text:
Archive for Uncategorized
Elenium Automation will design a self-screening security portal for Micro-X – Passenger Terminal Today
- Weekly jobless claims fell to 290,000 last week, landing at a new pandemic-era low.
- Economists expected filings for unemployment benefits to edge higher to 300,000.
- Continuing claims fell to 2.48 million for the week that ended October 9, also beating estimates.
Filings for unemployment insurance slid again last week, placing them at another pandemic-era low.
Jobless claims reached 290,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The median estimate from economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a slight increase to 300,000 claims. The print marked a third consecutive decline.
The previous week's total was revised to 296,000 from 293,000.
Continuing claims - which count Americans filing for ongoing unemployment insurance benefits - dipped to 2.48 million for the week that ended October 9. That beat the median estimate of 2.55 million claims. The print also placed continuing claims at another pandemic-era low.
Claims resumed their slide to fresh lows last week after hovering at elevated levels through much of September. Weekly claims are still higher than the pre-crisis average of about 200,000, and continuing claims have yet to return to their 2019 lows of about 1.7 million. Still, the steady decline suggests more Americans are finding work, and that fewer are being laid off.
The Thursday report follows a similarly encouraging update on Americans' spending through the Delta wave. Spending at US retailers and restaurants unexpectedly rose 0.7% in September to $625 billion, beating forecasts for a 0.2% decline and placing monthly sales just below record highs. Consumer spending counts for roughly 70% of economic activity, making the increase a promising sign that the recovery is pushing forward.
The retail-sales data also suggests the Delta wave will only have a minor effect on the US rebound. Daily case counts peaked in mid-September and have fallen since. The seven-day average for new cases is now the lowest its been since late July.
Yet the Delta wave is only one hurdle for the US to overcome. Global supply chains are still a mess, with factory backlogs, shipping delays, and port logjams driving prices higher and worsening supply shortages across industries. While some experts feel the worst of the bottlenecks are behind the US, the logistics nightmare could still weaken critical holiday-season spending.
Tesla took a $51 million hit on its bitcoin investment in Q3 despite the token soaring 30%. Here’s why.
- Tesla took a $51 million hit on its bitcoin holdings in the third quarter, its earnings showed Wednesday.
- That's despite the cryptocurrency rising around 30% across the July to September period.
- The answer to the riddle lies in the strange way the company has to account for its crypto.
But Elon Musk's electric car company took a $51 million hit on its bitcoin investment - despite the token jumping around 30% in the third quarter.
The answer to the riddle lies in the weird way Tesla has to account for the more than $1 billion of bitcoin on its books.
It's "very asymmetric," according to Philippe Houchois, equity analyst at Jefferies.
Houchois said Tesla has to value its bitcoin at the lowest point to which it falls over the quarter. That means it officially has to recognize a loss if it drops below the purchase price.
Under the quirky accounting rules, Tesla can't ever revise the value of its bitcoin upwards. It only gets to recognize any gains if it sells the tokens.
Tesla is thought to have bought its bitcoin for around $34,000. So even though bitcoin rose roughly 30% to $43,800 in the third quarter, Tesla had to write down the value of its holding because it fell to $29,000 at one point in July.
According to the accountants, Tesla's digital asset holding fell $51 million to $1.26 billion in the July to September period. That was down from $1.31 billion in the final quarter.
And Houchois said the peculiar rules mean Tesla won't get to boast about its investment in the fourth quarter either, unless it sells some.
Bitcoin hit a new all-time high on Wednesday of above $67,000. But Tesla is likely to face another "impairment charge" because it fell as low as $40,000 in September.
Houchois said the rules are strange, but reflect the fact that accountants think bitcoin is an "intangible asset." They reckon it's hard to properly value and may not be very liquid - despite billions of dollars worth changing hands each day.
However, Tesla's investment has been an excellent one when considering the actual gain bitcoin has notched up from January to today.
Bitcoin was trading at around $66,000 on Thursday, meaning the value of Tesla's purchase has likely risen around 90% in just under a year, on paper at least.
Shift5 Named in 2021 Cool Vendors™ in Cyber-Physical Systems Security Report by Gartner® – Johnson City Press (subscription)
- FTX has raised over $420 million in its latest funding round, putting its market valuation at $25 billion.
- The fundraising drew in 69 participants, including investors from Sequoia Capital, Temasek Holdings, and Ribbit Capital.
- The new round comes after FTX has held the largest funding round in crypto history in June, raising $1 billion.
- Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.
Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX has raised over $420 million in its latest funding round, putting the market valuation of the cryptocurrency exchange at $25 billion, the company announced Thursday.
The series B-1 fundraising drew in 69 participants, including investors from Sequoia Capital, Temasek Holdings, Ribbit Capital, and Tiger Global.
The new round comes after the exchange held the largest funding round in crypto history, raising $1 billion in June. Previously the company disclosed raising $900 million, which put its value at $18 billion, and on Thursday updated the total.
"Today we are focused on establishing FTX as a trustworthy and innovative exchange by regularly engaging with regulators around the world, and constantly seeking opportunities to enhance our offerings for digital asset investors," Bankman-Fried said in a statement Thursday.
"For this round, we capitalized on those strides and were able to partner with investors that prioritize positioning FTX as the world's most transparent and compliant cryptocurrency exchange."
FTX said the new cash injection will be used to fund the company's continued expansion, having just relocated to the Bahamas, and to address adjacent market opportunities including equities, prediction markets, NFTs, and videogame partnerships, according to Ramnik Arora, head of product at FTX.
Earlier in October, FTX launched an NFT marketplace on the solana blockchain for its US customers. A day later, rival Coinbase Global announced it is launching its own NFT marketplace by the end of the year. FTX in August acquired LedgerX, the first crypto derivatives platform approved in the US.
FTX, launched in 2019, is one of the newcomers in the crypto space yet has quickly grown to become one of the key players in the digital asset industry. Its userbase has grown 48%, and its average trade volume has increased 75%, now averaging $14 billion per day in daily volume.
FTX is also known for its high-profile collaborations. Earlier in the year, it signed a $135 million deal for the naming rights on the Miami Heat's stadium, which is now called FTX Arena. And it partnered with Major League Baseball in June to become the first crypto exchange sponsor in professional sports.


text:
Concepta launches ‘highly-accurate’ COVID-19 testing service
has today launched a “highly accurate” direct to consumer COVID-19 lab-based test which the group said will help drive awareness over the Christmas period.
The testing service will be launched under the personalised healthcare company’s new MyHealthChecked™ brand, the umbrella brand of a range of at-home DNA and RNA test, which has been in development following the recent acquisition of The Genome Store.
The first test swab kit available will be ‘a fast and reliable direct to consumer COVID-19 lab-based PCR test available to the UK public via a new ecommerce website.’
The service will use the Clarigene® SARS-CoV-2 test supplied by Yourgene Health plc and the PrimeStore® MTM sample collection device supplied by EKF Diagnostic Holdings plc.
The MyHealthChecked™ testing service allows samples to be ‘quickly and conveniently’ taken at home using simple nasal collection swabs which are then sent via free postage for processing using established laboratory-based DNA and RNA detection methods.
The company said the newly acquired team has delivered the launch of this COVID-19 testing service to an efficient timescale, ‘enabling an awareness drive to the public ahead of the Christmas period at a time when members of the public are making holiday plans.’
While the UK awaits the incoming vaccine roll-out, the requirement for at home testing kits is still expected to continue. Last week, the Transport Secretary even announced a new testing scheme where a negative coronavirus results could reduce quarantine periods.
CPT expects to launch a number of DNA tests covering a range of female and male wellness, food intolerance and lifestyle testing, and develop a pipeline of tests from Q1 2021.
MyHealthChecked™ will offer consumers a range of simple to use DNA tests across key healthcare areas, and target pricing affordably to improve accessibility for the public.
"As our pipeline development continues and we invest in our plans to build a sustainable, long term business, we're proud to be delivering on this short-term opportunity with a high quality, highly accurate coronavirus swab kit and testing service,” said CEO, Penny McCormick.
She added, “Our priority is to look beyond the pandemic with a range of affordable, meaningful at-home test kits, but it would be remiss of us - now with the expertise and operational channel in-house - not to make this kit available to the public.
We fully support the government's testing programme, whilst providing a solution for those who wish to test independently for requirements like travel, or for personal reasons.”
In addition, the Company has confirmed that it will change its name to MyHealthChecked™ Plc. Trading in the Company's shares on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the new name is expected to take effect in due course and the Company's stock exchange ticker is also expected to change from CPT to MHC, Concepta told investors.
Shares in Concepta have jumped by over 80% since the beginning of November 2020 to open 13.12% higher to 1.81p this morning following the announcement.
Reasons to Follow Concepta
Concepta is a UK healthcare company that has developed proprietary products and platforms, which targets the personalised mobile health market. Concepta said its products will initially address the specific needs of women with fertility issues, in particular unexplained infertility.
Fully Funded Development
Its 1H20 results published in September 2020 highlighted that additional funds were being channelled into product and commercial development of its home-use personalised fertility tracking and pregnancy self-testing system relaunched under the MYLO® brand.
Progress to Commercialisation
Whilst the focus during the period was one of ‘reorganisation and recapitalisation’ of the business, the company detailed that the opportunity within the pre-IVF space was ‘clear’.
‘The proposition of MYLO® is to empower women to better understand their hormone levels and menstrual cycle and help women conceive naturally by identifying their precise and personal window of fertility and optimal time for conception.’
During the period, the Company successfully completed the commercial launch of MYLO® brand with digital marketing campaigns and full optimised search engine strategy to drive UK commercial sales with over 4,000 App downloads achieved during the period.
Portfolio Expansion into Adjacent Areas of Personalised Health
Concepta said that whilst its current focus remains on accelerating UK sales growth, it’s also plans on expanding into new markets, widening its portfolio to include a broader mix of female health and personalised healthcare products.
Follow News & Updates from Concepta here:
Disclaimer & Declaration of Interest
The information, investment views and recommendations in this article are provided for general information purposes only. Nothing in this article should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any financial product relating to any companies under discussion or to engage in or refrain from doing so or engaging in any other transaction. Any opinions or comments are made to the best of the knowledge and belief of the writer but no responsibility is accepted for actions based on such opinions or comments. Vox Markets may receive payment from companies mentioned for enhanced profiling or publication presence. The writer may or may not hold investments in the companies under discussion.

domain: news


text:
For casual-dining concepts, which account for more than one third of total U.S. restaurant industry sales, the past two years have seen traditional and upscale casual restaurants battling soft same-store sales, as consumers traded down to lower priced fast-casual competitors and prepared more meals at home. A new study by Technomic shows that even as consumers are expected to loosen their purse strings in 2011, finding a good value is still of the utmost importance.
“Consumers have become very adept at getting the maximum value from each dining experience.” says Technomic EVP Darren Tristano. “Operators should avoid getting caught in the middle. Your value statement needs to be loud and clear so the customer knows what you are offering and why they should come to you.” Tristano explained that surveyed consumers said traditional casual offerings are too similar across brands, and that upscale casual chains do not offer a dining experience that justifies their higher prices.
The Future of Casual Dining Consumer Trend Report was developed by Technomic to help restaurant operators and suppliers stay abreast of consumer attitudes and trends within the full-service and fast-casual dining segments.
Interesting findings include:
- More than seven out of ten consumers who have been using coupons more often as a way to cut down on casual dining expenditures say they will continue to do so even as their finances continue to improve.
- Consumers say upscale casual-dining restaurants significantly outpace other casual-dining sub-segments for offering healthy options, likely because of the association consumers make between quality and healthfulness.
- Casual-dining operators are using small plates, snacks, bar menus and combo deals in order to attract value-conscious diners. Smaller portions are another way to satisfy consumer demand for healthier menu items, providing fewer calories along with lower prices.


text:
|By Marketwired .||
|January 16, 2013 09:00 AM EST||
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 01/16/13 -- Two leaders in small business empowerment, AppDirect and the Small Business Web, are teaming up to launch the Small Business Web Directory, both organizations announced today. A feature-rich, web-based application marketplace, the new Small Business Web Directory utilizes open APIs to deliver an integrated software experience to small business owners, giving them access to robust software solutions without the high cost or hassle. The Small Business Web Directory is now one of the most comprehensive online resources for innovative software solutions developed to meet the needs of SMB business owners.
A registered non-profit trade association, the Small Business Web is dedicated to helping small businesses grow and thrive by connecting them with innovative cloud-based software. Founded in 2009, the group is backed by leaders from Google, Intuit, Constant Contact, and other pioneering technology companies. Powered by AppDirect, the leading cloud services marketplace company, the new Directory offers almost 200 applications in a range of categories -- including accounting, human resources, email marketing, and more -- to help small businesses manage their operations more effectively.
"At AppDirect, we believe that a company's size should never be a barrier to its success, especially when it comes to technology," said Daniel Saks, president and co-CEO of AppDirect. "Through our partnership with the Small Business Web, we're able to help small businesses find, try and buy the best applications for their companies."
"AppDirect not only provides an open platform that makes applications easier to find and manage, but the company also shares our core values and commitment to small businesses," added Pamela O'Hara, Chair of the Small Business Web and CEO of Batchbook. "With AppDirect, we've been able to grow the number of applications we offer from just five to almost 200. We're very proud of that progress, and we look forward to even more growth in the future."
The Small Business Web Directory Expands the Reach of Application Developers
The Small Business Web Directory gives developers the opportunity to showcase their products and expand their reach to small business customers worldwide. Using the AppDirect platform, developers can integrate their applications once and automatically make them available in multiple marketplaces around the world. The platform also allows them to easily manage their apps across these marketplaces and bundle multiple products together, increasing their appeal to end-user customers.
"Great applications make great application marketplaces, which is why helping developers succeed is so important to us," said Saks. "For developers, the Small Business Web Directory presents a great opportunity to help them stand out from the competition and reach millions of potential customers around the globe."
The new Directory utilizes open APIs to create an open platform for business applications. This not only makes it easier for developers to integrate their applications, but also facilitates better functionality for end users. "Enterprise software can be incredibly restrictive, which can make it more difficult for small businesses to manage their companies," O'Hara said. "That's why we've made it a point to encourage open development standards."
Joseph Fung, CEO of TribeHR, an application that simplifies human resources management for small and medium-sized businesses, added: "Our application is tailor-made for SMBs, so the Small Business Web Directory is an ideal way to reach more customers who are looking for exactly the type of software that we have to offer. The Directory is a win for everyone involved."
For more information about the Small Business Web Directory, visit: directory.thesmallbusinessweb.com
AppDirect is the leading cloud service marketplace company dedicated to revolutionizing the way businesses run. Its award-winning platform connects businesses, brands, and developers through a global network of partner marketplaces. Based in San Francisco, AppDirect powers the marketplaces of trusted companies around the globe -- including Deutsche Telekom, Rackspace, Swisscom, Bell Canada, Appcelerator, and more -- and has helped millions of businesses discover, buy, and manage the best cloud-based software and services.
About the Small Business Web
Founded in 2009, The Small Business Web is the trade association for cloud-based software for small businesses. The idea began, like many things, with a friendly chat between like-minded folks and an alliance was formed. With every additional company that joins the Small Business Web, the dream expands: one small step for the Internet, one giant step for small businesses. Today, the Small Business Web claims nearly 200 member companies who are working together to make the Open Web the best place to build, find and sell software for small businesses.
877-404-APPS ext. 419
Health care systems across the globe are under enormous strain, as facilities reach capacity and costs continue to rise. M2M and the Internet of Things have the potential to transform the industry through connected health solutions that can make care more efficient while reducing costs. In fact, Vodafone's annual M2M Barometer Report forecasts M2M applications rising to 57 percent in health care and life sciences by 2016. Lively is one of Vodafone's health care partners, whose solutions enable older adults to live independent lives while staying connected to loved ones. M2M will continue to gr...
Apr. 25, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,498
SYS-CON Events announced today that Ciqada will exhibit at SYS-CON's @ThingsExpo, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Ciqada™ makes it easy to connect your products to the Internet. By integrating key components - hardware, servers, dashboards, and mobile apps - into an easy-to-use, configurable system, your products can quickly and securely join the internet of things. With remote monitoring, control, and alert messaging capability, you will meet your customers' needs of tomorrow - today! Ciqada. Let your products take flight. For more inform...
Apr. 25, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,905
Containers and microservices have become topics of intense interest throughout the cloud developer and enterprise IT communities. Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 16th Cloud Expo at the Javits Center in New York June 9-11 will find fresh new content in a new track called PaaS | Containers & Microservices Containers are not being considered for the first time by the cloud community, but a current era of re-consideration has pushed them to the top of the cloud agenda. With the launch of Docker's initial release in March of 2013, interest was revved up several notches. Then late last...
Apr. 25, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,843
While not quite mainstream yet, WebRTC is starting to gain ground with Carriers, Enterprises and Independent Software Vendors (ISV’s) alike. WebRTC makes it easy for developers to add audio and video communications into their applications by using Web browsers as their platform. But like any market, every customer engagement has unique requirements, as well as constraints. And of course, one size does not fit all. In her session at WebRTC Summit, Dr. Natasha Tamaskar, Vice President, Head of Cloud and Mobile Strategy at GENBAND, will explore what is needed to take a real time communications ...
Apr. 25, 2015 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,768
SYS-CON Media announced today that @WebRTCSummit Blog, the largest WebRTC resource in the world, has been launched. @WebRTCSummit Blog offers top articles, news stories, and blog posts from the world's well-known experts and guarantees better exposure for its authors than any other publication. @WebRTCSummit Blog can be bookmarked ▸ Here @WebRTCSummit conference site can be bookmarked ▸ Here
Apr. 25, 2015 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,489
Dave will share his insights on how Internet of Things for Enterprises are transforming and making more productive and efficient operations and maintenance (O&M) procedures in the cleantech industry and beyond. Speaker Bio: Dave Landa is chief operating officer of Cybozu Corp (kintone US). Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Dave has been on the forefront of the Cloud revolution driving strategic business development on the executive teams of multiple leading Software as a Services (SaaS) application providers dating back to 2004. Cybozu's kintone.com is a leading global BYOA (Build Your O...
Apr. 25, 2015 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,541
SYS-CON Events announced today that GENBAND, a leading developer of real time communications software solutions, has been named “Silver Sponsor” of SYS-CON's WebRTC Summit, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. The GENBAND team will be on hand to demonstrate their newest product, Kandy. Kandy is a communications Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that enables companies to seamlessly integrate more human communications into their Web and mobile applications - creating more engaging experiences for their customers and boosting collaboration and productiv...
Apr. 25, 2015 01:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,714
SYS-CON Events announced today that BroadSoft, the leading global provider of Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) services to operators worldwide, has been named “Gold Sponsor” of SYS-CON's WebRTC Summit, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. BroadSoft is the leading provider of software and services that enable mobile, fixed-line and cable service providers to offer Unified Communications over their Internet Protocol networks. The Company’s core communications platform enables the delivery of a range of enterprise and consumer calling...
Apr. 25, 2015 12:30 PM EDT Reads: 2,520
The 17th International Cloud Expo has announced that its Call for Papers is open. 17th International Cloud Expo, to be held November 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, brings together Cloud Computing, APM, APIs, Microservices, Security, Big Data, Internet of Things, DevOps and WebRTC to one location. With cloud computing driving a higher percentage of enterprise IT budgets every year, it becomes increasingly important to plant your flag in this fast-expanding business opportunity. Submit your speaking proposal today!
Apr. 25, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,300
So I guess we’ve officially entered a new era of lean and mean. I say this with the announcement of Ubuntu Snappy Core, “designed for lightweight cloud container hosts running Docker and for smart devices,” according to Canonical. “Snappy Ubuntu Core is the smallest Ubuntu available, designed for security and efficiency in devices or on the cloud.” This first version of Snappy Ubuntu Core features secure app containment and Docker 1.6 (1.5 in main release), is available on public clouds, and for ARM and x86 devices on several IoT boards. It’s a Trend! This announcement comes just as...
Apr. 25, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,383
What exactly is a cognitive application? In her session at 16th Cloud Expo, Ashley Hathaway, Product Manager at IBM Watson, will look at the services being offered by the IBM Watson Developer Cloud and what that means for developers and Big Data. She'll explore how IBM Watson and its partnerships will continue to grow and help define what it means to be a cognitive service, as well as take a look at the offerings on Bluemix. She will also check out how Watson and the Alchemy API team up to offer disruptive APIs to developers.
Apr. 25, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,830
The IoT Bootcamp is coming to Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo on June 9-10 at the Javits Center in New York. Instructor. Registration is now available at http://iotbootcamp.sys-con.com/ Instructor Janakiram MSV previously taught the famously successful Multi-Cloud Bootcamp at Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo in November in Santa Clara. Now he is expanding the focus to Janakiram is the founder and CTO of Get Cloud Ready Consulting, a niche Cloud Migration and Cloud Operations firm that recently got acquired by Aditi Technologies. He is a Microsoft Regional Director for Hyderabad, India, and one of the f...
Apr. 25, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,645
In 2015, 4.9 billion connected "things" will be in use. By 2020, Gartner forecasts this amount to be 25 billion, a 410 percent increase in just five years. How will businesses handle this rapid growth of data? Hadoop will continue to improve its technology to meet business demands, by enabling businesses to access/analyze data in real time, when and where they need it. Cloudera's Chief Technologist, Eli Collins, will discuss how Big Data is keeping up with today's data demands and how in the future, data and analytics will be pervasive, embedded into every workflow, application and infra...
Apr. 25, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,442
As Marc Andreessen says software is eating the world. Everything is rapidly moving toward being software-defined – from our phones and cars through our washing machines to the datacenter. However, there are larger challenges when implementing software defined on a larger scale - when building software defined infrastructure. In his session at 16th Cloud Expo, Boyan Ivanov, CEO of StorPool, will provide some practical insights on what, how and why when implementing "software-defined" in the datacenter.
Apr. 25, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,612
SYS-CON Media announced today that @ThingsExpo Blog launched with 7,788 original stories. @ThingsExpo Blog offers top articles, news stories, and blog posts from the world's well-known experts and guarantees better exposure for its authors than any other publication. @ThingsExpo Blog can be bookmarked. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the most profound change in personal and enterprise IT since the creation of the Worldwide Web more than 20 years ago.
Apr. 25, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,524
The world's leading Cloud event, Cloud Expo has launched Microservices Journal on the SYS-CON.com portal, featuring over 19,000 original articles, news stories, features, and blog entries. DevOps Journal is focused on this critical enterprise IT topic in the world of cloud computing. Microservices Journal offers top articles, news stories, and blog posts from the world's well-known experts and guarantees better exposure for its authors than any other publication. Follow new article posts on Twitter at @MicroservicesE
Apr. 25, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,082
SYS-CON Events announced today that robomq.io will exhibit at SYS-CON's @ThingsExpo, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. robomq.io is an interoperable and composable platform that connects any device to any application. It helps systems integrators and the solution providers build new and innovative products and service for industries requiring monitoring or intelligence from devices and sensors.
Apr. 25, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,085
Wearable technology was dominant at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) , and MWC was no exception to this trend. New versions of favorites, such as the Samsung Gear (three new products were released: the Gear 2, the Gear 2 Neo and the Gear Fit), shared the limelight with new wearables like Pebble Time Steel (the new premium version of the company’s previously released smartwatch) and the LG Watch Urbane. The most dramatic difference at MWC was an emphasis on presenting wearables as fashion accessories and moving away from the original clunky technology associated with t...
Apr. 25, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,079
SYS-CON Events announced today that Litmus Automation will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Litmus Automation’s vision is to provide a solution for companies that are in a rush to embrace the disruptive Internet of Things technology and leverage it for real business challenges. Litmus Automation simplifies the complexity of connected devices applications with Loop, a secure and scalable cloud platform.
Apr. 25, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,734
SYS-CON Events announced today that Vicom Computer Services, Inc., a provider of technology and service solutions, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. They are located at booth #427. Vicom Computer Services, Inc. is a progressive leader in the technology industry for over 30 years. Headquartered in the NY Metropolitan area. Vicom provides products and services based on today’s requirements around Unified Networks, Cloud Computing strategies, Virtualization around Software defined Data Ce...
Apr. 25, 2015 10:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,736


text:
Nabila Ahmed and Liana Baker (Bloomberg) -- F5 Networks Inc. has reached an agreement to buy the privately owned software startup Volterra for $500 million.
Seattle-based F5 will pay $440 million in cash, plus about $60 million in deferred stock payments and incentives to Volterra’s founders and employees, according to a statement confirming an earlier report by Bloomberg.
“We’re not acquiring Volterra for what it’s going to do for us today, meaning what it’s going to do for revenue in the 2021 financial year, F5 Chief Executive Officer François Locoh-Donou said in an interview. “We are really acquiring Volterra because it transforms our competitive position.”
F5 has been trying to shift its business to sales from software as opposed to hardware. About 35% of its product revenue is software now, compared with 10% three years ago, Locoh-Donou said. The company’s longer-term goal is to reach 75% of revenue for software sales, he said.
Locoh-Donou said F5 decided to acquire Volterra after first trying to build its own version of the technology.
“We want to be the No.1 in app security as a service and we now have all the elements to do that,” he said.
Volterra, based in Santa Clara, California, is backed by Samsung Electronics Co. and Microsoft Corp., as well as by the venture capital firms Khosla Ventures and Mayfield.
It’s the third acquisition in three years for F5, which has come under pressure from activist investor Elliott Management Corp. over previous transactions and its stock price.
F5, a networking company that works behind the scenes to make sure apps like Disney+ and Netflix run smoothly and securely, will be able to deliver its services quicker and cheaper by combining with Volterra.
F5, which helps power applications for banks such as Capital One Financial Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., will gain access to a more modern infrastructure through the purchase.
The company’s shares have recovered after a pandemic-induced slump last year and are up about 30% since Elliott’s decision to buy a stake in it became public in August.
Ankur Singla, Volterra’s founder and CEO, said the companies have more than half of their customers in common, and combined with F5 will be able to better compete with more established rivals such as Cloudflare Inc. and Fastly Inc.


text:
Cryptocurrency can buy you a dance at a Las Vegas gentlemen's club or tickets to see the Dallas Mavericks in their 2018-2019 season. But if you're more into music than cabarets and sports, a record label in Texas recently started accepting crypto for music and band merchandise.
Founded in 2012, Feedbands is an Austin-based streaming service and label that supports independent musicians. Its bread and butter is a monthly vinyl release that spotlights an up-and-coming artist chosen by subscribers.
Graham Langdon, founder and chief executive officer, started Feedbands to give indie musicians an alternative avenue to make money and gain new fans — and crypto is the next frontier in that mission, he says.
Langdon likened the current era of cryptocurrency to the first years of the internet, when people began increasingly hearing about it and it was on the brink of transforming the economy and society. In April, Feedbands announced a partnership with Dash DAO, a form of cryptocurrency, allowing music lovers to buy music and merch with a digital wallet.
"If history has taught us anything, it's that those who are quick to seize the opportunity reap the reward," he says. "We want to help our artists seize the opportunity to start earning cryptocurrency so that years from now if it has exploded, which we believe it is likely to do, our artists didn't miss the boat."
How crypto could work in the music world
Any discussion about crypto revolves around two separate but complimentary concepts: the token, coin or currency; and blockchain, the technology that supports it. Both are enticing to musicians because they remove the need for third-party organizations such as labels, and are said to give artists greater control of their intellectual property. At least in theory.
Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum exploded in popularity in recent years, thanks in part to investor enthusiasm that sent prices skyrocketing — and plummeting — with unprecedented momentum.
While fans can purchase music and more on Feedbands using many different forms of crypto, its artists receive payments in Dash tokens that they can keep in a digital wallet or subsequently cash out in dollars and cents through a third-party exchange.
And why use Dash over more popular brand names?
"Dash is solving a lot of the problems that other cryptocurrencies have. For example, they can make instant transactions, which is really important when you're selling things," Langdon says.
Transactions using Dash are also private or "anonymous," unlike Bitcoin, which displays how much cryptocurrency is in each person's account, he adds.
"Imagine every time you swipe your credit card, the merchant could see how much you have in the bank," Langdon says. "So Dash kind of innovated on that, too — they made transactions instant, they made transactions private, and we see that as all the key pieces in place for commerce to be able to happen like it does in the real world."
Sam Howard-Spink, clinical associate professor of music business at New York University, has seen industry trends come and go. As a former music journalist, he covered the digital music revolution from the ground up and says he's encouraged by Feedbands' model because it covers music's past (vinyl), present (streaming) and possible future (crypto).
Dash is especially intriguing, he says, because its transaction fee is so small, it enables the music distribution company to send almost all of the revenue from recording sales to the artists making the records. Sound obvious? It's not, actually.
"This is a new emerging space for artists to actually recoup the majority of the value of their labor, which hasn't ever really been the case under the industrial system," Howard-Spink says. "The fact [that crypto] is available to use and [Feedbands] is encouraging people to do it is valuable and worthwhile."
Will it allow Feedbands a competitive advantage? "We just don't know," he says.
"And anyone claiming to know is lying."
What has to happen in the future
This new wave of music transactions has two sizeable variables: how long it takes for the greater population to adopt crypto, and how companies using it will adapt to listeners' habits. In 2016, streaming eclipsed sales as the primary source of revenue for musicians, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
"Access," Howard-Spink says, "has now decisively flipped ownership as the dominant revenue model for the recording industry ... and it's growing super fast and has huge room for continued growth." What he means is that fewer listeners may be buying music in the future and instead paying for subscription streaming services.
In the months since partnering with Dash, Feedbands has experimented with incorporating it into the site's streaming strategy, paying musicians the equivalent of 10 cents in crypto each time their song was streamed. For comparison, Spotify's going rate is infamously a fraction of a penny per stream, according to numerous artists such as Taylor Swift and Radiohead's Thom Yorke, who at one time pulled their catalogs from the service in protest. (Both have since made their music available there again.)
Feedbands hopes to launch crypto pay-per-stream by the fall.
"That's where we see music streaming and cryptocurrency going," Langdon says. "Even if it's not Dash, we think that it's highly likely some cryptocurrency will want to partner with us as a music streaming service."
Whether crypto is 'the next revolution' in music
Like many musicians, Austin-based singer/songwriter Michael Garfield posts his albums on innumerable platforms, including Feedbands, for streaming and for sale. While he lauds Dash for its security features and instantaneous transactions, what most excites him is blockchain's potential to reinvent music publishing and licensing.
Blockchains provide a new way to record, store and distribute data in what's known as a "digital ledger." According to CoinDesk, a crypto trade publication, they provide a record of input data as well as transactions, making them virtually unchangeable.
"Copyright protection is totally ineffective and ultimately helps labels and publishers more than it helps the artist," Garfield says. Blockchain allows for automatic rights management, he says, by having all that information stored digitally as a "smart contract," which enforces copyright restrictions.
"If you're an inventor, you can publish your idea on the blockchain and if someone wants to use it, the licensing process can happen automatically without them having to contact you," Garfield says. "If somebody were to try and appropriate that file for commercial use without compensating you, they just wouldn't be allowed to."
Garfield, who has accepted crypto for merch and gig tips, isn't alone in his enthusiasm.
This summer, Grammy Award-winning musician Imogen Heap launched a blockchain initiative called Mycelia to ensure musicians are paid fairly in the digital era and offer a technological solution that makes that possible, according to the website. Heap created a "creative passport" template she hopes other musicians will adopt to keep tabs on the details of their intellectual property.
"It's about how to ease flow of payments, how to ease collaboration, how to grow partnerships, how to make better collaborations on a business level and a creative level," Heap told Business Insider in June.
The project is just one in a larger movement toward decentralization driven by blockchain and cryptoeconomics. One of cryptocurrency's selling points is that it's not "centralized" or stored in one database, but rather many databases. There are now efforts to apply that same thinking to music publishing and licensing, music curation and even journalism.
Howard-Spink, the NYU professor, says his students studying blockchain are "very evangelical" about its possibilities, but he's skeptical that it will revolutionize the music industry. One reason: There is a huge amount of music already cataloged, many times with inaccuracies.
"The data about who wrote that, who owns it ... that data is not always accurate, hasn't been for a long time and the idea you can impose accuracy on that system with blockchain is wrong," Howard-Spink says. "You might be able to, from this point forward, keep some sort of accurate record of who's involved in what. But the idea you can propel back from 2017 is not true."
There have been attempts to create a single, comprehensive database of songs — like the failed Global Repertoire Database initiative from 2014 — but the deals have been marred by friction over approach and cost, according to Billboard. Another pilot using blockchain launched in May in hopes of making the process more collaborative and democratic.
Still, Howard-Spink says it's too early to identify what will shape the industry going forward.
"It's very normal for people in the music industry to proclaim the next revolution," he says. "I've been reading and writing and teaching about the music business for going on 20 years, and I've heard many of these 'this is all how it's going to be now.' And it's 2018 and I'm doing research on the vinyl resurgence and album bundles with concert tickets."


text:
Samsung Electronics' newest Android tablets might as well be called "the Galaxy Air" series. They are the company's thinnest and lightest yet, and could offer an attractive alternative to Apple's iPad Air 2.
By putting its flagship tablet on a diet, improving cameras and battery life, Sony wants to bring back some luster to the tablet market.
A trio of former Google employees are trying to make Android more work-friendly with a tablet that looks a lot like Microsoft's Surface Pro.
Nokia is once again developing mobile devices, and this time the company is using Android. The N1 tablet has a high-resolution 7.9-inch screen and a 5-megapixel front camera.
Fast-rising smartphone maker Xiaomi has quickly become one of China's biggest tablet makers as well, but Apple is still holding steady as the country's top vendor, according to new data.
Lenovo's Android-based Yoga Tablet 2 Pro, which ultra high-resolution 13-inch screen and an integrated projector, will be out at the end of the month.
The U.S. International Trade Commission, the country's top trade court, is launching an investigation into allegations by Nvidia that several Samsung cellphones and tablet PCs contain graphics technology that infringes on its patents.
Amazon.com is providing more bang-for-the-buck with four new Fire tablets, with prices starting as low as US$99 for a Fire HD with a 6-inch screen.
Intel has teamed with Indian education startup Metis Learning on an Android tablet that aims to keep children away from violent TV content and games on their parents' smartphones.
Using a tablet to make a phone call may sound unorthodox. But in Asia's emerging markets, vendors are increasingly shipping 7-inch tablets with voice call functions, according to research firm IDC.
The 'little rice' that could
Google has released a new version of Play Services that opens the door to more smartwatch apps and cooler games.
As if there weren't enough Android tablets with 10-inch screens on the market to make choosing one over the others an already difficult task, Samsung Electronics has thrown another option into the ring with the Galaxy Tab S 10.5.
Samsung is banking on the high-resolution Super AMOLED screens on its Galaxy Tab S tablets, which also weigh less than Apple's latest iPads, to help it maintain momentum in a tough market.
Small Chinese tablet makers continue to experiment with dual-boot tablets running Windows or Android, a market that big device makers have shied from.
Most Popular Reviews
- 1 Review: TCL C1 series 4K TV
- 2 Mazda MX-5 (2016) review: Absolute driving purity
- 3 Sony 75-inch UHD TV (X9400C) review: Sony and Android are a winning duo
- 4 LG 55EG960T OLED UHD TV
- 5 Panasonic Viera UHD TV review: good hardware, fragmented software
Join the Good Gear Guide newsletter!
Best Deals on Good Gear Guide
Latest News Articles
- Immigration Minister Peter Dutton becomes Creepy internet meme
- Dick Smith relaunches as online-only business
- Giphy Keys wants to be the default iOS keyboard for GIF lovers
- Report: HTC to finally launch Android Wear smartwatch in June
- Facebook Messenger testing Snapchat-style disappearing messages for iOS
GGG Evaluation Team
First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.
- FTSenior iOS DeveloperNSW
- FTGeneral Manager: Applications DevelopmentVIC
- FTTechnical/Solutions ArchitectNSW
- CCSkilled Sitecore / .NET DeveloperNSW
- CCICT Project Manager - Contact Centre/Telephony FocusNSW
- FTFunctional Kronos ConsultantNSW
- FTAGILE Training Manager/CoachNSW
- FTFront End DeveloperVIC
- CCHyperion ConsultantNSW
- CCSenior Analyst Designer / AWS and AzureVIC
- CCE-Commerce - Senior Web Application DeveloperNSW
- CCSystems TrainerVIC
- FTSenior Storage Systems EngineerACT
- CCTechnical ExpertVIC
- CCJava Developer - multiple opportunitiesNSW
- CCSenior Business Analyst - Data ManagementNSW
- CCPortfolio Manager - Customer Service SystemVIC
- CCSenior Project ManagerVIC
- FTManager; Enterprise ArchitectureNSW
- CCSQL DeveloperVIC
- CCSAP BW developerVIC
- CCSenior Frontend DeveloperNSW
- CCSiebel AnalystACT
- CCApplication Solution ArchitectNSW
- CCSecurity AnalystACT


text:
As some businesses reel from the effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic, others are reporting steady growth. Managing director of Aklamar Courier Marlon Fletcher gave his account of how his business has performed since the start of the pandemic.
“Business has been great for me, I would not say that it has doubled, but it has surely maintained what I use to do pre-pandemic.”
About 99 per cent of Aklamar’s business has to do with dealing with offices and performing tasks like picking up cheques and going to the bank or tax office. In fact, most of the company’s customers are on a retainer, so they pay a flat rate.
But, as the managing director explains, the pandemic has created demand in other areas which have been financially rewarding. “I see the increase coming from individual deliveries,” said Fletcher. He said it’s been a steady 40 per cent increase, primarily due to demand in the food delivery business.
Before the pandemic Aklamar was described, primarily, as a documentation courier company, but all that is beginning to change. “What I’m seeing, from my side, is that a lot of people are now staying home, so you find that the demand for personal courier service has increased significantly. We’re doing a lot of home visits now and we used to do probably two home visits per day pre-pandemic, during the pandemic we have been doing 10 to 20 home pickups and deliveries per day.”
Aklamar Courier is not the only entity experiencing good fortune in the middle of the pandemic. Just last month Knutsford Express Services announced the introduction of business class service and the addition of international package delivery. The new business lines were added since the start of the new financial year.
CEO of Knutsford Express, Oliver Townsend, said since the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic the company has pivoted to expand courier services. He explained that package volumes climbed nearly 200 per cent since March 2021, contributing significantly to earnings. Similarly, Mailpac Group, which provides international and domestic courier services for people ordering goods from various businesses, including Amazon and PriceSmart, has experienced a surge in growth. This, as more consumers choose e-commerce to source products for their everyday needs.
Despite seeing its cost of sales jump by 35 per cent in the first quarter, Mailpac spent $22 million in capital expenditure and leased new properties to allow the company to sufficiently manage the increased business activity. In the same vein, Fletcher highlighted that the Aklamar team expanded by about 10 to 15 per cent of its delivery personnel, “I’ve also added an additional dispatcher to field the calls and messages that are coming in on a daily basis.”
But there’s even more growth on the horizon. Fletcher explained that Aklamar is in the final stages of negotiating a new contract with about three companies which will make out of town courier services more lucrative for his business. Currently, he only operates in the Kingston, Portmore, and Spanish Town area.
“Other courier companies, namely Tara and Knutsford Express, have dominated the out of town market by way of literally transporting people. So they just put courier service into the bottom of the bus and they are able to charge a significantly reduced rate for a delivery from let’s say Kingston to Montego Bay. We did not venture into out of town deliveries on a one-on-one basis because the demand was just not there and I would be operating at a loss to go to Montego Bay, for example, with two or three deliveries,” he explained.
Although business is doing well, Fletcher admitted that there are a few challenges. “From time to time we get a little resistance because I guess the officer on the ground may not be familiar with the gazetted order that is published every time the prime minister would have announced new measures. It’s part and parcel of the stigma that surrounds bikers overall. But all my staff have their IDs, letters, and the bikes are company bikes, which are branded, fully licensed, and insured.”
In the meantime, the courier service provider said he has ventured into contactless deliveries to facilitate people who are afflicted with COVID-19. He says it’s the latest pivot which has already started to pay dividends.


text:
Creators of the AlohaSafe Alert app, the state’s official COVID-19 exposure notification service, said it has now been updated so that users can self-report a positive, at-home test result.
The free app was downloadable for free from Apple or Google Play when it was launched statewide in January 2021 through a public-private partnership between the Hawaii Department of Health, aio Digital, and the Hawaii Executive Collaborative.
The app is no longer available from the Apple App Store to download, but is instead already a built-in exposure notification feature in iPhone settings that will need to be turned on. It is still available at Google Play.
It uses Bluetooth technology to anonymously alert users if they have been exposed to the coronavirus.
AlohaSafe Alert said although PCR laboratory testing remains the gold standard, this reflects the reality that many people are now taking home tests.
“This new feature aims to decrease the time elapsed between a positive test result and exposure notifications being distributed, allowing people to anonymously notify others that they may have been exposed to COVID-19,” said AlohaSafe Alert in a news release. “The self-report feature was piloted in Colorado and has been successful in multiple other states.”
Since its launch, there have been over 1.6 million activations of the app and 10,330 codes claimed by people who tested positive for COVID-19.
Hawaii, along with 26 other states and the District of Columbia, has deployed the exposure notification technology.
The app will also be transitioning to AlohaSafe Alert Express, which utilizes the built-in exposure notification features on both Apple and Android devices. Those with Android phones do not have to update their app to use these features, but iPhone users will need to turn on “exposure notifications” to access them.
Visit alohasafealert.org for more information.
By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have agreed to the Terms of Service. An insightful discussion of ideas and viewpoints is encouraged, but comments must be civil and in good taste, with no personal attacks. If your comments are inappropriate, you may be banned from posting. Report comments if you believe they do not follow our guidelines.
Having trouble with comments? Learn more here.


text:
"When consumers estimate the value of a durable product, they consider not only the absolute number of times they think they will use the product, but also the number of time they will use the product relative to other consumers," write authors Rebecca W. Hamilton, Rebecca K. Ratner (both University of Maryland, College Park), and Debora Viana Thompson (Georgetown University).
The very same cues that consumers use to determine that they might use a product frequently also make them think that others use the product more often than they will, the authors explain. In an initial study the authors found that college students reported playing video games more frequently when they used a high frequency response scale (ranging from "less than once a week" to "more than once every day") than when they used a low frequency response scale (ranging from "less than once a year" to "more than once a week").
However, the participants who used the high frequency scale were less interested in buying new video games, and the low frequency scales nearly doubled the percentage of respondents who accepted a free trial of a new video game. "The high frequency scale leads them to believe they play video games less than other college students," the authors write.
The researchers also that found college students were willing to pay more for a digital reader when they believed another college student had written a review suggesting low frequency of use ("once a week") than when the reviewer suggested high frequency of use ("once a day.") But when the participants thought a parent in a distant city wrote the review, the effects diminished.
"Ads or customer reviews highlighting how a product can be incorporated into a consumer's daily life can backfire if consumers believe their own usage frequency will be lower than others," the authors write. "Our findings suggest that if individuals believe they won't be able to keep up with the pace of others, they might choose not to even try."
Rebecca W. Hamilton, Rebecca K. Ratner, and Debora Viana Thompson. "Outpacing Others: When Consumers Value Products Based on Relative Usage Frequency." Journal of Consumer Research: April 2011. A preprint of this article (to be officially published online soon) can be found at http://journals.uchicago.edu/jcr.
Mary-Ann Twist | EurekAlert!
Rutgers-led innovation could spur faster, cheaper, nano-based manufacturing
14.02.2018 | Rutgers University
New study from the University of Halle: How climate change alters plant growth
12.01.2018 | Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
In just a few weeks from now, the Chinese space station Tiangong-1 will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere where it will to a large extent burn up. It is possible that some debris will reach the Earth's surface. Tiangong-1 is orbiting the Earth uncontrolled at a speed of approx. 29,000 km/h.Currently the prognosis relating to the time of impact currently lies within a window of several days. The scientists at Fraunhofer FHR have already been monitoring Tiangong-1 for a number of weeks with their TIRA system, one of the most powerful space observation radars in the world, with a view to supporting the German Space Situational Awareness Center and the ESA with their re-entry forecasts.
Following the loss of radio contact with Tiangong-1 in 2016 and due to the low orbital height, it is now inevitable that the Chinese space station will...
Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, provider of research and development services for OLED lighting solutions, announces the founding of the “OLED Licht Forum” and presents latest OLED design and lighting solutions during light+building, from March 18th – 23rd, 2018 in Frankfurt a.M./Germany, at booth no. F91 in Hall 4.0.
They are united in their passion for OLED (organic light emitting diodes) lighting with all of its unique facets and application possibilities. Thus experts in...
A new scenario seeking to explain how Mars' putative oceans came and went over the last 4 billion years implies that the oceans formed several hundred million...
For the first time, an interdisciplinary team from the University of Basel has succeeded in integrating artificial organelles into the cells of live zebrafish embryos. This innovative approach using artificial organelles as cellular implants offers new potential in treating a range of diseases, as the authors report in an article published in Nature Communications.
In the cells of higher organisms, organelles such as the nucleus or mitochondria perform a range of complex functions necessary for life. In the networks of...
Animal photoreceptors capture light with photopigments. Researchers from the University of Göttingen have now discovered that these photopigments fulfill an...
19.03.2018 | Event News
16.03.2018 | Event News
13.03.2018 | Event News
21.03.2018 | Life Sciences
21.03.2018 | Life Sciences
21.03.2018 | Physics and Astronomy


text:
Chevy to unveil new SS sedan Saturday at Daytona Speedweeks
Among the fans and others gathered at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday for the Lucas Oil 200 and Sprint Unlimited, the president of General Motors will be on hand to unveil the company's new 2014 Chevrolet SS.
The company is calling the car a “performance sedan with racing DNA.”
Chevrolet will unveil the car at 1:05 p.m. Saturday in the Sprint FanZone, the same day the SS race car is scheduled to make its debut in the first Sprint Cup race of the season.
It's the first time the company has unveiled a new first V-8, rear-wheel drive performance sedan since 1996.
Company officials said the sedan's V-8 engine, the same engine used in the Corvette, is expected to deliver 415 horsepower and 415 pound-feet of torque, and will accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in about five seconds.
“Our goal was to create a car that delivers incredible grip and handling balance while cornering, while still being comfortable to drive on the road,” said David Leone, executive chief engineer GM global programs."
The car offers a “hands-free” parking assistant that uses an ultrasonic sensing system to help park the car.
It will be available on showroom floods during the last quarter of 2013.


text:
Ho Chi Minh City seeks to promote export of mechanical products
The Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of HCM City (ITPC) and HCM City Association of Mechanical–Electrical Enterprises are jointly organizing the “HCM City Products Week 2023 - Mechanical and Electrical Devices and Digital Technology” which attracts the participation of over 40 businesses.
Exhibitors are showcasing machinery, electrical equipment, digital technology services and solutions, logistics services supporting the mechanical engineering and electrical equipment manufacturing industry, and warehouse storage solutions.
|At the “HCM City Products Week 2023 - Mechanical and Electrical Devices and Digital Technology” (Photo: vneconomy.vn).|
According to Tran Phu Lu, ITPC Deputy Director, the products selected by businesses to showcase in the exhibition are reputable and high-quality items with beautiful designs and advanced technology, which also incorporate digital technology and automation in their applications.
The expo, to go on until June 7, is part of a city trade promotion campaign to help mechanical and electrical businesses promote their brands and products.
Mechanical engineering, machinery, and electrical equipment are key industries and serve as drivers of HCM City’s industrial development. Due to the impacts of the global economic downturn, HCM City's export turnover in the first half of 2023 is falling sharply.
In addition to trade promotion activities and market support, the municipal administration is also focusing on resolving difficulties and obstacles facing local businesses related to capital for production and consumption, thus helping businesses boost their export in the second half of the year and next year.
With support from the management authorities, mechanical and electrical businesses are making efforts to meet the criteria for joining supply chains.
According to the Department of Industry under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), Vietnam has around 25,000 mechanical and electrical businesses, accounting for nearly 30 per cent of the total number of processing and manufacturing enterprises in the country.
Data from the General Statistics Office (GSO) shows that in the first quarter of 2023, the export turnover of machinery, equipment, tools, and spare parts group reached an estimated 9.85 billion USD, down a 3 per cent year-on-year.
The main importers of Vietnamese machinery, equipment, tools, and spare parts in the period were the US (3.99 billion USD), the European Union (1.46 billion USD), China (701 million USD), and Japan (663 million USD).
According to insiders, the shifting of manufacturing workshops from China to Southeast Asia in general and Vietnam, in particular, is creating a great opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to access investment sources from foreign countries.
Tran Quynh Huong, who is in charge of supply chain management at Source of Asia, said with the presence of multinational companies such as Samsung, Foxconn, and Intel, Vietnam has become a leading country in the export value of electrical and electronic products over the past decade.


text:
Round the bend
Republished on Wednesday 28th March 2018: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Despite the brand debuting well over a decade ago, TrackMania: Turbo marks the arcade racer's first release on a PlayStation platform. A favourite on the...
About The Game
The TrackMania franchise makes it to next-gen for the first time.


text:
Some wait with bated breath for Count Chocula, the cocoa flavored cereal with the chocolate-loving vampire on the box, to appear on store shelves during Halloween.
General Mills discontinued regular production of the cereal—including its other monster hits, Boo Berry and Franken-Berry, in 2010, but still releases a limited number of boxes during the fall.
"Every year I greatly look forward to the month of October when I can purchase a few boxes of this delicious chococlatey (sic) goodness," resident Kristen Clark wrote in a letter to the paper.
Even though Clark is a "vegetarian and organic food eater for the most part," she said she makes an exception once a year for the iconic cereal.
So who is buying up the sugary stuff?
Turns out, a local brewery is the culprit. Black Bottle Brewery bought “two store inventories” worth of Count Chocula that they're putting in their latest brew called “Cerealiously Count Chocula.”
The cereal is for a process called dry hopping, where hops --or in this case cereal--is added to give the brew more aroma and flavor. The company has previously released cereal-infused beers with Reese’s Peanut Butter Puffs and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
"We put the cereal into a hop back so it doesn't get into the beer," Steve Marrick, manager of Black Bottle Brewery, told the. "We did it as a joke at first, but the beer turned out well."
Residents of Fort Collins may have to drive a bit farther to get their hands on a box of Count Chocula before it goes back into hibernation.
Or they can try the new beer when it’s released by Black Bottle on Oct. 30.


text:
FTA deals await exporters
The Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) both go in effect on Dec. 20, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on Wednesday.
The historic partnership begins 11 years after Korea and China first discussed a FTA, and nine years after discussions were opened with New Zealand.
Kim Jang-soo, Seoul’s ambassador to Beijing, and Wang Shouwen, vice minister of commerce of the People’s Republic of China, exchanged government letters to confirm the date on Wednesday local time in Beijing. Kim Hae-yong, the ambassador to New Zealand, exchanged the letter with Martin Harvey, the chief negotiator of the FTA at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in Wellington.
“Korea and China have steadily discussed ways to get the FTA to go into effect before the year’s end, as the two presidents reached a consensus at a summit held in October,” said the Korean Trade Ministry. “The two countries completed domestic procedures as an exceptional case, to meet the presidents’ hopes.”
Under the conditions of the deal, Korea will be able to export some 958 products -- including crude oil, naphtha, hot rolled sheets and memory chips -- to China with zero-tariff by the end of the year. Some 4,207 products, worth nearly 92 percent of Korean exports to New Zealand in dollar figure, will be sold immediately with zero tariff. These products include automobiles, televisions, mobile phones, tires, washing machines and crude oil.
Starting on Jan. 1, 2016, Korea can export more than 3,000 products to China with slightly lowered tariffs, which are scheduled to gradually decrease further every year.
The agreement allows for tariff reductions with China to continue for 20 years, while New Zealand tariffs will run for seven years.
The bilateral free trade agreement with China is forecast to help Korea’s gross domestic product grow an additional 0.96 percent after 10 years, while New Zealand help by an estimated 0.03 percent.
Korean automobile, auto parts, home appliances and electronics makers are expected to be the largest winners from the FTA with New Zealand.
But many of the products on the tariff-free list with China are already exported with low or zero tariffs. Local trade experts say that Korean service industries, including law firms, engineering, environment and entertainment sectors, will be the biggest winners, as the FTA allows easier rules to enter the Chinese domestic market.
No date has yet been set for the Korea-Vietnam FTA, which was also ratified on Nov. 30, to take effect.
BY KIM JI-YOON [email@example.com]


text:
The premier business exhibition for Cambridgeshire is just a day away.
The third annual Cambridge Business to Business Exhibition, organised by Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce and the News, will be held at the Rowley Mile Racecourse in Newmarket tomorrow.
There will be a range of trade stalls, all of which have already been snapped up, and entry is free.
The programme also includes seminars covering topics such as broadband, social media, digital marketing and branding, plus speed networking sessions.
Exhibitors include St John’s Innovation Centre, The Cambridge Belfry, Marshall of Cambridge, the College of West Anglia and The Cambridge Building Society.
UK Trade Investment, Mercedes-Benz, Luminus Group, and BT Business will also be represented.
The exhibition is from 10.30am-4pm at the Millennium Grandstand.
Call Joy Mansfield on (01223) 209806, email email@example.com or visit www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge-B2B-Exhibition for more details.


text:
When Google unveiled its smart and controversial eyewear three years ago, some early tech adopters tried to do their part by eagerly pushing for Glass acceptance. The world pushed back.
In the downstairs bathroom of a suburban home in a Northern California coastal town, tech blogger Robert Scoble derailed one of the most ambitious projects of one of the most powerful companies on Earth with a single photo.
Scoble's wife, Maryam, snapped the now-infamous picture in the couple's home in Half Moon Bay, about 30 miles northwest of Google's headquarters in Mountain View. Scoble is in the shower, wearing nothing but a psyched expression and Google Glass. The company had announced its smart eyewear a year earlier as part of an ambitious project led by Google co-founder Sergey Brin to reimagine how people interact with the world. Scoble was among Google's chosen few "Glass Explorers" invited to buy the $1,500 prototype.
The photo, thankfully, is cropped from the shoulders down.
"You thought I was kidding when I said I would never take them off," Scoble wrote when he posted the photo to his Google+ social network account on April 28, 2013.
Scoble soon became a premier spokesperson for the product. Outlets from the BBC to Bloomberg wanted him on their shows to explain how it worked. Glass, which connects to the Internet and overlays images and graphics over what a wearer sees with his non-computer eyes, was confounding the press. Wired hailed the augmented reality specs as something "straight out of Star Trek" while the New York Daily News described Glass as "cyborg glasses." CNET called it "Google on your face."
But Scoble's photo added another dimension: His nerd exuberance created a G-rated, consumer-tech version of a dick pic -- the kind of unsavory anatomical photo that's ruined politicians and private citizens -- that was shared around the world. The damage was done: He had helped make Glass uncool.
Even Google's chief executive, Larry Page, was riled. "Robert, I really didn't appreciate the shower photo," Page ribbed Scoble two weeks later when Scoble asked him a question during a public Q&A session at Google's annual I/O developer conference.
Scoble says he hasn't been invited back to the conference since.
"I was expecting it to get attention," he says of the photo. "But I wasn't expecting it to go viral."
Scoble's fanboy faux pas aside, the photo turned out to be only one of many obstacles for Google's experimental product -- one of the first major forays into wearable technology from a Silicon Valley giant. The device, with its built-in camera, became a lightning rod for controversy because some people feared their privacy was being violated. Movie theaters, bars and restaurants banned it, and some states debated whether to allow it while driving.
So where is Glass now? Back on the drawing board. Google paused the project in January, halting the Explorer program and discontinuing production of the costly prototype. It's reportedly working on a new model it hopes won't alienate so many people. Scoble -- who met with Glass's product lead Steve Lee less than a year ago -- believes the new version will be foldable, so you can take it off and easily store it when it's inappropriate to wear. He also believes it will have a red light to alert others when it's recording.
Google is also counting on Tony Fadell, the Apple alum known as the father of the iPod, to make Glass cool. Fadell, who also helped develop Apple's game-changing iPhone, joined Google in 2013 when the company bought his startup, Nest, which makes a next-generation thermostat, for more than $3 billion. Fadell's job will be to convince developers that Google's eyewear is the real deal for those looking for a more intimate relationship with their tech. If he can do that, Google just may be the software platform that powers the next wave of computing devices after smartphones, tablets and laptops. We're now talking about Internet-connected everything: cars, TVs, pens, blenders, baby toys and, of course, wearables.
If Fadell can't make Glass cool, no one can, say his fans. "I can't wait to see what Tony is going to do with it," says venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. His firm, Andreessen Horowitz, joined with Google Ventures and prominent VC rival Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 2013 to form the "Glass Collective" to invest in developers building apps for the device.
As for Scoble, Page and company owe a debt of gratitude to him and the unknown thousands of others who bravely tried to usher Glass into the real world (Google doesn't release Glass sales figures). "Explorer" was a fitting moniker for those early Glass wearers because unlike any other consumer who buys a new type of gadget -- say a phablet or an Apple Watch -- Google's evangelists entered unfamiliar terrain with sometimes hostile results, as detractors in some cases ripped the eyewear off their faces.
It's true exploration is about risk. Some of the world's most famous explorers -- Ferdinand Magellan, Ponce de Leon, Dr. David Livingstone -- died on their voyages. None of Google's Explorers became literal martyrs, but they did pay a price for being first in Google's brave new world. Fairly or unfairly, they're not likely to be honored as explorers. Instead, tech historians will remember them with the less than romantic sobriquet they're now collectively known as: Glassholes. Now Google is paying for its missteps with the Explorer program.
Google declined to comment.
Google, which unveiled Glass at its 2012 I/O conference in San Francisco, will host this year's conference starting May 28. The new version isn't likely to be ready by this year's conference, though some reports say the device will " be out soon." At I/O, Google is expected to tout updates to the Android mobile operating system, new initiatives around smart-home devices, and possibly even virtual reality efforts separate from the Glass project.
Three years ago, Glass made its debut at the developer fest on such a high. Four thousand feet above San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center, to be exact. Four skydivers jumped out of a zeppelin while wearing Glass for a Brin-led 2012 demo that introduced the device to the world. The press salivated over the spectacle.
Google initially let software developers and a small pool of others try the product, offering it to those they hoped would develop Glass apps. In February 2013, Google opened the Explorer program to more buyers. Would-be Explorers were asked what they would do with the product if they owned it. Those with the best responses were invited to buy Glass.
"Glass is still in the early stages, so we expect there will be some twists and turns along the way," Google wrote in a post when it expanded the Explorer program. "While we can't promise everything will be perfect, we can promise it will be exciting."
Of course, not every early buyer was a wannabe Glass evangelist. Some bought it because they were curious and had money to burn.
But there were others who bought into Google's bold explorer ethos. Justin Chung, a freelance illustrator in San Francisco, knew early on he wanted Glass so he could be on the "bleeding edge of technology." For his pitch to Google, he wrote that he'd use Glass to let people see what he was drawing, while drawing it. Google granted him the green light to buy Glass and gave him an invitation to a secret party in June where he could pick up the device.
Chung boarded a ferry to a discontinued naval base in nearby Alameda. The party, which had fewer than 100 attendees, was held on an old radar tower with sweeping views of San Francisco Bay. The newly minted Glass owners ate artisanal sandwiches, drank champagne and chatted about their new hardware. "They made you feel like you were part of what they were doing," says Chung.
Chung still wears his Glass almost every day while drawing, exercising, cooking or walking around San Francisco. He considers the Explorer program a very important "social experiment." "Centuries from now, we'll look back on it," says Chung. "You're putting cyborgs out in public, and we were out there trying to learn the right social protocol."
Other Explorers say the public needs to be patient, as people learn to live in a world with wearables. As for the nerdy aspect? That takes patience, too. "Remember when the first cell phone was released? It was big and clunky," says Ivan Yudhi, a software engineer from San Leandro, California. "It will take time."
But the rest of the world wasn't willing to wait. The buzz wore off pretty quickly -- kind of like the adrenaline rush that fades after you've jumped out of a blimp. Eventually, "OK Glass" -- the command words that triggered the device's voice controls -- had become a dirty phrase. If the Explorers were Google's army, Glass was a faulty grenade.
One of the best-known Glass incidents involved an assault on a tech writer in a San Francisco bar in February 2014. Sarah Slocum was demonstrating Glass's video features to a friend at Molotov, a punk rock dive in the city's Lower Haight district. But some patrons became uncomfortable that she was recording. Slocum says a man ripped the Glass off her face, while his friends stole her phone and purse.
In another incident, Kyle Russell -- then a reporter for the website Business Insider -- had his Glass torn off while walking in San Francisco's Mission district.
Things got murkier for Glass. Police were giving people tickets for wearing the device while driving. At least six states, including New Jersey and Illinois, began drafting bills to make Glass illegal for drivers behind the wheel. The Motion Picture Association of America banned Glass from movie theaters.
Pop culture commentators had a field day. "Saturday Night Live" created a fictional tech correspondent named Randall Meeks, played by Fred Armisen, who fumbled through a Glass demonstration and eventually used it to watch online porn. Jerry Seinfeld last year wore Glass as Wired's "Guest Glasshole" for its June issue on social rules for the digital age. His publicist declined to have Seinfeld comment for this story because the comedian had only ever worn Glass for the Wired photo shoot.
Even those enthusiastic about wearable tech say they remain concerned about Glass. "I have some trepidation," says actor and author LeVar Burton, whose "Star Trek" character, Geordi La Forge, was famous for his futuristic eyewear. "My initial reaction to anybody when I see them wearing Glass is, are they recording?"
Anti-Glass campaigns also popped up. The UK-based "Stop the Cyborgs" effort created posters for bars and other public places saying "Google Glass is Banned On These Premises" and "No Surveillance Devices." You can print them from the group's website.
"It has become a bit of the poster child for some of those issues," Google's Astro Teller said in a November interview. Teller leads the experimental Google X lab, which developed Glass before the company handed the reins to Fadell. Teller thinks reaction to Glass is about a bigger issue: anxiety over an increasingly wired world. "That is the right conversation to have," he said. "There isn't an easy answer for that. But it's not really about Google Glass."
To guide Explorers in the right direction, Google created a 763-word etiquette guide in February 2014 for using the device in public. Among the dos and don'ts: Don't "be creepy or rude (aka a 'Glasshole')."
But internally at Google, Glass had already lost its luster. "When I first saw the word 'Glasshole' becoming more popular, that's when it dawned on me," says one former Google employee, who worked on business development for the Glass team. "That was the turning point."
There was frustration at the very top as well. "Sergey wasn't happy," the former employee says. "He had this vision. It wasn't being realized."
Another former Google employee, a Glass engineer who declined to be interviewed for this story, was blunt about why he didn't want to talk: "I've tried to put that project behind me."
A lot has changed since Google stopped the Explorer program. One thing didn't: There are still thousands of people who own the $1,500 device. Some people continue to wear it. Others have tossed Glass into their drawers.
But in March 2013, it was a whole different story. That year, Glass was the hot topic at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas, the annual confab for filmmakers, musicians and the technorati. Google held sessions and panels on how to develop for Glass. Austin was sprinkled with people who proudly sported the new device.
Two years later, not so much. I decided to wear Glass for a day at SXSW 2015 to get a sense of what it's like to be an Explorer today. ( Read more about that here.)
I wore them during an interview with Alex Winter, a documentary filmmaker and actor (he played Bill in the "Bill and Ted" movies.) Winter's film "Deep Web" premiered at the SXSW film festival and chronicles Silk Road, an online bazaar for drugs and other contraband, and its convicted founder Ross Ulbricht. Winter talks about the legitimate uses for anonymity software and the importance of fighting against constant surveillance.
After talking for a while, I noticed he was avoiding making eye contact with me. "No one's ever interviewed me while wearing Google Glass before," said Winter, laughing. "It's a little unsettling."
Walking around Austin, I drew many stares, but no one was blatantly rude. It didn't incite the same kind of passion the public felt only a year ago. Instead, it felt like a remnant from the not-too-distant past -- ironic because Glass was supposed to be a promise for the future.
Not only have things changed for Glass owners, but the Explorer program also changed how other companies approach marketing new wearable tech.
In October, Google led a $542 million funding round into Magic Leap, a secretive startup working on its own hi-tech glasses. Like Glass, when you put on Magic Leap's eyewear, you see a mélange of digital and real images. But Magic Leap promises that its graphics will look like they came out of a movie. Google put Sundar Pichai, the company's product czar and one of its most important executives, on Magic Leap's board of directors.
But it looks like Magic Leap has learned from Glass's unraveling. As of this writing, the company has only showed the product to two news outlets: The New York Times and the MIT Technology Review. When Scoble asked for a glimpse, the company turned him down. A Magic Leap employee told Scoble that the public relations team was "scared of you. We know you can change the direction of this product."
Google has finally learned that lesson as well.
The idea behind Glass Explorers was simple enough: Get the product in the hands of early buyers, and see how they used it. But After Google shut down the Explorer program, Teller said that while it was a "great idea," it put too bright a spotlight on the Explorers.
"We allowed, and sometimes even encouraged, too much attention to the program," Teller said at SXSW this year. Google now wants to remain low key.
Google could have achieved that by hiring a group of 10 to 100 people to test the product for a year, says Tim Bajarin, president of market research firm Creative Strategies and an early Glass Explorer. That would have isolated problems to the testers instead of having them affect a broader consumer population. After Brin gave a talk about Glass at the TED conference in 2013, Bajarin said he met some of the Glass team members. "I don't even think they had an understanding of the role Glass should play in your life," he says. He describes Google's handling of Glass a "debacle."
It's now up to Fadell and a team of fashion industry veterans to resuscitate the project. It will be one of the hardest tasks Fadell has faced in his career. Can the former Apple hardware guru do it? Bajarin, a long-time Apple follower, is pessimistic. "No," he says flatly. Bajarin says the only shot Fadell has is to take development slowly, and try to keep Glass out of the public eye as he makes improvements.
Development of a new version is underway. Google is reportedly working with Intel to make the innards of the device. Luxottica, the Italian eyewear maker behind Ray-ban and Oakley, is supposedly making the frames. New job postings suggest Google wants to make Glass a family of devices. The company is looking for new members of the Glass team to build "smart eyewear and other related products." That's one area where Fadell's expertise may shine. Nest started out with one device, a Web-enabled thermostat, then expanded to include a smoke detector. Other smart-home devices are expected.
As for the Explorers, some still wear Glass proudly. Others, like Scoble, have changed their mind.
Earlier this month, I returned to the proverbial scene of the crime, the place where Scoble took the infamous shower photo. He donned his Glass -- black-trimmed with a 49ers sticker on the side frame -- for the first time in a year. He thinks the problem with Glass was that it created an unnatural division between him and the people he talks to. When he tells me this, he's not wearing the device.
The man who said he would never take it off tells me he was wrong to be such a big booster of Glass. "The novelty went away," he says. "Google abused their early adopters."
Hindsight is always 20/20.


text:
Argentina’s topfruit exports fell sharply in the first quarter of 2017 reflecting the deepening crisis engulfing the sector. According to the latest figures published by Senasa, exports from Alto Valle de Río Negro and Neuquén totalled 140,668 tonnes, 18.5 per cent less than in the year-earlier period.
Apple shipments were down 37 per cent to 16,547 tonnes, while pear volumes dropped 15 per cent to 124,122 tonnes.
The fall is largely due to the collapse of the Brazilian market because of strengthening competition from Chile. In the first three months of this year Brazil imported 1,600 tonnes of Argentine apples compared with almost 8,000 tonnes in Q1 2016.
Chile’s share of the Brazilian apple market increased from 36 per cent in 2014 to 72 per cent the following year. In that same period, Argentina’s share of the market fell from 43 per cent to 19 per cent.
In the case of pears, an increase in exports to Russia and Brazil was not enough to offset a fall in shipments to the US and Italy.
Years of underinvestment have led to a major loss in competitiveness and acreage has contracted by more than 20,000ha since 2000.
The government has been forced to declare a state of economic, productive, financial and social emergency in the provinces, sanctioning it to implement special powers relating to the payment of tax and social security.
Producers said an emergency US$540 injection announced recently by President Mauricio Macri would provide partial relief, but would not solve the sector’s deep-rooted problems.
They are calling on the government to do more to reduce taxes and labour costs and provide additional funds to upgrade orchards and packhouses and overhaul the region’s varietal offer.
The Federation of Fruit Producers estimates that it will cost between US$1.5 and US$2bn to reactivate the industry.


text:
2013: A New Year for Microsoft—Literally
Microsoft’s history is a mixed bag of innovation, triumph, volatility, defeatism, and stagnation. After an epic rise to the top, the company has been waning, partly as a victim of its own success, compounded by serious internal problems. Now the Redmond giant is often regarded as stale, old, and glacial in today’s digital marketplace.
But that was the old Microsoft.
From the end of 2012 through the first quarter of 2013, Microsoft will have updated, refreshed, or completely...


text:
GREAT FALLS – Today protesters took to the streets of downtown Great Falls seeking change at Jacks Pet Center.
The protest was completely peaceful with people from both sides debating who they felt was in the right or wrong.
“Why is this allowed to go on and not just Jacks but any pet store why is this allowed to go on Waggles in Helena was closed down so why is this one not?” said Connie and Colleen, two protesters outside of Jacks.
Store owners and workers responded to comments by saying “were a local business that supports local breeders so we are getting everything from Montana, um if you don’t like pet stores that’s fine but we have a different kind of business were everything is done right here.” Said Ellen, Matt and Lilly from Jacks Pet Center.
Jacks has been in great falls long enough to have generations of customers and supporters.
Some of these people showing up to the protest and speaking with the protesters in defense of the pet store.
While other community members honked in support of the protesters while driving bye.
The protest lasted several hours downtown with roughly a dozen protesters at one time.


text:
The hospitality industry welcomed Boris Johnson’s lockdown easing announcement this evening with open arms, but still fears the hangover from Covid-19 restrictions will damage trade.
Business owners in the industry have hailed the government decision to lift compulsory restrictions on so-called “Freedom Day”, meaning pubs, bars and restaurants will be able to operate at full capacity for the first time in 16 months.
Masks, social distancing and table service will no longer be legally required from 19 July, and limits on group numbers are also set to be lifted.
The announcement marks a “major milestone” and means that next month will be the first time since March last year that hospitality business owners can realistically look to break even and move towards profitability, chief executive of UK Hospitality Kate Nicholls said.
“This progress is testament to the constructive and positive work that we have undertaken with government, to pave the way for this timely handing over of responsibility, shifting from enforced legal requirements to an onus on personal and business responsibilities, to ensure that we continue to safeguard our staff and customers in the tried and tested ways we know work best,” she said.
Track and trace prolongs staffing issues
But Nicholls also warned that in order to make a full recovery, venues will need autonomy to act according to their own risk assessments, and a “workable” Test and Trace system that doesn’t demand the blanket self-isolation that is currently causing huge staffing issues across the industry.
Richard Burge, chief executive of London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the restrictions end date was “hugely significant” for London and a “further placing of the ‘open for business’ sign on the front door.”
However, hospitality businesses in London still need to hear an update regarding the future of the Track and Trace system and self-isolation support, he said.
“Many people are still not fully vaccinated at this point, and we also cannot be complacent regarding potential emergence of variants, or indeed future viruses,” Burge added.
Ally Wolf, the manager of the Clapham Grand music venue in south London, said that his team is currently seven members of staff down due to self isolation. “If we lose one more staff member we won’t be able to open,” he said.
“We welcome the government’s decision to reopen on 19 July with open arms but we are worried we won’t actually be able to do it with an open venue if something isn’t done about the isolation policy for people that are contacted through the Track and Trace app,” he added.
The PM also confirmed this evening that nightclubs and music venues that have survived the pandemic will finally be able to reopen their doors next month, and music lovers will be able to return to the dancefloor without a mask.
Measures like compulsory table service, event certification and a ban on mass events were all restrictions that had “decimated” the night time economy over the last 16 months, according to Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NITA).
But Boris Johnson’s indication that an absolute final decision on Freedom Day would be made on 12 July reinforced the doubt that the industry has about any hoped for return to normality, Kill warned.
“As we commented at the time of the last decision on restrictions, one week is simply not enough time for businesses to plan to reopen – and it betrays the sense that the Government doesn’t understand what it takes to reopen a businesses after over a year without trading,” Kill said.
Nick Mackenzie, chief executive of Greene King, said: “It’s been a difficult time for everybody but as we start to come out of this crisis and learn to live with the virus, we still need the government to support the rebuilding of the hospitality sector particularly with business rates and duty reform, as well as tackling the short term issues around recruitment after months of closure.”
Long road to recovery
The lifting of restrictions will mean that 2,000 pubs that had been forced to stay shut because they couldn’t operate under social distancing and table service only will be able to reopen, according to the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA).
But 19 July will be “only the beginning” for the pub industry, the trade body warned.
“Having been one of the worst hit sectors by lockdown, our pubs and brewers now need the government to invest in them by reforming VAT, beer duty and business rates to reduce the unfair tax burden they face and aid their recovery,” Emma McClarkin, chief executive of BBPA, said.


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Time: 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Place: The Triple Door, Seattle
Microsoft reveals new music, cross-platform services for Xbox at E3 event
Xbox E3 conference
Send this story to a friend
Microsoft wants its Xbox video game console to be much more than a way to play the newest Halo or Call of Duty game.
At the E3 media briefing on Monday, Microsoft revealed a music service for the Xbox that allows customers to stream music and music videos, connect to hundreds of radio stations and create “personalized” radio stations on the new Last.fm service.
Up until now, Microsoft has been cagey about a music service that would compete with Apple's iTunes, despite the fact that the company has been advertising for programmer jobs around the world to help build a music distribution service.
Monday during the E3 briefing, Microsoft called the foray into streaming music the “music service we’ve always dreamed of building.”
Microsoft is hanging onto the Zune brand by turning it into the company’s music service that will work on any Microsoft product, from the Xbox to Windows Phone to a home PC. The company stopped producing Zune music players last year.
Don Mattrick, president of interactive entertainment for Microsoft, said during the E3 presentation that the company was “going to take Xbox to phones, PCs and tablets” later this year. The program is called “Smart Glass,” and it connects Windows 8 and Windows Phone devices to the gaming consoles. Customers can extend game play onto their devices or view special extras available only on those devices.
As part of the Smart Glass launch later this year, the newest Internet Explorer browser will work on the Xbox platform. Players will be able to surf the internet and watch 1080p high-definition streaming video online using an Xbox.
But the company has certainly not abandoned Xbox’s bread and butter: violent and visually striking video games.
The E3 presentation opened with an extended trailer for Halo 4, the popular video game whose latest version will hit consoles this November. Games like Halo have helped propel Xbox to its position as the No. 1 selling video game console in the world.
Most of the video games previewed during E3 made use of the Kinect Voice application that allows customers to speak to the console. For example, in the newest Madden NFL game, which will hit stores at the end of the summer, gamers can call out a player’s name and see that player respond on the field.
In first-person shooter games, players can interact with their environment by giving voice-activated commands to their avatars or the system.
Emily Parkhurst covers technology for TechFlash and the Puget Sound Business Journal. She can be reached at 206-876-5441 or firstname.lastname@example.org. Follow her on Twitter: @emilyparkhurst
Emily Parkhurst oversees all digital content for the Puget Sound Business Journal.
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
- Most popular
- Heating a skyscraper with a data center: Amazon's unique solution
- Seattle: Not enough billionaires to crack N. America top 10 list
- Microsoft announces additional 747 layoffs in Puget Sound region
- Seattle's top 12 neighborhoods for millennials
- King County to cut 500 positions; public health budget slashed
- SAP to buy Bellevue-based Concur for $8.3 billion
- $50M yacht 'Dorothea III,' owned by former Samsonite CEO, in Seattle
- Patti Payne's Cool Pads: Inside techie's $6.18M Mercer Island mansion
- Preparing for takeoff: Wright Runstad eyes huge project by Sea-Tac
- Behind the scenes with Seattle's young business superstars
Stay on top of the latest tech news from Seattle and beyond.
President and Chief Executive Officer The Urban League of Portland | Portland, OR
Vice President of Strategy & Programs Solid Ground | Seattle, WA
Commercial Furniture Sales Workpointe | Seattle, WA
Account Executive Puget Sound Business Journal | Seattle, WA
Allen Awardee Program Officer Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Seattle, WA