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The NRF Foundation today announced The List of People Shaping Retail's Future 2016. Among the honorees are Ulta CEO Mary Dillon.
Those on the list represent the best and brightest impacting the retail industry today, according to the National Retail Federation. They will be recognized and celebrated at the NRF Foundation Gala on January 17, 2016 in New York City.
This is the second year NRF has held the gala and compiled the list, which names those notable for being Disruptors, Dreamers, Givers, Influencers and Power Players.
Dillon is among those named as power players, along with Restoration Hardware CEO Gary Friedman; Michelle Glass, chief merchandising and customer officer at Kohl's; James Rhee, CEO, Ashley Stewart; and Stormy Simon, president, Overstock.com.
"The List of People Shaping Retail's Future represents the most innovative and impressive group of professionals impacting the retail industry today," said Ellen Davis, NRF senior VP and foundation executive director. "We are thrilled to celebrate 'The List' and hold them up as shining examples of the talent, passion and creativity that drive the retail industry forward. Recognizing our list honorees and awarding scholarships to students who want to succeed in retail goes right to the heart of the NRF Foundation's mission—shaping retail's future."
-See the entire NRF list here
Ulta partners with Bravo for new digital shop
How Ulta is remaking the customer experience
Ulta's e-commerce accounts for 55% of quarterly growth
Ulta to add 100 stores
47% of shoppers buying more beauty products online


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Glenora Distillers International
Canadian single malt whisky producer Glenora Distillers is celebrating victory in its legal battle with the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) over its 'Glen Breton' brand.
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) is to appeal a Canadian court ruling allowing a Nova Scotia distillery to call its product ‘Glen Breton’.
The Scotch Whisky Association is considering an appeal against a ruling in Canada, allowing Glenora Distillery to continue using the brand name Glen Breton.
A court in Canada has reversed an earlier ruling permitting a Canadian distiller using the word ‘Glen’ on one of its whiskies.
The Scotch Whisky Association has launched a fresh appeal to stop a Canadian distiller using the word “Glen” on one of its whiskies.
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domain: news


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The resilient consumer narrative is beginning to exhibit cracks. According to Bank of America (BAC). New data from BofA showed expenditure on the bank’s credit cards decreased 0.3% in the week ending Sept. 23 compared to the same period last year. In fact, BofA card spending has been trending downward for several weeks, and even more so when auto and petroleum purchases are excluded.
“After a strong summer, spending appears to have slowed after Labor Day,” economist Shruti Mishra wrote in a Thursday research note for BofA US and global.
“Excluding gas and electronics, most other categories have slowed in the last month, especially discretionary ones” such as furniture, according to Mishra’s team.
Recent increases in gas prices likely contributed to a portion of the increase in petroleum spending, while the release of the Apple iPhone 15 on September 22 coincided with the strongest days for online electronics sales in roughly two weeks.
The lethargic Bank of America data follows an onslaught of stronger-than-expected consumer data throughout the summer, which drove the economy to grow faster than many anticipated. In addition to inflation, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has identified this as a critical factor that could prompt the Fed to raise interest rates again.
Economists Warn of Consumer Spending Contraction as Data Signals Economic Slowdown
Numerous economists, however, have stated that consumers have already begun to rein in their spending, and thus a downturn is imminent. Other data released on Thursday indicated that this may be occurring more frequently than initially believed. For example, personal consumption growth in the second quarter was revised down from 1.7% to 0.8%.
Michael Pearce, the chief US economist at Oxford Economics, stated that the downward revision suggests the consumer is “less resilient than previously believed.”
“We expect a weakening labor market and mounting headwinds to disposable incomes will drive a sharper slowdown in consumption and the broader economy over the rest of the year,” he wrote in a research note on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Greg Daco, the chief economist at EY, referred to the increasing headwinds confronting consumers as a “quadruple threat.” According to the economist, an impending government closure and an ongoing United Auto Workers strike could have a negative impact on economic growth. Also: Rising oil prices and the resumption of student loan payments are anticipated to weigh on expenditure.
Nonetheless, Daco noted that the present resilience of the labor market, including the highest labor force participation since the beginning of the pandemic, could assist in preventing the anticipated consumer slowdown.
“Consumers are still willing to spend,” declared Daco. “However, they are acting more prudently… As long as labor market conditions do not deteriorate abruptly, the decline should be contained; however, a faster-than-anticipated labor market contraction could have dire consequences.”
Source: Yahoo Finance


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It’s been about two and a half years since the release of her third studio album ‘Rainbow’, and Kesha is set to release ‘High Road’ January 10.
“Raising Hell” featuring Big Freedia was released October 24 and the music video already has over two million views.
Kesha recently told Billboard that her balls are back after addressing some personal issues on her last album. After watching the new video for “Raising Hell” it’s apparent that Kesha’s balls are indeed back.
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Bank of America economists on Friday cut their forecast for third quarter growth in the U.S. to 4.5 percent, a big drop from the 7 percent previously expected.
This downward revision follows the Census Bureau’s weaker than expected report on July retail sales, a move which had been anticipated by the bank’s credit and debit card data showing weakening consumer spending.
Economists Michelle Meyer and Alexander Lin wrote in a note to the bank’s clients that consumers had likely cut back on spending because of fear of the Delta variant, supply-side constraints that had made some products unavailable or pricey, and a rise in “precautionary savings” by households wary of what the future holds.
“We think the Delta variant is a large reason for the soft patch as can be seen by the pullback in spending on leisure services,” they write. “But we also have to consider the possibility of more permanent supply-side constraints and greater precautionary savings.”
In a separate note, Bank of America global economist Ethan Harris writes that “the US has in effect hit a big supply-side speedbump, traveling at 80 mph.”
Harris sites several data points indicating a U.S. slowdown:
- Supply shortages remain at severe levels, although a number of surveys suggest they are starting to level off.
- Job openings continue to set new records.
- Inventories have plunged.
- An increasing share of nominal GDP growth is being absorbed in higher prices rather than higher real GDP.
- Excess savings continue to pile up in household bank accounts.
In Meyer and Lin’s view, the pullback in consumer spending due to the Delta variant will likely be only temporary, pushing growth off into the fall when the resurgence has run its course. But the supply constraints could have a more lasting impact.
“If supply is permanently constrained, it means higher inflation and a shorter economic cycle,” they writes. “If supply just takes longer to come back but ultimately returns to full capacity, it flattens the path for growth but could mean a longer cycle provided the Fed facilitates the cycle.”


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Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Consumers Union launches campaign in support of the Free Access to Credit Scores Act introduced today in Congress
Pamela Banks, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union, said, “Knowing your credit score is essential to managing your finances. Your scores have a huge impact on your life, but you typically have to pay for them, and the scores you buy may not even be the ones your lenders use. This bill would help consumers get the credit scores they need, and it would take some of the mystery out of the credit reporting industry.”
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont introduced the bill, called the Free Access to Credit Scores Act, today in the Senate, while U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee introduced the bill in the House.
Consumers Union has launched a campaign in support of the legislation. Since January, the nonprofit organization has reached out to consumers via email and social media, urging them to ask Congress to back a bill that would provide reliable scores with their annual free reports. More than 60,000 consumers have already sent messages to their lawmakers in support of this reform effort.
Consumers Union has long advocated for including credit scores in the free reports available at AnnualCreditReport.com. While federal law guarantees you a free report every 12 months from each of the three major credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — the reports do not include your credit scores. The three-digit scores, usually ranging from 300-900, may be used by lenders, bankers, insurers, landlords, and others to determine your creditworthiness and the rates you pay for services. Consumers typically have to pay for credit scores or sign up for trial offers that may have hidden costs.
Of special concern to Consumers Union is the difference between the credit scores sold to consumers and the scores actually used by creditors and other businesses. When buying credit scores, about one out of five consumers are likely to receive a meaningfully different score than the one used by a lender, according to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau study published in September 2012.
Consumers Union’s petition in support of the legislation is available online at defendyourdollars.org.
Contact: David Butler, 202-462-6262


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Consumers in Connecticut will be able to know when their personal information is being tracked and how it’s being used under a wide-ranging data privacy bill that’s headed to Gov. Ned Lamont’s desk.
The legislation, dubbed a “consumer bill of rights,” also allows people to access, correct, delete and obtain a copy of their personal data, as well as opt out from having their information used by marketers, retailers and others for various purposes such as targeted advertising.
The bipartisan bill easily cleared the House of Representatives on Thursday by a vote of 144-5, about a week after it passed the Senate unanimously.
“We live in a digital world and technology moves very fast,” said Rep. Mike D’Agostino, D-Hamden, co-chair of the General Assembly’s General Law Committee. “This is our effort to finally get ahead of the curve, at least when it comes to consumer data.”
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Connecticut joins Colorado, Utah, Virginia and California in passing such legislation, according to D’Agostino, who said Connecticut’s bill is the most “robust” and uses some of the best aspects of other states’ laws while including some additional provisions.
Lawmakers stressed how the legislation attempts to be fair to Connecticut businesses, recognizing they typically use outside vendors that might be collecting customers’ data.
The bill says they will not be held responsible for any violations made by those vendors unless they were aware of the actions in advance.
The legislation applies to individuals and entities that do business in the state or produce products and services which target Connecticut residents and processed personal data of at least 100,000 consumers, among other provisions.


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Real People Behind Big Names
Three Barbie dolls are sold every second somewhere in the world, making Barbie the most successful doll of all time. She's sold in over 150 countries and reflects over 45 different nationalities and ethnicities. Barbie has had almost 100 different careers, from astronaut to teacher to presidential candidate!
Richard Dickson, senior vice president at Mattel, says the Barbie that started it all is kept in a top-secret location under lock and key in the company's El Segundo, California, headquarters—but he's bringing her out of hiding just for us! "This is a really big deal. We got [her] out of the vault," he says. "This is the first time that I've even held the original 1959 Barbie!"


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Remy Adds New Part Numbers to Starter and Alternator Lines
Remy Power Products has introduced new part numbers to its lines of starters and alternators for domestic and import passenger vehicles.
Remy Launches New Website
You can now find Remy Power Products at remyautomotive.com. The company’s new website has a responsive design and allows for easier navigation.
Brake Parts and Remy Raise $25,000 for Hurricane Relief Efforts
Brake Parts Inc (BPI) and Remy Power Products employees across the U.S. have been raising money for the American Red Cross and with a contribution from BPI, donated $25,000 to help with the hurricane relief efforts.
Remy Hires VP of Sales
Darwin Moen has joined Remy Power Products as its new vice president of sales.


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Women’s streetwear collective Cozy Girl Squad is dropping a t-shirt, marking the organization’s first effort at merch. Offered in black or a very of-the-moment floursecent green, the shirt is embroidered with a simple message: “Stop getting dressed for likes.”
The statement speaks to CGS founder Donette Lowe’s (check our interview with her here) wish for woman to be recognized and have a place in streetwear space on her own terms. On Instagram, she wrote, “It’s over for the idea that women in streetwear are less feminine. It’s over for men dominating our space with their opinions on what we should look like or wear. It’s over for brands ignoring who built this. It’s time.”
CGS’s debut t-shirt will drop on January 4, 2018 at 1:00 PM EST on cozygirlsquad.com.
Below check images of the t-shirt shot by Leezus Da Goat.


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Police have praised retailers in the High Peak, after they refused to sell knives to under 18s.
A 16 year old volunteer visited five stores in Buxton, one store in Glossop and one store in New Mills with Derbyshire County Council’s Trading Standards, as part of a police and trading standard operation.
The retailers were all revisited this month after they failed during a test purchase operation in August 2018, and sold knives without asking the teenager for identification.
READ MORE: Convictions and cautions for knife crime increase by almost 50 per cent in Derbyshire, new figures show
PCSO Lee Baker, of the High Peak Youth Engagement Team, said: “It is pleasing to see that those retailers in the High Peak who failed an earlier test purchase operation around the sale of knives to under 18s have taken on board advice and have been prepared to challenge and refuse sales to improve their practices and make sure they are trading within the law.
“We will be continuing to work with Derbyshire County Council Trading Standards, and our other partnership agencies as part of our long term commitment to tackling and preventing knife related crime in our area.”
READ MORE: Police chiefs comment as knife crime rises across Derbyshire
Carol Hart, Derbyshire County Council cabinet member for health and communities councillor said: “Our trading standards officers work very hard to ensure traders know the law when it comes to selling age-restricted items including knives.
“I am very pleased that their efforts are paying off and that traders are taking notice of the rules.
“The consequences of knives falling into the wrong hands can be devastating and it is something we take very seriously.”
It is an offence to sell a knife, knife blade, razor, axe or other article which has a blade or is sharply pointed to anyone under 18. Where a knife is sold to an underage person, the person who sold the knife and the retailer can be held responsible.
The maximum penalty for selling a knife is up to six months imprisonment and a £5,000 fine


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Beastcoast and Trovo announce a one-year sponsorship in an effort to develop the streaming platform in South America.
Trovo, the new streaming platform that has developed a market presence in the gaming community in South America, has teamed up with Beastcoast to continue to grow together in the South American scene. The Trovo company, part of the Tencent company is focused on becoming the main streaming platform in the region.
A partnership with Trovo is a huge step for any organization since Tencent is one of the most recognized brands worldwide in the gaming space. Beastcoast is excited to team up with, and help Trovo continue to build its’ brand in South America and are looking forward to the beginning of an effective and long-lived partnership.
We would like to thank the Beastcoast fans, who always accompany us on our journey and make these things possible. Welcome Trovo to the Beastcoast family!
See you at TI.


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Why would you not buy a pre-owned luxury brand for peanuts? asks Elanic’s Aditi Rohan
Anamika Singh loves the Van Heusen clutch she bought, Somya Nigam adores her white Zara dress, and Shalini Priya can’t stop admiring her first Mango dress. All pre-owned items of fashion, purchased at great prices from Elanic, a fashion-centric peer-to-peer platform.
Started with a seed round of funding from Singapore-based Japanese venture capital firm Rebright Partners, Tracxn Labs, and angel investor Aneesh Reddy, this Bengaluru-based platform simplifies buying and selling of pre-owned fashion for women in India, and features brands from well-known global and Indian labels like Ritu Kumar and Anamika Khanna.
The venture was started in 2015 by Aditi Rohan (26), along with co-founders Abhilash Narhari (27) and Palkush Rai Chawla (26), whom she met through common friends. Abhilash and Palkush were batch mates in IIT Kharagpur.
Aditi says, “Pre-owned fashion is an untapped market; we have seen that people try to sell through various channels like Instagram, Facebook groups, offline events, bazaars and Olx/Quikr. The traditional solutions were either too time-consuming or intrusive. Selling on a platform like Facebook had its own hassle - from payments to delivery, you had no option but to trust that the other person would do what they promised; dispute resolution was another issue entirely. With Elanic, we have tried to solve each of these problems.”
Changing the mindset
A decade ago, Daryanganj in Delhi and Chor Bazaar in Mumbai drove the second hand market. While these highly fragmented zones have still not lost all their charm, the organised and ‘legal’ online avatars of these second hand markets have gained popularity in recent years.
An ASSOCHAM paper from January 2014 had estimated that the volume of India’s second hand and recycled market, including consumer products, automobile and industrial raw material and machinery, would likely grow from an estimated Rs 80,000 crore at the time to Rs 1,15,000 crore by 2015.
In the last year and a half, the second hand industry has also witnessed pre-owned fashion vie for space in the market. However, the biggest challenge they face is creating awareness.
“Most people still don’t understand that there exists an active market for pre-owned goods in categories such as fashion and lifestyle. In fact, even now, many of our sellers are surprised when their items sell out,” shares Aditi.
According to Aditi, sarees are the most searched for items in their ethnic wear segment. Other than that, some brands that sell like hot cakes are Zara, Mango, H &M and Vero Moda.
In their experience, girls and women in the age group of 18-24 are the most open to second hand clothes and accessories. But as far as luxury pre-owned fashion is concerned, the customer base comprises mostly women in the age group of 30-35.
A poll that YourStory ran on social media shows that a majority of people do not buy the concept of pre-owned fashion. Others are okay with pre-owned accessories and luxury, and a very small percentage goes all out to buy everything pre-owned.
Aditi says, “A taboo does exist, but it is not a strong one. People from tier II and III cities too are investing in pre-owned fashion. Most first-time users start with buying an accessory. Once they are fine with that, they take the next step and turn to clothes and luxury items.”
With regard to the supply side, Elanic is trying to educate people about de-cluttering through videos, encouraging them to clear their wardrobe of everything that has not been used in the last six months.
There are close to 1lakh listings on Elanic, with 250,000 downloads of their Android app.
“I believe that offering a clear differentiator is very important. The value propositions for both the buyer and the seller at Elanic are very clear. Sellers have a platform to sell their pre-owned goods that would have otherwise remained hoarded in their homes, and buyers get absolutely incredible markdowns on products (more than 90 percent in some cases). The response of the crowd towards buying/ selling of pre-loved items has been phenomenal, and we are thrilled with how the Elanic community is growing. We got really excited when VJ Anusha’s PR team got in touch with us, telling us that she absolutely loved the concept and wants to start selling her pre-loved items on Elanic,” she says.
Elanic manages the entire transaction, to ensure that the buyer’s money is protected. They make a commission on every transaction on the platform. The buyer can even return an item if they don’t like it.
Adoption of peer-to-peer marketplace
The company sees a significant overlap between buyers and sellers.
The concept of peer-to-peer marketplaces is still very new in India, and if you look at where we are vis-a-vis the developed markets, we still have a long way to go. Aditi echoes this thought as well. However, she says, “A lot of the infrastructure for this is falling into place. With the spread of mobile wallets, P2P payments have been extremely well adopted.”
Significant improvements in logistics in the last few years have made tracking items, among other things, simple, easing the process further.
Other than fashion, Elanic also caters to pre-owned lifestyle goods.
According to Aditi, this segment is almost non-existent in India, and she says, “We are creating this market, and this is in fact one of the biggest personal motivators. The items sold on Elanic are currently not being sold on the classifieds, such as OLX and Quikr. However, I feel that there is a big gap, since neither of the platforms is designed for lifestyle goods, where discovery and buying behaviour is very different from other categories.”
From design to numbers
A graduate from NIFT, Delhi, Aditi’s designs were shortlisted for WOW (World of Wearable Art) and were showcased in Australia. After she passed out in 2011, she got the opportunity to utilise her talent at Mothercare, where she worked as a designer for their baby girl's clothing line.
At Elanic, she curates everything that the customer sees on the app. In the course of Elanic’s journey, she has let the numbers and data, rather than just her instinct for fashion, drive her.
“We have a strong team of 25 people, and they have pulled me through this last year and a half as I have used numbers, data and consumer behaviour to understand fashion and use it to curate our line and work towards growth,” she says.
The pre-owned fashion sector does not have a single strong player with a majority of the market in its kitty. As of now, there are multiple players like Revamp My Closet, Once Again, Zapyle and Etashee trying to increase awareness and create a market.
Heavy discounts by e-commerce companies during festivals also dilute their sales, as people prefer to buy new fashion and lifestyle products for festivals.
However, for college students and young professionals, who have limited salaries but high aspirations and needs, the peer-to-peer marketplaces like Elanic provide a great way to recycle their wardrobe as both buyer and seller.


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- The 8 Best On-Ear Headphones for 2023: Beats, Jabra, Sennheiser and More - CNETby David Carnoy on April 1, 2023 at 4:00 am
Are tiny earbuds or massive headphones not your vibe? Here are the best on-ear headphones for 2023.
- ‘Thousands of Dollars for Something I Didn’t Do’by Kashmir Hill and Ryan Mac on April 1, 2023 at 2:21 am
Because of a bad facial recognition match and other hidden technology, Randal Reid spent nearly a week in jail, falsely accused of stealing purses in a state he said he had never even visited.
- Twitter code behind For You tracked authors as either "republican", "democrat", "power user", or "elon" to keep algo tweaks from harming any one group (Matt Binder/Mashable)on April 1, 2023 at 2:00 am
Matt Binder / Mashable: Twitter code behind For You tracked authors as either “republican”, “democrat”, “power user”, or “elon” to keep algo tweaks from harming any one group — Musk said he had no idea it was doing that! — Twitter has just released …
- Google confirms putting a limit of 5M files per Drive account, even for paid Google One plans, in February without telling users, who thought the cap was a bug (Ron Amadeo/Ars Technica)on April 1, 2023 at 1:55 am
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica: Google confirms putting a limit of 5M files per Drive account, even for paid Google One plans, in February without telling users, who thought the cap was a bug — The new file limit means you can't actually use the storage you buy from Google. — “Please delete 2 million files to continue using your Google Drive account.”
- 5 True Wireless Earbuds Worth Buying for Under $40 - CNETby David Carnoy on April 1, 2023 at 1:00 am
A growing number of dirt-cheap true wireless earbuds are now available. Here are the current best of the bunch that CNET experts have tested.
- Sources: FTC to file a complaint against Amazon alleging that Alexa-powered speakers collect data about kids under 13 without parental consent, violating COPPA (Josh Sisco/Politico)on April 1, 2023 at 12:40 am
Josh Sisco / Politico: Sources: FTC to file a complaint against Amazon alleging that Alexa-powered speakers collect data about kids under 13 without parental consent, violating COPPA — The case, if filed, would be the first in a potentially long list of enforcement actions against the tech giant.
- Tesla and Musk Lose Ruling on Factory Union Issuesby Noam Scheiber on April 1, 2023 at 12:33 am
A court upheld a finding that Tesla wrongly fired a worker involved in labor organizing and that a Twitter post by Elon Musk was illegally anti-union.
- Q&A with Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney and EVP Sax Persson on an open metaverse, walled gardens, user-generated content, a metaverse programming language, and more (Dean Takahashi/VentureBeat)on April 1, 2023 at 12:05 am
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Q&A with Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney and EVP Sax Persson on an open metaverse, walled gardens, user-generated content, a metaverse programming language, and more — At its State of Unreal event last week, Epic Games showed off not only the visual magic of 3D graphics of games in the future.
- Best Mattress for Back Pain, According to Our Sleep Experts - CNETby McKenzie Dillon on March 31, 2023 at 11:48 pm
Don't let a bad mattress be the cause of your aches and pains. Here are the top recommendations for the best mattresses to combat back pain from CNET's sleep experts.
- Amazon's Smart Speakers Collecting Kids' Data May Lead to Government Lawsuit - CNETby David Lumb on March 31, 2023 at 11:16 pm
Amazon's smart speakers may've landed the tech giant in hot water.
- Fox News Suffers Major Setback in Dominion Caseby Jeremy W. Peters and Katie Robertson on March 31, 2023 at 11:10 pm
A judge said the suit would go to trial, for a jury to weigh whether the network knowingly spread false claims about Dominion Voting Systems, and to determine any damages.
- Hackers exploit WordPress plugin flaw that gives full control of millions of sitesby Dan Goodin on March 31, 2023 at 10:40 pm
Elementor Pro fixed the vulnerability, but not everyone has installed the patch.
- ChatGPT Is Banned in Italy Over Privacy Concernsby Adam Satariano on March 31, 2023 at 10:39 pm
The action by Italy’s data protection agency is the first known instance of the chatbot’s being blocked by a government order.
- LeBron James, William Shatner, Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander, and some other celebrities with millions of followers say they won't pay for Twitter Blue (Amanda Silberling/TechCrunch)on March 31, 2023 at 9:25 pm
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch: LeBron James, William Shatner, Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander, and some other celebrities with millions of followers say they won't pay for Twitter Blue — April 1 is the dumbest day on the internet, and this year, it's not just because brands will try to prank you by selling “hot iced coffee.”
- Algorithmic Trading Revolutionizes Stock Market Trading in Indiaby Priyank Soni on March 31, 2023 at 9:00 pm
Many investors and traders choose stocks as the financial instrument to trade with due to the high-profit potential available. During this trading experience, one must stay aware of the market changes. Like the rise or fall of stock value. Thus, it is important to focus on various factors of algorithmic trading, many of which can The post Algorithmic Trading Revolutionizes Stock Market Trading in India appeared first on ReadWrite.
- Sam Altman, the ChatGPT King, Is Pretty Sure It’s All Going to Be OKby Cade Metz on March 31, 2023 at 8:58 pm
Sam Altman sees the pros and cons of totally changing the world as we know it. And if he does make human intelligence useless, he has a plan to fix it.
- The UK's CAT said that Apple won an appeal against the CMA's decision to investigate the company's dominance in mobile browsers and cloud gaming (Paul Sandle/Reuters)on March 31, 2023 at 8:55 pm
Paul Sandle / Reuters: The UK's CAT said that Apple won an appeal against the CMA's decision to investigate the company's dominance in mobile browsers and cloud gaming — Apple Inc (AAPL.O) won its appeal against the decision by Britain's antitrust regulator to launch an investigation into its mobile browser …
- Scientists Found a 'Leak' in Photosynthesis That Could Fill Humanity's Energy Bucket - CNETby Eric Mack on March 31, 2023 at 8:44 pm
Researchers believe they've found a way to tap deeper into one of nature's most impressive, life-sustaining mechanisms.
- Seattle-based crypto exchange Bittrex shuts down its US operations, saying funds should be withdrawn by April 30, but will continue to operate Bittrex Global (Mat Di Salvo/Decrypt)on March 31, 2023 at 8:40 pm
Mat Di Salvo / Decrypt: Seattle-based crypto exchange Bittrex shuts down its US operations, saying funds should be withdrawn by April 30, but will continue to operate Bittrex Global — The American cryptocurrency exchange said it was not “economically viable” to continue doing business in the United States.
- Best Lenovo Laptop Deals: Latest ThinkPad X1 Carbon Is More Than Half Off - CNETby Matt Elliott on March 31, 2023 at 8:31 pm
Many of Lenovo's laptops are on sale for less than half price. And you can save more than $600 on a Legion gaming laptop with RTX 3070 graphics.
- Windows 11 Insider Previews: What’s in the latest build?on March 31, 2023 at 8:20 pm
The Windows 11 2022 Update has been released, but behind the scenes, Microsoft is constantly working to improve the newest version of Windows. The company frequently rolls out public preview builds to members of its Windows Insider Program, allowing them to test out — and even help shape — upcoming features.The Windows Insider program is divided into four channels: The Canary Channel (new in March 2023) is where platform changes (such as major updates to the Windows kernel and new APIs) are previewed. These changes are not tied to a particular Windows release and may never ship at all. Little documentation is provided, and builds are likely to be very unstable. This channel is best for highly technical users. The Dev Channel is where new features are introduced for initial testing, regardless of which Windows release they’ll eventually end up in. This channel is best for technical users and developers and builds in it may be unstable and buggy. In the Beta Channel, you’ll get more polished features that will be deployed in the next major Windows release. This channel is best for early adopters, and Microsoft says your feedback in this channel will have the most impact. The Release Preview Channel typically doesn’t see action until shortly before a new feature update is rolled out. It’s meant for final testing of an upcoming release and is best for those who want the most stable builds. The Beta and Release Preview Channels also receive bug-fix builds for the currently shipping version of Windows 11.To read this article in full, please click here
- Has Bitcoin Benefited From the Banking Crisis? Not in the Way Its Fans Hoped.by David Yaffe-Bellany on March 31, 2023 at 8:10 pm
Bitcoin’s price has soared since banks failed this month, but there’s little evidence that the surge is being driven by investors treating the virtual currency as a financial alternative.
- Office 365: A guide to the updateson March 31, 2023 at 8:08 pm
Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscribers get more frequent software updates than those who have purchased Office without a subscription, which means subscribers have access to the latest features, security patches, and bug fixes. But it can be hard to keep track of the changes in each update and know when they’re available. We’re doing this for you, so you don’t have to.Following are summaries of the updates to Office 365/Microsoft 365 for Windows, with the latest releases shown first. We’ll add info about new updates as they’re rolled out.Note: This story covers updates released to regular Office 365/Microsoft 365 for Windows subscribers. If you’re a member of Microsoft’s Office Insider preview program or want to get a sneak peek at upcoming features, see the company’s “Release notes for Office for Windows Desktop (Beta builds)” page.To read this article in full, please click here
- A profile of Sam Altman, whose social-minded capitalism may make him the ideal CEO for OpenAI as some say he's too commercially minded to lead a tech revolution (Wall Street Journal)on March 31, 2023 at 8:00 pm
Wall Street Journal: A profile of Sam Altman, whose social-minded capitalism may make him the ideal CEO for OpenAI as some say he's too commercially minded to lead a tech revolution — The CEO behind ChatGPT navigates the line between developing artificial intelligence on the cutting edge and pushing technology to dystopia
- New Rules Will Make Many Electric Cars Ineligible for Tax Creditsby Ana Swanson and Jack Ewing on March 31, 2023 at 8:00 pm
The Biden administration hopes its guidelines for up to $7,500 in tax credits will encourage automakers to reduce their reliance on China for batteries and raw materials.


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Walker Furniture in Las Vegas showcases four GhostBed collections, including the Venus Williams line
Las Vegas Market News Release
GhostBed, a leading online mattress retailer and manufacturer of boxed beds, has made its Las Vegas retail debut at Walker Furniture, which is offering four collections at its four stores and online.
Open for more than 60 years, the full-service furniture and mattress retailer will feature a selection of GhostBed mattresses from the Grande and Dimensions collections, as well as the Venus Williams line.
“Walker Furniture has a tremendous reputation for quality and service in the Las Vegas area, so having our product available to their consumers is a major placement for our team,” said Alan Hirschhorn, executive vice president of the Plantation, Florida-based company. “The region is still one of the fastest growing in the country, giving us access to one of the most dynamic markets in the United States.”
Walker will offer the Volley and Rally models from GhostBed’s Venus Williams collection, as well as its Grande gel memory foam mattresses and Dimensions hybrid mattresses, all between $1,699 to $2,599 in queen.
Designed to promote recovery, performance and health through its proprietary FIT layer, the Venus Williams collection maximizes recovery and performance through enhanced cooling technologies, according to the news release. Each mattress features an eco-friendly cover made from recycled plastic bottles and GhostBed’s proprietary bio-foam layer — combining the comfort and cooling associated with GhostBed with the advanced sleep technology of far infrared.
With seven Grand Slam titles, five Wimbledon titles and four Olympic gold medals, tennis champion Venus Williams is one of the most accomplished and inspiring women in the history of sports. She holds a bachelor of science in business administration from Indiana University East and an associate of science in fashion design from The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.
Now she has parlayed her education and her athletic success into two design ventures: lifestyle and fashion-forward activewear brand EleVen by Venus Williams, and full-service commercial and residential interior design firm V Starr.


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Beijing-China's industrial output slowed during the first two months of the year as unemployment rose, official data showed Thursday, while some indicators showed a slowdown in the world's second largest economy stabilizing.
China combines Janaury and February activity data in an attempt to smooth distortions created by the long Lunar New Year holidays early each year, but some analysts say a clearer picture of the economy may not emerge first-quarter data is released in April. Crude oil output grew 0.5% year on year to 30.69 million mt in the first two months of 2019.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected it to rise 6.0 percent, edging up marginally from 5.9 percent in 2018.
But investment picked up speed as the government fast-tracked more road and rail projects, offering some relief for policymakers as they work to avert a sharper slowdown, data showed on Thursday. Last year economic growth fell to 6.6%, the lowest value in 28 years.
Credit conditions have been on the looser side in recent months as China has cut the amount of cash banks keep as reserves five times since previous year to boost lending to companies.
However, retail sales remain near a 15-year low, said Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics in a note, adding that "the near-term outlook still looks downbeat".
But fixed-asset investment rose 6.1 percent, while retail sales rose 8.2 percent, both more than expected.
Much of the gain appeared due to a bounce in property investment, which quickened to a five-year high of 11.6 percent, though home sales fell.
The consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 1.5 percent year-on-year in February, compared with 1.7 percent in January, the NBS said. Economists are expecting further easing measures by the Chinese government to spur business activity.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was in no rush to complete a trade pact with China and insisted that any deal include protection for intellectual property, a major sticking point between the two sides during months of negotiations.
The possibility of having deflation in China is small.
But sales of appliances and furniture softened considerably early in the year, possibly linked to a 3.6 percent drop in home sales. Total new bank lending hit a record in 3.23 trillion yuan (US$481 billion) in January.


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The World Health Organization (WHO) demands only five percent sugar
Sugar is hidden everywhere: in ketchup, soups or sugar bombs such as effervescent or chocolate. The WHO (World Health Organization) now wants to drastically limit the consumption of sugar. The World Health Organization claims that the white sweetness is only five percent of the daily calorie intake. That is exactly 50 percent less than before.
The WHO didn't just think about this step. Around 9000 studies that were evaluated always point in one direction. Sugar massively increases the risk of obesity (obesity), type II diabetes or tooth decay. However, the five percent mentioned are not pure industrial sugar, but include honey, syrup and sweetness in juices. The fructose in fruits or vegetables, however, is not included.
Ambitious goal The WHO health expert Francesco Branca emphasized that the new target is very ambitious. “A target of five percent is good if it is possible. Ten percent, on the other hand, are more realistic. ”Because people in western industrialized countries consume a lot more sugar than the WHO suggests is health-friendly. Those who follow the guidelines must on average avoid at least two thirds of their daily sugar intake. Only then can the target be achieved. The WHO initially only published the target on its website. Comments from experts are requested.
If you really want to stick to it, it will be very difficult. The German Nutrition Society (DGE), for example, recommends an adult woman to be fed 1,900 kilocalories a day. 5 percent would be about 95 kilocalories here. The equivalent would be six teaspoons of sugar or a small chocolate bar like "Duplo". A man with 2400 kilocalories can eat a little more every day. Here, five percent means about 120 calories. The man can thus consume about 30 grams of sugar.
5 grams of sugar are quickly reached However, five grams are reached quickly. 200 milliliters of apple juice has 24 grams of sugar. 100 grams of chocolate with whole milk about 50 grams. And a glass of milk even contained 10 grams. A spoonful of tomato ketchup contains 4 grams of sugar. One liter of effervescent already contained 40 grams of sugar. The really dangerous things are the ones you don't know about. Because other foods also have a lot of sugar in them. 250 grams of liver sausage contain about three pieces of sugar. And some cookies are really something. So 100 grams of biscuit contain up to new pieces of sugar cubes.
A revision makes sense in any case. The WHO recommendations that are still valid are now over ten years old. When the nutrition experts set the guideline to 10 percent at the time, there were sustained protests by the food industry. For example, lobbyists urged the US Senate to threaten to cut support funds. However, the experts were able to prevail and the draft directive was accepted.
Not yet finalized The current WHO draft has not yet been fully adopted, but awaits further opinions from scientists and medical professionals. All opinions and contributions should be submitted by the end of this month. By the summer, a specially appointed commission will then check whether the recommendation exists or is adjusted. "The decision will be made in summer," it says. (sb)
Image: lichtkunst.73 / pixelio.de


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CEAV, together with the León Provincial Tourism Consortium, organized the 6th World Summit of Travel Agency Associations in León from November 3 to 6, 2021. The event brought together more than 100 participants from 25 different countries, who carried out presentations and debates on the current situation of the sector and future prospects.
Carlos Garrido, president of CEAV, emphasized in the opening that we are entering a new stage in which, after the pandemic, travel begins again. “The recovery is underway and we are living in times when the role of the travel agency has been revalued as an advisor and guarantor of safety. The agencies, who have had such a bad time, can emerge stronger from this crisis, "he said.
The first working session began with a welcome video from the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism of Spain, Reyes Maroto, and continued with the interventions of María Neira, director of the Department of Public Health and Environment of the World Health Organization, and the American journalist Dave Keating, who spoke about future travel.
Later, representatives of eDreams ODIGEO, IATA, Iberia and Amadeus raised the situation and perspectives of the airline industry and the changes that have occurred in the air distribution model after the pandemic. Thus, it is found that people travel again, but the recovery is not homogeneous in all destinations. In addition, travellers who previously did not use travel agencies have started to do so now seeking high levels of personalization and digitization, and the challenge now is to maintain them.
In the following panel, senior officials from the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), ACI, Amadeus, the Airline Association and Riskline addressed the keys to an effective mobility recovery. The reopening of the United States, the loosening of restrictions in Latin America and the acceptance of the vaccination certificate in Europe have helped to start the recovery, but it will take a few years to complete.
In the afternoon, the South African Association of Travel Agencies, ForwardKeys, Amadeus and HATTA (Hellenic Association of Tourist & Travel Agencies) shared their experiences, data and forecasts with all the participants.
During the second day, Iberia Cards, Expedia Partner Solutions, the International Association of Cruise Lines, the European Travel Commission and AON talked about the Changes in the traveller of the future after the pandemic. Together they first analysed what learning the pandemic has brought with it and then talk about the main differences between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic tourists, as well as workers in the tourism sector.
Later, ANATO, ASATA, EU TRAVEL TECH and FTO discussed the situation of travel agencies before and after the pandemic and told the perspective and experiences of their respective countries, as well as the work of travel agencies in repatriations. at the beginning of the crisis.
Finally, during the open dialogue, the Vice President of International Relations of CEAV, Eva Blasco, the President of FOLATUR, Guillermo Correa, and the President of CEAV, Carlos Garrido, held a productive debate with the attendees.
The summit, which has had the support of the León City Council, the León Tourism Consortium and the usual collaborators of CEAV (Amadeus, Aon, Iberia, Iberia Cards, Junta de Castilla y León, Paradores, Pipeline, Renfe and Turespaña), has made the city the focus of attention for travel agencies and the highest representatives of the sector. For its organization, CEAV has also counted on the Provincial Association of Travel Agencies of León (APROLAV) and the Castilian-Leonese Federation of Travel Agencies (FECLAV).


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EU Battery Alliance: Will Airbus-style Consortia Make Europe a Battery Tycoon?
By: Karolina Zubel, Energy Economist
European Union (EU) sales of electric vehicles (EVs) are set to boom from 126 thousand in 2017 to 200 thousand this year. While this is obviously good news, what worries Brussels is that more than half of the batteries that power them are being made in China. Keen not to lose out in the fast rising industry, the EU set to join the global race for battery cell production and invite the auto, chemical, and engineering executives to the newly launched (October 11, 2017) EU Battery Alliance, by many also called the “Airbus of batteries.”
According to the EU executives, the market for batteries could reach EUR 250 billion annually as promptly as in 2025. Europe’s share of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) demand is expected to amount to 200 GWh (and 600 GWh globally), thus the lack of a domestic EU’s cell manufacturing base is seen as a weakness by the European Commission (EC), which during the second meeting of the Alliance (February 12, 2018) urged EU industry to act fast — and collectively — to overcome what it sees as a competitive disadvantage.
The EC is currently working on a specific roadmap and details on the EU funding are expected to follow by May. Maroš Šefčovič, EC Vice-President for the Energy Union, estimates that capturing the market would take a required investment of around EUR 10 billion to EUR 20 billion in order to create between 10 and 20 giga factories — large-scale industrial operations for battery production. Thus far, the European Investment Bank inked a new deal with Swedish startup company Northvolt – one of the Alliance members — to finance a production line for LIB technology. Former Tesla executive and Northvolt founder and CEO, Peter Carlsson, said the EUR 52.5 million loan will help to construct a demonstration line at what will become Europe’s largest LIB cell plant. The loan is part of a financial instrument called InnovFin Energy Demonstration Projects designed to facilitate the market uptake of new, innovative low-carbon energy technologies.
Another initiative worth mentioning is Innovative batteries for eVehicles, launched as the fifth of six European Innovation Council (EIC) Horizon Prizes. The EUR 10 million award will be given to an entity or an individual who manages to develop a prototype battery that can power an EV with similar performance in terms of range and charging time as a conventional petrol/diesel powered vehicle. The battery should also be of relatively low cost, durable, safe, and fully recyclable. Additionally, the winning battery should be manufactured from raw materials that are easily found in Europe and be as environmentally friendly as possible. Any dependency on imported or exotic materials like rare earth metals is discouraged. Given all these requirement, designing such a battery will require significant advancement in materials science in Europe. Again, consortia are very much welcomed.
Financial push for EU-based LIB industry and academia to take over a leading role in the development and manufacturing is so significant because batteries can have other useful applications as well. Battery storage can for instance be used to cope with the intermittency of renewable electricity production. Given regulatory changes to pare back incentives for solar in many markets, the idea of combining solar with storage to enable households to make and consume their own power on demand instead of exporting power to the grid is beginning to be an attractive opportunity for customers who are starting to invest in batteries themselves. While not comparable in volume to EV market segment — according to BNEF, energy storage applications should not exceed 10% of the LIBs by 2024 — storage applications are still important for manufacturers in order to diversify and optimize production schedules. To this end, the EC has branded batteries “a key enabler” in its flagship project to establish an Energy Union, saying their development and production play a strategic role in the modernization of the EU industry.
With this acceleration plan in place, the words of Commissioner Šefčovic, who calls for “recharging Europe’s economy with the best, greenest, and cheapest batteries in the world –and most importantly made in Europe” take on a whole new meaning. Even though some Asian suppliers like LG Chem in Poland and Samsung SDI in Hungary are, or soon will be, present on the European soil, there are many potential local candidates for large-scale battery production. Their biggest comparative advantage is the fact that they will be working in diversified partnerships, significantly limiting technological entry barriers. LG’s and Samsung’s know-how is unquestionable given their vast experience in consumer electronics sector, however the top 3 battery cell suppliers: the Japanese Panasonic, the Korean LG Chem, and Samsung SDI, are currently challenged by the Chinese CATL, which was only founded in 2011 and aims to reach an impressive target of 50GWh capacity by 2020. There is therefore no valid argument for Europe not to take up the challenge and outpace the competitors in post-2020 reality.


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Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) has organized fifth Jamdani fair at the National Museum in Dhaka, targeting the Eid-ul-Fitr festival. Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu inaugurated the 10-day exhibition as the chief guest on 29 May where State Minister for Textiles and Jute Mirza Azam was present as the special guest and BSCIC Chairman Mustak Hassan Md. Iftekhar presided over the function.
33 stores and 33 craftsmen from Rupganj, Narayanganj are exhibiting their Jamdani products with various designs and patterns. The total budget of the fair was 600,000TK. The price of Jamdani saree at the fair is from Tk 3,000 to Tk 225,000, said BSCIC Deputy Manager Nasima Akter.
Most consumers are buying sarees from Tk 10,000 to 15,000, said Rokeya Begum, Quality control officer of BSCIC. The price is comparatively reasonable at the fair, said a visitor. On the first day of the fair, sales were 174,000 TK and on 6 June, sales went up to 7,400,000 Tk.
Nasima Akter of BSCIC said, “Their targeted sales will be 1 crore by the end of the fair.” According to a salesperson, the sales would go up if they could run the stores after iftar because most of the consumers can have their free time after Iftar. We are also facing another problem like advertisement of the event, he added.
Nasima Akter said, “BSCIC will organize Jamdani Fair every year for Eid purpose and from next year we will extend the duration of the stores but the advertisement issue have to be solved by the media of Bangladesh.”
Jamdani is a traditional clothing of the Bangladesh and Jamdani has been recognized as a Geographical Indication (GI) product of Bangladesh by the Department of Patents, Designs, and Trademarks (DPDT) by UNESCO in 2016.
The raw material of Jamdani is silk and cotton, it is purely silk or cotton or mix material. India is the most competitive producer of Jamdani for Bangladesh. However, India mostly produces Jamdani by power loom and Bangladeshi weavers mostly use handlooms.
Rokeya Begum said, “Jamdani of India is little shiny so most the consumer thinks Indian Jamdani is better but quality and design of Jamdani in Bangladesh is better than India.”
She also said, “The quality of Jamdani can be easily measured by experience. If the design of Jamdani is forced and it loses some yarn from the cloth, then the quality of the Jamdani is not good.”
This year in Jamdani fair weavers displayed many types of Jamdani products like Shaplaphul, Angurlota, Moyurpachpar, Baghnoli, Korola, Dublajal, Saburga, Bolihar, Tersa, Jolpar, Pannahajar, Korola, Kolmilota, Chandrapar, and Jhumka. Weavers work weeks to months to weave a Jamdani saree. BSCIC pays the weavers in advance so that weavers can work with their suitable condition.
BSCIC Deputy Manager Nasima Akter said that Government is working for the betterment of Jamdani. She also informed that in near future they would take three steps to promote the products:
- Suitable market plan to make the Jamdani exportable
- 63 weavers will be certified in Narayanganj BSCIC.
- An innovative brand or logo will be created for Bangladeshi Jamdani


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The Countryside Alliance Awards are back!
The Countryside Alliance Awards celebrate rural businesses that go the extra mile, support their local economy and are the unsung heroes in every community.
You can vote for your favourite rural businesses here.
It's down to the general public to nominate their favourite rural businesses and put them forward to be considered for a prestigious Countryside Alliance Award.
The applicants are judged on a range of criteria including their passion and commitment, sense of community, championing local food and the energy and diversity of their business.
The National winners will be announced 17th May 2023.
Being nominated for the Countryside Alliance Awards can have a real impact on rural businesses. Most importantly, those businesses which go on to become finalists or champions will receive regional and national recognition, strengthening the reputation of their brand.
Nominating in the Countryside Alliance Awards is a chance to celebrate the huge impact rural businesses have on communities and help them build for even more success in the future.
Last year's winners
Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
“I know the importance of a thriving rural economy. Butchers, farm shops, pubs, hotels, and post offices are the lifeblood of North Yorkshire’s economy – as they are for rural communities across the country.
I am a supporter of the Countryside Alliance Awards and was incredibly proud last year when my local, the Exelby Green Dragon Community pub, won the ‘highly commended pub’ title.”


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Paris, FRANCE - May 18, 2022 - Today, at the first-ever Shadow Spotlight keynote, cloud-computing specialist SHADOW detailed its strategic vision for the coming years and delivered on promises made to its community.
Now a global cloud-computing company chaired by Octave Klaba, OVHcloud founder, SHADOW positions itself as the definitive cloud platform for gamers and creatives with this re-launch.
SHADOW's original product launched in 2016 offering the aim of allowing all individuals to enjoy the power of a high-end PC within the cloud. The revamped Shadow subscription service features an updated plan: while the starting price remains $29,99 per month, we now offer a brand-new Power Upgrade, available for an additional $14,99.
This new upgrade will help realize SHADOW's plan to introduce and sustain a more complete and adaptable offering, suited to everyone's needs, offering new technology at the best price. SHADOW strives to keep its promise: to democratize access to a PC with the latest components for as many people as possible, via the cloud, without needing to purchase a physical device.
So, what will be the configuration of the Power Upgrade?
- An AMD EPYC™ 7543P CPU with 4 cores and 8 threads
- The power of a high-end GPU, ranging from: - NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ 3070-class - NVIDIA’s equivalent graphic cards tailored for professionals - AMD’s latest RDNA 2 based GPUs, including the AMD Radeon™ PRO V620 GPU designed for cloud-computing and gaming
- 16 GB of RAM
The model of GPU included in specific Power Upgrade configurations will vary based on local data-center pick. Shadow will feature for the first time AMD EPYC™ processors and AMD’s latest RDNA 2 GPUs running innovative cloud streaming software solutions as part of its offerings. Details regarding GPU territorial availability are forthcoming.
Shadow’s Power Upgrade will be available for pre-order this summer, and globally available* this fall. An Early Access period will also be available for selected users ahead of general availability, for which details will be shared soon. Users can already register to be notified when the pre-orders go live in the coming weeks by following this link.
In addition to the availability of the Power Upgrade, the Shadow base offer continues to benefit from new features that expand or enhance the experience. SHADOW recently released dual and remote screen updates, enhanced colors with 4:4:4 chroma subsampling**, and the release of Shadow VR in Early Access, the first-ever VR experience entirely powered by the cloud. Today, we also unveiled its new look, and the redesign of its overlay interface, offering an even more intuitive and responsive experience.
Our Shadow cloud-based computer also has the added benefit of an embedded 1Gbps fiber connection. And finally, users can also add extra-storage options, easily upgradable up to 2 TB.
“At SHADOW, we believe that cloud technologies have the potential to bring technological freedom to all,” declared Éric Sèle, CEO at SHADOW. “That's why today, we're very happy to introduce a new milestone for our Shadow service, with our Power Upgrade”.
“We're very proud of this new Power Upgrade and the other updates we’ve made to our cloud computing services, making it the perfect fit for demanding users and creators, and of course, gamers looking for even better performance” explained Stéphane Héliot, Co-Founder and Deputy CEO at SHADOW.
“It is with excitement that we start a great new cooperation with Shadow, supporting them both with our CPU and GPU lines in a powerful package. This is an important step in accelerating their technological and geographic development projects”, said Olivier Suinat, CVP Global Sales at AMD.
SHADOW also proudly unveiled today that the base Shadow subscription plan and its Power Upgrade will be available soon in new territories, including Canada and Austria, this fall. Users in these territories will be able to enjoy SHADOW’s industry-leading cloud-computing features. Shadow availability in additional key territories will be announced in the coming months.
At this time, SHADOW’s network of data-centers is composed of eight units, located in France, Germany, the United States and Canada. More openings are planned in the coming months.
We are also delivering our expertise to major gaming companies. These past three years, SHADOW has been for instance working to help the international game publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. Europe develop solutions to unveil games like Elden Ring to journalists and creators in a safe and stable environment, from the cloud. We will continue doing so, and much more, for their future titles, and for other players in the gaming industry, and beyond.
SHADOW’s global reboot has just started, and we can’t wait to update the community with more details in the coming weeks and months. 2022 will be, and is already, a massive year for SHADOW. Stay tuned for additional news soon!
For more information on everything SHADOW has announced today, beyond gaming, please check our global press release.
* while stocks last
**Available only on NVIDIA configurations
Shadow delivers state-of-the-art cloud computing experience to consumers and professionals. It developed the first ever high-end cloud PC to play, create and work on any device. Shadow has more than 150 employees based in Europe and North America. Join us at www.shadow.tech.
For more than 50 years AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics and visualization technologies ― the building blocks for gaming, immersive platforms and the data center. Hundreds of millions of consumers, leading Fortune 500 businesses and cutting-edge scientific research facilities around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work and play. AMD employees around the world are focused on building great products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.
© 2022 Advances Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, EPYC, Radeon, RDNA, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other product names used in this publication are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective companies.
About Bandai Namco Europe S.A.S.
Bandai Namco Europe S.A.S. is a leading global publisher and developer of entertainment content for platforms including, but not limited to, all major video game consoles and PC.
Bandai Namco Europe is producing intellectual property for a global audience, and is building its reputation with franchises such as LITTLE NIGHTMARES™, PARK BEYOND™, and the upcoming UNKNOWN 9™ Awakening - developed by the recently acquired Reflector Entertainment based in Montreal, QC.
Bandai Namco Europe serves as the Headquarters of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. for mainland Europe, which is known for creating and publishing many of the Toy & Entertainment industry’s top franchises, including PAC-MAN™, TAMAGOTCHI™, GUNDAM™, TEKKEN™ and DARK SOULS™.
For more information, please visit www.bandainamcoent.eu
ELDEN RING™ & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. / ©2022 FromSoftware, Inc.


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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 17 : 23-Oct-20
Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany has revealed that the pay-TV group’s Kayo streaming service will offer some content via a ‘freemium’ model from early 2021. Consumers will be able to access a range of Kayo content without a subscription, including some Supercars races. Foxtel recently secured a new five-year broadcasting rights deal for the Supercars championship.
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, SUPERCARS


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'Trade war' talk rumbles in US over Japan imports
The phrase worries economists and government officials. Trade wars can raise prices. They can reduce the number of jobs. And they can protect inefficient industries and slow economic progress.
Yet the talk of a possible trade war involving the US, Europe, and Japan is growing.
This week, US officials are discussing possible actions to correct a severe imbalance in US-Japan trade. The recession and growing unemployment, especially in the America's auto-building Midwest, make the issue even more urgent.
Officials are playing down the crisis. US trade administrator William Brock concedes officials have discussed ''a number of options (against the Japanese).'' But he adds:
''I would not put any great weight on barriers on their products. It would be very self defeating. Our goal is to open their markets -- not close ours.''
Yet there is known to be great disappointment in Washington at recent trade concessions offered by Japan. The concessions, it is felt, fell far short of what is needed to open Japanese markets to US products.
Examples of increasing tensions between the US and its Japanese and European trading partners include:
* The chairman of Ford Motor Company Feb. 10 complained about Japan's 22 percent share of the US new car market, despite recent curbs on imports.
* A steel salesman for the Japanese-based Mitsui & Co. (USA) was indicted Feb. 9 as part of a federal investigation into alleged violations of American import laws.
* Ending two days of talks Feb. 9, European and American trade officials say rising unemployment on both sides of the Atlantic is forcing diplomats to work harder to avoid an ''insane'' trade war. President Reagan is scheduled to attend an top level economic summit at Versailles in France, in June with West European officials.
Last year, the Japanese enjoyed an $18 billion trade surplus with the US and an $11 billion surplus with Western Europe. US officials complain that in large part those surpluses results from a tightly knit set of import policies and government regulations that erect barriers to the sale of US manufactured goods and services.
On Jan. 30, the Japanese announced nearly 70 steps it was going to to take to open their traditionally sheltered domestic markets to more foreign business. But the White House says those steps do not affect trade in agricultural goods, banking, insurance, engineering, and many other areas of trade outside that for merchandise.


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Google says mobile adverts that are not used responsibly and cover a large portion of content will b...
Google to ease mobile pop-up frustration
Blue Label joint-CEO Brett Levy says the Cell C deal is "all on track" despite a few hiccups in the ...
Blue Label-Cell C deal 'on track'
Minister Malusi Gigaba hopes to conclude partnerships with banks to roll out the online application ...
Online smart ID applications open to all
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Job cuts hit Dimension Data


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Apertus' open source Axiom 4K camera is nearing its beta release, and will be available through a crowdfunding campaign...at cost. Apertus Chairman and Product Manager Sebastian Pichelhofer answers our questions.
Most smartphones now have sensors that are around or above 4K in resolution, but not many of them claim to be able to capture 4K video. Samsung's Galaxy Note III looks set to do this, though, according to various rumours
Curved screens are shaping up as a key differentiator between top and lower tier television brands, especially those jumping in the race to put an UltraHD television in your home. Sony is the latest to follow the curve, introducing its first (less) curved line of 4K UHD televisions.
Phil Rhodes wonders what happens now that the best digital camera costs less than the best film camera ever did.


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The supermarket giant says the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS will be available to Tesco customers from just £20 a month, the lowest monthly contract price in the UK market.
Tesco Mobile will also break traditional 18 and 24 month contracts by offering it on a 12 month contract in the UK, though the phone will not be offered free on this basis. Customers will have to pay £60 a month to receive the handset for free on a 24-month basis.
Lance Batchelor, chief executive officer of Tesco Mobile and Tesco Telecoms, says:
“iPhone is now available and affordable for all, with the best deals in the UK market. This is a fantastic announcement for us and we’re delighted to make iPhone available to our customers. It shows what a serious player in the mobile market Tesco Mobile has become.”
Tesco says that with 42 million shopping visitors a week in Tesco stores, it expects consumer demand to be extremely high. The phone will be available in Tesco Phone Shops and from the very popular Tesco Direct website.
The supermarket announced it was to sell the iPhone last month.
O2 lost its UK exclusivity to the iPhone this year and Orange and Vodafone immediately revealed plans to launch the handset. Orange launched the phone the day after the exclusivity ended while Vodafone is waiting till the new year for its launch.


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Workers of a Philippine garments factory supplying to Costco, Disney and Korean brands started protests today against a planned shutdown. The factory Sein Together Philippines will close temporarily for one month by end of September due to alleged lack of orders. However, the workers charge that the orders are being shifted to other factories and the shutdown is meant to harass union members into accepting separation.
In a memo announcing the shutdown, management also offered separation to workers. Since then, workers have observed bundles of textile being trucked out of the Sein Together warehouse. It is suspected that the raw materials and the orders have been shifted to Sein Together’s sister company S&S and another Korean-owned factory called Do First.
The illegal shutdown is just the latest in a series of attempts by management to subvert the workers’ freedom of association. When the union was formed early this year, suspected leaders were transferred to a single production line to separate them from other workers. Then the factory was also closed temporarily in April. Management personnel started a whispering campaign that the factory will close down if the union proceeds. Management further convened several meetings of workers to discuss the alleged drawbacks of a union.
The workers union of Sein Together has filed a complaint at the Labor Department for illegal shutdown. The company did not attend the hearing called by the Labor Department last Monday. To coincide with another hearing today, workers are wearing red ribbons to symbolize their opposition to the planned shutdown and union repression. The union is calling on the company to stop transferring the orders to other factories and to remain in operation.
Sein Together Philippines is located in the Cavite Economic Zone. It is a subsidiary of the Korean apparel company Sein Together Co. Ltd. Aside from Costco and Disney, Sein Together Philippines also supplies to Crocodile and Korean brands Homeplus, Daiz and Jaju. ###


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Weekly Industry News Round-Up
Apple self-driving cars getting into crashes, Google spying on what you do online and offline and much more. Keep up to date with Bright Design’s Tuesday News Day.
Apple’s self-crashing car
Over the past decade, we have seen the progress of self-driving cars – with the largest tech and car companies competing to be the first company to successfully launch a self-driving car to the public.
Coding a system that can work seamlessly with our complex rules and driving habits is no easy task to complete. Like with all new technological advancements, there will be issues and tweaks before the technology is fully ready for the public. Over the past week, we have noticed that major news outlets have focused on a small collision with an Apple’s self-driving Lexus RX450h. The incident involved a 2016 Nissan Leaf colliding into the rear of the self-driving vehicle at 15mph. The Nissan, which was operated by a human, collided with the self-driving car whilst it was waiting to merge onto the Lawrence Expressway.
We’re not sure why such focus has been driven towards a crash which was the result of human error. We can see the potential for self-driving cars to be used as a great service in human transport. Especially in public transport such as taxis, buses and trains (and maybe even planes?) and we can see that self-driving car technology is already impacting the latest cars leaving the showroom; features such as self-parking, cruise control and automatic breaks. However, self-driving cars probably won’t make the everyday regular driving car obsolete.
Is Google expanding into offline tracking too?
It’s now becoming common knowledge that the major tech companies are tracking everything you do online. They track everything from what music you’re listening to, those shoes you want, that car you dream of but can’t afford and even what everyone else in the family searches for.
One of the major tech companies that do this is Google, we’ve reported on what Google tracks before, and if you would like to see those articles check out our other Tuesday News Day posts. But recently it seems that Google is taking the leap from online tracking to offline tracking. Recently, Google has acquired Mastercard credit card data in the US, this means that Google not only holds data about what you do and buy online but also mean that they now have access to what you buy using your Mastercard credit card in stores.
So, what does this mean for those with Mastercard credit cards? Well if you thought that your data was private by not purchasing online and only in stores, think again. One of the largest tech companies now has all the information about what you purchase and where you purchase it from. This means that Google can now tailor ads towards you based on your purchase history.
Among many health campaigns a brand new movement has been circulating the internet (ironically on social media sites) about the health concerns of social media. The movement is based upon getting young users to cut down on the amount of time they spend on their social media accounts – including platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube.
The initiative follows the likes of other health campaigns like Stoptober and Dry January, and has been coined Scroll Free September. The movement has come at a time when the largest social media platforms are taking steps to show users how much time they spend on their platforms.
We don’t see the harm in trying to put the phone down for a couple of hours to do something else, (especially me with easily 30 hours of YouTube every week) but we think that going ‘cold-turkey’ on social media is going to be too much for the 2000 people who have pledged to the social media boycott.
When we think of social media and social media addiction, we tend to think of the younger generation. Admittedly I do too, and you wouldn’t be wrong to think the same. With the growth in popularity of social media alongside the growth of today’s younger generation, it would only make sense that if any generation was to be the most addicted to social media, it would be today’s teenagers.
However, a new study has been published which shows a surprising result. The study showed that Generation X (people aged 35-49) spend the most time on social media compared to every other generation group. This has now made a call for a new study that will delve deep into the effects that social media has on those in older generation categories.
Over the past week, Facebook has launched their brand new feature on their social media platform, Facebook Watch. The new feature is set to be a rival for the likes of YouTube, Netflix and Amazon Prime. Facebook Watch has already uploaded hours of content for users to view.
Facebook has stated that they expect to produce $2bn (roughly £1.55bn) worth of content on their video platform. Now we know that $2bn sounds like a lot of money to invest, and it is! But it doesn’t quite scale up to the large investments made by the competition. Netflix expects to invest $8bn by the end of 2018 just in creating original content alone.
Honestly, I can only see Facebook Watch being sustainable if Facebook can tempt content creators from YouTube to cross over and start to create regular content for Facebook.
Many people who upload PDF files onto their websites don’t think that there is an actual SEO value that the file can have on their site. Google seems to have noticed this and have now taken steps to convert PDF files into HTML.
Now we should make it clear that this change also includes similar document types of PDF (documents like Microsoft Word, Excel and even images). The reason for this change? Google’s John Mueller said that by converting the documents into HTML, it will allow the Google algorithm to better index the files. John admitted that Google is “pretty slow when it comes to reindexing PDF documents”. So, the change from PDF to HTML should make reindexing these documents much more consistent.
Google sticky header
If you’re on the internet a lot, then you will have come across many minor tweaks and experiments in the Google search engine. Whether it’s visual changes or something new in the search engine results page.
The latest tests from Google seem to be a sticky header. What do I mean by a sticky header though? Well, you’ll notice that when you begin to scroll down the search engine results page, the header will stay on your screen, this means that you can then search a new query without having to scroll back up to the top of the page. The small change to the Google search engine seems to just be a simple ‘quality of life’ change but anything that makes searching the internet that much easier is always a great thing.
The big 1-0 for Google Chrome!
Well, it’s finally here, Google Chrome has become 10 years old. Google’s own internet web browser has exploded into popularity since its inception and currently easily beats all competition for browser popularity. In fact, Google Chrome is so popular that it currently maintains 60% of the browser market share.
So, since Google Chrome is now a decade old, we wanted to see what else was happening back in 2008. Here are our top picks:
Flexible Display Screens
GPS (Global Positioning System)
Video Capable SLRs
Apple App Store
Back in 2008 when Google released their web browser, not many people thought that Google Chrome would become the world’s leading internet web browser.
Firefox tracker block
In the news, we always hear about which tech company is keeping personal data on their clients, and which companies have sold and made deals to exchange their customers’ data. It seems that no matter where you go, your data will be used and sold to the highest bidder.
However, the internet browser Firefox has decided to make their customers’ data a part of their ethical business practices. Mozilla is marketing the Firefox browser as the internet browser of choice for those who value their privacy. They are doing this by limiting some tracking tools from collecting your personal online data.
Mozilla is planning to implement controls in order to give their users more choice in where and how their data can be tracked by the tracking tools. This will not only help protect their users but can also be what pushes Firefox’s popularity.
Internet browser market share
The Windows operating system is one of the easiest to use and, some may claim, the best operating system that is available today. With Microsoft’s latest version of Windows gaining further popularity as more and more devices switch over from their old operating systems to Windows 10.
But things are not looking all great for Microsoft, as nearly 2/3 of Windows 10 users opt for using Google Chrome as their internet browser of choice. Google Chrome’s growth comes at Microsoft’s expense as their own internet browsers (Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge) seem to only cover 15% of the internet browser market share.
If Microsoft Edge doesn’t pick up more market share soon we can see that the browser could become another failed attempt at making an internet web browser that could compete with Google Chrome.
Trump vs. tech
With over 54.2 million followers, you may have heard about a man called Donald Trump. Apparently, he’s important in America? Anyway, the US President has preached on Twitter about how the leading tech companies are working against him.
The President tweeted a video showing multiple years where Google had promoted Obama’s State of The Union on the homepage of their search engine. The video then shows two dates when Donald Trump gave similar addresses, which weren’t highlighted on the homepage. Along with the video, the President tweeted out the hashtag #StopTheBias.
Google has responded to these allegations, by saying that they do not promote any President’s first address on their homepage. This means that neither Obama or Trump were promoted by Google. After Google’s response, Trump then spent his time arguing with Google for only displaying negative results when typing ‘Trump news’ into the search engine – claiming that the overwhelming amount of negative news about him that appears is evidence that the results are being manipulated to paint him in a bad light.


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Bakers Journal This Month - October 30, 2017
In today’s episode of Bakers Journal This Week, bakery innovation is on display at Host Milano, Mintel predicts four key North American consumer trends and take a sneak peek inside the November edition of Bakers Journal.
The best chocolate chip cookie in Toronto is…Toronto’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Off (CCCO2018) held Sunday, July 8…
Toronto's charity chocolate chip cookie competitionSunday, July 8 2018, 36 chefs from Toronto will participate…
Study finds perception of cleanliness can boost salesResearchers at the University of Missouri (MU) have found that…
New, local-food merchants to populate upscale food marketOxford Properties announced that it will unveil Market & Co.,…
Bakery Showcase 2019 Trade Show & Conference
May 5-6, 2019


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We tend to focus on the fact that in the year 2050 we will have to feed 10 billion human beings on this planet but we won’t be the only species we have to worry about. We are currently witnessing an unprecedented loss of biodiversity as climate change makes this planet inhospitable for all species. We need to find a way to feed not just ourselves but also ensure other species thrive on Earth without being too extractive from nature. It is clear that biotech is going to be key to this transformation, and will rule the world just as software did for the last few decades. And there are a few people building the future of food at the vanguard of this development.
Our guest this week is one of the most prolific investors, and early stage funders of numerous biotech companies in the alternative protein space. Ryan Bethencourt is the CEO of Wild Earth that makes pet food from fermentation-based protein. He is also a partner at Babel Ventures, an early stage consumer biotech venture capital fund. As the co-founder, and CEO of incubators, and seed funds like IndieBio (an SOS Ventures backed accelerator, and early stage seed fund), Berkeley Bio Labs, a startup incubator, and sector builder, as well as the head of life sciences at the XPRIZE foundation, Ryan has funded well over a 100 companies. The list includes notable alternative protein companies like Shiok Meats, Memphis Meats, New Wave Foods, Clara Foods, Finless Foods as well as Mumbai’s plant-based egg company, Evo Foods. Ryan’s aim overlaps with ours at GFI India - we want to positively impact the lives of billions of people, and animals!
Why Wild Earth Cofounder Ryan Bethencourt Is Applying The Science Of 'Vegan Biohacking' To Pet Food, Forbes.
Eat For The Planet #71 - Ryan Bethencourt: Reinventing Pet Food and Building the Post-Animal Bio Economy, EFTP.
This biotech startup is growing protein-rich vegan pet food in a lab, FastCompany
Shiok Meats takes the cultured meat revolution to the seafood aisle with plans for cultured shrimp, TechCrunch.
Tour the San Francisco lab that’s growing meat in a petri dish, CNBC
A foodtech EVO-lution: this startup is set to disrupt India’s plant-based food market with its ‘clean’ egg substitute, YourStory
For Further Reading:
Ryan Bethencourt’s writing on Medium.
Ryan’s videos on the Singularity University page.
What does it take to create a conducive environment for scale-up of new protein companies? Future of Protein Summit, YouTube Channel.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.


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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung announced today that possible closer cooperation between the Bavarian automaker and Daimler is possible in the near feature. After this announcement, BMW shares rose 2 percent.
Commerzbank analyst Daniel Schwarz said: “According to our calculations, a cooperation in purchasing, r&d and financial services could generate annual cost savings of up to 3 billion euros or 1.10 euros per Daimler share and 1.60 euros per BMW share,”
“We believe that BMW is the more efficient company with regard to purchasing compared to [Daimler’s] Mercedes,” Schwarz said, adding that Daimler stands to gain more from the cooperation.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung article presents a plan between BMW and Mercedes to share research and manufacturing as they seek ways to cut costs during the economic downturn.


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One in 10 advisers are looking to exit the industry because of the Consumer Duty as more than a third say regulations are harming their mental health, new research shows.
A CoreData study of 267 UK financial advisers conducted in August found more than one in 10 (11%) are considering leaving the industry or retiring because of the FCA’s Consumer Duty. In addition, 35% think the new rules will see more advisers leave the sector than under the Retail Distribution Review (RDR).
Many advisers exited the industry in the run-up to the RDR, which came into effect at the end of 2012.The study shows nearly a quarter (23%) of advisers think the Consumer Duty, which requires firms to deliver good outcomes for retail customers, will reshape the financial advice industry more than RDR.
But almost half (46%) think the new regulation, which came into force on 31 July, is an unnecessary burden for advisers and will do more harm than good. Less than one in five (18%) disagree.
Furthermore, advisers point to the Consumer Duty (22%) and volatile markets (23%) as the biggest challenges facing their businesses over the next 12 months. Interest rates rises (17%), inflation (13%) and the cost-of-living crisis (8%) are seen as lesser challenges.
The cost of complying with the Consumer Duty is a key concern. More than seven in 10 (72%) advisers say the regulation will increase their business costs. And almost three in 10 (28%) say their firm has had to outsource parts of Consumer Duty regulatory compliance.
Amid expectations of higher business costs, advisers think the Consumer Duty will make advice more inaccessible. Six in 10 (60%) say the regulation will increase advice fees and widen the advice gap. And three-quarters (75%) think it will make it harder for their firm to serve lower value clients. More advisers focused on mass market clients think the Consumer Duty will expand the advice gap (64%) and render it more difficult to serve less wealthy clients (82%).
The research also shines light on how regulatory pressures are affecting advisers’ mental health and job performance. Nearly two-thirds (63%) say regulations are impacting their ability to do their job. And over a third (35%) say regulations are negatively impacting their mental health. This increases to more than half (52%) of mass affluent advisers.
“Our study shows the regulatory burden is exacting a heavy toll on both advice businesses and advisers’ mental health,” said Andrew Inwood, founder and principal of CoreData. “It is also concerning that advisers expect a regulatory-fuelled expansion of the advice gap. Rules should be geared towards making advice more, rather than less, accessible and helping advisers serve less wealthy clients.”


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Windows 10 and Pocket Minecraft players will soon be able to use pistons, ride pigs and more
Mojang plans to release updates to the Windows 10 and Pocket versions of Minecraft soon that will enable players to use pistons in their sandbox worlds.
Xbox Wire stated:
Mojang has posted a change log of what will be included in the update. Among the new additions will be observer blocks, which will detect changes in neighboring blocks. There will also be pig riding, husk zombies in the desert and more.
Download the Minecraft Windows 10 Edition Beta ($9.99)
Download Minecraft Pocket Edition from the Windows Store ($6.99)
Get the Windows Central Newsletter
All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.


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18 Feb 2019
Alumnus praises students for "bringing fresh insight" to business
A group of first-year students at Loughborough University School of Business and Economics (SBE) have been praised for their work analysing the UK’s leading Oriental grocer, Wing Yip, whose Managing Director is an alumni.
The company was founded by Mr Wing Yip OBE in 1970, after he first came to the UK from Hong Kong in 1959 with just £10 in his pocket. It is now the UK’s largest oriental grocer with an annual turnover of over £120 million and four wholesale stores.
The family business is now managed by his sons Albert, David and alumnus, Brian Yip, who graduated in 1997 with a BSc in Banking and Finance from the SBE. Two of Brian’s cousins also work in the business, one of whom preceded Brian as the company’s Managing Director.
In October, the Wing Yip company signed an agreement with the SBE to sponsor the flagship Introduction to Retail Management module, which introduces 50-60 first year BSc Business and Economics undergraduates to retailing each year.
The module specifically includes a ‘Live case project’ of Wing Yip retail, which features a student field trip to their head office in Birmingham. The first visit in October 2018 included a company presentation on its retail functions, followed by a tour of Wing Yip operations.
Students then undertook a six-week collaborative research project and individual coursework assignment, with the project’s findings presented to Wing Yip’s Board of Directors earlier this month.
Brian praised the students, commenting that the presentations “far exceeded all our expectations. The Loughborough students bring a fresh insight to our business, which is important in the digital era. We look forward to building on the success of these first projects over the next two years.”
As well as the module sponsorship, the company is launching five placement roles for students from the School of Business and Economics. In addition, the Wing Yip Foundation has funded three scholarships for undergraduate students in the School of Business and Economics. These scholarships, worth £9,000 each, are awarded to talented students from less advantaged backgrounds who have secured high grades at A-Level.
© 2020 Loughborough University. All rights reserved.


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Weekly wine garden opens Wednesday in Center City
The Circle Wine Garden is holding its first weekly event Wednesday, Aug. 8 in Midland's Center City.
The wine garden will operate in front of the portion of Ashman Circle that houses Smith's of Midland Flowers and Gifts, Plaid Giraffe Children's Boutique, LaZeez Indian restaurant, A2Z Mart, Pop-Pop's Gourmet Popcorn, Gringrich Piano's and Mid-Town Buy Back Center.
For every Wednesday until Sept. 26, the Circle Wine Garden will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. A portion of Ashman Circle from North Saginaw Road to Ashman Street will be barricaded and closed for the event.
"I'm nervously expecting a lot of people to come to the first one, because it's new and different," said Jim Barker, a wine educator and founder of the new wine garden.
The first event was planned for Aug. 1, but got delayed while Barker secured a liquor license.
Wine Garden events are meant to be kid-friendly events, Barker explained, and will be free for anyone to attend. A range of wine and craft beer can be sampled by the ounce with tasting tickets, or people can buy wine by the glass for $5 or craft beer by the bottle for $5.
Tasting tickets will cost $10 for six tickets, or $15 for 10 tickets. Each tasting ticket is worth a 1 ounce sample of wine or 2 ounces sample of craft beer.
Barker plans on partnering with local food trucks to come to the wine gardens, as well as LaZeez Indian Restaurant setting up a serving table outside of their restaurant.
For the first event on Aug. 8, there will be eight different wines and eight different craft beer options. Midland Burger Co. will be there for hungry wine drinkers, and LaZeez plans on offering appetizers and a chicken dish.
"It will be a nice range of wines from around the world, and different grape varietals to give people a chance to try what the world has to offer," Barker said. "I want to expose people to new wines they're not used to that are super exciting."
Liquor sales from all Circle Wine Garden events will benefit Midland Recyclers. Operational costs are being footed mostly by Barker with some support from the Center City District for marketing and a GoFundMe Barker is creating.
Barker plans on bringing music and other entertainment to events throughout the summer.
More information about future wine garden events can be found on on the Circle Wine Garden Facebook event.
Barker is a Midland native, and recently moved back to the area from Washington D.C., where he ran a wine and beer nonprofit for almost 18 years, did high-end wine certification, taught wine and whiskey classes, and facilitated more than 100 community and corporate events per year. Barker has plans to grow Circle Wine Garden to make it bigger next year and hold other wine and beer fundraisers in the community.
Read more: Weekly wine garden coming to Ashman Circle


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Today is the official start date of Banned Books Week 2013.
Celebrating the freedom to read, the American Library Association (ALA) brings attention to the censorship of books in schools and libraries. In support for free speech, readers from across the United States and around the world will demonstrate their support by participating in a Virtual Read-Out of banned and challenged books during Banned Books Week, Sept. 22 – 28.
The Virtual Read-Out is the focus of Banned Books Week, the event features individuals reading from their favorite banned or challenged books. Individuals, universities, libraries and bookstores upload videos to the Banned Books Week YouTube Channel. Contributors are encouraged to share a reading, discuss the significance of their favorite banned book, or mention a local book challenge.
Since the read out began in 2011, more than 1,500 videos have been submitted, including many high profile authors. Sherman Alexie (“Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”), Laurie Halse Anderson (“Speak”), and Khaled Hosseini (“The Kite Runner”) are among those contributing new videos. Bookstores and libraries across the country are already participating in the Virtual Read-Out as well. Bookmans Bookstore (Ariz.) produced the video “Bookmans Does Banned Books”.
For the first time this year, Twitter will help promote the message of Banned Books Week. A party will be held Wednesday, Sept. 25, from noon to 2 p.m., Eastern. Supporters are urged to tweet using the hashtag #bannedbooksweek. More information about the Twitter parties is available on the featured events page.


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Here Are the First Google Pixel Fold Reviews [Roundup]
The new Google Pixel Fold is the company’s first foldable smartphone, that goes up against rival foldable devices from Samsung and is priced at a hefty $1,799 USD ($2,408 CAD roughly).
(Image via The Verge)
Launching in the U.S., the UK, Germany, and Japan, the Google Pixel Fold won’t be releasing in Canada, and will come in two colours with a 48MP rear camera with wide-angle.
It has an innovative tabletop mode that makes for easy selfies and Google says they spent a lot of time engineering its durable 180-degree hinge. The hinge is the most durable foldable says Google.
There are over 50 Google apps optimized for the larger 7.6-inch screen, while app partners such as Disney+ and Netflix have their apps ready for the new display.
Check out the roundup of some of the first Google Pixel Fold reviews below, which aren’t quite impressive, and let us know your thoughts in the comments section:
- The Verge: Google Pixel Fold review: closing the gap
- ArsTechnica: RIP to my Pixel Fold: Dead after four days
- CNET: Google Pixel Fold Review: A Promising Start, but Not Perfect
- Gizmodo: A Folding Phone That Still Has Some Wrinkles to Work Out
- Android Authority: Google Pixel Fold vs Pixel 7 Pro camera comparison: Which is best?
- Engadget: Google Pixel Fold review: The challenger that Samsung needs
- ZDNet: Google Pixel Fold review: A weekend later, I’m nearly sold on the Fold
- 9to5Google: Google Pixel Fold Initial Review: Shockingly good, but is it worth the money?
- NYTimes Wirecutter: An Excellent Foldable Phone With One Big Problem
- Wired: Review: Google Pixel Fold
- Mashable: Google Pixel Fold is a quality first swing at a foldable