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Wired Entertainment celebrated its 10th birthday with a Monster Toy Sale on Friday.
The Wired building was filled with shoppers and festive spirit with staff wearing Christmas hats and Santa paying a visit.
Wired Entertainment manager Matthew Purtill said it was a fun atmosphere.
‘‘One of our staff members, Sam Marshall, was wearing a basketball hoop hat and kids could try and get the ball through the hoop to win a bag of lollies.
‘‘We also had remote control demos, which were a huge hit, and free gift wrapping.
‘‘We’d like to thank everyone who supported the day and made it such a success.’’


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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Plant-based meat company Beyond Meat reported lower-than-expected revenue in the first quarter as it slashed prices and demand from restaurants fell.
The El Segundo, California, company said its revenue rose 1.2% to $109.5 million in the January-March period.
That fell short of Wall Street's forecast. Beyond Meat's shares tumbled 24% in after hours trading.
Beyond Meat said the total volume of products sold in the first quarter rose by 12%, but net revenue per pound dropped 10% as it cut prices.
The company's earnings also fell short of forecasts after taking a hit from the expensive launch of Beyond Meat Jerky.

domain: news


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Earlier this year, T-Mobile came out on top in an OpenSignal report on U.S. mobile networks, but Verizon wasn’t far behind in second. Now OpenSignal has decided to take a closer look the competition. In the latest OpenSignal report, T-Mobile and Verizon duked it out for 4G LTE availability and speeds. T-Mo managed to beat or tie Verizon when it comes to 4G speed in all five regions of the U.S. — the West, the Southwest, … [read full article]
According to Axios, technology giants like Samsung and Dyson have collectively invested $ 65 million in Massachusetts-based Ionic Materials. This enormous vote of confidence is a bit shocking, as most people probably haven’t even heard of the small company before. But if Ionic Materials delivers on its recent claims, the investment will certainly pay off. It claims to be close to creating a safe, working solid-state battery.
The company, established in 1986, seems to be making unique progress in solid-state technology. It has created a brand new material — a liquid crystal polymer — that could solve many of the pressing issues that prevent this type of battery from entering the market.
So far, Ionic Materials’ researchers have claimed three major breakthroughs. First, they assert that lithium ions move as fast or even faster through their polymer than they would through a conventional liquid electrolyte system. This seems counter-intuitive since the polymer is a solid, but if it is true, this would clear a huge hurtle to creating working solid-state batteries.
Second, they say that their material works at an impressive five volts and can be made simply and cheaply. Third, they’ve stated that, while most materials in solid-state research operate at about 60° C (140° F), their material works under much cooler conditions — room temperature.
They are safer than current batteries, for one thing. Lithium-ion batteries are flammable and prone to overheating and combustion. Solid-state batteries, on the other hand, preserve lithium in a non-flammable state.
The main challenge to realizing solid-state batteries has been discovering a material with all of the right properties. If Ionic Materials is right and their polymer is the one to beat, we could be closer to solid-state batteries than ever before. Still, the company has not released much data on their technology, so many experts remain skeptical of how close the researchers actually are to a working product, according to Axios.
Consumer Reports has today published an updated list of its “Best Smartphone Cameras,” reflecting Apple’s most recent releases. The testing agency, which is sometimes accused of being unfairly anti-Apple, now claims the iPhone X and iPhone 8 Plus are the two best smartphone cameras…
The head of Ireland’s Revenue Commission has advised the calculations of Apple’s unpaid tax bill are almost complete, with the final total the iPhone producer will be expected to pay the government thought to be around 13 billion euro ($ 16 billion), close to initial estimates for the European Commission-mandated payment. AppleInsider – Frontpage News
Just in time for some weekend motivation, Apple has added a new page to their website promoting Apple Watch’s activity tracking features. The page, titled “Close Your Rings,” details realistic and effective ways that Watch wearers can live a healthier and more active lifestyle by completing one simple goal each day.
Apple has created a new website, "Close Your Rings," explaining how the Apple Watch’s Activity app works and some of the ways people can reach its "Move," "Exercise," and "Stand" goals. AppleInsider – Frontpage News
The HomePod, Apple’s opening salvo in the war against Amazon Echo and Google Home, is off to an inconspicuous start. Despite fawning reviews about the speaker’s sound quality, the HomePod failed to sell out, and a number of features like multi-room support or stereo pairing don’t work at launch.
To make a bad launch worse, it was revealed this week that the $ 349 speaker can leave a white ring on some wooden surfaces. Apple tried to downplay the issue, saying that it’s ‘not unusual‘ for a speaker to do that, but by that point, the ‘Ring of doom’ narrative was already too strong.
So it’s just a little too close to home that Apple launched a new page on its website today promoting the Apple Watch’s activity features called “Close Your Rings.” You have to assume it was a long-planned addition, and on any other day, no one would notice or care. But when Apple’s fighting a PR battle against the HomePod leaving rings, telling people to close them might not be the best idea.
“Close Your Rings” is Apple’s not-quite-so-catchy version of “Just Do It:” it’s supposed to be a motivational slogan for people who wouldn’t otherwise work out, but are now being encouraged to do so because of some digital nagging. The name derives from the Apple Watch’s activity tracker, which uses a growing circle to map your activity for the day: When you hit your goal, the ring is closed.
Apple is pushing Apple Watch owners to get healthier with a new “Close Your Rings” webpage. It teaches you why it’s important to take advantage of the activity and fitness tracking features on your Watch. “It’s such a simple and fun way to live a healthier day,” Apple says. Some say Apple Watch is just […]


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It's slightly more difficult to get together with friends to watch movies and TV shows, given there's a pandemic and all, which has led to a rush for group playback tools. Browser extensions for syncing playback across multiple people have seen a rise in popularity, and services like Prime Video and Plex have added native group play. Disney announced today that it is adding the functionality to Disney+, so you can host watch-alongs across all platforms.
This story was originally published and last updated .
Disney has announced that it's continuing Disney+'s international expansion in Europe. Starting today, the service will come to eight more European countries. This follows March's launch in the UK and other Western European markets. The platform also arrived in India shortly after.
Verizon is making several changes to its Mix & Match unlimited plans that appear to be mostly for the better. Two of the plans are getting what the company calls "The Disney Bundle," which includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. Others, however, are getting their Disney+ trials shortened from one year to six months. There are a couple of other minor tweaks as well.
A few days ago, Disney+ removed its free 7-day trial, possibly fearing that too many people would take advantage of it just to watch the highly anticipated exclusive Hamilton musical. But if you're a Chromebook owner and haven't signed up for Disney+ yet, you can look forward to the return of the free 3-month trial for the service, a deal Google initially only offered through February 2020.
You won't find any blood and gore in this life-sized Deadpool head, but it does pack more than 600 jokes, sound effects, and insults inspired by the devilishly handsome superhero. Hasbro Pulse just listed Deadpool's head for sale, in partnership with Marvel Legends. It'll cost you a pretty penny at $100 but will surely make for an eye-catching collector's item.
You've probably (hopefully!) been spending a lot of time at home lately, and that likely means watching a lot of TV. If you're trying to get the most bang for your entertainment buck, you've got a lot of options starting at the low, low price of free. These are some of the best values in video streaming available today.
Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, most people have to stay quarantined at home to prevent the spread of the virus. This is causing increased network usage, as people need a stable connection to work, study, and of course, entertain themselves. Sadly, the latter requires a high bandwidth, which providers are trying to contain by reducing the quality of their service.
Disney+ has been available in the US since last year, but it hasn't come to too many other countries so far. As expected, that has changed today as the service has launched in the UK, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. It was also supposed to come to France simultaneously, but the French government asked the company to postpone the launch, now set for April 7, for fears of coronavirus-related network congestion.
Netflix has been one of the largest movie and TV streaming services available since pivoting from its DVD-rental model in 2007. Despite mass popularity throughout the greater half of this decade, Netflix has managed to completely avoid integrating with the Google Play Movies app — at least, that was until now. We have confirmed that Play Movies can finally search for content exclusive to Netflix, as well as the brand new Disney+ streaming service.


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Nertskull writes: So Motorola claims to have released a tool to allow anyone to unlock the bootloader on their phone. Unfortunately, the only supported device right now is the Photon Q 4G LTE. However, other devices are supposedly on their way.
Don't steal; thou'lt never thus compete successfully in business. Cheat. -- Ambrose Bierce


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Social buzz gets the marquee treatment.
The breathless social buzz leading up to the launch of the latest Star Wars movie on Friday needed a marketing stunt to match. So, Disney teamed up with Twitter to plaster fan tweets across giant billboards in real time.
From 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Dec. 15, the 90-foot digital screens at Toronto Eaton Center in Canada flashed promo images features featuring characters from The Last Jedi, along with real-time messages pulled from the social media site. From 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., billboards in New York City’s Times Square and Bryant Park did the same.
As of Friday morning, even before the ads launched, some 2 million tweets had mentioned the film, according to Twitter. (The images featured in this article are mockups created in advance of the campaign.)
It’s far from the first time a marketer has toyed with billboards that respond to online input. In 2015, a Times Square digital poster for Coca-Cola shared fun facts about fans’ names, as triggered by their tweets. And back in 2011, Domino’s infamously gave Times Square billing to real-time customer reviews—both good and bad, sourced from its website—about its pizza deliveries, as part of its prostrating transparency push.
Disney and Twitter, though, are smart to tie the buy to a major time-specific event, capitalizing on the substantial social buzz around the launch. The Last Jedi raked in $450 million in total box office revenue its first weekend—the second-best opening of all time, behind 2015’s The Force Awakens.
Toronto-based startup DIVE Networks, which helps businesses create custom real-time broadcasts to appear on office TVs and other screens, as well as billboards, helped bring the campaign to life.


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State lawmakers have approved a bill to reduce the number of illegal meth labs sprouting up across the state.
The House bill would require customers to show ID when buying some cold and flu medicine. The bill also would ban anyone under 18 from buying the products.
The key material to make meth can be extracted from some over-the-counter medications.
The bill is to be returned to the Senate, which passed a similar measure last month. Retailers oppose the idea.
Police found six meth labs in Michigan in 1996. The number rose to 209 in 2004.


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The UK workplace union is planning to meet with staff at the UK’s ‘big four’ coffee chains to highlight the issues of pay and understaffing in the hospitality industry
Unite will visit select outlets of Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Caffé Nero and Pret A Manger | Photo credit: Tyler Nix
Unite, a leading union for hospitality workers in the UK, is campaigning for improved pay, better job prospects and enhanced working conditions at major coffee chains.
The union says the industry is rife with low pay, chronic staffing shortages and insecure contracts.
Unite is planning solidarity action with coffee shop staff across 51 towns and cities in the UK where campaigners will visit select outlets of Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Caffé Nero and Pret A Manger to speak to employees about the Baristas United campaign.
“For too long baristas and café workers have suffered from some of the lowest pay and most insecure contracts in the British economy. Baristas from across the country face poverty pay, inconsistent hours and chronic understaffing – even though their employers continue to rake in huge profits. Our campaign aims to change that. By bringing together workers from across the coffee sector’s Big Four, we will develop organising strategies that seek to drive up standards across the sector,” said Bryan Simpson, Lead Organiser for Hospitality, Unite.
In October 2022 Pret A Manger announced its second UK staff pay rise of the year, pledging an additional £10m ($11.9m) to support its employees in the wake of the rising cost of living.
The coffee and food-to-go chain had previously pledged £9.2m ($10.9m) in January 2022 to raise wages for 8,000 of its UK store staff from £9.40 up to £10.15 per hour.
Fellow UK-based chain Costa Coffee raised its hourly worker wages by at least 5% in UK company-owned stores in October last year.
The campaign takes place on 17 November 2022 to coincide with union action from Starbucks staff in the US.
The US coffee chain increased its hourly worker wages to at least $12 in all US stores in October 2021, and up to or above $15 in some markets.


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- Angela Gonzalez-Rodriguez |
Belgian investment fund Ergon Capital Partners III has acquired a majority stake in Golden Goose. Although fine detail of the deal remains private, market sources point to a 100 million euros price tag.
Earlier this month, Golden Goose has announced that Ergon Capital Partners III has become a majority shareholder replacing a group of financial investors comprising DGPA and Riello Investments alongside its founders Alessandro Gallo and Francesca Rinaldo.
Acquisition values Golden Goose at circa 100 million euros
A source close to the situation told ‘unquote’ that the deal values the company's equity at around 10x EBITDA, which in 2014 stood at around 10.5 million euros.
Capital for the transaction was drawn from Ergon Capital Partners III, a 775 million euros vehicle which held a final close in March 2010, recalled the financial magazine.
Other sources familiar with the transaction said that the deal values Golden Goose at around 130 million euros, from which 20 million in debt must be subtracted.
Despite the change of ownership at a capital level, the company will remain under the management of Roberta Benaglia as CEO in cooperation with the two founders who will remain co-heads of the creative department.
“Thanks to the constant focus on product innovation, attention to quality, materials and attention to style, Golden Goose Deluxe Brand has managed to establish itself as a reference and highly recognised research brand with the wider fashion industry. We are excited to have Ergon as our new majority shareholder and look forward to developing the business together to its full potential,” said Benaglia on the acquisition.
“Thanks to the work of our harmonious team, the target of doubling the turnover in three years within 2016 has been reached one year in advance (from 29 million to 73 million euros in 2015),” she added.
In 2014, turnover at Golden Goose (GGDB) came in at 48 million euros, up 60 percent on a yearly basis. Half of the company’s sales were generated abroad, being its key markets Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, Benelux and the United States.


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Royal welcome for Bittrex Global in Vaduz
Bittrex Global, a blockchain trading platform, has marked the launch of its new headquarters in Liechtenstein with an event showcasing emerging blockchain opportunities in the country.
CEO Kiran Raj described how Liechtenstein’s recently ratified Blockchain Act, which provides a comprehensive regulatory framework for the industry, “makes it much easier for us to innovate quickly and efficiently, in a safe way for our customers.” He described Bittrex’s ambition to eventually apply for the proper licenses that would allow it to provide a “full package” of digital trading possibilities, from cryptocurrencies through to traditional securities.
While COO Stephen Stonberg described the planned roll-out of features on the Bittrex Global platform from fiat gateways to leveraged trading, credit card on-ramps, Euro trading pairs and a mobile trading app.
The arrival of Bittrex Global follows the ratification of the Blockchain Act, which places Liechtenstein at the forefront of the token economy, allowing a wide variety of assets — from real estate to securities — to be tokenized. Discussions at the event focused on how this new framework can boost innovation in blockchain, provide the safeguards for more investors to engage with the token economy and create certainty. “Having regulatory clarity around blockchain in an established banking centre is pretty unique,” Stonberg said of Liechtenstein’s advantages as a base for Bittrex Global and all participants in the blockchain economy.
The event was addressed by HSH Prince Michael of Liechtenstein, who commented: “As a citizen of Liechtenstein, a businessman in Liechtenstein, I’m particularly proud that we are a global pioneer with the recently passed Blockchain Act. This new Act provides an ideal framework for the blockchain industry, especially in finance.”
Speaking to BLOCKTV, Liechtenstein’s Prime Minister Adrian Hasler also praised the importance of the Act. “For the token economy it’s essential to have clear regulation. We [now] have clarity for the companies and clarity for the people here who work in blockchain.” He continued: “I think blockchain has great potential and for Liechtenstein it is important as a small country to use blockchain technology for the future, for new business models. For that, it’s very important to be open for innovation.”
Bittrex Global launches this month with the ambition to be the first blockchain exchange platform to operate within the framework of the Blockchain Act, which comes into effect in January 2020. The platform is built on the industry-leading technology of U.S-based Bittrex, which has been operating since 2014, and has features from a custom-built trading engine to a multi-wallet strategy to ensure security, and established KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (anti-money laundering) procedures. It will serve global customers who are: not a US passport holder, not resident in the United States, and not resident in other prohibited countries. As well as operating within the regulatory framework of the Blockchain Act, Bittrex Global will maintain its own compliance team to ensure the highest levels of KYC and AML.
The event also featured presentations from two token teams who are considering listing on the Bittrex Global exchange: apM Coin, a blockchain-powered customer rewards and payment platform for the wholesale fashion industry; and BLOCKTV, a video news provider specialising in blockchain and cryptocurrency markets.
We work hard to make sure Bittrex Global customers have the best possible user experience:
- Deposit with your VISA debit or credit card and trade today! Trade now
- We’ve done a ton of improvements. Check out our new UI!
- Join the Bittrex Global family on Telegram.
- Having trouble? Submit a request with our tech support


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Embattled finance company CIT has relented to a skittish apparel manufacturer that sued to end its business relationship with the lending giant, The Post has learned.
By settling the case out of court yesterday, legal experts said CIT avoided the risk of a ruling that might have spurred a mass exodus of clients at its “factoring” division, which finances inventory for more than 60 percent of the apparel industry.
Nevertheless, sources noted that under the settlement CIT succumbed to its client’s demands to be freed from its contract. Since The Post reported exclusively last Thursday that Scherr Inc. had sued CIT, numerous apparel companies have been mulling similar court actions, according to industry insiders.
CIT’s outlook grew more complex yesterday when the Federal Reserve assumed greater oversight of the lender.
Fearing that a potential CIT bankruptcy might devastate its business, Scherr — a Livingston, NJ-based maker of casual men’s clothing — argued that “CIT’s disastrous financial situation creates grounds for insecurity” as the manufacturer looked for recovery on its inventory receivables held by CIT.
“This was a unique situation,” said Vano Haroutunian, a partner at the law firm Ballon Stoll Bader & Nadler, which represented Scherr.
Haroutunian declined to comment further, aside from confirming that Scherr had withdrawn its complaint. But the plaintiff had charged that in addition to holding its receivables, CIT had denied fresh advances of credit.
“If I represented a client that wasn’t getting its credit advances, I would now be more inclined to go to court to get out of the factoring agreement,” given news of Scherr’s settlement yesterday, said Michael Goldberg, a partner at law firm Pryor Cashman.
Meanwhile, some of CIT’s apparel-manufacturing clients are limiting their exposure to a potential CIT bankruptcy by other methods, including agreements that allow them to retain ownership on invoices, even as CIT takes responsibility for collecting on their receivables.


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NSW Caretaker Period has commenced
The caretaker period for the NSW Election commenced on 1 March 2019.
Accordingly, no ministerial press releases or related information issued by the Government from 1 March 2019 will be available on this website.
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Learn about workplace rights, consumer rights, privacy and right to information, protest rights and freedom of speech.
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When you buy from a platform where users can trade products or skills as a service, you have the same rights as you do when you buy from a shop in person or online.


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Wondering what everybody else has on their phones?
Here's a roundup of the most popular smartphone entertainments
The 2014 RPG game is now available for iOS, and Android will follow, but no date yet
Here is a roundup of the top paid and free games and apps for iPhones and Android phones
Microsoft’s Office software package is coming to the iPhone for the first time Friday, offering people the ability to read and edit their text documents, spreadsheets and slide presentations at the doctor’s office or at a soccer game.


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China's smartphone sales declined 14% YoY in 2022 to reach their lowest level in a decade, according to Counterpoint Research's Market Pulse Service.
The year 2022 was also the fifth consecutive year of YoY sales decline in China, largely due to macroeconomic headwinds and the impact of COVID-19. In Q4 2022, sales declined by 15% YoY, leading to double-digit YoY declines in every quarter of the year.
In Q4 2022, despite the sudden relaxing of COVID-19 policy in December, a surge in cases resulted in a 5% QoQ decline, leading to the lowest quarterly sales in the year. Many cities in China had been subject to COVID-19 restrictions since spring 2022, negatively impacting consumer sentiment and delaying smartphone replacements. Brands such as Vivo, OPPO, and Xiaomi saw YoY declines in 2022 due to economic uncertainty.


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So, what exactly does eating at Chipotle have to do with taking pictures you ask? Good question. Here’s the answer. Last year I published a short post about using photographs in your social media. Sadly, at least for one photographer, the information in my blog post was not available for review when he made a serious mistake.
A few years ago, Chipotle hired the photographer to take pictures inside their stores so that Chipotle could use the photographer’s images in their advertising. During the course of the photo shoot, the photographer captured a number of images, including at least one photo of a woman named Leah Caldwell who was eating at the restaurant.
After taking her picture, the Chipotle photographer asked the woman to sign a photo release, giving Chipotle permission to use her photo, but Ms. Caldwell declined. Fast forward a few years into the future and Ms. Caldwell was surprised to see her image on the wall of a Chipotle restaurant located in Orlando, Florida. She also claims that she saw the same image on several restaurants located in California as well.
Ms. Caldwell subsequently filed a lawsuit against Chipotle, claiming $2.2 Billion in damages. The basis for Ms. Caldwell’s lawsuit is that Chipotle used her image without her permission. While Ms. Caldwell is claiming a violation of her expectation of privacy, the real problem is that you’re not allowed to use someone’s image for commercial purposes without their permission. You can read more about this story here.
While Chipotle is unlikely to pay $2.2 billion to Ms. Caldwell, no business wants to spend time and money fighting a lawsuit. Whether she can win her lawsuit or not remains to be seen, but Chipotle could have avoided this situation by simply not using Ms. Caldwell’s image without her permission.
So, the moral of the story is simple. If you’re going to take pictures of people and use them for commercial purposes, get a photo release. If you don’t get a release, don’t use the photo.


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March 11th, 2018
Bitcoin is a popular digital currency that uses a cryptographic encryption system that facilitates secure storage and digital transfers. Over time, Bitcoin has gained attention across the globe and is believed to have all the benefits of an alternative currency. Unlike traditional currencies used today, Bitcoin is not beholden to any central bank, government, or financial authority. Meaning that this currency is completely decentralized. A process referred to as mining generates Bitcoin. Mining uses high powered and sophisticated computers on a distributed network, using an open sourced mathematical formula to generate Bitcoins. For mining purposes, Bitcoin users need to use specialized tools and devices.
Now that Bitcoin has been out on the market more, mining is quickly becoming a tiring and time consuming process that involves expensive, high tech hardware to mine Bitcoins. Even after all the fancy gadgets have been bought for mining, it still takes the miners days to mine Bitcoins. Digital currency users can mine or just buy Bitcoins from reliable sources with their credit or debit cards. More and more businesses are accepting Bitcoin as payment for goods and services.
With the growing popularity of Bitcoin, more and more people around the world are beginning to understand the benefits of this digital currency. Bitcoins are now listed as currency in many places, right along with leading national currencies like the Euro or US dollar. The United States Federal Reserve has acknowledged the growing popularity and the importance of digital currencies, when they announced that Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related transactions aren’t illegal. One of the selling points of Bitcoin was the fact that it wasn’t regulated by the government and could be used to avoid tax obligations. However, new rules and regulations are coming to light that may require Bitcoin users to pay taxes on their Bitcoin gains.
The virtual nature of Bitcoin has made it harder to keep track of in cross country transactions. Government authorities from around the world have started to realized that Bitcoin is attracting black marketers for all types of illegal activity. Obviously, it was impossible that Bitcoin was going to evade tax laws forever. Tax authorities from different countries have started to regulate digital transactions. The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are treating Bitcoin as an intangible property, not a mere currency as it is not regulated by a central bank.
The IRS has recently made it mandatory to report all digital currency transactions, for any amount. This means that all US taxpayers need to keep a record of all of their Bitcoin transactions. No matter if they are buying, selling, or investing in Bitcoin. Bitcoins are now treated as assets and as such if you use bitcoins for any transactions (like buying goods or services), you will incur tax.
If Bitcoins are stored for a period of less than one calendar year before they are sold or exchanged, a short term tax will be applied. This tax is equal to ordinary income tax rate for the individual. However, if Bitcoins are stored for longer than one year, long term tax rates will be applied.
The taxation on Bitcoins and other digital currencies is not as simple as it may seem. It can be difficult to determine the value of Bitcoin for sale and purchasing transactions. The price of Bitcoin is highly volatile and at time there are huge price swing in a single trading day. The IRS has now made it mandatory for traders to report on their Bitcoins consistently. For example, if they are using the day’s high rate for a purchase, the same prices should be used for sales too.


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The Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, a Small Business Saturday Neighborhood Champion, will kick off its 2018 Shop Small Movement with a Business After Hours Event at Linvilla Orchards on Thursday, Nov. 1 from 5-7 PM.
The organization is bringing together a few of Delaware County’s favorite businesses to promote shopping local this holiday season. Vendors that will be attending the event include:
- Camp Adventureland
- Drexelbrook Catering & Corporate Events Center
- The Inn at Swarthmore
- Instaglamour Photo Booth
- Swiss Farms
- Thunderbird Pizza II of Springfield
Started in 2010 by American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Small Business Saturday is a nationwide shopping event aimed at supporting small businesses by encouraging people to shop local. Small Business Saturday complements some of the other shopping events that take place throughout the holiday season, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday.


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Pie charts: admit it, you love them. Especially when they pertain to Android statistics. What’s that? You don’t? Well then… why don’t you have a seat right over there…
But, enough shenanigans. According to the latest poll of Android devices from the Android Developers Site, Froyo is holding strong as king of the Android hill, showing up on a whopping 59.4% of all Google-loving devices; However, that number is actually down from the previous 64.6 percent for the last couple weeks in June. The version picking up slack? Gingerbread, of course! Our tasty baked treat comes in at 18.6%, double what it was in the previously mentioned time frame. Honeycomb comes in at 0.9%.
What do you think of these numbers? Be sure to let us know what you would like to see on the latest devices in the comments below.
[via Android Developers Site]
ASUS definitely wants to be a big contender with Android. The Eee Pad Transformer is probably the most popular tablet and they have announced some interesting devices for later this year.
Now news has come out that they may be planning a 13-inch notebook and the power and pricing could be more attractive than the Transformer’s. This is strictly a rumor, but launch plans supposedly have already been made and it will pack a NVIDIA processor. For the processor itself, only quad-core ARM SOCs were mentioned. Could this be the Kal-El quad core chip that is expected in August?
We already know that the Kal-El has been installed in a Windows 8 prototype laptop so this is not out of the question.
Rumor has it that we might be seeing a lot of $299 notebooks with ARM-powered processors in the near future.
If you’ve been excited about the launch of the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer…well, you apparently weren’t the only one, and we hope you’ve already grabbed yours. Amazon made the Transformer available for sale in the US early this morning…and was sold out within just a few minutes. Likewise, Target lists it as “unavailable” and BestBuy.com already has it showing up as “backordered.” We don’t know how many were made available for this first-round release, but apparently it was not enough to meet the demand for the product.
Honestly, this isn’t that surprising, given that it’s basically a Honeycomb tablet that docks onto a keyboard to make a nice laptop-like device when you want that experience. It’s a very cool device concept, and it’s priced at a VERY competitive $399. That is, if you can find one.
Stay tuned, we’ll keep you posted.


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The nonagenarian artist recently received the National Medal of Arts, and museums around the world are still celebrating his May birthday. The Phillips Collection, in Washington, D.C., is displaying seven "exuberant" pieces: layered or lined-up canvases painted in bold, solid colors.
Designer Ozwald Boateng became the first black designer on London's prestigious Savile Row. Since then, he's made quite the name for himself; his tailored suits cost as much as 40 grand. Host Michel Martin speaks with Ozwald about his career, style and Ghanaian heritage.
The financially troubled city of Detroit is eyeing the sale of its prized artworks, which include paintings by van Gogh. In recent years, a number of museums have brought in millions by selling off art. Such sales invariably trigger protest but can proceed unless there's some legal violation involved.
When you give to WAMU, your tax-deductible membership gift helps make possible award-winning programs such as Morning Edition, All Things Considered, The Diane Rehm Show, The Kojo Nnamdi Show, and other favorites.


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Microsoft has announced that Windows 8 has sold more than 200 million licences.
The figure indicates that the operating system has doubled its licence sales since May last year.
"Windows 8 has surpassed 200 million licences sold, and we continue to see momentum. This number includes Windows licences that ship on a new tablet or PC, as well as upgrades to Windows 8," said a Microsoft spokesperson.
"The figure does not include volume licence sales to enterprise. Windows is a central part of life for more than 1.5 billion people around the world, and we are looking forward to the future."
Windows 8 is growing at a slower rate to its predecessor Windows 7, which managed 240 million license sales within a year. Microsoft's latest OS has been around longer, having been released to the general public in October 2012.
Microsoft is expected to deliver its next major OS update, Windows 8.1's Update 1, in April after its annual Build conference has taken place.


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The results of the Car-Brand Perception Survey 2013 is out. Do you have any idea which brand topped the list this year? According to Consumer Reports, it’s none other than the Japanese automaker Toyota.
In this survey, consumers rank auto-makers by quality, safety, value and other factors associated with cars of different brands. The Consumer Reports magazine says, this year people have ranked Toyota as their first choice for cars. Here is people’s overall ranking upon cars makers.
|Name Of Automaker||Ranking|
Source: Consumer Reports


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Samsung unveils its latest smart watch range with the Samsung Gear S. It promises to bring more benefits of the smartphone experience to the wrist. It has a built-in 3G modem and can send texts and calls without relying on a mobile phone.
There's also WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity and the two-inch AMOLED screen reflects Samsung's approach to aesthetics. It is powered by a dual-core 1GHz CPU running a variant of of the Tizen operating system and has a claimed battery life of up to two days. It will be available this October.
For business owners and major corporations alike, one of the biggest concerns in moving product and making sales has always been visibility. In order to convince people to pay for your service of purchase your product, you must first make a positive impression on potential customers. Read more
Business owners who want to provide their employees with the latest and greatest technology for their work may feel like they are in a catch-22 situation. While they are happy to spring for state-of-the-art equipment, these devices will probably be outdated in a matter of weeks. Read more
Mac is one of the most preferred smart devices or laptops available in the market today. It is not only a great laptop for work related jobs but is in general good for gaming and recreational activities as well. The growing popularity of Mac has led to the increase in sales over the years with millions of laptops finding their way into our homes. Read more


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Brian Wallace, Founder & President, NowSourcing
Is your business ready to face a successful ransomware attack and come out alive on the other end? Most small to midsize businesses are not. In fact, 45% of SMBS report that their cyber security is ineffective. They could easily be overtaken by ransomware.
In the past year, 66% of SMBS have fallen prey to at least one cyber attack, with ransomware being the most common method of attack. Just one successful ransomware attack can mean the loss of copious amounts of money in ransom, extortion, and recovery efforts. It can mean the loss of privacy as personal information may be publicized. It can mean the loss of productivity as systems shut down, and it could mean the loss of reputation as the majority of customers stop doing business with a company that has experienced a data breach. All of this combined means the loss of the entire business within 6 months of attack for 60% of companies who fall victim to ransomware.
Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic in 2020, ransomware attacks have risen by 50%. That means that, every 10 seconds, a person, device, or business is hit by a ransomware attack. The rise in these attacks comes largely from the 70% of the American workforce that began working from home last year. With the sudden surge in use of personal devices and personal networks, rather than company devices and networks, cyber security has taken a huge hit. As IT departments are left blind to the dangers and threats against personal devices and networks, cyber criminals have had a field day with the flimsy security suddenly facing most companies.
The cost of these attacks is also taking a sharp upturn. Just a few years ago, in 2019, damages due to cyber attacks amounted to 4 billion dollars, but by 2028, it’s expected to reach 28 billion dollars. In 2015, damages due to ransomware cost 24 million dollars, but just 5 years later, in 2020, that amount was at 170 billion.
Most SMBS are not prepared to survive these attacks. Security measures don’t meet the demand. “Strong” passwords, password authentication apps, and two factor authentication methods can all be easily hacked, leaving SMBS vulnerable to attack and failure.
Cyber insurance is one way that SMBS can help protect themselves. It doesn’t keep the attack from happening, but it’s a cushion that could help these businesses pull through to live another day.
About the Author: Brian Wallace is the Founder and President of NowSourcing, an industry leading infographic design agency in Louisville, KY and Cincinnati, OH which works with companies ranging from startups to Fortune 500s. Brian runs #LinkedInLocal events, hosts the Next Action Podcast, and has been named a Google Small Business Adviser for 2016-present. Follow Brian Wallace on Linked


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Filling out personal data forms manually for various administrative needs can be frustrating and time-consuming, at least that is what Marshall Pribadi, co-founder and CEO of PrivyID, has experienced.
“Even in today’s digital age, we still need to fill in long forms to prove our personal data, including national ID numbers, tax numbers, and so forth. We also have to sign a lot of documents to prove their authentication. For me, this is quite annoying,” Pribadi told KrASIA in an interview.
“Back then, I always hoped that there was a customer-centric digital identity system, freeing me from having to repeat the same form-filling process while at the same time guaranteeing that the personal data I shared was legit and fully under my consent. Therefore, I created such a system,” he added.
Founded in 2016 by Pribadi and his partner Guritno Adi Saputro, PrivyID has developed electronic identity verification technology that works on multiple platforms. Its main products are digital identities and electronic signatures. These use key infrastructure technology and asymmetric cryptography methods to verify the document’s integrity and signee’s identity.
PrivyID operates using an information security management system that has been officially acknowledged by the Indonesian government. It has obtained a certificate of authority which makes its digital signatures legally binding. Every signature made by PrivyID has a”padlock icon” that differentiates it from a regular signature.
Indonesian financial authority OJK now requires fintech lenders to adopt digital signatures, making them even more crucial today.
“The electronic signature doesn’t mean creating your signature on digital devices only, it must fulfill the handwritten signature function that cannot be falsified. It must represent the official identity of the signee, and it has to ensure that any changes made to documents after the signing process can be detected,” Pribadi said.
The company provides its services to corporate clients and individual users who are mostly freelancers or independent consultants.
All PrivyID accounts have undergone the government’s ID verification procedure and all digital signing processes require multi-factor authentication. Therefore, implementing PrivyId’s technology on a client’s platform helps them safeguard customer identity and their electronic transactions.
“Our clients use our services to verify the validity of their users as well as to sign any kind of electronic documents; from loan agreements in fintech startups to corporate internal memos,” he continued.
To date, PrivyID’s services have been utilized by more than 4.5 million individuals and 205 companies. Among PrivyId’s notable clients are state-owned banks Bank Mandiri and Bank BRI, private bank CIMB Niaga and multi finance company BCA Finance, as well as e-commerce platform Akulaku and fintech lender KoinWorks.
“Our digital signature enables up to 90% reduction in customer acquisition costs, capable of accelerating the registration process by 28 times. This is all within an end-to-end digital service that is 100% paperless. In short, we help businesses become more efficient and environmentally sustainable. Meanwhile, for individual users, our products allow them to conveniently authorize any digital documents and apply for various digital services wherever they are, whenever they want,” Pribadi continued.
The company has been acknowledged by Indonesia’s IT Ministry as both a certificate authority and certificate electronic signature provider. It is also listed as the only financial services innovation provider under the electronic know your customer (e-KYC) cluster at the OJK.
Moreover, PrivyID is registered at Bank Indonesia as an Assisting Provider for financial technology and it is an official partner for Indonesia’s Directorate General Population and Civil Registration under the Ministry of Homeland Affairs.
“There are several platforms that offer similar services today, but we can assure you that we’re the only one that fully operates in compliance with all local regulations,” Pribadi added.
The company recently raised Series A2 funding in September 2019 from Telkomsel Mitra Inovasi (TMI), the corporate venture capital arm of Indonesia’s largest mobile carrier Telkomsel. The startup did not disclose the details of its funding record.
According to Pribadi, the company will utilize its fresh investment to expand its team and develop products. The firm is currently looking for a chief financial officer and chief marketing officer to boost the company’s growth, he said.
Going forward, PrivyID wants to build partnerships with more banks, as well as IT and e-commerce companies. It aims to have 10 million individual users and 500 clients by the end of 2020.
The company wants to expand its business into international markets next year, including to Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Australia. “I think customers in developed countries are generally more mature. They have a better understanding of what a digital signature is and the benefits that technology brings. They also have a higher rate of smartphone penetration, and their governments have already developed better personal data regulations and digital identity frameworks, which gives us opportunities to bring our services there,” Pribadi said.
This article is part of KrASIA’s “Startup Stories” series, where the writers of KrASIA speak with founders of tech companies in South and Southeast Asia.


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Publicado no e em "Negócios", idioma — English. 44 páginas.
Technology is king. Investors are pouring billions of dollars into the sector, which last year overtook financial services as the world’s largest sector by market capitalisation with a total of USD2.993-billion. PwC identifies the top three companies by market capitalisation globally as Apple, Alphabet (Google’s parent company), and Microsoft. Mais
Caterpillar puts its weight behind Afirca
Crushing a new Southern Africa era
Master of all trades
Premium gear for superior productivity Mais


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Apple just announced 2 new devices: 2 new iPhone 6 versions and the much anticipated new smartwatched, named Apple Watch, although many in the community still refer to it as the iWatch.
The Apple event started with the presentation of the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. The difference between the two is the size, with the Plus version being larger than 6, which is larger than the iPhone 5S. This basically means that the new iPhone is larger but at the same time, both models are thinner.
Various new features were announced but the highlight of the keynote was the official announcement about Apple Pay, a new mobile payment system that allows users to easily pay anything with their smartphones. It is a feature that is only available in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
The camera is better and the new smartphone will run on iOS. The mobile phone will be available for pre-order starting on September 12th with a starting price tag of $199 for the iPhone 6 16 GB option, with a 2 years contract.
The second device that was announced at the Apple event was the brand new Apple Watch, the company’s first attempt to tackle the smartwatch market.
The highlight of the presentation was the presentation of a new Digital Crown button that is a pretty unique feature in the smartwatch market. We also have very interesting apps that are included and the device will be available early 2015 with a starting price tag of $349.
Criticism instantly appeared online about the Apple Watch as the presentation did not talk about various things that people were interested in. The device does not include a face time camera and crucial features like battery life were not mentioned.


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On the Internet there were test results in the benchmark Geekbench device Huawei, code-named LYA-L29. Apparently, this is the flagship smartphone Mate 20 or its Pro-version.
The device is equipped with 6 GB of RAM and runs on the current Android 9 Pie. The processor model is specified, but it is known that the chip has eight cores. On board the Mate 20 is expected Kirin 980, made by the process technology of 7 nm.
The smartphone scored 3390 points in the single-core test mode and 10 318 points in the multi-core test. In both cases, the indicators are worse than the iPhone Xs with the A12 Bionic chip: Apple’s flagship earnsapproximately 4,800 and 11,500 points respectively. However, this is not yet official tests, besides, it is not reported exactly which smartphone Huawei participated in the test.
The premiere of Mate 20 will be on October 16th.


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Croatia consumer price index (CPI) slipped 0.5 percent in June on a month-on-month term, according to an official press statement. However, on a year-on-year basis, Croatia consumer price index expanded 0.7 percent.
Within the consumer price indices, goods price dropped 1.0 percent whereas services prices expanded 1.0 percent on average.
On the annual average rate, consumer price index advanced 0.2 percent in the same period.
Clothing and footwear prices dropped the biggest drop of 4.7 percent in June from May while food and non-alcoholic beverages price fell 1.0 percent. Similarly, prices of transport and furnishings, household equipment besides routine household maintenance recorded a fall of 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent respectively.
The press release added, “On average, the decrease in the consumer price indices in June 2017, as compared to May 2017, was alleviated by an increase of 2.6% in the prices of Restaurants and hotels, of 1.4% in the prices of Communication and of 0.2% in the prices of Alcoholic beverages and tobacco.”
On the other hand, prices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels remained on average in June compared to May. Similar was the situation in respect of recreation and culture, education and the prices of miscellaneous goods and services.


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T-Mobile has today announced the launch of the worlds first Android smartphone device for prepay customers.
The new and exclusive ‘T-Mobile Pulse’ handset, which has been manufactured in partnership with Huawei, is the third Android device launched by the network, and T-Mobile claims it is the first ever Android device to be made available to non-contract customers.
The touchscreen handset, which costs £179.99, comes with a number of pre installed Google services, including Gmail and access to download additional applications from the Android Marketplace website.
Handset features include a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus, a 3.5 inch screen, Wi-Fi, GPS which includes a one month free satellite navigation trial with TeleNav, 2GB internal memory which can be increased using a microSD card.
The handset also comes pre installed with ‘Road cync client,’ allowing users the baility to receive emails from their work computer.
T-Mobile customers can pay a monthly subscription of £5 for unlimited access to the web from the phone or pay a maximum of £1 per day on a pay as you use basis.
The device will also be available through T-Mobile retail and online stores and become available on postpay at a later date, but details on price are unconfirmed.
T-Mobile acting head of handset and device marketing Nicola Shenton said: “The T-Mobile Pulse represents another Android milestone from T-Mobile.
“We introduced the first Android handset, the T-Mobile G1, to the UK back in October 2008, launched our second handset the G2 Touch earlier this year and now we’re opening up Android-based smartphones to a whole new type of mobile user with the first handset on pay-as-you-go. It really is a significant development in the Android story.
Huawei Device spokesperson Glory Chueng said: “Huawei again proves its commitment to operators’ needs through this collaboration with T-Mobile.
“We are making the mobile internet experience more accessible to consumers by launching our first customized Android-powered handset. I am excited to launch the Pulse with T-Mobile today and look forward to strengthening our partnership in the future.”


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The CEA has expanded its International CES Unveiled event series, with Shanghai, Eastern Europe and Sao Paulo joining the lineup.
Each event will be tailored to the local audience and will debut regional and global research. They will provide CES news and showcase curated products and technologies.
The lineup of global CES Unveiled events are as follows:
– CES Unveiled SHANGHAI – Tuesday, April 8, 2014
– CES Unveiled EASTERN EUROPE – (Warsaw, Poland) Thursday, June 5, 2014
– CES Unveiled SAO PAULO – Tuesday, September 23, 2014
– CES Unveiled PARIS – Wednesday, October 22, 2014
– CES Unveiled NEW YORK – Tuesday, November 11, 2014
– CES Unveiled LAS VEGAS – Sunday, January 4, 2015
The 2015 International CES will run in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 6th to 9th.


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Google Hangouts for the Android platform gets video messaging feature. Users can now send sixty seconds long video messages. Google also released an update for iOS alongside. Users can also remove other users from group conversations.
Google released the Hangouts v11.0 update for both the Android and iOS platforms. The latest updates provide video messaging facility for the OS platform pioneered by the search engine giant. Apple mobile OS already has this facility for the last two years, and the update was long overdue for the Android OS. However, it says the tool for the Android platform works better than the iOS software. While the iOS app allows users to send 360-pixel video, the Hangout version lets users send Full HD videos.
Google Hangouts for the Apple OS platform was introduced in February 2014. With the latest updates, the limit of the video has been from 1 minute to 2 minutes while the limit is 1 minute for Android operating systems. It has also removed the option of ‘Combined Conversation’ which showed the Hangout messages and SMS messages from the same user together. It has been done to eliminate user confusion.
The update for iOS brings with it a new cropping tool with augmented burst photo support and quicker startups. Now users get new features on Google Photos like automatic backups, better search and organizing abilities which enable more instantaneous sharing of pictures.
Additionally, the update improves battery backup and cellular data usage. The update also reduces the app starting time.
The launching of the app is strange since the search engine plans to launch a new video app, ‘Duo’ later this year and it was announced at the yearly I/O developer conference. The app will be launched side by side with Allo, the text-based messaging app. The search engine giant will incorporate its advances in artificial intelligence to give an entirely new video messaging experience.


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Marriott International has said it could return between $3.3bn and $5.3bn to shareholders between 2011 and 2013 through dividends and share repurchases.
The company also said it could surpass its 2007 peak earnings by 2013, assuming growth in revpar of between 5% and 9% over the next three years. J.W. Marriott, Jr., chairman and CEO, said: "We are on the threshold of extraordinary growth for our company. As we look ahead over three years, Marriott is poised to deliver substantial gains in bottom line results, as well as meaningful returns to hotel owners and shareholders."
See the full release here:


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Move over, Stephenie Meyer! Romance lovers will soon be obsessed with a brand new, swoon-worthy love story—at least, if publisher Jean Feiwel has something to say about it. After more than a year of brainstorming behind the scenes, her new Swoon Reads project, which gives fans of young adult and new adult books unprecedented power to choose which new teen romance novels they wish to see published, celebrated its hard launch late last month with about 50 manuscripts available for review, and a major ramping up of its marketing, publicity, and advertising campaigns.
As senior vice president and publisher of Feiwel and Friends and Square Fish, and publishing director of Henry Holt Books for Young Readers—all imprints of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group—Feiwel is used to spotting trends, and teen romance is definitely still on the rise, she says. What really sparked her idea for Swoon Reads, however, was the growing fandom and recent success of self-published romance authors such as Colleen Hoover and Abbi Glines.
“I read [Hoover’s] book Slammed, which was a self-published bestseller, a romance, and its sequel, Point of Retreat, and really liked them,” Feiwel says. “It was kind of refreshing to read a book that was straight romance, meaning it wasn’t enormously deep, it wasn’t complicated. It was very satisfying. And the book was on the USA Today bestseller list, so other people obviously felt that way, too. What I was noticing was how interesting it was that somebody who was being self-published was reaching their audience, and doing very well without a traditional publisher. And I thought, ‘Wow.’ There is talent out there that is not being seen. I don’t think it’s being appreciated by traditional publishing.”
Feiwel’s call to action across Macmillan Children’s departments—including editorial, production, design, sales, and marketing—soon followed, generating a group of 20 to 40 staffers, ranging from assistants to vice presidents, that regularly volunteered over monthly pizza lunches to contribute ideas and work on big-picture aspects of the project. Smaller committee groups then emerged to work on such details as the project’s mission statement, submission guidelines, and website structure.
“Here’s the thing—yes, it was my idea but, like all ideas, you put it into a stew with other people and it becomes bigger and better,” Feiwel says. “People from all walks of Macmillan Children’s publishing group showed up—these were romance readers! And that really was exciting, that really gelled the idea for me, to say, ‘people are interested in it, and now let’s make something happen.'”
Staffers note that they got on board due to “the opportunity to build something, no matter who you were,” Feiwel says. “You come to the table, everybody is equal. There’s no hierarchy here.”
After the initial framework was finally in place internally, the marketing and publicity team at MacKids helped generate early buzz (and a mailing list) at the American Library Asssociation’s 2014 Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, followed by appearances at the RT Booklovers Convention in Kansas City and BookExpo America in NYC in May. Within 24 hours of the site’s beta launch in August, nearly 30 manuscripts were submitted, which Feiwel calls “amazing.”
How it works
Any aspiring writer may submit up to three novel-length manuscripts, and can link their submissions back to their own Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest accounts.
Feiwel hopes these social media tools will encourage sharing of manuscripts across platforms, ultimately bringing even more romance fans to the Swoon Reads site. Authors’ works will remain for review only for six months, to keep the site’s selections fresh, Feiwel says.
Works are not barred from having sexual content or for being already available for free online—such as at fan sites FanFiction.Net or Archive of Our Own—although authors may not submit works that have ever been or are currently for sale elsewhere, either in print or digital form, Feiwel notes.
Readers can rate manuscripts in two ways: for their “swoon-worthiness” (how much they enjoyed the story, on a scale of one to five hearts) and on the content-specific Swoon Index, through which readers can give a novel points for its heat, tears, laughs, and thrills. The index was devised by Feiwel and her Swoon Reads “co-captain,” Associate Editor Holly West. “As readers, we want to know what these books have inside them before we read them; we want to get a sense of the content,” Feiwel explains. “So that’s how that evolved, alongside the rating system.”
This feedback will be critical in driving editorial decision-making going forward, Feiwel says. Authors whose works are chosen for publication will receive a $15,000 advance and a standard royalty-based publishing contract with Macmillan. The manuscripts will be published simultaneously in a trade paperback edition and all e-book formats.
Feiwel’s plan is for the first teen romance novels in the Swoon Reads imprint—she hopes at least two, she says—to debut fall 2014. In the long term, Feiwel would like to publish as many as 12 books a year, if the site is a success. “I need a core audience to get a few good books,” she says. “That is really want I’m looking for: a few [titles] that I feel are publishable, and hopefully that’s achievable.”
On the horizon? “We do have the plan to expand the format, and the platform to other genres,” Feiwel admits. “I think that what we have identified with romance is that that fan is a particularly avid and engaged fan—and we think the same applies to science fiction/fantasy.”


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American CRM services specialist Salesforce has added the stock optimisation solutions of French start-up OneStock to its suite of corporate software applications, currently adopted by some 150,000 companies.
The creation of a new team dedicated to transforming retail experiences sets the tone for a new decade at Intu, the troubled shopping centre owner which is trying to raise £1 billion from shareholders to survive.
French groups Crédit Agricole Assurances and La Française will hold a 54.2% stake in the joint-venture company set up with commercial real estate developer URW to run five leading shopping malls in France.
The media group behind Vogue has appointed the 29-year company veteran to the newly created role of chief content operations officer, a role in which she will head up the recently established content operations group.
The 48 branches of Swiss department store chain Globus have been sold to the joint-venture company formed by Signa and Central Group, the owner of top European department store groups KaDeWe, La Rinascente and Illum.
A new report has found that nearly 50% of consumers trust a website more if it has an active social media account, and are suspicious of pop-up ads, lack of payment options and incorrect spelling on the site.


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A couple of weeks ago, Portland State University graduate student Heike Mayer dropped by the office to talk with me about local technology companies. Heike is doing research for her doctoral dissertation, which explores how Portland has managed to develop such a vital and thriving high tech industry without possessing a major research institution such as UC Berkeley or Stanford University.
Heike is looking at how Intel and Tektronix, in particular, have functioned as a kind of substitute university in our area. She is also conducting a survey to update her "family tree" of local technology companies--that is, spinoffs from Intel, Tektronix, ESI, or any other companies that have spawned new ones. She is also diagraming working relationships between Silicon Forest companies.
If you think you can offer Heike some facts, insights or other help, please contact her at 503-725-5869 or firstname.lastname@example.org. You'll certainly be helping to document the technology industry here in Oregon, and I think you'll enjoy meeting and talking with Heike as much as I did.
Most of us who have attended PSU since 1986 have studied, written papers or procrastinated at American Espresso on the corner of S.W. Sixth Avenue and Hall Street. Now students and hangers-out can also check e-mail and look at the web on internet terminals made by Portland company Veicon Technology Inc. While Veicon's V-Link internet terminals have been installed in many public locations, this is the first time the terminals have been installed in a retail location.
"We decided to use Veicon's V-Link internet terminals as they require virtually no maintenance. In addition, we liked many of its advanced software features including system security and the protection of private information,"said Yoon Suh, owner of the café. "We have received very positive user feedback on the systems already. Our customers are mostly from Portland State University, as our store is right in front of the PSU campus."
The V-Link terminal is not a PC, but a display unit with full-sized keyboard and a mouse. Because the terminals are tied to a server, and have no hard drive, they require little maintenance. Veicon's software also ensures that no traces of the user's visit remain anywhere in the system or on the server.
Veicon develops, markets and supports its V-Link public internet access software and terminals, which are installed in convention centers, airports, hospitals, hotel rooms, business centers, libraries, retail outlets and other public places. The V-Link terminals provide office productivity software as well as internet access.
Second look at Pearl Harbor
The Memorial Day weekend brought us the new war blockbuster "Pearl Harbor." If your teen-agers are like mine, the movie's special effects have triggered a sudden interest in the bomb attack and whatever else they can learn about World War II. Portland company Second Story Interactive Studios worked with Nationalgeographic.com to provide an interactive history of the attack as part of National Geographic's commemoration of Pearl Harbor's 60th anniversary.
"With the upcoming anniversary of the attack and the release of Touchstone Pictures' movie `Pearl Harbor,' we set out to create a site to help people understand, like never before, what really happened on December 7, 1941," said Ford Cochran, director of editorial programming at Nationalgeographic.com. "Second Story achieved more than we imagined. The site's multimedia experience has really come alive through the online Memory Book with people sharing their personal tales and using the site to both connect with long-lost friends and to better understand what happened to loved ones."
An Attack Map is featured to guide visitors through a collection of zooming maps, integrated with a time line of events, allowing visitors to literally hover over Pearl Harbor. Each event is also coupled with the words of more than 30 American and Japanese survivors telling their personal accounts of that fateful day.
"Our goal was to create an immersive experience that presented the events surrounding the Pearl Harbor attack in a way that was both educational and personal," said Brad Johnson, creative director for Second Story. "Over time, the site will become a monument to the living memories of survivors, documenting and preserving this history for future generations."
Japanese dot-com registration
Vancouver, Wash.-based Dotster Inc., an ICANN-accredited domain name registrar, has launched a new Japanese-language site. The site will offer the lowest-priced domain registrations in Japan, at $50 for .jp names and $14.95 for .com, .net and .org names. The site will also offer the world's first domain registration via i-mode, the Japanese mobile internet standard. I-mode usage in Japan is nearly equal to PC-based internet usage, at more than 20 million users.
"The Japanese market is set to explode," said Clint Page, president of Dotster. "Domain name registration has been newly deregulated in Japan, and we expect the market to generate 1 million .jp registrations before the end of the year. As the demand for other domain extensions grows, the Japanese-language site represents a great opportunity for us to reach new customers." Dotster is the first U.S.-based registrar to be officially accredited by the Japan Registry Service Co., Ltd.
The Japanese-language Dotster site will offer country code top-level domain registrations including .tv, .ws and .cc, as well as most of the other services available on the main Dotster site, such as NameSpin, Bulk Registration, and real time account management and domain checking.
By June 2001, the Dotster Network will include sites in 15 other languages. All of the foreign language sites will be accessible from the main Dotster home page at http://www.dotster.com.


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Max Nesterak/States Newsroom
Workers at a Downriver Starbucks store have unanimously voted to form a union, 12-0.
The vote from workers at the store at 23005 Outer Dr. in Allen Park occurred Wednesday, making it the 13th Michigan store to join the Starbucks Workers United campaign.
“We at Starbucks Allen Park, store 9435, are proud to announce our unanimous YES to unionize,” the workers said in a statement. “Today we prove that we are a team that stands in solidarity against the systemic mistreatment that not just our partners, but all stores face. Today we prove our voice and our strength. We hope our win inspires all partners and all workers to organize. We have strength in numbers.”
They added, “Our fight does not stop here. This is just the beginning. We may have a long road ahead of us, but we feel nothing but empowered and excited to see where it takes us.”
Workers at around 300 Starbucks stores across the country that have voted to form unions must now negotiate with the coffee giant for new contracts.
The Starbucks Workers United campaign says workers at another Downriver Detroit Starbucks in Riverview will also soon vote to unionize, though a date has not been determined yet.
The news follows other recent labor developments in Michigan. Last month, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation repealing the state’s Right to Work laws, which critics say have weakened unions by not requiring members to pay dues.
Also that month, members of the UAW voted for a slate of reform candidates following a high-profile corruption investigation at the union. New president Shawn Fain has promised to usher in a new era for workers with a zero-tolerance policy for corruption.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.


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Avaí Futebol Clube, a Series B soccer team in Brazil wants to follow in the footsteps of other teams that have launched tokens to boost fan experiences by raising $20 million in an ICO targeted to start on October 3.
The tokens will be sold at the cost of $1 each meaning it will distribute 20 million tokens. However, another 7 percent or 1,540,000 AVAI Tokens will be held by the club. The minimum target amount or soft cap is $8 million at a minimum.
The initiative will also help the club's promotion effort to qualify for the top tier (Series A), boost its efforts to qualify for the prestigious Copa Libertadores competition and to build the team's monetary infrastructure and stability.
The company is working with SportyCo and Blackbridge Sports to launch the token sale that will target a global football fan base according to Avaí president Francisco José Battistotti. The partnership is developing an online ecosystem for earning and spending the AVAI token.
Fans or holders of the token will also use the cryptocurrency to buy tickets, merchandis, eand other unique experiences. It will also be traded on exchanges.
Recently, French club Paris Saint-Germain said Tuesday that it will issue a cryptocurrency targeted at improving fan engagement. With it, fans will be able to vote for decisions.
Apart from the Socios platform that is working with PSG and hopes to help other clubs to launch Fan Token Offerings and cryptocurrencies, the London Football Exchange (LFE) said earlier this year that it would launch a cryptocurrency that would help fans to take part in fan experiences hosted by different clubs. LFE went ahead and raised $71,320,000 in the ICO that ended August.
LFE said it was in discussions with over 50 clubs, including Premier League Clubs and teams throughout Europe, the United States, and Australia to onboard them on the platform to gain a number of benefits that accrue from using blockchain. For instance, the platform would help them eliminate the antiquated ticketing technology from legacy operators who charge high fees ranging from 5 to 8 percent in commissions based on the value of tickets sold. Hence blockchain-based fan tokens and platforms aligned to football interests would also help participating clubs.
It should be remembered that CashBet announced a partnership with English Premier League football club Arsenal FC before CashBet held its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of its new cryptocurrency called CashBet coin.


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‘The mom and pop shop for horror’
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, October 11, 2022
Story Dawn Nolan | Photography Submitted
An abandoned video rental store sounds like a potential setting for a horror movie. And for someone who loves those types of films, like Catlettsburg native, Chris Kirby, it helped spark a business idea.
“My wife and I were driving by the old Blockbuster in Ashland one day, and I thought it would be such a cool place to open like a horror museum, a real mom and pop shop,” Kirby said. “I love that phrase, ‘mom and pop shop,’ and what it means to be that type of business,”
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It means so much to him, in fact, that when Kirby launched his horror-centric online retail shop, Spookiez, earlier this year, he added the tagline, “The Mom and Pop Shop for Horror.”
“I want to have a personal connection and build relationships with my customers — just like the old days when you walked into your local rental store to grab the latest horror film to watch with your friends that night,” Kirby said. “I want them to trust me and trust that I know what they love and will work hard to find it for them.”
Currently, Spookiez carries exclusive apparel from Creepy Co.®, assorted collectables — like mini character busts and air fresheners (called “Fear Freshners”) from Trick or Treat Studios, “Blood Bath” bath bombs from Mom Bombs as well as a variety of posters. Kirby also said that he is working on some original designs and wants to partner with some tattoo artists to bring the concepts to life.
“Our goal is to provide horror fans quality merch from our own brand, giving everyone unique and tasteful designs with each piece of Spookiez branded clothing, but also other brands,” he said.
While he had hoped to set up a brick-and-mortar location in Ashland, the plans fell through. So, for now, he is focusing on the online route and occasional pop-ups. He hopes to continue to collaborate with Talmadge Callihan, of Conquest Books in downtown Ashland, where he held Spookiez first pop-up, as well as other local businesses.
“Talmadge [Callihan, the owner] was actually the one who inspired me to start a business,” Kirby said.
It’s an interesting idea for someone who claimed he was a “big chicken” as a child.
“I was definitely scared of them, but I wanted to be cool like my cousins,” Kirby said.
As he faced his fears, horror films became one of his biggest passions — exploring it through his own podcast and Youtube videos.
“My favorite is the 2017 adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘It,’ but I also love the classics like ‘Halloween’ and ‘Friday the 13th’,” Kirby said. “I think horror movies are important culturally because there are a lot of topical issues in the subtext, and I think they’re easier to explore in those types of movies.”
From customer rewards to giveaways to actor meet-and-greets and “scare packages,” Kirby wants to use Spookiez as a way to grow and a build a community.
“I want to bring horror here,” Kirby said. “And I have a lot of plans.”
To shop online, visit spookiezhorror.com. Find Spookiez on Facebook @spookiezhorrormerch and Instagram @spookiezhorror.


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According to new leaks, the upcoming Nexus 5 (2015) by LG will feature a 5.2-inch display. Until now, Google hasn’t confirmed if the upcoming device will be truly named Nexus 5, but the big search engine company is going to reveal that in the upcoming days.
As for other major specifications, the Nexus 5 (2015) by LG will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chipset which consists of a dual-core A57 processor and a quad-core A53 processor.
When it comes to graphics, this upcoming device will feature an Adreno 418 GPU, which is almost as good as the Adreno 420 GPU that’s found on the Nexus 6 and the Galaxy Note 4. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chipset will be backed up by 3GB of RAM.
As we’ve told you above, the Nexus 5 (2015) by LG will feature a 5.2-inch full HD display. The lower display resolution should also cut the power consumption and keep the system smooth and fast. This is suggesting that Google is taking the battery life issues seriously on this device.
This upcoming phone will feature a Type-C USB port, but we’re not sure if it’s just a reworked USB 2.0 configuration or an actual USB 3 device. When it comes to the battery, the Nexus 5 (2015) will feature a 2700 mAh unit, which it will be able to hold the device alive for quite a while. We remind you that the Galaxy S6 features a 2550 mAh battery and the old Nexus 5 that was released back in 2013 features a battery of 2300 mAh.
So, a 2700 mAh battery for a 5.2-inch display is pretty fine and we’re sure that the people who will purchase it will be amazed about how long their device will be able to stay “alive”.
According to rumors, the Nexus 5 (2015) by LG will feature a 12.3MP primary camera and 5MP secondary one. The primary camera will be placed on the rear side, while the secondary shooter will be placed on the front side, which will be used mostly for taking selfies. The smartphone will have 16GB and 32GB of internal memory. If the color of the device is important to you, then you should know that the device will be released in three variants: white, blue and black.
Latest rumors say that the Nexus 5 (2015) by LG will be released by the end of September, but as with many other Google products, delays might happen, so let’s just wait for an official release date.


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A survey conducted by the BiKBBI has revealed that thousands of home improvement jobs have had to be cancelled as a result of the 'pingdemic'. The survey of 5,000 KBB installers found that 47% of respondents had been forced to cancel jobs, after either the customer or installer had been 'pinged' by the NHS COVID app, and that based on the average cost of a job, installers have lost out to the tune of thousands of pounds worth of income.
Calling for Government to exempt skilled tradespeople operating safe working procedures in people's homes from having to isolate automatically if they or their customers are 'pinged' by the COVID19 app, Damian Walters (pictured), BiKBBI CEO, said: “Installers are taking a hit on their incomes that’s as unnecessary as it is unfair. They’ve spent the last year working to incredibly safe procedures, meaning that they could continue serving customers throughout the pandemic. For at least half of them to now have to stop working – and earning – as the rest of the country recovers just seems utterly ridiculous.
“The disruption for customers is also a real kick in the teeth for people who want to invest in their homes after such a tough time and could create a crisis for the industry. Jobs won’t be able to be rescheduled for many months, creating the risk of a wave of cancellations. Having invested to meet the currently high demand, KBB retailers and manufacturers could find themselves at a breaking point in the coming months.
He concluded: “Public safety and keeping the virus under control of course needs to be the highest priority, which is why KBB installers introduced robust safe working procedures over the last year. Recognising this by adding them to the list of workers exempt from automatic isolation would be an incredibly sensible thing for the Government to do.”


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Blockchain Storage Firm Storj Labs Adds Minio’s Periasamy as Tech Advisor
Blockchain-based cloud storage company, Storj Labs, today revealed that AB Periasamy has become a member of the startup’s Technical Advisory Board.
AB Periasamy is the CEO and Co-Founder of Minio.io, an object storage firm inspired by Amazon S3 and Facebook Haystack. He is a a venture advisor to Nexus Venture Partners, and the former CTO and Co-founder of Gluster, an open source storage operating system purchased by Red Hat in 2014.
Storj CEO Shawn Wilkinson commented: “We’re extremely pleased to have AB join our team as we release the world’s first crowdsourced cloud storage platform.”
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Storj utilizes blockchain technology to incentivize decentralized storage. Its cloud
storage platform is a marketplace for cloud storage, and users can leverage excess storage capacity by offering it
for sale on Storj’s marketplace. The currency of the marketplace is SJCX, Storj’s proprietary cryptocurrency.
The startup was mentioned in Needham Co’s recently published, “The Blockchain Report: Welcome to the Internet of Value”.
In June 2015, Minion.io raised $3.3 million in funding round led by General Catalyst Partners and Nexus.


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Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) made waves when it embarked on a direct sales model for the first time, avoiding the traditional dealer systems of virtually all major automakers. The emerging electric vehicle company has been promoting the perceived benefits of this alternative strategy for years. Therefore, it was a shock to many – including thousands of their own employees – when Tesla announced at the end of February to close almost all branches. Instead, Tesla would postpone all sales online.
Since this fateful announcement, much has changed this month. Tesla has frozen the closures soon after the announcement, but this has mainly contributed to adding to and not relieving confusion and inner suffering. On March 27, Tesla announced his update on the situation. In an e-mail to all employees, CEO Elon Musk said the closures would continue, although much more would remain open than previously announced. According to Musk, it is now up to all branches and sellers to prove themselves so they do not get the ax.
A radical strategic shift (followed by another turnaround)
In January, Tesla had advertised its stores. In its Letter to Shareholders for the fourth quarter of 2018, the company reaffirmed its commitment to this strategy and praised the number of new store openings during the year:
"In the fourth quarter, 27 new business and service locations were opened by the end of the quarter."
A few weeks later, Tesla's strategy seemed to radically change: in a February 28 blog post, the company announced that it would close its stores and move all its sales online, Tesla said to bring down all of its products, and introduce the long-awaited Model 3 sedan with a standard size of $ 35,000:
"All sales implemented online combined with the continued cost savings we can average all vehicle prices by about 6 %, so that we could reach the price of Model 35,000 (Model 3) earlier n than expected, and in the next few months we will handle many of our businesses with a small number of stores in busy locations such as galleries, showcases and Tesla information centers. "
Tesla was seriously beginning to shut stores, with dozens closed within the first week, many more seemingly side-by-side, and few employees informed of the major strategic change announcement
Many salespeople said of the whole Business Insider interviewed several of these employees and found great annoyance and confusion, in fact many business executives and managers reported that they had a severe breakdown of inner morale, no wonder, because most had the Possibility to get the ax in a short time.
Unfortunately, the strangeness of Tesla's sales teams was far from over: just a few days after the closures were announced, Tesla returned – albeit temporarily – on 8 March It announced that it would freeze the closure and offered employees a "Ge to prove themselves "and to justify not firing them down again.
Tesla's decision to postpone the closures appears to have been heavily influenced by the aggressive pushback it received from a number of key landlords. According to the company's most recent securities release, the company has a total lease obligation of $ 1.6 billion, of which $ 1.1 billion is due in 2023. It seems that Tesla had believed that many of these leases could cede without significant sanctions.
Obviously, Tesla did not expect much recoil from polluted landlords, but was quickly dismissed from imagining when a number of heavy hitters, including REITs such as the Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRT), fouled. In the face of this unexpected challenge, Tesla clearly suggested that the prudent decision would be to halt the restructuring.
Forced Labor of Employees
Tesla may have halted the wave of business closures, but this did not seem to have caused them to reverse their efforts to cut costs. The sales staff experienced steep pay cuts following the initial closure announcement. Many employees have reported that these cuts, which included the elimination of most performance bonuses, were little more than a stealth dismissal:
"Sources told Electrek that many employees are leaving due to the substantial pay cut, and some employees told Electrek they did Suspect that Tesla is extending the transitional period and cutting her salary to displace her so they do not have to pay severance pay. "
Instead of firing dismissed salespeople, Tesla seems to push many. From the point of view of the company, this is preferable because it does not have to pay the unemployment and severance pay.
Many retail workers are in limbo, facing tough pay cuts, uncertain job prospects, and a seemingly anxious boss to force them to go alone. Jalopnik has treated the experiences of a number of these struggling employees, many of whom report that morale has only worsened:
"The stores, even those that remain open, are completely dead and without guidance there is no concern for the employees. "
Musk has not acknowledged these morale strikes, in fact, he has doubled his stance: On March 27, Musk sent another company-wide e-mail urging salespeople again, prove to be of value to the organization:
"High-turnover stores that generate significant sales are not closed at all. It would not make sense to do so, except in rare cases where the rent is absurdly high and Tesla will continue to open stores around the world that meet the above criteria … The same principles apply to the sales team No one, de r makes a significant contribution to demand management will be dismissed. Of course, performance-based compensation can be an excellent way to match the incentives of salespeople with those of the company they serve, as well as to lay off needy workers, while Musk, in his latest email, has done so The reality of more complicated commissions had already been cut which seems to dampen the economic incentives of top sellers to yield the best possible performance. Recent changes to the compensation system seem to be the situation for the Tesla sales staff To make matters worse:
Such a steep dip will undoubtedly cause many sellers to get out, and instead of pushing low-pressure staff, the step of combining commissions and disproportionately reducing compensation is likely ch crowing out the best and smartest ones first. This can hardly be in Tesla's strategic interest as it tries to sell as many vehicles as possible.
A highly questionable bet
Tesla seems to be banking on its online distribution channel and wants to largely abandon its extensive sales force. No wonder that worries many investors and commentators. Musk has sought to mitigate these fears, claiming that the online only strategy will not lead to revenue losses:
"Last year, 78% of all Model 3 orders were placed online and not in a store. Customers bought their model 3 without ever making a test drive. "
78% are impressive, but far from 100%. Professor Erik Gordon of the University of Michigan points out that eliminating the retail distribution channel will not accelerate the pace of sales:
"They will not grow faster if they are only online than online plus stores, which is logical Impossibility
This unbelief was confirmed by many Tesla sales representatives, including the six interviewed by Jalopnik at the beginning of March:
"When asked about 78 percent statistics, in particular, the first word was from four of the six employees The mouths were "nonsense". Regardless of whether they used that very word, they all mislead the person as misleading at best, and in the worst case, they were fictitious.
"For months, they had been given the order that the cars themselves buy Tesla's website, even if it sits right next to them in the store, but many shoppers place an order on their cell phone after spending hours talking to a seller or others come to the store, think about it, and later buy in online, and in retrospect, several employees now believe this directive to be an instrument to orchestrate their own obsolescence. "
The figure of 78% of Musk It was likely to be further inflated because last year a not inconsiderable number of buyers were early adopters – especially excited about Tesla and the willingness to buy with significantly less coaxing than the general public is likely.
Since Tesla is trying to move into a mass-market enterprise, it will need a less technologically integrated system – and less affluent audiences: the elimination of business now based on the behavior of a small, idiosyncratic subset of consumers seems to be half-done.
Investor's Eye View
Tesla's efforts to justify its sudden strategic fulcrum have had a major impact Investors could not be encouraged as stock prices have slipped in recent weeks, while a number of analysts have given in to the apparent Chaos in the organization criticized.
Investors are there There are good reasons to worry about Tesla's move to shop closures, reasons that have been compounded since the company's bizarre U-turns. Most obviously, the closure of stores will help reduce Tesla's visible footprint and undermine a sales organization that has spent more than a decade training and building. This is a talent that, once lost, can not easily be replaced.
More importantly, the elimination of the retail channel will limit Tesla's addressable market. Sure, many Tesla owners bought their cars online without testing, but they were far more wealthy and tech savvy than the average new car buyers. Even under the best possible conditions, Tesla still sold 22% of its vehicles via stationary channels.
There is no logical reason for a company that wants to fight an aggressive growth narrator in order to close an important distribution channel, except as an attempt to save money. This seems to be what's happening with Tesla. In fact, even some of the company's most passionate boosters are seeing growing signs of poverty. For example, Fred Lambert of Electrek had the following to say:
"After some strange moves this quarter, I believe Tesla is in a fairly severe liquidity crisis, probably due to higher than expected costs of bringing Model 3 to Europe and Europe China. "
Tesla is clearly under increasing operating pressure. It has undertaken several layoffs and repeatedly lowered prices for all of its products to move metal. Closing stores can help in the short term, but is likely to cost a long time. Without a dealer network, Tesla's stores are virtually the only way consumers can physically interact with the product before making a purchase decision.
In order to save costs, Tesla today runs the risk of closing a significant vulnerability of the potential market – and undermining its own long-term growth narrative.
Disclosure: I am short TSLA. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinion. I can not get any compensation for it (except from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with a company whose warehouse is mentioned in this article.


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At the 2011 Customer Engagement Technology World (CETW) Show, NanoLumens (Booth #527) will debut the world’s first line of flexible digital displays. The show will be held at the Javits Convention Center in New York City from November 9-10.
NanoLumens’ flexible digital displays is launching the digital signage industry into a new era of “digital wallpaper,” where every wall, column, or building facade can be transformed into a dynamic digital advertising and communications platform.
Super-thin, lightweight, energy-efficient, and easily moveable, NanoLumens’ line of waterproof digital displays can be manufactured in any size and shape and can conform to fit any surface. Advertisers, event producers, and stadium and arena owner/operators can use the displays in ways and places never before possible. Installing a bright, vivid digital display is now as easy as hanging a painting!


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Authentication now comes with a wave of your hand
Two former Leap Motion workforce assume they’ve solved the perennial dilemma of passwords and id administration.
Beneath the nom de guerre of Redrock Biometrics, the company’s technology is waging war over the world’s legions of identification cards, pin quantities, passwords, and voice identification technologies by using a mixture of off-the-shelf components and proprietary software to identify palm-prints to validate consumer identification.
Redrock Biometrics’ chairman, Lenny Kontsevich, explained which the company sees wide applications in authenticating payments in digital worlds, bodily stability, and money withdrawals among other transactions.
“You can think of the palm as a extremely massive fingerprint,” says Kontsevich. “It features a loaded construction and might be captured by any camera touchlessly.”
Following Kontsevich worked while using the startup Kaching!, the graduate of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology went to the lab to display (making use of only current database technology) the matching software algorithms involving palm prints and their exceptional signatures that will turn out to be the idea for Redrock Biometrics.
The problem, for Kontsevich, was capturing the photographs and processing them from the background. That’s the place Hua Yang, Kontsevich’s Leap Movement colleague came in.
The two absconded from Leap Motion in 2015 and established Redrock biometrics over the foundation of Kontsevich’s get the job done and Hua Yang’s track record in equipment discovering and visualization. Get more accurate information