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Violence, Crime & Protests
112 Security Officer Deaths in 2021, Including
53 Murders by Gunfire
23 Security Officers Charged in Excessive Use-of-Force Incidents
During the last 19 days, twenty-three private security officers have been
charged in excessive Use of Force incidents,
including three cases of alleged murder and an incident where an
armed security officer commanded his dog to bite a man who had been calling him
Kevin Lawton, Gregory Livingston, and Marcus D Johnson are all charged with
second-degree murder in three different fatal shootings that the security
officers were involved in. The cases of two other fatal shootings involving
private security officers this past weekend is in the hands of the district
attorney’s office which may decide to either charge the shooters or send their
cases to a grand jury for an indictment.
A Securitas security officer was arrested after chasing a man from an
apartment complex while shooting at him and an Allied Universal security
officer was charged felony aggravated assault after knocking a man
unconscious and punching in the head while he was laid out at a SEPTA light rail
station. A NYC security officer was arrested for stabbing his supervisor
five times during a confrontation at the New York University.
During this time, private security officers fatally shot 9 persons. All
incidents occurred while the security officer was working and on duty. This
year, thirty-three security officers have been charged in fatal shootings.
As of today, there have been 53 Security Officers
Murdered by Gunfire and 112 on-duty security
'Alarming Robbery Trend' in Oakland, Calif.
Oakland leader urges Newsom to declare state of emergency over violent crime
president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday called
on Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency in the wake of
robberies and assaults in Oakland.
In a letter, Carl Chan urged the governor to declare the emergency and to send
California Highway Patrol and other state law enforcement authorities to
Oakland. Chan was joined by members of the Oakland Chinatown Blue Angels
Volunteer Patrol Team and Oakland City Councilmember Loren Taylor at the
The event followed a robbery and shooting in Chinatown on Saturday that
reportedly left two Good Samaritans injured. The attack was part of what the
Police Department in a Facebook post Monday called “an
alarming trend in robberies.”
Some Oakland Chinatown merchants have already turned to armed private
security guards in response to unease over violence and robberies in the
Homicides spiked to 78 as of Aug. 8, compared with 54 by the same date last year
and 49 by that date in 2019, police data shows. The numbers of assaults with a
firearm and carjackings were roughly double the mid-2019 tally, although
robberies of all categories were on par with pre-pandemic numbers.
But some Oakland politicians and community members say more policing won’t
address the issue, arguing instead that the city needs better social services
and needs to focus on violence prevention.
Progressive Prosecutor Turning Blind Eye to
Chicago’s top prosecutor Kim Foxx defends policy amid wave of violence
top prosecutor Kim Foxx defended her policy of prioritizing resources away
from low-level offenses after records revealed the man suspected of
killing Officer Ella French was on probation.
“There are thousands of people who are on probation every single year,” Foxx
said. “What we saw with Ella French was tragic, but for the thousands of others
who are on probation who do not pick up a gun, who do not kill in cold blood,
to suggest that probation is not the answer I think is a bit short-sighted.”
“Ella French died trying to protect the very neighborhoods that Kim Foxx has
littered with criminals because she feels it’s the right human thing to do,”
said John Catanzara, president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police.
“Kim Foxx has never tried a murder case,” Catanzara said. “She wouldn’t even
know the inside of a courtroom if she fell into it. She’s just a political hack,
who literally uses race to get reelected. She has no competency.”
Foxx defended her office amid a wave of violence in the city. “I came
into office in 2016, which was an incredibly violent year in Chicago, the most
violent we’ve seen in 20 years,” she said. “And in 2017, 2018 and 2019, those
violent crime numbers went down, homicides went down.”
From 2019 to 2020, homicides were up 50%.
“We’re in a global pandemic, unlike anything we’ve seen in any of our lifetimes,
which led to a terrible economic downturn, people being confined to their
homes,” Foxx said. “The issues related to gun violence are connected to
economic disinvestment, are connected to poverty, are connected to a lack of
access to educational resources.”
A Crisis Of Violence In Chicago
Looking At Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Record On Crime
CBS 2 dug into city crime data in the three years prior to Lightfoot taking
office. In 2016, 4,321 people were shot in Chicago. Three years later that
number dropped to 2,664. With 1,657 fewer victims, that was a 38% drop.
But as 2019 gave way to 2020, the first full year for the new mayor, the trend
line was about to reverse sharply. In Chicago in 2020, 4,135 people were shot
— nearly 1,500 more victims than the year prior and a jump of 36%. Through
July of 2021, Chicago has seen 2,528 people shot. That is 10% more than the same
stretch last year.
In an interview she gave last month to The New York Times podcast “SWAY,”
Lightfoot frames these trend reversals as a result of the pandemic.
“Prosecutor, courts, jails reatreated. Our Cook Court system for crime trials
still hasn’t fully reopened,” she said.
And Chicago is not alone. In the first half of 2021 New York has seen a 99%
jump in shootings compared to pre-pandemic 2019. Nationally, the Council on
Criminal Justice says the nation has seen a 42% jump in homicides in the
first hall of 2021 as compared to 2019.
$6M Crime-Fighting Plan
Houston, Harris County leaders introduce $6 million proposal to reduce crime
The proposal from Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis would focus on
"health-based strategies" to address root causes of violence.
As law enforcement continues to fight a violent crime surge in Houston and
Harris County, local leaders are adding health-based strategies focused on
The Harris County Violence Interruption Program proposed by Harris County
Commissioner Rodney Ellis adds the healthcare system as an additional
"crime-fighting tool," Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo explained at a news
conference on Monday.
Healthcare workers will identify early warning signs of potential gun
violence and attempt to address them before it's too late.
"The program will enlist community leaders to help us fight back at the
neighborhood level," Hidalgo said. "Basically, to try and stop violence
before it happens."
The initiative also includes the Holistic Alternative Responder Team (HART) made
up of healthcare workers trained to respond to non-violent calls dealing
with issues like mental health, substance abuse and homelessness.
She said the $5 million HART initiative will free up law enforcement to focus
on violent crime. Ellis said Denver's HART members answered 30% of police
calls over a six-year period.
He said Harris County joins cities -- including New York, San Francisco and
Chicago -- in adding health-based interventions to address crime.
Tracking Criminals Using Facial Recognition &
How police monitor social media to find crime and track suspects
are scrolling through social media to find crime and check up on potential
suspects, raising concerns about surveillance in an increasingly online
Monitoring public posts on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
is a common way police departments across the country collect information about
individuals or specific types of activities. Representatives of the Michigan
State Police and Detroit Police Department said officers manually search public
posts and also feed social media photos to facial recognition algorithms
that hunt for similarities between millions of faces collected in police
If your privacy settings are set to “public,” bet on law enforcement being able
to access your profile. There are some
things people can do to protect their online privacy, like setting your
profile to “private,” turning off location sharing, restricting which friends
can tag you in photos and limiting the amount of personal information shared on
A July report to Detroit’s Board of Police Commissioners showed social
media photos were used in 35% of facial recognition investigations this year.
The images were used to search for matches in the DPD database and identify
Civil rights groups worry that the implications of social media monitoring
can be disproportionately used against minorities, activists and young people.
Facial recognition technology also remains controversial because flawed
algorithms sometimes misidentify people with darker skin. Facial recognition
software caused the wrongful arrest of at least two Black men in Michigan.
Critics argue that collecting the faces of millions of Americans, including
many who didn’t commit a crime, opens more people up to being misidentified.
However, law enforcement groups say facial recognition technology is a
valuable crime-fighting tool when used correctly.
Nashville, TN: Community 'violence interrupters' work to stem rising crime
Tucson seeing significant increase in youth committing violent crimes
Providence police officials say city is seeing a spike in violent crime
Fort Wayne, IN: Violent crime down 46% in first half of year, sexual assault up
I’ve heard about defunding
– but this is ridiculous
And they’re complaining about response times!
353.2M Vaccinations Given
US: 37M Cases - 635.2K Dead - 30M Recovered
American South Has Turned into One Giant COVID Hot Spot
205.7M Cases - 4.3M Dead - 184.6M Recovered
Former Senior Loss Prevention Executive
Know of any fallen LP exec? Let's remember &
Private Industry Security Guard Deaths:
Enforcement Officer Deaths: 336
*Red indicates change in total deaths
Worst Outbreak in the Country
Florida hospitals are overrun as state fights one of the worst outbreaks in the
Hospitals across Florida are now being pushed to the limit as the state
fights one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in the nation, fueled by the delta
David Wein, an emergency medicine physician at Tampa General Hospital in
Florida, said the Covid-19 outbreak there is the most severe he and his
colleagues have witnessed since the pandemic began.
Hospitals across Florida are now being pushed to the limit with ICU beds
filling up and providers struggling to find enough staff to care for patients as
the state fights one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in the nation, fueled by
the highly contagious delta variant.
Florida’s surge in cases comes as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to
resist calls from the Biden administration and state advocacy groups to enforce
mask mandates and other pandemic-related measures to help contain the
massive outbreak. He signed an executive order and law in May that lifted all
Covid restrictions across the state and permanently blocked local officials from
enacting new ones starting July 1.
“Everyone is working at full capacity and then some, and it feels like we’ve
been that way for a long time,” Wein said Tuesday in a phone interview. He added
the hospital was beginning to run low on nurses. “It’s hard to see the light
at the end of the tunnel right now.”
No Mask or Vaccine? No Service
Philly Businesses Ordered to Require Masks or Vaccines for Customers
“The science is clear: these measures will protect Philadelphians and save
lives,” Mayor Jim Kenney said
businesses must now require masks or proof of vaccination from employees and
customers, while large outdoor events with no seating will also need to
implement masks as the city updates its coronavirus guidance.
Businesses that require all staff and customers be fully vaccinated will not be
subject to the masking rule, Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole
announced Wednesday. The new guidelines, which took effect at midnight Thursday,
come as COVID-19 infections rise again across the country, driven largely by the
more transmissible delta variant and a struggle to get people vaccinated.
Businesses that opt for requiring proof of vaccination will need to check
vaccine cards – either the paper card issued by vaccine providers or a photo
of said card – at the door, Bettigole said. Business owners who choose
the proof of vaccine option will be subject to fines if
they do not check customers’ status.
The city will put out guidance to show workers how to check someone’s
vaccination card, Bettigole said.
COVID Forces More Store Closures
Saraland, Fairhope Walmart stores closed due to COVID-19
Two area Walmart stores, one in Saraland and one in Fairhope, Ala., are
temporarily closed for cleaning. This is a corporate
response to rising COVID-19 cases in the area, according to news
releases from Walmart.
Walmart issued a separate news release for each closure, but the language in
each is nearly identical, with changes to reflect the two locations. Walmart
said in the releases the cleaning is part of their effort to “assist health
officials working against the pandemic.”
What Walmart calls a “third party specialist” will sanitize the stores. Walmart
offers vaccinations to customers at no charge. On reopening, both stores will
welcome walk-ins. Customers can also schedule vaccinations online. While the
vaccines are free, Walmart asks customers to bring health insurance cards with
Walmart is following CDC guidance about masks. This includes asking “fully
vaccinated people wearing masks in public indoor settings in counties with
substantial or high transmission.”
Retailers Continue to Update Mask Policies
These grocery stores, retailers, restaurants updated mask mandates due to delta
Some retailers, grocery stores and markets have updated mask policies to
help prevent the spread of the virus and outbreaks.
Here are the grocers, retailers and restaurants that are following CDC
Aldi: Face coverings and physically
distancing are required for unvaccinated customers and employees, and where
required by state or local jurisdictions. In areas with a substantial or high
risk of transmission, Aldi requires face coverings for employees and it is
strongly encouraged for customers, regardless of vaccination status.
Follows face mask regulations of state and local jurisdictions. Will
also recommend customers wear masks inside locations in communities where
COVID-19 transmission is high or substantial.
Kroger: "Strongly encouraging" all
individuals, including those who are vaccinated, to wear a mask when in its
stores and facilities. Kroger's current guidelines require unvaccinated
employees to wear a mask and request that customers also do so.
Meijer: Encouraging its team members and
customers to wear face coverings whether they are vaccinated or not.
Sam's Club and Walmart: The nationwide
warehouse club store and grocer/retailer is requiring indoor mask-wearing,
including fully vaccinated people in areas of substantial or high transmission.
Target: Recommends face coverings for
unvaccinated team members and guests at all stores across the country. Also
follows CDC’s guidance requiring face coverings for team members and "strongly
recommends" them for all guests in areas with a substantial or high risk of
McDonald's: The burger chain giant is asking
every customer who enters its restaurants to wear a mask or face covering under
the CDC guidance. McDonald's staff is also required to wear a mask or face
Starbucks: "In alignment with the updated
guidance from the CDC, Starbucks strongly recommends customers wear facial
coverings while visiting our stores, regardless of vaccination status,"
according to its website. Starbucks will also require customers to wear masks
while in our stores, where it's mandated by local law. Employees at all
company-operated stores are required to wear a mask or facial covering during
their shift, regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not.
White House Asks Businesses to Step Up Vaccine
Biden Urges Businesses to Require Covid-19 Vaccine for Workers
President meets with the CEOs of United
Airlines and Kaiser Permanente
Biden met Wednesday with the chief executives of United Airlines Holdings
Inc. and Kaiser Permanente in a bid to encourage more companies to follow
their lead and require workers to get
vaccinated against Covid-19.
Howard University President Wayne Frederick and Diane Sumpter, a small business
leader from South Carolina, attended the virtual meeting alongside United CEO
Scott Kirby and Kaiser Permanente CEO Gregory Adams, the White House said.
A White House official said the participants reflected four sectors—large
corporations, small businesses, healthcare providers, and colleges and
universities—that the administration sees as pillars in inoculating the U.S.
against the virus.
Mr. Biden has asked the private sector to help accelerate vaccination
against Covid-19. Two weeks ago, he announced new requirements for federal
workers to either get vaccinated against the virus or get tested regularly,
and he called on businesses to take a similar approach.
The White House reached out to business groups such as the Chamber of
Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers and Business Roundtable
before Mr. Biden announced the vaccine requirements for federal workers, the
White House official said, and those associations praised the policy change.
Mask Wars Heat Up - Again
Hundreds of anti-maskers threaten police and health workers during protest over
With the Delta variant surging and mask mandates returning, anti-mask
protests are heating up across the country
of anti-maskers surrounded and threatened police as well as masked health
care workers after the a Tennessee county school board voted to require
masks in elementary schools through September.
“We know who you are,” one man shouted outside the Williamson County School
Board meeting near Nashville. “The police are on our side!” Others yelled “we
will not comply,” and “there’s a special place in hell for you!”
It’s happening at school boards and campuses across America right now. In
Texas, districts like Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin
now require masks on campus, which
defies Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates.
A state ban on mask mandates isn’t faring well in the courts in Arkansas
either. It was temporarily blocked last week by a state judge who said the
prohibition violated the state’s constitution. Republican Gov.
Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas now says he regrets signing the ban, but
lawmakers decided against reversing course during a special session last week.
Masks are a key coronavirus-prevention tool that doesn’t pose health
risks for kids older than toddler age and are most effective when worn by a
larger number of people, public health experts say. The Centers for Disease
Control has again recommended them for schools.
Restaurant Reservations Down
People are starting to shun restaurants as the Delta variant spreads
The new wave of infections could stall recovery for the hard-hit
Delta variant is pushing Americans away from restaurants in some of the
worst-hit states for COVID-19, a trend that might curb economic recovery for
the badly hit industry, CNN reported.
In five of some of the worst-hit states for COVID-19, restaurant reservations
on OpenTable fell to 80% of 2019 levels in the past week, marking a U-turn from
July, when bookings on the platform were 10% above 2019 levels.
The restaurant industry has been devastated by the pandemic, with around
17% of US restaurants permanently closing ther doors since the virus began
spreading. Now, the recovery brought about by climbing vaccination rates and
other policies may be hamstrung by the rise of the highly contagious new
More and More Breakthrough Cases Popping Up
Breakthrough Cases May Be a Bigger Problem Than You’ve Been Told
McDonald’s Requiring Vaccines For Corporate Office Staff; Delaying HQ Reopening
Portland Now Has 24 Bars That Will Request Proof of Vaccination at the Door
See the Data on Breakthrough Covid Hospitalizations and Deaths by State
F.D.A. to Authorize Third Vaccine Dose for People With Weak Immune Systems
Global Forecasts and Retail Trends to Watch in the 2nd Half of 2021
Tony D'Onofrio, Global Retail Influencer &
Prosegur's CEO & Managing
Director, Global Retail Business Unit
While dealing with the Delta variant and continuing to recover from the COVID-19
health crisis, the hot days of August is a good time to ponder the economic
and retail predictions for the balance of 2021.
The global economy is quickly recovering from the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic, with growth likely to approach
6% in 2021 and continue at 4.6% in 2022. However, while the global economic
recovery from the COVID-19 recession has shown strong rebound effects, global
output is still expected to remain as much as 2% below the pre-pandemic forecast
up until 2023.
generated over $18.5 trillion in the United States in 2020. After the
past few months, I predict that we will see similar exciting changes across the
retail industry starting in advanced economies. The USA National Retail
Federation (NRF) raised their 2021
forecast in June and predicted that this year will be the fastest retail
growth year since 1984. On the other side of the world, in an equally important
China retail sales are projected to increase 14.7% in 2021.
The Steady Recovery of the Global Economy in 2021
Euromonitor updated their 2021-2023 global GDP Forecast. Strong continued
growth is projected in USA, China, developing and advanced economies.
Read more here
Leaving One Retail Job for Another?
Retail Workers Are Quitting At A Record Pace. But Stores Are Rapidly Hiring, Too
Retail workers are still quitting at a record rate. But they appear to be going
to other retail jobs: Stores are actually hiring on an unprecedented scale,
reaching 1.1 million new hires in June.
The story you hear a lot about in retail is devastation from the pandemic -
major chains going bankrupt, lots of people losing jobs. But lately something
quite different has been happening. At the same time that retail workers are
quitting at a record rate, stores are hiring on an unprecedented scale.
Historically, we know that the top destination for most people leaving retail
is a different job in retail. And this is the thing that jumped out at me
from the new Labor Department data that we got this week. It shows retailers
hired over 1.1 million new workers in June, a record hiring spree.
A lot of it is the giants that thrived during last year, like Walmart,
Target, various grocery stores. And here's the thing that you might not
realize. New stores are actually opening in the pandemic. We've heard a lot
about bankruptcies and shuttered shops you mentioned, and there are still
thousands of stores closing. But a good part of the year, the number of
openings was greater than the number of store closures.
Quite a few retailers are expanding - lots of discount stores like
Dollar General and Burlington, also Footlocker, Aldi, Sephora. Many stores
are sort of reinventing their spaces, turning them into hubs for deliveries or
shipments, for example. Or in Sephora's case, they struck a deal with Kohl's
to have stores inside stores.
Compared to earlier predictions, fewer stores are closing than forecast, and
more stores are opening.
More Supply Chain Disruptions
Fast food chains taking extra precautions to avoid shortages amid supply chain
disruptions and increased sales
McDonald's say it is keeping an eye on a tight supply of straws and paper
A tightening of key supplies like paper bags and straws is adding to
pressure faced by fast food chains. McDonald's told franchisees to limit orders
of bags and straws after high usage during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Wall
Street Journal reported.
Fast food restaurants' supply chains are under immense pressure right now, and
bags and straws are just the latest issues.
Drive-thrus became the primary way restaurants served customers for much of
the pandemic, necessitating more paper bags than usual.
McDonald's, Taco Bell, Starbucks, and other
major chains all
relied on drive-thrus over the last year, and invested heavily in them,
which paid off as sales at McDonald's were above 2020 and 2019 so far this year.
Other fast food supply chains have faced bumps, too. In April, more than a dozen
baristas told Insider that Starbucks stores
shortages of cups, flavored syrups, and baked goods. In June, Insider
reported on an internal memo that Starbucks was putting 25 items on temporary
hold because of supply chain issues.
Popeyes took precautions to avoid shortages
ahead of the chicken nugget launch this summer. The chain spent
six months stockpiling frozen chicken to meet demand curb supply issues, a
spokesperson told Insider.
Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, and
Popeyes all told Insider that they aren't experiencing straw or bag shortages
Truckers Finally Get Support & Safer Roads
They Need to Keep U.S. Moving
Senate Approves Truck Equipment Mandates, Dispatcher Oversight Measure
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is the first major infrastructure
package passed by the Senate chamber in decades. It injects $550 million of
new funding into expanding and maintaining roads and bridges and a
five-year reauthorization of the U.S. DOT’s highway and motor carrier safety
"The bill also contains significant measures to grow and strengthen
trucking’s essential workforce.”
Among the truck-centric provisions included in the Senate bill:
New regulations for rear and side underride guards
Regulatory guidance on
how truck brokers and truck dispatchers operate
Mandates for automatic emergency braking in new trucks
Establishment of a truck leasing task force
“Passage of this bipartisan infrastructure bill is a groundbreaking step
toward revitalizing America’s decaying roads and bridges, supporting our
supply chain and economy with the foundation they need to grow, compete globally
and lead the world. The bill also contains significant measures to grow and
strengthen trucking’s essential workforce.”
Retail Executives Meet with Kamala Harris
Harris to meet with CEOs on Biden's child care proposals
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with the chief executives of
seven companies including Microsoft Corp on Thursday to discuss the Biden
administration's child care proposals as the White House seeks broad support for
The heads of Etsy Inc, AirBnB Inc, Gap Inc , Chobani, Seventh Generation and
Patagonia will also attend, a White House official said.
They and Harris will discuss how childcare provisions in Build Back Better,
Biden's agenda for the economy's post-pandemic recovery, "will lower costs for
families, help businesses and grow the economy," the official said.
On Wednesday, Biden met with business and education leaders including the
heads of United Airlines and health care provider Kaiser Permanente to
discuss efforts to address ways to get more people vaccinated against COVID-19.
Hudson's Bay Announces Separation of Physical and Online Store Businesses
Wendy’s makes deal to open 70 ghost kitchens
How Dying Retail Locations Find New Life As Thriving Mixed-Use Communities
Why Retail Sales Models Still Require a Human Touch
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The pandemic has accelerated the transformation of food retail. The
role of AP has become increasingly complex combined with labor
shortages, regulatory mandates, and the overall safety and security
of our food.
Join us on August 26th as we take a close look at recent issues
impacting asset protection professionals and risk managers. We'll
also discuss how some grocers are adopting artificial intelligence
and digital food safety technologies.
Artificial intelligence outsmarts baby formula shelf-sweepers
Digital food safety and refrigeration compliance
Future outlook for digital adoption and connected technologies in
Presenting are technology leaders Brian Daly, specializing in
digital food safety and Milton Navarro who manages deployments of
artificial intelligence solutions in food retail environments at
Upcoming RH-ISAC Events
August 24 -
2021 CISO Benchmark: What You Need to Know About Our Signature Study
August 26 -
Securing Your Data Using Data
August 26 -
Human Error is just as Risky as Ransomware
August 26 -
Integrated Third Party Risk Management
Sept. 28-29 -
2021 RH-ISAC Cyber Intelligence Summit
Largest Cryptocurrency Theft To Date?
Hackers take $600m in 'biggest' cryptocurrency theft
Updated: Poly Network has asked for 'hacked
assets' to be returned by attackers - and it has apparently received millions
A hacker has apparently exploited a vulnerability to steal $600 million from
a blockchain finance platform in what could be one of largest cryptocurrency
thefts to date. The makers of Poly Network, a "DeFi" or decentralized
finance platform that works across blockchains, said on Tuesday that an attacker
stole about $600 million in cryptocurrencies.
The team behind Poly Network
appealed to the hackers to "return the hacked assets".
"The amount of money you hacked is the biggest one in defi history. Law
enforcement in any country will regard this as a major economic crime and you
will be pursed. It is very unwise for you to do any further transactions.
The money stole are from tens of thousands of crypto community members, hence
the people. You should talk to us to work out a solution," the Poly Network team
Poly Network works across blockchains for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Neo, Ontology,
Elrond, Ziliqa, Binance Smart Chain, Switcheo, and Huobi ECO Chain. The
hackers stole about $267m of Ether, $252m of Binance coins, and $85 million in
Sophisticated BEC Fraud Scheme Busted
Business email compromise: 23 charged over 'sophisticated' COVID fraud ring
sophisticated fraud scheme using compromised emails and advance-payment fraud
has been uncovered by authorities in Romania, the Netherlands and Ireland as
part of an action coordinated by Europol.
On 10 August, 23 suspects were charged as a result of a series of raids
carried out simultaneously in the Netherlands, Romania and Ireland. In
total, 34 places were searched. These criminals are believed to have defrauded
companies in at least 20 countries of approximately €1 million.
The fraud was run by an organised crime group which prior to the COVID-19
pandemic already illegally offered other fictitious products for sale online,
such as wooden pellets. Last year the criminals changed their modus operandi and
started offering protective materials after the outbreak of the COVID-19
This criminal group – composed of nationals from different African countries
residing in Europe, created fake email addresses and webpages similar to the
ones belonging to legitimate wholesale companies. Impersonating these
companies, these criminals would then trick the victims – mainly European and
Asian companies, into placing orders with them, requesting the payments in
advance in order for the goods to be sent.
However, the delivery of the goods never took place, and the proceeds
were laundered through Romanian bank accounts controlled by the criminals before
being withdrawn at ATMs.
Bipartisan Bill Boosts Cybersecurity Funding
Senate Passes Infrastructure Bill Boosting Cyber Funding
DHS, CISA Would Get More Money for
Cybersecurity in $1 Trillion Bill
On Tuesday, the Senate, by a vote of 69-30, passed a
$1 trillion infrastructure spending bill that would provide additional
money for cybersecurity over the next several years, including extra
funds for the Department of Homeland Security and its Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency.
the vast majority of the infrastructure spending bill is focused on such
projects as repairing roads and bridges, it also contains security-related
measures, including updating and modernizing the U.S. electrical grid and
providing grants to state and local agencies to help them improve cybersecurity.
"The bill includes additional funding for cybersecurity and provides DHS with
the resources needed to support response and recovery efforts for public and
private entities impacted by cyberattacks,"
Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, noted in a Tuesday statement.
Since the supply chain attack against SolarWinds was uncovered in December 2020,
the Biden administration has sought to provide additional funding to the
Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies. For example, the
$1.9 trillion economic relief package known as the American Rescue Plan
provided $2 billion for cybersecurity and IT modernization (see:
Relief Package Includes Less for Cybersecurity).
The White House's fiscal 2022 budget proposal also includes billions in
spending for U.S. cybersecurity. The Senate is currently debating the full
$3.5 trillion budget proposal (see:
Biden Budget Seeks to Invest Billions in US Cybersecurity).
10 Initial Access Broker Trends: Cybercrime Service Evolves
Register Now for the 2021 RH-ISAC Summit - September 28-29
LP/AP senior: If your retailer is a member you might want to consider attending
yourself or sending one of your team members who works with cybersecurity on
investigations or e-commerce fraud.
Especially now with the increased ransomware attacks and data beaches and the
corresponding increased attention from law enforcement. Cross pollinating and
building those relationships could pay off long term.
Securing Retail Cannabis Shops
Robbery Prevention for Cannabis Businesses
While robbery prevention is a vital part of any retailer’s operations,
it is especially
important for cannabis businesses.
Since cannabis is still illegal at the federal level, cannabis business owners
are often forced to store large amounts of cannabis and cash on-site. This can
make a cannabis business
a tempting target for a
potential criminal if security is not prioritized.
business owners should start by
robbery prevention procedures
to use in training employees and security personnel. These standard operating
procedures should detail how to prevent and prepare for a robbery, what to do
during a robbery, and what to do after a cannabis business robbery.
How to Prevent and Prepare for a Cannabis Business Robbery
Though it is impossible to prevent all robberies, there are methods to
discourage crime and robberies on the premises. These include:
Ensure at least two employees
are on-site from opening until closing.
excellent customer service. This makes it harder and slower for a potential
robber to reach cash or merchandise in the store and increases the likelihood of
Ensure the installation,
maintenance, and monitoring of a video surveillance system and
alarm system to monitor the premises 24/7.
secure storage procedures, including storing cannabis and cash in the safe
or vault overnight.
Implement an access control
system and procedures to keep unauthorized persons out of restricted areas.
Train new employees on robbery
awareness procedures and repeat this training annually.
premises is maintained and that trash and graffiti are removed from the
property daily. This prevents the business from attracting crime since
properties that appear neglected often become targets for criminals.
Ensure the entire property,
parking lot and interior of the business, is well lit during hours of
Continue reading here
for tips on what to
do during and after cannabis robberies.
Cash Handling Tips for Cannabis Businesses
Secure Cash Handling for Cannabis Dispensaries
has yet to be legalized federally and is still classified by the DEA as a
‘Schedule 1’ drug. Due to this classification, federally regulated banks often
refuse to house the earnings of cannabis dispensaries for fear of losing their
license to legally operate. This presents a challenge for dispensaries in states
where cannabis has been legalized.
Many dispensaries do
not have a bank account, and even if they do, operate primarily in cash. This
means that there are frequently large amounts of cash stored on the premises,
and if cash is not handled safely and securely, this increases the risk of
Quick Tips for Cash Handling
When dealing primarily in cash, dispensaries run the risk of internal theft from
employees and external theft, such as a robberies. It is important to establish
and follow procedures to ensure that cash is handled properly and accounted for
at all times, as well as secured compliantly to reduce the risk of losses. Use
these strategies to securely handle cash:
Create and implement
standard operating procedures.
While it is important to establish SOPs, it is far more important to ensure they
are being followed. This will keep team members accountable and discourage
Counting out the cash drawer and balancing the till at the end of each day is
imperative to finding any discrepancies and keeping track of earnings during
Invest in security at
the dispensary. The
best security is proactive security. Consider investing in quality security
equipment and hiring a security expert in the cannabis industry to guarantee the
facility is protected and successful.
The Look of Pot Shops is Transforming
Pot shops are opening on Main Street America. And they look like Jimmy Buffett’s
dispensaries tried to channel the sophisticated look of an Apple Store. Now
they’re embracing their inner Jimmy Buffett.
Known for its flamboyantly kitschy, Caribbean getaway designs of dozens of Jimmy
Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurants—as well as the slightly less kitschy
Margaritaville resorts and the yes-this-actually-exists Latitude Margaritaville
retirement communities—the McBride Company has been
its themed environment design
to the burgeoning retail cannabis business.
After working with
more than half a dozen
dispensaries and cannabis retailers,
firm founder Pat McBride says
the future of cannabis
design is not so different from an over-the-top Margaritaville.
dispensaries looked more like a pharmacy or GNC or an Apple store.
The connection to the history, the music, and the story of cannabis was
basically eliminated,” McBride says. A former member of the soft rock band New
Colony Six, which charted a few Top 40 hits in the late 1960s, McBride
understands why the first dispensaries took a more conservative design approach
in the early days of decriminalization, but decided that cannabis shouldn’t turn
its back on its counter-culture roots. “We didn’t want to be doing what the
existing few dispensaries that had opened at the time had done,” he says. “They
were actually sort of anti-cannabis in their atmosphere.”
Cannabis Effect on Crime - Most Read Article
in Justice Quarterly
The Cannabis Effect on Crime: Time-Series Analysis of Crime in Colorado and
Previous studies based on relatively weak analytical designs lacking
contextualization and appropriate comparisons have reported that the
legalization of marijuana has either increased or decreased crime.
Recognizing the importance for public policy making of more robust research
designs in this area during a period of continuing reform of state marijuana
laws, this study uses a quasi-experimental, multi-group interrupted time-series
design to determine if, and how, UCR crime rates in Colorado and Washington,
the first two states to legalize marijuana, were influenced by it.
Our results suggest that marijuana legalization and
sales have had minimal to no effect on major crimes in Colorado or Washington.
We observed no statistically significant long-term effects of recreational
cannabis laws or the initiation of retail sales on violent or property crime
rates in these states.
Cannabis Fully Illegal: For Now or Forever?
2020: Psychedelic Reform in Review
'Supercharging' One-Day &
Amazon opens its $1.5B air hub in Kentucky in latest push to speed deliveries
The hub will serve
as the central nerve of Amazon’s U.S. air cargo operations, allowing it to speed
deliveries even further to more corners of the country.
opened its $1.5 billion air hub in northern Kentucky, which will
help accelerate its
push for faster delivery and greater control over its logistics network.
It’s a major milestone for Amazon Air, the company’s burgeoning air cargo arm
that launched in 2016, whose routes are flown by several contracted carriers.
Across the company’s sprawling network of warehouses, trucks and delivery vans,
a critical piece of the
puzzle in ensuring packages can be handed off quickly to customers’ doorsteps.
Amazon Air operates out
of more than 40 airports across the U.S.,
but the terminal at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport will
serve as the central nerve of its nationwide cargo network. It will
allow Amazon to
supercharge its one-day and, increasingly, same-day delivery capabilities
in more areas of the country. Amazon has also expanded its aviation logistics
unit beyond the U.S., opening a 20,000-square-meter regional air hub at Leipzig/Halle
Airport in Germany
The Kentucky hub — which is just a short drive from Cincinnati, Ohio — has been
in development for more than four years. Amazon founder and executive chairman
Jeff Bezos, then CEO, broke ground on the project in 2019 by hopping into a John
Deere front loader to “move some earth.”
At the time, Bezos remarked: “This
hub is going to let us get packages to customers faster.
That’s a big deal.”
E-Commerce Boom Driving Up Shipping Costs?
U.S. Postal Service Proposes Holiday Surcharges for Businesses and Individuals
Agency says new
package fees, running from Oct. 3 to Dec. 26, are needed to offset rising cost
U.S. Postal Service plans to
charge more for
packages shipped during the holidays,
including those sent by individuals, to offset the rising cost of deliveries at
the busiest time of the year.
The agency on Tuesday proposed
adding surcharges on
most packages shipped domestically between Oct. 3 and Dec. 26,
saying the fees would apply to both commercial and retail customers. That means
it won’t just be Amazon.com Inc., Target Corp. TGT -0.39% and other big holiday
shippers paying higher-than-normal rates; it will also cost more to ship a box
of cookies to grandma.
The agency said the added fees,
ranging from 25 cents for smaller packages to $5 for heavier items
traveling longer distances, are in line with broader industry practices to
charge more during the holiday season.
“These temporary rates
will keep the Postal
Service competitive while providing the agency with the revenue to cover extra
costs in anticipation of peak-season volume surges similar to levels experienced
in 2020,” the agency
said in announcing the proposal.
Consumers Feel a Personal Connection with In-Store Purchases vs. Shopping Online
Albuquerque, NM: Habitual shoplifter, trespasser keeps catching breaks
something we see far too often, a suspect getting arrested and then catching a
break. The latest example is Clayton Eaton. He’s been arrested for everything
from shoplifting to trespassing and assault. He goes to court, then to jail and
then he’s right back on the streets. Eaton was supposed to face a judge for
allegedly swinging a knife at an Albuquerque Del Taco employee after he asked
for a cup of water. However, he wouldn’t leave his jail cell. He’s behind
bars at Metropolitan Detention Center less than a month after he was jailed for
a different crime.
In November, he was shoplifting and once again, pulled a knife on the manager
at the AutoZone near Carlisle and Menaul. The complaint said the manager
immediately recognized Eaton because he’s been known to steal from the store in
the past. The complaint adds that police were also familiar with Eaton’s
reputation for being a shoplifter and causing problems in the area. Eaton was
sentenced to more than two years behind bars but with a plea deal and good
behavior, he was released after just a few months.
According to online court records, Eaton has a long history of crimes like
trespassing, shoplifting and aggravated assault. The District Attorney’s
Office files motions to keep him in jail, calling him a habitual offender but he
keeps catching breaks. Documents show some of his other cases have been
dismissed because witnesses or officers didn’t show up to court.
KRQE News 13 asked the Public Defender’s Office why people like Eaton seem to be
in and out of jail. The following is their response: When we see clients
arrested multiple times on charges like trespassing or shoplifting, often food
or other small items, we know that the courts and jail aren’t going to solve the
problem. Often there are mental health issues, housing issues and/or drug
addiction at play. This is a common scenario in Albuquerque that hasn’t been and
can’t be solved by jail time. To deter these crimes, we have to address the
Update: Franklin, MA: Police arrest man accused of smashing display cases at
jewelry store, stealing $10K worth of items
A man who was caught on surveillance video smashing into a jewelry store in
Franklin in late July has been arrested. 32-year-old Patrick Maranda of North
Attleboro was taken into custody on Tuesday after an arrest warrant was issued
on his behalf. He was arraigned on Wednesday in Wrentham District Court. The
break-in happened on July 31 around 10:15 p.m. at Vallee Jewelers on Main
Logan, UT: Police searching for theft suspects in $1,400 Ulta Beauty theft
The Logan City Police Department is asking the public for help in locating two
theft suspects. On July 16, police said the two women, pictured below, allegedly
stole $1,400 worth of products from an Ulta Beauty.
Beachwood, OH: Police arrest Sephora theft suspect with $557 worth of
merchandise; active warrants
At 5:50 p.m. Aug. 7, police arrested a Cleveland Heights woman, 57, for stealing
fragrances valued at $557 from Sephora at Beachwood Place mall, 26300 Cedar
Road. The suspect repeatedly lied to police when questioned about her identity.
When police learned who she was, the woman was found to be the subject of active
Geauga County Sheriff’s Office and Highland Heights police warrants for theft.
Shootings & Deaths
Los Angeles, CA: Store Employee fatally shot outside Shoe Palace store in
store employee was shot and killed outside the Shoe Palace in the Fairfax
district Wednesday, police said. The shooting happened just before 12:30 p.m.
near the store, located at Melrose and North Genesee avenues. A 26-year-old man,
identified by loved ones as Jayren Bradford, was shot and taken to a nearby
hospital, police said. The LAPD later confirmed he had died. The suspect fled
the scene and remains on the loose. Witnesses and investigators said the
incident started with a dispute over a raffle the store was holding over a pair
of sneakers. The employee who was shot was just arriving to work and saw a crowd
arguing outside the store and tried to intervene. A witness said the employee
appeared to be trying to de-escalate the situation and was backing away when he
Saint-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada: Woman, 54, dead after armed attack at Quebec
shopping mall; suspect arrested
police say a woman is dead and a man is in custody after an armed attack
Wednesday morning inside a shopping mall east of Montreal. The Galeries St-Hyacinthe
mall on Laframboise Boulevard was evacuated following the attack around 10 a.m.
local time, which left a 54-year-old woman seriously injured. The woman was
taken to hospital after being attacked by a man in an unknown way and later was
pronounced dead, according to police. The suspect fled the scene in a vehicle,
which prompted a police chase that involved officers from Longueuil Police and
the Régie Intermunicipale de police Richelieu-Saint-Laurent, said Sgt.
Audrey-Anne Bilodeau, a spokesperson for the Surete du Quebec (SQ). Police
stopped the vehicle near Edward Street in Saint-Jacques-le-Mineur, in the
Montérégie region, about 50 kilometres south of Montreal and 75 kilometres
southwest of the attack site. Police say the suspect is a 43-year-old man from
Danbury, CT: 16-year-old girl caught in crossfire of Danbury mall shooting;
suspect at large
16-year-old girl was shot in the chest following a fight at the Danbury mall,
police say. The incident happened outside the Macy's inside the mall Wednesday
around 7 p.m. Police say the shooting was an isolated incident that stemmed from
an altercation. Police say they do not believe the girl who was shot was the
intended target. The girl sustained a gunshot wound to her chest and was
conscious and alert when police arrived on the scene. She was transported to the
hospital. Her condition is unknown this morning. Police say a group of around
eight people got into an altercation with another group. They say one of the
people took out a handgun and fired at least one round, and the 16-year-old girl
was caught in the crossfire. Police believe a man seen running away with a
hammer was the intended target. They say the suspects left the mall around 10 to
15 minutes later, and they have not yet been identified. The mall immediately
went into lockdown following the shooting. Police say they're trying to get
surveillance video from the mall enhanced so they can identify suspects.
Henderson, NV: Woman injured following shooting outside Galleria at Sunset Mall;
no suspect in custody
One person was taken to the hospital following a shooting in Henderson. Police
were originally called to the Galleria at Sunset Mall just after 9:30 p.m.
Wednesday. Once there, they found a woman suffering from a gunshot wound. The
victim was taken to the hospital in an unknown condition.
High Point, NC: Arrest made in High Point shooting; store clerk was shot in
dispute over slow-moving line
arrest has been made in the shooting of a store clerk in High Point. Around 10
on July 31, High Point officers responded to Apple Tree Grocery on East Green
Drive when they were told about an assault. When they arrived, officers found
the 30-year-old store clerk suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his groin
and legs. According to investigators, the men were agitated about waiting in
line to buy their beer. They approached the clerk to persuade him to let them
pay for their beer and leave, which the employee refused. The shooting was
captured on video surveillance. The video shows two men arguing with the clerk
in the beer cooler area. One of the men then shot the clerk several times.
Appleton, WI: Gun recoil injures armed robber at Appleton liquor store
armed robber was arrested while trying to run away from the scene, Appleton
police say. Officers were called to Memorial Liquor on S. Memorial Drive just
after midnight Wednesday. When authorities arrived, they found an employee of
the store had sustained non-life-threatening injuries after being struck several
times by the robber who was armed with a handgun. During the robbery, the robber
did fire the gun one time. No one was struck by the round but the robber injured
himself when the firearm recoiled, striking him in the forehead. Officers safely
arrested the suspect as he was leaving the area. They found a gun at the scene.
Incidents & Thefts
Colin County, TX: Man in Allen allegedly threatens Walmart Loss Prevention
employee with a machete during robbery
Authorities are connecting the incident to two suspects, 22-year-old Ahmed White
and 32-year-old Christina Falkner, who allegedly made contact through their
mobile phones over the duration of the incident. According to an incident report
obtained by Star Local Media, White took two electric drills, placed them into
his backpack and wielded a machete. Documents state that when a loss prevention
officer (LFO) confronted White upon his exit from the store, White made a
threatening gesture with the machete while saying, "Don't be running up on me
like that, back up."
San Bernardino County, CA: Suspected ‘Cartel Bandit’, linked to at least four
Southern California robberies, arrested in Highland
Aurora, CO: Police and Feds announce more than 100 arrests in 2-week sting
Amarillo, TX: Fugitive Apprehension Unit arrests 18 violent parole violators in
Cedar Rapids, IA: Fleet Farm employee sentenced to 1 year in Federal Prison for
stealing hand gun from store
Healdsburg, CA: Amy’s Wicked Slush owner arrested on suspicion of felony grand
Raleigh, NC: Pikeville Man Sentenced to Over 12 Years for Armed Robberies of
Waffle House and C-Store
Auto – Mesquite, TX –
C-Store – Forney, TX –
C-Store – Huntington,
WV – Armed Robbery
C-Store – Beaumont, TX
– Armed Robbery
C-Store – Plainville,
CT – Robbery
Dollar General –
Timpson, TX – Armed Robbery
Dollar General –
Kershaw County, SC – Armed Robbery
Home Depot –
Wilmington, DE – Robbery
Jewelry – Franklin, MA
Jewelry – Long Island, NY – Robbery
Jewelry – Charlotte, NC – Robbery
Jewelry – Santa Fe, NM – Robbery
Jewelry – Smithfield, NC – Robbery
Jewelry – San Bernardino, CA – Robbery
Jewelry – Huntsville, AL – Robbery
Liquor – Appleton, WI – Armed Robbery
Pet – Burlington, NJ –
Pharmacy – Milford, DE
Clearwater, FL – Armed Robbery (Subway)
Charlotte, NC - Armed Robbery
Sport – Anderson, CA –
Walmart – Colin
County, TX - Armed Robbery
• 18 robberies
• 4 burglaries
• 1 shooting
• 0 killed
Click to enlarge map
Ivan Medina named Asset Protection Manager for Louis Vuitton
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Seasonal Asset Protection Associate
- posted August 10
The Asset Protection Associate (APA) is responsible for the detection,
apprehension, or deterrence of customer and associate activity that could result
in a loss to Ralph Lauren. APAs are also responsible for ensuring a safe
environment for all customers, associates, and vendors...
Area Loss Prevention Manager
Pittsburgh, PA and/or Cleveland,
- posted July 30
Our Area Loss Prevention Managers ensure safe and secure stores through the
objective identification of loss and risk opportunities. Our Area Loss
Prevention Managers plan and prioritize to provide an optimal customer
experience to their portfolio of stores. They thrive on supporting and building
high performance teams that execute with excellence...
District Loss Prevention Manager
Chicago South / Illinois Central
- posted July 28
The District Loss Prevention Manager develops and implements the Loss Prevention
program for 6 -15 selling locations. The DLPM is responsible for driving results
through achievement of goals related to inventory shortage, budget lines, cash
variance and operational compliance...
Regional Manager LP, Audit & Firearms Compliance
- posted July 21
The Central Regional Loss Prevention Manager is responsible for the control and
reduction of shrinkage at the stores in their Territory and the company’s
Distribution Centers. Investigate and resolves all matters that jeopardize or
cause a loss to the company’s assets...
Senior AP Operations Manager, Supply Chain
- posted July 14
As a Senior Assets Protection Operations Manager (SAPOM), you’ll manage a
multi-level team comprised of both exempt AP leaders and non-exempt AP Security
Specialists responsible for the execution of Assets Protection routines and
initiatives to support secure environments and protect Target’s profitability...
Field Loss Prevention Manager
- posted July 9
Manages and coordinates Loss Prevention and Safety Programs intended to
protect Staples assets and ensure a safe work environment within Staples Retail
locations. Conducts investigations in conjunction with Human resources involving
Workplace violence and Ethics...
Associate VP, AP
Bath & Body Works
Four Corners Group
VP Corp. Security
Saks OFF 5TH
New York, NY
VP, Risk Management
Overland Park, KS
Associated Food Stores
Salt Lake City, UT
Associate Dir. LP
The Company, Retail Gas Stations
Sr. Dir. Global Security
San Jose, CA
Zone AP Dir.
Sr. Dir. Physical Security & LP
Director - AP Investigations (Remote)
Dir. Business Continuity Planning
Sr. Dir. Risk Management, LP & Safety
Goodwill of Central Florida
Dir. Safety/Risk Mgmt.
Goodwill of SE Louisiana
New Orleans, LA
Sr. Dir. Governance & Compliance
Jack Henry & Assoc.
Dir. Investigations, Operations, & Global Security
Dir. of Safety
Ocean State Job Lot
North Kingstown, RI
Executive Dir. AP
Panda Restaurant Group
AVP, Regional Dir. of AP
Saks Fifth Avenue
New York, NY
Dir AP Ops Execution
Sr. Mgr, Field AP
Sr. Analyst Profit Protection
Fort Myers, FL
Sr. Mgr Supply Chain AP
Sr. Mgr Environmental Health Safety
Head of AP
Ollie's Bargain Outlet
Manager, Corp. Investigations
Saks Fifth Avenue
New York, NY
AP Manager, Retail Cannabis
Culver City, CA
Being too close to the trees to see the forest is an expression that also fits
not appreciating the role you play on your own team. With the needs of the day
seemingly always taking priority, it's difficult for some to step back and truly
see the value you can add to your own team. Realizing it and accepting the
responsibility as a team member is half the battle. But doing something with it
and truly adding value is what helps the team win the game. Every group, every
department is in fact a team and every member plays a vital role towards the
success and the survival of that team. That's why that old expression - One for
all and all for one - took such a hold in literature. Because it is that simple.
The hard part is taking responsibility for it.
Just a Thought,
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text:
GfK’s UK Consumer Confidence Index has decreased by two points this month and is now at -30.
Nick Moon, Managing Director of Social Research at GfK, comments:
“Just as the economy moves out of recession consumer confidence dips again. While we are not quite back to the levels of this time last year, the Index has not been this low in six months.
“While the Olympics are thought to have boosted GDP in the last quarter, the late Summer boost in consumer sentiment has now faded. The government will be concerned that the economic bounce will follow a similar path and deflate during the Autumn.
“The fragility of the recovery is underlined by the fact that people are more worried about their own financial situation over the next 12 months. This certainly doesn’t suggest there will be a spending boom on the back of the official emergence from recession.”
UK Consumer Confidence Measures – October 2012 The overall index score has decreased two points this month to -30. Four of the five measures saw decreases this month, with the remaining measure increasing one point. The annual moving average stays the same at -30.
Personal Financial Situation
The index measuring changes in personal finances during the last twelve months has decreased three points this month to -24; this is the same level as October 2011. The forecast for personal finances over the next twelve months has decreased five points to -13; this is three points lower than this time last year.
General Economic Situation
The measure for the general economic situation of the country during the last twelve months has increased one point to -53; this is nine points higher than October 2011.
An expectation for the general economic situation over the next twelve months has decreased to -29 this month, this is two points higher than October 2011.
Climate for Major Purchases
The major purchases measure has dropped two points this month to -33; which is one point lower than this time last year.
The ‘now is a good time to save’ Index, has increased one point to -17, which is seven points lower than October ’11.
About the survey
- The UK Consumer Confidence Barometer is conducted by GfK on behalf of the EU, with similar surveys being conducted in each European country. In producing its own reports on the whole of Europe, the EU applies a seasonal adjustment to the data, to smooth out any changes that are functions at least in part of the time of year.
- Historically, the UK data have not been seasonally adjusted in this way, and to maintain comparability, GfK continues not to apply this adjustment. This can lead to situations where the EU figures show different movements in a particular month from those produced by GfK. Individual months may be affected, but the long term trend is not.
- The UK Consumer Confidence Survey from GfK was conducted amongst a sample of 2,004 individuals aged 16+ on behalf of the European Commission.
- Quotas are imposed on age, sex, region and social class to ensure the final sample is representative of the UK population.
- Interviewing was carried out during 5th – 14th October 2012.
- The figures contained within the Consumer Confidence Barometer have an estimated margin of error of +/-2%.
- Results for the Consumer Confidence Barometer are normally available on the last working day of each month at 00.01am; the release date for November 2012 is Friday 30th November 2012.
- Any published material requires a reference to both GfK and the European Commission e.g. ‘Research carried out by GfK on behalf of the European Commission’.
- This study has been running since 1974. Back data is available from 1996.
The table below provides an overview of the questions asked to obtain the individual index measures:
About The GfK Group
For further information, visit our website: www.gfk.com
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/gfk_group
31 October 2012

domain: news


text:
Sony will buy out mobile phone venture partner Ericsson's 50 percent stake for 1.05 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in cash, Sony said Thursday, bringing the Xperia Play mobile gaming platform in-house.
The deal makes the mobile handset business a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony, the company said, and gives Sony full control over a business that resides in a rapidly-evolving marketplace.
"The transaction gives Sony an opportunity to rapidly integrate smartphones into its broad array of network-connected consumer electronics devices -- including tablets, televisions and personal computers -- for the benefit of consumers and the growth of its business," the company said in a statement.
Sony CEO Howard Stringer said that by taking control of the mobile business, the company can more easily leverage mobile into other aspects of Sony's own networked businesses, including PlayStation.
"We can more rapidly and more widely offer consumers smartphones, laptops, tablets and televisions that seamlessly connect with one another and open up new worlds of online entertainment," Stringer said. "This includes Sony’s own acclaimed network services, like the PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network."
Sony Ericsson in May this year launched the Xperia Play, an Android-based, PlayStation-certified mobile phone that sports a slide-out PlayStation game pad.
The buyout also grants Sony with "a broad intellectual property (IP) cross-licensing agreement covering all products and services of Sony as well as ownership of five essential patent families relating to wireless handset technology."
Sony called the deal -- which was rumored earlier this month
-- a "logical strategic step," as smartphones continue to proliferate the evolving mobile marketplace.


text:
EVPlus - May 2016
If you find a news item relevant to EVs, Hybrids & battery
technology etc, please submit it via the
Toyota sells 9 Millionth Hybrid car
Posted: 19 May 2016
Added by admin 21/05/16
hybrid vehicles have saved their owners 25 billion litres of
petrol - enough fuel, theoretically, for each of their cars to
travel around the Earth... and then some.
The calculation was revealed by the world's leading carmaker when
it announced it has sold more than nine million Toyota and Lexus
hybrid vehicles around the world, including more than 85,800
delivered in Australia.
The latest milestone, achieved in April, comes as Toyota
Australia prepares to introduce its newest hybrid, Corolla, early
in the second half of this year.
Toyota's parent company in Japan has revealed that the total fuel
saving from its nine million hybrids represents an average of
more than 2,770 litres per vehicle compared with driving
petrol-only cars of similar size.
The saving would provide enough fuel for each of those vehicles
to travel at least 52,400km, or 1.3 times around the equator,
based on a nominal average consumption of 5.3 litres per 100km.
Three-quarters of the nine million hybrids use less than this
amount of fuel.
Instead of doing that, of course, Toyota's hybrid owners have
pocketed billions of dollars in savings.
Toyota has also estimated its hybrid vehicles have resulted in
approximately 67 million fewer tonnes of CO2 emissions than would
have been emitted by petrol-powered vehicles of similar size and
Toyota Australia's executive director sales and marketing Tony
Cramb said the extent to which hybrid vehicles had found homes in
driveways around the world confirmed them as a mainstream option
"Toyota's hybrid vehicles are renowned for their performance,
reliability, durability and exceptionally low running costs as
well as their contribution to the environment and to saving
precious fossil fuels," Mr Cramb said.
"In Australia, we are looking forward to bringing Toyota's full
hybrid technology to the country's best-selling car, Corolla - a
move that will further broaden the market appeal of both," he
Corolla hybrid hatch will be introduced as a well-specified
single grade, expanding the local company's Hybrid Synergy Drive
offerings to a fifth model.
It will join Camry, which is the best-selling hybrid vehicle in
Australia with 37,879 deliveries - almost double the Prius tally
of 19,682 cars - followed by Prius c (7,432) and Prius v (3,430).
Globally, Toyota's total is led by the world's best-selling
hybrid, Prius, with 3.7 million sales since its debut in Japan in
December 1997. Prius c has reached 1.25 million sales, Prius v
634,000 and Camry hybrid 574,000.
While it took 10 years for Toyota to achieve one million global
hybrid sales, it has sold eight million in the past nine years
and has averaged more than one million hybrid sales a year since
The company's hybrid vehicles are sold in more than 90 markets.
Toyota has positioned hybrid advances as core environmental
technologies for the 21st century. Using these technologies,
Toyota is also working on improving non-hybrid cars.
TOYOTA HYBRID MILESTONES
9 million April 2016
8 million July 2015
7 million September 2014
6 million December 2013
5 million March 2013
4 million April 2012
3 million February 2011
2 million August 2009
1 million May 2007
Story and image courtesy:
Electric Vehicle News
Nissan working on next-gen amorphous
silicon (SiO) Li-ion battery
Posted: 13 May 2016 08:23 AM PDT
Added by admin 15/05/16
Motor Co., Ltd. and Nissan Arc Ltd. announced today joint
development of an atomic analysis methodology that will aid in
boosting the performance of lithium-ion batteries, and ultimately
extend the driving range of zero-emission electric vehicles.
The breakthrough was the result of a combined R&D effort between
Nissan Arc Ltd., a Nissan subsidiary, Tohoku University, the
National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), the Japan
Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI), and Japan
Science and Technology Agency (JST).
The analysis examines the structure of amorphous silicon monoxide
(SiO), widely seen as key to boosting next-generation lithium-ion
battery (Li-ion) capacity, allowing researchers to better
understand electrode structure during charging cycles.
Silicon (Si) is capable of holding greater amounts of lithium,
compared with common carbon-based materials, but in crystalline
form possesses a structure that deteriorates during charging
cycles, ultimately impacting performance. However, amorphous SiO
is resistant to such deterioration.
Its base structure had been unknown, making it difficult for mass
production. However, the new methodology provides an accurate
understanding of the amorphous structure of SiO, based on a
combination of structural analyses and computer simulations.
The atomic structure of SiO was thought to be inhomogeneous,
making its precise atomic arrangements the subject of debate. The
new findings show that its structure allows the storage of a
larger number of Li ions, in turn leading to better battery
“The invention of this new analysis method is essential to
further develop the next generation of high-capacity lithium-ion
batteries. It will certainly become one of our core technologies.
The utilization of this analysis method in our future R&D will
surely contribute to extending the cruising range of future
zero-emission vehicles,” said Takao Asami, senior vice president
of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and President of Nissan Arc Ltd.
Daniele Schillaci, executive vice president of Nissan Motor Co.,
Ltd., Global Sales & Marketing including Zero Emission Vehicle
and Battery business, said the development was another proof
point of Nissan’s commitment to innovation in advanced
“Nissan is exploring a wide range of energy sources for
tomorrow’s vehicles, and we recognize our role in continuously
investing in multiple technologies and intelligent mobility,”
Story and image courtesy:
Electric Vehicle News


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Electrical wholesaler opens new premises in LeighNews
Posted by: electime 14th June 2021
Electrical wholesaler opens new premises in Leigh
Independent electrical wholesaler, LPD Electrical, has moved into new premises at Moss Industrial Estate. The move offers its domestic and trade customers greater accessibility as well as a much larger range of products.
LPD was founded in Leigh in 1997 and offers a wealth of electrical and wiring products to commercial and industrial customers, as well as to the general public. The business operates two further branches – Southport which opened in 1999, and Old Trafford, which opened in 2007.
Its head office in Leigh was previously based in a much smaller unit at the back of the industrial estate but, after years of steady growth, founder Vincent Priest is driving the business forward by moving it to a very prominent and much larger 4,000 sq ft unit directly on St. Helens Road, at the main entrance of the estate.
Vincent Priest, founder and managing director of LPD Electrical, said: “Our new unit is much bigger and brighter than our old unit and it is extremely visible. We have had so many people dropping in asking if we are a new business, because they have never seen us before. We now have a huge front counter to serve our customers and we can display more stock out front, as well as a much larger range of goods in our warehouse area.
“This move will be really good for us and has come at an ideal time. We have a very strong local customer base, but we can also deliver right across the UK. Our new unit is not only very visible but is much easier for our customers to drop in as we now have fantastic parking facilities too.
“Moss Industrial Estate has a brilliantly diverse range of businesses, and we supply to other tenants too. There is fantastic security here and the site is well maintained. I’m very proud of how far we have come, and the future is certainly looking bright.”
Moss Industrial Estate is owned by family-run business, George Moss & Sons, which celebrated its centenary in 2020. The Industrial Estate is home to around 100 local businesses of varying sizes and industries.
Neill Wood, managing director of Moss Industrial Estate, said: “This is a fantastic move for LPD Electrical, and we are really pleased that we have been able to support their growth.
“We have a long history of helping local businesses to flourish and, given the tough year we have all had, it is fantastic to hear success stories like this. I hope it will encourage other businesses to see what can be achieved and we wish them the best of luck in their new home.”


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Soundgroup has announced that it is to distribute Sumiko cartridges in New Zealand.
Author: Gary Steel
Neon announces two options for its streaming service – TV-only or TV and movies.
Hawkes Bay hi-fi importer Critical Sound will be distributing Frederic Vanden Poel’s full range of stunning music servers in New Zealand.
Audio Reference on Auckland’s North Shore has announced that it is taking on Portuguese acoustic treatment products.
Importer/distributor Interdyn has announced that it is to be the exclusive distributor of Portugese acoustic treatment brand Artnovion in NZ and Australia.
The limited edition 40th anniversary speaker monitor has arrived at Parmenter Sound, and it’s a doozy. The new reference speaker at Parmenter Sound – which celebrates its own 20th anniversary this month – is the newly arrived Harbeth Monitor 40.2. Only 40 pairs have been made internationally. Jason Parmenter has […]
New flagship Focal range available in New Zealand. We can perv even if we can’t afford.
Three legendary artists reviewed, a double album, a triple album and a seven-disc box set of rare gems.
Back in the early 1980s Alms For Children turned into This Sporting Life and then disappeared before many even knew about them. Now, at last, there’s a compilation to memorialise them, writes GARY STEEL
In which that old sourpuss GARY STEEL bends his tattered ears in the direction of his Dad-rock wind-up gramophone to assess a selection of the latest sounds.
Rega’s reboot of the Planar 1 with an added plus means more than a cosmetic makeover.
Legacy UK brand Arcam comes up with new HDA range expected in NZ soon.


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Coronavirus emergency in Italy. Miroglio Group converts its production from fashion to masks.
You are here
30 March 2020
01 March 2019
The partnership continues between Elena Mirò and Jamilco for growth in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia.1
06 December 2018
Elena Mirò is inaugurating its new Moscow boutique as result of the recent cooperation agreement signed with Jamilco.
22 October 2018
Miroglio Fashion has decided to strengthen its policy of expansion in Russia by targeting direct penetration through a partnership with Jamilco.
28 May 2018
Elena Mirò backs the total omnichannel approach, and with Privalia creates the first fully-digital in-store shopping experience.
16 February 2018
The partnership between Miroglio and Turkish Group Ayaydin is celebrating ten years.
05 February 2018
M2LOG has signed a joint venture agreement with BCUBE leading to the setting up of B FASHION, the new player in the world of logistics specializing in apparel and retail.
02 May 2016
From Wednesday 27 April the Motivi and Fiorella Rubino S/S 2016 collections will be available online in the fashion section of Amazon.it.
15 December 2015
The Miroglio Group and its Caractère brand took part in the charity initiative "This Christmas give with the heart", a Christmas market organised by the non-profit organisation Marcegaglia Foundation.
09 December 2015
From 4 December in Fiorella Rubino stores customers will be able to choose from the best Glossip make-up and combine them with looks from the Fiorella Rubino Winter 2015 Collection.
- 1 of 4


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Kia Motors announced that it will begin manufacturing the Soul EV in South Korea in April. The car will be the first vehicle powered by battery Hyundai-Kia to be exported to markets in the United States and Europe.
The charge for the Citro?n strategy, Julien Montarnal revealed to website Automotive News Europe that the new C4 Cactus will cost 13,950 euros at its launch in France, 4900 euros cheaper than the entry level compact C4 traditional.
Alfa Romeo is working on a new plan to revive the brand. And, according to a report published by the Automotive News website, one of the key points in this process is the development of a new platform, which, it seems, will be called "Giorgio".


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Xiaomi has launched a toy version of its expected VR headset. Xiaomi VR Toy Edition is not a full featured VR headset and it features Google cardboard like functionality.
Xiaomi teasing about a VR headset launch on August 1 but instead they posted some another teaser video suggesting VR headset is coming on August 4. Finally, Xiaomi has unveiled toy edition seems is still in beta stage.
According to the Xiaomi, smartphone bearing different sizes can be fitted on the headset with zip design. Toy edition uses stronger and more durable Spandex, Lycra for an exceptional elasticity.
The headset sports Anti-glare lens to provide smooth experiences. A companion app is also developed for Xiaomi VR Toy edition.
The Dimensions of Xiaomi VR. 201mm x 107mm x 91mm which support devices ranging from 4.7-inch to 5.7-inch.
Xiaomi has already chosen their partner to provide VR content. The major partners are Youku, iQiyi and VR hotcasts. They’ll supply a variety of video resources and contents including latest film and videos.
Xiaomi has not indicated the price tag of Xiaomi VR Toy Edition. The main version of Xiaomi VR headset will take more time to launch since is still in beta stage.


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Friday, November 11, 2005
eCOST Merges With Logistics Provider
Torrance-based online retailer eCOST.com said Thursday that it has reached an agreement to merge with PFSweb, a warehousing and logistics provider. eCOST.com will become a wholly owned subsidiary of PFSweb. The companies report that 2005 twelve month trailing revenue of the combined firm would total $528M. PFSweb is a warehousing and logistics company that manages merchandise and distribution facilities. eCOST provides new, closeout, and refurbished computer products through its online web site. eCost was a subsidiary of PC Mall until April of this year.


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Seventy percent of teens surveyed engaged with food and beverage brands on social media in 2017
Seventy percent of teens surveyed report engaging with food and beverage brands on social media and 35 percent engaged with at least five brands, according to a new study from the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity published in the journal Appetite. The study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found that 93 percent of the brands that teens reported engaging with on social media were fast food, unhealthy snack foods, candy, and sugary drinks, which are primarily the brands that target them with traditional forms of advertising.
The study surveyed 1,564 U.S. teens ages 13-17 about their engagement (liking, sharing, or following) with food and beverage brands on social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat, their time spent watching TV and on other screens (e.g., cell phones, computers), and demographic characteristics. The survey was conducted from March to May of 2017.
Study authors say the findings reflect how food and beverage companies use social media to reach teens. Almost 40 percent of teens surveyed for the study reported being on other screens (non-TV) 4 or more hours each day, where social media dominates their time. Social media marketing comes in the form of attention-getting videos and other posts on companies' social media accounts designed to create engagement (comments, likes, shares, follows) that encourages teens to essentially market these products to friends in their social networks.
"This study shows how successful companies are at using social media to reach teens and take advantage of teens' peer networks. Companies usually pay big bucks to market their brands, but with social media they are getting teens to do it for free. And, since teens' choices are heavily influenced by their peers, the payoff is huge," said Fran Fleming-Milici, Ph.D., lead study author and assistant research professor for the Rudd Center. "Parents don't realize that all of their efforts to create a healthy food environment at home are undermined when their kids are bombarded by unhealthy food marketing on their phones and computer screens."
The study also found that brand engagement was highest among Black teens, Spanish-speaking Hispanic teens, and teens whose parents have lower education levels. These findings raise public health concerns due to higher rates of diet-related diseases among communities of color. Authors say more research is needed to fully understand why brand engagement was higher among these groups, but another Rudd Center report found that food companies disproportionately target Black and Hispanic youth with advertising for many of the same unhealthy brands that teens report engaging with the most on social media.
Other key findings:
- Of teens surveyed, those who watched 2 or more hours of TV a day were much more likely to engage with at least one fast food, sugary drink, candy, or snack brand on social media than teens who watched less than 2 hours per day.
- A few brands dominated teens' social media engagement, including Doritos, Coke, Pepsi, Hershey, Snickers, and McDonald's. More than one-third of teens who said they liked, shared, or followed fast food, sugary drink, candy, or snack brands engaged with these specific brands.
- Younger teens (age 13-14) in the study engaged with brands as frequently as older teens (age 15-17) on social media despite spending 30 minutes less each day using other screens (not TV) than older teens. TV viewing times did not differ between age groups.
"It's probably not a coincidence that the brands that teens engage with the most on social media are the same ones that spend the most to target them with advertising messages designed to make their products seem fun, cool, and daring," said Jennifer L. Harris, Ph.D., MBA, study author and director of Marketing Initiatives at the Rudd Center. "Unfortunately, those products also have high amounts of added sugars, fat, and calories that can lead to negative health consequences for a lifetime."
Researchers recommend that food and beverage manufacturers stop targeting teens with marketing for products that can harm their health. Currently, the food and beverage companies' voluntary self-regulatory program, the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, only limits unhealthy advertising to children up to 11 years old.
Researchers say the program should cover children up to at least 14 years old.
Study authors also recommend that more states and localities enact excise taxes on sugary drinks to increase the cost of unhealthy beverages to help reduce teens' consumption. Companies must also stop disproportionately targeting marketing of their least healthy products to teens in communities of color.
More information: Frances Fleming-Milici et al, Adolescents' engagement with unhealthy food and beverage brands on social media, Appetite (2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2019.104501


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McHENRY – Medela on Tuesday launched Sonata, the first smart breast pump to offer hospital-level performance in a personal-use breast pump, according to a news release.
Sonata, weighing about 2 pounds, is the company’s quietest breast pump, and it connects to the app MyMedela to track sessions and babies’ activities, as well as provide support and expert tips. It also uses Responsive Pump Technology, which uses sensors to detect changes in the mother’s body or her environment.
“We’ve spent the past four years researching, listening to moms and building what moms said they need to be successful,” said Melissa Gonzales, managing director of Medela USA.
– Wire reports


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Beacon Blow-up: Will Location-Ad Industry Get The Signal On Educating Consumers?
An “exposé” spooks an ad agency into pulling its beacon test, hinting that the tech is ahead of the public’s understanding.
Within hours of social news site BuzzFeed’s report that outdoor ad agency Titan had “hidden” beacons inside 500 New York City phone booths as part of a test, local government officials and the company both issued expressions of regret about the situation and said that the Bluetooth-powered proximity communication devices would be immediately removed.
As Greg Sterling pointed out in his Marketing Land deconstruction of the over-inflated fears mined by the BuzzFeed piece, beacons are a comparatively weak tool for either tracking an individual’s movements or for spamming unwanted communications to people’s smartphones.
But the story of “secret electronic sensors” being placed around seemingly innocuous phone kiosks made the rounds of both traditional and social medial and snowballed before Titan and officials at NYC’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications could phrase a proper defense of the beacons. So, even though the beacon’s signal cannot reach a user’s phone unless they agree to accept the connection by turning on their Bluetooth receiver and opening an app, the amplified fears caused Titan to simply pull the plug on the experiment.
“It’s a bit of a tempest in a teapot, but the perception of it far outweighed the reality of what [the city, Titan, and the beacon technology provider in this case, Gimbal] appeared to be actually doing,” said Maya Mikhailov, EVP of mobile retail platform, GPShopper (to be clear, GPShopper was not involved with this case and Mikhailov is only commenting as an “industry voice”). “Frankly, I’d be a heck of a lot more suspicious of free, open-air wi-fi than what someone can do with a beacon. Nevertheless, this situation highlights the need for greater foresight and transparency by the industry in general, not just individual companies in the space.”
For the most part, the past year has been an exciting one for the development of beacons, seeing as the geo-marketing device’s entry into mainstream retailing has enhanced smartphone-toting consumers’ offline experience in stores— whether through offering discounts on merchandise or by helping direct shoppers to the items they’re looking for. Good estimates of total active beacon deployment can be hard to come by, but suffice to say that the numbers of retail locations using the devices are in the tens of thousands. By the end of next year, the number could reach 100,000 in the US. (According to an Aug. 2014 estimate by Business Insider, “The beacon installed base will consist of 4.5 million active beacons overall by year end 2018, with 3.5 million of these in use by retailers. )
Over the past several months, major retail brands like Lord & Taylor, Target, American Eagle, Starbucks, Best Buy, Alex and Ani, and Old Navy, among others, began exploring greater use of beacons for in-store marketing purposes. In one of the biggest endorsements of beacons, made just as stores prep for the all-important holiday season, Macy’s expanded its relationship with shopping app platform Shopkick to install the Bluetooth devices in all its 4,000 US locations. In a further sign that beacons are going to become big business on a global level, South Korean location-marketplace SK Telecom acquired Shopkick last month for an estimated $200 million.
While the existence, let alone understanding, of beacons is lost on most consumers, Apple nevertheless felt its own iBeacon software was worth emphasizing when it previewed its latest operating system update this past June. In addition to Shopkick, GPShopper, and Gimbal, the growing list of retail shopping platforms using beacons for proximity location marketing includes Swirl, Estimote, StickNFind, Euclid, and inMarket. Meanwhile, companies like Finland’s IndoorAtlas and Bytelight are offering retailers alternatives to Bluetooth beacons with micro-location technologies like magnetic positioning and LED lamps, respectively.
Whether or not beacons or another location technology becomes the standard for retailers, as the Titan phone kiosk incident shows, consumer concern about the tracking of their digital lives is rampant, and all it takes is one inflammatory headline to send brands running for cover.
Transparency And Education
Naturally, the key to avoiding any consumer confusion is to be upfront and clear from the start. That’s perhaps a bit harder when doing a vague test of “how, and if, this technology works in dense urban areas,” according to a statement Titan released about its use of the Gimbal-manufactured beacons in this case.
“There are many potential beneficial safety, communication, and way-finding use cases for municipalities using beacons, as well as some potential commercial use cases,” said Dave Etherington, Titan’s chief strategy officer, in a statement emailed to GeoMarketing.
To Titan’s credit, Etherington did offer a straightforward explanation of how beacons can be used, albeit after the fact. “Gimbal proximity beacons do not collect user data/information, they do not send or push content, nor do they track people,” Etherington wrote. “Beacons can only be utilized through users’ smartphones if, and only if, the user has downloaded a specific app with the technology imbedded and the user has specifically opted in. Titan is committed to testing new technologies which may have future benefits to its municipality partners and their constituents. At NYC’s request Titan removed the beacons from all NYC locations and ended the test.”
Asked how brands can explain the use of beacons to consumers in a coherent, accessible way, GPShopper’s Mikhailov highlighted two fairly recent cases that showed the right way and the wrong way to communicate the technology.
Last year, Major League Baseball introduced beacons to ballparks beginning with a careful rollout that started at New York’s Citi Field. That project has been expanding nicely. Meanwhile department store chain Nordstrom had to back-peddle and proceeded more cautiously, abandoning a wi-fi based beacon experiment at 17 of its outlets after customers said they feared being “tracked.”
“The beacon rollout was done well at Citi Field because the MLB was very public about telling fans that they were installing the devices, what app they would need to connect with it, and the sort of valuable information and services people who opted-in would receive,” Mikhailov said. “They were very upfront about the programming that was going to be done, so no one could turn around and accuse them, saying ‘The stadium is tracking you without your permission.’”
The Meaning Of Opting-Out
GPShopper, which works with retailers such as Bebe, The North Face, Express, and others, recommends a “dual opt-in process” with beacon-connected apps. Says Mikhailov, “Asking a shopper to simply enable their phone’s location services is not enough. You should also enable a beacon experience, and explain clearly what that beacon experience is, and most importantly allow consumers to opt out at any point.”
Retailers need to be unafraid of making it as easy for consumers find the opt-out setting in their beacon apps as it is for them to opt-in, much the same way they make the exits to stores clear to shoppers who enter.
“You can’t go wrong with having too much explanation—too much opt-in or opt-out—because if you don’t make it clear, the initial reaction to this sort unfamiliar technology—especially when it’s something as personal as a smartphone—is always going to be jarring,” Mikhailov said. “But there needs to be more discussion about best practices for the industry, whether it’s through the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the Mobile Marketing Association, or from outside voices like Jules Polonetsky [executive director of the Future of Privacy Forum]. Now’s the time.”


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For most of us, just keeping up with the waves of demonstrations and thuggish counterdemonstrations in Egypt is intense enough without getting all gastronomic about it. But there is, rest assured, a food component even to Middle East unrest and revolution. Grist ably rounds up the food-related Mideast coverage and discovers a pattern: Sky-high food prices were a big player in the unrest in Tunisia which in turn sparked unrest in Egypt—a country that actually does a dang fine job of subsidizing staples such as bread.
Meanwhile, looters are doing their best to deny Egyptians Western-style fast-food choices when it comes to lunch: 32 Hardee’s locations were closed after rioters damaged some of them. It’s unclear whether the damage was caused by anti-Mubarak protesters lashing out at a symbol of the West, pro-government street toughs trying to discredit protesters, or Taco Bell partisans just striking a blow on behalf of mediocre Tex-Mex food with mysterious beef filling.


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March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Coal export prices at South Africa’s Richards Bay, the continent’s biggest terminal for shipping the fuel, declined to the lowest level in six weeks.
Prices fell $1.76, or 1.7 percent, to $104.35 a metric ton in the week ended March 2, the least since Jan. 20, according to IHS McCloskey data on Bloomberg.
The price is quoted on a free-on-board basis, which excludes delivery costs.
To contact the reporter on this story: Marek Strzelecki in Warsaw at email@example.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at firstname.lastname@example.org


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The industry event of the year opens its doors at the Hamburg Exhibition Campus from 10 to 13 October and once again promises an impressive line-up and a diverse programme: photo exhibitions, conferences, workshops, photo walks, concerts and festival parties are on the agenda. Leading brands and innovative start-ups from the world of imaging will present their latest innovations in the fields of cameras, lenses, smartphone technology, lighting/lighting technology, accessories, print products, drones, artificial intelligence and software in the inspiring setting of 350 shipping containers.
PHOTOPIA offers new area for content creators
One highlight of PHOTOPIA 2024 is Content Creators World, a new platform for anyone involved in content creation. The programme includes expert talks, workshops with professionals, networking events, creator meet & greets and the latest technology to try out. Here, the audience will be shown how innovative approaches and technologies are changing the content creation industry in the long term.
A radical transformation in photography and videography can also be seen in artificial intelligence. In the AI CENTER at PHOTOPIA, companies will present possibilities, products and productivity tools that are shaping the future of imaging. This year's festival will also focus on nature photography and the B2B Day for trade and professionals. More information at www.photopia-hamburg.com
Early bird promotion:
Ticket price 15 euros (instead of 27 euros) with the ticket code EARLYBIRD24. Promotion period until 29 February and while stocks last.
Opening hours PHOTOPIA 2024
Thursday, 10 October, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (B2B Day, for trade visitors*)
Friday, 11 October to Sunday, 13 October, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
*Employees e.g. from retail, purchasing, distribution and professional photographers
PHOTOPIA Hamburg offers the imaging industry and community a new home. From 10 - 13 October 2024, companies will present their products, solutions and services related to the trend topic of imaging. Visitors are anyone whose business, hobby or passion is photography or filming. In addition to trade visitors, content creators, professionals, semi-pros, hobby photographers and people interested in photo culture, this also explicitly includes smartphone users who use their mobile phones to take, edit and share photos and videos.


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Kickstarter Signal Boost: Geek Tank Games New Tabletop Token Sets – For Those About To Roll, We Salute You!
Last year, the good folks at Geek Tank Games asked me to review their map token sets. They are a great addition to any DM toolbox and I was happy to spread the word. This year, they’re at it again, their latest Kickstarter launched last week with 3 new tabletop token sets. Map tokens, for […]


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Pivot3 CEO GoneBy Carlton Purvis, Published Apr 30, 2013, 12:00am EDT
When Pivot3 previewed their company plans for 2013, it did not include major changes in leadership. However, the company has confirmed today that Pivot3 CEO Rich Bravman [link no longer available], has stepped down and Chief Technology Officer and founder Bill Galloway [link no longer available] is filling the role. Pivot3 says Bravman left for "personal reasons." [UPDATED below with interview with the new CEO.]
However, our understanding from industry sources is that the change at Pivot3 comes from pressure to meet aggressive revenue goals set by its investors, especially considering its raising of $23 million for expansion last year. Pivot3 previously reported nearly doubling its revenue in 2012.
A Pivot3 engineer we spoke to this afternoon says no official notices have been sent to employees about the changes.
Last month, in an interview with IPVM, Bravman bucked rumors of restructuring and said the company projected this year’s growth to be 50 percent over 2012. The company has 90 full-time employees and was hiring to fill new positions.
We have an interview with the company's new CEO tomorrow morning. We will update as new information becomes available.
This morning we talked to Interim CEO, Founder and Chief Technology Officer Bill Galloway, Executive Chairman Ron Nash and Chief Marketing Officer Olivier Thierry. Here's what we learned:
Moving Toward IPO
The change in leadership at Pivot3 should not have any impact on the direction of the company, says Pivot3 Executive Chairman Ron Nash. He reconfirmed that former CEO Rich Bravman left for personal reasons last week, but declined to elaborate. The leadership page on Pivot3’s website [link no longer available]has already been updated. He also said Bill Galloway will remain interim CEO while the company prepares for a stock market launch. The new CEO, once found, will lead the launch.
“[The company] is getting to a size where we can think of an IPO type offering and we are still having discussions on what we would like for specifications for our next CEO. We need someone to take us to an IPO and we’ll recruit someone with that background,” Nash said in an interview this morning.
“We announced a partnership [link no longer available] three weeks ago at ISC West and look for that to bear fruit in the very near term. That’s going to allow us a consistent go-to market with a lot of our current partners and allow us further distribution and opportunities,” Nash said.
Pivot3 says the partnership will allow them to supply products to integrators faster, increase integrator contacts, and give them the ability to do hands-on work with bigger customers. “It’s not just going to just be a distribution model. Platinum Partners we’ll still work with one-on-one, but people will also be able to secure things through distribution,” the company says.
Nash said, “We grew 80 percent last year and we’re thrilled at that. I don’t think we’re going to grow 80 percent this year ... but we do have a goal to grow this year.” Pivot3 says it’s VDI offering, vSTAC OS will help it move further into this market, however surveillance will stay its primary focus. Pivot3 says it has already been contacted by former Intransa customers as well.
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