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Company car drivers take tyre risks
* Nearly 25% of replaced tyres are illegal * Almost a quarter replaced at legal minimum * Advice is to change tyres when tread hits 2mm...
Almost a quarter of company car drivers are driving their vehicles on illegal tyres, according to a new survey.
The survey, conducted by Sandicliffe Motor Contracts, revealed that, of 1800 tyres replaced between September and December last year, 24.7% had worn below the legal limit of 1.6mm. A further 28.7% of tyres were replaced on the legal limit.
When asked, 29% of those whose tyres were on the legal limit admitted they were waiting until they reached 1.6mm before getting tyres changed.
This is despite advice that tyres should be replaced when they reach 2mm of tread.


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Burglars in California ransacked multiple businesses at a strip mall in Oakland’s Little Saigon neighborhood before dawn.
Seven business owners at the International Plaza on East 9th Avenue and International Boulevard woke up to discover their stores raided on Monday.
Oakland police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said the break-ins happened around 4 a.m. A witness told KTVU that she reported the incident to the police at about 4:30 a.m.; however, dispatchers were not notified until 6:20 a.m., according to Armstrong. The burglars had already fled the scene by the time police arrived at 7:15 a.m.
The targeted businesses included a laundromat, nail salon, beauty gift shop, flower shop, restaurant, dessert shop and water-supply station, according to Jennifer Tran, the president of the Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce.
“It was blatant; it was intentional; it seemed like they were determined because it wasn’t just one storefront but seven storefronts,” Tran reportedly said.
Nolan Wong, the owner of International Coin Laundromat, said the burglars were armed with tools and dressed in hoodies. They entered his store by drilling a hole in the roof and kicking out a ceiling panel, undeterred by the alarm they set off.
“I found my whole place was ransacked,” Wong told the San Francisco Chronicle. “Five or ten minutes later, the owner of the restaurant at the corner started screaming. He found out his palace was broken into. Then I noticed the locks were broken on other businesses. I looked inside, and they were all ransacked.”
The incident is reportedly the second time Nolan’s business has been broken into this year. The thieves were captured on a surveillance camera trying to open a coin machine for over 30 minutes before they got away with around $5,000.
“Whether it took five minutes or an hour, they didn’t care. That’s the scary part,” Wong told NBC Bay Area. “They came multiple times to go gather themselves, get their tools, come back in and break into the machine.”
Two other businesses were also broken into through their roofs, including Simon Liu’s Vietnamese restaurant V & J Fusion.
“All seven stores here got burglarized in a span of like less than two hours,” Liu told KTVU. “The robbers came down through the roof. There’s a hole in my hallway right now. The damage is more than the money that they took.”
The burglars had also shattered windows and popped the locks of four other businesses.
“Mayor [Libby Schaaf], please do something because this area is hit so often…we are struggling here,” Jimmy Ngo, the owner of the nail salon that was burglarized, reportedly said.
Some business owners blamed the Oakland police for taking too long to respond to the scene. Officers, however, did spend hours after the incident gathering surveillance footage and statements.
Councilmember and City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas pointed to Oakland Chinatown Improvement’s $110,000 city funding that was recently approved for safety improvements in Little Saigon and an Oakland Police Department substation to reduce crime in the area.
She asked the public to donate to the Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce’s fundraiser for private surveillance cameras in the online campaign Violence Prevention and Public Safety in Oakland Little Saigon.
No arrests related to the strip mall’s burglary have been made. Anyone with information regarding this case is urged to contact the Oakland police at 510-238-3951.
Featured Image via KTVU

domain: news


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Tesla has plenty of options for raising money, but it is getting more expensive to do so, Wall Street Journal reported.
The electric car maker signaled last week it could issue new debt or equity financing in the wake of a first-quarter loss that was much worse than Wall Street analysts expected. Elon Musk, on an earnings call Wednesday, said “there’s merit to the idea of raising capital at this point” – a reversal from the chief executive’s previous insistence the firm didn’t need more money.
Some analysts say it would be prudent for Tesla to raise at least $1 billion to $2 billion to ensure that it can meet expenses. But Tesla may have already missed its best opportunity to raise money cheaply. Shares of the Palo Alto, Calif., auto maker have dropped about 36% from a recent high in December, settling Monday at $241.47.
A lower share price means Tesla executives would need to sell more of the company to raise money. If shares keep sliding, it could also make it harder to place new shares without discounting their price even further.
The potential cost to Tesla of issuing debt has also been rising. The company’s 5.3% unsecured bonds due in 2025 recently traded at 85.75 cents on the dollar, according to MarketAxess. That translates to a yield of around 8.2%, up from around 7.4% a year ago. Given the trajectory of the bonds, some investors and analysts said new unsecured bonds would need to be sold at an interest rate of around 9%.
“Investors have been burnt once,” said Bill Zox, chief investment officer of fixed income at Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. “They would have to offer a nice concession” to bring a new bond deal.
Most observers still agree that Tesla is capable of raising a significant amount of money. Even after its stock has declined, its market capitalization remains above $40 billion, making it worth about the same as Ford Motor Co. and more than many other established businesses, the Journal added.
In the eyes of many, that means the theoretical cost to the company of issuing new shares is inexpensive. It also makes it easier to issue various types of debt and convertible bonds – a hybrid of debt and equity – since it implies the company is worth well more than its debt and could always issue additional shares if necessary.
Tesla’s market capitalization means there is “a large buyer base that is still valuing future growth for this company,” said Hitin Anand, a senior analyst at the research firm CreditSights. That in turn, he said, means that the company has a variety of ways in which it can raise money, including via unsecured bonds even if they require high interest rates.
Outside of asset-backed securities used to finance its leasing and rooftop solar businesses, Tesla hasn’t issued new stocks or bonds since mid-2017, when it raised $1.8 billion by selling its first unsecured bonds, the Journal notes.
Since then, Tesla has sought to generate cash through its own operations, succeeding in the second half of last year though falling short in the first three months of 2019. Last month, it also secured a credit line worth around $520 million from Chinese banks to help fund the factory it is building in Shanghai.


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Curious what all this iPad news means for Android fans? We do, too. With the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display upping the ante on mobile technology in their own way, let’s take a look at what this means for Android tablets.
Either it's a marketing mistake or a bug, but the iPhone 5s' new slo-mo feature apparently isn't recording at 720p as advertised. When compared with output from a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, it seems to be taken at 480p instead, then upsized to 720p.
One of the signs of growing demand for smartphones and mobile devices is when electronics manufacturers start reallocating resources to the production of smartphone components. Such seems to be the case with Sharp who will be producing smartphones screens in a plant that's originally designed to make large TV displays.
When it came to camera features, Sony pulled out all the stops on its newest flagship, the Sony Xperia Z1. The question is, however, whether it is enough to put the smartphone at the top of the mobile photography ladder against record-holders Nokia and Apple.
In a move to quiet the storm surrounding their ongoing litigation(s), Samsung has agreed to put the skids on filing lawsuits. The proposal, which Samsung submitted to the European Commission (EC), calls for a five year hiatus on filed lawsuits and more open discussions on licensing their patents to third parties.
There are plenty of available options in terms of device research these days. But that being said, Consumer Reports is one of the more respected names and they have recently published a report on the iPhone 5s and 5c. And for a bit of detail that will make some of the Android faithful smile, they placed those up against the Verizon Motorola DROID lineup -- with the Apple devices falling short in a few categories.
In a press release earlier today, Samsung was said to have purchased a Swedish biometrics company focused on fingerprint scanning. Believable, considering Apple’s push toward fingerprint scanning, stocks of the Swedish company surged after the announcement. The only problem is… it never happened.
In the midst of a US Government shutdown, Samsung has failed to obtain a presidential veto for an import ban levied against them. In a statement, US Trade Representative Michael Froman said “After carefully weighing policy considerations, including the impact on consumers and competition, advice from agencies, and information from interested parties, I have decided to allow.”
In the wake of their double-device launch, Apple has achieved a market share of 40% among all OEMs. Their iOS is also gaining ground while Android falters slightly in regard to overall adoption, according to comScore. The research also noted that 145 million Americans owned smartphones, which they attribute as 60.8% of the eligible population. That’s a jump of 3% since May of this year.
Hey, remember how Samsung and Apple were in legal wranglings with one another? Yeah, we almost forgot, too. They’re still suing each other across the globe, but a recent revelation that Samsung executives may have been privy to the Apple-Nokia agreement is a big problem -- for both Apple and Samsung.


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Of all the research conducted around the world, the research that has some of the most life-altering potential for all sorts of products is the common battery. Batteries today are in computers, smartphones, cars, and lots more places. A battery that can hold more power has the potential to usher in a new era in gadget performance and driving range for electric vehicles. Equally important as storing lots of power in a battery, is a battery that can last a long time and survive lots of charge cycles.
Apple has filed a patent app for a new battery that is the same physical size as existing batteries, but has a longer usable life and more power inside. The patent app is called, “Increasing Energy Density in Rechargeable Lithium Battery Cells.” The app outlines a way to charge a battery using what Apple calls “multi-step constant-current constant-voltage (CC-CV) charging technique.”
Apple would use the CC-CV technique to allow the thickness of the anode active material in the battery to be increase in volumetric and gravimetric density. Using a charging process that uses less current when the battery is more charged would also prevent the battery usable life from being shortened due to heat. The app was filed back in 2009, and there is no word on when or if the tech will find its way into notebooks and other gear.
[via Apple Insider]


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Elite Dangerous: Odyssey is currently in alpha for those who have pre ordered the mammoth expansion. But fans and early adopters won’t have to wait much longer for the DLC to make its final approach.
Docking sequence has been initiated: Elite Dangerous: Odyssey releases for PC on May 19. It will be available through Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Frontier Developments said that the console versions for PlayStation and Xbox would still launch this fall, staying on target for the timeframe the developer set earlier this year.
Odyssey was announced in 2020 and is a big change to the original Elite Dangerous formula, which previously saw players zipping around the galaxy in spaceships but unable to visit planets on foot.
While ships still play a role in Odyssey, seamlessly integrating with core Elite Dangerous gameplay, the DLC expansion allows players to put boots on the ground, exploring planets, scanning flora, and shooting NPCs and other players dead in “tactical combat,” as Frontier describes it.
Frontier teased the breadth of Odyssey‘s missions ahead of the alpha by sharing a combat-focused raid earlier this year. In the mission, a team of commanders infiltrates a compound to disrupt its reactor before being flighted out by their pilot teammate.
Conflict Zones, Phase 2 of the alpha, expanded the galaxy 20 light-years and introduced team deathmatch style instances that influence the overarching conflict in the Elite Dangerous universe.
The most recent addition to the alpha, Phase 3, called Exo-Biology, expanded the galaxy again by another 50 light-years and introduced the scanning mechanic, where players are able to record organic data from planetary flora, selling it for money.
Phase 4 is set to release on April 28. Though it will mostly focus on “compatibility with existing mechanics,” according to Frontier, it will also allow players to use ships in the alpha, including carriers, fighters, and SRVs.


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Sony's going to have a treat for zombie-lovers next month, with the PlayStation Network launch of The House of the Dead 4 now officially set for April 17, 2012. It's the first time the arcade-spawned light gun shooter will be available on a home console, though hardly the first time the series has made an appearance on a PlayStation. Sega's Wii hit The House of the Dead: Overkill made its way to the PS3 in 2011 with Move support and a 3D upgrade.
The House of the Dead 4 will cost $9.99 and it features Move support, a multiplayer mode, extra levels from The House of the Dead 4 Special, a bonus PS Home item, an interview with the creator and, of course, Trophy support. PlayStation Plus members will get access to the demo on April 10; they'll also have a 30 percent discount offer on a purchase of the game through May 1. Anyone who buys the game before May 1, Plus subscriber or not, will also receive an avatar bonus as a gift.
Source: PlayStation Blog


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A trade deal with the US would be a defining moment for the UK. It is not an exaggeration to say it would reveal the country’s direction of travel more than any other decision in the aftermath of Britain quitting the European Union.
Amid the confusing array of government pledges – more police and more spending on the regions while also cutting taxes for the better off (mostly in London and the home counties) – it is the basics of any trade deal that will set Britain’s course for decades to come.
The most emotive questions apply to agriculture, and not just in the UK. It’s fair to say that American farmers can get very emotional about access to foreign markets, especially when they have put more time and effort into producing cheap food than probably anyone else in the world.
US policymakers have long understood that cheap food and cheap energy are the bedrocks of a flourishing economy. In the modern era, they are the keys to higher disposable incomes when wages are flat. They allow workers to maintain some semblance of their living standards from year to year while the producers and owners of capital walk off with the bulk of any gains.
Free-trade ministers like Liz Truss, Dominic Raab and even the prime minister understand this too. Give the people low-cost food and lightly taxed energy and they won’t complain much when employers say the wage bill must be kept under control to maintain shareholder dividends and bosses’ bonuses. To a great extent, this urge to lower costs through tax cuts and deregulation was the motivation for the rich elite (on both sides of the Atlantic) to promote a clean break with the high-tax, regulation-heavy EU.
In terms of regulation and tax, Britain has trodden a line between the US and continental Europe for the last 40 years, keeping VAT on domestic energy at 5% when in Germany it is almost 20%, and freezing fuel duty every year since 2010 to keep down prices at the pumps.
Agriculture was a different matter. Locked into the EU’s common agricultural policy, UK producers had some protection from foreign competition and prices were kept relatively high.
A trade deal with the US provides the opportunity to marry cheap energy to cheap food. However, the shift to cheap food involves a philosophical gear change, one that has been clear since the US started negotiations with the EU over trade under the Obama administration.
The notorious Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was already foundering on the rocks of agriculture when Donald Trump canned the talks in 2017.
The difference between the two sides centres on safety. US regulators believe the only test of food is whether it is safe or not. Beyond this, the state abdicates responsibility. If the consumer wants livestock to be treated decently, they can choose to pay the producer more.
But the Tory MP George Eustice said earlier this year that “a modern trade deal is not simply about commerce, it is also about values”. His objection to US food is not just about chlorine-washed chicken and beef injected with hormones, bad though that is. He couldn’t support the importing of animals treated as meat to be thrown around, in life and in death, when Britain considers them sentient beings to be treated with some respect.
Eustice will be asked to shelve his concerns about the treatment of animals when trade talks begin, just as he will be told that any agreement must protect US corporations from consumer boycotts, and – in a nod to Benjamin Netanyahu – prevent boycotts of Israeli companies too. Along the same lines, big tech firms must be allowed to bundle products in the name of efficiency, giving them the room to build the monopolies that the EU has denied them.
Of course free marketeers like Truss, Raab and even Eustice, even if they can reconcile themselves to the destruction of much UK farming, will find this export of US protectionism hard to swallow (along with American chicken, which has rates of campylobacter infection 10 times higher than in the UK, despite the chlorine wash). But to achieve the goal of cheap food and cheap tech, swallow them they must.
John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, waded into the debate last week on a trip to London. He said the US was prepared to strike discrete deals covering separate industries. But that’s not the way it works. Soon after Bolton’s intervention, the US farm lobby put him right, making it clear agriculture must be included or farmers would be camping on the steps of Capitol Hill. For different reasons, Britain’s farmers, and some consumers, will also be feeling angry, though probably not angry enough.


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Editor’s Note: Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an undercurrent of growing tech adoption in India. Now in the post-COVID-19 era, the trend has been accelerated in the world’s second-most-populous country. Tech startups, eyeing the potential in a largely untapped and vast market, have kick-started their 2.0 strategy—to expand beyond metro cities. This is a ripe time for tech companies to tap the next 500 million internet users who have warmed up to tech-enabled services in sectors such as entertainment and e-commerce. We, at KrASIA, through our new column—Tales from India’s Towns—would keep an eye on how technology affects the lives of people in lower-tier and rural areas.
From an old, dilapidated building in Patparganj, an industrial area in New Delhi, the capital city of India, the husband and wife duo, C M Goel and Sujata Goel, in their 50s, have been operating a local brand of lingerie products, which the couple claims has become an alternate option for buyers in India’s smaller cities who don’t want to spend money on branded products.
Goels told KrASIA that because they focused heavily on selling their products through e-commerce platforms such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Amazon, they were able to make a mark in non-metro cities. However, he said, it was Snapdeal that really escalated their reach to customers in tier 2 and 3 cities.
“While we are present on all the e-commerce platforms, over 80% of orders come via Snapdeal of which almost all of them are from smaller cities across the country,” C M Goel, co-founder, Kamatri Corporation, told KrASIA.
If Snapdeal is to be believed, Goel is not the only online seller who leverages its online platform—website and mobile app—to get customers from smaller cities, colloquially known as Bharat. According to the company, buyers from more than 3,700 towns across India—accounting for 92% of India’s total 4,000 towns and cities—shop on Snapdeal.
Last year was an exceptional one for online companies, especially the consumer-facing businesses as they saw unexpected growth, both in terms of adding buyers as well as sellers on the platform. The pandemic, Snapdeal said, has ensured more sellers adopt selling through online channels as people for the best part of the year tried not to venture out for shopping and purchased almost everything online.
Snapdeal told KrASIA that the growth that it expected to see in three years were achieved in just six months of 2020. The company added over 6 million new customers between April and October last year.
Coming out of the woods
For the decade-old online marketplace, things started to go south when Amazon entered India in 2012 and intensified the competition in the e-commerce space which till then had only two major players—Flipkart and Snapdeal. According to an estimate by local media Economic Times, the SoftBank and Alibaba-backed firm lost 20% market share between March 2015 and March 2016. By the end of 2016, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy.
In 2017, in a desperate move, Snapdeal held a seven-month-long discussion with its rival Flipkart about an acquisition. The discussion ended up with Snapdeal walking out of the deal because the firms couldn’t agree on the acquisition bid. In retrospect, Snapdeal’s co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal couldn’t be happier about making that decision.
Left with just a few months of runway in the bank, the company within a year made a total turn-around as it not only posted a revenue growth of 73% in the financial year 2018-19, it reduced its losses by 71%.
The reason the company managed to pull this off is because its founders, Bahl and Bansal, didn’t hesitate when to take extreme measures when met with a do or die situation. In July 2017, the duo sold Freecharge, a digital wallet company it had bought in 2015 for USD 400 million, at a 90% discount to Axis Bank.
Through thick and thin, the company spent the last four years staging a comeback, that involved letting go of non-core businesses like Freecharge, focusing on unit economics, and acting on the foresight of targeting non-metro cities in the hopes that it will get them early access to the new set of customers.
“Rohit and I decided we don’t have to go after everything. We decided to target parts of the market where we think we have a unique set of offerings as a company to dominate and then build a lot of other capabilities on top of it to serve buyers and sellers in those markets,” Bahl, co-founder and CEO of Snapdeal, told KrASIA.
“Between 2017 – 2020, we have cut costs by more than 94%. We are one of the few select companies where our loss is very small and is only a fraction of our revenues,” he added.
That was not a normal feat to achieve, especially at the time when its competitors were busy burning investors’ money on discounts for hyper growth. In its new avatar, which the company calls Snapdeal 2.0, it decided it will not indulge in discounts, free delivery, and cashback to acquire users. It wanted to quickly set its unit economics right and not look back.
“We noticed that in the industry our peers just wanted to acquire customers even if it meant losing money. We believe customers would buy from you as long as it’s cheap and are getting all the incentives. But the moment those incentives are taken away they will be gone as well. We want to build a lasting and enduring relationship with customers,” Bahl said.
Bahl believes the year 2016 has catapulted India’s internet population to a new rise. “When Reliance Jio launched and the price of 4G fell drastically, there was this tectonic shift that happened in 2016 which no one expected,” he said.
When Bahl realized a large chunk of the next 500 million internet users is going to come from the semi-urban and rural areas—a virtually untapped market—he quickly jumped on this opportunity.
“Everyone, until 2016, focused on the top 10% of the population because data was expensive. A lot of money was spent to cater to their needs. What they mostly wanted was smartphones, washing machines, microwaves, and latest branded fashion.”
By the end of 2017, Snapdeal consciously started to focus on selling unbranded retail products in categories such as fashion, jewellery, home and décor, kitchen, personal hygiene, and electronics.
“Even though the per capita income of people living in Bharat (non-urban cities) is less, their aspirations are no different than the folks in urban cities.” Combining its depth of knowledge of what non-metro consumers want and its focus on positive unit economics, the company started onboarding sellers like Goel who manufactured unbranded retail that had value-for-money.
By mid-2019, the company had over 500,000 sellers on its platform. Last year, it even started partnering with manufacturers and opened the platform for them to directly sell products to customers allowing them to bypass the chain of retailers and wholesalers.
In 2020, during the pandemic, Snapdeal said it noticed people had started reprioritizing their needs and spending. “Consumers are shifting towards value due to income uncertainty, with more focus on functionality and less on premium brands. As users become more price-conscious, they are turning to affordable brands,” Bahl said.
According to Snapdeal, the pandemic has certainly brought long term changes in how consumers buy today and will continue to in the future. “It is not only phones, gadgets, fashion, and food that are bought, but everyday stuff like mops, drain unblockers, potted plants, quilts, DIY kits, marble stools for religious idols, and much more. Till a year ago, customers preferred to buy such products offline after a good look and feel,” Bahl said.
Jasper Infotech, which owns Snapdeal Private Limited, narrowed its losses to USD 26 million in the financial year 2018-19 ended March, from USD 86 million loss it reported in the same period previous fiscal.
Bahl said if it weren’t for its deep insights into the shopping behavior of people in smaller cities buy, the company wouldn’t have been able to make this comeback. One of the things that Snapdeal did to make its app more approachable to non-urban users was that it made it a discovery-led platform. It wanted to emulate users offline shopping behavior such as window shopping and casually browsing products before deciding if they want to buy.
“Other e-commerce platforms are intent led and search driven. People open those apps when they know what they want to buy, which is similar to Google. We are more like Instagram,” he said.
According to Bahl, short videos and other social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook have become important avenues for users in small towns to discover new products. “Users open our app and scroll through different products expecting they will discover something new which has value for money and is useful.”
For Snapdeal, one of the learning curves of selling value-for-money products to non-metro buyers has been the need to add engagement and entertainment just like in the physical world and not only provide the fastest way to find products and check out. “Snapdeal’s engagement with this new and a large part of our existing user base is built on three key themes of video, voice, and vernacular. All these initiatives are built around the central idea of how we can help our users discover and transact better, rather than a traditional approach of how we can sell better,” he said.
Bahl claimed 85% of purchases on Snapdeal are discovery led instead of users searching for something specific. Since the consumption of video in smaller cities is on a rise, Snapdeal also started adding videos on its app.
It has been three years since the company started experimenting with short videos that essentially show users how a product works. Products like vegetable chopper or mobile phone stand with a magnifier for a big screen experience is better explained in a video, the company said.
These measures, the company said, have helped it marginally increase its revenue in FY20 to INR 846.4 crore (USD 116 million) as compared to INR 839.4 crore in FY 19. However, the company also reported a 46% increase in losses in FY20 that reached INR 274.4 crore (USD 37.6 million). The loss, Snapdeal said, was on account of building additional capabilities for new online buyers. In FY 20, Bahl said the company made further investments in video, vernacular, and other strategic projects aimed at growing the online market amongst new users.
While the on-going financial year has seen recurrent disruptions and subdued consumer sentiment on account of safety and economic concerns, the benefit of these growth initiatives is expected to play out over the coming years, the company said.
“We continue to drive towards our goal of bridging the gap between access and aspiration for the segment of consumers that live in small towns,” Bahl said.


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One of design perks of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4060 is its relatively low power consumption, which has allowed graphics cards makers to produce compact add-in-boards without the massive heatsink and VRM setups required by higher-end cards. At 115 Watts, the power consumption of the card is low enough that it makes even Mini-ITX-sized cards practical, which is great news for the SFF PC community. And to that end, we've seen a few manufacturers introduce Mini-ITX GeForce RTX 4060 designs, with Lenovo now joining them as the latest member of the club with their own Mini-ITX 4060 card. Specifications-wise, Lenovo's Mini-ITX GeForce RTX 4060 is exactly what you'd expect: it a stock-configuration RTX 4060 that carries NVIDIA's AD107 graphics processor with 3072 CUDA cores that is...
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A new report from Canada’s privacy commissioner is warning new technologies that have seen mass adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic raise new privacy concerns, and underscore the need to reform privacy legislation.
“Privacy and the pursuit of public health and economic recovery are not contradictory.”
The report specifically noted that technologies and increased activity in the telemedicine and e-learning sectors are creating new privacy risks for Canadians. The commissioner asserted that current federal laws do not provide Canadians with effective protection against such risks.
“We need a legal framework that will allow technologies to produce benefits in the public interest while also preserving our fundamental right to privacy,” said Commissioner Daniel Therrien. “This is an opportune moment to demonstrate to Canadians that they can have both.”
The pandemic has dramatically accelerated the already rapid adoption of disruptive technologies in certain sectors; as schools were forced to close and move remote, doctors’ offices shut, and thousands of businesses shifted to a remote work reality.
Telemedicine and virtual care have exploded amid the pandemic. Businesses such as Maple have seen substantial growth since March. Maple went on to partner with pharmacy retail giant Shoppers Drug Mart, which later injected $75 million into the company.
The demand for EdTech solutions has also risen sharply amid the global pandemic. This increased demand for Top Hat, which develops online learning solutions, was followed by the company acquiring the Canadian domestic higher education textbook businesses of Nelson Education, one of the country’s largest education publishers.
“Videoconferencing and other online services have been helpful in allowing some semblance of normal life to continue in the wake of the pandemic,” the report said. “At the same time, they are creating important new risks to privacy rights.”
The report cited two specific examples in the healthtech and EdTech sectors of these risks. Telemedicine, it noted, creates risks to doctor-patient confidentiality when virtual platforms involve commercial enterprises. Similarly, e-learning and educational technology platforms can capture sensitive information about students’ learning disabilities and other behavioural issues.
Artificial intelligence also presents fundamental challenges to privacy principles laid out in the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), the report claimed. PIPEDA governs how private sector organizations collect, use, and disclose personal information in the course of commercial business.
The report said responsible innovation involving artificial intelligence systems must take place in a regulatory environment that respects fundamental rights and creates the conditions for trust in the digital economy. The commissioner noted that PIPEDA should establish stronger digital privacy and data-collection rights for Canadians.
The commissioner also cited his office’s review of the COVID Alert exposure notification app as an example of how privacy respectful practices can be built into the design of an initiative to achieve public health goals.
The concept for the federal government’s contact tracing app was initially met with backlash over its privacy implications and risks for Canadians who chose to use it. In July, the office of the privacy commissioner (OPC) said it was “satisfied” that the design of the COVID Alert app meets all the privacy principles.
Despite the OPC’s satisfaction with the app, its latest report noted that the pandemic is still underscoring how good privacy protection must be a legal requirement, rather something the government and companies are free to do if they wish.
The report argued that Canada still needs to reform its privacy legislation, which has not been updated since 2015 – putting it behind the United Kingdom, the European Union, and New Zealand, among others.
The OPC noted seven specific features it would like to see reflected in the country’s privacy laws:
- Defining privacy as a human right
- Rule-making authority in privacy legislation
- Demonstrable accountability
- Order-making powers
- Administrative monetary penalties
- Private right of action
“Federal laws are simply not up to protecting our rights in our rapidly evolving digital environment,” added Therrien. “Privacy and the pursuit of public health and economic recovery are not contradictory. They can, and must be, achieved concurrently.”
Image source Unsplash. Photo by Jae Park.


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Mr Patrick Torrent - NECSTouR President and Executive Director at the Catalan Tourism Board - presented vision and priorities of NECSTouR at the Webinar: "Competitive and Sustainable Tourism in Europe coexisting with COVID-19" organised by In2Destination on the 20th of May 2020.
Patrick Torrent highlighted the wide ongoing interregional cooperation within NECSTouR, as result of our recently approved work programme, aiming at building a European recovery plan for tourism through interregional cooperation and in partnership with the industry, fostering the NECSTouR sustainability values.
MORE OPPORTUNITIES THAN THREATS
"Despite the terrible economic impact of this crisis in our sector - stated Patrick Torrent - we see it as a great opportunity to transform our tourism ecosystems while building recovery. Indeed, we are persuaded that only such behavioural change can drive to the safety and resilience of the sector"
As Mr Torrent highlighted during his intervention, the recently published European Commission communication on Travel and Tourism calls for a roadmap to build the European tourism recovery, based on accelerating the greening and digital transition of the European tourism ecosystems.
"The European Commission is taking the core of our strategy and its main priorities - “the 5 “S” of the Sustainable Tourism of Tomorrow” - and translate them into the EU recovery plan for our sector. That is a great acknowledgement that our voice is heard more than ever and a great stimulus for enhancing cooperation among us and find common solutions to the crisis."
For an overview of NECSTouR measures to foster cooperation and exchange of experiences with its members to build resilience and sustainability of the European tourism sector check here
Webinar Video Recording (in Spanish)


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Dynamic French Sommelier victorious in Gaggenau’s Sommelier Awards 2018.
Gaggenau, the luxury brand for professional-grade home appliances, is proud to announce Mikaël Grou from France has been crowned the winner of the third biennial international Gaggenau Sommelier Awards.
Mikaël fought for his place against five other young, up and coming sommeliers who had all qualified for a shot in the final following a six month global competition. Finalists from France, the Region of Greater China, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom headed to Beijing to battle it out for the coveted international title.
At the final, the sommeliers competed against one another in tasks that tested their knowledge, skill, ability and flare. In the evening, a celebratory gala dinner at the Red Brick Art Museum, hosted by the acclaimed Michelin-starred Taiwanese chef André Chiang, was attended by more than 150 industry influencers from across the world.
The judging panel monitored and appraised the sommeliers throughout a series of demanding tasks, including a wine tasting, service and food pairing exercise, identifying mistakes in a wine list test, and placing wines at their correct temperature into the newly launched Gaggenau Vario wine climate cabinet 400 series.
The panel consisted of the President of the Austrian Sommelier Association, Annemarie Foidl; Master of Wine, Sarah Abbott; China’s first and only Master Sommelier and Corporate Director of Wine for Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Yang Lu, and Head of Global Brand Gaggenau, Sven Schnee. All of them agreed that this year’s competition included the highest calibre of young sommeliers in the event’s history.
Sven Schnee, Head of Global Brand Gaggenau, commented: “We began the journey of the Gaggenau Sommelier Awards with a view to celebrating the art of viniculture and to provide a platform for rising stars to truly showcase their talent. Every year that we have hosted these awards Gaggenau has absorbed and shared so much knowledge and understanding of culinary culture, not only that of wine but also the sensorial journey one takes throughout the experience available to those who know its value. As this knowledge has evolved over time, so too have we, as a contributor to the future landscape of viniculture.
“We are proud of our contestants and their achievements so far and we are especially delighted to have been given the opportunity to showcase these great talents here in China – a country which lays claim to an opulent history in the art of wine making.”
Emma Ziemann of Sweden came second in the coveted awards with Davide Dellago, representing Switzerland, taking third place.
The winner and runners-up of the Gaggenau Sommelier Awards 2018 take home trophies created by leading Chinese designer, Jamy Yang. The winner will, in addition, receive a special sommelier training and master class at one of Europe’s top wine establishments and the title of Global Brand Ambassador for Gaggenau.
For more visit Gaggenau.
- Industry Events


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Neo Geo Pocket is back in business. Well, in Japan at least. It’ll be back as a portable games device for a Japanese audience, according to Andriasang, who say SNK has given its blessing for the licensing of the new product. It’ll come with a 4.3 inch screen, 2Gb of storage and with a list of 20 classic NeoGeo titles, including Metal Slug and Fatal Fury. No release date or price as yet.
Overwatch players are warned to play nice and play fair.
Fortnite is a free-to-play game but you can spend money on it to jump the queue.
Nioh's Defiant Honour DLC adds Sanada Yukimura as the toughest baddie yet - it's out now, so go kick his ass
Nioh honours one of the legendary warriors of the Sengoku era by having him beat the snot out of you.
Neo Geo Pocket


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Red Dead Redemption 3 has been the talk of town for quite some time, especially as Rockstar fans are gearing up for the hotly-anticipated GTA VI. Now, as seemingly confirmed by a leaker with a notable reputation in the community, this upcoming title is being developed.
@MyTimeToShineH first said on Twitter that “Red Dead Redemption 3 is officially in the works”. If you remember back in 2021, Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two Interactive boss, simply that the studio could be continuing the franchise following the success of Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018.
Red Dead Redemption 3 is officially in the works! pic.twitter.com/jfHPXS5i2f
— MyTimeToShineHello (@MyTimeToShineH) September 3, 2023
Will it follow Jack Marston’s story in the First World War? Or will it take you back to the gang’s glory days before the bloody Blackwater robbery gone wrong? Who knows.
While it is always best to be skeptical of rumors, especially if the leaker has a history of leaking movie-related details rather than game-related news, they also claimed that a Hogwarts Legacy sequel is in development. As such, it is worth keeping an eye out for any further news or updates on this potential project.
Red Dead Redemption 3 currently is yet to be confirmed by Rockstar. It has no release date nor confirmed platforms at the time of this writing.


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Description: Other big topics will include Instant Articles, Live Video, 360 Video, and much more. Source: Fast Company Date: April 11, 2016 When more than 2,000 people descend on San Francisco this week for Facebook’s annual two-day F8 developers conference, their discussions and decisions will have a huge impact on how you and 1.59 billion other… Read more »
Posts Categorized: app
Description: A San Francisco company called Recharge has developed an app that enables users to book a stay in hotel for just for 67 cents a minute, or $40 an hour. Source: Tech Crunch Date: April 1, 2016 Lugg, the startup that helps people with small moves, requested via an Uber-like mobile app, is this week… Read more »
Description: A San Francisco company called Recharge has developed an app that enables users to book a stay in hotel for just for 67 cents a minute, or $40 an hour. Source: Tech Crunch Date: March 24, 2016 The offering sounds both brilliant and preposterous, yet it has already attracted some smart investors, including Scott and… Read more »
Description: Nintendo’s first smartphone app — Miitomo — launched Thursday in Japan, and will soon debut in other markets. It’s distinctly social, and at first glance, may seem like a bizarre turn for a company known for games. Source: CNN Money Date: March 17, 2016 The app asks questions of users, such as their favorite TV… Read more »
Description: Police in Brazil want messages from Facebook-owned mobile service WhatsApp. But WhatsApp says it can’t provide the information that’s requested because of its encryption technology. Source: CNN Money Date: March 10, 2016 Authorities in Brazil think information transmitted through WhatsApp could help in a criminal investigation into drug trafficking. In Apple’s case, law enforcement wants… Read more »
Description: Ford CEO Mark Fields tells CNN’s Nina dos Santos how the company plans to protect customer data. Source: CNN Money Date: February 22, 2016 Questions for discussion: 1. What kind of data would drivers create in which companies would want to purchase or have access to? 2. Why would drivers or Ford customers want to… Read more »
Description: Facebook has introduced ‘reactions’ which allow you to show emotions beyond ‘like’ such as ‘angry,’ ‘sad,’ or ‘love.’ Source: CNN Money Date: February 24, 2016 Questions for discussion: 1. What is the point or advantage of adding multiple “reactions” to Facebook? 2. is it possible that this added feature might have a negative impact on… Read more »
Description: For the world’s forests, researchers have developed a satellite-based alert system that detects logging with a week or even hours after trees start falling, and in some cases, before clear-cutting even begins. Source: Mashable Date: February 24, 2016 The new tool, developed by University of Maryland geographer Matthew Hansen, is a significant improvement on existing… Read more »
Description: Bumble turns the dating dynamic on its head by asking women to start the conversation. Source: CNN Money Date: February 11, 2016 Questions for discussion: 1. Do you think an app with this motive would be as successful as other alternatives? 2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a business model?
Description: Cybercriminals using stolen data have targeted millions of user accounts on Alibaba’s popular Taobao shopping platform. Source: CNN Money Date: February 5, 2016 Questions for discussion: 1. Do you use any online seller-to-consumer services? 2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a business model?


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If you notice a little extra traffic on 5 Mile Road in Livonia, you can thank the owners of Roperti’s Turkey Farm.
Each year beginning 3-4 days before Thanksgiving, the business begins to boom as families flock from all over looking to buy a fresh turkey.
The family-owned business has sold turkeys since 1948, which means the farm predates Livonia itself.
A lot has changed over the past several decades, including traffic up and down the road where the farm sits.
“I was driving my tractor down 5 Mile when I was 10,” said Christine Roperti, pointing out it was a two-lane dirt road in those days.
When her Dad began selling turkeys roughly 50 would be sold each year. This year Roperti will sell approximately 4,000.
Amazingly, she can recall her regular customers as if reciting the alphabet.
“There is this one guy he comes from Mackinac Island,” said Roperti. “He comes every year. There’s someone that comes from Toledo, and there’s a lady that comes from Indiana.”
If that doesn’t give you an idea of how big the operation has grown, just look for Kevin Jordan. Jordan is one of Roperti's workers. He spends the entire day directing traffic as hundreds of cars come and go in a matter of hours.
“Oh it’s fun,” said Jordan, when asked about the work.
He made it a point to shout-out: “See you next year!” to a customer as they jumped into their truck.
“This place comes highly recommended,” said Timothy Zammitt, one of the dozen or more people who were waiting in line for a turkey.
Two people further up in line was Amy Karadsheh. She has been buying her turkey from Roperti for more than 30 years.
“They’re nice and juicy,” said Karadsheh. “Tasty! I just enjoy it. The whole family likes it.”
That’s music to the ears of Roperti. While she’s the second-generation of the family-owned business, she wants to see it continue to thrive for years to come.
Her sons work at the farm before Thanksgiving, but she thinks her grandkids may be the ones who eventually take over.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” asked Roperti, pointing to a 23 pound turkey.
Before long she was back in the main storefront ushering people inside, and moving the line along as she greeted a handful of customers.
Certainly, a lot has changed over the years — but those who were in line told 7 Action News that the service has always been top-notch.
Roperti's Turkey Farm is a seasonal operation. They began selling this year’s birds on Saturday, and will close up shop for Thanksgiving at 5 p.m. on Wednesday night. If they have additional turkeys left over they may sell them for Christmas, but with more than 1,000 being sold on Monday there’s no guarantee they’ll have stock leftover.


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Medtronic plc and affiliated companies have agreed to pay $4.41 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by misrepresenting the country of origin of certain Medtronic products sold to the United States, the U.S. Department of Justice announced last week.
According to allegations in a lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act, Medtronic made false statements regarding the country of origin of products sold to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Defense.
“Domestic manufacture is a required component of many military and Veterans Administration contracts,” U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger of the District of Minnesota is quoted as saying in the announcement. “Congress has mandated that the United States use its purchasing power to buy goods made in the United States or in designated countries. We take that mandate seriously and will not hesitate to take appropriate legal action to ensure compliance.”
According to the settlement agreement, between 2007 and 2014, Medtronic sold to the VA and DoD products it certified would be made in the U.S. or other designated countries. The Trade Agreements Act of 1979 generally requires companies selling products to the U.S. to manufacture them in the U.S. or in another designated country. Medtronic is alleged to have sold to the federal agencies products manufactured in China and Malaysia, countries prohibited under the TAA.
The Medtronic products at issue included anchoring sleeves sold with cardiac leads and used to secure the leads to patients; certain instruments and devices used in spine surgeries; and a handheld patient assistant used with a wireless cardiac device. The agreement covers the period from Jan. 1, 2007, to Dec. 31, 2013, and for one device, the handheld patient assistant, the period from Jan. 1, 2014, to Sept. 30, 2014.
The settlement resolves allegations originally brought in a lawsuit filed by three whistleblowers under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private parties to bring suit on behalf of the government and share in any recovery. The relators will receive a total of $749,700 of the recovered funds, the announcement states.
“Today’s settlement demonstrates our commitment to ensure that our service members and our veterans receive medical products that are manufactured in the United States and other countries that trade fairly with us,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Justice Department will take action to hold medical device companies to the terms of their government contracts.”
Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $23.9 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $15.2 billion of that recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs, according to the Justice Department.
(Story By The Times Union)


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Live cattle markets finally moved off the six-week average of $119 last week when Tyson foods announced that they would not be buyers of cattle fed the beta-agonist Zilmax. The announcement came on Aug. 7 during the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) midyear conference in Denver. Tyson had been communicating their concerns over Zilmax to feeders over the past few months; however, the decision to not use the product by one of the nation’s largest meat packers sent a message across the entire beef chain. There has been much speculation that other beef packers would follow suit. None have to date.
Tyson’s concern about Zilmax was that the product was causing structural problems in the cattle along with other wellbeing issues they believed were related to the product.
The beta-agonist products were not questioned in general. Merck Animal Health’s “Zilmax,” though, was specifically identified as a problematic compound in regard to animal wellness issues. These products have been a concern for some time throughout the livestock industry because it was feared that the science would be ignored as the public would slowly learn about beta agonists in their beef and pork.
All the beta-agonist or ractopamine products have been blessed by the Food and Drug Administration as a safe product that posed no known side effects for human health or food safety. However, the super charged version “Zillmax” has been a concern. Many cattle feeders were absolutely not going to use the products a year and a half ago. Then negative feed margins became wide spread and forced feeders to change their view about ractopamine products; now they are using lots of the very expensive product.
The news of Tyson’s decision traveled through the industry very quickly. Ractopamine users have been concerned about the product’s perception for several years and possible public reactions over the product’s use. NCBA says ractopamine is on top of their issues management list, and they have been expecting some type of consumer backlash on the product’s use. Meat containing ractopamine has been banned for import by several countries, but these episodes are typically politically motivated.
Merck and NCBA are busy defending the science supporting the product’s safety for human consumption. Merck announced a five-step program, “Ensuring Responsible Beef,” that would re-certify all users of the product, audit the cattle’s health and wellbeing, and will also create an animal health advisory board.
Zilmax is fed during the last 20 to 40 days before processing the cattle. Its competitor is Optaflexx, produced by Elanco. Both products will add up to a half inch of rib eye to the carcass and produce more pounds of red meat yield and carcass weight. However, Zilmax requires a three-day withdrawal while Optaflexx doesn’t.
The industry’s skepticism about using the product has been widespread. It is no secret that it has created marketing issues for feeders and it has created product issues with meat packers. If there were reasonable margins for cattle feeders without using the product, I think they would prefer not to use it.
It reminds me of the BST milk production hormone, used by the dairy industry, which was developed by Monsanto. The product had a major backlash and dairymen quit using the product despite its economic advantages.
But Tyson’s decision doesn’t represent an industry-wide view of the product. All of the other packers say they have no plans to join in their opinion about Zilmax. Apparently, Tyson is not concerned about finding enough cattle to keep processing lines running efficiently as other packers are.
Problems have been identified with the use of Zilmax and it appears that the cattle feeders using the product will have to manage those cattle differently, which could create new challenges.
I respect Tyson for taking the high road on this developing beta-agonist issue. The general public apparently has not discovered the beef industry’s use of betaagonist and started asking questions. I’m sure that Tyson, along with other packers doesn’t want to have that discussion. But the beef industry has been preparing for it, and this topic, like others, has divided some in the industry over how to respond.
Tyson knows that if the product has a negative effect on animal wellbeing, it won’t be long before the animal rights groups join the debate. As a company, this would be an issue that I would prefer to avoid regardless of the benefits. — PETE CROW


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Tech Events 2013: Google I/O and BlackBerry Live
Published on 9 Jul 2013 at 10:04 pm.
Filed under Google,Informative,Mobile,Social Media.
This was a big week for the web and players in the mobile world. Here are highlights from the BlackBerry Live and Google I/O tech events.


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Financial services now come neatly tied into non-financial platforms online, enabled by what fintechs call embedded finance
According to Research and Markets, the Indian embedded finance industry is set to grow at a CAGR of 30.4% and will reach $ 21,127.5 Mn by 2029
On the financial institution side, embedded finance gives banks the opportunity to explore new distribution channels and broaden their customer pool — without the heavy lifting
Customers can now access a wide range of financial services online without ever interacting with an actual bank. Financial services now come neatly tied into non-financial platforms online, enabled by what fintechs call embedded finance.
This model, however, is not particularly new; it has contributed significantly to India’s growing online platform business for a while now. A look at most D2C and B2C platforms puts things into perspective. Open any app on your app phone, fashion, food-tech, or even fitness, and you have a wide range of payment options at the checkout. You can pay through UPI, wallets, net banking, or even opt for EMI and Pay Later options.
However, once you delve a little deeper beyond customer-facing digital platforms, you will see this tech powering super-specific business contexts. These instances of embedded finance are a mere scratch on the surface. The coming years will see embedded finance used widely and innovatively across industries.
A report by Research and Markets last year predicted that the Indian embedded finance industry is set to grow at a CAGR of 30.4% and will reach $ 21,127.5 Mn by 2029.
So, what makes embedded finance so promising? For starters, it benefits every stakeholder involved in the ecosystem. The magic happens when three parties — digital platforms, financial service providers, and embedded finance fintechs — join hands and play to their strengths.
Powering The Future Of Digital Finance And Platforms
In 2021, India had 180-190 Mn online shoppers, which is predicted to increase to 400-450 Mn by 2027. With the rise in digital users, platforms and institutions have scaled up their businesses too. As credit and online payments become the norm in online shopping, embedded finance will act as the glue that brings platforms and institutions together.
Here are some ways that embedded finance has (and will continue to) benefit stakeholders in the digital economy:
Improving Business Metrics
Platforms want to retain existing customers and acquire new ones. Credit offerings like EMIs, Pay-In-Three, and Buy Now Pay Later have proven to boost these user metrics.
On the financial institution side, embedded finance gives banks the opportunity to explore new distribution channels and broaden their customer pool — without the heavy lifting.
Going Beyond Distribution
Along with providing the infrastructure to disburse financial services, embedded finance can also provide businesses with the intelligence to personalise offerings to customers. This is a win for all parties involved. Users get personalised offerings that suit their needs, digital businesses improve customer experience, and financial services are equipped with the data and information to make strategic decisions.
Allowing Each Party To Play At Their Strengths
Embedded finance companies build end-to-end stacks that power in-context financial solutions, allowing other parties to focus on what they do best. Today, a finance product can be launched within a product with just a few lines of code in a matter of weeks.
The embedded finance ecosystem brings together digital businesses and financial institutions to provide customers with a digital experience that is personalised, convenient, and above all, inclusive. As the tech grows in demand, the ecosystem is soon shaping up to be a well-oiled machine much greater than the sum of its parts. Will it be the fuel that powers the digital economy for the next billion? I, for one, am confident that it will!


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Veeam Availability Suite 9.5 Update 4 and new subscription model fuels 30 percent increase in annual recurring revenue (ARR) and 16 percent total bookings growth as businesses leverage hybrid cloud strategy to drive data availability, agility and business acceleration.
Veeam Software, the leader in Backup solutions that deliver Cloud Data Management, announced results from Q1’2019, including obvious impact from the January launch of Veeam Availability Suite 9.5 Update 4, one of the largest and most anticipated product releases in the history of the company, which is now one of the largest private software companies in the world.
Veeam reporteda 16 percent increase in total bookings year-over-year (YoY),celebrating more than 343,000 customers, staying consistent with an average of 4,000 new customers each month.Veeam’s Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) increased 30 percent YoY, a testament to the success of a new unique subscription pricing model for all new Veeam products, including new Veeam Availability Suite 9.5 Update 4. Released to the public at the beginning of Q1, it has more than 200,000 downloads to date. In the SAARC region, Veeam witnessed a tremendous growth momentum with 149 percent YoY increase in total bookings. The region also added 50 percent (YoY) partners in Q1’2019.
“In my first full quarter back at Veeam leading sales and marketing, we focused on core priorities that brought us clear success, and that will continue to fuel our growth and validate our leadership position throughout the year,” said Ratmir Timashev, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President (EVP) of Sales & Marketing. “We are now focused on an aggressive strategy to help businesses transition to cloud with best-in-class Backup and Cloud Data Management solutions. IDC has forecast that 90 percent of organizations will embrace a multi-cloud strategy within three years, which provides us a significant growth opportunity to leverage the shift our customers and partners are making, and ensuring we support them in every aspect – with the very best products and solutions. This strategy has also fueled our new Veeam Instance Licensing (VIL) model, which was created to provide flexibility to move workloads from on-prem to public cloud and back without an additional cost. Veeam is the first in the industry to offer this portable, game-changing license approach for managing multi-cloud environments.”


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In the tech world, devices come and go fairly often. Once it's determined that a device has worn out its welcome, it ends up where no one wants to be: on the EoL (end-of-life) list. The latest EoL list to make it way into the mainstream is from Sprint, and it looks like the HTC EVO View 4G will be phased out beginning on January 29th.
The EVO View 4G will be joined by a few other random devices, including the Blackberry Playbook and the phone that will not die - the EVO 4G. Read More
Update 12/12: If you missed this opportunity the first time around, the gods have shined upon you. It's back
Update: Hope you grabbed this deal while it was live, because it's gone now!
For anyone holding out on buying the HTC EVO View 4G on Sprint, the opportune moment just arrived. Over at eBay's Daily Deals site, the View 4G is going for a mere $240 with no contract - a solid $160 off the current Sprint price (it doesn't even look like you can get it without a 2-year contract from Sprint). Read More
I'm starting to think that HTC has an overwhelming amount of overstock when it comes to the EVO View 4G - we've already seen this thing go on sale at least three times in the past week. If you happened to miss it on every one of those occasions, wipe those tears away, because it's back again.
This time it's on Daily Steals, and it's going for the cheapest price we've seen yet (only by a few bucks, by hey, cheaper is cheaper, right?). Read More
At the beginning of the month, we broke the news about a huge security vulnerability in several HTC phones, including the Thunderbolt, EVO 3D, EVO 4G, and possibly more. Not long after word of this issue hit the 'net, HTC issued a response acknowledging it, as well as promising to deliver a patch to correct it. Looks like they are making good on that promise now, as several HTC devices are currently receiving an OTA update to correct this vulnerability. Read More
Since the upcoming HTC EVO View 4G will be Sprint's first WiMAX-capable tablet, the Now Network decided to tweak its tablet plans a bit. The baseline price is quite similar to the current tablet plan pricing: 1GB for $20, 3GB for $45, and 5GB for $60. It does, however, include a few new options, namely a new 10GB plan for $90 a month and the addition of unlimited 4G data for a 3GB plan or higher. Read More
The upcoming version of Sense 3.0, found on such devices as the HTC Sensation, Sensation 4G, EVO 3D, Flyer, and EVO View 4G, will offer polish of unprecedented quality to the custom software layer HTC puts on all of its non-Nexus devices. The new lockscreen widgets and quick controls, spinning homescreens, updated camera software, and snappiness are just some of the features Sense 3.0 brings to the table (some nice demos here). Read More
The 1.5GHz 7" HTC EVO View 4G tablet doesn't even have a definitive release date on Sprint outside of "this summer," but that didn't stop the infamous 911sniper HTC ROM blog from releasing the full dump yesterday, full of EVO View's guts. After downloading and looking through it in hopes of delicious goodies (wallpapers, ringtones, etc), I was disappointed to see pretty much nothing new besides a bunch of 1200x1024px static wallpapers. Read More
As expected, Sprint just unveiled their upcoming EVO 3D handset and the EVO View 4G tablet. Both devices will have WiMax capabilities on Sprint's "4G" network (there was no mention of LTE, as Sprint is rumored to be transitioning to). No prices were announced today, and the release was announced as "this summer" (we expect a June-July release to compete with the iPhone 5).
HTC EVO 3D
As seen in our live blog of the event, the EVO 3D will have a 4.3" stereoscopic (for glasses-free 3D) qHD display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, and dual 5MP rear cameras that capture 3D. Read More


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The tech giant is facing difficulties in the Chinese market, but it is making more profits than ever from services.
Apple has had a skewed financial year, and today reports Q4 numbers.
The trading value amounted to $89.5 billion, down from $90.146 billion in the same period last year. This is the fourth straight quarter to see a decline in the tech giant’s sales.
At the same time, the company exceeded the expectations of Wall Street analysts, who estimated its sales volume at $89.28 billion.
The stock fell more than 1 percent in after-market trading, but by 22:30 that figure had risen to more than 4 percent.
This comes after the company said it expects the traditionally good December quarter to be roughly the same as last year.
This could indicate that the company may not want to return to growth in the important quarter, CNBC wrote, which also notes that this year’s quarter is one week lower than last year.
Exceed your iPhone expectations
Today, Apple is pleased to announce record iPhone revenue in the September quarter and highest services revenue ever, Apple CEO Tim Cook says in a press release.
Earnings per share amounted to $1.46, compared to the expected $1.39.
The company sold iPhones for a total of $43.81 billion in the quarter. It was higher than analysts’ expectations ($43.73 billion) and higher than the same period last year ($42.62 billion).
In September, Apple launched the new iPhone 15, but the September quarter only contains about one week of sales for this device.
Services sales brought in $22.31 billion for Apple in the fourth quarter, up from $19.19 billion in the same period in 2022. That’s the highest ever, and a 16 percent increase, according to CNBC.
The Apple Services section includes online subscriptions like iCloud storage and Apple Music.
– He has a China problem
At the same time, turnover in the Chinese market fell much more than analysts expected. It amounted to $15.08 billion, compared to the expected $17.01 billion.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, the company’s sales volume reached $15.47 billion in the Chinese market.
Apple has not provided any formal guidance since 2020, but Morgan Stanley analyst Eric Woodring believes sentiment is becoming more challenging for the company, according to CNBC.
Among other things, they relate to competition from the Chinese company Huawei, lower demand for the iPhone 15 series in China, a strong dollar exchange rate, and more cautious consumers.
Apple has a China problem. “As for phone, I think it will be a weak September quarter in China,” Gene Munster, founder of Deepwater Asset Management, told the channel earlier this week.
Mac and iPad cases
The quarter that Apple left in September is, traditionally, neither the strongest nor the weakest for the technology company CNBC.
It typically features iPad and Mac sales increasing somewhat around the start of school. However, Apple warned in August that it expected a double-digit percentage decline in sales of these particular products.
The results show significant reductions in both categories.
The company sold Macs for $7.61 billion in the fourth quarter, compared to $11.5 billion in the same period in 2022. iPad sales fell to $6.44 billion, from $7.17 billion last year.
Apple shares have risen more than 40 percent since the new year. The stock closed Thursday up 2.07 percent on Wall Street.
“Web specialist. Lifelong zombie maven. Coffee ninja. Hipster-friendly analyst.”


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PANAJI: A new managing committee headed by Bharat Parekh has taken charge of the western India corrugated box manufacturers association (WICMA) recently displaying renewed vision and spirit to take the industry to a new height.
The other office bearers are: VM Chowdhury (vice president), Deenu Shetty (honorary secretary), Sachin Keni (honorary treasurer) and Vincent Mathias (ex-officio).
The new managing committee was elected at Nashik where the AGM and symposium were held recently. There are 22 invitees and 19 members besides two coopted on the committee for the year 2013-14.
Established in 1967, WICMA has over 450 members spread over western India in places like Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur, Nashik, Nagpur, Jalna, Daman, Goa, Aurangabad, Sangli, Ratnagiri, Raipur etc. WICMA is affiliated to the federation of corrugated box manufacturers of India, an apex body of corrugated manufacturers all over India. The annual turnover from this industry is around Rs 3,500 crores, WICMA said.
The AGM lauded the efforts of the R&D committee of WICMA headed by Pankaj Shah in developing a revolutionary concept an Index called CoDex in association with CRISIL to keep an independent and impartial track of price of final corrugated box with relation to all inputs affecting its price. Today this Index is gaining ground among end consumers and very soon it will be the primary benchmark used to fix the final pricing of the corrugated pack, honorary secretary Deenu Shetty said.
The special focus of the symposium was on fresh fruit and vegetable packaging. Participants highlighted the need to promote the use of corrugated packaging to minimize the losses presently nearly 40% due to damage of fresh farm produce during harvesting, sorting, storage, transportation and retail.
Speakers said that the promotion of corrugated packaging will help in reducing the wastage in fresh farm produce thereby reigning in price fluctuations to some extent. End users also benefit from this as they will get better quality produce at a more reasonable price which would otherwise have been lost due to transit and transport damage.
In developing countries every farm produce either vegetables or fruits is 100% packed in corrugated boxes right from harvesting region to sorting area followed by transport and retail packaging. In our country, except for export oriented mangoes, grapes and in some areas apples, a majority of fruit and vegetable packaging is done in wooden crates or gunny bags, Shetty said
The speakers stressed the need for the government and stakeholders to play a pro-active role in seeing a new system in place which would benefit both the farmers and the end consumers.
The corrugated industry in our country is well geared up to offer optimum packaging for each of this produce at reasonable cost, Shetty said.


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This week we have had some fantastic reading inspired activities across the school for Book Week. We had parents come in to read, staff from the Trust come in to read and pupils dressing up as their favourite characters.
Parents read to classes
Starting off the week we had 14 Woodpecker parents come into school to read a book to a class as part of our book week activities. Due to the support from the Woodpecker family all classes had a parent reading to them.
CEO of the Trust reads to classes
Midweek saw staff from the Trust read a section of a book to a class. Staff across the Trust read to classes from reception to year 6. CEO of the Trust Marino Charalambous read a section of Muhammad Ali's autobiography to a year 6 class. The pupils were captivated by the story and were really interested in learning more from the story of the legendary heavyweight boxer.
World Book Day
On World Book Day itself the children dressed up as their favourite book character. There were some amazing costumes such as Harry Potter, Gangster Granny, The Joker and many more.
World Book Day is a registered charity on a mission to give every child and young person a book of their own. It’s also a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.


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- Experts surveyed in the Globescan Sustainability Leaders report named Unilever as one of the most recognizable companies for its work to minimize its impact on the environment.
- Over 700 survey participants were asked to rank companies according to their sustainability efforts.
- The consumer goods company aims to make all of its plastic packaging recyclable by 2025.
For the tenth year in a row, global experts in Globescan’s Sustainability Leaders report, named the consumer goods juggernaut Unilever as a leader for its work to minimize its operational impact on the environment.
Over 700 experts in 71 countries from the private sector, governments and NGOs participated in the joint survey issued yearly since 1997 by the Toronto-based consulting company Globescan and its peer Sustainability.
Survey participants were asked to rank companies according to their efforts to become sustainable — with 42% of the experts viewing Unilever as a corporate leader for its work. Patagonia, the U.S. clothing apparel company, came in second place with 26% of the votes and the Swedish furniture-giant IKEA came in third place with 14% of the respondents voting for the company’s environmental record.
The report is published to create awareness and drive change in the private, public and nonprofit sector, says Eric Whan, a director at Globescan.
“Our entire mission is to drive trusted leadership for a better future,” Whan told Karma. “If we can help companies to understand how to do that, then we’re delivering both on our purpose and our mission and our values.”
Meanwhile, the respondents also added new companies to the list of progressive enterprises: software maker Microsoft and Denmark’s Ørsted, the world’s largest offshore wind company, which was recognized for fully divesting from its fossil fuel assets in 2017 and switching to renewables.
This year’s sustainability survey was conducted from May to July as the world was in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted shortcomings in governance and healthcare around the world and put pressure on companies to sustain their operations while safeguarding the health of their employees.
The outbreak has increased the use of single-use plastics for protective gear such as gloves and is adding to a global pollution problem, say experts. An estimated 8 million tons of plastic ends up in the world’s oceans every year, contaminating the environment and killing wildlife.
Unilever, the survey’s top company, creates packaging for its products that range from soaps to food. Some activists that focus on environmental sustainability and governance matters say the consumer goods sector has exacerbated the plastic packaging waste problem.
Still, Unilever is being recognized for its commitment to tackle the issue, says Whan.
The company has said it wants to make all of its plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. Last week, it announced plans to remove fossil fuels from all its cleaning products by 2030.
Overall, respondents worried that companies might focus on the bottom line amid the economic downturn brought on by the outbreak, relegating important issues like tackling climate change to the sidelines.
Going forward, Globescan is looking to conduct the survey with more experts from underrepresented areas of the world in order to spot more global market leaders in sustainability.
“We are keen to build representation from Africa and Latin America,” Whan said. “This year, we had some great successes in increasing participation in Asia.”
Photo by Oscar Siagan/Getty Images for Unilever


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Developer CD Projekt has released a CGI teaser trailer for their upcoming sci-fi RPG Cyberpunk 2077, but the game itself is still a long way from being released.
... of Windows updates, Instagram indifference, Apple fashion tips and Office porn
All the latest on Windows 10 build 10041
windows 10 technical preview
How to get Cortana working outside of the US in preview build 10041
Giveaway: Win the Logitech G910 Orion Spark mechanical keyboard!
VisionTek USB Pocket SSD 120GB - Review


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Posts Tagged ‘ KickassTorrents ’
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Nearly 20 days after torrent site KickassTorrents shut down after its founder Artem Vaulin was arrested from Poland, torrent site-turned meta-search engine Torrentz.eu has decided to close its operations. Upon opening the website, the text reads, “Torrentz was a free, fast and powerful meta-search...
KickassTorrents (KAT), the world’s top website for downloading pirated movies, has gone offline after the arrest of its alleged founder, ironically after making a legal purchase from Apple Inc.’s iTunes music store. Artem Vaulin, a Ukrainian who was involved in designing KAT’s original website...
21 July, 2016 |


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FIFA has told its member associations that it has generated “record revenues” of $7.5 billion in 4 years from commercial deals linked to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
FIFA disclosed its earnings on Sunday to officials from its more than 200 members.
This amount increases by $1 billion over the proceeds of the previous edition of the World Cup, which was held in Russia in 2018.
And increased revenues thanks to commercial deals concluded with the host country of the World Cup. Qatar Energy Company joined the list of first class sponsors. New tier 3 sponsors include Qatar National Bank and telecom company Ooredoo.
Most of the broadcast deals for the 2022 World Cup were concluding in 2011 during Joseph Blatter’s presidency of FIFA, in bilateral deals that included the Russian and Qatar championships.
The World Cup will generate 70 billion dollars in the retail sector in the region
A report issued by the digital consulting company, RedSeer, in partnership with TikTok, expects that the FIFA
WorldCup in Qatar, in addition to the “White Friday” sales season, will generate revenues of up to $70 billion in
the retail sector in the Middle East and North Africa until end of the current year.
The report pointed out that the World Cup in Qatar, which will start in a few days, alone will generate revenues in the electronic retail sector amounting to $8.4 billion in the region, compared to about $6.5 billion in 2021.
Aside from retail trade in the region, the report expects the WorldCup in Qatar alone to generate about $4 billion
through tourism spending, 51 percent of which comes from spending on accommodation in hotels, hotel
apartments, resorts, and others.
The report indicates that digital means will provide great opportunities for e-commerce in the region, where
digital channels dominate in the discovery of goods and products, explaining that Internet searches constituted
the first channel for consumers to buy new products during the WorldCup, followed by social media.
The report believes that the World Cup will constitute an unparalleled opportunity for different brands to benefit
from selling their products to the masses in huge, enthusiastic and interactive numbers, pointing out that the “Tik
Tok” platform recorded in 2021 more than 129 billion views of the hashtag (#football) worldwide.


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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The president of a Nashville trucking firm that sued Jimmy Haslam's Pilot Flying J over claimed losses of more than $75 million said Thursday he reached a settlement with the truck stop chain.
Western Express executive Paul Wieck said his company withdrew its lawsuit filed against Pilot in Orleans Parish Civil District Court in Louisiana. He declined to disclose the terms he reached with Pilot and Haslam, owner of the Cleveland Browns.
"Pilot's been a good partner of ours for a long time," Wieck said. "We continued to be good partners after this came up and we're going to be good partners going forward."
The Western Express lawsuit alleged it took more than a $75 million hit when Pilot wrongly withheld fuel rebates. Included in its assessment was $68 million in expenses related to additional debt obligations the company said it was forced to assume.
Western Express was one of the Pilot customers named in the 120-page affidavit for a search warrant that the FBI used in its raid on Pilot's Knoxville, Tenn., headquarters in April.
Federal agents, acting on tips from employees and secretly-recorded conversations among Pilot sales managers, sought evidence that employees withheld fuel rebates and discounts from trucking companies to boost Pilot's profitability and their own sales commissions.
A transcript excerpt in the affidavit featured John "Stick" Freeman, Pilot's vice president of sales, talking about how he resolved a complaint by Western Express that it had been shorted $1 million in rebates, although a Haslam employee was recorded estimating the total Western fraud at $5 million.
Freeman said Western asked Pilot to settle the shortage by buying a plane for which Western owed $1 million.
"So I bought the (expletive) airplane," Freeman said to colleagues, according to the affidavit. "It was so broke that the (expletive) wasn't airworthy. So we had to sell it in Nashville."
Freeman told the informant wearing a wire that Haslam was aware of the deal.
"I mean, he knew all along that I was cost-plussin' this guy. He knew it all along. Loved it. We were making $450,000 a month on him," Freeman said, according to the FBI transcript.
Haslam has denied knowing anything about defrauding trucking customers until he learned about it when the federal investigation came out. He has not been charged in the case. Freeman also has not been charged. Seven other former Pilot sales managers and staff employees have pleaded guilty to federal charges and are thought to be cooperating with investigators.
Wieck, the Western president, declined Thursday to talk about whether the airplane deal figured into his out-of-court settlement with Pilot.
Western was among about a dozen companies that declined to participate in Pilot's $85 million class-action settlement with other customers that sued the company over fuel rebate and discount payments. That settlement reimbursed truckers for what they were owed, plus six percent interest on the debt, and covered their legal costs.
Aubrey Harwell, an attorney for Pilot, said of the Western Express deal, "It's always good when conflicts are resolved without necessitating long and protracted litigation." He had no details on the alleged episode involving an airplane.


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BUSINESSDESK: Cavalier Corp is closing a yarn spinning plant in Onehunga, where about 90 people are employed.
The company is hoping to limit job losses to 70 by redeploying staff to other jobs. The plant, which will close on July 26, is part of subsidiary Norman Ellison Carpets.
"This decision is about reducing over-capacity in the yarn spinning operations that support the group’s broadloom carpet manufacturing operations", the company said.
Norman Ellison will continue to make carpet at its Onehunga tufting plant.
The shares last traded at $1.54 and have declined 21% this year.
The carpet maker said in June that market conditions for its carpet businesses remain very soft on both sides of the Tasman, with volumes and margins under pressure.
It said then that underlying earnings for the current year ending June 30 are likely to be in the range of $3 to 5 million after tax.
If it booked all of the one-off costs from a restructuring plan the company would report a loss of $1 million to $3 million after tax.
But the company is signalling a tax-paid profit in the range of $10 million to $12 million in the 2013 year, when it plans to recommence dividend payments.
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text: Let's presume the magic number 7.5% isn't really that magic. Communist China controls its economy more so than less Communist countries. If it wants 7.5%, it will get something pretty close to that. And a leadership out to prove its ability, as most governments try to do at the start of their terms, will do visible, concrete things to realize their top-priority goals. "As for the immediate outlook, we are already seeing signs that policymakers are shifting towards a tighter stance, on fears that credit growth has been excessive," says Mark Williams, chief Asia economist with Capital Economics in London. "The People's Bank has signaled that it will shift to a tighter monetary stance during the year ahead." Going back to the premier's comments, I'd vote for modest a modest, symbolic interest rate hike at some point this year. The government still wants to pull down property prices. Higher rates could also indirectly cap everyday inflation, the leading conversation topic at Beijing restaurants whenever the bill comes. Property price controls would slow momentum of the country's top real estate stars China Vanke (000002.SZ) and Vantone Real Estate Group ( VTNI). But the hikes wouldn't be ridiculous, as China still wants a relatively loose monetary environment while it tries to eradicate poverty, increase consumer spending and give its top domestic firms more muscle in other countries. Any new monetary policy should then steer away from domestic MNCs such as China Merchants Holdings (0144.HK) or China Ocean Shipping ( COSCZ). Foreign firms keen on expanding in China might find their JV partners paying more interest on loans, an obvious extra cost of doing business that could muck up the bottom line. But since the government wants consumer spending to lead the economy, it won't touch companies that sell affordable stuff to the masses. Good on the likes of Starbucks ( SBUX), with plans to take its 570 China stores to 1,500 by 2015, and Pizza Hut ( YUM), which was on track to open 150 stores around the country last year. "Three factors should be grabbing our attention in China right now: policy action around property prices, a loose monetary environment and increasing inflationary pressures," forecasts James Berkeley, director of the British customer management consultancy Berkeley Burke International. He adds a caution: "It is too early to find hard evidence from data releases at this time of the year, to state which of those policy tools will be favored to achieve the 7.5% GDP target." Expect evidence to emerge in April with first-quarter economic indicators. Expect China to act, and expect markets to react. At the time of publication the author had no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Ralph Jennings is on LinkedIn. This article was written by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.


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Crowds of giddy shoppers peacefully rushed through the doors at Toys R Us, Sears and Super Target in the Town Center at Aurora on Thanksgiving night to get the jump on Black Friday deals that just couldn’t wait until midnight.
“Love of the game,” said George Reyes, explaining why he was waiting outside the toy retailer. “I’ve got five kids who are sound asleep from eating all day, so this is my best chance. I do it every year, so I’m glad it’s getting earlier.”
At Super Target, the line of shoppers stretched across the front of the building and halfway down one side of the big-box store.
Addy Spencer, a veteran Black Friday shopper, was wearing her game face and carrying her gift list.
“Don’t talk to me when those doors open,” she said. “On Black Friday, you don’t have any friends.”
It’s not just about the bargains — it’s about the event, several shoppers said. Security was evident at each of the stores, but there didn’t seem to be a need, despite the enthusiasm for the rush of seasonal shopping.
“It’s something to do to help digest the meal,” said Polly Boyd, as she waited in a long line.
What began in 2011 as a trickle of retailers opening Thursday evening or earlier to cater to shoppers who don’t want to stay home after the pumpkin pie became a wave this season.
Consumer market analysts NPD Group found last year that stores that opened early on Thanksgiving or were open longer on Black Friday logged, on average, 22 percent more business.
With up to 20 percent of their annual profits riding on the end-of-the-year holiday sales, retailers are looking for an edge.
Early openings at Sears Grand and Toys R Us at Larkridge shopping center in Thornton on Thursday night clogged exits from Interstate 25 onto Colorado 7, harking to the origins of the term Black Friday, a reference to the traffic disruptions of the first big holiday shopping day. Now, it signals the point at which retailers’ revenue gets “into the black.”
There was a surge of traffic on U.S. 36 in Westminster as people tried to reach the Church Ranch Target store, which had long lines snaking around the building.
On the afternoon of Thanksgiving, Heidi Fitzhugh, 32, exited Old Navy in Lakewood with an armful of gifts.
“Round 1: Heidi,” she said as she walked toward her car.
Fitzhugh had an itinerary of stores that opened early. Old Navy was her second stop.
“I’m working up an appetite to go to my parents tonight,” she said. “Round 2 is after that.”
Stops at a handful of other retailers that opened Thursday afternoon found only a few shoppers.
While Thanksgiving dinner was being cooked, a five-member delegation of the Contreras and Graciano families waited outside a Michaels in Lakewood for the 4 p.m. opening.
sent for a Christmas tree because their old one got left outside and was ruined.
They said they might grab a few other things, but really, “it’s just the tree,” said Arely Graciano.
A trip to Family Dollar on Sheridan Boulevard was Lucy Reese’s “way to ease into it,” she said, a conspicuous cache of toys piled in her back seat.
“I’m not going to push anybody down for a deal,” Reese said, “but if my husband wants to watch football on TV, then I want to go get some shopping done.”
Walmart stores, open as usual Thursday, planned to roll out holiday deals at 8 p.m. — killing the old “door-buster” holiday rush.
The chain rolled out the eased-in approach to the holiday-bargain mayhem last year.
Town Center at Aurora and FlatIron Crossing in Broomfield were to be open from midnight till 10 p.m. Friday. Lakewood’s Belmar shopping center officially opens at 10 a.m. Friday, but some retailers planned to open earlier.
Park Meadows in Lone Tree and Southwest Plaza in Littleton open at 6 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Colorado Mills in Lakewood opens at 5 a.m. Friday.
The Outlet at Castle Rock planned a “Moonlight Madness” event, with its stores open from 9 p.m. Thursday to 9 p.m. Friday.
Business and civic leaders also are trying to direct traffic to their respective tax-generating centers. Boulder, for example, is providing free three-hour
coupons for downtown parking through Dec. 22.


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Supermarket Iceland has turned in flat annual profits and labelled the UK grocery market as "extremely challenging".
The frozen food chain saw full-year earnings inch up 0.2 per cent to £150.5 million in the 12 months to March 26 compared to a year ago, lifted by stronger margins and tighter cost control.
The business saw like-for-like sales fall 2.7 per cent over the year, an improvement on the 4.4 per cent decline in the prior year as the industry continues its fierce price war sparked by competition from discounters Aldi and Lidl.
Iceland said: "The UK food retail market remained exceptionally challenging throughout the year, due to the combination of intense competition, food price deflation and changing consumer shopping patterns."
It also said it has been affected by decline in high street footfall, and a fall in smaller basket sales due to a wide range of outlets selling top-up groceries at discounted prices.
Iceland runs 864 stores, and according to respected research group Kantar Worldpanel has a 2.1 per cent share of the UK grocery market.
The group said last year it opened 16 shops in the UK, including six larger new Food Warehouse format stores - which combine a cash-and-carry format and the traditional Iceland style. The group also closed 11 stores in the period.


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By JOHN TIERNEY
New York Times
If you want a truly frustrating job in public health, try getting people to stop smoking. Even when researchers combine counseling and encouragement with nicotine patches and gum, few smokers quit.
Recently, though, experimenters in Italy had more success by doing less. A team led by Riccardo Polosa of the University of Catania recruited 40 hard-core smokers — ones who had turned down a free spot in a smoking-cessation program — and simply gave them a gadget already available in stores for $50. This electronic cigarette, or e-cigarette, contains a small reservoir of liquid nicotine solution that is vaporized to form an aerosol mist.
The user “vapes,” or puffs on the vapor, to get a hit of the addictive nicotine (and the familiar sensation of bringing a cigarette to one’s mouth) without the noxious substances found in cigarette smoke.
After six months, more than half the subjects in Dr. Polosa’s experiment had cut their regular cigarette consumption by at least 50 percent. Nearly a quarter had stopped altogether. Though this was just a small pilot study, the results fit with other encouraging evidence and bolster hopes that these e-cigarettes could be the most effective tool yet for reducing the global death toll from smoking. Read more...


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The Xero outage experienced by customers happened on Tuesday, July 27 during UK daytime hours, affecting many of their customers’ ability to log into Xero for several hours. The problem has been rectified, and their service has resumed normal operations.
Many Xero customers and partners have reached out to the company directly through their customer experience team and social media channels, and Xero teams have been working tirelessly to reply.
Xero also wants to communicate all they know about what happened with consumers as they continue their investigations into the cause.
They recognize that this was a significant inconvenience for Xero customers and had a significant impact on small companies’ and advisers’ days – therefore they want to start by apologizing to everyone who was impacted.
What happened on July 27, 2021, to cause this Xero outage?
On Tuesday, July 27th, at about 8.45 a.m. BST, Xero became aware that users were unable to log into the Xero platform.
The problem included their login platform, where a system used to store and trigger events in the login flow was not functioning as planned, resulting in customer failures and errors.
Customers and the broader community were kept informed as they investigated the problem via the Xero Status website and proactive updates to social media pages.
Their product teams worked in a controlled manner to restore their service. On Tuesday, July 27th, at about 4.30 pm BST, the service was restarted (5.30 pm SAST the same day).
After the Xero outage, what’s next?
Xero’s top objective is to ensure the stability and reliability of the Xero platform for their customers. They’re still looking into the situation to learn more about what’s going on.
Xero apologizes for the trouble this has caused its customers and partners once more.