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Fed up TxTag customers demand answers at customer service center
AUSTIN, Texas - Angry TxTag customers converged on a customer service center in Austin Tuesday.
They're fed up with billing issues and they demanded some answers.
Back in September, TxDot said TxTag holders wouldn't have those kinds of problems anymore. They were streamlining their billing process but judging from the angry TxTag holders folks who showed up Tuesday, that hasn't happened
Arlene Kuske is just one of dozens of angry TxTag customers still plagued with billing issues
"Through the website, over phone calls, emails and we just spent an hour and twenty minutes in line to finally talk to management," Kuske explains.
Kuske says she received a bill, paid half but didn't see another until seven months later it had ballooned to more than $400. It then doubled and is now in collections.
"$436 to $1000 is what's been accrued since we've been trying to resolve this on an $80 bill," Kuske said.
TxDot wouldn't let us shoot inside the TxTag building but there was no shortage of customers willing to plead their case on-air.
"They are charging me as if it was a third car that they know nothing about," said Stuart McKnight.
McKnight got fed up waiting and just left. He says even though he doesn't owe what the bill says - he may just pay it so he doesn't get penalized
"I've heard the stories about the $30 bill becoming $1000," he said.
Jerry Edgett says he doesn't mind waiting in line, especially because of his last debacle with his tag.
"I learned that when .27 cents turned into $1000 that it's worth taking care of," he said.
Edgett showed up because he was charged by two agencies for the same toll. Unlike most of the frustrated tag holders FOX 7 met, he's leaving victorious
"They took the late charges off my bill and charged me the original one," he said.
TxDot tells us they are transitioning to a new way of generating statements for TxTags and that's why there's a delay on billing and posting charges. They say they did notify customers, it's the delay that's caused the confusion.


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NewsBytes Briefing: Walmart-Microsoft team up for TikTok deal, and more
In the updates since last night, TikTok, the current talk of the town, got Walmart as the latest bidder for its business. The retail giant has partnered with Microsoft to pursue a deal to buy the US assets of the hit video service, in compliance with the US government's sell-or-close order. Notably, Oracle and Netflix are also pursuing a deal. Here are other updates.
Facebook sues developer selling fake likes on Instagram
Facebook on Thursday filed a lawsuit against a US-based man who operated a fake engagement service on Instagram and "used a network of bots and automation software to distribute fake likes, comments, views, and followers." The company also sued a British developer who used malicious software to collect Facebook's user data and failed to comply with the social network's audit requests.
Tesla employee thwarted a major cyber attack
Tesla boss Elon Musk has confirmed that a Russian citizen attempted a ransomware attack against his company. The person (27) contacted a non-American Tesla employee working at the Nevada Gigafactory and offered them $1 million for the job of injecting malware into the car-makers' systems. The employee agreed with the hacker but then informed Tesla and worked with the FBI to get him arrested.
Google brings Duo to Android TV
Days after bringing Chromecast support for Meet, Google has announced its personal video calling app Duo will be coming on Android TV - as a native app. It will be available for testing in the coming weeks and let you have both one-on-one and group calls from the big screen, which should be connected to a microphone and camera.
Other important developments to note
Among other things, LG announced a new air-purifying mask, Activision officially revealed Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War, setting its launch date for November 13, and Google announced revamped Snapshot menu for Assistant to show more relevant information. Twitter, meanwhile, updated its policy to hide 'copypasta' or tweets that have been copied, pasted and tweeted in the same way.
Finally, some COVID-19 related updates
On Thursday, India reported a record 77,000 new coronavirus infections, taking the total cases to 33.84 lakh. The death toll rose to 61,716. As for the vaccine, Trump said US will have a safe and effective shot this year to crush the coronavirus pandemic, while a separate research found that Serum Institute is well positioned to deliver a vaccine to India in Q1 2021.

domain: news


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CashApp has added support for transaction payments through the Bitcoin Lightning Network.
Developed by Block Inc, CashApp is a mobile payment processing app similar to PayPal.
The new feature allows CashApp users to send and receive Bitcoin through its quicker, more efficient layer-2 protocol. Lightning is particularly well suited for small transactions, with near-instant processing times, compared to the minutes or sometimes hours required by the Bitcoin blockchain.
Support for Bitcoin transactions on the Lightning Network was already offered by CashApp, but in a more limited capacity. Users previously had to pay for invoices by scanning Lightning QR codes.
Now, all CashApp transactions using QR codes will default through the Lightning Network unless otherwise specified.
The new feature has a transaction limit of $999 every seven days and is only available to United States customers currently, excluding residents of New York state.
CashApp first introduced Bitcoin transactions in 2018 and it gained popularity in the US and United Kingdom as a prominent Bitcoin payments app. Last year, 81% of the app’s $12.3 billion (£10.7bn) in revenue came from Bitcoin. The app has more than 44 million monthly active users.
Users can deposit $10,000 worth of Bitcoin every seven days and are provided a tax form for in-app accounting purposes. It is also possible to automatically invest a portion or all of one’s direct deposit into Bitcoin by using the “Paid in Bitcoin” feature with no fees. Otherwise, regular transaction fees are typically around 2%.
The Lightning Network currently has around 87,000 payment channels and 4,570 BTC locked in. However, adoption has been somewhat slow, with the number of coins on Lightning representing only a slither of the 19 million BTC currently in circulation.
Want to learn more about blockchain from industry leaders? Check out Blockchain Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California and London.
Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.


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Let's get the obvious out of the way first: the NFL's policy on weed is just plain dumb. Even with the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington, the NFL continues to suspend players (and, in Browner's case, perhaps curtail their careers) for indulging in pot. "The NFL's policy is collectively bargained and will continue to apply in the same manner it has for decades," last year in the aftermath of successful legalization efforts in the home states of the Seahawks and Broncos. "Marijuana remains prohibited under the NFL substance abuse program."
At least seven team owners donated $1 million each to Trump's inaugural committee. But Los Angeles Chargers owner Dean Spanos, cheap jerseys
Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, New York Giants owners John Mara and Steve Tisch, Miami cheap jerseys
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, Tennessee Titans' controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk and San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York were among the league power brokers who issued condemning statements through their clubs.
At any rate, Wendy apparently casts too much magic and cheap nfl jerseys
accidentally summons Ghost Rider, transporting Casper to a heroin soaked puddle in Hell's Kitchen in his place. Casper somehow manages to thwart a bank robber, while Ghost Rider presumably rules the Harvey universe until the two finally switch cheap china jerseys
places again, leaving behind a legion of young Casper fans with a literary shell shocking usually reserved for Watership Down and Old Yeller.
With the popularity of sports jerseys growing dramatically over the past decade, so have the number of fake or counterfeit cheap jerseys china
jerseys being offered as authentic. Unfortunately, counterfeit jerseys are big business. It is estimated that tens of millions of dollars are lost each year to counterfeiters. Legitimate sales are lost, producer's royalties are unpaid, and the sports fans get inferior quality merchandise everybody loses!
"It was pretty bad, most people don't realize how bad it was," Bullough said after cheap china jerseys
Michigan State's pro day last Wednesday. "Playing with a broken shoulder blade isn't fun, but I battled through it. I was productive not as much as I hoped to be, but I did what I could and made it through."
In many respects, the country cheap nhl jerseys
has changed a lot since then partly because of those unpopular demonstrations. What has not changed is that whites generally resent organized efforts by African Americans to raise grievances and seek change. Last year, a Reuters poll found that 63 percent of whites disapproved of NFL players kneeling during the anthem compared with 17 percent of blacks.


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A great white shark so close you could almost touch it. The cacophonous music of Stomp, blasting away at you from every corner. The eruption of Mt. St. Helens, so intense you can feel the earth shake. That’s what you’ll have the chance to experience at this year’s Omnifest at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Thousands of packages that were expected to arrive on Christmas Eve didn’t make it to their destinations. UPS, the world’s largest package delivery service, told CNN that they made a miscalculation, underestimating the number of packages they needed to ship. UPS officials say demand for packages was much higher than they expected, and their system was overwhelmed.
This week’s Excellent Educator is introducing some of the metro’s youngest minds to the world. Four-year-old students in Marie Zurich’s class can speak five languages, including French, Spanish and Chinese.
Imagine stringing up 58,000 Christmas lights on your house. Now imagine doing it with Parkinson’s disease. That’s what one local man does every Christmas, and with all the lights comes a powerful message. Mike Justak was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2004, and in 2010 he started doing a full Christmas light display with the help of neighbors.
It’s something that’s become an annual holiday tradition for many Minnesotan families. Santaland at Macy’s in downtown Minneapolis is spreading the holiday cheer once again this year.
It’s the last weekend for Christmas shopping, and all week long, the WCCO Morning Show team is giving you a look at all sorts of ideas. Well, at least the ones that are on our wish lists. Here is a list of everything our morning team suggests you add to your shopping plans.
Minnesota senators are hoping to learn more about campus crime and security in the wake of several high-profile incidents. The Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee was holding a hearing Tuesday.
You know how sometimes you meet someone and you just want to hug them? That’s what happened when we met this week’s Excellent Educator, Lucy DesLauriers at Redtail Ridge Elementary School in Savage. She is beloved by her students, who call her “Mrs. D.”
Several residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul woke up Thursday with a big headache on their hands after their car got towed. Snow emergencies went into effect Wednesday night after our first winter storm dumped several inches of snow across much of the Twin Cities.
A local scientist is solving some of the country’s biggest secrets on national TV. Scott Wolter is the host of America Unearthed on H-2, and we went inside his lab in Chaska to see how he does what he does.
It’s one of the most family-friendly events of the holiday season, and it kicks off on Friday as the annual Holidazzle parade kicks off in downtown Minneapolis. It’s a bittersweet year as it will be the final season of the Holidazzle in Minneapolis.
This morning, there are tens of thousands of poinsettias waiting to brighten up people’s homes for the holidays. WCCO-TV went inside the greenhouse at Bachman’s for a behind-the-scenes look as the floral experts there are gearing up for the rush.
This holiday season, you can help Minnesota charities while enjoying music from some of the industry’s most popular names. A local staple of the holidays for several years has been the release of the Cities 97 Sampler CD.
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is facing new accusations of child sexual abuse by a priest. Those claims are part of a new lawsuit filed by a Twin Cities man who said he was molested by Father Francis Hoefgen, who had already admitted to sexually abusing children.
All this week at WCCO-TV, we’re highlighting small businesses here in Minnesota. For Tuesday, we’re highlighting a new store at the Mall of America where boys can be boys. J.M. Cremps already has a store west of the Twin Cities in Dassel, but the owners have opened a new store at the Mall of America in Bloomington.


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Dubai stands to gain from international tourists looking to stay for longer periods, according to Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing.
“One of the things that we’ve noticed is that people are taking fewer trips, but making sure that they’re more meaningful and for longer periods of time as well,” said Kazim, during the Travel and Connectivity Business Forum at Expo 2020.
Kazim said tourists had also been showing a strong preference for destinations that cater to different needs and budgets.
“People want a destination that offers a lot more to satisfy their needs for that trip and especially if you’re traveling in a group, you want to make sure that there is something that satisfies everyone’s needs individually,” said Kazim. “Dubai positions itself really well when it comes to the offerings within the hotel industry.”
- Dubai's Palm Jumeirah is rated world’s leading tourism project
- Photos: UAE residents and tourists enjoy visiting the pavilions at Expo 2020 Dubai
- Dubai International Airport welcomes 24m travellers in first 11 months of 2021
- Dubai International beats London Heathrow to remain world’s busiest airport
Needless to say, health measures continue to be a top priority for tourists coming to visit. “People are focusing a lot on the health and safety measures that any city or destination has put in place, and that gives them the confidence to be able to travel, whether it’s for business or even family spending,” said Kazim.
Dubai welcomed 4.88 million visitors between January and October last year, with international visits in October alone crossing the one million mark.
Consequently, room nights sold between the January-October period hit 9.4 million, compared to 7 million in the same period in 2019.
An estimated two million passengers were expected to pass through DXB between December 29, 2021 and January 8, 2022 with average daily traffic exceeding 178,000 travellers. The airport’s Terminal 3 alone was expected to serve more than 1.6 million passengers in the second-half of December.
Relying on private sector
Kazim credits the success of Dubai’s various tourism campaigns to its private sector, which includes hotel operators, travel companies, and bookings websites among others.
“Dubai has been as successful as it has been over the years (due to) the relationship that we’ve been able to establish between the private and public sector,” said Kazim. “We listen to the private sector quite intently, even during the lockdown period - we have regular sessions with the different stakeholders and we are in constant dialogue with them.”
The tourism chief added that during the pandemic period, the private sector invested in the city and showed confidence in Dubai’s ability to overcome the challenges. “They want to know what’s going on and it’s very important for us to engage with them on that level.”


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About a third of shopping centres in Russia are still not open because of restrictions imposed to combat the spread of coronavirus infection COVID-19. This was announced today at a press conference, said Deputy Minister of industry and trade of the Russian Federation Viktor Evtukhov.
According to him, “today, three thousand shopping centers across Russia opened a little over two thousand.” “And that’s just, unfortunately, they have a revenue (revenue of TTS — ed.) has greatly suffered”, — quotes the PRIME Deputy Minister.
At the same time, he assured that the global chain of bankruptcies in the industry have been avoided, including through support measures from the state, notes “Interfax”.
However, the main problem of owners of shopping centers Evtukhov called the debt load, since the construction was not at his own expense. “The problem is that during this closure they begin to significantly change the financial performance, the so-called covenants that respond to the banks, because the borrower falls into a risk zone”, — said the Deputy head of the Ministry of industry and trade.
Recall that in early June it became known that more than half of retail chains in Russia are going this year to close some of their stores because of the crisis caused by the pandemic coronavirus infection COVID-19. Such data the newspaper “Izvestia” has provided to large consulting companies, information was confirmed by representatives of retailers and shopping centers (TC).
moreover, pointed out the publication about the possible closure of some talking points and heads of networks of public catering. As a result, by the end of the year is expected to increase vacant space in the shopping center to 10-12%, it can raise prices on most goods — by 4-15%, experts predicted.
However, they suggest, the closing of unprofitable points — a normal practice, it is not surprising that the crisis ethe process is accelerated.
let’s Add that the Russian economy in February—March 2020 was under the powerful impact of two negative factors — the rapid spread of the pandemic coronavirus infection COVID-19 and its deleterious effect on the global economy and collapse in oil prices. Against this background, the rouble significantly depreciated against the dollar and the Euro. Reacting to the situation, the government and the Bank of Russia adopted several packages of measures to support the economy and citizens.
may 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the end of may 12, a single period of days off, entered March 30, in the fight against COVID-19.
on 2 June Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin reported on the state on the national plan for the recovery of the Russian economy in 2020-2021 years, noting in particular that the cost of the plan will amount to about 5 trillion roubles. June 19, Putin was sent a revised draft of the national plan.


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Yet it's clear that Quick Response codes are being more widely adopted by marketers, which leaves consumers asking, "What are they, and why should I care?"
QR codes are those odd-patterned bar codes (see sample) that are posted on stickers or paper printouts and displayed in a variety of contexts around the metro area.
They look like ink blots but are really a sophisticated bar code that is similar, yet distinguishable, from those on items at the grocery store. They are being used in many settings and in more creative ways every day.
"QR codes can be the bridge between digital and the real world, enabling the consumer to get more information on products and services," says John Hartman, an instructor in social media at Portland State University and a partner at Robot 22, a "transmedia creative agency downtown.
QR codes are appearing in a variety of consumer settings: product labels; posters; online/print advertising; on clothing; and in promotional marketing campaigns. They can convey exclusive offers or simply create a buzz.
The technology has been available since the mid-1990s but has only recently been more widely adopted by marketers. A big reason for the QR surge is that more people are carrying portable bar code scanners in their smartphones.
The evolution and proliferation of the technology means consumers are being exposed more regularly to QR codes. And while they are quickly moving out of the "early adopter" phase for consumers, storefronts haven't jumped on the bandwagon.
A sample survey of three blocks bordering Broadway near Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland showed more stickers in windows touting memberships in business organizations than QR codes. One of the QR codes linked to a pub's current tap list, allowing a consumer to peruse the menu without entering the building.
A local hotel recently used a QR code as part of its marketing campaign. The code linked to a YouTube video that highlighted Portland's colorful culture. Portland's upcoming Fashion Week has a QR code on its poster, linking to an event Web site.
The entertainment industry, especially gaming, movies and TV, is trying new tactics using the technology. A consumer may be able to scan a QR code and receive an offer to view an exclusive piece of multimedia or unlock a gaming feature.
Reading a QR code requires a smartphone with a camera lens and software to interpret the image. It will then either immediately provide the related information or let the user decide if they want do something such as share the code's content.
Creating a QR code is straightforward; a Web search for "generate QR code" produces many results. Then, just enter a URL or text into a form and click once.
-- Jeff Bunch


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As the Star Wars fever in the country heats up in time for the much-awaited release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Globe Telecom held a thanksgiving celebration for bloggers and social media influencers with a galactic theme powered by Globe Platinum Broadband that paved the way for fast and seamless connectivity of up to 1Gbps internet speeds.
Digital icons and mavens gathered at the Luxe Residences in Bonifacio Global City in their Star Wars-inspired attire. Host Issa Litton came in her Princess Leia attire and welcomed the bloggers and influencers and thanked them for their immense support to Globe. Senior Advisor for Consumer Business Dan Horan, who came as a Jedi, recognized the digital community’s contribution in using their blog spaces and social media accounts to amplify the telco’s innovations, offers, and company milestones.
Last week, December 12-13, 2015, with the Galactic Celebration, Globe transformed the Bonifacio High Street Central amphitheater into a big Star Wars playground – from game booths, life-sized displays, to Star Wars-themed fashion and retail items, up on display. Both days were packed with activities that kept everyone entertained for the whole day! The Globe-Star Wars BGC Weekend was open to all Star Wars fans and onlookers alike for free.
Last November, Globe launched its collection of Star Wars digital connectors and accessories including Darth Vader and Storm Trooper car chargers, Star Wars character flash drives, phone cases and power banks that are all exclusively available in Star Wars-themed Globe GEN3 Stores.
At the Galactic Digital Night, Globe also reinforced its new roster of home broadband plans powered by fiber-to-the-home (FFTH) technology, providing customers the fastest fiber connection speeds at home now available at a more affordable price.
The offering of a more aggressive home broadband portfolio also forms part of the telco’s efforts to uplift the state of internet services in the country by giving customers access to a faster internet experience with lower monthly service fees (MSF).
With the new Globe Platinum Broadband Plans, home broadband customers can enjoy a broadband plan with internet speeds of up to 50 Mbps at Plan 2499, 100 Mbps at Plan 3499, 200 Mbps at Plan 4499, 500 Mbps at Plan 7499, and 1 Gbps at Plan 9499. All plans are bundled with free access to Spotify, NBA League Pass, and HOOQ.
Aside from fiber-fast connectivity, Platinum Broadband customers also get access to exclusive perks and privileges such as a dedicated Platinum Relationship Manager, dedicated Platinum Hotline, and Concierge assistance.
To know more about Globe Platinum Broadband Plans, visit tattoo.globe.com.ph. To learn how you can win more Star Wars premium items, visit http://www.globe.com.ph/surf/promos/star-wars/star-wars-everyday.


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Trends in domestic production and imports.
According to the report, “Floriculture and Nursery Crops Situation and Outlook Yearbook,” produced in June 2005 by Andy Jerardo at the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service, American consumption of floriculture crops reached $6 billion (wholesale) in 2004, a 4-percent increase from 2002, primarily due to increased sales of bedding and garden plants.* The report also indicates that per-household consumption of cut flowers increased from $9.18 in 2003 to $10 in 2004 (8.9 percent).
In addition, the quantity of U.S. cut flower imports rose 7 percent in 2004 while the value of those imports rose 16 percent, to a record 64 percent of the U.S. cut flower supply. The value increases were due, in part, to higher prices, some of which was the result of the dollar’s depreciated exchange rate. Only about 36 percent of the U.S. cut flower supply, in value terms, was grown domestically in 2004.
Colombia is, by far, the largest source of U.S. cut flower imports, and Ecuador is the second-largest source. In value, imports from those two countries increased 21 percent and 27 percent, respectively, in 2004. Meanwhile, the value of cut flowers imported from the European Union fell 3 percent.
Shipments of cut roses from Colombia and Ecuador jumped significantly for the second year in a row. These two countries are also exporting more of other cut flowers to the United States, including chrysanthemums and carnations. These imports are largely responsible for the decline in domestic cut flower production.
In 2000, America’s top cut flower crops (imports and domestics combined) were roses, lilies, Gladioli, tulips and Irises, in that order. While most of the top crops remained the same in 2004, some of their numbers changed dramatically, and there was a newcomer to the top crops list: Gerberas.
These changes reflect a continuing shift from traditional crops to specialty products, which is expected to continue. Both American growers and off-shore suppliers are finding new product niches beyond those traditionally dominated by growers in Colombia and Ecuador.
For example, the number of lilies grown domestically increased 27.3 percent over the last four years. And Gerberas showed an impressive increase of 86.3 percent from 2000 to 2004. Tulips also increased nicely during the same period—27.9 percent. While the majority of these crops are grown in California, Washington now boasts 35.8 percent of American tulip production.
* “Floriculture crops” are defined as cut flowers and foliages; potted flowering and foliage plants; and nonwoody ornamental plants, including bedding and garden plants. When nursery and ornamental crops are included—woody-stemmed trees and shrubs, grasses, Christmas trees, etc.—wholesale sales for the floriculture industry totaled $15.7 billion in 2004.
According to Peggy Dillon, communications/PR manager for the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC), off-shore producers, including the South American “powerhouses,” aren’t readily able to replicate these specialty crops. “Gerberas are difficult to produce and require specialized care during the growing cycle,” she explains.
In addition, bulb products are costly to ship from the Netherlands, so America’s bulb flower growers, led by Dutch flower growers with the expertise associated with their native region, can offer comparable products without costly freight.
Meanwhile, flowers dominated by imports show continuing downward production. Domestic rose production was down 40.8 percent from 2000 to 2004, standard carnation production fell a staggering 77.0 percent, Alstroemeria production was down 44.5 percent, and Gladiolus numbers were off 13.1 percent. However, Ms. Dillon says that California’s rose growers are finding niches with high-end and novelty varieties with new traits, such as fragrance, bold colors, etc., to remain competitive.
Florida is the United States’ second-most important cut flower and foliage growing state. The majority of Gladioli and many types of foliages are grown there. Unfortunately, in mid-2004, many of the state’s growers suffered losses due to a pair of devastating hurricanes. While Florida’s production numbers are down somewhat, the industry is expected to bounce back within the next year or two.
Without a doubt, Colombia remains the dominant flower producer impacting U.S. cut flower supplies. Not surprisingly, roses, carnations, spray chrysanthemums and Alstroemerias are among its top crops exported to the United States, and in some cases, the numbers have increased rather dramatically. In the carnation, Alstroemeria and spray chrysanthemum categories, Colombia has established almost complete dominance, providing as much as 95 percent of crop imports.
Among its remaining crops, Colombia records very few decreases from 2000 to 2004, but there were some including Freesias and marguerite daisies. Exports of daisies to the United States have essentially ceased.
Although Colombian growers have begun growing some specialty crops to supply their increasing ready-made bouquet operations as well as exotic crops such as Heliconias and gingers, they likely will continue to focus on the product categories they already dominate.
Another impressive flower producing country, Ecuador makes a close second to Colombia, but, except for roses, growers wisely carved out niches in products that aren’t dominated by its prolific neighbor.
For 2004, Ecuador’s top crops on the U.S. market were roses, Delphiniums, asters, Gypsophila and mixed bouquets. But growers here also handle some specialty crops quite nicely, and it’s realistic to assume that, in these niche areas, Ecuador could soon become a powerhouse on par with Colombia, poised to dominate each of the categories in which its growers excel. Gypsophila is a case in point. In 2000, Ecuador exported 8.3 million bunches of baby’s breath to the United States; by 2004, that number had increased 153 percent, to 20.9 million bunches.
It’s common knowledge that the Netherlands is among the world’s largest and most prolific cut flower producers. But because of added freight expenses, only a limited selection of this country’s vast wealth of cut flowers is available in the United States.
Not surprisingly, tulips lead Holland’s U.S. supplies and accounted, in 2004, for almost 95 percent of tulip imports. While this country’s exquisite roses have declined in recent years, they hold the second position among Netherlands supplies to the United States.
Other cut flowers, especially lilies, Gerberas and Freesias, which round out Holland’s top five in that order, hold much promise, as do Cymbidium orchids. (Dutch blooms accounted for nearly 44 percent of Cymbidium imports in 2004.)
Rokus Hassefras, area manager for the Flower Council of Holland, explains that, in these four crops, Holland’s new, always-inventive varieties and colors continue to fuel demand, and these crops, especially Gerberas and Cymbidiums, should be more prevalent over the next few years. Watch also for snapdragons, which are increasingly in demand.
Recently, Canadian cut flower growers have begun tapping into the American market. Supplies, at this point, are relatively small, but given these growers’ proximity to America, they could soon increase.
In 2004, we imported a total of just 122,000 stems/bunches from Canada. But through early September 2005, we have imported a total of 4.8 million stems/bunches. Canada’s top supplies to the United States are roses, Gerberas and tulips. In the next few years, watch for bulb crops and other enticing materials from this country.
In 2000, Mexico’s top crops shipped to U.S. buyers were roses, standard carnations, Gladioli, Chamaedorea (palm) and leatherleaf. For 2004, Mexico’s shipments of roses and carnations diminished significantly (65.9 percent and 64.5 percent respectively) while supplies of leatherleaf, Gladioli and Delphiniums increased.
Mexico is coming to dominate certain U.S. imports. For example, in 2000, Mexico supplied just 23 percent of our daisy imports, but by the end of 2004, the country commanded some 97 percent. Mexico’s supplies of Gladioli also rose during those four years. Mexican growers are realizing the value of niche crops and should continue to make a strong showing in categories such as Delphiniums, lilies and callas.
In just four short years, this coastal country has increased its cut flower shipments from 93.2 million stems/bunches to 249.3 million—a 167-percent increase. Lilies, callas and Irises are important Costa Rican exports. This country will likely continue to develop its bulb flower crops and foliages.
Since the late 1990s, Chile’s growers have worked to establish themselves as viable producers for the American market. However, given the distances product has to travel to reach our ports, competing with closer suppliers was nearly impossible except in bulb products, which Chile grows during the off season. Growers here continue to make small strides, especially with lilies and tulips.
In addition, in recent years, Chile has produced modest quantities of other cut flowers, including mixed bouquets, Delphiniums, Gerberas, liatrises, lisianthuses and more. And this trend is expected to continue, with growers carving out specialized niches.
Australia and New Zealand
While both of these countries produce some amazing cut flowers, extreme distances to the U.S. market limit their viability here. However, growers in these regions sell a wealth of intriguing indigenous products in the United States, most of which, such as various foliages, waxflowers and other novelties, are not among those tracked by the USDA.
In addition, growers in both nations have recently begun supplying small amounts of orchids, Delphiniums, Lisianthus, lilies and other traditional crops, and growers are hoping to increase these quantities as demand warrants.
Asia and Africa
The selection of growers in these regions has expanded tremendously, as have the crops they’re supplying. From Vietnam and Singapore to Kenya and Zimbabwe, the selection of crops from these continents have expanded tremendously, including Alstroemerias, asters, callas, Delphiniums, Freesias, Lisianthus and much more.
However, the most abundant crop from this region is orchids, most of which is supplied by Thailand. In fact, its 1.5 million Cymbidium blooms and 122.8 million other orchids account for 26.3 percent and 92.3 percent of orchid imports respectively.
And these numbers are significant compared to those of 2000. Thailand produced almost no Cymbidiums for sale to the United States and only 34 million other orchids. In this category, Thailand’s supplies have increased an impressive 72 percent!
Trends in domestic production and imports.


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Video surveillance revenue models are evolving as customers search for advanced data storage and video analytics services. According to global intelligence firm ABI Research, customers will increasingly demand scalable data-centric solutions, creating ample opportunity for cloud providers and driving global cloud data and analytics services revenue in the video surveillance market to US$25 billion in 2030.
“The video surveillance market is experiencing a transformation as more cloud video surveillance systems emerge, diversifying a market that capital expenditure costs have historically dominated,” says Lizzie Stokes, IoT Networks & Services Analyst at ABI Research. “Enterprise companies, lines of business, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are looking to take advantage of surveillance insights and are searching for new storage and analytics service models to ease implementation, drive faster time to market, lower costs, and improve ROI.”
High upfront on-premises installation and integration costs traditionally drove video surveillance market service revenue. Professional services revenue dominated the market, facilitated by System Integrators (SIs) who often design and install customers’ surveillance systems. However, two prominent market trends have led video surveillance users to divert investments away from new camera deployments to cloud data services.
Stokes explains, “First, as video resolutions have improved, data loads have become heavier and more costly to store. At the same time, regulation is driving more firms to save their video footage. These market dynamics have created a demand for scalable and cost-effective cloud data storage solutions. Second, video surveillance users increasingly view video data as untapped business intelligence. Video surveillance cameras are already tracking employee behavior, observing customer actions, and monitoring goods as they journey through the supply chain and the factory floor. Many video surveillance users—enterprises and SMEs—are searching for streamlined cloud video analytics services to mine raw video data for operational insights.” ABI Research


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Microsoft today announced that it will start accepting apps for Windows Store from developers around the world. It is now open for app submissions from all developers – individuals and companies – in over 120 countries. Microsoft has added 82 new app submission markets.
Microsoft also announced a number of additional subscription program offerings for developers. All eligible MSDN subscribers receive a free, one-year Windows Store developer account as part of their MSDN benefits. There are over 1000 apps in Windows Store now and it is expected to grow rapidly as the Store is open now for all developers.
Read more about it here.


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New marketing boss set to drive growth at Poptop
DSW Angelsportfolio businessPoptop, the Newcastle-based company which is the UK’s fastest growing online events booking platform, has appointed Nicole de Vega to the newly-created role of Head of Marketing.‚ÄØ‚ÄØ
Nicole has over 20 years’ marketing experience in the digital technology sector having spent the early part of her career with Sage UK.‚ÄØMore recently she led marketing operations at email marketing firm Communicator, where she helped to grow the business until its acquisition, and latterly at construction specification platform firm NBS, where she helped launch its new cloud-based platform.‚ÄØ‚ÄØ
In her new role, she will be leadingPoptop’sambitious growth plans.Her appointment follows the£615,000 investment in the company by the business angel network DSW Angels)andNorthstarVenturesin December 2018.
Poptop, which allows people planning any type of event to book caterers, entertainers, photographers and other suppliers online, now employsalmost 40people in Newcastle and Kiev, Ukraine and was recently ranked number 17 in theBusinessCloud’sNorth East Tech 50
Poptop’sCEO EugeneShestopalcommented: “Nicole brings a wealth of experiencein technology marketing which will be invaluablein supporting our continued growth in the UK market. I look forward to working with her to drive our business forward.”
Nicole added:“Poptopis redefining the events sector.‚ÄØI was inspired by the team’s growth ambitions, their culture of innovation and their passion for what they do. This is a great opportunity to work with them to deliver a world-class, digital first customer experience.”


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Except Crypto Currencies
The news recently is that several banking companies in the US and the UNITED KINGDOM have banned the usage of credit cards to be able to purchase crypto currencies (CC’s). The said reasons are impossible to believe – like trying to curtail money washing, gambling, and safeguarding the retail investor from excessive danger. Interestingly, the banking companies enables debit greeting card purchases, making this clear that this just risks being guarded are their particular.
With a credit card you may gamble at a casino, get guns, drugs, alcohol, pornography, everything and anything you wish, but some banks and credit cards companies want in order to prohibit you coming from using their amenities to purchase crypto currencies? There should be some believable reasons, and these people are NOT typically the reasons stated.
A very important factor that banks fear so much is how difficult that would be to be able to confiscate CC coopÃ©ration when the credit greeting card holder defaults about payment. It would be much more difficult than re-possessing a house or possibly a car.
The crypto wallet’s private keys can end up being put on a new memory stick or even a piece of paper and effortlessly removed from the nation, with little or no trace associated with its whereabouts. There could be a high price in certain crypto wallets, as well as the credit greeting card debt may never ever be repaid, bringing about a declaration of bankruptcy and some sort of significant loss for the bank.
Typically the wallet still is made up of the crypto currency, and the user can later access the private secrets and use the local CC Exchange in an overseas country to convert and pocket typically the money. A nefarious scenario indeed.
Many of us are certainly certainly not advocating this kind of unlawful habits, but the finance institutions know about the probability and some of these want to close up it down. This particular can’t happen with debit cards as the banks are never out-of-pocket – the amount of money arrives out of your own account immediately, and even only when there is good enough of your cash there to begin with.
We struggle to find virtually any honesty in the bank’s story regarding curtailing gambling plus risk taking. It’s interesting that Canadian banks are not necessarily jumping on this bandwagon, perhaps seeing that the particular stated factors behind performing so are fake.
The fallout out there actions is that will investors and customers are now aware that credit greeting card companies and banking institutions really do manage to restrict what you can purchase with their own credit card.
This may not be how they market their cards, and it is very likely a surprise to most users, who are quite used to deciding for by themselves what they will purchase, especially from CC Exchanges and all the other merchants who have founded Merchant Agreements using these banks.
The Exchanges have done nothing at all wrong – not have you — but fear in addition to greed in the banking industry is causing strange points to happen. This specific further illustrates their education to which the banking industry feels threatened by Crypto Currencies.
At this specific point there is definitely little cooperation, have confidence in, or understanding involving the fiat money world plus the CC world. The CC world does not have any central controlling body exactly where regulations could be applied across the board, and that leaves every single country around the particular world trying to be able to figure out what direction to go.
China has chose to ban CC’s, Singapore and Japan embrace them, and numerous other countries are still scratching their particular heads. What these people have in common is that they want to accumulate taxes on CC investment profits. This is simply not too unlike early days of electronic music, with the internet facilitating typically the unfettered proliferation and distribution of unlicensed music.
Digital songs licensing schemes had been eventually developed in addition to accepted, as fans were Cofortable with paying a little a thing for his or her music, rather than endless pirating, and the music industry (artists, producers, record companies) had been OK with affordable licensing fees rather than nothing.
May there be compromise in the foreseeable future of fiat and digital values? As crypto promo code to the world attract more fed up using outrageous bank earnings and bank overreach into their existence, there is hope that consumers may be regarded using respect rather than be forever saddled along with high costs plus unwarranted restrictions


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Mahindra's Xylo MPV was always made with a 4-wheel drive system in mind. In fact, at the launch of the vehicle Mahindra made it known that the car could sport a 4wd unit as the necessary engineering had been done for its installation. And now we've got pictures of the car.
This particular example had joined the Mahindra Great Escape troupe during the recently concluded event at Khimsar in Rajasthan. Undergoing its last round of R&D tests, the vehicle crossed the finish line with nary a whimper or any trouble.
According to sources, the Xylo has been designed to be a part time 4wd system using an advanced version of the Borg & Warner system. Reports seem to suggest that it could be a real-time all-wheel drive system like the Honda CR-V, where the focus is on road grip and tackling bad roads and not specifically as a pure off-roader. However, there is no confirmation yet whether Mahindra will adopt such a system. The Xylo 4x4 would end up becoming the first MPV in the country with a 4-wheel drive system, but it remains to be seen how big a market is there for such a concept. Mahindra could also be seriously looking at the export markets such as South Africa for such a vehicle.
Meanwhile M&M is working on three SUV platforms. Sources suggest that apart from a new generation Scorpio, two more SUVs are in the pipeline. One of these is a sub 4-metre vehicle with a sub 1500cc diesel engine to help it bring in the same excise duty net as a small car. Until now, Premier's Rio is the only contender in the field but with Mahindra's entry this segment could start hotting up.
The world SUV that is to emerge from Mahindra's Chakan facility in 2011 is the third SUV in the lineup and will be priced in the range of Rs 16-18 lakh. A more powerful diesel engine and an automatic gearbox apart, the world SUV will also have automatic climate control, cruise control and ESP. Aimed at the likes of the Chevrolet Captiva and the Toyota Fortuner, this SUV would be primarily for export markets, apart from the local market with the aim of expanding the company's presence in the more developed markets such as the United States where the company is planning to begin the sale of its pickup trucks later this year.
The new Scorpio could retain its body-on-ladder format and a new petrol engine is also being developed to be fit under the bonnet of the Scorpio and the world SUV.


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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - SunRocket Inc., the second biggest U.S. supplier of Internet phone services, appeared to have shut down its business on Monday without notifying its customers, which total more than 200,000.
Vienna, Virginia-based SunRocket, which is a rival to Vonage Holdings in the home and small business market for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone services, gave no warning it was shutting down operations on its Web site.
Callers to its customer service line heard a brief recorded message, saying: “We are no longer taking customer service or sales calls. Goodbye.”
Companies offering calls over the Web were seen as rivals to established carriers when they sprouted up a few years ago, but many are having a difficult time financially competing against their big, deep-pocketed and entrenched rivals.
Calls and e-mails to SunRocket by Reuters were not returned.
A report in the New York Times quoted an unnamed source that had been briefed on the company’s status as saying that SunRocket had ceased operation and plans to move its customers to one or more companies.
Customers, many of them lured by SunRocket’s offer of unlimited phone calling for one year for an upfront fee of $199 within the Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico, reported patchy service or full outages on Monday on Web sites such as FatWallet.com and DSLReports.com.
SunRocket was founded in 2004 and backed by top-name Silicon Valley venture capital firms Blue Run Ventures, formerly known as Nokia Venture Partners, Doll Capital Management and the Mayfield Fund. No one was immediately available to comment at the three financial backers.
ViaTalk, a rival to SunRocket based in Clifton Park, New York, issued a statement offering a contract buyout to SunRocket customers.
The company added it was offering a coupon for free shipping of ViaTalk phone equipment to customers looking to switch services, although it did not lay out the what the overall cost to SunRocket customers would be.
ViaTalk offers a similar $199 per year calling deal. ViaTalk was founded in 2005 and is an offshoot of a Web hosting company, HostRocket.com. Spokesman Tom Nardacci said the company had between 50,000 and 100,000 customers.
Vonage, which has reported losses since it held its initial public offering in May of 2006, has been locked in a patent battle with Verizon Communications. It is struggling to retain customers who fear service disruptions owing to its legal woes.
Independent VoIP providers face mounting competition from established cable television and telephone companies who offer alternative services as part of packages that may include landline, broadband Internet, TV or mobile phone services.
Additional reporting by Ritsuko Ando in New York
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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Here is one of the few fair presentations about our AFDI truth about jihad ads: “Despite CAIR Push-Back, Controversial Anti-Jihad Ads Launch in DC Metro Stations,” by TiffanyÂ Gabbay for The Blaze, March 8:
In October 2012, Pamela Geller “” a blogger and the executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative “” told TheBlaze in an exclusive interview about plans to expand her controversial DC-based ad campaign that features an image of Osama bin Laden. The ad is meant to shed light on the fact that jihad is a tenet of Islam, but some critics argue that the adÂ marginalizesÂ all Muslims. Geller and others who support the ad campaign, meanwhile, maintain it is directed at fighting jihad and radical Islamism.
Geller was embroiled in a long battle with New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) over her ads as well, but a judge ruled in her favor. After additional push-back from MTA, the outspoken activist’s ads were permitted so long as they carried a disclaimer stating that the MTA itself did not endorse the message. Geller won a similar case with the DC”sÂ WashingtonÂ Metro TransitÂ AuthorityÂ (WMATA) andÂ now, her string of ads have launched in subway stations across the DC-metro area. The campaign, which will run for one month, is also meant to satirizeÂ CAIR”s “MyJihad” ad campaign, which seeks to minimize the definition of jihad and portray it as a harmless inner-struggle within one’s-self alone.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has not been a fan of the initiative, needless to say, and has fought to have the ads removed on the basis that it is offensive to Muslims. CAIR executive director Ibrahim Hooper was featured in a Fox5 news segment about the ads on Friday, stating that Geller is “one of the nation’s leading anti-Muslim bigots” and that the Southern Poverty Law Center named her “as one of the nation’s inner circle of hatemongers of Islam.”
Subway-goers were also asked their opinion of the ad, with some saying that they do not like seeing bin Laden’s face given his role in the 9/11 attacks. This, however, is likely Geller’s point as she seeks to have Americans remember rather than forget the extent of damage radical Islam can cause….


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Tesla is on a roll.
The electric car manufacturer delivered a record number of vehicles in the second quarter of 2020 and is now on track to exceed its annual delivery goal. Tesla is also impressing investors with its production efficiency and exciting new food options.
In a recent video, Tesla showed off its new food truck, which will serve healthy and affordable meals to employees at the company’s Fremont, California factory. The food truck is part of Tesla’s efforts to improve working conditions at its factory, which has come under scrutiny in recent years.
Tesla is also making progress on its solar roof tiles, which are now being installed on homes and businesses. The tiles are made from recycled glass and are designed to look like traditional roofing materials.
Tesla’s solar tiles are just one of the company’s many sustainable energy products. Tesla also makes batteries that can store energy from solar panels and wind turbines.
Tesla’s products are helping to change the way we power our homes and businesses. The company is leading the way in sustainable energy and is making a positive impact on the environment.


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Less than a month since issuing a full recall of all Polestar 2 that have been sold, the Sino-Swedish automaker has announced that it is issuing another recall for the all-electric sedan. The recent recall involves the replacement of faulty inverters on most Polestar 2 that have been delivered to customers so far. A total of 4,586 vehicles are affected by the issue.
The new recall was shared by the EV maker in a press release. According to Polestar, official communication about the recent recall will be sent to affected customers starting next Monday, November 2. The company did not elaborate on issues that may result from the faulty inverters, though the company has noted that the recall relates to the Tesla Model 3 competitor’s High Voltage Coolant Heater (HVCH), which is responsible for the heating of both the cabin and the high-voltage battery.
Polestar has noted that the hardware fixes for the recall could be completed in a single service visit. Customers affected by the recall would start receiving communication from the EV maker next week, where they will be given instructions on what to do next. Interestingly enough, the company has stated that any undelivered Polestar 2 units would be updated and fixed before they are handed over to customers. Vehicles that are already at the workshop will also be updated accordingly.
The Sino-Swedish EV company expressed its thanks to its customers in its press release. “We recognize the importance of updating our customers. In order to successfully address the issues, we have needed to ensure that appropriate investigations are made before customers are informed. We appreciate our customers’ patience as we follow the necessary process,” the automaker said.
Earlier this month, Polestar recalled all 2,189 vehicles that it has sold so far due to a fault in the logic of the Battery Energy Control Module, which could result in the all-electric vehicles suddenly losing power while driving. The company explained the recall in a statement to motoring news agency Car and Driver.
“We issued a voluntary safety recall for Polestar 2 after we investigated, verified, and developed a solution for an issue reported by a small number of customers. A fault in the logic of the Battery Energy Control Module requires a manual software update to be rectified. A total of 2189 potentially affected registered customer vehicles in Europe and China are being recalled,” the company noted.
While speaking at TechCrunch Sessions, Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath addressed the first recall of the all-electric Model 3 competitor. According to the CEO, the fault had only happened in “very, very rare cases,” and none of the vehicles that exhibited the issue were involved in an accident. Ingenlath, however, admitted that Polestar still has a lot to learn as it grows and matures.
“We have many things to learn, and as a company, improve. We are a startup that’s fresh out. And of course, you cannot expect everything to go smoothly. We have to improve, and our customers have to be with us on the way. And I think it’s a really great standard that the car industry, actually, does very early recalls to make sure no one gets into a problem,” he said.


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The Non-Profit Pensapreneur Kids, Inc, will be hosting their annual Pensacola Children’s Business Fair this year on November 7th and November 14th from 10am-12pm CST to create a space for kids ages 5-17 to learn these skills and put them to use in a marketplace format.
This year’s fair will be in an organized online format using professional quality virtual conferencing software to prioritize the health and safety of both children and adults while keeping the mission of cultivating curiosity, leadership, and resilience.
If you’re like me you’ve probably found yourself saying “Wow I wish I would have been taught x, y, or z in school”, right? Skills like financial literacy, resourcefulness, improvisation, resilience, and many more necessary skills vital to success are far overlooked in the schooling system, putting our kids at an even greater disadvantage than we were with the world they are inheriting.
Kids from all over bring their startup businesses to the virtual marketplace to get a taste at all of the necessary life skills that go into running a business. Participants’ businesses range from selling slime to babysitting services, graphic tees, body scrubs, vegan dog treats and everything in between — to create a melting pot of young creativity, building the future entrepreneurs of America.
Ann NovakowskiBoard President Pensapreneur Kids, Inc Pensacola Children’s Business Fair Have an impact »


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Forks up, Phoenix! Chow Bella and Roosevelt Row present the fourth annual Pie Social from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, November 16, at the "What Should Go Here" Pop Up Park at Second Street and Roosevelt. We've got an all-star lineup of bakers making pies for you to taste, and from now till Pie Social, we'll introduce them to you, one by one.
Baking has always been a part of Suzanne Gwyn's life and in 2011, along with her husband Chris, she started her own business, Bake Goods by Suzanne.
Gwyn, who works a full-time job along with baking, attended Arizona Culinary Institute in Scottsdale. While there, she began working with Gabriele Bertaccini of iL Tocco Foods, to feature her desserts at Culinary Mischief, a bi-monthly dining event.
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Gwyn specializes in Italian desserts such as semifreddo, and lemon olive oil cake infused with rosemary, but she also bakes pumpkin rolls (which have been a big hit at local swap meets) and Brazilian chocolate brigadeiro.
This is her first time participating in Pie Social. Gwyn has been preparing for the event by researching various pie flavors and asking others what flavors they enjoy, but she has decided to go with her own preference.
"I'm very happy with it," she says.


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After a really confusing situation among Asus employees, who apparently said during a conference in Holland that the Eee Pad Transformer TF101 and Slider SL101 will not get an upgrade to Jelly Bean, while Asus Germany denied that they even made that statement at all, saying that it was a misunderstanding.
The Taiwanese company through an email sent out to AnandTech said that the Eee Pad Transformer series: “ASUS Transformer Pad (TF300), ASUS Transformer Pad Prime (TF201) and ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity (TF700) are all scheduled to receive Android 4.1 updates in the coming months.”
However this email doesn’t say anything about the Eee Pad Slider SL101 nor Asus Transformer Original TF101 tablet being scheduled for an upgrade to Android 4.1 OS does it. Below is the full content of the email sent by Asus.
Dear valued ASUS customer,
At ASUS, one of the key commitments we make to our customers is a relentless drive to deliver the best user experience. We constantly strive to achieve this goal through our ‘Design Thinking’ philosophy that includes regular software and firmware updates for our products.
We are pleased to announce that many of our tablet products are scheduled to receive an update to Android 4.1, Jelly Bean. The ASUS Transformer Pad, ASUS Transformer Pad Prime and ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity are all scheduled to receive Android 4.1 updates in the coming months. We will provide further guidance on our expected timeframes for these updates near their release.
We are still investigating Jelly Bean updates for other devices, but we are not in a position to confirm whether any other products will be eligible for an update at the moment.
Thank you for your continued support.


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Tickets for the 2009 South Beach Wine and Food Festival go on sale this coming Monday, October 27. We mention this because in past years tickets have sold out very quickly -- especially for the more popular events, such as Rachel Ray’s Burger Bash ($200), Bubble Q ($350), and Wine Spectator’s “Best of the Best” ($350), which takes place this year in the newly renovated Fontainebleau, features an incredible array of nationally renowned chefs and vintners, and is, in this writers’ opinion, the highlight of the whole shebang. For these particular events, October 27 marks not only the first day to purchase tickets, but possibly the last day. So if you hesitate and get locked out, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
The festival takes place February 19 through 22. Tickets can be purchased by going online, or by phone at: 877-762-3933.
-- Lee Klein
Keep New Times Broward-Palm Beach Free... Since we started New Times Broward-Palm Beach, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of South Florida, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering South Florida with no paywalls.


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One of 2 new In-N-Out restaurants planned for Orange County causing social media flap
When In-N-Out Hamburger gets in a street edge, snaking drive through lanes are part of the deal. A flyer is flowing around Santa Ana, protesting the sound, website traffic as well as smell the chain will certainly cause if it develops a dining establishment on an uninhabited whole lot at Tustin as well as 17th Street. (SCNG Data photo)
A leaflet against In-N-Out in Santa Ana stimulates dispute on Facebook.163 f2946b56bb85e63bcba0150e67442 In-N-Out is hoping to open an area at the corner of 17th Road and also Tustin in Santa Ana. Santa Ana. The whole lot has actually been uninhabited for years.(Nancy Luna, Orange Area Register/SCNG ) In-N-Out aim to maintain lines relocating by putting employees at the drive via. They take orders to quicken the purchasing procedure.(
Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) In-N-Out is wanting to open up a place at the corner of 17th Road and also Tustin in Santa Ana. The whole lot has been uninhabited for several years.(Nancy Luna, Orange Region Register/SCNG) Snaking lines at the drive-throughs are typical at In-N-Out.( AP Photo/Adam Lau ) An In-N-Out Double Dual and fries.Show Caption of Expand In-N-Out Hamburger is adding 2
even more Orange County places including one on a vacant Santa Ana lot that has activated some debate among neighbors. A flyer opposing an In-N-Out recommended at the corner of
17th Street as well as Tustin Method in Santa
Ana has actually been circulating on Facebook.
Chick-fil-A is prepared for the website. But a spokesperson for Chick-fil-A toldthe Register this week that the chain does “not currently have any brand-new areas
to verify.”)However, In-N-Out is certainly in play. Carl Sector, vice president of advancement for Irvine-based In-N-Out, claimed the Santa Ana restaurant is still in the early phase of advancement.” We do intend to open up a dining establishment there in the future. That said, it is still very early in the advancement application procedure,” he stated. Related Articles< a class="article-title"href=" http://www.ocregister.com/2017/07/12/oc-fair-2017-unicorn-food-hot-cheetos-dominate-wacky-concession-lineup/"title="OC Fair 2017: Unicorn food, hot
hipster coffee pertains to Costa Mesa Are automatic orders at McDonald’s a game changer? Costco testing Shake Shack copycat cheeseburger in Southern California He did not talk about the flyer, which was published on a neighborhood Facebook discussion forum targeting Orange residents. Many of the commenters said they didn’t have a problem with the brand-new growth. In truth, many was glad at the ability to order a Dual Double closer to residence.”My other half as well as I are very stoked for
this,”created one woman who claimed she lives nearby. The busy corner, near the (55) freeway, is a couple of miles
south of Orange. A gas station, a Starbucks with a drive-through as well as an Insurance claim Jumper, occupy the various other 3 corners. Other locals said any development is long overdue
Retail-restaurant roundup: Glee doughnuts opens 2nd electrical outlet, hipster coffee concerns Costa Mesa Are computerized orders at McDonald’s a game changer? Costco screening Shake Shack copycat cheeseburger in Southern California If approved, as well as after construction begins, Arena claimed it will certainly take at the very least four to five months to develop.
“There is still quite a little bit of work to be done prior to we could even establish a time to begin building. Because it is still so early in the process, it would certainly be early to talk about a timeline or if we will certainly even accomplish a growth authorization,” he stated.


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Broadband internet is “absolutely still a growth business,” the CFO of cable giant Charter Communications told an investor conference on Wednesday.
“There is a lot of potential to continue to grow” beyond expanding the company’s broadband footprint, Jessica Fischer said during the 24th annual Credit Suisse Communications Conference in a session that was webcast. She touted cable broadband infrastructure as superior to many rivals, adding that where there was competitive technology, Charter could succeed with offering “differentiating” products, such as mobile services.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Asked about second-quarter broadband subscriber trends, including investor worries that some companies could lose broadband customers on a net basis in the period, Fischer acknowledged a special challenge in customers moving from the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) to the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the FCC’s new benefit program subsidizing internet services.
A “small portion of the subsidized subscribers” either didn’t opt in to continue their service and transition to ACP or didn’t meet the ACP requirements, particularly the one that they use service in each 30-day period, she said. Charter expects that to have a total impact of 60,000-70,000 subscribers in the second quarter. Excluding that impact, “we do expect positive total net internet adds in the quarter, and I think that we will have positive total internet additions even when including” the impact, the Charter CFO said.
The executive was also asked about a big partnership with fellow cable giant Comcast. Together with Charter, it recently unveiled a joint venture that aims “to develop and offer a next-generation streaming platform on a variety of branded 4K streaming devices and smart TVs.” The goal is to build on Comcast’s Flex streaming product to offer consumers a platform to access multiple streaming apps, and in the process take aim at rivals like Roku. Comcast offers the Flex streaming device to internet-only subscribers free of charge to allow them to stream on-demand TV shows and movies, as well as some live content. Importantly, it allows users more than 250 apps, including the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Discovery+ and “tens of thousands of free choices from Peacock, Xumo, Pluto, Tubi and more.” The new venture also promises to offer app developers, streamers, retailers and hardware manufacturers “the opportunity to reach customers in major markets across the country with the platform,” the companies said.
“This may end up being a Roku-killer,” Ian Greenblatt, managing director of TMT (technology, media and telecom) intelligence at J.D. Power, recently told THR. “It offers a great way to let consumers cord-shave and to keep the interface they prefer, while also allowing for the monetization of another platform’s ad inventory and the resulting data.”
Fischer touted that the venture brings together two cable companies with an “aptitude for the (content) aggregation side” and strong consumer interactions. “Our opportunity to reach scale there, and to do so pretty quickly, is very good,” she said, adding that the deal was “consistent” with Charter’s pay TV strategy of offering consumers various options. “We have shrunk more slowly than some of our peers on the video side,” she said.
How does she feel about mergers and acquisitions? “We like the cable business,” Fischer said. “If we can find opportunities where we can create … value to our shareholders by going out and doing acquisitions (at accretive prices), I think that we will continue to do that.” She added that she hoped that “there might be private businesses out there that are under more pressure to sell than they were before,” concluding: “If they are available, I think that we will go there.”


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- You are here:
- sierra 1500
There's not much to see here, but if you're one of those waiting for the reveal of the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, above is the teaser image that Chevrolet posted on its Facebook page. We've seen the truck in form-fitting camo before, and even less can be made out here beyond those seriously ...
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/business_finance/Toyota_Tundra_knocks_off_domestic_truck_to_become_4_best_seller'; The launch of Toyota's all-new 2007 half-ton Tundra pickup has had its fair share of hiccups, but despite bumps in the road, it appears that the Japanese automaker's half-ton has ...


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The government rolled out the e-way bill system on 1 April 2018 to track movement of goods. While the system was initially only applicable for inter-state movement of goods, states have adopted and implemented the new system in a phased manner and mandated generation of e-way bills for intra-state movement of goods as well. The number of e-way bills created on the new platform has been steadily rising and has crossed the 10 crore mark in less than three months, with around 2.80 crore e-way bills being generated in April 2018 alone.
This number increased substantially in May 2018 with more than 3.7 crore e-way bills being generated during the month. On an average, more than 12 lakh e-way bills are being generated every day. The government believes that this new system will help to reduce tax evasion. Tax officials are acknowledging that the introduction of e-way bills is the prime factor for the improvement witnessed in tax collections for June 2018. The tax collection for the month amounted to more than INR 95,600 crore, compared to an average monthly collection of INR 89,885 crore for the previous financial year.
In view of the gigantic scale of operations, it is too early to comment on the success or failure of the new system. However, no major execution-related issues have been reported by businesses so far and the IT backbone that generates e-way bills has held up without any major glitches since April 2018.
This publication aims to summarise the key requirements of the e-way bill system and what needs to be done by businesses to implement it successfully.


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When Apple launched iOS 4.1 last week, shortly after (meaning just a couple of hours after), a new exploit was found that could easily allow iOS 4.1 devices to be jailbroken.
The interesting details about this exploit is that it’s low level which means that a software fix by Apple cannot fix it. To secure the iPhone 4 from being jailbroken Apple will need to release a new hardware revision.
Apple is probably around 6 months away from creating the next iteration of the iPhone which means that all who buy an iPhone 4 should be able to jailbreak the phone regardless of what iOS is pre-installed on it.
According to details found by Redmond Pie on Twitter, the exploit called SHAtter is in the bootrom section along with Pwnage 2.0 and 24kpwn. Problems that exist here at the moment is that jailbreaking requires a tethered boot which might put a number of people off from using this particular exploit. However, if you do opt to use the jailbreak when it is released, it should offer a jailbreak for life with it being a hardware exploit.
Both the Chronic Dev Team and the iPhone Dev Team are working on making the jailbreak public. The launch date is currently unknown although we could see it before the end of the month.


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As corporate sustainability targets continue to come under increasing scrutiny, Incite, an enterprise-facing platform informs, guides and reports on corporate sustainability strategies.
Uniqueness of WePower’s Incite solution
Incite leverages blockchain technology to track any energy source to origin like electricity, water, wind, fuel, recycling, waste management and calculates sustainable impact for business.
Businesses will be able to benefit from full value analysis covering green energy procurement and management, to energy consumption tracking and accurate sustainability reporting.
As Incite tracks the energy use to its origin, businesses can report precise percentages of environmental impact for specific operations and transparently certify sustainability levels.
WePower Chief Technical Officer, Kaspar Kaarlep is confident about the product.
“Transparent sustainability reporting has been a significant challenge for even the biggest businesses and providing a solution to this challenge is what inspired us to create Incite.”
“With Incite we are enabling businesses to put substance behind their sustainability pledges, to know precisely where they are on that journey and where they need to invest to improve.”
“It’s only through having this complete and accurate picture that realistic KPIs can be set and genuine corporate sustainability progress can be achieved,” said Kaspar Kaarlep.
WePower’s Incite set to disrupt the energy sector
Incite is customisable and scalable to capture, record and store energy use data. It processes and models it on a clear dashboard, enabling precision in sustainability analysis reports.
The platform further allows for the creation of sustainability marketplaces that enable customers and supply chain partners to collaborate on corporate sustainability strategies.
“You can’t improve anything that you can’t confidently track and measure,” Kaarlep said.
“Our technology and unique application of blockchain eliminates the uncertainty around energy and sustainability by tracking any form and volume of energy use directly to source.”
“Incite is critical for businesses in terms of backing up their sustainability pledges and championing with certainty the areas of the business that are delivering on those promises.”
Incite is the latest WePower innovation that is quickly evolving Australia’s energy sector.
The launch of Incite follows the establishment of Australia’s first digital marketplace for renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs) in partnership with energy retailer Mojo.
The marketplace has simplified the renewable energy procurement process and dramatically facilitated the reduction of the cost threshold for procuring renewable energy.


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Dollar General Corporation announced last week it purchased a cold-storage facility at the Highridge Industrial Park.
The company says it will add 100 full-time jobs to the Schuylkill County economy over the next 3 years, according to a press release from Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf.
“We applaud Dollar General for expanding their operation in the commonwealth, and for bringing significant economic investments and jobs to communities in the Schuylkill area,” Wolf says in a statement.
The Schuylkill area? Whatever.
The move adds Dollar General to Wegmans, Walmart, and Tyson Foods as companies that operate cold storage facilities at Highridge, outside Gordon.
Dollar General purchased a 140,000-square foot facility to house this storage operation. A cold-storage building allows for keeping perishable foods available for distribution to local stores. Dollar General continues to expand into Schuylkill County. They have locations in the following communities:
- Pine Grove
- Valley View
- Mahanoy City
Why Schuylkill County?
Apart from its proximity to so many of its stores, the cold storage facility at Highridge expects to distribute perishable foods to 300 Dollar General stores.
“As Dollar General embarks on our DG Fresh initiative, we sincerely appreciate the partnership from state and local leaders on this project and look forward to a longstanding presence throughout Pennsylvania,” says Dollar General’s VP of global supply chain Mike Kindy.
Of course, the modern storage facility at Highridge along with its proximity to Interstate 81 makes this an ideal location for Dollar General.
But those tax breaks the company received surely sealed the deal.
According to Gov. Wolf, Dollar General received:
- $200,000 in job creation tax credits
- $45,000 workforce development grant
Locally, Schuylkill Economic Development Corp. (SEDCO) chair David Snyder says, “We are pleased that Dollar General, as a nationally-recognized retailer, has acquired this cold storage facility at the Highridge Business Park joining Wegmans, Wal-Mart, and Tyson Foods in putting food on the table of families in the Northeast marketplace,” said David Snyder, chairman of SEDCO.”
More Jobs in Schuylkill County
Immediately following the announcement of these 100 jobs coming to Schuylkill County, rampant criticism of the decision on social media could be seen. Of course, this announcement comes on the heels of the recent announced closing at AdvanSix just outside Pottsville. That closing cost 85 people their jobs.
“More distribution …” or “More warehouse jobs …” is the common lament.
Do people expect tech startups to invade Schuylkill County looking for job-hungry residents? It’s not going to happen.
And these people often never say what kind of jobs, exactly, they expect. More often than not, the people complaining about these jobs never work in them.
These jobs are as essential to the American and local economies as any others.
For the 100 people who get these jobs, that’s likely as many as 100 families in Schuylkill County who have a modest living wage and a secure job. That could equal hundreds more people with even just a few bucks of disposable income in their pockets. That money could benefit other businesses in the area.
Bemoaning these jobs is ridiculous and elitist. We all can’t be coders and scholars. And it ignores the fact that Schuylkill County, as a whole and as it’s often remembered, was built by the blue collar workers. Those old photos you see of local communities in their heydays were built by people in jobs just like these.
With Schuylkill County’s unemployment still above the national and state averages, a tick to the positive is not a bad thing.


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Paris Fashion Week went on amid show cancellations and rising concerns over the global spread of coronavirus.
Covid-19’s immediate and long-term impacts on the industry overshadowed typical discussions around diversity, sustainability and gender nonconformity.
Despite external forces casting a shadow, designers including Stella McCartney and Thom Browne created upbeat moments, and the return of Kanye West got people talking.
PARIS— Despite notable moments, including a surprise appearance from Kanye West, Paris Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2020 seems destined to be remembered as the coronavirus fashion week. Covid-19 concerns reshaped presentations and conversations from the beginning, with many showgoers skipping out after northern Italy’s viral outbreak, or getting called home midweek, leaving shows late in the week with unfilled seats.
Handwashing and wringing over sanitation were rife. At Felipe Oliveira Baptista’s Wednesday debut at Kenzo, in a series of air-locked tents of transparent plastic erected in the 5th arrondissement, guests parsed the likely microbial count of the vacuum-tube air as Baptista’s nomadic collection, with ferocious prints based on tiger paintings by the Lisbon artist Julio Pomar, marched down the runway.
Loewe and Dries Van Noten offered face masks — although few took them — while the Belgian designer’s security guards asked guests to use antibacterial hand cleaner upon entering the show at the Opera Bastille.
Although there were no reports of attendees falling ill with Covid-19 by week’s end, the corpses of cancelled events piled high. LVMH nixed its annual cocktail party in celebration of the LVMH prize nominees, asking guests to visit the young designers’ displays without crowding in for champagne. From New York, designer Rosie Assoulin sent a note saying she had cancelled her presentation. Soon after, Byredo cancelled its Paris presentation “to preserve the well-being of the invited guests and staff”. Toward the end of the week in Paris, organisers of Tokyo Fashion Week, scheduled to begin 16 March, announced the event would be cancelled outright due to coronavirus. Gucci cancelled the Cruise 2021 show that it had scheduled for May in San Francisco, also citing the virus. On Tuesday evening, Ralph Lauren announced its April show in New York, which signalled a significant departure from the fashion calendar, would not go on, citing the outbreak.


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In recent years, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) has been facing increasing scrutiny for its management of the global gold market. Many in the industry have expressed concerns about the LBMA's control over the price of gold and its lack of transparency. In response to these concerns, Russia has announced that it is planning to create a new gold standard that will rival the LBMA.
The move comes as part of Russia's ongoing efforts to reduce its dependence on the US dollar and strengthen its own currency. As the world's largest producer of gold, Russia has significant influence over the global gold market. By creating its own gold standard, the country hopes to increase its control over the market and establish itself as a major player in the global economy.
At present, the LBMA is responsible for setting the price of gold and maintaining its quality standards. The organisation is made up of a group of large banks and precious metals dealers, who control the majority of the world's gold trading. This has led to accusations of price manipulation and lack of transparency, particularly in the wake of several high-profile scandals in the industry.
By creating its own gold standard, Russia hopes to address these concerns and establish a more transparent and fair market for gold trading. The country has already taken steps to increase the transparency of its gold reserves, announcing in 2020 that it had increased its holdings to over 2,000 tonnes.
The new standard is expected to be based on the Moscow Exchange's benchmark price for gold, which is already widely used in the industry. This will give the new standard immediate credibility and make it more attractive to investors and traders.
In addition to creating its own gold standard, Russia is also exploring the possibility of creating a digital currency backed by gold. This would give the country even greater control over the global economy and help to further reduce its dependence on the US dollar.
While the move is likely to be welcomed by many in the industry, it is likely to face opposition from the traditional players in the market. The LBMA and other large banks and precious metals dealers are likely to resist any efforts to undermine their control over the market. However, with Russia's significant influence over the global gold market, it is likely that the new standard will gain traction and establish itself as a viable alternative to the LBMA.
In conclusion, Russia's plans to create a new gold standard have the potential to transform the global gold market and establish the country as a major player in the global economy. By increasing transparency and reducing the influence of large banks and precious metals dealers, the new standard will help to create a more fair and equitable market for gold trading. While there are likely to be challenges and opposition from the traditional players in the market, the new standard is likely to gain traction and establish itself as a viable alternative to the LBMA.


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The new Freightliner eCascadia has been greatly welcomed in North America. Daimler Truck NA received a huge order for the electric version of the heavy-duty Freightliner truck, which has started series production earlier this month. The order comes from Sysco, a leading foodservice distribution company, which will take advantage of 800 Class 8 e-trucks by 2026, with the very first vehicles to be delivered by the end of this year.
Sysco to use 800 Freightliner eCascadia
«Sysco is committed to making meaningful investments to support achievement of our climate goals, including those that encourage the development of electric tractors and trailer», said Marie Robinson, Sysco’s EVP, Chief Supply Chain Officer. «This investment shows our commitment to sustainability and growing responsibly and will ultimately help us meet our goal of reducing our direct carbon emission to 27.5 percent by 2030».
Sysco Riverside continues to build its charging infrastructure to support additional battery electric truck deployments, including additional solar capacity.
«At Daimler Truck North America, we are proud to enter into a new era of sustainable, safe and efficient commercial transportation with our friends at Sysco», said DTNA SVP, Sales and Marketing, David Carson.


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One cannot completely prevent identify theft, but there are certain steps you can take to minimize the risk. Alan Brill, Senior Managing Director in the Cyber Risk practice at Kroll, a division of Duff & Phelps, recently shared a few strategies to help with identify theft protection in an interview with U.S. News & World Report.
“Many banks and credit cards allow you to set up real-time text, email or mobile app alerts, which are a useful tool for savvy consumers and offer identity theft protection. Request to be notified any time there is a transaction of more than $0 on your account,” Alan said. “You want to be notified any time that credit card is used.”
Read the full article here.


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Zong, which bills itself as the “most frictionless” payment service for publishers of online games and other digital content, is launching a subscription-based mobile payment service.
Zong says it is now the first mobile payments platform to offer a subscription service, which allows Zong customers to extend a recurring bill-to-mobile option of up to $9.99 a month to their membership base.
The subscription service marks an extension of the company’s existing pay-as-you-go feature, which is on some of the largest social networking applications, virtual worlds and online games. The company says it reaches more than 1 billion mobile users worldwide.
Beginning today, the subscription service is available to all Zong customers looking to subscribe U.S.-based mobile users. In the coming months, Zong says it will expand its subscription service to customers in Europe, Canada and Australia. Consumers can cancel a subscription via SMS, a phone call or the merchant’s Web site.
Zong is one of the fast growing alternative payment methods. Rival BOKU emerged in June with the combination of Mobillcash and Paymo. Earlier this month, BOKU announced additional merchants and publishers that use its solution to sell digital goods and services, and consumers use their mobile phone to pay.


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Morton’s revving up for Uptown opening
- Staff Dallas Business Journal
The new Morton’s The Steakhouse is ready to throw open its doors in Uptown Dallas on Feb. 24.
The 8,500-square-foot restaurant will replace the existing Morton’s downtown, which will remain open through Valentine’s Day, officially closing on Feb. 15, ending a 23-year run in the heart of downtown.
Morton’s Restaurant Group said the new site will feature a “newer look” with exterior LED signage and a lighter, more inviting restaurant interior.
The restaurant seats 244 people in the main dining room.
"Morton's is excited about our upcoming opening in the prestigious Uptown neighborhood, and we look forward to introducing our newer look to our current fans and the Dallas community," said Christopher J. Artinian, president and CEO of Morton's Restaurant Group Inc.
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A biochemicals company by the name Avantium from the Netherlands is raising big hopes for a sustainable future with their pioneering project that can make plastics from plant sugars.
Plant Based Bottles by Avantium. Photo: Avantium Official Website
Globally around 300 million tonnes of plastic is made from fossil fuels every year, which is a major contributor to the climate crisis. Most of this is not recycled and contributes to ocean pollution with microplastics that takes hundreds of years to decompose completely.
“This plastic has very attractive sustainability credentials because it uses no fossil fuels, and can be recycled – but would also degrade in nature much faster than normal plastics do,” says Avantium’s chief executive, Tom van Aken.
Avantium’s plant plastic is designed to be resilient enough to contain carbonate drinks Trials have shown that the plant plastic would decompose in one year using a composter, and a few years longer if left in normal outdoor conditions. But ideally, it should be recycled.
The bio-refinery plans to break down sustainable plant sugars into simple chemical structures that can then be rearranged to form a new plant-based plastic – which could appear on supermarket shelves by 2023.
Van Aken, says he hopes to greenlight a major investment in the world-leading bioplastics plant in the Netherlands by the end of the year. The project, which remains on track despite the coronavirus lockdown, is set to reveal partnerships with other food and drink companies later in the summer.
The plans, devised by renewable chemicals company Avantium, have already won the support of beer-maker Carlsberg, which hopes to sell its pilsner in a cardboard bottle lined with an inner layer of plant plastic. The project also has the backing of Coca-Cola and Danone already.
The path-finder project will initially make a modest 5,000 tonnes of plastic every year using sugars from corn, wheat or beets. However, Avantium expects its production to grow as demand for renewable plastics climbs.
In time, Avantium plans to use plant sugars from sustainable sourced biowaste so that the rise of plant plastic does not affect the global food supply chain.


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Welfare check leads to man being arrested over theft of book bag full of electronics
Keith Dustin Berkson, 38, of Grovetown, was arrested Wednesday afternoon in connection with the theft of a book bag containing a laptop, tablet computers, a camera and camera equipment, Athens-Clarke County police said.
Police were checking on Berkson's welfare after someone reported he might be ill and was on a bench in front of Stein Mart in the Beechwood Plaza shopping center, authorities said.
He fit the description of a suspect in the theft at a book store on Baxter Street that was reported to UGA police Aug. 14, police said, and the stolen items were found in a book bag Berkson had with him.
Berkson was arrested and charged with theft by receiving stolen property.


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OPELIKA, AL—Yongsan Automotive, a South Korean manufacturer of automotive interior parts, will invest more than $5.5 million to open a new assembly plant here. The facility is expected to employ 150 people in three years.
A supplier to Hyundai Motor Manufacturing of Alabama, Yongsan produces interior parts such as sun visors, seat parts and luggage trim. The new facility plant is expected to begin operations in mid-April.
Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce, said Yongsan’s arrival in Opelika coincides with a period of strong activity in the state’s auto supply chain. The sector comprises more than 200 companies that employ more than 25,000 workers.
“Alabama is ideally situated at the center of the growing Southeastern automotive cluster,” Canfield says. “As Alabama’s auto industry continues to build toward critical mass, Yongsan and other suppliers coming to the state will find skilled workers and the support they need to be successful.”


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The latest fitness trend Pure Barre goes for graceful strength, not frenzied weight loss
Many of us have tried so many workouts that we aren’t fatigued just from the workouts — we’re exhausted by the workout options. We’ve tried to Zumba, spin, kickbox and Jazzercise our way to better health.
Does a new state law protect consumers from quacks, or target health food experts
Next time you’re at your local natural foods store, and you ask an employee about curing heartburn or lowering your blood pressure with foods or herbal supplements, pay close attention to the answer. A new state law that goes into effect Oct.


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Is there anything more Australian than sitting in your underwear on a stinking hot summer’s day playing video games? Probably. But(t) anyway, it’s still a damn good time.
This summer is set to be a scorcher, and it’s going to get even hotter with Adelaide-based studio Juicy Cupcake announcing that their couch co-op underwear-themed party brawler Brief Battles is hitting the Nintendo Switch in February 2020. Juicy Cupcake has revealed that the Switch will run at a…juicy…60fps, giving players a slicker look at underwear warfare.
After a successful Kickstarter in 2017, Brief Battles launched for PS4, Xbox One and PC in May of this year, with WellPlayed’s Kieron Verbrugge scoring it an 8, saying “Like a good pair of tighty-whities fresh from the dryer though, it’s a simple, comfortable good time that only gets better with friends by your side (no? just me? okay.”
The Switch release will coincide with a major update for all platforms, with details to be shared closer to launch.


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Michelin North America Inc. has relaunched its Uniroyal brand commercial truck tire portfolio with three new medium truck tires - the Uniroyal LTS line haul trailer tire, the Uniroyal RSR regional steer tire and the Uniroyal RD2 regional drive tire.
The Uniroyal truck tire line also has a new website, uniroyaltrucktires.com, which makes it easy for customers to find dealers who carry Uniroyal products.
“Uniroyal has a 125-year history in the tire industry," says Coy Jones III, senior marketing manager, Michelin.
"This new update to our line is meant for the cost-conscious buyer who is looking for reliability, durability and value in their tires from a trusted brand.
"This is a completely new tread design across the three lines that is appealing to the market. The quality and reliability of this brand will show the consumer all of the modern technology necessary to carry out their jobs in the best, most efficient way.”
The LT2 is now available at authorized Uniroyal truck tire dealers, in both standard and low-profile sizes for 22.5” and 24.5” rim diameter.
The RS2 and RD2 also are now available at Uniroyal dealers.
The RS2 and RD2 will have extended sizes into the 19.5-inch and 17.5-inch rim diameters to support last-mile-delivery fleets.
“Our goal with the relaunch and update with these new lines is to give our customers more choice in
their fleet selections,” Jones said. “By offering a cost-effective solution with the ease of access our
newly redesigned website provides, we feel this is a winning approach for the industry and the
Additional offerings will be coming later in the year in order to "address the needs of fleets for line haul drive tire position and on/off-road commercial truck tire applications," according to Michelin officials.


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The 2020 U.S. Social Media Communications Awards has officially launched and is accepting entries until November 29.
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