launching, the plucky Portland startup was shut down.
Kevin Manahan is the online editor for Oregon Business.
|Get on the bus!|
|Bike Chic: 7 stylish options for cyclists|
|Beam Me Up|
|Emperor of the Sea|
|Epitaph for a Boondoggle|
|Volvo plans $500M car factory in US|
|Oil crash starting to hurt in Texas|
|Swiss bankers guilty of tax fraud avoid jail|
|US grants Texan rhino hunter permit to bring back trophy|
|Norwegian Air tweaks cockpit rules after Germanwings crash|
|Federal Consumer Agency addresses payday loans|
|Slave-caught seafood sold in America|
A new report highlights how Oregon bankers are giving back to their communities.
Since 1932 Tidewater Transportation & Terminals (operating as Tidewater Barge Lines and Tidewater Terminal Company) has operated a multicommodity transportation and terminal company based in Vancouver, Washington. The friendly expression on the company’s shipping containers reflects the attitude of about 330 safety and community-conscious employees but belies how complicated the barge business really is.
The Port of The Dalles has run marine facilities since the 1930s, but they are part of a larger mission to strengthen the local economy. They focus on regional economic development with a strong bent toward adding good-paying jobs in high tech, manufacturing and other industries.
Like the advent of the locomotive, the cloud creates business opportunities that simply weren’t possible before now. Get up to speed fast in May at an exciting cloud-empowered Portland event.
Registration is now open for Portland Business Alliance’s Annual Meeting, one of the largest business gatherings in Portland each year.
The Commission helps to advance the professionalism, equality and efficiency of Oregon's judicial branch of government.


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Ground-breaking Coke innovations continue to rock cola world.
ATLANTA, GA - Industry watchers were stunned earlier this month when Coca-Cola announced its latest brand innovation, Lime Coke. Although anticipation soared in advance of the announcement, insiders say no one expected anything this radical. "Adding an artificially flavored lime syrup to the artificially flavored Coke syrup is genius." said Dimitri Guardione, Beverage Industry Analyst. Noting it has only been ten years since Coke researchers first pioneered and introduced Cherry Coke, Guardione added, "This blinding pace of innovation is truly remarkable. It's this kind of bold risk-taking that makes Coca-Cola the company it is today."
- Last subscriber to Cincinnati Enquirer print edition enters hospice
- This article considered highly offensive by all peoples
- Time Warner Cable works for an entire evening in local home.
- Delta Airlines finds Wright Brothers’ lost luggage
- Parking lot Sno Castle empire efficiently converted to Christmas tree empire
- Everyone finally files suit against everyone else


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Talking of safety and privateness, Apple has always been severe about it. Making certain consumer privateness has generally been just one of the commendable factors of Apple and the tech giant has incorporated quite a few safety functions into its running units. Recently, Apple has introduced a new security software to avoid focused cyberattacks on significant-profile people like activists, journalists, and government officials. So, what is Apple’s most recent safety characteristic? Let us uncover out.
What is Apple’s Lockdown Mode?
In an energy to make it difficult for mercenary spy ware corporations like Pegasus-maker NSO Labs to concentrate on and hack Apple iphone users, Apple has introduced a new safety instrument. Debuting as the ‘Lockdown Method’, the element will reduce the attack floor for hackers on iPhones. It will limit the functionalities of the smartphone that could be possibly accessed by spy softwares.
Other functionalities of Lockdown Mode
Lockdown Mode will affect the Messages app, FaceTime, Apple on the net services, configuration profiles, the Safari world-wide-web browser and wired connections. Whilst an optional aspect, it will offer intense security for a extremely modest selection of end users who facial area grave, targeted attacks. It vastly lowers the number of physical and electronic techniques for an attacker to hack into a user’s product.
With the software in spot, the Messages application will block attachments other than photographs and disable link previews. All those are two popular mechanisms that hackers use to infiltrate equipment remotely. The world-wide-web browser, one more recurrent conduit for hackers, will also be seriously limited, with restrictions on selected fonts, web languages, and functions involving studying PDFs and previewing content. In FaceTime, end users won’t be able to receive calls from an personal that they haven’t formerly known as inside of the preceding 30 times.
Why did Apple introduce Lockdown Method?
The launch of Apple’s new stability tool comes in the aftermath of a number of non-public cyber offensive firms discovering zero-working day flaws and making it possible for their purchasers (usually govt companies and authorities) to hack into the gadgets of journalists, activists, dissidents, and so on.
In one particular of its blog posts, Apple stated it has detailed these initiatives to “help safeguard customers who may be individually focused by some of the most refined electronic threats, this kind of as individuals from private businesses acquiring condition-sponsored mercenary spyware”. The announcement has appear in the aftermath of quite a few these types of spyware firms currently being exposed around the very last several years for hacking into Iphone and Android devices.
More than the past numerous years, point out-sponsored entities have hacked substantial-profile end users by gaining distant access to details on their iPhones. In 2021, Bloomberg Information noted that numerous US Point out Section staff members have been hacked and notified by Apple. In November 2021, Apple sued NSO Group, declaring the Israel-dependent enterprise develops equipment like Pegasus spy ware to abuse and harm Apple users.
In accordance to Apple, a tiny number of its consumers have been focused by this sort of attacks throughout 150 countries. The company recently set in position a characteristic that notifies people who are the topic of condition-sponsored cyberattacks. That notification system will be up to date to advise those people people about the new Lockdown Mode.
Examine Also : How did a Fake LinkedIn Position Provide Collapse Axie Infinity’s Financial state?


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Barracuda Networks, Inc., a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-first security solutions, today announced three new regional Cloud-to-Cloud Backup data centers in France, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), and India to meet growing demand for data protection services in these regions and better serve local customers. This makes a total of 10 regions for the solution, and customers’ Office 365 backup data will be stored locally within each region, a key requirement for customers operating in regulated industries or in countries with data protection laws.
In a recent study conducted by Barracuda, organizations disclosed that data protection is both a security and regulatory concern for them. A full 69% of respondents said they are concerned about storage of the data being backed up outside their geography (geo residency), and more than 7 in 10 respondents are concerned about compliance with data privacy requirements.
“At Barracuda, we continue to invest in our global infrastructure in order to help local organizations get access to protection against emerging threats,” said Chris Ross, SVP International, Barracuda. “As more organizations move to the cloud, they are looking to protect their data, while being able to handle and store data locally. Microsoft even advises customers to use a third-party backup and recovery provider, and with these new regions, we will be able to serve our customers while helping them comply with data regulations and policies.”
Barracuda’s latest version of Cloud-to-Cloud Backup delivers a fast search and restore experience for Office 365 data, including Teams, Exchange Online, SharePoint, and OneDrive. Compared to traditional backup and recovery solutions, it is a cloud-first solution that provides scale and resiliency, fast performance, and wide global coverage to protect Office 365 data born in the cloud.
Microsoft’s Senior Cloud Solution Architect, Nills Franssens adds “With a cloud-native solution, you get the benefit of scale on your backup. Unlike traditional backup solutions, where you have to do capacity management and capacity planning and make sure you have enough storage, a cloud-native solution, like Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup offers you a solution with flexible, scalable capacity to store your data.”


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Three sisters have made a trip to Narromine to help their “country cousins” by providing care packages for farming families doing it tough.
Marilyn Bell, Lesley Martin and Gail Kapral, nee Egan, have strong ties to the town and the farming community and have returned to the central west on a trip to uncover their family history in Narromine.
However with drought conditions gripping the state, the three sisters decided to fundraise to purchase items to create care packages for farming families in the community.
READ ALSO: Alphabet Fun Day another huge success
The trio put out a call to family, friends and acquaintances raising funds via Facebook, and have purchased items to create 30 care packages, which include: food staples, water, toilet paper and personal items for men and women, to be delivered to farmers.
As a way to give back to rural communities Mrs Bell said the items in the care packages were bought from communities they encountered along their journey.
“We made the decision that we would not buy it in Sydney, but stop in different rural towns on the way and in Narromine, to put money back into the towns.”
Included in the packages is a letter from the sisters explaining why they’ve done this, and have added a list of those who donated.
Mrs Bell said the packages are to show appreciation for what the rural community provides to Australia, and hopes it will bring some cheer to the bush.
“We just wanted families to know that people in Sydney are talking about the drought out in NSW and Queensland. They are aware of what’s happening out here, and they do care.”
“We know we’re a long way away, but this is where our food, and everything comes from. Hopefully for five minutes it puts a smile on someone’s face and lets them know that people are thinking about them.”
The 30 care parcels made by the women are being hand delivered to farming families by Rural Aid’s newly appointed rural counsellor Ruth Simmons, and will go to families registered with Buy a Bale.
“It’s been a good team effort from both the people here in Narromine to help us get them out to where they’re needed.”


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June 19, 2014 |
KOLKATA: Bharti Airtel will shortly name PD Sarma as the new managing director of its Bangladesh subsidiary at a time when the telecom operator is aiming to drive data growth in the country. Sarma, who is currently hub chief executive of the company's mobile operations across West Bengal, Kolkata, Odisha, Assam and Northeast circles, will directly report to Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal, a company executive said. At Airtel Bangladesh, he will replace Chris Tobit , who is slated to return to Bharti Airtel India in a leadership role that will be finalised shortly.
May 1, 2013 |
NEW DELHI: IKEA cannot use its global procurement of products to satisfy the Indian demand of mandatory sourcing from the country, a government department has said, giving a signal to the Swedish retailer that India does not intend to whittle down its policy for global retailers planning to set up shop. Many global retailers have been lobbying the government to consider exports they undertake out of India for their global operations to fulfill the 30% local sourcing conditions for their single-brand retailing ventures here.
October 30, 2014 |
KOLKATA: Uninor, the Indian unit of Norwegian cellphone service provider Telenor, widened its operating loss in the third quarter of 2014 from a year earlier, as higher investments in network expansion ate into robust revenue growth , which made the company the fastest growing among all of the parent's global operations. Telenor said its Indian unit posted an operating loss of 195 million Norwegian krone (about Rs 180.5 crore) against NOK 143 million Rs 132.4 crore)
March 16, 2010 |
NEW YORK: Beverages major Pepsico on Tuesday said Hugh Johnston will takeover as its chief financial officer by the end of this month. Currently serving as the executive vice-president of Pepsico's global operations, Johnston has been associated with the company for over 20 years. Johnston would be succeeding Richard Goodman as the CFO at the end of this month, Pepsico said in a statement. "Hugh is a highly capable executive with broad financial and operating experience and a deep understanding of our businesses," PepsiCo chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi said.
September 27, 2005 |
KOLKATA: Global Steel Holdings on Tuesday said it was consolidating its global operations and the process would be completed in the next 6-9 months. Speaking about the group's strategy, GSH chairman P K Mittal, also the chairman of Ispat Industries Ltd (IIL), said currently it was consolidating its global operations. "It will take six to nine months to complete the process of consolidation of our global activities. The whole purpose behind this is that the balance sheet of Global Steel Holdings should reflect all companies the group controls," Mittal said.
January 10, 2013 |
LAS VEGAS: India emerged the fourth largest market for Sony Corp during the nine months ended December 2012, beating the Japanese consumer electronics maker's target of making the country its fifth biggest market by the end of this fiscal. "We have overtaken both Brazil and Russia in these nine months," Sony India Managing Director Kenichiro Hibi said on the sidelines of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's biggest consumer technology expo, in Las Vegas.
August 28, 2013 |
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel is likely to name a new chief executive for its African operations by the end of the current fiscal, a person familiar with the matter said, as the mobile phone operator rings in changes to turn profitable in the continent. The new CEO is expected to be from outside the company, the person told ET, adding that Manoj Kohli , the CEO of Bharti Airtel's international operations, is likely to move away from the day-to-day running of the continent's operations.
June 5, 2014 |
NEW DELHI: American garment retailer Gap Inc. is set to open its stores in India early next year. The company is close to signing a franchisee deal which is expected to be announced in the coming weeks, people familiar with the development told ET. Gap has almost sealed the deal with Ahmedabad-based textile conglomerate Arvind Ltd to open its branded stores in India, a person privy to the talks between the two companies said. "It is more or less a done deal and will be announced in a week or ten days," said the person, who did not wish to be identified.
April 3, 2013 |
MUMBAI:Japanese advertising giant Dentsu Inc today said it has completed the acquisition of UK-based media firm Aegis, nine months after announcing the acquisition. All the network companies of Aegis Group (Carat, Isobar, iProspect, Posterscope, Vizeum and Aztec) will continue their operations within the Dentsu Group under the Aegis Media banner, Dentsu said in a statement. In July last year, Dentsu had announced acquisition of Aegis Group Plc for 3.16 billion pounds (USD 5 billion)
February 7, 2013 |
NEW DELHI: FMCG firm Jyothy Laboratories today reported 10.38 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 26.05 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2012. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 29.07 crore for the corresponding period of previous fiscal. Net sales of the company, however, rose to Rs 203.78 crore for the third quarter, as against Rs 166.31 crore for the same period of 2011-12 fiscal, Jyothy Laboratories Ltd said in a BSE filing. "Our new team is in place and has taken charge of restructuring and rationalising of different verticals.


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NetHosting’s most recent case study spotlights Kickstarter, the online platform for financing creative projects.
Orem, UT NetHosting, a leading provider of Cloud Hosting, Virtual Hosting, and Dedicated Hosting solutions, has published its latest case study examining the online crowd financier, Kickstarter.
Kickstarter was founded by Perry Chen, Yancey Stickler, and Charles Adler with the mission to provide creative minds a platform to pitch ideas and receive funding through donations from the public. In the recent Kickstarter case study, NetHosting reports on the website’s history, features, and hosting systems, including an explanation of the company’s unique business model, which acquires and distributes donated funds through an “all or nothing” mechanism.
First, aspiring artists and entrepreneurs set a target amount for the funds they hope to acquire through Kickstarter donations. Then, if this goal is met or passed, they receive 90% of the funds. If they fall short, however, they receive no funding and the donors are not charged. Kickstarter’s success rate for fully funded projects is 44% with a recent project attracting a record $1millionUSD in donations.
“Kickstarter is an innovative take on maximizing the collective clout of the online community,” expressed NetHosting CEO Lane Livingston. “To support that community, Kickstarter capitalizes on the elastic compute power of cloud hosting, which allows them to expand their server resources as needed. It’s refreshing to see the use of cloud technology and the power of crowd-sourcing for the purpose of philanthropy.”
In addition to the Kickstarter case study, NetHosting has also documented the history and features of other revolutionary online services such as Skype, Vimeo, and Dropbox.


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CA Technologies is seeing more resellers in Australia become managed service providers (MSPs).
APJ partners and channel senior vice president, Darren Reid, said partners are getting out of traditional software reselling and into a service provider type model.
“That is purely driven by customer behaviour, as businesses are looking to get stuff off-premise and buying through a more utility-based model, rather than on-premise as the tradition was,” he said.
Reid said the majority of CA Technologies’ technology pricing is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or utility based, which may be appealing to an MSP but not as much to a traditional reseller.
“As a result, a lot of resellers are moving into being MSPs and hosting at a Cloud provider for relatively low cost,” he said.
Moving to the Cloud
Reid admits buying software from a vendor and offering it as service is challenging concept for a lot of executives in the traditional channel.
“You’re not seeing that upfront payment benefit and the revenue is spread over a longer period,” he said.
“It takes upwards of a year sometimes to make a complete transition to a more utility-based compute.”
Reid said CA Technologies has adopted a “SaaS first” strategy, and it is an approach that is making local partners realise they need to become an MSP.
While there will always be a place for traditional resellers, as some company will need on-premise technology for legislative reasons, Reid said the majority of expansion is happening in the Cloud.
Patrick Budmar covers consumer and enterprise technology breaking news for IDG Communications. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_budmar.


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Holly Willoughby’s latest outfit for This Morning got fans talking today as many urged her to ditch part of the look.
For Thursday’s show, the presenter wore a pink and white patterned blouse and a dusty pink suede skirt from Reiss with a pair of white boots from Office.
However, many fans pointed out Holly has worn the white boots on several occasions recently and begged her to switch up her footwear.
The star captioned the post: “Morning Thursday… today’s #hwstyle on @thismorning skirt and top by @reiss boots by @officeshoes.”
While many fans gushed over the look, others had a lot to say about the boots.
One person said: “Like the blouse & skirt. Not so keen on the boots with the outfit,” while another wrote: “Not white boots again, white boots or shoes never looks good.”
A third added: “I wish she would stop wearing these boots.”
“No, white shoes and boots are bad!” a fourth said.
Others loved the boots and the rest of Holly’s outfit.
One person said: “Those white boots are fabulous! I need!” while another gushed: “Love those boots.”
A third commented: “Oh totally love this… so pretty.”
Last month, fans moaned about Holly’s white boots as she wore them again.
The star, 38, wore a dark blue Sandro Paris denim skirt paired with a navy blue turtleneck jumper from Warehouse and completed the look with the boots.
One person said: “Stunner, but the boots are not my fave!!!” while another wrote: “Love the outfit, hate the boots.”
A third added: “Always gorgeous but white boots??”
Meanwhile, during Thursday’s This Morning, Holly made an awkward blunder as she referred to guest Jimmy Carr as her co-star Phillip Schofield.
Holly and Phil were doing a pre-break link to reveal that comedian Jimmy would be on the sofa, though she mistakenly called him “Phillip Schofield”.
Realising her mistake, Holly said: “I actually just introduced him as you!” to which Phil said: “I don’t know what happened there.”
Holly joked: “I think I might have just replaced you instantly.”
Poor Phil quipped: “Do I mean so little to you?”
What did you think Holly’s outfit for This Morning? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think.


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2013 passed on the title of “King of Indian luxury car market” to Audi from BMW.
Audi sold 10,002 vehicles witnessing the growth of 11% over previous year, while on the flipside BMW fails to deliver its sheer driving pleasure by registering a downfall of 22% with 7,327 vehicles sold. The first position conquered by four ringed brand, while on the second spot lands the Mercedes-Benz who sold 9,003 vehicles and clocking a growth of 32% highest growth rate amongst all.
The other corners which are acquired by JLR and Volvo ranked fourth and fifth position respectively. The Tata owned British marquee sold 2913 cars and SUVs witnessing a growth of 22%, where the Swedish car manufacturer rolled out only 913 vehicles during the year, possessing growth of 13%.
Cornering facts, the BMW says it lost the battle with lack of customer’s interest in SUVs X5 and X3, and extensively the compact SUV X1 also seems outdated.
Audi notched the race with its recently launched Q3 in a lower variant called ‘Sports’ without Quattro and bells and whistles. The Mercedes-Benz took advantage of its production facility in Pune and brought number of models plates there in order to reduce the price, helped a lot to attain the pricing efficiency.
The most annoying factor that Audi says has taken them to the top is launch of server push to the sports badges and that aforementioned Q3 Sports.
Said to focus on sustainable growth, Philipp Von Sahr, President BMW Group India said, “We want to be the leading luxury car company with delighted customers, strong partners and most important, sustainable leadership,” and also refrained from commenting on the company’s 2013 sales. Hope so, that says all what the brand is upto and what it is going to show us in 2014. Delhi Auto Expo is expected to set something up on blaze!
Posted below is the gist of luxury carmaker’s sales portfolio of 2013:


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Acorns’ machine-learning feature to help millennials save money
Micro-investing app, Acorns, today launched ‘My Finances’, a new feature for Australian customers that helps them better understand and control their spending habits.
My Finances uses machine-learning to discover individual’s spending patterns and provide personalised insights into savings opportunities. It allows consumers to get an overview of their spending habits and identifying areas of wastage; such as whether a user is on track to spend more on lunch this month than last, and therefore should start bringing lunch to work.
The new features announced today were developed by Acorns Australia to meet customers’ specific demands.
“Since we launched Acorns in Australia just over a year ago, one of the biggest frustrations we hear from customers is that personal finance is difficult to manage and plan, especially without the right tools,” Acorns Managing Director, George Lucas, said. “Acorns helps users save in a way traditional banking products can’t. My Finances now goes one step further on this education journey and brings the power of machine learning to assist individuals with personal, actionable insights into their finances.
“The machine-learning within Acorns allows us to provide a personalised user experience and insights without additional information being entered manually – a budget for example.”
Millennials struggle to save
Echoing the feedback from Australian consumers, new research among millennials from Acorns Australia on their ability to manage money says three out of four (75 per cent) have to make sacrifices towards the end of the pay cycle in order to make ends meet.
Close to 70 per cent also claim to have a monthly budget, but half (49 per cent) confess not sticking to it. Other key findings from the research include:
- 54 per cent skimp on meals or eat cheaply to help money go further
- Most use willpower to stop themselves from spending (48 per cent) rather than a hard to touch savings account.
- 65 per cent believe mobile and online access to their finances is helping them be more confident about managing their money.
Acorns Australia is also responding to user demands for a more socially responsible attitude towards finance with the launch of a Carbon Footprint estimator.
The tool calculates a user’s carbon usage based on their spending activities and has the stamp of approval from Emerald Club, Australia’s largest socially-responsible investment platform. This will only be available to Acorns Australia customers.
 Representative sample of 1,000 Australian residents between the ages of 18-59 years. Research conducted on behalf of Acorns Australia by independent research consultancy, Decibel Research.


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Dehradun : On the occasion of World Book Day, Children’s author Mukesh Nautiyal interacted and narrated his story ‘Baago Wala Gaon’ to the children at the “Lekhak se Miliye” programme organised by the National Book Trust , India of Ministry of Education, Government of India.
Students from Kendriya Vidyalaya and NIVH Model School participated, according to Swati Badola, in-Charge, Uttarakhand of the NBT.
The story “Baago Wala Gaon” is the story of children living in the mountainous region of Uttarakhand who made friends with tiger cubs. One day when the forest department took the tigers back, the whole village and especially the children were highly disappointed.
Mukesh Nautiyal also answered questions of the children regarding the story – mode and explained the nuances of story-writing to them. Sixty children participated in the programme.
On this occasion, National Book Trust’s Uttarakhand in-charge Swati Badola said that National Book Trust is going to start a series of creative activities in Uttarakhand.
Post-pandemic, these events will give a creative environment to local litterateurs, readers and parents.
She said that NBT books would now be available at the National Book Trust Center at NIVH. Book lovers may visit and buy books of their choice on any working day.


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Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
IBM announces a new version of the PS/2 Model 30 computer.
Marc Andreessen and James “Jim” Clark incorporate Mosaic Communications Corp, which will later be renamed Netscape Communications Corp. Their original choice for the company’s name was Electric Media. Andreessen developed the software used for browsing the World Wide Web while working at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois.
Apple Computer introduces new Power Macintosh 6500 systems, featuring PowerPC 603e processors ranging from 225 to 300 MHz. Price: US$1800 to US$2999
A group of Canadian hackers calling themselves the Yorkshire Posse attack thirteen major corporate sites, including technology publisher O’Reilly & Associates Inc., Playboy.com, Sonymusic.com, and a Sun Microsystems Inc. customer support site in Canada. The group claims that the thirteen companies were targeted to protest the last April’s arrest of suspected Canadian hacker Jason Mewhiney who allegedly broke into a NASA website, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage. The hacked sites were replaced with pages that proclaimed a “declaration of war against all who would challenge the freedom of Canadians with such ludicrous actions!”
As investors attempt to make sense of the recent decision against Microsoft Corporation, technology stocks suffered a panic selling day as Nasdaq experiences its worst level ever, dropping 574 points. This brings the tech-centric index down twenty percent from its high in March.
After a year of development and extensive testing, phpBB 2.0.0, dubbed the “Super Furry” version, is released three days later than intended.
Gmail is integrated into the newly released Google Calendar service.
Craigslist’s CEO Jim Buckmaster, has asked that Tim White, who runs the unofficial Craigslist Blog, turn over his Craigslistblog.org address
The second PC Hunter commercial is released. Giampalo talks about how Mac is about aesthetics rather than computing power
Yahoo! announced 2000 layoffs
Fisker automotive unveiled the Atlantic automobile
Google announced Project Glass – a companion attached to a pair of glasses to give the user an augmented reality.
Apple acquired Speech recognition firm Novauris for an undisclosed sum


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Ansel Elgort shows off his good looks in a behind-the-scenes video for Prada’s Menswear Spring/Summer 2015 Ad Campaign. The 20-year-old Insurgent actor was joined by his co-star Miles Teller, Ethan Hawke, and Unbroken star Jack O’Connell for the shoot. PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Ansel Elgort “Proud to be a face of @Prada,” [...]
This past week Kanye West opened up about why he doesn’t smile, T-Mobile released their Super Bowl commercial starring Kim Kardashian, Supreme teased their upcoming Spring/Summer 2015 collection, and Yung Lean released the official music… The post Top 10 Comments of the Week: Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Supreme, Yung Lean and More appeared first on Highsnobiety.
For its new Spring/Summer 2015 issue, London based 10 Magazine headed by Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou, wanted to do something special. What would the modern pin-up look like? Also being the creative director for the Victoria’s Secret shows… The post Victoria’s Secret Angels Are Modern Pin-Ups for 10 Magazine appeared first on Highsnobiety.
(images & info from i-voce.jp). Ayura will release its spring/summer 2015 haircare collection in Japan on April 23rd. The collection includes: - Spirit of Ayura Aroma Hair Mist (above, 150ml, ¥2200) - Spirit of Ayura Aroma Hair Cleanse (300ml, ¥2200). - Spirit of Ayura Aroma Hair Conditioner (two formulations (Light & Moist), 250g, [...]
The commercials are one of the best parts of the Super Bowl; however, we're excited for the premiere of a few new movie trailers. Five studios will show televised spots for upcoming spring and summer movies. This year, a 30-second ad costs an estimated $4.4 million - $4.5 million. Show More Summary
Reebok Classic has partnered with French label Sixpack France on a sporty spring/summer capsule collection. An understated colorway of heather grey, fresh white and collegiate navy runs across the collection, which focuses on clean… The post Sixpack France x Reebok Classic Spring/Summer 2015 Capsule Collection appeared first on Highsnobiety.
Behati Prinsloo shows off her amazing figure while sporting sexy lingerie on the cover of 10 magazine’s Spring/Summer 2015 issue, out on newsstands now! The 25-year-old Namibian supermodel wasn’t the only one that got a cover for the issue, fellow Victoria’s Secret models Lily Aldridge, Joan Smalls, Devon Windsor, Candice Swanepoel, Jourdan Dunn, Barbara Palvin, [...]
Eyewear experts SHAUNS California preview their Spring/Summer 2015 collection with us. The upcoming sunwear line presents both round and square styles in multiple colors, from classic matte black and tortoise shell to a flashy burgundy… The post First Look | Shauns California Spring/Summer 2015 Sunglasses appeared first on Selectism.
Over the years, the 84-Lab project – spearheaded by designer Kazuki Kuraishi – has found a match made in heaven by partnering with adidas Originals to release revamped pieces of footwear from the adidas archive. The adidas Originals… The post adidas Originals by 84-Lab Spring/Summer 2015 Stan Smith appeared first on Highsnobiety.
Emerging from a shadowy nether realm where vibrance is about as scarce as the details shown in the featured models’ expressions, Japanese label CIVILIZED releases an unsettling lookbook showcasing their spring/summer 2015 collection… The post CIVILIZED Spring/Summer 2015 Lookbook appeared first on Highsnobiety.
Friday marked the first major tentpole of the college football offseason: the release of next year's Heisman Trophy odds. Updates to these odds will arrive in spring and summer, but for now we have the first official look at how theShow More Summary
They’re some of the most desirable dames on the planet, and several of the Victoria’s Secret Angels scored a spot on the cover of the latest issue of 10 Magazine. The bi-annual fashion publication selected twelve stunners for their dozen...Show More Summary
Almost a couple years ago, back in the spring of 2013, before Star Wars: The Force Awakens even had a title and the film was still slated rumored for a summer release in 2015, Disney revealed at CinemaCon that they were planning on releasing...Show More Summary
The folks at Herschel Supply are back at it with their luxurious and minimalistic Studio Collection for Spring/Summer 2015. Although most recognize the label for their affordable packs, this elevated sub-collection is garnering a reputation… The post See Herschel Supply’s Elevated Spring/Summer 2015 Studio Collection appeared first on Selectism.
Japanese label TROVE return with a calming collection for Spring/Summer 2015 entitled “Admiration to the Tasman.” Washed out blue and tan tones combined with floral cameos are spread across the breezy warm weather wardrobe… The post A Washed-Out Spring/Summer 2015 Line from Trove appeared first on Selectism.
PUMA‘s ongoing collaboration with BWGH continues into Spring/Summer 2015 with a trio of R968 runners joined by a pair of backpacks, sporting the line’s established pastel-hued, pared back aesthetic. The three softly-toned sneakers –… The post PUMA x BWGH Spring/Summer 2015 Collection appeared first on Highsnobiety.
Only a month into the new year, Japanese luggage purveyor HEAD PORTER have been running rampant with new designs. Their newly unearthed “Master Navy” collection provides a stark contrast to their recent “Jungle” collection in terms… The post HEAD PORTER “Master Navy” Spring/Summer 2015 Collection appeared first on Highsnobiety.
The sub-label of Japanese streetwear stalwart NEIGHBORHOOD returns for the Spring/Summer 2015 season with a new lookbook comprised of clean outfit shots and moody VHS-quality stills. LUKER’s references this time around aren’t as clear… The post LUKER by NEIGHBORHOOD Spring/Summer 2015 Lookbook appeared first on Highsnobiety.
With all kinds of snow and ice in many parts of the world, Nina Agdal is helping beat the winter blahs with her new Spring/Summer 2015 campaign for Sunaj. In the newly-released lookbook, the 22-year-old Danish poser shows off some structured...Show More Summary
Dita Von Teese looks picture perfect as she strikes a pose while attending the Elie Saab show as part of Paris Fashion Week Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2015 on Wednesday (January 28) in Paris, France. That same day, the 42-year-old burlesque beauty rocked a more colorful look to sit front row at the Jean Paul Gaultier [...]


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The last week has been a game-changer in the realm of artificial intelligence, with titans of tech rolling out their ambitious AI models. As we stand on the cusp of a new era, let’s unpack the significant advancements brought forth by these innovative creations.
Tako by TikTok: AI-Powered Personalized Experience
TikTok has officially entered the AI arena with Tako, an AI system crafted to transform how we consume and create content on social media. With a focus on delivering a personalized experience, Tako analyzes user preferences to curate content, making the infinite scroll on TikTok even more engaging and tailored.
Samsung Gauss: AI That Powers Your Smart Home
The electronics powerhouse Samsung has unveiled Gauss, an AI engine that aims to be the brain of your smart home. Gauss is designed to learn from your habits and preferences, optimizing the functionality of smart devices and making your home environment more intuitive and responsive.
X Grok: The AI That Feels
X Grok remains the most enigmatic of the new releases, rumored to be an AI that can not only understand but also process human emotions. This level of empathetic computing could revolutionize customer service, mental health, and even social interactions.
GPT-4 Turbo by OpenAI: Faster, Smarter Conversational AI
OpenAI continues to lead the charge in conversational AI with the release of GPT-4 Turbo. This version is not just an incremental update; it’s a leap forward in speed and comprehension, setting a new benchmark for conversational AI systems across various applications.
Amazon Olympus: AI That Knows
Amazon’s entry, codenamed Olympus, is not just another chatbot. It’s an AI model that Amazon has been quietly training to be an all-knowing oracle of information. The Olympus model is Amazon’s ambitious project to leapfrog the capabilities of existing AI chatbots, providing a platform that can handle complex customer inquiries with ease and precision.
As each of these AI systems begins to permeate different facets of our lives, they collectively paint a picture of a future where AI is not just a tool but a companion and guide. We can look forward to AI that doesn’t just understand our commands but anticipates our needs, empathizes with our feelings, and helps us navigate the digital world with unprecedented ease.
#TakoByTikTok #SamsungGauss #XGrokAI #GPT4Turbo #AmazonOlympus #AIInnovation #SmartHomeRevolution #EmotionalAI #ConversationalAI #OmniscientAI


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The story of one Massachusetts apple operation sheds light on the state of family farming in a shrinking industry.
The story of one Massachusetts apple operation sheds light on the state of family farming in a shrinking industry.
November 14, 2017
A typical fall morning at Clark Brothers Orchard in Ashfield, Massachusetts, looks something like this: A packaging order is missing, a delivery truck is late, the harvest crew is short-handed, there’s hail damage from a summer storm, and a possible outbreak of an invasive insect pest is underway. It’s only 10 a.m.
Brothers Dana and Aaron Clark, along with Dana’s son Silas, daughter Naomi, and her husband Craig, are the heart of the operation. Other family members pitch in when they’re needed. Mid-September is peak apple season, and this year’s crop looks like the biggest the Clarks have had in over a decade.
Apple season means pick-your-own outings and trips to the farmers’ market for many, but those direct-to-consumer outlets account for around .3 percent of U.S. farm sales, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Most apples are sold through wholesale distributors, bought in the grocery store, or supplied by orchards like Clark Brothers. Any one of the morning’s challenges could cost the family a season’s livelihood, but experience, resourcefulness, and innovative strategies—mixed with a hearty dose of luck—have kept their 65-acre orchard going for five generations.
The Clarks’ morning scene offers a window into the challenges facing independent, family-owned orchards in a global commodity market. Apples are a $4 billion dollar a year crop in the U.S., second in size only to China’s. Two-thirds come from Washington, the rest from farms in New York, Michigan, and at least 26 other states. Farms like the Clark’s grow most of the apples we eat in the U.S., and they are up against big odds. On mornings like this, it’s not a given that any of them will make it to next season, much less be able to sustain their operations for another generation.
A Set of Challenges
This year, the Clarks weren’t certain they’d have people to help harvest their crop. A crew of Jamaican men have worked for them for decades through the H-2A guest worker program. Some have known Naomi and Silas (now in their early 30s) since childhood, and their experience and skill are not easily replaced. Three men arrived in April, and four others eventually followed, but approvals for another nine were delayed so long the men had to take jobs elsewhere. That left seven people to harvest a crop that normally takes 16.
Eventually, their growers association helped locate a few guest workers harvesting tobacco who were willing to stay in the U.S. and transfer. “We weren’t sure they had any experience with apples and we’re still short three workers,” said Aaron.
Labor shortages are a major issue throughout agriculture, especially in fruit and vegetables. The H-2A program, despite many flaws, has been a primary source of seasonal workers in Northeast orchards since the 1950s. Orchards elsewhere, are turning increasingly to H-2A as one of the only legal means to hire seasonal workers. Locals are rarely interested in short-term work, or willing to do such hard physical labor; a nearby orchard has recruited an 80-year-old neighbor to help bring in their crop.
An unseasonable summer hailstorm is another nagging worry. There’s no way to know the extent of damage hail does until the picking starts—it could be half the fruit or more in parts of the orchard. Hail-dimpled fruit, sound but cosmetically flawed, has to be sold for juicing at a fraction of the price for fresh, in a global juice concentrate market dominated by the world’s largest producer, China.
Members of the Clark family coordinate constantly as bins of fruit are moved from orchard to pack-line, into bags and boxes, and from there into several cool-rooms. Craig reports they are almost out of the cardboard case inserts that protect fruit from bruising. Aaron winces: He ordered them weeks ago. The supplier is a large company, and the Clark’s order is low-priority. But they can’t pack without the inserts. Dana drives up the road to ask a neighbor for some, but comes back empty-handed; the neighbor has asked if he can borrow some boxes. Meanwhile, Craig has devised a substitute, and the crew keeps the apples moving.
For the past 15 years, the Clarks’ season has started with an order from a regional grocery chain that pays well and on time, and appreciates regional varieties. That first order is the difference between making payroll, or not, for the harvest workers. But after being acquired several times, most recently by a large national company, the customer is slower to respond. This year, the chain decided to skip the first order, for Macintosh, and wait for Honeycrisp, a more popular variety that sells at a higher price. Their order for half a truckload came just in time to make the first payroll.
A new customer helps offset the skipped order. At a matchmaking event hosted by Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA), a Western Massachusetts organization that supports and promotes local food, the Clarks met the buyer for a grocery chain they’d been hoping to sell to, who offered a good price, and has begun placing regular orders.
While Apple Crop Increases, Orchards Decline
The odds often seem stacked against orchards like Clark Brothers. The number of U.S. farms growing apples has been declining for over a quarter century. Between 1983 and 2007, the U.S. Census of Agriculture reported a loss of more than one-third of the farms producing apples commercially. Some were sold to larger orchards, but many left farming altogether. The number of acres planted to apples during the same period also declined by over 30 percent.
As the number of orchards and acreage dropped, the size of the U.S. apple crop steadily increased, thanks to new high-density plantings that fit thousands of trees per acre. That growth doesn’t translate into profits, though: prices to growers have stayed static while costs for transportation, marketing, and labor steadily increased. Food system analyst Ken Meter has found that when adjusted for cost of living, the annual dollar value of apple sales between 1924-2010 is essentially flat. That explains in part why so many orchards are disappearing, and why over 50 percent of U.S. farm operators rely on off-farm jobs for income and health insurance.
What it doesn’t explain is how families like the Clarks keep growing apples, a crop that requires a tenacious mix of dedication to family and the land; eaters who want to buy local; retail and wholesale produce buyers who still value handshake relationships; the support of grower associations and nonprofits that coordinate infrastructure and help out when a crop fails or packaging runs short; and a vital, though under-funded, land grant and public research system that helps improve growing practices, fend off invasive insects, and find new varieties.
The Clarks’ toughest competition comes from Washington state, which now produces nearly 65 percent of all apples grown in the U.S. The size, varieties, and prices of the Washington crop determine apple economics for the rest of the industry. Washington orchards range from a few acres to tens of thousands.
Unlike some other sectors of agriculture such as pork, beef and poultry, where ownership of packing and marketing is concentrated in a few large, non-farming companies many of the companies that grow, pack, and market apples are grower-owned family companies or coops. (According to Pew Charitable Trust, in 2010 the four largest companies owned 51 percent of the poultry industry, 85 percent in beef, and 65 percent in pork.)
In Washington State, for instance, most of the largest orchards and fresh apple packing and marketing companies are cooperatives, such as Chelan Fruit, or grower-owned operations such as Stemilt, Domex, and Rainier, which grow their own fruit and also buy from hundreds of other family-owned orchards of various sizes. In the rest of the country the orchards and packers tend to be smaller and even less likely to be owned by non-growers or investors.
Differentiating with Ecological Growing Practices
The Clarks’ orchards aren’t certified organic. But they are long-time practitioners of an approach called integrated pest management (IPM). They use advanced techniques such as mating disruption, trapping, and monitoring to minimize the need for chemical treatments, and have a healthy population of native pollinators. One of the toughest challenges in a balanced ecosystem like the Clarks’ is the introduction of invasive pests, exacerbated by global trade and changing weather patterns.
One such pest—the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB)—has been moving north from Pennsylvania for several years. It can do extensive damage if left unchecked, and research into biological controls hasn’t yet caught up with the spread of the insects, now found in over 22 states. But the chemicals that control BMSB can be hard on beneficial insects, which in turn keep other pests under control. Asked about their commitment to IPM, Dana says vehemently, “I hate to spray [pesticides]. But if we were hit with something [like BMSB], we don’t see any alternative.”
Using the least toxic materials available often means accepting more risk—a decision that is hard to explain to consumers. So in 2004, Clark Brothers Orchard helped found a program called Eco Apple, a production and marketing partnership that works across a network of growers, scientists from land grant universities, and two nonprofits: the IPM Institute of North America and Massachusetts food hub, Red Tomato. [Disclosure: the author is Red Tomato’s director of marketing, and works closely with the Eco Apple program.]
Most certified organic apples sold in the U.S. are grown in Central and Eastern Washington, where the dry climate makes organic practices especially effective. Eco Apple certifies fruit grown using ecological production methods that suit the Northeast with its humid climate and considerable range of pest and disease pressures.
Eco-certification is one way Clarks can let consumers know about the extra care that goes into their production decisions, and the distinction helps them maintain competitive prices and a foothold with wholesale buyers looking for something that makes their apples unique.
As global consolidation of marketing, distribution, and retailing drives even the most loyal customers to cut costs and standardize supply chains, the pressures on farmers like the Clarks’ are steady and relentless. It’s a daunting picture, but small shifts matter. The same combination of factors that determines the perilous edge between a good year and a major loss also means that every small victory can make a big difference: a grocery buyer who’s reliable and pays a fair price, whose customers want to know the source of their apples; collaboration with other growers and organizations who help out when labor or packaging are short; and a robust public science and farm program that supports growers with investments and research.
It all adds up. Tipping the balance often enough could mean a sixth generation at Clark Brothers Orchard.
Top photo: Dana Clark, courtesy of Red Tomato.
April 17, 2024
In this week’s Field Report, shining a light on India’s exploited shrimp workers, the spread of avian flu, and the big banks undermining climate goals.
April 16, 2024
April 10, 2024
April 9, 2024


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Fighting opioid abuse is a major priority of the Trump Administration. Nearly $6 billion in new funding over the past two years has gone into multiple programs to stop the flow of these dangerous drugs, and help those struggling with addiction. The President’s call to action resulted in the Justice Department’s shutting down the largest “darknet” for the online distribution of drugs in 2017.
We’re proud to announce a new step in the online battle against illegal opioid distribution. The Food and Drug Administration and NTIA have joined in a novel approach to work with domain name industry players to curb online availability and sales of illegal opioids.
As part of the effort, Neustar, the company that administers the .us top level domain on behalf of the Department of Commerce, announced it will step up enforcement of those who violate its existing ban on the sale or distribution of illegal opioids.


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American small and medium-size companies that rely on China are scrambling to adjust their business plans in response to the escalating trade war.Traderead more
Here are the products that stand to be the most affected by China's new tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. goods.Marketsread more
The European Union will respond in kind if the U.S. imposes tariffs on France over digital tax plan, EU chief Donald Tusk told G-7.Technologyread more
The world's second biggest economy is past a point where it cannot ignore its enormous debt anymore, according to an analyst.China Economyread more
Trump said he will raise tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods to 30% and hike duties on another $300 billion in products to 15%.Politicsread more
China said on Saturday it strongly opposes Washington's decision to levy additional tariffs on $550 billion worth of Chinese goods and warned the United States of consequences...Politicsread more
Stocks dropped after Donald Trump ordered that U.S. manufacturers find alternatives to their operations in China.US Marketsread more
The final week of August could be highly volatile as markets fret over the economy and the latest developments in trade wars.Market Insiderread more
Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida said Friday that the global economy has deteriorated in the past month.Marketsread more
The latest escalation in the trade war ups the odds the economy will fall into recession and that the Fed will aggressively cut rates.Market Insiderread more
"We don't need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them," Trump tweeted.Politicsread more
European shares closed lower on Friday, after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said the U.S. central bank could taper its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying program in October.
The FTSEurofirst 300 Index closed provisionally 0.2 percent lower at 1,263.0, with European shares pushed down by investors taking profit, although they continued to hover around five-year highs. The U.K. FTSE closed down 0.4 percent, the German Dax closed down 0.2 percent and the French Cac closed up 0.1 percent.
Bullard emphasized in an interview with Bloomberg the role that economic data has played, and will continue to play in Fed decisions
"This was a close decision here in September," he told the network.
Europe stocks started the day in negative territory, bringing an end to the broad rally which started after the Federal Reserve surprised markets by opting to maintain its $85 billion-per-month asset purchases. However, Bullard's comments on Friday backed up the belief that the Fed still plans to taper soon.
In Europe, German voters are preparing to go the polls in Sunday's general elections. The current chancellor, Angela Merkel, is expected to win a third term in office, but the future composition of the governing coalition remains unclear. It is possible that Merkel might have to form an alliance with the rival Social Democrats party (SPD).
In Asia, Indian equities led the region lower on the final trading day of the week, after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unexpectedly raised interest rates. India's Sensex index closed down 1.8 percent, Japan's Nikkei index ended just below the flatline and Australia's S&P ASX 200 fell off the previous day's five-year high.
(Read More: India unexpectedly hikes rates, shares tumble)
Elsewhere, die-hard Apple fans in Asia and Europe lined up outside stores for the launch of the tech firm's latest handsets. At the biggest Apple store in Asia, in Beijing, several security guards kept the line in order to avoid a repeat of the egg-throwing that marred a previous launch. Demand for the iPhone 5S in gold was keen, with the 5C seeing little interest. Shares of Apple climbed during the day.
(Read More: Panned new iPhones still draw die-hards at launch)


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DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) - At least three major grocery store chains are recalling certain packages of ground beef due to possible E. coli contamination.
The recalls at Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., Publix Super Markets Inc. and Kroger Co. mainly in the southeastern U.S. stem from meat from National Beef Packaging Co. of Dodge City, Kan.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Friday that National Beef was recalling more than 60,000 pounds of beef after the Ohio Department of Agriculture found the bacteria.
The recalls affect products sold mainly in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee, but the meat could have been distributed nationwide.
The agriculture department says there have been no reports of illnesses. The company says it's investigating.
E. coli can be deadly and can cause bloody diarrhea and other problems.
To see a complete list of the items being recalled by Publix, click here.