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With little more than two months until the new Accord on Fire and Building Safety is set to enter into effect in Bangladesh, global unions IndustriALL and UNI have announced that more than 100 brands have joined the mission.
Instituted following the deadly Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013, the initial Accord was formed to improve garment industry safety standards. That agreement claims to have conducted inspections on more than 1,800 factories, remediated 83 percent of the issues found there and seen 500 factories through 90 percent or more of their necessary fixes. With the end of the Accord on the horizon, it was unknown what would become of its efforts going forward.
“The brands that have signed the 2018 Transition Accord are showing a commitment to transparency and to the safety of Bangladeshi workers,” said Valter Sanches, general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union. “The Accord’s legally-binding framework is the only credible way to guarantee that life-threatening fire and structural hazards are remediated in a timely manner in ready-made garment and textile factories.”
Since the new Accord was announced in June, more than 101 brands have signed on, including Adidas, Benetton, Carrefour, H&M, New Look, Esprit, Hugo Boss, Inditex, Tesco and John Lewis. With these brands on board, the agreement covers more than 1,200 factories and at least 2 million workers.
“We were confident that the vast majority of 2013 signatories would sign the 2018 Transition Accord and now that we have broken 100 signatories, we are almost there,” said Christy Hoffman, deputy general scretary of UNI Global Union. “We’ve made improvements to the industry and turning away now simply doesn’t make sense. It is also important to make these advancements in worker safety sustainable through functioning Health and Safety Committees and the Transition Accord will put a priority on this work.”
Just last month, an unnamed apparel brand was ordered to pay a $2.3 million settlement to mitigate safety hazards in factories. The funds will be used to improve working conditions in 150 factories and to support IndustriALL and UNI Global’s workers’ fund.
“The recent legal victory on behalf of Bangladeshi garment workers shows the power of the Accord in action. The Accord is a legally binding commitment to make factories safe, and it has the power to fundamentally change the way garments and textiles are produced,” said Jenny Holdcroft, IndustriALL assistant general secretary.


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Spotlight on Indigenous entrepreneur at Awards
[by Anita Duffin]
Last week, Cairns-based Gunggari woman, Charmaine Saunders won the inaugural First Nations category at the Premier of Queensland’s Export Awards 2023.
Queensland is the first and only state to introduce a First Nations Category in the Australian Export awards.
Charmaine’s story is inspiring. She is a First Nations founder, owner and operator of fashion business, Mainie, which specialises in distinctively handcrafted scarves, kaftans, art and décor. For Charmaine, it’s not just about crating beautiful garments, it’s about storytelling.
Her clients are stylish and affluent people who appreciate luxury and are conscious of the stories behind their purchases.
Originally from Southwest Queensland’s Maranoa River Region, and now based in Cairns, Charmaine founded her fashion business ‘Mainie’, in 2012.
Like so many businesses, Charmaine pivoted to e-Commerce in the wake of COVID-19 to counteract the loss of wholesale and retail sales. Since then, there’s been no looking back, as her business has gone global.
Mainie currently sells to customers in Australia and around the world through Shopify and Amazon USA. Both platforms have had a positive return on investment and the company is looking to expand its online presence in Asia and Europe next year.
Mainie is 100 per cent committed to authenticity and sustainability. This is at the core of their business. Each design and artwork is sourced directly from traditional Aboriginal women artists, who paint stories from the world’s oldest continuing culture.
Mainie ensures that every design is ethically acquired and reproduced under licence, strictly adhering to the Indigenous Art Code. Mainie was also the official provider of Indigenous fashion and apparel to the Australian Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai and has supplied stock to the National Gallery of Singapore.
Powerful documentary Audrey Napanangka to premiere on NITV [by Hannah Lambert] Filmed over 10 years, the program tells the story of Warlpiri matriarch, artist and actor Audrey and her Sicilian partner Santo as they navigate through colonial systems to keep the children they care for together in the Central Australian Desert.
Queensland government releases new strategy to preserve state's Indigenous languages [Jack McKay, ABC] Queensland community groups and organisations will be given hundreds of thousands of dollars in new grants to help preserve and revitalise First Nations languages across the state.
Homebuyers at Aboriginal burial site at Riverlea project should be granted refunds, advocates says [ABC] Kaurna community members opposed to the way in which Aboriginal ancestral remains are being handled at a government-backed housing project in Adelaide's north have called on the developer to grant refunds to homebuyers.

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Segregated Witness (SegWit) is special.
And it’s not just because the bitcoin code change is focused on scaling the network (it is), or that it paves the way for a fresh layer for the tech that is potentially faster and more economical (it will).
Finally activated last August after months of controversy, SegWit is now spurring developers to collect a more structured, “themed” release for the software, an unusual development for the group behind the world’s earliest and most valuable cryptocurrency network.
Most of the time when Bitcoin Core introduces adjustments to this cryptocurrency’s code, the set of volunteer developers combine optimizations that are disparate together. However, this coming code launch, 0.16.0, the sixteenth “major release” because bitcoin started, is a bit different.
Set to launch the updates all revolve round SegWit – together with most focusing on making it much easier to send SegWit-style transactions from the software’s default option.
So, while the first software rollout of SegWit was all about making sure the network knew the rules, 0.16.0 is all about making it possible for users to make the most of their benefits.
Bitcoin Core contributor Andrew Chow informed:
This lets users to easily create SegWit addresses.”
Toward that goal, Chow clarified that SegWit features have been added to also the wallet user interface and the control line set, so both developers and non-programmers can utilize it.
Chaincode Lab engineer and Bitcoin Core contributor Marco Falke noted that although it was possible to make SegWit addresses in prior wallet versions, the process has been “rather hacky” and “mostly hidden.”
Now, though SegWit addresses will be the default option, meaning that addresses are automatically compatible with the scaling attribute.
According to Falke, “That is the most exciting part of the release.”
Together with SegWit addresses being made wallet users must experience lower fees. And progress there could have broader implications.
Bitcoin Core first introduced SegWit at November 2016, and the conflict that followed prompted some applications users to support a rival cryptocurrency that did away with it entirely. (Called bitcoin cash, the network’s fans have long argued that bigger blocks, where more space is allocated for transactions, is the key to lower prices.)
And according to Chow, one benefit of the SegWit address format is that fees are a bit lower, although he acknowledged that since the arrangement is so new, most wallets do not currently support it.
Chow said that other pieces of the release give users more flexibility over their Bitcoin Core wallet. By way of example, users can store their wallets, or keys, in a different information directory if they want to.
For the more tech-minded, check out the release notes for more details.
Long time coming
Stepping back, the launch could also help with SegWit’s occasionally troubled messaging, as its adoption was perhaps slower than anticipated by advocates.
Because even some major businesses have yet to embrace it, while upgrading the code of a software program that was international perhaps should be a fast process, users have complained.
With this background in mind of consumer anticipation and impatience, many may be amazed that it’s taken Bitcoin Core so long to include support in its wallet for the transaction type. But developers contend there are a couple reasons for the delay.
First, the team says it wanted to observe SegWit really worked on the network for a bit in case there were security vulnerabilities or issues, said Chow. Secondly, politics turned into a distraction.
While the software release before this one, 0.15.1, was supposed to boost the wallet’s aid of SegWit, developers assert a proposed alternative bitcoin software launch, scheduled for November 2016, is partly blame for slowing the focus and redirecting efforts.


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Companies waste an estimated $6.6 billion on unused software in the U.S. every year. With more options than ever, finding the right software for your dealership can be a challenge. How can you cut through the clutter and make sure your software dollars are well-spent? Download your free step-by-step guide to successfully navigating the software jungle. DOWNLOAD GUIDE
CHICAGO — Nov. 30, 2011 — Mobile car shoppers are younger, affluent and more likely to be shopping for a new car, according to “Mobile Web and App Usage for Automotive Shoppers,” a study commissioned by Cars.com, the premier online resource for buying and selling new and used cars, and conducted by Nielsen, a leading global information and research firm. The online survey of more than 1,600 recent automotive purchasers and intenders reveals how consumers are using their mobile devices to complement their search throughout the car shopping process – including while they’re right on the dealership lot.
“It’s no secret that mobile devices have completely changed the way consumers shop, making it crucial that retailers – automotive or otherwise – understand who mobile shoppers are and how they’re using their devices differently than their laptops or desktops,” said Sharon Knitter, senior director, Mobile. “This study informs our ability to deliver a great car shopping experience to our users no matter what screen they’re visiting us on, as well as making us a better partner to our dealer customers and advertisers as they implement their own mobile marketing strategies.”
The survey results found that mobile shoppers are younger, with individuals 34 years of age or younger representing 40 percent of the respondents. Most are in the market for a new car (73 percent of recent purchasers bought a new vehicle) and are more affluent, with 79 percent reporting a household income over $50,000. The majority recently purchased or plans to buy a vehicle priced between $20,000 and $40,000, with an average price of $28,419.
Smartphone users, which make up 83 percent of the respondents, are most likely using mobile apps, while tablet users, which represent 28 percent of the respondents (device usage not mutually exclusive), are more likely to access web sites. Mobile car shoppers are also using their devices to make decisions – 90 percent of respondents had not yet decided upon exact vehicle, and 93 percent were undecided upon a dealership when they began engaging mobile tools in the car-shopping process.
The survey also captured the activities in which mobile car shoppers are most often engaging, including viewing photos (77 percent), finding dealership info (76 percent), reading expert/consumer vehicle reviews (74 percent), comparing vehicle prices (71 percent), searching listings (67 percent) and reading dealer reviews (51 percent). Users are engaging in these activities at home (92 percent), at the office (66 percent) and on the go (64 percent outside, 59 percent from a restaurant/café/bar and 54 percent waiting in line). Remarkably, 53 percent of respondents revealed they use their devices while on the dealership lot – a statistic that increases to 57 percent when looking at recent purchasers. Most mobile car shoppers have also taken action on ads, with automotive advertising gaining the most engagement (40 percent) behind restaurants/dining (50 percent) and entertainment (41 percent).
“What hasn’t changed with the growth of mobile usage is the importance of mastering the basics of selling a car,” said Knitter. “Smart phone users are viewing photos, searching inventory, researching prices, looking up dealer contact information and reading reviews. That means that many issues, such as poor merchandising, incorrect contact information and customer complaints, can be amplified for the mobile shopper, sending them elsewhere.”
Cars.com was recently named the “Best Overall Customer Experience” by Keynote Systems, the leader in Internet and mobile cloud marketing. Cars.com is an online destination for car shoppers that offers information from consumers and experts to help buyers formulate opinions on what to buy, where to buy and how much to pay for a car. Cars.com offers thousands of new and used vehicle listings, consumer reviews, side-by-side comparison tools, photo galleries, videos, unbiased editorial content and many other tools. Cars.com put millions of car buyers in control of their shopping process with the information they needs to make confident buying decisions.
Launched in June 1998, Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures, LLC, which is owned by leading media companies, including Belo (N.Y.SE: BLC), Gannett Co., Inc. (N.Y.SE: GCI), The McClatchy Company (N.Y.SE: MNI), Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company (N.Y.SE: WPO).
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
B2B Public Relations Manager


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Rail services in winter season with unique multimodal service to ship temperature-sensitive goods throughout harsh winters, when -20C is the average; Innovative solution leverages cost-effective trans-continental West rail route, from China to Poland; Customers gain flexible, reliable service that is cheaper than air freight, and faster than ocean freight.
Georgia Logistics compiles a monthly set of facts and figures regarding the Logistics Markets. We selected a few facts to share with you.
Cary, N.C.—November 25, 2014 (James Street Media Services)—Railinc Corp. announced today that Jerry Traynham was promoted to Chief Information Officer (CIO).
EU 3PL Award Winners Announced; Snapshot of 3PL Summit and CSCO Forum Day One
Year on year eft aims to recognise the 3PLs that continuously excel in logistics operations and provide superior service to their customers.
An abundance of sponsors and industry press will be present at this year’s 3PL Summit & Chief Supply Chain Officer Forum in Amsterdam on November 18-20th.
Presentation to shed light on the future of technology-enabled competitive advantage for 3PL leaders at today's CIO Logistics Forum
Less than 1 week remains until this year’s European 3PL Summit and Chief Supply Chain Officer Forum. The 2014 event unites executives of the highest calibre from the biggest European logistics providers, as well as senior supply chain executive representatives from leading retailers and manufacturers.
Driverless Trucks on the Agenda; 3PL Summit and CSCO Forum in Amsterdam; Social Media and Supply Chain
Distinguished supply chain management experts, Hughenden Consulting, will be chairing the discussions at this year’s Life Sciences Supply Chain Summit (Mercure Amsterdam City, December 3-4).


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There are two primary concerns in the payments industry’s quest to achieve effective security and fraud protection: businesses’ own data, and the digital identity of consumers. Sunil Madhu, Founder and CEO of Socure, discusses with MPD CEO Karen Webster a methodology that can address both of those factors with equal effectiveness.
While there’s a concern throughout the payments and commerce ecosystem that any digital identity being presented might not be what it seems (i.e., fraudulent), that potential duality manifests into a literal one in the goals that businesses seek to achieve: protecting account data while simultaneously authenticating a customer’s identity.
Karen Webster recently spoke with Sunil Madhu, Founder and CEO of Socure, about the need for a digital identity authentication solution that does not give either one of those concerns short shrift.
KW:There’s a lot of attention being focused on the differences between protecting the payment stream and protecting the customer data stream. What are your thoughts on that distinction with respect to the focus on security in payments today?
SM:Most solutions in the marketplace focus on both sides of the fence, if you will.
Identity verification is obviously important, as is examining the behavior on an account over time to determine that the person using the account is the same one who opened it in the first place.
There are different sets of tools available for those two areas.
On the one side, new account openings and identity verification has historically been handled by data brokers and credit bureaus that possess a lot of offline information about consumers and verify them based on that data.
That method isn’t working well anymore, for a few reasons. All of that data is public to begin with and a lot of the credit bureaus have been breached, leading to consumers’ PII (personal identifiable information) being stolen and sold to fraudsters.
More importantly, demographics are changing. Fifty-one percent of the world’s population today is millennials (people between the ages of 18 and 34), and those individuals are treated as thin-file by the bureaus, given that there’s often very little offline information about them. Meanwhile, 50 million adults in the U.S. are outside the banking system; and compounding that problem is the fact that the financial collapse turned a lot of good credit (in regards to individuals) into bad.
That’s why we think that using online and social data, in addition to that offline data, in order to validate the legitimacy of consumers interacting with FIs is a viable strategy.
It’s very difficult for a fraudster to fake social proof — for example, the network effect of creating online friends, followers, etc. Using social data as an augment to offline data, we think provides the opportunity to discern more accurately if the person interacting with a business is in fact who they claim to be.
On the other side of the fence — examining behavior over time — a lot of solutions have started to use step-up authentication or multi-factor authentication as way of ensuring the legitimacy of a transaction. Increasingly, those methods rely largely on biometrics.
But utilizing biometrics alone is insufficient, because it is possible for a fraudster to associate their biometrics with a legitimate consumer’s PII; it’s happening with Apple Pay, which — despite utilizing Touch ID — has about 60 times the fraud rate of swipe cards.
In order to get the utopian state where we’re able to eliminate online transaction fraud or account takeover fraud, you have to bind the verified identity to a biometric or to step-up authentication credentials. That binding ensures that when credentials are presented, there’s no way that they could have been stolen and reused by a fraudster.
The combination of these two things — augmenting offline data with social data, and the binding of an identity — prevent the need for us to look at things like the device being used or payment behaviors, et al.
KW: Isn’t that one of the problems that payment tokens are trying to solve for?
SM: FIDO is obviously one of the organizations that are trying to do tokenization; there are also a lot of private enterprises coming up with their own tokenization schemes.
Knowing how slow technology gets adopted in the industry — credit cards, for example, took decades — you’re really looking at the next 15 to 20 years before we move to such a scheme.
As we move to stronger authentication and biometrics in any kind of step-up or multi-factor mode, it’s important to note that there is no standard for any biometric credential.
The technology for each type of biometric credential — fingerprint, face, voice recognition — is actually proprietary.
Regarding tokenization, the first challenge is getting the industry to agree upon a standard for interoperable credentials, as well as for which constitutes a trustworthy ID. Then there’s the larger problem of creating a trusted identity against an authenticator wherein the biometric credential itself is proprietary.
There’s still a lot to be done in solving both of those problems in order for tokenization to be useful.
KW: The move to online, driven by mobile, is forcing this lack of distinction between the offline and the online worlds. I think that will accelerate the intensity of the ecosystem to find an identity authentication solution that actually can be deployed across channels — one that isn’t device dependent, but is person dependent.
SM: Most of the transactions that people are making today are still taking place offline. But I agree with you that the adoption of mobile in a lot of different markets will accelerate that growth.
It’s great that the industry has recognized the problem surrounding digital identity and is starting to move toward a consensus solution … but, optimistically, I think it will be a decade or two before we see the outcome.
And in the meantime, we still have to deal with fraud.
KW: A lot of the bureaus have tried to look at social attributes as the way to build the thin files of the consumers you describe into thicker files, and they’ve determined that that’s not necessarily appropriate if you’re making a risk assessment for an individual.
But I suppose what you’re doing is just trying to say that “Joe is Joe” and “Sally is Sally” — and, for that purpose, social is effective. Is that the working theory?
SM: Although our system isn’t used to create credit models, it actually does both of the things you describe.
We de-risk the authenticity of an identity, and we also make a fraud prediction.
Fraud varies from one industry to another. In the merchant space, the focus tends be on chargeback fraud, while issuing banks care more about synthetic ID fraud, and a lender might care about first payment default fraud, et cetera.
What we’ve been able to do is obtain data from our customers — financial institutions and global payment companies — in terms of who is actually committing fraud in their industry. That’s allowed us to train artificial intelligence machine-learning systems to discern between the features of a person committing fraud and those of people whose identities have been stolen and are being used for fraud (of various types).
Our system looks at data spread across different networks, combines them with offline PII, and determines whether or not they correlate well — a determination that can be meted out both by social proof (or a lack of it) and an assessment as to whether or not the features of identity are indicative of fraudulent behavior in a specific industry or vertical.
It’s the combination of those things that makes our system effective and empirical.
KW: Is the application of your technology used mostly to validate the identity of a consumer when they are taking a new action, or is it inserted into the payment stream in the midst of transactions that are happening?
SM: Again, there, our system is used in both ways.
We’re used both in account opening and in post-account openings — instances where people have changed their profile data. In the remittance industry, for example, we’re used on every transaction.
KW: The industry obviously can’t wait 20 years for an effective digital identity authentication solution — we needed one 10 years ago. What do you think is a shorter-term path to both protecting consumers and giving relying parties assurance that an identity is legitimate?
SM: The best way to do that is, simply, to actually do it.
Regulation typically lags behind the market; there is no standard, for example, for KYC – knowing your customer compliance — technology simply has to be proven out. And we intend to do that with ours.
We intend to show the world that relying on credit bureaus and offline data is no longer the most effective method, and that much more empirical models can be created by combining a variety of what was once esoteric data and applying it in meaningful ways for much better outcomes.
And we expect to be able to do that in less time than 10 years.


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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares have tanked 42% in the last 52 weeks. With Zune issues, great XBOX sales, and Windows 7 on the horizon -- what do you make of it all?
Only if the XBOX division at Microsoft could become their own company, then it would be an easy buy. Microsoft has sold more Xbox 360 games last year than in any other year, and said that 28 million consoles have been sold since the game's introduction three years ago.
Xbox 360's total sales now are 8 million more than competitor Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 game. Microsoft added that its Xbox Live online community now numbers 17 million members and more than $1 billion has been spent on Xbox Live in the past three years.


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The message looks official, absolutely genuine. It’s purportedly from a familiar company — it could even be your company — warning the reader that his or her account has been suspended for security purposes and asking them to visit a “secure” Web site to provide credit card and other personal and financial information.
But the message isn’t legitimate. Its originating address — as well as the Web site’s address — has been “spoofed,” carefully disguised to hide its real identity. Both message and Web site are the handiwork of an identity thief on a “phishing” expedition.
Phishing — the practice of using bogus E-mails to separate people from their money — isn’t a new practice. But activity is picking up as phishers hone their talents, produce increasingly realistic E-mails and Web sites, and victimize a growing number of consumers. “They’ve just really taken off, and the bad guys have gotten more sophisticated,” says Hani Durzy, a spokesman for eBay.
The Web auction company, along with its PayPal electronic payments unit, is frequently “impersonated” by phishers. Indeed, before identity thieves can target consumers, first they must impersonate a trusted business — perhaps your business. Besides eBay, hundreds of companies, including such icons as American Express, Citibank, Visa, and Microsoft, have had to deal with business identity theft. “Any company operating in high-transaction volume, business-to-consumer environments is exposed,” says David J. Santoro Jr., senior manager of finance and performance management for consultancy Accenture. “It’s a major threat.”
MessageLabs, an E-mail security firm that monitors corporate Internet traffic, reports that phishing E-mails rose from 279 in September 2003 to 227,050 in January 2004. The scams are proliferating because they can be very profitable for their perpetrators. Some analyst estimates place the success rate of phishing E-mails at about 1 in every 20 recipients.
One reason for the relatively high success rate is that phishers are becoming more skilled at concocting realistic-looking E-mails and Web sites. “A year ago, it was relatively easy to spot it as a spoof E-mail, because of bad sentence structure, bad grammar, misspellings, and things like that,” says Durzy. Today, phisher’s E-mails and Web sites look real enough to fool all but the trained viewer’s eye.
The improved quality of phishers’ lures is a sign that, contrary to widespread conception, most business identity thieves aren’t unemployed young men sitting in their parents’ basements. “The people usually behind the attacks are career criminals in organized rings that deploy numerous schemes in obtaining identities from online and offline sources,” says Santoro.
Phishers use a variety of techniques to target unsuspecting consumers. Unsophisticated operatives adopt a scattershot approach, sending phishing lures to any E-mail address they can get their hands on, usually acquiring the data from legitimate sources such as direct marketing firms. More cunning phishers use E-mail lists of their target business’ customers — often obtained illegally from current or former company employees.
As phishing attacks increase, affected companies are spending a growing amount of time and money dealing with the consequences. Besides the burden of coping with legions of angry victims, companies also suffer less-quantifiable costs in terms of damage to their reputation and credibility. For affected firms, the cost of dealing with attacks can quickly add up. eBay, for example, has more than 800 people in various departments — ranging from fraud investigation to customer service — dealing with business identity theft matters on a full-time or part-time basis.


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Surly, the brewery that started the craft-beer boom in Minnesota, finally opens the doors to its “destination brewery” Friday.
The $30 million, 50,000-square-foot facility, which is in the Minneapolis neighborhood of Prospect Park near St. Paul, includes a full-service restaurant — eventually there will be two, one of which will be in a beer hall — and an acre-and-a-half outdoor beer garden that will accommodate up to 1,000 beer drinkers.
The story behind the brewery, the first of its breadth and scope in Minnesota, is a lengthy one.
In 2010, Omar Ansari’s Surly Brewing Co. had outgrown his family’s former abrasives factory in Brooklyn Center, and he wanted to build a replacement.
But Ansari wanted fans of the beer — affectionately known as Surly Nation — to have something special. He called it a destination brewery and envisioned an outdoor beer garden with plenty of indoor space in which customers could buy pints and meals at a full-service restaurant.
Breweries in other states, including neighboring Wisconsin, had that option, but Minnesota law wouldn’t allow it.
So Ansari set out to change the law, a challenge many had undertaken, but none had accomplished. A local politician once told him to relocate to Wisconsin, because it had proved impossible to surmount a powerful liquor lobby that wanted the status quo.
But no one counted on the level of support Surly’s die-hard fans would provide. They called and wrote state legislators. They testified. They tweeted. They signed petitions. And in May 2011, Minnesota’s so-called “Surly Bill” was signed into law, allowing craft breweries to open taprooms in which customers could buy pints of their beer and drink them on-site.
In the 3 1/2 years since the law was passed, dozens of craft breweries have popped up — from Tin Whiskers in downtown St. Paul to Indeed in Northeast Minneapolis to Steel Toe in St. Louis Park — almost all of them taking advantage of the bill that Surly built.
And now, that brewery opens just a few minutes’ walk from the Green Line light-rail that connects St. Paul and Minneapolis.
“It’s a relief that we’ll finally be open,” Ansari said Thursday. “We’ve been talking about this for more than four years. But there’s also the terrifying reality that we’re about to get crushed. We figure there will be a lot of people here.”
He’s not the only one. Metro Transit, which runs the Green Line, is offering free rides to brewery visitors all weekend long. (Go to metrotransit.org for a link to a survey you’ll need to take to print a free pass.)
Ansari, who took two years to choose the site for the brewery, said that light-rail line was a huge factor in his decision.
“I’ve always been a big believer in the train,” he said. “You don’t become a world-class city unless you have that kind of transportation. Plus, we’re in the alcohol business. We’d rather have people take the bus or light rail than drive.”
The site also had to be in the Twin Cities themselves, Ansari said, and the 4 to 5 acres the brewery would require was not easy to find.
The gleaming new brew house, outfitted with stainless steel equipment built in Bavaria and carried across the ocean by ship, will increase Surly’s production capacity to 80,000 to 90,000 barrels a year. That is nearly triple the amount of beer the company made last year.
That switch doesn’t come without growing pains, though. Todd Haug, head of brewing operations, the guy who has been brewing Surly beer since it began in 2004, said it’s been a learning curve trying to make sure the beer tastes the same as it did when the company was brewing out of its much smaller and less technologically advanced brewery in Brooklyn Center.
That facility will continue to operate as a brewery. Haug said it’s the place where brewers will be able to make experimental beers, something that’s been difficult as the brewery strained to meet demand for its most popular flagship beers — Furious, Bender and Cynic.
In addition, there’s plenty of room to grow at the new brew house. The company has ambitions of circulating its beer, which is currently available only in Minnesota and Chicago, to the larger Midwest.
As for the restaurant portion of the brewery, Surly is the second to add a kitchen to their taproom. Urban Growler, just across Minnesota 280 in St. Paul, beat them to that punch, with sandwiches, tacos and appetizers.
But the scope of Surly’s food ambition is much larger. There are about 220 seats in the main taproom where a full menu will be available. Surly hired Jorge Guzman, who worked for Corner Table and Tejas, and was the head chef at Solera in Minneapolis when he was hired to run Surly’s restaurants.
Yes, restaurants. Come April, an upstairs, fine-dining, “more white tablecloth” restaurant will open.
“We’re trying to appeal to people who want a burger or brisket, but then those who want bone marrow or scallops,” he said of the beer hall offerings. “It’s chef-driven menu. It’s really good food. We think we’re going to have a lot of people who come just for the food.”
Guzman said the food is meant to go with beer, but there wouldn’t be specific pairings.
“It’s meant to be a place where you eat and drink as a community,” Guzman said, gesturing to long communal tables in the beer hall.
He said he’s hyper aware of the high profile of the project.
“Being chosen to lead this project is very humbling,” Guzman said. “We’re scared as hell. We know it’s going to be very scrutinized. But if a job’s too easy, why do it?”
One thing the team is not worried about is all those other craft breweries that beat Surly to the taproom punch. In fact, they’re practically giddy about it.
“I knew when we made that change, you know, we made it not just for us, but because it’s what the beer community needed to move forward,” Ansari said. “But I didn’t know that it would happen so fast. There will be more, too. Just wait, every community will have a brewery. I think we’ve officially put a stamp on the Twin Cities as a great beer spot.”
When people ask him if there’s a point at which the market is saturated, he points to Portland, Ore.
“You go to Portland, and 50 percent of the beer consumed there is craft beer. There’s so much room to grow, and we (Surly) can only brew so much beer.”
Jess Fleming can be reached at 651-228-5435. Follow her at twitter.com/jessflem.
BY THE NUMBERS
$30 million: Cost of building the brewery on the site of a former potato-product plant in Prospect Park.
50,000: Square feet of the facility; includes a 220-seat beer hall, a 90-seat fine-dining restaurant and a 130-seat event center.
4.5: Number of minutes it’ll take you to walk to the brewery from the Green Line light-rail train.
80,000 to 90,000: Barrels of beer Surly can brew next year, up from 33,000 barrels produced at its previous facility.
1,000: Beer drinkers the 1.5-acre outdoor beer garden will accommodate once the landscaping is completed in the spring.


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Parliament will hear a petition this afternoon to halt the planned import of 10 million bags of GMO maize in a bid to protect farmers’ incomes, setting the stage for a further rise in inflation.
MPs will interrupt normal business for debate after Commerce Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria’s announcement to import grain duty-free for the next six months.
Pokot South MP David Pkosing has asked Speaker Moses Wetang’ula to suspend normal business and debate the controversial announcement.
Shipments are expected to fill the gap caused by a reduced harvest following a prolonged drought, which pushed the cost of maize meal to an average of 190 shillings in October for the two-kilo pack of 130 shillings at the start of the year.
Costly flour along with fuel and other food items drove Kenya’s monthly inflation to a 65-month high of 9.6% in October, squeezing household budgets and demand for goods and services.
The petition calls for the import to stop for fear it will drive down maize prices and hurt farmers, especially in the Rift Valley grain basket.
The Standing Orders allow a Member to request the Speaker to interrupt normal business to debate a matter of national importance.
Mr. Pkosing said the new administration is under pressure from multinational corporations to allow GMO maize.
“I have asked Parliament to suspend proceedings tomorrow (this afternoon) so that we stop all forms of importing maize, whether GMO or not, until all the maize our farmers are harvesting be mopped up by the government,” Mr Pkosing said.
He warned the government would face anger from farmers in North Rift, Central Rift and Bungoma counties over duty-free maize.
Farmers in Trans Nzoia, Bungoma, West Pokot, Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nakuru and Narok harvest maize from the long rains.
“I was sent by farmers in these areas to tell Mr. Kuria to stop importing maize until the government pays off all their crops. They want the government to announce a price of 4,500 shillings per 90kg bag,” he said.
Farmers are now selling a bag for between 4,700 and 5,600 shillings and fear the planned imports will drive prices below 1,000 shillings.
Mr. Pkosing also demanded that the government open all National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depots and buy maize from farmers for strategic grain reserves.
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Apple is expected to introduce bigger changes to the iPhone line in 2023, including the launch of ‘iPhone 15 Ultra’
EA sees a ‘tremendous opportunity’ for ‘Battlefield’ if Microsoft removes ‘Call of Duty’ from PlayStation
The partnership with Samsung enables Comcast to offer 5G connectivity without having to build or acquire additional cell sites.
Sony praises UK competition authority’s decision to open an in-depth investigation of Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard buyout
After an investigation, the government has three options: challenge a merger in court, pursue remedies, or take no action, allowing the transaction to go through.
‘Battlefield’ franchise chief says the latest game ‘strayed a little too far’ from what the series is known for
Huawei Mate 50 release date: New report says it’s not canceled, but production timeline is yet to be determined
A new report suggests there might still be a chance for the Huawei Mate 50 to launch this year. A local source has claimed that the phone’s design has been finalized, but the company has yet to determine when its production can begin.
Over the last week, Huawei fans were greeted with the news that the Mate 50 series is unlikely to launch this year. It was hardly surprising, though, since the company has been hounded by sanctions from the United States government over the last two years. Additionally, it also has to navigate the ongoing semiconductor shortage to produce its flagship phones this year.
However, a new report coming from China Securities News (via Sparrows News) cited sources from the supply chain that claimed Huawei has not ordered the cancellation of Huawei Mate 50 yet. The same article mentioned seeing the phone’s design, which seemingly suggests the company is still planning the release of the new flagship device. The problem, however, is that Huawei has yet to set the timeline for the Mate 50 series production hinting at a potential delay if the phone lineup ever sees the light of day.
Huawei fans should be reminded to take the reports with a grain of salt, though. When the company offered a teaser for the P50 series, it also indirectly hinted that its plans for its flagship smartphones are very tentative at the moment. Huawei has always refreshed the P series in late March over the last few years. But for the reasons mentioned above, the company was only able to confirm the phone’s arrival but cannot provide a specific release date yet. During the HarmonyOS 2.0 event earlier this month, Huawei only said the new device is launching within spring.
It is still unknown how Huawei would continue producing new Kirin chips due to the sanctions Huawei is facing. The P50 series will likely launch with the 5nm Kirin 9000 5G series chip, which launch late last year, that is if Huawei has not run out of supply yet.
The uncertainty further sets in for Huawei Mate 50, since it is supposed to launch with a new-generation Kirin SoC this year.
“Unfortunately, in the second round of U.S. sanctions, our chip producers only accepted orders until May 15. Production will close on Sept. 15,” Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei consumer business group, said last August. “This year may be the last generation of Huawei Kirin high-end chips.”
What is a semiconductor? An electrical engineer explains how these critical electronic components work and how they are made


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Tayco becomes 1st Manufacturer to Receive ANSI/BIFMA Certification!
Earlier this year, ANSI/BIFMA published the newest version of the ANSI/BIFMA e3-2019 Furniture for Sustainability Standard and we are thrilled to announce that Tayco is the first manufacturer to receive certification!
Intertek, an authorized BIFMA certification body, has awarded both Metro and Cosmo product lines with LEVEL 2.
“Attempting the BIFMA e3 standard gave us the opportunity to take an in-depth look at sustainability in all areas of the business including our environmental impact, health and wellness impacts, and social impacts. We couldn’t be more pleased to be the first to achieve LEVEL 2 with the new ANSI/BIFMA e3-2019 Furniture Sustainability Standard,” says Tayco CEO Kevin Philips.
Read the official BIFMA press release here.


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We have been conference rumors about a new Essential Phone from Andy Rubin, a device is now central and we have some-more sum on this new smartphone.
The Verge were given an disdainful on a exhibit of a Essential Phone and a handset comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor and 4GB of RAM, there is also 128GB of storage.
Other specifications on a Essential Phone embody an corner to corner display, no sum on a shade distance or fortitude as yet.
The Essential Phone also comes with a 360 grade camera that clicks onto a behind of a handset and it also has an 8 megapixel front confronting camera and a twin camera setup on a behind with a 13 megapixel sensor.
The device is done from a multiple of titanium and ceramic and it will cost $699 when it launches, we will have some-more sum about a device when they are available.
Source The VergeFiled Under: Mobile Phone News, Technology News, Top News


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The official PlayStation application on smartphones was massively improved when it got a facelift to coincide with the launch of the PS5, and now it's going to be further enhanced with updates landing "in the coming weeks". The headline addition will be the ability to manage your console's storage from the device without even having to boot the system up. The PlayStation Blog doesn't go into much detail, but we have to assume you'll be able to delete PS5 and PS4 titles on the fly and potentially move them between storage locations. PS5 games can be stored externally starting tomorrow, after all.
The update will also let you join a multiplayer session on PS5 from the app, compare Trophy lists with your friends, and sort and filter products on the PS Store. This is in addition to the features that have already been patched in recently, which include the long-awaited Wishlist, notifications when your pals come online, and the ability to change your online status. The app is available to download right now on the Google Play and Apple App stores.
Cool additions? Cool additions indeed. Do you regularly use the PlayStation phone app? Share what you think of these new features in the comments below.


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You wonder how cross a 73-year-old Peter Fonda really was to discover the image of his younger self looking cool straddling a Harley on a T-shirt made by an Italian fashion label.
But cash is cash and Fonda is suing Dolce & Gabbana for using the 1969 still from Easy Rider without permission, claiming he has “suffered injuries to his peace, happiness, feelings, goodwill, reputation.. and [crucially, perhaps] future publicity value.”
The T-shirts, which sell for almost £200 at the US retailer Nordstrom (he’s suing them for good measure) are evidently such a threat to Fonda that he is demanding fees and any profits from sales on top of damages of up to $6m (£3.9m).
Nordstrom has said only that it was “aware” of the legal action while neither D nor G has commented, but one can only imagine both parties were already aware of the risks involved in slapping faces on shirts.
Last week, Rihanna was in a London court suing TopShop in a similar case. That is to say, her image was in court, on T-shirts displayed on a rack by the singer’s lawyers. They claimed on her behalf that the photograph, taken during a music video shoot in 2011, may have misled fans and damaged her reputation.
There are dozens of historic precedents, too, including the time, in 2011, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino of Jersey Shore fame sued Abercrombie & Fitch over its T-shirts bearing the expression “The Fitchuation” (he lost the case earlier this month). Not only the famous are at risk. Last year, a fashion student was stunned to find a self-portrait from her blog on a Tesco sweater. The supermarket apologised and withdrew the garment.
Britain, it turns out, has none of the “misappropriation of image” laws celebrities use to protect their image elsewhere (in Germany, the goalkeeper Oliver Kahn used them to stop EA sports putting him in a computer game). Lawyers here must be more imaginative and draw on other legislation such as that concerning defamation or the “passing off” of goods as being those officially endorsed by the claimant.
Rihanna’s team took this approach, saying that the image used was “very similar” to those featured on the CD sleeve for one of her albums. But TopShop’s lawyers said it had paid the photographer for rights to use his photo. Alluding to the potential hypocrisy circling such cases, they also pointed out that any damage to Rihanna had not stopped her people requesting clothes from TopShop six times after she took the store to court.
The Dolce&Gabbana Group has now issued a statement saying it “was not aware of any legal action undertaken by Mr. Peter Henry Fonda until it was published on various media outlets.”
It adds: “the Group has not been informed of the terms of this alleged legal action as, up until today, it has not been officially notified in this sense.”
The “Easy Rider” T-shirts, it says, were created as part of an image rights contract with Sony Pictures.
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Ever since it opened its brewpub in downtown Chandler in September 2007, SanTan Brewing Company has continued to grow.
Its latest addition is a 2,000-square foot patio that joins its retail shop, tasting room and production facility on Warner Road just east of Arizona Avenue, where it hosts live music and other public and private events.
The idea for the al fresco area at SanTan Gardens was sparked by the earlier days of the pandemic when people were concerned about keeping six feet apart, said SanTan Brewing Company founder/brewer Anthony Canecchia of Gilbert.
“It evolved from “a place for people to socially distance to a genuine events center that can hold upwards of 250 people,” he said.
Originally, the outdoor area was only around 10 by 10 feet, but they removed a door and windows to open up the space. Then they got the idea to add a stage for live music.
“It kept snowballing,” Canecchia said. “The catering department came over and asked, ‘When are we going to be able to use this for events?’”
SanTan Gardens began testing the waters over the summer with gatherings such as psychedelic jam sessions on Saturdays and “Whiskey Wednesdays” featuring live music and specials on whiskey cocktails and bottles.
Events ramped up in September with “Beer, Bourbon, BBQ + Band,” featuring a pig roast; a roster of live music and other happenings is ongoing.
Canecchia said SanTan Brewing Company built some large events in downtown Chandler over the years, but they became overwhelming.
“The last one we did was Oktoberfest 2019, and we looked at each other and said, ‘It was successful, it was great, I think we’re done.’ It takes so much energy and months and months of planning.
“When we said, ‘Let’s start doing events at Warner,’ it was, ‘Yes, they’re intimate, they’re manageable,’” he remarked.
SanTan Gardens events are “mellower; there’s not a lot of pomp and circumstance,” Canecchia noted, and they don’t run past 10 p.m.
Upcoming activities include A Grateful Dead Halloween and a comedy series with headliners such as Harland Williams, Jamie Kennedy and Jay Mohr.
SanTan Brewing Company’s tasting room and SanTan Gardens is generally open 3-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and noon to 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday for retail sales, tastings and tours, and all special events are listed on the website.
There’s no kitchen, but food trucks are present at some special events.
The patio and tasting room also are available to rent for private parties such as weddings, reunions and more. In the tasting room, barrels stacked eight high against the 25-foot ceilings make for a fun backdrop, and the patio can be dressed up with centerpieces, flowers and other decor.
The website lists blackout dates when it’s closed to the public.
SanTan Brewing Company has expanded exponentially since its start as a small brewpub on historic San Marcos Square, which was one of the early brewpubs in the Valley.
Canecchia originally was a home brewer and worked at Four Peaks Brewing Company in Tempe as its first employee starting in 1996.
After the brewpub launched, it helped revitalize a then-sleepy downtown Chandler. Its craft beer made on-site along with a menu of comfort food favorites with a Southwestern twist — including meats smoked on hickory and oak out back — drew lines of people waiting for tables.
However, the Great Recession soon hit, and the brewery “scrambled and started distributing our beers,” to other restaurants and retailers, Canecchia said.
A year later, they signed to a major distributor, and before long, they outgrew their production capacity at the brewpub and opened the bigger facility on Warner Road in 2010.
The company also got its Series 1 license in 2015, which “allows us to produce any type of alcohol you can think of,” Canecchia said.
Back then, few breweries were making other alcohol, but now, “it’s becoming very popular for people to diversify beyond beer,” he noted.
The brewery makes a variety of styles, including IPAs, lagers, stouts, wheat beers and more, and SanTan Spirits distills vodka, gin, whiskey, bitters, canned cocktails and other occasional special releases, such as coffee liqueur or brandy.
A wall in the tasting room displays the copious number of awards it has received.
In addition to its retail/tasting room and live entertainment, a major focus at SanTan Gardens is education. Tours at the production facility started in 2019; they cost $15 and can be booked online.
The tours, which last an hour or more, discuss the company’s history and the nuts and bolts of making beer and spirits, with explanations about the ingredients, the distilling, the canning and more.
The Warner location produces 98 percent of the company’s beer in its 50-barrel brewing system and all of its spirits in a specially designed artesian pot still.
SanTan Brewing Company is now the state’s largest independent brewer and distiller. It brews about 50,000 barrels of beer — roughly 16.5 million cans — and more than 10,000 cases of whiskey.
Yanina Santos of Mesa, who took a tour on Sept. 24, said “I think I have a new appreciation for beer and what goes into it than I had before.”
Her husband, Isaac Santos, said, “It was pretty cool learning the history of it and learning that the main owner designed the still and all that.” He added, “They make a great caramel whiskey, which is the big takeaway.”
If You Go...
What: SanTan Gardens
Where: 495 E. Warner Road, Chandler.
Hours: 3-8 p.m. Monday-Friday; noon-8 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
Contact: 480-534-7041; santanbrewing.com/santan-gardens


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If you're looking for european cruises news, visit our cruise news section to find and browse the latest news posts related to european cruises and latest breaking news about ports and destinations that might be of interest to you. We constantly update this page, so you can always up-to-date.
Whether you prefer an ocean cruise or river cruise, CruiseBooking.com bring you the most current european cruises news in the cruise industry, including upcoming cruise ships, cruise marketing trends, and cruise videos, rules & regulations. We bring you the latest information or news about your cruise vacation.
According to a press release, Azamara has announced a limited-time offer rewarding travelers with three free nights on select European voyages. Guests can also save up to 50 percent on […]


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Tesla reports record $675.4mn loss in Q4
Electric car maker Tesla has reported a record loss of $675.4 million -- $4.01 per share -- on a revenue of $3.29 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The Palo Alto car company partly blamed the worst-ever figures on the high costs related to the production of its Model 3 electric sedan, the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday.
Tesla, which lost $121 million in the same quarter last year, said revenue was up 36 per cent over the same period in 2016 because of the deliveries it made of the luxury electric Model S sedan and Model X crossover.
"Revenue from automotive products rose to $2.7 billion for the final quarter of 2017 -- up from $1.99 billion in the year-earlier quarter," the report said.
Tesla also reported that revenue from its energy storage products -- batteries and home electric storage systems -- rose by six per cent.
The Zero Emission Vehicle credits (ZEV) -- that the company earns for building zero-emissions vehicles, which it can then sell to companies that produce too few such cars -- rose to $179 million for the quarter from $20 million during the same period in 2016.
On the contrary, in an earnings call with analysts, Tesla founder Elon Musk pointed to his immediate success in sending a Tesla Roadster into space as a test payload for SpaceX's new Falcon Heavy rocket on Tuesday.
"If we can send a Roadster to the asteroid belt, we can probably solve Model 3 production. It's just a matter of time," said Musk, who is also the CEO of SpaceX.
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Online shopping sets nearly $6 billion record during Cyber Week
Online shopping continued its record setting ways last week. Purchases reached nearly $6 billion for the "Cyber Week" that runs from the Sunday before Cyber Monday through Saturday Dec. 2, according to the latest data from Reston-based comScore Inc.
The big drivers of the bountiful Cyber Week were three of the four heaviest online spending days in history which each had sales in excess of $1 billion: Cyber Monday, the heaviest online spending day on record at $1.25 billion; Tuesday, Nov. 29 at $1.12 billion; and Wednesday, Nov. 30 at $1.03 billion. The fourth top day was Cyber Monday 2010 at $1.03 billion.
The latest week's sales are building on the strong start to the holiday shopping season. Online spending for the first 32 days of the November – December 2011 holiday season has totaled $18.7 billion, a 15 percent increase compared with the corresponding days last year.
One reason online sales are booming is the expanded offering of free shipping by merchants. comScore found that free shipping for online retail transactions is being used at record levels over the first few weeks of the holiday season.
And for good reason. In a separate annual holiday shopping survey of approximately 1,000 consumers, more than one-third of respondents, 36 percent, indicated that free shipping was "very important" to their online shopping decision and that they would not make a purchase without it. Only 2 percent said they would make a purchase regardless of shipping cost.
Tucker Echols covers general assignment and provides business coverage for WTOP.
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The Rundown: Pumping the brakes on the podcast gold rush
At this week’s Digiday Publishing Summit, executives talked about promising new revenue opportunities, from subscriptions to commerce to licensing shows to streaming networks. One area that drew a surprising amount of caution: podcasting.
Podcasting has been on a roll, with media companies rolling out new shows regularly alongside breathless forecasts of a $1 billion market. But for many publishers, the good times might not last — and the benefits are likely to go to only a few. Even The New York Times, home to breakout hit “The Daily,” is pumping the brakes. Sebastian Tomich, global head of advertising at the Times, said ad demand for podcasting is very good now — “eight figures of revenue” — and marks “the first product I’ve sold in advertising where the demand has exceeded the supply.” And yet, Tomich doesn’t see a new gold rush.
“My optimism around ‘The Daily’ doesn’t translate to optimism around podcasting broadly,” he said. “Any pure-play ad business in a platform world will continue to get challenged. If I look at the podcast business, incredible amounts of supply — 300,000-400,000 new podcasts a year — aside from creating massive hits, I don’t think you’re going to have this high-CPM ad revenue sitting there freely to grab it for the next two years.”
Tomich’s expectation: Platforms like Apple will start to take over the ad experience on most podcasts in the same way platforms like Facebook have done with content published there. The inevitable result: audience-targeted ads that commoditize most content outside the best of the best.
It’s a view echoed by another publisher with top podcasts. Charlie Kammerer, president and CRO of Slate, said he expects (unfortunately) podcasting to shift to a programmatic model and see much of the same content commoditization impact the display ad business saw with programmatic. Said another publishing executive who is skeptical of the podcasting opportunity: “Podcasting is a messy business for not much scale.” — Brian Morrissey
The great YouTube verification “scandal”
YouTube has reversed its decision announced last week to rescind some creators’ verification statuses. The controversy riled creators, who understandably felt slighted by the platform on which they have built their businesses. But it also raised the Patek Philippe Replica question of how much being verified on YouTube matters to creators’ businesses. The answer appears to be that it doesn’t.
Verification status does not impact how creators’ videos are ranked by YouTube’s recommendation algorithm or which ads YouTube serves against a video, according to a YouTube spokesperson. Verification status also does not impact whether a brand signs a sponsorship deal with a creator or hires them for an influencer marketing campaign, according to talent managers and agency execs.
“I’ve never had a brand or a studio pass on a client due to not having a verification checkmark,” said Christina Jones, vp of talent at talent management firm Digital Brand Architects.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had one conversation with a brand where they a cared about a checkmark on YouTube,” said Adam Wescott, partner at talent management firm Select Media Management.
Verification carries weight among marketers when it comes to working with creators on other platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, but YouTube is just completely different.
Another agency exec said that until last week’s flap they were not aware that YouTube even verified channels. Their ignorance is understandable — the checkmarks don’t even appear on mobile, where more than 70% of people watch YouTube.
The importance of being verified on YouTube could change now that the de-verification controversy has drawn people’s attention to the matter. Additionally, YouTube plans to add the verification checkmark to its mobile properties. But the jewelryenwatches.com fact that YouTube effectively questioned the validity of its existing verification program by initially announcing that it would rescind some creators’ verified statuses could undermine any significance that might be assigned to the checkmark going forward. “It’s all superficial. There’s no difference in functionality,” said Wescott. — Tim Peterson
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Don’t expect an M&A frenzy, despite Sterling’s historic low, as volatility cools investors’ appetites.


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Keisha Hill, Gleaner Writer
The fury unleashed by Hurricane Sandy has left many Jamaicans in need of assistance, especially on the eastern end of the island. But only a few corporate companies, including the Wisynco Group Limited, a leading Jamaican distributor and manufacturer of top brands of food, beverages and paper products, have so far lent a helping hand to assist many of these displaced persons.
According to William Mahfood, managing director of Wisynco Group Limited, through the auspices of the Jamaica Red Cross and Food For The Poor, his company has donated products including water for distribution to communities that have been severely affected.
"These entities already have the existing infrastructure to distribute these products, especially water. Water is critical at this point and we want to ensure that it gets to the right people, those who need it," Mahfood said.
He said giving back has always been part of Wisynco's corporate responsibility and the company has been assisting with hurricane relief activities since the onslaught of Hurricane Ivan in 2004. That tempest caused severe damage, leaving 18,000 people homeless and an estimated 17 people dead.
Meanwhile, Pepsi Jamaica contributed 300 cases of Aqua Essential water to the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management.
Usually when there is a storm, the company contributes this vital resource to residents of needy communities.
GraceKennedy Group, another corporate giant, will also be making contributions to the hurricane-relief effort. According to Corporate Communications Manager Simone Clarke-Cooper, the company will be donating Grace products particularly to those affected in the eastern end of the island through either the Red Cross or The Salvation Army.
And, on Sunday, Digicel donated care packages to thousands of victims of the hurricane.
LIME has given its customers free talktime to connect with loved ones affected by Hurricane Sandy in the United States. The company's postpaid residential landline customers yesterday received '15-family minutes' free from noon to midnight.
Meanwhile, most of the other leading businesses when contacted said that with the relatively dormant state of the economy and sliding value of the dollar, they were not be able to contribute at this time. They said they would instead be focusing their energies on the upcoming Christmas season.


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Government is considering a regulator for the direct selling sector to safeguard interests of consumers by distinguishing between genuine and fraudulent players, Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said today.
An inter-ministerial committee has been formed comprising secretaries and is going to convene its first meeting on December 8 to look into this aspect, Paswan said at 'DIRECT 2014', a seminar organised by industry body Ficci on direct selling.
"We have recently formed an inter-ministerial committee to deliberate on the need and framework of regulations for the Direct Selling industry. Its first meeting will be held on December 8, whether here is need for separate regulator for the direct selling sector," Paswan said.
"I think the demand for regulator for direct selling sector is quite relevant and legitimate. We are considering it," he added.
Direct selling refers to offering goods and services to consumers outside of the fixed retail outlet channels through sellers who carry out business activities generally from their homes, workplaces and so on.
However, the minister cautioned: "There are dangers in the methods of direct selling, some companies are forming pyramid structure in the name of direct selling. Many such cases have come in light, where the consumers were cheated by the companies in the name of direct selling. They vanished overnight by collecting their money."
Speaking at the conference, Consumer Affairs Secretary Keshav Desiraju said that proposed changes to the Consumer Protection Act will strengthen consumer welfare.
"With internal trade falling under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs as per the allocation of business the Ministry seeks to play an important role in regulating activities which impact on consumers," Desiraju added.
Paswan also released the Ficci-KPMG report on direct selling industry in India and said that India has emerged as one of the biggest consumer markets in the world. In next one decade the demand of consumer goods in the country will increase by four times.
According to the report, in India the direct selling is estimated to be worth around Rs 7,200 crores and it has the potential to reach a size of Rs 64,500 crores by 2025.
The sector has the potential to engage over 10 million women as direct sellers by 2025, it said.


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From New Girl to Tommy's Girl: Zooey Deschanel and Hilfiger team up to launch fashion line inspired by her Sixties style
Collaboration: Zooey Deschanel has teamed up with Tommy Hilfiger to launch a collection of vintage-inspired dresses for Macy's
Zooey Deschanel's penchant for vintage-inspired fashion has made her something of a sartorial icon. Now, she is bringing her signature style to the masses with a collection for Macy's.
The New Girl actress, 34, has teamed up with Tommy Hilfiger for the spring line called To Tommy, From Zooey, which will feature 16 'Sixties-inspired short dresses' with 'interesting detail and flirty fabrics,' Mr Hilfiger told WWD.
Priced from $98 to $199, the looks - like a swingy polka dot shirtdress and a red pleated ensemble - are 'very Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy,' said the designer. 'Really from the Sixties in London.'
The collection will hit Macy's stores and online in April.
One of the looks, which Miss Deschanel wears in a campaign for the line, is a sporty black short-sleeved dress with a pink and white V-neck and hot pink waistband.
Another is a red sleeveless top worn with a black and white striped pleated tennis-style skirt.
The actress said that the partnership with Mr Hilfiger is ideal, since they see eye to eye when it comes to style.
'I am a fashion fanatic, and I am
always looking for new ways to incorporate vintage, feminine pieces into
my own wardrobe,' she said.
'Tommy and I share many of the same inspirations - old-school music, classic films and old Hollywood icons.'
And the designer said Miss Deschanel perfectly embodies the 'Tommy Girl' with her all-American beauty and down-to-earth personality.
'She reminds me of Audrey Hepburn for her sense of humor,' he said, adding: 'At the same time, she has a Jackie O type of chicness to her.'
The actress and Mr Hilfiger, 62, apparently met a few years ago at a mutual friend's house, where they discovered their shared love of vintage fashion.
They then began plotting a collaboration together, with Miss Deschanel starring in the ad campaign as well as designing some jewelry and accessories for the line.
Old school: Priced from $98 to $199, the looks - like a swingy polka dot shirtdress and a red pleated ensemble - are 'very Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy,' said Mr Hilfiger. 'Really from the Sixties in London'
Shop the look: To Tommy, From Zooey will launch at 200 Macy's stores on April 14 before becoming available on tommy.com and select Tommy Hilfiger stores
The collaboration marks Miss Deschanel's first foray into fashion design, but she is no stranger to brand promotion.
'I am always looking for ways to incorporate vintage, feminine pieces into my own wardrobe'
In 2011, she was signed as the face of cosmetics brand Rimmel.
She was also featured in a commercial for the iPhone 4S.
To Tommy, From Zooey will launch at 200 Macy's stores on April 14 before becoming available on tommy.com and at select Tommy Hilfiger stores.
Inspiration: 'She reminds me of Audrey Hepburn for her sense of humor,' the designer (pictured) said of his muse, adding: 'At the same time, she has a Jackie O type of chicness to her'
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Much is made about the decline of the “High Street”.
Since Christmas, several big retail names have closed in Wells such as Present Company and Tony Pryce Sports.
In recent weeks, Jones Bootmaker has also closed.
But just how bad is the situation in Wells?
Somerset Live went to find out.
We walked from the Princes Road to the town hall on April 11.
In total we counted six closed shops and a pub.
Clothing retailer East has also announced its closing down sale.
The closed shops include Present Company, Intersport Tony Pryce and What! as well as Cinnamon Corner.
Somerset Live spoke to Wells city councillor Alison Gibson about the number of closed shops in the city.
She told us organisations like the city council, Wells Chamber of Commerce and Mendip District Council are doing all they can help traders.
When asked if she thought the scale of closures in the city's High Street was bad, she said: “Yes it’s sad but I think the problem is the internet.
"People aren’t going into stores and spending money."
She also suggested that business rates and rental costs added to the already tough trading conditions for retailers.
“Business rates and the rents are also a problem.
“No matter how hard people try, you just can’t beat the internet.
Councillor Gibson said that relying on tourist revenues could only go so far.
“Tourism in the city will only go so far.
“I firmly the believe that the bulk of people using the shops in the city are regulars.
“We at Wells City Council are doing are absolute best to improve things.”
Somerset Live has launched a WhatsApp group to help you keep up to date with the latest news from across the county. If you'd like to receive breaking news alerts, text NEWS to 07834 893492. Then add the number to your phone contacts book as 'Somerset Live’. We will send you a maximum of four messages a day. Your phone number won't be shared with other members of the group or be used for any other purpose.


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VOV.VN -A Japanese entrepreneur who studied agronomy and horticulture has brought his dream of following in his father’s footsteps and operating a floral growing and distribution business to life.
VOV.VN - Gardening is a “consuming passion” said Mr Le Tien Thanh, referring to his 1,000 square metre lavender garden in Da Lat.
A tunnel of sculpture has become a must-see destination in the travel handbook of anyone who visits Da Lat.
To make a trip to the Central Highland city of Da Lat more interesting, tourists can consider choosing a homestay or hostel room, instead of a luxury hotel one in town.
L’Angfarm store on Tran Hung Dao Street, District 5, HCMC stocks many kinds of Da Lat specialties, especially processed farm produce.
Golfer Cho Jeong Min from the Republic of Korea (RoK) triumphed at The Da Lat at 1200 Ladies’ Championship tournament, which concluded in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on March 27.
VOV.VN - Many weasel-raising households in the Central highlands province of Lam Dong’s Da Lat city make weasel coffee – one of the most famous and expensive coffees in the world.
A recent spate of tourist deaths in Vietnam has refocused attention on visitor safety in the alluring South-East Asian nation.
VOV.VN - Photographer David Hagerman has introduced Da Lat city, especially its coffee on The New York Times. The US magazine has chosen the city as one of top 52 places to go in 2016.
VOV.VN - Lighthouses on Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago guide ships at night and confirm Vietnam’s maritime sovereignty.
Nearly 3,500 youths participated in a ceremony on March 13 to kick-start a campaign on traffic safety in Da Lat City, Lam Dong province.
The forecast that Vietnam would become a leading flower export center in Asia mentioned in a Japanese journal has raised a debate about the potential of Vietnam in exporting fresh flower.
The international cycling championship Vietnam Victory Challenge 2016 wrapped up in Da Lat in the Central Highland province of Lam Dong on March 13.
The inaugural Dalat at 1200 Ladies Golf Championship, which will feature 108 golfers in the Asia-Pacific region, will take place in the resort town of Da Lat from March 25 to 27, organizers said recently.
VOV.VN - In Vietnam, every church is different. In Da Lat, the St. Nicolas Cathedral, sometimes called the Rooster Church and Domaine de Maria Cathedral, with own unique architectural styles, are popular tourist destinations.
VOV.VN - Lang Biang or Lam Vien mountain, 12 km from Da Lat city, is a popular tourist destination. Visiting the mountain, you will stroll along paths in lush pine forests and explore some magnificent nature.
Japanese Kaneko Hiromi won the second stage of the sixth Bình Dương International Women’s Cycling Tournament, Biwase Cup 2016 on March 9.
VOV.VN - Cu Lan is a peaceful village of the K’Ho ethnicity in Lam Dong province. Tiny stilt houses, pure air, and warm-hearted people attract tourists to the village.
VOV.VN -Each spring, Da Lat’s landscape is host to a spectacular array of pink colours that seems to take over the entire city blanketing streets like Tran Hung Dao, Xuan Huong Lake, Le Dai Hanh, Phan Dinh Phung, and Tran Quoc Toan.
Ensuring safety at adventure activity sites in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, home to the mountain-and-waterfall tourist town of Da Lat, is not an easy task, given the lack of ministry-level management, industry insiders have said.


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Eircom said it will be looking to double Meteor's customer base to more than 800,000, 20% of the overall market, in the next three to four years.
The company has set its sights on the lucrative bill pay customers of its rivals Vodafone and O2. Just 2% of Meteor's customers pay monthly bills compared to 27% at Vodafone.
Chairman Tony O'Reilly said Meteor's lower prices would be the key feature of its assault on the mobile market. Meteor customers pay €31 per month, some €17 less than those at its rivals.
It also plans to target the business sector and eventually offer customers bundled services of mobile, fixed-line and internet access to residential and corporate users.
Eircom secured Meteor, the country's smallest operator, after two rival bidders Smart Telecom and Denis O'Brien pulled out of the race in recent weeks.
Meteor was put up for sale following the takeover of its American parent company, Western Wireless, earlier this year.
Dr O'Reilly told the Irish Examiner yesterday that the takeover price was fair despite criticism from some analysts that Eircom was splashing out too much for a loss-making company with just a 10% market share.
He said getting back into the mobile market was vital for Eircom as mobile operators were taking market share from fixed-line companies.
Eircom was paying just over €1,000 per Meteor customer, less than half of what Vodafone paid when it bought Eircell from Eircom in 2001, Dr O'Reilly added.
But brokers remained sceptical of the price tag and Eircom's share price suffered after the deal was announced, closing 7% lower on the day. Davy Stockbrokers analyst Jack Gorman said it was a "deal that had to be done, but at a price that will need to be justified quickly in financial and strategic terms," he added.
Though the price was high, it is acquiring a relatively new mobile network requiring less maintenance and should be able to squeeze some savings from the takeover, another analyst said.
Eircom said that Meteor, which lost €34.6m in 2004 on revenues of €93.9m, will be added to earnings this year. Dr O'Reilly said Meteor's "low cost" brand and cost structure would be maintained.
The takeover of Meteor will be funded through a two-for-one rights issue at a minimum price of €1.10 a share a 40% discount to Eircom's closing price last Friday.
The Eircom employee share ownership trust, which owns 21% of the company, plans to take up its rights in full, which will cost the ESOT more than €50m.
Eircom said the cost of paying out more dividends every year on the new shares would be offset by the earnings from Meteor in the coming years.
The takeover is not expected to be completed until the end of this year and will require approval of shareholders, the Competition Authority and the telecoms regulator, ComReg.
The Consumers Association of Ireland welcomed the deal yesterday, while business lobby group IBEC said it could lead to greater choice and lower costs.


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- David Portnoy has been the face of Barstool Sports since 2003.
- Barstool Sports stakes have been sold over the years to various companies.
- David re-acquired Barstool Sports in August 2023.
Fans of Barstool Sports know the name David Portnoy very well. The media conglomerate, which first started as a print publication in 2003, has become one of the biggest sports media websites of all time. And while there has been some back and forth on ownership of the sports media company, David remains the face of the brand.
Aside from David’s sports media business, he has long made headlines for various issues — from details about his love life to new ventures that include a pizza series to conquering the podcast world.
With that in mind, fans have long thought about how David is doing in the financial department. So, what is David Portnoy’s net worth? Here’s the full scoop.
What is David Portnoy’s net worth?
As of writing, Celebrity Net Worth shares that David is currently working with a net worth of $100 million. This figure directly reflects David’s work as founder of Barstool Sports, which is home to various podcasts, gambling content, merchandise, alcohol brands, TV shows, and more.
Additionally, David has sold stakes in the brand over the years, before re-acquiring the brand in August 2023.
So, with the success of Barstool Sports in mind and David’s business portfolio, it’s easy to see why he had amassed such a hefty net worth. His many business ventures have added up.
Internet entrepreneur and sports media figure
Net worth: $100,000,000
David Portnoy is an American businessman known for being the founder of Barstool Sports.
Birth name: David Portnoy
Birthdate: March 22, 1977
Birthplace: Swampscott, Mass.
Father: Michael Portnoy
Mother: Linda Portnoy
Marriages: Renee Satherwaite (m-2009-2017)
Education: University of Michigan
David Portnoy’s influence may have caused a Massachusetts pizza shop to gain a major boost in sales, despite his harsh criticism.
Either folks completely ignore David’s opinions on things or they want to leave room to judge things for themselves. In case you’ve been out of the loop, David got into a screaming match with Dragon Pizza owner, Charlie Redd, during his review of the pizza shop on Aug. 31, 2023.
“I gave this place maybe the worst score I’ve given in a long time,” David said after rating Dragon Pizza a 6.4 out of 10 due to his belief that the crust was too floppy and the amount of parmesan on the pizza was off.
“I can say peacefully that this pizza is trash,” David unapologetically said.
Charlie didn't take too kindly to David’s review and accused him of being harsh to small businesses.
“I don’t appreciate what you do, coming in and judging a business with one bite,” owner Charlie said. “I hope you enjoy your pizza, but I don’t appreciate what you do to small businesses.”
The two verbally sparred a bit with David professing that he helped various small businesses and raised $50 million for them. In the end, David labeled that pizza shop as “the worst pizza place in America.”
Interestingly, ever since Charlie's run-in with David, business has been booming for the pizza shop. In a Sept. 1, 2023, Facebook post, Charlie shared that the shop was completely sold out after the review was released.
Take that, David!


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Over the past couple of weeks, the market has continued to remain overbought, extended and exuberant on “hopes” that Trump’s policies will be the ointment to cure the economy’s ills. As noted yesterday, exuberance has exploded in everything from consumer to investor to business optimism.
The explosion of optimism is interesting given the consistent diatribe over the last few years about how well the economy was performing under the previous administration. This is the equivalent of a company’s stock price surging when the previous CEO is replaced which doesn’t speak well of his “legacy of performance.”
The question now is whether or not “hopes” will translate into “reality.”
Interestingly, since the beginning of the year, the rush to pile into “Trump Trades” has quickly evaporated as transaction volumes have plunged as “anticipation” has turned into “wait and see.”
It is worth noting that previous, when transaction volumes have plunged to such low levels, the markets were generally at an inflection point of a correctionary process. With the markets currently extremely overbought and extended, the reality of a “sell the inauguration” trade is possible.
In the end, “anticipation” of better outcomes is one thing when it comes to the financial markets and your money, however, “reality” is quite another.


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Can Cryptocurrencies be Legal Tender?
Ever since it was first introduced in a whitepaper in 2008, Bitcoin has caused debate and made major headlines. The introduction of cryptocurrencies was signaled by its supporters as the start of a new, fair monetary structure. Critics assert that cryptocurrencies are ‘squared rat poison’ due to their use in illegal operations and lack of lawful legitimacy. The truth probably falls somewhere in the middle.
Governments worldwide are carefully observing the growth of Bitcoin in the meanwhile. Some nations have started using it as money. Major economies, however, like the US, refuse to accept it as legal cash. They do so for valid reasons. To know more, click here.
Bitcoin, among other things, gives a nation’s residents, the ability to challenge the legitimacy of their government by avoiding the capital controls put in place by it. It also promotes evil deeds, by assisting criminals in avoiding imprisonment. Precisely, Bitcoin holds the ability to destabilize and disrupt the current financial infrastructure system by eradicating intermediaries.
Understanding Legal Tender Initially
Any kind of payment that merchants are required by local law to accept is called a ‘Legal Tender’. For instance, while the majority of Europe uses the euro and Britain makes use of the pound, the dollar is legal money in the US and numerous other nations.
But until one country, El Salvador declared its idea to become the first nation to adopt Bitcoin for this purpose late in the past year, hardly anyone was even talking about using it as legal cash. And it’s feasible that more nations will do the same since the Central African Republic has lately followed the suit.
Why are Governments Worldwide, Distrustful of Bitcoin?
Whether the regulation-less and state-free world that proponents of Bitcoin envision actually materializes is still up for debate. Governments are currently attempting to comprehend how cryptocurrencies may affect their economy in the near future. They are specifically struggling with the three issues that Bitcoin’s present state presents.
1. Bitcoin can avoid Capital Controls imposed by Government
Governments mostly enact capital controls to curb currency outflows since exports may cause the currency’s value to decline. Some see this as yet another way that governments manipulate economic and budgetary policy. The fact that bitcoin is a stateless currency can be useful in certain situations to get around capital regulations and export money.
China has seen one of the more prominent uses of Bitcoin for capital flight. An annual cap of $50,000 is imposed on the purchase of foreign currency by nationals. In 2020, more than $50 billion moved from bitcoin wallets based in China to wallets in other nations, according to a report by the crypto forensics company Chainalysis. This indicates that Chinese citizens may have converted their local currency into bitcoin and moved (transferred) it through borders to avoid government regulation.
2. Bitcoin links to Illegal Activity
For criminals, the ability to get around a nation’s current financial system is a blessing in disguise since it allows them to hide their participation in such operations. Users on the Bitcoin network can only be recognized by their network addresses since it is a pseudonymous network. It might be challenging to determine the origin of a person’s transaction or business behind the address. Additionally, the algorithmic trust created by the Bitcoin network eliminates the requirement for trustworthy connections at any end of an illicit transaction.
Predictably, thieves prefer to use Bitcoin as a form of payment. One particularly prominent example of bitcoin criminality is the “Silk Road” case. In a nutshell, “Silk Road” was a Dark Web bazaar where illicit goods like drugs, firearms, and other things were sold. Additionally, users might pay with bitcoins. Before the bitcoin was free from escrow, the buyer did not confirm receiving the goods. It was hard for law administration to locate the people involved in the transaction since the only way to identify them was by their blockchain addresses. The FBI was ultimately successful in taking the market down and obtaining 174,000 BTC.
Hackers have also grown used to encrypting popular software by demanding payment and ransomware in bitcoin. The Colonial Pipeline 2021 hack depicted the extent to which such attacks might pose a national security risk by causing interruptions in the electricity supply in several states.
3. Bitcoin isn’t Controlled
Although Bitcoin was recognized more than 10 years ago, governments worldwide are yet to control it. The bitcoin regulation issue is a complex one.
For instance, changing perceptions of the usefulness of Bitcoin have multiple issues relating to the best government institution to observe the cryptocurrency, terminology to be used for developing laws, and even the methodology for creating laws.
Is Bitcoin a medium of exchange meant for everyday usage, or is it a reserve advantage used mostly for investments? Is Bitcoin a haven asset during economic turbulence worldwide? Both the alleged Bitcoin specialist and the typical bitcoin investor appear to be in the dark.
One may argue that the fact that Bitcoin is used in investment products, such as futures is evidence of its appeal to traders. Although none of the key cryptocurrency exchanges that fix the Bitcoin price for future markets are listed with the (SEC) Securities and Exchange Commission, the original markets for these derivatives are unregulated.
Since it was first presented to the globe in the wake of the financial crisis, Bitcoin has grown to be a focal point for discussion. Governments are skeptical, if not afraid, of Bitcoin and oscillate between denouncing it and looking into how it may be used for their own purposes. The bitcoin ecosystem is still full of scandals and criminals, despite its ability to decentralize and alter how the current financial system functions.


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After her successful release last March, she is still Ship “Evergiver” A subsidiary of the “Evergreen” company, which was stuck for 6 days in the Suez Canal, its place loaded with various types of goods of different types.
But the reason to stumble cargo shipThis time due to a fierce legal battle between its owners, insurance companies and the Suez Canal Authority.
In late April, Egypt announced that the authorities were holding the ship, its 26 crew and the goods on board, until the owners paid compensation for the crisis it had caused.
‘Our customers are angry’
Commenting on her staying in Suez, Jay Sharma of the law firm Clyde & Co said, according to what the British newspaper “The Guardian” reported, that the ship is not able to sail from Egyptian waters until the problem is resolved. “We are frustrated and some of our customers are angry,” he added.
Although the goods are still officially held on board “Evergifen’, but it is unlikely to be transferred to another ship because it requires giant cranes.
For its part, Dixons Carphone, the Chinese technology maker Lenovo and IKEA, confirmed separately that its products were still trapped on the ship.
A spokesman for the company explained that “a small number of our containers are on board and this will not disrupt our inventory levels or our commercial operations.”
In turn, some retailers are considering legal action to try to release their shipment. “We are exploring ways to retrieve merchandise,” said Charlotte West of Lenovo.
916 million dollars in compensation
On the other hand, the Securities and Commodities Authority in Egypt announced that it is seeking to obtain 916 million dollars (650 million pounds sterling) from the owners of “Evergreen” and their insurance companies.
It also made clear that it was willing to accept a settlement of $550 million, plus $300 million for a “rescue bonus” and another $300 million for “loss of reputation” and material damage to the channel.
The owner of “Ever Given” had filed a lawsuit against the ship’s operator company last April, for the delinquency of the tanker in the Suez Canal.
It is noteworthy that the ship suspended and closed the Suez Canal for 6 days last March, and officials in the Suez Canal Authority indicated at the time that a wrong maneuver coincided with a dust storm and strong winds, all of which were factors that led to the loss of vision and the ship’s stranding.
However, the weather factors were not fully responsible for the accident, according to the officials. Before that ship, about 12 other ships crossed in the same weather conditions, which did not constitute an obstacle to the navigation movement in the canal.
It is noteworthy that the “Ever Geffen” ran aground at the 151 km at the southern entrance to the Suez Canal, after wind speed reached 40 knots.
The rescue teams of the Suez Canal Authority succeeded in re-floating the giant ship, which is 400 meters long and 59 meters wide, with a total tonnage of 224,000 tons.


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Apple has confirmed that its discontinuing its Thunderbolt display — but without saying anything about a replacement or any future models. Customers are explicitly advised to seek out third-party vendors.
For years, various laptop manufacturers and OEMs have tried to push external graphics chassis into the mainstream, with little success. It looks like Razer and AMD have partnered up to make another go of it — but this time, they’re working with established standards across the board.
Thunderbolt or USB 3? Thanks to Intel’s latest Alpine Ridge controller, there won’t be a need to split the difference in the future. Why settle for one when you can have both on a single piece of silicon?
A new flaw in Apple’s EFI firmware allows attackers to load a bootkit malware that can’t be removed, bypassed, or blocked, save by physically swapping components in the system — and it takes minutes and minimal intervention to run.
At Computex 2014, Intel has indicated that its next-gen Skylake platform — the new microarchitecture tock after Broadwell — will enable new PC designs that are completely cable-free. Intel will use WiGig for wireless “docking” to peripherals and streaming media, and Rezence for wirelesss power transfer. Obviously this is slightly different from the previous dream of using a single, awesome ultra-high-speed Light Peak cable to connect everything together…
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Foxconn Set to Help Sony Manufacture Laptops and Others in India
Japanese electronic firm Sony is planning to ‘Make in India’. However, Sony is not looking to manufacturing on its own, the products will be contract-manufactured at Taiwanese maker Foxconn’s upcoming facilities in the country. In 2004 Sony had stopped its practice of local sourcing due to relatively smaller business size in India, and it decided to import its products.
Sony India MD Kenichiro Hibi said, “There are many possibilities that we are looking at (for making in India). Contract manufacturing is one of them. However, we are yet to decide.” Sony however will not entail heavy investments and will leave the company with an option to set up an independent manufacturing location in the future.
Foxconn has all decided to start manufacturing in India, where it will make products for companies such as Xiaomi and Apple. The company has zeroed down on Sri City of Andhra Pradesh for its manufacturing operations.
Presently, Sony sells its products such as mobile phones, televisions, laptops, cameras and other electronic items, which it imports from Thailand, Malaysia, China and Japan.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had planned incentives for local manufacturing to promote government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. The new initiative will help boost employment in India.