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THE country's sugar industry and its stakeholders received a boost, with the approval of two vital resolutions during the just concluded 28th Visayas Area Business Conference.
The first resolution requests the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to work together, with the help of the Congress, in reclaiming the P2 billion Sugar Industry Development Act (Sida) fund.
The second urges SRA along with the DTI and National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) to rationalize sugar imports.
The two resolutions were adopted by delegates to the business conference, an annual gathering of chambers of commerce in the three Visayas regions.
This year’s conference was held on August 22 to 24, 2019 in Tacloban City, Leyte.
Frank Carbon, chief executive officer of Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), said they passed the joint resolutions with Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce (NOCCI) and other business chambers in Panay Island.
In the resolution on the Sida fund, they urged the SRA to take the leadership role in ensuring the development of the sugar industry and optimizing the utilization of the annual fund.
The MBCCI earlier recognized the need for sugar industry stakeholders to strategize on how to utilize the allocation, which has been cut by the government due to underutilization.
The second resolution states that the rationalization of sugar importation should be based on a careful analysis of projected production versus domestic demand and in consultation with the stakeholders.
The business chambers, through the resolution, expressed support to the position of the Confederation of the Sugar Producers Associations (Confed).
"While importation is no longer avoidable due to the industry's inability to meet domestic demand, these imports must be rationalized," the resolution stated.
Also, the rationalization should be based on accurate and fair determination of demand by industrial users, food exporters and domestic consumers of sugar, it added.
Carbon said that, through the resolutions, the business chambers in the Visayas now have a strong voice on the major concerns confronting the sugar industry and its stakeholders.
The resolutions will be endorsed for approval during the Philippine Business Conference in Metro Manila in October this year.
"The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) national officials showed indications that together with the sugar bloc, they will work it out with concerned department secretaries and even with leaders of both Houses of the Congress," he added.
Earlier, MBCCI recognized the huge role of the sugar industry in the province's agriculture sector as well as in the economy through creation of employment.
Its chief executive officer said most of our PCCI's national officers are either industrial users or food processors consuming tons of sugar.
"To some extent they have stake at the local sugar industry thus, we have to develop good rapport with them," he added.


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Despite the fact that the Snapdragon 845 has just been announced, and the first devices featuring the processor appeared during the last days of February, the rumor mill never stops and it’s about time to talk about its successor – The Snapdragon 855.
Until today, we haven’t many details about the upcoming Qualcomm’s chipset. All we knew was that the newest SoC would be manufactured on a 7nm process, a new technology that will be more power efficient than the 10nm present in the Snapdragon 845. Other rumors have been putting the manufacture of the newest chipset on the hands of TSMC.
Softbank Japan says this is what’s next from Qualcomm: The Snapdragon 855 Fusion Platform consisting of the SDM855 and the SDX50 Modem (5G). Taken from their official earnings presentation: https://t.co/LR9k4h165N pic.twitter.com/2Ceb6MCnNI
— Roland Quandt (@rquandt) 7 de março de 2018
According to one of the best leakers around, Roland Quandt, some evidence was found about the Snapdragon 855 thanks to a Softbank Japan earning presentation. First of all, the presentation confirms that the 845 successors will indeed be called Snapdragon 855, so no doubts about that. The chipset will be codenamed as SDM855 and will be branded as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 Fusion Platform and will feature the recent unveiled SDX50 5G Modem – Qualcomm’s first 5G modem that is stated to be commercially available in 2019.
Gizchina News of the week
We can’t imagine other meaning for the “Fusion Platform” other than a possible integration of smart AI features in the processor, to the point of making it more than just a “Mobile Platform” like previous Snapdragon chipsets. Since Kirin 970 debut packing Smart AI features, we are pretty sure that other manufacturers will take it as the newest hot trend for mobile processors. Worth noting that Apple most recent processor also was called “Fusion” A10 SoC.
Apart from our speculation around Fusion meaning AI, there may be another reason for this branding. Since the Snapdragon 855 will feature the SDX50 5G Modem, the first Qualcomm integration of a 5G capable modem in a mobile processor could be the so referred “fusion”. Up to the moment, we have many months before the official release of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, so we expect more details and specifications to appear in the coming months. For now, we should keep our eyes on the Snapdragon 845 and all the devices sporting it that will appear in the 2018 flagship season.


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BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Medicaid patients are selling prescription drugs to drug dealers. So far 33 people have been charged in a large-scale investigation, police said. "For the first time, the Buffalo investigators devoted the kinds of resources normally aimed at street drugs like heroin or crack - wiretaps, buys, surveillance and cross-agency cooperation to trace the drugs from pharmacy to street," the Huffington Post said. "Often at no charge, the patients see a doctor, or several doctors, and come away with prescriptions for narcotic OxyContin and other pills they then sell to a dealer for as much as $1,000," MSNBC said.
Medicaid patients selling drugs to dealers
TrackBack URL: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/133060


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Three Niagara County movers and shakers trying to save the moribund Summit Park Mall intend to fly to Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday to shake up the new owner.
"We're going to push for an aggressive marketing plan to bring in new tenants," said Wheatfield Supervisor Timothy E. Demler.
Demler will head the delegation, which also includes Charles P. Steiner, president of the Niagara Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, and John R. Simon, executive director of the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency.
Real estate investor Haywood Whichard, who bought the mall last year at the bargain price of $3.3 million -- the mall was originally assessed at close to $17 million -- said he will send a car to pick the men up at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
During the "summit meeting" in Whichard's office a few miles away, the Niagara County officials will stress the importance of turning the mall back into a moneymaker, something it hasn't been since 1994, Demler said.
"We will state our intention to keep the Summit Park Mall a retail-commercial complex," said Demler, scotching a recent suggestion by two county legislators that the county buy the mall and pack it with county offices.
"We are not in favor of a county purchase, but possibly a co-use with some county departments to consolidate and save tax dollars," Demler said.
The main thrust of the meeting will be to get a commitment from Whichard to protect the 400 remaining jobs at the mall and to bring in new stores, he added.
But Whichard told The Buffalo News he just wants to sell the mall -- and soon.
"We made a quick deal up there," he said. "I'll sell it to anyone who makes me an offer."
Whichard is the mall's third owner in four years.
Once the busiest mall in Niagara County and, at almost 700,000 square feet, still the largest, the mall has had its occupancy sink to less than 30 percent, said Demler. Losing Jenss, one of the three original anchor stores, was the biggest blow. When occupancy fell below 50 percent last year, the assessed value of the mall was lowered to $13 million. When stores continued to leave, it was further reduced to $10 million. Now the Town Board is considering lowering it to a rock-bottom $3 million.
Demler wants to save the mall to keep existing jobs and bring in more tenants and employees, but he said its demise wouldn't affect the current prosperity of Wheatfield -- reportedly the fastest-growing town in Western New York.
"Wheatfield is doing so well that if the owner decided to bulldoze it tomorrow and take it off the tax rolls, the town's taxpayers would be insulated against any tax increase," he said.
The three-term supervisor has cut taxes in Wheatfield six years in a row.
A presummit meeting of Demler, Steiner and Simon, and other community leaders hoping to save the mall, will be held at 2 p.m. today in the IDA office, 2055 Niagara Falls Blvd.


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Active Storytelling: Using Video News Releases for PR Professionals (FT Press Delivers Elements)
This is a trend we first talked about but in an incisive post Talking Points Memo Editor Josh Marshall sums up the ingredients for a digital media crash that, he says, nobody wants to talk about.
From Flyers & Posters to Google & Facebook
The use of emojis in email storylines and mobile notifications are further ways in which journalists are gaining new skills around visual literacy. The internet was not all doom and gloom in It was also the year when — because of social media — we were all talking and laughing at the same things again.
We have got through the review of without mentioning Donald Trump, but it would be remiss not to point out that, against expectations, we predicted last year that he would continue to personally run his fiery Twitter account while in office and indeed that many other politicians would try to emulate him. Amidst all the uncertainly of the year ahead this is one prediction we are happy to roll-over.
For each theme we lay out a few suggestions about what might happen next. I am especially worried about the share of the advertising market the big platforms have and the lack of alternatives from media companies. Not all tech companies are viewed with equal concern. On a scale from 1 to 5, there is a more positive view on average of Google 3. Sentiment towards Facebook in particular seems to have worsened following its perceived role in promoting fake news, the lack of promised revenue for video, and a sudden drop in Facebook referrals to many news websites since the summer.
This dramatic switch round reflects increasingly divergent strategies of Google and Facebook, driven by their different business models. Facebook is trying to maximise time spent within its own website and apps and sell that attention to advertisers. Choking off organic referrals is helping increase the value of paid-for advertising while it is also hoping to take a share of TV advertising budgets with its push into video. Though tensions remain over whether Google should pay more to content producers, there has been significant movement on key publisher complaints. Many of the European publishers in our survey have benefited from its news innovation fund and publisher outreach programme DNI , which also helps explain the higher scores for Google.
Google has made a true effort in steering its relationship with the media in the right direction. Initiatives such as the DNI and collaborative product management such as AMP illustrate how publishers and platforms can actually work together. The image of progress without any is probably the worst situation to be in. Facebook is beginning to address the destructive side effects its platform has on the news ecosystem.
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And the first Google funded projects that try to increase digital revenues for publishers enter the marketplace. One example of this came in the autumn when, without warning, Facebook moved all publisher-posted content away from the news feed — which users see by default — to a new Explore Feed in six countries Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Serbia, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Cambodia. In many developing countries, like Guatemala and Cambodia, there are fears that the loss of Facebook traffic will stunt the growth of independent media that had started to provide a balance to state owned media and also to extreme perspectives that have become rife in many parts of the world.
In particular, in developing countries like Myanmar and Cambodia where Facebook is the internet, basically … this is a big threat to real democracy and freedom of speech. But George Brock of City University suggests that Facebook may be in a weaker position than it seems:. From our survey it is clear that many publishers still feel that platform companies need to do much more to face up to their wider responsibilities. Advertisers are demanding greater transparency over measurement and for more protection for their brands.
Politicians, regulators, and ordinary users will be adding to that pressure too. Something significant is likely to give in In combination with increasing exposure and attention to fact-checking this is likely to ease the misinformation problem but at the expense of reducing exposure to a wide range of legitimate news. One alternative option for Facebook might be to remove in-feed-based news content but to replace it with a news trending module linking to the Explore section like the Apple News widget.
A key theme from many of the comments in our survey was the desire to take back control. Expect more news organisations to pull out of deals with Facebook, Apple, and Snapchat that they consider are not delivering sufficient financial return, focusing instead on building more direct readership. Platforms will be forced to take on thousands more extra editorial and policy staff — either because of regulation Germany — or as a way of staving off regulation UK. YouTube alone will be employing a total of 10, human moderators by early and these will be assisted by algorithms that flag potentially worrying content.
No need to worry just yet about humans being replaced by computers in the age of automation. Facebook or Google will be regularly accused of censorship this year after protectively removing content which they feel might leave them open to a big fine. Indeed Facebook and Twitter have already removed content from a far-right member of the German parliament , for alleged incitement, as the new laws covering social media platforms come into effect.
Elsewhere, Facebook has started the year by removing the accounts of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov because he had been added to a United States sanctions list — which would have exposed the company to financial penalty. The lack of clear and transparent rules about which content — and which accounts — should be removed will become an increasingly thorny issue for platforms in and an increasing source of tension between the US and undemocratic regimes.
Accusations of double standards by American companies will be hard to counter, particularly if the US president himself continues to promote inflammatory material via his Twitter account. Campaigners argue that Silicon Valley companies should not be forced to be the arbiters of free speech or human rights and argue for new independent oversight.
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Revelations about manipulation of platforms in the US electoral process has brought home not only how problematic the role of the big platforms is, but also how challenging the issues are to fix in a way that is in tune with our core democratic values. News chief at a leading US publisher. Beyond new rules on political advertising, there is likely to be little concrete action against platforms in Scaled-up moderation and a continued charm offensive by platforms more money for news literacy, innovation is likely to head off extreme regulation, not least because there is little agreement on what should be done.
With only a year to run, the European Commission may find it is easier to focus on headline-grabbing initiatives — such as making platforms pay a bigger share of taxes on European sales. As our own research Nielsen and Graves, has shown, from an audience perspective, the term covers a multitude of sins — crystallising audience concerns about biased and shoddy journalism, political spin, misleading online advertising, as well as deliberately fabricated stories distributed via social media.
There will be no quick solution to this complex mix of different but related problems. Although many of these concerns spin, propaganda have been around for decades, it is clear that digital and social media have fundamentally changed the rules of the game. Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired magazine, points out that: As a result there is less faith than there used to be in traditional media brands. At the same, the internet has exposed citizens to a vast array of new perspectives.
Facts, alternative facts, and counter-facts now sit side-by-side online for example, in a social media feed in a way that is often confusing to audiences. So far attempts to tackle these problems fact-checking, greater transparency have assumed that it is possible to rebuild public trust in the media. Greater scepticism towards the facts is the inevitable consequence of exposure to a wider range of perspectives. In itself this may not be a bad thing as long as it is supported by better source labelling, signals of quality, and improved news literacy. The damage that has been created by misinformation, propaganda, and abuse represents an enormous challenge for platform companies as they try to balance their commitment to maximum freedom of expression with a need to rid their services of damaging content.
For the first time engineers have begun to realise the consequences of what they have created, but also that technology on its own cannot solve the problem. Expect the deployment of a range of targeted new processes and algorithms to spot different kinds of abuse, and flag these to human moderators.
Much will be made of the way in which these algorithms can learn from these human interventions AI and become smarter and more self-sufficient. Canadian start-up Lyrebird is working on audio impersonations. Whilst these are being created for entirely legitimate purposes, these examples show how voice morphing and face-morphing could, in the wrong hands, produce realistic fabricated statements by politicians or other public figures.
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Platform and government funding of independent fact-checkers will increase in , along with technical semi-automated solutions to help them do a better job. Visibility will increase in social networks and search engines as data-driven experiments reveal where and when they can have most impact. In December, the Weekly Standard became the first conservative US publication to join the list of verified fact-checkers.
In the fragmented world of the internet, the focus is shifting from figuring out what to believe to who to believe. The ability to identify trusted brands or people quickly will be at the heart of healthy information ecosystems but we are still some way from that. By the end of expect significant progress in this area. Google says it will do more to surface more high-quality, credible content on the web, which in turn requires better tagging and description of content at source. The Trust Project is already providing indicators about ethical standards and journalistic expertise, which will start to be integrated into algorithms this year.
At the same time, platforms will increase the space given to news logos to enable familiar brands to be more easily picked out and new tags to describe content such as breaking news or analysis. Education around how to avoid fake news will be part of the story this year. Away from fake news and relationships with publishers how can we expect the social landscape to change this year? The Reuters Institute Digital News Report is one of many surveys showing Facebook usage is high but stagnating see the next chart.
Another sign that we may have passed the peak has been the decline in participation on Facebook. As a result, some sharing of personal content has shifted to smaller, ephemeral, or more closed communities, especially for video and pictures. In our Reuters Institute data, messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are growing rapidly in general but also for news, while Snapchat resonates most with 18—25s.
Instagram has also been one of the fastest growing networks over the last two years as it moves to capitalise on new mobile behaviours and richer story-based formats. Meanwhile, Twitter continues to struggle for growth though it has been making attempts to improve usability, adding algorithmic selection of content, better threading and a longer character length.
But will this be enough to save it? Research in the US shows that three out five parents say their unders use messaging apps, social media, or both. National Parent Teacher Association study working with Facebook. FB Messenger Kids will be rolling out through , offering a service for this age group where parents must approve and verify all new contacts, though they are not entitled to see the content itself.
It is possible to imagine this eventually expanding into a much wider platform for age-appropriate entertainment and education content. With many of the FB management team now parents themselves, it is not surprising they are focused on creating a service that works from cradle to grave. With over m users, Instagram stories have already surpassed Snapchat in popularity. Effectively these are easy to create slideshows that you can animate add filters, effects, text, and stickers. Users can mix pictures and videos and you can also create live video stories, which can be archived for later.
Journalists are increasingly using these powerful tools to tell their own mobile stories. We going to see more of these visual, swipeable story formats in Facebook is boosting the prominence of its own stories and will also enable cross-posting of Instagram ones. Re-engaging user-generation in this way could help solve the problem of context collapse mentioned above. Now Facebook has proved how easy these features are to copy from Snapchat , expect to see more mainstream media companies deploying them within their own mobile websites and apps — as well as using third-party platforms that offer these formats.
Facebook Live has not been as popular as hoped while early attempts to create original online shows have failed to turn Facebook Watch into a must-visit entertainment destination. Facebook has pledged to spend billions of dollars advancing its TV ambitions. In this respect, it may be looking to compete more with Netflix and Amazon than with YouTube. In turn this will require shifting consumer expectations. Long-form linear content is not an obvious fit with social media and is still mainly watched on TV-sized screens. The quickest way to changing habits will be to acquire exclusive must-see content.
That is likely to mean sports. A looming battle is expected for Premier League streaming rights for the period —22, with Facebook, Amazon, and Google all likely to be in the frame. The auction, which includes UK and international rights, is due to be completed by February this year. All this is likely to mean even more money for sports clubs and perhaps joint bids between tech companies and media businesses to keep the costs affordable. Partners like BuzzFeed, Mashable, Attn and Vox Media have benefited from direct payments from Facebook to create original online content, but Facebook is on record as wanting to reduce those payments over time and is already restructuring deals.
Ad revenue is still limited though new formats are due to be tested within the Facebook Watch destination in Many publishers will need to decide whether producing lifestyle or unscripted video for Facebook still makes sense. Video production is expensive, logistically difficult, and hard to scale. Even basic news production will need re-evaluating: We will see a scaling back of investment by publishers in syndicated short-form video. This is a significant turnaround. Adjacent display worked well in print, was largely ignored on the desktop, and has become irrelevant on a mobile screen.
The economics of supply and demand has driven down prices, ad fraud is rife, and ad-blocking is widespread. This will apply to many newspaper groups but also to venture capital-funded pure-players that may have leaned in too far with a distributed model. Against this background it is not surprising that commercial media companies are looking at new approaches for and in particular towards different forms of reader payment.
For now it seems that many publishers are hedging their bets. The majority of print and digital-born publishers in our survey are pursuing multiple revenue streams, with an average of six different options viewed as or very or quite important. I think that increasingly they are realising that distributed content, video, VR and AR are not the one-shot saviours that people hoped they would be.
The real value in this business is the same as it ever was — great journalism. The trick is getting people to pay for it. Digital Head of UK publisher. The shift to subscription is driven by a combination of desperation and hope. Research shows that some young people, perhaps sensitised by Netflix and Spotify subscriptions, are more interested in paying for news than we had thought.
One-off donations to the Guardian in the last year , have brought in millions of pounds of new revenue. Its paying membership option reduces dependence on advertising while keeping the benefits of open access. On the other hand, there are still many reasons to be cautious. Most people have no intention of paying anything for online news today or in the future. In practice there will be no one-size-fits all model for reader payment or for business models in general. In our survey, those focusing on subscription tend to be in the richer parts of the world like the US, Germany, and Nordic countries.
Publishers from Southern and Central Europe and from Asia and Latin America recognise the need but find it much harder to see how in the short term they can move away from their dependence on advertising. Elsewhere, there is another more practical concern. Small publishers with an existing subscription business like Follow the Money in the Netherlands worry that they might lose out if more publishers launch paywalls. More publishers will focus on reader revenue … but will the number of readers who are willing to pay increase? Otherwise we will end up competing for the same subscription money.
Jan-Willem Sanders, publisher, Follow the Money. The move to reader payment is a challenge to the idea that the web can open up information to all — and in the process drive democracy and progress. If more high-quality content disappears behind a paywall, there is a danger of widening the current disconnect between the elites and the rest of the population. Up until now, most attention has been focused on getting domestic customers to pay, but as that gets harder the focus will switch to an international audience with differential cheaper pricing to drive numbers. Paywalls are being tightened.
The New York Times has recently moved from ten free articles a month to five and new trial offers, sampling, and pricing options are being prepared. The Times has set a stretch goal of 10m subscribers by sometime in the s and that will require a much more international and multilingual product with more local journalists for customisation. Another key weapon in the battle for paying eyeballs will be bundling. Local newspaper partnership will also play a role. Expect to see more bundling deals in and especially with utility, phone, and pay TV companies looking to provide more lock-in value for customers.
Concerns about misinformation and market failure in commercial local news provision should be rallying support for public media, but populist politicians and strains on public funding are pushing hard in the opposite direction. It is highly possible that a referendum in Switzerland in March to scrap the compulsory broadcasting fee will pass — reshaping the media landscape. Populist pressures are building elsewhere with a right-wing Danish party proposing scrapping of the licence fee there.
In Eastern and Central Europe public broadcasters increasingly serve as promotional arms of their governments. Licence fee money has already been top-sliced to pay for local journalists in newspaper newsrooms. I am increasingly worried there may be little long-term survival for most commercial media, but that they may try to drag public service media down with them in an effort to gain traction for paywalls, leaving the public with no strong media at all in the longer term.
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Just when we thought digital advertising was finished, could see a partial revival of its fortunes. The advent of browsers that automatically block overly intrusive advertising is the culmination of several years of work from the Coalition for Better Ads, an alliance of platforms, industry bodies, advertisers, and publishers. On the way out are ads that flash, autoplay sound and video, and those that take over the page. Retargeting of ads across websites will also become much harder in Europe after GDPR regulations come into place in May.
Worries about ads being placed next to poor-quality content could also help publishers sell premium advertising either on their own or in alliance with others. More publishers are likely to pull away from automated ad exchanges to focus on higher quality premium experiences. The Chrome web-browser incorporates ad-blocking by default from mid-February. By addressing the worst abuses, Google hopes it can stop users from downloading stronger third-party tools e. Brave and Cliqz that block its own ads and tracking systems. This strips out advertising, branding, and contextual related links, which may have a more detrimental effect on publishers.
The greatest threat to the so-called duopoloy looks set to come from Amazon in Brands say they are planning to invest more in Amazon ads around its shopping search engine and live streaming of NFL games opens up new advertising opportunities. Amazon will overtake Twitter and Snapchat in advertising revenue in That will also mean fewer journalists. Consultant Kevin Anderson expects to see legacy players such as broadcasters with deep pockets up snapping up digital-born operations: These could be around advertising alliances Portuguese publishers, Schibsted in Norway and Sweden , content BBC and local news , selling subscriptions Washington Post and local papers , or technology solutions Washington Post and Globe and Mail in Canada.
This could be the year when media companies recognise how critical data will be to their future success. This is the next battleground for media — and having the right data infrastructure and skills will be the key to making it work. As one example, UK publisher the Daily Telegraph wants to grow registered readers to 10m as it moves away from a mass reach strategy to one based on maximising revenue from a smaller number of logged in users.
This has already delivered 23m registered users, creating the conditions for BBC News and Sport to also deliver more personalised recommendations on the website, in the app, or via mobile notifications. Norway publishers are looking at collective national registration schemes to provide better scaled data that can compete with Facebook. One additional factor pushing sign-in is upcoming European regulations that require publishers to gain explicit permission from readers to contact them.
Publishers will also be required to provide mechanisms e. A requirement for clearer and simpler privacy policies and the right to transfer or have data deleted is also part of the package.
As with much new regulation, it is not entirely clear what compliance will mean or how strictly it will be enforced. The biggest impact of GDPR could be on consumer experience, with irritating messages asking for permission and new opportunities to forget passwords. In terms of the economic effects, GDPR could favour premium publishers that have enough trust to obtain consumer consent, leaving other sites struggling with less valuable advertising lower CPMs and a loss of and economic competitiveness.
With tech firms betting their future on AI, publishers are also looking to understand how this range of complex technologies could be deployed in their businesses.
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Surprisingly, almost three-quarters of those we surveyed said they were already using some kind of artificial intelligence, by which we mean computers that learn over time — independently — to improve outcomes. Respondents told us about projects to optimise marketing, to automate fact-checking, and to speed up tagging and metadata. Onward links are currently added manually or with simple CMS logic, with most users seeing the same stories, but AI could change this. A new recommendation service called Jame s, being developed by The Times and Sunday Times for News UK , will aim to learn about individual preferences and automatically personalise each edition in terms of format, time, and frequency.
The algorithms will be programmed by humans but will improve over time by the computer itself working to a set of agreed outcomes. These combine ideas of general relevance and personal relevance so individuals are not caught in a filter bubble but are still exposed to more content that they might enjoy. But some go much further. Replika is an AI assistant that, with a bit of training, picks up your moods, preferences, and mannerisms until it starts to sound like you and think like you. In the future, maybe it could mimic your posts on Twitter and Facebook — and keep doing it while you are asleep.
AI can also help journalists fact-check political claims in real time — possibly even while conducting a live radio or TV interview. Start-up Factmata is deploying Natural Language Processing NLP with previously fact-checked databases of political claims to test this kind of service. They are due to be released at the end of This work is being done with partners in Argentina and South Africa. The use of algorithms to recognise patterns in data and make predictions machine learning is also being used to drive commercial decisions.
This already tells Amazon the sort of books you like based on previous purchases. Applying this to news, AI driven paywalls will be able to identify likely subscribers and based on previous behaviour serve up the offer and wording most likely to persuade them to subscribe. Another use will be to create more personalised advertisements or push e-commerce recommendations based on previous interest shown in particular brands or types of responses. News organisations know they have to do more with less; they have to find ways of making journalists more productive without leading to burn out.
Intelligent automation IA is one way to square this circle. As one example, the Press Association PA in the UK has been working with Urbs media to deliver hundreds of semi-automated stories for local newspaper clients. In example below a journalist finds a story using one or more publicly available datasets NHS and population data. The journalist then writes a generic story that is then versioned automatically by the computer to create multiple bespoke versions for different local publications.
Another potential usage of AI is for reporting of live events. Executive Editor of Quartz, Zach Seward, recently gave a speech in China at a conference organised by tech giant Tencent. This was turned into a news story by a combination of AI based speech to text software, automatic transcription, and an automated newswriting programme called Dreamwriter. Around 2, pieces of news on finance, technology, and sports are created by Dreamwriter daily.
Another early example of intelligent automation is Perspective, an AI powered tool developed by Google-offshoot Jigsaw to help improve moderation of comments. This uses machine-learning models to score the perceived impact a comment might have on a conversation. Jigsaw believes that this human inspired collective intelligence will be far more powerful than existing efforts to stop trolls, but critics argue that early results show the dangers of algorithms mirroring existing biases by marking down comments containing words like black and gay.
These are early days for AI and freeing the internet from trolls will be one of the hardest nuts to crack. Jigsaw stresses that these systems will only be part of the answer and are designed to help humans do their jobs more efficiently. But as AI assisted moderation becomes widespread, expect to hear more concerns about censorship and greater calls for transparency.
These stand-alone devices are reshaping home ecosystems, with voice becoming an increasingly important way of managing entertainment and controlling smart systems like lights and heating. These systems are taking off in the home first because there is less social stigma than in other locations and because voice is proving a quick and convenient way of managing a range of tasks. While other players were focusing on the smartphone, Amazon has been building a powerful position as the lynchpin of the connected home.
This year will see the smart speaker wars hotting up further, with Amazon and Google facing competition from Sonos, Samsung, Apple, Microsoft, and possibly Facebook. This really matters because many see AI-powered smart speakers as an increasingly important gateway to the home, not just for media but for commerce and communication too. These devices are already changing consumer behaviour, with media content a main beneficiary. All of this will increase the disruption of radio schedules and stimulate more on-demand audio usage. Many of us continue to underestimate the acceleration of voice use in the home and on mobile.
Some of these devices will have screens but it marks a clear departure from dense text as a way to convey information. A Business Wire survey notes the best time to pitch the media is in the morning:. Craft your emails ahead of time and schedule them to go out at 8 a. You might start your day with a high response rate. Nobody wants to open an email and get a huge block of text without bullets, paragraph spacing, or returns.
Long emails do not win the race. Keep the email short, to the point and be mindful of using white space well with bullets, spacing, font size, emojis, photos and end the message with a call to action. Aggressive and serious or funny and playful? Humor and authenticity go a long way but stay professional and appropriate.
You can get a good read by following your audience on Twitter or another social channel to get the personality vibe. You may lose credibility using those old-school email addresses notorious for spam. Make sure you have a legitimate and well-branded email address. Info or asst will decrease your chances of credibility and increase your chances for deletion.
Facebook is the primary social media platform journalists use when working on a story followed by Twitter and LinkedIn. Supporting facts and strong headlines are top considerations and photos are the most important supplement a press release can have. Making sure your headline and body have relevant keywords to have a higher chance of getting picked up in Google searches in the future.
Paying close attention to Google best practices with links in press releases and being mindful you are writing for humans and not just for search engines. Online newsrooms serve as a content-rich portion of a company website that is visited by prospects, investors, decision makers, influencers, and your customers. How about adding a Facebook Messenger chatbot to your online newsroom for immediate communication? Now your chatbot is the new media relations hero! More and more media relations and networking are happening on Twitter.
Journalists and newscasters are expected to be building a personal following on social for added reach, so interacting on Twitter is where media coverage can begin. Create private Twitter lists for your targeted media, journalists, writers, and influencers and set up a system to monitor and share their content when it makes sense.
Turning on the social video channel — live video on social media — is the latest trend that is nothing to joke about or miss. Video content is thumb stopping. GlobalWebIndex data indicates that nearly 30 percent of internet users have watched a live stream on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Video will make up 82 percent of all internet traffic in , according to Cisco. Brands like Cheddar, BuzzFeed, and Tastemade are crushing it.


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Sometimes I truly truly hate the internet. While I love that the internet allows me to access knowledge from across the globe and watch videos pretty much whenever I want, I also hate the stupid trends it creates. Including the "Let's mess with food and drinks and put in back in stores!" trend.
A Texas teen is behind bars after police said he reportedly opened a bottle of AriZona tea, spat into it and put it back on a store shelf, according to KOSA.
STOP STOP STOP DOING THIS! YOU NO BUY IT, YOU NO OPEN IT! STOP DOING THIS YOU DANG ON MORONS!


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Tamales could now include a new ingredient
The next time New Mexicans buy a tamale, it could contain something new. The Food and Drug Administration has now approved adding folic acid to corn masa flour.
El Modelo is an 80-year-old establishment in the Barelas neighborhood that has only had two owners since 1929.
Corn masa flour is a staple of the tamale and is something that's been made from scratch at El Modelo. The recipe is simple without any preservatives and that’s what's been winning them customers for so long.
Dr. Barry Ramo agreed that adding folic acid will not make much of a difference.
“Well, I think it’s nuts. No matter how much masa with folic acid, unless you're pregnant, it's not going to make any difference,” Ramo said
And it sounds like nothing will be different about the traditional tamales at El Modelo.


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Over the last year, the relationship between tech behemoths Apple and Samsung, has certainly seen significant strain. For years the two companies benefitted from mutual profit gains - mostly due to Apple’s wildly successful iPhone. Despite being fierce competitors in the smartphone/tablet market, Samsung shared an interest in Apple’s success as they provided critical components to the Cupertino-based company’s iPhone and iPad. These components ranged from application processors, displays, and memory modules. This certainly meant that both companies made billions of dollars off of these devices.
Well it appears the recent rift between the two has certainly widened in part to the fierce legal battles. According to a report earlier today from the Korea Times, an anonymous executive stated, Samsung Display will no longer make display panels for Apple, starting next year. The Koreans have already reduced the deliveries of displays to Apple, from 15 million LCDs in the first half of 2012, to 3 million in the third quarter, with an estimated 1.8 million units to be shipped by the end of the year. Samsung’s reasoning behind the move: they simply cannot afford to continue doing business with Apple due to the huge price discounts being demanded by the U.S. company. According to the report, the price per pixel has been more than halved from the iPad 2 to the iPad 3, and Samsung is not happy about it
The official informed the Korea Times that:
“We are unable to supply our flat-screens to Apple with huge price discounts. Samsung has already cut our portion of shipments to Apple and next year we will stop shipping displays.”
It was just revealed last week that Samsung had only been providing chip foundry services for the A6 chip found in the iPhone 5, after designing it for several years. To only add more controversy to the issue, Apple has been rumored as approaching both TSMC and Intel for foundry services, thus replacing Samsung altogether.
The report indicates that Samsung is looking to Amazon to fill the gap, and that Amazon has increased orders for displays. In addition, Samsung and Google are rumored to be collaborating on a new high-end tablet to take on Apple’s iPad. Whether or not these events are linked in some way to Samsung feeling comfortable in leaving Apple altogether is unknown however. It’s difficult to say as well if these actions by both companies are a direct result of animosity due to the recent legal battles. It surely does appear that these legal suits have had some impact. Nevertheless, the two companies seem to be creating mutual distance to protect their bottom lines and ultimately their futures.


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In 2010 at the Guangzhou Auto Show, Chevrolet – part of General Motors showcased the Chevrolet Sail EV (electric vehicle) concept. A year after the debut, the company sent the car’s design for patent and recently the car spotted while testing in China. The car caught testing somewhere in China and it was the actual production model that will debut at the 2012 Guangzhou Auto Show scheduled in November.
The Sail is the same car that Chevrolet is planning to launch in the Indian market in hatchback and notchback avatar, shortly. Originally the car was developed for the Chinese market but now it will be launched in India also.
Coming back o the Sail EV, the car will hit the production line this November. The car features an electric motor that’s puts out a max power of 87 BHP and peak torque of 220 Nm. The adequately powerful engine helps the car attain a top speed of 130 km/h. Using a standard 220 V outlet, one can charge the car to full in just 7 hours. With one full charge the car can cover 150 km.
The Sail EV showcased at the auto show in 2010 features a slightly different design which is quite better than the normal Sail. In fact Chevrolet should have adopted Sail EV’s designed for Sail U-VA and Sail sedan. While the normal Sail price falls between Rs. 3.5 lakh to Rs. 6.95 lakh INR(in China), the EV version would be priced around 120,000 Yuan which converts to Rs. 10.4 lakh.
Once again coming to the Indian models, Sail U-VA will be powered by a 1.2 litre petrol engine and a 1.3 litre MultiJet diesel engine. Beside the Sail U-VA, the company has planned three more models for the Indian market which it will launch gradually. The Sail, which will be the first of the four new cars to get introduced to our market, is really important for General Motors as it is a car targeted at price conscious buyers and the major has high hopes that it will become a successful car.
Considering that Indian government is not giving any kind if tax incentives on electric cars in India, these cars remain non-mainstream. There is only one car maker, Mahindra Reva, selling electric cars in India. Chevrolet India did showcase the Beat Electric Vehicle in India in 2011, but it does not plan to launch it until it is economically viable and there is enough infrastructure. This will require some initiatives or incentives from government.
Credit – AutoSohu


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The Alberta government says it’s prepared to give billions of dollars to lure investors willing to build or expand petrochemical facilities in the province, part of what it says is a push to be a top global player in the field.
In a news release introducing the new Alberta Petrochemicals Incentive Program, the government says it hopes to grow the sector by more than $30 billion by 2030 and compete with jurisdictions across Asia, the Middle East and the U.S. areas of the Gulf of Mexico.
“On top of our existing petrochemical producers and all the companies that feed in and support them, we have a multi-generational supply of natural gas, an experienced workforce, and one of the lowest tax rates in North America,” said Dale Nally, the associate minister of natural gas and electricity, in the news release.
“By launching this program, Alberta moves towards achieving the goal of becoming one of the most attractive investment opportunities for petrochemicals in the world.”
The program would offer grants of up to 12 per cent of eligible capital costs for new projects in the province. That money will be offered only in the final stages of construction in order to ensure projects are already built.
The minimum investment required to be eligible is $50 million, with no upper limit, and the project must consume natural gas, natural gas liquids or petrochemical “intermediaries,” and create new and permanent jobs in the province.
The window for applications on projects between $50 million and $150 million will be open for five years, and 10 years for projects over that threshold.
Hydrogen facilities will be eligible for the grants and there is no cap on the number of projects.
“Alberta has the potential to become a major player in low-carbon hydrogen and sustainable plastics production, but we’ll only get there if we have a competitive edge over other jurisdictions,” said Doug Schweitzer, the minister of jobs, economy and innovation, in the news release.
The government estimates it could create over 90,000 direct and indirect jobs and bring in $10 billion for the government if it hits the target of growing the sector by $30 billion.
On Friday, the Globe and Mail reported that the province was in talks with a private firm from Saudi Arabia to build a $5-billion petrochemical facility in Alberta.
“From Day 1, we have said that we are going to seek out international investors to create jobs in Alberta. We are pleased to see that interest has been expressed by a number of global companies from different regions,” said Jennifer Henshaw, a spokesperson for Nally, in response to questions about the Globe article.
“We hope to have more to say in the months to come but cannot comment any further at this time due to confidentiality and commercial sensitivities.”
China’s factories crank up output, but jobs, debt remain concerns – Aljazeera.com
China’s factory activity expanded at the fastest pace in more than three years in November, while growth in the services sector also hit a multi-year high, as the country’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic stepped up.
Upbeat data released on Monday suggest the world’s second-largest economy is on track to become the first to completely shake off the drag from widespread industry shutdowns, with recent production data showing manufacturing now at pre-pandemic levels.
But companies are still not expanding their payrolls, the figures show, and some analysts point to rising debt levels among state-owned firms as another possible headwind for the economy.
China’s official manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) rose to 52.1 in November from 51.4 in October, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. It was the highest PMI reading since September 2017 and remained above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis. It was also higher than the 51.5 median forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts.
“The latest official PMI surveys show that the pace of economic growth picked up in November on the back of a broad-based improvement in both services and manufacturing,” Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at research firm Capital Economics, said in a note sent to Al Jazeera.
China’s blue-chip share index hit a 5-and-a-half-year high following the data release.
The robust headline PMI points to solid fourth-quarter growth, which analysts at Nomura expect to quicken to 5.7 percent compared with the same period last year, from 4.9 percent in the third quarter, an impressive turnaround from the deep contraction earlier this year.
The economy is expected to expand by about 2 percent for the full year, the weakest in more than 30 years but still much stronger than other major economies that are struggling to bring their coronavirus outbreaks under control.
The official PMI, which largely focuses on big and state-owned firms, showed the sub-index for new export orders stood at 51.5 in November, improving from 51.0 a month earlier. That bodes well for the export sector, which has benefitted from strong foreign demand for medical supplies and electronics products.
Also helping activity in November were aggressive e-commerce shopping promotions, which unleashed solid consumer demand and bolstered confidence for small and medium firms.
But a surging yuan and further lockdowns in many of its key trading partners could pressure Chinese exports, which have been surprisingly resilient so far.
More companies have reported the impact from currency fluctuations, compared with a month ago, said Zhao Qinghe, senior statistician at the NBS.
“Some firms have flagged that as the yuan continues to rise, corporate profits are under pressure and export orders are declining,” said Zhao.
He added that the recovery across the manufacturing industry remained uneven. For example, the PMI for the textile industry has stayed below the 50-point threshold, pointing to weak business activity.
In the services sector, activity expanded for the ninth straight month. The official non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 56.4, the fastest since June 2012 and up from 56.2 in October, as consumer confidence gathered pace amid few COVID-19 infections.
Railway and air transportation, telecommunication and satellite transmission services and the financial industry were among the best-performing sectors in November.
A sub-index for construction activity stood at 60.5 in November, improving from 59.8 in October, as China steps up infrastructure spending to revive its economy.
Monday’s data also showed that the labour market is still facing strains. Services firms reduced payrolls at a faster clip in November, while factories slashed staff for the seventh straight month, although at a slower pace.
“The continued recovery reduces the need for further monetary easing, but any shift to tightening is also unlikely given continued labour market pressure,” said Erin Xin, Greater China economist at HSBC.
Another factor that could prove problematic for China is rising levels of debt among regional governments and state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
“The recent wave of SOE debt defaults has contradicted the overall data improvement, including the latest PMI,” wrote Daiwa Capital Markets economists Kevin Lai and Eileen Lin in a research note sent to Al Jazeera.
“Many of these companies should have benefited from a nascent recovery since the economy reopened. However, most of these companies are owned and controlled by local governments,” they said.
“They have been allowed to raise more funds from the bond market and run bigger fiscal deficits when the pandemic began to hit the local economy. Hence, when domestic demand indicators turn better, it is usually a result of more debt-driven stimulus being injected into various industrial sectors.”
Scotiabank CEO 'cautiously optimistic' about COVID rebound, reports $1.9B Q4 profit – Yahoo Canada Finance
Apple Rush Company seeing continued success with Element C through its distributor Botanaway, Inc. in Virginia
TITUSVILLE, Fla., Dec. 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Apple Rush Company, Inc. (US OTC PINK: APRU), announces that it has shipped additional pallets of Element C to Botanaway, Inc. in Virginia. Element C continues to prove itself in the territories it is represented in. Sales have been solid and we believe it is the best in class of CBD beverages. It is one of a kind in taste, efficacy, and value. Depending on the market, pricing at retail is falling between $5.99 and $7.99 per can with 25mg of CBD. We have a new production run scheduled for next week and are excited about the reorder rate from retailers in the Midwest as well. Tony Torgerud, CEO of Apple Rush, said, “each of our distributors is proving that Element C is a top notch product that consumers love. We are receiving testimonials from consumers that can’t believe the difference Element C has made in their lives and expect that will continue as we expand to additional territories.”David Reynolds Derian, CEO of Botanaway, Inc., commented, “Element C is an amazing CBD beverage. We are seeing success with it throughout our thousands of retail stores and have our sights on several other functional beverages in the near future. The technology in formulation that APRU utilizes has proven to be a great differentiator from the other CBD infused beverages on the market.”Tony Continued, “we are excited to have David and his team on board for Element C. His support has been invaluable in what we do in research and development for new products. Our production runs will continue to increase in size as we expand across the country. I would expect to be making some announcements in the near future on new product development expanding the Element Brands line. We have been receiving calls from other parts of the country for distribution and will be adding those as production increases.” About The Apple Rush Company, Inc. The Apple Rush Company, Inc., through its subsidiary APRU, LLC, is a distributor of CPG products under the trademarked Apple Rush brand, Element brand and other labels. The Apple Rush brand has more than 47 years of existence in the natural beverage industry. As a historical leader in the organic and natural beverage sector our goal is to now become a leader in the distribution of anhydrous hemp oil products nationwide. For more information, please go to www.applerush.com, www.aprubrands.com, and www.mistyk.com with our expanded product portfolio.Safe Harbor Act: Forward-Looking Statements are included within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations including words such as “anticipate,” “if,” “believe,” “plan,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “could,” “should,” “will,” and similar expressions are forward-looking statements and involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Investor Relations Contact: Tony Torgerud 888-741-3777 x 2
Scotiabank beats as international unit rebounds, provisions fall – BNN
Bank of Nova Scotia kicked off earnings season for Canada’s Big Six lenders by handily beating profit expectations amid a sharp drop in funds set aside for loans that could go bad.
Scotia said Tuesday its fiscal fourth quarter net income was $1.9 billion, compared to $2.3 billion a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, it earned $1.45 per share. Analysts, on average, expected $1.22.
In a potentially encouraging signal about credit quality trends amid the second wave of COVID-19, the bank booked $1.13 billion in provisions for credit losses during the three months ending Oct. 31. While that was a 50-per-cent increase from a year earlier, it was a significant decline from the $2.18 billion that had been set aside in the previous quarter.
Scotia’s core Canadian banking operations struggled in the quarter compared to the same time in 2019, with revenue falling four per cent year-over-year and adjusted profit sliding 13 per cent. The bank pointed out its net interest income came under pressure because of the Bank of Canada’s rate cuts. On a sequential basis, the unit’s profit surged 81 per cent.
The bank’s sprawling international operations rebounded in the quarter as adjusted profit hit $353 million from just $4 million in the fiscal third quarter.
Scotia’s other primary operating units – wealth management and global banking and markets – each delivered year-over-year growth in adjusted profit.
“As we look forward to 2021, we will continue to put customers first and we remain cautiously optimistic that better times lie ahead as we continue to grow our presence as a leading bank in the Americas,” said CEO Brian Porter in a release.
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Panasonic Eluga Ray 530 with fingerprint sensor, Face unlock launched in India @ Rs. 8999
Panasonic launched its latest smartphone Panasonic Eluga Ray 530 in the Indian market at Rs. 8999. Its launching increased one more device in its Eluga-series.
The smartphone Panasonic Eluga Ray 530 sports 5.7-inch HD+ 18:9 2.5D curved glass display with the resolution of 1440 × 720 pixels. It has 3GB RAM, internal storage capacity of 32GB, which cane be further expandable up to 128GB via microSD card slot. It comes with the dimension of 152.4×72.18×8.3mm; weighs 141g and has dual SIM functionality. The device has a fingerprint sensor on its back and also features face unlock.
It is armed with 1.3GHz Quad-Core MediaTek MT6739WA 64-bit processor with PowerVR Rogue GE8100 GPU and runs on Android 8.1 (Oreo).
The camera section of the device Panasonic Eluga Ray 530 includes a rear camera of 13MP with LED Flash, f/2.0 aperture and a front-facing camera of 5MP with LED flash.
Connectivity wise, it features 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS and also supports 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio. It is backed up by 3000mAh battery. The users can also use its Arbo Hub -AI-powered app which comes with self-learning technology.
The users can get the smartphone Panasonic Eluga Ray 530 in Blue and Black colors.
Stay with us for more information.


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A sampling of e-retailer and vendor announcements from the NRF show floor this week.
Outrageous Ventures, which operates e-commerce sites including FunIdeas.com, PrankPlace.com and BigMouthToys.com, has named Tom Tedesco director of business development.
Outrageous Ventures Inc. has appointed Tom Tedesco to the newly created position of director of business development. Tedesco is charged with targeting acquisitions of specialty e-commerce companies related to its portal of offerings.
Outrageous Ventures operates PrankPlace.com, DrinkingStuff.com, FunIdeas.com, GolfGiftsEtc.com and BigMouthToys.com. Tedesco’s primary goal is to help steer the growth of the company via the Big Mouth Toys brand. Big Mouth Toys manufacturers many of the items sold by Outrageous Ventures.
Tedesco previously served as director of basketball operations at the National Basketball Association.


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- Tyson Foods is more aggressively pursuing an automated meat processing strategy as it faces issues with staffing and safety exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, according to The Wall Street Journal.
- The meat company has invested $500 million in technology and automation in the past three years, including the opening of Tyson's Manufacturing Automation Center in August 2019. CEO Noel White noted the push for more robots in factories to debone and filet meat will continue after the pandemic.
- This long-term, robotic solution also is being pursued by JBS US Holdings and Cargill. However, due to the variability in poultry and livestock carcasses, automation technology is not yet ready to replace human hands. The Wall Street Journal reported poultry processing deboning machines trail humans by 1% to 1.5% for the meat yield they extract per bird.
Robotic skills, which have lagged when compared to human finesse, have made meaningful strides in recent years. While fine motor skills such as gristle removal and fileting without cutting the bone of an animal remain the domain of skilled human workers, more routine tasks like splitting carcasses is commonly performed by machines. In Europe, automation is more commonly employed, according to The Wall Street Journal, with robots using lasers and optical eyes to sort cuts of meat and send them to their destinations for final processing by humans.
In the U.S. though, the introduction has not been as widespread. Low temperatures and blood spatter make it difficult to introduce robots into a meatpacking environment. And due to risks associated with bacteria, it has been difficult for robots to withstand the continuous washing and sanitizing required in a meatpacking plant.
Despite these limitations, animal protein companies are continuing to invest heavily in automation. JBS is dedicating part of its $1 billion capital expenditures to automation, it told The Wall Street Journal, and in 2015 the company took a $42 million controlling stake in Scott Technology, a New Zealand-based robotics firm. Tyson said last August it invested $215 million in automation and robotics during the previous five years.
Although robots are not always as successful at their jobs as their human counterparts, the continually rising demand for meat in the U.S. has begun to outpace worker processing capacity as employees leave. Annual turnover rates at meat processing plants average 40% to 70% while other manufacturers experience a 31% average turnover rate, according to data from the Boston Consulting Group cited by The Wall Street Journal.
The need for automated labor was apparent even before the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the pandemic infected more than 17,000 workers in April and May, causing labor shortages and factory shutdowns. The question of worker safety also lingers as plants begin to reopen. Massive meat plants are not designed for social distancing so it is challenging to keep workers apart. And even though unions are insisting people wear gloves and face masks or shields, it can be tricky because plants are cool and protective equipment can fog up.
Automation has the potential to produce safer working conditions for employees, although unions are no doubt closely watching to make sure this is the real reason robots are employed and not to save money if jobs are lost. With more machines performing work that is currently done by hand, companies could stagger entry time, slow production and provide more protection for humans.
The pandemic may be the catalyst that pushes animal protein companies to successfully implement robotics into meatpacking. In 2017, almost a third of food processing and 94% of packaging operations surveyed by the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies said they were using robotics and planned to incorporate more in the future. This interest was confirmed by Global Markets Insights, which showed the robot packaging market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 12% and will exceed $650 million worldwide by 2023.
After opening its Manufacturing Automation Center last year, Tyson rolled out a mechanical system in many of its chicken plants that is able to carve chicken breasts more precisely than a human using a water jet cutting system. There is still development needed to teach machines to accommodate for the differences in meat coloration, shape and texture. However, once the technology is capable it is likely that automation will become as widespread as it is in many other industries, including automotive, canning and packaging.


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By Ben Levisohn
After visiting Tesla Motors’ (TSLA) factory, Global Equities Research’s Trip Chowdhry comes away feeling bullish especially after witnessing the company in action:
Tesla factory lobby was busy with both European suppliers and Asian suppliers
Suppliers are eager to work with Tesla to manufacture custom modules for Tesla
About a year back, there was hardly any activity in the Tesla factory lobby, and today that has all changed.
Today, there is a constant stream of the suppliers; which indicates a reversal in supplier equation:
Before: Tesla was searching for Suppliers and had zero leverage with Suppliers
Today: Suppliers are eager to work with Tesla and are willing to agree to Tesla ‘s stringent quality and customization requirements…
Tesla Motors is a multi-year, multi-product, multi-technology growth company; and we have just barely scratched the surface
Tesla Motors is creating a completely new industry, and our research indicates that Tesla will likely be a massively successful company
Chowdhry thinks Tesla can hit $385 in 12 to 18 months. Its shares have gained 2% to $261.78 at 10:22 a.m., while Google has dropped 0.1% to $581.80 and Facebook has risen 0.5% to $74.93.


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Rumours of an upcoming Nexus tablet from Google are becoming more concrete, and it seems we could see the device this year – maybe even early on this summer.
And whereas Samsung produces the Nexus phones for Google, it seems that Asus might be brought on board to make the tablet.
According to Android and Me, two separate industry sources confirmed that Asus will manufacture a 7 inch Android tablet for Google, powered by a Tegra 3 quad-core processor.
The device will boast a highly ambitious target price of $199, to take on Amazon’s Kindle Fire, which has been making good headway since its launch late last year. And indeed the rumoured iPad Mini – which could be launched this autumn – is looking towards the budget market, too.
Asus is the manufacturer of choice as it’s already producing a cheap $250 quad-core tablet of its own, and Google is apparently asking for a few further corners to be cut in order to get that price right down.
Also we heard yesterday that Asus was boasting it will be in the first wave of manufacturers to get the next incarnation of Android, Jelly Bean, on its devices. Which would certainly make sense if it was producing the official Nexus tablet.
June is the potential target date for launch, as by all accounts, Google doesn’t want to hang about when it comes to the tablet market.
And both Amazon and Apple would have to be worried about such a cheap quad-core model being made available, particularly if Google can keep the hardware up to scratch in terms of responsiveness.
One of the criticisms of the Kindle Fire is that it feels a little sluggish to use, and a quad-core processor should certainly ensure there isn’t anything slothful about the nature of the Nexus slate.


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BROOKSVILLE, Fla. - We know about strawberries and blueberries. But Florida blackberries are the draw at Bramble Creek Farms in Brooksville.
Blackberry season is just getting started, and you can now pick your own berries at Bramble Creek. The farm provides buckets already lined with bags, and owners Gene and Ann Altman offered some tips Thursday about the best blackberries to look for.
They say to pick full, plump berries because unlike tomatoes, they won’t ripen after they’re picked.
“If the little drooplets have dimples in them, they still have a little more time to go and get sugared up and get filled out, and you want to make sure they’re good and plump before you pick them,” Ann offered.
And as bright as they are, avoid the red berries. “You cannot put enough sugar on it,” Gene chuckled.
The you-pick blackberries run $5.50 per pound. The farm also offers pre-picked and even frozen blackberries for those who’d rather not wander the fields.
Bramble Creek Farms is on Hayman Road in Brooksville. They are currently open weekend mornings, along with Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
LINK: For more details, visit www.bramblecreekfarms.com


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MADRID (Reuters) -A strong upturn in tourism worldwide, helped Spain's Melia Hotels return to profits in the first semester, the company said on Tuesday, as it forecast a full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will be confirmed during the third quarter of the year.
The Mallorca-based group's booked net profits of 3 million euros in the first six months of 2022 from 151.2 million euros losses a year earlier, it said, while revenue jumped 143.6% to 741.5 million euros.
Melia's revenues are almost back to pre-pandemic levels, only down 1.3% versus 2019 during the second quarter.
"The trends framing our results in the first half of the year are undoubtedly the very strong pull from tourism demand, described by some as revenge travel," Chief Executive Gabriel Escarrer said in a statement.
"Melia is prepared to take maximum advantage of the boom that is still going on and to face an eventual change in the economic cycle".
Bookings in resort hotels exceed 2019 levels for the third quarter and Melia expects to see an improvement in bookings for urban hotels later in the year thanks to the corporate events season.
In Spain, Melia said there is an increased demand for deluxe rooms and suites, allowing them to improve revenues over previous years.
(Reporting by Corina PonsEditing by Alistair Bell)


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Amazon’s figures drying up
Profits at Amazon.com have tumbled as the world’s biggest online shopping company spent heavily on new technology and invested in its new toy business.
Net income in the three months to 30th June fell 58% to $22m (£12m) from $52 (£30m) a year before. Sales rose 22% in the quarter to $2.14bn but the shares have been marked down sharply.
“I do question the company’s decision to focus on its discount shipping programme, Amazon Prime, at a time when it is facing intense competition,” said City analyst Colin Perry.
“Unfortunately, Amazon just doesn’t seem to be generating sales in the way I hoped,” he concluded.


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|Shipment levels are up significantly at the Port of Prince Rupert |
with the 2018-19 Crop year results considered
some of the best in recent years
(Photo of PRG from CN Rail's Grain Plan for 2019-2020)
Prince Rupert Grain and the newly opened Ray-Mont terminal on Ridley Island are both helping to make 2019 a strong year for shipments, with industry observers noting that the troubles that plagued the supply chain of a year ago are now seemingly behind the partners that bring the grain from farm to port to global markets.
The Western Producer, an industry based publication that follows the agriculture and shipping sectors is highlighting a record year of grain shipments for the crop year of 2018-19, with some strong results for shipments out of the Port of Prince Rupert
This year’s export program included a record 23 million tonnes of grain shipped through Vancouver export terminals — up by at least six percent over 2017-18 — and more than six million tonnes exported through Prince Rupert, an increase of at least 16 percent over the previous year.
The article (which you can read here) highlights the ongoing investment that Canada's two major railroads have made into infrastructure to increase the level of shipments and confidence for the agricultural shipping sector.
The latest results from the Port of Prince Rupert back up the growing enthusiasm for the shipment numbers, with the July shipments and Year to Date figures showing the strong year that Grain is having on the North Coast.
Earlier this month CN Rail released the details of its Grain plan for this fall and winter's shipping season as they move this years harvest to global markets.
As part of their backgrounder to the Grain Plan for 2019-20 the railway makes note of the investment in new grain cars as well as the opportunities through container shipments through the Ray-Mont Logistics facility in Prince Rupert.
The Report explores both the railway infrastructure and staffing upgrades and ongoing trade disputes, the latter something that CN notes could have an impact on final numbers for this year.
(Click on the images below to enlarge the content)
You can download the full Grain Plan Report here.
More observations on the 2029-2020 shipment plan can be viewed here.
For more items of interest related to both Prince Rupert Grain and the Ray-Mont Facility below:
Prince Rupert Grain
For items of note on CN Rail see our archive page here.
To view the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.


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The tie-up will see DeNA’s Mobage gaming platform made “even more accessible” to the microblog service’s 300 million plus users, thanks to a series of initiatives aimed at optimising its offering for Android devices.
DeNA will create a unique Mobage website on Sina’s domain — where the company already hosts a range of services, including high profile site Sina Tech — which will allow Sina Weibo microbloggers to download a range of titles from Mobage direct to their Android device.
The dedicated Sina-Mobage site will also get increased visibility with a presence in the Sina Weibo Android app, where a button will be added to take users directly from the app to the site.
Ties between the two will be further strengthened by an integration that will allow Weibo users to log-in to the gaming service using their Weibo ID and password, minimising sign-up hassle to help convert prospects into new users.
The partnership with Sina further underlines that China is a key market for DeNA. The company’s global Mobage service is available for Android but China, and its native Japan, are the only places where iOS is fully supported. DeNA has begun to roll out a series of new titles for iOS worldwide, but the level of worldwide support for iOS is likely to eclipse China yet.
Mobage launched for Android phones in China in July, before it added iOS support in the country in November. The Sina deal is the latest in a series of tie-ups which has seen DeNA secure support for Mobage pre-loaded onto smartphones from Baidu and Alibaba, while social network Kaixin was added as a social media partner.


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The Ford Performance division has been very busy lately. Literally rocking the automotive world with the recent release of the Ford GT350 and Ford supercar, it’s also on the brink of releasing the Ford Focus RS, a performance-enhanced version of the Focus. Now, word ‘round the campfire says that the automaker is looking to give the Ford Fiesta the same sort of performance treatment.
“There’s more to come from the current Fiesta,” Ford Performance manager Tyrone Johnson told AutoCar. Does that mean an RS version is forthcoming? After all, the Ford Fiesta ST was the feel-good international hit of 2013. Does he only mean that the ST will be continued?
What’s the difference between ST and RS, anyways? AutoCar explains that “ST models are considered ‘enhanced’ versions of existing models, whereas RS cars come in the ‘high-performance bracket.’”
In the end, Johnson said that if money can be made and if Ford has the tools and resources to put it together, a Ford Fiesta RS is “theoretically” possible.


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More than three dozen teenage artists will exhibit their works from Aug. 12 to 20 at the Art League of Long Island’s Jeanie Tengelsen Gallery at 107 E. Deer Park Rd. in Dix Hills.
The teens were portfolio development and fashion design students in the Art League’s summer programs, and created the works during their three-week programs. Portfolios include observational and figure drawing, painting, mixed media projects and more. Fashion illustrations and garments created by the students will also be on display.
Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public Monday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Fridays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and weekends 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For information, call 631- 462-5400 or visit artleagueli.org.


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Five Unexpected Facts about the McLaren Senna
Is the supercar market finally changing?by Ciprian Florea, on
After decades of tremendous success in Can-Am racing and Formula One, McLaren built its first road car in 1992. It was the most advanced vehicle on the market back then, and it’s still among the best, despite being nearly three decades old. The Brits needed 21 years to launch a successor, which arrived as the P1 in 2013. Although built in significantly greater numbers (375 versus 106 unit), the P1 was short-lived, with production coming to a halt in December 2015. Exactly two years have passed, and McLaren introduced a new flagship model, the Senna. By far the most spectacular McLaren ever made, the Senna comes with a few surprising facts.
Despite numerous rumors about its three-seat layout and hybrid drivetrain, the Senna sports a traditional two-seat configuration and a gasoline-only powertrain. It’s also less powerful than the P1 hybrid. And while newer supercars tend to become more exclusive and expensive, the Senna is actually more affordable than the P1, and it will be built in greater numbers. It’s like McLaren is going against market trends, and that’s what makes all these facts a bit strange. Let’s have a closer look at the five most unexpected facts about the Senna supercar below.
Continue reading for the full story.
Where’s the Central Driver’s Seat?
There's been a lot of talk about McLaren planning to revive the three-seat layout of the iconic F1
There’s been a lot of talk about McLaren planning to revive the three-seat layout of the iconic F1 in a brand-new supercar. At first it was just a rumour, but McLaren unveiled that it was actually testing a modified 720S with a centrally mounted driver’s seat. We got excited because it made sense that this configuration would find its way in the new range-topping supercar. But no, the Senna arrived with a standard seating layout. Surprising and somewhat disappointing.
But hope is not lost. McLaren might be crazy at times, but it’s not crazy enough to build a prototype just for fun. The modified 720S must be the start of something and I bet that the center-mounted driver’s seat will be part of that "Hyper-GT" project everyone is talking about. It’s also known as the BP23 and it will probably be part of the Ultimate Series lineup. It remains to be seen whether it will be launched alongside the Senna or after the new supercar ends production, but a three-seat McLaren is definitely underway.
No Hybrid Drivetrain
It is awkward because its predecessor, the P1, was a hybrid
The Senna is powered by a gasoline engine only and this came as a surprise. Not that it’s uncommon for modern supercars to use gasoline power only, but it is awkward because its predecessor, the P1, was a hybrid. Granted, the P1’s electric motor was far from spectacular in terms of range and fuel consumption, but it was a sign that McLaren is moving toward electrification. So it was natural to believe that its successor will follow the same route and get a even more capable electric moto with better range and more output. But it didn’t! Instead, McLaren went with the updated 4.0-liter V-8 in the 720S.
Why? That’s a question I cannot answer. McLaren had nothing to say on the matter, and I doubt it will talk about it anytime soon. It feels even stranger to ditch the hybrid drivetrain given the company’s claims to electrify its entire lineup in a few years, but maybe McLaren wanted to launch one last gasoline-only supercar before going green across the board?
Less Powerful than the P1
The new Ultimate Series is no match for the P1's hybrid drivetrain
Although the 4.0-liter V-8 in the Senna is more powerful than the 3.8-liter V-8 in the P1 — that’s 789 horsepower and 590 pound-feet versus 727 horses and 531 pound-feet — the new Ultimate Series is no match for the P1’s hybrid drivetrain. With both the electric motor in use, the P1 cranks out a whopping 903 horsepower and 723 pound-feet of torque, or 114 horses and 133 pound-feet more than the Senna. If we look at this in depth, it’s not really an issue. The Senna is definitely more powerful than the P1 if we ignore the electric motor, which makes for a fair comparison. The Senna is likely quicker than the hybrid P1 too (no official figures yet) because it has a better power-to-weight ratio.
So why is this an issue?
Well, new-generation sports cars have been more powerful than their predecessors since the early days of the automobile. Having it the other way around feels weird. It’s something I’ve seen on regular, affordable vehicles and I wasn’t expecting a similar scenario from a supercar manufacturer. It doesn’t make the Senna less appealing and I bet it doesn’t make it slower either. But is this some kind of new trend? Are supercars going to lose power and increasingly more extreme aerodynamics?
More Affordable than the P1
The fact that the Senna is less expensive than the P1 is yet another anomaly
The fact that the Senna is less expensive than the P1 is yet another anomaly. New-generation supercars are usually more expensive than their predecessors, yet somehow McLaren is selling the Senna for a smaller price tag compared to the P1. Despite the new supercar having a new Monocage tub, a significantly revised engine, and redesigned aerodynamics. At £750,000 before options, the Senna is around 15 percent more affordable than the P1, which retailed from £866,000. How is this possible? I have no idea. It could be the absence of the electric motor, the battery, and all the stuff that comes in a hybrid, but it’s still weird to see this from a company who has no issue selling the entire production run of a supercar before the official launch. Heck, the Senna would have been just as successful if it went for £2 million instead of "only" £750,000
Bigger Production Run
Not only less expensive, but the Senna is also slated to be manufactured in more examples compared to the P1. While the hybrid supercar was built in 375 units, the Senna will be limited to 500 vehicles. This makes it significantly less exclusive than the P1. Granted, it’s still an exclusive car compared to regular-production vehicles on the market, but it’s a strange decision for McLaren to increase the output of its flagship model for this generation. On the other hand, a strictly limited three-seat BP23 model make up for that.
Read more about the 2018 McLaren Senna.
Read more McLaren news.


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It's easy to see the appeal of software as service. Organisations like its relative cheapness and apparent flexibility. But some are now asking how long those advantages can last and are recognising the risks in browser-based short-termism.
"SaaS pure-plays and those who are moving to a SaaS model, they're not pulling the profits and many of them can't see when they are going to. So a change has to come" — Angela Eager, TechMarketView
The SaaS market appears to be in rude health. Analyst firm Gartner reckons spending on SaaS will hit $22.1bn in 2015, up from $14.5bn in 2012. Yet SaaS vendors aren't making money, according to Angela Eager, research director for enterprise software and application services at TechMarketView.
"SaaS pure-plays and those who are moving to a SaaS model, they're not pulling the profits and many of them can't see when they are going to," she said. "So a change has to come."
Eager's take is largely based on profits as defined under generally accepted accounting principles. Excluding things like stock option expenses, acquisitions and other items, SaaS vendors are profitable. Wall Street goes with non-GAAP results and would argue against Eager's take. Simply put, there's a big difference between GAAP and non-GAAP results:
Consider the following:
- Salesforce reported a net loss for fiscal 2013 of $270.44 million, or $1.92 a share, on revenue of $3.05 billion. But when you exclude stock-based compensation, one-time tax allowances, amortization of purchase intangibles and interest expenses, Salesforce reported an annual profit of $1.63 a share.
- Netsuite reported a fiscal 2012 non-GAAP profit of 26 cents a share on revenue of $308.8 million. Including stock options and other charges, Netsuite reported an annual loss of 50 cents a share.
Eager does not believe that the lack of SaaS profits is because providers are in an investment phase and just covering their upfront infrastructure investment costs.
"It goes deeper than that. If it was just upfront costs, maybe it would be easier to predict when you would hit that upfront profitability. From what I can see, a lot of the vendors are just not able to," Eager said.
According to Eager, we are in a period of the market where the traditional drive for profitability is not seen as a priority. "But that point is going to come and it may not be too many years away," she said.
Focus on acquiring customers
SaaS vendors are clearly focusing on the acquisition of new customers, rather than profits, according to Ovum principal software analyst Roy Illsley.
"SaaS at present is still doing a bit of a land grab," he said. "It's still getting people to use its services with the view once you're hooked up and using them, your exit strategy is pretty minimal — you can't really go anywhere, can you?"
Illsley also thinks that sheer volume of new customers will help providers move towards profitability.
"As they get more and more people using their services and their servers get utilised better, then their per-unit costs on that side will come down and their profitability will increase," he said.
But Illsley argues the mechanism will only go so far to making SaaS vendors profitable. "That's only going to go part of the way. It obviously depends on what their infrastructure and hosting arrangements are like," he said.
"If they were a very efficient operator that scaled their operations to meet the demand and they sweat their assets as much as they can, it's not going to be great for them."
One of the key factors in the profitability equation is people's perception that SaaS should be low cost. Dr Will Venters, lecturer in information systems at the London School of Economics, believes that perception has its roots in consumer technology.
"The idea of the iTunes apps and the economy associated with those are so focused on low costs that we've seen a plummeting in expectations on the amount we'll spend on software," Venters said.
"The consumer of a software service is just as reliant on the provider of the software service making money as the provider is itself" — Dr Will Venters
"There's become an expectation in society that software is a lot cheaper than perhaps we're used to it being."
Yet, according to Venters, at some level we have to pay for software and particularly enterprise software if it involves significant investment in its construction.
The trouble is the old relationship between the user of the software and its vendor has changed under SaaS. "The consumer of a software service is just as reliant on the provider of the software service making money as the provider is itself," he said.
"You can't have one without the other, which is perhaps slightly different from [on-premise] software where you used to be able to have escrow and you could continue to keep nursing an old piece of software even though the company providing it had gone bust — not great policy, not a great idea — but that's not the same with SaaS. You are reliant on where that IP goes."
Change in SaaS business model
So what can SaaS providers do to make those profits on which the consumers of the software unwittingly rely? TechMarketView's Angela Eager believes there has to be a change in the business model.
"That can go various ways — maybe adding additional services like the expert services is one way of going. That's inevitably going to lead to rising prices," she said.
"Another option is obviously increasing that baseline price. But given the way that SaaS pricing is perceived, I can't really see that going down well with the customer base. So I don't think it's going to be feasible to do a straight increase. It's going to be necessary to add additional value services instead and increasing the revenue that way."
Eager also thinks the concept of paying for flexibility is missing from the present SaaS model. "You see that in other industries where you have to pay for flexibility. But it's the other way round when it comes to SaaS pricing," she said.
"If you book an airline seat, and you want flexibility in terms of the date you travel and the routing and the ability to change your flight with no penalty, you've got to pay more for it."
Along with possible price hikes in the short term, more expensive services are the way forward for SaaS providers, according to Ovum's Roy Illsley. "The long-term strategy of the SaaS providers is to get the installed base, get their costs down so they can run their operations much more efficiently and deliver the change and then upsell as they move out of just SaaS," he said.
"If you look at Salesforce, they are now platform as a service, they've linked up with lots of other people, [like] BMC Remedyforce. They're expanding, so the whole space is becoming less of an individual, isolated SaaS application that you use and more of that SaaS application being part of a platform and a bigger service. That's where you're going to find the value for the providers."
Lock-in and SaaS profits
The LSE's Dr Will Venters sees the issue of lock-in as central to SaaS vendors' profitability plans. "In SaaS you are often locked into the development pathway of the SaaS provider. You can't stick with XP the same way we all stuck with Windows XP because we didn't like Vista," he said.
"So if you're being driven along that pathway and that pathway involves a future where you're going to be paying a higher amount for software, it's very hard just to say, 'Well, we'll just stick with the legacy for a continued period until we work out what we're going to do'," Venters added.
"At some point we're going to end up with a consolidation if nobody's making any money" — Dr Will Venters
"I suspect there's some of: 'We'll drive our SaaS product in way that in the future that it becomes more locked-in for our clients and provides opportunities for us to upsell significantly."
Venters also thinks analysing their customers' usage could also be a source of profits. "The other side is the data analytics argument that says, 'We'll have products to sell by our access or our understanding of how clients are using our service' — the Facebook kind of economic model, where Facebook is not going to make money out of the consumers of its service. It's going to make money out of selling those eyeballs in some way," he said.
It may not be in the short term, but SaaS providers will need to show a profit at some point. "That they haven't got economic models doesn't necessarily mean they can't continue as long as their investors are prepared to shovel money into it," Venters said.
"But at some point we're going to end up with a consolidation if nobody's making any money. That might be the point at which we start to need standardisation because there will be companies that are left reliant on SaaS companies that are not economic. Then the price will be determined because they'll either have to decide to switch to an alternative or pay for that SaaS company to become profitable."
SaaS market slow-down
Angela Eager also believes changes to pricing are not imminent. "With any market there's going to be a limit when things are going to start to slow down. We're a long way off there now," she said.
"We're still way into double-digit growth for anything SaaS-related. So SaaS has got a long way to go, but inevitably there is going to be some sort of slow-down because it's more than just low-hanging fruit. It's the number of applications and businesses that are prepared to go that way and what type of applications they're prepared to port."
Changes to pricing and SaaS approaches may occur over a longer period, but Eager still thinks the present business model will result in short-term consequences.
"This is going to be a make-or-break year for several companies, several technologies, several approaches to the market and it certainly is potentially for some SaaS companies," she said.
"There are a lot dimensions to it. Is SaaS going to break into ERP in a serious way? Are they going to break into some sort of profitability or at least move towards it?"