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It seems like a no-brainer: give all of your workers—more than 300,000 of them—a trendy fitness tracking device, and then sit back as they shed thousands of pounds, improve their health significantly and help control insurance costs.
But the mega-retailer's big idea might end up actually producing only small concrete gains—if that.
Target's move to improve employee well-being, while laudable, faces several potential hurdles, including getting significant numbers of workers to take up the company's offer of free or subsidized Fitbits, and then getting those Fitbit adopters to become more active in a way that will actually improve their health.
Another big question: how many of those Fitbit users will actually continue to make use of the device once the novelty of tracking the daily number of steps they take inevitably wears off?
"I do think there's often a misperception that simply giving somebody a wearable device is going to make them more active, more healthy," said Dr. Mitesh Patel, a University of Pennsylvania associate professor who has researched activity trackers.
Patel noted that people who are inclined to use devices such as Fitbits tend to be the most motivated to get, or remain healthy, and not the people with health conditions who could be most helped by increased activity.
"Wearable devices seem to appeal to groups that might need them the least," Patel and his co-authors wrote in a paper published online by the JAMA Network earlier this year.
Because Target's offer is not mandatory, some—or many—workers may not accept the Fitbits.
And there is no guarantee that the workers who do accept the Fitbits will keep using them. One study, by Endeavour Partners, found that among more than 6,200 U.S. adults who had bought a wearable device, more than half stopped using it, and one-third of respondents said they ceased using the trackers before six months had elapsed.
Earlier this year, The Associated Press reported, the health-care investment fund Rock Health said that Fitbit's own financial filings suggest that out of almost 20 million registered users of the device, just half were still actively using it.
Patel told CNBC that one hurdle to widespread continued use among workers is presented by the devices themselves.
"They need to be charged up, synched up" to share their data about a user's activity level, he said. "Those little extra steps really end up to be high hurdles."
Patel said companies like Target can improve the level of adoption and continued use of activity trackers by designing programs that encourage both, and not just by assuming that people will utilize the devices to their advantage.
CNBC reached out to both Target and Fitbit for comment, but had not yet received a response.
However, Target has said it will design programs around the use of the Fitbits, the first of which will be a monthlong competition in which teams of Fitbit users will track their activity levels, with the winners naming a charity that will receive a $1 million donation from the retailer.
"The design of this competition is what's most important," Patel said, adding that in other cases of programs to promote Fitbit use the design often isn't given much thought.
One might think that competition with one's self—the competition of getting below your current weight—would be enough for people to use Fitbit. But hitting the goals of increased steps don't necessarily translate into weight loss.
Today.com, in an article last year, cited the cases of several Fitbit users who had actually gained weight even though their devices indicated that their step counts were outpacing their calorie intake.
Korie Mulholland, a private SAT tutor from Chicago, said that even as she was walking 10 to 15 miles daily at a stand-up desk, her weight increased despite her following the Fitbit's calorie guidelines.
"It was clearly telling me to eat too much for my specific metabolism and no matter what I did, it just wasn't working right," Mulholland said. "I used it for six months, until I gave up."
Jessica Reed, a poet and blogger, also has written about gaining weight while using Fitbit despite eating fewer calories than the device indicated she was burning.
"In the past three weeks, I've burned 6,300 more calories than I've consumed. I know this because I have an app on my phone (Lose It!) that keeps track of the calories I eat," Reed wrote in an updated blog post after Today.com cited her experience.
"This app is integrated with my Fitbit Flex wristband, which keeps track of the calories I burn. The math says that I should lose a pound for every 3,500 calories burned. The bathroom scale, however, says I have gained two pounds," Reed wrote.


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Northern Nights Music Festival is returning to the Redwoods of Northern California in just a few weeks, as it head to Cook’s Valley Campground over the weekend of July 15-17 for three days of proper music, cannabis programming and wellness programming like yoga, live muralists, and art installations across the grounds.
Northern Nights has always been one of our favorite of the unique California festivals over the years, and this year we expect to be no different. The lineup for the 2022 edition includes quite the roster of established and new artists alike, including Elderbrook, SNBRN, Clozee, Claude Vonstroke, TroyBoi, J.Worra, and some up-and-coming acts like Boiz House, Riffa, Chocolate Sushi, Kyra Joseph and more.
This event also offers an array of programming highlighting the cannabis space – it was the first music festival to bring legal onsite cannabis sales and consumption years back. Their Tree Lounge cannabis consumption area is filled with numerous vendors of brands from the cannabis industry along with cannabis yoga, medicated dining experiences and more. This year, NN will also become the first festival to have dispensaries at the stages, as well as multiple on-site dispensaries.
Check out the full lineup below, and grab a ticket here before they’re gone. A GA ticket sits at $329.
Feature Photo: Get Tiny Photography

domain: news


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Ultra-low-cost mobile PCs are set to boost the education sector's PC sales in the emerging markets next year, according to a new Gartner report.
The analyst firm has predicted the sales of these devices in the emerging markets of Latin America and Asia--namely China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam--to top 1 million units in 2008 and 6 million by the end of 2012.
However, these budget PCs are not expected to make an impact on this year's sales. Gartner said in a statement on Tuesday that volumes will remain limited in 2007 as the first units to ship will be "seed units used to test usage models and determine the usefulness of such devices".
Annette Jump, Gartner's research director, urged PC vendors to tap the new market opportunity by mid-2008. "PC vendors that target governments and education organizations in emerging markets should have a plan for a limited launch of their own-branded ultra-low-cost PC...or they will miss the early opportunities," she noted.
According to Gartner, the "classroom-focused approach" by Intel's Classmate PC will be more effective in driving the adoption of these ultra-low-cost PCs, compared to the OLPC (one laptop per child) initiative.
The analyst firm said the OLPC initiative focuses on the provision of devices to children who do not have access to PCs, while Intel's Classmate PC reflects a broader vision that encompasses the classroom environment, including networking infrastructure, teacher training and curriculum materials.
Luis Anavitarte, Gartner research vice president, said: "Hardware alone is not enough; users will need software and education applications in local languages."


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Tesla's Model 3 Performance is 0.4 second quicker to 60 mph after a firmware update that promised a 5 percent power increase.
It's easy to love the robust powertrain, but it's the refined chassis that makes BMW's M340i even more compelling.
Our Genesis G70 2.0T proved to be an enjoyable luxury sedan over 40,000 miles, but we regret not getting the optional twin-turbo V-6.
Dodge's updated Durango SRT 392 gets quicker, higher tech, and more refined for the 2021 model year.
Four-wheeled adventure with Mercedes's new Metris-based Weekender camper van.
The hybridized F-150 offers 570 lb-ft of torque, gets 20 percent better fuel economy and can act as a mobile power generator.
Sorry, Toyota Sienna, but our AWD minivan choices just doubled.
For the 2021 model year, the Chevrolet Suburban is a bigger, better hulk of an SUV.
We don't normally associate value with $90K SUVs, but the 500-hp Audi SQ8 could be considered a sort-of bargain Lamborghini Urus.
A spectacular engine alone can't make up for the rest of it.
The entry-level A35's big grip, strong turbo-four power, and luxurious cabin set the tone for Mercedes-AMG's lineup.


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On Friday November 27th the Bitcoin Black Friday website will open doors with offers from merchants.
Black Friday becomes an ever more popular event with early Christmas shoppers each year, especially during the last decade.
Want to enjoy lavish Black Friday discounts with Bitcoin without the lines, camping out for several days, and the risk of violence?
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The Federal Trade Commission is suing to stop an analytics company (Idaho-based company called Kochava) from selling geo-location data on over 125 million consumers, including where they live and if they recently visited an abortion clinic.
Kochava has been selling the information as a data feed covering 125 million monthly active users and charging thousands of dollars per month for access. The geolocation data can include the precise longitude and latitude of the user’s smartphone, along with timestamps and the IP address. To protect consumers, the company strips out users’ identities from the data and assigns them a mobile advertising ID.
The FTC says the supposedly anonymized geo-location data can be easily compiled with other information from third-party sources to pinpoint a user’s identity.
For example, the location of a mobile device at night is likely the user’s home address and could be combined with property records to uncover their identity, The same data can also expose sensitive locations a consumer has visited, such as a reproductive health clinic, places of worship, or a domestic violence shelter. “The data may also be used to identify medical professionals who perform, or assist in the performance, of abortion services,” the FTC’s lawsuit adds.
On the AWS marketplace, Kochava allegedly offered up some of the data at no cost through a free sample, which covered a seven-day rolling period. One day of the sample data could cover 61.8 million unique devices. Kochava put minimal safeguards in place to prevent bad actors from accessing the same data; it merely required interested users to fill out a form.
The FTC’s lawsuit suggests the company blocked access to the data feed on AWS in June. Earlier this month, Kochava also announced it would begin removing “health services location data” from its analytics product by this quarter. The company also noted the geo-location information it’s been monetizing came from third-party suppliers, which secured consent from consumers.


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Garden Reach Shipbuilders IPO receives tepid response, subscribed 1% on Day 1
By 5 pm, the issue received bids for 4,02,720 shares, which were just over 1 per cent of total issue size of 2,92,10,760 shares.
The Kolkata-based mini-ratna company makes warships for Indian Navy and Coastguard. It comes under the Ministry of Defence.
Revenues from warships delivered to the Indian Navy and Coastguard accounted for 90-93 per cent of the total revenues in the past three fiscal years. GRSE has an order book of Rs 20,313 crore, which is equivalent of nearly 13 times its revenues of FY18. The company has firm orders for three P17-A class frigates, 1 ASW corvette, five fast petrol vessels, and four landing crafts. But its revenues had been choppy in the past six years.
Long-term investors could wait for attractive secondary market valuations to emerge instead of buying big-time into the IPO, ET said in a report.
The company does not have immediate earnings triggers; however, it would start booking revenues from three new frigates — medium size warships — from fiscal year 2021, it noted.


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A promising Japan-based blockchain startup venture, Chaintope Inc. has announced the launch of a revolutionary public, open-source blockchain protocol named ‘Tapyrus.’ The project was helmed under the guidance of an in-house development team chaired by Shigeyuki Azuchi, the well-known Chief Technology Officer of Chaintope.
Blockchain-backed applications have been on the rise over the past few years. Though the developers have been at forefront in keeping things sorted in the best possible way, there still remains an array of unaddressed challenges and limitations hovering over the arena. A decentralized network in the lack of a proactive central authority makes it difficult for the addition of new functions or to safeguard from unfavorable happenings. The public blockchains which involve random participation of people in the verification and block generation process, often face slow transaction speeds and security compromises.
Whereas private blockchain networks allow limited access to registered users and so are easily manageable and governed. These private networks are often accused of negligence of transparency and resistance attributes, which are otherwise found in public blockchains.
Tapyrus has been designed to render to these limitations of the public blockchains. While offering permissionless participation, data security, and transparency, it ensures effective control and management by selected federations. The participants get the chance to verify and scan transactions stored in the blocks which thereby restrains the federations from sabotaging data or protocols within the network. Such governance module was exposed to be effective via an ongoing Proof of Concept conducted by the firm in the Malaysian supply chain industry. In this module, suppliers, shippers, and retailers worked as federations while consumers were able to verify the data using a mobile app.
Chaintope, through its revolutionary projects, aims to aid the entities and business houses to innovate new mechanisms of blockchain technology and to facilitate its expansion across the industrial space. The firm aims to offer multi-layer protocol, which enhances the traceability and transaction speed along with systematic governance of the entire channel.
Hideki Shoda, the CEO of Chaintope, stated that,
We hope that Tapyrus will be a successful model for tackling the long-standing governance issue on public blockchains. Combining Tapyrus with the other tools that Chaintope offers on layers one and two, our focus is on taking a holistic approach to the mass adoption of blockchain technology and overcoming current technical limitations.”
Taking pride as a leading Japanese firm, Chaintope works in the field of development of blockchain-oriented ecosystems for FinTech as well as non-FinTech arenas. The company is involved in the research and development of the public blockchain and the proliferation of decentralized technology in societies.


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When the car-chase flick Fast & Furious set a spate of opening-weekend records last month, it gave a turbo boost to what has already been a very good year for the movie business. “People say the industry is recession-proof,” says Artie Starrs, CFO and executive vice president of Rave Motion Pictures. “We believe, as an industry, that as long as quality product is coming out people will go to the movies.”
Maybe even without the quality. One critic compared F&F to T.J. Hooker reruns and another said it was as fresh and lively as a piece of burned rubber. Nonetheless, ticket sales are up 7% and industry cheerleaders aren’t shy about predicting a recession-fueled boom year. “Going to the movies is the new family vacation, because the cost of movie tickets is a lot cheaper than other entertainment options,” says Hollywood com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
But despite an eager audience, Hollywood CFOs are finding it hard to secure the backing that major films require. For the past four years the industry was beloved by hedge funds, private-equity firms, and individual investors, but most of those entities have pulled back. So have investment banks; Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley all axed their film-financing units last year.
Jerry Nickelsburg, senior economist for the University of California, Los Angeles’s Anderson Forecast project, which models various aspects of the California economy, says studio finance executives and producers will need to be more creative in financing and producing movies. “Studios are doing things differently already,” he says. “We’re seeing lower production costs [despite higher] revenue generation.” But, Nickelsburg adds, don’t feel too bad for Tinseltown. “The one advantage the film industry has is that the movies are selling,” he says. “You can’t say that about cars or big-screen TVs.”


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Just last week, hundreds of models flocked to the Big Apple in hopes of booking one of the most coveted jobs of a model’s career: The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Captured, were flicks of each and every girl entering and exiting Victoria’s Secret’s iconic headquarters in Manhattan, each girl the poster child for what the world thinks of when they think of a Victoria’s Secret model: tall, pretty, cisgender, and skinny. In recent years, Victoria’s Secret has made leaps in terms of racial diversity on their runway. However, diversity of body types and gender in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show continues to be non-existent. Not one girl who attended the callbacks or booked the show wore above a size 14, which is what 68% of American women wear. Not one woman who attended the callbacks or booked the show was a transgender woman. This is just shocking to me. It’s 2018, and women that don’t wear less than a size 4 or are transgender don’t even get the chance to attend the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show castings!
I think a subtle step in the right direction on Victoria’s Secret’s part was having Sofia Jamora at their casting this year. Sofia Jamora is a curvy model who has gained popularity from modeling for multiple Instagram driven stores that offer plus-size and curvy clothes, such as FashionNova, Pretty Little Thing, and Boohoo. Almost all of her work in the fashion industry has been commercial (except for some runway opportunities with the more body inclusive cousin to New York Fashion Week: Swim Week).
When I saw that Sofia Jamora was invited to attend castings I hoped that she would book the show and add some body diversity to the runway with her curves. However, Sofia was weeded out and did not get a callback, something I hope did not have to do with her curves. The team behind Victoria’s Secret is known to make their decisions on models based on whether or not they fit the aesthetic or general feel for that year’s show, so hopefully their decision to not include Sofia was based on that rather than her curves. One of the most well-known plus size models in the world, Ashley Graham, has voiced her opinion on the lack of plus size models in the Victoria’s Secret fashion show in the past, showing just how much of an issue this lack of inclusion is. I know of so many plus-size models that have killer walks and personalities that could truly rock the Victoria’s Secret fashion show and be role models for the girls that look like them — to show the world that beauty and sexiness have no weight or size.
As mentioned earlier, no non-cisgender women were invited to attend the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show castings this year. Not even after, Leyna Bloom, a black and transgender model, made headlines after speaking on her push to become the first transgender model of color to walk the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, earlier this year.
Leyna was not even invited to attend castings, which shows blatant exclusivity on Victoria’s Secret’s team’s part. With the rise of acceptance and representation of transgender people in the media in recent years, many transgender models have been breaking barriers in the fashion industry. In addition to Leyna, there are so many transgender models that have amazing walks and personalities that could truly reinvent this show and show the world that not only cis gender women are beautiful and sexy. It would be so touching and empowering to have transgender women walking the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, allowing transgender women to feel represented and accepted in a space where they have been historically excluded.
We see Victoria’s Secret’s models on posters in our malls, pop-up advertisements on our computer screens, and billboards on our streets — virtually everywhere. Every November, we see the Victoria’s Secret models gracefully strut down the runway for Victoria’s Secret’s annual fashion show, capturing everyone’s attention and exemplifying what the world finds sexy. However, these models that are considered some of the most beautiful women on the planet, lack of inclusiveness when it comes to featuring models of bigger sizes and different genders. Victoria’s Secret needs to do better and start promoting beauty in not just skinny bodies and cis gender women. Every woman deserves a pair of wings.
Image: Donna Moderna


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Maxus - Powermat
by Aug 17, 2009, 3:45 PM
Maxus was awarded media responsibilities in the U.S. and the U.K. for Powermat, a wireless charging system that eliminates the need for multiple chargers. The agency won strategic planning, implementation and digital responsibilities following a multi-agency review. The agency's work will begin with the product's fall launch via a multimedia marketing effort.


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- Jacob Aere
Crown Ace hardware store in Encinitas to close
ENCINITAS — Since 2010, Crown Ace Hardware has delivered household tools and appliances to the Encinitas community.
But inadequate parking at Pacific Station on the South Coast Highway 101 contributed to a dwindling customer base, forcing the hardware store to permanently shut its doors next month, according to a company statement.
“Unfortunately the parking in this location was a significant challenge which had a direct impact on our business,” said Mark Schulein, president of Crown Ace Hardware. “We’ve been proud to serve our customers in this location for the last ten years and have built meaningful relationships with the community. We are sad to be leaving.”
Schulein said the store will offer discounts on most of its inventory during the next four weeks of operations.
Ace Hardware will continue to serve customers in the San Diego area at locations in Clairemont and Carlsbad, as well as online.
The company is also working with employees at the Encinitas location to find new job opportunities at other Ace Hardware stores in San Diego.


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China announces it seeks 'calm' end to trade war, as markets tank and currency hits 11-year flatline
Added 08-26-19 01:29:01am EST - “China signaled on Monday it was now? seeking a rapid end to its trade war with the U.S., as Asian markets crumbled and China's currency plummeted to an 11-year low following the latest tariffs announced last Friday by the Trump administration.” - Foxnews.com
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The Heritage Foundation research fellow James Roberts weighs in on President Trump's approach to trade policy with China.
China signaled on Monday it was now seeking a "calm" end to its ongoing trade war with the U.S., as Asian markets crumbled and China's currency plummeted to an 11-year low following the latest tariffs on $550 billion in Chinese goods announced last Friday by the Trump administration.
News of the possible opening in negotiations came shortly after President Trump threatened to declare a national emergency that would result in American businesses freezing their relationships with China. Trump's tariff barrage on Friday was a response to China imposing its own retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion in U.S. goods.
At the Group of Seven summit in France on Sunday, White House officials rejected suggestions the president was wavering and insisted that his only regret was not implementing even more tariffs on China. Trump wrote on Twitter that world leaders at the G-7 were "laughing" at all the inaccurate media coverage of the gathering.
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Customers of Mobil Corp. will be able to buy gas with the wave of a key ring when they apply for Speedpass.
To make fill-ups more convenient, the oil company is employing the same payment technology that lets cars drive through toll booths without stopping.
Customers eligible for the Mobil Speedpass will receive a free key ring equipped with a radio frequency transponder that communicates with the pump.
"Mobil has been a leader in terms of technological innovation, like POS at the pump," said Benjamin Miller, chairman of Cardtech/Securtech, the Rockville, Md.-based conference company. "This is a way to push it to the next level."
The customer holds the key ring toward the pump, fills up, and drives away. The gadget on the ring activates the pump and transmits account information to it.
The sale is charged to a credit or debit card designated when the consumer applies for the high-tech device. But for security purposes, the card number is not relayed over the airwaves.
A pilot program, which began in Austin, Tex., in early 1996, is now being rolled out nationwide. The company expects to issue one million Speedpasses by yearend.
A spokeswoman said Mobil is offering the loyalty program to make life easier for customers. "If they appreciate the speed they'll come back to Mobil stations," she said.
The company would not divulge the cost of rolling out the program. The proprietary technology was developed by Texas Instruments and the Wayne division of Dresser Industries.


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We didn’t go away for the weekend. No drive to the mountains or the shore for us this year. We’ve stayed put, right here in HoCo.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to get away and I enjoy that as much as anyone but it’s also nice to opt out of the holiday travel weekend scene. It’s also a lot quieter around here with so many people on the road. According to this story by Benjamin Ford in The Gazette, “AAA Mid Atlantic is projecting that more than 32.1 million travelers nationwide will take a trip for the holiday weekend, up 5.4 percent from last year, as people see encouraging signs in the economy, said Ragina C. Averella, manager of public and government affairs at AAA Mid-Atlantic.”
“Nearly 90 percent of the trips are by car and the average distance traveled will be 626 miles, according to the AAA study.”
Our cars haven’t gone over twenty miles since Friday night.
And while it wouldn’t be accurate to say things are dead in HoCo this weekend, crowds are noticeably lighter within that twenty mile world we’ve seen these past two days.
Yesterday, our community pool was virtually empty though today is was noticeably busier.
After a bike ride this afternoon, Peanut and I stopped by Rita’s on Frederick Road around 1:30 PM today and we were the only ones there. No waiting in line…sweet.
In about an hour we’ll join our neighbors for a little cookout and conversation. The kids will freely roam about in familiar territory and nobody will have to drive home.
The best thing though, is that tomorrow, we won’t have to worry about packing up and getting back on the road. We can sleep as late as we want to.
High School Highlights
6 hours ago


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The most influential Megatrends set to shape the world through 2030, identified by Euromonitor International, help businesses better anticipate market developments and lead change for their industries.Learn More
Online marketing is entering a new stage of development, as Internet users overexposed to display ads are rebelling against traditional online advertising formats. Native advertising, a form of discreet marketing that does not interfere with the user experience, is increasingly becoming a more palatable and acceptable alternative. In an Internet environment where consumers are inundated with marketing messages, competition for views and click-throughs is intense, especially in segments such as social media and video-sharing, which are almost entirely dependent on ad revenues. Implementing a lucrative ad strategy is a process that can either pay major dividends in opportunities or alienate users altogether.
Source: Euromonitor International from World Association of Newspapers
The global online adspend market has recorded remarkable expansion, growing by 72.6% in real terms over 2008-2013 to reach US$81.9 billion and far outpacing traditional mediums. One of the key drivers has been the ability of online content to adapt and evolve with Internet user trends quickly, much more proficiently than TV or print. However, Internet users have become more cynical and ad-savvy, with interruptions to their online experiences unlikely to be rewarded and more likely to be ignored. More difficult still is the transfer from a service with no ads to a sudden overexposure to advertising that leaves users frustrated. Traditional formats such as banners and pop-ups are becoming ineffective.
The solution increasingly rolled out by marketers and online services is native advertising, which at best engages with the user and at worst does not prove irritating, which could potentially damage a brand. Ultimately, it is a format that is specifically tailored to work alongside the product.
Microblogging platform Twitter underlined its intention to rollout native advertising by purchasing specialist in the segment Namo Media in June 2014, as the brand seeks a consumer-friendly transition to advertising content. Appealing to the world’s projected 2.9 billion Internet users in 2014 is paramount for any mass-market online product. Opportunities are considerable for online services to capture more users through native ads, while providing marketing agencies with another tool to deliver results. Trade sources forecast that US$3.0 billion will be annually invested in native advertising globally by 2016.
However, native strategies are inherently complex, balancing tactfulness with impact. For some forms of marketing, such as sales and discounts where the goal is to attract immediate attention, native offerings can be too nuanced. Consumers also face the risk of being duped into committing to content that is not clearly defined as sponsored, depending on the ethical execution of the publisher. Nonetheless, as users become more sophisticated, especially in increasingly digitalised and population-heavy emerging markets, more marketers and online platforms are set to go native.


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For decades now, piracy has remained a lingering problem that software companies have tirelessly and unsuccessfully tried to eliminate. So whether it’s a college student downloading a cracked version of Photoshop or an entire small business skirting around the licensing rules of pricey enterprise software, piracy, for many companies, simply remains an unfortunate cost of doing business. In fact, it’s estimated that nearly 40% of all software installed on PCs across the world hasn’t been “properly licensed.”
For as long as I can remember, thepiratebay.se has been the place to go for illegal torrents. But a ruling handed down by Sweden’s court of appeal says that those domain names are going to be handed over to the Swedish government, and you can bet that they’re not fans of illicit Game of Thrones.
The ruling from Sweden’s Court of Appeals upholds a ruling from the Stockholm District Court from last year. The case was actually against Punkt SE (IIS), Sweden’s domain-name authority, which has ultimate control over all .se addresses. The prosecution charged that because thepiratebay.se and piratebay.se were being used for illegal content, the domains should be suspended, and IIS held responsible for damages.
Oh goody: A recent WikiLeaks document dump of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement reveals that the deal compels Internet service providers to hand over the identities of copyright infringers to rights holders. ZDNet has done a very thorough deep dive through the leaked documents and has found that ISPs are about to be responsible for keeping track of which of their customers frequently infringe upon copyrighted material and for reporting those infringing users to content creators. More →
With an intuitive and easy to use interface, Popcorn Time has become the go-to service for users who, let’s be honest, want to pirate TV shows and movies. Underscoring how much easier the service is to use than traditional BitTorrent clients, the ascension of Popcorn Time has resulted in an absolute explosion in piracy since its 2014 launch. Norway in particular has experienced a huge increase in piracy, with some estimates claiming that 15% of the population there has viewed pirated content within the last 12 months.
Not all that long ago, downloading pirated movies was something left to technically savvy folks who knew their way around a BitTorrent client. Originally launched in 2014, Popcorn Time, often described as a Netflix for pirates, instantly changed that by providing an easy to use and intuitive platform that lets users stream movies from within a web browser or a smarpthone app.
The biggest barrier for cord cutters today remains the same as it was a month ago and a year ago: live TV. Eliminating your standard pay TV subscription means relying on on-demand services such as Netflix and Hulu, which are both fantastic solutions for streaming TV shows and movies. But with only a few exceptions such as HBO Now and WatchESPN that are only available to a limited number of people who subscribe to certain services, cord cutters cannot watch most live broadcasts.
Now, however, there’s a pirate TV service that aims to change that — and as of Monday, it’s home to well over 500 channels of free streaming content. More →
We’re not going to ruin your day with any Game of Thrones spoilers here, but rest assured it may be hard to avoid them elsewhere. In a piece of news that should surprise no one, Sunday night’s Game of Thrones finale set an all-time piracy record, according to a report from Torrent Freak.
Over the past few months we’ve documented HBO’s ongoing struggle to battle Game of Thrones piracy, an arguably winless battle that has seen the cable television network go after not only bars, but individual pirates as well.
In a sign that Netflix is now officially in the big leagues itself, the online streaming site is facing a piracy battle all its own. CNN reports that Netflix is trying to clamp down on the ever-increasing number of sites which are streaming illegal copies of the recently released third season of Orange is the New Black.
Et tu, Google?
With piracy running rampant these days, we’re starting to see content producers and owners going after pirates via each suspected individual’s specific ISP. HBO, for instance, began employing this strategy not too long ago in a rather unsuccessful effort to quell Game of Thrones piracy.
The messages that content producers relay to end users through individual ISPs can vary. In some instances it’s just a warning. In others, automatic fines with settlement demands are levied. While most ISPs have no problem passing along warnings to suspected pirates, most opt not to pass along threatening settlement demands. Even Comcast, which is no stranger to questionable customer service practices, sides with the consumer on this particular issue.
But Google, oddly enough, has chosen to take a different approach.
History has shown that any effort aimed at eradicating piracy via brute force is destined to fail. Arguably, the only way to truly stem piracy is to, quite simply, embrace the notion that piracy exists and subsequently do everything in your power to deliver a product or service that’s fundamentally more appealing than scouring the depths of BitTorrent.
Apple successfully implemented this strategy when it introduced the iTunes Music Store, instantly making the digital download experience a much safer and simpler endeavor than acquiring music through illicit means.
Not only is HBO’s Game of Thrones the most torrented show on TV today, the show’s season 4 finale has the bittersweet distinction of being the most pirated episode in TV history.
Historically, HBO has played nice with pirates. Whether its turning a blind eye towards BitTorrent or even ignoring the widespread sharing of HBO Go credentials, some folks at HBO, to their credit, view piracy as a tool to drum up even more interest in an already successful show.
To wit, Game of Thrones Director David Petarca once said of rampant GOT piracy, “I think it really raises the profile of the show and raises the profile of HBO in general… It really helps the show’s cultural buzz, and it does not impact the bottom line because HBO has more than enough money to keep making the show.”
But even HBO has to draw the line somewhere.
Hollywood hasn’t had much luck curtailing movie piracy over the past several years, but a new draft of anti-piracy legislation could be a frightening sign of things to come as studios and executives run out of options. TorrentFreak reports that the Australia Screen Association is heading up the draft, but Disney, Paramount, Sony, Universal and the Motion Picture Association are just a few of the other names attached to the legislation. More →


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In significant relief to local dealers complaining of too much of compliances under Goods and Service Tax (GST), the deadline of December 31 to file the GST annual return has been extended by three months to March 31 2019.
According to a statement made by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, the due date for filing Form GSTR-9, GSTR-9A and GSTR-9C has been extended till March 31 2019.
While Form GSTR 9 relates to the filing of annual return, GSTR-9C concerns the reconciliation statement and GSTR-9A has to be filled by dealers under composition scheme.
All dealers whose turnover is above Rs two crore have to file a reconciliation statement that is required to be certified by a chartered accountant. It is estimated that 25 per cent of dealers in the state have turnover above Rs two crore and required to file the reconciliation or audit statement (form GSTR- 9C.”
Dealers in the state were earlier complaining of bunching of compliances in the month of December and filing of lengthy returns becoming a time consuming process. Dealers said that, the format of filing the tax return was also not uploaded on the GST website.
One dealer who spoke to the Navhind Times said that, the deadline had to be extended as the form was not uploaded on the website. He added, “The extension in deadline was more because the GST software was not ready.”
The demand to extend the deadline was also at the all-India level by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) which asked the government to forward the last date.
On the other hand, reacting to complaints from local dealers, a senior official of the commercial tax department said that, the filling of the GST annual annual report is not as cumbersome as it is made out to be. “Most of the information is reconciliation of the past information. The figures are auto-generated and only 10 per cent of the data has to be filled by the tax payer,” said the official. He added that, even the audit report is not a new thing because all dealers for income tax reason had to get their income statement audited by chartered accountants. “The audit report is not a separate exercise as in the past all businessmen (with turnover above Rs two crore) had their accounts audited by CAs,” he said.
Meanwhile the requisite forms will be made available on the GST common portal shortly, said sources.


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Australia Adds Vape Graphic Warnings
Australia will extend the requirement for manufacturers to print graphic health warnings on tobacco products to e-cigarettes, according to reports by CityNews and News. Manufacturers have until April 1, 2024, to roll out “repulsive” new health warnings on cigarette and vape packets. Retailers will be given a further three months to update their stock as new warning labels are gradually rolled out.
On Dec. 7, the country’s federal parliament passed a law with measures to discourage smoking and vaping. Among other provisions, the legislation updates the health warnings on cigarette packages, standardizes the design and appearance of cigarette filters and applies tobacco advertising restrictions to vapor products.
Earlier, Australia had announced a ban on single-use vapes that will take effect at the start of 2024. Starting in March, it will also be illegal to import or supply vapes that don’t comply with standards from the medical regulator. Doctors and nurses would still be able to prescribe therapeutic vapes as a tool to help smokers quit.
Health Minister Mark Butler said the new smoking laws would save lives.
“Tobacco has caused immeasurable harm and cost us countless lives in this country,” he told parliament. “We can’t stand by and allow another generation of people to be lured into addiction and suffer the enormous health, economic and social consequences.”
About 20 percent of Australian 18-year-olds to 24-year-olds vape while about one in seven 14-year-olds to 17-year-olds use the product.
Source: Tobacco Reporter


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Why Uncharted 4 Might Not Generate A Sales Surge For PS4
It's undeniably one of PlayStation's most important franchises. One wonders how PS3 might've fared without it, honestly.
But in looking at next year's impending launch of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, I'm not sure we should be surprised if it doesn't generate a big ol' sales spike in PS4 hardware.
Let's be logical about this: First off, a lot of people have already jumped into this generation; don't forget that it's well over two years old now and there have been many reasons to pick up a PS4. I very much doubt a ton of gamers have been holding out for Uncharted 4. Secondly, it's likely that even the die-hard fans already own the console, and not only because of anticipation. This game was supposed to come out this fall and has since been delayed twice; my guess is a lot of people are just tired of waiting.
Thirdly, there are indeed a ton of great exclusives coming our way next year, and that includes potential masterpieces like Horizon: Zero Dawn, The Last Guardian and Gran Turismo Sport. I'm sure Uncharted 4 remains atop many a PlayStation fan's priority list but like I said, they've either already got the PS4 or they're planning to get it for lots of other games. Either way, there's no guarantee that PS4 sales will rise on the strength of Naughty Dog's latest alone.
Of course, that doesn't mean Sony won't dominate the sales charts in 2016. Because they will. ;)
Related Game(s): Uncharted 4
12/30/2015 9:44:23 PM Ben Dutka


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Energy suppliers to undergo financial stress testing to prevent future collapse
Image credit: Dreamstime
Energy suppliers are set to undergo financial stress testing from January 2022 under new rules from Ofgem that aim to avoid a recurrence of the collapse in energy suppliers due to high prices in autumn and winter this year.
The regulator wants to measure supplier’s resilience against a range of scenarios and will agree an improvement plan for companies to address any concerns should they come up, particularly where consumers are at risk.
According to analysts at Investec last month, consumers in England, Scotland and Wales could be forced to pay £3.2bn to cover the costs left behind by 26 gas and electricity providers that went bust in the wake of the high prices.
Ofgem believes its new reforms will help to bolster risk management in the sector, protecting the interests of consumers and strengthening the resilience of the energy market.
As well as the financial stress testing for suppliers from January, supplier executive boards will also be required to undertake self-assessments of their management control frameworks and strengthening existing controls on “fit and proper” requirements.
They will also be consulting on requiring suppliers to pause expansion until Ofgem is satisfied that they are financially resilient before they grow beyond certain milestones such as 50,000 and 200,000 customers.
It is also seeking views on whether to make changes to the price cap so that it is better suited to volatility in the energy markets, whilst still retaining its benefits for consumers.
The price cap was one reason why so many suppliers collapsed this year, as they were forced to charge consumers much less for the energy they were using than the wholesale price.
Jonathan Brearley, chief executive of Ofgem, said: “Ofgem has worked hard to protect consumers as gas prices have risen by over 500 per cent in under a year. We have ensured that over four million customers of failed suppliers have stayed on supply, household credit balances have been protected, and all customers have been protected by the price cap from fast and extreme price rises this winter.
“Today, I’m setting out clear action so that we have robust stress testing for suppliers so they can’t pass inappropriate risk to consumers. I want to see more checks on staff in significant roles and better use of data to help us regulate. We need a regime that can enable a sustainable market, to promote our transition to net zero.
“Our priority has been, and will always be, to act in the best interests of energy consumers. The months ahead will be difficult for many and we are working with the government and energy companies to mitigate the impact as much as we can, particularly for the most vulnerable households.”
In October, Which? said that consumers should be given more information about where green energy suppliers source their electricity and gas supplies, in order to prevent greenwashing.
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Online grocer BigBasket’s net losses trebled to Rs 60 crore in the year to March 2015 while revenues more than doubled to Rs 170 crore. In FY14, the e-tailer, which follows an inventory-led model, had posted a loss of Rs 21.60 crore on the back of revenues of Rs 70 crore, according to the filings with the Registrar of Companies.
The e-retailer is understood to be targeting a presence in 50 cities with a monthly revenue run rate of $1 billion in 2016; currently it operates in eight cities and the revenue run rate in August was $100 million. While grocery constitutes the biggest chunk of the Indian retail market at 48%, analysts believe this is a tall ask. “We believe this tenfold increase in revenue within a year could be hard to achieve primarily as customers in smaller towns may not easily shift from their local retailer and building localised offerings — incorporating local tastes — may take time,” Kotak Institutional Equities wrote in a recent report.
The size of the Indian grocery market is pegged at Rs 20 lakh crore. The opportunity for organised (including online) grocery retailers is seen at Rs 3.4 lakh crore based on the needs of cities with a population of 1 million-plus. However, with thousands of mom-and-pop stores as also organised players like Spencer’s, Reliance Fresh and Food Bazaar in the segment, competition is already keen and only increasing with Amazon entering the space.
BigBasket, which maintains its stocks and supply chain competes with a Grofers, which follows an inventory-less or aggregator model, tying up with existing shops to supply to consumers. Analysts believe that while the inventory-led model appears to have a better margin profile at the current levels of scale — 10,000-20,000 orders a day — should the scale rise tenfold, the inventory-less model could deliver better margins since the biggest cost — delivery — could fall dramatically.
In October last year, BigBasket closed $18-million in funding from Sands Capital Management and about $50 million in August from existing investor Bessemer Ventures. It has raised $120 million so far, and plans to raise another $150 million over the next two years. “We would like to remain the market leader in this segment, and we welcome competition as it would help in opening up the markets faster,” BigBasket’s CEO Hari Menon had told FE earlier. The company is eyeing a $1-billion valuation over the next 18 months. The company is also faced with a challenge in retaining the blue-collar workforce, a segment in which it is facing 10-15% attrition.


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10 Notable Takeaways From Apple's Quarterly Earnings Call
A September To Remember
Apple had its September quarter earnings call Monday evening, in which it discussed its better-than-expected results.
The period included Apple's launch of the iPhone 6 in several countries, the Retina MacBook Pro and iOS 8.
The company also announced in September Apple Pay and the Apple Watch at the iPhone 6 event.
Those product releases were followed up in October with the unveiling of new iPads, iMacs and OS X Yosemite.
Company CEO Tim Cook chatted up the strides made during the quarter, defended falling tablet sales and gave a glimpse into Apple's future during the call.
Impressive iPhone Sales
Fueled by the mid-September release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple set a record for the quarter by selling 39.27 million iPhones, up 16 percent from last year's 33.8 million. The sales result also beat out analysts' expectations of 38 million.
To make this number even more impressive, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were not released in many major international markets prior to the end of the quarter, including China, the largest smartphone market in the world. It wasn't until Oct. 17 that the iPhone 6 expanded to these markets.
"We are in the early going, and we are selling everything we are making," said Cook of the iPhone 6 sales during the call. "But I've never felt so great after a launch before."
iPad Sales Continue To Slide
It wasn't all good news for Apple, as the record setting iPhone sales made up for the ever-dipping iPad numbers.
iPad sales declined for the third straight quarter. The company sold 12.3 million iPads between July and September, down 13 percent from the year-ago period.
Cook responded to the falling numbers calling it a "speed bump" before adding "[it's] not a huge issue."
Apple recently released the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 on Friday, and Cook said during the call that he believes Apple Pay will help the company sell more devices. The new mobile payment platform launched Monday and so far both new iPhone models and the new iPads with Touch ID support it.
Apple-IBM Ready To Roll
Cook revealed during the earnings call that the first products from Apple's partnership with IBM will be ready to hit the market at the beginning of November, saying the deal "could change the way people work."
And he added the mobile enterprise --which the partnership is expected to bring Apple into -- has yet to be fully tapped when it comes to the iPad.
Apple and IBM revealed the partnership in July, and Cook (pictured here with IBM CEO Ginni Rometty) said in the company's previous earnings call that it was the dipping iPad sales that lead to the IBM deal.
IBM is expected to make over 200 business-oriented applications for iOS devices as part of the partnership. Cook did not give any details as to what exactly will be released in November.
The Mac Is Back
Apple sold 5.52 million Macs in the September quarter, up from 4.6 million a year ago.
Cook said he was especially proud of these numbers noting that worldwide PC sales have declined, yet Macs grew by over 20 percent for its highest quarterly market share since 1995.
The boost in Mac sales came from a very successful back-to-school season, Cook said, as all Macs, especially MacBooks, did exceptionally well with back-to-school buyers.
"I think if you went out to college campuses about now, you'd see a lot of Mac notebooks based on the sale," Cook said. "Being up 21 percent as the market is shrinking, it doesn’t get better than that."
Apple released its new Retina 5K iMacs just last week to prepare for the holiday quarter.
Apple Sets New Earnings Record
Cook had a lot to be happy about during the earnings call as his company reported a net profit of $8.5 billion for the September quarter, up from $7.5 billion last year. That equates to $1.42 per share for the recently-ended quarter, which came in above the $1.31 analysts expected.
Apple reported $42.1 billion in sales, up from $37.5 billion a year ago, and higher than the $40 billion Wall Street analysts expected.
iTunes Sales Up
Apple's ever-growing ecosystem continued to do well as the company posted record numbers in multiple categories, including iPhone sales.
The iTunes store had sales valued at $4.6 billion, up from $4.3 billion in the year-ago period.
Cook boasted that Apple's revenue from iTunes alone was more than two-thirds of the companies that make up the Fortune 500 list.
As more users choose to adopt iOS devices, more Apple products are being sold from the iTunes Store and the App Store. Apple's ecosystem is expected to grow even more with the release of Apple Pay and next year's rollout of the Apple Watch.
The company expects to pull in revenue between $63.5 billion and $66.5 billion in the current quarter, which includes the holiday selling season. To put it in perspective, Apple reported revenue of $57.6 billion last year. Even the low-end of the current quarter guidance would be an all-time record for the tech giant.
With Apple now selling the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in more international markets, the new iPads being released, Apple Pay gaining wider adoption, the new iMacs hitting store shelves and iOS devices gaining more of a presence in the mobile enterprise as part of the IBM partnership, Cook has big expectations for the holidays.
Cook On Apple Pay
Cook talked up his company's new mobile payment platform during the earnings call this week, describing it as a more convenient way to pay for items that offers greater security and privacy. Cook said Apple does not track user's purchases, meaning Apple doesn't know what a user has bought with Apple Pay, and he sees that as an appealing aspect of the platform for users.
He added that the company doesn't charge customers or merchants for using Apple Pay, and that it accepts an undisclosed amount from banks that issue the debit and credit cards used.
The Apple Watch, Apple's first wearable device, is slated for release early next year.
When speaking of Apple Pay and the Apple Watch, Cook said the two products expand the Apple ecosystem and referred to them several times as "something only Apple can do."
When speaking of the watch, Cook revealed his intent for secrecy, saying he doesn't plan to reveal the device's sales numbers at all next year.
The company has lumped the Apple Watch into a category with iPods and Apple TV, saying that it is not a sign that they are expecting weak sales, but a tactic to hide its sales numbers from competitors.
Cook did little expounding on his comments during his interview with Charlie Rose on PBS last month where he stated, "There are products we're working on that no one knows about, yes. That haven't been rumored about yet."
Cook acknowledged during Monday's call that future products are coming and they will expand the Apple ecosystem. He said "I'm not giving any hints," before teasing analysts and investor on the call by saying, "I'm incredibly optimistic about the future," and later added, "there's no other company that can do this … Apple's creative engine has never been stronger."


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Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) blocks more malicious sites and malware than any other browser, including its predecessor IE8, according to a report released Tuesday.
Google is continuing its push for business customers by adding policy features to the Chrome browser, giving IT shops the means to manage Chrome in Windows, Mac and Linux environments.
Microsoft on Wednesday showed how Facebook friends will be able to influence Bing users' search results, as part of a wide-ranging update on search that also included developments for its image, maps and mobile services.
Oracle on Wednesday announced Cloud Office 1.0, a Web-based productivity suite that is set to give online applications from Microsoft and Google a fresh dose of competition.
Cloud computing is set to transform the use of databases within enterprises. According to a Database Trends Survey, more than a third of database professionals think that cloud computing is to have the most transformational effect on database technol...
10 years after it launched its first tablet PC, Microsoft is still struggling to come up with a hit product in the category. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Apple managed to sell more than seven million iPads in just a few months. But Microsoft...
Microsoft is expected to offer a first look at its forthcoming OS, Windows 8, on a tablet PC at the onsumer Electronics Show next year.
At next month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft will demonstrate a number of new Windows-run tablets and possibly even an early version of the next generation Windows 8 operating system, according to reports.
Microsoft today patched 40 vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer (IE), Office, SharePoint and Exchange, including nine pegged "critical."
Self-service tools are becoming a must-have for successful BI vendors.
Much as coelacanths have changed only slightly despite millions of years of evolution, some bundled Windows apps have scarcely progressed since the dawn of Microsoft's operating system. Today's Notepad text editor, for one, barely differs from the 19...
A company using crowdsourcing methods to challenge patents has targeted three mobile e-mail patents held by NTP, a Virginia company that has filed more than a dozen infringement lawsuits in the past four years.
For a brief period this week, cybercriminals managed to infect Google's and Microsoft's online ad networks with malicious advertisements that attacked users' PCs, according to security consultancy Armorize.
A prominent Wall Street analyst declared Friday that Windows Phone 7 has seen a "successful launch" and that Microsoft will heavily market the new platform further, leading to a possible pitched battle against Android smartphones that would leave the...
At a tech conference in Paris on Friday, a Microsoft executive confirmed that the company made a failed bid to buy Facebook three years ago.
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Frustrated hybrid driver sues Honda claiming mileage ratings are inflated
WASHINGTON -- Facing $3-a-gallon gasoline prices in California last year, John True decided to stop driving his Mercedes-Benz E320 and bought a
Impressed by the gas-electric hybrid's advertised mileage -- 49 miles per gallon in the city, 51 miles per gallon on the highway -- True plunked down $28,470, at least $7,000 more than for a comparable non hybrid Civic EX.
But after 6,000 miles of driving, True said he averaged just 32 miles per gallon in mixed city/highway driving. So in March, True, an Ontario, Calif., professional jazz piano player, filed a class-action lawsuit in U S District Court in Riverside, Calif., in what appears to be the first legal challenge of the mileage claims of hybrid vehicles.
True's frustration with the actual mileage of his hybrid vs. the advertised mileage echoes that of other owners, many of whom voice their complaints on online message boards, and reflects the findings of some independent tests, including one by Consumer Reports.
The lawsuit claims American Honda Motor Co. has misled consumers in its advertisements and on its website. The suit notes that while the Environmental Protection Agency and automobile window stickers say "mileage will vary," some Honda's advertisements read "mileage may vary." That implies that it's possible to get the mileage advertised, said William H. Anderson, a Washington, D.C., attorney for True.
One Honda magazine ad claimed owners could get up to 650 miles on a single tank of gas, while Honda's website features a fuel savings calculator that assumes hybrid Civic drivers will average 51 miles per gallon.
"This case does seek relief for tens of thousands of consumers like Mr. True, who purchased the HCH expecting to benefit from its 'remarkable' fuel efficiency, and paid thousands of dollars extra for an HCH that looks identical and performs basically the same as the non hybrid Honda Civic," said a June 4 court filing.
Honda and others note that EPA tests, which hadn't been revised in two decades, have overstated average fuel economy for all vehicles. Last year, the EPA said it was revising its testing procedures to better reflect real world driving conditions, beginning with the 2008 model year.
"I can tell you that the 49/51 figures are EPA numbers, not Honda numbers," Honda spokesman Sage Marie said earlier this month. "Some customers achieve the EPA mpg figures and some don't, as fuel economy performance is a function of conditions, traffic, driving style, load, etc."
He said the "vast majority of Civic hybrid customers are satisfied with the performance since it delivers consistently and substantially higher numbers than comparable non hybrid vehicles in the real world. It is possible to attain the EPA estimates, and customers do all the time."
Last month, Honda said it would stop selling the hybrid version of the Accord this year, citing slow sales. Sales of the hybrid Civic have been better. Through June, Honda has sold 17,141 Civic hybrids, up 7.4 percent over last year.
Anderson said True's legal team will begin the process of discovery, in an effort to determine how many complaints Honda has received and what the automaker's internal mileage testing shows.
"It's just dishonest to twist the numbers that they know people can't get," Anderson said. Just because the EPA conducts tests, it doesn't give Honda license to advertise fuel economy numbers that aren't achievable, he said.
Andrew Frank, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of California at Davis, and father of the plug-in hybrid, said drivers don't realize that aggressive driving dramatically reduces fuel economy, especially in hybrids.
"The hybrids are much more sensitive to the way you drive than a conventional car," Frank said.
Consumer Reports found in October 2005 that the Honda Civic hybrid averaged just 26 miles per gallon in city driving -- 46 percent below the EPA estimate. Other hybrids also averaged below estimates.
The new EPA tests -- unveiled in December -- will drop city fuel economy for all vehicles by an average of 12 percent and 8 percent for highways.


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Caterpillar Inc. CAT, -2.68% said Thursday it'll sell a 65% stake in Caterpillar Logistics Services LLC, the third-party logistics division of Caterpillar Logistics Inc., to Platinum Equity in a deal valued at $750 million. Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar will retain a 35% stake in the business.
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Pidge raises $3M led by Mountain Partners
SaaS startup Pidge has raised $3 million in a new funding round led by Mountain Partners, a European venture capital firm. Prior to the current round, the startup raised $1 million in a seed round in November 2021 from Indian Angels Network (IAN).
Pidge, a startup founded in 2019 by Ratnesh Verma and Rushil Mohan, has developed a hybrid fulfillment platform that combines SaaS and network capability.
The company claims its solution helps customers increase their revenue by ensuring no unfulfilled demand, reducing costs through optimized algorithms, and enhancing the customer experience with automated tracking, alerts, and notifications.
The startup claims to have enabled over 5 million deliveries and has over 400,000 network users.
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?Tinder are inquiring their people a concern each of us may want to start thinking about before dashing down a message on social media marketing: “Are you certainly you need to deliver?”
The matchmaking app established a week ago it will utilize an AI algorithm to scan personal emails and examine them against messages that have been reported for unacceptable code previously. If an email appears to be perhaps unacceptable, the app will show customers a prompt that requires these to think prior to striking give.
Tinder has been trying out formulas that scan personal information for unsuitable language since November. In January, it launched a feature that asks readers of probably creepy messages “Does this frustrate you?” If a user states certainly, the app will walk all of them through the process of revealing the content.
Tinder are at the forefront of social apps trying out the moderation of private emails. Additional systems, like Twitter and Instagram, bring launched similar AI-powered material moderation functions, but only for community blogs. Applying those exact same formulas to direct emails offers a promising option to combat harassment that usually flies according to the radar—but additionally increases concerns about individual privacy.
Tinder leads just how on moderating personal messages
Tinder isn’t the first system to inquire about consumers to consider before they post. In July 2019, Instagram began inquiring “Are your convinced you should posting this?” whenever its formulas recognized consumers were going to upload an unkind remark. Twitter started testing the same element in May 2020, which encouraged customers to imagine once more before uploading tweets the algorithms recognized as offensive. TikTok started inquiring people to “reconsider” possibly bullying statements this March.
Nevertheless is sensible that Tinder could be one of the primary to pay attention to customers’ exclusive information for the material moderation formulas. In online dating software, virtually all communications between consumers occur in direct information (although it’s definitely easy for customers to publish unacceptable images or text their public profiles). And studies have indicated a great amount of harassment occurs behind the curtain of personal information: 39% of US Tinder users (such as 57% of female customers) said they experienced harassment regarding the software in a 2016 Consumer Studies review.
Tinder promises this has viewed encouraging indications with its very early studies with moderating private emails. Their “Does this frustrate you?” element possess encouraged more folks to dicuss out against creeps, using range reported information increasing 46per cent following quick debuted in January, the company said. That period, Tinder furthermore started beta testing its “Are you sure?” function for English- and Japanese-language people. Following feature folded completely, Tinder states their algorithms identified a 10percent drop in inappropriate communications among those users.
Tinder’s approach may become a product for other biggest systems like WhatsApp, which includes encountered phone calls from some professionals and watchdog teams to begin with moderating exclusive communications to stop the scatter of misinformation. But WhatsApp and its moms and dad business Facebook haven’t heeded those telephone calls, partly caused by concerns about consumer privacy.
The confidentiality ramifications of moderating direct messages
The key matter to inquire about about an AI that screens private emails is whether it’s a spy or an associate, per Jon Callas, director of tech projects from the privacy-focused digital boundary base. A spy tracks talks secretly, involuntarily, and reports info back again to some main authority (like, for example, the formulas Chinese cleverness government use to track dissent on WeChat). An assistant try transparent, voluntary, and does not drip myself identifying facts (like, including, Autocorrect, the spellchecking pc software).
Tinder claims their content scanner just runs on consumers’ gadgets. The company accumulates private data about the content that typically can be found in reported communications, and sites a listing of those sensitive words on every user’s cell. If a user tries to submit a note which has one of those statement, their own telephone will place it and show the “Are your certain?” remind, but no facts in regards to the experience will get repaid to Tinder’s computers. No personal apart from the person is ever going to understand content (unless the person decides to send they in any event therefore the person reports the content to Tinder).
“If they’re carrying it out on user’s devices no [data] that gives out either person’s confidentiality goes returning to a central servers, so it actually is maintaining the personal framework of two different people having a discussion, that seems like a possibly reasonable program with regards to confidentiality,” Callas mentioned. But he also mentioned it’s crucial that Tinder become clear with its customers concerning the proven fact that it makes use of algorithms to scan their unique personal messages, and ought to offer an opt-out for users which don’t feel safe getting tracked.


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Seafood is the largest traded food commodity in the world. The amount coming from aquaculture production is increasing but nearly half the global supply comes from boats that go out and capture wild fish from the world's oceans, lakes and rivers. This is the only significant commercially traded protein source on earth that is still hunted in the wild.
And it's a remarkably self-sufficient and renewable food source. All we have to do is not destroy the habitat and not take too much fish each year. The fish will do the rest, replenishing their numbers between harvests.
But how do consumers know which fish stocks are protected in this way and environmentally safe to eat? Or if the fish they are told they are buying is, in fact, accurate? Mislabeling of seafood is all too common.
Seafood is a regular part of our national diet in the United States. While many people try to "buy local" and often confuse that with a guarantee of sustainability, Americans continue to import more than 90 percent of our seafood (some fish caught by U.S. fishermen is exported for processing and re-imported to the U.S.), at the same time exporting more than 63 percent per year to other countries. The numbers are staggering and make clear that safeguarding wild seafood supplies requires a global approach.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), more than 1 billion people depend on seafood for their sole or main source of protein. A half a billion people depend on it for their livelihood. For these people, fishing is a necessity, not a luxury. The alternative is economic collapse, poverty and hunger. Safeguarding the world's fish stocks is one of the most important global issues today. Some opinion leaders say it is second only to climate change. For the sake of environmental, economic and food security in both the developed and developing world, we can't afford to miss our opportunity to get it right. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) was established for this very purpose.
It began more than a decade ago when Canada's iconic Grand Banks cod fishery collapsed, putting 40,000 people out of work. Many working on these issues realized that advocacy and regulation alone were not moving things along quickly enough. Hundreds of experts around the world came together to help develop an innovative concept to harness the powerful force of the international marketplace to reward fisheries that fish sustainably and incentivize change by those who don't. They reached consensus on a rigorous, scientific global standard for determining the sustainability of fisheries -- from large industrial fisheries to small artisanal fishing communities. They created a traceability program to track seafood certified to the standard as it entered and traveled through the supply chain. The independent, nonprofit MSC was created to operate the program.
Today, the MSC is the world's leading certification program for wild seafood. More than 18,000 product lines in 106 countries bear the MSC eco-label, indicating the fish is from, and fully traceable back to, a sustainable fishery. More than 11 percent -- 10 million metric tons -- of the global wild-caught seafood harvest is either certified or in assessment to the MSC standard. In the U.S., more than half is certified. Even the scientists who predicted complete fishery collapse before mid-century have acknowledged a turnaround. The fishing industry and the thousands of businesses, from small, independent restaurants to multinational retail corporations like Walmart, Costco and Whole Foods Markets who have all committed to produce and source using the MSC standard, have made a difference. The trend line now is in the upward direction. The latest example is the decision made by McDonald's in the United States, which has sourced MSC certified sustainable Alaska pollock for several years to display the MSC ecolabel on its seafood offerings in all 14,000 U.S. restaurants as a way to engage its customers on sustainability.
In fact, consider the journey from ocean to table of one common whitefish, Alaska Pollock, the world's largest MSC-certified fishery and one of the best managed because of both its tracking and reaction to the fluctuations of the fish population. Alaska Pollock has been MSC-certified since 2005 and fishery managers have historically taken a precautionary approach, setting annual harvest levels that are even lower than the acceptable biological catch levels set by scientists.
Pollock and other whitefish are among the species considered at risk for substitution or mislabeling. Recently, the MSC conducted a comprehensive review of pollock supply chains from the U.S. source fishery into China where much of it is processed and back into global markets. MSC cross-checked the purchase, sale and processing information from 68 processors in China with sales records from exporters and purchase records from importers. The review covered over one year's worth of trade and a total of 18,000 tons of pollock exported from the U.S. No evidence of product substitution was found. Moreover, the most recent independent DNA testing indicates that the overall mislabeling rate for MSC certified products, from large industrial to small artisanal community fisheries globally is only about one percent.
When you see the MSC eco-label in your grocery store or on a restaurant menu, it not only means the fish you are buying is accurately identified. It represents a collective effort to address a global issue that affects the food security and livelihood of billions of people. As more fisheries and buyers join this global effort, the greater our chances of harvesting fish from our oceans indefinitely into the future.


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Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) today reported revenue of $2.0 billion, hard-drive unit shipments of 28.5 million and net income of $145 million, or $0.61 per share, for its second fiscal quarter ended Dec. 30, 2011. Excluding charges and expenses related to the Thailand flooding and the planned acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST), non-GAAP net income was $358 million, or $1.51 per share.(1) During the quarter, the company incurred charges and expenses of $199 million related to the flooding and expenses of $14 million associated with the planned acquisition of HGST.
In the year-ago quarter, the company reported revenue of $2.5 billion, net income of $225 million, or $0.96 per share, and shipped 52.2 million hard drives.
The company generated $378 million in cash from operations during the December quarter, ending with total cash and cash equivalents of $3.9 billion.
The company also announced it has made significant additional progress to restore its manufacturing capacity following the recent flooding in Thailand. It has continued to ramp HDD production in Thailand and yesterday resumed slider production which had been suspended since October 10. The company now believes its manufacturing capacity will be back to pre-flood capabilities in the quarter ending September 2012.
"We have made substantial progress in restoring WD's manufacturing capabilities in the aftermath of the historic flooding in Thailand, and this is reflected in our second quarter financial results and in the resumption of our operations there," said John Coyne, president and chief executive officer. "While much work remains to be done over the next several quarters to reach our pre-flood manufacturing capabilities, the progress thus far is significantly ahead of our original expectations and is a tribute to the dedicated and effective actions of our employees, contractors and Thai government agencies, the efforts of our supply partners and the support of our customers. We are grateful to all involved in this extraordinary effort."
The company's plan to complete the acquisition of HGST is on track to close by March 2012. The company continues to work on obtaining the regulatory approval of the transaction from the remaining government agencies.
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The only U.S. officials in Washington who are interested in talking to Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov these days, he says, are from the FBI, who are blanketing him and his staff with targeted social-media ads, inviting them to spy on Moscow.
“They send us messages—‘You have to betray your motherland!’” said Mr. Antonov, who has served as Moscow’s ambassador since 2017. The FBI confirmed the outreach campaign.
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Who Will Win The Future Of Payments?
SEPTEMBER 19, 2018
Autonomous payments is the future state of payments – and banks, merchants and payment vendors need to prepare now. Coupled with intensifying economic and political forces, consumers globally will see this new, but nonlinear evolution of payments emerge, where payments will melt into the wider commerce […]. ecommerce loyalty payments retail promoted


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Building on the success of last year’s event, The Access Group is pleased to announce the return of the free Access All Areas, running from 9-19 March 2021. Open to both customers and prospects, it will be packed with content, guest speakers, product experts and divisionally rich updates.
Registration is now open, and there are 14 streams for attendees to choose from. Those in the construction industry can benefit from two talks on Tuesday 16 March:
- A product spotlight on EasyBuild’s ERP
- A guest discussion panel providing valuable industry insights
The latter event includes our own Head of Construction, Carol Massay, as well as James Gent, Professor Ian Reeves CBE, Ian Cook and Andrew Rayner.
Other topics covered include HR, financial management software and education. What’s more, everyone will benefit from the plenary session on Tuesday 9 March with the keynote speaker Bruce Daisley, European VP for Twitter and best-selling author.
About Access All Areas
Taking place over ten days in March, Access All Areas is a free event that is open to all Access customers and other selected business professionals. The online event places no limit on the number of attendees, so everyone can access the streams they want to watch. In fact, if you miss one of the sessions, most of them will be available on demand afterwards.
With more than 4,500 attendees and over 80 sessions, Access All Areas is the perfect place to learn from industry experts and leaders. Start building your own agenda now.


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Investment sales volume continues to improve across multiple property sectors, according to NAIOP’s monthly Coronavirus Impact Survey.
All is far from rosy in the commercial real estate industry, however, as the office sector faces an increased challenge in rent collections.
The September study marks the sixth in a series of NAIOP Coronavirus Impact Surveys. “Different property types have performed so differently over the last six months,” Shawn Moura, research director with NAIOP, told Commercial Property Executive.
NAIOP queried 203 members for its September Coronavirus Impact Survey, securing the opinions of a range of industry professionals, including building owners and managers, developers, brokers, lenders and investors. On the transactions front, survey participants reported an increase in industrial, office and multifamily deals in September, with industrial leading the way with the greatest month-over-month rise in acquisitions.
Retail, however, continued to struggle the most in attracting investor interest. A total of 79.8 percent of respondents reported no retail deal activity at all in September, compared to the office, multifamily and industrial sectors, where a respective 42, 22 and 15 percent of respondents reported no deal activity.
With the exception of office assets, all sectors saw strong or improving rent collections. The industrial sector was at the forefront of the sectors once again, as the percentage of respondents reporting on-time collection rates of 90 percent or more increased to 90.4 percent month-over-month. Multifamily rent collections remained robust, holding steady at approximately 85 percent and retail rent collections improved, with more than 20 percent reporting on-time collection rates of 90 percent or more.
Conversely, collections in the office sector went on the downswing, with the segment of respondents reporting collection rates exceeding 90 percent dropping from 83.4 percent in August to 74.1 percent in September.
“The uptick in the number of respondents who reported that fewer than 90 percent of their office tenants had paid rent on time and in full was a bit surprising, as it reversed a trend toward more on-time rent collections,” said Moura. “There has been some concern among office building owners that more tenants would face financial headwinds the longer the recession lasts, but it is still too early to know whether this will be a notable trend in rent collections, or just a blip in the data.”
One (relatively) sure thing
The fact that the coronavirus is a completely unknown quantity hinders industry experts’ ability to anticipate the commercial real estate market’s path; however, there are a few likely trajectories.
“Industrial real estate will probably continue to outperform other asset classes as e-commerce sales continue to grow,” Moura said.
In terms of development activity, he noted that both industrial and multifamily have already rebounded, buoyed by strong pre-pandemic performances. But the future is less certain for office and retail development. “We likely won’t see a return to pre-pandemic levels of new office development until after the pandemic is no longer a major public health concern, and it is likely that retail will be the last sector to recover, given the challenges the sector faced before the pandemic,” Moura concluded.
Read the full report by NAIOP.


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ONTARIO COMPANY FINED FOR ILLEGALLY IMPORTING TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINES
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, October 17, 2005 - Shiyitang Herbs North America Inc., an Ontario company, plead guilty today in the Ontario Court of Justice in Mississauga on charges of illegally importing traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) said to contain derivatives made from Gastrodia orchids and Saiga Antelope horn. The company was fined a total of $1500.
An investigation conducted by Environment Canada's Wildlife Enforcement Division established that the accused unlawfully imported from China 20 cartons (1600 packages) of "Tianma Jiaonang" pills said to contain "Tianma," which refers to the Gastrodia Orchid, and 30 cartons (6000 packages) of "Niuhuang Jiangya Pian" pills said to contain Saiga Antelope. The total declared value of these 50 cartons was almost $3,700.
The accused did not have a Chinese CITES export permit, which is required to legally import the TCMs in question into Canada. Shiyitang Herbs North America, Inc. was ordered to pay a fine of $1200, including a mandatory victim surcharge of $300. The TCMs in question have been forfeited to the Crown.
All species of Orchids are listed under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Gastrodia orchids are listed in the threatened category of Appendix II. The Saiga Antelope, which is native to Western Europe and Asia, is also a threatened species listed under Appendix II of CITES. These species are protected under Canada's Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA) and its Regulations. WAPPRIITA is the legislative vehicle by which Canada meets its obligations under CITES.
The international trade in TCMs is a multi-million dollar a year industry. Hundreds of types of TCMs have been inspected on importation into Canada, with more than 600 of those said to contain more than 40 CITES-listed species of animals and plants. Many Canadian companies now obtain foreign CITES export permits to legally import these products, but several products are still being imported illegally. Environment Canada provides education to the companies who import TCMs and to practitioners who use these products.
Environment Canada is the lead agency responsible for implementing CITES on behalf of the Government of Canada. CITES sets controls, through a permit system, on the international trade and movement of animal and plant species that are endangered, or have been, or may be, threatened due to excessive commercial exploitation.


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In the new edition of his “Power On” newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says that when the Apple Vision Pro comes out next year, it it will offer three different types of apps:
- Unaltered iPad and iPhone apps that run as a window in visionOS without the developer doing any additional work.
- Converted iPad apps that run as a native visionOS app, requiring the developer to update the software’s user interface and to optimize it for a mixed-reality experience.
- Entirely new visionOS apps built from the ground up to work in both virtual and augmented reality. They will take advantage of the device’s high-resolution displays and its eye-and-hand controls. (Apple will try its best to spur the creation of these apps starting this month, when it begins letting developers apply to get their hands on the device early.)
“At the start, I expect most Vision Pro apps to center on video streaming. Disney+ is already slated to come to the Vision Pro, and Apple’s wide-ranging deal with Amazon probably means Prime Video will have a similar arrangement,” he writes. “Some productivity app developers — like Microsoft Corp. and Zoom Video Communications Inc. — have also committed to the platform.
However, Gurman says that Netflix currently has no plans to develop a native app for the Vision Pro. Apple previewed the US$3,499 (and up) “spatial computer” system at last month’s Worldwide Developer Conference. However, it won’t arrived until early 2024 — and, then, apparently, only in limited quantities.
If you like Gurman’s information, consider subscribing to Bloomberg.com. You’ll receive the “Power On” newsletter earlier and get exclusive access to a Q&A section.


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Applicable to Antec's Neo HE and TruePower Trio PSUs, they've just issued out an announcement which makes light of a now extended 5 year warranty slapped on'em for extra peace of mind.
Fremont, CA - September 6, 2006 - Antec, Inc., the leading global brand of high-performance computer components for the PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself markets, has announced that its premium power supply unit (PSU) lines have been upgraded to a Five-Year Warranty. Antec's high-efficiency Neo HE and TruePower Trio lines of PSUs will be warranted for five years from the date of purchase for parts and labor.
All Antec products have previously been backed by its industry-leading Three-Year Warranty. The new warranty will be retroactive to all selected PSUs purchased prior to the announcement of the new cover.
Last updated: Jun 16, 2020 at 04:29 pm CDT


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McDonald’s is planning on closing hundreds of stores to combat a nosedive in profits as competition heats up in the burger sector.
Kevin Orzan, McDonald’s chief financial officer, said underperforming branches would be shut. It closed 220 restaurants in the first three months of 2015, mostly in the US and China, and another 130 in Japan. This was on top of 350 planned closures. McDonald’s has 36,000 stores around the globe.
Why? McDonald’s is struggling to compete with smaller, more agile fast food chains like Shake Shack and Chipotle. It’s sales were down $5.9 billion in the first quarter, down 11 per cent on the same quarter last year.
2. They're selling fewer Big Macs
Sales of McDonald's in store are fell this year everywhere but Europe. Global sales were down 2.3 per cent, with big losses in Asia, the Middle East and Africa and in the US.
Even the closures and management reshuffles that go with them are costly, adding up to $200 million in charges.
McDonald's is still by far the biggest burger chain in the US, as the graph shows.
But continuing decline in profits is taking its toll.
The company is trying to combat an image problem with sentimental advertising and healthier food, including a promise to stop serving chicken raised on human antibiotics.
It is still seeing diners abandon its golden arches - not for the traditional rivals in the graph above - but for pricier options that is believed to be more wholesome. Shake Shack, for example, said it will soon serve hamburger and hot dog buns with non-genetically modified ingredients.
McDonald's also announced a pay rise - usually a good way to improve staff morale. But even that got accused of being a PR stunt when it turned out only 90,000 staff in company owned stores would benefit. The majority of workers at franchised McDonald's will still get the state and federal minimum wage.
It remains to be seen what else McDonald's plans to throw on the grill as it attempts to cook up a reversal of fortunes.
Unlike its indestructible burger, McDonald's fast food dominance is more fragile than it looks.
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This is the first true position of Google on the new Huawei and Honor smartphones, those launched after 16 May 2019, that is after the US government (due to a specific ban) has no longer allowed the giant Big G to “certify” new hardware for the Chinese manufacturer. In an official note issued just a few hours ago, the Mountain View company has clarified its position towards old and new hardware of the widespread brand, also triggering an alarm on the danger of continuing to use Google services such as YouTube and Gmail on devices where there is actually no authorization.
Google says and so far there is really nothing new that all Huawei smartphones launched before May 2019, at least for the moment, will continue to enjoy the support of services related to the Android world, therefore also of the Play Store and updates of security needed to correct more or less important threats. Therefore, those who own a device prior to the date already reported have nothing to fear.
Well other perspectives are to be clarified for the latest Huawei and Honor smartphones, that is, those launched after the fateful date of mid-May. All these devices are not Play Protect certified and therefore they are not subjected to a rigorous review and compatibility test process performed by Google. Mountain View cannot therefore provide any assurance that the new hardware will protect customers’ personal data and not expose them to risks.
A special study should be dedicated to Google apps such as YouTube and Gmail mainly which more than a few new owners of new Huawei smartphones proceed to upload to their phone in “sideload”. The practice should not be perpetuated as explained directly by Tristan Ostrowski, i.e. legal director for Android and Google Play. The operation could seriously endanger users’ privacy as these services are no longer “Play Protect” certified for the Chinese manufacturer’s phones. In a nutshell and not even too much between the lines, Big G has warned its customers, making it clear that any use of these tools will certainly be forced and unauthorized. Individual users will therefore decide for themselves the danger to be run or not.
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DES MOINES, Iowa — Families are still struggling to deal with a baby formula shortage, emptying shelves and leaving many uncertain where their next supply will come from. The latest data says 43% of baby formula brands are out of stock across the country.
Experts say that lack of access could have dire repercussions.
"I've been practicing for almost 20 years, and I haven't seen something like this in my career before," said Dr. Adam Brown, a pediatrician at the University of Iowa.
Iowa is being hit especially hard by the formula shortage, as one of six states missing over half of its supply of formula as of the end of April. For parents of young babies, that's plenty of reason to worry.
"I'd say that question came up from at least half the parents I've talked to this past time I was on," said Dr. Audrey Bush, a pediatric hospitalist with Blank Children's Hospital. "Questions about 'Are they going to be able to find what they need?' ... 'What other options are how they can safely provide for their baby?' So it's a big question that's come up for sure."
What are some of those other suggestions?
On social media, you might have seen people encouraging rationing the amount of formula you're giving your baby, or using water to dilute the formula. Doctors say you should not listen to those posts.
"You don't want to have a limited supply where you need to ration. That's not okay for your baby, you want to have the right amount on hand, you don't want to dilute it, you want to fix it as instructed on the label on the packaging," Brown said.
There is an important reason not to take any chances with how you prepare the formula: infants need a very specific amount of vitamins, protein, minerals and other nutrients to keep their growth on track. Improperly changing up their formula can have some devastating consequences.
"Unfortunately, it's really sad to say that I have seen deaths in the past from infants who have a formula that either doesn't have the right content in it or wasn't prepared appropriately," Bush said.
So what can you do if you aren't seeing your usual formula on store shelves? First and foremost, talk to your pediatrician. Most non-specialty baby formulas are pretty similar, and they can help recommend an alternative if yours isn't available.
"You can use a variety of different brands. And so going between the different brands, or even the store brands is all fine," Bush said.
Finally, when will this problem get better?
Local 5 spoke with a representative from the White House on Monday, who said the FDA is set to allow additional imports of baby formula from around the world to help make up the difference. The closed Abbott production facility in Michigan that produces so much formula domestically now, officially, has a path to reopen.
The FDA reported infant hospitalizations with salmonella and Cronobacter sakazakiim in February.
"We’ve agreed to enter into a consent decree – a legal agreement – with the FDA for our Sturgis, Mich., plant, a major step toward reopening our facility and helping to ease the infant formula shortage," the company tweeted Monday.
So while there is no exact timeline yet, help is on the way for families in need.