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Business in brief
Arts and crafts specialty retailer Michaels will open its new store at White Oak Village, 4531 S. Laburnum Ave., on May 20 at 10 a.m. Key departments such as jewelry, scrapbooking and kids have been expanded and re-organized for easy shopping. A card-making event will be held during the grand opening and craft supplies will be donated to a local Starlight Children’s Foundation chapter. A week-long celebration with giveaways is also planned. The store is approximately 20,486 square feet and employs more than 60 people. For more information, visit http://www.michaels.com .
Comcast recently opened a new Xfinity Service Center at the existing customer service center location at 5401 Staples Mill Rd. Designed around the needs and feedback of customers, the newly renovated retail store features a new queuing system that provides Comcast customers with an opportunity to explore, learn about and interact directly with Xfinity products and services at kiosks rather than waiting in line for service. Other features include flat screen televisions and a 3D TV set and glasses that allow customers to experience 3D viewing. The Xfinity Service Center is open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Curves women's gyms in the Richmond area will give a free 30-day membership to any non-member who visits a club throughout National Women's Health Week, May 13-19. Area gyms will hold week-long Open House events to encourage interested women to check out their local club, pick up free health information, ask questions, get a free fitness assessment and take advantage of the free 30-day membership offer. Visitors may also sign up to attend a special program on National Curves Day, May 17, featuring messages from health experts and fun activities designed to raise awareness of small, practical steps women can take to get healthy. Locations in Henrico include: Curves of Glen Allen - 10278 Staples Mill Rd., 756-2002; and Curves of Richmond - 5623 W. Broad St., 288-1300.
Agents with Cushman & Wakefield Thalhimer recently handled the following lease negotiations: Genghis Grill – leased 3,999 square feet at The Corner at Short Pump, W. Broad Street and Lauderdale Drive; and Followmedia Consulting, LLC – leased 1,500 square feet at 4907 Fitzhugh Ave.
Citizen Staff Reports 04/25/2016
The sign up period for the Richmond Community Solar Co-op will close on April 30. Nearly 150 homeowners and businesses have joined the group to save money and make going solar easier. The group has started installations and is working with VA SUN to learn about solar technology and the process of going solar.
“If you’ve ever thought about going solar, this is a great opportunity to do so,” said Sekar Veerappan Co-op member and the group’s first installation. “Working with the group helps members learn about going solar and make an informed decision.” > Read more.
Citizen Staff Reports 04/22/2016
The YMCA of Greater Richmond will host its "Healthy Kids Day" April 29-30 at all local branches.
The event is part of the Y's national initiative to improve families' health and well-being.
Each event features games, healthy snacks, arts and crafts and physical activities, among other events. Its goal is to motivate and teach families how to develop healthy routines at home. > Read more.
Another great weekend of outdoor activities awaits you in Henrico! Walk MS, an annual charity run for multiple sclerosis, and the third annual Movin’ & Shakin’ 5K, to benefit the VCU Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center, both take place in Innsbrook tomorrow. Another charity event, the CASA Superhero Run, will be held at St. Joseph’s Villa. On Sunday, live music can be found at Belmont Recreation Center, featuring the John Winn Quartet, and at Shady Grove United Methodist Church, where pianist Sylvia Cooper will be performing. For all our top picks this weekend, click here! > Read more.
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CalendarThe Modlin Center for the Arts at the University of Richmond will present Theatreworks USA’s production of “Henry and Mudge” on Sunday, May 1 at 3 p.m. in Alice Jepson… Full text


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© melpomenem dreamstime.com Electronics Production | September 14, 2017
LG and Samsung invest €25 million in Cynora
Germany’s Cynora, a provider of organic emitter materials for OLEDs, has received backing the two Korean tech giants as it moves forward in its development of a new type of organic emitting materials.
Cynora is developing a new type of organic emitting materials for OLED displays based on TADF (Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence) technology. With this technology, Cynora aims to be able to commercialise the first high-efficiency blue emitting material on the market, which is a highly sought-after material by OLED display makers. High-performance blue materials will enable a significant reduction of power consumption and allow higher display resolution, the company states in a press release. LG Display and Samsung Venture Investment Corporation have decided to invest EUR 25 million in a Series-B round to support the German company in the development of a portfolio of organic emitting materials for AMOLED displays that covers the full range of colors. The new shareholders will join the existing investors MIG, Wecken & Cie and KfW, who have supported Cynora in the last few years. Cynora has worked closely with LG Display and Samsung during the last months to prepare this investment. LG Display and Samsung Display, both major companies in display technologies, will engage each with Cynora via this investment and separate joint developments to advance Cynora´s R&D and its IP portfolio. “This investment confirms that our materials are highly attractive for the OLED display industry. Cynora will work in close collaboration with LG and Samsung to support their respective activities. The cash injection will also be used to strengthen our worldwide presence as a supplier of high-efficiency emitting materials. We will commercialize our first blue product by the end of 2017, followed by green and red,” says Gildas Sorin, Cynora’s CEO

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The planet is drowning under the weight of plastic and finally we are all waking up to this fact. Is the cannabis plant, in the form of industrial hemp plastic, a potential solution?
Hemp Plastic Solution?
Right now, plastic is a problem that won’t go away. Literally. That plastic package you tossed this morning will continue to exist for at least 500 years. Here are a couple of other inconvenient facts: According to Eco Watch we have already produced more plastic this century than we did in the whole 20th century, and 50% of the plastics we use as consumers are one-use only.
Depressing news? Yes it is. In some parts of the world, governments and people are trying to do something about the plastic problem, but radical problems need radical solutions… So let’s continue with (yet another) excellent common sense reason to embrace the cannabis plant.
Say the word ‘hemp’ and most non cannabis users will picture a hippy in a baggy shirt and trousers made from cannabis material. Well time to listen up! That image is soooo last century!
There are companies out there making hemp plastics and we predict that there will be many more arriving on the scene in the coming years. It is tough, cheap and has great eco qualities thanks to its biodegradable potential.
Hemp plastic is produced using cellulose extracted from hemp pulp and although it contains cannabidiol, it contains only the tiniest traces of THC (in America for example the legal limit of THC content is 0.3%!).
According to one of the leading industrial hemp companies in the USA, Hemp Inc, there are “over 25,000 different uses for the hemp plant.” As it is stronger than traditional plastic, hemp plastic materials are already widely used in the car industry and in construction.
However, it is domestic consumerism that is piling up the planet’s plastic mountain on a daily basis. A trip to the local supermarket reveals the shocking amount of single use plastic packaging used by companies in the food, toiletry and household sectors. Could hemp plastic halt the pile up?
A Very Brief History of Hemp
As you are probably aware, hemp has had a long and distinguished role in the history of mankind’s development – providing the basis for everything from rope to clothes and paper to the sails of the boats that discovered the world.
In years from now, students of history may well look back and ask “what happened?” as they learn about the decline of the hemp industry following the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act in the USA and the marihuana prohibition period that followed.
In the words of the immortal Jack Herer, writing in The Emperor Wears No Clothes, “If all fossil fuels and their derivatives, as well as trees for paper and construction were banned in order to save the planet, reverse the Greenhouse Effect and stop deforestation; then there is only one known annually renewable natural resource… and that substance is – the same one that did it all before – Cannabis Hemp… Marijuana!”
It could be that 2014 will be seen as the year when things changed. In that year, the US introduced the Farm Bill which legalized industrial hemp research. Since then, 19 US states have started looking at how growing hemp can provide a viable industrial alternative to petroleum derived material.
Elsewhere in the world, hemp production is up. Based on 2016 figures, China is leading the way (estimated to be producing 20% of the world’s hemp output) and Europe is also increasing production, encouraged by the EU.
Why is Hemp Plastic Not Being Used More?
Unfortunately, industrialized hemp is a new industry. Unlike other materials, such as plastic or paper, there is no established global hemp industry and therefore there is a lack of facilities and investment to research and develop hemp plastics on the industrial scale required.
What this seismic shift requires is a change in attitudes and it is consumers who can lead the way. What the environment needs right now is a new lobby of cannabis activists to campaign for a hemp inspired change!


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On this Independence Day, with the presidential elections looming and the Olympic games starting in Atlanta, Americans are wearing their pride on their shirt sleeves, not to mention their ball caps, bikinis and boxer shorts.
The spirit of '96 has caused a wave of star-spangled clothing and accessories. Old Glory is everywhere, unfurled across board shorts, T-shirts, ties, jewelry, swimsuits, sweatsuits, hats, jackets and socks. Patriotic motifs and colors adorn everything from the sophisticated to the silly.
Those who have the means can celebrate by sporting something in extremely good taste: one of the Fireworks brooches by Tiffany & Co., which feature showers of diamonds, pink tourmaline and other precious gems (about $10,000 to $50,000 at Tiffany in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa). They can also pledge allegiance to style by donning a bejeweled flag pin made of platinum, rubies, diamonds and sapphires ($46,000).
Sure to attract attention of a different sort is the Lady Liberty T-shirt from World Jungle in Irvine. The shirt graphic features a rather statuesque Statue of Liberty clad in a red and blue bikini.
"She looks like a beauty pageant contestant," says Jack Denny, president of World Jungle. "That's pretty patriotic."
Some of the Americana themes might not be as wholesome as some would like, but they're an improvement over skulls, daggers and snakes--the kind of logos that skaters and surfers, among others, have favored in the past.
Today, many kids are wearing eagles instead of snakes. World Jungle's Spirit of '96 T-shirt has a small chest logo of an eagle, while the Eagle Waves shirt shows an eagle with wings that look like ocean waves (about $17 at Beach Access in South Coast Plaza and Brea Mall).
Some retailers were content to offer just a few items festooned with stars and stripes. Others such as the Limited Inc., a chain of women's clothing stores, introduced an entire line of clothing and accessories with a patriotic motif.
"We started [the promotion] on Flag Day. It's a patriotic year," says Joan Overlock, vice president of marketing for the Limited in Columbus, Ohio.
"There's a consciousness about being an American. With the elections and the Olympics, everyone is more full of pride than they've been in a long time."
Many pieces in the Limited USA Collection 1996 look like they could be the official uniforms of the U.S. Olympic team. There's a red or navy tank swimsuit embroidered with an American flag crest ($44), navy fleece pants with red and white vertical stripes ($44), fleece pullovers with USA embroidered on the front ($59), and red, white and blue bike shirts with bold USA logos ($39).
"Even our shopping bags have the USA flag theme," Overlock says.
While red, white and blue is always a popular combination around the Fourth, this year more Americans than ever are getting into the spirit, she says.
"It's an amazing phenomenon," Overlock says. "I was at a tennis match, and I saw a sea of USA caps. We've never seen it to this degree. It's all over."
One wonders what Betsy Ross would have thought had she seen some of the ways her flag has inspired today's clothing designers and manufacturers.
Structure, the Limited's stores for men, offers polo shirts in color-blocked panels of the stars and stripes that look like they were cut from a vintage flag ($39, at stores throughout Orange County including South Coast Plaza, Mission Viejo Mall and Fashion Island Newport Beach).
Structure even carries patriotic red, white and blue boxer shorts ($21).
Quiksilver, Roxy and Katin are among the Orange County-based surf, skate and sportswear companies whose designers have created flag-inspired fashions for this season.
"Every company has something patriotic out, from the smallest to the largest," says Dana Tunnicliffe, manager of Beach Access in Brea. "We're seeing stars on everything."
Katin, a Newport Beach-based surf and sportswear company, offered what was arguably the flashiest Americana-inspired fashion: shiny royal blue board shorts with red side panels adorned with white stars ($50 at Beach Access).
"We call it the Evel Trunk because it was inspired by Evel Knievel," says Bill Sharp, president of Katin. "We went on a mission to make the most extravagant surf trunk on the planet."
Roxy, Quiksilver's young women's division, offered bike tops with red and blue horizontal stripes ($30 at Beach Access) and baby T-shirts with "Roxy" printed in large star-studded red and blue letters ($19).
Among the other patriotic beach wear on the market: red, white and blue bikinis, volley shorts, visors and flip-flops. Quiksilver designed a Liberty volley short in blue with red, white and blue striping ($32 at Beach Access).
"It's a reflection of the Olympics and pride in our country," Tunnicliffe says. "It's a celebration of Independence Day."


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Your best glimpse at what Apple's bigger iPhone 6 will probably look like when it's announced later this year.
The world's largest electronics company isn't going to be left behind in the virtual reality world of the future.
If true, your earbuds are going to be used for a whole lot more than just for listening to Miley Cyrus.
This could be our first glimpse of what the iPhone 6 actually looks like.
Could this be what the iPhone 6 will look like?
After the Galaxy Gear's lukewarm reception, rumors and leaks are starting to fly concerning what might be the next big thing in smartwatches.
The smartwatch prototype is now being tested by the Microsoft Surface team.
According to a new analyst report, Apple may release a wearable ring that will be used to control the company's rumored smart television.
There isn't a week that goes by these days that you don't hear about the 4-inch iPhone. It's looking very likely that Apple's next iPhone will come with a new elongated screen along with an even higher resolution than the iPhone 4S's Retina display.
After a year and a half, the iPhone 5 turned out to be the iPhone 4S, which left a lot of us wondering what that meant for Apple's release schedule. (Up until then, the company was reliably releasing iPhones every year.) Well, we could be getting back to it: a Foxconn recruiting officer is hinting at a June release for the iPhone 5.


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“This new facility is a key step in our journey to be number one in machine uptime in the industry,” Ken Silverman, vice president of aftermarket and customer solutions, Volvo CE Region Americas, says. “Today’s customers have an expectation of next-day delivery, and the new distribution center, located near Toronto’s main international airport hub, will improve our lead times and give us the ability to deliver parts anywhere in Canada by early a.m. the next day.”
The distribution center allows Volvo’s more than 40 dealer locations in Canada to restock both common and business-critical parts faster, the company says. Currently, Volvo CE ships parts to Canadian dealers from the U.S.
“For us, the new distribution center is significant because it will help avoid customs delays,” Jack Bradley, vice president of supply chain for Canadian dealer Strongco, says. “Now we will have much faster lead times and easier access to fast-moving parts.”
“This Canadian parts distribution facility will give our Strongco customers improved access to critical Volvo OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts inventory on this side of the border,” Oliver Nachevski, vice president of the Construction Equipment Division for Strongco, says. “This is a very exciting announcement as both Strongco and our customers will benefit from enhanced parts availability, which will enable us to offer next day express delivery capabilities.”
In 2015, Volve CE opened a 1 million-square-foot distribution center in Byhalia, Mississippi, in addition to secondary parts distribution centers in Columbus, Ohio and Reno, Nevada. The company says the Canadian center will be able to deliver critical parts to any dealer across Canada by 8 a.m. the next day after the order is placed.
“Clearly this is a big step in Volvo’s commitment to be number one in uptime in the industry,” Colin Matejka, chief operating officer, Great West Equipment in Vernon, British Columbia, says. “This is really big for us and our customers since we can now ensure quicker delivery. For our staff, this is a huge morale boost—now we can confidently look a customer in the eye and commit to 24-hour delivery without hesitation.”
The Support Distribution Center will be operated by Volvo Group Service Market Logistics. In addition to providing parts for Volvo CE dealers, the distribution center will also provide parts for Volvo’s other business areas.


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Square Enix has added more bits to download for WiiWare Final Fantasy outing My Life As King.
New stats appearing on the US Nintendo Channel have revealed what Wii owners prefer to play - and for how long.
Nintendo's European marketing chief, Laurent Fischer, has revealed that LostWinds is currently king of the WiiWare chartcastle. The game is pointing and laughing at the likes of TV Show King and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, who occupy second and third places respectively.
Nintendo's WiiWare service for downloadable first- and third-party games has launched in Europe with six brand new games to try out.
The headlining duo are LostWinds from Frontier Developments, which earned itself a handsome 9/10 in our review, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King from Square Enix, which is a sort of RPG Sim City.
The other launch titles are Dr Mario & Germ Buster, a Wiimote-enabled remake of the classic Nintendo puzzler; Star Soldier R, a high-scores shoot-'em-up from Hudson; TV Show King, a basic quiz game from Gameloft; and Toki Tori, a puzzle/platform game where to play as a chicken.
Since you've already stared lovingly at the European WiiWare launch line-up, some of which are due out on 20th May, we thought you might like a bit more information on each of the games. Prices listed are based on US and Japanese equivalents, as Nintendo was unable to confirm European pricing when we asked.
(Update 20th May, 7.17am: Pricing is now confirmed. The only two on this list not available at the 20th May launch are Pirates: The Key of Dreams and Pop.)
Dr. Mario & Germ Buster (Nintendo) - 1000 Wii Points (GBP 7 / EUR 10 approx)
Nintendo has announced the European WiiWare launch line-up, which is headlined by LostWinds from Frontier and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King by Square Enix.
Yesterday saw the launch of the US WiiWare service, featuring six titles, but we actually get eight in Europe on 20th May, missing out on the US' Defend your Castle and V.I.P Casino: Blackjack but gaining Dr. Mario & Germ Buster from Nintendo, Pirates: The Key of Dreams from Oxygen Interactive, Star Soldier R from Hudson and Toki Tori from Two Tribes.
Update, 12.05pm: Nintendo has been in touch to say "not all eight titles will be immediately available from the May 20th launch date". The wording in the press release was, "From 20th May onwards a whole host of brand new creative games from developers across Europe and the rest of the globe become available, including..." followed by a list. We've asked Nintendo to clarify which ones will be out when.
Nintendo will launch its WiiWare service across the US today.
It goes live with six titles, including LostWinds from Frontier Developments, and is set to receive one fresh game a week.
WiiWare behaves just like Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, and offers independent developers a source of distribution for their smaller-scale and usually arcade-style games.
The Wii Software system for buying downloadable content for your games has been detailed, using the rather pricey example of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King.
Nintendo has launched its WiiWare Channel in Japan, offering nine fresh games for download.
These range from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles spin off My Life as a King, which sees you building and managing your own town, to Dr. Mario, which has you handling drugs. You can see some of games in action on Eurogamer TV.
The WiiWare Channel, called Wii Software here, will launch in the US on 12th May. Nintendo has yet to announce a European date.
Eurogamer TV is now showing videos of three of the WiiWare titles Japanese owners will be treated to from 25th March.
Nintendo has finally announced launch date and pricing details for the WiiWare game download service in Japan.
As reported by IGN, WiiWare will launch on March 25th with nine games.
Prices start at 500 Wii Points (GBP 3.50 / EUR 5) for Okiraku Ping Pong and Tenshi no Solitaire. Hudson's Star Soldier R will cost 800 Points (GBP 5.60 / EUR 8).
As well as adding Sonic to the Smash Bros. roster, Nintendo's Japanese press conference also brought us the local release date for Wii Fit, news of motorbikes in Mario Kart and a few details on the first games for downloadable service Wii Software (Wii Ware), announced this June.


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Ethiopian Airlines has started a weekly cargo flights from Copenhagen, Denmark to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The cargo flight will be done by Boeing 767-300F aircraft, which was recently converted from passenger to cargo service.
The Airline told Ethio Negari that each weekly flight will carry up to 45 tons of cargo.
This new cargo service will facilitate trade between Europe and the rest of the world.
Ethiopian Airlines said it will start passenger flight service to Copenhagen from next May.
The start of passenger flights will also create additional capacity for cargo services.
Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it will start a new flight to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Indonesia.
The Airline has completed preparations to fly four times a week starting from March 24, 2023.
The five star alliance member and number one African aviation company, Ethiopian airlines has more than 165 destinations.


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Shakey’s eyes 20 addt’l stores for 2018
Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures, Inc. is targeting to add 20 more stores this year to its network after opening 24 branches in 2017 –surpassing its 20 store target.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the Philippines’ leading chained full-service restaurant, said attaining its 2018 target will bring its total domestic portfolio to 228 at the end of this year.
“It has been a banner year for Shakey’s – our maiden year as a publicly listed company – as this is the fastest we’ve grown in terms of store network,” Shakey’s President Vicente Gregorio was quoted.
“We will continue to take advantage of the positive consumer sentiment in the Philippines and hope to open even more stores, including those outside the typical first tier cities,” he added.
In 2017, Shakey’s successfully opened stores in provincial locations, including Iligan, Puerto Princesa, Antique, Gapan, and Palo, Leyte, following the growing urbanization trend in these areas.


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Fashionandyou.com raises $10 millionMonday, June 09, 2014 l Source: Livemint
Online discount retailer Fashionandyou.com has raised $10 million in its fourth round of funding led by existing investors and with at least one new investor on board, the company said. The firm, incubated by Smile Group, is backed by Sequoia Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Intel Capital and Nokia Growth Partners. In 2011, Fashionandyou.com had raised $40 million.
Fashionandyou plans to use this money to open more distribution centres, brand-building and enhancing technology for expansion, chief executive Aasheesh Mediratta said. The company, which trimmed operations last year to stay in business, now plans to open two new distribution centres in Surat and Bangalore to ramp up its delivery network. It has one centre in Gurgaon on the outskirts of Delhi.
“Surat should be live by today or tomorrow and Bangalore is expected to be operational in the next couple of months,” said Mediratta. The company is also looking to invest in building its brand by putting in money for one-to-one marketing through pamphlets, promotions and direct mail campaigns, forming alliances with brands and might also look at television advertising.
Even though television ads might not be high on priority for Mediratta, he is not negating launching a TV campaign. “We got a television ad made last year but could not go live with it due to operational challenges. We might reconsider that sometime,” he added. Like many other online retailers in the country, Fashionandyou.com is also betting big on mobile devices and will be launching its mobile app by September.
To be sure, a successful business model beyond discount retailing online has not picked up in the country. Last year sites like Fashionandyou.com, and 99labels were seen scaling down operations in order to survive.
Fashionandyou.com is looking to tweak its business model by adding some categories that will be available 24x7 on the website to cushion sales. However, this will only be 20% of its business, while 80% will still come from flash sales, according to the company.


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KUCHING (Bernama): The developer of CityOne Megamall, the scene of the gas explosion which killed three people and injured 41 others on Tuesday (Dec 4), has been given clearance by the authorities to reopen two blocks in the premises on Sunday (Dec 9).
American footwear brand Steve Madden has finally made its way here, with the opening of a swanky boutique in Mid Valley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur.
TICK TOCK, Christmas is fast approaching, bringing with it much joy, merry-making and family bonding.
KUCHING: NeNe Chicken Malaysia is calling on authorities to expedite their investigation into the fatal explosion at its new outlet in the Cityone Megamall here.
KUCHING: The explosion at Cityone Megamall here on Tuesday (Dec 4) is not linked to terrorism, says Sarawak Deputy Commissioner of Police DCP Datuk Mohd Dzuraidi Ibrahim.
KUCHING: Three men were killed after an explosion rocked a shopping mall here on Tuesday (Dec 4) afternoon.


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Senior Cyber Security Analyst and ex-hacker Zoë Ross believes ethical hackers can protect users and ensure that technology is used to benefit humankind.
Ross, who was the keynote speaker of the event, spoke on the road to becoming an ethical hacker and the importance of ethical hackers. “As humans, we are very collaborative. We like to connect with people and communicate with them.
As we like to go on the internet and collaborate with others, because of this, we become reliant on technology. So in the future, we are just going to have more technology. The value of ethical hackers in the future is you can look at something throughout the process and also after sales. We see these issues because we are curious, and we can protect people that aren’t well versed in the field. An ethical hacker is somebody that is a superhero. You are the one that is finding these things. You are looking where other people aren’t looking,” she said.


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During the recent 20th anniversary event hosted for the Kingdom Hearts franchise, Square Enix and Disney revealed a brand-new mobile game for both Android and iOS. Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link is the most recent entry into the series, following up the massive announcement of Kingdom Hearts 4.
The 20th-anniversary event, hosted in Tokyo, featured many large announcements related to the Kingdom Hearts IP, and lots of reminiscing on the long-running series with new artwork shared and trailers for both the mobile game and Kingdom Hearts 4 as well. This, alongside some live music performances, led to a very exciting event for the massive fanbase of the franchise.
Details for Missing-Link specifically are, as you could probably expect from Kingdom Hearts, extremely scarce. All we know so far is that the game will be hosting a closed beta at some point in the near future, and will allow players to embark on adventures from the realm of Scala ad Caelum, a name familiar to any fan of the series, into the real world. It looks to be a third-person action game much like every other entry thus far, and will likely feature some light JRPG mechanics as well such as leveling and party composition. Anything beyond that is, unfortunately, purely speculation.
Still, it’s been a while since the previous Kingdom Hearts mobile game Union X stopped being supported, so it is certainly exciting to see it get another mobile adaptation. This, along with the knowledge of how important Union X’s story became to the lore of the franchise, means that Missing-Link will likely be even more important to the long-running overarching storyline than we can even begin to guess.
As for where you can find more information, alongside the featured trailer above, you can also follow the official Kingdom Hearts Twitter handle and keep an eye on any postings. If you want to go one step further, you can also keep an eye on the Kingdom Hearts website as well.
Love Kingdom Hearts’ role-playing gameplay? Check out our Top 25 JRPGs for Android devices!


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Svensson Harmony trial results at Sunridge Nurseries
Added on 03 April 2024
“We never really thought we would see a 7–10-day reduction in cropping time. This has almost doubled the growth cycles and increased crop quality” he says. “If you have an increased even light spread at the beginning of the crop cycle that penetrates the crop canopy, this also cuts down on a number of issues such as crop loss due to disease, and additional labor,” he says. The scattered light penetration the Harmony provides has been especially beneficial when you are limited to closely placed crop spacing "he says.
Vietti works as Director of Quality at Sunridge Nurseries. This is a flagship vine propagation company since 1977 and has grown to be one of the largest suppliers of a mass variety of grapevine starters in the U.S.
Working on what will be his last year in the business, Michael says he feels he owes a lot to the greenhouse sector.
“I feel a responsibility to the industry and to other growers,” he says. “I want to share what I’ve learned through trialing new ideas... You can’t get the results we have seen with the standard shade curtains” he adds.


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Petrol Pumps Declare War Against Banks; Strike Against Cashless Payments Put On Hold, But Situation Tense!
This is indeed a scary situation out here, especially for millions of vehicle owners, who are ready to pay for petrol and diesel using their debit/credit cards; but it seems that the petrol pump owners won’t support card based payments from Friday.
And their defiance towards cashless mode seems logical as well – because the banks are becoming greedier, and they want more mileage out of the cashless boom, quite literally.
The Conflict Between Petrol Pumps & Banks
Last week, the transportation industry was stunned when almost 80% of petrol pumps across India declared that they won’t be receiving card based payments effective Monday, January 9th.
The reason for this mass-scale strike was extra 1% transactions fees which the banks would charge from them for these payments. Such an additional charge on cashless payments meant scrapping of 20-40% of the profit earned by petrol pump owners, and this was not taken lightly.
Ajay Bansal, president, All India Petroleum Dealers Association, said, “HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank have imposed 1 per cent charges on pumps, there was no such levy earlier. In fact, we used to get reimbursement from banks if any charge were applied,”
BR Ravindranath, president, Akhila Karnataka Federation of Petroleum Traders and Bangalore Petroleum Dealers Association, said, “If the banks straight away levy a 1% transaction fee, where do they expect us to go. It becomes extremely difficult to survive in such circumstances.”
And they know that such a strike against card based payments would be very serious for the end-users.
One of the managers at a petrol pump said, “The public will see us as the villains now. They will think we are inconveniencing them by demanding only cash, but the truth is not that. Sale of petrol/diesel is highly regulated and we cannot fix our own rates in view of this sudden levy by banks. So our best option is to not accept cards.”
Ravi Shinde, president, Petrol Dealers Association, Mumbai said, “HDFC Bank, without any reason or rationale, has sent us this letter and wants to charge 1 per cent fee on transactions when our entire commission is 2.7 per cent. They didn’t discuss the matter with us. So, we will stop use of all HDFC Bank PoS terminals at pumps in Mumbai.”
What Is This Additional Transaction Fees?
Major private banks such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Banks and others had earlier sent notifications to all petrol pump owners about the introduction of an additional 1% transaction fees on all payments done by debit and credit cards.
As per the notification, all transactions less than Rs 1000 would attract a transaction fees of 0.25%, those between Rs 1000 and Rs 2000 would attract additional fees of 0.50% and above Rs 2000, flat 1% additional charge. Besides, all credit cards payments would attract flat 1% transaction fees.
On their defense, bank officials are saying that this additional 1% transaction fees is the same fuel surcharge of 2.5% which was charged earlier from the customers. However, after the demonetization movie kicked in, Govt. had temporarily relieved this charge.
A bank official said, “This is an industry wide phenomenon. It’s not limited to private banks. We have just been proactive in communicating the MDR charges to petrol dealers. I think PSU banks will follow soon.”
Strike Delayed, But Situation Tense
On Sunday evening, Govt. officials met the banks authorities, and convinced them to deter them their move to charge additional 1% transaction fees, atleast till Friday (January 13th). After their assurance, petrol pump owners have postponed their strike which was supposed to start from today (Monday, January 9th)
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, “Let me make it clear that customers will not be levied with any surcharge. Petrol Pumps were worried that the surcharge will be upon their heads, but let me assure them that it will not befall on them as well. Oil Marketing companies and banks are in talks and the former has given an incentive to increase digital transactions,”
However, situation is still tense, as banks have not clearly mentioned whether this surcharge would be scrapped or not.
Either Govt. will have to provide some subsidies on the card based payments to the banks, or this embargo will escalate into a bigger problem.
We will keep you updated.


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A COLUMN IN YESTERDAY'S BUSINESS SECTION INCORRECTLY IDENTIFIED THE BUYER OF ANDREW STERN'S COMPANY, LOGEX. IT WAS APPNET SYSTEMS INC. OF BETHESDA. (PUBLISHED 07/02/99)
What do you do when you're 26 and the technology company you founded has just sold for $6 million?
If you're the very thrilled Ben Lilienthal, you take a week-long surfing trip to Baja.
"It's like, hey, chill out for a while, back to what's important, hanging out with friends," says Lilienthal, just back from his time on the waves.
He may talk like a Gen X slacker, but Lilienthal is one of a growing number of local technology CEOs under 30 who create serious businesses and then sell them for major profits.
In recent months, Andrew Stern sold his company, Logex, to USinternetworking of Annapolis Junction; Jon Hallet sold his NMP to AppNet Systems Inc. of Bethesda and Frank Borges LLosa sold his creation NetFloppy to Xoom.com of San Francisco.
In this latest example, Lilienthal sold his 12-person company, Nascent Technologies Inc. of Herndon, to Internet investment firm CMGI Inc. of Andover, Mass., in an all-stock transaction. Nascent is a Web based e-mail service that helps people send and receive mail from remote locations.
"It's a wild time," says Lilienthal. "Three years of work translates into six million dollars."
Okay, it's not a big as CMGI's other recent purchase, Compaq Computer Corp.'s Alta Vista, for $2.3 billion. But it changed Lilienthal's life.
So how much did Lilienthal make personally? He won't say. But at the same time as he calls his haul "modest," he notes he's thought nothing of bankrolling the trip to Baja and impulse jaunts up to New York.
The negotiations to sell the company were some of the toughest work he's done, he says. They took a painful 100 days. He heard a thousand no's for every yes. "You've got to either be dumb or stubborn or both," he says, describing the process of starting and selling a company. Part of the pressure is from the skeptics, the "2 1/2 years of people saying 'you're idea is stupid.' "
Lilienthal says that while he plans to stay on with CMGI, operating Nascent as an independent subsidiary, it's possible he'll start another company someday. But, he explains, "I'm an adrenaline junkie as opposed to a serial entrepreneur."
America Online Inc. is on a freebie spree, sort of.
It announced yesterday that it's formed a deal with eMachines Inc. of Irvine, Calif., by which people who buy low-priced eMachines PCs, including a $399 model, will get a $400 rebate if they sign a contract for three years of AOL's service CompuServe. For $21.95 a month, they get unlimited access.
That amounts in effect to giving the machine away in return for a service contract. But wait a minute: There's no monitor with the computer. eMachines will sell you one for $100 to $225, depending on size.
Still, it's a major step in the direction of free hardware by the world's largest online company, which wants to make customers of people who can't afford PCs.
"Price matters," said AOL spokesperson Wendy Goldberg.
She said this particular deal will last only about a month, but that AOL will make similar offers with other PC makers. AOL is offering the CompuServe service with the package, not AOL, because it wants people to think of CompuServe as the low-cost alternative.
In Europe, AOL is also thinking free, on the service side. AOL Europe, a joint venture with Bertelsmann AG of Germany, is poised to offer free Internet service called Netscape Online in Britain starting in August, according to press reports. AOL has been overtaken as Britain's number one ISP by the fee-less Freeserve of Dixons Group Plc.
It was quite a controversy two years ago when accounting firm Ernst & Young was persuaded to eliminate its "women" category in its annual Greater Washington Entrepreneur of the Year awards. Several area executives didn't like the fact that women nominees always seemed to end up in that one category and no other.
This year, however, it seems the decision has backfired.
At the June 24 awards, only one woman was nominated, and she was listed as a co-nominee with her colleague.
Kathy Clark, chief executive of Landmark Systems of Vienna and a previous winner of the award, was among the voices calling for the elimination of the women-only category.
"I lobbied to get rid of the category," said Clark. "It's not E&Y's fault." The important thing, she said, is that women excel in business and make make sure they get nominated.
Artesia Technologies has opened shop in Rockville. The company was formed by a management-led buyout of a business unit of the Thomson Corp. of Toronto, led by Artesia's new chief executive, Chris Veator.
Financial backing came from $25 million from Warburg Pincus Ventures. Artesia, which helps companies and governments figure out how to make use of their digital information and assets, expects to employ 100 people in Rockville by the end of the year.
Send tips and tales of the digital capital's local people, deals and events to Shannon Henry at firstname.lastname@example.org.
CAPTION: Nascent CEO Ben Lilienthal surfs, and then he surfs: "It's like, hey, chill out for a while, back to what's important, hanging out with friends."


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“Platforms” are the shiniest prizes in the tech business. The reason the five most valuable American tech companies — Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Alphabet and Microsoft — are also the five most valuable American companies of any kind is that they own these fundamental building blocks of the digital economy, whether they are operating systems, app stores, social networks, cloud servers, or shipping and logistics infrastructure.
Think of these platforms as the roads, railroads and waterways of the information economy — an essentially inescapable part of life for any business or regular person who doesn’t live in a secluded cabin in the woods.
For years, despite their growing power, tech platforms rarely garnered much scrutiny, and they were often loathe to accept how much their systems affected the real world. Indeed, the online ethos has been that platforms aren’t really responsible for how people use them. It might as well be the slogan of Silicon Valley: We just make the tech, how people use it is another story.
In 2017, that changed. At first grudgingly and then with apparent enthusiasm, platform companies like Facebook began accepting some responsibility for how they are affecting the real world. They did not go as far as some critics would have liked — but in many significant ways they offered a shift in tone and tactics that suggested they were rethinking their positions.
You could argue that they had no choice. In the past year, social networks and search engines have been blamed for undermining the news media, fostering echo chambers, and spreading misinformation, hate, misogyny and other general social unpleasantness (YouTube, for example, removed lots of videos of kids gets getting pretend-tortured by their parents). There was also, of course, the unfolding saga of the companies’ role in Russia’s propaganda efforts, which resulted in them being hauled before lawmakers.
And then there were the larger questions about who makes the platforms and who benefits from them. The tech industry is overwhelmingly run by men, and it is a place of little racial and class diversity. A whistle-blowing blog post by Susan Fowler, an engineer who detailed a culture of harassment and misogyny at the ride-hailing company Uber, sparked a women’s movement in tech that was then subsumed by the global #MeToo movement.
Many tech titans were obviously unprepared for the serious questions that began coming their way a year ago. When the Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg was asked about his site’s role in the 2016 election just days after Donald J. Trump’s victory, he responded with a line from tech’s old playbook: It was a “pretty crazy idea,” he said, that misinformation on Facebook had “influenced the election in any way.”
Now that tone is gone. Mr. Zuckerberg has apologized for his glibness. And during Facebook’s last earnings report to investors, he put the company’s social mission at the top of his agenda. “Protecting our community is more important than maximizing our profits,” he said.
Several other tech execs have expressed similar commitments to a deeper mission. Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, told my colleague Andrew Ross Sorkin that Apple has a “moral responsibility” to attempt to heal the nation’s social and economic fissures.
More from The New York Times:
Google, Looking to Tiptoe Back into China, Announces A.I. Center
Net Neutrality Protests Move Online, Yet Big Tech Is Quiet
I Was Wrong About Bitcoin. Here's Why.
Sure, all this could just be marketing. But I’m inclined to believe the shift represents a new way of navigating the world, for a few reasons.
First, employees are demanding a new way. The highly paid workers of Silicon Valley were lured on the promise of changing the world, and in the past year many became demoralized about their companies’ apparent impact. In some cases they’re pushing their bosses to change.
Second, for the first time in years, there’s real pressure from lawmakers. That has resulted in some real-world retreats. For instance, tech giants last month stopped fighting a bill in Congress that would allow victims of sex trafficking to sue websites that supported the sex trade. In another time, this would have been a gimme for tech companies — they aren’t responsible for how people use their services, remember?
Not this time.


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Less than a month after the streaming service launched, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery suspended all external marketing for CNN+, according to a report from Axios. The moves come just weeks after WarnerMedia and Discovery completed the merger into Warner Bros. Discovery, with the plan to eventually build one streaming offering centered around HBO Max.
Sara Fischer writes:
“Discovery executives are frustrated that the service launched. If CNN held off launching CNN+ until after the merger, it would have been easier to pivot the company’s efforts towards something better aligned with Discovery’s goals.”
The streaming service currently has around 150,000 subscribers, and CNN’s original plan was for the service to become profitable in four years with $1 billion invested. Around $300 million has already been spent on CNN+, which includes roughly $100 million on marketing. Profitability is nowhere on their horizon.
The subscription-based streamer, which charges $5.99 a month or $59.99 annually, launched earlier this month on Roku, North America’s most-used connected TV platform. However, Fischer reports that with marketing suspended, any expected growth will be short-lived.
So as Ace at the Ace of Spades blog said, “Chris Wallace will soon have more time to spend with his hair dye.”
Even the big streamers are struggling this year, with behemoth Netflix’s stock tumbling by 20% after it reported a loss of 200,000h paid subscribers in the first quarter of 2022 — its first subscriber loss in over a decade. Following the news, Netflix’s stock crashed to a four-year low. Elon Musk summed it up pretty well with his Twitter response on Tuesday when the news broke.
The woke mind virus is making Netflix unwatchable
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2022
JosiahRises (for Geeks & Gamers) observed the sudden impact Musk’s tweet did to obliterate Netflix’s stock prices last night.
And Governor Ron DeSantis ain’t playin’ either. Earlier today, the Florida legislature voted to revoke Disney’s special tax status, and their special “self governance” status, following their surprisingly vocal opposition to the recently passed ‘Parental Rights in Education’ law. This caused the company’s stock to slip even further, sinking to nearly 32% lower than where it started at the beginning of the year.
NOW – Florida House votes in favor to strip Disney’s self-government. pic.twitter.com/gq9S0po83K
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) April 21, 2022
Will any of these media giants wake up to the fact that going “woke” results in losing money? Or is this even about money anymore?
— Bleeding Fool (@BleedingFool) April 21, 2022


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[The Star] B.C.’s top health official says taking pure ecstasy can be “safe” when consumed responsibly by adults, despite warnings by police in Alberta and British Columbia about the dangers of the street drug after a rash of deaths. Dr. Perry Kendall asserts the risks of MDMA — the pure substance originally synonymous with ecstasy — are overblown, and that its lethal dangers only arise when the man-made chemical is polluted by money-hungry gangs who cook it up. That’s why the chief provincial health officer is advocating MDMA be legalized and sold through licensed, government-run stores where the product is strictly regulated from assembly line to check-out. Just like the growing chorus for marijuana legalization, Kendall believes crushing the dirty ecstasy-saturated black market and its associated violence requires an evidence-based strategy that revolves around public health. “(If) you knew what a safe dosage was, you might be able to buy ecstasy like you could buy alcohol from a government-regulated store,” Kendall said in an interview. He posits that usage rates would decrease. Kendall was asked whether ecstasy, after further study around correct dosage and in a setting involving strict controls, could be safe. “Absolutely,” he responded. “We accept the fact that alcohol, which is inherently dangerous, is a product over a certain age that anybody can access. So I don’t think the issue is a technical one of how we would manage that. The issue is a political, perceptual one.”
Hey Dr. Perry Kendall, how about you shut the fuck up? Listen, I’ve had my experiences with virtually every drug out there and, although I can only remember one bad time out of 21948271 dropping X, I sure as shit don’t want to live in a world where everyone’s rolling their faces off. I can handle drunkenness, and I’m all for legalizing the sticky-icky. No benefit to my old ass anymore, but for those who like to puff, snack and chill I got no problem with you blazing in the streets. But legal PURE ecstasy sold in stores? No fucking thanks. I’m no Walter White so I don’t know exactly which chemicals in E-bombs trigger what reactions – but I’m willing to bet untainted pills straight out of the pharmacy aren’t to be fucked with. I don’t want to be surrounded by zombies with pupils the size of pancakes and Kool-Aid smiles trying to rub their faces on my mesh shorts because it feeeeeeelllllssss sooooooooooo goooooooooooddddddd. I’m emptying my coke stash to draw the fucking line.


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Get your forks and knives ready. There are two new additions coming to the Williamsburg restaurant scene.
At a meeting on Mar. 10, the City of Williamsburg Economic Development Authority (EDA) voted unanimously to award incentive grants to two new restaurants that are planned for this summer in Williamsburg.
Another Broken Egg Cafe will open at 1412 Richmond Road, and a salad concept restaurant
will open in downtown Williamsburg. According to a city news release from Mar. 10, the restaurants will be able to keep a percentage of taxes owed to the city over a three year period. The percentage will be determined based on performance in a revenue sharing agreement.
“These incentives are a win-win because they draw new businesses and new revenue to the
city, and the businesses earn back some of the taxes paid based on their own success,” Rick Overy, EDA Chairman said in a statement from the news release.
“It’s important to remember that the City retains a percentage of the taxes, which is new revenue the City would not have collected without these restaurants opening here,” Overy said.
The revenue sharing incentive for Another Broken Egg Cafe is capped at $99,000 and will be used for exterior improvements in order to modernize the building.
Their nationwide company has more than 70 locations in 13 states. There are plans to continue to open locations in new as well as existing markets across the United States.
The Williamsburg location for Another Broken Egg Cafe will be the first one in Virginia. Local businessman, Demetrios Florakis, will own the cafe and is also purchasing franchising rights for locations across Virginia including Virginia Beach and Fredericksburg.
The headquarters for Florakis’ franchises will be located at 1006 Richmond Road in Williamsburg. This office will also have the training facility for café management for restaurant locations in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.
“I am thrilled that Another Broken Egg Cafe has decided to open its first Virginia location here in Williamsburg,” said Council Member Barbara Ramsey, who is the City Council liaison to the EDA.
“Not only will it be a fantastic addition to the offerings on Richmond Road but, as
the Virginia headquarters and regional training facility, it will continually bring members of
their management staff to the area,” Ramsey said.
Meanwhile, the salad concept restaurant has its the revenue-sharing incentive capped at $40,000, which will be used to construct outdoor dining.
According to the news release, current trends indicate that customers desire outdoor dining. Additionally, this amenity will increase the restaurant’s seating capacity by 50%. April Coleman will be the owner and operator of the restaurant. She is familiar with quick-service, healthy option restaurants and looks forward to bringing this dining option to Williamsburg.
“As part of our recruitment efforts we look at trends and what is missing in the Williamsburg market,” said Michele Mixner DeWitt, Economic Development Director for the City. “We identified the need for a salad concept and are delighted that one will be joining the Williamsburg culinary scene.”
According to city spokesperson, Nicole Trifone, the name of the restaurant cannot be released because of non-disclosure agreements.
The EDA will award the revenue grants for the salad concept restaurant and Another Broken Egg Cafe after the businesses pay taxes for local sales and meals. The incentive grant is capped at $40,000 for the salad concept and $99,000 for Another Broken Egg Cafe. The local sales and meals tax return on investment to the City of Williamsburg over the first five years of operations is estimated to be more than $850,000.
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New Moto Guzzi V100 Sport To Take on Yamaha Tracer 900 Head To Head
Spy Shots of a Photo Shoot Prior to EICMA Launchby Harry Fisher, on LISTEN 02:43
Moto Guzzi continues to be faithful to the transverse V-twin that has powered all its models since 1967. The latest is set to be the V100 Sport, spied at a photo shoot near Lake Como in Northern Italy, presumably in preparation for the EICMA motorcycle show in November, where most manufacturers reveal new models.
New Moto Guzzi V100 Sport Set To Be Launched at EICMA
There aren’t many manufacturers who are defined by the engine they use, especially when it’s the only engine they use. Sure, BMW has the boxer twin, but it also has inline fours and sixes, parallel twins and singles. Triumph is best known for its triples and twins. Then, of course, there’s Harley Davidson with its v-twins, from which layout it seems determined not to waver.
There is another single-minded manufacturer, however. Moto Guzzihas stuck exclusively with its unmistakable transverse v-twin since 1967. The oldest European manufacturer in continuous production, the company has concentrated on large-displacement engines in sports and touring models. Never the most powerful, they are at least distinctive.
Now, moto.it website has published spy shots of a new Guzzi model being photographed near Lake Como in Italy, possibly in readiness for the upcoming EICMA motorcycle show in November. The Italian website is calling the new model the V100, meaning it would be powered by a 1000cc version of the engine.
The shots are pretty poor quality but show a half-faired sports bike, which would take on the likes of Yamaha’s Tracer 900 head-to-head. As 2021 is the 100th Anniversary years of the marque, the new bike will be a birthday present to itself.
The last brand new model to be launched was the V85 TT model in 2019. The new V100 will close a gap in the Guzzi range, which goes from the V7 and V9 naked roadsters of, frankly, limited performance through to the large and imposing cruisers such as the California and Audace.
The V100 Sport’s engine should produce about 120bhp, which is a big step up from the 65bhp of the V9’s motor and will see the V100 play in the same ball-park as the Yamaha and its 115bhp or so.
As you can see, the pictures show very little detail so we’ll have to wait for the official launch to know more, but it’s something for lovers of Italian bikes to look forward to.


text: Social media sensation Snapchat plans to float on the US stockmarket in an initial public offering (IPO) that could value it at around US$25 billion (£20bn). That would make it the largest IPO since Chinese internet giant Alibaba floated in 2014. Snapchat has reported above 100 million daily users, more than Twitter. It is popular among young people, who use it on their mobile phones to send ‘selfies’ that expire after seconds. The flotation could be as early as March 2017.


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QART.com Showroom Opening Event to Benefit Stan Lee Foundation, 12/14
Situated on the corner of Washington Blvd. and Via Marina, the new 7,500 sq ft showroom features artwork from their online gallery, including works from independent artists and photographers, as well as famous artists such as Peter Max, Tom Everhart and Wyland. In addition, the Marina del Rey location has several added bonuses, including a dark room with glow-in-the-dark art from artists Jean Claude Novaro, Ken Shotwell and Ara Berberyan.
Leading up to the event, Marvel Artworks limited-edition artist proofs (custom-framed and signed by Stan Lee), are up for auction on QART.COM's website -- all proceeds benefiting the Stan Lee Foundation. Numerous pieces will be on display during the event, as guests will have the opportunity to bid on their phones before the auction closes that evening.
Also during QART.COM Unveiled, guests will experience live paintings from artists Marta Wiley and Martin Katon, and a poster signing from internationally-renowned painter Alexander Chen. And the first 500 guests will take home a mini decorative framed painting.
QART.COM, founded in 2006 by brothers Eli and Noah Weisman, has quickly become the largest online marketplace for fine art on the internet, and now with their new location in Marina del Rey, the public has an opportunity to view the art up close and personal. "It was only a matter of time before we opened a physical location," states Eli. "Anyone can purchase art on our website at a set sale price, or place a bid in our auction section. But with our new location, the public has an opportunity to see some of the works in person."
"Whether you're an art collector or new to the art world, we have something for everyone," states Noah. "We carry thousands of unique pieces, as well as entire editions, and even have daily auctions online starting at just $1. Our upcoming grand opening event will highlight some of our unique works, while we roundup our Marvel Artworks auction for the Stan Lee Foundation, and introduce our gallery to the community."
WHAT: Live paintings from several artists, hors d'oeuvres, wine and giveaways
WHEN: Sunday, December 14, 5:00PM - 8:00PM
WHERE: QART.COM, 480 W. Washington Blvd., Marina del Rey, CA 90292
The Stan Lee Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Stan Lee, the co-creator of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, The Fantastic Four and Iron Man,, and former publisher of Marvel Comics. Taken on many of his heroic efforts, the foundation seeks to provide access to literacy, education and the arts throughout the nation.


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Scarecrow wreaths can be purchased
The Pecan Plantation Woman’s Club (PPWC) began its new year last month with a lovely musical program presented by “The Judge and the Jury” followed by good food and fellowship among members, and their meeting coming next Thursday promises to be equally enjoyable.
Jimmie Porterfield, who is a deCordova resident and has been singing since she was 12, will provide special music for the day. Ladies will also hear from Dr. Steve Peterson about “enhancing natural beauty.”
Another highlight of the day will be the table centerpieces, which are available for purchase. This month’s tables will boast scarecrow wreathes for $20 each, and they promise to be as popular as last month’s casserole carriers.
Social time begins in the clubhouse ballroom at 9:30 a.m. with the meeting coming to order at 10. Reservations by noon on Monday are a must. Call to reserve your spot: 817-573-2641.
The PPWC welcomes all ladies in Pecan to its gatherings where fellowship and hospitality are always on the menu.
The gentlemen of our neighborhood will also meet next Thursday as the Retired Old Men Eating Out (ROMEOS) have a full day scheduled. Doug Ward announces that the ROMEOS will first gather at 11 a.m. at the softball field next to the Pecan Activities Center (PAC) for their annual home run derby After their athletic competition finishes, ROMEOS will head to the clubhouse for lunch.
GOLFING FOR A GOOD CAUSE
The Ladies’ Golf Association will gather on Tuesday for a full day of play with Low Gross/Low Net and Rally for the Cure on the agenda.
EL TESORO FOR BREAKFAST CLUB
Breakfast Club next Wednesday morning will learn about “The Treasures of El Tesoro” when Campfire Girls, USA representative Dorothy Wing addresses the group. Come at 8 a.m. for breakfast and the program.
GARAGE SALE ACTIVITIES
Fall garage sale day is coming to Pecan on Oct. 20, and it will be a full day indeed. Business hours run from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. To be included on the sale list given out at the gates, call 817-573-2641.
In addition to members’ sales at their homes, several groups will hold special events.
The Green Thumb Garden Club (GTGC) will be selling hotdog lunches at the front circle, and all proceeds go to the beautification of Pecan. Come early; these meals go fast! For more information on the GTGC, contact Toni McClendon at [email protected]
Pecan’s RV Club’s garage sale will be at the Shady Campground, and donations are being accepted. Also, for $25, members may use a shaded parking spot for a garage sale rather than have it at their home. Coffee and sweets in the morning and sloppy joes meals at lunch will be available for purchase. All proceeds benefit the proposed multi-use pavilion for the campground. For more information, contact Bill Green at 817-992-0071.
The Friends of Pooch Plantation (FOPP) is also accepting garage sale donations. Proceeds from the day will benefit a proposed off leash dog park in Pecan. Contact Mary at 817-579-2632 for more FOPP information.
The GTGC’s Pedal for Petals returns on Oct. 27, and early registration ends Monday. Go to the “bike rally” link at www.greenthumbinpecan.org to sign up at a discounted price and choose a t-shirt size. More details on the day coming next week.
Our sympathy goes to the family of Trish Clayton, who passed away Oct. 3.
[email protected] | 817-579-9360


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Craig | 26/06/2014
The ubiquitous Smartphone is fast taking over as the means of communication for a lot of people, with the number of mobile internet users in the developing world set to overtake those in the developed world for the first time this year as reported in the Guardian. But as is often the case with technology; the majority of Smartphones released are targeted and made for a younger demographic. Thankfully Swedish manufacturer Doro is picking up the slack with their niche easy-to-use Touchscreen Smartphone – the Liberto 810 – making it simpler for those in their twilight years to embrace the advent of social media.
Whilst the average response time of 0.7 seconds for icons on iPhone is quicker than the average response time of someone aged over 65; the touchscreen on the Doro Liberto 810 has been adapted for older users and is powered by SwiftKey, which learns and adapts to the way an individual user types. The Android 4.1 OS has been overlaid with Doro’s specially design user-interface to make it familiar to previous owners of Doro mobiles and equally straightforward for new adopters. It also has three ‘real keys’ – back, menu, and homescreen so that users don’t need to rely solely on the touchscreen.
Once in possession, Liberto 810 users can enjoy access to any number of apps via the Google Play store; the handset comes with a few pre-selected apps installed (YouTube, Google Mail) and a microSD slot to expand the memory up to 32GB. It also boasts a 5.0MP camera so that you can start sharing your photos online; via email, messaging Apps such as Whatsapp, or via social media like Facebook.
For anyone looking for an easy-to-use mobile but not quite ready to make the leap into Smartphone territory, feel free to explore the full range of Sim-Free Mobiles on our site.
This entry was posted in Advice, General on 26/06/2014 by Craig.


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Rookies steps up to take place of O’Leary’s Irish Pub
When the new sports bar and grill Rookies opened at 715 13th Ave. E. in West Fargo, where an Irish pub used to stand, more than the theme changed.
Reile’s Acres neighbors Keith Steinberg and Jeremy Danielson purchased the former O’Leary’s Irish Pub on July 1.
Initially, they had plans to name their business Benchwarmers Sports Bar, but a Bismarck eatery already had that name, Steinberg said.
“We went back to the drawing board,” he said, and asked customers to help name the business.
Rookies was one of the submitted names.
“We’re not an Irish pub anymore,” said Steinberg. “We’re a locally-owned sports bar. We really wanted to change the brand and do something different.”
Steinberg and Danielson, both sports enthusiasts, renamed the business in October, remodeled the interior and came up with a completely new menu called The Sports Page.
On the menu are burgers, corned beef and grilled chicken breast sandwiches with basketball theme names.
Other sandwiches and wraps carry hockey monikers.
Rookies offers a wide range of homemade, hand-tossed pizzas with a football link.
Baseball is the theme for more than a dozen appetizers including chicken wings.
Think golf when ordering soups and salads.
Pizza seems to be the hot item, said Danielson.
“That’s what we get the most requests for.”
Along with food, Rookies offers free games.
Poker is held on Monday night, bingo on Tuesday, trivia on Wednesday, Steak Night is Thursday and karaoke is on Friday nights. Saturdays are left open. Sunday Fun Day offers free games and darts, jukebox, videos and pool.
Shuffleboard is free every day.
This is the first foray into owning a bar for the longtime sports enthusiasts.
Danielson worked as a bartender in college and Steinberg, who was looking for a business to buy, worked in restaurants in high school and college, he said.
Rookies is the charitable gaming site for the West Fargo Hockey Association and sponsors the West Fargo High School Packatahnas dance team, Steinberg said.
The bar and grill has a 225-person occupancy with seating for about 140. The business employs 25 part-time workers.
Danielson also works for John Deere Electronic Solutions in Fargo.
Steinberg works for FIS, a bank technology company, and is on the board of the Fargo Moorhead Community Theatre.
Rookies’ customer demographic includes patrons in their 30s to mid-60s, Steinberg said.
Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., Monday through Saturday and noon to 2 a.m. on Sunday.
“We love the neighborhood,” said Steinberg. “We’re definitely a West Fargo-centric bar.”


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The expectations of institutions that sell and those that buy are two different things.
FORTUNE -- In a note to clients issued Monday afternoon, 24 hours before Apple (AAPL) is scheduled to release its earnings for the March quarter, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster talked about something we don't hear much about: The so-called buy side.
Buy side is Wall Street jargon for those investing institutions such as mutual funds, pension funds and insurance MOREPhilip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 22, 2013 7:17 PM ET
Ironically, the Galaxy tweets had more "positive bias" than the iPhone's
FORTUNE -- Is Twitter the new measure of commercial buzz? Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster seems to think so.
In a note to clients issued Wednesday he offers as evidence that Apple's (AAPL) smartphone "holds more mass appeal with consumers" the fact that there were five times as many tweets (2.4 million) about the iPhone 5 on the day of and the day MOREPhilip Elmer-DeWitt - Mar 27, 2013 5:22 PM ET
Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster says growth may not return until the back half of 2013
FORTUNE -- In February, Gene Munster predicted that Apple (AAPL) would get a boost this quarter from product announcements in March or April.
With March almost over and the quarter ending on Saturday, Piper Jaffray's senior Apple analyst issued a note to clients Tuesday warning that the company will have to get through a dry patch before MOREPhilip Elmer-DeWitt - Mar 26, 2013 6:43 AM ET
In a quiet room, the latest version understood 91% of questions, correctly answered 77%
FORTUNE -- Siri is a little like the weather. Everybody complains about it, but only Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster seems to do anything.
In June he put the iOS 5 version of Apple's (AAPL) voice-activated personal assistant to the test -- asking her 1,600 questions, 800 in the streets of Minneapolis and 800 in a quiet room.
The results MOREPhilip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 20, 2012 9:05 AM ET
Android is No. 2 at 35.3%. Windows Phone trails at 6.5%
FORTUNE -- Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster has been analyzing Twitter comments and polling a group of more than 800 consumers to try to gauge demand for Apple's (AAPL) iPhone 5. On Thursday he released his latest findings:
As summarized by the chart above, interest in buying an iPhone 5 in the next three months jumped from 47.7% to 54.9% after it MOREPhilip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 13, 2012 11:39 AM ET
Piper Jaffray's chief Apple enthusiast comes to the defense of the embattled stock
FORTUNE -- With Apple's (AAPL) shares off more than 6% Wednesday, there was no shortage of theories about what was driving all the selling. We highlighted one -- Apple's failure to issue a special dividend -- earlier today. In a note to clients a few hours later, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster addressed four more:
Digitimes Article Appears To Be MOREPhilip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 5, 2012 2:59 PM ET
Over the past 8 quarters, it beat its EPS estimate by 42%, revenue by 18%
FORTUNE -- When it reports its results for the March quarter this afternoon, Apple (AAPL) will also release forward-looking statements about the June quarter in the form of three numbers: its guidance for revenue, earnings and gross margin.
The numbers Apple issues tend to be laughably conservative; the company always prefers to under- rather than over-promise. Nonetheless its MOREPhilip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 24, 2012 8:15 AM ET
After four years of speculation there's still not a shred of hard evidence
A lot of analysts talk about Apple's (AAPL) plans to make a television -- an actual TV set, not just a set-top box -- but last week, Jefferies' Peter Misek did something most have been careful not to do.
Citing "increased confidence" that Apple's iTV is coming, he wrote into his published forecasts the revenue from its sales: 2 million MOREPhilip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 17, 2012 4:30 PM ET
Apple is the favorite -- once again -- in Piper Jaffray's 23rd semi-annual teen survey
"The bottom line," writes Gene Munster in a note summarizing the results of Piper Jaffray's latest survey of the aspirations of American teenagers, "is that 40% of students plan on buying an iPhone in the next 6 months while 19% of non-tablet owners plan on purchasing a tablet in the next 6 months."
Wishes, of course, can't MOREPhilip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 3, 2012 5:52 PM ET
Its market cap today is $577 billion. Where do the next $400-plus billion come from?
In a note to clients issued early Tuesday, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster raised his Q2 iPhone estimate (to 33 million), set a new 12-month price target ($910 per share) and -- most provocatively -- laid out a roadmap for Apple's (AAPL) market capitalization to go from $576.79 billion as of Monday's close to $1 trillion by MOREPhilip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 3, 2012 7:06 AM ET
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- Fashion TV working on India linear, SVOD launch by 2018-end
- Baggage tow tractor rams into Air India plane at IGI
- Reliance says Jio to turn profitable 'shortly'
- Presence of outsider in Talwars' flat cannot be ruled out: HC on Aarushi case
- Gauri Lankesh murder: Suspects' sketches released but SIT has nothing else
Airtel Digital TV Q2 highlights: churn increases to 1.3%, EBITDA at Rs 234.3 cr
MUMBAI: Direct-to-home (DTH) player Airtel Digital TV has posted operating profit of Rs 234.3 crore (Rs 2.34 billion) for the quarter ended 30 September 2015 while EBITDA margin is at 33.1 per cent.
Q2 FY16 highlights are:
Airtel Digital TV Q2 total revenue stood at Rs 706.8 crore (Rs 7.07 billion).
EBIT profit was at Rs 17 crore (Rs 170 million).
Cash burn was at Rs 15.8 crore (Rs 158 million).
The company has added 164,000 net subscribers.
Average revenue per user (ARPU) was at Rs 224.
Monthly churn was at 1.3 per cent.
Await detailed report…


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Posted on November 28th, 2016 in App PR,brand PR,Food and Drink PR,Online PR,PR Stunt,Publicity Stunts,Regional PR,stuff we liked,Stunt Of The Day.
Renowned for their innovative, cutting-edge delivery methods, Domino’s Pizza Japan have once again attracted plenty of attention with their latest announcement – that customers will be receiving their pizza by reindeer this holiday season.
The fast-food company has said that they have been working with reindeer breeders in an attempt to train the animals, usually associated with Christmas, to deliver pizza. Additionally, reindeer will be equipped with and tracked using a real-time GPS tracker, so that customers will still be able to locate their pizza with pinpoint accuracy. This is all because of the colder-than-usual winter expected in Japan; supposedly, even if the roads are blocked with snow, the cold-resistant reindeer will ensure that customers still receive their order.
However, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing; in the video below, it seems that reindeer are harder to train than one may have first thought, and can be seen abandoning their pizza and struggling it keep it balanced on their back.
Fear not, animal lovers, for Domino’s is going to all the necessary lengths to ensure that the welfare of the reindeer are maintained. This includes factoring in the maximum weight they can bear and the distance they are able to safely travel.
And if all else fails and Domino’s are unable to unleash their fleet of pizza-delivering reindeer on 1st December, there is a contingency plan in place: pizza by snowmobile.
Posted on November 7th, 2016 in Consumer PR,Food and Drink PR,Stunt Of The Day.
For the festive season, Coca Cola have created a special treat for Coca Cola lovers in Japan. The drink brand announced that the new ‘Ribbon Bottle’ would be released for their Christmas campaign, and will be available from today.
The label has a small pull on the inside, so that once you peel one side away, you can pull the tab for the bottle label to transform itself into a neat festive bow. To see these bottle labels in action, watch the video below:
The announcement forms part of the larger Coca Cola Christmas ‘Give a Surprise’ campaign in Japan. It will begin on 21 November, and the company will offer a pair of warm, fuzzy socks to customers who buy either four small bottles or two larger bottles. Similarly, from the 5 December, Coca Cola Japan will give one of five ‘crystal ornaments’ to customers who buy any one-litre or two-litre bottles, which come in designs such as a snowman, Santa Claus, and a decorated Christmas tree.
Posted on November 4th, 2016 in Consumer PR,Food and Drink PR,PR Stunt,PR Stunts,Stunt Of The Day.
Wine lovers and self-proclaimed connoisseurs in London can now have their knowledge put to the test, with Laithwaite’s sophisticated Wine Tasting in the Dark event.
The experience is designed so that consumers are not able to use their visual senses, accentuating and potentially altering their taste buds. Laithwaite’s host and master of wine Justin Howard-Sneyd and his team of sommeliers will lead visitors around a pitch black tasting theatre, wearing infra-red night vision goggles and guiding participants through a series of taste experiments to make them rethink the way they approach wine.
“This is a first in wine tasting” says Laithwaite’s host and master of wine Justin Howard-Sneyd. “Deprived of sight, can you tell the colour of a wine or if it’s even a wine at all?”
Guests are invited to take part in interactive sessions, which include discovering their ‘wine personality’ and a code directing them to their ‘perfect match’ in wine. However, the company does not recommend a ‘try it yourself’ at home session, as it may “lead to some unfortunate slapstick and spillages”
Laithwaite’s Wine Tasting in the Dark will launch on the 4th November at the Royal Horticultural Halls in Westminster, for £30 a ticket.
Posted on October 31st, 2016 in Consumer PR,Food and Drink PR,PR Stunt,PR Stunts,Publicity Stunts,Restaurant PR,Stunt Of The Day.
Halloween is the perfect time of year for major brands to make social waves and stir up the corporate world. Enter FMCG giants, Burger King throwing seasonal shade at fellow fast food leviathan, McDonald’s.
A New York Burger King has kitted out its sign as a McDonald’s ghost using a big white sheet and cut-out eyes with the marquee sign reading, “Boooooo. Just kidding, we still flame grill our burgers. Happy Halloween”.
Sadly the stunt is currently only being used at one Burger King franchise with no plans to encorporate it into a global strategy.
We await McDonalds’ response. Revenge is a dish best served… fried?


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Beverage company Frucor is bringing Gatorade athlete, Usain Bolt, to New Zealand on October 8, 2012.
Frucor is the licensed producer of Gatorade in New Zealand and Usain’s visit will be an instrumental part of its Kiwi launch campaign. The US sports drink has supported athletes at all levels since its origins in 1965 when it was formulated by researchers at the University of Florida to successfully combat dehydration.
“Gatorade is the #1 sports drink in the world with more than four decades of scientific research behind it, but New Zealand is a relatively new market for the brand, and we’re looking forward to launching Gatorade in an exciting way with Usain’s visit,” says Mark Callaghan, CEO of Frucor.
Usain Bolt has been supported by Gatorade for four years, through four World Records and three gold medals. He is currently featured in a Gatorade marketing campaign to launch the brand into the New Zealand market.
“We are unbelievably excited to bring the fastest man on earth to New Zealand. Coming off his recent performance, Usain well and truly earned his place in history as the fastest sprinter to ever compete,” says Callaghan.
Further detail about Usain Bolt’s involvement in the launch activities and his itinerary will be released soon.


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Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance is coming again to South Korea with a brand new acquisition of the native crypto buying and selling platform Gopax.
Binance has acquired a majority stake within the troubled crypto exchange Gopax, re-entering South Korea after exiting the market two years in the past, Bloomberg reported on Feb. 3.
The funding for the transaction reportedly got here from a Finance-initiated funding challenge often known as the Industry Recovery Initiative, to which Binance pledged $1 billion.
Binance chief enterprise officer Yibo Ling mentioned that Binance has acquired a “meaningful” fairness place at Gopax with out disclosing the phrases of the deal.
The acquisition comes a number of months after Gopax halted withdrawals from sure merchandise in November 2022 amid the collapse of the FTX exchange. According to Ling, Binance plans to spend the brand new capital into the exchange to allow buyer withdrawals and curiosity funds for Gopax’s yield product GoFi.
“The fundamental thrust of this deal was to support customers and make sure that any customers who want to withdraw their assets have the ability to do so,” Ling acknowledged.
This is a creating story, and additional info shall be added because it turns into out there.


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Fully electric. Fully electrifying.
The e-bugster may be a concept car, but with the I.D family hitting the road in 2020, the face of electric mobility is changing.
The future of Volkswagen electric mobility
One battery charge. Up to 372 miles. That’s the technology we’ve been working on to support the world’s need for emission-free mobility, and with the upcoming I.D range it’s about to become a reality. Set for release in 2020, we’re on our final countdown towards the future of driving.
More flower power than ever before
The Beetle has had an electrifying facelift. It goes by the name of the E-Bugster and it’s our most environmentally friendly Bug yet. Powered purely by electricity, the super speedy charging connection means you can power up in as little as 35 minutes for a 110 mile range. Then put your pedal to the metal to travel from 0 to 60 in 10.9 seconds. It’s the modern interpretation of one of the most famous cars ever created, but this time, it’s emission-free.
ID R Pike Peak
The I.D R Pikes Peak, Volkwagen’s high performance electric racing car, is set to tackle one of the world’s most famous hill climb races - fittingly hosted at Pikes Peak, Colorado on June 24th 2018.
Volkswagen is bringing a legend back to life! At the beginning of March, the Wolfsburg-based Group will reveal the first fully electric version of a new buggy. Taking its cues from popular American dune buggies, the concept vehicle is based on the modular electric drive matrix (MEB), demonstrating how multifaceted the new platform truly is.
Say hi to hybrids
Our hybrid concept family is increasing by the day as the Golf GTE Sport, Cross Coupé, Sport Coupé Concept Car, Phideon, XL1 and XL1 Sport all step into the energy efficient spotlight.
Introducing the Golf GTE Sport
Our engineers have catapulted the Golf GTE into the future with a carbon body, a new cockpit and an electric propshaft. At the press of a button, the concept car can travel for up to 30 miles completely emission-free using its electric power alone. The perfect distance for the average commute to work. Prepare yourself for a thrilling ride: thanks to its three motors that combine in a plug-in hybrid drive, each journey will bring breathtaking performance on both the road and the racetrack.
Cross Coupé concept
The Cross Coupé concept is more efficient than ever and yet it’s capable of reaching a top speed of 136mph. It’s a real game-changer in terms of electric power due to its TDI petrol engine and two electric motors. In pure electric mode, the Cross Coupé can cover up to 28 miles at speeds of up to 75mph, making it the perfect commuter car for those who like a little exhilaration on their way to work. It can even charge itself while driving so nothing can get in the way of you and the open road.
Introducing the Sport Coupé Concept GTE
Could this be the sportiest four-door car we’ve ever designed? It encompasses everything we know and love about the Volkswagen DNA but injects a sharper, more avant-garde design to really excite the senses.
Introducing the Phideon
At over 5 meters in length, the Phideon is a behemoth of a luxury vehicle. Powered by an innovative plug-in hybrid drive system that creates an impressive 500 Newton metres of system torque. Now this car knows how to move.
Introducing the XL1
The world’s most fuel efficient car has now been confirmed for an initial production run of 200 examples. It’s a pioneer of design and engineering as its advanced plug-in drivetrain allows it to reach 62mph in 11.9 seconds all whilst setting the new benchmark for vehicle efficiency.
Introducing the XL Sport
The world’s most powerful two-cylinder motorcycle is the new Ducati 1199 Superleggera and its engine technology now sits proudly in the rear of the Volkswagen XL Sport. Only 250 units will be built, making this one of the most exclusive and powerful limited edition vehicles to hit the road.


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PARIS (Reuters) - Fighting back tears, Valentino waved goodbye to the fashion world on Wednesday with a haute couture show brimming with the glamour that made him a favorite with Hollywood stars, socialites and royalty for half a century.
Lipstick red, the color that defined Valentino’s career, engulfed his final turn as the designer streamed models down the runway in his signature shade, creating a flame-hued tunnel.
“He is parting in happiness but the fashion world is in mourning,” said front row guest David Furnish who, together with his partner singer Elton John, is one of Valentino’s friends.
In the grounds of the Rodin Museum, Valentino, considered one of the most influential designers of the late 20th century, was joined by actress Uma Thurman, European royalty and the New York socialites who have worn his floor-sweeping gowns since his breakthrough show in 1962.
Day suits in soft cashmere worn with long white gloves recalled the fashions Valentino created for his earliest fans Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Audrey Hepburn.
Dresses in shimmering sorbet pinks and oranges heavy with his signature bows, lace and ruffles were fit for the Hollywood stars he dresses today.
“I am so sad, we’re witnessing the end of an era of great Italian fashion couturiers. When he is gone there is no one to replace him,” said Italian television celebrity Simona Ventura, blinking away tears.
Valentino, whose couture house was bought by private equity firm Permira last year, is ranked alongside Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld as the last of the great designers from an era before fashion became a global, highly commercial industry.
END OF AN ERA
His retirement is being seen as the ending of that earlier fashion world with the modern industry’s focus on profits providing little room to foster such a larger-than-life personality.
Valentino’s rise to fame coincided with the start of Italy’s film heyday, immortalized by Federico Fellini’s 1960 film “La Dolce Vita”, and his extravagant parties and jet set lifestyle meant his life as well as his designs made the headlines.
His houses alone span some of the world’s most sought-after locations from a villa on Rome’s Appia Antica, to a chalet in Gstaad, a castle outside Paris and an apartment overlooking Central Park in New York.
But fashion’s growth into a $127 billion (65 billion pound) industry is slowly making the old guard extinct and ushering in a new breed of relatively anonymous designers who often have more in common with brand managers than couturiers.
Valentino Garavani, always known by only his first name, is replaced at his couture house by Alessandra Facchinetti, a former Gucci designer who is considered better suited to lead the group’s expansion into new markets and product lines.
Just days before his final show, the group Valentino founded announced it was already making those inroads opening its first boutique in a hotel in Beijing to tap the fast-growing demand among Chinese shoppers for luxury goods.
Valentino has made clear how he feels about the fading of a world he helped to create.
“The world of fashion has now been ruined,” he told Rome’s Il Messaggero newspaper this week. “I became rather bored of continuing in a world which doesn’t say anything to me. There is little creativity and too much business.”
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has launched an app that aims to help food supply chains become more transparent.
The transparenC app (available for both Android and iOS devices) and web portal is the world’s first open-source traceability software for any kind of food supply chain.
It can be used anywhere by farmers, buyers and retailers without paying licensing fees to ensure transparency and accountability across all stages of food production.
The app has been co-developed with Republic Systems.
The WWF’s global network lead for aquaculture, Aaron McNevin told Forbes the genesis for the app was the issues faced by shrimp farmers in Thailand, who could not get the source of the fish meal they were using to meet certification requirements.
McNevin said the seafood supply chains are particularly complicated because of the number of small owners involved, who make traceability more difficult and therefore increase the risks involved for retailers who purchase their products.
“We wanted to really break the cost barrier for electronic traceability systems,” he told Forbes. “And we’ve been trying to work with those retailers that truly do want to know what their supply chains look like, that want to dig in and get the information, and then have a greater understanding of any risks involved.
He added the app works by creating a series of nodes for all the people or companies involved in the supply chain. Each user is required to upload either documents or pictures to the various nodes, which administrators at the top of the chain can check and verify.
“Because we’re dealing so far upstream in the supply chain, we’re not necessarily asking for great documentation,” he explains. “What we’re trying to do is connect all the actors in the process.
“For the farmers, there’s typically only one or two requirements that just require them to take a picture of one document or another, then they get greenlit and they can pass that on to the person that’s buying from them.
“The person who is buying from them then has to reconfirm the information by tagging, and that just follows down the supply chain. The buyers do not need all of the information, but they need to have access to all of the information that is available.
“So, when it gets to the point of export, a supply chain tree is populated. You can see the whole tree and if you need to dig deeper, you can dig into each one of those nodes. ”
The app has already been tested with seafood supply chains in Vietnam, Thailand and India and palm oil producers in Honduras, but McNevin said it will work for any food supply chain, like dairy or beef.
He said the added transparency the app will bring will also help “decouple” habitat conversion from food production that is occurring all over the world.
“Traceability in complex supply chains, especially in the developing world, will not be solved with high-tech solutions,” he added.
“Instead, by focusing on cost-effective tools that help organize and link supply chain actors together, we’ll begin to achieve traceability results that deliver big impact. That’s why we developed transparenC – to break down barriers to advancing traceability and make it accessible to all. ”
The founder of Republic Systems, Robert Hughes said they became involved with the project because the “need for mobile technology for first-mile actors fits well with our capabilities and we believe sustainability is a moral imperative.”
Hughes added: “By building the apps with open source libraries and creating a unique user experience for imaging, offline, and trace map, transparenC allows for users on vessels / farms to build complex traces using simple apps with no license fees. We are excited to continue with the World Wildlife Fund in bringing this important tech to suppliers who strive for true sustainability. ”


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The constant back and forth between the two companies in competition can sometimes be humorous to sit back and watch. That changes to an extent when you are more of a fan of one than the other, and hope for a certain victory to appear. This more than likely sums up over millions of kids and adults currently tuned into the PlayStation v Xbox war that is still going strong.
Just which company has the stronger console is always a fraud argument. The main reason for that is you can’t simply look at the specs and decide which one performs better any more than you can look at a car engine size and judge which one will win a race. There’s just too many variables. All that and we haven’t even started talking about the price yet. That is only in regards to hardware. If we look further, it goes deeper.
Marketing and PR plays a big role in the success of a console. This is something Xbox is all too familiar with of late, when they made potential customers very upset with their “no buying of second-hand games” policy. Combine that with the likes of no gaming unless you have an online connection, and it was becoming increasingly clear just how much they had shot themselves in the foot and were left sinking behind the 8 ball. All that had happened and people hadn’t even taken a look at the TV screen to check out graphics yet.
Whether this move by the Redmond company is directly related or not, they have come out today with the announcement of a really cool, never seen before, feature. The feature I’m talking about is being able to play games before the game has finished downloading.
It today’s day and age, people don’t have a lot of spare time. The part with technology that is constantly striving for further improvements is how long something takes to finish. Whether it is a website loading, or a game, finishing it’s downloaded, we all sit back and wait for it to hurry up. This aspect plays an integral role, just as much as implementing new ideas does.
Just how Xbox are managing to make this happen, is unclear. However, you can bet that it has PlayStation is attempting to match, or better yet. Will they be able to come up with something similar? You can never count them out. Furthermore, does this bump Microsoft’s gaming console into the lead? According to statistics, Microsoft’s Xbox One was already in the lead before this news broke today.
It’s amazing how quickly one company can pick things back up, and how quickly another one can sink.


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Six Apart, the company behind Movable Type publishing software and the TypePad hosted blogging service, has announced that they have sold the LiveJournal consumer blogging platform to SUP. The Russian media company had been managing the LiveJournal platform in that country for Six Apart since October 2006. Six Apart originally acquired LiveJournal in January 2005. The move would appear to position the company to focus more on business publishing rather than personal blogs.
“We have a tremendous respect for the LiveJournal community, and are pleased to see that LiveJournal, Inc. will continue to build on LiveJournal’s rich user experience. We have been impressed by the expertise and enthusiasm that SUP has brought to LiveJournal in Russia. They’ve introduced new features, nearly doubled the number of users, invested in key product enhancements, and have done justice to one of the most innovative online social networks in the world. Judging both by SUP’s track record and their eagerness to create a new user advisory board to oversee the community’s interests, this is clearly a good fit,” stated Chris Alden, CEO and Chairman of Six Apart.
“Having gotten to know LiveJournal in Russia over the past year we see enormous potential in developing the business worldwide; it has already showed its durability in America. We believe this is a great opportunity,” said Andrew Paulson, CEO of SUP.