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The internet has become a space riddled with malicious links, viruses and trojans. Data breaches are more regular and every 19 seconds in the UK, a small business is successfully hacked, according to research by Hiscox.
The total number of attempted attacks ranged from 900 to 359,000 in a 24 hour period. According to the insurer, almost one in three UK small businesses suffered a cyber breach last year which is equivalent to one successful attack every 19 seconds. Cyber security incidents costs over £25,000 on average in direct costs for small businesses, alongside the stress and loss of customer trust. When one click can cost thousands, and even millions, business owners need actionable to-do’s that can help them and their business stay alert and safe online.
The most alarming results of the research by Hiscox, is that the majority if those that suffered an attack, admitted to making no changes to their policies or systems to help prevent further breaches in the future. So how can we stop this happening to your business?
With the mass change to remote working earlier this year, most businesses didn’t have much time to introduce an entire new IT system and now those systems aren’t used how they were designed, opening businesses up to more cyberattacks. Working from home or remote working is set to be the norm for the foreseeable future, meaning this could be a huge problem for many businesses.
Use Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor or multi-factor authentication is an authentication mechanism to double check your identify is legitimate. It’s designed to make cybercriminals lives harder and reduce fraud risks. If you already use a basic password security measure, two-factor authentication will make it more difficult for cyber criminals to breach your account.
Cyber attackers have the power to test billions of password combinations in a second. On average, 65% of people use the same password, which is very similar to have one key for your house and car!
Authentication can come in various different forms: Something you know like a password; Something you have, your mobile phone and something you are, DNA. This offers you an extra layer of protection, other than your password and for cyber criminals to get that second authentication method, they would have to be very close to you.
Carry out user awareness training
Employees are the weak link in IT security. Social engineering is the number one security threat to any organisation and the alarming growth in sophisticated cyberattacks makes this problem only worse, as cybercriminals go for the low-hanging fruit: Employees.
No matter how much money, effort and time you put into your cyber security strategy, cybercriminals are still relying on human error to gain access to your systems, and this does work. Using the same weak passwords for multiple accounts, clicking on disguised links or even falling for phishing emails are just some of the ways employees could subject your business to cyberattacks.
Invest in your employees by providing cyber security training, enable them to make smarter security decisions, every day.
Update operating systems, software and IT infrastructure
Software updates are important to your digital safety and cyber security. The sooner you update, the sooner your device is more secure – until the next update reminder. Security updates provide plenty of benefits in each revision. Repairing security holes that have been discovered or removing computer bugs.
Updates can add new features and remove outdated ones and ideally, your operating system should be running the latest version too.
Hackers love security flaws, also known as software vulnerabilities. A software vulnerability is a security hole or weakness found in a software program or operating system. Hackers can take advantage of the weakness by writing code to target the vulnerability. The code is packaged into malware — short for malicious software
Cybercriminals are banking on businesses not updating or patching their systems or software so that they can exploit vulnerabilities and deal damage. If an update is available, it should be applied at the earliest and most practical opportunity.


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Are Office Desk Phones Becoming Extinct?
In short, no. Many office workers will continue to have a business phone on their desks for the foreseeable future. However, more employees have begun to use their personal mobile devices (aka consumerization of IT ) as their primary mode of communication while out of the office and the trend will continue. Tethered phones are a common sight in offices, yet walk into any office and many workers will be walking around and conducting business on mobile phones.
Furthermore, read any mobile industry article or BYOD trend analysis, and you'll get the sense that organizations are throwing out their desk phones en masse and allowing or even encouraging employees to use their mobile devices for business. But to mobilize your workforce and allow them to BYOD, it's not as simple as reimbursing your employees for their phone bills.
Time to Go All Mobile hits on many decision making factors for whether an organization should ditch the desk phone. Before replacing that desk phone, there's cultural, technical, financial and security requirements to take into consideration. We've seen a similar mindset shift when laptops became powerful enough to replace desktops. Organizations successfully adapted and deployed corporate laptops. They crafted new policies for mobile workers, implemented data security measures, and trained their laptop-enabled knowledge workers.
The shift from conducting business on desk phones to conducting business on mobile devices is very different from the shift from desktop PC-based workers to laptop-based workers. It used to be that we expected employers to provide all the necessary tools, but now many people want to use their consumer device for work. In the past, when a worker needed to be on the road, corporate IT issued both the laptop and BlackBerry which were secured and pre-loaded with the approved business applications. Today when an employee uses a mobile device for business instead of their desk phone, there's a good chance it's their personal iPhone or Android device. It's an interesting shift.
While workers want a mobile solution, the desk phone is not headed the way of T-rex. Like desktop PCs, desk phones will continue to be seen in offices while workers increasingly use their personal mobile device for work. For many of us a mobile solution is another tool in our communication toolbox and not a replacement for the desk phone, yet.

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If you recently ordered Alaskan salmon while dining out, what you ate may have not been wild salmon after all, or even from Alaska
A new study finds diners who order “wild” salmon often get a cheaper substitute.
The study by the conservation group Oceana says nearly half of the country’s salmon may be mislabeled and priced too high in restaurants and stores when it’s out of season.
Researchers performed DNA testing on 82 salmon samples, collected in Virginia, Washington, Chicago and New York in the winter of 2013 to 2014.
What they found is that 43 percent of the samples were mislabeled.
In two-thirds of the cases, that “wild” salmon was actually farmed Atlantic salmon.
Consumers can also protect themselves by ordering wild salmon only when it’s in season. The rest of the year, fans of Alaskan can buy it flash froze.


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And further reasons to buy your honey from the beekeeper.
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration says that any product that’s been ultra-filtered and no longer contains pollen isn’t honey. However, the FDA isn’t checking honey sold here to see if it contains pollen.
Ultra filtering is a high-tech procedure where honey is heated, sometimes watered down and then forced at high pressure through extremely small filters to remove pollen, which is the only foolproof sign identifying the source of the honey. It is a spin-off of a technique refined by the Chinese, who have illegally dumped tons of their honey - some containing illegal antibiotics - on the U.S. market for years.


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You remember Blackboard, don’t you? It’s that not-so-sleek site you used to submit assignments to your college professors—the one you cursed to death when it failed to save that paper on Plato’s Republic you spent hours working on.
Blackboard was at turns frustrating, migraine-inducing, and burdensome. Which isn’t to say Blackboard wasn’t innovative. It was, back in the day. Unfortunately, that day was around 2004. Since then, the overgrown education technology giant has somehow managed to infiltrate most of the nation’s colleges and about half its schools. Meanwhile, Blackboard Learn—the portal where students access and turn in assignments, find their grades, and communicate with teachers and fellow classmates—has stagnated.
This imbalance between growth and innovation has inspired much disdain for the company over the years, including hate posts like this gem. Many view Blackboard as the embodiment of everything wrong with education technology: it’s old-fashioned, it’s hard to use, and once a school system has bought into it, it’s even harder to get rid of.
Jay Bhatt, Blackboard’s CEO for the last two and a half years, knows this all too well. “Blackboard is a function of the system it served for many years,” he admits. “It was a startup company that came up with this fantastic idea in an innovative progressive way, but it just didn’t stay as innovative as it began.”
Which is why, since joining the company in 2012, Bhatt has vowed to refocus Blackboard’s products to serve the students who use them and not just the IT administrators who buy them. Now he's ready to show the world just how he plans to do that. Later today, Bhatt will take the stage at the company’s annual BbWorld Conference, where he will announce the launch of the company’s redesigned core products and the introduction of new ones, all of which aim to make Blackboard a service that its 100 million existing users actually want to use.
"Blackboard wasn’t always thought of as a business that had to retain the consumer," he says. "But in the world we live in today, even though education doesn’t think of itself that way, we really do need to retain that consumer and meet the consumer in the way the consumer wants to be met."
Students Are Consumers Too
Bhatt is right to worry about retention. Today, the education technology space is more crowded and competitive than ever. Last year, according to CB Insights, the industry received $1.87 billion in venture funding, a massive leap from the $385 million it received in 2009. And as investor interest in the space has grown, smaller, slicker startups like Edmodo and Instructure have sprouted, costing Blackboard precious market share.
Now, according to Glenda Morgan, a Gartner analyst specializing in education, Blackboard must find a way to "stop the slide," one she says has everything to do with how archaic Blackboard feels to young users raised with apps and iOS. "I've done thousands and thousands of interviews with faculty and students, starting in 2002, and when I talk to them about learning management systems, and particularly Blackboard, I always wait for the 'clunky' word to come," she says.
That's because Blackboard's traditional setup was designed around individual courses. One teacher might organize her class's Blackboard page completely differently than another; until now, it's been up to students to navigate to those differences. Meanwhile, Blackboard has kept products like its video conferencing tool, Collaborate, separate from the Blackboard Learn product, meaning students would have to move between products on a single assignment. The more products Blackboard added or acquired, the more unmanageable it became.
"It hadn't changed. It had only grown," says Jon Kolko, Blackboard's vice president of design. He joined the company a little over a year ago as part of Blackboard's acquisition of the startup, myEdu. He's since been tasked with helping lead the turnaround—a job he was not entirely thrilled to land. "I'm used to working at tiny companies and moving really fast and doing high quality work, and frankly Blackboard was known for the opposite of that," he says. "It's been a low quality product that moves very slowly and does poor quality work."
And so, with Bhatt's blessing, Kolko and his team spent hundreds of hours watching students interact with Blackboard in their natural habitats—their dorm rooms. That experiment taught them that students, already stressed and time-strapped, want a system that can proactively tell them what they should be working on, allow them to work on it in as few clicks as possible, and follow them wherever they need to go. With its redesign, Blackboard set out to accomplish all three.
New, But Only Slightly Improved
For starters, when students log into Blackboard Learn, instead of seeing a list of courses, they'll see important assignments automatically surfaced based on their due dates. When students click on an assignment, a pop-up box appears where they can start the assignment, drag and drop a document, or chat with their classmates. They can also video-conference with their fellow students and teachers with the click of a button using Collaborate tool, a process that used to require a separate download altogether. Now that all of these products are integrated, Blackboard says it can also collect data on student behavior and use it to predict a student's outcome in any given class.
The new Blackboard also has added a few new things. Bb Student, launched to a limited number of customers earlier this year, is the company's first student-focused mobile app, allowing them to access many of the same tools they use in Learn. Meanwhile, the digital résumé tool myEdu lets students showcase projects and portfolios within the résumé.
For Bhatt and other Blackboard executives, these changes are revelatory. But for the millions of students and teachers who use it every day, it remains to be seen whether the new Blackboard will be new enough to convince students to like it—or at least not hate it anymore. And schools will have the option to stick with the older version of the products, if they want. In some ways, the subtlety of these changes is intentional. When you're a company as big as Blackboard, you can't completely pull the rug out from under your users, even if it would be best for the product. "When 100 million students and a huge number of teachers are already using your technology, you can't just punch them in the face and kick them in the stomach," Bhatt says. For evidence of this, look no further than the old Digg's post-redesign downfall.
But when your company already has a significant reputation problem like Blackboard's, sometimes tearing down the house is the only way to rebuild it. (Look no further than Digg's post-acquisition reinvention.) For users past and present, the new Blackboard will feel familiar. That may or may not be a good thing.
And yet, while Blackboard's system may not be getting a complete renovation, the company is at least doing the important work of catching up to the competition. That's worth something when you're operating at Blackboard's scale. As Morgan says, "They're still the biggest on the market by orders of magnitude." That means that when Blackboard makes a change, millions of students feel that change, too. As long as those changes are for the better, even marginal advances are a good place to start.


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Over 30,000 deaths occur from automobile accidents each year in the United States. Self-driving cars have the potential to reduce this number by eliminating human driver error behind the wheel; however, in practice, it is the human driver with hands on the wheel that is required for safety.
Last July, Tesla driver, Joshua Brown was killed in the first known fatal crash while riding in the self-driving, Tesla Model S. At the time of the incident, Brown was watching a Harry Potter movie while the vehicle was in autopilot mode, when the vehicle’s sensor system failed to distinguish a large white 18-wheeler tractor-trailer crossing the highway. The Tesla Model S uses the road lane lines to automatically steer the vehicle and adjust its speed while the vehicle’s cameras and radar technology to avoid traffic. Tesla’s response was that the Model S attempted to drive full speed under the truck trailer, impacting the windshield, and it continued 100 feet off the road colliding with a utility pole killing Brown upon impact.
The Department of Transportation and the National Highway Safety Administration are investigating these vehicles and updating their guidelines, which are currently not mandatory. The guidelines advise manufacturers to classify their vehicle’s levels of Automation (Conditional, High, and Full Automation); revise unnecessary design elements from the safety self-assessment; align with Federal Guidance with the latest developments and industry terminology; and encourage States to allow the DOT to regulate the safety design and performance of these vehicles. However, there is an inherent conflict of interest. Currently, manufacturers design the safety systems while the same manufacturers are eager to make millions from consumer purchases at the most affordable costs.
An example of this self-regulation, Tesla sent an update to its Autopilot software on the weekend of July10th-11th, 2018. The update will notify Tesla drivers more frequently to keep their hands on the wheel when the Autopilot feature is engaged. Tesla acknowledges that vehicles have been involved in fatal crashes during which Autopilot was engaged but the drivers were not holding the steering wheel in the moments before impact. A fatal crash earlier this year prompted the NTSB to open a probe. A preliminary report released last week revealed that the driver’s hands were off the steering wheel for six seconds before his Model X collided with a highway barrier. It seems that Tesla’s Autopilot does not replace the human driver as its name suggests.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a self-driving car where the vehicle systems failed to properly function or protect you, you may have a potential claim for damages against the manufacturer. The Ammons Law Firm and its team have the legal resources and experience to assist you. Call (281) 801-5617


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Triumph India has officially confirmed through a press release that they will commence India operations by November 2013. The company has appointed Mr. Vimal Sumbly as managing director for India operations, who previously managed Bajaj Auto sales as general manager.
Triumph will be assembling some of its models in India at the CKD assembly facility, which is nearing completion at Manesar, Haryana. Triumph is currently looking for dealer partners across strategic locations within India to ensure that customers across the country are able to enjoy the Triumph experience.
Triumph had unveiled 7 models at the 2012 Auto Expo including the Tiger XC, Speed Triple, Street Triple, Storm, Bonneville, Daytona 675 and the Rocket III. During the Auto Expo, the company had announced that some of the products will come to India via CKD route to enable duty savings and later consider full manufacturing as well depending on the market condition. All the motorcycles were launched with mouthwatering prices but we expect the prices to increase when the bookings open due to depreciating rupee and inflation.
"2013 is a very crucial year for Triumph Motorcycles in India and as a company, we are confident about the timing of our market entry. In the past few months, we have carefully assessed the market landscape and will be making well-honed efforts to provide our discerning customers with a complete brand experience,’ said Paul Stroud, director sales and marketing (global), Triumph.
‘I am delighted to have joined Triumph as the brand looks to embark on a well phased out strategy for the Indian market. Our commitment of developing truly iconic motorcycles that are distinctive in looks, design and performance remains ever-present. Soon Indian customers will be able to experience these category wining machines on Indian roads, as the brand looks to elevate the motorcycling paradigm.’said Vimal Subly,managing director, Triumph India.
Check out the first look video of the Triumph Daytona 675 and Street Triple 675.


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FRANCE/ISRAEL: Danone distribution agreement victim of hostilities in Israel
An agreement between Israel's Strauss-Danone Dairies and a large food distributor in Turkey has been called off in view of the recent hostilities in the region. Despite the fact that the Turkish distributor has business ties with Danone, "The Turkish distributor preferred to import the dairy products from Germany," according to a report in Maariv.
The report noted that the deal was for the supply of specialty milk products to the tune of 35 million shekels (US$ 8.5m) for the first year, adding that Strauss Dairies at present exports milk products to Greece.
The report revealed that Strauss group president and CEO Michael Strauss visited Dubai where negotiations were held for exporting Strauss-Danone milk products to Egypt and Jordan, but again, the hostilities in the region caused a temporary halt regarding these deals, as well as registering zero sales since last October of Strauss' products to the Palestinian Authority, compared with sales of 50 million shekels per year before the hostilities started.
By Aaron Priel, just-food.com correspondent
French food company Groupe Danone, the subject of takeover speculation, has reported a rise in sales in the first half of 2005 to €6.437bn (US$7.8bn), compared with 6.257bn a year ago....
The French government is concerned by the possibility of a hostile takeover of dairy company Danone, and would defend French interests in that regard, said prime minister Dominique de Villepin, accord...
Dairy food group Danone has appointed group secretary general Philippe-Loïc Jacob and vice-president R&D Sven Thormahlen to the Groupe Danone executive committee, in a move designed to ensure that all...
French food group Danone said on Monday that it planned to sell its Amoy sauce business in Asia, an asset that wasn't part of the sale of its sauce business to H J Heinz, according to the Dow Jones ne...
Biscuit-maker Poult has acquired Brittany-based family firm Panier Tanguy to become France's second biggest biscuit producer in the sector behind Danone's LU and the leading manufacturer of retailers'...
Danone's French biscuit-making and cereal products arm, LU France, has signed a lease agreement with distribution facilities and services provider ProLogis to occupy two warehouses near Paris and Lyon...
HP Foods, maker of HP and Lea & Perrins sauces, has attracted at least three offers, valuing the company at up to £500m (US$906m), according to the Financial Times....
France's Groupe Danone and Japan's Yakult Honsha have today (Tuesday) announced plans for a joint venture in India....
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Uber had resumed services in the green and orange zones on May 4
As cab-hailing giant Uber gets ready to open up its vehicles for regular travel with most States expected to ease lockdown restrictions, it has announced several safety measures for riders and drivers, including the possibility of barring either from the platform for non-compliance.
Among the announcements is a "Go Online Checklist" for both riders and drivers, a mandatory mask policy for riders and drivers, pre-trip mask verification selfies for drivers, an updated post-trip feedback mechanism and a cancellation policy.
"We don't really speak about what its take for them to be deactivated, what exactly it means in terms of when they can come back because we want our guidelines and policies to be simple for riders and drivers, we want to tell them at every point you have to wear masks and have to follow these guidelines. We will keep it in education mode and remind them, but if constantly we see violation from rider or driver, that's when we will take slightly stronger action and potentially take them off the platform," said Sachin Kansal, Global Senior Director of Product Management at Uber.
Importantly, drivers and riders can cancel trips if they feel unsafe, including if a user is not wearing a mask or face cover.
Kansal clarified that the new measures work on self certification, and there is no course of action in case a rider or driver think the other may be infected. However, if someone using an Uber actually tests positive for Covid-19, and the the government asks Uber through the right channels about which trips they were on, the company will "definitely partner and provide them that information," he added.
Drivers have been advised to use three-ply face masks, and discard them after a single day's use. Uber has acquired 3 million masks to provide to its drivers, and the drivers are also free to use their own, as long as they comply with the requirement of keeping their face covered at all times.
Uber had also piloted using a plastic sheet to isolate the driver's seat for its UberMedic service, which it started a few weeks ago to ferry healthcare workers in partnership with hospitals across the country. The separators are not going to be used in all cabs that start plying, as of now, Kansal said,
"Health and safety is an evolving subject, and plastic separators are one aspect of it. It is a pilot. We continue to get feedback from both riders and drivers. Drivers are welcome to install them but from Uber's perspective thee is no broad policy to that effect," he added.
The Go Online checklist is a list of things that both riders and drivers will have to confirm confirm on the app, which includes safety measures and wearing a face mask.
Before drivers are able to start accepting trips, they will be asked to take a selfie with a mask on. Uber will use a camera selfie with the software being able to tell if the driver is wearing a mask.
To allow for space between the driver and rider during an Uber ride, Uber has advised riders not to sit in the front seat. Only two riders will be allowed in a car and they will have to sit in the rear seat, and the drivers have been advise to sanitise the most touched places in the car after each trip.
Uber had resumed services in the green and orange zones on May 4, and most State governments are expected to allow cabs to ply in red zones as well, in accordance with the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines on Sunday.


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Last month, we reported that current Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa was expected to announce his retirement soon and that Sergio Marchionne would probably be his replacement. It didn't happen in April as we suspected, but in a statement today, the company confirmed the rumor.
When he retires, Felisa will remain on the board of directors as a technical advisor. Marchionne will take over as CEO while retaining his position as the company's chairman. He will also continue as CEO of Fiat-Chrysler.
Felisa has been Ferrari's CEO since 2008 and with the company since 1990. Previously, he was head of product development at Alfa Romeo.
In a bit of related news, Marchionne recently confirmed that Ferrari would proceed with the production of the LeFerrari Spider in a press interview. He remained mum about the long-rumored possibility of a new Dino, however.


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Big retail stores need a whole lot of staff, and the labor market in the United States has become tight. This has forced low-cost giants Target (TGT 0.89%) and Walmart (WMT 0.77%) to steadily raise the wages of their lower-level employees. But there's more to a job than the number on your paycheck.
Basically, when it's this hard to find people to fill your company's open positions, it's more important then usual to retain the workers you've got. As part of its efforts on that front, Target recently made some changes to its benefits program that give its employees a more robust safety net, help them balance work and family, and make it easier for them to get to work under circumstances that previously might have forced them to miss days.
What is Target doing?
Among the upgrades the company has made to its benefits package, it is now offering backup care for all workers in its stores and distribution centers.
Under the program, which Target originally tested at its headquarters, employees will have access to up to 20 days a year of subsidized in-center or in-home care for either children or elders, to be used when the unexpected happens. It isn't free, but the company describes it as "affordable."
The company has also expanded its parental leave program. Employees -- full and part-time, salaried and hourly -- will now receive twice as much paid time off when welcoming a new child into their families, whether by birth, adoption, surrogacy or foster placement. Mothers who give birth also get paid medical leave. (Target did not specify how many much paid leave its workers got previously, nor how many they will get now).
In addition, the retail giant said it's doubling the amount it will reimburse its employees for adoption and surrogacy fees (though the company did not make public the specific dollar amounts).
Why is Target doing this?
By strengthening its family-related benefits, the retailer is making it less likely that employees will leave in the wake of life-changing events like having a baby. Similarly, creating a system for emergency care means that parents (and those caring for their own elderly parents) don't have to choose between job and family when unexpected situations arise.
And, in the battle to lure the best retail workers, Target earlier this year bumped its minimum wage for entry level workers higher than Walmart's.
Walmart, of course, has fired its own salvos in the staffing wars. It too has raised wages, and it offers programs like its $1 a day college tuition. But on the whole, Target now provides what might be considered a more attractive benefits package.
It's a relatively good time to be a retail worker. Both of these giants have been forced to treat their employees better -- not only via stronger pay and benefits, but also by creating more career paths. If the labor market stays tight (or gets even tighter), expect both Target and Walmart to keep raising the stakes for each other, and for the many smaller companies vying for those workers.


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Mistrust over Australia’s seasonally-adjusted jobs figures continues to confuse what is truly happening in the labour market.
It’s creating a headache for policymakers and now it looks like it’s having a negative impact on consumer confidence levels — not a desirable outcome given strength in household consumption is required to help with Australia’s ongoing economic transition.
Take this morning’s ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index as an example.
According to ANZ, it slumped 3.6% to 113.6 last week, leaving it at the lowest levels since May.
While it still remains above its long-run average of 112.8, there’s been a noticeable shift lower from the multi-year peaks seen just a couple of months ago.
In trying to pinpoint the exact reason for week-to-week shifts in sentiment, Felicity Emmett, head of Australian economics at ANZ, reckons last week’s September jobs report likely played a role.
“We expect that last week’s labour market report showing ongoing weakness in full-time employment likely weighed on sentiment, while stock market falls over the past couple of weeks could also have dampened consumers’ view of the outlook,” she said following the release of today’s report.
According to the ABS’ seasonally-adjusted figures, full-time employment slumped by 53,000, the largest one-month drop in over five years. Taken on face value, it left full-time employment down on the levels of a year earlier, the first time that’s been seen since April 2014.
Though questions over the reliability of the data remain entrenched, it’s clearly having an impact on sentiment levels of households.
The breakdown of the survey backs this view, with most of the decline in the headline index last week due to souring sentiment towards the economic outlook.
“Households’ view of current economic conditions index fell 2.7%, while views towards economic conditions over the next 5 years fell a steeper 4.9%,” said ANZ.
There was also a noticeable decline in sentiment towards consumer finances in the year ahead which plummeted 7.1%, leaving it at lws not seen since September last year, more than a year ago.
Views on current consumer finances, along with whether now was a major household item, also weakened during the survey period, something that immediately followed the release of the ABS jobs report last Thursday.
Despite the obvious concern expressed by the September jobs report, Emmett says that labour market conditions and strength in Australia’s residential property market are likely to underpin confidence levels over the near-term.
“The labour market is still improving and this, coupled with ongoing housing market strength, should continue to broadly support confidence,” she says.
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Indoor dining is allowed again in Philadelphia, just in time for Center City Restaurant Week — though takeout is now an option this year.
Fall festivals are kicking off while the weather remains temperate, ranging from elaborate scarecrow displays at Peddler’s Village, to the Made in Philadelphia Fall Market at Dilworth Park, to the annual Philadelphia Fringe Festival.
Indoor dining is now allowed in Philadelphia for the first time in about six months. Capacity is set at 25%, but city officials say they’re allowing indoor dining because of the progress in keeping COVID-19 infection rates low.
“People are nervous still about [indoor dining], so we want to take baby steps,” said Nicole Marquis, owner of HipCityVeg. Restaurants will increase capacity to 50% starting on Sept. 21, but they must first "self-certify" through an online process by Pennsylvania Health Department guidelines.
The goal is for coronavirus cases to continue to trend downward, so by winter, restaurants will be allowed to increase the number of people they can serve inside.
You can also check out the Portrait Gallery in the Second Bank of the United States, the Free Quaker Meeting House, and the Merchants' Exchange Building, all with limited capacity.
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts reopens Saturday, too. Reserve your tickets in advance to enjoy a contact-free check-in experience.
FOOD AND FESTIVALS
Celebrate the fall festivities at the Made in Philadelphia Fall Market at Dilworth Park this weekend. Philly and tri-state area vendors will convene to showcase and sell their finest artwork.
The market is open Friday from noon to 7 p.m.
The Philadelphia Fringe Festival also kicks off this weekend, and this year, it’s predominantly virtual. Stop by in person or online over the next four weeks to see more than 120 works across genres and platforms.
And starting Sunday, head down to Center City for Restaurant Week. Multi-course prix fixe menus for lunch ($20 per person) and dinner ($35) await you. You can either dine at the restaurant or opt for takeout in your own home.
Tickets are on sale now for an outdoor live theater performance of the beloved classic “Tarzan” at the Elmwood Park Zoo. Guests have the option to purchase seating arranged to maintain social distancing, or vehicle seating that will allow you to watch the show from your car.
Shows run nightly starting this weekend, beginning at 8 p.m.
On Saturday morning, why not kill two birds with one stone: Shop and squat. Join the Fashion District’s Nike Factory Store for a Shop & Squat — a free workout with a top trainer — and then enjoy discounts with a private shopping experience. Advanced registration is required.
And as we near the spookiest month, Peddler’s Village is kicking it off early with Scarecrow Season. Check out the free annual scarecrow display, which runs through early October.
This weekend, there’s a comedy night on Friday, and scarecrow-making workshops on Saturday and Sunday. Fees for each respective event can be found on Peddler’s website.
And by overwhelming demand, the Jurassic Quest drive-thru dinosaur experience has been extended through Sept. 20. Secure your tickets before they sell out. Then, hop in your car and prepare to have a dino-mite time.


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The post Australia invites Singaporean travellers to “Discover A Great Deal More” appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Travel Daily.
Tourism Australia has launched the ‘Discover A Great Deal More’ virtual travel fair, the third edition of its highly anticipated travel sale that gives travellers in Singapore an opportunity to grab attractive deals on holidays to Australia. From today to 15 May 2022, travellers will be able to browse offers on flights, hotels, tour packages, car rentals and exciting experiences in Australia, with a travel validity of up to March 2023.
The announcement comes on the back of Tourism Australia’s ongoing ‘Yours to Explore’ campaign, which aims to remind travellers of all the incredible experiences and destinations that await them in Australia for their next holiday, and invite them to return and rediscover its landscapes.
As part of the online fair, Tourism Australia has tied up with five major airlines – Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Scoot, Jetstar and Malaysia Airlines to offer return airfares starting from just S$478. Additionally, tourism products ranging from hotels and car rental agencies to adventure and leisure experiences have come on board to extend exciting discounts – such as up to 20% off car rentals, 15% off hotels and S$20 off Australia experiences – which could be availed online through travel partners including CheapTickets.sg, Klook, Pelago, and Hertz. Exciting tour packages at up to S$800 off per couple will be available online, offline and via telephone through leading travel agents like Chan Brothers Travel, UOB Travel and more.
Commenting on the travel fair, Mr. Brent Anderson, regional general manager of South & South East Asia, Tourism Australia said, “Since reopening our doors, we have seen an incredible surge of demand from Singapore travellers, for whom Australia has always been a familiar and beloved destination. While the things they love about Australia have remained the same, namely our wide-open spaces and welcoming people, in recent years everything from our food to accommodation has had an exciting and creative new makeover. We are proud to collaborate with our longstanding partners and the Australian tourism industry to bring both iconic and fresh experiences to travellers and re-introduce them to the amazing diversity of Australia.”
The “Discover A Great Deal More” fair will be promoted across out-of-home, radio, online and social media activations, and amplified via partnerships with airlines, online travel agents, State and Territory Tourism Organisations and key distribution partners in the Singapore market.
Pre-pandemic, Singapore was Australia’s sixth-largest source market for international visitation and seventh-most valuable for spend with 82% repeat leisure visitation, amongst which 72% of Singapore travellers have visited the country more than twice. In 2019, total expenditure by Singapore travellers equated to A$1.53 billion, of which A$837 million was spent by leisure travellers alone. According to data by travel analyst firm ForwardKeys for flight tickets issued during the week ending 10th April 2022, Singapore has been demonstrating a strong recovery in international travel to Australia – with forward bookings currently at 207% of 2019 volumes, and 67% of bookings being made for travel within the next three months.
The post Australia invites Singaporean travellers to “Discover A Great Deal More” appeared first on Travel Daily.[ad_2]


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- MatriLab, a Madison-based start-up that is developing technologies for the $6 billion worldwide wound care market, has won the 2006 Governor's Business Plan Contest.
The company, which was honored during an awards ceremony during the 2006 Wisconsin Entrepreneur's Conference
, was one of 27 finalists that pres......Full article >>>
ddress a major health problem, he said.
Kao said many existing drugs used for wound care are potentially toxic to surrounding tissues, but the IPN product is unique because it is the only technology that directs medication to the wound site. "The drugs are released in a localized fashion to the immediate tissue environment," Kao explained. "It is both time and spatially controlled."
......Full article >>>
thcare.org">St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee.
MatriLab's goal is to have its first product on the market by the end of 2008, with key customers being wound care clinics, and nurses in home healthcare or skilled care settings. Thompson said the company has chosen a product with a relatively low-risk entry point, and with a simple regulatory pathway to the market.
"We've ......Full article >>>
th scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Medical College of Wisconsin
, St. Luke's Medical Center, and management consultants at Milwaukee's TechStar Early Ventures
. Thompson is affiliated with TechStar, which helps launch high-tech companies. Dr. Kao is with UW-Madison, and Kelleher brings 25 years of ex......Full article >>>
Source:wistechnology.com By Joe Vanden Plas 06/08/06Related biology technology :1
. Surgical products company wins Governors Business Plan Contest2
. Governors third business-plan contest kicks off3
. Tech Digest: President to honor WARF; plus, Governors tech-transfer award for entrepreneurs4
. Sound Focus plans to enter home-entertainment market after taking Governors prize5
. 27 finalists advance in Governors Business Plan Contest6
. Business plan finalists capture technology7
. Former Fiserv exec to enter Business Hall of Fame8
. Shades of gray: Business impacts of an aging workforce9
. Scott Converse, UW-Madison School of Business, on the innovation mind-set10
. Scott Converse, UW-Madison School of Business, on IT workforce development11
. Business Plan Contest produces successful grads


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Glenwood’s future in eye of beholder
GLENWOOD SPRINGS – Glenwood Springs will either be a haven for big-box stores, or, perhaps, great town with a great new street. The vision of Glenwood’s future depends, of course, on who is talking.
The Colorado Department of Transportation “is going to have a wonderfully paved highway through an empty downtown,” said Sandy Boyd, owner of Glenwood Sewing Center – The Quilt Shop..
Boyd and some other business owners are concerned that the department of transportation’s decision to spend months repaving Grand Avenue in concrete, which was announced Tuesday, will hurt their businesses. The plan calls for removing all the asphalt and pouring 10 inches of concrete for a paved surface that will last 30 years or longer with little maintenance.
“I hope they understand they are putting downtown on the line,” said Cheryl Guay, owner of Jewels and Gems.
If Grand Avenue is shut down for four months for paving, said Guay, “it could bankrupt me.”
“With those big machines in front of your store and making noise, no one is going to come in,” she said. “I still have to pay my rent those four months.”
“Business is not good anyway,” added Boyd, noting that in the last few years, Glenwood Springs retailers have had to deal with fires, road work on Grand Avenue and a sluggish national economy resulting from terrorist attacks and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
All of those events have driven customers away from shops in downtown Glenwood Springs, said Boyd.
Even though most retailers agree the paving will disrtupt business, many are going in with a positive attitude.
“We’ve done all we could,” said Sharon Graves of the retailers’ fight against doing the concrete. Graves is the owner of Through the Looking Glass bookstore.
“It’s here, you make the best of it,” she said.
Every retailer seems to think that downtown Glenwood will be a different place after the paving. But they do differ in how they think downtown will change. For Guay and Boyd, downtown is part of what gives Glenwood Springs its character and charm.
“Tourists don’t come to town for big boxes and nice pavement,” said Boyd.
Other retailers say they don’t know what the project will do to downtown.
“What it’s going to do to us, it’s too soon to tell,” said Graves. “Until the project starts, we just don’t know,” she said.
And while some think downtown will change for the worst, some business owners think the paving will change Glenwood for the best.
“I’m all for capital improvements in the community,” said Larry Gruber, owner of Glenwood Music. “I’ve been walking across (Grand Avenue) for nine years. It’s dangerous.”
Gruber also said he’s seen people trip in potholes and bumps in Grand Avenue’s asphalt.
“Let’s not fight it,” said Gruber. “Let’s celebrate our new road and do something to pull people in.”


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UK manufacturing PMI almost broke all-time record in April
The UK manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) came close to setting an all-time record in April when it hit 60.9 – its highest level since July 1994, when it hit a peak of 61.
The monthly survey, compiled by IHS Markit and CIPS, reveals that the growth of output and new orders were among the best for seven years, but the sector is still suffering from supply-chain delays and input shortages, leading to increased purchasing costs and record selling price inflation.
UK manufacturing output increased for the 11th successive month during April. The survey attributes this to a loosening of lockdown restrictions, improved demand and rising backlogs of work. Employment in the sector rose for the fourth successive month.
Underpinning the expansion of production was a marked improvement in new business. New orders rose for the third month in a row, due largely to a further revival of domestic market conditions. Stronger client confidence, the re-opening of parts of the economy, and improving global market conditions, all contributed to sales growth.
Read the full story on the Drives & Controls website.


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Caption: Coffee Industry Corporation Ltd CEO Charles Dambui
By DENNIS ORERE
THE coffee industry in PNG wants to increase production by 30 per cent in year 2022.
It is expected that by then, coffee production should generate K624 million from 78,000 tonnes from current production level under its short-term plan.
The plan was made known by Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) Ltd CEO Charles Dambui during the 2019 PNG Agriculture Sector Retreat this week, held at the International Convention Centre in Port Moresby.
CEO Dambui also explained to agriculture sector members and stakeholders that the short-term plan would be achieved through the following main ways:
- Rehabilitate 500 hectares per year at an approximate cost of K5,333 per hectare
- Increase number of households engaged directly in coffee via Coffee Price Support Scheme
- Subsidise Freight Costs to freight coffee out of remote locations
Prime Minister and caretaker Minister for Agriculture James Marape, who initiated the program and is very vocal about agriculture development in the country, said at the opening of the sector retreat that PNG has great economic potential through the agriculture sector that by 2029, the country can become the food basket for the Asia-Pacific Region.
Prime Minister Marape said he looks forward to the 2019 APEC Meeting that will be held in Santiago, Chile, in South America from Nov 16 to 17, where he wants to take a proactive approach on behalf of the nation, especially for the agriculture sector. And coffee is high on the agenda.
“I will ask South Korea – can you pick up my coffee? I will ask the Philippines to pick up my rice. I will ask Malaysia to pick up my livestock. We can improve on our exports,” said Prime Minister Marape.
Upon his appointment as Prime Minister earlier this year, Mr Marape appointed a Minister for Agriculture, as well as three Vice-Ministers for the Ministry with one overseeing coffee, one for copra, cocoa and palm oil, and the other one to oversee livestock.
Agriculture Vice-Minister responsible for Coffee and Daulo MP Pogio Ghate, said at the occasion that people in PNG are really depending on agriculture for survival, and so our land is very important.
Ghate said: “The current Government is very serious about the agriculture industry.”
CEO Charles Dambui also highlighted CIC’s Medium Term-Plan, which aims that by 2025, coffee production should generate K960 million from 120,000 tonnes from 2022 production level.
For the long-term plan, it is predicted that in 2030, coffee production should generate K1.5 billion from 180,000 tonnes from 2025 production level.


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Proposal Will Help Consumers Shop with Confidence When Purchasing Products Carrying the Label
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The USDA’s proposed new requirements defining the “Product of USA” label for meat, poultry, and egg products will help consumers have greater confidence in the claim when shopping at the grocery store, according to Consumer Reports.
Under the USDA’s proposal, the voluntary label (sometimes appearing as “Made in the USA”) can only be used on products when they are “derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States.” A nationwide survey conducted by the USDA found that the proposed definition is in keeping with what a majority of consumers expect, even though the label is currently allowed on some products that come from animals from foreign countries.
“Shoppers sometimes pay premium prices for products carrying the “Product of USA” label and deserve to know they can depend on that claim,” said Brian Ronholm, director of food policy for Consumer Reports, which has a long history of advocating for country of origin labeling. “But some products that carry the label actually come from other countries, which is misleading and unfair to consumers. The USDA’s proposal will help ensure consumers can shop with confidence knowing that the label means what it says.”
Under the current definition allowed for the label, companies can use the claim on products that have been imported from a foreign country and repackaged or processed in the U.S. Companies can also use the label on meat products derived from animals that have been imported from a foreign country, fed for a couple of months and then slaughtered in the U.S.
Media Contact: Michael McCauley, firstname.lastname@example.org, 415-902-9537


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Other News Stories:
News: Press Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Chris Therkildsen
PHONE: (888) 507-5755
NATIONS PHOTO LAB HIRES NEW DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
Owings Mills, MD – October 14, 2008
Nations Photo Lab, an industry leading professional photo lab has hired Chris Therkildsen, formerly of The Leffler Agency, to head up their Marketing Department.
“Hiring a Marketing Director was job number one for us. After receiving a recommendation from a former colleague, Chris and I met and simply saw eye-to-eye on the direction of the company and the steps to take us there”
Therkildsen’s responsibilities include executing Nations Photo Labs overall marketing efforts, including overseeing the creation of a new website, public relations, creation of seasonal marketing campaigns, strategic partnership opportunities and specific business to consumer market relations.
Therkildsen holds a Masters of Business degree from East Carolina University and a Marketing undergrad degree from the same university.
About Nations Photo Lab
Nations Photo Lab is a leading provider of premium photofinishing products and services for professional photographers, emerging professional photographers, and corporations, based in Owings Mills, MD. Nations Photo Lab prides itself on superior quality, extremely competitive pricing, fast turnaround time, and unparalleled customer service. Additionally, they stay on top of the quickly evolving digital photography industry and only use state-of-the-art machinery and technology to introduce new products regularly to meet the specific needs of their clients.


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Not to be outdone by Samsung, which we've just learned recently is working on 450 Mbps Cat.10 LTE for its next-generation Exynos chip, Qualcomm also announced today that it's going to update its Snapdragon 810 SoC to support Cat9 LTE, with the same 450 Mbps download speeds.
The difference between the two categories is that Cat10 will support 100 Mbps upload speeds as well, while Cat9 will only support half of that (50 Mbps). This means Samsung's own LTE modem will still take the LTE crown next year in terms of performance, but the difference between its LTE modem and Qualcomm's won't be as big as before, when Snapdragon 810 only had official support for Cat6 (300 Mbps downlink/50 Mbps uplink).
Qualcomm may still hold an advantage over Samsung's LTE in how many bands its modem can support. Qualcomm has been in the LTE modem business longer than anyone else, and it has had time to add more bands to its modems. However, this shouldn't be much of an advantage in this case, because it's unlikely Samsung is planning to sell its LTE modems to other companies this soon. At the same time, it's guaranteed that Samsung will support the necessary bands in whatever countries it intends to sell Galaxy devices using this Cat10 modem.
It's becoming more important than ever for Qualcomm to maintain its competitive edge. Other companies are already starting to launch high-end 64-bit chips, such as Apple, Nvidia and Samsung, while Qualcomm's own high-end 64-bit chip is still scheduled for the "first half of 2015" (most likely in the second quarter).
Not only that, but Qualcomm has now started using stock ARM CPU designs in its SoCs instead of its own custom cores. At the same time, Samsung is working on its own fully in-house chip, which could represent a two-fold threat for Qualcomm.
On one hand, Samsung is a big customer of Qualcomm because it tends to sell many devices. This relationship could end if Samsung starts using solely its own chips in its devices (at least the high-end ones).
On the other hand, Samsung could become an even bigger threat to Qualcomm if it gets serious about its mobile chip business and starts selling those chips to other companies. Qualcomm dominates both the mobile processor and LTE modem markets because there haven't been any real alternatives for the past few years. However, chances are many OEMs are already looking to differentiate from their competitors by using other chips that are just as good or better than Qualcomm's chips.
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Samsung is not quite in the position to threaten Qualcomm just yet, because only next year will it begin to put all the pieces together to do that, but it may not be long before that threat materializes. Qualcomm will need to become more proactive, and not as reactive, as it's been this year, when its competitors one-upped the company this year with high-end 64-bit ARMv8 chips and will probably do it again with support for higher-level LTE categories.
Samsung is aggressively pursuing the future expansion in tech and at various fronts. Good luck Qualcomm for stiff competition.Reply


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Coinme, a venture-backed blockchain financial services company, has just recently launched a service that offers consumers the ability to buy Bitcoin at Coinstar®...
MineHub Technologies, Inc. and IBM announced a collaboration to use blockchain technology to help improve operational efficiencies, logistics and financing and reduce...
Coinstar to Give Consumers a Convenient and Easy Way to Buy Bitcoin at Coinstar®Kiosks
Ethereum Constantinople Hard Fork – What is it and How Might it Affect Prices?
Weekly Cryptocurrency Analysis From David Thomas, Director and Co-Founder of GlobalBlock:
Swiss Watchmaker Wants to Put a Crypto Wallet on Your Wrist
Katallassos Launches a Standard Framework for Decentralised Derivatives
Former Director of Mobile for TripAdvisor and Viator Joins KeyoCoin Team to Help Build Intuitive Mobile Booking Platform
CryptoKitties and Gods Unchained Team Up to Lure Users
Weekly cryptocurrency analysis from David Thomas, Director and Co-Founder of GlobalBlock
Bitcoin Price Tanks $250 In Minutes But Analysts Say Bullish Trend Intact
Hedge Fund Chairman Bill Miller Skeptical of ‘Overdone’ Ripple
Ethereum Classic Reels From 51% Attack: Double-Spends Reported
Dutch Crypto Trading Marketplace Cryptohopper at CES 2019
Interview with Ammbr – A Blockchain-Enabled Mesh Network Bringing High Speed Internet to Emerging Economies


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CKGSB Knowledge Fall 2014 Issue: The Alibaba IPO and Variable Interest Entities
The Fall 2014 issue of CKGSB Knowledge is out! It has articles and interviews like:
- Around the World: In a circuitous way, billions of dollars rely on an international game of legal cat and mouse. China’s top companies use variable interest entities, but now the Alibaba IPO is shining a light on this legal grey area.
CHINA BY NUMBERS:
- From stats on China’s search engine market to housing sales: the numbers you need to know
- Sustainable Investment: Which of China’s green investment areas offer the best returns?
- Buying Brain Power: Chinese firms are stocking up on patent purchases, but is it anything more than share price padding?
- The Bot Connection: How the growing use of robots will impact manufacturing in China, as well as China’s robot makers
- China-India Relations: Will Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi bring about the next chapter of this Silk Road saga?
- Politics in the Pipeline: Two experts discuss China and Russia’s recent gas pipeline deal
- Unplugged! They money is there, the producers are capable, so why aren’t electric cars happening in China?
- A Tenuous Hold: Can Samsung fend off domestic brands and Apple to stay at the top of China’s smart-phone market?
- The Thinker Interview: Sheena Iyengar, author of The Art of Choosing, on the limitations of choice—and how to choose wisely
- Q&A: Author and journalist Leta Hong Fincher on the confounding phenomenon of women forfeiting their property wealth in China
- C-Suite: Allen Wu, ARM’s Greater China President, explains how the British seminconductor and software design company navigates the environment for foreign tech companies
- C-Suite: Daniel Kirchert, Managing Director of Infiniti China, tells us how the luxury automobile brand is swinging into high gear
- THE NEW NO. 1: What will change when China eventually becomes the world’s largest economy?
BUSINESS BAROMETER (CKGSB BUSINESS CONDITIONS INDEX):
- Buckle Up: Entrepreneurs are leaning to live with the negative business outlook
- Open Arms: Despite the woes of multinationals, Xiang Bing, Founding Dean of CKGSB, argues China will be more open than ever before
- China and the World Cup: Can China turn around its soccer fortunes?
- China Market Research Founder Shaun Rein on how to spot the real China experts
TO READ THE FALL 2014 ISSUE, SIMPLY CLICK ON THE MAGAZINE COVER.
After it loads, you can save it to your computer.
KEEP IN TOUCH
To stay informed about new articles on the CKGSB Knowledge website, please follow us:
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The Tesco distribution centre at Teesport is set benefit from 50 new jobs - but 1,000 are set to go across the country.
The supermarket giant plans to make 1,000 people redundant as part of a shake-up of its distribution network.
However, Tesco said it expected to create 500 jobs as part of the changes, which should be in place by June.
The shake-up involves the closure of the Welham Green, Hertfordshire, and Chesterfield distribution centres.
The majority of general merchandising will move into one distribution centre at Teesport.
A Tesco spokesman confirmed that from those 500, around 50 new jobs will come to the Teesside depot.
Welham Green’s grocery operations will move to the Reading distribution centre.
Tesco said in a statement: “While these changes will result in some redundancies, new roles will be created within other sites across the Tesco distribution network.
“This includes new jobs at Reading and Middlesbrough distribution centres as well as the creation of colleague support roles in the majority of centres.”
The company says the changes form part of a wider programme of transformation, which has been taking place over the last two years.
The proposed changes will reduce the number of Tesco distribution centres from 25 to 23 in the UK.
Tesco is also withdrawing from a warehouse shared with logistics firm DHL in Daventry, Northamptonshire.
Clothing operations there will move to the nearby Tesco Daventry distribution centre.
Matt Davies, Tesco UK&ROI CEO, said: “As the needs of our customers change, it’s vital we transform our business for the future.
“As part of this we are proposing to close two of our distribution centres in the UK. These changes will help to simplify our distribution operations so we can continue to serve our customers better.
“Our priority throughout this process has been our colleagues and we will continue to do all we can to support them at this time.”
Management structures will be “simplified” as part of the overhaul, the grocer said.
The news comes days ahead of Tesco’s third quarter results and Christmas trading update, with analysts forecasting relatively strong results.


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It took Asus this long to officially launched its Android tablet so everybody must be expecting a lot from the Eee Pad Transformer. Featuring Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS, this Asus Android tablet comes with an optional expandable keyboard, docking station and Waveshare user interface. The question now is whether the Eee Pad Transformer can face up with the other Android tablets lurking in the market and of course the iPad 2?
The answer to that question will perhaps depend on what the Eee Pad Transformer has under its hood. For starters, the said tablet is powered by the NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor, durable and scratch resistant Corning Gorilla Glass Panel, 10.1-inch iPS panel with LED backlighting and 1280×800 resolution, built-in SRS sound technology, a 1.2MP front-facing camera, 5MP rear-facing camera, HDMI output port, touchpad, 3.5mm audio jack, 2 USB port, built-in SD card reader and up to 9.5 hours battery life which can be extended up to 16 hours through the docking station.
No words yet on when the Asus Eee Pad Transformer will be available and for how much. But at least, we now know that Asus still has plans of releasing the said Android tablet. That’s enough for now.
via [Android Community]


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The US government says that Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom masterminded a vast file sharing conspiracy that swindled the entertainment industry out of millions by letting users illegally download movies and songs.
But here’s what the current ‘deal’ is according to the pimps and thieves of the entertainment-industrial complex, and that’s the way these racketeers, who led and consorted with the DOJ to accuse megaupload of ‘racketeering’, want to keep it.
Even with hard copies of compact discs, the artists’ royalties rarely add up to 20 percent of the revenue made.
Dotcom wanted to more than quadruple that by offering artists 90 cents for every dollar spent on downloading songs and even compensate them for tunes acquired for free. In a press release from last year, Dotcom even acknowledged that, “Yes that’s right, we will pay artists even for free downloads.”
Such an attitude is often absent from the music industry insiders, though. As a result, many hopes of a career in the biz have been broken after realizing that the rock and roll lifestyle isn’t oh-so obtainable. “To get to the nuts and bolts of things, unless you’re Rihanna or something, you don’t really make money from record sales anymore,” Mickey Melchiondo of Ween told USA Today last summer.
Over the course of more than two decades, Ween released more than a dozen albums and toured internationally several times over, but the guitarist says that royalties are rare. ”I don’t have sympathy for the record companies,” Melchiondo told the New York Times in 2003. ”They haven’t been paying me royalties anyway.”
After a slew of releases on the major labels, the band began recording and releasing albums on their own.


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Ford is recalling nearly 423,000 cars and SUVs in North America because the power-assisted steering can fail while they’re being driven.
Under pressure from U.S. safety regulators, Ford is expanding a recall to fix door latches that may not stay closed. The recall now covers almost 546,000 vehicles.
Ford is recalling more than 221,000 cars and vans to fix problems with door latches and seat belts. The company said that there have been no known injuries from the problems.
Ford has agreed to government demands to expand a driver’s side air bag inflator recall to the entire nation. The move adds 447,000 Ford vehicles to the recall list.
Former President George H.W. Bush reasserted his confidence in the work of the CIA despite a Senate Intelligence Committee finding that it torture was part of its post-9/11 interrogation program.
Chrysler sales rise 20 percent. GM sales up 6 percent. Ford sales drop 2 percent.
U.S. safety regulators have closed an investigation into steering problems in more than 500,000 Ford full-size cars without seeking a recall.
Ford said Friday that its new aluminum-bodied F-150 pickup will get up to 26 mpg on the highway, making it the most fuel efficient gas-powered full-size pickup.
The federal government is demanding that the auto industry recall millions of additional cars equipped with faulty air bags that can injure — and even kill — a driver.
Ford is recalling about 65,000 of its Fusion midsize cars in North America because the ignition keys can be removed if the transmission is not set in the park position.
The new pickup should be in dealerships by late December.
Aluminum isn’t new to the auto industry, but this is the first time it will cover the entire body of such a high-volume vehicle.


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A UK court has ordered ISPs to block access to 21 websites that offer links to pirated music content.
According to British Recording Music Industry (BPI), the websites include FilesTube, 1337x, BitSnoop, ExtraTorrent, Monova, TorrentHound, Torrentreactor and Torrentz.eu in addition to several others.
BPI chief executive said Geoff Taylor said: "We asked the sites to stop infringing copyright but unfortunately they did not and we were left with little choice but to apply to the court."
The High Court judge has also ordered the sites to be blocked from today.
Upon receiving court orders, BT and Virgin Media have confirmed plans to stop access to the sites soon, while Sky and TalkTalk are yet to confirm.
However, the majority of copyright infringement has now shifted from music downloads to illegal film and TV downloads.
Recently, pirated BitTorrents provider IsoHunt has also agreed to close all its operations under a court settlement in a piracy lawsuit filed by the Motion Picture Association of America.
A recent survey by trade association Tiga revealed that 87% of UK game developers and digital publishers prefer implementation of new business models to combat piracy, while 10% support adoption of stricter enforcement of intellectual property rights.


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Social media startups aren't typically as well-funded as cloud or mobile startups, but they can have just as much impact and potential in how a business functions and succeeds. After evaluating more than 40 social media startups and then turning to crowdsourcing for input, here are the 10 hot social media startups to watch.
- Cisco warns WLAN controller, 9000 series router and IOS/XE users to patch urgent security holes
- With password compromise growing, CISOs are pushing towards a passwordless future
- Australian companies dealing with incidents by ‘accidental insiders’ every few weeks
- Widespread DNS hijacking attacks steal target's VPN credentials
- Wipro breach highlights third-party risk from large IT services providers


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Cash advance places are politically unpopular, nevertheless they can offer life lines to borrowers whom canвЂ™t proceed through old-fashioned banking institutions, Joseph writes.
Numerous Americans neglect that whether they have a toothache and desire a cavity filled, they could manage to spend the dental practitioner. If their automobile broke straight down the next day, they are able to pay the mechanic shop with money or on credit. However for most households that are low-income on excessively tight spending plans, these choices arenвЂ™t available.
A current study from the Federal Reserve discovers that two-thirds of Us citizens making under $40,000 each year will have to either offer something or borrow cash in the case of a $400 crisis cost.
Needless to say, don’t assume all household has one thing of value they are able to offer. And borrowing funds from household or buddies is not constantly an alternative. A large number of low-income individuals have turned to short-term, or payday loans to plug the gap until their next paycheck in these emergency circumstances.
Pay day loans have actually very long received the scorn of customer activists to be вЂњpredatory.вЂќ The financing industry is just one of the main goals for the customer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), this new regulatory agency developed under by 2010вЂ™s Dodd-Frank Act to reign within the in system that is financial. Nonetheless, customers donвЂ™t harbor the same animosityвЂ”payday loan providers consistently score full of consumer satisfaction.
Scientists at George Washington UniversityвЂ™s class of Business, where we train, have actually studied the pay day loan company for a time. In the past, GWU published a report which unearthed that 89 % of cash advance clients surveyed had been either вЂњvery satisfiedвЂќ (55 per cent) or вЂњsomewhat happyвЂќ (34 %) making use of their most present cash advance. And 86 % thought that payday lenders provide a helpful service.
A George Washington University Business Professor Howard Beales examined more than a million installment that is small-dollar, including payday advances, in 16 states. The research discovered those that https://myinstallmentloans.net/payday-loans-nc/ borrow over repeatedly are more inclined to repay their loans and are also also very likely to spend reduced interest levels, showing theyвЂ™re considered less dangerous after showing their capability to settle their loans.
One of the primary fables about payday advances is the fact that theyвЂ™re significantly more costly for consumers than many other products that are financial. Yet they have been less costly than charges incurred from bouncing checks or overdrawing their bank records and bank card fees that are late high interest ratesвЂ”products perhaps maybe perhaps not being targeted as aggressively by the CFPB. Customers additionally report these are typically well alert to the expense of their pay day loan and interest prices are mostly exhibited at financing centers.
None of those facts have deterred the CFPB from proposing brand brand new laws regarding the payday lending industry that analysts say could lessen the accessibility to such loans by as much as 70 %.
Possibly getting rid of one of the few viable (and appropriate) monetary choices offered to low-income consumers wouldnвЂ™t be therefore problematic in the event that CFPBвЂ™s rules would conserve customers from defaulting on the pay day loans and destroying their credit. Unfortuitously, research suggests this really isnвЂ™t the actual situation.
Underneath the CFPBвЂ™s guidelines, borrowers would generally be banned from вЂњrolling overвЂќ their loansвЂ”taking out a payday that is new to pay off a current oneвЂ”more than twice.
Another recently released educational research from Jennifer Lewis Priestley, a teacher at Kennesaw State University, analyzed the impact a top wide range of pay day loan rollovers had on borrowersвЂ™ fico scores. She discovered that borrowers with a top range rollovers really saw more impact that is positive their credit than customers with few rollovers. Borrowers whom did experience a decrease in credit ratings had been prone to are now living in states which have legislation limiting access to pay day loans.
In addition, the CFPBвЂ™s guidelines needing short-term loan providers reveal proof borrowers can repay their loansвЂ”verifying earnings, debts, and credit historyвЂ”will considerably limit the amount of borrowers entitled to loans.
The CFPBвЂ™s quest to eradicate pay day loans along with other lending that is short-term will leave low-income People in america with few appropriate choices to check out whenever an urgent situation expense arises. ThatвЂ™s barely providing protection that isвЂњfinancial to your People in america whom require it most. LetвЂ™s hope these needy families have actually one thing they are able to offer the the next occasion their vehicle breaks down.


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It's a December tradition at the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown -- the appearance of the annual Mistletoe Mysteries book display, featuring winter holiday-themed mystery fiction from both the past and present! This year, when the display hadn't gone up by December 3rd, we started getting concerned questions from mystery fans!
In addition to sampling the books on the display at the downtown library, the Mistletoe Mysteries booklist
on the BookGuide site has once again been completely updated, to include new
holiday-themed mysteries added within the the past year. If you're a fan
of this traditional mystery sub-genre, stop by the online booklist to
see what new titles have been added!


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Startup conference on single-use plastic alternatives and air quality management
The creation of new businesses and the introduction of innovative ideas are not only contributing to the resolution of environmental issues but also to the expansion of the nation's economy.
Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Consumer Affairs, Government of India,
inaugurated a conference of startups and innovators working on eco-alternatives to banned single use plastics and air quality management on September 27th, 2022 at the Chennai Trade Centre in Chennai. Shri Siva V Meyyanathan, Minister of Environment, Climate Change, Youth Welfare and Sports Development, Government of India, was also in attendance at the event. The Government of India, the Government of Tamil Nadu, and the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change have collaborated to organise the Startup Conference.
The control of air quality and the development of environmentally friendly replacements for banned single-use plastics are two examples of the serious environmental problems that have been addressed by startups and other types of innovative companies.
He emphasised the significance of having accessible alternatives to the single-use plastic items that have been prohibited by the government. This challenge has been taken up by entrepreneurs and innovators, who have come up with environmentally friendly alternatives. Rice straw has being used by one startup to create a material for packaging. The development not only solved the problem of pollution produced by plastic, but it would also assist in lowering the level of pollution brought on by the burning of rice husks. A second new business venture has developed a flexible packaging material made from seaweed. He brought attention to the fact that new businesses and innovative thinkers are not only contributing to the resolution of environmental issues but also to the expansion of the nation's economy. Through a variety of government-run programmes, such as the Startup India Mission, the Indian government is putting an emphasis on providing assistance to entrepreneurs and new business ventures.
At the Startup Conference, there will be attendance from a large number of new businesses and creative thinkers from all over the country who are developing alternatives to banned single-use plastic goods and methods for improving air quality. At the Expo, participants include representatives from concerned government ministries interested in supporting innovation, startups, and MSMEs as well as bank representatives who play an important role in the process of mobilising finances for startups and manufacturers. The Startup Conference is being attended by delegates from a variety of state agencies, including state governments and state pollution control boards.
The Conference of Businesses will provide a platform for engagement and exchange of views amongst innovators and institutions, government departments supporting startup ecosystems in the country, and financial institutions, on initiatives taken for scaling up innovations and supporting startups. The conference will feature experience sharing sessions for entrepreneurs working in the field of alternatives to banned single-use plastics and startups working in the field of air quality management. These sessions will take place during the conference.
A separate discussion on the role of financial institutions in scaling up companies has also been scheduled, and attendees will include representatives from the Startup India Mission as well as banks and the Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises.
The Minister stated that the strategy that has been adopted by the Government to combat unmanaged and littered plastic waste has two pillars: the first pillar is the implementation of extended producer responsibility on plastic packaging, and the second pillar is the prohibition of single-use plastic items that have a high potential for littering but low utility. We will be able to make progress in addressing the problem of scattered and unmanaged plastic trash in the country if we encourage innovation and startup companies to develop alternatives to single-use plastics.


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DUBAI, Nov 26- Speculation that Saudi Arabia could devalue its currency may owe more to a poor public relations effort by Saudi authorities than to the economic pressures on the kingdom. Riyadh has the tools available to protect itself as low oil prices push the current account and budget balances of the world's top crude exporter deep into deficit, senior...» Read More
*New York state factory activity gauge falls in June. WASHINGTON, June 15- U.S. industrial production unexpectedly fell in May as manufacturing and mining activity remained weak, a sign that a strong dollar and spending cuts in the energy sector continued to constrain economic growth. Looking ahead, production is likely to stabilize when the oil industry...
Online shopping has arrived in North Korea, even though citizens of the isolated country have no access to the Internet.
Those days of pounding the bottom of that ketchup bottle may be over if a new product succeeds in hitting the mainstream.
Amazon's new line of diapers and baby wipes only raises merchants' fears it plans to compete directly with sellers on its site. Re/code reports.
Fears that Russia's economic downturn will ravage European multinationals may have been overstated in some cases, with companies that sell beer and soap defying expectations.
Laundry detergent pods, that are sometimes mistaken for candy or toys, have accidentally poisoned thousands of children, according to a new study.
Movember sponsor Harry's is looking to shave off a piece of the $6.1 billion men's grooming industry with low-priced blades and bathroom products sold online.
Annual growth in China's exports and imports slowed in October, data showed on Saturday, reinforcing signs of fragility in the world's second-largest economy.
Argentina has accused Procter & Gamble of tax fraud and said it suspended its operations in the South American country.
U.S. cleaning products maker Clorox reported better-than-expected quarterly sales and adjusted profit, helped by strong demand for household products.
What's in the package might be the same, but for a variety of reasons, sometimes companies need to call products by another name outside their home country.
CNBC's Sara Eisen provides insight to the big business of adult diapers.
Bayer will acquire the consumer care business of U.S.-based Merck & Co for $14.2 billion in cash, the company said in a statement Tuesday.
Today Show investigative correspondent Jeff Rossen ordered flowers from some of the biggest names in the business, including 1-800-Flowers, and compared the arrangements to their advertisements.
A Reuters study found that Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei controls a massive financial empire built from property seizures from ordinary Iranians.
Kasper Rorsted, Henkel CEO, provides his views on the state of the global economy and Europe's economic recovery.
Amid a slow-growth environment for US manufacturing, one American company is bucking the trend as Americans embrace juicing, which has driven sales higher.
WD-40 has been a staple in American households. Now, they aim to fix the world’s problems. "There's still lots of squeaks in China and lots of rust in Russia!" the CEO said.
The tragic Sandy Hook shooting sparked a surge in sales of an unexpected product: bullet-proof backpacks.
The stock market is risky as it is, Cramer said, adding investors should have to worry about software glitches, as well.


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When Covid-19 cases rose in the US in March 2020, people sheltered in place, worked from home, and wore face masks in public. Suddenly, a trip to the grocery store felt more like a post-apocalyptic side quest than a quick errand. In an attempt to stem the spread of the novel virus, consumers prioritized online shopping and curbside pickup, and brand loyalty fell by the wayside as they explored alternative options amid supply chain disruptions and other logistical challenges.
Naturally, this sudden shift in purchasing patterns hurt some categories more than others. While sales spiked for essentials like toilet paper and cleaning products, many segments in retail, including the beauty industry, took a massive hit.
By the end of 2020, experts were able to identify significant declines in categories like color cosmetics and fragrance. Though many predict a resurgence in these categories as the global economy recovers and consumers return to their pre-Covid lifestyles, only time will tell. However, we can point to one bright spot in the beauty space: According to an August 2021 report from Fortune Business Insights, the global skincare market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of more than 5% and top $200 billion by 2026.
It makes intuitive sense why beauty consumers aren’t investing as much of their money in color cosmetics right now. Why splurge on that killer red lipstick if no one will be able to see it under your mask? Why put on a full face of foundation when Zoom and other video collaboration platforms have beauty filters that smooth out your appearance just as effectively?
The numbers back up those sentiments. The share price of Coty, the global beauty company that owns iconic brands like Rimmel and CoverGirl, fell 52% in March 2020. About six months later, Mintel forecasted a 10.6% decline in 2020 overall US makeup sales. At the same time, research from the NDP Group revealed that almost 40% of skincare users were using skincare products more often than they did in 2019.
But while the global pandemic threw some of these trends into sharp relief, the wheels were already in motion before anyone had ever heard of Covid-19. At the beginning of 2014, Ulta Beauty was earning around $2.7 billion in annual net sales and had 675 total stores. Instagram influencers and trendsetters like the Kardashian-Jenner family drove a renewed interest in makeup as they promoted trends like baking, contouring and matte liquid lipsticks.
By 2019, Ulta had more than doubled its annual sales and nearly doubled the number of brick-and-mortar stores in operation, but in August, it became clear that the tides were turning. Ulta lowered its guidance for fiscal 2019—citing underperformance in the cosmetics category, which made up more than half of its total sales.
Fast-forward a year later, and Ulta confirmed that makeup sales still languished compared to pre-pandemic levels. In contrast, consumers’ demand for clean skincare increased. We can point to a few short- and long-term trends in the skincare market that may have contributed to the decline of color cosmetics. Here are a few:
• DIY beauty: When covid lockdowns temporarily shut down salons and beauty retailers, consumers took matters into their own hands. Suddenly, hair colorings, manicure services, and facials became fun do-it-yourself (DIY) projects. Within the first week of April 2020, for example, US sales of hair dye and nail clippers had skyrocketed 23% and 166%, respectively, compared to the previous April. DIY beauty also served as a self-care outlet for stressed-out consumers. The esthetician’s office may be closed, but your bathroom is always open for business. Even luxury DIY-centric products—like an at-home light therapy device that retails for upward of $400—gained in popularity. That said, it seems that consumers still value professional pampering services because DIY-related discussions started to dwindle as the year went on, and by November 2021, they’d fallen 71.6%.
• “Zoom boom”: Video platforms such as Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype and FaceTime are staples in people’s post-Covid lives. Despite much of our social interaction happening in virtual spaces, cosmetic treatment practitioners have noticed a 57% uptick in inquiries for face and neck treatments, a phenomenon they’re calling “Zoom boom.” People who work remotely are especially prone to Zoom boom, as they’re forced to look at their faces on camera much more than they would have pre-pandemic. This repetitive self-gazing makes people more critical of their personal appearance and seek cosmetic treatments. With remote work becoming a fixture in Corporate America, it will be interesting to see how the Zoom boom continues to influence skincare market trends.
• More skin, less cosmetics: One of the most significant reasons we’re seeing more people focus on skincare and wellness is because, well, it’s trendy. After the all-matte-everything looks of the mid-2010s ran their course, many consumers decided they’d had enough of heavy-handed looks. Enter “skinimalism.” Skinimalism is all about loving the skin you’re in rather than trying to cover any imperfections. That puts a focus on lightweight products that let skin shine through (think tinted SPF and glowy serums). In a December 2020 report, Pinterest noted a significant jump in searches for natural skincare. For example, searches for “how to get glowing skin naturally” grew fourfold, while those for “natural everyday makeup” rose 180%.
• Maskne: Maskne isn’t necessarily a new problem. After all, many professionals, especially those in the healthcare space, have been wearing masks for years. However, maskne, or the acne and irritation resulting from wearing a face mask for a prolonged period of time, reached new levels of awareness as the general public began masking up in 2020. As a result, we’ve seen trends in the skincare market that favor treating and preventing acne around the chin and jaw. And according to plastic surgeon Smita Ramanadham, MD, “Products that protect the skin barrier, hydrate, and reduce inflammation will be huge in 2022.”
• Whole-body products: Wellness and skincare go way beyond the face and neck. In 2021, we saw the body care beauty category explode on the scene with the rise of self-care routines and rituals. Experts don’t see that growth slowing any time soon. Brands of all stripes are releasing more body-specific products—ranging from bacne-fighting sprays to luxurious bubble baths to barrier repair products. Aromatherapy as a form of self-care is bigger than ever, according to research from CB Insights.
• Hand care: Perhaps no industry had a bigger 2020 than hand sanitizer . In fact, the global hand sanitizer market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of more than 22% between 2020 and 2027. We don’t have to look far to see why: Consumers’ increasing awareness of germs and hand hygiene drove hand sanitizer sales through the roof, especially early in the pandemic. In fact, hand sanitizer was in such short supply that many distilleries pivoted from making spirits to producing alcohol -based sanitizers. We even saw long-time brands like Purell launch more ingredient-conscious hand washes to appeal to consumers’ demand for clean skincare.
This isn’t the last we’ll hear of these trends in the skincare market, but much like any trend, they’ll likely wax and wane in popularity during the next few years. One trend we can count on sticking around, however, is a sharpened focus on skincare ingredients.
Gone are the days when consumers took marketing buzzwords like “clean” and “natural” at face value. Today, beauty lovers want to know exactly what they’re applying to their body’s largest organ: their skin. In fact, an overwhelming majority of American women (95%, to be exact) say they look for specific skincare ingredients when shopping for new products.
Here are nine skincare ingredients to keep an eye on in 2022:
Niacinamide is a form of vitamin B3; it’s been on the rise for several years now both in skincare products and social media. This superstar has more than 185 million views on TikTok. Niacinamide is popular for a reason: It does it all! Look for products with niacinimide to help reduce visible signs of aging, combat congestion, regulate oil production, and brighten the skin — all without drying out the skin. “Niacinamides work with your skin’s natural chemistry to improve overall skin texture by rebuilding a lipid layer, minimizing the appearance of pores, and preventing UV damage and inflammation as an antioxidant,” says Dr. Brandith Irwin, a board-certified dermatologist.
Retinol is a type of retinoid, which is a derivative of vitamin A. A powerful, well-known ingredient, it is one of the most widely used anti-aging skincare ingredients on the market because it works. It helps reduce fine lines and wrinkles by encouraging collagen production. However, just like niacinamide, retinol is an accomplished multitasker: It can help with everything from clearing acne to smoothing texture to eliminating dullness to minimizing pores.
3. Hyaluronic Acid
Classic ingredients, such as hyaluronic acid, are always in fashion. If you’re well-versed in the beauty space, you’ve probably heard that this skincare ingredient can hold 1,000 times its own weight in water . So don’t be fooled by the inclusion of “acid” in the name. This skincare ingredient is super gentle and can help you achieve intense hydration levels. It’s perfect for those who want to combat dull and dehydrated skin.
4. Vitamin C
Much like hyaluronic acid, vitamin C is a longtime favorite — and for good reason. This powerhouse antioxidant helps skin fight the damaging effects of pollution and stress while also neutralizing free radical damage. Free radicals are molecules that lead to skin damage such as the sun, smoke, and other toxins. Specifically, this skincare ingredient helps brighten skin, boost collagen, fade unwanted pigmentation, and smooth out fine lines. No wonder vitamin C serum sales grew 37% in June 2020.
Think vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant? Read on about astaxanthin (pronounced “as-tax-an-thin”). Astaxanthin helps prevent oxidative stress and fight issues such as discoloration, dullness, fine lines, etc. And while it may not be as well-known as vitamin C, it’s thought to be even more effective at neutralizing skin-damaging free radicals.
6. Glycolic Acid
Glycolic acid is an alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) that’s used in skincare and cosmetics. AHA is a water-soluble family of skincare ingredients that help exfoliate and resurface your skin. Other forms of AHAs include lactic acid and azelaic acid, but glycolic acid is arguably the most famous AHA because it is the smallest of them all. Therefore, it can deeply penetrate the skin to promote better brightening and exfoliating. That said, glycolic acid is a potent skincare ingredient, meaning it can cause sensitivity. It’s always a good idea to patch-test glycolic acid before incorporating it into your routine.
7. Polyhydroxy Acids
When it comes to chemical exfoliants, you’re not limited to AHAs. There are beta hydroxy acids (BHAs) and polyhydroxy acids (PHAs), too. Of the three, PHAs are the gentlest by far. Unlike BHAs, they won’t dry out skin, and they’re typically well-tolerated by those who find AHAs and BHAs too irritating. PHAs help shed dead skin cells, reduce hyperpigmentation, and reverse sun damage to promote a radiant complexion. Some of the most popular PHAs are gluconolactone acid, galactose acid and lactobionic acid. Experts recommend using PHAs with moisture-locking skincare ingredients like hyaluronic acid and glycerin .
8. Centella Asiatica
Centella asiatica — also known as Gotu kola, tiger grass, or cica — is having a moment thanks to the rise of K-beauty. Yet, it has been used for nearly 3,000 years in traditional Chinese, Indonesian and Ayurvedic medicine. Cica extracts help control collagen synthesis, stop oxidative damage from environmental stressors, and amplify skin’s moisture barrier. Cica serums or creams to relieve acne, scarring, dehydration, inflammation and signs of aging.
9. Prebiotics and Probiotics
When you think about prebiotics and probiotics, gut health probably comes to mind, but a growing body of research shows that treating skin with topical prebiotics and probiotics will help balance the skin’s microbiome and keep inflammation at bay. Prebiotics nourish the good bacteria living on your skin and discourage the overgrowth of harmful bacteria, while probiotics stimulate the skin’s immunity and guard it against irritation and stress. Don’t sleep on this emerging skincare ingredient.
The 2020s have been a lot of things, but boring is not one of them. As we venture further into this new decade, we’ll continue to see the long-term impacts of this global health crisis on the beauty industry — and learn more about the skincare ingredients health-conscious consumers gravitate toward.
About the Author
Courtney Regan is the director of global marketing and brand development at Cosmetic Solutions Innovation Labs, a globally recognized contract manufacturer and innovation partner that offers the operational excellence of large-scale contract manufacturers with the proactive leadership and flexibility to help brands grow on their terms.