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Apple may have a tougher than expected challenge persuading a US court to invalidate HTC LTE patents, with the trade judge presiding over the trial already agreeing with HTC on key issues of ownership. Justice Thomas Pender said he would likely dismiss Apple arguments that HTC does not correctly own the two patents in question, Businessweek reports, telling the Cupertino firm’s lawyer that “I don’t care if they bought these patents to sue you or not.”
“[The patents] are a property right” Judge Pender concluded. HTC bought the patents as part of an overall portfolio for $75m back in April 2011, and promptly used some of the IP to sue Apple. At the time, HTC said its strategy was “to protect itself and its customers from these aggressive tactics and to preserve its ability to compete in the United States.”
Apple, however, argues that the patents are invalid, a stance it sounds like Pender will take plenty of persuading on. “Clear and convincing means something to me,” the judge said, “I have to be pretty darn certain a U.S. patent is invalid.” “Clear and convincing” are the two elements a company or individual must satisfy to prove a patent invalid once granted.
Pender has already shown he is clued into the tech scene, asking Apple’s lawyers whether the September 12 event is, indeed, to launch a new LTE-enabled iPhone. “It will be thinner and the screen bigger?” he asked lawyer Michael McKeon, pointing out “that’s what the blogs are saying.”
However, McKeon declined to comment on the new phone, saying he had not been informed of Apple’s launch plans.
Not all of the case has been swinging HTC’s way, however. Pender rejected some of HTC’s patents, which the company had acquired from Google, over concerns that the agreement between the two companies did not, in fact, give it sufficient ownership control.
Apple has already been feathering its war chest of LTE IP. The company has bought and developed around 434 LTE patents to pre-emptively protect its devices, having been publicly warned by Samsung that the South Korean company would aggressively challenge any 4G Apple devices.


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It was one year ago that we announced the grand opening of the Magenta Sister Stores. We dedicated hundreds of hours of work toward the recruitment of these two businesses which now occupy 3 1/2 previously empty storefronts on the southeast corner of Pratt and California, across the street from the newly constructed Agudah Israel Congregation, a block from Congregation KINS, and three streets from the new building of Khal Chasidim. The proposed new location of the Veitzener Cheder on the site of the former ATT/ICJA building is one street away. To celebrate their first year in business, we encourage you to support Magenta by taking advantage of their anniversary sale.Please remember that all of our small businesses are mission critical to the fabric of the neighborhood. Many of their products cannot be found elsewhere.
A sale flyer is attached and we encourage you to spread the word. A new Magenta website is coming soon too, so stay tuned!
We stand ready to assist other home-based businesses that may be ready to consider a commercial location, which as in the case of Magenta can increase visibility and make their products more accessible to the community.
Subscribe to news and event alerts!

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As temperatures approach near 80 degrees on the first full day of fall Wednesday, restaurant owners know using outdoor spaces to increase their footprint could soon face another challenge - winter snow and frigid temperatures.
The pandemic forced restrictions on businesses and several couldn't survive. Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter announced this week - 25 percent of small businesses there closed for good and 156,000 jobs went with it, mainly because of COVID-19.
Fast forward two years later and McGhee is launching his second business - Storm Cigar and Hookah Lounge but this time he is opening it with his own funding.
On Sept. 9 gyms can reopen at a limited capacity, but Fuse 45 will instead be conducting outdoor classes.
The industry has been at a standstill due to the COVID-19 shutdown which began in March.
And looking forward, Huntington is investing in Michigan's community efforts related to entrepreneurship, job training and financial education.
It wasn't the announcement workers in those struggling shuttered industries were expecting to hear after being shut down for months to fight COVID-19
"I went to hair school," said Leslie Williams. "I've been in the beauty industry all my life, my grandmother was a hairstylist and I have a lot of women in my family who are hairstylists."
These activists believe the longer the wait, the number of people who will suffer increases.
There are rumblings in Lansing that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will announce that movie theaters, gyms, bowling alleys, and the like can reopen after Labor Day. Most have been closed since mid-March.
Bowling alleys have been closed since March as part of the statewide COVID-19 shutdown. Now with other businesses reopening, a lawsuit has been filed asking a judge to order the state to allow bowling alleys to re-open.
But as of Friday, he was able to offer his customers something convenient that other pot businesses can't - a first of its kind drive-thru service.
The training covers topics that include identifying startup expenses to funding sources. But it does not stop there.
BoxPop is a new custom shipping container company based in Traverse City called BoxPop. Matt Egan says BoxPop’s parent company - Britten, had been importing a lot of print material that would show up in large shipping containers.
Meet Nailah Ellis, the CEO of Ellis Island Tea. It is the largest black female beverage manufacturer in the country, but despite that accolade, her company represents less than 1 percent market share. She is determined to continue to grow her company.
TCF Bank is pledging $1 billion in loans to help minority- and women-owned businesses in Detroit and other cities, as part of its investment to uplift communities of color.
COVID-19 has hurt many financially and small businesses appear to be among the groups hit more acutely than ever before. A new program from the Nest Makers United Program is looking to ease some of the burdens by pairing the small grants program for the businesses. Go to Buildanest.org to learn more.
If Undra Mack sounds like a businessman. He is. He's 14 and his brother Austin, is 13. They started their own lawn care company before they were even in the double digits.
Merlino says right now hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money is available for women business owners who've been in business at least three years.
The only criteria are you've got to have a physical location in Macomb County and less than 49 employees. There is about $20 million available.


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Kent Pet Group Inc. has hired John Zigament as vice president of marketing.
Milo’s Kitchen is launching a mobile food experience for dogs and owners.
Cat Art Show LA, a Los Angeles based art exhibit focusing on cats will be returning for a second show in late January of 2015.
The poll showed that 67 percent of the respondents favored tougher breeder standards, compared to 33 percent who supported banning the sale of dogs and cats at local pet stores.
A study found that the demand for packaging will rise 5 percent annually.
Tony de Vos received the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
The money will help research the benefits of pet ownership.
Pet Buddies has been acquired by NorthStar Investors.
On Monday July 21, Phillips was awarded the Distributor of the Year by Pet Age Magazine at a dinner in Las Vegas.
Cardinal Pet held an awards ceremony July 22 honoring recipients of the Cardinal Crystal Grooming Achievement Award.
The Cardinal Crystal Awards, held during SuperZoo in Las Vegas, honored the best of the best in the grooming industry.
Lincoln Bark has received the “Abe’s Golden Bear Award” given by Abe’s Market for excellence in pet products for 2014.
The Pet Health Helpline, a platform that connects pet owners with experts and animal hospitals has officially processed over 10,000 pet owner questions.
K9 Fit Club introduced an online certification program for human/canine fitness certificate.
World’s Best Cat Litter is now a sponsor of Animal Behavior College’s Cat Management and Training Education Program (CEP).


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Forbes and MarketShare Partners announce Innovative Accountability Offering for Forbes Advertisers
“It’s never been more important for marketers to understand exactly how their marketing efforts translate to the bottom line,” said Kevin Gentzel, President and Group Publisher, Forbes Media.
“Forbes is delivering on this promise of accountability with MarketShare Partners’ breakthrough CompassTM solution, which definitively links an advertiser’s investment with Forbes with revenue and outcomes rather than just impressions or eyeballs.”
CompassTM is the only business intelligence software on the market that objectively and effectively advises marketers on how much and where to invest both their on and offline marketing dollars, connecting these recommendations to tangible business results. The Forbes Brand Intelligence Group will work with advertisers to answer questions about their business including specific industry trends, markets of operation, current marketing allocation and more than 30 other variables to help determine the recommendations. Based on this input, Compass’sTM sophisticated algorithms make recommendations to the advertiser on how best to allocate their marketing resources across all touch points, including television, radio, print and search, display, social media and other forms of advertising.
“Forbes has been a leader in transforming the world of advertising to make it more actionable and accountable,” said Wes Nichols, Co-Founder and CEO, MarketShare Partners. “MSP has created sophisticated software in CompassTM that will make a tremendous difference in helping Forbes advise their clients on how to most effectively allocate their resources, as well as definitively proving impact of its media on marketers’ sales.”


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PRINCE WILLIAM has put his foot down and stood up to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, according to a leading royal expert.
AMAZON Prime Day is quickly approaching and soon thousands of people will be able to access a range of deals through the digital giant. While many consumers will be keen to look out for the best...
KATE, the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William will be looking to build upon their strong reputation in the public eye to better fit their future roles in the Royal Family.
SCOTTISH football fans have ignored a Met Police plea to remain socially distanced this evening as thousands have lined the streets of London ahead of tonight's clash with England.
VITAMIN B12 is so integral for the proper functioning of the body when a person lacks in the essential vitamin a variety of peculiar signs may develop. Feeling a certain sensation along the back...
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A US department store has launched in-store pop-up installations that will feature new brands on a temporary basis.
At Springwise, we have published many retail innovations, from in-store AR experiences to a zero-packaging grocery store. A new retail innovation called the Carousel comes from US department store Bloomingdales. The Carousel will be host to a series of pop-up installations within Bloomingdales, creating a ‘store-within-a-store’. Launching in four locations in California and New York, the Carousal will take up 1,000 square feet in each store. Each installation will operate for two months before rotating to a new concept.
The first concept to launch on September 6 will be ‘Urban Explorer’. Created by Eugene Tong, a fashion consultant and stylist, the installation will feature video content of dramatic New York City scenes displayed from the floors to the ceiling. ‘Urban Explorer’ will feature sportswear from new brands chosen exclusively for the installation and also a selection of current Bloomingdale’s merchandise. In addition to the installations, each space will host events such as fitness classes and food tastings. Some upcoming events include a vegan chocolate tasting session by Cioccolada and a meditation class by District Vision.
Frank Berman, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Bloomingdale’s, said: “We want to make sure we’re driving both interest and traffic. While we’re looking to acquire new customers, sell-through is important. It’s not meant to be just an exhibit – it’s an interactive shopping experience and [a way of] tracking new customer acquisition.”


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Crypto wallet MetaMask is warning its community of users about possible phishing attacks through Apple’s iCloud service. In a tweet on April 17, the company warned its users that the encrypted passwords for their accounts, called MetaMask vaults, will be uploaded to Apple’s cloud service if the iCloud backup option is enabled on the app. As a result, a phishing account that compromises a user’s iCloud account will also compromise their passwords and hence their crypto wallets.
The target received multiple text messages asking to reset his Apple account and the attacker then followed up with a call from a spoofed Apple Inc. number pretending to be the firm’s support agents investigating suspicious activity on his account.
The victim followed the instructions and provided the fake support agents the six-digit verification code received from Apple. Soon, his MetaMask wallet was emptied.
The hackers had already requested one final Apple account password reset and all they needed was the additional verification to access the victim’s iCloud data where the MetaMask seed was backed up. This allowed them to steal $655,388 worth of crypto.
MetaMask has issued a warning to Apple users, so they don’t find themselves at the wrong end of this iCloud phishing hack.
MetaMask detailed how to remove the automatic backup function from their Apple devices. In a statement via their Twitter page, they acknowledged the hack on Sunday evening. They said, “If you have enabled iCloud backup for app data, this will include your password-encrypted MetaMask vault. If your password isn’t strong enough, and someone phishes your iCloud credentials, this can mean stolen funds.”.
The post shows how to do this and will undoubtedly save some people’s Crypto funds and NFTs. However, this will come as a late consolation for those who have already fallen victim to this iCloud MetaMask phishing scam.
To keep your digital assets safe from such tricky attacks, make sure to exclude MetaMask from iCloud backups via Settings > Profile > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups.
The two-factor authentication code is a temporary secret that should not be shared with anyone, regardless how convincing a call, email, or SMS may appear. Official representatives would never ask for it.
Additionally, cryptocurrency users can keep their assets safer in a cold wallet if they’re not actively trading them instead of the MetaMask hot wallet.
Finally, keeping your investments out of social media and other public channels make you less of a target as hackers are keeping an eye for fresh, high-value victims.


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OIL Malaysian palm oil is projected to trade between RM3,800 and RM4,200 a tonne for the period up to the second quarter of 2023 as palm oil production is expected to recover slightly next year.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), Wan Aishah Wan Hamid said that higher demand for palm oil, fluctuations in Brent crude oil prices and geopolitical tensions remain factors in determining the direction of price movements.
He said that since the last few weeks, the price of palm oil has started to see an upward trend due to the weaker Malaysian ringgit and concerns about supply due to floods in Indonesia and Malaysia.
This will ensure that the price of palm oil remains high and stays between RM4,000 and RM4,400 a tonne until December 2022, he said.
“For the medium term, the ongoing Russian and Ukrainian crises will remain a factor and palm oil supply growth is likely to plateau next year.
“The price is likely to remain between RM3,900 and RM4,300 a tonne until March 2023,” he said during a presentation at the Palm Oil Internet Seminar (POINTERS) on Monday.
In terms of palm oil stocks, Wan Aishah said, Malaysia’s palm oil stocks are in a decreasing trend from December 2021 to April 2022, causing higher prices to be recorded because stock levels have an inverse relationship with prices.
He said however, since May 2022, stock levels have increased and prices have decreased.
In September 2022, local palm oil stocks exceeded 2.3 million tonnes, the highest level in 18 months and the price of palm oil continued to decline to the lowest level since June 2021, he said.
Meanwhile, local palm oil production is expected to decrease for the third year in 2022 as the lack of farm workers continues to affect the harvest in the country.
MPOC projects CPO production in Malaysia in 2022 to reach 18.08 million tons.
He said however, as the world’s largest producer, Indonesia will record a slight increase in palm oil production contributed mainly by the newly matured palm oil plantation areas.
Palm oil production in Indonesia is projected to reach 46.6 million tons.
“The current rainy season is expected to result in floods that will further reduce production in both countries,” he said.
Wan Aishah said the global palm oil production forecast in 2022 was 77.2 million tonnes while consumption was 76.8 million tonnes.
Palm oil will still maintain its position as the world leader in oil and fat supply, he said.
POINTERS, a web seminar organized by MPOC, highlights the theme of ‘Mitigating The Next Wave Of Market Uncertainties’ for this edition.
A total of eight presentations will be made covering topics such as the importance of palm oil in the uncertain edible oil situation, the performance of the palm oil industry, approaches to overcome global palm oil challenges and the palm oil hub for East Africa.
The four-day seminar ends on 18 November 2022. – Bernama
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Photo courtesy of Mobile World Live
The fight between the European Union and Apple on standardising the charging port as USB-C port has come to an end. According to the latest report, the law passes with 602 votes in favour, 13 against and 8 abstentions. It means that Apple would have to switch from the Lightning port to the USB-C port by 2024.
The law not only focuses on Apple's products, of course. It states that "regardless of their manufacturer, all new mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones and headsets, handheld videogame consoles and portable speakers, e-readers, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systems, earbuds and laptops that are rechargeable via a wired cable, operating with a power delivery of up to 100 Watts, will have to be equipped with a USB Type-C port." Therefore, any electronic product that goes into the region must abide by the law.
Rumour has it, Apple could be waiting to ditch the Lightning port on iPhones until the first portless model. However, it seems quite impossible now, and famous analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported earlier this year that Apple would switch to USB-C in the iPhone 15. Furthermore, the USB4 spec announced only last month reveals an improvement that offers data transfer speeds of up to 80GBps, which could persuade Apple further to make the switch.
What do you think about the news? Leave a comment to let us know your opinion, and stay tuned to TechNave.com for more tech reports.


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Apple Has Trouble Selling iAds
Mar 24, 2011, 5:50 PM
Apple is having problems selling iAds -- its touted in-app ad product -- and retaining sales talent, reports Business Insider. The original price of iAds -- $1 million -- is now $500,000. Also, there is little room to negotiate price, which media buyers prefer.


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Emerging markets like India, Brazil are new arenas for smartphone battle
Emerging nations are the new battleground for smartphone makers. But brands such as Apple and Samsung may have priced themselves out of markets that want cheaper and simpler gadgets, writes Jamie Carter
Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy S4 might be the smartphones of choice in rich countries, but high-priced handsets are rapidly becoming a niche market as manufacturers and operators look for their next one billion users.
The likes of the Nokia, ZTE, Lenovo and Huawei are producing a swathe of low-cost, low-power devices that offer what people in developing countries want, while app developers are beginning to concentrate on designing apps primarily for emerging markets.
With changing demographics and the emergence of a middle class in places such as India, China, Nigeria and Latin America, are we about to see a global shift in the smartphone market?
It's a question of saturation. For example, in Hong Kong, the battle for the smartphone market was played out long ago. It has a remarkable penetration rate of 87 per cent, according to a study late last year by Flurry Analytics, which found only one other market - Singapore, at 92 per cent - where smartphones were more prevalent. Sweden, the United States, Britain, Australia and South Korea all hover around the 75 per cent mark, which makes them equally unappealing places to do business for mobile operators looking for big profits.
Apple and Google devices are too pricey for those in developing countries, so we are starting to see more basic smartphones dominate there. Take phones such as Nokia's 105, which has a colour screen, FM radio and a flashlight for a mere HK$150, or the Finnish firm's new 301, a bare-bones internet/e-mail smartphone costing just HK$650.
Lenovo's LePhone A586 - an Android gadget enabled with data storage system Baidu Cloud and voice unlock - sells for HK$1,264 on the mainland, compared to HK$5,588 for an iPhone 5.
High-end smartphones are packed with technology that potential customers in developing countries simply are not interested in: voice recognition, eye tracking and high-resolution photography are not must-haves. Besides, the clones are already out in force. In China, there are several iPhone 5 clone phones, normally based on Android, on sale for less than HK$700. In the long run, such phones are bound to be provided by mobile operators desperate for a share of such a huge market.
But in some respects, more expensive phones may save users money in the long run - especially when it comes to the cost of a phone call.
"Calling apps have made cheaper smartphones far more enticing by undercutting feature phones, offering longer-term savings and greater coverage in exchange for a slightly larger upfront cost," says Graeme Hutchinson, who runs Ghost Telecom, producer of free-calling app FooTalk.
Apps like these are designed to help users in developing countries take advantage of the growth of free or cheap Wi-fi zones, which attempt to "patch" gaps in mobile infrastructures.
It's all fuelling a more flexible and increasingly global outlook from mobile operators and app makers. "For operators, developed markets are at over-saturation point and we're seeing a reduction in new user take-up," says Hutchinson. "Operator growth, therefore, has to come from emerging and developing markets. With data services central to the future of mobile, operators' traditional geographical boundaries are disappearing and they are looking to global strategies that embrace the developing world."
On a recent visit to rural India, I saw how fast the mobile phone is penetrating even the most far-flung areas.
In a remote village on Bali Island, in West Bengal, there is no mains power, very few vehicles, and the nearest hospital is a 90-minute boat ride away. There is, however, a strong mobile signal from Vodafone India throughout and the mobile phone is ubiquitous. A basic handset costs about 600 rupees (HK$85) and can be recharged in the same small kiosks that sell air time. Most crucially, calls to anywhere in India cost a mere rupee per minute, which makes the medium instantly affordable to the 1.2 billion population.
"India's huge population used to be its biggest problem, but it's quickly becoming its biggest asset," a local NGO worker says. "One rupee per minute? It's unbelievable."
There's another aspect of developing countries' thirst for smartphones that makes the iPhone and even Google's Android unsuitable for the next billion users. Both are locked systems that require users to have an account with Apple or Google, in addition to paying their local mobile operators for air time and web access. In developing countries, where banking is far less common, this approach does not work.
"The current App store model present in the West, which requires consumer credit or debit card details, is not one that can be easily transferred across emerging markets," says Marco Veremis, chief executive of marketing technology company Upstream.
Veremis thinks the unique billing and marketing relationship that mobile network operators have with consumers in emerging markets put them in pole position - and not the likes of Apple.
A great example of all of these trends is Telefónica's plans for Latin America. The Spanish mobile operator - which has links with multinationals such as América Móvil, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom and SingTel - isn't just moving its focus to markets such as Venezuela and Brazil, it's also bringing a new business model based on a brand new smartphone operating system called Firefox.
"Latin America is not being well-addressed by current offerings," says Dan Appelquist, the open web advocate at Telefónica Digital. "High-end smartphones are priced out of the reach of the vast majority of consumers and we see low-end Android devices offering a very poor experience."
Telefónica thinks Firefox - a completely open-source platform that essentially allows users to tweak, copy and distribute the software for free, can host any app and enables users to pay only the mobile operator - is far more suited to emerging markets than "walled garden" platforms.
Telefónica isn't alone; Lenovo and Baidu will soon be launching their cheap smartphones in Brazil, where penetration is a mere 14 per cent, while Nokia is heavily promoting its low-cost Windows smartphones in emerging nations - with a focus on India.
So are the likes of Apple and Google on the back foot? Samsung and Nokia top consumers' wish lists in emerging economies, followed only then by Apple, according to Upstream's 2013 Emerging Markets Mobile Attitudes report, which polled consumers in Brazil, India, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia on mobile data consumption and attitudes to mobile devices.
Although 16 per cent in those countries are willing to spend more than HK$3,500, the majority are looking for a smartphone for less than HK$775 to HK$2,300. It might be the most famous of the lot, but the iPhone in its current form isn't the future - and the winners will be the network operators, not smartphone makers.


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Teddy Santis’ first New Balance MADE IN USA collection looks to be just around the corner. After hinting at an early spring release in a recent interview with BoF, the creative director has since taken to his own personal Instagram account to tease an aerial view of what looks to be his debut capsule.
The Aimé Leon Dore founder — who was unveiled as New Balance USA’s creative director last year — looks to have included the 574 and 990v6 (a silhouette teased by Santis midway through last year), as well as what looks like any of the 991, 992 or 993 series.
Doused in a myriad of seasonal hues like a vibrant orange, crisp white, rich red and New Balance’s signature grey, all signs are pointing towards an imminent release although drop information for now is limited to “later this spring”.
Keep up-to-date with release info here, as well as via Teddy Santis’ IG account.
In other sneaker news, New Balance has unveiled a 574 in collaboration with BEAMS.
Source: Read Full Article


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Corte Madera, Calif., April 25 2006 – Restoration Hardware Inc. today announced a Los Angeles warehouse sale at Fairplex Saturday, May 13 and Sunday, May 14, 2006.
The Los Angeles warehouse sale is the second of two upcoming warehouse sales in the southern California area. The first event will take place at the Del Mar Fairgrounds Friday, May 5 and Saturday, May 6, 2006.
The Restoration Hardware warehouse sale will feature over 5,000 pieces of discontinued, new in-box and not-quite-perfect furniture at a savings of up to 50% off. Items will move quickly so come prepared with a truck or van. Delivery options will be available on sale days only. Both cash and credit card accepted and all sales are final.
The Restoration Hardware warehouse sale event at Fairplex is two days only – Saturday, May 13, from 9am to 6pm and Sunday, May 14, from 9am to 4pm. It is located at 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona, CA 91768.


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Bold Commerce, the ecommerce technology company that powers checkout, subscriptions, and pricing experiences for leading retailers and DTC brands, announces its partnership with commercetools. commercetools is recognized by Gartner, Forrester, and IDC as a leader in digital and headless commerce. The company chose Bold Commerce as its first subscription solutions partner. As part of the Bold Checkout Experience Suite, Bold Subscriptions offers brands the ability to launch creative subscription models, seamlessly integrated into custom checkout experiences, and served to any digital channel where brands interact with shoppers.
Marketing Technology News: Vericast Survey: How Deals Play a Role in Return to Pre-Pandemic Activities
“Commerce is happening everywhere, and shoppers expect online and offline experiences to be connected”
With consumers spending as much as seven hours a day online, there is growing demand among retail brands to improve shopping experiences across traditional ecommerce and in-store channels, and expand operations into the digital channels consumers are engaging with everyday. However, given that cart abandonment rates continue to run at 70% or higher, delivering streamlined and intuitive checkout experiences across multiple channels remains a significant challenge for retailers.
commercetools predicted the need to decouple the front-end user experience with back-end ecommerce since its founding in 2010, introducing the concept of “headless commerce.” The company has since grown its marketplace of third-party solutions to augment its platform capabilities. Together, Bold Commerce and commercetools now enable brands to create fully customizable checkout experiences across all channels.
Bold Commerce’s partnership with commercetools will give retail brands the ability to re-architect away from the checkout limitations of legacy platforms such as Oracle, SAP/Hybris, and Magento. Brands can take a composable or modular approach to building their commerce architecture, but without having to build their checkout from scratch. This will increase their speed to market, give them flexibility, and de-risk their replatforming efforts.
“Commerce is happening everywhere, and shoppers expect online and offline experiences to be connected,” says Yvan Boisjoli, CEO and Co-founder of Bold Commerce. “Our partnership with commercetools will enable brands to design their commerce experiences around what consumers want to buy, where they want to buy, and when they want to buy it.”
Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview With George Donovan, Chief Revenue Officer at Allego
Last year, omnichannel luxury menswear retailer Harry Rosen unveiled its two-phase digital transformation, which began with the architecting of its headless foundation, in partnership with commercetools and Bold Commerce. The brand’s vision called for the reimagining the role of checkout beyond taking payments, to becoming the orchestration hub that unified the experience across channels. Now, checkout is the backbone of some of the retailer’s most mission critical capabilities, including BOPIS, in-store processing of online returns, and the instant checkout experience shoppers get when they click through outfit recommendations, curated specifically for them by Harry Rosen’s Clothing Advisors.
Bold Commerce is now available on the commercetools Integration Marketplace, which includes a set of pre-built solutions that allow brands to launch new commerce experiences in weeks, not months. Bold Checkout offers optimized templates and pre-built integrations to dozens of payment gateways, along with digital wallets, tax, fraud, shipping solutions, and more. Brands can also add on Bold Subscriptions to introduce fully customized and branded recurring revenue subscription programs.
“Our commitment to composable commerce embraces partners like Bold Commerce who go deep into specific focus areas and add to our core platform’s extensibility,” says Kelly Goetsch, Chief Product Officer at commercetools. “Bold provides brands with the building blocks they need to differentiate themselves through custom checkout experiences on any channel.”
Together, Bold Commerce and commercetools aim to eliminate commerce that is siloed by channels and enable brands to assemble best-in-breed, multi-channel experiences that reflect how they want to enable commerce to meet continuously evolving customer expectations.


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GameStop Hearing Exposes a Sick Business Model Destined to Exacerbate Wealth Inequality in America
April 4, 2023
Pam Martens and Russ Martens
View full article ›
An exchange between Congresswoman Cindy Axne of Iowa and CEO of Robinhood Vlad Tenev "opened a window into a sick business model on Wall Street that is pumping out billionaires like Citadel’s Ken Griffin while seducing young people with the gamification of trading."


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Over the weekend, Twitter suspended multiple accounts related to militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, according to The Wall Street Journal. The move represents a reversal from Twitter's previous position on the two organizations. In the past, the com… from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/32hhkER via IFTTTWeiterlesen "Twitter bans accounts related to Hamas and Hezbollah November 04, 2019 at 10:49PM"
Uber fährt Verluste ein, übertrifft aber die Erwartungen der Analysten. Aktie des Fahrdienstvermittlers bricht zum Börsenschluss vier Prozent ein. from Handelsblatt Online – Technologie https://ift.tt/2NdMXLg via IFTTTWeiterlesen "Quartalszahlen: Uber übertrifft Umsatzerwartungen – Verlust ausgeweitet November 04, 2019 at 10:27PM"
Zur Eröffnung der Mega-Konferenz Web Summit treten ausgerechnet die momentan ärgsten Feindfiguren der US-Netzpolitik auf. Einig sind sie sich nicht. from Handelsblatt Online – Technologie https://ift.tt/2NImZ1g via IFTTTWeiterlesen "Techmesse in Portugal: Snowden warnt vor Datenklau, der Huawei-Chef freut sich auf 5G November 04, 2019 at 09:51PM"
In the wake of several high-profile streamer departures from Twitch to Mixer, Jack "CouRage" Dunlop is also jumping ship. But instead of going to Microsoft's platform, CouRage will stream exclusively on YouTube. from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2CaPy2b via IFTTTWeiterlesen "Top Twitch streamer CouRage jumps to YouTube November 04, 2019 at 10:03PM"
In an interview with the BBC about his new game, Death Stranding, Hideo Kojima mentioned that his studio, Kojima Productions, will venture into filmmaking. This idea isn't exactly a surprising one; Kojima is famous for taking a film-like approach to… from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2NjhqYt via IFTTTWeiterlesen "Hideo Kojima says his game studio may venture into filmmaking November 04, 2019 at 09:14PM"
In order for delivery robots to drop your takeout, package or meal-kit at the door, they'll need to be able to find the door. In most cases, that requires mapping a location in advance so that the robot knows where to go. But to do that on a large sc… from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2WFUGVm […]Weiterlesen "MIT and Ford help delivery robots navigate to your doorstep November 04, 2019 at 08:52PM"
After first launching in Japan last year, Google is bringing its Play Store rewards program to the US. Starting this week, you'll be able to enroll in Google Play Points, allowing you to earn rewards by using the company's digital marketplace. from Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2JQFhfN via IFTTTWeiterlesen "Google’s Play Points program rewards you for downloading apps November 04, 2019 at 08:31PM"
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Dairy-free macaroni and cheese might seem like a contradiction, but ATX Vegans are determined to bring together comfort food and animal comfort.
The Texas Mac n’ Cheeze Off will kick off August 6 to showcase the different ways the popular cheesy pasta plate can be made without the use of cheese itself. Hosted at Mission: Possible! by ATX Vegan and ATX Vegan Drinks, the event will take place from 2–5 p.m. as competitors line up with their vegan creations for visitors to taste test and vote the best.
“(Vegan mac and cheese) is a cool thing for people to try because it is one of those things people don’t think could be made vegan or wouldn’t be enjoyable because it has ‘fake cheese’ or ‘fake sauce,’” ATX Vegans co-founder Britty Hamby said.
Hamby said after taking over ATX Vegan Drinks with her partner last year, they launched ATX Vegans. They hope to educate citizens about more animal-friendly ways of enjoying popular foods and create a community for those who wish to follow the same lifestyle.
Now, Hamby said the Texas Mac n’ Cheeze Off, based on a similar event in Philadelphia, will be their first larger-scale event. She said the participants, some of whom are not vegan, are of mixed levels of expertise and winners will be determined by a combination of attendees and guest judges opinions.
“The rules are you can make any kind of macaroni and cheese that you want,” Hamby said. “It just has to be vegan, which means it can’t have dairy, meat, or anything else that comes from an animal.”
Competitor Megan Newhouse-Bailey said she will be preparing a regular and a gluten-free option, using ingredients such as vegan wedge, shred and cream cheese, a nut-based sauce and chickpea miso for a tangy, cheddar-like flavor. She hopes her recipe will show the public the vegan community can be fun, warm and welcoming and that vegan food does not have to be as weird as Austin.
“I may be making macaroni and cheese with untraditional ingredients, but it is going to taste like your grandma’s macaroni and cheese,” Newhouse-Bailey said.
A longtime vegan, Newhouse-Bailey said this diet came naturally to her as she was never attracted to eating animal products. When she got older and realized not eating them at all was possible, she made her lifestyle choice.
“There was a lady who ran a restaurant near my parents’ house who would call me little vegetable girl because that was all I would ever eat,” Newhouse-Bailey said.
Karena DiNapoli said she and her husband were originally drawn to the vegan lifestyle for health reasons, but have since become passionate about protecting animals by not consuming dairy products. Though they had to drop out of this year’s festival, their signature homestyle recipe is something they continue to develop and improve.
“It’s a hobby that is a part of our life,” DiNapoli said. “This is something we want to do in the future (and) we do it because it is our passion. We are really excited to get more people involved in changing the way they eat (and) buy things, and changing one heart at a time, seeing the planet become better and better.”
Newhouse-Bailey said she looks forward to showing attendees that though these dishes might not be prepared in a common way, they will still leave you with the happiness of the comfort favorite — but less of the guilt.
“We may go about things a different way, but we make really delicious food that is better for your body, the environment (and) the animals,” Newhouse-Bailey said.


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Users dissatisfied with the price vs performance aspect with 86% agreeing that best-in-class performance in devices such as OnePlus One, POCO F1, Mi3, Redmi K20, and K20 pro should be affordable.Under 30K smartphone segment has reached a level of saturation and it demands innovation and cutting-edge performance for user loyalty61% of users in the 30K smartphone segment change their phones within 1 year due to a lack of performanceSpeed of the device is one of the major challenges users are facing, followed by battery back-up and technical glitches like theRead more
92% of the smart home users responded that voice-control has made it convenient to set up a smart home.More than 90% of users have purchased their first smart home device in the last two years.Besides smart speakers, smart TV (81%), smart lights (56%) and smart ACs (55%) are the top 3 home appliances that are mostly operated using voice.Recommendations from friends & family, advertisements (TV and online ads), and social media are the top three sources of information about smart home.
Bangalore / Gurugram: As the usage of smart homeRead more
Indian unicorn growth story being led by male founders48% of surveyed women in non-metros eager become tech entrepreneurs vis-à-vis 23% in metrosAccess to capital, lack of mentors and even societal acceptance continue to be challenges for women entrepreneurs
New Delhi: Sheatwork, a one-stop knowledge hub for women entrepreneurs, today unveiled a report on ‘State of Women Tech Entrepreneurship in India’ in partnership with Techarc, a leading technology analytics, research, and consultancy firm.
The report highlights that while the number of female students in leading engineering institutes like the IITs has increased fromRead more
Not just smartphones, users expect 5G to bring a difference to smart devices experience and usage as well.
With rapidly changing lifestyle powered by technology, smart devices becoming the preference of users across socio-economic demographics in India.
Gurugram – In its latest study on Smart Devices in India, Techarc today said that the consumers are reinforcing their ‘smartisation’ process by purchasing individual personal use gadgets as well as devices for home / office automation.
While covid-19 pandemic impact is considered as among key drivers behind this trend, the rapid growth of wired home broadband after aggressive fibre rollout of telecom operators has added as a key enabler. India had 23.13Read more
Apple reports maximum brand reputation issues while OPPO tops the Brand Reputation Index among key smartphone OEMs in India.
Gurugram – In its first Brand Reputation Index (BRIX) measuring the risk score of potential frauds and scams that can be done leveraging a Brand’s equity, Techarc today said that smartphone brands having strong consumer pull report most of the reputation issues caused by infringement of brands in the digital space.
The three main techniques of brand infringement identified are: –
Fake Gratification: Instances where scammers infringe any brand’s identity by offering fakeRead more
Amid rising online channel shares for smartphones, the offline trade channel needs to renovate to stay afloat.
For the festive quarter of Oct-Dec, 58% of the smartphones expected to be sold over online channels by volume, contributing more than 52% of the total value sales.
Techarc recently launched Smart Seller Initiative, which is an exclusive information and insights programme for the trade channels to bridge the information deficiency gap in among retailers and other trade partners of the brands. In a dipstick survey done by Techarc in 2019, within NCR, it was found that 7 out of 10 retailers in the offline do not see brands educating themRead more
Owing to superior camera quality and battery performance, smartphone maker Tecno emerges as the ‘most rewarding smartphone brand’ in Rs 6,000-12,000 segment in India.
In a consumer study done by Techarc, it was revealed that Camera quality, Battery performance and Audio quality are the three important factors determining the expectations of users wanting to buy a smartphone in Rs 6,000-12,000 price segment. The study was conducted surveying 2,000 smartphone users in Tier 2 cities and towns of the country. These users were using the phone for over 6 months and made up a clear perception about the experience their smartphones were delivering against the expectations for which they had chosen specific brands. The studyRead more
Riding on the positive festive season sentiments, Smart TVs to show record sales of around 11-14 Mn, double than CY2020. Smartphones to continue being the largest contributor of Connected Devices in India.
Announcing the 2nd edition of the India Connected Consumer Devices Report, Techarc today said that Indians are expected to buy connected devices worth ₹ 3,12,689 crore in 2021.
Faisal Kawoosa, Founder and Chief Analyst Techarc said, “The market as well as consumers are upbeat about the festival season which is around the corner. While the concerns of supply still hover over, it is expected that certain categories of smart devices will see record sales due to long term impact of hybrid working models, attractive offers and hybrid channel structure.”
“Brands including Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi,Read more
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra leads the Unboxing Score with an overall score of 789 way above industry benchmark of 505 for the smartphone models launched in 1H 2021 in India
The Unboxing Score analysis was done basis 178 variants announced by various Smartphone OEMs during Jan-Jun 2021. The score is Techarc’s proprietary unique statistically driven value-price measurement making it easy for users to select the smartphone with the maximum value at a given price.
In its 1st edition of Unboxing Score analytics announced by Techarc, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra emerged as the highest value offering smartphone across price segments that were launched during Jan-Jun (1H 2021) in India.
Releasing the Unboxing Score analytics, Faisal Kawoosa, Founder and Chief Analyst,Read more


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GM Sees Africa As The New Growth Frontier and 4 Other Hot Stocks
Africa could be the next growth location for car makers and annual vehicle sales could jump to as much as two million within the next two years, according to GM Africa (NYSE:GM) managing director Mario Spangenberg, who was speaking at the Reuters Africa Investment Summit in Johannesburg. The continent’s rapidly expanding middle class could be the key driver here as it transitions from two-wheelers and old cars to new vehicles introduced by international automakers. Last year GM sold 180,000 vehicles in Africa while rival Toyota (NYSE:TM) sold 237,000. ”The next big market growth will be in Nigeria, where we have no presence. It will take a while,” Spangenberg said. “We need to do a better job there.”
Back in the hot seat at J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP), chief executive Mike Ullman lost no time in dealing with the legal mess that his predecessor Ron Johnson bought for $38.5 million along with a 17 percent stake in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE:MSO). According to the New York Post, Ullman made contact with ex-colleague and current chief of Macy’s (NYSE:M) Terry Lundgren, to thrash out a settlement. The deal: JCP would can the agreement with MSO, but would be allowed to sell its JCP Everyday line of inventory immediately, and thereafter clear the stores of Stewart designed goods within six months.
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) reported net sales in March 2013 of $9.67 billion, up seven percent from the year ago period. Comparable sales in the month were up 5 percent in the US, higher by 2 percent internationally, and up 4 percent across the company.
Liberty Media Corp (NASDAQ:LMCA) follows up its acquisition of a majority stake in Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) with top level appointments in the latter to further enhance its control. Liberty Chief Executive Greg Maffei becomes Sirius Chairman, effective immediately. Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav and Evan Malone, the son of Liberty Chairman John Malone, get nominated to the Sirius Board, the appointments taking effect after clearance by shareholders at an annual meeting in May.
Don’t Miss: 3 Reasons Why Tesla Motors Isn’t a Loser.


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According to new research the rise of new contactless payment methods has lead one in every four people to say that the UK will become a cashless society within the next decade.
The market research, conducted by Equifax, in conjunction with Gorkana Surveys asked 200 people across the UK “How long do you think it will be before we become a ‘cash-less’ society?”
Whilst one out of four people said a decade, 6 per cent said within the next three years and 10 per cent believe the shift to a cashless society will take place over the next five years.
However, nearly a quarter (21 per cent) believes it will take a quarter of a century for the migration to happen.
The general consensus as to what will be the key agent driving the migration to a cashless society appears to be settling on the introduction of Apple Pay and how biometric technology is quickly changing our payment interactions.
“Apple Pay highlights that consumers are now widely receptive to payment approaches which use biometric technology and contactless methods, and are comfortable accepting them as secure payment mechanisms. No longer will we need to rely, it seems, on a pocketful of cash,” said John Marsden, identity and fraud expert at Equifax.
He goes on to say how platforms from companies who have only recently forayed into the fintech industry are dispelling the public’s skepticism about payments security.
“There are still inherent risks for financial institutions and consumers, with understandable scepticism around the associated lower security levels. Apple Pay successfully demonstrates how a person can control the security of their financial transactions through simple technology which, by design, ensures that the person presenting the payment has the authority to do so,” John Marsden added.
The problematic US EMV rollout and the larger question: Is EMV actually protecting retailers against fraud?
In this guest post, Vlad Branin, VP, Professional Services, Zooz, talks about the ins and outs of US EMV adoption: process of rolling out and the specific benefits.
New data from Worldpay, which surveyed 4,000 shoppers in Europe, shows the continent is becoming more tech-savvy and a keen adopter of new payment technology.
Berlin neo bank N26 talks new products, UK launch and the advantages of being based in Berlin.
Just under twenty percent of all card purchases are now being made on contactless cards, according to new data from the UK Cards Association.


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Zendesk states that, as a result of the hack, threat actors had access to unstructured data from a logging platform for a month between September 25th and October 26th, 2022.
On October 25, 2022, Zendesk, a customer service solutions provider, had its security compromised resulting from a sophisticated SMS phishing campaign targeted at its employees.
As a result of the employees’ account credentials being compromised, the threat actor had access to unstructured data from a logging platform for a month between September 25th and October 26th, 2022.
Although the company did not put out an official notice or announcement on its website, impacted customers were emailed with details regarding the security incident.
Coinigy, a virtual wallet services provider, was among those affected and, therefore, received an email from Zendesk support on January 13, 2023. Coinigy’s post regarding the compromise explained that they felt the need to disclose it to their customers and made the email sent by Zendesk public.
“Zendesk determined that Service Data belonging to your coiningy.zendesk.com account may have been in the (exposed) unstructured logging platform data,” the email from Zendesk explained. “There is no evidence suggesting the threat actor accessed the Zendesk instance of your coiningy.zendesk.com account at any time.”
Although Coinigy was informed of the incident in January 2023, it appears that Zendesk notified other victims much earlier. Kraken, a Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange, informed its customers about the Zendesk breach as far back as November.
Kraken stated that the attackers viewed the content of support tickets, which included information such as names, email addresses, dates of birth, and phone numbers. The exchange further added that accounts and funds were not at risk.


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State and local tourism officials joined together last week to hail Savannah’s success as a travel destination, but Georgia’s tourism commish and Savannah’s convention and visitors bureau president voiced different views on the impact of the recently opened convention center at Jekyll Island.
Mark Langston, the state official, said he doesn’t believe the 128,000 square foot center, built seaside and in part with $50 million in state funds, will compete with the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center for business. Savannah’s competition is with bigger markets for bigger conventions. He mentioned cities like Orlando.
Yet Savannah is a popular convention spot for many state associations. Those groups carry Savannah’s convention business in the months of January, July and August and many utilize the city’s smaller convention spaces like the Marriott, Hyatt and Desoto Hilton.
“We will lose business because of it, at least initially,” Marinelli said. “Jekyll will be like a new ice cream shop – you’ll want to try it out.”
And Jekyll isn’t the only new competition for the state business. Augusta has a new conference center under construction. Macon just added a headquarters hotel to its Coliseum/Centreplex facility. Gwinnett is adding hotels in the vicinity of its convention center.
All the new product will result in bargain prices – those cities need to justify their investments – and will take business from Savannah.
But Marinelli is confident many of those groups will return to Savannah after sampling the other’s wares. The city offesr an outside-the-meeting-room experience the others can’t match.
“One day those customers will come back,” Marinelli said. “But there will be a cycle and it will take years.”


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The government offering of license to charcoal production which is the first of its kind, comes amid uncertainties of charcoal crisis in the country urban demand for the product account for 90 % with unregulated trade estimated a MK5.78 billion (US$41.3 million) per year.
The 6.08 million standards bags of charcoal was estimated being used in the country’s main cities for about 1.4 million cubic metres of wood representing equivalent volume of 15,000 hectares of forestland cut in 2007.The development which has contributed deforestation with adverse impact to low income livelihoods in most rural areas of the nation.
In an exclusive interview with The Maravi Post on Wednesday, September 16, Ben Botolo Principal Secretary for Environment and Climate Change said the license aimed igniting the general public interest to own their forests which can be used for commercial purposes.
Botolo emphasized that government will only issue permission for charcoal production to those owning plantations and continue tracking down individuals tampering forest reserves.
“Looking at the country’s deforestation rate, issuing licenses to those managing the natural resources was the way to go. This will encourage the nation to embrace the spirit of planting trees such that with good management they can harvest its products at their will after getting a nod from government.
“So, any person who has a plantation by following procedures will be given a license to use its products. But those still tampering protected areas such as Dzalanyama the law will catch them .We want people to be responsible towards their natural resources”, said Botolo.
The Maravi Post late caught up with Tanya Clarke, Kawandama Hills Plantation Director who expressed gratitude for being given a license which will necessitate the institution to venture into sustainable way of managing the natural resources.
Clarke said charcoal production was still on the trial while weighing the cost benefit of producing the product for commercial purposes as the plantation’s core business was to extract oil from the trees similar of Blue gum as charcoal is remains a by-product.
“We are determined to serve Malawians better with natural resources products. The core business of the plantation including the use of tree leaves for medicinal products and oil extraction such that charcoal comes second as the by-product.
“Trails are underway to assess the market value of charcoal production in Malawi as we can’t compete with the already illegal trade. After fully done with the trials, we will roll out the campaign across the nation encouraging the general public start owning their plantation.
“The license give it’s a true reflection of Malawi government commitment to explore other means of managing the environment sustainably as such we won’t abuse the offer but rather serve the nation better”, assures Clarke.
Kawandama Hills Plantation which is also known as Citrefine was established in 2009 such that yearly about 800 seedlings are planted in 10 hectares of land within Viphya Plateau for primarily on export quality Lemon Eucalyptus oil and the extraction of from the leaves for medicinal products.


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Shoppers can expect to see a new face at the helm of one the Valley’s best-loved butcher’s after a takeover.
George McCulloch handed over the cleaver to fellow butcher Jim Alexander earlier this week after 40 years in the trade.
But customers can still expect a high level of care and quality from the Darvel butchers.
Jim told the Standard this week that this could be the start of something very special.
He said: “We only started the company in October and this is a foot in the door for us. We’re really excited and can’t wait to get started.
“It’s a really good time to get in and get our feet under the counter, then we can start thinking ahead to Christmas.”
Jim, from Kilmarnock, has been a butcher for 19 years and last year started his own online supply company based in Holmquarry Road.
Having established himself in the area, he wanted to set up shop and identified McCulloch’s unit as an ideal opportunity.
He added: “I know George and he told me he was thinking of retiring. We got together and then organised me taking over the shop.
“Now it’s done and dusted, I just can’t wait to get started.”
The shop was previously run by the team behind Wm. Allan & Son in Stewarton who George worked for, and was refurbished about 10 years ago.
The store will continue to trade as McCulloch’s initially, but will become Alexander’s once Jim has established himself.
George, 63, started his training at 19 and believes it is a hard industry to conquer, admitting “it’s a young man’s game now”.
He added: “They have to fight for it more now. The internet and supermarkets have made it really difficult for small shops like ours.
“I’m sure Jim will continue to put out the best of Scottish produce and I hope he can give it a new lease of life.”
McCulloch’s was recently awarded the Council’s Eat Safe award – the first local butcher to win the accolade.
The national scheme run by the Food Standards Agency rewards excellence in food safety.


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|There's sweet news about hot cocoa: the popular winter drink contains more antioxidants per cup than a similar serving of red wine or tea and may even be a healthier choice.|
|Researchers at Cornell University, located in Geneva New York, have shown this through recent study which adds to growing evidence of the health benefits of cocoa and points to a tasty alternative. Yummy hot cocoa in the quest to maintain a diet rich in healthy antioxidants, chemicals that have been shown to fight cancer, heart disease and aging, the researchers say.|
|Although the researchers say antioxidants are important for good health, nobody knows the exact daily amount required per person—this stated by Chang Yong Lee, Ph.D., head of the study and a professor of food chemistry in Cornell's Department of Food Science and Technology.|
They do agree however a cup or two of hot cocoa every once in a while can provide a delicious, warm and healthy way to obtain more antioxidants!


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At first glance, it’s hard to know exactly what his superpowers are. Maybe it’s helping accelerate a SIP trunking deployment, fighting off DDoS attacks or, in some cases, being a strong shoulder for frustrated network admins to cry on. Whatever the case, there’s no question the Unsung Hero is prepared for whatever challenges come his way.
The Unsung Hero was the first-prize winner in a competition Allstream recently ran with a Communications in New Media class at Ryerson University, offered by the School of Professional Communication, to get some ideas for its social media strategy. Students were encouraged to learn more about Allstream’s position in the B2B telecommunications space and develop a way to communicate its brand identity through emerging channels like Twitter, Facebook, and of course, expertIP. There were lots of great proposals, but the Unsung Hero was picked because it offered a fantastic way of showcasing Allstream’s behind-the-scenes work in enabling excellence in enterprise and small business communications.
“Something that really spoke to us is that so many people have experienced Allstream but don’t even know it,” Natasha Graham, a marketing student at Ryerson who worked on the Unsung Hero team, told me shortly after the winners were announced. “It’s about using the character, a sort of personified version of the brand, to Tweet out advice and things that are valuable to the customer, whomever that might be.”
The Unsung Hero strategy involved not only stunning (and hilarious) visuals but a proposed ad campaign, a LinkedIn profile based on the character, use of the character across Twitter and the chance for expertIP readers to nominate their own unsung hero of the week.
Of course, Allstream isn’t the only company that’s trying to use social media more effectively. It’s also a challenge for a wide range of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), who may not have a large budget but could make use of the channels to reach their customers in a new way. Fayann Huang, a fourth year fashion design student, suggested that in some cases, less is definitely more if you’re trying to appeal to Millennials.
“I find a lot of people our age like quick ads, easy to to digest graphics, short Vine videos or Tweets,” she said, adding that it’s a demographic that’s often accessing social media through mobile devices.
“If there’s a bit of quirkiness or a sense of the absurd it will capture more people’s attention,” said Jantien Sneyd, a Ryerson theatre production student who was also part of the team. “If it’s too dry it will only hold someone’s attention for like, a second.”
Tyler McLaurin, who’s studying arts and contemporary studies, was also the guy who wore the tights and cape in freezing downtown Toronto. He said that while different social media channels have their own unique benefits, it’s probably more important for SMBs to make sure they have a good message to convey first.
“Content has to create value, even if that value is just being funny,” he said, citing the Old Spice video ads that went viral, or comments that get fed into a discussion thread on forums like Reddit. “It doesn’t have to change your life.”
Exactly. It’s more about helping people in their daily lives. That’s how businesses can use social media to become their customers’ hero — unsung or otherwise.


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Asda staff pin hopes on Wall Street
More than 50,000 Asda staff - from checkout workers to the chief executive - could soon be pinning their hopes on Wall Street.
Their share options have been switched to stock in Wal-Mart - the world's biggest retailer and third largest U.S. company - whose buy-out of Asda was completed last week.
When the Asda Wal-Mart marriage was announced, there were concerns that the 50,000 workers would lose their valuable perk.
Staff would still have been paid for their curtailed options, but with income tax taken off their money.
Asda's share option scheme is unusual because, while most companies offer this perk to senior managers only, the leading supermarket applies it to all qualifying staff, from cashiers to senior executives.
Share options give you a right to buy stock at a pre- determined time in the future, at a set discounted price.
The schemes are popular with employees because they allow them to buy shares at a discount.
Employers like them, too, because they hope that staff with a financial stake in their company will work harder, stay loyal and be less likely to leave the firm.
Now that Asda has been taken over by Wal-Mart, its shares have been de-listed. But the company has made arrangements so all the staff have the same options over Wal-Mart shares that they previously had on Asda stock.
The upside of this is that they won't be bought out early and will not have to pay tax.
The serious downside is that, if they eventually exercise their options, Asda staff will be holding shares which are listed on the American stock exchange.
It's difficult enough to keep your eye on the performance of the British stock market, but tracking one thousands of miles away would try the expertise even of professional fund managers.
However, Denise Jagger, Asda's company secretary, says managers have made an arrangement so staff will at least get dividends paid in sterling instead of dollars.
'It's a bit more divorced, what with the shares being listed in the U.S. rather than in Britain,' she says.
'But we'll be keeping staff informed, and the Wal-Mart share price will be updated in every store each day.'
Wal-Mart shares are now trading at about $44 each - close to £28.
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Skype over AT&T's 3G data network will be available on the iPhone "real soon now," the company says in a blog post and video. The upgrade will take advantage of the new iPad-related SDK that no longer restricts VoIP calls to WiFi.
"You may have seen other apps offering calls over 3G, but we’re holding ours back for a little bit longer," Skype said on its blog. "Why? So that we can give you the very best audio quality we can. When our 3G-capable Skype for iPhone app is released, it’ll let you make calls in wideband audio ..." which, they say, means CD quality in Skype-to-Skype calls.
iCall and Fring have 3G-enabled versions of their iPhone app. So far another major service, Truphone, does not.
But Skype is the 800-pound gorilla in the internet telephony space, so its entry into the 3G zone is sure to have consequences — starting with an adjustment to what consumers think the cost of owning a mobile phone should be.
Skype calls are generally free or at least much less expensive than those made on minute-counting calling plans (the recently price-slashed unlimited plan notwithstanding), and making it easy to at least place calls using VOiP does give customers to a reason to consider cheaper ones. An even modest shift during non-free calling periods of all outgoing calls could dramatically lower traditional usage, and that could force calling-plan pricing down even more.


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The old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” seems to have found a home at the Fresno-based California Table Grape Commission.
While not grammatically correct, the approach reflects the commission’s marketing commitment for 2011.
After two successful years of “Grapes from California” days at major league baseball parks, the commission is refocusing the sports-related program, said Kathleen Nave, president.
“Based on the success of the baseball program, we’ll actually have an expanded, broader sports promotion program for 2011,” she said.
Retailers will have the opportunity to play a greater role, too, by participating in table grape display contests. Winners of the contests will receive tickets, courtesy of the commission, to the regular season sports event of the winner’s choice, Nave said.
“It gives us the opportunity to make the promotion season-long,” she said.
By continuing into the fall, winners will be able to choose from sports events other than baseball. There’s also a second tier to the promotion.
During the Grapes from California days, the fruit was sold in the ballparks.
“For foodservice this year, we’ll be targeting all kinds of sports venues,” Nave said.
Among them will be concessions at ballparks, stadiums and arenas.
Another expanding constant for the commission in 2011 is the relationship with television’s Food Network, its Internet sites and its magazine.
“We found it was very successful with retailers,” Nave said. “They believe their customers are focused on Food Network.”
The commission’s sponsorships of traffic reports on radio also return.


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Change in investors clears way for Koenigsegg/Saab deal to resume
The confusion started when one of the owners of Koenigsegg – Mark Bishop – unexpectedly decided to sell his shares in the company, which was estimated to be around 22%. The immediate ramifications of his decision caused a firestorm of controversy surrounding Koenigsegg’s intended purchase of Saab and whether or not it would still push through.
Fortunately, an unnamed investor immediately gobbled up Bishop’s shares and as a result, the negotiations to purchase Saab are back on.
Continued after the jump.
While there was no official word as to why Bishop decided to sell his shares, which incidentally was the second largest clump in the company, reports said that the American was concerned about the publicity – and the potential backlash – over Koenigsegg’s decision to buy Saab from General Motors.
But now that a yet-to-be-named individual has swooped in to save the day, the purchase of one Swedish brand by another is now officially back on track.
All’s well that ends well, yes?


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The second half of 2014 is certainly turning out to be an exciting one within the 3D printing space. Not only have we seen a deluge of new printers being unveiled over the last couple of months, by some of the largest names within the industry, but new companies have entered the industry with billions of dollars to possibly play with. Will we look back at 2014 as the year things really got started? I wouldn’t be surprised one bit! The highlight for me this year has been the entrance of two multi-billion dollar companies into the space.
Back in May Autodesk surprised us all when they announced the Spark platform for 3D printing, as well as revealing what is now called their Ember 3D printer. Spark is very promising, as it could enable a unified platform for 3D printing across all areas, including consumer based FDM and SLA printers, all the way to $1 million+ laser sintering machines. Some have used the phrase, ‘Android OS of 3D printing’ to describe its potential.
Then, just over a month ago HP announced their entrance into the 3D printing space with a new technology they call Multi Jet Fusion. This technology, according to HP (NYSE: HPQ), will make 3D printing over 10 times faster than current technology on the market today. With billions of dollars backing them, HP seems to have what it takes to push the boundaries of 3D printing innovation while creating a more affordable and capable machine. Although their first 3D printer, which will target businesses rather than consumers, won’t be available until 2016, the announcement alone should create a bit of an innovation frenzy among their biggest competitors.
Despite both these major announcements in the last six months, today we have just received word from Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) of yet another major move within the space, one which excites me even more about the whole industry’s future. HP and Autodesk have announced a partnership, which is elaborated upon below:
“Autodesk and HP have worked together for a long time, wrote Samir Hanna, Vice President and General Manager, Consumer and 3D Printing at Autodesk, and Scott Schiller, WW Business Director at HP, in a letter on the Autodesk blog. “We share a vision to drive technology innovation and provide the best products and experiences to our customers. Today, Autodesk and HP expand the alignment of our offerings to push 3D printing forward and drive toward a new industrial revolution that changes the way we design and manufacture things. We have a common goal to unlock 3D printing’s full promise such as higher speeds, higher quality, and improved reliability. Thus, HP is adopting Spark to integrate it with HP’s Multi Jet Fusion platform.”
By integrating the Spark platform into HP’s new 3D printers, the possibilities for further innovation is quite high. The sophisticated tools provided within the platform will enable users to experiment with various material mixtures, designs, and ideas. Spark’s intuitive nature should provide a simple, easy-to-learn user interface for HP’s new machines as they make their way into the market. The possibilities found within this partnership are really endless, as both the Spark platform, and HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology, further develop in the years ahead. It will be interesting to see if this move pushes HP’s competitors, such as 3D Systems and Stratasys, to also adopt the Spark Platform.
We are about to enter a very exciting period within the industry as new players enter, partner, and slowly begin rolling out their visions for the additive manufacturing space. Let’s hear your thoughts on today’s news in the HP & Autodesk 3D Printing Partnership forum thread on 3DPB.com.
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16 December 2021
Manufacturer to grow product base
A FOOD manufacturer which advocates the use of potatoes in its plant-based products has secured a EUR 25 million investment to grow its international food and drinks brand.
Oddlygood Global has closed its first round of financing, with Mandatum Asset Management (“MAM”) making the investment. The company develops and markets plant-based products under the Oddlygood™ brand.
Oddlygood’s Chief Operating Officer Reetta Tikanmäki said potato-sourced protein is used in Oddlygood cheese alternative products.
"In general, we do research on many plant based ingredients, and we see interesting potential in potato," she said.
Its CEO Niko Vuorenmaa added: “Interest in plant-based products is growing exponentially worldwide, which we also see in a significant increase in our sales. However, consumers will only change their day-to-day consumption habits if they find dairy alternatives that both taste good and fit their lifestyle.”
The sales of Oddlygood ™ products have doubled each year. In Sweden, it has grown 131% and its products are sold in the UK, USA, Finland and Sweden, as well as Russia and the Baltic countries. The goal is to grow in these markets and, at the same time, expand into new areas.
“Together with Mandatum, we will take the next step in our growth plan across our current markets as well as in new ones. We can use the financing to accelerate the implementation of our growth strategy and to deepen our business development expertise,” said Niko.
Head of Private Equity at Mandatum Asset Management, Alexander Antas, said Oddlygood had developed "an excellent platform of delicious plant-based products".


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In 2017, Spears Group along with partner agency 360i helped New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation launch "One Time, in New Orleans", the city's Tricentennial marketing campaign.
The campaign launched to a national audience on Monday, September 11 during the Saints Monday Night Football game debuting the new commercial. Along with the national campaign, locals and visitors can experience the New Orleans Story Booth and Installations throughout 2018. The New Orleans Story Booth will travel to major events while the Installations can be found at City Park, Woldenberg Riverfront Park, and Washington Artillery Park.
Team Spears is proud to support NOTMC in its efforts to increase visitation during the City's Tricentennial year as we commend it's extraordinary culture, sustenance, music and more.


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The Adult 25-54 demographic is the single most important sector media buyers and planners use when purchasing commercial television, an unprecedented and comprehensive study of top media professionals has found.
The truth campaign will make its cinema debut on July 25 with the airing of the 1200 spot, a new commercial in which nearly 1,000 youth drop to the ground to deliver a dramatic and poignant message about the daily death toll from tobacco-related disease.
A study presented by Lou Lopez of People en Español and Felipe Korzenny, Ph.D., Principal and Co-Founder Cheskin Research to the Hispanic Association for Corporate Responsibility symposium in Chicago this July.
Hispanic children are more likely to suffer from symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) than white children, says a study published in the July issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP).
La Agencia de Orcí & Asociados, one of the largest independently owned Hispanic marketing agencies in the country, was presented with the "Changing the World of Children" award at the Children's Bureau and Children's Bureau Foundation Annual Meeting at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills
Miami-based communications and marketing agency, Acqua Communications, celebrated its first year anniversary with the addition of four new accounts to its roster of clients and the creation of strategic alliances with 10 Public Relations agencies across Latin America.
Fruit of the Loom, Inc. is set to launch its first-ever Hispanic advertising campaign in the U.S. on July 21. The Fruit Guys, long-standing cultural icons who returned last year to a new generation of consumers, will now reach out directly to Hispanic consumers as well.


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Republicans briefly considered axing the electric-car credit in their tax reform bill, then decided to leave it in — with all the bill’s other benefits for the rich — at the urging of the auto industry. Carmakers insist now that the break should be not only retained but also, as General Motors CEO Mary Barra said March 7, “expanded, so our customers continue to receive the benefit going forward.” Current law says that the credit applies only to the first 200,000 plug-ins any manufacturer sells, and phases out over the year after the company hits that benchmark. GM has already sold about 160,000, as has Tesla, billionaire Elon Musk’s company. Ms. Barra therefore wants Congress to raise the 200,000-car limit or eliminate it altogether, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The automakers have a point: If Washington is going to require them to produce the vehicles, which have been slow to catch on with consumers in part due to their relatively high cost, the least it can do is help subsidize their sales. Maintaining the ceiling ironically punishes Tesla and GM for entering the market first, since they are about to exhaust their 200,000-car quotas just as European competitors are about to start on theirs.
Then again, Washington could just level the playing field by eliminating the tax break for everyone. At a minimum, Congress should allow the existing rule to phase out as planned. This issue poses a trade-off between two public policy goals — environmental quality and economic fairness. Tax subsidies to buy cars are far more efficient at worsening the latter than improving the former, in part because much of the electricity that fuels plug-in vehicles still derives from fossil fuel sources such as coal and natural gas. If electric vehicles are the wave of the future, they’ll have to survive on their own economically sooner or later. It should be sooner. Car corporations, billionaire entrepreneurs and their well-heeled customers have received enough assistance from the rest of us already.


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ShapeShift's Non-Custodial Platform
By Block Society
The cryptocurrency industry is maturing, and ShapeShift’s innovative rollout of a non-custodial platform is the latest sign. ShapeShift is known as a one-stop avenue where traders buy and sell at the best prices across multiple exchanges, and it has expanded its service in a unique way with its non-custodial platform.
Crypto companies like Coinbase with custodial solutions is ironic to a degree since blockchain enables the first ever non-custodial framework. This non-custodial service with ShapeShift is a strategic long-term play for when mainstream users realize the value of non-custodial services.
Some questions remain, such as how such a self-custodial service would differentiate itself from a decentralized exchange (DEX). Such a service may actually become the ideal middle ground between a custodial service and a DEX. Also, this service requires the use of a hardware wallet such as Trezor, Nano S Ledger, or KeepKey. It remains to be seen if the requirement to have a hardware wallet stifles the demand for ShapeShift’s new offering. In any case, such a service may set a precedent for the cryptocurrency custodial sector.


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An aspiring 16-year-old football player looks back at 2020, sharing his passion and heartbreak for the sport he loves, as well as his positive outlook on what Philippine football does – and can still do – for the Filipino youth.
Author: NewsFeed 360
‘For Your SweetHeart’ Ambassador Kim Atienza, Mom Whip Up Heart-Healthy, Diabetes-Friendly Christmas Meals
Filipinos will continue to celebrate the holiday season with merrymaking, Christmas carols (maybe sans the actual singing), exchanging of gifts, virtual get-togethers with family and friends and, of course, enjoy Noche Buena and Media Noche with a delectable holiday spread.
As the year comes to a close, a young man reflects and finds reasons why Christmas is still worth celebrating despite the pandemic and the disasters that have upended the lives of people.
This year’s Christmas looks different as most households continue to shelter at home from the pandemic and set up holiday parties virtually for an added layer of caution without missing the festivities.
Despite the pandemic, the Philippines is back in business as the economy gradually reopens with health interventions set in place.
While most companies put plans on hold, here’s a fearless and timely product launch to shake things up this quarantine. Asia Brewery Inc. introduces a guilt-free, flavorful drink to satisfy soda cravings.
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) awarded the Department of Tourism (DOT) a SafeTravels Stamp in recognition of its “health and hygiene global standardized protocols” that will ensure safe travels during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amid the urgent focus on COVID-19, the medical industry has also raised the critical link between diabetes and heart disease as an important issue in saving lives.
Brave the challenges! Riot Games launched two new games right smack in the middle of global lockdowns, quarantine and social distancing.
“We don’t want to see photoshopped pictures, or care about celebrity endorsements. We want to see our opinions valued and have a platform for our voices to be heard.”


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Luxury car market shrinks by a quarter
Manufacturers such as segment leader Mercedes-Benz and Audi expect the situation to improve in the coming months.
High tax on luxury cars restricting market, preventing local assembly of more models: JLR India
Suri said the company has a strong product pl...
India-born Balbir Singh Dhillon to head Audi India
Balbir Singh Dhillon will take charge in September as Audi chief Rahil Ansari heads to the...
The scent of a car: This Bentley car will feature AI, moss and sandalwood
This could be the fastest Bentley ever made, traveling 0 to 60 mph in less than 2.5 seconds.
Stop calling luxury cars as sin goods; reduce GST: JLR
If sin goods mean expensiveness, then even wearing expensive shirts would also be 'sin', JLR India MD said.
BMW to launch 25 new EVs by 2023
Advancing the auto industry's move towards electric vehicles, luxury car maker BMW has announced that it 25 would launch new electrified mod...
Tata JLR unveils major electric car investment plans for UK
Britain's largest automotive manufacturer said its new range of electrified vehicles will be built at its Castle Bromwich plant in the West Midlands region of England.
Jaguar Land Rover to build electric cars at UK plant
The announcement gives a boost to Britain's automotive sector hit this year by Honda and Ford's plans to close factories.
Doing business in India complex, need policy certainty: Merc
Sales in the luxury segment have been badly impacted, in line with the sombre mood in the overall auto industry.
Copyright © 2019 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service


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Approximately 223,023 cars have been produced in Iran in the first quarter of the current calendar year (March 21 - June 20), according to a report by zawya.com.
This is a 79.8 percent increase compared to the same period of time last year, Iran's TASNIM News Agency reported on July 2.The country's automotive industry faced a 40 percent production decrese in 2012. In 2011, it was the fifth largest car manufacturer in Asia, producing 1.6 million vehicles, according to the zawya.com report
Sedans accounted for 189,849 percent of the vehicles produced; 78.5 percent more than the previous year. Iran also produced 30,986 pickup trucks, 2,089 trucks, 40 buses, and 14 minibuses in the mentioned period, according to the report.
The report cited increasing prices of raw materials and foreign currencies among the factors causing difficulties for domestic vehicle production.
Originally posted on Automotive Fleet
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Pepe [PEPE] is making noise for its latest upswings and success stories of investors who made millions out of almost nothing. All of the above has got the asset trending throughout social media platforms. Now, a potential major exchange listing could be on its way.
Earlier today, several members on Twitter noticed that Coinbase had set up a page titled “How to buy Pepe” on its website. This got the community speculating that the exchange could soon list the meme coin.
However, in the “Introduction” section, the exchange affirmed that it hasn’t yet listed the asset.
“When it comes to buying crypto, there are a lot of factors that come into play, such as location and protocol. Pepe is not currently available on Coinbase’s centralized exchange. However, you can still buy Pepe on Coinbase Wallet, your key to the world of crypto.”
Nevertheless, users were urged to employ their Ethereum [ETH] in order to purchase Pepe through the Coinbase wallet. Additionally, it should be noted that Binance also released a guide on buying the meme coin. However, these exchanges are yet to list the asset. If Coinbase goes on to onboard PEPE other platforms like Binance, Kraken, Robinhood, and others may follow suit.
PEPE dips by 25% amidst BitMEX listing
While larger volume exchanges were seemingly more cautious about onboarding the meme coin, the rest of them have been quick to kickstart PEPE trading. Currently, popular exchanges like OKX, MEXC Global, Gate.io, Huobi, as well as Uniswap have listed the meme coin.
More recently, BitMEX announced that users can now trade PEPE with up to 50x leverage against the U.S. dollar [USD] and Tether [USDT]. Despite this listing, at press time, the asset nosedived by 25% over the last 24 hours and was priced at $0.000001007.


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Namco Bandai has unveiled the debut trailer for Tales of Zestiria, and it has dragons. The role-playing game is currently in development for the PlayStation 3 and will ostensibly release in 2015 in commemoration of the series' 20th anniversary.
In keeping with that theme, the title's creators are aiming to take the franchise back to its roots with the latest entry. It will feature characters created by all four of the series' designers, animations from Ufotable, and a medieval fantasy setting.
\ We've blogged about this before: read (11) back stories


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Andrew Lane stands in Tumbleroot Brewery's dark, quiet taproom as voices drift in from the distillery just next door. He's the head brewer at Tumbleroot in the times before COVID-19—but like other distillery employees in the state, he is now in charge of making hand sanitizer.
Tumbleroot started producing hand sanitizer around the beginning of April but the planning process began as soon as stay-at-home orders came down from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's office in mid-March and businesses were forced to close. Almost all of Tumbleroot's business—its taprooms and sales of alcohol to local bars— disappeared.
And, of course, the mad rush on hand sanitizer and toilet paper in all of the grocery stores and pharmacies pushed Santa Fe distilleries to get creative with their own sanitizer recipes, based on guidelines released by the World Health Organization.
"Essentially as soon as the lockdown happened we started ordering the supplies we needed to do it," Lane says. "It's just that everyone is trying to do it at the same time."
There are some differences between the typical hand sanitizer you would buy at the store and the distillery concoctions: The latter smells like a straight shot of grain alcohol and has the consistency of one, too. (Pro tip: Don't drink it.) There's also no gel in Tumbleroot's sanitizer or in the version marketed by Santa Fe Spirits across town.
"Usually sanitizer has aloe vera, it's usually a gel, but in this case, this is the basic requirements for hand sanitizer, so it's essentially 80% alcohol, a little bit of glycerin and a little bit of hydrogen peroxide," Lane says. "It's very thin…but it will disinfect surfaces and your hands."
Tumbleroot offers two sizes: a 32-ounce spray bottle ($15) and a 6-ounce bottle ($5). Thousands of both sizes have sold in the last few weeks. The brewery supplies several businesses and organizations around town as well, including the Santa Fe Sheriff's Department.
Santa Fe Spirits was also hard-hit by the stay-at-home orders and the closing of its two tasting rooms, according to owner Colin Keegan. Keegan's head distiller, too, is now his "full-time hand sanitizer expert," he says.
Hand sanitizer unexpectedly became the company's main source of income and what is keeping all of the employees on the payroll. The team at Santa Fe Spirits also came up with a simple, no-fluff combination of ingredients: 80% alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, glycerin and purified water.
Similar to Tumbleroot, the hand product at Santa Fe Spirits is thin since it lacks gel. It can take some getting used to, but it does the job of killing germs (and COVID-19).
Keegan and other distillery owners are vying for the ingredients to make hand sanitizer as other businesses also rush to do so. Both Tumbleroot and Santa Fe Spirits report difficulty finding the right bottles and caps to continue producing sanitizer.
"We can get this now, but we can't get this, so we have to wait and get that and then that's out again," Lane says of trying to wrangle all of the ingredients at one time. "The supplies of everything are in very short supply."
Keegan is worried about what could happen later in the summer in terms of revenue for his business. He wants to lobby New Mexico officials to allow alcohol distributors online orders so he can ship around the country as hand sanitizer sales level off. A federal Paycheck Protection Program loan also came through to keep the business afloat, as well as some curbside sales of alcohol.
But for now, local governments and large businesses are buying large amounts of sanitizer product from Keegan. The City of Santa Fe bought 500 gallons and Los Alamos National Laboratories bought 100, Keegan says. He is also selling sanitizer to FedEx, UPS and the Santa Fe County Fire Department.
Santa Fe Spirits has the largest variety of sizes: 4-ounce squeeze bottle ($4), 32-ounce spray bottle ($15), half-gallon refill ($18) and one gallon refill ($30). There is also a 750 ml ($25) Expedition 151 high-proof vodka sanitizer (Again, do not drink, it's easy to mix up with their other vodka bottle).
"This is keeping us alive at the moment…because our only way to sell alcohol is through a distributor, that's the legal system," Keegan says.
With local liquor stores closed and distribution networks jammed up, that's not happening very well right now for either Tumbleroot or Santa Fe Spirits.
"There's only a few places we can sell our spirits to that are still open like Trader Joe's, Whole Foods—the bigger chains are selling the larger-brand products. For someone like us, we're not in those big stores."


text: Halloween is just around the corner and with it comes news of a possible pumpkin shortage. According to reports, a wet summer and dry September has caused the pumpkin shortage in Missouri. The M.U. Bradford Research Center announced that the state may only see about 25% of the crop it usually has. Research also shows the pumpkin shortage is an issue in a number of states this year, not just Missouri.