text:
Photo: Business Times
Melbourne is famously a city of coffee snobs, boasting indie cafes that have sent Starbucks packing. Now, coffee lovers here can get a taste of Melbourne's finest with a click of the mouse – e-commerce site Cafebond.com brings specialty coffee beans from the city's cafes and roasters right to your doorstep.
Launched this week, Cafebond. com's catalogue includes single-origin offerings and signature blends from 14 Melbourne cafes including ST. ALi, Seven Seeds and Market Lane, as well as Canberra's Ona Coffee, founded by 2015 World Barista Champion Sasa Sestic.
The site is the brainchild of Eugene Chen, 31, and Keyis Ng, 28, a former IT developer and a marketing professional, respectively.
A trip to Melbourne two years ago introduced them to the fine-grained pleasures of specialty coffee. But unlike cafe-preneurs here, the duo aren't concerned with selling the experience of sipping a piccolo latte in some hipster back alley; rather, they're looking to connoisseurs with their own AeroPress or coffee machines, and even corporate offices, some of which feature pantries with full-time baristas on hand.
They are betting that these coffee- lovers will fork out an extra S$10 for shipping, though the beans are priced competitively from S$13 to S$20 for around 300 grams.
Orders start on June 1, with the loot made-to-order and arriving in a week – the perfect window for freshly-roasted beans to rest before consumption.
"As the coffee scene here matures, and with the convenience and accessibility that we offer, there may be new customers who switch from just cafe- hopping to buying beans for home use," says Mr Ng.
His partner is a prime example of their target audience – Mr Chen bought his first pack of specialty beans online three years ago. "By the time I leave work, all the shops are closed," explains Mr Chen, who does most of his shopping on the Web.
Cafebond.com founders Eugene Chen (left) and Keyis Ng, who will bring specialty beans from 14 Melbourne cafes to Singapore, are also looking to launch in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong by the end of the year.
And it seems merchants are biting; we're told ST. ALi's Salvatore Malatesta (often considered a specialty coffee pioneer) said yes within five minutes of hearing their pitch.
"These Melbourne cafes are gaining recognition worldwide, but they don't necessarily have the resources to open overseas outlets," explains Mr Ng. "An online platform like ours offers an opportunity to expand while posing minimal risks."
Their concept has also attracted a S$250,000 investment from Quest Ventures, the venture capital firm behind online marketplace app Carousell and restaurant app Burpple.
Cafebond.com is also one of four startups selected by Microsoft Singapore to be co-located within its Asia- Pacific headquarters.
In the future, the team intends to expand their range with Tokyo's specialty beans, and roll out a mobile app, though the greatest challenge lies in becoming a one-stop shop for coffee solutions. "Corporate clients will probably want us to provide the full package – not just beans but machines, maintenance and even baristas," says Mr Ng.
"We've been talking to coffee machine manufacturers, though we're currently still putting our core business first."
For now, they are looking to launch in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong by the end of the year.
"Realistically, Singapore has a significant market for specialty coffee but it's not huge," says Mr Ng. "In 10 years' time, China is projected to be the biggest coffee consumer, with 20 to 30 per cent of the market going to fresh beans."
If that takes off, who knows – perhaps even local roasters like Papa Palheta or Brawn & Brains might hop on board and become regional names some day.
Go to cafebond.com for orders and more information.
Written by Tan Teck Heng for The Business Times.


text:
BYD has been accelerating its abroad growth program, strategically partnering with native entities in every market to swiftly launch its vary of BEVs in these markets. Jordan is the most recent market to be added to BYD’s community. Jordan has additionally turn into the primary market within the Center East to get BYD passenger automobiles. In Jordan, BYD has partnered with Mobility Options Auto Commerce Firm.
At an occasion held earlier this week to have fun the launch of BYD’s passenger automobiles in Jordan, BYD introduced 4 fashions that it’s going to supply in Jordan in collaboration with its companion Mobility Options Auto Commerce Firm. The 4 fashions are the Dolphin, the Tang EV, the ATTO 3, and the flagship Han EV sedan. In an analogous association to those now we have seen within the different new markets BYD is getting into, BYD will collaborate on a number of fronts with its in-country companion, together with partnering on after-sales service and upkeep. In keeping with studies from Jordan, electrical car gross sales in Jordan jumped from 5,083 in 2021 to 14,377 in 2022. Within the first 11 months of 2022, 14,733 gasoline automobiles, 8,879 diesel automobiles, and 12,405 hybrid automobiles have been introduced in.
It’s actually good to see that BYD is getting into one other new market. BYD has been on a roll, launching in a number of markets world wide, backed by its elevated manufacturing capability. BYD has launched in a number of markets in Europe, South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. You too can get BYD passenger and business automobiles in some nations on the African continent. Final month, BYD offered over 15,000 automobiles abroad. One other thrilling growth that can assist underpin its drive to develop manufacturing outdoors China, BYD has simply began setting up a plant in Thailand that can produce 150,000 automobiles per 12 months. The plant is anticipated to be operational in early 2024.
I believe we are going to begin seeing such bulletins extra usually from different Chinese language NEV corporations as properly. We’re beginning to see a type of glut of fashions in China in sure segments. For instance, there are such a lot of small metropolis EV fashions from many alternative OEMs. A mix of things — akin to a possible saturation of the home market in some segments, the fixed iteration and product enchancment we see from a number of OEMs leading to extra compelling choices, improved provide chains after the bottlenecks on the top of the pandemic, in addition to the continued worth battle within the Chinese language NEV area that has seen virtually all the most important gamers providing vital reductions in current instances — may catalyse a rush to look into the export markets extra aggressively with a purpose to increase margins in addition to increase gross sales volumes. These Chinese language OEMs will in all probability not have a tough time discovering keen prospects, as most worldwide markets are starved of first rate reasonably priced EVs.
This might assist spark a revolution that accelerates the transition to electrical mobility in some markets in an analogous method to what occurred within the cell phone business and the photo voltaic panel business — the place photo voltaic panel manufacturing elevated and costs dropped drastically, rising adoption to an analogous diploma. It seems to be like thrilling instances forward within the EV sector.
Photographs courtesy of BYD
I do not like paywalls. You do not like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Right here at CleanTechnica, we applied a restricted paywall for some time, nevertheless it all the time felt improper — and it was all the time powerful to resolve what we must always put behind there. In principle, your most unique and finest content material goes behind a paywall. However then fewer folks learn it! We simply don’t love paywalls, and so we have determined to ditch ours.
Sadly, the media enterprise remains to be a tricky, cut-throat enterprise with tiny margins. It is a endless Olympic problem to remain above water and even maybe — gasp — develop. So …

domain: news


text:
North America’s largest craft cannabis company keeps getting bigger.
Pasha Brands subsidiary, BC Craft Supply Co. , has announced that over 100 micro-cultivator applicants (or micros) across Canada are currently receiving its help as the company attempts to transition out of the grey market.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Craft cannabis giant Pasha Brands scores supply deal with recently licensed micro-cultivator
Health Canada’s new grow-ready demand could squash entry of micros into the cannabis space
Obtaining a micro cannabis licence isn’t cheap, likely requiring access to about $1.5 million
Once a micro is able to obtain a licence from Health Canada, it is allowed to produce about 500 kg of dried flower annually in a space no larger than 2,150 sq. ft. With up to 85 percent of Canadian cannabis still coming from the grey market, micros play an important role in an underperforming supply chain. Freshness and quality have proven to be issues as industrial growers try to produce vast quantities of cannabis.
“Our objective in creating the BC Craft platform was to assist these craft producers in Canada that have been supplying Canadians their cannabis products for decades and help them transition into the regulated market,” said Patrick Brauckmann, executive chairman of Pasha.
To this end, Pasha enters into contracts with micros to buy their annual supply while offering the guidance and resources to help them obtain a licence and get their products to the legal market.
“Reaching this milestone so early in our existence really speaks to the faith craft producers have put in us,” Brauckmann said. “They know we share their values and that we can help them succeed in the legal marketplace in a way they can believe in, by allowing them to do what they do best.”
Want to keep up to date on what’s happening in the world of cannabis? Subscribe to the Cannabis Post newsletter for weekly insights into the industry, what insiders will be talking about and content from across the Postmedia Network.


text:
November 9th, 2020Kyneton Art Group goes online and ‘plein air’
Secretary Jenny Chester said as long-standing supporters of the Kyneton Daffodil and Arts Festival each year, Kyneton Art Group members staged their own annual art exhibition as part of the festival program.
“Many members would also work towards exhibiting as part of the Daffodil Festival’s own art show. Unfortunately, this year both art shows have been cancelled, taking away a valuable resource to exhibit and sell work,” she said.
“But, never ones to sit back and give in, Kyneton Art Group members have taken their fabulous new works online for all to see and purchase. Kyneton Art Group’s online sale site, a new addition to our existing website, is full of fresh, affordable and local art. The works come in various mediums – canvases in oil or acrylic and watercolour, pastel, pencil and mixed mediums on paper or board, framed and unframed.”
Ms Chester said as everyone adapted to a new normal, going online had the benefit of giving the viewer the opportunity to browse at leisure and “snap up a painting from the comfort of their couch and have it delivered to their door”.
“If you are looking to buy beautiful, original art for your home, office or as a gift then be quick and jump online to make your purchase – and keep an eye on our site as new art will be added each month, with great exhibitions and fantastic sales to come.”
Ms Chester said Kyneton Art Group welcomed new members with contact via the website.
The group, which started in 1977 and has members from Kyneton, Daylesford, Taradale, Drummond, Glenlyon, Carlsruhe and Romsey, met every Tuesday at the Red Brick Hall in Kyneton pre-COVID, to create and share time with like-minded people.
“Unable to meet, the group has kept in touch online supporting each other through the tough times and encouraging each other to create and as restrictions ease, we have been meeting ‘plein air’ at the Kyneton Botanical Gardens and surrounding towns. Venues we have painted at so far also include Malmsbury Botanical Gardens, Trentham Public Park and Taradale Reserve.
“The group plans to continue ‘plein air’ sessions throughout Spring, Summer and Autumn, weather permitting visiting Daylesford, Glenlyon and Woodend, and previous locations.”
Image: President Anna McGrath does a watercolour sketch for future paintings and treasurer Stephanie Warr paints a landscape in acrylic
Words & images: Contributed


text:
Business Club – Expert views on conference call company Via-Vox’s spam email issues
Three business experts give their advice on how conference call company Via-Vox can resolve its spam filters issue which is losing them customers.
A suggestion for Via-Vox is to add a Sender Policy Framework (SPF) entry to its Domain Name System (DNS) record. This is a small but important piece of textual information held by the DNS server that lists the names of servers in your network that email can legitimately be sent from.
IBM Hursley 50 Years – Hursley Futurology
Computer Business Review produced a special insert on the history of IBM Hursley for the 50th anniversary of the site. I was interview for the Futurology section of the publication
The Hursley team applied for 750 patents since the millennium. So what is it about Hursley that helps foster the culture of innovation? “There are an awful lot of bright people working here” says Robert Smart an Emerging Technology Specialist at Hursley involved in Web 2.0 and 3d virtual world developments. “That makes it a pretty creative environment.”
“In the Emerging Technology Department each member has their own specific area of interest” he says. “I’m looking at virtual worlds and web 2.0 but others are looking at pervasive devices, data analytics, the ‘semantic web’ and more. So, for instance although I’m not a hardware expert I know there are people nearby who are. There are people working on Blue Gene [IBM’s super computer project] just down the corridor.”
“There’s a strong culture of collaboration that helps to foster new ideas,” Smart adds.
Analysis: Don’t believe the (lack of) hype…
He told silicon.com: “We’re seeing businesses look at [virtual worlds] much more seriously and say, ‘If we’re going to invest money in this, what can we get back? How can this benefit us?'”


text:
TheGamingEconomy Daily Digest brings you the trending business stories in gaming. In today’s edition: Outfit7 celebrates over 10 billion downloads; Zynga data breach affects 200 million accounts; and Bungie to release non-Destiny IP by 2025.
Outfit7 celebrates over 10 billion downloads
Mobile developer Outfit7, creator of the Talking Tom and Friends franchise, is celebrating over ten billion app downloads on its tenth anniversary. Chinese firm Jinke Entertainment Culture purchased Outfit7 for a minimum sum of USD$1bn (£813m) in March 2017, with the Slovenia-based developer having reached a sale agreement for the same price just four days previously, with British Virgin Islands-based firm United Luck Group Holdings.
Announcing the news, Xinyu Qian, CEO of Outfit7, said, “It’s amazing to think an entire generation has grown up with Talking Tom. We’ve connected with people from all over the world and brought them excitement, friendship and, most importantly, fun. It’s been an amazing ten years with so much growth and so many humbling accomplishments, but we’re not slowing down anytime soon. Ten years and ten billion downloads – this is only the beginning.”
Zynga data breach affects over 200 million accounts
Mobile gaming giant Zynga has announced a data breach affecting over 200 million accounts, with stolen data thought to include names, email addresses, phone numbers, and Facebook IDs. According to The Hacker News, affected titles include the popular Words with Friends and Draw Something franchises. Firms have been under greater scrutiny for GDPR breaches in recent months, with intended fines of £183.39m and £99m being imposed on British Airways and Marriott respectively.
In a statement on the company website, a Zynga spokesperson said, “Cyber attacks are one of the unfortunate realities of doing business today. We recently discovered that certain player account information may have been illegally accessed by outside hackers. An investigation was immediately commenced, leading third-party forensics firms were retained to assist, and we have contacted law enforcement. Our current understanding is that no financial information was accessed.”
Bungie to release non-Destiny IP by 2025
Destiny developer Bungie is planning to release at least one title from a new franchise by 2025, according to an interview with Bungie CEO Pete Parsons conducted by IGN. “Our vision ultimately through 2025 is to become one of the world’s best entertainment companies,” said Parsons on the decision behind the move.
Bungie entered into a partnership with NetEase in 2018 to “explore new directions”, with this collaboration likely to influence the future direction of new titles. The American developer also cut ties with Activision in January 2019, having been in a publishing rights agreement since 2010.


text:
Marketers are excited by the opportunities Facebook’s new Brand Timelines will present. The feature will give them a canvas to create more engaging brand experiences and tell stories to users on the platform like never before, they hope. But people tend to forget one thing about Facebook pages, according to Big Spaceship’s Joshua Teixeira and Victor Piñeiro: Nobody visits them. As a result, they urge marketers to resist “Shiny Object Syndrome.”
The crown jewel of Facebook’s first fMC conference, Brand Timelines, is being touted as “the richest, most customizable marketing canvas ever created.” Judging by the hype that’s flooded the Internet since their unveiling, marketers agree: This is apparently Facebook’s most important development since Open Graph. Brands now have the opportunity to craft a richer story on the platform and build a more inviting destination site that lives inside the smaller Internet we call Facebook. And yet, among the avalanche of articles full of tips and best practices, most marketers have been silent about an elephant in the room. Nobody actually visits your brand’s Facebook page.
Read the full post at Fast Company’s Co.Create.
Massive political advertising clashes with holiday media buying, creating a ‘tsunami’ effect for Q4
This year, the fourth-quarter ad marketplace feels quite different, and for a number of reasons, some for the better and some not.
How sportsbooks and publishers are rethinking the terms of content-based sponsorships
The economic slowdown is causing sportsbooks and publishers alike to reconsider their approaches to content-based customer acquisition campaigns.
SponsoredWhy online search is foundational for a post-cookies environment
A year after coming under Axel Springer’s control, Politico’s Europe and North American businesses are closer than ever
Politico is still realizing what a global brand might look like, but Politico EU's CRO Nicolas Sennegon is already pursuing an advertising business that extends across the pond.
How publishers can prevent cyberattacks after Fast Company’s hack
Tech executives shared what publishers can do to prevent getting hacked and avoid cybersecurity breaches.


text:
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) made history in September 2014 thanks to its blockbuster IPO, the biggest of its kind ever, that helped give the company a market cap of $231 billion from the get-go. But for a while, that was as good at it got for BABA stock holders.
If you held Alibaba shares from the time of its IPO to January 2016, you would have had nothing at all to show for your troubles compared to an impressive 87% gain by Amazon shares over the same period. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is widely considered the closest comparison for Alibaba, though the two companies are quite different as you shall see shortly.
The turning point for BABA stock came during the raging bull move of the past two years. Alibaba has doubled since January 2016 vs. a 65% gain for Amazon. While both stocks have continued to put forth stellar performance in 2017, BABA has outpaced AMZN stock with year-to-date gains of 62% vs. 33.5%.
So what’s fueling the prodigious runs to all-time highs? More importantly, can we now safely say that BABA is just as good, if not better, for your portfolio than AMZN?
It’s hardly surprising that BABA lagged so much during its first 15 months as a public company. After all, Alibaba was mired in damning allegations about its marketplace carrying counterfeit products, fears of government cronyism, as well as an overhang of questionable accounting practices.
Investors also argued that the Chinese titan lacked the kind of global appeal that Amazon is famous for and that its business model would be easy to copy outside China.
It’s not like Alibaba lacked some virtues though. For starters the company is led by Jack Ma, a charismatic and clever entrepreneur. It accounts for a whopping 80% of China’s online sales; owns highly profitable PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL)-like and YouTube-like businesses, and boasts humongous operating margins: 57% vs. 1% by Amazon. Never mind the fact that BABA was growing its top line nearly three times faster than Amazon.
Investors refuse to cut Alibaba any slack though everything has worked out in its favor: Alibaba shares have continued trading at much cheaper valuations than Amazon by almost any conceivable metric. In a market dominated with frothy valuations, BABA is a bargain compared to rivals.
BABA stock sports a trailing 12-month price-to-earnings ratio of 55.2 vs. 184.7 for AMZN; a price-to-book ratio of 22.17 vs. 10.43, and a price-to-free cash flow of 50.1 vs. 44.
The only metric where Alibaba fares worse than Amazon is price-to-sales, where it gets pipped 22.4 vs. 3.4. That sizable difference though can be chalked up to the fact that the two companies operate different revenue models, with Alibaba merely being a third-party platform which connects buyers to sellers while charging a commission whereas Amazon is a predominantly first-party sales platform where the company sells merchandise directly to customers.
Alibaba has continued growing at an impressive clip since the IPO. The company sports a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48.9% vs. 27.9% by Amazon over the time frame. And, the future promises to be even better for BABA. It recently forecast monster revenue growth of 45%-49% for the current fiscal year, putting the company on track for the biggest underlying rise so far. And it reported top line growth of 59.8% for the April quarter, the best in its history.
A big reason why Alibaba has been growing like a weed is because it’s focused on emerging markets in Asia and the developing economies whereas Amazon is stronger in mature markets such as the U.S. and Europe. Alibaba has 500 million users but is targeting 2 billion over the next 10 years.
BABA CEO Jack Ma in this video says the key difference between the two companies is that Amazon is more like an empire where it seeks to control everything whereas BABA is more of an ecosystem where it strives to build partnerships. This could be the reason Jack Ma promised Trump that Alibaba would create 1 million American jobs over the next five years.
Bottom Line on BABA Stock
Buy stock of both companies. Alibaba’s strategy seems to be paying off as is clearly evidenced by its accelerating growth. That also means that the brand is quickly gaining recognition around the world. Alibaba’s cloud recently made it to Gartner’s Magic Qaudrant for IaaS for the first time, making it one of the most improved cloud service companies. Investors are well aware of what a boon Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been for Amazon.
On the flipside, some of Alibaba’s thorniest issues have refused to die. In December, the U.S. authorities placed Taobao, one of the company’s most lucrative units, back in the blacklist over allegations of carrying counterfeit products.
Amazon, on the other hand, offers a more predictable investment with excellent growth runways. The company’s Prime program is great for the top line while AWS is a profit-machine.
BABA stock is likely to outperform AMZN stock over the next two years due to the company’s explosive growth. It’s a a good idea to include both stocks in your portfolio.
As of this writing, Brian Wu did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.


text:
Sony’s Xperia Z handset has helped it to drive market share in the UK and now sits as the fourth largest handset manufacturer in the region. Research house Kantar Worldpanel ComTech has reported its latest smartphone sales data for the three months to May 2013, which revealed the findings. According to the report, “38% of Xperia’s users are ex-Samsung owners, the majority of whom have upgraded from the Galaxy S2”.
However, Sony still has a long way to go if it wants to challenge Samsung. Kantar reports that nearly half of smartphones sold in Europe are a Samsung. Android is dominant across Europe, holding a 70.4% share across the five major European markets (Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain), up from 61.3% a year ago.
This news correlates with IDC’s recent European Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, which reported sales for Q1 2013. Within the smartphone segment, Sony sits at number three behind Samsung and Apple with 3.2 million units shipped, representing a 100% year-on-year increase in market share.


text:
After a two-month upswing, consumer confidence among Floridians fell across the board in February "as hopes for a quick fix to the nation's economic crisis faded," according to a University of Florida report released Tuesday.
Economist Chris McCarty with UF's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, said waning optimism reflects that "the novelty of a new administration" has worn off, "met with the sustained reality of a faltering economy."
"Consumers are reporting severe financial strain and are bracing for the long recession that most economists have predicted," he said.
UF's report mirrored national numbers also out Tuesday. The New York-based Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index plummeted more than 12 points in February to 25. That set a new low and was well below the 35.5 level expected by economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
"Increasing concerns about business conditions, employment and earnings have further sapped confidence and driven expectations to their lowest level ever," Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in a statement.
The 3-point drop in Florida's consumer confidence pushed the index to 63, four points above its all-time low of 59.
All five of the components that make up Florida's index dropped: Expectations of U.S. economic conditions over the next five years fell 6 points to 69; expectations of economic conditions over the next year fell 4 points to 51; expectations of personal finances a year from now fell 3 points to 80; perceptions of personal finances now compared to a year ago fell 1 point to 42; and perceptions of whether it is a good time to buy big-ticket items fell 1 point to 73.
A monthly telephone survey, UF's consumer confidence index is benchmarked to 1966, so a value of 100 represents the same level of confidence for that year.
McCarty said a temporary upswing in the index in December and January was related to optimism about the incoming Obama administration and federal intervention into the economy.
Unlike previous government efforts to jump-start the economy, the recently passed stimulus package offers much to everyday consumers, McCarty said, between tax cuts, extended unemployment benefits, and health insurance and relief for troubled homeowners.
Still, consumers are waiting for signs that the overall economy is improving, and those signs aren't forthcoming.
"Unfortunately, as time moves on, the problems with the economy will become less associated with housing and evolve into something more difficult to resolve," McCarty said. "There is no doubt that we will be working through this recession through this year and into 2010."
McCarty predicted that consumer confidence among Floridians will remain below 70 through 2009.


text:
A DINER was served a disgusting burger at a fast food restaurant with what looked like “filthy cords, hair, and dirty cardboard” baked into the bun.
Raphael Friedrich got the dodgy dish a Burger King in his native Switzerland.
The 25-year-old was never much of a fast food fan but has now decided he has “had enough of this food, forever.”
He said: “Normally, I do not go to fast food stores, but my girlfriend persuaded me.”
On Friday the couple went to the local Burger King restaurant at the train station of Biel, a city in the Swiss canton of Bern.
They both ordered the Big King burger, but when Friedrich took his first bite he noticed something horrifying at the bottom of the bun.
He said: “It looked as if filthy cords, hair, and dirty cardboard had been baked in the bread roll. I was vomiting, my stomach turned around.
And When he took the burger back to the counter to demand his money back he claims the staff were stunned by his request.
When the shift manager came, he apologised to the couple and gave them a refund and an offer for a new menu instead.
MOST READ IN NEWS
But he to eat anything else from the restaurant and only took up the offer for a coke to wash away the foul taste in his mouth.
Friedrich still felt sick in the evening and went to the local hospital suffering from “stomach cramps”, according to local media.
Fortunately for Friedrich, nothing serious happened health-wise after that apart from the big scare.
Friedrich said: “Luckily I took only one bite.”
Burger King said it would start a probe into the Biel restaurant to check the standards.
A spokesperson said: “Burger King commits to high standards of food safety. We have asked our suppliers to carry out an investigation.”


text:
Category Archives: News
Simon and Schuster and Amazon, among other sites are listing Noble V: Greylancer by Hideyuki Kikuchi from Viz (presumably Haikasoru) May 21, 2013. It is a really early listing and the Haikasoru titles have tended to kind of shift as … Continue reading
Yen Press announced today at SDCC that they’re publishing Another by Yukito Ayatsuji. The ANN article and press release both say “novels” in the plural, so I’m assuming that they’ll be releasing one of the two bunkoban editions (as far … Continue reading
Vertical has posted a preview of their novel Parasite Eve on their site. Check it out!
Vertical posted a picture of the cover of their upcoming novel, ENMA the IMMORTAL, by Fumi Nakamura. The book comes out next month. Here’s the summary Vertical posted: “This fantastic yarn spans decades of Japanese history, combining elements of samurai … Continue reading
Simon and Schuster updated sometime recently with the Viz books through next September, a few of which are certainly of interest here. There’s a relisting of Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriot, which was listed for sometime this year, … Continue reading


text:
JOHANNESBURG—South African President Jacob Zuma outlined sweeping infrastructure spending plans, in an effort to show that his government has a handle on labor turmoil hobbling the continent's largest economy.
Mr. Zuma on Friday said his government would spend some $97 billion over the next three years to upgrade roads, ports and access to utilities, and to exploit deposits of coal and other minerals. A longer list of critical infrastructure projects would take 15 years and $462 billion to complete, he added, including significant private-sector investment.
Walmart coupon: $20 off your $50+ order
60% off running shoes and apparel at Nike
- The Home Depot:
$50 discount sitewide - Home Depot Coupon
Coming Soon! 5 Days of Deals
- Ulta Beauty:
Gorgeous Fall Sale: 50% off L'Oréal makeup + free gift
Today's Top Deal - 30% off + 7.5% cashback on your hotel booking


text:
General Motors Co. on Sunday will show its first small Cadillac in more than two decades, hoping to woo younger U.S. luxury-car buyers from German brands and carve a bigger role globally for the American icon.
GM stopped selling compact Cadillacs nearly 25 years ago, when the abysmal performance of its Cadillac Cimarron became a symbol of Detroit’s declining production standards. Since then, German and Japanese auto makers have roared ahead in the market for small luxury cars.
In the U.S., BMW AG, Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen AG’s Audi commanded 57% of the overall luxury market in 2011, according to researcher Autodata Corp., a domination the companies carry around the world.
Now, GM is counting on the ATS, which goes on sale late this year, to bolster sales, especially among younger U.S. buyers, and to build Cadillac’s reputation in Asian luxury-car markets. GM hasn’t disclosed ATS pricing.
Cadillac buyers are mostly between the ages of 55 and 64, a decade older than most BMW and Mercedes customers. Adding “a more traditionally sized entry level luxury car should help to chip away at the image that some people have of the supersized American car,” said Edmunds.com analyst Ivan Drury.
In the past, Cadillacs weren’t designed to compete with the same size and weight as rivals, and typically offered vehicles designed for the U.S. market that were then modified slightly for sales elsewhere.
Not so with the new ATS. “We have a car that copies no one, that is an American brand,” said North America chief Mark Reuss. “We said, ‘How serious are we about Cadillac? We are very serious.’ And if we are serious we have to have the products that really win. We can’t adapt things out of the parts bin.”
The ATS will challenge the BMW 3-Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Audi A4 with the same size and weight and features like rear-wheel drive. Rear-wheel-drive vehicles are a hallmark of the luxury car market with better handling and faster acceleration.
“ATS enters the biggest market segment in the global luxury car industry, both in terms of volume and importance,” GM product chief Mary Barra said in November. “It’s a segment dominated by German cars. So we’ve developed a compelling and convincing new challenger.”
GM Chief Executive Dan Akerson will show off the ATS on the eve of the North American International Auto Show on Sunday. Mr. Akerson has made revitalizing Cadillac a central element of GM’s global growth strategy, particularly in China where Cadillacs sell for top dollar but compete dismally against German rivals.
GM plans to add several new models and boost local production in China to grow the brand and chip away at German auto makers’ sizeable share. Through October, GM sold 5,964 Cadillacs in China compared to 300,000 combined for BMW, Audi and Mercedes, according to researcher Wardsauto.com.
Putting a dent in their market share in the U.S. also will be a challenge. The German luxury makers far outpaced Cadillac’s growth in the U.S. in 2011, with double-digit gains, compares to Cadillac’s 3.7% sales increase from a year ago. That small increase came despite inventory shortages that hurt sales of Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus and Honda Motor Co.’s Acura.
ATS could siphon sales from GM’s next-largest Cadillac, the CTS sedan, which is bigger than a BMW 3 Series but smaller than its 5 Series. Cadillac sales chief Kurt McNeil said he expects the ATS to draw from buyers new to Cadillac rather than stealing CTS buyers. He predicted growth of CTS going forward will be “incremental.”
New models will be central to winning more customers.
GM sees the compact luxury segment as critical because of its size, it comprises about one-third of the overall luxury market, and has appeal among young, affluent buyers, a spokesman said.
Making Cadillac a legitimate global contender offers new economies of scale and increases its prestige, Mr. Reuss said. “People say a Cadillac is older, heavier and comes with a V8. This is not that at all,” he said.


text:
Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), the country’s top financial regulator responsible for regulating crypto service providers, has begun actively closing down unauthorized bitcoin ATMs, a BaFin spokesperson has confirmed to news.Bitcoin.com.
All Unauthorized Bitcoin ATMs to Shut Down
German financial regulator BaFin has begun actively closing down all unlicensed bitcoin ATMs in the country. This followed Germany’s new regulation that went into effect in January, requiring crypto service providers to obtain authorization from BaFin. A spokesperson for BaFin told news.Bitcoin.com:
Currently, BaFin is taking action to shut down all bitcoin ATMs which are set up and operated without authorisation … The ATMs are literally shut down, so they are no longer operating.
“Operating bitcoin ATMs requires an authorisation to provide financial services (proprietary trading),” the spokesperson explained. However, he noted that BaFin does not specifically collect information about bitcoin ATMs “since operating bitcoin ATMs is not an authorisation requirement specified.”
Nonetheless, the regulator has identified a number of unauthorized bitcoin ATMs operating in Germany. While the spokesperson did not disclose the number “Due to the ongoing process,” at least one company — Shitcoins Club — received an order from BaFin in February to cease operating all of its bitcoin ATMs in the country, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported.
While appearing to comply with BaFin’s mandate by posting a notice to reflect the order on its website, Shitcoins Club resumed its ATM operation soon after. Several local journalists visited various Shitcoins Club’ bitcoin ATM locations and found the machines were still in operation.
Local news outlet Bitcoin Kurier went to a Shitcoins Club branch where there is a bitcoin ATM and found the place closed with a BaFin notice on the window and an official seal on the door bearing Wednesday’s date.
According to the publication, while the machines operate under the brand Shitcoins Club, the owner is no longer the Berlin-based KKT UG. Instead, Estonia-licensed “Virtual Planet OÜ” now owns the business and the management has also changed. BaFin’s notice states that Shitcoins Club can object to the order in writing within one month, the publication conveyed. Shitcoins Club indicates on its website that about 20 bitcoin ATMs were last active in Germany, supporting BTC, ETH, LTC, and DASH. The company’s bitcoin ATMs are still in operation in Poland, Spain, Romania, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Estonia.
Another local bitcoin ATM operator, Coin Fellows, also ceased operations across Germany at the end of July, the news outlet further reported, adding that the Coin Fellows network consisted of about 40 bitcoin ATMs, located mostly in southern Germany. Other bitcoin ATM operators in Germany have said that BaFin’s requirements are too strict for small businesses, asserting that they are more tailored to banks and large financial institutions.
Meanwhile, the number of bitcoin ATMs has been growing worldwide, approaching 9,000 machines, according to the cryptocurrency ATM tracking website Coinatmradar. In the U.S., the authorities have also been cracking down on unauthorized bitcoin ATMs. A $25 million bitcoin ATM operation was recently taken down and 17 machines in California were seized.
What do you think about BaFin’s action? Let us know in the comments section below.
The post Germany Begins Closing Down All Unlicensed Bitcoin ATMs appeared first on Bitcoin News.


text:
East Tennesseans driving electric cars will soon be able to charge up their vehicles at a network of 350 stations throughout the Knoxville area.
The publicly accessible electric vehicle (EV) charging stations will begin to open in September.
The project is being supported by the city of Knoxville, Knox County, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Knoxville Utilities Board and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The partners are part of an EV project involving ECOtality, Nissan North America and General Motors/Chevrolet that calls for the deployment of more than 8,000 new Nissan LEAF and Chevy Volt electric vehicles and about 15,000 charging stations across the nation.
Through the EV project, Knoxville, Nashville and Chattanooga are all test markets for the Nissan LEAF and the charging stations, along with Washington, D.C., and cities in Oregon, Washington, Arizona and California.
ECOtality is a nonprofit renewable energy company that won a $115 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to support the EV program. The portion of funding designated for Tennessee has not yet been determined but will be driven by the number of cars sold and the installation costs of the stations, said Susanna Bass, the city's sustainability program manager.
"Owners of any of the new generation of electric vehicles can plug into the charging stations," Bass said.
Identifying locations for the 350 stations is expected to be completed in about a year, Bass said.
"We've been meeting frequently with project partners to think through the challenges and opportunities for electric vehicles in the Knoxville area and to identify places where the charging stations should go," Bass said.
Two pods of solar-powered stations, each containing five charging stations, will probably go in downtown Knoxville; officials are looking at Market Square and the Civic Coliseum and State Street garages.
The charging stations resemble small, box structures similar to gasoline pumps. Cars plug into them to recharge.
Most owners of the new cars will receive home charging stations to "fuel-up" at home, but a network of public stations will be needed to allow EV drivers more "flexibility and freedom," Bass said.
Bass said city officials have met with the Metropolitan Planning Commission, the Knoxville Police Department, the East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition and the Knoxville Chamber to discuss possibilities regarding the new EV stations.
"Everyone is very excited to see electric vehicles come to Knoxville and happy to work together on this project," Bass said.
So far, the group has looked at more than 100 proposed locations for the charging stations in Knoxville, Knox County and surrounding counties, but no final decision has been made.
The first group of Nissan LEAF vehicles has been reserved and should arrive late this year. Nissan is taking orders for 2011.
Rebecca Ferrar may be reached at 865-342-6357.


text:
S2A Modular – creator of the first electrically self-sustaining, custom and smart-connected luxury residence, the #GreenLuxHome, has been given the right to feature patented PV Graf technology from FreeVolt, a disruptive European solar company that has developed the world’s first and only graphene solar panel.
Existing solar panels on the market face a variety of issues including microcracks caused by high temperature soldering expensive metals during production. This in turn negatively affects power output, reliability and overall effectiveness. PV Graf aims to eliminate thermal stress during production and the cracking that results from that production, resulting in dramatically longer service life and better efficiency. Production costs are also lowered by removing the need for metals like silver and copper.
Real-world conditions, such as temperature from weather, rain, time of day, and other factors, can affect energy production rates and effectiveness in solar panels. The graphene-based material utilised by PV Graf makes the new technology immune to temperature and other environmental factors that otherwise would reduce production of current. It also increases energy production by more than 20 percent.
With grapheme being 200 times more durable than steel, the new technology also delivers far better durability, thereby extending service life and increasing reliability.
“This is not just a better solar panel – this is the first and only technology of its kind, featuring graphene” said Ryan Leusch, business development director of S2A Modular. “It’s a completely different solar science, with patented architecture and materials, that turns the industry on its head. With current solar panels, effectiveness declines in as little 5-6 years when materials begin to degrade and energy output decreases. With FreeVolt’s PV Graf technology, which brings a near-indestructible quality, service life and energy production are dramatically enhanced – while also eliminating degradation and making it immune to any temperature or weather factors that negatively affect other solutions out there.”
S2A’s #GreenLuxHome also features a Tesla Powerwall and a centralised smart home system that controls many everyday aspects of domestic households, including energy, electronics, appliances and security.
For additional information:


text:
The lens remains the widest shift lens for full-frame cameras, with the new Leica L and Pentax K mount versions rounding out the Canon EF, Canon RF, Nikon F, Nikon Z and Sony E mount options from launch.
Award-winning videographer Vadim Sherbakov created an aerial film, 'The Noor,' with a DJI Mini 2 in zero degree (-18ºC) temperatures.
Canon's Larry Thorpe has seen lot of changes over his 60-year career in the industry. We spoke to him after his recent retirement, and in this interview he highlights some of the technological advancements he's seen during his career and discusses the convergence between stills and video.
Nikon's Z6 II is a really pleasant camera to use – so pleasant, in fact, that one of our editors took it on a road trip vacation down the west coast to the California redwoods. Check out some coastal scenes in our updated sample gallery here.
Leica has introduced its Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-70mm F2.8 ASPH lens for full-frame L-mount bodies. The lens has three aspherical elements, a stepping motor for autofocus and an 11-blade aperture. It's now available for $2795.
May 5, 2021 at 19:46
Days Inn by Wyndham has brought back its 'Sunternship' program for 2021. This August, a selected photographer will be paid $10,000 and have their travel expenses covered during a customizable two-week trip within the United States.
May 5, 2021 at 15:17
Star Stacker, an astrophotography app available for iOS, allows users to create star trail images and timelapses.
videoMay 5, 2021 at 14:00
DPReview TV's Jordan Drake thinks the iFootage Cobra 2 is the best monopod ever created in the history of mankind. Find out why he calls it 'the monopod that changed my life'.
videoMay 5, 2021 at 13:38
Photographer Andy Mumford believes his landscape photography would've progressed faster if he had learned a few key things early on. To help other photographers avoid the same pitfalls, he's shared a new video outlining three things he wishes he'd learned sooner.
May 5, 2021 at 13:00
We've updated our 'best cameras for videographers' buying guide, with the Panasonic Lumix DC-S1H being our choice for high-end video shooters, and the Sony a7S III selected as the best "run-and-gun" option.
May 4, 2021 at 20:00
Sony’s three remaining A-mount DSLR cameras have disappeared from its website, suggesting the cameras have been discontinued, rendering the A-mount system all but obsolete.
May 4, 2021 at 18:03
The update improves autofocus capabilities and adds a collection of new and improved video features to Leica's 24MP full-frame camera system.
May 4, 2021 at 15:36
Law firm Hagens Berman has filed a suit against Samsung in US District Court. The lawsuit alleges a widespread defect in Galaxy S20 smartphones that causes the glass covering the rear cameras to shatter.
SponsoredMay 4, 2021 at 13:00
In this video, we head into the heart of wine country in the company of photographer James Joiner and the Fujifilm X-E4. James is meeting vintner Charles Bieler to shoot some imagery for a new wine label.
May 3, 2021 at 18:37
The fully-manual lens, which offers roughly a 50mm full-frame equivalent field of view, is available for Canon RF, Fujifilm X, Nikon Z and Sony E mount camera systems.
May 3, 2021 at 14:41
This 'retro-style' DIY digital camera is built around a Raspberry Pi Zero W connected to a Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera module.
videoMay 3, 2021 at 13:58
Brian Emfinger from Live Storms Media got close to a tornado with his drone before losing it. Here is some footage he managed to pull from the DJI GO 4 app.
Incredible video showcases world’s first 8K VR drone footage of Iceland’s Mt. Fagradalsfjall volcano
May 2, 2021 at 17:15
The video was captured by a photographer/pilot duo who used an Insta360 Pro 2 attached to a DJI Matrice 600 drone to capture the close-up visuals of Iceland’s Mt. Fagradalsfjall volcano.
sample galleryMay 1, 2021 at 14:00
Our team at DPReview TV just wrapped up their review of the Olympus E-M10 mark IV. As Chris explains, it's now 'third winter' in Canada, so don't be surprised to see some snow in this sample gallery.
May 1, 2021 at 13:00
Nature photographer Erez Marom shares the story of his recent trip to Fagradalsfjall Volcano in Iceland
Apr 30, 2021 at 20:07
Michael Collins, an Apollo 11 astronaut known as the 'loneliest man in history,' passed away at age 90 from cancer.
Apr 30, 2021 at 18:23
The dog food company, Iams has launched a new app, NOSEiD, that photographs and scans dog noses to identify lost pups and help reconnect them with their owners.
Apr 30, 2021 at 15:08
CIPA's March 2021 data is out, showing the industry is starting to stabilize after a tumultuous 2020 that saw the COVID-19 pandemic affect nearly every corner of the industry.
Apr 30, 2021 at 14:00
Looking to get into film photography? Whether you're hunting for a pocket-sized companion, a camera to learn and grow with, or something capable of the best image quality possible, we've got advice for you.
Apr 29, 2021 at 17:59
A recent article in Architectural Digest shares how Hungarian artist Andi Shmied used a bit of social engineering to capture photographs of some of New York City’s most opulent pieces of real estate.
Apr 29, 2021 at 14:30
The gallery, which includes images dating back to the early 20th century, displays everything from portraits of everyday life to architectural photographs of iconic buildings in the Finnish capital.
Apr 29, 2021 at 14:00
The DJI Air 2S addresses one of the most common feature requests from drone users: a a 1"-type sensor camera on a consumer-oriented model. We compare it to DJI's other foldable drone with a 1"-type sensor, the Mavic 2 Pro, to see how it stacks up.
sample galleryApr 29, 2021 at 13:00
Our team at DPReview TV recently reviewed the new Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG DN. This gallery includes many of their test photos so you can judge image quality for yourself.
Apr 28, 2021 at 20:20
ImagenAI recently announced its new desktop app for Mac and PC. Using artificial intelligence, it will automatically edit batches of your photos in Lightroom based on what it has learned from your past editing preferences.
Atomos announces Ninja V+ with 8K/30p and 4K/120p ProRes RAW support, Ninja Stream for remote liveview
Apr 28, 2021 at 18:54
Atomos has announced a paid H.265 update for the Ninja V and announced two new monitor/recorder products, the Ninja V+ and Ninja Stream.
Apr 28, 2021 at 14:02
Nikkei Asia has reported Apple supplier TMSC has started production of Apple's next-generation M-series chipset, with the first units expected to ship in July for use in a computer expected before the end of the year.
videoApr 27, 2021 at 19:01
Photographer Mathieu Stern recently tested out what it’s like to shoot various subjects against a fabric that absorbs 99.5% of light that hits it, resulting in images that make it look as though the subject is floating in air.
videoApr 27, 2021 at 15:55
Huntington Witherill has been capturing fine art photographs for 50 years and has worked with many famous photographers, including Ansel Adams. In a new video with Marc Silber, Witherill discusses composition and ways to help photographers evaluate a scene when choosing a composition.
Almost a decade after Sigma inaugurated its 'Global Vision' line of lenses with the original 35mm F1.4 'Art', the company has released an all-new 35mm, built from the ground up for modern mirrorless ILCs. Click through for a closer look.
Sigma's new 35mm F1.4 DG DN Art lens has an entirely new design built from the ground up for full-frame mirrorless cameras. Available for Sony E-mount and L-mount bodies, we tested it with both the Panasonic Lumix DC-S1R and DC-S5.
lens newsApr 27, 2021 at 12:30
Sigma has announced the 35mm F1.4 DG DN Art for full-frame Sony E-mount and L-mount alliance bodies. The lens features numerous special elements, a manual aperture ring and weather-sealing.
Apr 26, 2021 at 19:34
The Polaroid Go uses a new square-format i-Type ‘Go’ instant film that’s a miniature version of the iconic Polaroid 600 film used in the original Polaroid One Step.
Google shares a deep dive into its new HDR+ with Bracketing technology found in its latest Pixel devices
Apr 26, 2021 at 14:53
Google recently shared a blog post that takes a technical look into how its new Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5 devices make the most of its new HDR+ with Bracketing technology to capture HDR scenes.
sample galleryApr 26, 2021 at 13:00
You've read the review, now view our massive Sony a1 sample gallery! There you'll find a mix of out-of-camera JPEGs and Raw conversions as well as samples shot on both native and third-party glass.
lens newsApr 26, 2021 at 12:33
Now, in addition to Canon EF-M, Fuji X, Micro Four Thirds (MFT) and Sony E mount camera systems, the affordable manual lens is now available for Leica L and Nikon Z mount mirrorless cameras.
videoApr 25, 2021 at 14:00
The tiny FX3 is part of Sony's line of professional cinema cameras, but it's basically a Sony a7S III under the hood. Jordan shows us how it's different and tells us which one he would choose.
videoApr 24, 2021 at 14:32
Sony World Photography Awards is one of the world's most prestigious competitions. A documentary covering some of the winning images was recently created.
Most popular cameras


text:
2020 is not over yet. According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, the scale of Japanese companies’ investment in China in the first half of the year was 3.9% less than that of last year. However, according to calculations by Japanese media, total investment in 2020 may be the same as last year, or even increase slightly.
More importantly, Japanese investment is becoming increasingly stable!
how to say?
The ratio between the scale of investment recovery in Japan and the amount of investment executed will be 17% in 2020, a record low in recent years. This means that after the Japanese invest, most of them continue to invest, allowing the money to be deposited in China instead of directly withdrawing it.
You must know that in April 2020, the Abe government once proposed a subsidy policy for Japanese companies to return subsidies. The above-mentioned corporate investment is very clear: Japanese companies are more stable in China.
When it comes to the return of Japanese companies, perhaps the withdrawal from Vietnam is true.
According to statistics, Japan’s direct investment in Vietnam will drop by 43% in 2020!
Vietnam is currently dominated by South Koreans. In the “Overflow”, Samsung’s related industries accounted for more than a quarter of Vietnam’s GDP and imports and exports.
Japan’s investment in Vietnam has fallen so sharply that it basically announced the end of its love for Vietnam.
On September 3, 2020, according to Beijing Business Daily, Japan Dialogue’s investment has exceeded 110 billion U.S. dollars, ranking first in foreign investment rankings for three consecutive years!
In terms of investment, to whom does Japan really love?
Money has already explained the problem.
Do Japanese companies have the idea of moving out of China?
Yes, but there are fewer and fewer ideas.
According to data from the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), the proportion of companies that want to move to other regions in the next two years is getting lower and lower, and in 2019 it was less than 1%.
The reasons for these companies to move or leave are mainly labor costs and performance decline.
The Japanese think that labor costs are a big problem, but in the report of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Ye Tan Finance found that the wages of Japanese employees are far lower than expected!
In the first-tier cities, the average salary of manufacturing workers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou is around 5,000; the salary of engineers is no more than 9,000; and the salary of managers is less than 15,000.
Labor costs at this level, according to JETRO’s calculations, are currently equivalent to 80% of those made in Japan.
In order to reduce costs, Japanese companies are rushing to move to Chongqing, Sichuan and other places. This trend is basically the same as Ye Tan Finance’s previous analysis in this article.
The overall cost of 80%, to be honest, is very close to Japan. If the labor cost rises further, will the Japanese go away?
Probably still not.
In 2020, China is about to surpass the United States to become the world’s largest consumer market. China has proposed internal circulation and demand-side reforms. These measures all mean that China will make every effort to make a big consumption plate in the future.
The huge consumer market has always had a siphon effect, which means that economically, Japan is likely to move closer to China.
According to data from the General Administration of Customs, the trend is already on the way.
In 2020, China’s imports from Japan will grow at 2.7%, which is much higher than South Korea’s 0.4%. In total, the closeness between Japan and China is also higher than that of South Korea.
On December 8, according to a report on the World Wide Web, Kenji Shimizu, the head of the Guangzhou Representative Office of Japan’s Trade Promotion Agency, said bluntly in an interview: “In addition to making money in China, where else?”
This sentence is actually the current voice of Japanese companies.
On November 15, 2020, RCEP (“Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement”) was officially signed, and Japan can be said to be the biggest beneficiary.
According to the analysis by Xu Jingbo, the president of Asia News Agency, after the signing of the RCEP agreement, Japan has become the country with the largest proportion of free trade among the major countries in the world, reaching 80%.
Japanese elections have always depended on the faces of farmers. Agriculture has a great influence in Japan. In this RCEP, in order to take care of Japan’s rich specialties, rice, wheat, pork, beef, dairy products, sugar and other products have almost remained unchanged. .
According to the calculations of CITIC Securities, the difference between China’s tax allowance for Japan and Japan’s tax allowance for China is the largest in bilateral relations. The long-term tax exemption difference may reach 4 billion US dollars.
Opening the Nikkei index will find that after November 15th, the Nikkei index has obviously reached a new level, and after the new high, it has kept new highs, which contains the implicit gift of RCEP.
Yoshihide Suga’s past is relatively pro-China, and his attitude is expected to be more friendly than Abe, but if there are not so many gift packages and China’s boost to Japan’s economy, Yoshihide Suga might not dare to face the United States. Said “to have a good relationship with China”.
Japanese capital will not run away, and Japanese capital will still be there. The most worrying thing now is the attitude of Japanese people towards China.
According to the latest polls, China’s favorability towards Japan is picking up rapidly, reaching 34.3% in 2019, three times higher than in 2015.
What about Japan? The favorability for China is only 8.5%, and the dislike for China has risen to 44.8%.
The ice-breaking of the Chinese and Japanese people may be the most important thing in the future Sino-Japanese relations. This requires the common wisdom of China and Japan!
article links：Japanese investment is becoming increasingly stable
Reprint indicated source：Spark Global Limited information


text:
The results for the months of June, July and August this year reveal that, compared to the same period last year, overall sales increased by 3 per cent, driven by demand for Lumileds LED components, car lighting, lamps and control gear. But sales at Professional Lighting Solutions and consumer luminaires fell in the same period.
LED-based sales grew by 33 per cent and now represent 30 per cent of total lighting sales. Profit margin excluding restructuring and acquisition-related charges was 10.2 per cent, a year-on-year improvement of 3.9 percentage points.
Cost-cutting and streamlining programmes were continuing and were yielding results, the company said in a statement.


text:
By Robert Barron, Staff Writer
Enid News & Eagle
ENID, Okla. —
Those interested in becoming vendors for Enid Farmers Market may attend a free training session for the 2013 season at 6:30 tonight in the Northwestern Oklahoma State University-Enid campus board room, 2929 E. Randolph.
“We always have people asking what the requirements are as vendors, and we of course require vendors to follow state regulations regarding preparation and packing of food items. We want to provide as much support and education as possible about these guidelines in hopes that new vendors will join us,” said Kayte Anton, Enid Farmers Market board president.
Enid Farmers Market will open its 2013 season on May 11 and continue 8-11 a.m. every Saturday through October at the old Rock Island railroad station at Grand and Garriott.
The training will give prospective vendors plenty of time to determine how to meet state standards regarding regulations about packaging and packing of food items by the time Farmer’s Market opens in May, said Stephanie Ezzell, a board member who assists vendors in coordinating use of a commercial kitchen. Ezzell will lead the training.
Anton said the Farmers Market board will provide as much support and education about those guidelines as possible.
“We want those interested not to be deterred by state guidelines, because we have access to a commercial kitchen that is required for certain food preparations, and a board that is committed to vendor development,” Anton said.


text:
Ikea to turn attention to bedrooms during X Factor
Ikea is launching its latest ad campaign 'Happy to Bed' during the first episode of 'The X Factor' tomorrow (20 August), positioning the bedroom as more than just a place to go sleep.
During 'The X Factor' ad breaks, Ikea will air a 60-second TV spot called ‘Playfight’ featuring a wife starting a play fight with her husband and descends into them throwing toys, pillows and socks at each other.
The director of 'Playfight' was Martin Krejci at Company Stink, the producer was Ben Croker and the editor was Filip Malasek. Post production was by Tom Sparks at The Mill and One of Us.
The ad is set to 'Asfalt Tango', a track by Balkan Brass Band Fanfare Ciocarlia and audio post production was by Factory.
The integrated campaign, by Mother, aims to widen bedtime beyond brushing your teeth, taking off any makeup and putting on pyjamas and enacourge people to celebrate bedrooms and make them a "happy destination to go to sleep".
The campaign, negotiated by media agency Vizeum, will include 10-second spots inspired on Channel 4 running at10.30pm on "school nights" (Sunday to Thursday) to remind people to go 'Happy to Bed'.
The campaign will extend digitally through a free mobile app will set off a bedtime alarm at the right time to fit into the user's sleep cycle and an independent writer will publish a post every day as part of the 'Happy to Bed' blog.
Ikea has also claims to have spent £2.5m redesigning its bedrooms based on research on how people live in their homes and will be targeted to local areas in order to inspire customers to create a happier space in their bedrooms.
Kemi Anthony, advertising manager at Ikea, said: "We want to be the experts in truly understanding peoples' needs, wants and dreams to help them live a happier life at home.
"Through our research, we found that the bedroom is one of the most neglected rooms in the home. In the new campaign we want to highlight that Ikea has everything you need to go happy to bed all under one roof and at prices everyone can afford."
This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk
Latest jobs Jobs web feed
- PR Account Manager fishtank 24k to 33k per year GBP, Surrey
- Brand Manager Radisson Blu Edwardian, London Competitive , South Kensington, London
- Junior Account Manager fishtank 22k to 28k per year GBP, Buckinghamshire
- senior planner > SPORTS BRANDS collectivo Up to £90,000 plus benefits, London
- Head of Media, Marketing & Communications PGA Competitive, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands
- Graphic/Web Designer fishtank 27k to 35k per year GBP, United Kingdom
Integrated digital marketing offers huge opportunities to engage, servic...
Mobile marketing is coming of age, and the pace of change is now exponen...
With UK consumers spending an average of £1,083 a year online, int...
Conversational Mobile Marketing: Engage Customers and Empower Advocates (Expert Reports) External website
The pressure is on for marketers and mobile operators to embrace a strat...
As a nation, the UK is media and technology obsessed with over half of t...
All customers have the potential to become your brand advocates, driving...


text:
(Seoul=NSP NEWS AGENCY) = SK Hynix has started supplying 24GB(gigabyte) packages of LPDDR5X(Low Power Double Data Rate 5 eXtended), a high-performance DRAM for mobile devices such as smartphones, to customers.
The company succeeded in mass-producing LPDDR5X in November of last year, and this time, it developed and delivered a package with a capacity of up to 24GB for the first time as a mobile DRAM.
“By introducing the HKMG(High-K Metal Gate) process to the LPDDR5X 24GB package, we were able to achieve the industry’s highest level of power efficiency and performance at the same time,” SK Hynix said, “This time, we added the only 24GB high-capacity package to our mobile DRAM portfolio to respond much wider to customer needs.”
The LPDDR5X 24GB package operates from 1.01 to 1.12V(volts), the lowest voltage reference range set by the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council(JEDEC). The data processing speed is 68GB per second, which is equivalent to processing 13 FHD(Full-HD) movies in one second.
Prior to this announcement, the company mass-produced and supplied new products to OPPO, a smartphone manufacturer, from last month. OPPO built it into its latest flagship smartphone, Oneplus Ace 2 Pro, and released it on the 10th.
ⓒNSP News Agency·NSP TV. All rights reserved.


text:
PRIDE IN LONDON DOUGH BITES 2019
This week London celebrates the 50th anniversary of LGBTQ+ Pride and for the fifth year running, we’re getting involved with our limited-edition dough bites (mini filled doughnuts)!
The annual London parade is set to take place across the West End on Saturday 6th July, passing by our Fitzrovia, Marylebone (vegan), Soho and Piccadilly stores where we’ll be serving up the Pride dough bites alongside our regular selection of sourdough doughnuts, specialty coffee and iced drinks to escape the summer heat (fingers crossed on that one)!
The limited-edition dough bites are made using our vegan sourdough, filled with a homemade raspberry jam and topped with our vegan Tongan vanilla bean glaze and a rainbow topper.
For each dough bite sold, we’re donating £1 to our charity partners, Centrepoint, who help thousands of homeless LGBTQ+ young people get out of harm’s way every year.
Crosstown is excited to join the list of premium products available in the famous Harrods’ Food Hall.
We've teamed up with Patty & Bun to spread the word about London’s best vegan doughnuts and vegan burgers. For the month of September, visit Vegan Crosstown in Marylebone (6a Picton Place) and get £2 off plant-based burgers at the Patty & Bun on James Street....
We’ve curated a list of 7 specialty drink and doughnut pairings that’ll shake up your daily routine and give you an excuse to try something new. Each day of the week represents a new doughnut and drink pairing, available in our deal throughout September. Whether it's...


text:
SHE is a best-selling author, top TV and film actress, wife to a rugby legend and, this year, a new mum.
But there's no stopping Amy Huberman's CV, and today she became a top model.
The 33-year-old follows silver-screen icon Maureen O'Hara as the new face of Newbridge Silverware.
From July 1, the former Clinic actress will be bringing what the company describe as her "beauty and grace" to a major advertising campaign.
The company said it's a "match made in style heaven; the chic, accessible and effortlessly elegant actress is the perfect embodiment of the Newbridge Silverware collection".
They say that Amy will be involved in a "multi-dimensional campaign" which includes a commercial shot by renowned director Hugh O'Conor and press ads photographed by Barry McCall.
Speaking at a press launch at the Museum of Style Icons in Newbridge today, Amy said: "Newbridge Silverware defines elegance, affordable luxury and sophistication, and I am thrilled to be associated with such an iconic Irish brand.
"I have always been a fan of the Newbridge collection, particularly the collections inspired by the legendary stars such as Grace Kelly and Greta Garbo."


text:
Send a Burberry Kiss with Google
Google and Burberry teamed up to create “Burberry Kisses,” a digital platform that allows users to send virtual kisses to anyone in the world.
As part of a new advertising partnership, Google and Burberry teamed up to create “Burberry Kisses,” a digital platform that allows users to send virtual kisses to anyone in the world.
If you visit kisses.burberry.com, you’ll be able to pucker up in front of your webcam, as the site detects the outline of your lips (It can only be accessed on Google Chrome and on mobile devices).
A print of your kiss can be customized in different shades of Burberry lipstick, and sent on a letter through a series of animations to people in other cities. When they receive it, they’ll be greeted with a visualisation of how far the message has traveled and be given an opportunity to send a kiss in return.
All the kisses are private unless you choose to share them via Twitter, Facebook or Google + and all the public kisses can be seen whizzing across the globe on a giant world map.
“We’re constantly thinking about how we translate the emotion of what we create and experience in the real world into the digital space,” said Christopher Bailey in a statement.
“Burberry Kisses began with the idea of giving technology a bit of a heart and soul, and using it to unite the Burberry family across the world – by telling a story that makes the digital personal.”


text:
The fallout from two fatal crashes of Boeing 737 Max planes has ensnared the manufacturer's most-loyal customer: Southwest Airlines. The carrier has canceled thousands of...Airlinesread more
The Fed is expected to cut rates Wednesday, but it is unlikely to tell markets what they want to hear on future rate cuts.Market Insiderread more
Stocks rose slightly on Tuesday, but gains were capped as the Federal Reserve kicked off a two-day monetary policy meeting.US Marketsread more
Pelosi said Trump should not have tried to address China's trade practices in a way that opened Americans up to financial pain.Politicsread more
Brent crude oil jumped the most in history in the previous session after attacks on Saudi's oil industry disrupted the kingdom's production.Marketsread more
In the survey, conducted after the third in the Democratic Party's series of debate, the former vice president draws 31% compared to 25% for the Massachusetts senator. At 14%,...2020 Electionsread more
E-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc.'s sales have been halted on two websites in China, just days after it launched in the world's biggest tobacco market.Biotech and Pharmaceuticalsread more
Investors might be wary that gasoline prices will continue to rise, and are looking to take back profits by selling off shares.Retailread more
The Trump administration move on California's auto emissions standards would likely set up a fight between the White House and the state.Politicsread more
"I feel really confident that defense-minded CEOs, when they are on defense, they're going to come to" flexible offices and away from traditional leases, Knotel CEO Amol Sarva...Commercial Real Estateread more
Fanatics has hired Michener Chandlee, Nike's corporate audit and chief risk officer, to become its chief financial officer, succeeding Lauren Cooks Levitan, CNBC has learned.Retailread more
Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, added about 1.9 million new users in the last two months. In the same period, Blockchain.com, the leading digital wallet to store cryptocurrencies, saw its users grow just slightly less than that.
Many are newcomers, unaware of the risks and security holes in the complicated yet lucrative world of cryptocurrency, making them easy prey for hackers and cyberthiefs.
One common crime that's carried out on cryptocurrency investors is the phone-porting attack. Hackers snoop around social media, looking for cryptocurrency conversations in which investors post their phone and email for easy contact. Then, posing as the victim, they call up the phone provider in an attempt to fool the customer service representative into transferring the phone number to a device they control.
Once the hackers take over the phone number, they can go into the victim's cryptocurrency exchange account by resetting the password, ultimately stealing cryptocurrencies from the account. Cody Brown, a virtual reality developer, blogged about how he lost around $8,000 worth of cryptocurrencies on Coinbase in 15 minutes, triggered by a phone porting attack on his phone account.
A cellphone number is not the only point of weakness. Adam Dachis, a former writer for Lifehacker, says his Coinbase account was ransacked in May by hackers who took control of his home computer, costing him $10,000 worth of cryptocurrencies.
"Computer hacks, phishing attacks and cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes are all common types of cryptocurrency theft," said Jonathan Levin, co-founder of Chainalysis, an intelligence software firm that specializes in tracking and solving cryptocurrency crimes.
So what's the best way to protect your cryptocurrency investments from hacks?
To find out, we reached out to three cryptocurrency investors and three cybersecurity experts. All three investors have lost some cryptocurrencies due to different hacks. One of the experts, Amir Bandeali, also is an investor, lost about 18 percent of his investments because the exchange (Bitfinex) he was trading with was hacked. That incident inspired him to build decentralized exchanges, which he believes will be the future for trading cryptocurrencies.
All of them admitted there's no perfect solution to the problem. In the age of cryptocurrency, hard drives and personal computers have become the new bank vaults. And our real-world knowledge of protecting money from theft is not enough in the virtual world. The following suggestions can serve as a safety pamphlet for new cryptocurrency investors.
Here's the advice of investors and experts, edited for clarity and style:
Jonathan Levin, co-founder of Chainalysis
1. Before you open up an account on Coinbase [or other exchanges], set up an unique email that you are going to use for that account.
2. Make sure to set a really hard and long password, and you are the only one to access it from a piece of paper that you control.
Dan Romero, VP of operation at Coinbase
1. On Coinbase, turn off SMS-based two-factor authentication and account recovery for your email account. If you move to Google Authenticator but don't turn off SMS account recovery, a phone port attack can still lead to an email compromise.
2. On Coinbase, setup the Coinbase Vault and two-factor authentication for any sends off-site.
Sean Everett, VP of product management, Coinbase account was hacked by phone porting attack
1. Don't talk about cryptocurrency publicly, especially on social media.
2. Call your cellphone provider, put every level of security you possibly can, and add a passcode to it. The next level protection is to add a "do not port" SIM card to your account. That can last for a year.
3. Even though Coinbase says it takes security seriously and has system designs to protect customers, it's not a bank. Don't trust it as such.
Adam Dachis, digital consultant, Coinbase account was raided by a computer hack
Don't keep all your cryptocurrency investments in one place. Diversify among exchanges. It's unlikely you are going to get hacked at the same time through all of them. Especially if you have different emails and passwords for each.
Sanjay Beri, CEO of Netskope, specialize in enforcing security across cloud applications and network.
Keep your cryptocurrency off the internet, in a "cold wallet."
"Cold wallet" is not a brand, it's a concept of storing bitcoins offline (not connected to internet) so that it reduces the opportunities for hackers to steal via online techniques.
"Hot wallet" is connected to the internet, for daily transactions. Think about "hot wallet" as a checking account and "cold wallet" as the savings account.
Here is how to create a cheap "cold wallet" on a dedicated computer:
First, download a cold wallet application to a new, secure usb drive.
Then, take a computer, reset it to factory setting, disconnect it from the internet and keep it offline.
Last, load the cold wallet application onto the computer, keep your cryptocurrencies on that clean and offline computer. You can make transactions offline, using the cold wallet application.
Amir Bandeali, CTO and founder of 0x project
1. If you must use a centralized exchange, withdrawal often, store your tokens on a hardware wallet, which is a hardware device, creates transactions without connecting through the internet.
2. If you are trading tokens on ethereum, I recommend looking into decentralized exchanges. The biggest difference between centralized exchanges (like Coinbase, Kraken and Bitfinex) and decentralized exchanges is that decentralized exchanges do not hold users' funds. No one can ever access your funds other than you. So it can't be stolen unless your private keys are compromised.


text:
You cannot have failed to have noticed that the attitude towards the use of plastics in this world has turned very negative recently. And that’s not a bad thing. So much of it ends up in our oceans, in the life in those oceans, ruining wildlife and habitats alike. It ends up in our food chain and ultimately ourselves as animals eat it thinking it’s food. It washes up on our beaches. It is ruining beauty spots all over the planet. There is even a berg of plastic floating around in the Caribbean that is actually as big as a small island. How sad is that?
We’re ditching single use plastics as quickly as we can. Straws, plastic bags, veg packaging. It’s only now, where we’re at a pinch point when it comes to the climate, that we’re looking properly into use of plastics and recycling. All of this new energy and attention on our use of materials is fantastic. If it helps create a complete cultural change towards plastics, minimises their use and boosts recycling, then that can only be a good thing.
But, and this has already been mentioned to me in private, it will not be long until attention turns towards PVCu windows and doors. The material that most of us have sold for decades and that most of the millions of homes in the UK have fitted. My guess is it could happen later on this year. If and when it does, our industry has a huge problem.
Very bad press
There is very little good news around the use of plastics right now. You can understand why. There is so much of it in the global ecosystem, and it most definitely is ruining our planet. So little of it is recycled, so you can understand why a lot of people want plastics removed from use altogether. Good news for the planet, not so good for the makers of plastic.
This included the PVCu section of the window industry. In this climate where social media helps, pretty much encourages the bandwagon to become offended and appalled at something, I fear it won’t be too long before PVCu windows and doors are the next target.
My other fear is that if there are calls for it to be banned, or for other materials to be used, it will be rather difficult for us to defend the continued use of it.
Think about it, it’s only relatively recently that PVCu recycling has been a thing. In previous decades it’s safe to assume that PVCu post consumer waste has been shoved in the ground. PVCu’s main ingredient is oil, which involves dirty and expensive extraction. A finite material in itself. Even now, with a much greener focus, we can’t exactly say much of what we use now is made from recycled PVCu, even though PVCu itself can be recycled up to ten times before it can no longer be used.
We all know how negative press spreads quicker than positive, and that could be the very thing that causes the most damage. PVCu as a material when in use does have a lot of advantages. It’s very low maintenance. Thermal performance is very good. It’s more cost effective than aluminium and timber. Aesthetically it’s far more advanced than it used to be. It can also be recycled up to ten times, or over a period of about two hundred years if done every twenty years.
But, after that two hundred years, what happens to it? That will be the argument. In the long run, where will PVCu go when it has no shelf life left? What about the stuff that’s already in the ground now? How will our industry respond?
How will the industry respond?
The argument against the use of PVCu windows and doors will come. Given the very quickly changing attitudes towards plastics in society it would be naive to think otherwise. If I were the PVCu part of the sector I would already be coming up with plans in which to respond when the tide starts to turn against it’s products.
It’s natural response will be to boast about the number of times it can be recycled, how they can achieve very high energy efficiency levels and their lower maintenance. All of these are many of the USPs that made the product popular in the first place. But the counter argument will be that it’s dirty and expensive to make, it creates a large carbon footprint, it’s harmful to the environment when it’s recyclable life ends, and that decades worth of old PVCu windows and doors are already laying underground in landfill. Hard to argue against that.
The next step will be for the industry to really start to get into the green feeling. I think there will be a massive push from systems companies to introduce part or fully recycled profiles to replace their virgin PVCu products. Social and environment pressure will make that happen before demands from installers and fabricators do. But the nature of the world is such that when the bandwagon speaks, hands are forced.
This may continue for a while. Gradually virgin PVCu could die off as the window industry tries desperately to adapt to a world that is quickly focusing on environmental issues. During this time though, it’s likely that aluminium and timber windows and doors will continue to surge further as they may be seen by home owners as the greener option. I think timber could do particularly well if PVCu does come under the same sort of pressure other plastic products have come under recently.
In the very long run, my outlook for PVCu is negative. Eventually I can see the industry ditching PVCu altogether as the social movement against plastics eventually kills off many other plastic products. This perhaps something two decades down the line, maybe even further. But the argument will soon move from recycling plastic products to removing them from use in our daily lives altogether. It’s not the fact that they can be remade into something else, but that the actual product of plastics, including PVCu windows and doors, is a dirty and expensive process that still damages the environment.
So, long live timber I guess!
To get weekly updates from DGB sent to your inbox, enter your email address in the space below to subscribe:


text:
THE MOST CURRENT STUDIES AND COUNTRY REPORTS
Effective retail places use leisure, technology, and planning to lure shoppers, who now want shopping to be both functional and social.
The distribution of online potential for product groups such as food, clothing, consumer electronics and DIY items differs substantially from region to region. Recently GfK published its findings in the first-ever study on regional online potential for 17 product groups in Germany.
How the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union will affect the British shopping center industry.
Colliers recently published a “Retail Market Overview” of the first half of 2016 in Bulgaria. It indicates that the market will undergo sustainable development, with decreasing levels of supply and stable demand until the end of the year.
According to a recent report by Cushman & Wakefield, the sales area of European retail parks will increase by 50% more in 2016 than in the previous year. This growth is due mainly to developments in France, Italy, and the UK.
In an interview with ACROSS, Frank McAveety, Leader of Glasgow City Council, explains how the City Center Strategy protects and progresses the retail offer.
The EHI Retail Institute recently presented the German “Shopping Center Report 2016.” It reports that only four new projects will be completed this year. Revitalizations and neighborhoods centers currently prevail.
The annual volume of new Moscow shopping centers will decrease to 460,000 sq m in 2016. Almost 90% of 2016 completions will come from postponed projects.
GfK study on key retail indicators: 2015 review and 2016 forecast
According to Redevco, these are the top three most attractive European retail destinations. It is notable that soft factors continue to drive city performance.
ECE has published new study on development of food & beverages at shopping centers. Restaurants and food courts have been an important trend at the centers for a while.
The current largest shopping center development project in Switzerland is the Mall of Switzerland in Ebikon, near Lucerne. ACROSS wanted to ask Marcel Stoffel, Managing Director of the Swiss Council of Shopping Centers (SCSC), how he views the project and what he sees as the future prospects for the Swiss shopping center industry.
Transactions in the retail sector were dominant last year, accounting for around 55% of the total volume.
There are currently 189 shopping centers in Switzerland with sales area greater than 5,000 sq m. This includes five largest railway stations and airport shopping in Zurich/Kloten. Last year, there were just 182 centers.
Luxury labels pay “connoisseur’s price” of more than €400 per sq m per month for prime addresses in the center of Vienna.
No grand openings were celebrated in the Benelux country last year. This year and the following years will be different.
TriGrant has spotted a wave of activity in the Eastern European Country.
In the “Real Estate Market Report 2015 – Baltic States,” experts at Ober-Haus examine the Latvian retail real estate market, among other places.
In March 2010 Eurovea opened in the Slovak capital. Olga Hammer, PR & Marketing Manager of the mixed-use-property, explains how they built awareness for their brand.
Stable returns and consistently good economic forecasts currently make the Slovakian capital particularly attractive. Developers remain reticent when it comes to creating new space, however.


text:
- 77 updates
In the wake of the recent racially-motivated church shooting in Charleston which claimed the lives of nine black parishioners, there have been calls to ban the Confederate flag.
In South Carolina, an activist, named locally as Bree Newsome, climbed the flagpole outside its statehouse and removed the controversial flag.
The flag is widely considered to be a symbol of racial oppression as it was often used as a sign of protest of the abolition of slavery.
It comes just days after Google became the latest retailer to ban sales of goods bearing the Confederate emblem.
Google Inc has become the latest online retailer to pull all products bearing the controversial Confederate flag from sale in the wake of last week's racially-motivated massacre at a historic black church in South Carolina.
Amazon, eBay, Wal-Mart and Sears have already announced their decision to ban sales of merchandise displaying the image of the flag, which many see as representing racism and slavery.
In a statement sent to Reuters news agency, Google said it had pulled the items due to the perception that it "expressed hate".
Lawmakers in the state yesterday voted to open the debate on removing the flag from display in the State House grounds.
Amazon.com will be removing Confederate flag merchandise from its site, a source knowledgeable with the matter told Reuters.
The online retailer's move follows similar decisions by EBay, Wal-Mart and Sears in the wake of a racially-motivated massacre last week at a historically black South Carolina church.
US department store chain Sears has announced it will remove all Confederate Flags being sold by third parties on its marketplace website.
It follows a decision by supermarket giant Wal-Mart to remove all products bearing the controversial flag - which many see as representing racism and slavery - from stores and online in the wake of a massacre at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Supermarket giant Wal-Mart has pledged to remove all items bearing the Confederate Flag from its stores and online, according to a statement.
The move by the company - which owns UK supermarket chain Asda - comes after widespread protests over the flying and use of the flag, which many see as a symbol of hate and a throwback to the time of slavery.
It has remained in use in the grounds of the State Capitol in Columbia despite the racially-motivated shooting at a church which left nine worshippers dead.
South Carolina's governor, Nikki Haley, is among those calling for the flag to be taken down.
President Barack Obama will deliver a eulogy at the funeral of murdered Charleston pastor Reverend Clementa Pinckney, the White House has confirmed.
The President is due to travel to South Carolina for the service where he will say a few words and pay his respects to the pastor and the eight members of his congregation who were gunned down at the city's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church last week.
The funeral is set for 11am at the College of Charleston on Friday.
Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina, has called for the controversial Confederate Flag to be taken down from the grounds of the State Capitol in Columbia.
She has even threatened to call a special legislative session if the state senate doesn't act.
Thousands of people gathered on the Arthur Ravenel Bridge in Charleston to join hands in solidarity with the congregation of the church where nine black parishioners were shot during a bible study class last week.
The bridge's namesake is a former state politician and a vocal supporter of the Confederate flag carried by pro-slavery, secessionist forces in the American Civil War.
The shootings have renewed calls for the flag to be removed from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds.
Photographs of suspect Dylann Roof, along with a purported self-written hate-filled manifesto online, showed him holding Confederate flags.
Latest ITV News reports
Barack Obama says that the United States has not yet overcome its history of racism and used a racial slur to highlight his point.
The church where nine people were murdered last week has reopened as the city shows solidarity with the congregation.


text:
iyzico, as a payment service provider (PSP), creates innovative payment solutions for the e-commerce market in Turkey, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Founded in 2013 in Istanbul, iyzico provides a secure payment management platform to online companies of different sizes operating in different industries.
Providing SMEs with a fast onboarding and easy integration process, iyzico makes it possible for individual sellers to start global online commerce over their social media accounts with PCI-DSS Level 1 certified infrastructure ensuring maximum security in less than 24 hours. iyzico’s technology enables online businesses and enterprises to maximize acceptance rates and collect payments in their local currency through installments.
iyzico is the fastest growing financial technology company in Eastern Europe and Turkey with 3,1 billion TRY annual transaction and volume of more than 350,000 online seller accounts.
In the media
4th April 2017
Amadeus Capital Partners joins $15 million investment in Turkish online payment leader iyzico
23rd November 2018
The Turkish market potential is huge AliExpress together with iyzico to create a seamless payment experience
According to foreign media reports, Alibaba Group's AliExpress has been with Turkey's leading financial payment platform iyzico reached a cooperation, in its use of the iyzico provides payment solutions for immediate
11th November 2018
FINTECH start-UPS, unicorn in the world 30 companies to
blockchain Hippo insurance Hometap RealEstateInvesting Human Interest WealthManagement Hypur Cannabis Ice Kredit CreditScore&Analytics ID Finance CreditScore&Analytics IEX Group CapitalMarkets&Trading IndiaLends CreditScore&Analytics Invoice2go Account&Finance iyzico Processing&Payments JD Finance GeneralLending&Marketplaces JUMO Marketplace GeneralLending&Marketplaces


text:
Tesla Hits 5 Million Vehicle Milestone, Reveals Historic Model
On September 16, 2023, Tesla announced it recently hit a milestone, reaching the production of its 5 millionth vehicle.
According to Tesla on its Weibo social network in China, the 5 millionth vehicle was a Pearl White version of the new Model 3. The vehicle was manufactured at Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory. A picture was shared of the white Model 3 surrounded by Giga Shanghai employees.
“From a blank canvas to today’s 5 millionth vehicle, Tesla has always adhered to a simple and efficient approach,” the company stated. The milestone aims to advance Tesla’s blueprint for a sustainable future.
On Saturday afternoon, Tesla’s official account on X announced, “This week, we produced our 5 millionth car—thank you Tesla owners for your ongoing support!”
This week, we produced our 5 millionth car—thank you Tesla owners for your ongoing support!
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 16, 2023
Tom Zhu, Tesla’s Global Production Chief, had previously announced the production of the company’s 4 millionth vehicle on March 1, 2023. “The accomplishment was made early this morning at Giga Texas,” Zhu said at the time. A celebratory video featuring the Giga Texas team was later shared by Tesla.
The 5 millionth vehicle announcement follows Tesla’s production of its 3 millionth car, which was disclosed at the annual shareholders meeting on August 4, 2022.
Tesla extended its gratitude to its owners and supporters globally, emphasizing the collective effort to “power up together” for a greener and better future.
Next up for Tesla is to officially start deliveries of its highly-anticipated Cybertruck, which anecdotally has reached an unofficial tally of over 2 million pre-orders.
Last week, Tesla also announced it had hit a milestone of 50,000 total Superchargers globally. The company painted its 50,000th Supercharger in ‘Ultra Red’ and it’s located here in California.


text:
The Japanese beverage company, Suntory Holdings Ltd., has recently acquired the world-famous Kentucky Jim Beam company that manufactures Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark alcohol. The purchase came with a hefty $13.62 billion price tag and comes at a time when the global market is high for US whiskeys. In fact, the US whiskey industry exports roughly $1 billion — an amount that is double the amount of US whiskey exports from the last decade. According to Distilled Spirits Council spokesman Frank Coleman, “We’re basically in the middle of a global whiskey renaissance.”
The recent purchase will not cause any immediate drastic results in relation to the composition of the product itself or the management of the overall company. “It’s business as usual,” Jim Beam spokesman Clarkson Hine said before adding that Suntory Holdings Ltd. has instructed employees to “keep doing what we’re doing.”
Landor Associates managing director Allen Adamson spoke about the benefits of being bought by a larger company with more widespread financial resources, and explained that the product can still remain popular within the American market. “The trick is to maintain its authenticity, and not muck with the core elements,” Adamson said.
Funds to support the deal on behalf of Suntory are being made by The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. Suntory Holdings Ltd. is a privately-held company that was founded in 1899, and is credited with producing and selling Japan’s first whiskey. The Beam shares will be acquired for $83.50 per share.
In a recent interview with Forbes, Beam president and CEO Matt Shattock spoke about the recent acquisition. “Together we will be a global leader in distilled spirits with the #3 position in premium spirits and a dynamic portfolio across key categories. With particular strength in Bourbon, Scotch, Canadian, Irish and Japanese whiskey, the combined company will have unparalleled expertise and portfolio breadth in premium whiskey, which is driving the fastest growth in western spirits.”
Image Via Wikimedia Commons