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Concur chairman and CEO Steve Singh last week kicked off The Beat Live conference here with a keynote address, but no, he didn't harp on open booking. He did, however, focus on other Concur themes: an open platform, using data intelligently and what the company calls "the perfect trip." He also put into perspective Concur's investment activity, responded to customer service criticisms and weighed in on a recent op-ed published in The Beat that suggested the company has stolen the innovation mantle from corporate travel management companies.
In that op-ed, Craig Fichtelberg, co-founder and president of Chicago-area travel management company AmTrav, wrote that "TMCs have completely abdicated responsibility for user experience, outsourcing it entirely to third parties," and that "a giant has risen to capitalize on the opportunity." TMCs, Fichtelberg opined, "have become virtual prisoners of this giant," left only to hope they aren't marginalized to the point of irrelevance.
Singh described the opinion piece__which never mentioned Concur by name__as "a fair and reasonable set of comments." But he also said that if the point was to share an idea "that we need to take the industry back, as if there is a model that says one part wins and one part doesn't win, I guess there I have a massive difference of opinion. The idea that any one company can control all this is nonsense. The reality is, how do we work together to make this all happen?"
Collaboration, according to Singh, is the only way to perfect a business trip. Why, he asked, does a business traveler experiencing a flight delay not have a service that automatically knows the problem, finds three accommodation options permissible by corporate policy, offers those options through the traveler's mobile device and books whichever option is chosen? And then why, he added, can't such a service automatically inform the traveler's hotel of the expected late arrival and have them checked in accordingly? "The idea that this is far off is ridiculous," Singh said. "All the technology exists today. What doesn't exist is the ability to work together in a collaborative model."
Such a model, he said, means leveraging each other's resources and strengths. "There are services that TMCs provide that we can't possibly provide because we're not experts in that area and we'll never be experts in that area," he said before repeating a familiar refrain: "We have no interest in being a travel management company."
"We think there's an amazing collaborative opportunity," he continued. "But the value, the niche, we deliver is different from what we delivered 10 to 15 years ago, and it may be different 10 years from now. There are a few that look at it and they want the world to stay the way it is__good luck, it's not going to happen."
Putting To Work 'Another $200 Million'
Discussing Concur's own work to innovate, Singh noted the company has upwards of 600 engineers__"just people who write code__and that number is growing every single year. Over the next 10 years, we'll spend about $1.2 billion or $1.3 billion just on innovation."
When Concur doesn't build innovation, it buys it__or at least funds external parties. In addition to the acquisitions this year of conTgo, GDSX and TRX, Concur steers investment capital toward emerging tech players through its "Perfect Trip Fund."
Singh said Concur thus far has invested about $120 million in 10 companies__including mobile ground transport booking tool Taxi Magic, digital hotel marketing firm Buuteeq and Indian OTA Cleartrip__"and there is another $200 million we'll put to work in other companies over the course of the next few years."
When asked to clarify if that additional $200 million specifically is earmarked for the Perfect Trip Fund, a Concur official told The Beat that "the company is looking to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a combination of future investments and other strategic spending__not just specific to the Perfect Trip Fund."
Singh provided a glimpse into Concur's thinking on investment opportunities around the globe: "The best global companies in the world are fantastic local companies. So when we look at every new country brand, we look at whether this is a multi-million-dollar opportunity by itself. And the way we invest in new countries is that if it's not that kind of opportunity then we're going to defer investment for now. We look at whether we'll make a profit five to six years down the road. That's the investment horizon we tend to look at."
He pointed to Japan: "We've seen great progress in the Japanese market for our sets of services because it's all being developed__the localization, the new innovation across the Japanese market__by our Concur Japan team. We don't think about it and say, 'How do we build that in the U.S.?' There's some cases of technology that could be leveraged there but the super vast majority for any innovation for any local market is developed in-market."
When asked just how global he thinks Concur has become, he made a distinction between travel and expense products. "On the expense side, we're in 190 countries," he said. "So, yes, I'd say that's reasonably global.
"In travel it's different," Singh continued, "and we're closer to about 15 or 16 countries where we have a real footprint around travel. We're as global as any other tool that's out there. The question is: What's the foot race to how much more global can you be, how much better can you be? You heard me [say] that we're going to invest $1.2 billion in roughly 10 years. I think we can make a pretty significant footprint."
But Holly Hegeman of Plane Business made note of complaints about Concur's products from some of her subscribers, what she said could be described as "growing pains." The concern, she told Singh, "is they would rather hear that the company is aware of these issues and what you're going to do to address these issues ... rather than talk about future growth."
Singh responded, "Of course we're aware of issues and of course we want to invest in that and make the experience better. The feedback is totally fair. It's something we're painfully aware of." Yet, he was quick to suggest that "you don't get to 20,000 customers by having a set of services that don't work."
Growing pains may persist for the foreseeable future. When asked what worries him, Singh said, "We're at 4,000 employees now, we'll add another 1,000 people in the course of next year. The next 1,000 that come in, how do they know what our values are? How do they know what's important to us? How do they know to look at every single relationship the same way the founders of the company do?"


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Nokia has been the top smartphone maunfacturer since the birth of smartphone and no other has been able to turn the tables however as per DigiTimes report Apple is surpass Nokia in smartphone sales well above 12 million margin. This report is based analysis on the sales trends so far and according to which Apple will ship 86.4 Million iPhones in 2011 contrary to just 47. 5 million units last year which is a clear 82% rise in last year volume. Whereas Nokia’s volumes have decreased by 25% from over 100 million to 74.4 million units.
The report also depicts gigantic rise in Samsung from 23 million units in 2010 to 67 million units this year i.e. well near three times from last year. One of the major factors that may have contributed in Samsung’s extraordinary sale is the Samsung Galaxy product line especially Samsung Galaxy S II. Secondly Nokia Samsung difference has been closed to just 7.4 million units therefore probably by mid of next year Samsung will also surpass Nokia in Smartphone market if Nokia does not adopt Android or makes serious not of its current Smartphone OS models.
Some of the other hard hitters for current year who have gained huge sale figures include HTC, LG, Hauwei and ZTE. However it should be noted that BlackBerry is still in business and has not shown negative sale results .
We will keep you posted on latest updates so follow us on twitter and facebook to get updates on Apple, Android, Symbian, Gadgets & News.

domain: news


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A publisher friend of mine, Dink Nesmith, wrote a column recently that appeared in the Georgia Press Association’s monthly news bulletin.
In the column, Dink talks about the Internet being both a blessing and a curse.
The blessing includes the fact that students, and people in generally, have access to more information than ever before.
I agree. Finding answers to questions you have is only a few keystrokes away. Additionally it has led to technology-led advances in medicine.
But there is a definite downside. As Dink says:
“….the Internet has significantly dragged us backwards. Civility is on the fast track to extinction. The Internet has birthed a legion of anonymous bullies who feel unashamedly brave to spew their venom. Call them what they are: cowards.”
He adds: “Facebook is irresponsible in the dissemination of false infomation. The proliferation of fake news has severely damaged the reputation of credible journalism.”
Internet shopping is another deterrent to small towns such as Hazlehurst, as so many people are shopping on line, making local merchants struggle to keep their doors open.
Locally, I’ve watched as a number of new businesses opened their doors in Hazlehurst and decided social media is the best way to “advertise” their businesses. And they have chosen not to support the local newspaper. And some of those businesses closed their doors in less than a year as they realized, too late, that in Jeff Davis County social media doesn’t reach as many people as this newspaper each week. Many people had no idea those businesses existed.
Lack of advertising has caused us great suffering but, somehow, we’ve managed to keep our doors open. But it hasn’t been easy and it will only get harder uless there are enough people that understand the value of a local, legitimate newspaper. If not, the day may come when the only news we get in Hazlehurst will be from Facebook and Twitter. With no one to verify that such “news” is true and reliable.


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Campaigners have handed out ‘stolen baby formula’ amid calls for supermarkets to slash prices of essential items.
This is Rigged claimed they had stole the items before handing them out to passers-by in Glasgow city centre on Sunday.
It comes after the group demands that supermarkets slash their prices of essential items – particularly baby products like formula.
Last month, the group handed out ‘stolen vegan sausage rolls and tea and coffee’ amid calls for action on food poverty.
In a statement released on social media, the group explained the actions by saying, “We are asking for the bare minimum: our inalienable human right to baseline food security; but we are also asking for dignity.
“No longer will we beg for scraps from the tables of greedy CEOs. No longer will we be at the mercy of corporations who price us out of eating on a whim, dependent on them to provide us with our foundational needs.
“No longer will we tolerate a criminally incompetent government that refuses to address the crisis of food insecurity in this country.”
Police Scotland have been contacted for comment.
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Insurance Systems Insights
25th September 2018
The payments space is heating up.
As the open banking initiative facilitates a monumental shift, new market participants are looking to disrupt in entirely new ways.
While the US and European payments landscape is awash with sexy consumer-facing paytech, few of those participants are paying attention to the vital work of the underlying... read more
18th September 2018
The mantra of the European authorities when talking about the completion of the Banking Union is that there needs to be risk reduction in the banking sector before introducing further mechanisms of risk sharing. What form of risk sharing might this take and what are the risks that banks need to reduce?
Risk sharing according to the European... read more
29th August 2018
The fragmentation of traditional insurance markets and concerns around the profitability of underwriting has led insurance providers and online comparison sites to look more to insurtech propositions.
Over recent years, firms that have attempted to replicate the success of insurance comparison sites without providing enough differentiation have... read more
23rd August 2018
Fintech startup Revolut has signalled its intent to appeal to millennials and those with interests in a crypto economy by launching a new card that offers cashback benefits in either cryptocurrencies or fiats. It’s a signal of intent seen from the fintech market aiming to take on traditional banks – many of whom are reluctant to move... read more
2nd August 2018
“It should be better known as artificially inflated,” says Fabrice Brossart, CRO of AIG, upon discussing the role that Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays within the insurance giant.
A buzzword of many years, Brossart believes that there is not enough penetration into the various sectors of AI.
Chris Gledhill, a former Lloyds... read more
1st August 2018
On July 31, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced it would begin accepting national charter applications from fintech firms, granting them federal rather than state oversight for the first time.
The impact could be seismic for financial service providers in the country.
For fintech and online lenders, it should come as... read more
31st July 2018
This article updates Six stages to a robust operational risk framework, written by Richard Pike in September 2011. It explains how a financial services company can create and implement a stable and manageable framework for risk management.
1. Risk identification
In this section in the previous article I talked about the process of... read more
30th July 2018
Since the advent of the digital wave, financial institutions have been focusing on user experience and personalization as a means to stay ahead of competition and drive revenue growth. For any financial institution, quality of customer insights serve as success factors across two key areas:
1. Creating an exceptional Omni channel customer... read more
26th July 2018
In the shadow of the credit crunch, Generation Millennial - born 1980-1995 - learned a valuable lesson, according to Christer Holloman, CEO of retail finance fintech, Divido.
The retail finance industry, now standing at half a trillion dollars, has traditionally been dominated by a minority of large incumbents Hitachi Capital and Barclays,... read more
18th July 2018
Client service is so integral to the DNA of some companies that they are renowned and revered for their service excellence. Online retailer Zappos, Nordstrom department store and sports outfitter REI come to mind, as does Rackspace, which has gone so far as to brand its “results-obsessed customer service” as Fanatical Support.
Yet,... read more


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One of the leading companies from the fiercely competitive hardcore side of the supplement industry, Apollon Nutrition, has added an exciting new athlete to its roster. The brand known for its powerhouse pre-workouts like Hooligan, the top-rated Lionheart, and the recently revamped stimulant bomb Assassin, has a long list of ambassadors and influencers under its banner, including the legendary bodybuilder, The Texas Titan, Branch Warren.
Joining Branch Warren at Apollon Nutrition and exemplifying all of its high-quality values is the rising star and IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Stuart Sutherland, better known by his social media handle Beef Stu. The promising athlete earned his well-deserved IFBB Pro Card at last year’s Mr. USA and put it to use earlier this year around May, taking home fourth place at the California Pro and coming in runner-up at the prestigious New York Pro.
Beef Stu or Stuart Sutherland has found a great home at Apollon Nutrition, which has been building and growing at a similar pace and making just as much noise with its reputable supplements. You can check out Stuart Sutherland and throw him a follow over on Instagram, and look forward to seeing some collaborative content between the bodybuilder and brand shortly.


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Just three months after the firms partnered to produce electric vans in Europe, Rivian Automotive announced on Monday that it is halting its joint venture with Mercedes-Benz Vans.
The manufacturer of electric vehicles stated that in order to turn its U.S. operations into cash flow positive, it will concentrate on its consumer and current commercial business.
“We’ve decided to pause discussions with Mercedes-Benz Vans regarding the Memorandum of Understanding we signed earlier this year for joint production of electric vans in Europe, according to Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe, who also noted that the company was aiming for “the best risk-adjusted returns” on its capital spending.
“At this point in time, we believe focusing on our consumer business, as well as our existing commercial business, represent the most attractive near-term opportunities to maximize value for Rivian,” he exclaimed.
Rivian is one of many startups attempting to capitalise on the desire for electric commercial vehicles while facing competition from reputable automakers like Ford (F.N) and General Motors and As part of a 50-50 joint venture, Mercedes-Benz Vans and Rivian entered into an agreement in September to start producing electric vans in a factory in Poland, Hungary, or Romania over the next few years.
Mercedes-Benz claimed that Rivian’s choice would have no bearing on the electrification strategy’s timetable or the anticipated start-up of its brand-new electric vehicle production plant in Jawor, Poland.
The leader of Mercedes-Benz Vans, Mathias Geisen, stated that ”exploring future strategic opportunities with the team at Rivian remains an option.”
The announcement on Monday comes at a time when the European Union has expressed alarm on the Inflation Reduction Act of the United States, which President Joe Biden passed into law in August.
The IRA, which might pose significant competition to European automakers in the future, includes a tax incentive for electric vehicles that have their final assembly in North America.
The EU, a significant political and economic group made up of 27 nations, intends to gradually stop selling new diesel and gasoline vehicles and vans.
For the purpose of assisting the transition of our world to carbon-neutral energy and transportation, Rivian was founded. Rivian creates, develops, and produces electric vehicles and accessories that are market leaders in their respective categories, and it distributes them directly to consumers and businesses. Rivian enhances its vehicles with a comprehensive array of in-house, value-added services that cover the whole vehicle lifecycle and strengthen client bonds.


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Ex-Morgan Stanley Executives Launch Crypto Derivatives Platform in Singapore
A team of Morgan Stanley veterans have launched a crypto derivatives trading platform, claiming it is faster and more secure than some of the market’s biggest players.
Blockchain-based consumer lender Figure added Morgan Creek Digital’s Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano to its board following a $103 million funding round.
Do good work, earn a "badger." That's the idea behind a new incentives scheme launched by Microsoft in partnership with blockchain gaming project Enjin.
BlockFi, the cryptocurrency lending service, is expanding into trading with an unusual, zero-fee model.


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Jan 25, 2021ProQuest will be taking up to an eight-hour maintenance window beginning Saturday, January 30 at 9:00 PM CST to upgrade infrastructure, enhance security, and maintain reliability on many ProQuest products. During this maintenance window, the following products will be temporarily unavailable.
Nov 8, 2019
Registration is open for these ProQuest Global Newsstream webinars:
Nov 21, 2018
Spots are still available for this half-day symposium of professional development, lively discussion, and networking opportunities including lunch, at Hamline University.
Aug 9, 2016
Over the weekend of Saturday-Sunday, 20 -21 Aug. 2016, a ProQuest product maintenance window will launch worldwide to upgrade infrastructure, enhance security, and maintain reliability of your products.
Jun 29, 2016
The ProQuest platform (search.proquest.com) will be taking a two-hour maintenance window on July 9th from 9:00 PM CST to 11:00 PM CST to prepare for the upcoming migration to a cloud-based infrastructure.


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Shanghai and Bangkok are expected to build closer economic ties due to the extended development of the Belt and Road Initiative, the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, as well as Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), officials said.
A woman walks in the Shanghai FTZ. (Photo: China Daily)
"Last year we saw a big rise in applications for investment promotion from Chinese companies ... (and) in the first half the (new) applications for investment promotion in the EEC area from Chinese companies became number one," said Luxmon Attapich, deputy secretary-general of Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor Office during the Second Bangkok-Shanghai Economic Conference.
"China ranks as Thailand's largest trading partner for five consecutive years and the bilateral trade volume reached $80 billion last year, up 8 percent. The number of Chinese traveling to Thailand amounted to 11 million last year, one third of all foreign tourists in Thailand, making China the largest source of revenue for Thailand's tourism industry," said Sasirit Tangulrat, consul-general of the Thai Consulate in Shanghai.
As the world's second largest economy, with robust domestic consumption and a healthy financial system, China is one of the prime drivers to pull the world out of recession, said Tangulrat.
"One of the most important regional architecture in this region was the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, which has contributed considerably to regional growth and economic prosperity, connecting China to the rest of the world," she explained.
Attapich said the conference is an advanced economic mechanism that provides a platform for leading Thai-Chinese public and private sector companies from Shanghai and Bangkok to interact, exchange views and engage in key policy developments, forging cooperation in trade and investment.
He Weichen, vice-president of the Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board, said Thai investment in Shanghai soared 221.84 percent to $5.6 million from January to June this year, and Thailand accounted for about 10 percent of Shanghai's total imports and exports during the same period.
"The phenomenal increase suggests the Sino-Thai trade and business collaboration has deepened from trade to investment," said He. After decades of opening-up, nonfinancial investment from Shanghai to Thailand reached $571 million, and a total of $560 million in investment were made by Thai enterprises to the city.
"We welcome more Chinese State-owned enterprises and the private sector to invest in Thailand to increase our bilateral trade to $140 billion in 2020, as agreed during the 6th Thailand-China Joint Committee," said Tangulrat.
Under the theme "From the Eastern Economic Corridor to the Belt and Road Initiative: Thailand on a High Tide", the second conference was co-organized by the Thai Chamber of Commerce in China, Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board, and the Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association.
Thailand has played an important role in international trade due to its state of the art infrastructure, excellent investment environment and strategic geographical location linking sea trade routes in the middle of Southeast Asia.
Thailand has the second largest economy in ASEAN by GDP and has undergone an economic transition into a newly industrialized economy dominated by manufacturing and services.


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Biogen’s blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera is an example of how patients don’t always benefit from low-cost generic competition, researchers say
For Medicare patients struggling to afford the Biogen BIIB, -1.59% multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera, the arrival last year of far cheaper generic competitors should have been great news. Instead, it has become a cautionary tale about the Medicare prescription-drug benefit’s complexities proving costly to patients and taxpayers, drug-pricing researchers say.
Looking at Medicare prescription-drug plans offering any coverage of Tecfidera or its generic equivalent as of the third quarter of this year, drug-pricing research nonprofit 46brooklyn Research found that more than half of enrollees had access only to the brand-name drug—despite the fact that multiple lower-cost generic options have been available for about a year. Even when plans did cover the generic, the cost was generally far higher than the cheapest generic’s list price, the researchers found.
“It’s a series of broken incentives that lead to this type of outcome,” says 46brooklyn CEO Antonio Ciaccia, including issues with “rebates,” or discounts that drugmakers often pay to Part D plan sponsors and other middlemen after a drug is dispensed.
“Just having generics in the market doesn’t mean that people can get them, or that they are affordable,” says Bari Talente, executive vice president of advocacy and healthcare access for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The group has heard from patients and healthcare providers about challenges with Tecfidera and generic access that echo 46brooklyn’s findings, Talente says.
The research adds to a growing number of studies illustrating how generic competition for pricey specialty drugs, when filtered through the convoluted Medicare Part D prescription-drug system, can fail to generate cost savings for patients.
The findings come as Congress weighs prescription-drug pricing and Medicare Part D reforms as part of the Build Back Better social spending bill. President Joe Biden highlighted the issue in a speech this week, noting that the bill would cap Medicare beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket prescription-drug costs at $2,000 per year, among other changes. Broadly speaking, most Part D plans are designed to favor the use of generics over brand-name drugs, according to a 2020 study published in Health Affairs. Looking at the plans’ coverage of brand names versus generic equivalents, the researchers found that the plans had generic-only coverage in more than 80% of cases. But “there are obviously some major exceptions to this rule,” says Stacie Dusetzina, associate professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and co-author of the study, including some cases involving costly specialty drugs. The exceptions “are very important because the effect on consumers is so negative,” she says. “The idea that you can’t access these low-cost drugs and pay less is incredibly frustrating.”
After the first generic version of Tecfidera launched in August of last year, the competition was fast and furious. Within a few months, 11 manufacturers were making the drug, driving the median monthly generic wholesale acquisition cost for the 240 milligram capsules down to about $900—a roughly 90% discount to the Tecfidera list price of $8,276, according to 46brooklyn.
Tecfidera sales stumbled. The brand-name product was Biogen’s top-selling drug in 2019, with about $4.4 billion in sales. The company sold about $1.5 billion worth of the drug in the first nine months of this year. Late last month, a federal appeals court rejected Biogen’s effort to revive a key patent on Tecfidera.
“The idea that you can’t access these low-cost drugs and pay less is incredibly frustrating”
— Stacie Dusetzina, associate professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
For many Medicare patients, it was as if the price war never happened. Despite their bargaining power, the largest Part D plans generally gave enrollees a worse deal on the drug than their smaller counterparts, the 46brooklyn study found. The largest plans tended to offer brand-name-only coverage, according to the study, whereas smaller plans were more likely to cover both the brand name and generic or only the generic. And looking at Part D plans’ lowest negotiated price for any version of the drug—brand or generic—the researchers found that large plans’ prices were often even higher than Tecfidera’s list price, whereas the smallest plans had some of the lowest negotiated prices. “The largest plans have greater resources, sophistication and leverage” to offer consumers the lowest-cost options, 46brooklyn’s Ciaccia says, yet “we found it was the exact opposite of that.”
Four large companies—Humana HUM, -0.54%, CVS CVS, -0.12%, Centene CNC, +4.73% and Anthem ANTM, +0.91% —offer Medicare plans with brand-name-only Tecfidera coverage, collectively covering more than 23 million people, according to 46brooklyn. Humana, CVS and Centene did not respond to requests for comment. Anthem referred questions to the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, a trade group for pharmacy benefit managers, which handle prescription-drug benefits on behalf of Part D plans and other payers. That group said in a statement, “On behalf of patients, PBMs support achieving the lowest net price for prescription drugs, whether it is through use of a generic, an authorized generic, or a brand drug.”
In some cases, a single parent company owns a large health plan, a specialty pharmacy and a pharmacy benefit manager, creating potential conflicts of interest that may interfere with consumers getting the best price, researchers say. More transparency is needed “to understand how the dollars are flowing,” Dusetzina says. Where plans, PBMs, and pharmacies are all part of the same parent company, she says, “we’ve created a system that could keep rewarding itself by not negotiating as much as they can and not trying to get the best price for the Medicare program.”
Some provisions of the Build Back Better bill may help smooth out Part D’s quirks
Kristine Grow, a spokesperson for the health plan trade group AHIP, said the number of generic medications prescribed to seniors has climbed sharply since the introduction of Medicare Part D, “delivering significant savings to enrollees and taxpayers.” The problem, she said, is the drug prices set by the pharmaceutical industry. The 46brooklyn report, she says, “is based on a bogus premise.” PBMs pass rebates through to Medicare plans, “which use those savings to lower premiums and offset other health care costs for seniors,” she says.
But Michael Bagel, director of public policy for the Alliance of Community Health Plans, a trade group for nonprofit plans, says his group supports transparency requirements that would shine more light on price-setting issues. Many of the questions raised by the 46brooklyn report are “because of the lack of sunshine into the pricing process and into what discounts and rebates are being passed on,” he says.
Some provisions of the Build Back Better bill may help smooth out Part D quirks that can favor brands over generics, researchers say. The bill would eliminate the “coverage gap,” a phase of the Part D benefit in which manufacturers provide a 70% discount on brand-name drugs—but not generics. Those brand-name discounts count toward patients’ out-of-pocket spending, which can help them reach the more generous catastrophic coverage phase faster than they would with a generic. That can lead to some counterintuitive outcomes for patients.
In the first three years of generic competition for the cancer drug Gleevec, for example, Medicare patients saw their out-of-pocket costs climb if they switched from the brand-name drug to the generic, according to a 2020 study by Dusetzina and her coauthors. The bill would also increase Part D plans’ responsibility for costs in the catastrophic coverage phase to 60%, up from 15% today.
But much remains to be done, researchers say, to make the system more navigable for consumers who just want to find the most affordable way to fill their prescriptions. “This is a four-month research project that we did,” Ciaccia says of the Tecfidera study, “and we’re drug-pricing nerds. Grandma and grandpa aren’t going to figure this one out. It shouldn’t be this complex.”


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About 45% of adult drivers say they have struggled to stay awake while driving, according to a recent survey from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Honda received the company’s top spot for the mainstream brand category and Land Rover earned the stop for the luxury brand category.
BMW, and its Mini brand, will be debuting several plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles later this week at the Los Angeles auto show.
Nissan is recalling an estimated 394,025 vehicles, including its Maxima midsize sedan, for a brake fluid leak that could cause them to catch fire.
Equipped with an extended-range battery and rear-wheel drive, the Mustang Mach-E has a targeted range of at least 300 miles. Is tying an all-electric to the iconic Mustang badge a risky move?
The 2019 Fleet Forward Conference, dedicated to mobility solutions for fleets, convened Nov. 11-13 at The Forager in San Jose, Calif.
LeasePlan USA has begun offering a connected vehicle cloud platform called OneConnect that expands the fleet management company's telematics offering to its commercial fleet clients.
Now is the time to remind your fleet drivers of best practices for driving and parking in lots and garages. Here are four tips.
When drivers effectively and safety navigate parking lots and garages, they can save their corporation costs stemming from low-speed collision repairs.
Ford Motor Co. is recalling 168,055 2019 and 2020 F-150 pickups for a battery terminal fastener, 100,375 Super Duty pickups for LED headlamps, and 59,664 2016 and 2017 Lincoln MKX SUVs for a battery cable.
Since its introduction in the 1995-MY, the Tahoe has since seen extensive use by fleets, including police users of the Tahoe PPV as well as fire and EMS responders.
At a conference at Texas A&M University's Transportation Technology Institute, Shell also introduced a newly-blended 0W/30 engine oil designed for fleets operating in harsh winter climates.


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Graeme Whickman replaced by Kay Hart as Ford Australia CEO
The outgoing CEO is leaving to pursue another opportunity.
Ford Australia has announced Kay Hart will replace Graeme Whickman as president and CEO, effective today.
Hart previously worked as global battery electric vehicle manager, customer and digital experience at Ford, having also served as managing director for Ford Philippines between 2013 and 2015.
She started with the company as part of the New Zealand marketing team in 1998.
“Kay is a proven leader, highly motivated by consumer insights and dealer relations,” said Peter Fleet, Ford Asia Pacific vice president and president. Hart will report to Fleet during her time in charge.
“She has broad experience across the company and around the globe. With strong knowledge and relationships in Australia and New Zealand, Kay will be a wonderful addition to our leadership team and a strong advocate for our customers and dealers.”
Graeme Whickman is leaving the company to "pursue a new opportunity" elsewhere, after two decades at the Blue Oval.
“I know I leave a much stronger Ford Australia and New Zealand than only a few years ago, a company that has a strong and vibrant future,” Whickman said.
“The industry is undergoing rapid change, and I have confidence the local leadership teams have the right plans in place to be successful. They will continue to be held up in the Global Ford world as great examples of what happens when good, focused strategies are supported by committed and skilful employees and dealers.”


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By James Wells
SYDNEY: Sunbeam has appointed Dimplex marketing manager, Adam Tacey, to a newly created role of category manager – heating and barbecues.
Tacey has worked with Dimplex at Hagemeyer for six and a half years and prior to this worked at Mistral for two years in the seasonal products division where he was also repsonsible for the brand’s Olympic sponsorship.
Sunbeam’s heating range features a line of convection panel heaters and ceramic heaters including the MicroFurnace range which was acquired in 2003 from Kevin Jones & Associates.
Last week, Sunbeam officially launched its Innovo brand of barbecues on to the Australian market. The Chinese made barbecues were developed in conjunction with the brand’s local design department and celebrity chef, Geoff Jansz.
Sunbeam CEO Jonathan Lord, told Current.com.au that the appointment of Tacey will not lead to the introduction of a cooling range.
"We are not looking at the cooling market at the moment. Our focus will remain on heating and barbecues," Lord said.
"There are also opportunities to get into the outdoor heating market to complement our barbecues."
Sunbeam category manager – home care, Danielle McConnell will hand over the responsibility of the heating category to Tacey and she will continue to manage the electric blanket and ironing business. In addition to her current roles, McConnell will become more involved in the company’s web and online communication strategy.
"There is a real opportunity for Sunbeam to capitalise on the web as a means of communicating with its large customer base in metropolitan and regional areas," Lord said.
Tacey will report to Rachel Wilson who was appointed earlier this year as business development manager.
Wilson is currently conducting a national roadshow to launch the company’s barbecue range and will continue to work on other projects in appropriate new product categories.


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In the wake of the State of California enacting a plastic shopping bag recycling program while rejecting an outright ban on plastic shopping bags, Los Angeles County and the City of San Jose have imposed their own bans on the convenient and lightweight shopping bags.
Plastic Banned, Paper Taxed
The San Jose City Council voted 10-1 on December 14 to ban retailers from distributing plastic shopping bags, effective January 1, 2012. Retailers will still be able to distribute paper bags, but they will have to be made from at least 40 percent recycled materials. In addition, customers will have to pay 10 cents for each paper shopping bag through 2013, after which they will have to pay 25 cents for each one.
The San Jose ban followed on the heels of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors enacting their own plastic shopping bag ban. By a 3-1 vote, the Board of Supervisors prohibited retailers from distributing plastic shopping bags in unincorporated areas of the county. Retailers can distribute paper bags but must charge a 10 cent fee for each paper bag distributed.
Environmental Benefits Doubted
Although proponents of plastic shopping bag bans argue the bans will benefit the environment, the Environmental Literacy Council reports plastic bags are better for air quality than paper bags because they weigh less and are more compact, requiring one-seventh the number of trucks to ship the same number of bags. Fewer truck trips carrying lighter loads means less oil consumption and less pollution.
The council also reports plastic bags are more environmentally benign in landfills because they require only a fraction of the landfill space taken by the same number of paper bags.
Higher Consumer Costs
Mike Antonovich, the lone dissenter in the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors vote, says the fees represent an unacceptable new tax.
“I voted ‘no’ on the ban based on the facts that it is not sound public policy and it also only increases costs and regulations on the 1.5 million residents and the businesses residing in the county’s unincorporated areas—and not the county’s 88 cities. The mandated 10-cent-per-bag charge represents a new tax on the consumer,” explained Antonovich.
“Telling residents what bags they can use, cannot use, and how much they will be charged is Big Brother at its worst,” Antonovich added.
The San Jose ban and tax are the most stringent anti-shopping bag prohibitions in California. Los Angeles County is the largest municipality in the nation to ban plastic bags.
Alyssa Carducci ([email protected]) writes from Tampa, Florida.


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kdawson from the say-goodnight-gracie dept.
Croakyvoice writes "Only days after Nintendo shipped Wii Menu 3.3, which stopped the Twilight Hack from working, the team lead by Bushing brought out a new version of the Homebrew enabling hack for the Nintendo Wii using the Zelda Game and a hacked save game."
Heuristics are bug ridden by definition. If they didn't have bugs,
then they'd be algorithms.


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“India is a ‘Sleeping Giant for Food Processing Industry’,” said Dr B R Lokesh, Chief Scientist, Nutraceuticals, Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, at a day-long seminar on the theme ‘The Future of Health and Wellness – Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods’ organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) in Bangalore recently.
He further said, “Nutraceuticals and Functional Food areas are still nascent. There is a huge market potential for nutraceutical in India. Biodiversity and traditional knowledge, dating back centuries, can make India a world leader in nutraceutical market.”
“Nutraceuticals can complement drugs and can reduce over dependence on drugs for treatment. The country’s current economic potential as producer and consumer of basic foods is around $45 billion and the retail food market size is estimated to be $330 billion,” he added.
Dr Vilas Ramrao Shirhatti, Chief Advisor – Nutritional Solutions Business, Tata Chemicals, spoke on “Technological Advances in Functional Foods and Nutraceutical”. He mentioned how breakthrough technologies and innovation have provided a platform for advancement in various fields. He also discussed the role of naturally available fruits which contain various types of phytonutrients. He said, “India has a high potential for developing nutritional solution business”.
Other speakers at the conference were K C Raghu, Managing Director, Pristine Organics, Dr Bikash Chandra Ghosh, Principal Scientist, Dairy Technology, National Dairy Research Institute, Bangalore, Dr Joseph Lewis, Food Regulatory Consultant. Chitranjan Dar, Chief Executive Officer, ITC Foods, spoke on future trends in the market.
The conference concluded with a panel discussion chaired by G K Vasanth Kumar, Additional Secretary, Agricultural Department, Government of Karnataka.


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ORLANDO, Fla. — If you’re booking summer travel, Action 9 has an alert about booking hotel reservations that could save you money.
Heather Neubauer booked a much-needed weekend getaway to San Diego with her family.
“The whole trip started because my son, who has autism, wanted to go to a hotel and watch the fireworks,” Neubauer said.
The excitement didn’t last long. She received an email showing her credit card was charged by reservations.com for more than a thousand dollars up front, including an additional fee.
“Gone, and I didn’t even know what that was about,” Neubauer said.
Then she discovered the third-party booking site didn’t allow refunds. Neubauer said she thought she was on the hotel’s website when she booked the room and never would have knowingly used reservations.com.
“It’s like they copycatted their website,” Neubauer said.
“It’s deceitful,” Cham Newhouse said.
Newhouse also felt blindsided by reservations.com. He claims he doesn’t know how he wound up on their site, didn’t realize the charges were non-refundable, and had more problems when he showed up in Minnesota to begin his family’s vacation.
“We get to the hotel and the hotel can’t find the reservation, and so you know, my wife and my kids are sitting there looking at me and I’ve got to get it fixed,” Newhouse said.
Reservations.com is located on the 16th floor of an office tower in downtown Orlando. The travel company has caught the attention of the Better Business Bureau after the bureau received hundreds of complaints from across the country.
According to the Bureau, they’ve received over 1,600 complaints in the past three years about reservations.com, with consumer losses totaling well over $85,000.
Many frustrated consumers say they were led to look alike websites, were hit with surprise fees or were charged for reservations that were never made.
“Unfortunately to date it seems to still be a persistent issue, the same pattern of complaints,” said BBB President Holly Salmons.
Todd Ulrich contacted reservations.com. A manager said the company’s fee covers customer-friendly booking services and that it fully discloses that it’s a third-party site and their no-refund.
Neubauer did finally get a refund, but only after complaining for six weeks.
Just days after speaking with Action 9, Newhouse was able to get a full refund.
“I wanted to try to help people avoid what happened to me,” Newhouse said.
Avoid the top results from Google searches. Many times the top results are ads that can lead to look alike sites.
Some booking sites are good options but check fees and refund policies first.
If you’ve been burned by an online booking site contact the BBB and Florida’s Division of Consumer Services.
©2021 Cox Media Group


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|Fraud Prevention Newsletter
This is the next newsletter in a series of communications discussing the threat of identity theft and information-based fraud and what you can do to protect yourself. We hope you find this informative and useful.
The Internal Revenue Service issued a new warning for consumers after seeing a 400% surge in phishing and malware incidents in the first few weeks of the 2016 tax season. 2017 is shaping up to be another treacherous tax season with new schemes that try to trick you into disclosing your personally identifiable information.
The IRS has reported scams attempting to collect information about your refund, personal information, credit card data and filing status; asking you to verify your PIN information; or claiming that you owe money or are due a refund.
The incidents are all tied to emails, phone calls or even text messages that are designed to appear as official correspondence with the IRS or other tax preparation companies in an attempt to steal your information. The scams include:
- Soliciting W-2 information from payroll and human resources professionals.
- Fictitious “Federal Student Tax” scams targeting students and parents and demanding payment.
- Automated calls requesting tax payments in the form of iTunes or other gift cards.
- Pretending to be from the tax preparation industry.
- Posing as a Taxpayer Advocacy Panel agent.
The IRS DOES NOT initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text, telephone, social media or electronic communications to request personal or financial information. Their primary contact method is via the U.S. Postal Service.
If you receive a suspicious email, phone call or text from the IRS or other tax preparation companies, report it by sending it to firstname.lastname@example.org.
More information can be found on the IRS site using the following link:


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blue bubbles are safe from interference for now. European Union officials after the investigation that — in association with Microsoft , and Microsoft Advertising — do not have a sufficiently dominant position in their respective markets to be subject to stricter regulation under the Digital Markets Act. If iMessage were to conform to DMA rules, Apple would have to make it interoperable with other messaging services.
Three products and meet the quantity limits for regulation under the iMessage DMA. Apple and Microsoft clear the law easily whereas each of the four platform services in question has at least 45 million monthly active users in the EU, and north of 10,000 annual active business users in the bloc.
However, companies have argued that iMessage, Bing and others are not suitable as gatekeeper services. In Apple’s case, it argued that iMessage was “small scale compared to other messaging services” and other factors meant it needed to avoid DMA rules. Despite Google and mobile operators The block ultimately sided with Apple to designate iMessage as a gatekeeper service. Still, the EU’s executive arm noted that it “will continue to monitor market developments for these services should any substantial changes occur.”
While the EU won’t force iMessage to play nice with other messaging services, Apple has opened the door for interoperability. There is a company to support starting this year, that means messaging between iMessage and Android should be more secure and feature-rich. However, RCS texts will still be in green bubbles, not the blue color of iMessage missions.
Meanwhile, Apple and Microsoft haven’t completely shirked DMA’s clutch ahead of the rules that take effect on March 7. Some of their other products include Windows and LinkedIn on Microsoft’s side, and Safari on iOS, the App Store, and Apple’s case. Meta, Google, Amazon and TikTok parent ByteDance are also needed . Note that the EU has designated Meta’s Messenger and WhatsApp as gatekeeper services, meaning they will be needed .
Apple recently revealed how this will work , including third-party payment options, although competitors are demanding that the company enforce DMA rules. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney for adding “new garbage fees on downloads and new Apple taxes on payments they don’t process.”


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iPhone owners are being warned about a new glitch which allows anyone to access personal information without the need for a password.
It appears that simply asking Siri to "search Twitter", when the iPhone 6s or 6s Plus are locked, can give instant access to photos and contacts on your device
The issue has been discovered by tech fan videosdebarraquito who has posted a video on YouTube showing how it works.
HERE'S HOW THE GLITCH WORKS ON THE iPHONE 6s & 6s PLUS
1. Press your home button or say 'Hey Siri' then ask the personal assistant to search Twitter.
2. Next ask Siri to search for an email domain name such as @gmail.com.
3. You will then see a list of tweets – simply press on the email address and wait for a pop up.
4. If you then tap "add new contact" an option will appear giving access to all your pictures
5. Alternatively, you can tap "add to existing contact" to gain access to contact information
Although the glitch appears real enough, the controversial video has divided many tech fans.
While some appear to have replicated the bug many can't gain access to Twitter without unlocking the phone first.
One YouTube user wrote: "Siri said need to unlock your phone first" while another added "I said, search for tweets with email contact and you can find it that way".
Daily Star Online has tried the Twitter trick on a number of phones and has not been able to bypass the security.
If this bug does unlock your phone there are a number of ways to fix it.
One option is to head to Settings > Privacy > Photos and disable Siri.
And you can also disable access to Siri on the lock screen by switching it off in Settings > Touch ID & Passcode.


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Evasi0n is one of the most popular jailbreaks ever released, with Cydia founder Jay Freeman confirming some crazy numbers in an interview with Forbes.
In the first six hours after evasi0n’s debut, the jailbreak tool targeting iOS 6.1 and iPhone 5 devices hit 800,000 downloads. By Tuesday, roughly 24 hours after launch, the figure more than doubled – 1.7 million downloads. Today, evasi0n should have more than 2 million downloads.
Hacker pod2g posted some statistics for evasi0n.com on his blog, leaving out February 4 (launch day), as Google Analytics was yet to release the data.
Based on nothing but hype, evasi0n.com hit nearly 3 million unique visitors on February 3, with almost 9 million visits, and 17,3 million page views.
Evasi0n is a free download for OS X, Windows, and Linux computers. It provides an untethered jailbreak for iOS 6.1 on all device models, including the A6-based iPhone 5, and even the iPad 4 equipped with an A6X SoC.


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October 13, 2020 | technology | No Comments
Apple’s iPhone 12 range has been revealed in detail and it brings several compromises which might put you off upgrading. But if you’re still on the fence, the first iPhone 13 information should convince you to save your money.
Just days before the iPhone 12 big reveal, respected industry insiders Jon Prosser, Ice Universe and Ross Young have all revealed Apple is set to make the design and display changes everyone wanted for the iPhone 12 series.
Both Prosser and Ice Universe agree that Apple will finally reduce the size of the notch with iPhone 13. That said, they disagree on how this will be done. Ice Universe states that Apple will make it shallower (vertically) while Prosser understands that Apple will make it shorter


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Certain aspects of Donald Trump’s financials are garnering special attention. For instance, about 20 percent of the $6.7 million he spent in May — or about $1.1 million — went to companies he owns or to travel reimbursements for his children, according to the Wall Street Journal.
His most expensive expenditure for the month was $423,317 to book his own resort — Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach. He paid one of his own golf courses $35,845, another $29,715, and his son Eric’s wine company more than $4,000. About $350,000 of the money the Trump campaign spent on private jets went to TAG Air — an airline Trump owns.
The Trump campaign also paid $35,000 for advertising to a mystery firm called “Draper Sterling,” which might ring a bell for Mad Men fans and which may or may not actually exist.


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An Edmonton mother spent 10 days calling Greyhound Courier, trying to trace the bunk-bed she had ordered, and says when it finally arrived, the driver demanded extra cash to bring the bed to her suite, then drove away with it when she refused.
Francine Wiwchar, 30, ordered the Riddle loft-style bed from SD Furniture in Abbotsford, BC.
The company fell weeks behind on its delivery date, she says. When the bed was finished, the company promised to send it overnight via Greyhound. The company wrote "Door to Door" on the shipping order.
When Greyhound’s contract delivery driver arrived at Wiwchar’s Edmonton condo, there was a dispute over what "door-to-door" meant.
"I said, I'll buzz you up. Please bring it upstairs to me because I'm at home with an infant," said Wiwchar. "He said ‘No, that's not my job, you’ve got to come down here to get it.’ I went downstairs and found a 50 pound box."
Wiwchar’s building has an elevator, but she says the driver insisted on leaving the package at the front door, leaving her to drag the heavy, 2 metre-long box to her suite.
The box only contained the bed rails. Wiwchar says she spent the next ten days on the phone, first with Greyhound’s American call centre, then with the Greyhound depot in Edmonton, trying to find the rest of the bed.
Greyhound contractor wanted additional cash
Once Greyhound located the bed, the delivery was made by the same contractor, with an identical result.
"I asked him to bring it up (and) he told me ‘No it's not my job.’ I said yes, I spoke with your manager, it is your job. Please bring it up."
Wiwchar says the driver said that he would do it only if she gave him some cash. She refused, and says the courier kept her box and drove away.
"I’ve never experienced such poor customer service before," she said.
"This is 100 per cent wrong, because she paid me. It’s our responsibility to get it into her place, that’s why I wrote ‘door-to-door,’" said Paul Gakhar, shipping manager for SD Furniture.
"She paid me (the) shipping price already — $112. This never happened before. I ship a lot with Greyhound."
Go Public got involved and the next day an apologetic Greyhound manager delivered Wiwchar’s bed.
Scott Wright, the senior director of Greyhound Courier Express Canada, also apologized.
"On behalf of Greyhound I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this created," he said. "It's certainly our goal to deliver packages is a timely fashion and meet our customers' expectations."
Wright said Greyhound is investigating what went wrong, both in the shipping delay and the delivery.
Wright said that the company plans to bring in a computer tracking system this year, but the only way to trace Wiwchar’s bed was to physically look for it.
Ron Mycholuk, Public Relations Manager for the Better Business Bureau in Edmonton, said, while Greyhound Courier only has a C+ rating across North America, it has a very clean record locally.
"We’ve only had 4 complaints in 3 years, all delivery issues."
SD Furniture said it will refund Wiwchar’s $112 shipping costs.


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YouTube TV is losing Monday Night Football and other key Disney properties. Because the move happened so quickly, YouTube TV members who have the full sports packages will have to find another place to watch Monday's divisional matchup between the Bears and the Vikings.
YouTube TV and ESPN and Disney’s channels controversy.
"All Disney-owned channels, including ESPN and your local ABC station, are unavailable on YouTube TV as of December 17, 2021, end of day Eastern Time," states a post on YouTube TV's website. Even cloud-based recordings are being phased out of YouTube TV.ESPN, ABC, Disney, National Geographic, FX, and more networks are included.
It's a little snafu for Alphabet , which owns YouTube TV. Subscription prices are reducing by $15 per month, or $180 per year. YouTubeTV has a subscriber base of around 4 million people. This equates to $720 million in revenue every year.
Of course, the content may not be removed from the platform permanently. And the inverse of that equation is likely to work as well. From a viewing platform, Disney (DIS) is losing money.
The expected revenue for 2022 for Alphabet is now about $245 billion. Disney's expected fiscal year 2022 sales predictions are around $84 billion on average.
In comparison to the size of either organization, the impact appears to be little. While the feud is unlikely to have a significant influence on either stock, it does demonstrate how content delivery and viewing have evolved.
YouTube TV, like cable companies, has been aggregating and providing programming. Users on YouTube, of course, upload and view billions of hours of video every day. In addition, Disney now has its own streaming services, including Hulu, ESPN+, and, of course, Disney+.


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Tag Results for safety (1 - 4) of 4
Teen-Led, Teen-Focused State Summit Educates Peers on Dangers of Texting While Driving
Nearly 800 teens from throughout the state learned today about the dangers of texting while driving and Wisconsin’s law banning the deadly practice during a day-long State Summit on Teen Distracted Driving in Wisconsin Dells.
Stay Safe from 'Phishing' and 'SMiShing' Scams with These Tips
With the holiday season upon us, more companies are sending customers information about great deals for last-minute shopping. Unfortunately, among those exciting offers comes the threat of illegitimate emails and text messages that try to take advantage of trusting shoppers. In an effort to equip consumers with the tools they need to stay safe, AT&T offers these tips to stay in-the-know about these scams....
Common Sense Media and AT&T Join Forces in First-of-its Kind Agreement to Bring Parents Safety Tools and 'Family Friendly' Content Ratings for Mobile Apps, Video, Games and More
Common Sense Media and AT&T today announced a first-of-its-kind agreement to help AT&T’s more than 100 million wireless customers get the information they need – up front – to manage mobile content in a way that’s best for families. With new research indicating that more than half of all children have access to smartphones or tablet devices at home, the agreement continues AT&T’s tradition of helping parents stay educated on important safety tips and information. ...
No Texting While Driving | AT&T Texting and Driving Campaign
AT&T's It Can Wait texting and driving campaign promotes no texting while driving. Learn more about AT&T's campaign to curb texting and driving and take the pledge today." />


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1Password syncs passwords and personal data across all your devices. It's not quite as capable as the competition, but it's an easy-to-use utility.
The massive trove of leaked data, which was posted to a hacking forum, also includes 21,222,975 unique passwords. Here's how to see if your data was exposed.
When choosing a new password, 1Password will check to see if it appears on a list of over 500 million breached passwords.
Single users can now sign up for six months of free password storage.
Those who sign up before March 21 can get two months of 1Password for Families for free.
The update also adds a teams feature that allows users to share certain passwords.
The moves comes after a Microsoft software engineer expressed concern with the company's existing system.
AgileBits has completely overhauled its Android password manager app, adding some much-needed features.


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The MakerBot 3D Photo
Booth was originally launched in the New York MakerBot Store last fall and has enjoyed tremendous success, becoming very popular, with adults and children alike scanning themselves and creating all sorts of interesting 3D portrait models from 3D printed busts, to wedding cake toppers, to putting their head on the top of Greek statues, gargoyles and other fun items even making pencil toppers and pieces of jewelry out of them.
Kodak's software allows consumers to do more with their photos, including 3D photo
printing, printing scenes from video files, as well as photo printing directly from FACEBOOK, KODAK Gallery, PICASA, FLICKR and PHOTOBUCKET sites.
"New to the FZ-Series are the improved AF speeds, 3D photo
shooting and full 1080 HD video capabilities."
The Planmeca ProMax 3D ProFace unit acquires patient's facial 3D photo
in a radiation-free process giving the medical or dental professional opportunity to plan operations and document the follow-up images.
If that's not enough, it also has a jaw-dropping 24x wide optical zoom and includes a backlit CMOS sensor for low-light shots, 3D photo
shooting, and Eye-Fi card compatibility so users can upload photos automatically to the Web--without cables.
The project is the result of hundreds of profile pictures taken of customers at the mall in November, and collated to create a giant 3D photo
montage in the shape of the UAE map.
Even without specs you can enjoy your footage on the 3.5in screen or invest in an additional 8in 3D photo
Amidst growing global interest in 3D technology following the launch of 3D television / PCs and screening of 3D movies, the latest theme park directed its attention to a commemorative 3D photo
service, resulting in the system's introduction this time.
Having announced two years ago that it would be replacing the hologram on its drivers licenses, North Carolina has now announced that it plans to adopt Sagem's 3D Photo
ID[TM] technique for laser engraved three dimensional photo-images.
A CAERPHILLY company which manufactures 3D photo
images inside blocks of crystal is looking to exploit the lucrative British tourism industry.
Give a unique Christmas gift by turning a memorable photo into a beautiful 3D photo
crystal specially packaged in a satin lined gift box.
Activities also include the animated Pingu show, fighting zones section for kids at the ice rink, a 3D photo
booth section and arts and crafts, which is open from 5pm-11pm.
With today's introduction of photo tours, a feature of Google Maps that guides you through a 3D photo
scene, we're all one step closer," The Daily Mail quoted a Google statement, as saying.
In keeping with LG, this may even be the worM's first which could handle 3D photo
and video editing right on its glasscs-free 4.3-inch screen, all shot by the twin 5MP cameras mounted at the back.


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With millions of Americans staying home due to coronavirus, the price of gasoline has dropped dramatically.
According to AAA, the national average is at $2.12, down 50 cents from a year ago.
In Wisconsin, prices have dropped a whopping 24 cents this week, with the state average price of $1.81 for a gallon of regular gas.
According to gasbuddy.com, gas is selling for as little as $1.39 in Appleton. The gas price pictured above is from a gas station in Oshkosh.


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Special guest found in wine and spirits department at Festival Foods in Darboy
DARBOY — A Festival Foods store attracted a new “customer” Monday night, July 10th.
A fawn got into the wine and spirits department at the Darboy Festival Foods on Van Roy Road.
Surveillance photos show the fawn browsing in the aisle.
The fawn made it out of the store OK.
Store officials said on Facebook page, associates and guests joined together to get the deer out an emergency exit door.


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Tech > Gadget
24 May 2013 : Online retail titan Amazon announced Thursday it is expanding sales of its Kindle tablet computers to "over 170 countries and territories around the world," and its Appstore in nearly 200 countries.
22 May 2013 : Just as an argument has raged for the best part of 30 years between Windows and Mac users as to which operating system is the best, a similar tribal war has raged between professional (and talented amateur) photographers as to whether Nikon or Canon rules the SLR and latterly DSLR roost. Now SquareTrade has waded into the rivalry between the two iconic companies' offerings with a drop test.
12 Apr 2013 : Powerhouse Silicon Valley venture capital firms on Wednesday joined Google to launch a syndicate devoted to backing entrepreneurs building products for Google's coming Internet glasses.
12 Apr 2013 : Summer is the perfect time to go on a vacation. The kids (should that be a consideration) have an extended break from school and there are lots of public holidays dispersed over the next few months. Here are a few tips to ensure you have a perfect getaway plus reminders about certain necessities you might need to shop for before embarking on your journey _ whether you're holidaying in-country or are all set to jet off to some exotic locale.
11 Apr 2013 : Images suggest the next full-sized Apple tablet will have a lot in common with the iPad Mini.
11 Apr 2013 : Powerhouse Silicon Valley venture capital firms on Wednesday joined Google to launch a syndicate devoted to backing entrepreneurs building products for Google's coming Internet glasses.
10 Apr 2013 : Google has released a video of the Google Glass presentation it gave at SXSW revelaing what it's like to wear the headset, its uses and the motivation behind developing the product.
10 Apr 2013 : Kingston is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its HyperX memory modules with all-new black printed circuit boards (PCB) on two product lines. Kingston's high-performance HyperX Beast and entry-level enthusiast "black" lines will incorporate black PCB under the signature heatspreader designs.
09 Apr 2013 : New 55-inch and 65-inch models plus a media player from Sony could bring ultra-high definition TV a step closer to the mainstream.
05 Apr 2013 : The latest rumors suggest that the now mythical Apple television will come with motion detecting jewelry and up to four specially adapted iPads.
05 Apr 2013 : British scientists have used a custom-made 3D printer to make living tissue-like material that could one day serve medical purposes, according to findings released Thursday.
05 Apr 2013 : Sales of digital cameras that enable users to immediately post pictures on the web have risen sharply in Asia despite stiff competition from smartphones, an industry survey showed Thursday.


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On 5 December 2013, the People's Bank of China announced in a press release regarding bitcoin regulation that whilst individuals in China are permitted to freely trade and exchange bitcoins as a commodity, it is prohibited for Chinese financial banks to operate using bitcoins or for bitcoins to be used as legal tender currency, and that entities dealing with bitcoins must track and report suspicious activity to prevent money laundering. The value of bitcoin dropped on various exchanges between 11 and 20 percent following the regulation announcement, before rebounding upward again.
In January 2015 Coinbase raised 75 million USD as part of a Series C funding round, smashing the previous record for a bitcoin company. Less than one year after the collapse of Mt. Gox, United Kingdom-based exchange Bitstamp announced that their exchange would be taken offline while they investigate a hack which resulted in about 19,000 bitcoins (equivalent to roughly US$5 million at that time) being stolen from their hot wallet. The exchange remained offline for several days amid speculation that customers had lost their funds. Bitstamp resumed trading on 9 January after increasing security measures and assuring customers that their account balances would not be impacted.
Satoshi's anonymity often raises unjustified concerns because of a misunderstanding of Bitcoin's open-source nature. Everyone has access to all of the source code all of the time and any developer can review or modify the software code. As such, the identity of Bitcoin's inventor is probably as relevant today as the identity of the person who invented paper.
“These companies are using extraordinary amounts of electricity – typically thousands of times more electricity than an average residential customer would use,” a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Public Service told Wired. “The sheer amount of electricity being used is leading to higher costs for customers in small communities because of a limited supply of low-cost hydropower.”
In July 2013, a project began in Kenya linking bitcoin with M-Pesa, a popular mobile payments system, in an experiment designed to spur innovative payments in Africa. During the same month the Foreign Exchange Administration and Policy Department in Thailand stated that bitcoin lacks any legal framework and would therefore be illegal, which effectively banned trading on bitcoin exchanges in the country. According to Vitalik Buterin, a writer for Bitcoin Magazine, "bitcoin's fate in Thailand may give the electronic currency more credibility in some circles", but he was concerned it didn't bode well for bitcoin in China.
Market Risk: Like with any investment, Bitcoin values can fluctuate. Indeed, the value of the currency has seen wild swings in price over its short existence. Subject to high volume buying and selling on exchanges, it has a high sensitivity to “news." According to the CFPB, the price of bitcoins fell by 61% in a single day in 2013, while the one-day price drop in 2014 has been as big as 80%.
Bitcoin’s first mover advantage, popularity, and network effect has cemented it as the most popular cryptocurrency with the largest market cap. Rivals like Litecoin may have numerous technical advantages over Bitcoin’s algorithm (see more about that here), but they only hold a fraction of Bitcoin’s market cap and their dwindling communities largely consist of loyalists, speculators, and antagonistic anti-Bitcoin buyers.
News drives attention, and attention drives understanding. While many people have flocked to cryptocurrencies purely in search of financial gain, there are a ton of people that are simply curious. Some peoples are sticking around and trying to understand what cryptos are all about. While more users increases Bitcoin’s network effect, more people forming in-depth understandings of cryptos also strengthen the active Bitcoin community.
Nigel Dodd argues in The Social Life of Bitcoin that the essence of the bitcoin ideology is to remove money from social, as well as governmental, control. Dodd quotes a YouTube video, with Roger Ver, Jeff Berwick, Charlie Shrem, Andreas Antonopoulos, Gavin Wood, Trace Meyer and other proponents of bitcoin reading The Declaration of Bitcoin's Independence. The declaration includes a message of crypto-anarchism with the words: "Bitcoin is inherently anti-establishment, anti-system, and anti-state. Bitcoin undermines governments and disrupts institutions because bitcoin is fundamentally humanitarian."
In October 2013, the FBI seized roughly 26,000 BTC from website Silk Road during the arrest of alleged owner Ross William Ulbricht. Two companies, Robocoin and Bitcoiniacs launched the world's first bitcoin ATM on 29 October 2013 in Vancouver, BC, Canada, allowing clients to sell or purchase bitcoin currency at a downtown coffee shop. Chinese internet giant Baidu had allowed clients of website security services to pay with bitcoins.
Jump up ^ Mooney, Chris; Mufson, Steven (19 December 2017). "Why the bitcoin craze is using up so much energy". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2018. several experts told The Washington Post that bitcoin probably uses as much as 1 to 4 gigawatts, or billion watts, of electricity, roughly the output of one to three nuclear reactors.


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The railway freight volume reflects China’s economic recovery with a number of indicators setting new records, Sina Finance reported on Tuesday.
Despite challenges and great pressure, China’s railway freight has continued to inject strong momentum into the country’s epidemic prevention and control as well as economic and social development.
In the first half of this year, the country’s railways loaded 152,600 vehicles per day, up 3.4 percent over the same period last year.
The number of loaded and unloaded vehicles in one single day respectively reached 170,867 and 183,971, both setting new historical records.
The cargo delivery volume, which is known as a barometer of macroeconomic operations, cumulatively moved a total of 1.69 billion tons, an increase of 3.6 percent year-on-year.
The average daily cargo delivery volume in June exceeded 10 million tons, setting a new high record for the monthly average of daily cargo delivery volume this year.
The steady recovery in railway freight volume is related to the resumption of work and production of enterprises. Rail freight is an important barometer of the economy, and the increase in volume indicates that China’s economy is picking up, said Zhang Xiaodong, vice-president of the China Society of Logistics.


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Digital TV News: SES Platform Services
SES largest provider of HD channels
Feb 1, 2017 – SES (Paris; Luxembourg: SESG) continues to lead High Definition TV (HDTV) development representing the largest HD and Ultra HD (UHD) platform. In 2016, the number of HD channels on the SES fleet grew by 7% to 2,495 channels.
News categories: SES S.A, Ferdinand Kayser, Content Distribution, Market Research, Satellite, Worldwide
SES and K-NET partner to provide DTH and DTT to West Africa
May 24, 2016 – SES (Paris; Luxembourg: SESG) has announced that it has created a joint venture with K-NET of Ghana. The partnership aims to strengthen the DTH platform and also provide DTT services via SES’s orbital position at 28.2°E.
News categories: SES S.A, K-NET, Wilfried Urner, Richard Hlomador, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Ghana, Satellite, Terrestrial
SES now broadcasting eight commercial Ultra HD channels
Feb 26, 2016 – SES (Paris; Luxembourg: SESG) has reported results for the year ended 31 December 2015. SES' technical reach in prime video neighbourhoods contributed to an 11.3% increase in total TV channels broadcast over SES satellites to 7,268 channels.
News categories: SES S.A, Africa, Content Distribution, Europe, Latin America, North America, Results, Satellite
SES to show video-on-demand via satellite at IBC
Sep 9, 2015 – SES Platform Services (Paris; Luxembourg: SESG) has announced that it will presenting a live showcase of LIQUID VOD, a solution for video-on-demand services (VoD) via satellite, at IBC 2015. The showcase demonstrates how satellite distribution can provide a video experience on demand.
News categories: SES S.A, Wilfried Urner, Content Distribution, IBC2020, Satellite, Worldwide
Fashion One launches world’s first global Ultra HD channel with SES
Sep 2, 2015 – SES (Paris; Luxembourg: SESG) and Fashion One Television have launched the world's first global Ultra HD channel, Fashion One 4K. SES is delivering the free-to-air channel across North America, South America and Europe via its satellites.
News categories: SES S.A, Fashion One, Ferdinand Kayser, Gleb Livshits, Europe, Latin America, North America, Satellite
StarTimes to distribute DTH across Sub-Saharan Africa with SES
Jul 31, 2015 – SES Platform Services (Paris; Luxembourg: SESG) has announced that StarTimes will distribute TV channels for their direct-to-home (DTH) subscribers across Sub-Saharan Africa via SES Platform Services’ broadcast facility in Germany.
News categories: SES S.A, StarTimes, Wilfried Urner, Pang Xinxing, Africa, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Satellite
Europe’s first free-to-air UHD channel to go live at IFA
Jul 8, 2015 – The shopping channel pearl.tv will start broadcasting in Ultra High Definition (UHD) via satellite and the internet to coincide with IFA Berlin in September. For its entrance into the UHD era, the channel will rely on the expertise of SES Platform Services.
News categories: SES Platform Services, Enstyle, Sophie Lersch, Dr. Michael Sichler, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Europe, IFA2020, Satellite
Europe's first FTA Ultra HD channel to launch on Astra at 19.2°E
May 20, 2015 – SES (Paris; Luxembourg: SESG) has announced that it will be broadcasting Europe's first free-to-air Ultra HD channel via Astra 19.2 degrees East. The German shopping channel, pearl.tv, will be produced and broadcast in native Ultra HD as of September 2015.
News categories: SES S.A, Enstyle, Ferdinand Kayser, Michael Sichler, Digital TV, Europe, Germany, Satellite
- Synamedia launches addressable advertising solution
- Ten carriers in Germany and Austria choose Ocilion for IPTV
- BluTV DTH launches in Brazil on EUTELSAT 65 West A
- Viya TV+ launches in the US Virgin Islands with Mirada
- OTT TV and video revenues at $83 billion in 2019
- 41.4% of TVs in Latin America are Smart
- DISH Network pay TV subscribers down 51,000 in 2Q 2020
- Pirate subscription TV services now a billion-dollar U.S. industry
- PAOK FC OTT platform built with Insys Sport on AWS
- SLING TV in-app guide integrates local OTA channels on LG Smart TVs
- Conviva releases State of Streaming Q2 report
- Stay-at-home providing springboard for French SVOD
- Survata announces enhanced CTV measurement suite
- Ofcom releases Media Nations 2020 report
- RADIO.COM expands connected TV footprint with Vewd
- NAGRA multi-DRM selected for Grupo Express OTT service in Argentina
- V-Nova and NETINT collaborate on MPEG-5 LCEVC transcoding
- ViacomCBS to launch connected video ad platform
- Bell Canada releases Android TV 4K HDR streaming box
- ORS chooses 3SS to deliver simpliTV service in Austria


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Inflation and the cost of running a net zero vs fossil fuel household
Homes with better insulation, heat pumps and electric vehicles are experiencing energy price inflation that is almost a third lower than homes with average insulation, gas boilers and petrol cars.
Information on this page correct as of:
Energy prices contribute to the ‘basket’ of goods and services that the ONS uses to calculate inflation figures. The ongoing gas and oil crises have driven gas, petrol and electricity prices to record levels, contributing over a third (3.2%) of the 9.1% consumer price inflation (CPI) rate reported by the ONS in June for the year to May 2022.
This inflation figure applies to average consumption of energy, and it reflects the fact that most households still rely on petrol or diesel for their cars and gas for their heating and hot water. This new analysis compares the inflation rate for households that have switched to electric heat pumps and electric cars and have added a layer of insulation to their homes.
- Households that avoid using oil and gas and instead have a heat pump, an electric car and better insulation, were saving an average £1,000 a year in May’s prices, up from a saving of £620 a year earlier.
- In the year to May 2022:
- For households that have installed improved efficiency by installing insulation and replaced fossil fuels by switching to electric heat pumps and electric vehicles, the contribution of energy prices to the overall inflation rate was almost a third lower than for homes with average insulation, a gas boiler and a petrol car.
- Gas price inflation of 97% under the price cap that changed in April was almost double that of electricity, such that heating an efficient home with a heat pump is now more than £220 cheaper per year than heating an average home with a gas boiler.
- Petrol price inflation of 30% increased the gap in running costs between electric and petrol cars, with an EV charged at home being £780 a year cheaper to run.
- The savings from avoiding fossil fuels continue to increase almost daily as petrol prices continue to rise, whilst electricity prices remain at the same level due to the price cap, with the saving for an EV currently at £960 a year, taking the total savings for energy and fuel to £1,180 a year as of the end of June.
- With gas prices set to rise again in October, followed to some extent by electricity prices, and with road fuel also forecast to become even more expensive than currently, the savings for households that don’t use fossil fuels could grow to almost £1,600 a year.


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- 7-Eleven, Inc. SE, -1.90% on Monday said May total sales were $1.145 billion, up 5.5%. May same-store sales rose 3.4%, the retailer said. Shares fell 28 cents to $30.74 on Friday.
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“The majority of tourism operations in New Zealand are small, owner-operated businesses that have been devastated by the border closures and lockdown. They desperately need every scrap of relief the Government can offer,” TIA Chief Executive Chris Roberts says.
TIA has been working hard to highlight the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism industry with the Government since late January. The association had raised the need for tax relief and other measures.
“We specifically raised the idea of allowing a forecast loss in the current financial year to be offset against the tax paid on a profit from last year. So the Tax Loss Carry-back Scheme is particularly welcomed. Thousands of tourism businesses will be able to utilise this scheme,” Mr Roberts says.
However, he warns that larger tourism businesses will need tailored assistance to survive the current crisis.
TIA has also highlighted the burden of rental and lease payments on businesses that can’t operate.
Today’s announcement includes plans to introduce legislation to extend the timeframes for dealing with commercial lease disputes caused by COVID-19. Tailored support services will be provided free of charge through existing services like the Regional Business Partner Network.
“These are useful steps but do not deal with the underlying problem, that businesses without customers cannot meet ongoing rent payments and face going out of business without further government support,” Mr Roberts says.
TIA is calling on the Government to consider additional measures to support tourism businesses and help save tens of thousands of jobs.
“The wage subsidy scheme must be extended beyond its current 12-week period or replaced by something else that keeps people in jobs. There is almost zero chance that most tourism businesses will be attracting customers by the time the scheme ends in June. If the scheme is not extended, we will see thousands of tourism workers being made redundant at that time.”
TIA says the Government should also consider the suspension of ACC employer levies for the remainder of 2020, as this fund has sufficient reserves to cover past claims.


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LONDON, November 2, 2010 – PureJewels, a leading retailer in the Green Street jewellery quarter of east London, will be the official headline sponsor at the Asian Wedding Exhibition in London this year.
The Asian Wedding Exhibition, now in its 18th year, is the longest running and most established Asian wedding show in the UK and will continue its residency at Alexandra Palace in north London on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st November.
“PureJewels presents Asian Wedding Exhibition in 2010” will be the key logo carried by advertising for the event.
Jayant Raniga, Brand Manager of PureJewels, said, “We’re very proud to come onboard as the headline sponsor for the Asian Wedding Exhibition. We feel that this show has great potential as a trendsetter for the industry. PureJewels is growing as a prominent brand in the UK jewellery scene, and we felt it appropriate to headline the best in South Asian style. This is a wonderful platform.”
He added, “PureJewels will be launching an exclusive product available first to visitors of the Asian Wedding Exhibition, as well as a £5,000 luxury prize courtesy of our friends at Bahamas Tourism.
“The Asian Wedding Exhibition caters for our target audience of 24-35 year old young professionals, who are of marriageable age.
“Although there is a focus on Asia, the event is open to anyone who likes South Asian style.”
The Asian Wedding Exhibition has expanded markedly from its inaugural show in 1993, which attracted 3,000 visitors. Since then the show has grown over consecutive years and attracted some 8,000 to 10,000 visitors over two days in 2009.
The Asian Wedding Exhibition is more than just a show -– it is an experience. The event attracts a mixture of people – engaged, single, married, Asian and non-Asian. From exciting fashion shows, skilled henna and beauty artists, creative photographers and designers, there is something for everyone to enjoy.
“PureJewels’ core products are bridal rings,” Raniga said. “The Asian Wedding Exhibition gives us a first introduction to bridal customers.”
PureJewels will present six engagement and wedding ring collections at the Asian Wedding Exhibition in 2010 – Passion, Honesty, Grace, Virtue, Honour, and Adoration.
At the Asian Wedding Exhibition, PureJewels will have on hand its team of experts including gemologists and wedding jewellery consultants.


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EU Commission refers Greece and Spain to CJEU for failing to transpose EU law
The European Commission is asking the Court of Justice of the European Union to impose financial sanctions on Greece and Spain for failing to transpose the rules on the Data Protection Law Enforcement Directive before the May 6, 2018, deadline, according to a news release. The commission has requested the CJEU fine both countries beginning the day after the missed deadline through compliance. The commission is seeking a minimum lump sum of 1,310,000 euros and a daily penalty payment of 22,169.70 euros from Greece and a minimum lump sum of 5,290,000 euros and a daily penalty payment of 89, 548.20 euros from Spain. The commission first began infringement proceedings by sending formal notices to both countries, first in July 2018 and again in January 2019. Neither country has notified the commission they have adopted national measures to transpose the directive.
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Xiaomi 13T Pro spotted on FCC certification website ahead of it’s official launch
The Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Xiaomi is nearing the launch of the Xiaomi 13T series globally. The series is said to include two smartphones- Xiaomi 13T and Xiaomi 13T Pro. Recently Xiaomi 13T Pro has already bagged various certifications already- EEC, IMDA, Geekbench, and NBTC. The device has also been listed on Amazon’s UK website from which it was revealed that it will be arriving on 1st September.
It’s still a month since the official launch of the Xiaomi 13T Pro and now it has been spotted on yet another certification website- FCC. The device appeared with model number 23078PND5G.
From the listing, it was revealed that the upcoming smartphone will have VoIP in GPRS, EGPRS, WCDMA, LTE, VOLTE and NFC support. The smartphone will have dual-SIM connectivity and a glass back. Apart from this the storage configurations of the upcoming smartphone also came into light.
The device will come in four storage options- 12GB+512GB, 16GB+1TB, 12GB+256GB, and 12GB+512GB.
Xiaomi 13T Pro: Specifications (expected)
The smartphone is said to sport an OLED display that offers a 1.5k resolution and 144Hz refresh rate. The device could be powered by MediaTek Dimensity 9200+ chipset. It might run on MIUI 14 based on Android 13 OS. It is expected to house a 5000mAh battery that supports 120W fast charging.
While earlier it was also revealed that the price of the smartphone for the 12GB+512GB storage variant will be £799. Also few hours ago it was tipped that the upcoming smartphone will be equipped with Xiaomi’s new self-developed chip that will be announced tomorrow.


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Lane Turner/Globe Staff/File
Internet content delivery company Akamai Technologies Inc. is adding two independent directors to its 11-member board. It’s a move that could help the Cambridge company mend fences with Elliott Management, the activist hedge fund that’s taken a big stake in Akamai and is demanding reforms to boost profitability and share value.
One of the two new board members is Tom Killalea, former chief information security officer at Amazon. The second addition has not yet been named.
In addition to the expanded board, Akamai said it will set up a committee to identify ways to boost operating margins. Akamai had been aiming for margins in the high 20 percent range by 2020; the new committee will look for ways to boost that to 30 percent, an ambitious goal.
“Akamai is an outstanding company with significant potential for future growth, and we are pleased to have worked together with the board and management team on today’s announcements,” Elliott Management partner Jesse Cohn said in a press release.
Elliott said in December that it had acquired 6.5 percent of Akamai’s stock and that it would seek to maximize the value of that stake by pushing for management reforms — or maybe even by cutting a deal to sell the company.
The famously aggressive hedge fund has a track record of buying stakes in Massachusetts-based firms, such as records storage company Iron Mountain Inc., data storage hardware company EMC Corp., and medical records company athenahealth Inc.
Akamai also said Thursday that it has boosted the amount of cash it will spend to buy back $750 million of the company’s shares, an increase of $417 million. It plans to use all the buyback money on stock purchases by year’s end.
Akamai shares rose by more than 7 percent on the Nasdaq exchange Thursday, closing at $75.08. “It’s a little bit of a relief rally that there’s not going to be a proxy fight,” said Nicole Boyson, associate professor of finance at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business. Boyson believes investors were also pleased by the expanded share buyback plan, and impressed that new board member Killalea is a seasoned tech-industry veteran.
“This guy seems like a pretty serious hitter,” she said. “The market feels like he’s a good fit.”
Boyson said the stock would have performed even better if Elliott and Akamai had hinted at a possible sale of all or part of the company. While the company said nothing about such a deal, Boyson noted that the Thursday announcement also didn’t rule it out.
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Sunday, December 15, 2013
Gay Away candy causes drama in Manitoba
There's pills that cures gayness?
No, but there was a novelty item that claimed to take the gay away in Manitoba. In a few stores in Gimli carried packs of "Gay Away: The original gay pill", but it's actually candy.
The packaging were pink and read "it cures gayness" and "stops the craving for misbehaving." The folks behind the candy thought of it as a joke, but the people of Gimli didn't. Parents were not feeling the joke and complained to the stores about the candy.


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Cleveland, OH, February 25, 2022 — US plastic foam demand is forecast to see 2.1% annual growth in volume terms through 2026, according to Plastic Foams: United States, a report recently released by Freedonia Focus Reports. Suppliers are projected to benefit from expanding production of plastic packaging, building products, mattresses, and motor vehicles. Faster gains will be prevented by efforts to reduce or eliminate the use of plastic foams due to environmental considerations.
Demand is projected to increase 3.3% in 2022 as the economy continues to rebound from the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, up from 2.4% growth in 2021. Construction expenditures in real terms fell 2.3% in 2021, but are projected to expand 1.2% in 2022, helping boost demand in one of the largest markets for plastic foams. In addition, production of motor vehicles – another major market – is forecast to grow 9.0% in 2022, up from 4.2% in 2021.
These and other key insights are featured in Plastic Foams: United States. This report forecasts to 2022 and 2026 US plastic foam demand in pounds. Total demand is segmented by plastic foam type in terms of:
- polyurethane foam
- polystyrene foam
- other plastic foams such as high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene, and vinyl
Total demand is also segmented by market as follows:
- appliances and furniture
- motor vehicles
- other markets such as industrial; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC); transport equipment other than motor vehicles; and electrical and electronic products
To illustrate historical trends, total demand and the various segments are provided in annual series from 2011 to 2021.
More information about the report is available at:


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Magic Leap has had one hell of a journey, and to their credit, it seems investors are still addicted to giving them money.
The augmented reality startup announced today that they have raised $500 million at a $2 billion valuation from existing investors. The round echoes the terms of an October 2014 raise where Magic Leap raised $542 million at a reported $2 billion valuation. Quite a bit has happened in the meantime.
Curiously, Magic Leap decided not to actually disclose any of the specific investors participating in this latest fundraise. At this point, the company has raised $3.5 billion in total funding according to Crunchbase, meaning that most of the investors they’ve brought in haven’t fared too well thus far.
The latest valuation is a far cry from the company’s $6.7 billion valuation they reached in 2019, but for a startup that nearly shut down last year, it could be a lot worse. Magic Leap fired a healthy chunk of its staff and was forced to raise hundreds of millions at slashed valuation terms last year. The startup also replaced its founder Rony Abovitz with former Microsoft VP Peggy Johnson as CEO.
The company has been trying to turn things around by revamping its messaging with a focus wholly on enterprise audiences after years of trying to compete with Microsoft for military contracts (and failing) and trying to compete with Microsoft for enterprise clients (with some success), all while attempting to also stay on consumer radars by bankrolling expensive games for their very expensive headset.
Alongside news of this new round, we also got a new rendering, via CNBC, of the startup’s next AR glasses product. The device seems to have gotten a much smaller device footprint, but Magic Leap didn’t have too much to say on the device’s new capabilities. In a press release, Magic Leap says that it will roll out the new hardware, called the Magic Leap 2, sometime next year.