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A black family in California said they were racially profiled at a Nike store in Santa Monica when a white manager accused them of stealing a $12 basketball they had bought and then flagged down police officers.
The incident happened on July 5 as Joel Stallworth and TaMiya Dickerson were at the Santa Monica Place shopping mall with their 18-month-old son, Sammy, according to a press release from the family's lawyer and a video of the incident that Dickerson posted on Facebook.
The couple said they were not planning on buying anything but changed their mind and purchased a Nike Swoosh Mini basketball after their son picked it up and started to carry it around.
Stallworth and Dickerson said that as they were leaving the manager of the store followed them outside, accused them of stealing the basketball and demanded they give it back. Stallworth explained that they bought the ball for their son and continued to walk down the street with his family.
The manager continued to follow them and flagged down Santa Monica police officers for help.
Video of the incident on Dickerson's Facebook page shows the parents explaining to the manager and at least three Santa Monica police officers that they bought the basketball and have the receipt.
"This is ridiculous," Dickerson says in the video. "We purchased this basketball in the store."
At one point, Stallworth tosses the basketball onto the ground in frustration and the store manager picks it up.
After showing the receipt to an officer, Stallworth and Dickerson are given the basketball back. Following the incident, the couple took the ball back to the store for a refund.
Santa Monica police did not immediately return NBC News' request for comment.
Nike said in a statement that it had reached out to the couple to "express our deepest apologies."
“We are taking the recent situation at our Santa Monica store very seriously, and we are currently investigating the facts," the company said. "We will continue to work with our teams to ensure we deliver on our expectations for consumer experiences.”
Stallworth and Dickerson said in the press release that the incident was humiliating.
"She had zero evidence that I stole anything. She couldn't have evidence because I bought it. She discriminated against me," Stallworth told KTLA station in Los Angeles. "She planted an evil seed in the officer, so as soon as the officer came up to me, he said, 'Sir, give me the stolen ball.'"


text: iPhone Hacked Fast at Pwn2Own 2010 An iPhone got hacked in just 20 seconds at this week’s Pwn2Own hacking contest at CanSecWest 2010, along with Internet Explorer 8, and Apple’s Safari browser. DV Labs sponsors the annual hacking contest where if you successfully exploit a target you get to keep it along with a ZDI cash prize and related benefits. The event is spread over three days, and offers targets on multiple platforms. This year Hackers Vincenzo Iozzo and Ralf Philipp Weinmann demoed a exploit on the iphone, that allowed them to send a target iPhone to a web site that they’d set up online, and then copied the entire SMS database of the target iPhone including deleted text messages to their own server . All which was done in under 20 seconds!

domain: news


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The partnership provides a high profile, truly global, platform for Smirnoff within one of the world’s most iconic sports enjoyed by millions of fans around the world.
The press release says responsible drinking will lie at the heart of the partnership. Smirnoff will use its position as an official partner of the Sahara Force India Formula One Team to deliver a powerful anti-drink drive message.
The partnership will see Smirnoff branding featured on the VJM07s of Sahara Force India drivers from next weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.
Logos will appear on the rear wing and top of the chassis, with branding on the sidepods at key races. Drivers’ suits, helmets and team clothing will also carry the famous Smirnoff eyebrow logo.
|Sahara Force India VJM07. (Photo: Sahara Force India)|


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Fantastapack, an online web-to-print custom packaging manufacturer, has launched a new line of corrugated insert boxes. This marks the first time that automated technology has been used to create custom insert packaging online.
With a commitment to providing fantastic packaging for businesses, Fantastapack is powered by the latest digital print technology for corrugated boxes. Through leveraging digital, Fantastapack delivers a competitive advantage to customers by giving them access to innovative packaging solutions before the rest of the market.
“Ordering custom insert boxes has always required a certain level of human intervention,” says Justin Stacey, Vice President of Ecommerce Solutions at Fantastapack. “We saw the need to automate this process and create a seamless box ordering experience. Customers can now order custom insert boxes with a few clicks and no minimum order requirements.”
Custom insert boxes officially became available on April 26th, 2021.


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With news that a no-deal Brexit could cost the British fashion industry up to £900 million, London Fashion Week gears up for a fighting season. Reminding the government just how important our business is to the big picture, the British Fashion Council has curated a schedule showcasing the finest of London’s establishment, new guard and emerging talent.
The five-day schedule gets restructured
Placing the emerging designer category on the opening Friday (13 September) and closing Tuesday (17 September) of shows. Most notably, Fashion East – the always-anticipated umbrella platform for emerging talent – moves to Friday, joining Matty Bovan, Marta Jakubowski and new star jeweller Alighieri. Tuesday sees the likes of Charlotte Knowles and Mimi Wade, as well as Asian guest appearances by pushButton from South Korea and Caroline Hu from China.
Fashion for Relief returns to London
Triumphantly led by its founder Naomi Campbell, who will be awarded the Fashion Icon honour at the Fashion Awards in December. Taking place on the evening of 14 September, the gala show – which has previously travelled to cities like New York and Moscow and raised more than £13 million for natural disaster relief – will be curated from a medley of brands and modelled by fashion’s top faces.


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ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Retail shrinkage dropped during the pandemic as potential shoplifters stayed home but spiked in 2022, outpacing sales gains. Dean Rosenblum, a senior retail analyst at Bernstein Research, told the Wall Street Journal that theft is becoming a big enough problem that it’s starting to affect margins, which is why retailers are talking about it more frequently.
“We definitely had an uptick since last year,” Macy’s Chief Executive Jeff Gennette told analysts, the Journal reports. “It’s an industrywide trend.”
Target Corp. said in November that it expected shrinkage to reduce gross margins for the recently completed fiscal year by more than $600 million.
“Seven years ago, internal theft was the largest category of loss by retailers,” said David Johnston, the vice president of asset protection and retail operations at the National Retail Federation (NRF). “Now, it’s external theft.” One factor is organized retail crime. “These highly sophisticated criminal rings jeopardize employee and customer safety and disrupt store operations," said Mark Mathews, NRF vice president for research development and industry analysis.
NACS Magazine covered how to prevent shrinkage in “Security Check” in its September issue.
At the NACS Leadership Forum in February, Chris McCarrick, head of asset protection solutions, safety and technology at Kroger, shared how the company is using AI solutions to identify security priorities and help combat retail crime. The goal is to simplify the shopping experience and help to protect customers and store employees.
When customers use a self-checkout, the scanner may not always work, a barcode isn’t recognized or an item is inadvertently missed, McCarrick explained. The scan detection is linked to the point-of-sale system, and these types of errors are easily resolved.
“Most missed scans are not malicious,” said McCarrick. For the ones that are, however, like in the case of product switching (also known as item swapping), the transaction is immediately stopped. “This is a game changer,” he said.


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Amazon has finally optimized its Cloud Player app for the iPad and iPad mini, the company announced today.
The newly updated iOS app allows customers with an Apple tablet to play, download, manage, and create playlists from music stored in their Amazon music locker. From the Cloud Player app, users can either stream music in their library from the cloud, or download it for offline playback.
"We introduced our Cloud Player app for iPhone and iPod touch last summer and it's been incredibly popular with our customers so we've now expanded it to iPad," Steve Boom, vice president of digital music for Amazon, said in a statement. "Our goal is to make Cloud Player the most widely compatible cloud playback solution available, giving our customers the ability to buy their music once and enjoy it everywhere."
The free version of Amazon Cloud Player lets users store all MP3s purchased from Amazon, plus up to 250 additional songs from their computer. Those with large music collections might be interested in a $25 annual premium subscription, which offers room for up to 250,000 songs.
Amazon launched its cloud player for the iPhone and iPod touch in June 2012. Earlier this year, the company also launched a browser-based version of its MP3 Web store specifically optimized for iPhones and iPod touch.
Amazon has been steadily expanding availability of Cloud Player. Earlier this month, the Web giant partnered with Ford to bring its Cloud Player app to vehicles equipped with the car maker's Sync AppLink in-car infotainment system. Also, Amazon last summer brought Cloud Player to the Sonos Wireless HiFi system.
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Copart signs deal with Harvick team Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) announced today a new partnership with Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRT), an online vehicle remarketing company that sells more than 1 million cars per year. Copart will serve as primary sponsor of KHI’s No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado driven by three-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday for five of the 25 race events in 2009.
“During these tough economic times we are proud to be able to foster new relationships and expose new businesses to the power of the NASCAR market,” said Kevin Harvick, KHI co-owner.
Vehicle buyers all over the world have flocked to copart.com over the years because of Copart’s extensive inventory. Buyers can choose from classic, early, and late model domestic and imports, trucks and SUVs, motorcycles, boats, snow mobiles, jet skis and recreational vehicles. Copart sells more than 1 million cars each year and has been named to Forbes Top 200 Small Companies list nine years in a row.
“We believe this new partnership with KHI is the perfect opportunity for us to show NASCAR fans and car enthusiast what professional buyers have known for years – that Copart is the best place to find cars,” said Copart President Jay Adair. “Copart and the No. 33 team are a natural fit because just like Copart is a proven front runner in the auto remarketing world, the KHI team and driver Ron Hornaday are proven front runners in the racing world.”
“The No. 33 team is proving to be as strong as ever this season,” said three-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday. “It is new partners like Copart that makes our job at the track that much easier, and we are looking forward to taking them to victory lane.”
Copyright 1999-2018 | AutoRacing1 is an
independent internet online publication and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed
by IndyCar, NASCAR, FIA, or any series sponsor.
This material may not be published, broadcast, or redistributed without


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LIG's plant closures to cost 1,000 British jobs: Durex maker's net assets to vanish
The condoms and film processing group, which has debts of at least pounds 154m, also admitted that its current restructuring, which includes the disposal of its troubled photoprocessing arm as well as the closure of a number of manufacturing plants, would virtually wipe out its pounds 112m of net assets.
It acknowledged this would mean it would need a refinancing, but said that the timing, and whether it would involve a rights issue, would not be decided until the outcome of its attempts to sell its non-core businesses was known.
But Nick Hodges, chief executive, insisted the company was not in breach of its loan covenants and had the support of its bankers.
The UK redundancies stem from the closure of two plants - Chingford, with the loss of 600 jobs, and Llanelli, where there will be 240 redundancies.
A further 60 jobs will be lost at the group's health and beauty aids plant at Dundee and around 100 will go at the London head office. But the company gave no sign of where the 1,000 job losses would bite in its plants worldwide.
The closures mean that none of LIG's condoms, including the Durex brand - it has a 75 per cent market share here - will be manufactured in the UK.
Mr Hodges said condoms sold in the UK would now come from the group's Italian and Spanish plants, where investment in automation made production costs much lower.
Many of LIG's problems are traceable to its ColourCare photoprocessing business, which processes film for companies such as Boots, but which has been badly hit by the recession and competition.
This year photoprocessing is expected to lose around pounds 15m, wiping out trading profits from condoms, gloves and health care.
Mr Hodges declined to be drawn on whether progress had yet been made on a sale of the photoprocessing arm, but he promised a statement in June to coincide with the the release of the full-year results to March.
The photoprocessing businesses shows no signs of improving. However, the company indicated a substantial pick-up in operating profits from the healthcare business in the second half, but these were still 'considerably reduced' compared with the same period in the previous year.
Some non-core activities and brands have been sold. A contract has been signed with the Pfizer subsidiary, Unicliffe, for the sale of the UK cough medicines Buttercup, Galloway's and Liquafruta for around pounds 11m. The assets had a net book value of pounds 500,000 and made annual profits of pounds 700,000.
The company is also in talks on the sale of other over-the-counter brands such as Wright's soap, Eucryl toothpowder and Goddard's embrocation oil.
It is pinning its hopes in future on its core businesses of condoms and surgical and household gloves, and says the world branded condom market, in which it has a 22 per cent share, is continuing to grow at 2 to 3 per cent a year.
The company said that Michael Moore, chairman of Tomkins, would take over as chairman from Alan Woltz, who is retiring. The shares fell 8p to 121p.
View from City Road, page 28
Sales of the tablet are set to fall again, say analysts
Met Police confirm that there was a 'minor disturbance'
Trend which requires crisps, a fork and a strong stomach is sweeping Mexico's streets
George Lucas criticises the major Hollywood film studios
Does Chris Grayling realise what a vague concept he is dealing with?
Parties threaten resort's image as a family destination
I Am Bread could actually be a challenging and nuanced title
- 1 Jack the Ripper: Scientist who claims to have identified notorious killer has 'made serious DNA error'
- 2 Banksy arrest hoax: Internet duped by fake report claiming the street artist's identity has been revealed
- 3 Are you ready for Crazy Doritos, the red-hot snack food craze sweeping Mexico’s streets?
- 4 Drink alcohol and eat meat to improve male fertility - but cut down on coffee, studies suggest
- 5 Former East 17 frontman Brian Harvey turns up at Downing Street and 'demands to speak to Prime Minister'
Isis in Kobani: US resupplies Kurdish fighters by plane - then Turkey allows reinforcements through its border
Jack the Ripper: Scientist who claims to have identified notorious killer has 'made serious DNA error'
Banksy arrest hoax: Internet duped by fake report claiming the street artist's identity has been revealed
Super-sized ships arrive in Britain: How big can they get?
Former East 17 frontman Brian Harvey turns up at Downing Street and 'demands to speak to Prime Minister'
Cameron is warned 'no possibility' of UK reducing immigration and that bid to bring in quota on migrant workers would be illegal
Residents should throw a street party and mix with immigrant neighbours, councils told
Russell Brand threatened with arrest after filming outside Fox News headquarters
London bus driver 'kicks gay couple off for kissing'
Amal Alamuddin calls for the return of the Elgin Marbles from Britain: 'Injustice has persisted for too long'
Lord Freud: Tory welfare minister apologises after saying disabled people are 'not worth’ the minimum wage
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Australia is the official partner country of gamescom 2022
04/20/2022 - Australia is the official partner country of gamescom for the first time. The organizers of gamescom, Koelnmesse and game - Association of the German Games Industry, and the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association ("IGEA") have signed a partnership agreement to this effect.
Australia is thus taking on the role of official partner country and realizing the largest Australian joint stand, with all Australian states jointly showcasing their games industry. Australia is home to a rapidly growing development sector, with indie and mobile development studios leading the way, delivering numerous critically acclaimed and commercially successful titles to a global audience. The Australian government has recently committed to introducing extensive funding for locally based games companies, further supporting the growth and expansion potential of the industry. All of this makes the country an ideal partner for gamescom 2022, both in terms of market potential and industry focus. As gamescom`s partner country, Australia will represent international exhibitors onsite and online from August 24-28, 2022.
Hon Paul Fletcher, Australian Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts: "The Morrison Government is supporting the Australian games sector with our landmark 30 percent digital games tax incentive. Australia`s partnership with gamescom 2022 is further proof that we can excel in this $250 billion industry worldwide."
Felix Falk, CEO of the Game Association, said, "Australia has strong ties to the European games industry and is a great partner country for gamescom 2022. Like Australia in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe - and Germany in particular - is an important hub for the games industry and a fast-growing location for games. The close cooperation between Australia and Europe will additionally support this positive development. And both gamescom and gamescom asia are the perfect events for this."
Ron Curry, CEO IGEA: "With the introduction of the Digital Games Tax Offset and generous government incentives, Australia is definitely open for business. We have some of the greatest talent in the world already doing amazing work here, and we look forward to sharing that with the world, but also encouraging the world to bring their businesses to Australia."
Gerald Böse, CEO Koelnmesse: "We have used the past few years to further develop gamescom digitally into the leading international event for the gaming community. With the return of gamescom to the fairgrounds, we are pleased to continue our internationalization strategy there as well. Part of this strategy are the annually changing partner countries. We are therefore all the more pleased about the first-time partnership with Australia."
A large number of different Australian games companies will be represented in the Australian Pavilion in the Business Area at gamescom 2022. The joint booth will host a diverse delegation of companies reflecting the broad landscape of the Australian games industry. In addition to well-known Australian games companies, indie and start-up studios will also be represented. In addition to these key players and employees of the Australian games industry, we also expect high-level political representatives at gamescom 2022.
Source: Press release


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MIAMI, Nov. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- TigerDirect.com, a subsidiary of Systemax, announced today that for the first time they will bring their popular "Build Your Own PC Race" for charity directly to consumers with five regional races across the country hosted by TigerDirect.
To celebrate the 15th Annual Charity PC Race, which will be held on January 8th at the Wynn Las Vegas during the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, contestants will be asked to build gaming systems from the ground up. Two winners with the fastest times from each city will receive an all expenses paid trip to the National Finals at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas among other prizes and a monetary donation to the charity of their choice.
Starting on November 20th, TigerDirect will hold regional competitions in various markets highlighted below. All of the consumer races, except for Miami, will take place at TigerDirect.com retail stores. Additional details and how to register can also be found at www.charitypcrace.com.
- 11/20 – Miami, Florida
- 12/1 – Christiana, Delaware
- 12/8 – Chicago, Illinois
- 12/15 – Dallas, Texas
- 12/22 – Jacksonville, Florida
Since 1997, TigerDirect's "Build Your Own PC Race" for charity has tasked 30 of the top industry journalists to assemble systems based on a processor in record time. For several years, the event has taken place during the Consumer Electronics Show. This year, TigerDirect will host two separate races during CES: the National Finals, which will determine who will win the consumer portion, and the traditional PC Race which will be open to editors. Since its inception, TigerDirect has provided over $2.5 million in cash and computer equipment to schools and non-profit organizations through the race. By extending the chance to compete to consumers, TigerDirect will make even more donations to local charities.
More information about the event can be found at www.charitypcrace.com.
About Systemax Inc.
Systemax Inc. (http://www.systemax.com), a Fortune 1000 company, sells personal computers, computer components and supplies, consumer electronics and industrial products through a system of branded e-Commerce websites, retail stores, relationship marketers and direct mail catalogs in North America and Europe. The primary brands are TigerDirect, MISCO, WStore and Global Industrial.
For over 20 years, TigerDirect (http://www.tigerdirect.com) has served the needs of both personal and business computer users, selling consumer electronics, computers, digital media technology and peripherals via catalog, business to business, and Internet channels. TigerDirect is a subsidiary of Systemax Inc. (NYSE: SYX).


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The bra auction and reception will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, at the Newman Auditorium at Robinwood Professional Center.
HAGERSTOWN — Meritus Health and the John R. Marsh Cancer Center are sponsoring a bra auction and reception from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, at the Newman Auditorium at the Robinwood Professional Center in Hagerstown.
The bra auction is titled the “2012 Designer Cup Challenge.” It will feature bras decorated by participants and awards will be given for seven categories: Artful, Bodacious, Cancer-themed, Delightful, Funny, Best Overall and People’s Choice.
The bras will then be offered for live auction at 7 p.m., and the proceeds will benefit the Marsh Cancer Center and the Make a Difference Breast Cancer Screening Program. A silent auction of donated items will precede the bra auction, beginning at 5 p.m.
Tickets are $30 per person. Refreshments and beverages will be available.
To purchase tickets, call (301) 790-8631 or visit: www.meritushealthcare.org


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Almost 60% of people reuse all carrier bags, while more than two thirds of single-use carrier bags were reused, according to a study carried out by the Environment Agency (EA).
Primarily determining the carbon impact of different types of carrier bags on the environment, the report called Life Cycle Assessment of Supermarket Carrier Bags, found that bag reuse was key to determining the impact of carrier bags on the environment.
Results showed, 59% of respondents reused all carrier bags, 16% reused most, 7% reused half and 7% reused some. Meanwhile, 76% of single-use carrier bags were reused with 53% of these bags used as a replacement for kitchen bin liners and 26% using them as bin liners in other rooms. 11% of respondents said they discarded the bags outright.
Single-use carrier bags have the lowest carbon footprint per bag based on resource use and production. Therefore, the EA calculated that popular plastic ‘bags for life’ need to be used four times in total to ensure they have a lower carbon footprint than single-use bags. Heavier bags made from woven plastic need to be used 11 times, but a woven cotton carrier bag would need to be used more than 173 times.
It concluded that reusing carrier bags as bin liners produces greater benefits than recycling bags due to the benefits of avoiding the production of the bin liners they replace.
A spokesperson for the EA said: “A significant part of the environmental impact of these bags is associated with the resources used in their production. All multi-use bags need to be reused as much as possible to reduce their relative environmental impact and be responsibly recycled at the end of their life.”
The report did not discuss the generation of litter from plastic bags. It was requested by the previous Government which hoped to find how to reduce the environmental impact of retail and food packaging.


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Factory farms, where large numbers of livestock are raised indoors in conditions intended to maximize production at minimal cost, affect all of us.
Huge meat companies have steadily driven down the prices farmers receive for the livestock they raise, forcing farmers to get big or get out. Small farms have been replaced by factory farms that pollute nearby air and water, undermine rural economies and reduce the quality of life for neighbors.
The meat industry tells consumers that factory farms are modern, efficient and produce cheap food. But factory farms leave consumers with fewer choices and make them pay more for meat, poultry and dairy products, while farmers get paid less.
Factory farms increase the risk of pathogens like E. coli and salmonella that cause food-borne illness in people. And bad practices on even a few factory farms can end up on everyone’s plate.
Food-borne illness isn’t the only health threat from factory farms. Overuse of antibiotics can fuel the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the use of arsenic and growth hormones can increase the risk of cancer in people and crowded conditions can be a breeding ground for disease.
Chickens and hogs on factory farms have no access to the outdoors, fresh air or natural light. Cattle on factory farms do not graze on pasture. And the pressure put on animals to grow quicker and produce more meat or milk results in frequent health problems.
An interactive Factory Farm Map, a project of Food & Water Watch, gives the details on livestock operations down to the county level. Click on a state in the map and choose a county to learn the number of animals—whether cattle, dairy, hogs, broilers or layers—and the average per site over several years. The map has a key to show where the animal density levels are highest and you can filter the information for types of livestock. Below the map, you can choose a state for charts, rankings and facts specific to that area.
EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
By Whitney E. Akers
- "The Game Changers" is a new documentary on Netflix that posits a vegan diet can improve athletic performance in professional athletes.
- Limited studies available show that the type of diet — plant-based or omnivorous — doesn't give you an athletic advantage.
- We talked to experts about what diet is the best for athletic performance.
Packed with record-setting athletes displaying cut physiques and explosive power, "The Game Changers," a new documentary on Netflix, has a clear message: Vegan is best.
By John R. Platt
When it comes to solving problems related to wildlife trade, there are an awful lot of "sticky widgets."
By Bijal Trivedi
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report on Nov. 13 that describes a list of microorganisms that have become resistant to antibiotics and pose a serious threat to public health. Each year these so-called superbugs cause more than 2.8 million infections in the U.S. and kill more than 35,000 people.


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4:32 a.m. Jan. 17, 2020
- By Emily Bary
Pinterest stock rallies again after Wells Fargo upgradeShares of Pinterest Inc. have had a strong week, rising 17% over the past three trading sessions, and the rally looks poised to continue after an upgrade to overweight from equal weight by Wells Fargo analyst Brian Fitzgerald. The stock is up more than 4% in premarket trading Friday. "Shares have materially underperformed the broader market since the company's April 2019 IPO, despite our view that the company's fundamentals remain on solid footing, as Pinterest has delivered generally solid results, handily exceeding pre-IPO targets with healthy audience and engagement growth, strong revenue growth and solid progress toward profitability," he wrote. He sees several catalysts down the road, including greater engagement stemming from more video on the platform, improvements in monetization on the heels of ad-tech upgrades, and better international monetization as the company invests in an overseas sales force. Fitzgerald said that Pinterest's average revenue per user in the U.S. was 22.5 times what it was internationally in the third quarter, compared to 3.6 times for Snap Inc. , 4.6 times for Twitter Inc. , and 6.9 times for Facebook Inc. . He upped his price target to $30 from $28. Pinterest shares have risen 26% over the past month, but they're off 12% over three months. The S&P 500 has climbed 4% over one month and 11% over three.
8:23 a.m. Jan. 6, 2020
- By Daniel Newman
10 tech predictions for 2020: Apple, Tesla, Netflix and more Bet on Slack to become an acquisition targetDaniel Newman peers into what this year will bring
9:36 a.m. Nov. 29, 2019
- By Cody Willard
Tesla’s Cybertruck is revolutionary on so many levels Cody Willard updates stock ratings for Tesla, Amazon and othersCody Willard updates stock ratings for Tesla, Amazon and others.


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A study has found that yogurts - in particularly organic products and those market at children – contain high levels of sugar.
Researchers from the Universities of Leeds and Surrey examined ingredients in 921 yogurts available in major UK supermarkets.
They found that only two per cent of children's yogurts could be classified as low in sugar.
Scientists found that the majority of yogurts also contain more than half of a child's recommended daily maximum in take of sugar.
The study, published today in BMJ Open, found that across all categories of yogurt products the average sugar levels were well above the five grams of sugar per 100 grams threshold required to be classed ‘low sugar’ and carry a green ‘traffic light’ nutritional label in the UK.
The only exception was with natural, Greek and ‘Greek-style’ yogurts.
Organic yogurts were found to have the highest average sugar content - with roughly 13.1 grams of sugar per 100 grams.
A standard sugar cube weighs roughly four grams – equivalent to a level teaspoon of granulated sugar.
Lead author Dr Bernadette Moore, from the School of Food Science and Nutrition at University of Leeds, said: 'While there is good evidence that yogurt can be beneficial to health, products on the market vary widely in nutrient content.
‘Items labelled ‘organic’ are often thought of as the ‘healthiest’ option, but they may be an unrecognised source of added sugars in many people’s diet.
‘Many of the products that were suggested for children’s lunchboxes were high sugar dessert yogurts, rather than lower sugar options.
‘Retailers could play a positive role in promoting health by establishing boundaries for lunchbox recommendations and clearly labelling the amount of added sugar.’
Dr Moore explained that while yogurts contained their own naturally-occurring sugar – called lactose or milk sugar –current UK labelling laws do not require the declaration of added sugars on nutrition labels.
Under current NHS guidelines four to six-year-olds should have no more than 19 grams of sugar a day.
The researchers found that only two of 101 children’s yogurt and fromage frais products surveyed could be classified as low in sugar, with the majority having an average of 10.8 grams per 100 grams.
Study co-author Dr Barbara Fielding, from the University of Surrey, said: ‘Diets high in added sugars are now unequivocally linked to obesity and dental problems.
‘An alarming 58% of women and 68% of men – along with one in three of UK children aged ten to eleven – were overweight or obese in 2015.
‘In the UK, on average, children eat more yogurt than adults, with children under three years old eating the most.
‘It can be a great source of protein, calcium, and vitamin B12.
‘However, we found that in many of the yogurt products marketed towards children, a single serving could contain close to half of a child’s recommended daily maximum sugar intake.’


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The NPD Group has released a new report that sheds some light on gaming habits, including the elusive "Extreme Gamer." In between being Extreme and slamming energy drinks, those gamers are buying and playing a LOT of games.
I remember when I was an "Extreme Gamer"!! Now that I am married, I'm just trying to maintain my "Gamer" status and not become a Noob. Damn Wife!!! LOL
N4G is a community of gamers posting and discussing the latest game news. It’s part of NewsBoiler, a network of social news sites covering today’s pop culture.


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Arcimoto, creators of the Fun Utility Vehicle (FUV) announced last week they have entered a purchase agreement to buy a manufacturing site in Eugene. This will increase the company’s manufacturing space from 38,000 to 185,000 square feet.
KLCC's Aubrey Bulkeley reports on Eugene-based company, Arcimoto, entering a purchase agreement for a manufacturing facility.
The Eugene Register-Guard will soon be printed and packaged in Vancouver, Washington. The newspaper made the announcement Wednesday, saying corporate owner Gannett plans to close local production facilities in early March.
The City of Eugene plans to distribute millions of units of Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE, to small businesses and nonprofits for free this month. Eligible businesses and organizations can begin applying on Jan. 12.
Restaurants nationwide have struggled during the pandemic. La Perla Pizzeria is no exception. The downtown Eugene restaurant announced on their FaceBook page Dec. 14 they will be closing their doors at the end of December.
A bill in the relief package approved by Congress on Dec. 21 will provide more reliable funding for harbor maintenance. Oregon 4th District Rep. Peter DeFazio told KLCC he’s been fighting for this provision for 20 years.
KLCC's Rachael McDonald reports on funding secured by Rep. Peter DeFazio to fund harbor maintenance.
A recent report from the Oregon State University Policy Analysis Laboratory showed the pandemic has “reversed” some of the state’s efforts to decrease food insecurity. About 25% of Oregonians faced food insecurity in 2020, which is double the number of last year.


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FREMONT STREET EXPERIENCE TO HOST ANNUAL CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING IN DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS, DEC. 8
Celebrate the holiday season with the debut of a brand-new Christmas tree at Fremont Street Experience
Fremont Street Experience will kick off the holiday season with its annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Downtown Las Vegas on Wednesday, Dec. 8 at 5:00 p.m. This year, Fremont Street Experience will debut a brand new 42-foot Christmas tree. This majestic tree will be wrapped in garland, adorned with colorful ornaments and shine brightly below the 49.3 million energy-efficient LED lights of the Viva Vision canopy.
Guests can gather at the famous 3rd Street Stage to count down and watch as president and CEO of Fremont Street Experience, Andrew Simon and Mayor Carolyn Goodman join forces to flip the switch and bring the magnificent tree to life. This festive celebration will feature a special appearance by Santa and a holiday-themed production on the Viva Vision Canopy. The tree will remain on display at Fremont Street Experience for visitors to enjoy throughout the holiday season.
Throughout the month of December, revelers can head over to Fremont Street Experience for a series of epic celebrations. On Wednesday, Dec. 1, Fremont Street Experience will officially kick off the 2021 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo with its free Downtown Hoedown featuring country music stars Jordan Davis, Frontmen of Country and Diamond Rio. On Friday, Dec. 31, partygoers can ring in 2022 in epic fashion with the New Year’s Eve 80’s & 90’s Dance Party Celebration featuring live performances from some of the biggest names of the era including Vanilla Ice, Village People, Bobby Brown, Tone Loc and more. Early bird tickets are now available for this can’t-miss event and can be purchased online at Fremont Street Experience’s website for $35.
About Fremont Street Experience
Fremont Street Experience, a six-block entertainment district located in historic downtown Las Vegas, is an open-air promenade of gaming, dining, entertainment, and shopping. Fremont Street Experience offers free live entertainment on three stages 365 days per year and features Viva Vision, the world’s largest single video screen – 1,500 feet long, 90 feet wide and suspended 90 feet above the urban pedestrian mall. In partnership with the City of Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Conventions and Visitors Authority, the $32 million renovation to the iconic Viva Vision screen illuminates downtown Las Vegas with 16,433,152 pixels and 5,000 Nits, making it seven-times brighter than the existing canopy with four-times the resolution allowing the screen to be seen 24 hours a day for the first time in its existence. The one-of-a-kind venue is also home to SlotZilla, a unique zipline attraction featuring an 850-foot Zipline and 1,750-foot Zoomline, taking riders from a 12-story slot-machine-themed platform to fly under the iconic Viva Vision canopy. With direct pedestrian access to eight of Fremont Street’s world-renowned casino hotels, more than 70 restaurants and specialty retail kiosks, Fremont Street Experience attracts more than 24 million annual visitors. For more information about Fremont Street Experience, please visit www.vegasexperience.com.
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Different cultural influences are reflected in shopping. The study reveals that Turks go shopping without a shopping list and buy whatever they like whereas Germans go on a more planned shopping. The survey titled, “Consumer Logistics in Turkey” which is co-conducted by Izmir University of Economics, Department of Logistics and University of Bremen, Department of Logistics, compared the shopping habits of the two countries. According to the survey, Turks do impulse buying while Germans make a shopping list and stick to that list.
The research group of Asst. Prof. Dr. Işık Özge Yumurtacı, Lecturer at IUE Department of Logistics, and students Begüm Çolak, Alirıza Demirelli, Kübra Göksü Köstepen, Ümit Irat, Serkan Tamer, and Onur Tuna, did a survey on how shopping was done in Turkey and whose responsibility it was. One-on-one meetings with family members revealed that Turks did not make a shopping list, and they purchased whatever they saw, or liked. The survey led by Prof. Dr. Herbert Kotzab, Head of Department of Logistics of University of Bremen, and Research Assistant Jon Meyer in Bremen showed that Germans knew what to buy and they made a list of their basic needs.
'Germans are systematic, Turks are spontaneous'
Asst. Prof. Dr. Yumurtacı stated that the two universities had Erasmus agreements, joints projects gained continuity, and that the research, which studied the basic differences, would end in June. Yumurtacı stated the following:
“We conduct interviews regarding the different shopping habits of Turkish society and German society. German citizens have a more planned and systematical shopping habit. They know what to shop for and how to shop for. Germans regularly plan for shopping while Turkish citizens go shopping on a needs basis. Most of them don’t plan, and purchase what they see. They act on impulse.”
'Turks are attracted to sales'
Yumurtacı pointed that Turks acted more flexible and spontaneous when it came to shopping. “Cultures have an impact on the nature of shopping. Germans prefer to drive to shopping malls close by, they make lists, and however, Turks can easily purchase an item if they like it even though it is not on their list. We plan to extend our research and end it in June. İn second part of our study, we want to work with manufacturers and see their side as well,” said Yumurtacı.


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The Greater Amman Municipality  will allow vendors at Abdali’s Friday market to display their goods on Wednesday and Thursday this week in anticipation of Eid Al Adha, a GAM official said on Saturday.
Abdullah Harasis, director of GAM’s marketing department, said that the municipality wanted to allow shoppers to take advantage of the popular open-air market before the holiday begins on Friday.
The market will also be open on Friday, Harasis said, but most vendors will not work as they will be busy celebrating the Eid, so the additional days are also meant to give them a chance to make up for the business they will lose.
Vendors at the Friday market, which first opened in 1988 and draws thousands of visitors each week, sell second-hand clothing and shoes in addition to vegetables and fruits.
Meanwhile, as part of its Eid Al Adha preparations, the municipality has carried out maintenance work on all its parks in preparation for receiving a large number of visitors during the five-day holiday, Nebal Qattan, the director of GAM’s public parks department, said in a statement sent to The Jordan Times.
The maintenance work included cleaning, renovating playgrounds and increasing the number of employees working at the parks.


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RACE fans who drive an estate for their business should find the latest launch from Honda just a little more attractive than most.
Honda is offering a Tourer (estate) version of the Civic hatch for the first time, and expects 1700 of the projected 4000 sales to be to business buyers.
But the secret weapon in trying to claw back some of Ford and Vauxhall’s domination of the 38,000 per annum family-sized estate market is not the Honda Civic Tourer’s claimed class-leading boot capacity of 624 litres, but the fact it’s going racing in Britain’s biggest motorsport series.
Honda’s Civic has dominated the British Touring Car Championship, which attracts thousands of spectators to circuits and millions more viewers on the TV, for years, winning the last three titles.
But now Honda’s ‘works’ team, Honda Yuasa Racing, is dumping its Civic hatches for the new Tourer. Drivers Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden, champions in 2011 and 2012, will line up in Honda Civic Tourers when the BTCC kicks off at Brands Hatch in Kent on 30th March.
Speaking at the launch of the Honda Civic Tourer, UK MD Phil Crossman argues that the brand has to be in racing, whether it’s bikes or touring cars.
“Touring car fans, like bike fans, are fanatics and our new race car uses the same bodyshell as the road car; it’s really something we need to make more of,” said Crossman.
The Honda Civic Tourer arrives with either a 1.8 i-VTEC petrol engine of 142PS or the 1.6 i-DTEC diesel with 120PS.
Not surprisingly the diesel is expected to be substantially more popular with business buyers because of its 74mpg and company car tax beating emissions of 99g/km.
Just don’t expect the Honda Civic Tourer race team to be giving up its petrol engines just yet…


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We've received a few more bits of information since yesterdays story about a Canon EF 200-600mm f/4.5-5.6 IS coming in 2016. We're told that the new lens will likely be announced in August 2016 and will cost around $1700 USD, which would put it just under the Sigma's 150-600mm f/5-6.3 OS Sport's $1799 price tag. This tells us it will definitely not be an L lens, but it should still have great optics and build quality, though weather-sealing would be unlikely at this price point from Canon.
We're also told that there will be an external dedicated teleconverter for the lens, which would likely be an additional cost. We weren't told if it was a 1.4x teleconverter or something else.
You can view the patent for the EF 200-600 f/4.5-5.6 IS optical formula here.
More to come…


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The Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) are delighted to announce UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) as official Innovation Partner to their two new inaugural events, FPC Future and FPC Careers.
The events, both of which are being held on 4 November 2021 at Lincolnshire Showground, have been developed by FPC to address the many industry challenges that exist and to showcase the opportunities and innovations available to ensure the sustainable future of our nation’s food supply.
"There are a huge range of exciting innovations being developed across the food sector."
UKRI will present a number of sessions on the day, centred around the Transforming Food Production (TFP) programme. Each session will shine a light on the innovations being used to tackle food production challenges to create a more resilient and sustainable sector, and will showcase the benefits of these, both today and for the future of the industry.
“We’re proud to be able to offer a platform to showcase the amazing innovations that UKRI, and the projects they are supporting, are bringing into focus for the industry,” explained FPC’s Chief Executive, Nigel Jenney.
“Our new Innovation Partner will lift the lid on how industry challenges can be cleverly tackled through innovation and will explore the many opportunities we can expect to see in the future of our food production.”
Tom Jenkins, Deputy Challenge Director for UKRI’s Transforming Food Production challenge, added: “Whether it’s the use of data, robotics and AI to improve monitoring and measurement, new solutions to prevent pests and disease, or alternative growing and harvesting methods, there are a huge range of exciting innovations being developed across the food sector.
“We are proud to have supported and funded a number of landmark projects looking at the future of food production. Being part of key industry events such as FPC’s is crucial to our strategy of reaching out to new stakeholders in the industry, so we look forward to showcasing our work so far and engaging with new farmers, growers, researchers and technologists to help inspire solutions to the issues facing the food sector.”
Transforming Food Production is part of the UKRI’s flagship challenge fund, delivered by Innovate UK.
Both events are free to attend.
To register for FPC Future click here.
To register for FPC Careers click here.
Find out more about UKRI’s Transforming Food Production (TFP) programme here.


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The big hype in the hemp industry is “feminized seed,” but an increasing number of hemp farmers are finding out that securing exclusively feminized seed can be much more difficult than anticipated.
Farmers and cultivators depend on female plants and will pay top dollar for the feminized seeds that will produce them because it is the female that will yield cannabidiol (CBD)-rich hemp plants. Despite the promises being made to achieve these genetics through feminized seeds, it appears to be far from the truth sprouting out. In recent cases, many seed sellers, brokers and others (sometimes falsely) advertise the sale of “feminized seed.” Only once planted, and several weeks or months later, the farmer may find out the seeds are not exclusively feminized and are producing male plants in high numbers ruining the well-laid plans of those same hemp farmers across the United States.
Because the female plants produce significantly higher quantities of cannabinoids than males, unfortunately, it only takes one male plant growing in a crop to potentially pollinate the female plants. Among other concerns, many farmers harvesting CBD-rich crops remain concerned that pollinated female plants will begin diverting their energy away from the production of cannabinoids in favor of producing seeds, devastating an entire crop. The removal of male plants also causes a great deal of extra labor and lost production.
To add insult to injury, given the popularity and profit potential, feminized seed is far more expensive. In fact, it is commonly sold for double or more, significantly increasing the farming cost per acre. The added cost is worth it for many farmers to ensure planting of exclusively feminized seed, given their increased profit expectations, and without assurances of being a feminized seed, there is a 50/50 chance of any given seed sprouting a female plant. Notwithstanding the expense, there remains a high demand for feminized seed around the country.
This demand and perceived importance of feminized seed has created an opportunity for seed suppliers to exaggerate and, sometimes, make fraudulent claims. Thinking that they are making a critical business investment and purchasing from these suppliers, it may not be until the plants enter their pre-flowering stage — up to six weeks after planting — that unwitting farmers realize they did not get what they paid for.
Deceptive trade practices, including fraud and misrepresentations, like these do not need to be ignored. Farmers who find themselves in similar situations may have legal remedies available to them. As an example, an Oregon plaintiff in a 2018 lawsuit claimed to have paid up to a dollar per feminized seed. When it turned out that his crop was not female-only and CBD-rich as promised, causing him millions of dollars in damages, he brought suit. In September 2019, a Kentucky-based company raised similar claims, alleging $44 million in damages, against another Oregon seed supplier concerning seed which turned out to be male, instead of feminized seed as represented by the supplier.
Farmers who find themselves on the wrong end of a misleading “feminized seed” sale should consult with legal professionals concerning potential recourse and legal claims against the suppliers of the seed.
Nicole Chapman is a paralegal at Hoban Law Group (hoban.law) in Denver, Colorado. Ms.
Chapman specializes in corporate law, and civil and commercial litigation. This article has
been prepared for informational and general guidance purposes only; it does not constitute legal
or professional advice. You should not act upon the information contained herein without
obtaining specific professional advice. No representation or warranty (express or implied) is
made to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this publication. Hoban
Law Group, its members, employees, and agents accept no liability, and disclaim all
responsibility, for the consequences of you or anyone else acting, or refraining to act, in reliance
on the information contained in this publication or for any decision based thereupon.


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Cannabis produces a variety compounds known as cannabinoids, many of which have not been detected in any other plant. How many, exactly?
Facebook have stepped up its attack on businesses & the rate of closure of CBD & hemp pages & groups has accelerated dramatically.
“They’re pretty advanced down the path” of doing a deal, according to one source who has direct knowledge of the talks between the two companies. “It’s going to be more of the ‘recovery drink’ category,” the source added.
The United Nations has announced that it will conduct a critical review of cannabis to determine whether it should continue to be banned under international law.
“The current international policies on cannabis use are outdated and are having a detrimental impact on patients in the US and worldwide,”


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- We view the U.S. ban on Huawei as linked directly to the escalating trade war with China
- Huawei is among the largest global purchasers of semiconductors, and the ban is likely to be highly disruptive to the technology industry
- Risks include retaliation from policy makers in China and a slowdown in the global rollout of 5G network technology
Last week, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that it would add China-based telecom and smartphone giant Huawei and its subsidiaries to a U.S. “entity list.” This prevents Huawei from buying U.S. technology without prior approval. While this was publicly justified under the guise of national security, we view the move as linked directly to the escalating trade war with China. It suggests that if a trade conflict agreement is eventually reached, we could see the ban partially or entirely lifted. Chinese telecom company ZTE offers precedent here. A similar ban was imposed on ZTE in 2018, but was later lifted when the U.S. government negotiated a settlement with ZTE and the Chinese government that included a penalty payment and compliance monitoring.
In the meantime, the export ban is likely to be highly disruptive to the technology industry in both China and the United States. Huawei is the world’s largest vendor of networking equipment and the second-largest smartphone manufacturer. However, Huawei still relies on U.S. technology for products it is unable to design and build domestically — primarily semiconductors. In fact, our data suggests that Huawei is the fifth-largest global purchaser of semiconductors and accounts for more than 3% of total annual demand, primarily purchased from U.S.-based companies. This explains why we have seen several U.S. semiconductor companies lower their revenue outlooks as they confirm their compliance with the ban.
“We have seen several U.S. semiconductor companies lower their revenue outlooks as they confirm their compliance with the ban.”
The potential ramifications depend on numerous factors that are impossible to judge (we try to avoid predicting President Trump’s tweets). One ramification we expect is that the ban will drive the Chinese government to increase its support of domestic semiconductor and software companies in order to reduce their reliance on U.S. technology. In the United States, we have already started to see evidence that the ban will be a modest headwind to many Huawei suppliers.
Potential risks and implications
- Policy makers in China, who have so far been fairly muted, could take retaliatory measures
- A prolonged export ban could bring a slowdown in the global rollout of 5G network technology
- If Huawei remains crippled by the ban, its smartphone and telecom equipment peers, mainly in Europe and Asia, will have the opportunity to gain market share
- Further escalation of the conflict could lead to a broader export ban for Chinese companies and/or embargo not only from the United States, but also from U.S. allies
We continue to track the developments closely and expect pressure to remain on financial markets, and the technology sector in particular, until there is increased visibility to a negotiated settlement.
Huawei is not a publicly traded company and is not a holding in any Putnam funds.


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By 2018, the country will see a total of 6 integrated resorts, 50 hotel electronic gaming lounges, and 7 small casinos for foreign tourists, and gaming rooms at departure level of the country’s 7 international airports. In addition, a new sports betting decree is expected to come out sometime in the first half of 2017.
Note from Augustine Ha Ton Vinh, president and CEO of Stellar Management.
Other notes from:
Sam Sheng, director of Double Square Consulting
Steve Gallaway, Global Market Advisors
Sudhir Kale, CEO of GamePlan Consulting
Tim Shepherd, co-founder and president of business development at Silver Heritage Group
Asia Gaming Brief is a news and intelligence service providing up to date market information for worldwide executives on relevant gaming issues in Asia.
ASIA GAMING BRIEF
PO Box 1139, Macau SAR
Tel: +853 2871 7267
Fax: +853 2871 7264


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Billionaire Peter Theil’s legendary Breakout Labs is investing in a technology that sounds fantastical or gross or maybe both – they are betting on the future of 3-D printed meat and leathers for the mass market.
Modern Meadow is a start-up that came out of the Singularity University’s business incubator which aims to help highly innovative ideas reach the market. The chief scientist behind Modern Meadow is Gabor Forgacs. He developed the patented technology for printed organs and human tissue under his company Organovo.
As explained on Organovo’s website, the 3D printers use human cells and a preset 3D design matrix to ‘print’ human tissue:
>”The 3D bio-printers include an intuitive software interface that allows engineers to build a model of the tissue construct before the printer commences the physical constructions of the organs cell-by-cell using automated, laser-calibrated print heads.”
Those tissue products are primarily used in research, but as Forgacs’ son Andras recently told Co.Exist, “The idea struck us that if we can make medical-grade tissues that are good enough for drug companies, good enough for patients, then certainly we can find other applications for tissue engineering.” That’s when they thought of printing meat.
Meat consumption is taxing on the environment with heavy water use, feed that must be diverted to livestock, demands on land for production and gases like methane released by the animals’ manure in feedlots. Industrial factory farming is not a very sustainable or humane practice.
We outline some of the negative effects of factory farming livestock and CAFO’s (Confined Animal Feeding Operations), like pollution and cruelty, in a previous post. And with meat consumption on the rise around the world, the idea of meat that can be printed from cells sounds like an ideal solution. It would also help to curb food waste by allowing just enough meat to be produced at any given time.
But for many people the idea of printing meat has a definite ick factor. Forgacs hopes that by starting with leather that can be used for clothing or accessories, people will have a chance to get used to the idea.
In a research summary submitted to the Department of Agriculture, Modern Meadow explains that, “bio-printing has been applied to build three-dimensional tissues and organ structures of specific architecture and functionality for purposes of regenerative medicine. Here we propose to adapt this technology to building meat products for consumption.”
In just a few years, you may be able to get a custom hamburger, printed to order and virtually guilt free.


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Heck Yeah, Here's What to Expect on Pokemon Day, February 27
Gotta catch all these events ...
Monday, February 27 is a momentous day that will surely go down in the annals of history. Hell yeah, my dudes, it’s Pokémon Day. The first Pokémon games came out in Japan on this day in 1996, meaning that Pikachu is now old enough to drink. To honor this occasion, Nintendo is throwing a bunch of events, both inside various video games and IRL, in celebration. Here’s what to expect on Pokémon Day, the most important day of the whole goddamn year.
For anybody out there still playing Pokémon GO, Nintendo and Niantic are adding a special Pikachu to the game in addition to all the new Generation 2 Pokémon they added last week. From February 26 to March 6, players will be able to find a special Pikachu wearing “a festive party hat.” The Pikachu will keep the hat even after the event ends, so keep an eye out.
That, sadly, is probably the best in-game event. Anybody playing the latest installments in the main series of games, Pokémon Sun and Moon, can go to an actual, brick-and-mortar GameStop store to get an in-game Bottle Cap that lets them improve a Pokémon’s hidden stat value. Meanwhile, The Pokémon Trading Card Game Online is adding extra bonuses, and the two-year-old Nintendo 3DS game Pokémon Shuffle is also going to have some sort of celebration, although a Nintendo press release could not or would not elaborate on what it might be.
There’s also going to be new opportunities to buy stuff. A new batch of collectible Gallery Figures, including figurines of Eevee, Mew, Magikarp, and Pikachu, will go on sale over at the Pokémon Center website. A new Pokémon movie, Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel, will be up for sale on the iTunes Store, Google Play, and Amazon, as will a special bundle of anime episodes following Ash and Co. through the Johto region. Also, there’s a special Pikachu Yellow Edition New Nintendo 3DS XL, but that comes out before Pokémon Day, which seems kinda bogus.
If you’re understandably underwhelmed by this slate of events — a sorry offering that makes one question if Nintendo even cares about Pokémon Day — there are two last things to get hype for. First, Twitch will stream some of the best moments from past video and trading card game competitions, which is fun if you’re into PokéSports. Second, Pokémon TV, which you can watch on the website or the app, is going to do a free marathon of some Pokémon movies, including Pokémon: The First Movie.
Dang, guys … remember Pokémon: The First Movie? Remember when Ash dies? And then Pikachu cries and all the other Pokémon cry and it brings him back to life? Pretty heavy stuff.
Anyway, that’s Pokémon Day this year. Go out and catch something good.


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That little green robot must be struggling to catch his breath.
Sony appears to be close to ending a two-week long outage of its PlayStation Network. The company said late Thursday that it is in the final stages of internal testing of the new system, but it stopped short of saying when the popular online gaming s...
Sony said it has found no link between an attack on its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services and Internet activist group Anonymous, which had earlier targeted its systems.
Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity online services will begin a phased resumption this week, after the company took them offline in response to a "very sophisticated" intrusion, the company said Sunday.
Sony is expected to provide its most detailed update yet on Sunday on a hack that hit the PlayStation Network and the status of personal information and credit card numbers of up to 77 million customers.
A U.S. congressional committee has asked Sony Computer Entertainment to explain several issues surrounding the massive potential leak of information on customers of its PlayStation Network.
Sony may offer users some form of compensation for the outage, now in its 8th day, of the PlayStation Network and Qriocity online services, its U.S. unit said late Thursday.
This is a timeline of major events associated with the attack on Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity online services.
Sony's top executive in charge of its games division appeared in front of journalists in Tokyo on Tuesday but failed to address an outage of the company's PlayStation Network that is now in its sixth day and is affecting up to 75 million customers.
Sony has yet to determine the full scope of an attack on its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services that has left more than 75 million people without access for more than four days.
The outage of Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity service, now in its fourth day, looks set to continue after the company said on Sunday that it is "rebuilding" its system to better guard against attacks.
An unexplained outage of Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity services entered its third day Saturday, with no clear details on when the service might be up and running again.
It's the end of a very short era as Sony's abortive experiment in a digital distribution-only platform quietly dies.
Have you heard the news? Despite every analysis we've seen over the past two years about Android dominating the mobile market, Apple's iOS is the biggest mobile operating system by a landslide.
Cisco's recent announcement that it was closing its Flip mini-camcorder business got us thinking. It's pretty clear that today's smartphones, with their excellent HD video cameras, are partly to blame for the Flip's demise. But how many other consume...
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We all know AMD is cooking up Big Navi right now, with CEO Dr. Lisa Su herself confirming it is in the oven and coming out in 2020 -- but it looks like Big Navi might have just turned up somewhere new. AMD's new Big Navi is meant to disrupt 4K gaming with NVIDIA, like its Ryzen CPUs did with Intel.
The Korean RRA has just listed a couple of AMD graphics cards for certification, which is perfect timing for AMD's upcoming Financial Analyst Day which takes place on March 5. AMD will be talking about its next-gen RDNA2 architecture at this event on March 5, where we're all hoping to hear about Big Navi.
But when it comes to the two new Korean RRA certification entries, we're looking at D32310 and D30201 -- listed on February 3, and February 19, respectively. Perfect timing for AMD's upcoming Financial Analyst Day on March 5 -- and previously, we've had around one month between Korean RRA certification, and product releases from AMD.
Rewinding back to June 2019, we saw AMD registering two graphics cards -- D16302 and D18206. Just a month later, AMD released the Radeon RX 5700 and Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics cards. On November 27,2019 the company registered D18902 and then on December 12 released the Radeon RX 5500 XT, and then on December 3, 2019 we had AMD register D32501 and just over a month later on January 21, 2020 the company launched its new Radeon RX 5600 XT.
If we follow this pattern then we could expect AMD to unleash Big Navi towards the end of March -- which is important for two reasons: the upcoming Game Developers Conference (GDC) being hosted in San Francisco between March 16-20, and then NVIDIA's own GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose between March 22-26 (of which I'll be in attendance).


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As we see the S&P 500 index at all-time highs, it has become harder to find companies that still have great value.
If you do not already own them, it may feel like you have missed out on the high-growth tech stocks as they keep trending higher. But there is one tech company the market could be overlooking currently.
AI is a new industry, and C3.ai has created a whole market for itself. Known as the Enterprise AI, the company can create AI applications for any industry out there, and customers are rushing to it.
Wall Street analysts Wedbush Securities believes this stock could go up by over 95% from its current levels, and there are some key points in favor of this prediction.
The internet has altered how the world does business. It supports the smallest of stores to go to the furthest corners of the world, leading to easier success and growth. But the internet has caused some industries to get left behind, mostly the ones that are reliant on input from humans. Think of real estate brokering or any profession in the legal sector, for example.
AI is the next frontier, and while it is still new, it is already bringing in labor-intensive companies into the digital market. It aided in building companies such as Zillow Group (NASDAQ:Z), because without machine learning and AI it would not be able to track the whole property market across the United States in real-time, allowing it to buy homes directly from home sellers (removing agents from the equation).
But Zillow is a company with technology at its center. Other companies don’t have these resources or ability to build AI programs in-house. That is the gap that C3.ai fills, and currently, it’s the only player around.
Great financial performance
After listing in Dec. 2020, C3.ai’s stock increased to prices as much as $161, but it has steadily gone down to around $50. The company has not yet lived up to the huge expectations around its profits and revenue growth.
But it still have huge potential, and Wedbush’s recent $100 price target is supportive of that. Financial performance is getting better, and since it might take up to six months to produce an AI application into the market, revenue growth is lagging customer growth. C3.ai’s 98 customers in Q1 are 85% of the increases compared to the same time frame last year, which sets up a possible revenue surprise in the future.
The company’s 2022 revenue estimates seem to point to a growth acceleration to higher levels, which has already happened in Q1, and is expected to get better next quarter.
While the firm is not profitable yet, it has a gross margin over 75%, which allows the company to reinvest revenue into its business to push growth. When revenue growth goes up in the future, it can lower expenses and give earnings to investors. For now, it’s all about growing and growing fast.
Author: Steven Sinclaire


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CHICAGO and WARREN, PA. — Targeted Petcare (TPC) announced its acquisition of Pet Brands, a pet treat business, on Jan. 19. The acquisition is expected to expand TPC’s pet treat portfolio and enhance its sourcing, design and packaging capabilities.
Founded in 2004, Pet Brands established itself as an innovator and reliable partner of pet treats to leading grocery, mass and e-commerce retailers, according to the company. It specializes in private-label and branded dog and cat treats in various natural categories, including jerky, soft chews, dental chews, purees and premium bone treats.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Targeted PetCare,” said Tom O’Brien, chief executive officer of Pet Brands. “Our combined offering creates a truly unique value proposition for our customers, and we believe the scale of the TPC network will be a meaningful enabler for Pet Brands’ future growth.”
TPC serves as a pet consumables platform, partnering with brands to co-manufacture, develop and launch private-label pet products. The company’s portfolio includes cat litter and litter alternatives, bedding for small animals, and pet treats and chews. TPC is a Wind Point Partners portfolio company.
“Pet Brands has developed high-value-add capabilities and strong brands in attractive pet treat categories,” said Matt Miller, chief executive officer of TPC. “The company’s full-service model across innovation, product development and sourcing provide a differentiated solution for leading retailers and pet parents alike. We are very excited about the partnership and look forward to Pet Brands’ continued success under TPC’s ownership.”
This acquisition marks TPC’s fifth under Wind Point’s ownership.
“A core pillar of the Targeted PetCare value creation plan has been broadening the company’s capabilities across pet consumables through M&A,” said Paul Peterson, managing director at Wind Point. “The acquisition of Pet Brands is closely aligned with this strategy, and we look forward to supporting the growth of the combined businesses.”
Read more about corporate strategy, financial performance, mergers and acquisitions on our Business page.


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ANKARA, Türkiye, July 27. The export of Turkish steel products from January through June 2023 decreased by 39.2 percent compared to the same period last year and amounted to $7.2 billion, the Turkish Ministry of Commerce said, Trend reports.
"In June this year, Türkiye exported $1.3 million worth of steel products, which is 42.1 percent less than in June last year, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, over the past 12 months (June 2022-June 2023), Türkiye has exported steel products worth $16.4 billion.
Türkiye's exports amounted to $80.8 billion in the first quarter of 2023, which is 3 percent less compared to the same quarter last year, and imports increased by 7.1 percent in comparison with the same period last year to $124.3 billion.


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NEWS ANALYSIS: Some young iPhone buyers are saying that other phones have a higher coolness factor, and other users find
Dell officials are considering taking the company private in hopes of making the job around its transformation easier, according to
NASA has announced that it has awarded Bigelow Aerospace a contract to build an inflatable module for the International Space
Imagine this scenario: Your phone was lost or stolen, but luckily enough you can still access the GPS remotely. You
Facebook, Google and many other Websites collect and use consumer information in ways few people understand. It’s time to stop
Facebook, Google and other collect and use consumer information in ways few people understand. It’s time to stop being so
Taking a page from Research In Motion’s playbook, Microsoft is attempting to build buzz and the application inventory for Windows
Even if you don’t take a great interest in anime, chances are you’ve heard of the most popular titles such
Google is trying out voice commands in the beta version of its Chrome Web browser.
In an attempt to convince the world that you don’t need a physical location in order to have a great
Facebook’s big reveal finally happened today. Surprise, surprise: Mark Zuckerberg did not saunter on to stage and pull a shiny
Today, Facebook announced a new search feature that Facebook advocates might say could rival Google’s search in some fashion. However,
This eWEEK slide show explains why people are choosing tablets over notebooks.
More than a third of Americans go online to diagnose symptoms, but the Internet hasn’t usurped the role of the
Dell surveyed 2,362 midmarket executives to find out their top IT priorities for 2013. This eWEEK slide show highlights Dell’s
Hortonworks announced the Hortonworks Data Platform version 1.2, which brings new management capabilities for Hadoop in the enterprise.
NovaSom has launched a streamlined version of its sleep apnea cloud portal to speed up diagnostic testing and results tracking.<div
Apple’s newest tablets will go on sale this week in China, which CEO Tim Cook has said he expects will
The Samsung Galaxy line passes the 100 million units mark, with Galaxy S III sales now exceeding 40 million units.<div
Playing a game for 40 hours isn’t going to do anyone’s health much good, but it seems for some people


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One of the bigger DVD rental services in India along with Reliance’s BIG FLIX, Seventymm.com has now decided to move into the e-commerce trade, and will soon be shutting down its rental business. This shift can be explained owing to the strong potential of e-commerce in India. Seventymm had reportedly raised Rs. 50 crores from NEA-IUV in Series C, but ventured into e-commerce back in 2008 itself.
The business model of the company seems to have shifted in a rather curious fashion, although the scope for a DVD rental business seems dim in India now, considering that very few companies have ventured into it, and even with the biggest names behind them, they weren’t able to give full consumer satisfaction. Seventymm is currently informing all its customers via telephone about the shutdown and also giving away vouchers for the new e-store.
Reliance Digital Entertainment’s BIG FLIX also phased out its DVD rental business a while back and moved to streaming Bollywood Movie-on-Demand service. The service quality offered by both Seventymm and BIG FLIX was not upto the mark according to many customers, with condition of DVDs being a common complaint.
Seventymm opted for the easier way out it seems, since having already forayed into e-commerce, keeping the rental business “didn’t make sense”. The original business model for most online rental sites was taken from Netflix, however the lack of a larger audience in India, coupled with the fact that the model was unfit for India, and that the execution of the service was not good enough, might have lead to this ultimate transition.


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In what’s meant to be a bum year for the global economy, world commerce is getting a boost from automotive trade, especially in electric vehicles.
Chinese exports of motor vehicles more than doubled in March, rising 123.8% year-on-year to $7.4 billion. A huge chunk of China’s auto industry has gone electric. In 2022, 44.7% of China’s total automobile exports were electric vehicles. Autos and auto parts made up 4.9% of China’s total exports in March, up from 4% for all of 2022.
That trend is expected to continue. The world’s largest economies are committed to developing policies that increase use of electric vehicles to drive down emissions. The U.S. has said it wants half its fleet to be electric by 2030, up from around 6% last year, and the Biden administration this week proposed even more ambitious targets.
The automotive trade is a boon for global business, which has suffered from the end of stimulus payments in the U.S. and EU, inflation, and the war in Ukraine. The upturn in electric-vehicle trade is one of the reasons the World Trade Organization last week hiked its forecast for global trade growth in 2023 to 1.7% from 1%. The WTO forecasts trade to grow 3.2% in 2024 after increasing 2.7% in 2022.
The boost in car and truck trade helped Chinese exports rise 14.8% year-on-year in March to $315.6 billion, far exceeding analysts’ expectations. “China’s foreign trade showed strong resilience in the first quarter, with a steady and positive start, laying the foundation for promoting stability and improving quality of foreign trade throughout the year,” said Lu Daliang, a government spokesman.
There’s no question that China’s best export market is no longer the U.S. but the 10-nation ASEAN bloc including countries like Thailand and Vietnam. Exports to ASEAN countries increased 36.3% to $56.4 billion. By comparison, shipments to the U.S. fell 7.7% to $43.7 billion, and exports to the EU rose 3.4% to $45.9 billion.
Analysts credited the development of intra-Asian supply chains as a key driver of Chinese exports. “The strong export growth is likely due to strengthened ties with [ASEAN and other emerging market] countries and the continued healing of the global supply chain,” Goldman Sachs said in a note.
While the Chinese car sector is booming, other sectors are flattening out. China is slumping in some areas of global business where it used to dominate, particularly in tech. Shipments of high-tech products declined 10% to $74.5 billion. Exports of mobile phones dropped 31.9% to $8.5 billion.
There’s been a rebound this year in some niche consumer sectors that had slumped. Exports of toys increased 33.1% to $3.8 billion. Footwear exports increased 32.9% to $4.2 billion.
And China is making good use of its new relationship with energy-rich Russia, which has boosted its industrial production, which benefits from low-cost energy. Exports of petroleum products rose 23.1% to $4.2 billion. Exports of steel products increased 52.8% to $10.2 billion. Exports to Russia rose 136.8% to $9 billion, while imports increased 34% to $11 billion.
Imports fell 1.4% to $227.4 billion, as the Chinese domestic economy continues to struggle with consumer demand. The country’s gross domestic product is expected to grow around 5% this year, below its trend this century.
Overall imports of high-tech products fell 13.6% to $59.1 billion. Soybean imports rose 13.8% to $4.5 billion.
The development of China’s car sector has freed it from having to buy automobiles abroad. Imports of automobiles declined 14.9% to $3.8 billion. Purchases of auto components and parts fell 20.6% to $2.1 billion.
China might be on its way to becoming a green-energy superpower, but it’s also still addicted to dirty energy sources. It continues to ramp up purchases of coal, hiking imports of the black rock 150.7% by quantity in March to 41.2 million tons, and 122.6% by value to $5.3 billion.


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DVS1 has released his debut album via Jeff Mills' Axis Records label.
Beta Sensory Motor Rhythm, which hit the shelves today, December 1st, is the first full release from Zak Khutoretsky in three years. The LP, which is only available digitally, contains eight tracks in the techno artist's signature trippy style.
Listen to clips, and revisit our ORIGINS film with DVS1.
03. Delta Wave
06. Transient Response
07. The Five Aggregates
08. Solfäge's Framework
Beta Sensory Motor Rhythm is out now on Axis Records.


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Dec 28, 2016 PM EST Microsoft wasn’t doing so well 3 years before Nadella. Now the company exceeds expectations in terms of revenues and innovations.
Dec 07, 2016 AM EST The iPad Pro is being touted as a computer replacement as well as a tablet. Is this the reason why apple is reluctant to update its ageing Mac PC line?
Nov 26, 2016 AM EST Nadella did not disclose any other details of what an "ultimate" phone will feature, but he did mention that Microsoft will focus "on a specific set of customers who need a specific set of ...
Nov 18, 2016 AM EST Released this year, the Microsoft Surface Studio is an awe-inspiring piece of hardware that has the potential to revolutionize future design concepts for desktop computers.
Oct 28, 2016 AM EDT The Microsoft Surface Ergonomic Keyboard’s slim; low profile design with the unique palm rest and arched shape can help any serious typist for having strains on their hand and wrists as well as ...
Oct 22, 2016 AM EDT Microsoft Surface products have obviously been manufactured for the purpose of productivity and business.
Oct 08, 2016 PM EDT A leak at the FCC gave us an early look at the products Microsoft is rumored to be coming out with this month.
Oct 05, 2016 AM EDT The upcoming Microsoft Surface Phone is said to be the harmony of productivity and security.
Jun 28, 2017 AM EDTNASA official says no alien has been found until today.
Jun 28, 2017 AM EDTOver 2,000 computers in about a dozen countries were affected.
Jun 28, 2017 AM EDTDo celebrities really affect marketing?


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Meat eaters stung by the worst food inflation in four decades are trading down from beef to chicken, according to one of the world’s biggest crop traders.
Inflation pressure overall has Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. reducing its outlook for animal-feed demand in a range from 10 million to 15 million tons globally, Chief Executive Officer Juan Luciano told investors Tuesday. Still, demand for chicken feed is outpacing that for cattle as consumers shift their consumption.
And with chickens eating a diet of corn mixed with soybean meal -- while cattle, especially in the US, mostly bulk up only on corn -- ADM is signaling that prices for soymeal may have a bigger upside than corn.
“Chicken is more affordable and is where we get all the soybean meal mostly sourced,” Luciano said. “Soybean meal remains a very efficient and cost-effective protein substitute even for wheat as prices are still relatively expensive.”


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…even in a slump, or so says an article in today’s Wall Street Journal. It’s an unfortunate title with a collection of half-truths about lean manufacturing, some contradictory, that leaves one unsure at the end whether lean manufacturing is friend or foe of the either the worker or the corporation.
The article cites labor statistics that the job cuts in manufacturing are not as deep as one would expect, considering the fact that the drop in customer demand has been deeper than in past recessions. Why? The CEO of the Bona fide lean manufacturer Parker Hannifin tells us:
“Because of productivity gains, every one of my people carries more dollars in sales today,” says Donald Washkewicz, Parker’s chief executive. In 2000, the average Parker worker represented about $125,000 a year in sales. Today, that figure tops $200,000. “If I need to cut back, I have to cut back fewer people to achieve the same goal.”
Rephrased, Don Washkewicz is saying that for every $1 million drop in sales he now needs to cut only 5 people at today’s productivity levels (at $200,000 per person) versus 8 people ($125,000 per person in 2000).
“…workers are safer than in many other industries because cutting a full-time employee has become quite costly.”
What exactly does that mean? One of the assumptions of this article is that it was easier “before lean manufacturing” to cut employees in a downturn because people were single-skilled. Several examples are given to illustrate this, but not convincingly.
But deeper changes in manufacturing are also playing a role. A decade ago, most factories tended to do “batch” work, with large groups of employees churning out endless runs of the same pieces. Since many workers did identical tasks, it was easier for companies to cut people during downturns.
That doesn’t make any sense. The whole idea of cross-training to develop multi-skilled workers is that more people know how to do a particular task. The paragraph above would be true whether workers were single-skilled or multi-skilled, if the production capacity in terms of labor was greater than customer demand. The implied statement is that cross-training means “fewer people can do any given job” and that if Mr. A who knows jobs X, Y and Z is cut, we no longer have anyone who can do those jobs. This has nothing to do with lean manufacturing and is simply a question of succession planning and the depth of cross-training (number of people trained in any given job) instead of the breadth (number of skills trained per person).
And this statement seems to be a complete non sequitur to the idea that when a company applies lean manufacturing it becomes harder to cut jobs:
“When you get down to where we are now, where manufacturing is less than 10% of the employed population, there just isn’t that much more you can cut,” says Kurt Karl, chief U.S. economist at Swiss Re. Mr. Karl says manufacturers are especially eager to hold on to workers who are trained to operate their increasingly sophisticated equipment.
Essential Mr. Karl is saying that less jobs are being cut because there are less jobs, and that employers are reluctant to cut highly trained equipment. What does this have to do with lean manufacturing?
Reduced inventory through lean manufacturing has “made it hard” for Parker Hannifin to cut jobs.Taken positively, Mr. Washkewicz is saying that having less inventory secures jobs. Taken as “lean factories” are “finding it hard to cut jobs” one could think that having more inventory could make it easier to cut jobs, which is not true.
Another factor saving jobs thus far is smaller inventories. A decade ago, Parker, like many other companies, structured its factories so that workers were building large batches of goods at each stage of production. That often led to huge stockpiles and made it harder to adjust when a downturn hit. There might have been six months or more of goods on Parker’s shelves before the signal finally came to reduce production.
Parker’s plants today have been largely restructured to create smaller production clusters. Seals for aerosol cans, for example, are only made in numbers that match the flow of orders. Mr. Washkewicz says those big stockpiles of yesteryear used to mean he had to cut more people, much faster. “In the past, we were trying to adjust to past sins, as well as the current drop,” he says.
The following information from The Toro Company, from another fine lean manufacturer, is a great testament to the value of stopping overproduction, synchronizing supply closely with demand through just in time production, and getting a true feeling for the customer demand signal.
Some companies say tighter inventories helped them notice a dropoff in orders more quickly than they might have in years past. “We saw the economy changing early last year and started cutting back,” says Rick Olson, who oversees four of Toro Co.’s plants in the northern U.S.
But this contradicts the message of the article since “lean factories” with less inventories can cut jobs earlier.
In in summary, why do “lean factories find it hard to cut jobs?”
- There are just fewer jobs in manufacturing to be cut
- People have been cross trained and are more “costly” to cut
- A cross-trained workforce is less flexible in a downturn
- Less inventory means less cutting to offset the cost of excess stock
- Less inventory means feeling the downturn sooner and cutting sooner
This is the sort of exposure that sets understanding of lean manufacturing (or even basic economics) back by a few years, as people who have been living in the caves of traditional manufacturing come out and wave their new sheets, “See? The Wall Street Journal said lean manufacturing will make it harder to cut cost!” I can’t believe this article made it to the front page.


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CNN By Susan Taylor and Souhail Karam
OTTAWA/RIYADH, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Canada said it is talking to Saudi Arabia and the UAE to resolve a fight over BlackBerry security that could jeopardize the growth of Research in Motion Ltd, the country’s most important tech exporter.
RIM is facing increased pressure to open its smartphones to government scrutiny, as Lebanon joined Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and India in raising national security concerns over their lack of access to encrypted BlackBerry user data.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has promoted Internet freedom as a basic human right, said the United States will hold talks with the UAE and other countries on the issue.
Saudi Arabia said it would ban the BlackBerry Messenger function on Friday if it and RIM do not reach an agreement, though a source with direct knowledge of talks between RIM and the government said they had made progress.
Canada is concerned about the looming ban and its “broader implications,” Trade Minister Peter Van Loan said in a statement, adding that Canadian officials have been working with RIM, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to find a solution.
Shares of RIM fell 2 percent on the Nasdaq and Toronto stock exchanges. The stock has lost about 9 percent of its value since the UAE threatened over the weekend to ban BlackBerry email, messaging and Internet services after three years of negotiations with RIM over access to user data.
RIM is in an unusual position of having to deal with government requests to monitor its clients because it is the only smartphone maker that manages the traffic of messages sent using its equipment.
Although the Gulf region accounts for only a small portion of RIM’s more than 41 million subscribers, analysts said they were concerned about the impact on the Canadian company’s reputation for providing iron-clad smartphone services.
“The company has to stand its ground, failing to do so, they’re built their brand and they’ve built their loyalty largely around security,” said Nick Agostino, analyst at Mackie Research Capital Corp.
RIM has said its technology will not allow a third party to monitor communications running through the BlackBerry’s enterprise servers. Co-CEO Michael Lazaridis, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, accused governments of picking on smartphones to score political points.
“This is about the Internet,” Lazaridis was quoted as saying. “Everything on the Internet is encrypted. This is not a BlackBerry-only issue. If they can’t deal with the Internet, they should shut it off.”
Governments from China to Iran have become more vocal about controlling conversations on the Internet and on mobile phones, citing risks to national security.
Spats between government regulators and technology providers have escalated into diplomatic disputes, such as the one between China and Google Inc over Web censorship and cyber attacks earlier this year.
Clinton, who had also waded into the Google-China dispute, said on Thursday about the BlackBerry issue, “We are taking time to consult and analyze the full array of interests and issues at stake because we know that there is a legitimate security concern, but there is also a legitimate right of free use and access.”
Some analysts said it may be difficult for governments to get what they want.
“I think their expectations are unrealistic over the long term to maintain the kind of control that they’re looking for. They’re really trying to put the genie back in the bottle here,” said IDC senior mobile phone analyst Kevin Restivo.
Lebanon said on Thursday it was studying security concerns related to the BlackBerry and would begin talks with RIM.
Media reports had said that Indonesia was pressing on RIM to allow monitoring of BlackBerry data, though the country’s communications minister said it was not banning the service.
India, worried that BlackBerry’s secure messaging services could be misused by militants, has demanded more access for its security agencies, and the country’s telecoms minister said it had not reached an agreement with the company.
“India has made these threats time and again and India’s starting to sound like the boy that cried wolf, a little bit, because RIM continues to maintain service there and has talked to the government many times and come to resolutions over the course of time,” said Restivo.
RIM has said BlackBerry security is based on a system where customers create their own keys. The company neither has a master key nor any “back door” to let RIM or third parties to gain access to data.
The company said Wednesday it has never provided anything unique to the government of one country and cannot accommodate any request for a copy of a customer’s encryption key.
Another interesting article in NYTimes:
Lebanon Is Latest Country With BlackBerry Concern
BEIRUT (Reuters) — Lebanon will assess security concerns relating to the use of BlackBerry phones in the country, the acting head of the Telecoms Regulatory Authority said on Thursday, the latest country to raise questions about the devices.
The official, Imad Hoballah, said the regulatory agency would start talks with the BlackBerry’s Canadian maker, Research In Motion, over its concerns.
R.I.M. is at odds with the governments of India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over their demands that the company let authorities tap BlackBerry messages delivered using the company’s encryption technology.
”We are studying the issue from all sides — technical, service-wise, economic, financial, legal and security-wise,” he told Reuters. “We are discussing this with the concerned administrations and ministries.”
Mr. Hoballah did not say what, if any, decision might be taken over the use of BlackBerrys in the country.