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Back in 1996, the Louisiana Legislature passed one of the nation’s most aggressive tort reform acts to fulfill a campaign promise of then-newly elected Gov. Mike Foster to improve Louisiana’s business climate.
But today, as an estimated 4,000 to 7,000 Louisiana households face financial ruin because tainted drywall from China is corroding people’s homes and making them sick, critics say that the 1996 tort reform legislation will prevent local homeowners from making a full financial recovery.
"We took that away from the consumer. We say, ‘Sorry, you’re going to have to sue the manufacturer in China.’ That puts people in Louisiana at a huge disadvantage," said state Sen. Julie Quinn, a Republican from Metairie. "We threw the consumer under the bus under the purview of ‘Hey, this will attract business to Louisiana.’ All we did was hurt the consumer."
Because so many people are in a jam, the Louisiana Recovery Authority on Tuesday set aside $5 million to help homeowners recuperate their losses from Chinese drywall. The national litigation over Chinese drywall, which has been consolidated in federal court in New Orleans before Judge Eldon Fallon, who will preside over a hearingThursday, is expected to make the litigation over Hurricane Katrina insurance claims look like child’s play.
Residential insurers have so far been denying claims based on policy exclusions for pollution or "latent defects" in materials, forcing homeowners to pursue builders through the Louisiana New Home Warranty Act, or to file suit against suppliers who handled the wallboard. The most challenging factor of all is that the parties of ultimate responsibility, the Chinese manufacturers, may be beyond the reach of U.S. law, a circumstance some say is made worse by Louisiana’s tort reform.
Under the old rules of litigation in Louisiana, even if a company only played a small role in harming the consumer, it could be held responsible for 100 percent of the damages, according to Alan Childress, a Tulane Law School professor. That means all the aggrieved homeowner would have to do is sue the party that installed their Chinese drywall.That party, in turn, would sue companies further up the chain.
While proponents of the 1996 tort reform said the old system was unfair, those working with consumers on Chinese drywall issues today say that that system would have had the advantage of getting consumers the money they need to rebuild, while leaving the companies above them to settle with each other. They further say it adds an incentive for companies to make sure they are selling safe products.
Under the post-1996 system, Childress said companies only have to pay the portion of fault assigned to them.
So if a court determines that manufacturers are responsible for 80 percent of the Chinese drywall problem, while the American companies that handled the product upon import are responsible for 20 percent, homeowners only stand a chance to collect 20 percent of their losses.
"If for some reason I can’t collect money from there, I’m out of luck because I can’t look to the other defendants to pick up the slack," Childress said. "This is a very pro-defendant, pro-corporate change in the law."
Chinese drywall victims from states such as Florida, where tort reform measures were less aggressive, could recuperate more of their losses.
When Quinn tried to amend the 1996 law last spring to give consumers more recourse over Chinese drywall, she ran into opposition from the state’s business community, which viewed efforts to help drywall victims as an undoing of Gov. Foster’s reforms.
"If we want to start making exceptions, we would probably be worse off than we were before," said Dan Juneau, president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, which believes that the federal government needs to bail out homeowners since it allowed the product into the country.
Similarly, former Gov. Foster says he also does not believe the law should be changed to help drywall victims. "If people did not do anything wrong, or negligent, they shouldn’t be held responsible," Foster said. "To me, that’s very logical. Unfortunately, it may work to someone’s disadvantage."
The biggest question in the litigation is whether foreign manufacturers can be forced to participate in the litigation — and forced to pay if they are found responsible.
Russ Herman, the New Orleans attorney who serves as plaintiffs’ liaison counsel in Fallon’s proceedings, vowed that the Chinese and German companies responsible for the product will be brought to justice.
A law is pending in Congress that would require foreign companies to participate in litigation if they sell products in the United States. But the best hope for Louisianians may be that state law allows for victims to take "direct action" against the insurers of the companies that harmed them, a tactic that worked when New Orleans attorneys including Herman collected from insurers when the Chinese-owned Brightfield ship slammed Riverwalk in 1997.
"I can’t really talk strategy right now," Herman said.
Herman’s counterpart, New Orleans attorney and defendants’ liaison counsel Kerry Miller, said that so far, the German company Knauf and four related manufacturing plants in China that he represents are the only ones participating in the litigation, while there are about 20 other foreign drywall manufacturers with issues in the case.
But in a move that other attorneys see as a sign of things to come, Knauf Gips KG has challenged the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.
For anybody who bought a new home only to find that it was built with Chinese drywall, such as many people in St. Tammany and Tangipahoa parishes, pursuing the Louisiana New Home Warranty Act may be their best option. But the law sets out strict time lines that may have already expired, and attorneys caution that the law requires that homeowners send certified letters to builders with their complaints before taking other action — hurdles that may knock people out from collecting.
With such limited options, Childress said he expects plaintiff attorneys to try to prove that builders, distributors and importers figured out that the drywall was tainted and sold it anyway, because it would allow them to pursue American companies for fraud and bad faith.
Defense attorneys, Childress said, will mount the "empty chair defense," meaning that they’ll heap as much blame as possible on the Chinese manufacturers who don’t show up in court. And the more the American distributors and builders can demonize the Chinese, the less they’ll have to pay homeowners.
Rebecca Mowbray can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or 504.826.3417.


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Verizon is on a roll lately, as they have caught (and trapped for two years) 2.1 million subscribers and set a record for fourth quarter smartphone activations. In fact, they activated 9.8 million smartphones in the course of only three months (6.2 million were iPhones, surprisingly). That’s very impressive, but it does come with some bad news. Despite Verizon doing very well for themselves, they now have a $1.93 billion loss. With Hurricane Sandy and pension charges, they’ve been facing a big loss.
However, their outlook is very positive. Verizon CEO Lower McAdam had this to say:
Verizon seized growth opportunities in the fourth quarter to cap a year of solid progress across the entire business. We delivered a total return of 13.2 percent to shareholders in 2012, and we enter 2013 ready to accelerate the momentum we’ve achieved and create significant shareholder value in the years to come.
The way things are going for Verizon, they’re entitled to that optimism. 2013 is a new year, so let’s see what they can do.

domain: news


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Drivers seeking affordable vehicles, safety and quality, free-flowing roadways in the U.S. have few options better than North Carolina, a recent study says.
Using data for road quality, gas prices, car theft rate, maintenance costs, rush-hour congestion, car dealerships and repair shops per capita, a report by WalletHub ranked the nation’s best and worst states for driving.
North Carolina was named the fifth-best state to drive in, boosted by a No. 3 ranking in one of the key categories — cost of vehicle ownership and maintenance.
The state ranked 21st – close to average – in share of rush-hour traffic congestion. North Carolina fared better in most other metrics, taking 8th in auto maintenance costs, 10th in dealerships per capita, 11th in repair shops per capita, 13th in car theft rate and road quality, and 14th in average gas prices.
Texas was the top-ranked state overall, led by its No. 2 ranking for access to vehicles and maintenance. Kansas (No. 2 in traffic and infrastructure), Nebraska (No. 1 in traffic and infrastructure) and Iowa rounded out the top four.
The five states ranked the worst to drive in were Hawaii, Washington, Maryland, California and Connecticut.
WalletHub is a personal finance website that also regularly releases surveys and research reports on various topics.


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Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has been on our minds a bit late. The beloved BioWare RPG, of course, is one that many people often think back to, and with its recently announced remake, many will look to jump back into the original again to see how it holds up today.
Of course, the original Knights of the Old Republic available in almost any platform you can get your hands on now – with the Switch being a very notable exception. That will soon change though. It was announced in Nintendo Direct yesterday that the 2003 classic will release for the Switch on November 11, courtesy of Aspyr Media (which is also in charge of the upcoming remake). The game can be pre-ordered on the eShop now for $ 14.99, and will require 15.6 GB of free storage space.
In the meantime, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Remake it currently has no release date (or even a window), but whenever it launches, it will be exclusively available on PS5 and PC.
We are pleased to announce that we will be bringing the classic RPG, STAR WARS ™: Knights of the Old Republic ™, to the Nintendo Switch this November!https://t.co/0zTgdSeEXK
– Aspyr (@AspyrMedia) September 23, 2021


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IGNIS Innovation, established in Canada in 2000, specializes in providing technologies in the areas of pixel circuits and driver packages for AMOLED displays.
IGNIS focuses on developing AMOLED backplane solutions using industry standard amorphous silicon (with compensation) polysilicon or other TFT technologies. They also develop specialized driver electronics and related OLED IP. Towards the end of 2013, Ignis started shipping 55” AMOLED MaxLife prototype samples to potential clients. Ignis is developing AMOLED panels based on LTPS backplanes in collaboration with China's CSoT.
The latest Ignis news:
IGNIS demonstrates how its compensation technology can remove burn-in signs from automotive AMOLED panels
IGNIS Innovation published the following interesting video that shows how its compensation technology can remove the visible signs of pixel aging:
IGNIS tells us that this is a 12" LTPS automotive AMOLED panel. The company tested it for 1,000 hours at 85 degrees Celsius - to make sure the company's compensation technology can remove all signs of burn-in patterns. IGNIS's Max Life technology combines a functional in-pixel compensation pixel circuit with a sensing line and the company's current measurement driver chip that can perform external compensation.
IGNIS developed a new driver chip to enhance OLED compensation process using individual pixel sensing
IGNIS Innovation announced that in collaboration with its partners, the company developed a driver chip that incorporates the ability to sense individual pixels on the panel. This new ability integrates into IGNIS' overall external compensation process and can improve the perofrmance and lifetime of AMOLED displays.
IGNIS says that this new IC is already being used on medium sized panels designed for IT and automobile applications.
IGNIS Innovation announced that it has signed a non-exclusive patent license agreement with LG Display. Ignis will provide LGD with access to its circuit technology to enhance the performance of OLED displays.
Ignis Innovation developed several OLED circuit technologies. It's basic technology involves OLED compensation, both external and internal - which can improve the power consumption and lifetime of OLED displays. The technology should also increase production yields and enhance the picture uniformity and stability.
Ignis raised $14 million in a new financing round, expects True Vision Displays on the market in 2016
IGNIS Innovation has secured $14 million in a new financing round. Ignis will use the new funds to accelerate product development especially the recently announced True Vision Display technology. True Vision Displays use the company's compensation technologies which extend OLED display lifetime and efficiency, and also enable HDR - even on mobile displays.
Ignis further said that is working with partners to develop True Vision Display OLEDs for the wearable, smartphone, automotive, tablet and TV markets. Ignis expects the first products to launch next year.
IGNIS Innovation announced that they have developed the world's first HDR mobile display. The so-called True Vision Display features a high contrast ratio, high frame rate, wide color gamut and high color precision and bit-depth. It's also very bright as required for HDR.
Ignis will unveil their new display at SID's DisplayWeek 2015 next month, so we'll get more details. In the meantime, Ignis told us that this is a 5.5" HD AMOLED display that is extremely bright indeed at 1,500 nits (the Galaxy S6, for example, has a maximum brightness of 784 nits).
IGNIS Innovation announced today that they are going to collaborate with Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) to develop a 5.5" HD AMOLED panel that will use Ignis's MaxLife Lite driving scheme.
The AMOLED panel will be produced by CSOT using an LTPS backplane. Ignis's MaxLife Lite will enable high yields, low cost, low-power consumption, and long life time. CSOT hopes that Ignis' technology will enable them to quickly ramp up production.
A couple of months ago Ignis Innovation announced that they began producing some 55" OLED TV evaluation samples for display makers to test their MaxLife compensation technology. Now the company finally started shipping orders to customers (display makers and OEMs). Ignis hopes that display makers will adopt their technology for TV, mobile and tablet OLED displays.
According to IGNIS, this panel offers the world's lowest power consumption (20% lower than LG and Samsung's current OLED TVs), longest lifetime (a significant boost over existing OLED panels) and their technology can improve production yield and so lower production costs.
Taiwan has a large display industry, but in recent years it seems that it is lagging behind Korea, Japan and China in AMOLED technologies. We asked a local industry expert to check out the three main Taiwanese AMOLED companies (AUO, Innolux and RiTDisplay), and now we post on his updates.
As we reported already, AUO started producing AMOLEDs in their 4.5-Gen fab in Singapore after years of delays. According to our source, AUO is actually only producing samples. Those 5" 720p (295 ppi) panel samples have been been submitted to a company based in China. Earlier reports suggested AUO is going to supply HTC and Sony but it appears these two companies will keep using LCDs for now.
Ignis' 55" OLED TV samples arrive, company says their technology enables lifetime and efficiency boost
Last month Ignis Innovation announced that they began producing some 55" OLED TV evaluation samples for display makers to test their MaxLife compensation technology. The company now tells us that the first sample panel arrived at their offices, and they will start fulfilling orders (to display makers and OEMs) in about two weeks.
The company did some initial measurements, and they say that this panel offers the world's lowest power consumption (20% lower than LG and Samsung's current OLED TVs), longest lifetime (a significant boost over existing OLED panels). The panels are highly uniform (much better than the OLED TVs no the market).
Ignis now offers 55" AMOLED TV MaxLife evaluation samples, received "firm orders" from display makers
In May 2013, Ignis Innovation announced that it will soon start shipping sample 20" AMOLED displays to display makers to evaluation their MaxLife compensation technology. Today Ignis announced that they decided to go for a larger 55" FHD OLED TV. The company said it received "firm orders" for those samples from display manufacturers and OEMs.
The MaxLife external compensation technology continuously measures every pixel in the display and compensates for even the smallest shift in performance (due to burn-in or bad manufacturing issues), making it completely uniform and completely stable. MaxLife can work with a-Si, LTPS and metal-oxide backplanes (those 55" panels now in production use a metal-oxide backplane). The technology should, according to Ignis, allow for cheaper OLED TVs as it improves yield and also enables simpler device (i.e. a simpler pixel structure with less TFTs per pixel).


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Nokia launches music service
Nokia Middle East launched its unique Comes With Music service yesterday Beirut. It also announced the availability of the Nokia X6 mobile device in the region at an event in the Lebanese capital.
Comes With Music (CWM), a service already available in 10 countries including the United Kingdom, Singapore, Italy and the Netherlands, allows customers who buy Nokia phones branded Comes With Music to download an unlimited number of songs for a period of one year.
Customers, who will be able to download music through their Nokia devices or from a computer over the internet, will also be able to keep all music even after the download period has expired.
"The proposition is simple: you get four million tracks, for free, for keeps. So after the year is complete, the licences do not expire and you can continue to enjoy all of your music," said Jake Larsen, Head of Music, Nokia Middle East and Africa.
The Middle East launch covers 11 markets which includes the UAE and other GCC countries, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories and Iraq, it was announced.
This brings availability of the music service to 27 markets worldwide.
The region's first CWM branded phone, the Nokia X6, will be commercially available from the first week of March, for an estimated price of $600 (Dh2,203) before taxes.
The X6, a music smartphone featuring full touchscreen, was first revealed in September last year at Nokia World in Germany.
Frederic Copper-Royer, the Music Manager for Nokia Middle East and Africa, told Emirates Business in an earlier interview that his company is currently focusing on adding more devices that support the music service.
"Compatibility of CWM devices depends on the market. We are investing in music services for the long term," he said.
Nokia already operates an online music store, www.music.nokia.ae, where customers can purchase single tracks or albums and stream music.
Nokia, currently the world's largest mobile phone maker, has partnered with major international music labels including Universal Music Group International, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, said Larsen, who added that he hoped the two services will help to tackle illegal downloads and sharing.
"Piracy is rife. What people really want today is the free stuff. With services such as CWM, you literally get an unlimited number of music tracks free for a year when you buy a branded device," he said.
In April last year, Apple announced its iTunes Store, had become the largest music retailer in the United States, citing data from the NPD Group.
With more than 50 million customers, iTunes sold more than four billion songs. The online store features the world's largest music catalogue of more than six million songs, it said. Music download capability on iTunes, however, is currently not available in the UAE.
Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here.
Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.


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After seeing rival Electronics Arts pull two major licenses--the--from its grips recently, game publisher Take-Two has scored a hit of its own.
As expected, Take-Two announced Monday that the company has entered into a long-term licensing agreement with Major League Baseball Properties (MLBP), the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), and Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM).
The announcements comes a week after thewas publicized by the league itself--with no word coming from Take-Two at the time.
The deal, which goes into effect in spring 2006, gives Take-Two the exclusive rights to publish and distribute officially licensed games for consoles, PCs and handhelds.
Executives declined to specify the length of the agreements, but industry sources said that depending on the specific partner, terms were for either seven or eight years. Likewise, there was no mention of what Take-Two paid for the rights was announced. However, media reports last week put the value of the MLBPA deal alone at $80 million to $150 million.
The sweeping deal will give Take-Two exclusives, including "rights to the marks of all 30 Major League Baseball clubs, MLB players, major league ballparks and Minor League Baseball clubs, as well as MLB.com online content, for use in Take-Two's baseball games," according to the groups.
In addition, Take-Two and MLB have put all other third-party publishers on notice that no wiggle room exists for their entry into the MLB-licensed space. The deal allows only the major console manufacturers, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, the "right to enter into development agreements for MLB games specific to their particular platforms."
Earlier, many industry observers saw an opportunity for publishers such as Electronic Arts to collaborate with the manufacturers, possibly to co-brand MLB-licensed games. The agreement effectively closes that opening.
"All other third-party publishers and developers are precluded from publishing officially licensed MLB simulation, arcade, and manager style games, either directly or in affiliation with a hardware manufacturer, during the length of the exclusives," the groups said.
Hoping to bring added sizzle to the baseball space, Take-Two said it will introduce more games and will distribute them with greater frequency than the industry is used to.
Curt Feldman reported for GameSpot.com.


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Plans to build an Aldi supermarket on the old Remploy factory site in Porth have been unveiled - and they could get the green light next week.
Aldi Stores Ltd is bidding for full planning permission to demolish the existing 5,450 sqm building - and build a 1,758 sqm store - which will include a warehouse with loading bay and offices.
The store - which has promised to pump cash back into local community projects - would be on the centre of the site. There would be 112 car park spaces to the south and east of it.
30 to 40 jobs could be created
It would be open from 8am to 10pm from Mondays to Saturdays, and 10am to 6pm on Sundays and public holidays.
Between 30 and 40 full and part-time jobs will be created, Aldi suggests.
The site is around 200 metres from Porth town centre while, just along the road, there are a number of existing businesses including Lidl, KFC, Farmfoods, a garage and tyre shop, and a carpet and factory shop. They all have access off the A4058 Cymmer Road.
A new access to the Aldi store will be built directly off the A4058.
A separate access for pedestrians off the existing pavement is also proposed.
The old Remploy building was last used on a temporary basis for paper recycling, between 2014 and 2016.
Rhondda Cynon Taf council has received no responses to its press and site notices, while Aldi's own agent carried out a public consultation in February 2016.
A leaflet was posted to 1,000 neighbouring properties, and it received 62 responses. Aldi says 55 of them were in support of the new store.
It added that "the majority of the responses provided overall support for the proposal" and "the creation of new, local, job opportunities".
'The need for an ALDI store was questioned'
The consultation also saw "concerns were raised with regard to increased traffic on the main road and access to and from the site" and that "the need for an Aldi store was questioned, noting that the existing retail offer is sufficient."
RCT's planning committee will discuss the application on Thursday, February 2.
The application has been recommended for approval by the council's service director for planning subject to conditions and a Section 106 agreement - where the applicant would have to put money back into the community - is put in place.
In a report before Thursday's meeting, the service director says: "The principle of redeveloping the site for retail purposes is considered acceptable and the proposed scheme will enable a redundant commercial site to be brought back into active use, result in a number of employment opportunities in the local area and significant visual improvement to site.
"Whilst concerns were initially raised in relation to the proposed new access, this issue has been overcome through amendments to the scheme and the applicant contributing towards highways improvements in the town centre.
"The applicant has also offered a financial contribution towards activities in Porth town centre, in order to mitigate the impact of the new store on existing businesses."
The report adds that Aldi has agreed to contribute £30,000 towards Porth's summer carnival and its Christmas event over the next three years, while it has also agreed to contribute £40,000 towards road improvement works within the town centre.
Here's Aldi's hilarious TV ad:


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Pedialyte has unveiled a new dehydration cure that's just for adults. The new product is a powder called "Sparkling Rush"—no amphetamines included—that you pour into cold water, making it bubbly and flavorful with an "optimal balance of electrolytes and sugar," according to Pedialyte's website. Because if adults crave anything, it's single-serve packets of La Croix-style sparkling water that make us feel less like we were recently flattened by an 18-wheeler after approximately one (1) night out.
Pedialyte started marketing to older consumers in 2015, when the Wall Street Journal reported that adult usage had spiked by nearly 60 percent since 2012. But for awhile, it was the same liter of artificially colored liquid that kids and adults were drinking—kids to rehydrate during illness, and adults to rehydrate during illness and hangovers. Pedialyte cannot directly call itself a hangover cure per FDA regulations, but these days its marketing techniques often suggest pairing alcoholic beverages with bottles of the stuff. Sparkling Rush continues that trend, citing in a press release grown-up ailments such as flu season, air travel, and "late nights out with friends" as causes of dehydration.
There's no one cure for hangovers, and the science behind them isn't conclusive, but a whole lot of people swear by Pedialyte. As a bonus, these packets have less sugar per serving than Gatorade, and they're fizzy. Hey, it's this or lying on the couch moaning for eight hours.


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Saab/Spyker21 Dec 2009
GM weighs revised Spyker offer for Saab
General Motors said that it had received expressions of interest from “several” parties, including a revised bid from Dutch luxury carmaker Spyker Cars, for its beleaguered Saab unit.
The news comes after GM declared on Friday that it would wind down the struggling Swiss brand after collapse of talks with Spyker.
It is believed that GM is wary of the extent of Spyker's financial dependence on Convers Group, the Russian lender controlled by Alexander Antonov as well as the fate of Saab’s proprietary technology under Spyker.


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Spain already produces meltblown, the most protective material for making masks
The Alicante company Nonwovens Ibérica has already started the manufacture of meltblown, the best protective material to manufacture FFP2 and FFP3 masks.
We don’t know how long the pandemic will last, but we will still have to keep wearing a mask for a long time. In Spain, masks are manufactured almost from the beginning, but to manufacture the most advanced, the FFP2 and FFP3, you have to buy the insulating raw material outside. From now on, it is no longer necessary.
There are different materials to isolate from viruses in FFP2 and FFP3 masks. The most effective is el meltblown. Until now it had to be imported, mainly from China. But for a few weeks, as our colleague Andrea Nuñez-Torrón tells us in TICbeat the meltblown is already manufactured in Spain.
The Alicante company Nonwovens Iberia, with more than 50 years of presence in Spain, has launched in our country the non-woven material manufacturing chain with meltblown, who has called Neolite, with the capacity to produce 1,500 million masks annually.
Nonwovens Ibérica has needed four months to install a Reifenhäuser Reicofil line in width of 320 cm, the world’s leading brand in this type of machinery.
The line is already operating at full capacity manufacturing meltblown, a filter material composed of nanofibers, which has a Particle Filtration Efficiency (PEF) of up to 99% for particles smaller than 0.3 microns, without quality fluctuations for equipment of Individual protection and health.
The company Nonwovens Iberia It is part of the Encar group, with 50 years of experience. Until now, it was mainly dedicated to the production of cloth for cloth, with a production of 4,200 tons per year.
As part of your commitment to supply meltblown to all FFP2 and FFP3 mask manufacturing companies that need it, has increased the workforce by 30%.
In this way it is already possible manufacture FFP2 and FFP3 masks with maximum protection with materials 100% produced in Spain.
“The Spanish industry has to respond to the obvious needs that this pandemic leaves us. We cannot afford to go through a new drought of basic products for our health”, Explained Alberto Miralles, Deputy Director of Nonwovens Ibérica and Head of the Neolite Division, during the presentation of the product on February 12.


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A luxury beach resort to open in Saudi Arabia where women can wear bikini
Prince Mohammed bin Salman has plans to open a luxury beach resort where women will be able to wear bikinis instead of Burkhas.
The conservative laws towards women in Saudi Arabia are not unknown. But there is a ray of hope for change.
Recent reports states that the country’s new heir to the throne Prince Mohammed bin Salman has plans to open a luxury beach resort where women will be able to wear bikinis instead of Burkhas. This new luxury Red Sea resort on a stretch of Saudi Arabia’s northwest coastline, will allow the women to wear whatever they want.
The resort, which will be a kind of “semi-autonomous” destination, will relax the strict norms of women’s dressing, so they can finally wear a bikini to the beach, if that’s what they want.
The government quoted in a Telegraph Report saying “governed by laws on par with international standards”. This is said to be in a bid to turn the country into a tourist hub, akin to Dubai, where women are allowed to wear bikinis on the beach, making it a preferred Middle Eastern destination for international travellers. The Prince is reportedly hopes that once business picks up, tourism would lessen the dependence on oil in the economy.
Source- Parhlo news
No Visa will be needed to visit the resort. The resort will also offer activities like parachuting, trekking and rock climbing.
A statement reportedly said that construction is scheduled to start in 2019, the first phase is expected to be completed by 2022. It hopes to host a million visitors annually by 2035.


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Google announced that they have now expanded showing product ratings on Google AdWords Product Listing Ads apart from US, and will now be accessible in UK, France and Germany. In the US, Product Listing Ads rolled out in July 2014 and Google thinks it has been going well, so they though of expanding it.
Google said, “Last year, we introduced product ratings on Product Listing Ads in the US to help consumers make better purchase decisions when shopping online. Since the initial launch, we’ve been working to bring product ratings to more countries, and this week we launched in the UK, France and Germany.”
Here is a screenshot:-
If you want to try these out, you need to fill out this form.Google Expands Product Ratings Outside Of The US in UK, France & Germany!,


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One Million Moms Director Monica Cole tells OneNewsNow the group is moving on from its attempts to get Ellen DeGeneres fired from her job as spokesperson for JC Penney: "But we have heard back from so many of our members....
One Million Moms spokesbigot Monica Cole says that JC Penney is calling for their own boycott by hanging up on people who call to complain about "perverse and deviant" Ellen DeGeneres. Read Post
One Million Moms, a conservative group made up of far less than one million people, made a name for itself earlier this year by boycotting JC Penney after the retailer cast lesbian entertainer Ellen DeGeneres as a spokesperson. They... Read Post


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News & Reviews: report
Last Updated: Oct 26, 2020
When we're still in 2020, someone has discovered the launching plan of Apple next year and revealed four audio products are queueing up in the line. It is reported that a third-generation AirPods, a second-generation AirPods Pro, a second-generation HomePod, and the long-awaited over-ear headphones will be launched in 2021.
Last Updated: May 13, 2020
During this Conditional Movement Control Order period, you probably have heard complaints from your friends and family about several "online finance gurus" ads appearing on Facebook as well as YouTube. Unfortunately, times are hard for those who are struggling financially and apparently for scammed from these scammers. But there is good news though, their advertising profiles are being removed by Facebook.
Last Updated: Nov 14, 2019
Social media have been playing a significant role in this time as it allows users to express themselves freely and be heard. However, there are also some accounts that are exploiting the use of social media to distribute negative content such as hate speech, violence, child nudity, terrorism and more. For Facebook, they have been working hard on this issue to take down irrelevant content for years.
Last Updated: Jan 04, 2019
Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia has recently made a tweet (which has been removed) stating that you can report smokers to them via WhatsApp. This is due to a recent restriction that was introduced on 1 January 2019 in which states that the use of cigarettes, shisha as well as e-cigarettes containing nicotine will not be allowed near a restaurant. Any individuals who fail to adhere to the restrictions will be fined up to RM10000 or up to 2 years jail time.


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The first production International ProStars have begun rolling off the assembly line.
CHATHAM, Ont. — Internationals new flagship ProStar has begun rolling off the assembly line at the companys Chatham, Ont. plant.
The aerodynamic tractor is being rolled out as scheduled, with a gradual ramp-up planned, the company announced.
The ProStar was designed to deliver best-in-class fuel economy, improved driver satisfaction and unprecedented uptime as well as the lowest cost of ownership. International invested US$270 million into modernizing the Chatham plant in preparation of the ProStars arrival. Modifications included a complete reconfiguration of the assembly line.
In all my years working with vehicles, Ive never seen a product launch this flawless, said Tom Baughman, vice-president and general manager of Internationals Heavy Truck Group. Weve tested and re-tested the product design and production process under every possible scenario to be sure were ready for full production. Our unparalleled assembly process sets the standard for manufacturing heavy trucks. The additional time being spent on quality control delivers what our customers are looking for and more.
To ensure a flawless launch, International started out producing just 10 ProStars a day on Jan. 29. The company plans to ramp up production slowly, to 30 units per day. After that, build rates will be determined by demand. At full production, International says it can produce more than 100 ProStars each day, employing two shifts. The first production units will be released to customers in early March – the company is holding back its first units to ensure they are flawless, before releasing them to customers.
Truck News is Canada's leading trucking newspaper - news and information for trucking companies, owner/operators, truck drivers and logistics professionals working in the Canadian trucking industry. All posts by Truck News


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Wed 3rd Jul 2013
Trade & Enterprise Campaign
The Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee has published the findings of their inquiry into ‘Exporting out of recession’, which the BCC was a key respondent to. The final report is a ringing endorsement of the Chamber Network as a key partner in the delivery of trade promotion services, and many of the recommendations that Chambers across the country have made about trade promotion in the UK have been taken up by the Committee.
The ‘Exporting out of Recession’ report can be downloaded below:


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LOL!!! Procter & Gamble (P&G), the parent company of Gillette, stated that Gillette was forced to take an EIGHT BILLION DOLLAR write-down on their business for the fourth quarter netting them a loss of $5.4 billion!
The second a company says “we remain confident in our future“, you know they’re not. “All war is deception” according to Sun Tzu. “When you are weak, show the enemy you are strong.” (Sun Tzu, The Art of War). If any person or corporation says they’re confident in their future, you can wager big money they’re questioning whether they’re gonna survive another year.
P&G claims that currency devaluation and lower demand for their product (because Western men are growing beards) are the reasons to blame.
LOL! Yeah, 1 billion men ALL decided to grow beards in the latest fiscal fourth quarter, P&G? Just organically and magically, men decided to stop shaving? It had nothing to do with your incredibly offensive, ridiculous, “woke” commercial? Nothing at all?
Good LORD you people must be in serious denial – and major damage control mode. Just wait until 1Q results are in. It’s going to be disastrous.
Get woke, go broke, Gillette. We told you we’d boycott and we did. And now you’re 8 billion freaking dollars poorer because of it.
The market has spoken, cucks.


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Tuesday September 17, 2019
Jul-09-2007 14:03TweetFollow @OregonNews
Weyerhaeuser Announces Sale of Oregon Plywood MillSalem-News.com
Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world's largest forest products companies, was incorporated in 1900.
(SPRINGFIELD, Ore.) - Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) announced today it has signed a purchase and sale agreement to transfer ownership of its plywood mill in Springfield, Ore. to Pacific States Industries, Inc. of San Jose, California.
"We are pleased to reach mutually agreeable terms with Pacific States Industries," said Cathy Slater, vice president of Weyerhaeuser's veneer technologies. "We anticipate that the sale will be completed within the next 30 to 45 days."
Due to market conditions, the Springfield facility has been closed since December 2006. At the time, it employed 87 people and had the capacity to produce 114,000 million square feet of 3/8-inch plywood annually.
"The plywood operations at Springfield will compliment our existing production of veneer in Creswell, Oregon," said Austin Vanderhoof, executive vice president of Pacific States Industries. "The plant has an outstanding reputation for producing quality products and we look forward to continuing that tradition."
Operating through its Redwood Empire division, Pacific States Industries operates two sawmills in Northern California and distributes those dimension wood products throughout the country. In addition, Redwood Empire's Wholesale group distributes decking, fencing, hardwood, landscaping items, panel products, pre-built panels, softwood and treated lumber. The company also owns timberland in Northern California. Redwood Empire was founded in 1971. Pacific States Industries is owned by the Burch family, including its president Roger Burch. The company also owns Bald Knob Veneer in Creswell, Oregon.
In Oregon, Weyerhaeuser employs approximately 4,500 people in a variety of businesses and manages more than one million acres of timberland.
Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world's largest forest products companies, was incorporated in 1900. In 2006, sales were $21.9 billion. It has offices or operations in 18 countries, with customers worldwide.
Articles for July 8, 2007 | Articles for July 9, 2007 | Articles for July 10, 2007


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Reigncom Ltd., the company behind the IRiver brand of MP3 music players, announced on Tuesday a new version of its necklace-type N10 player and launch details for its recently announced U10 player.
From the outside the N11 looks similar to its predecessor, but there are some small improvements inside including an FM radio and longer battery life. The N10 offered 11 hours of playback but this has been extended to 13 hours on the N11 after a 1-hour charge.
It can play MP3, Windows Media Audio, Ogg and ASF files and also record MP3 files. It has a 4-line OLED (organic light emitting diode) display that shows track data and other information.
IRiver plans to offer the players in South Korea from early September and then later in Japan and Europe. The N11 won’t be available in the U.S. In South Korea it will cost 198,000 won (US$192.53) for a 256MB version, 249,000 won for a 512MB version and 297,000 won for a 1GB version.
Also Tuesday the company announced a launch date and pricing details for its U10 player. The U10 was first unveiled at the SEK show in Seoul in June and features a 2.2-inch QVGA (320 pixel by 240 pixel) landscape-oriented screen that takes up the majority of the front of the player. It has a pressure sensitive front panel that allows for navigation and control by pressing certain areas of the front panel rather than buttons.
It supports the same audio formats as the N11, has an FM radio and can also play MPEG4 video. It measures 69 millimeters by 47 mm by 16 mm. At launch IRiver promised two versions, one with 512MBs of memory and one with 1GB of memory, and the company has now added a third model with 256MBs of memory.
The U10 will go on sale on Sept. 2 through a cable TV shopping network in South Korea before becoming more widely available. IRiver plans to sell the player in Europe and the U.S. In South Korea a 512MB model will cost 286,000 won and a 1GB model will cost 339,000 won.


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“68 per cent of the country’s GDP growth is from private consumption and private consumption is the biggest hope for the Indian retail industry because Indian consumers have big dreams, jobs and stable employment with comparatively higher disposable income,” says Ireena Vittal, partner, McKinsey. She was speaking on the current economic conditions and the retail industry at CII Retail Summit in Mumbai.
Discussing why the retail industry matters to India, Vittal said, “India is a young country and the working population will keep growing, thus the need to create 20 million jobs each year. For every job in retail, 7-9 jobs in support infrastructure are created.”
Further commenting on what will it take to ensure that the Indian retail industry succeeds, she added, “Three critical enablers for retail success in India are shared understanding of success amongst the various stakeholders in the retail industry, seamless collaboration across the entire value chain and building critical capabilities to ensure profitable growth and flexibility.”
Sharing views on what will ensure Indian retail industry’s success, Vittal concluded, “Government should declare retail as an essential service; licensing needs to be simplified with single window clearance; common supply chain for sourcing in specific categories need to be established; promotion intensity in the market needs to be managed, joint investments should be done for increasing training capabilities and pricing policies need to be clarified apart from developing a core merchandise platform.”


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Electronic Arts has postponed this 12 months’s EA Play video games showcase (usually timed across the E3 occasion) by every week after the current occasions surrounding the killing of George Floyd. The occasion – initially deliberate for June 11 – will now happen one week in a while June 18.
Although the discover (beneath) does not particularly point out Black Lives Matter, the corporate says it is pausing with a purpose to let necessary conversations and voices be heard.
Earlier this week, Sony additionally postponed its deliberate PlayStation 5 presentation.
[Source: Electronic Arts]


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Netgear Thursday unveiled plans to acquire Infrant Technologies, a move that will expand its storage portfolio.
"[NAS] is a fast-growing market. Our SMB customers that are buying our switches have been asking for it," said Patrick Lo, chairman and CEO of Netgear, Santa Clara, Calif. Netgear channel partners have also been pushing for the company to get into the NAS space, he said.
Under terms of the deal, expected to close this quarter, Netgear will pay $60 million in cash for privately held Infrant, which makes the ReadyNAS product line. The family provides RAID-based data protection for SMB and SOHO customers. Netgear could pay out an additional $20 million to Infrant shareholders over the next three years if specific revenue targets are met. Fremont, Calif.-based Infrant was founded in March, 2001 and has 34 full-time employees.
The new storage line is expected to generate $40 million to $50 million in annual revenue for Netgear, Lo said. The new product line likely will be eligible for coverage under the new lifetime hardware warranty program Netgear launched earlier this week, he added.
The deal is Netgear's second acquisition and largest to date, Lo said. Last fall it acquired SkipJam, a home integration and control software vendor, for $9 million.
The new product line will put Netgear up against rivals, such as Buffalo Technology and Adaptec, which acquired NAS vendor Snap Appliance in 2004, Lo said.
The acquisition will open the Infrant product line up to Netgear's entire channel, including solution providers, mail-order catalog companies and service providers, Lo said. Infrant does not currently sell through solution providers, he said.
After the acquisition is closed, Infrant president and CEO Paul Tien will become Netgear's vice president and general manager of storage products.


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Plans for the U.K.’s largest shrimp farm were released earlier this month by start-up company Land Ocean Farm.
Land Ocean Farm aims to grow whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) in a biosecure, land-based recirculating aquaculture system (RAS), eventually producing 1,000 metric tons (MT) of shrimp per year. The company is actively fundraising to finance the first stage and hopes to start construction in early 2022 at a site in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, U.K., with the hope of building an initial unit to grow 100 MT of shrimp and to add additional modules to reach full production in future phases of growth.
“We will prove the concept first, then add more units and our own hatchery, once everything is working well,” Land Ocean Farm Co-Owner Rasel Mahmud said.
Mahmud and business partner Litu Mohiuddin, both British-Bangladeshi high-end chefs, began talking seriously about constructing a land-based shrimp farm during the U.K.’s first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, when the pair had time on their hands. Mohiuddin grew up in a shrimp-farming area in Bangladesh and knew a bit about the process, and they had both enjoyed shrimp produced by FloGro and Great British Prawn, two failed U.K. businesses, Mahmud said. [Editor's note: Flogro Systems is currently non-operational, but has received funding to begin the process of transitioning to a new site.]
“We looked at these businesses to see what we could learn and how we could do things differently. We also set up a pilot project in Bangladesh using a biofloc system, and were delighted with the results, so we scaled that up and decided that we could farm the shrimp commercially in the U.K.,” Mahmud said.
Mahmud said he and Mohiuddin have been consistently disappointed with the quality of the imported shrimp they’ve encountered in the U.K., leading them to make an effort to grow their own. Mislabeling of glazed, soaked, and peeled products is common in the U.K. and is causing distrust amongst consumers, he said, and traceability and transparency in the shrimp supply chain are poor, making it difficult to know if harmful chemicals, antibiotics, or hormones have been used in the production process.
“We aim to produce consistent supplies of fresh, quality shrimp that address traceability, as well as environmental issues in current supply chains,” Mahmud told SeafoodSource. “The transport involved in bringing the product to market from thousands of miles away can have a significant impact on its carbon footprint. We have always subscribed to the idea of ‘eat local’ and the 78,000 metric tons of prawns and shrimps imported into the U.K. each year did not fit into this ethos.”
Land Ocean Farm now has a full-time team of experts and commercial partners working to advance the project, including Mahmud, who has stepped away from day-to-day involvement in the restaurant business he runs with Mohiuddin to concentrate on making Land Ocean Farm a success. One of the company’s first hires was Malcolm Dickson, who will bring a background in commercial aquaculture to his role as technical director. Dickson has been tasked with ensuring every aspect of the project, from the quality of the water, through energy use, to processing and logistics, has been thought through in minute detail. Dickson told SeafoodSource he has recently focused his attention on sourcing quality broodstock and disease-free postlarvae, as well as on sourcing high-quality sustainable aquafeed.
“My main role is to keep things on track and sustainable,” Dickson said. “The project is still at the concept stage and there is nothing on the ground yet, but good progress has been made in identifying an initial production site, with an ample source of green energy from an anaerobic digester to provide heat and power. Organic residue from the system will be returned to the anaerobic digester to create more green energy and contribute to the circular economy.”
Mahmud said he is pleased with the progress on the project thus far.
“Our team combines expertise in aquaculture, fisheries, biosecurity, and prawn production,” he said. “We are also working with Farm491, an agritech incubator and innovation space at the Royal Agricultural University. The leaders have experience in engineering, project management, retail, and hospitality, and we understand how to build, grow, and market.”
Eventually Land Ocean Farm plans to partner with farmers looking to diversify their income to build satellite production units and enhance the company’s plans to create a circular economy business model.
“Farmers could use excess heat from anaerobic digestion plants powered by farm waste, use crop byproducts to make fish feeds, and generate fish waste compost to add nutrients to their soil. Our success in aquaculture depends on others being successful with us, so we want to collaborate and create that success together,” he said. “Our goal is to champion sustainable aquaculture in the U.K., reduce dependency on foreign imports, and pressure on natural sources.”
Photo courtesy of Land Ocean Farms


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Remember the videos from Japan that went viral of a small, virtual home assistant that lives in a capsule and talks like she’s your tiny cute wife? That’s Japanese artificial intelligence company Gatebox’s landmark invention, the GTBX-100. Gatebox opened pre-orders for the virtual assistant all the way back in 2016, initially with plans to ship out the units in December 2017. After postponing the release of the GTBX-100 a few times, they’ve announced that they’re finally ready to begin taking orders for the GTBX-100 mass-production model from October 11 and will begin shipping them out on October 15.
Gatebox’s GTBX-100 is a virtual home assistant similar to Google Home or Alexa, except it’s tuned to be much more human. The virtual assistant takes on a cute humanoid hologram form inside of a capsule with clear windows, where she lives. You can supposedly interact with Azuma Hikari as if she were a real person, or even like she’s your wife (don’t worry, I won’t judge). In the initial promotional video for the Gatebox unit, it shows Azuma sending the user text messages throughout the day and welcoming him home. The mass production model promises this level of communication, as well as the ability to have everyday conversations. The voice synthesis for Azuma is shockingly real, and the natural qualities in her phonetics have been tuned perfectly to keep the illusion of her being possibly sentient. Conversations with Azuma are intended to feel considerably natural, and it seems she’ll prove to be a worthwhile companion for the price tag of 150,000 yen ($1,392 USD), with a monthly “living expenses” fee of 1,500 yen ($14 USD).
Line Corporation, the Tokyo-based subsidiary of the South Korean internet search giant Naver Corporation, acquired Gatebox back in early 2018. Line Corporation then contributed their Clova A.I. platform to Gatebox. Before the acquisition, the A.I. character Azuma Hikari would directly give you information about the weather and such, as shown in the 2017 promotional video. However, after the integration of Line’s character Clova, when the user asks Azuma a question about the weather and such, Azuma asks the question to Clova, who then provides the answer, with commentary from Azuma. This makes for interaction between three parties; the user, Asuma Hikari, and the Clova robot, and it’s surprisingly natural. I think it allows Azuma to present as even more human, especially with the contrast of an “actual robot” third party being present.
I can’t find much information on the web about it, but the GTBX-100 was initially delayed in December 2017 when units were scheduled to ship out in January 2018. The initial price of the home assistant was the equivalent to $2,500 USD, a bit of a hefty price to pay for a product whose purpose was to tell you the weather and turn your lights on and off. Gatebox presumably took some time to improve the product more, after Line Corporation acquired Gatebox the same month the units were first scheduled to ship out. Line Corporation and Gatebox set a new release date of roughly October 2018 for the GTBX-100. However, the company then decided to temporarily stop taking pre-orders and again delay the release date in order to further improve the product. And now, finally, after nearly two years of waiting for the reveal of the finished A.I assistant, Otaku and enthusiasts alike will be able to meet their wife.
A lot of Western publications are calling the Gatebox unit “creepy” and saying it’s a sad compensation for loneliness. However, I disagree. The GTBX-100 is an impressive move forward in A.I. technology and its practical use in daily life. Virtual assistants such as Alexa have become more normalized over the past couple of years since the Gatebox was initially announced, so it’s possible the Western media will have a different opinion of the invention once it’s finally released. The creator of Gatebox aimed to “create a wife”, and amazingly, investors began funding his vision. The envisioned wife, Azuma Hikari, has a really sweet backstory too:
“Hikari volunteered as the first alternate dimension traveler and came from a different world of the future through Gatebox.
I will behave happily to become a bride who can heal the master who works hard in this world.
Please enjoy life with Hikari.”
Gatebox is holding an event on October 12 and 13 where you can try out the new GTBX-100 units and talk to Azuma Hikari herself. It’s a free event, and there will be staff present that can answer any questions you have about the product. They’ve stated that photos are totally allowed and that they’ll be revealing what appears to be three other characters that you can summon into your GTBX-100 instead of just Azuma Hikari. The event will take place in Koto, Tokyo, at an event space called HYPERMIX. You can find out more about the event on their official website.


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Married with one daughter and two sons
Interests: Beer breweries
In a beer market dominated by multinational brewers, Oleksandr Slobodyan has held his own.
Running Ukraine’s first privatized company and last independent, mass production brewery in Obolon, Slobodyan has long led Ukraine’s beer market, only relinquishing first place in 2009 to Sun InBev Ukraine with still a strong 32 percent showing in output share.
Being by far Ukraine’s largest exporter of beer – 80 percent of all beer exported from Ukraine – Obolon brewery has suffered in its most lucrative export market of Russia, as excise taxes there have increased almost three times.
Now it could suffer further as the new tax bill foresees a 25 percent export tax hike on beer.
The nation’s brewer said that the government’s hopes of boosting its revenues with a hike on the tax on beer would merely hit the profits of brewers, which in turn would reduce corporate tax receipts.
Still, the brewery in 2009 opened malting plants in two oblasts and launched three new beer sorts under the Zibert trademark in Fastiv, Kyiv Oblast whose facilities underwent large-scale remodeling, and received advanced boilers and bottling lines.
A member of parliament with the Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense faction, Slobodyan is bent on regaining the number one position on the beer market.


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Ruby Tuesday Inc.’s losses widened in the second quarter ended Dec. 1 as it continued selling its remaining eight Lime Fresh Mexican Grill locations, the company reported Thursday.
The Maryville, Tenn.-based company said its net loss widened to $15.8 million, or a 26 cents a share, from $9.3 million, or 15 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue fell 0.6 percent, to $261 million, from $262.7 million in the prior-year quarter, with the company operating 20 fewer restaurants than in the same period last year.
Same-store sales in the quarter increased 0.8 percent, the company reported. Year-over-year guest counts declined 2.2 percent for the quarter, while average check rose 3 percent.
The company agreed in November to close 11 Lime Fresh locations and sell another eight company-owned units to Rubio’s Restaurants for $6.3 million. Eight franchised Lime Fresh units were not affected, the company said.
The company closed one Ruby Tuesday unit in the quarter as it continued to work on improving sales at the casual-dining brand. Same-store sales were positive for the second consecutive quarter, the company said.
“We believe we have the right strategy in place to achieve our guidance for the fiscal year and remain focused on our primary goal to deliver profitable and sustainable same-restaurant guest count growth which we believe will lead to more consistent same-restaurant sales performance,” JJ Buettgen, Ruby Tuesday chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement.
Buettgen said Ruby Tuesday would continue testing its Garden Bar initiative and remodeling program.
The company reduced its same-store sales guidance to flat to up 1 percent from an earlier forecast of flat to up 2 percent.
As of Dec. 1, Ruby Tuesday had 733 restaurants, of which 655 were company-owned, as well as the 16 Lime Fresh restaurants, which were in the process of being sold.


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Britons are drowning under a mountain of unwanted gifts that they’re too embarrassed to return, a new survey reveals today.
Homewares giant Habitat says the average person buys 29 presents each year and 40 per cent of these will be a disappointment to the recipient.
The survey of 1,000 people also found that 57 per cent of British households have been too embarrassed to return any unloved presents, while an enterprising 20 per cent have passed an unwanted gift on as a present to someone else.
Habitat also says that two thirds of the public haven’t cleared out their clutter for more than six months.
Victoria Eden of Habitat said: ‘People need to be smarter about their giving. With so many homes kitted out with the latest mod cons it is time to give people something they actually want and can chose themselves.
‘We found that half of the respondents would rather have vouchers or money than gifts that have been purchased sporadically.’
Habitat revealed the results of the survey at the launch of a new gift service. It offers an account to which friends and family pledge money and the cash can then be used to buy what you want. You can register online, over the phone on 020 7614 5397 or in any Habitat store.


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While some are buying up the competition while they still can or building their own SaaS-like operations, others are hiding their heads in the sand. For them, at least, the results aren’t going to be pretty.
If a device doesn’t have a keyboard, there’s probably an ARM-designed chip inside.
Ingress, the Alternate/Augmented Reality game from Google’s Niantic Labs, is a major evolution of mobile gaming. Apparently, it’s also a good way to get arrested.
Despite strong sales for the top five titles (led by Call of Duty), the industry continues to shrink. But there are several reasons why the situation isn’t as dire as the numbers suggest.
This is a win for Netflix, but make no mistake, Disney is in charge.
Somehow Microsoft managed to become relevant again even as the market and the media have pivoted away from the desktop computer arena that made it rich and famous.
Should anyone pay attention to surveys claiming to list the best employers, or are they nothing but marketing fluff?
Does the No. 2 chipmaker have enough fight left to reinvent itself?
After 100 years of innovation, Sharp is now the worst-performing company in the world.
The Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize promises to turn everybody into a Doctor McCoy by 2016.
“I hate to sound like a snob, but call me back when Harvard Business School offers an online MBA.”
Back in the dey, real estate’s Multiple Listing Services was innovative technology designed to help buyers find homes. Today, though, it just gets in the way.
If it’s not a smartphone, it’s dumb.
One Laptop Per Child puts computers in the hands of the world’s most vulnerable children to help educate them out of poverty. It’s a noble cause championed by our brightest minds – but it doesn’t seem to work.
With the impending announcement of the iPad Mini, all eyes seem to be focused on making tablets smaller. But the truly unexplored territory lies in the other direction – in tablets that go big. Really, really big.
When the Web was still text links and tables, Adobe Flash brought us rollovers, interactive games and kitten videos. But a hard stand by Apple was the begining of the end for the groundbreaking technology, and guess what? We’ll be OK without it.
After backing out of plans to compete with Netflix, Blockbuster is all but done. That’s not great news for the streaming-video space, and Netflix is in a rough spot. But Blockbuster’s latest stumble toward oblivion isn’t necessarily the final nail in NetFlix’ coffin.
Even if your resume is perfect, your references are in tip-top and your job skills are up to date, new research suggests employers and others could still find reasons to dislike you.
A business’ data is still its most important asset, but that doesn’t mean it every company needs to spend millions of dollars building and maintaining its own datacenters. The cloud has grown up, and the days of the company-owned-and-operated datacenters are numbered.
Google’s Project Glass has made wearable computing hip. Now a Canadian Kickstarter project wants to make it dorky. And the GoPad folks might actually be on to something.


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Downtown businesses continue “Crazy Days” tradition
CASPER, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) - There have been plenty of crazy days during the pandemic, but for downtown Casper, “Crazy Days” are actually a good thing this week. Downtown businesses continued the tradition of sidewalk sales at the end of July.
“Nobody really knows how long it’s been going on. 45, 50 years, so people look forward to it in July every year, the downtown comes together and does this,” said Toy Town Owner, Dalene Lockhart.
Lockhart said it means a lot to be a part of the Casper community, and also to contribute to it. Downtown Casper was packed today with locals and tourists alike. Everywhere you looked, there was a sidewalk sale going on.
For one downtown business owner, she celebrated one year of her ownership Saturday and cannot thank the Casper community enough.
“It’s just been wonderful seeing the support that our community, with everything poured into downtown, they’re still coming, still being active on Facebook,” said Cadillac Cowgirl Owner, Calley Hobza.
Hobza said it’s been a crazy year for her and could not have done it without the community’s support.
Copyright 2020 Wyoming News Now. All rights reserved.


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Real estate companies are rushing in with discounts and freebies ahead of Diwali, a time that accounts for a high volume of home sales in the country.
Across the country, residential projects offering deals have risen 45-50 per cent in the run-up to the festive season and may double further by Diwali and the year-end as realtors attempt to clear piled-up inventory.
Book and save Rs 200,000-12 lakh (Rs 1.2 million), pay no brokerage fees, get free 100g gold coins on the purchase of an apartment, get free registration and stamp duty worth lakhs of rupees or get a free car -- these are among the offers being promoted by developers to tap buyers in a slow market.
As many as 400 projects across the country including cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai have some deal or the other to offer, according to property website Magicbricks.
The number was just 275 not too long ago.
The projects hawking deals may go up to 800 if small developers join the party as well by Diwali.
There’s action around the deals, and that does not mean brisk sales alone.
For instance, Investors Clinic, a real estate platform, is organising a Navratra property festival across six locations in Delhi NCR on October 5 and 6.
Developers including Ajnara, Amrapali, Mahagun, Parsvanath, Spire, Supertech, Wave and Jaypee are participating. There are many more property fairs planned across the country.
This festive season is a ‘do or die’ situation for developers battling low sales and high inventory and makes up for about one third of total sales for the sector, according to experts.
Ashutosh Limaye, head (research & real estate intelligence service), JLL India, says, "This (festive seaon) is the last chance for developers… otherwise price cuts are inevitable. We will have to wait and see how much of the discounts/offers get converted into sales but this will definitely tell us the flavour of the market.”
Sudhir Pai, business head, Magicbricks, adds that such offers from developers have gone up substantially in the last couple of quarters.
Till now, the sector has seen high inventory levels with low sales and also fewer launches this year. Mumbai has an inventory of close to 48 months, Delhi of 23 months and Bangalore of 25 months. This is above the comfortable level of 14-15 months, according to a report by Jones Lang Lasalle.
Brotin Banerjee, managing director, Tata Housing, says, “The festive season is an opportune time for developers to offer attractive schemes to buyers which will help accelerate the sales momentum for residential projects.”
But, there are those who differ. "These offers are not enough to attract jaded buyers.
"They won’t respond favourably to discounts. And if the negative sentiment continues, prices might come down,” says Sanjay Sharma, managing director of Qubrex, a consultancy.
FESTIVAL BONANZA COMES CALLING
- Property fairs and carnivals mark the start of festive season
- About 400 projects across India, including Delhi, Mumbai offering various deals and discounts
- Offers include, save minimum of Rs 2-12 lakh, free 100 gm gold coin and Singapore trip amongst others
- Festive season contributes one third of total sales for developers
- Realty sector battling low sales and high inventory
The image is used for representational purpose only


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Operation Phantom Support, formerly the Killeen area’s Operation Once in a Lifetime branch, is looking for a larger facility to expand into this year. One site may be the Copperas Cove H-E-B building, which is listed at $5 million.
“Right now I am working in 7,000 square feet, and I am full,” said John Valentine, a retired sergeant first class who operates the organization.
Operation Phantom Support works to support veterans and active-duty service members and their families by offering everything from clothing to small household appliances at no or low cost. Its operations are funded through sales of its thrift store, grants and donations the nonprofit receives.
The nonprofit is located at 315 E. Avenue C in Killeen, but Valentine, who lives Copperas Cove, is hoping for a larger facility by the end of the year somewhere close to Fort Hood.
“We are going to eventually try and find a bigger place as we grow,” Valentine said. “The H-E-B thing is probably out of our scope because of the $5.1 million price. It will take years to raise that kind of money.”
Valentine said the fact that the organization operates a food pantry may be a problem for the retailer, which has a deed restriction.
Valentine opened the food pantry a year ago. It now feeds 600 families and affects about 1,500 people a week. More room would mean helping more people.
The organization already needs to replace its box truck and cold storage unit or turn down food donations when there is no place to store them.
A grocery, fuel and/or pharmacy can’t be located at the site, according to information from the property’s real estate agent Ben Edelstein.
Despite the price and other hurdles, Valentine said he is still going to try and talk to the Texas grocery store chain about locating at the site.
Another attractive feature about the H-E-B is the large parking lot, he said. In Killeen, Valentine said cars park in every space for blocks and people are lined up literally down the block waiting to pick up food.
Nearby tenants are complaining because there is no parking available in front of their businesses, he said.
Edelstein said the 49,000-square-foot building generated a lot of interest, especially from local entrepreneurs and businesses.
“We have a lot people that are entrepreneurs (ask about it) but its sheer size doesn’t fit their business model,” Edelstein said.
Edelstein has yet to talk to Valentine, but occasionally a nonprofit does take over such properties, he said.
Ideally though, the store would go to a national retailer or perhaps two, he said.
The building has been on the market for almost a year and was originally priced at $5.3 million.
“The handful that we have sold for (H-E-B) have taken more than a year and maybe less than three years,” he said. “It is a patience game.”


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New funeral home and improved food stores earmarked for East Anglia
PUBLISHED: 11:02 03 February 2019 | UPDATED: 11:03 03 February 2019
A new funeral home is to be created in Lowestoft and food stores revamped as part of a nationwide investment of £13.4 million by the Central England Co-operative.
The Co-op will also be revamping food stores across Norfolk; in Bradwell and Loddon and Suffolk; in Carlton Colville, Lowestoft and Eye. A complete new food store will also be opening in Suffolk’s Thornley Green area of Stowupland as part of the expansion project.
The news provoked a mixed response from local independent funeral directors.
MORE: What were the 10 most expensive homes sold in Norfolk?
Mark Hall, from Rosedale Funeral Home, with branches across Norfolk and Suffolk, and who is a tutor for the National Association of Funeral Directors, said: “My worry is the confusion this is creating for the public. The Co-op are opening up at an alarming rate.
“Now with the flooding of the marketplace we have a situation of sometimes three Co-op brands in the same town which can lead to confusion in pricing and varying standards.”
But Simon Woodbridge, a funeral director at Robert Minns independent funeral service, in Norwich, welcomed a new service to “contribute to the great number of individuals who are very knowledgeable and very capable of giving support and caring for the bereaved.”
However, he said that the industry, particularly the corporate funeral directors, were being looked at nationally because of some evidence of a lack of transparency in the charging system.
“I think we have in Norfolk and Suffolk some excellent funeral directors and it’s in our DNA to have good, caring characteristics but it is important that we have transparent charging.”
The new investment programme by the Central England Co-op will create “tens of new jobs”, according to its chief executive Martyn Cheatle.
He added: “We are really proud of the success of our business, especially with our continued good performance in what is a highly competitive and increasingly uncertain trading environment.”
The Co-op opened 10 new food stores and six funeral homes and relaunched 22 funeral sites and 30 convenience stores across the UK last year.
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WASHINGTON — The Merchants Payment Coalition says passage of the Credit Card Competition Act would add a layer of safeguarding, keeping China from “infiltrating” the U.S. payments processing market.
Officials from the group penned a letter to a House committee holding a hearing on economic threats from China on Feb. 7.
“MPC has grave concerns over the level of involvement that China has in our nation’s payment system,” the organization said in a letter to the House Financial Services Committee. “Preventing China from infiltrating the U.S. payments system is one of our top priorities.”
“Currently, there is no federal law that prevents any financial institution from doing business with China UnionPay to process payments on its credit cards,” the letter continued. “If enacted, the Credit Card Competition Act would explicitly forbid card networks that present a national security threat to the United States (including China UnionPay) from entering the U.S. market. This is a vital provision of the legislation that would significantly serve our national security interests.”
The letter was sent to Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.; Ranking Member Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; and other committee members as the panel prepared to hold a hearing on “Combatting the Economic Threat from China.”
The letter cited China UnionPay’s membership in the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council and EMVCo, the two bodies that set security standards for the U.S. credit and debit card system. The two groups are controlled by Visa and Mastercard, along with American Express and Discover, but UnionPay became a member of EMVco’s governing body in 2013 and has been a member of the PCI council since 2017. Japan’s JCB is the only other foreign card network that sits on the panels.
Participation in the two organizations gives UnionPay – and through it the Chinese government – a role in “the creation and implementation of security standards that impact all U.S. businesses and consumers,” the letter said.
The Credit Card Competition Act – introduced last year by Senator Richard Durbin, D-Ill.; Senator Roger Marshall, R-Kan.; Representative Peter Welch, D-Vt. (now a senator); and Representative Lance Gooden, R-Texas – is awaiting reintroduction in the new session of Congress.
MPC says the legislation would end Visa and Mastercard’s longstanding monopoly over how transactions on cards issued under their brands are routed for processing. Instead, cards from the nation’s largest banks would be required to be able to be routed over at least one competing network in addition to Visa or Mastercard’s networks. Banks would choose which networks to enable but merchants would then choose which to use, meaning networks would have to compete over fees, security and service, saving merchants and their customers an estimated $11 billion a year.
Under the legislation, the second network could be American Express, Discover or an independent network like NYCE, Star or Shazam, which the Federal Reserve says have less fraud than Visa and Mastercard. But the legislation would close a security gap by blocking networks supported by foreign governments like UnionPay from entering the U.S. processing market. Currently, any bank could choose to route its credit card processing to UnionPay, which MPC says could be effectively outsourcing consumers’ financial data to a foreign government.
Credit and debit card swipe fees, which doubled over the past decade and soared 25% to a record $137.8 billion in 2021, are most merchants’ highest operating cost after labor.


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Photo: Getty Images
The NFL has officially brought in Pizza Hut to be the new pizza sponsor of the league. It was just announced yesterday that Papa Johns would no longer be the "face" of the league anymore. Now, Pizza Hut and the NFL have a deal through the 2021 season to be the brand new pizza sponsor. The deal begins on April 1st, and the marketing campagain will officially kick off when the NFL Draft takes place, which will be April 26th-28th. You should expect to see a rise in sales of pizza's for Pizza Hut and hope they represent the league better than how Papa Johns did this past season.


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The construction industry is under significant pressure at the moment. A perfect storm of expensive, scarce materials coupled with extra compliance reporting obligations have brought the pain, and its focal point is the procurement team.
With rising prices, businesses in this industry are under pressure to come up with cost-effective solutions. If you want your procurement team to deliver value in these turbulent times, you need to arm it with powerful data analytics.
Price Pressures in the Construction Industry
A confluence of events has seen materials in the construction industry become scarce and prices sky-rocket. First, there was the COVID pandemic, which saw nearly every Australian state government invest heavily in infrastructure. With so many projects on the go at once, demand for labour increased and delays and disruptions ensured.
Then record levels of rain fell on the east coast, leading to flooding events which caused further delays. To top it off, Russian then decided to invade Ukraine, sending oil prices into the stratosphere along with the cost of materials.
We’ve since seen double-digit inflation. Considering the construction industry only sees single digit profit margins and must lock in prices for projects that take years to complete at the best of times, this has been particularly stressful.
High-iron content materials, such as structural steel, cables and ductwork, have seen significant increases in price, while many contractors are reporting a 70% increase in supply costs.
This issue isn’t going away soon. The project pipeline is still congested, and materials and labour will be fought over tooth-and-nail for years to come.
Right now, the procurement team that can locate the best deals on materials and labour holds the highest value in the construction industry. So, the question is, how do we give our procurement teams this capability?
With cost pressures as they are, bringing on extra personnel is not a viable option for most organisations. The most cost-effective method in the current climate is investment in data analytics. Cutting-edge AI and machine learning can give procurement teams the edge through greater visibility and predictive software.
Here’s an example. Right now you can make use of software that scans news sites for particular keywords. For instance, you might instruct it to search for any articles containing references to a port a supplier of yours users and ‘labour strikes’. These events are always heralded on news platforms. You can see it before it happens, and switch suppliers before your goods become stranded on a ship.
Modern Slavery Reporting
The Modern Slavery Act came into effect on 1 January 2019, obligating any business or entity in the Australian market with a revenue of at least $100 million to report annually on their efforts to identify and address their modern slavery risks.
This is an important and necessary requirement. Slavery isn’t consigned to history; it is alive and well in our modern, progressive societies. Here are some figures:
- 40.3 million people live in slavery worldwide
- 24.9 people are in forced labour
- 16 million people are exploited in global supply chains in the private sector
We need to be doing more to reduce the risks of modern slavery within our global supply chains, no doubt. But it’s a difficult and burdensome task.
Businesses are required to report on the efforts they’re making to identify and nullify modern slavery in their supply chains. This includes identifying potential risks to their workforce, customers and clients, and the supply chain in general.
The following are types of modern slavery businesses need to be on the lookout for:
- Human trafficking
- Forced labour
- Worst forms of child labour
- Debt bondage
- Deceptive recruitment for labour or services
The main issue for businesses when it comes to modern slavery reporting is gaining an appropriate level of visibility into their supply chain.
The modern organisation has a vast and sprawling supply chain. The Commonwealth Bank works with nearly 7000 suppliers, while some large multi-national companies, like the French energy company Total, is said to have around 150,000.
Any one of these can be partaking in modern slavery. It’s not enough to state that you vet your first-tier suppliers and rely on them to do the same for the second-tier, and the second-tier to do the same for the third, and so on.
Ignorance is no longer bliss.
Deep visibility of the supply chain is what’s needed to properly assess its modern slavery risk, and data analytics powered by modern AI and machine learning is the only way to gain it. It’s the fastest and most accurate way of collecting and organising all the data a company has regarding its supply chain. There are numerous ways in which this data can then be presented according to what information is being sought.
Without analytics like this, not only is it impossible to detect where modern slavery lives in your supply chain, it’s impossible to report that you are doing enough in this important area.
Beat rising costs with powerful data analytics
Tendering conditions are heating up and modern slavery reporting is now an annual requirement. Procurement plays the key role in both of these areas, but it needs help. Data analytics is the most cost-effective and appropriate tool when uncovering strategic sourcing opportunities and modern slavery risks in the supply chain.


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The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) has released new car sales results for March, which continue to rebound hard from their October 2020 low. Just over 100,000 new cars were sold in Australia in March, up 22.4% on March 2020 and the strongest March result since 2018. This growth was driven by sales of
The post New car sales are rebounding hard and fast appeared first on MacroBusiness.
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We’d like to thank all our customers for their patience yesterday when we had major technical issues with our card payment systems in stores.
The issue has been fully resolved, and card payments are up and running on Monday morning across our stores.
We’re really sorry the problems meant people had a frustrating shopping experience and we’d like to say a big thank you to our colleagues who went above and beyond on Sunday to help customers as much as possible. We got a really positive response from customers telling us what a fantastic job colleagues did across the country to deal with the situation.
If you need to get in touch with our customer service team you can call them on 0800 952 0101.


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Gullan&Gullan scores on Carling Black Label “BE THE COACH” campaign
Gullan&Gullan Advertising, ICOM’s South African representative, celebrates the success of the inaugural Carling Black Label BE THE COACH campaign, arguably South Africa’s most successful consumer sports marketing campaign to date. In a first for soccer, the interactive campaign allowed fans to “be the coach” in a live match between Soweto soccer giants, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, by selecting the players they wanted to see in the starting line-up, and on match day by selecting a player for substitution.
With a total of over 11 million entries recorded for the starting line-up, an average number of 18 entries per unique consumer, a stadium almost filled to capacity with enthusiastic fans, and more than 40 000 substitution votes received on match day, the results indicate a colossal success for Carling Black Label, South African Breweries and the game of soccer.
Gullan&Gullan supported the campaign from a public relations perspective. A key element of the public relations campaign were the brand ambassadors, Benni BetheCoach and Bra Nox, who were deployed to assist consumer understanding of the entry mechanism. These two passionate soccer fans took a road trip around South Africa to rally support for the campaign and show like-minded soccer aficionados how to participate.
Response to the brand ambassadors and from the media was encouraging. Gullan&Gullan, together with M-Sports Marketing, generated news in lifestyle, sports and business media and received a total PR value of over R85 million.
A great photo montage of the road trip can be viewed on Benni’s YouTube channel www.youtube.com/bennibethecoach.


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As the lockdown continues, consumer e-shopping choices are evolving and a new report shows they want luxury, face masks, rainbow wear, exercise clothing, kidswear and anything worn by the Duchess of Cambridge.
Cath Kidston has bowed to the inevitable and filed notice to appoint administrators as coronavirus makes its current turnaround plan a lost cause. A buyer is still being sought with a pre-pack administration likely.
The American sports and footwear giant has announced a series of changes in its senior leadership, appointing Heidi O’Neill as president for consumer and marketplace, Andy Campion as COO, and Matthew Friend as CFO.
TK Maxx has taken a 37,500 sq ft unit at Queensgate shopping centre and is to open a new store in mid 2021, Lendlease and Invesco Real Estate, the global real estate investment manager, have announced.


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Dell Computers Boosts UB's Supercomputing Capacity
Buffalo, NY – Dell Computer founder Michael Dell visited the University at Buffalo Tuesday afternoon to help unveil new supercomputing capacity.
The school's Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics will benefit from the installation of the $13 million complex. It includes 2,000 interconnected Dell servers.
The new machinery will increase the Center's computing capacity by ten times, and will be used to analyze data from the human genome project.
The computers were installed in August.
Click the "listen" icon above to hear the news conference attended by Michael Dell, UB President William Greiner and others.


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Over 170 exclusive titles will be available at Record Store Day’s Black Friday event this fall, almost a misnomer since the event takes place on Nov. 24, 2023. There are a number of vinyl variants available — purple, gold, red, blue, green, marble, clear, and splatter-colored.
After years when hip-hop RSD releases were fewer than some fans would have liked, the number of classic hip-hop titles on this list clearly shows Record Store Days’ and the participating labels’ interest in celebrating the genre’s 50th anniversary with a great deal of product. Dr. Dre, Lil Wayne, Nas, De La Soul, Schooly D, Three 6 Mafia, and Digital Underground are among those with reissues or collections being released as exclusives or “RSD First” items.
On the day after Thanksgiving, approximately 175 exclusives will be released in independent stores. Annually, about half the number appears for the main event in April.
Table of Contents
Record Store Day features some new names, like Kim Petras and Noah Kahan. RSD events have drawn crowds to stores for vault releases from the Grateful Dead, the Doors, Bill Evans, and Prince, among others.
A few of the highlights include Gram Parsons’ and Ahmad Jamal’s previously unreleased live albums, Joni Mitchell’s and Los Lobos’ rare or unreleased studio recordings, Post Malone and the Jonas Brothers’ hit sets, and Bo Diddley’s and War’s boxed sets.
Record Store Day : Few examples
As a tribute to Melvins, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron has released Gory Scorch Cretins, a five-song 12-inch vinyl.
In its debut vinyl release, Linkin Park’s Lost Demos includes the unearthed Meteora-era song “Lost.”
As part of its fifth anniversary celebration, Yungblud is reissuing its 2018 debut album, 21st Century Liability, on transparent magenta vinyl.
On a limited-edition picture disc, Rob Zombie’s latest album, The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy, will feature new artwork.
There will also be releases from All Time Low, Buckcherry, Collective Soul, Coheed and Cambria, The Flaming Lips, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Noah Kahan, Limp Bizkit, Mötley Crüe, Phoenix, Screaming Trees, and Turnstile on Record Store Day Black Friday 2023.
You can find the full list of titles on the RSD website.


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October 01, 2007 by Rachel Cericola
The holiday shopping season is upon us, and not just because your local mall is starting to build Santa’s meet-and-greet workshop. Twice says that starting today, Sharp’s 37- and 52-inch AQUOS models can be found at cheaper prices.
The 52-inch LC-52D92U, the LC-52D82Ue, and the LC-52D64U are all dropping by $300; the LC-37GP1U, the LC-37D62U, and the LC-37D43U are getting a $100 discount.
Expect other manufacturers to vie for your holiday budget as well; Twice says that Samsung, Sony and LG have also announced price drops.
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Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.
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GM Canada Confirms Issuing Formal Legal Action to Unifor to Cease Publication of Misleading Ad
OSHAWA, Ont. (Sunday, Feb 3, 2019) — While GM respects Unifor’s rights to protest, we can't acquit intentionally dubious a Canadian public. The new Unifor announcement scheduled to atmosphere during a Super Bowl is dubious and inaccurate. In response, GM can endorse a lawyers lodged a grave direct to Unifor to stop any and all announcement of a ad.
Unifor knows that GM Canada repaid a 2009 loans in full, and that a restructured GM fulfilled all a terms of its agreements with a Canadian supervision many years ago. Since 2009, GM Canada has contributed over $100 billion to a Canadian economy including $8 billion invested into workman pensions.
To learn some-more about a contribution on GM’s mutation and a joining to Canada revisit www.supportingoshawaworkers.ca.
About General Motors Canada
General Motors of Canada Company markets Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles by Canada’s largest play network, as good as OnStar and MAVEN services. Headquartered in Oshawa, Ontario, GM Canada employs some-more than 7,700 people opposite a nation and is a famous personality in modernized manufacturing, immature operations, active safety, and unconstrained and connected car record investigate and development. More information on a association can be found during www.gm.ca and by following @GMcanada on Twitter.
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Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) announced in December that it would integrate Facebook Connect across its properties worldwide — and that relationship is beginning to show up in Yahoo Mail. Starting later this afternoon, Yahoo Mail users will be able to update their Facebook status from their inboxes and also see their friends’ Facebook profile photos in their inboxes, the company tells us. This comes several weeks after Yahoo made it easy for Yahoo Mail users to add Facebook friends’ e-mail addresses to their e-mail contacts.
Nothing incredibly groundbreaking here — but the changes add to a slate of “social” features Yahoo has been introducing to Yahoo Mail since it bought social e-mail startup Xoopit in July, and they should help combat perceptions that Yahoo Mail is lagging Gmail when it comes to innovation.
It’s also a reminder of the increasing overlap between social networking sites and e-mail as communications tools. No wonder MySpace (NYSE: NWS) has added a webmail service and Facebook is rumored to be on the verge of doing the same.


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For Immediate Release: November 10, 2015
Washington, D.C. – The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union released the following statement regarding the Haggen stores auction that is taking place this week.
“Representatives from UFCW Local Unions and UFCW International are at the auction for the 95 Haggen stores to strongly present their position that these stores need to be bought by responsible store owners to ensure that our members can continue to provide for their families and give customers the great service that they expect.
“Our Local Unions stand ready to partner with responsible companies who understand the tremendous value of our hard-working members. As they prove every day, our members are totally committed to their communities and are determined to give their customers and their families the better grocery store that they’ve been waiting for.
“While the hard-working men and women of Haggen’s have all been experiencing untold frustration and concern during these past few months, we will stand together and support one another through these difficult times. We are a family, and as a strong family, we will do everything in our power to help our members find the success that they’ve earned through their hard work and dedication.”
Join the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) online at www.ufcw.org
We are 1.3 million families standing together to build an economy that every hard-working family deserves.


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GM is working on another electric pickup truck in addition to GMC’s Hummer EV and the electrified Chevrolet Silverado it confirmed back in April. The automotive giant has made the announcement at a media event, according to CNBC and CNET Roadshow. It didn’t reveal a lot of details about the project and only showed a shadowy image of a tarp-covered truck during the presentation, but it did say that it would be a full-size GMC pickup.
Also, CNBC says it’s expected to be a more “traditional” pickup than the Hummer EV, which is a “lifestyle” vehicle. That could mean that it’s something priced within the reach of more people than the Hummer is, though GMC global head Duncan Aldred reportedly refused to admit whether it’s the electrified version of the Sierra pickup.