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Korean Samsung Electronics will offer the Super-WriteMaster SH-S223 later this year which differentiates from competition with its 22X DVD±R recording.
Pioneer is expected to release the DVR-116/116D (PATA) and DVR-216/216D (SATA) series of DVD burners in late June. The drives are expected to feature the same specifications with the company's current DVD-115/115D and DVR-215/215D series, with the only major change to be the 12X burning speed for DVD-/+R DL media.
In the Blu-ray sector for PC, the BD-ROM drives will be become mainstream since they are cheaper to be produced compared to BD burners. They are also more affordable for the consumers to buy, allowing for easier transition to the Blu-ray format. Sony Nec Optiarc has already announced the release of the BDU-X10S (US$240) internal PC BD-ROM drive featuring 2x playback of Blu-ray discs as well as 8x playback of DVD-ROM and 24x for CD-ROM discs. Taiwanese ODD makers will also embrace the BD-ROM market. The HD-401S offered by Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions, will be launched in April at a US$240 price tag. HP and Asus are also expected to release BD-ROM drives in the second quarter or later in 2008, according to Digitimes.com.
Japanese Pioneer is expected to release new Blu-ray drives at the second half of this year. Both combo and writers will appear offering increases in the BD / DVD writing speeds. They will be the companys first drives to offer writing to BD-R DL and BD-RE DL media as well as support for the new LTH (Low-to High) Blu-ray media. Pioneer is also expected to offer a FW update for the company's current drives to support LTH.


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The man who’s been described as the ‘Picasso’ of the pastry world has been tapped by All Nippon Airways to cater its dessert menu.
Passengers on international flights traveling in First and Business Class will tuck into a range of in-flight desserts created by French pastry wizard Pierre Hermé, best known for his inventive macaron flavors and gourmet cakes.
The trio of desserts will debut in June for First Class customers and in September for Business Class passengers.
Fans bidding in a charity online auction to buy a teacup used once by pop diva Lady Gaga had offered more than four million yen ($50,000) by Tuesday.
The china cup and saucer set was used by the star at a press conference in Tokyo three months after the massive tsunami of March last year swamped a large stretch of coastline.
After being awarded four more 3-starred restaurants by gastronomy bible Michelin last week, Japan widened the gulf between it and its closest culinary rival, France.
With an astonishing asking price of US$21.1 million, this Tokyo pad is the most expensive one-room apartment in the world.
Dubbed “The House”, the luxury penthouse is located in the most expensive neighbourhood in Tokyo, the Minami-Azabu district.
Featuring 4,434 square feet of living space, the owner spent the past 18 months renovating it to become a live-in masterpiece.
A documentary that goes behind the counter and into the life of a man who’s been called the greatest sushi chef in the world is set to open in New York Friday.
Tucked away in an underground Tokyo subway station is an unremarkable-looking 10-seat eatery called Sukiyabashi Jiro which serves Michelin-starred sushi by 85-year-old Jiro Ono, the first chef in Japan to earn three Michelin stars.
One of Tokyo‘s historic hotels – The Tokyo Station Hotel - will be reopening its doors on 3rd October 2012.
The hotel takes up a large part of the historic red brick building that was originally built in 1914 and has been undergoing a complete renovation since March 2006. The hotel is already accepting reservations for its wedding and function rooms.
Built in an eye-catchingly un-Japanese style, the building embodied Japan’s social and cultural globalization and modernization efforts in the early 20th century.

domain: news


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The biotechnology company has given a boost to its internationalization plans with the opening of its first subsidiary abroad Spain.
The biotechnology-based company will participate for the fourth time in a row in this international reference trade fair for the fruit and vegetable industry.
AlgaEnergy sponsors the first edition of this congress which gathered the main players of the agri-food industry in the American continent.
AlgaEnergy has participated for the first time at this congress of international relevance. The microalgae based biostimulants AgriAlgae® generated great interest amongst the attendees.
An independent report with statistical significance has demonstrated the effectiveness on tomato crops of AlgaEnergy’s microalgae based biostimulants, AgriAlgae®.
The success and interest aroused by the microalgae based biostimulants at Macfrut 2018, a reference fair for the fruit and vegetable sector in Europe, was reiterated at the Congress ‘Agri Biostimulants’, that took place recently in Milan.
The contest, held through the company’s social media profiles has aroused great interest.
Within the framework of this fair of reference for the horticultural sector in Europe, the biostimulants based on microalgae AgriAlgae® have obtained the ‘Macfrut Innovation Award 2018’.
She has an extensive experience in the field of biocontrol, biostimulation and biofertilization, and she has recently joined the AlgaEnergy’s team as an external Regulatory Affairs Manager.
For the second year in a row, AlgaEnergy has demonstrated the effectiveness of AgriAlgae® in melons through an independent report.


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EmailToolTester has released a new study that examines how many hours of work it took to build big tech and help them achieve all-important financial milestones.
It reviews salaries, revenue, and employee information across some of the largest Big Tech companies in the world to calculate the human power required to succeed. Here are som key findings from the report:
- Apple has the second highest revenue per hour of employee’s time at US$1,284, only marginally beaten by Netflix ($1,319).
- Samsung and Alphabet (Google) added the most employees in their first 10 years (21,896 and 16,802 respectively), compared to just 4,544 for Apple.
- Apple took the highest amount of employee hours to get to $100 million in total revenue (2,738,749 hours) compared to its Big Tech Competitors.
- Netflix hit $100 billion in total revenue in the fewest amount of employee hours, at over 107 million hours, followed by Meta with over 148 million hours.
- Netflix has the highest revenue per hour of employee’s time at $1,319, closely followed by Apple ($1,284).
- Alphabet (formerly Google) took the fewest amount of employee hours to get to $1 million in total revenue at 5,961 hours.
- Samsung and Alphabet (Google) added the most employees in their first 10 years (21,896 and 16,802 respectively).
- OpenAI had more employees in its 8th year (2022) than Microsoft did in 8 years of business (335 vs 220).
- OpenAI’s first 10-year employee growth (17,500%) is estimated to be a higher percentage increase than Netflix (4,233%) and Samsung (15,982%) in their first 10 years.
- Amazon has the most employees out of all Big Tech organizations and had exponential growth during the pandemic, doubling its workforce from its 26th to 28th year (2019-2021) of business.
EmailToolTester is a website designed to “help you find the right email marketing service.”


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The final months of 2012 saw the greatest number of South Coast commercial property sales in years, but real estate professionals aren’t hopeful that run will continue.
Pacifica Commercial Realty reported 31 sales of commercial office, industrial, retail or land in the fourth quarter, for a combined value of $140 million.
The number of sales rivals the 36 transactions of the preceding nine months and easily surpasses their transaction value of $110 million, according to Mark Mattingly, Pacifica executive vice president.
The 69 transactions for 2012 represented $250 million, a sizable 47 percent increase over 2011.
While fourth quarter sales had a banner showing — December was the best single month in a decade — commercial leasing experienced little movement.
Mattingly didn’t expect the sales to inflate consumer confidence, attributing the boost in transaction activity to anticipation of impending federal and state tax hikes.
“We expected that there was going to be a real flurry of activity in anticipation of increasing tax rates,” he said. “This coming year will be significantly slower than what we saw. I think people did the deal they were going to do. It’s going to take a while to build up steam. It’s kind of, I think, the unintended consequence of misguided federal policy.”
Much of the final quarter activity was courtesy of investors realigning their portfolios and taking gains pre-tax increases, Mattingly said.
A better indicator of a healthy real estate market, he added, is a decrease in vacancy rates.
Last year was nowhere near being a notable year in terms of new leasing activity or decreases in vacancy.
“Slow leasing is an indicator of corporate America’s reluctance to make commitments,” Mattingly told Noozhawk. “There’s not some overwhelming confidence that we’re in the midst of some sustainable economic recovery. I think everybody is very concerned.
“I’m working harder,” he continued. “I have to.”


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And initially, the growth trajectory for these types of services looked to be long and fruitful for years to come. But recently, these streaming services have hit a harsh reality: their growth has hit a wall, according to a new report, and it now appears that even these formerly boundless streaming services are left with no choice but to cannibalize off one another.
The question then becomes: can these services help reverse the subscriber losses that have plagued the entertainment industry for more than three years, or has the industry simply hit a point of supersaturation?
Contributing to the slowdown is the fact that, contrary to some expectations, consumers have turned out to be - gasp - price sensitive at a time when both Sling and DirecTV recently raised their prices. Meanwhile, the positives of video streaming – that they are (or were) cheaper, don't usually require a contract and allow watchers to be more selective with their choices - are balanced by the cons, including the fact that content choices can be limited.


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Number of Bitcoin ATMs Increased by 56% in 2019
Jan 05, 2020 at 12:31
A new Crypto ATM review has indicated that the number of Bitcoin ATMs globally increased by more than 56 percent in 2019. According to the same report, the number of new Bitcoin users did not vary significantly from the 2018 figure. Experts believe that the rate at which new people join bitcoin is somewhat stagnant.
Bitcoin is Too Young to be Used by Terrorists, Report Shows
Apr 11, 2019 at 09:38
It is now time to silence all those people who were tarnishing the image (and are against the adoption) of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin by claiming that they are being used to fund terrorist activities since a new report by the RAND Corporation has discovered that terrorist organizations are the number one haters of digital currencies. Terrorists prefer cash over anything else.
MinexPay Launches The First Truly Global Cards for Crypto Payments
Feb 11, 2019 at 13:55
Estonian company MinexSystems has commenced the full start of operation of its two primary products, MinexPay and Minex Web Wallet, which in conjunction create one of the most completed cryptocurrency card ecosystems on the market. Minex Web Wallet is a secure web wallet system which offers storage and control over several digital assets, as well as activation and control of the cards purchased via MinexPay. MinexPay offers a card program, which can be used both for crypto online and offline payments and ATM withdrawals, with very attractive limitations.


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Sony is slashing the price of its majority of last-generation phones in India.
Updated : October 17, 2018, 10:46 am
Does the OnePlus 6 offer cameras that are significantly better than those on the 5T? We find out.
Updated : June 2, 2018, 5:56 pm
Here are 20 things about Huawei's P20 Pro that you must know before buying.
Updated : April 26, 2018, 3:20 pm
The P20 Pro is the first smartphone in the world to come with not one, not two, but three rear cameras. THREE REAR CAMERAS.
Updated : April 25, 2018, 1:59 pm
The Xperia XZ2 Premium is notably Sony's first high-end flagship phone to come with dual rear cameras.
Updated : April 17, 2018, 10:16 am
The Xperia XZ2 and the Xperia XZ2 Compact, launched by Sony at MWC 2018 in Barcelona, represent a whole new chapter for the company in question. One that sees Sony finally giving up on the past, and giving in to the future. It was about time.
Updated : February 28, 2018, 10:49 am
Both Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+ come with Samsung's hallmark bezel-less Infinity display and an unusual aspect ratio of 18.5:9. While the design hasn't changed much, the two phones do come with significantly updated hardware.
Updated : February 27, 2018, 10:30 am
Samsung is set to host its Galaxy Unpacked event in Barcelona on February 25 where it will launch the Galaxy S9 (and Galaxy S9+) for the global market.
Updated : January 25, 2018, 4:57 pm
Idea has entered into a partnership with Sony Mobile to offer 60GB of free 4G data with the company's Xperia R1 and R1 Plus smartphones.
Updated : January 13, 2018, 8:50 am
We take a look at some of the phones this year that came with attractive displays that you should consider.
Updated : January 13, 2018, 2:50 am
A Sony device code-named H8266 has been spotted on Geekbench revealing a Snapdragon 845 based flagship.
Updated : December 23, 2017, 5:49 pm
The Xperia XZ1 feels incredibly light and compact. The highlight of the
XZ1 is its camera - the 19MP rear Motion Eye sensor to be precise.
Updated : October 31, 2017, 9:36 am
Sony claims that the key highlights of the smartphone are
its memory embedded camera, FullHD display and blazing fast performance.
Updated : September 26, 2017, 4:58 pm
Sony has just launched its latest flagship smartphone, the Xperia XZ1 in India at a price of Rs 44,990
Updated : September 25, 2017, 1:47 pm
The Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra is aimed at multimedia enthusiasts with its huge 6-inch display, 16MP front camera with optical image stabilisation, 23MP rear camera and somewhat bezel-less design.
Updated : September 8, 2017, 12:50 pm


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An external Li-Ion battery pack solution for iPod has been developed by Battery Technology, Inc (BTI). “Designed for all iPod users, The iPod Battery comes with interchangeable cradles for the original and new iPod and will provide up to 40 hours of music play-time or down-load time, regardless of the age or status of the original (internal) battery.
Dealmac: Buy.com still has the 40GB iPod for $436.74, as a reader notes. A new $10 off coupon, expiring January 31, yields a net price of $426.74, the lowest we know to be available. Shipping starts around $11.
AppleInsider has posted the upcoming Pepsi iTunes Super Bowl commercial featuring 16 teens that were recently sued by the RIAA for illegally downloading music from the Internet. The commercial also features Green Day’s version of ‘I Fought the Law.’
MP3 Gym, the first and only audio personal trainer recorded on mp3 files for Apple’s iPod and other mp3 players announced that members will now have access to 36 new illustrated exercise routine sheets. The MP3 Gym already comes with eight routines and close to 200 mp3 files for $19.95. This just adds to their ever-growing library size. They will be adding a number of new exercise mp3 files and exercise routines in the coming months. Keep checking out the website for updates at www.mp3gym.com
“Today, a record company, radio station, recording group and online music store teamed up to achieve a new level of speed to market in the digital realm.
The exclusive digital EP “From KFOG to iPod” by critically-acclaimed Virgin Recording Group “The Thrills” was released early this morning on Apple’s iTunes Music Store, less than 48 hours after the band recorded the tracks at a KFOG-FM Emerging Artist Concert in San Francisco on Sunday, January 25. Five songs from the show, including the single “One Horse Town” are available for purchase, allowing consumers to download the live recording from iTunes to their Macs or Windows-based PCs and iPods. The entire EP can
be downloaded for $4.95 or single tracks are available until February 24th for 99 cents each.”
MacMinute reports that “Nupha has announced the launch of its international, cross-platform digital music store. The “nupha musicstore” features “a growing library of tunes from many independent music labels” [Ed. note: Selection appears to be very limited at this time.]. Songs on the store are encoded in 128 Kbps AAC for Macs and 192 Kbps WMA for Windows. Nupha is the first independent music provider compatible with Apple’s iTunes (requires Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and iTunes 4 or greater). According to the company, Mac users must download and install a small package (known as the nupha kit) which allows iTunes to play nupha encrypted music, which sells for 99 cents a track and $8.99 an album.”
Deals on the Web: PowerMax is offering the factory refurbished 10GB Slim 3G iPod for $229.00. A 1-year Apple warranty applies. Ground shipping starts at $7.00.
Following the success of Lajo
“And this week’s Macworld.co.uk poll would suggest that the problem has, in the words of one of our readers, ‘been wildly overstated and time will show what a trivial issue this really is.’
Of the 1,047 readers polled 70 per cent have not experienced any reduction of battery life, and of these nearly half (49 per cent) admitted ‘I accept it will lose charge over time.’
Although 30 per cent of respondents have experienced decreased battery life just 14 per cent of these people state that they are ‘unhappy’ about the situation. The remaining 16 per cent have already accepted that their battery will not live on indefinitely.
However, 21 per cent of the iPod owners who have not yet experienced reduced battery life say that if it does happen they ‘won’t be happy’.”
Pepsi today in a press release announced its upcoming Super Bowl commercial titled ‘I Fought the Law’ “featuring 16 real-life teenagers who were sued by the recording industry for illegally downloading music from the Internet, shows music fans a new way to freely and legally download music—the Pepsi iTunes 100 Million Song Giveaway. The commercial is set to Green Day’s version of “I Fought the Law.” Apple has also posted three screen shots from the Pepsi/iTunes commercial on its Apple/Pepsi promotion website.
Dealmac: Buy.com offers the iPod 40GB for $436.74 plus around $11 shipping. That’s $15 off our last mention and the lowest total price we know to be available.
Something that may interest the UK podders out there. Altec Lansing’s inMotion speakers are finally available to the UK, priced at
The iTunes Music Store is used as an example of the future of copyright policy in the United States in a New York Times Magazine article by Robert S. Boynton.
iTuneAgent.com provides users with a simple and easy way to see what is new and happening on Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Users can choose which genre of iTunes Music Store matieral they would like to view. iTunesAgent.com will quickly allow users to browse not only new releases and new additions to the iTunes Music Store, but also current top songs and top albums within those particular categories.
“Rock veterans Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno are starting a provocative new musicians’ alliance that would let artists sell their music online instead of only through record labels. [...]
By removing record labels from the equation, artists can set their own prices and set their own agendas, said the two independent musicians, who hope to launch the online alliance within a month.”
“The iPod is being blamed for causing rifts in relationships with a new breed of “iPod Widows” emerging. [...]
The report includes two case studies from the recently ‘widowed’. One describes how: ‘Every evening he gets the iPod out straight after supper and starts fannying around with it. It
Today LyriPod has been updated to Public Beta 2. This new Beta release has fix some problems that the first Beta version came with. This new Beta fixes the fs routines (no more nilobjex when clicking ‘find songs’) and more. LyriPod is a program developed in REALbasic which allows you to download lyrics to the songs you have on your iPod.
“Q: Hewlett-Packard (HPQ ) just announced that it would resell the iPod and load iTunes on its home PCs starting this summer. That’s a major change of course for Apple. Why? Have you approached other PC makers about doing similar deals?
A: HP looked at the choices they had, and they thought what we were doing was the best in the industry, and they expressed an interest in working with us. The more we discussed it, the better it sounded. Look, we don’t make our own printers. We use HP’s printers. They’re better at making printers than we are. HP decided that we’re better at making portable music players and online music stores, and there is no shame in any of that. I think it’s pretty smart.
Q: The iPod is Apple’s first non-Mac hit in years. What’s the significance of that to you?
A: It’s very exciting to be able to apply Apple’s innovation, engineering excellence, and marketing skill in a market where we don’t have that 5% market-share ceiling to see what we can do. And it feels good.”
“Old-fashioned red tape is delaying the eagerly awaited European launch of Apple Computers’ (nasdaq: AAPL -news - people) Internet music store iTunes, a company official said on Saturday.
A maze of licensing contracts, music release dates that differ by country and incompatible billing systems have combined to sidetrack the service, which many recording executives still hope will make its European debut in the first half of 2004.”


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Amazon, the world’s leading online retailer, has announced the acquisition of Selz, which makes tools to help businesses launch their own online stores. With this, the retail giant has now entered the territory of Shopify.
A blog post published by Selz to announce this new deal reveals that Amazon had bought the e-commerce platform last month, on 15th January. However, the deal wasn’t publicly announced by Amazon at the time.
Confirming the acquisition, Martin Rushe, Founder and CEO of Selz, said: “We have signed an agreement to be acquired by Amazon and are looking forward to working with them as we continue to build easy-to-use tools for entrepreneurs.”
While Amazon has also confirmed the deal, the company h as not revealed terms or financial information related to this acquisition
It remains to be seen how Amazon is planning to utilize Selz. The company’s tools could give the U.S. e-commerce giant a competitive edge against the likes of Shopify and BigCommerce, among others.
Selz was founded in 2013 and is based in Sydney, Australia. The company provides small- and medium-sized businesses a platform to launch their own online storeswebsites, among other tools.
- Amazon to start making Fire TV Stick devices in India later this year
- Amazon to soon start using Rivian electric vans for making deliveries in 16 cities in the United States
- Amazon wins in Indian court; halts Future Retail Group’s $3.4 billion deal
ALWAYS BE THE FIRST TO KNOW – FOLLOW US!


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Skin influencers have taken over Instagram by advocating for the inclusion and acceptance of acne and other skin types in order to change society's beauty standards.
The skin positivity community are a group of like-minded individuals on social media who are passionate about helping young people feel more confident in their own skin by showing their own unfiltered realities and natural skin to the world.
Sophie Dove (@Skinwithsoph), a 19 year old student and skin positivity influencer with over 15,000 followers on Instagram, spoke to us about why she started her Instagram account. She said: “I wanted to find people who were going through a similar thing.
“As it (her Instagram page) started to grow, then I started to actually think about the things I could do to help people.”
Over 85% of the population have low self-esteem. Many individuals blame this on social media and feeling constantly pressured to look ‘perfect’.
Sophie Dove went on to discuss her opinion on the current beauty standards and how they are affecting young people, she said: “I think the beauty standards are crazy.
“But hopefully nowadays, it’s starting to become a bit more normalised because of what we are doing.”
Sophie started her Instagram page just a year ago and has already made a huge positive impact. She is dedicated to trying to change society’s beauty standards regarding acne and all different skin types.
Recently, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled against ‘misleading filters’ in beauty campaigns. This was a huge milestone for skin positivity influencers and has made them even more determined to normalise reality on social media.
Emma Taylor, (@ by.emmataylor) from Manchester is also on Instagram showcasing her ‘unfiltered reality’.
When we asked about her opinion on beauty filters, she said: “when you constantly need them (filters) to feel happy, it’s so unhealthy and can have a massive negative effect on your self esteem.
“People haven't seen other people in real life for a long time, it becomes more and more difficult to see yourself as beautiful the way you are, and spending that much time around surrounded by ‘perfect’ filtered photos you are likely to see yourself as unworthy.
“We measure ourselves and our worth on a scale of what is perceived as perfection, when perfection doesn’t even exist.”
Social media is now apart of most individuals daily lives and routines. Research shows that 95% of people spend more than five hours a day on Instagram.
Additionally, a staggering 89% of adults feel pressured to look a certain way.
But positive times are ahead, Emma Taylor suggests. She tells us: “I have noticed much more natural makeup, embracing acne scars and things that in the past were mocked and we were told we had to hide with thick layers of makeup.
“I love that it’s becoming more normal for us to be natural!”
The ASA’s decision to ban misleading filters in beauty campaigns came after responding to the ‘#filter drop’ campaign, started by Sasha Pallari, who called for it to be compulsory for influencers to state when they use a beauty filter to promote skincare or cosmetics.
Sophie Dove explained her view on the beauty standards and told us that: “They are so messed up and need to change.”


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In a surprising discovery, technology blogger Andy Baio has found that a copy of the groundbreaking Bitcoin white paper has been secretly included in Apple's macOS.
Baio confirmed the presence of the file in all versions of macOS since 2018: from Mojave to Ventura.
A device named "Virtual Scanner II" stores the Bitcoin white paper within the Image Capture utility. In order to be able to see the Bitcoin white paper, users can open a Terminal on their Mac and type a specified command. Alternatively, they can navigate through the System folder in Finder.
The inclusion of the Bitcoin white paper in macOS raises questions about Apple's motivations. As reported by U.Today, CEO Tim Cook confirmed that he was a cryptocurrency owner back in 2021.It is unknown whether the decision to include the document was intentional or an oversight by a Bitcoin enthusiast within the company. The selection of the white paper could be attributed to its compact size, making it suitable for testing purposes.
A post from a member of the Apple community from 2021 also highlighted the presence of the white paper, but no explanation has been provided by Apple or its employees. The mystery remains unsolved as curious users continue to explore the hidden easter egg in macOS.
All the way back in 2020, a Twitter user, Josh D, discovered the device on his Mac, which displayed a preview of a painted sign resembling a photo by Thomas Hawk.
He later found the device and noticed it also contained a PDF of the iconic Bitcoin white paper. The purpose of Virtual Scanner II remained unclear.
A reliable source has informed Baio that the issue was reported internally almost a year ago and was assigned to the very engineer responsible for placing the PDF in the system initially. However, that individual has not taken any action yet.


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Taxpayer refund checks are becoming extinct in certain states as the government-issued prepaid card phenomenon spreads to new categories.
Although only several states so far have made the move to eliminate tax-refund checks altogether, the business opportunity for banks and other vendors issuing prepaid cards could be significant if all 50 states follow suit.
Oklahoma and Louisiana have eliminated paper check taxpayer refunds for the 2011 tax year, replacing them with network-branded prepaid cards for those that do not opt to have their refunds directly deposited to bank accounts.
New York this year also will offer tax refunds via debit cards, but taxpayers still may opt to receive a paper check when filing returns. The state has not indicated whether it will continue to offer paper-check refunds next year.
States say doing away with checks is saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars annually and will ease burdens for thousands of unbanked consumers that previously turned to check-cashing services to get their tax refunds.
Banks are getting in on the act by serving as vendors of the programs. But third-party providers such as Xerox Corp. also are getting involved, creating new potential competition.
“Banks can be prepaid issuers and can support ancillary services associated with a prepaid card,” Beth Robertson, director of payments research for Javelin Strategy & Research, tells PaymentsSource.
Vendors earn fees by providing the services and may reap additional revenues from unclaimed funds, Robertson notes.
And consumers “need to understand potential fees and also issues related to unclaimed property,” she warns.
Card networks also benefit, but vendors contacted did not provide a profit breakdown on network or ATM-access fees.
The Louisiana Department of Revenue in December unveiled plans to issue only prepaid cards to taxpayers those that do not choose direct deposit. JPMorgan Chase & Co. provides Louisiana’s Visa-branded prepaid taxpayer refund cards. Cardholders are allowed one free teller-assisted bank withdrawal and unlimited free access to funds through Chase- or MoneyPass-branded ATMs and through retail locations that accept Visa.
The Oklahoma Tax Commission also this year will provide tax refunds exclusively via debit cards for those taxpayers that do not choose to have funds deposited directly into bank accounts as the result of a bill the state’s legislature passed last year.
Affiliated Computer Services, a Xerox Corp. unit, provides the MasterCard-branded taxpayer refund debit cards for Oklahoma that include one free teller-assisted bank and unlimited MoneyPass-branded ATM withdrawals anywhere in Oklahoma, plus unlimited retail transactions wherever MasterCard is accepted.
The Oklahoma tax-refund debit cards will face having $1.50 per month deducted from the card account after 60 days of inactivity, Oklahoma authorities state.
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for the 2011 tax year introduced the option for taxpayers to receive refunds via a Bank of America Corp. MasterCard-branded debit card or paper check, explaining that reducing checks will result in “considerable” savings to the state.
Taxpayers in New York have one year from the date of issuance to use the funds. Unused funds will be returned to the Tax Department. There are no fees for inactivity.
New York’s taxpayer refund debit card provides unlimited free ATM withdrawals from machines in the AllPoint network; cardholders will pay a $1 fee when making withdrawals from ATMs in other networks, plus whatever surcharges the machine’s deployer assesses. Taxpayers may receive one free bank-teller withdrawal; additional teller-assisted withdrawals cost $1.
In Oklahoma, Louisiana and New York, married couples filing jointly will each receive a card providing access to the funds.
So far, only New York sought to clarify its role in sorting out which spouse receives the funds, explaining on its website: “Because the debit card account is a joint account, each card provides access to the entire amount of the refund. As is the case with paper checks, disputes regarding who accesses the funds aren’t a Tax Department matter.”
Tax-preparation service companies, including H&R Block Inc. and Jackson Hewitt Inc., have helped pave the way for consumer familiarity with receiving tax refunds via debit cards, Madeline K. Aufseeser, a senior analyst with Aite Group, tells PaymentsSource.
“People are used to this channel, and they seem to like it,” she says.
Competition among vendors to provide tax refunds via debit cards also is likely to heat up over the next few years as more states look to follow the federal government’s lead in distributing more benefits via debit cards, Aufseeser says.
Xerox is looking to provide tax-refund debit cards for other states besides Oklahoma, a spokesperson tells PaymentsSource.
“Odds are very high we’ll see more states doing this next year,” Aufseeser says.
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Xscap3 Releases Promo Photo
The ladies of Xscap3 are giving fans a taste of what to expect from the trio. As previously reported Tiny Harris, LaTocha Scott and Tamika Scott are moving forward as a group without Kandi Burruss who’s busy on Broadway and said she doesn’t want to “tarnish their legacy.”
Now the soulful songstresses have released their “Here For It” EP that’s available on iTunes, Spotify, Tidal, Amazon and Google Play and they’re dropping a new photo as well.
In it we see the ladies rocking looks from Cali Girl eyewear that includes blinged out sunnies and masks.
We see you Xscap3.
You tell us; are you feeling their get-ups?


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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Lego plans to reveal a 306 piece Batmobile set, based on the vehicle’s appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, at San Diego Comic-Con.
The Lego DC Super Heroes Batmobile will include a Batman figure and features opening doors and two projectile launching stud shooters. The set will also include two additional figure and a yet to be revealed vehicle. The Batman V Superman Batmobile hits stores in January 2016 with a $29.99 retail price.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, starring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill as the title super heroes, opens in theaters March 25, 2016


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Join Ekko as he jumps through space and time to save his city.
It’s about time. Riot Games has given League of Legends fans the release date for its upcoming 2D platformer CONV/RGENCE, featuring a familiar cast of champions who will collide in a thrilling story based in the sprawling, diverse world of Zaun.
The new Riot Forge title will be coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, GOG, Steam, and Epic Games later this month on Tuesday, May 23, the company announced today. This should also be a surprise for some supporters who have been waiting for a release date since the company did relay that the game was going to be delayed until this coming summer.
CONV/RGENCE will revolve around Runeterra’s resident time traveler Ekko and his battle against the forces of evil. He and his friends must step up to protect their city, as the popular champion uses his unparalleled powers to jump through the fabric of space and time. There are, however, many secrets to discover throughout the adventure, and not too many people to trust.
Related: Riot Forge delays League-inspired titles CONV/RGENCE, Song of Nunu to 2023
Back in 2021, Riot revealed two new games heading out of Riot Forge with this Ekko-centric title and a cute adventure game called Song of Nunu. Both games were supposed to release last year, but the developers decided they needed more time to polish all of their upcoming projects before releasing them to the public.
Riot Forge has already released two other League-themed projects, with Hextech Mayhem and Ruined King diving into two different regions of the game’s vast universe. Zaun and Piltover have also become one of the most popular regions in Runeterra after being the central location featured in Riot’s hit Netflix series, Arcane.


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European stocks fell Monday after news that the U.S. and its European allies are considering an import freeze on Russian oil, raising the risk of global “stagflation.” The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed down 1.1%, reversing some of its earlier losses. Banks and auto stocks fell more than 3% to lead the losses, while oil and gas stocks gained more than 4% as oil prices rose. Russia has continued to step up its attacks on neighboring Ukraine in recent days in an attempt to capture and isolate the capital Kiev.
U.S. stocks fell again Monday after dropping for four straight weeks as investors grew increasingly concerned that higher energy prices resulting from the Russia-Ukraine conflict would slow the economy and fuel inflation. Meanwhile, bank stocks were among the biggest losers Monday, with Citigroup falling 1.8% and U.S. Bancorp down about 3.9%, as investors grew increasingly concerned about slowing economic growth. McDonald’s, Starbucks and Nike fell Monday on concerns that $4 gasoline prices could hit consumers’ wallets.
Asia-Pacific stocks were mostly lower this morning after major indexes in the U.S. suffered sharp losses overnight as the Russia-Ukraine war continues to keep investors on edge. Australian shares fluctuated as investors around the world remained unsettled about the impact of rising oil prices on economic growth, while New Zealand shares fell more than 1% and entered correction territory.
Gold stocks rose as much as 2.5%, led by a 7.4% gain in St. Barbara, as strong safe-haven demand kept gold prices near the psychological $2,000 mark.
Calls for boycotts against McDonald’s and Coca-Cola over Russia invasion
Pressure is mounting on Western food and beverage giants to pull out of Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have been criticized on social media for not commenting on the attacks and continuing to operate in the country. Well-known companies such as Netflix and Levi’s have already suspended sales or stopped providing services in Russia. McDonald’s and Coca-Cola did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment. #BoycottMcDonalds and #BoycottCocaCola were trending on Twitter on Monday and over the weekend, respectively. Dragon’s Den investor Deborah Meaden also spoke out against the beverage company on social media, urging people to stop drinking Coca-Cola.
Amazon supplier linked to forced labor in China, watchdog group says
Amazon has continued to work with companies in China that have been accused of forced labor despite public warnings about their labor practices. That’s according to a report released Monday by a nonprofit watchdog group. The report by the TechTransparency Project, a research group led by the nonprofit Campaign for Accountability that is often critical of large tech companies, notes that Amazon’s public list of suppliers includes five companies previously linked by journalists and think tank researchers to “labor transfer programs” in China. The suppliers help manufacture Amazon-branded devices and products sold under house brands such as Amazon Basics.


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Why WiMax when there’s 3G?
By Eileen Yu, ZDNet Asia
BARCELONA–The industry is working fast to offer high-speed data connection to portal devices, but the market has split into two camps: one stands by wireless standards such as WiMax and Wi-Fi, while the other supports mobile technology 3G and HSDPA.
Wireless broadband technologies Wi-Fi and more recently WiMax are among the hot favorites. WiMax can support Web connection of up to 75Mbps and a single base station can cover an area with a radius of up to 30 miles.
But mobile standards 3G and High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), are fast becoming hot buzzwords. HSDPA is a beefed up version of the Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) 3G technology that specifically improves the downlink speed, and is capable of supporting data connection of up to 1.4Mbps.
Wi-Fi and WiMax have been largely confined to facilitating high-speed connectivity to laptops and PDAs, while 3G and HSDPA have focused on mobile phones. However, there are now suggestions that 3G can be extended to laptops, particularly as the data speeds offered by these mobile standards catch up to those provided by WiMax or Wi-Fi.
According to Carl-Henric Svanberg, Ericsson’s president and CEO, WiMax emerged because it presented an opportunity for fixed line providers to provide some level of mobility for their users.
But he noted that wireless users are limited to areas that have WiMax coverage fo Internet connectivity. In comparison, mobile network coverage is more extensive.
“Why would you want something [only] somewhere when you can have something everywhere?” he said. “We don’t see WiMax as a competitor to mobile technology.”
Tom Phillips, chief government and regulatory affairs officer, GSM Association (GSMA), agreed. He noted that the ubiquity and strength of mobility would continue to encourage people toward 3G.
“Over 80 percent of the world’s population has GSM coverage, but I don’t think that’s true for WiMax [coverage],” he said. “Why then would you want to invest some millions of dollars [building up] a WiMax network when you have a [GSM] network that already covers 80 percent of the world’s population?”
The industry has seen a huge transition toward mobility, but WiMax and Wi-Fi are not mobile technologies and are typically used to provide last-mile connectivity, said Phillips.
But Alex Tan, director of Qala Singapore, believes both mobile and wireless technology segments are complementary and can co-exist in the market. Qala, through its subsidiary QMax Communications, is the first Internet service provider (ISP) in Singapore to offer commercial WiMax service.
Each technology is targeted at different audiences or devices to the same audiences, under different scenarios, he said, in an e-mail interview.
Tan explained that while some manufacturers such as Samsung, are positioning WiMax as an alternative technology for mobile phones and handhelds, he said there is a “sizable use” for it as a wireless broadband replacement for wired devices.
“I see notebook users preferring WiMax if it becomes integrated [with the laptop], as is the case now with Wi-Fi,” he said. “Mobile and PDA users will still [opt for] 3G or HSDPA.”
Tan noted that although it is likely that WiMax could become prevalent in mobile devices, especially if the cost of WiMax chips are comparable to Wi-Fi chips, this trend may not extend so readily for 3G or HSDPA in notebooks.
But there is already indication that this is changing. Some hardware manufacturers are now looking to integrate mobile access technologies into their laptops.
Just this week, Intel signed an agreement with the GSMA to encourage hardware makers to integrate SIM card readers, 3G and other mobile connectivity into new desktop and mobile computers.
Dell’s U.K. office and China’s Lenovo recently announced plans to embed mobile connectivity into their laptops.
Some handset makers are also heading in the other direction, exploring plans to include Wi-Fi connectivity in their mobile phones.
No longer just 3G hype
While there were doubts initially whether 3G could live up to its hype, Svanberg believes this is no longer the case.
He acknowledged that the telecommunications industry could have done a better job introducing 3G to the market.
“We talked about 3G before it was there, in terms of the availability of handsets and services [then],” he said, adding that there was no “logical” evolution of how the market should move toward 3G, one step at a time. Instead, Svanberg said, everyone was taking strides that were too huge.
Today, 3G is a more cost-efficient technology and the handsets are now widely available in the market, he said, adding that it presents a better value proposition than wireless technologies.
Elena Liew, Gartner’s Asia-Pacific principal analyst, said: "The benefits of 3G over fixed [network] access is obviously mobility, but compared to a corporate leased line, the speed may seem inadequate. In such cases, 3G access might be used as a secondary access for mobile sales personnel.
“The biggest consideration for the company in offering 3G to their employees would be cost versus benefit,” she explained, noting that organizations should weigh the cost of the handsets and the recurring monthly operational fee against the gains in productivity.
Eileen Yu of ZDNet Asia reported from the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.


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Alibaba is the world's largest marketplace for wholesale goods coming out of the Asian manufacturing markets which makes its one of the largest distributors of goods in the world. Today Alibaba took the next step that will allow it to become one of the most powerful companies on earth by filing for its initial public offering with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
While no official numbers were released, it is expected that Alibaba has filed the IPO for $1 billion, a very small number when compared with that industry analyst expect the company to raise. Many are expecting Alibaba to raise more than $20 billion based on its consistent annual growth and earnings. To put things into perspective, Alibaba ships over 100 million packages every day and pushes out a gross merchandise volume of more than $80 billion. Ebay, the US' closest thing to Alibaba, only manages a GMV of $20 billion. If its any indication of how big this could be, the IPO is being underwritten by almost all of the major players on Wall Street including: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Credit Suisse.
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Bose to pump up the volume at new store in Colonie Center
Bose, the company known for its high-end audio systems, is opening its first store in the Albany, N.Y., region at Colonie Center.
The Bose store is being built in a 2,700-square-foot shop on the first floor next to The Coffee Beanery, said Joe Millett, mall manager.
The store will likely open in late September or early October, he said.
Based in Framingham, Mass., Bose Corp. has more than 100 stores across the country. The closest to Albany is the Bose Factory Store in Manchester, Vt., according to the company Web site.
The company was founded in 1964 by Amar G. Bose, who was then a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As a grad student in the 1950s, Bose purchased a new stereo and was disappointed with its performance. He set out to design a system that would realistically reproduce live music.
The Bose store will be the latest addition to Colonie Center, where a $110 million renovation was completed earlier this year. Retailers such as Barnes & Noble, The Cheesecake Factory, Sephora, L.L. Bean and a 13-screen Regal cinema have opened there.
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Dawn Meats sells 49% Elivia stake to French co-op partner
Firm says its ambitions no longer align with those of Terrena
Dawn Meats is selling its minority 49 per cent stake in Elivia to Terrena, the majority shareholder of the French meat processing business, citing differing strategic views between the two firms.
Since the launch of the joint venture in 2015, Elivia enjoys annual sales of €930 million and has become “a solid number 2 in the French beef market”, according to a statement from Dawn Meats. While significant investments have been made into the company ...


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Orthofix International N.V. (NASDAQ:OFIX) (the Company) today announced its results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2012. Net sales were $112.0 million and $462.3 million for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2012, respectively.
Net income from continuing operations was $14.6 million, or $0.74 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter and net income was $53.9 million, or $2.78 per diluted share, for the full year ended December 31, 2012. Adjusted net income from continuing operations was $16.0 million, or $0.81 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter and $58.9 million, or $3.04 per diluted share, for the full year ended December 31, 2012.
Robert Vaters, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “I am extremely pleased with our fourth quarter and full year adjusted net income from continuing operations, both records for the Company as we have exceeded our multi-year margin expansion goals. As we previously announced, I was disappointed by our performance in international markets, as well as by our Spine Regenerative Stimulation business where we experienced sales turnover from the implementation of our Corporate Integrity Agreement. While we remain focused on overcoming near-term challenges that are impacting top-line growth, we have improved the Company’s margins and overall financial profile while removing the burden of significant government investigations. This improved financial position provides financial flexibility for increased investment in the product pipeline and inorganic activities that will drive future growth.”
Sales PerformanceNet sales were $112.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, decreasing 9% on a reported basis from $123.1 million in the fourth quarter of the prior year. On a constant currency basis, net sales decreased 8% as foreign currency translation negatively impacted the fourth quarter net sales by approximately $1.6 million. For the full year 2012, net sales were $462.3 million, decreasing 2% on a reported basis but up slightly on a constant currency basis as foreign currency translation negatively impacted net sales by approximately $9.8 million.
|External net sales by global business unit|
|Three Months Ended December 31,|
|(USD in millions)||2012||2011||Growth||Growth|
|Spine Repair Implants and Regenerative Biologics||$||36.3||$||36.2||0||%||0||%|
|Spine Regenerative Stimulation||39.4||42.4||-7||%||-7||%|
|Total net sales||$||112.0||$||123.1||-9||%||-8||%|
|Note: Some calculations may be impacted by rounding.|


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Disney has released the 2017 dates for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Here is everything we know so far about this year’s celebration
Who is Mickey Mouse?
Mickey Mouse is an iconic Disney character created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in 1928.
For an amazing amount of Mickey Mouse Facts and Stats, please visit this post.
Here is the Internet’s largest collection of Mickey Mouse-related movies, TV shows, toys and other products. As always, new pieces are added to this collection regularly.
Disney recently announced the launch of a new Mickey Mouse show on Disney Junior titled “Mickey and the Roadster Racers.” Here is what we know
Our fun showcase of the most creative and fun Disney Christmas ornaments for 2016. Included are Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Moana, The Lion Guard and more!
What you need to know about Disney’s new Holiday nighttime show at Hollywood Studios. Also, news about a Disney World Santa Claus Meet n Greet.
Here is a quick rundown of where you can find your (children’s) favorite Disney Junior shows online. Updated Regularly.
Disney World’s Magic Kingdom turns 45 this year. Here is everything you need to know about the Magic Kingdom 45th Anniversary events, merchandise and more.
In advance of Force Friday 2016, here is a quick rundown of what you need to know about the new toys, with links to where you can buy them and some special events that are occurring on Friday online and off.
Disney recently released a number of fun sticker packs for iMessage. Here is everything you need to know about the new Disney Stickers.
Here is a collection of the most creative and fun Disney Halloween Decorations, Inflatables and Props we have been able to dig up. Collection updated regularly as we find more.
Here is a rundown of everything you need to know about Disney World Halloween 2016 incl. dates, times, ticketing, costumes, events and more.
Disney has launched a new mobile game titled Disney Emoji Blitz. Here is everything you need to know including images, videos and download links.
Disney announced today that they will be lives streaming the new Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire stage show on July 11th.
Updated for 2021. Here are the Disney movie facts and statistics you need to know including Disney movie character fun facts, movie revenue totals and much more!
Updated for 2021. Here is a listing of all the Disneyland Facts and Statistics that you need to know including size,attendance and more!
Disney announced today that they are partnering with luxury fashion company Coach on a new line of products featuring Mickey Mouse. Here is what we know…
Disney announced today that the grand opening celebration of Shanghai Disney Resort will be televised internationally across a number of their broadcast properties.
The new stamps will be released to the public on June 16th, which coincidentally is the day Shanghai Disney Resort opens, and feature…
Annual Disney Park Attendance totals for each of the theme parks around the world. Daily, Monthly and Weekly data too. Updated through 2021.
Want to be a Disney World expert? Here is your unofficial home of Walt Disney World Facts and Statistics incl. attendance, revenue, ride stats & more! Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs and all of the resorts are included. Updated for 2021.
LEGO’s new Disney minifigures have been out since the beginning of the month, but like you might have anticipated, completing the 18 figure set is a bit challenging.


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New Chevrolet Impala 2023 Price, Specs, Concept – Having said that, days have altered and for that reason get the motor vehicles. Tighter norms and rules made automakers to be a lot more sensible and also this possessed remaining these with no option but to color lower at stake-up. The New Chevrolet Impala 2023 does
New Chevrolet Colorado 2023 Interior, Diesel, Features – The New Chevrolet Colorado 2023 select-up is Chevrolet’s midsize truck which was created to battle a journey in design making it start looking straightforward. It provides strong engine selections with productive systems. The tough and robust apparel suits properly using its peaceful and sophisticated decorations creating the
New Chevrolet Equinox 2023 Price, Colors, Changes – The greatest improvement for the New Chevrolet Equinox 2023 will come such as an all-new RS product. The 2023 Chevrolet Equinox is certain to get exclusivities like gloss black color grille, 19-inches Android operating system tires, dark-colored badges, dark-colored Bow-Tie up emblems, RS transfer button, and comparison
New Chevy Silverado 2023 Colors, Brochure, Diesel – Chevrolet features sketched a insures away from its almost all-new, New Chevy Silverado 2023 50 percent truck. Although Chevrolet mocked each truck past Dec over the Tx Engine Speedway having Chevrolet’s centennial bash, the complete information only expanded to get presented at the 2023 Detroit Auto Show.
All New 2023 Chevy Tahoe Msrp, Colors, Release Date – The approaching a couple of rows All New 2023 Chevy Tahoe can be given some considerable changes. This entire-sizing SUV is GM’s pinnacle that offers fine style, and a much better interior. Besides that, it reveals an abundance of design cues and mechanized systems while using
New Chevy Chevelle 2023 Concept, Dimensions, Engine – Considering that the widely used New Chevy Chevelle 2023 has not been current interested in some years, the supporters will be glad to discover which the recently available speculations express that this physical activities sedan has been designed going to the industry like a 2023 Chevrolet Chevelle product.
2023 Chevy Bolt Release Date, Price, Interior – In recent years, just about every key car maker slowly and gradually fulfills its EV lineup. All-electric-powered autos like the 2023 Chevy Bolt decrease the distinction between very low-collection village automobiles and electrical vehicles for the future. Furthermore, the Tesla Model 3 and Bolt simply design supply
New 2022 Chevy S10 Dimensions, Engine, Interior – Any coming New 2022 Chevy S10 can be a middle-dimensions pickup truck that comes in Latin America. This unit is incredibly widely used in Brazil, and also 2022 S10 is sure to get new revisions. That has more unique safety features and even further on the web


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A Honda-established startup is developing a vibrating navigation system that helps visually impaired people get around — vibrating their feet to relay directions.
The challenge: More than 80 million people are either blind or have severely impaired vision, and that can make navigating the world incredibly difficult and dangerous.
There are ways to help those people get around, but each has shortcomings. Canes require them to give up the use of one hand — not ideal for carrying groceries — and guide dogs require them to, well, take care of a dog.
They can use a smartphone navigation app, but those usually deliver directions via audio, and that means wearing headphones that limit their ability to hear noises that might be important, such as honking cars or crosswalk signals.
The background: In 2017, Honda launched a business creation program called IGNITION, giving employees the opportunity to submit proposals for technologies and ideas they believed could solve social issues.
On June 11, the company announced that a group developing a vibrating navigation system to help visually impaired people move more freely and safely would be the first startup to spin out of that program.
The vibrating navigation system: The startup, Ashirase Inc., is developing a wearable device that’s worn on the foot inside a shoe. This wearable connects to a smartphone app similar to the ones that provide audio directions.
The app uses satellite navigation data and information from the foot-worn wearables to keep track of the user’s exact location. It then vibrates different parts of the device in their shoe to give them directions.
The system is very intuitive, too. The area near the toes vibrates to let the person know they should walk straight. Vibrations on the left side of the left foot, meanwhile, signal that it’s time to make a left turn.
We will devote ourselves to realize the freedom of mobility for visually impaired people.
Will it work? We don’t yet know whether people with visual impairments will like using the vibrating navigation system, but that’s something that could be determined through future trials. As it stands, at least one person has tested out the tech, and they seem impressed.
“Using Ashirase enables me to focus more on walking,” a man identified as Nida said in a video, adding, “I think this will allow me to enjoy walking around the city.”
Looking ahead: Ashirase is now working to commercialize its vibrating navigation system in the hopes of beginning sales before the end of March 2023.
“I am sure that we will face many obstacles as we work toward the market launch of Ashirase,” Wataru Chino, the system’s developer, said. “However, we will overcome such obstacles one by one and devote ourselves wholeheartedly to realize the freedom of mobility for visually impaired people.”
We’d love to hear from you! If you have a comment about this article or if you have a tip for a future Freethink story, please email us at [email protected].


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According to the comScore report titled '2013 India Digital Future in Focus', at 73.9 million home and work internet users, the Indian online population currently ranks as the 3rd largest in the world after China and the US. With 75 per cent of its internet users under the age of 35, India has the youngest skewing online population among BRIC countries. However, the report doesn't take the mobile users of the country into account.
The other key insights from the report are:
Across all age and gender groups, women between the ages of 35-44 years are the heaviest internet users in the Indian market.
The Indian audience of blogs grew 48 per cent in the past year to 36 million visitors, while 26 per cent of category traffic comes from mobile phones and tablets.
With 25 per cent time being spent on social networking, the activity grabs the largest share of PC screen time in the country. Besides this, email and internet messaging hold a significant time, too.
Fifty four million internet users in India watched online videos on their computer, representing a 27-per cent increase over the past year.
Read the entire report below:


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The Walt Disney Company, parent company of India’s leading sports broadcaster Star Sports, continues its push towards digital – the direct to consumer streaming services.
Company’s Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek, speaking at a technology and media conference, has announced the Walt Disney Company will shut down 100 channels this year. This will be in addition to the 30 already closed in 2020. Most of the content from the closed channels will be shifted to Disney+, the company’s OTT service.
“The great majority of that content will migrate to Disney+,” Chapek said earlier this week. “That continues to be a core strategy for us as we pivot toward direct-to-consumer.”
The company has already announced closure of its 18 channels in the Asian market, including Star Sports and Fox Sports in South East Asia.
The Closure of the TV / cable channels will not amount to cutting down the business. It is rather aimed at a targeted growth. “We will continue at a robust rate. We’ll continue to migrate to Disney+, the great majority of that content will migrate to Disney+,” Bloomberg has reported Chapek as saying.
“The decisions that we make in individual channels and individual markets, and the timing of such, are sort of framed up by existing deals…some of the constraints we’ve got there. But as you can see, that continues to be a core strategy for us as we pivot toward direct-to-consumer.”
Chapek also gave some insights into the Indian market approach for the Walt Disney Company. It will be a vastly different approach for Disney in the world’s most populated country, he revealed.
“We have an unparalleled collection of entertainment and sports in our Hotstar offering, something we’re really proud of. But India is really a unique market because we have particularly what I’ll call mass-market pricing and distribution,” he said at the conference.
“It’s a unique market in terms of that distribution because it’s really a mobile-first market, which is kind of unusual. They have low bandwidth, so [we] have to tailor our offerings to match that low bandwidth and local languages are particularly important there. So we have to sort of customize for each of those unique elements.”
Disney introduced Disney+ Hotstar in India last year. That service, which features cricket matches and other local content, now accounts for 30% of Disney+’s total global subscriber count of 103.6 million. In April, meanwhile, Disney announced plans to close a number of its sports networks in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.
A lot about Disney’s India policy will also become clear when the media rights of some of its key cricket properties – the BCCI, IPL and ICC – will come up for renewal over the next one year.


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In 2016, Rebecca Vera Stahnke left her position as a project manager for Copenhagen Fashion Week in hopes of finding a home for the city’s discarded clothes. She opened her own resale outpost on a shopping street in the capital’s center known for vintage. Stahnke painted the entire space pink and hung a sign that read “Veras” over the door. But this was not just a place to find lost designer treasures. Stahnke established a swap system where customers can come in, drop off their old garments, and receive points that act as store credit. They also receive one-third of the selling price paid for their clothes. In addition to the swap model, anyone can visit Veras and shop the racks like a regular customer, and they have an e-commerce site to buy from as well. Stahnke and her all-female staff of 12 carefully examine all of the clothes that come in, and if something is unfit for sale, they recycle it. Veras is the only local store in Copenhagen operating a swap strategy, with sales and transactions taking place in-store, online, and at outdoor flea markets in the summertime.
“We’ve created a concept where all clothes are valuable and nothing is wasted,” says Stahnke. Now, she and her team are adding another layer of eco-conscious practices to their operation. They’ve recently partnered with De Forenede Dampvaskerier, or DFD, which is one of the largest, sustainably minded textile-washing companies in the Nordic region. They care for linens used in hospitals, restaurants, and hotels. “At some point, the fabrics are discarded in order to maintain the company’s quality standards,” Stahnke notes. “We wanted to save these fabrics and prove to everyone, including ourselves, that these worn-out textiles could become valuable again, maybe even more valuable than newly produced fashion items.”
Stahnke, along with her Veras team, came up with the idea to create a collection of winter coats from DFD’s discarded blankets and quilts, as well as tote bags from its leftover laundry bags. There are two styles of jackets—short and long—in three different prints, and the bags come in seven different colors, including bright orange and green. All of the pieces are made locally between the Veras headquarters and Huset Venture, a nonprofit socioeconomic organization that aims to create jobs for low-income-earning women struggling to find work. “We chose to work specifically with the quilts and laundry bags because they can be very difficult to recycle,” Stahnke says. “By creating unique recycled items, we ensure that the future owners take extra care of their styles and give them new life.”
The new Veras upcycled collection comes on the heels of Copenhagen Fashion Week announcing an ambitious sustainability initiative. Many of the city’s most globally visible brands are just beginning to focus on eco-practices or ramping up their existing strategies, but Veras is continuing to build its circular business from the ground up. Stahnke plans to work on more projects like this one with DFD, and she hopes that other communities around the world will take notice of the way Veras operates and create their own circular microeconomy. “Our concept can definitely be implemented in all kinds of local communities,” she says. “It’s about making it easy for everyone to share their wardrobe and engaging people in something that is bigger than they are. Our ultimate goal is to save as much clothing as we can by helping people share more, buy different, and use longer. It’s about creating a space for people to explore their own personal style without damaging our planet.”


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Customers of Reliant Energy received their December bills as usual. They probably freaked a bit at the price (as usual), but paid up.
Then they received another bill for December.
Not to worry, Reliant says -- they were just confused by the whole complicated process whereby 2008 becomes 2009. It involves putting an entirely different number at the end of a four-digit figure, so you can see where the befuddlement might arise.
"A number of our e-bill customers were affected by a computer system issue that caused duplicate bills to be sent out just after New Year's," spokeswoman Patricia Hammond tells Hair Balls. "We identified the issue within a few hours and stopped the duplicate email notices immediately."
In Reliant's defense, they got the first three numbers of the year correct.
No one ended up being double-billed if they were signed up for automatic pay, Hammond says.
A letter sent out to affected customers said the glitch "occurred due to a system error caused by the change in year."
So how many customers were affected, and at least momentarily thought they were out even more hundreds of dollars?
"We do not typically release that type of information," Hammond says.
-- Richard Connelly


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BROWNSBURG, Ind. — While most 8-year-olds are busy playing with friends, Lincoln Klepper of Brownsburg is busy running his own business.
It all started in 2021 with a simple drawing by the now third-grader.
"I knew that everyone was cool, and I wanted to put it on a T-shirt," Lincoln said. "I begged for eight months, and it finally gave in."
By "it," he means his mother and father. Later that year, "You're Cool" became an official small business with Lincoln at the helm.
"It just kind of blew up from there, so to speak," said Rob Klepper, Lincoln's father. "Everyone wanted to get a 'You're Cool' shirt, because everyone is cool, if you ask Lincoln."
"We have T-shirts, stickers, thank you cards, pillows and a flag," Lincoln said.
With business booming, Lincoln even recruited his 6-year-old brother to help.
"Kash is an assistant of mine," Lincoln said, "and he's my brother. I love him so much. He kind of helps me with the customers buying the T-shirts."
If you ask Kash, the stickers are the best purchase.
"They stick on you," Kash said, "and if they don't have a 'You're Cool' shirt, but they have a white shirt, you can just put it right in the middle."
Each item up for sale is marked with a couple of small letters.
"'By LK,'" Lincoln said, "which stands for Lincoln Klepper."
A year into the business, Lincoln now gives back to the community that helped "You're Cool" get off the ground. Lincoln donates to his school, Cardinal Elementary, and is even sponsoring an upcoming fundraiser.
"He just wants to help out his teachers and some of the kids at his school," Rob said.
Rob and his wife, Nicole, use "You're Cool" to help teach the boys practical skills, like profit and cost.
"You sell a shirt for $10, you don't necessarily get the $10," Rob said. "He understands that there's a profit in that, and that there are expenses and costs."
Rob said Lincoln is part of all business aspects, from designing to packaging and shipping.
"For him to be engaged and wanting to do this at such a young age is pretty neat," Rob said.
Lincoln said his favorite part of the business is helping customers pick out their shirts, especially the "little kids."
"Sometimes for the little kids," Lincoln said, "I always give stickers out."
The Kleppers said the best way to snag "You're Cool" merchandise is to check out the website or social media.
"This shirt reminds you that you're cool and cool looking," Lincoln said.


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Epson has been developing their own AR headset and is now going to provide Super Venture early version models of the Moverio to help move the platform along. Epson is using the unique partnership to leverage Super Venture’s deep ties with over 150,000 professionals in the AR and wearables community.
Super Ventures is on a mission, an outlandish-sounding one, to accelerate industry growth in technologies giving people super powers. These technologies include augmented reality, virtual reality, and wearable tech, all of which give the impressions of superpowers through modern day technology. Super Venture invests and mentors entrepreneurs launching early stage startups focusing on AR and wearable technology.
The Moverio BT-300 is Epson’s newest generation AR headset is the world’s lightest binocular, transparent smart glasses with an OLED display. Powering the headset is an Intel Atom processor, and Android OS 5.1. The Moverio is available for pre-order and will be available in late 2016 for consumer purchase.
The partnership for Epson will give them an understanding of how developers and consumers would use the Moverio. They’ll also have innovative companies working on using the Epson technology on their early startup, which could lead to further partnerships.
Tell us in the comments below what you think about the partnership between Moverio and Super Ventures. Also, tell us what you think about the Moverio Bt-300 which is available for pre-order now!
Via Yahoo Finance


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Lexmark extends GO Line series with new award-winning devices for SMBs
03/11/2020 - Lexmark, a global imaging solutions leader, today announced the availability of two new colour and three new monochrome Lexmark GO Line series devices, expanding its SMB offering with new printers and MFPs that provide full business-class capabilities in a smaller footprint.
Lexmark Enhances Cloud Offerings for Partners with Third-Party Device Monitoring and More
02/10/2020 - Lexmark, a global imaging solutions leader, today launched new features in its Cloud Services offering to partners, including third-party device monitoring, an expanded and free premium app catalog, and touchless print.
Legacy Print Infrastructure is a Major Barrier to Digital Transformation
17/09/2020 - : Lexmark recently commissioned IDC to conduct a study that uncovers dated print infrastructures as an obstacle to digital transformation.
Lexmark Achieves Supply Chain Security Certification
07/07/2020 - Lexmark, a global imaging solutions leader, today announced it has achieved the ISO 20243 standard, becoming the only printer manufacturer to gain this supply chain security certification.
Lexmark Connect empowers partners across the globe to greater success
18/02/2020 - Lexmark, a global imaging solutions leader, today announced the launch of Lexmark Connect, a new global partner program designed to empower Lexmark partners to reach new levels of success.
Loaded with standard features, these 25-ppm devices support demanding workloads
12/02/2020 - Lexmark, a global imaging solutions leader, today announced the expansion of its A3 product line of devices with the availability of two new multifunction printers (MFPs), the Lexmark CX920de and the Lexmark XC9225.
Lexmark unveils new range of laser printers for small and medium businesses with four-year guarantee
05/07/2017 - Lexmark’s latest line of laser printers are specifically designed for small and medium businesses and come with a four-year guarantee
Lexmark announces completion of acquisition by Apex Technology and PAG Asia Capital
29/11/2016 - Lexmark International, Inc. today announced the successful completion of the acquisition by a consortium of investors (Consortium) led by Apex Technology Co., Ltd. (Apex) and PAG Asia Capital (PAG).
Lexmark sweeps Buyer's Laboratory, Inc.'s Summer Pick color printing awards
05/09/2016 - Lexmark sweeps Buyer's Laboratory, Inc.'s Summer Pick color printing awards
Lexmark named a leader in Quocirca MPS Vendor Landscape fifth consecutive year
11/08/2016 - Lexmark named a leader in Quocirca MPS Vendor Landscape fifth consecutive year.
Banking sector in Europe opts for Lexmark solutions
17/03/2016 - Lexmark today announced that its solutions are deployed in the overwhelming majority of leading banks in Europe.
Lexmark connects with its channel through a new partner program
02/03/2016 - The “Connect Partner Program” launched to support the current and future needs of the reseller community and its customers
Lexmark applauds European Commission plans and outlines measures to curb printer cartridge waste in Europe
19/01/2016 - Calls on industry to help promote cartridge reuse and recycling
Gartner names Lexmark a Leader in Managed Print and Content Services for fifth consecutive year
04/01/2016 - Gartner names Lexmark a Leader in Managed Print and Content Services for fifth consecutive year


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15 Nov The World’s First InstaAd
Well it finally happened. I know you’re not surprised, but ads have finally hit Instagram.
If you didn’t know to look for it, you probably would have thought the first ad to appear on Instagram was just another post on your feed. Just a beautiful photo of a watch on a table set with tea and macarons with the caption, “Pampered in Paris #MK Timeless.”
But this Michael Kors photo was different. This was the first sponsored post on the popular photo-sharing network Instagram, which arrived two weeks ago and wasn’t met with a welcoming audience.
Brands all across the board have been avid users of the popular photo-sharing platform since its inception, but until recently their accounts have been the same as yours or mine. The difference now, is that companies are able to pay to insert content into targeted newsfeeds.
According to Instagram, the addition of ads will be slow, painless, and customizable. In a recent #instagramnews blog post the company said, “We’ll focus on delivering a small number of beautiful, high-quality photos and videos from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community.”
The most prevalent complaint in the ad’s hundreds of comments was that Michael Kors as a brand was irrelevant to feeds where it appeared, but Instagram has taken that into account too. If an ad shows up on your feed that you don’t want to see again, you will be able to hide it and provide feedback about what you didn’t like.
Based on the new model of incorporating ads, anyone who was already following Michael Kors saw the photo come up as a normal post and others saw it featuring the label “sponsored.”
The Instagram PR team seems to be handling the introduction of ads with elegant transparency by creating a forum for public opinion sharing and explaining their thought processes as they go. However, the introduction of sponsored posts leads to a few questions about the future of Instagram and where the platform is headed. Will we all get use to seeing sponsored content? Will we even notice? Is Instagram going to follow in Facebook’s footsteps with almost as many ads as personal content?
The fact is, Instagram ads are here to stay. After a glace at the metrics following the Michael Kors ad, brands will be jumping at the chance to advertise on Instagram. According to a study by Nitrogram, the inaugural ad received 218k likes in the first 18 hours, translating to a 370% bump in engagement as opposed to their non-sponsored content.
User comments have dictated that Instagram will have to keep ads classy and targeted at the right demographics to keep users from feeling like their feeds are being polluted. Still to come are ads from Adidas, Ben & Jerry’s, Burberry, General Electric, Levi’s, Lexus, Macy’s, PayPal and Starwood.
So what are your thoughts? Do you think ads on Instagram will affect the user experience? Should we even care? Let us know!


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Capcom this morning announced that Resident Evil will officially launch on January 20th, 2015 for $19.99, for the PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC.
To whet your appetite for some of that old-school RE survival action, Capcom has sent over brand new screens and a gameplay video showing off the PC version running at 60fps.
Check ’em out below.
Resident Evil – PC gameplay footage:
Resident Evil screens:


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Moving to the next step, Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) has taken the delivery of its first MSC-branded aircraft, built by Boeing and operated by Atlas Air. The B777-200 freighter will fly on routes between China, the US, Mexico, and Europe.
“Our customers need the option of air solutions, which is why we’re integrating this transportation mode to complement our extensive maritime and land cargo operations. The delivery of this first aircraft marks the start of our long-term investment in air cargo.”Jannie Davel, senior vice president of air cargo at MSC
Having worked in the sector for years, Davel brings extensive air cargo experience. In his most recent role before joining MSC in 2022, he headed Delta’s commercial cargo operations.
He said: “Flying adds options, speed, flexibility, and reliability to supply chain management, and there are particular benefits for moving perishables, such as fruit and vegetables, pharmaceutical and other healthcare products, and high-value goods.”
MSC is supported by Atlas Air on an aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance (ACMI) basis. This aircraft is among the first of four B777-200Fs in the pipeline, which are being placed on a long-term basis with MSC.
Other top lines such as CMA CGM and Maersk have created air cargo divisions during container shipping’s recent record earnings period.
The first MSC Air Cargo aircraft has arrived! ✈💛— MSC Cargo (@MSCCargo) November 28, 2022
We've taken delivery of our first B777-200F, which will soon be ready to fly on routes between China, the US, Mexico and Europe.
Read more: https://t.co/F6daKQoxWY pic.twitter.com/2TdhhPgBup


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San Clemente, Calif. (PRWEB) October 10, 2012
Mike Mason, 2012 X Games Gold Medalist for Moto X Speed & Style has landed a sponsorship deal with Panic Switch Army, Southern California's new gasoline-fueled action sports apparel brand.
"I'm stoked to represent Panic Switch Army and land a sponsorship with such a cutting edge brand," Mason said. "A big shout out and thanks to The Army for making this happen."
The line of men's and women's t-shirts, tanks, and hats founded by former Silver Star owners, Luke Burrett and Charis B., is building its roster of team riders, looking out for superstars with a passion for big air, crazy style and top speed.
"We are pumped to have an X games gold medalist and a talented rider such as Mike Mason as part of the Panic Switch Army team," Burrett said. "We've got a great synergy with Mike and it's been exciting to launch our brand and have one of our team riders take home a gold medal at the same time!"
Mason, who has been on two-wheels since 1986, is fresh off his big X Games win this summer, and is looking forward to showcasing his skills this fall in a series of various events and appearances.
The accomplished rider will also be a staple on the action-packed North American Nuclear Cowboyz 2013 tour, which kicks off in Kansas City, Missouri on January 12.
"I am really excited for this opportunity and to get to be a part of Panic Switch Army as it gets off the ground," he said. "Luke and Charis are great people with some amazing ideas for the brand and I'm excited to see where we are headed."
"Thanks to all my fans and stay tuned for some awesome product coming out of Panic Switch Army," he added.
Stay updated on the latest happenings with Mike by heading over to http://www.panicswitcharmy.com to check out upcoming appearances and keep tabs on our latest blog, promotions, designs, events and more.
About Panic Switch Army
Panic Switch Army is a Southern California based apparel brand inspired by extreme sports and music that caters to an adrenaline-charged lifestyle. We are renegades, radicals and revolutionaries. We push ourselves to the edge and never fear hitting the panic switch.
Everybody's got a panic switch, what's yours? Find your limit and join the army!


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Store customers and employees say management mistreated animal
Hobart, IN — On the heels of a first of its kind undercover investigation into the live pet trade, the Animal Protection Institute (API) has been alerted to a complaint of animal mistreatment at a Hobart, Indiana PetsMart store.
In early January 2006, Victoria Karius put a down payment on an unweaned baby cockatoo at a Hobart, Indiana PetsMart. When she and her husband returned January 9 to visit the bird, they found him lethargic and unresponsive — in sharp contrast to his earlier outgoing behavior. Experienced bird owners, the Kariuses pressed store employees for details on the bird’s health and were told that the bird was literally being starved in an attempt to “force wean” him so he could be made available earlier. The Kariuses demanded the bird be fed and expressed concern over his mistreatment, at which point PetsMart managers reportedly returned their deposit and had them forcibly removed by police. Store employees independently confirmed this report though asked to remain anonymous fearing retaliation from store managers.
“We spoke with local avian veterinarians who confirmed this was an unacceptable and dangerous way to wean a bird,” said Karius. ”If this store is going to treat its customers and its animals with such irresponsibility and disrespect for their well-being then they should not be allowed to sell live animals. It’s better the animals not endure the mistreatment and families not be disappointed when they find out their new family member has been mistreated and is physically and emotionally unhealthy.”
While unfortunate, the Kariuses’ experience is not isolated. The substandard treatment of animals, birds in particular, in pet stores is a well-documented issue with complaints regularly filed in cities across America. In response to these complaints, API announced the results of its groundbreaking investigation into retail pet stores in California in October 2005. What API investigators found was that, even though California’s laws regulating the pet store industry are among the toughest in the U.S., the violations of them were widespread and pervasive.
“We were shocked by the illness, injury, neglect, and horribly substandard care our investigation revealed,” says Michelle Thew, API’s Chief Executive Officer. “The Karuises’ experience clearly illustrates the fact that laws must be improved and consumers must act to end the suffering of animals in pet stores.”
According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, sales of live animals in the pet industry totaled $1.6 billion in 2004. “The retail pet trade is a billion-dollar industry in the U.S. The sad fact, as this example and our investigation shows, is it’s the animals who pay the price,” says Thew.
API has created model legislation that can be used at state or local levels by interested citizens to improve conditions for animals. These models include regulating the sale of unweaned birds and ensuring minimum standards of animal care in retail pet stores. This information is available by request on API’s website www.api4animals.org. Those who witness mistreatment of animals in retail pet stores can also file a report with API through the website.
API is a national nonprofit animal advocacy organization based in Sacramento, CA. API works to end animal cruelty and exploitation through legislation, litigation, and public education. For more information, visit www.api4animals.org.
Zibby Wilder, Animal Protection Institute


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AI regulation is moving from suggested guidelines to the full force of the law as the EU gets ready to pass its EU AI Act. Kevin Schawinski an astrophysicist and startup founder in the AI space will moderate a discussion on how this will impact how we engage with AI.
The EU is looking to treat many common AI applications such as facial recognition and credit scoring in a highly regulated way, similar to medical devices. New requirements for fairness, accuracy and robustness for data and models will make it much more difficult and expensive to develop AI-based products and services. And the global reach of the EU’s regulatory powers means that researchers and companies across the world need to pay attention.
This is a members only event. Please sign in to RSVP.


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Mumbai-based Airpay Payment Services, India’s only omni-channel payments platform, has announced a partnership with InstaReM, one of the world’s fastest-growing digital cross-border payments companies, to launch “FX Payment”, an international payments solution for its merchants.
Airpay’s “FX payment” is an alternative to credit cards used for international payments and is currently available to customers in 27 countries across the globe. This highly efficient and cost-effective payment solution benefits Airpays’ marquee Indian merchants in the hospitality, retail, and education sectors, and their overseas customers. With an option to make payments via InstaReM on Airpay payment platform, customers will save on high credit card processing fees, sneaky margins on FX rates and service fees.
The “FX Payment” service from Airpay benefits merchants by removing their compliance overhead as well as significantly reducing the cost and time of the transaction. Customers enjoy the benefit of paying in their local currency, competitive exchange rates, and avoid bank or credit card charges associated with international payments.
Prajit Nanu, co-founder and CEO of InstaReM, said, “InstaReM’s innovative payments solutions enable individual and enterprise users to send, spend and receive money efficiently, to and from different parts of the world, while saving on high transaction costs that are traditionally associated with cross-border money movements. We are now extending our capabilities to payment gateways, thereby offering a fast, secure and cost-effective payment option to customers buying on e-commerce sites. With this partnership, consumers all over the world will be able to make payments in real-time to some of the highly-reputed merchant brands in India.”
“International payments via credit cards are opaque and expensive due to high credit card processing charges and hidden fees that are not typically known or explained to the consumers. By leveraging InstaReM’s global presence and capabilities in cross-border payments, we are offering a seamless and transparent payment option which is going to be immensely beneficial to the merchants using our platform as well as their customers,” added Kunal Jhunjhunwala, Principal Founder and Managing Director of Airpay.
By making overseas payments to India seamless and cost-effective, the Airpay-InstaReM partnership is looking to offer much-needed support to India’s global trade ambitions.


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Google Sets Sights On Amazon’s E-Commerce Empire
While Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) claims it doesn’t find competition with competitors interesting or rewarding, it has been copying Amazon.com’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) every move in a battle to compete with Amazon’s success in e-commerce.
Most recently Google has followed Amazon in launching an e-commerce site for industrial goods like cable ties, AC-DC adapters, radiation detectors, and similar items. Google started testing out Google Shopping for Suppliers in January, which it started to compete with Amazon’s AmazonSupply.
But business-to-business industrial goods sales aren’t the only arena in which Google has copied Amazon recently. In the last year Google has launched 3 other services to directly target Amazon, including corporate computing, same-day delivery and offering lockers for consumers to receive e-commerce orders. Last June Google released a cloud-computing service called Google Compute Engine to compete with Amazon’s similar Amazon Web Services. In November Google purchased BufferBox, a company that provides lock boxes where people can have items ordered online delivered when away from home. Amazon has been installing similar lockers around the country since 2011.
Google has been targeting other rivals as well. The company launched its social networking service Google+ in 2011 to compete with Facebook (NASDAQ:FB). Both Google and Amazon have been focusing on the tablet industry to compete with Apple‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL) incredibly successful iPad devices.
Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Google, Larry Page, has said that he doesn’t find competing with other companies “interesting” and that doing so can actually cause “decay,” because it leads to concentration on smaller improvements rather than bigger risks that can lead to bigger pay-off.
Despite those statements, Google has been copying Amazon frequently and in a variety of sectors. Both companies are trying to become the primary destination for online shopping. Amazon currently dominates e-commerce, handling three to seven times more product searches than Google Shopping.
Amazon is set to encroach onto Google’s territory as well, with a line of smartphones that would compete with Google’s Android devices in the works. One analyst summed up the competition we will continue to see between Google and Amazon, saying, “Those two companies are going to duke it out for a long time in just about everything.”
Don’t Miss: E-Book Trial Judge Gives Apple a Thumbs Down.


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The Prohibition of Plastic Bags in California Cause Disputes Again
The prohibition of plastic bags has been talked for a long while, and recently, Jerry Brown, the governor of California has signed the prohibition of plastic bags which made it rise to the legal status.
The prohibition of plastic bags was previously been passed by the California parliament with the vote of 22 to 15. Now it is reported that this prohibition will be first carried out in all the retail stores in California in July, 2015, which has caused public attention.
It has been regulated that apart from being banned to use the disposable plastic bags, people are also need to pay for the renewable plastic bags or paper bags bought from all the supermarkets. What’s more, the prohibition also plans to expand the scale of application to the Pharmacy and tobacco stores in the year of 2016.
According to latest regulation about plastic bags, the renewable plastic bags should be able to be reused for at least 125 times, and the component should include more than 25% of the renewable plastic materials.
With the good purpose of reducing white pollution caused by the waste plastic and protecting the environment, this prohibition is supported by many people. However, there are also part of the citizens who are against this it.
Although the fact of banning the use of plastic bags has been settled, APBA, as the major opposition party, indicated that they will called on voters a referendum to reject this law. They think that once the prohibition of plastic bags becomes a law, many people working in the related field have to lose their jobs.
Every coin has two sides, so does the prohibition of plastic bags. Anyway, it is for the good aim of environmental protection, and we will see whether it can be carried out in the long term or not. As for the problem of waste plastic, it is believed that in quite a long period, we cannot leave the plastic products because they are really useful.
Plastic recycling is a good way to go. If they cannot be get rid of our life, then recycle and reuse them. By taking the full advantage of the plastics, they can be given much more values, such as EPS/Styrofoam, which can be compacted into much smaller sized blocks by EPS/Styrofoam Compactors of GreenMax series.


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iRig Mix ships to iDevice-carrying DJs, Android app compatibility looks unlikely
In addition to physical controls for volume, gain, treble and bass, the mixer is accompanied by a roster of free apps to help with production, performing and recording. For Android fans wondering where their own version of these apps are, IK Multimedia ...
Review: iRig MIX is the perfect iOS mixerZDNet (blog)
IK Multimedia Ships iRig MIXSonic State
IK Multimedia's iRig Mix has been released, available for purchase for $100Ubergizmo
all 9 news articles
Article by apps - Google News (c) apps - Google News - Read full story here.


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Source: EDB Business Partner
SpareBank 1 Gruppen has signed an agreement with EDB to buy solutions for IFRS accounting, internet shopping security and credit administration.
The agreement represents business volume of around NOK 20 million over three years.
As a result of this new agreement, EDB will provide SpareBank 1 Gruppen with new solutions in three different areas. EDB will provide accounting solutions adapted for IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). In the area of credit card security, EDB will supply a 3D Secure solution for internet shopping. 3D Secure is a global standard for secure internet payments aimed at reducing the risk of fraud in internet shopping for the benefit of cardholders, internet stores, banks and card issuing companies. Finally, EDB will manage the bank's credit solutions for the retail market.
"I am delighted that SpareBank 1 Gruppen has chosen to expand our excellent and long-standing collaboration. This contract confirms EDB's role as a major supplier to Norwegian banks and financial institutions, and is yet more evidence that EDB offers fully competitive solutions in these areas", comments Ole Urdahl, EVP - Solutions at EDB.