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Chinese company IHM Garments and Textile Company Limited is going to set up a garment factory in Ishwardi EPZ with an investment of $8.7 million US dollars. To this end, an agreement was signed between Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA) and IHM Garments and Textile Company Limited in Dhaka on 27 February.
Bepza Member (Investment Development) Ali Reza Mazid and IHM Company Chairman Yu Binbin signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations. Bepza Executive Chairman Major General Abul Kalam Mohammad Ziaur Rahman witnessed the signing ceremony.
This wholly foreign-owned company will produce 2.6 million pieces of woven tops and 10.6 million pieces of knit tops and pants for women, men and children annually. IHM Garments and Textile Company will create employment opportunities for 2457 Bangladeshi citizens.
Bepza Member (Engineering) Mohammad Faruque Alam; Member (Finance) Nafisa Banu; Executive Director (Administration) Md. Zakir Hossain Chowdhury; Executive Director (Public Relations) Najma Binte Alamgir; Executive Director (Investment Promotion) Md. Tanvir Hossain; Executive Director (Enterprise Services) Md. Khorshid Alam were present with others during the signing ceremony.


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According to EA CEO Andrew Wilson, FIFA 18 will once again feature The Journey with new characters and storylines.
Andrew made the announcement during the publisher’s Q3 financial meeting and talked about building upon the story mode which was introduced, for the first time in the franchise, with FIFA 17.
FIFA 18 will build on the foundation we created with story mode this year, bringing players back to The Journey with Season 2, featuring new characters and new storylines,
Our development team in Vancouver is delivering deeply innovative new experiences across this year’s game, including an Ultimate Team, and creating the most emotionally immersive and connected FIFA we have ever produced.
Considering the immense popularity of the FIFA franchise in general and the way FIFA 17 sold in huge numbers, making it the best-selling console game in 2016, a second season of The Journey for FIFA 18 makes sense.
Also See: FIFA Ultimate Team Championship To Begin In February 2017
EA’s CFO Blake Jorgensen mentioned that FIFA 17 is on course to the best-selling FIFA game of all time.
According to Wilson, despite being a new addition to the franchise, more than 10 million people played The Journey in FIFA 17.
The Journey, a single-player campaign mode, put players in the shoes of a young star, Alex Hunter, who is trying to make his mark on the Premier League. The players could choose their club at the start of the season and play in an upfield position only.
The decision to include a narrative in a FIFA game was meant to make fans feel a proper connection to the character they are controlling. For that very purpose, the story mode also had a dialogue wheel to use during interactions, similar to what has been seen in Bioware games.
There has been no official announcement or trailer with a release date regarding FIFA 18 but the game is definitely on the way and should be releasing in Q3 2017.

domain: news


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Just over a week before Mobile World Congress 2013 begins in Barcelona, the GSMA has been involved in the opening of another MWC.
This is the Mobile World Centre - officially known as the Mobile World Centre Barcelona Espacio Movistar - and, unlike Mobile World Congress, it’s designed for consumers as well as for people working in the mobile communications industry.
LG Electronics says it’s sold over 15 million smartphones in its Optimus L Series since launching them at Mobile World Congress last year, with one device being sold somewhere in the world every second during the past two months.
There’s now an upgraded range being prepared for an official launch at MWC 2013: the Optimus L SeriesII will comprise a number of devices with higher specifications than the original handsets and distinctive LED Lighting on the ‘home’ button.
Opera Software, best known for its PC and mobile web browsers, has acquired California-based rival Skyfire Labs.
Skyfire offers consumers a mobile browser that can handle Flash Video and a variety of other video formats. In addition, its ‘Rocket Optimizer’ software can be used by mobile operators to reduce the size of video and other multimedia material when mobile bandwidth is under demand.
Podcast - 15th February 2013
Truphone is a pioneer of internet calling via WiFi - and it's recently announced a new service that aims to integrate GSM calls with its VoIP app.
In this special programme we interview Truphone co-founder and CTO James Tagg about the company's plans.


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After remaining tight-lipped in the months after its (somewhat contentious) presentation E3, Microsoft has finally revealed a release date for the Xbox One. And, as expected the console will be ready for gifting this holiday season, as it hits shelves globally in 13 countries on November 22.
Xbox marketing executive Yusuf Mehdi confirmed the date after IGN reported that a number of U.K. retailers had announced on Twitter that the console would be on shelves. The worldwide release puts Microsoft at a disadvantage in the North American market and at an advantage everywhere else, as Sony announced during Gamescom that the PS4 would be available on November 15 in the states but international fans will have to wait until November 29.
Microsoft’s gaming division has struggled in the months since it unveiled Xbox One in May, losing its head Don Mattrick while fending off gamer outrage over unpopular policies. But the company has quelled strong emotions over time, with an especially strong showing (though without a keynote) at Gamescom, thanks to announcing a free copy of blockbuster soccer game FIFA 14 with every preorder and providing strong demos of exclusive games such as Ryse and Titanfall. Microsoft has been working hard to win over gamers, and now it has the opportunity to shift momentum into hype for the console’s release.
As Microsoft and Sony spar over which console will reign supreme this holiday season, there are still many more obstacles to cross before a winner can be declared. Most importantly, it’ll come down to the popularity of the launch titles for each console, and the impact of impressive hands-on previews.
But no matter who wins, families with a tradition of Black Friday shopping should brace themselves, because it’s bound to be crazy.


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Grassland donates butter to area food banks in support of COVID-19 relief efforts
An urgent, growing strain on local food banks has been a near-immediate result of the COVID-19 outbreak. To help address the need locally, Grassland Dairy is donating its household staple – butter – to area food pantries, including the Clark County Area Food Pantry and Resource Center, Colby Food Pantry, Feed My People Food Bank (Eau Claire), Fruit of the Vine Food Pantry, Gilman Future Farmers of America, Greenwood High School, Greenwood Missionary Baptist Church Food Pantry, Thorp Community Food Pantry, Trinity Vineyard Church, and Withee Community Alliance Church Food Pantry. Grassland Dairy has donated more than 10,000 pounds of butter across the U.S. during this diffi cult time.
According to a national survey by Feeding America of its affiliated food banks, there was a 92% increase in need and a 64% increase in overall food donations as of mid March. “The impact of this public health pandemic has been significant, and as we’ve seen across the country, there has been an immediate surge in the number of people who are now relying on their local food pantries,” said Trevor Wuethrich, president, Grassland Dairy. “We are living through a moment that is difficult in so many ways, which is why it’s so important that we all show kindness to each other and do what we can to help our communities,” he added.
Wuethrich added that by continuing to operate at full production capacity, Grassland has been able to maintain its volume of milk deliveries from hundreds of local dairy farms to each of its plants. “Our business begins on the farm,” Wuethrich said. “Like many of our farmer patrons, our family has been in the dairy business for generations. The economic shutdown, especially among schools, restaurants, and food service providers, has been devastating for many dairy farms, and we are committed to doing everything we can to support them,” he said.


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BlackBerry QNX is off to a great start at CES 2017. Today they announced what they are calling their “most advanced and secure embedded software platform for autonomous drive and connected cars,” which is also known as QNX SDP 7.0.
John Wall, Senior Vice President and Head... Read more →
BlackBerry QNX is making a lot of noise during CES 2017. BlackBerry QNX and Renesas Electronics America announced a new collaboration to develop an automative-grade technology platform for autonomous driving. Both BlackBerry QNX and Renesas put their joint autonomous driving technology platform... Read more →
Today, BlackBerry officially unveiled the BlackBerry QNX Autonomous Vehicles Innovation Centre (AVIC). This building will be apart of the BlackBerry QNX facility in Ottawa Canada. The employee working in this building will be responsible for working on connected and self-driving cars by developing... Read more →
Recently the Ontario Government announced that they are launching the first automated vehicle (AV) pilot program in Canada and BlackBerry with QNX is leading the charge. In fact BlackBerry and QNX are teaming up with the University of Waterloo and the Erwin Hymer Group.
BlackBerry... Read more →
With Samsung’s recent acquisition of Harmon, many tech news outlets have been saying this could spell bad news for BlackBerry and QNX. If you remember all the way back to 2010, BlackBerry actually acquired QNX from Harmon. BlackBerry had two main reasons for wanting QNX. The first reason... Read more →
QNX Introduces Holistic Approach to Managing In-Car Acoustics
New platform offers unified management of all acoustics in the car, enabling customers to reduce the cost, complexity, and time-to-production of audio signal-processing systems
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA–(Marketwired – Jan. 6, 2016)... Read more →
QNX today announced a new software platform for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and automated driving. Auto companies can build a full range of automated driving systems from informational ADAS modules that can provide 360 degree surround view of the vehicle to high end processors that... Read more →
QNX is on a mission lately, to show off how amazing they can be in the automated car industry. Today QNX demonstrated just that by showing off a few badd a**s features such as, advances in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, and vehicle-to-infrastructure... Read more →


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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has recently confirmed that Duke University professor Missy Cummings is poised to be named as its new senior safety adviser. While her credentials as a computer science professor and background as a person knowledgeable about autonomous driving technologies would likely be an essential resource for the NHTSA, Dr. Cummings has exhibited something quite peculiar in social media — She appears to have a serious bias against Tesla, particularly surrounding the company’s Autopilot and Full Self Driving programs.
Over the years, Dr. Cummings, through her personal Twitter account, frequently posted overtly negative statements about Tesla, its vehicles, and its CEO Elon Musk. A number of Tesla owners and supporters who claimed to have not interacted with Dr. Cummings online also observed that they seem to have been preemptively blocked by the incoming NHTSA safety official.
Everybody has a personal bias about something they are passionate about. As such, it is understandable for the Duke University professor to adopt a skeptical stance on Tesla and its Autopilot and FSD programs. There is such a thing as a healthy dose of skepticism, after all. However, or at least based on the incoming NHTSA senior safety official’s Twitter feed, Dr. Cummings appears to have crossed the line from objective to subjective when it comes to Tesla and its technologies. The same goes for her stance regarding CEO Elon Musk. In March 2020, for example, Dr. Cummings seemingly joked about needing someone to stop her from punching Elon Musk in the face.
Punching jokes aside, the Duke University professor also stands as a present member of Veoneer, a Swedish LIDAR company. Publicly available SEC disclosures indicate that Dr. Cummings has received restricted stock units in Veoneer worth about $400,000 a year at present market prices. Considering that Tesla is a company directly competing with Veoneer in the way that it is developing autonomous driving systems with only a vision-based system, there seems to be a conflict of interest at play.
It should be noted that Dr. Cummings’ seat at Veoneer was not disclosed when she published a paper (which was later updated to remove inaccurate details about a fatal Tesla crash) criticizing systems such as Autopilot for their possible dangers. And so far, the incoming NHTSA senior safety adviser has not shared if she would be leaving her post at the Swedish LIDAR company, especially since she would soon be advising a US safety agency on driver-assist systems that adopt both LIDAR and non-LIDAR solutions.
Interestingly enough, Dr. Cummings’ criticism of Tesla and its Autopilot and FSD programs seems to stem from the fact that the company’s vehicles lack of equipment such as the LIDAR sensors provided by Veoneer. In an appearance at The Robot Brains Podcast earlier this year, the Duke University professor remarked that she is “basically an albatross around Elon’s and Tesla’s neck” and that “Where (she’s) going after is his (Elon Musk’s) desire to drop radar off of his cars and now go to vision-only.”
Dr. Cummings further noted that “There’s no vision research out there which doesn’t think that’s crazy and is gonna kill someone.” In a 2019 tweet, the incoming NHTSA safety official also noted that the NHTSA should require Tesla to disable Autopilot, since it “easily causes mode confusion.” This was a similar take from her post in 2018 when she noted that Elon Musk’s Tesla is the only “killer robot” present today.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has noted on Twitter that the Biden administration’s appointment of Dr. Cummings as a senior safety official for the NHTSA is quite “odd,” and in a later post, Musk also observed that “Objectively, her track record is extremely biased against Tesla.” In response to Musk’s post, the incoming senior safety official for the NHTSA noted that she was “happy to sit down and talk with you (Musk) anytime.” Hopefully, such a discussion could really happen with as little bias from both sides as possible, and with absolutely zero punches being thrown at the Tesla CEO.
The NHTSA’s appears to have its eye on Tesla recently. Earlier this month alone, and as the agency’s probe on several Autopilot crashes on stationary emergency vehicles continued, the NHTSA asked Tesla to explain why it rolled out a safety improvement to Autopilot through an over-the-air software update without issuing a recall.
This was quite an interesting question from the NHTSA, seeing as the Autopilot update was done as proactive measure that would allow Teslas to operate in a safer manner on the road, not as a response to a defect. This was despite Tesla accounting for only nine crash injuries with first responder vehicles in the past 12 months, a small fraction of the 8,000 injuries that were reported by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) involving a stationary emergency vehicle in the United States in a year.
Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to firstname.lastname@example.org to give us a heads up.


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nTheMarket, the online property company established up to challenge Rightmove and Zoopla, has documented much better than anticipated investing figures.
The firm, which is majority-owned by estate agents, said adhering to a ongoing potent functionality about Xmas and previous thirty day period, revenues for the 12 months to January 31 will be all around £23 million, in contrast to £18.8 million a yr earlier. Modified running revenue will be somewhere around £2.3million.
In December it said it predicted all those figures to respectively be not fewer than £22.5 million and £1.5 million.
The firm’s website has seen substantial site visitors in the course of a period where there continues to be pent-up desire for residences. A range of individuals have reassessed housing requires during lockdowns.
In January OnTheMarket had 28 million visits to the site, and weekly web site visits have exceeded 6 million each week considering the fact that the begin of February 2021.
In the meantime, the organization has targeted on slicing expenditures, such as by reducing marketing commit.
OnTheMarket explained it carries on to carefully keep an eye on the affect of Covid-19, but it expects internet marketing expenditure to return to additional usual pre-Covid degrees in the calendar year to January 2022.
Chief executive Jason Tebb reported: “We will seek to even further evolve our providing by way of on-heading products innovation and growing consumer engagement through qualified, info-led marketing and advertising and the provision of a suite of further expert services which will gain estate brokers, housebuilders and individuals.”


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Pokemon Go fans can celebrate as the annual Halloween event is set to begin this week.
The annual event, which is officially kicking off on October 23, 2020, at 6 p.m. PT, will allow players to take part in three mini-events. In the official announcement post, Pokemon Go creator, Niantic Labs, breaks down the update and the features that players can take part in. The event was teased earlier this month on the official Twitter.
The big features of the update include more appearances from Ghost-type Pokemon. This includes out in the wild, as well as in raids. Ghost-type Pokemon will also have a higher chance of hatching from eggs, making it much easier to acquire them during this time. We’ve broken down the full list of features as seen on the official site, so please take a look:
- Ghost-type Pokémon will be appearing more often in the wild, will be featured in raids, and will be hatching more frequently from Eggs.
- This year, Gengar and Sableye will be wearing costumes! Face off with costumed Gengar in raids and keep an eye out for costumed Sableye in the wild—it may even hatch from an Egg!
- Galarian Yamask will appear in Pokémon GO for the first time! Complete the new Halloween 2020 Special Research, A Spooky Message Unmasked, to help Professor Willow uncover the mysteries surrounding this Pokémon.
- Spiritomb can be encountered by completing certain Field Research tasks and by completing the new Halloween 2020 Special Research story, A Spooky Message Unmasked. If you’re lucky, you may encounter a Shiny one!
- Trainers who completed the Mega Buddy Challenge Timed Research will be able to participate in exclusive Timed Research that will reward Gengar Mega Energy.
- Darkrai will be featured in five-star raids!
- Enjoy Halloween-themed Field Research tasks!
- New avatar items will be available in the Style Shop! Get dressed for Halloween with a Pikachu Mask, Gengar Onesie, Sableye Goggles, Sableye Mask, or Banette Mask! You can also try out the new Spooky Pose!
- Keep those eyes peeled for the Creepy Crate, Boo Bundle, and Pumpkin Pack boxes in the shop!
- Take a snapshot for some spooky surprises!
You can dive into the update this week and it will run until November 3, 2020, at 6 p.m. PT. For more info, make sure you keep your eyes glued to our Pokemon Go topic.


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(Pocket-lint) – The UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport has outlined the changes it wants to make under the proposed Data Reform Bill – and it has cookies in its sights.
Since the EU pushed through its GDPR rules in 2018, visiting a new website has often led to you having to give permission to accept cookies. For those who don’t know, cookies are snippets of data that allow a website to remember that someone has visited before.
GDPR aimed to provide protection for users by giving them control over that data and the result was pop-ups every time you visit a new website, it’s basically an opt-in system.
The Data Reform Bill wants to get rid of these pop-ups, but doesn’t appear that the UK government is just scrapping data protection: instead, it’s suggesting that there will be an “opt-out model” which can be governed by the browser, so rather than clicking a box every time, the website you’re visiting already knows the answer.
This “opt-out model”, however, will likely default to accepting cookies for users and it’s no coincidence that elsewhere, the Data Reform Bill aims to “harness the power of data.”
The aim is to allow internet users to remain in control of their data, but provide a smoother route when browsing, free from pop-ups or banners.
Of course, if the browser is going to be providing these controls, then the UK will have to engage with the developers of those browsers to ensure that there’s a working system in place.
“Before the legislative changes are commenced, the government will work with the industry and the regulator to ensure technology is effective and readily available so people can set their online cookie preferences to opt out via automated means.”
The elephant in the room is that this might never work and with many websites enacting changes to conform to the EU’s GDPR requirements in 2018, additional work to support the wishes of the UK simply might not happen.
The headline desire to remove cookies will certainly be appealing, but ensuring that data control is retained by the user will be key.
Writing by Chris Hall.


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FDA and the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday said the agencies have taken action against the distributors and marketers of 12 products that illegally claim to help people with opioid use disorders.
The agencies sent warning letters to 11 companies and four marketing companies regarding 12 products, 10 of which are marketed as dietary supplements and two as homeopathic remedies. The products include CalmSupport, Opiate Freedom 5-Pack, and Soothedrawal.
The agencies in a release said the products' marketing includes language that claims the products can help individuals "break the painkiller habit" or reduce the "irritability, cravings, restlessness, excitability, exhaustion, and discomfort associated with the nightmare of addiction and withdrawal symptoms."
However, the agencies said the products have not be proven to be safe or effective at treating individuals with opioid use disorder and withdrawal symptoms. As such, the agencies said the products' marketing language violates the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as well as the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits deceptive advertising.
In the letters, the agencies gave the companies 15 working days to inform federal regulators how they plan to address each agency's concerns. The agencies said failure to address violations could result in law enforcement action such as seizure or injunction.
Frank King—founder of King Bio which received a letter for its product, AddictaPlex—said the company had stopped selling the product in order to avoid potential litigation. "We choose to not fight it but to just go ahead and pull that particular product just because it was not a battle worth well over six figures to fight," King said.
According to Reuters, the other companies that received warning letters did not responded to requests for comment (Gever, Medpage Today, 1/24; Reuters, 1/24; McGinley, "To Your Health," Washington Post, 1/24; FDA release, 1/24).
Next: How to combat the opioid epidemic
Opioid misuse and abuse is one of the most pressing public health issues in the U.S., and hospitals and health systems are on the front lines. Currently, most health systems focus their opioid management efforts on select medical specialties.
This report outlines three imperatives to guide hospitals and health systems in their efforts to reduce the impact of inappropriate opioid prescribing and misuse.


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Car-hailing sector funding, deals see August boom
It has been a busy August so far for Chinese chauffer and ride-hailing companies, who are looking to steepen their already headline-grabbing growth trends.
An electric model by Caocao Zhuanche and Geely is displayed at a new energy exhibition in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. [Photo/China Daily]
Caocao Zhuanche has attracted investors’ interest with its ambitions for the nationwide market, while well-established Didi Chuxing and Shouqi Limousine and Chauffeur are looking further a field for new opportunities. The Hertz-backed Chinese car rental company, Shenzhou Zhuanche has launched an intelligent system for better allocating vehicles in its hailing business.
Hangzhou Youxing Technology, which owns Caocao Zhuanche, announced the service will be launching in five more cities, making it available in a total of 16 cities nationwide, including Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Tianjin and some tier-two and three cities. But it still has yet to crack Beijing and Shanghai.
“Our fleets are going to be expanded to a scale of 15,000 cars, or even up to 20,000 over the course of this year,” said Liu Jinliang, chairman of Hangzhou Youxing, in an earlier interview with Chinese media.
The Zhejiang-province-based car-hailing service provider was launched in November 2015. Solely owned by Geely Holding, the company currently runs about 10,500 Geely Emgrand EV blade electric compact sedans. The company said it has attracted investor interest already and is evaluating its financing plan, although it is yet to reach a final deal.
The statement followed local media reports that Hangzhou Youxing was set to receive financing of around 1.5 billion yuan ($225 million).
On Tuesday, Shouqi Limousine and Chauffeur, a ride-booking app launched by State-owned automobile enterprise Shouqi Group, launched the further expansion of its international services, now extending to about 1,500 cities in 130 countries and regions on six continents by September. Currently, the overseas chauffeured ride-hailing service is offered in 217 cities in 30 markets.
Shouqi raised 600 million yuan in its B-round funding from an unnamed investor last month, valuing the company at 5.1 billion yuan. Its A-round funding raised 220 million yuan, led by a subsidiary of China Jianyin Investment Co in December 2016. Didi Chuxing reported on Aug 8 it will inject funds into Dubai-headquartered ride-hailing company Careem. The two will form a partnership by sharing technology, products and operations. Didi has also made a similar move with Estonia’s Taxify this month.
This has been a trend for the largest Chinese mobility company by revenue.
It is expected to offer services in more than 1,000 cities all over the world after signing partnerships with a multitude of foreign players, including Lyft, GrabTaxi, Ola and 99Taxis.
“Chinese car-hailing service providers are going to dominate about 80 percent of the world’s market share in the near future,” according to an industrial insider who declined to be named.
The market commentator calculated that Chinese companies, including Shouqi and Didi, currently share about 30 percent of the global market, mainly in the North American, East Asian and Southeast Asian markets, while Uber is losing ground.
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Free Book: Doing Business in China - Tips and Tracks
China has its own business culture and etiquette.
There are many things that a businessman from West needs to understand if he wants to enter the China market and succeed.


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LONDON, November 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
Telecoms has seen something of a revival of late. Data has come to play an increasingly important role, mobile technology has driven rapid technological change, and stricter capital requirements have spurred a new age of consolidation.
However, rather than see these circumstances as impediments to progress, many have embraced them as opportunities; forging new and exciting partnerships and improving upon their existing products and services in an effort to cement their standing atop an ever-challenging sector.
Those who have really changed the industry for the better are listed in the November - December issue of World Finance, in the Telecoms Awards, 2013. To read more of the award winners, go to http://www.worldfinance.com/awards/telecoms-awards-2013
In keeping with the sector's new mobile revolution, Twitter's IPO looks to fetch a considerable sum of cash as many anticipate that mobile advertising will constitute a sizeable share of the social media platform's business.
A new World Finance report takes a look at the reasons underpinning the investor-wide delirium surrounding the IPO and how it is that Twitter has come to be so highly valued, despite not having turned a profit to date.
World Finance journalist Rita Lobo casts an eye back to the results of Twitter's $12.8bn valuation this summer, which equated to around $2bn lower than the common consensus, and far short of the $20bn predicted by some.
It would appear that Twitter is well equipped to negotiate the pitfalls of Facebook's disastrous IPO, however the question remains as to whether the offering is overhyped, or just hyped enough. Provided that Twitter can convert users and data to revenue, the shares look a reasonable return on investment. However, with so many external factors outside of the company's control, the future is hazy.
To read the report in full, see the new November-December issue of World Finance, available online and in print now.
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Fans wondering what Zelda game will be remade next don't have any solid leads to go on, but a new rumor circulating is that Twilight Princess will be remade for the New Nintendo 3DS. Of course, it should go without saying that the rumor is just that... a rumor. It is in no way confirmed by Nintendo. The image paired with this article is also fake, just a picture made to go with this article.
The rumor comes from multiple GameStop employees who, over a span of days, have confirmed that their local Nintendo representative has said Twilight Princess could be the next Zelda remake, and it would be for the New Nintendo 3DS. The employees, who shall remain unnamed due to not being authorized to speak to the media, have said a woman that works as a representative for Nintendo and visits multiple GameStop locations to deal with Nintendo products has been buzzing about the rumor. The woman mentioned handles Nintendo demo units placed in GameStop stores, among other duties, and already has the New Nintendo 3DS and Majora's Mask 3D, according to the employees.


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The CBR 250R has blown a lot of the competition right out of the water. Honda's latest two wheeled offering has created quite the stir in the segment and that can only be a good thing for avid motorcyclists. Why? Well, the Honda has certainly sent a lot of the other manufacturers to the drawing board, furiously sketching their own products that will compete with the CBR 250R.
When the Yamaha R15 was launched in 2008, it was a path breaking motorcycle. A rev happy liquid cooled motor coupled with a deltabox super-handling frame along with some air-cutting body work resulted in a motorcycle that was every bit as racy as it looked.
Many in the industry thought that the sales of the R15 would stumble and fall, for it wasn't really a cheap motorcycle. But what happened silenced these critics, for the R15 sold in large numbers and still continues to do quite well. This just went on to prove that the Indian motorcyclist was fast maturing and now knew precisely what he (or she) wanted from a motorcycle.
Well, they have and we've seen spy shots of that motorcycle already! From what we have seen, the new R15 is remarkably similar in its lines to the R125 sold in Europe. The sit is now a split unit, with the pillion getting his own pad to ride on.
We expect the performance figures to be closer to the CBR's 25 bhp than the R15's current 17 bhp. We also reckon that the new R15 will sport a thicker rear tyre and why we say this is because the older skinnier rear rubber, though being tremendously sticky, was a turn off to many potential buyers. And we are sure Yamaha knows this as well.
Prices will be competitive, and we speculate the new R15 should come in at about Rs 1.6 lakh, ex-showroom. Expect the launch to be within this year itself.


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Populism and Trade
The U.S. tackles the wrong culprit and spoils its world power status
By Jean-Luc Burlone
People are afraid because they have no jobs or because they do not understand what is happening around them. From the right or from the left, populism appeals to emotions. Fear, frustration and longing for the past are aroused when people’s way of life suffers from rapid changes set in motion by disrupting factors. International trade, technology and immigration are such factors that appear to have adversely affected labour markets for years. Jobs were lost and inequality rose.
Unfortunately, the situation of those most affected was neither sufficiently mitigated by social policies nor timely explained by education to maintain an efficient social cohesion. The democratic elite clearly lacked foresight. Hence, Britain and America woke up, stunned by the power of populism as people expressed their dissatisfaction through the voting process.
Populists’ ignorance of trade is extraordinary. They blame international trade for trade deficits and job loss, though it has very little to do with both. A country marks a trade deficit when it spends more than it earns because foreign investments fill the lack of domestic saving or investment. Unlike a business, a country deficit has a positive correlation with its economic growth and its employment level; when the deficit increases employment increases and vice versa. Though it may displace jobs, international trade does not create major unemployment.
Populists’ ignorance of trade is extraordinary. They blame international trade for trade deficits and job loss, though it has very little to do with both.
But technology clearly does. A recent study by the Centre for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University estimates that more than 85% (5.6 million) of manufacturing jobs in the United States were lost between 2000 and 2010 due to technology (mainly automation). That said, the Peterson Institute for International Economics recognizes that international trade has a small negative effect on wages and represents 10% of the total increase in inequality between 2000 to 2008.
The undisputed truth is that global trade has increased the GDP of trading countries and the welfare of their people by reducing substantially the cost of goods and services for all. Even more important, trade has fostered the emergence of a middle class in developing countries. China has extracted from poverty 400 million Chinese and counting.
Alike, according to the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Centre for Scholars, the Mexican middle class rose to over 14.6 million households (47% of total Mexican households) and was set to rise further, reaching 18.4 million by 2030. Notwithstanding the reduction of poverty – a noble achievement in itself – the emergence of a middle class creates a new consumer market that devotes close to half of its disposable income to discretionary goods and services. A gift to developed countries with an aging population that need foreign middle class people to fuel their economy.
‘The undisputed truth is that global trade has increased the GDP of trading countries and the welfare of their people by reducing substantially the cost of goods and services for all.’
International trade agreements aim to level the playing field for all its signatories. The decried TPP, the latest and most demanding agreement, had actually eliminated 18,000 tariffs and hundreds of non-tariff barriers. Labour, environmental and wildlife protection, free internet, free associations, property rights, transparent governance, etc, were on the table for all twelve countries to agree upon. Interestingly, TPP had renegotiated NAFTA. With TPP, a car maker in the United States could have reached 90 million Vietnamese without tariffs. Without TPP, Vietnam will slap a 70% tax on American cars. Any sensible car maker, looking to reach a Vietnamese market growing at 6% per year, will now build a plant and hire workers in Vietnam rather than in the United States.
Besides its economic feat, the TPP was a key element of American rebalancing strategy in South East Asia, others being diplomacy and military. To meet American demands, large Asian countries, such as Vietnam and Japan, amended their legislation and undertook politically sensitive reforms. They expected the Unites States to be involved in the region and saw the trade agreement as the economic means to curb China’s predominance. The United States’ withdrawal will have profound and lasting effects. It is worth mentioning that an estimated three billion people will form a middle class in the Pacific region by 2030. Donald Trump’s intention to care for the ‘forgotten’ is sincere and laudable but his inconsiderate actions towards international trade is counter productive. It will hurt the very same people he pledged to help.
‘… large Asian countries, such as Vietnam and Japan… saw the trade agreement as the economic means to curb China’s predominance. The United States’ withdrawal will have profound and lasting effects.’
China has social tensions for similar reasons. Chinese workers blame globalisation, technology and migration from the countryside (2.8 million) for rising inequalities and lost jobs. The structural shift from a manufacturing to a service economy has enticed some garment manufacturers to move to cheaper locations in Asia, while efforts of steel and mining state-owned-enterprises to reduce overcapacity are threatening millions of jobs. All in all, it adds to job insecurity and uneasiness among millions of blue-collar workers.
The China Labour Bulletin has on record an unprecedented 2,271 demonstrations by angry workers from all industries in the first eleven months of 2016. Without a free press and free elections to vent their frustration, angry workers are of concern to their leaders but not a threat that may topple them. Hence, Xi Jinping can stand tall on the world stage, forward his trade policies in Asia and South America and seat his own people at the Politburo Standing Committee amid the National Communist Congress. His authority asserted, he will strive to expand China’s influence. Xi Jinping is already replacing the jilted TPP by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that encompasses trading activities of sixteen Asian countries. A thoughtless gesture from America… a soft takeover by China.
An unavoidable question arises as the United States politics turn inward: What role will the US play in the international system in the future? And its corollary: How will the superpower role be transferred to China?
Read Jean-Luc Burlone’s article Populism and Technology.
Jean-Luc Burlone, Ms. Sc. Ecn. FCSI (1996), IQ
Economic Analysis – Financial Strategies
For a professional customized service for seasoned investors in search of an independent and impartial expertise. firstname.lastname@example.org
Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute (FCSI), Jean-Luc Burlone has an excellent knowledge of financial product management and holds a Master’s degree in economics from the Université de Montréal with a dual specialization in development economics and international economy – finance and trade.
“The text above is my personal view, based on a review of the economic and financial press.” March 2017 – JLB


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BOISE — Albertsons Cos. has selected EQuIPP Analytics from Pharmacy Quality Solutions (PQS) for enhanced reporting and tracking capabilities related to pharmacy performance measures. EQuIPP will allow Albertsons Cos. pharmacies to identify key improvement opportunities and drive strategic quality performance measures using dynamic visualizations and intuitive dashboards. “EQuIPP Analytics reduces the amount of time organizations
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) has named new members to its board of directors and approved its 2018 executive committee. Mary Ann Kliethermes, vice chair of ambulatory care and professor at the Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy, will serve as PQA’s chairman for 2018. She succeeds Peter Wickersham, president of government
As the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) gears up for 2017, the outlook we envision consists of measuring what matters to patients, providers, plans and pharmacies. PQA has a rather unique role in the marketplace as a measure developer, and since our process is very inclusive and participatory, we have experienced a strong growth in our
RALEIGH, N.C. — Patient care solution provider Ateb Inc. helped test four medication synchronization quality improvement indicators (QIIs) on behalf of the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA). Ateb said Tuesday that it was one of two organizations chosen to test the new QIIs, which will enable pharmacists to boost patient engagement by aligning medication refills to
SPRINGFIELD, Va. — The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) has partnered with the CVS Health Foundation on a new scholarship program to support medication use quality. Called the PQA-CVS Health Foundation Scholars Program, the scholarship recognizes student excellence in projects focusing on quality-related initiatives. The program also aims to promote and improve education for quality measures
CAMP HILL, Pa. — Pharmacists in Rite Aid Corp.’s nearly 4,600 drug stores are now using the EQuIPP pharmacy performance measurement platform from Pharmacy Quality Solutions (PQS). Rite Aid said Wednesday that it’s the largest drug chain to enable EQuIPP access to all of its pharmacists. The information management tool provides access to performance data
The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) will co-host a one-day pharmacy quality ratings workshop with the American Pharmacists Association, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the National Community Pharmacists Association and the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations. The program will be held at the Westin Hotel in Old Town Alexandria, Va., on November 9.
Next month, the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) will co-host a one-day pharmacy quality ratings workshop with the American Pharmacists Association, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the National Community Pharmacists Association and the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations. The workshop will consist of sessions led by expert frontline pharmacists, health plan quality specialists,


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Luxury-lovers are shopping again, with LVMH reporting a 17% jump in revenues to €5.2 billion in the first quarter of this year, or about $7.2 billion. Building on a sales pickup that started in the final quarter of last year, the Paris-based luxury conglomerate says it is seeing increases in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and that all its business groups recorded double-digit sales gains for the three-month period.
Watches and jewelry showed the biggest jump, with revenues climbing 20% in organic growth. Earlier this year, the company formed a strategic alliance with Bulgari, and says it made gains via its TAG Heuer line, which strengthened its Carrera collection; Zenith, Hublot, and Chaumet. It also says its De Beers made significant progress in both Asia and the U.S.
In the wines and spirits division, sales rose 17%, with Champagne volumes climbing 8% and Hennessy cognac volumes increasing 16%.
Sales also recorded a 17% bump in its specialty retailing division, which includes Sephora.
In its fashion and leather goods divisions, sales advanced 13%, fueled by strong performances by Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Donna Karan. (That brand has also won accolades recently for its digital marketing efforts, including Best Twitter, Best Mobile App, Best Blog and Top Innovator at the recent Fashion 2.0 awards, given in New York.)
Even perfumes and cosmetics, an industry where many companies continue to struggle, LVMH's quarterly sales climbed 11%. The company attributed those advances to Christian Dior's launch of the Dior Addict lipstick and the rollout of a new perfume, Miss Dior. (The company recently signed Natalie Portman as its spokesperson.)
Guerlain increased sales of Shalimar, as well as its skincare range Orchidée Impériale. And Givenchy, Benefit and Make Up For Ever also gained in all markets. (By comparison, while other prestige fragrance and cosmetic companies are finally seeing growth again, NPD Group reports those gains are modest -- with total prestige beauty sales gaining just 4% in 2010.)


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The future with driverless cars and Augmented Reality
Driverless cars are here. Uber unveiled its first self-driving fleet in Pittsburgh last month. Also, in a robust endorsement for the technology, the US Department of Transportation has just announced new guidelines for automated vehicles.
President Obama has lent his voice to those marvelling at the opportunity automated cars present, recently writing in an editorial for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “In the seven-and-a-half years of my presidency self-driving cars have gone from sci-fi fantasy to an emerging reality with the potential to transform the way we live.”
The global rollout of driverless cars will make augmented reality integral to our everyday interactions with the world around us. Peugeot, Hyundai, Toyota and Jaguar have all been working on AR-enabled car windshields.
Brian McClendon, Uber’s vice president, is even predicting that AR will kill the street sign, saying that once autonomous vehicle usage reaches 100% and augmented reality reaches 99%, street signs will start to disappear.
Thanks to AR, drivers will have their routes, driving stats, and even information on the gradient of the road at their fingertips. There won’t be any surprises en route and the car will be able to pre-emptively react to hazards on the road. Passengers will see a wider and more detailed view of the road and get more sophisticated traffic updates. The car journey will be infinitely safer as well as more immersive.
The commercial opportunity for brands is boundless. The latest Mary Meeker Internet Trends report described autonomous vehicles as “mobile living rooms” manned by users instead of drivers. ‘Passengers’ in these cars will be engaging with an operating system first, and a vehicle second.
In a driverless car, riders have their hands free and can potentially be surrounded by screens, which opens the door to brands. The car could become the new wallet. You could be driven to the supermarket and have your car pay for your groceries. AR could also select your products so that you only have to pick them up once you arrive. As you get driven around the city, retailers en route could advertise to you and send you offers via your AR enabled windscreen, taking geo targeting to a new level.
The commute of the future will be far more productive. Instead of dealing with road rage and traffic jams, you’ll be able to work undisturbed from your car and have smooth conference calls, using AR to pull up spreadsheets, maps and dial in. Or if you’re on a long drive, why not play a fully immersive video game?
Days after Uber unveiled its driverless cars, rival cab company Grab announced it is allowing people to book self-driving vehicles in Singapore. Autonomous cars are here. Time for AR and brands to get into the driver seat.


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On this week’s edition, Dan and Sam discuss whether Fiat might have a better Miata than Mazda with the 124 Spider and whether midsized pickups like the GMC Canyon Denali might be too compromised to be truly useful. Volkswagen has some interesting new ads aimed at attracting buyers to the new Atlas SUV and the brand in general as it tries to recover from the diesel emissions scandal. Sam expounds on why stand-alone ride-hailing services are probably doomed and then the team ponders why Delphi is splitting itself up to leave powertrain systems behind. Dan interviews one of the masterminds behind GM’s latest 6.6-liter Duramax V8 and we address a listener question about diesel particulate filters.
This week Dan has been driving the Dodge Charger Rallye AWD and finds that despite the age of the platform the big FCA sedans are still surprisingly good. Sam finds the Toyota Corolla is a solid car that provides basic but utterly uninspiring transportation. For 2018, the Ford Mustang gets a mid-cycle update with design, powertrain and technology changes and Sam chats with vehicle engineering manager Tom Barnes. Mazda looks to dump the spark plug for its next generation SkyActiv engines and we provide a gentle reminder to bring your key fob along even if you can start your car from your smartphone. Finally, Sam talks with Delphi VP engineering Jim Zizelman about dynamic skip fire technology and autonomous driving.


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Kaival Brands Innovations Group, the global distributor of all Bidi Vapor products, announced its premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) has moved the substantive review phase of the regulatory process. Bidi’s disposable e-cigarettes, Bidi Stick, comes in 11 flavor varieties, according to a press release.
Substantive Review is where the scientific review of the U.S. FDA’s regulatory process is undertaken. The company received its acceptance letter, the first step, on Feb. 9. The FDA will determine if Bidi products meet the criteria for “appropriate for the protection of the public health” established in the Tobacco Control Act. The agency issues marketing orders that authorize the continued marketing and sale of products meeting the criteria.
“Seeking an order for the continued marketing of Bidi Sticks in the United States is a long process. But it was always our goal to provide a premium vaping experience and an option to traditional, combustible tobacco that meets the needs of every adult smoker,” said Niraj Patel, the president and CEO of Kaival Brands. “This substantive review phase is where months of extensive information collection and hard work gathering together 285,000 pages of science-based evidence will pay off, as we continually put consumer health and the environment first.”
Bidi Vapor also announced they have discontinued their online direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales through its website as of February 22, 2021. The company will allow sales through gopuff.com. “With a long history of distribution of alcoholic beverages, goPuff has pioneered a very stringent and dynamic compliance program and age-gating process,” the release states.
“We are extremely excited to partner with one of the fastest growing and most secure online delivery services in the country,” stated Kaival Brands’ Chief Executive Officer, Niraj Patel. “More importantly, goPuff’s commitment to protecting minors and stringent procedural implementations will allow Kaival Brands to focus on our rapidly developing additional wholesaler distribution agreements.”
While Kaival Brands will continue its business-to-business (B2B) online sales to retailers, it believes its decision to halt online DTC sales specifically through www.bidivapor.com will set an example for the industry and help reduce the larger problem of underage access to vaping devices. “The decision also bolsters its commitment to brick-and-mortar retail, which Kaival Brands believes to be a stronger age-verification distribution model than online sales,” the release states.


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The digital divide is opening up once again. This time, though, the gap is between those with ultra-high-speed 1 Gbps broadband service and those with more conventional service.
AT&T's plans to start replacing conventional telephone wireline service with U-verse VoIP are hitting resistance from consumers who, apparently, like the old way of doing things and are making sure that regulators know it.
Comcast and cable overbuilder WideOpenWest face new competition in Georgia from AT&T, which launched its U-verse TV and Internet products in Augusta on Thursday.
AT&T U-Verse added 10 networks to the list of programmers that are allowing the provider to offer subscribers the ability to view live programming outside the home, including Disney Channel, Fox News Channel, Pivot, Disney Junior, BeIN Sports and BBC America.
Time Warner Cable will soon begin selling a wideband Internet tier with speeds of 300 Mbps in Austin, Texas, where it faces competition from AT&T U-verse Internet and Google Fiber.
An Infonetics Reseach report just confirmed w hat many have suspected for some time--telco IPTV services like AT&T's U-verse are stealing market share away from cable operators because they are offering differentiated services.
AT&T's U-verse subscribers, for both TV and broadband, topped 10.7 million in the fourth quarter, the carrier said, making the U-verse platform a $13 billion annualized business for the company, growing at a rate of 28 percent per year.
AT&T was hit with a major outage impacting its U-verse service, sources reported Monday.
AT&T said Thursday that it counts more than 100,000 U-verse TV subscribers in the Kansas City area, where it competes against Time Warner Cable and Google Fiber.
AT&T said sales of a new 300 Mbps broadband service that it has been pitching for several weeks to subscribers in Austin have exceeded expectations. But the telco didn't detail how many customers have ordered its new GigaPower service.


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When Olive Oyl’s brother Wimpy proclaimed decades ago, “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today,” he was way ahead of his time.
A growing number of supermarkets in Connecticut and across the country are accepting credit cards for grocery purchases, allowing customers to buy and eat food months and even years before they have to pay for it.
Supermarkets decided to accept MasterCard and Visa, and in many cases Discover, as an added convenience for their customers, and as a way of keeping up with the competition. But critics say it can encourage shoppers to spend more than they can afford, rolling over charges month after month and running themselves further into debt.
About a year ago, Edwards became the first major supermarket chain to accept credit cards in Connecticut. Stop & Shop started to take them here six months ago. A&P; and Waldbaum’s stores in the state are expected to add the service next month.
A handful of small chains and independent grocers with an exclusive clientele began to take the cards several years ago, and they have traditionally been welcome at pharmacies and flower departments in the major chains.
But during the past year, the number of stores accepting charges for regular food purchases has exploded, said Grace C. Nome, president of the Connecticut Food Stores Association.
Nome estimates that more than half of the grocery stores in Connecticut now accept credit cards. And like debit cards, which started to take off three or four years ago, she expects that the trend will continue to grow until the majority of stores take them.
“We’re becoming a cashless society,” Nome said.
Skeptics agree that acceptance of credit cards in grocery stores is beneficial for shoppers who pay their bills on time. Customers don’t need to carry cash and worry about being robbed, or to lug a checkbook around. It provides instant credit for customers short on money, and a single statement at the end of the month to keep track of expenses.
But they also say credit in a food store can be a dangerous temptation for shoppers on a ground chuck budget to buy sirloin.
Consumers tend to spend in the “ballpark” of 20 percent more when they charge their groceries, said Gary Giblen, managing director for Smith Barney in New York.
“It makes it far easier for them to run up bigger credit card balances,” said Lewis Mandell, a finance professor at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. “It’s like a car: It’s useful, but it can kill.”
At the start of the decade, grocers were primarily cash-and-check-only merchants, said Michael O’Brien, manager of public relations for MasterCard International Inc. By 1992, about 500 food stores were also taking credit cards. And today, more than 16,000 are accepting them.
“People like the idea of choosing the type of payment,” O’Brien said. “To keep pace [with the competition], you want to give them as many options as possible.”
Ron Booth, the owner of Hall’s Market in West Hartford, said he started to accept MasterCard and Visa at the checkout several years ago because many of his customers were buying large portions of meat. “Freezer Pleasers,” such as a whole tenderloin sliced into steaks, can run $30 to $60 alone, he said.
Although stores must pay a transaction fee of about 1 percent every time they accept a credit card, Giblen said, the increased sales offset that expense. “We thought it was a real good idea to have as another option,” Booth said. “Now they’re using it to buy everything from milk to Freezer Pleasers.”
As they get used to the idea, more and more grocery customers are saying “charge it.”
Industry experts say that about 3 percent to 5 percent of a supermarket’s sales are made with a credit card, but that number is expected to grow to 7 percent or 8 percent in the next few years.
At Stop & Shop, the number of customers using credit cards is still very small, but it is growing steadily “literally every week,” said Mary-Jo Anderson, a company spokeswoman.
“It’s really an awareness issue,” she said. “As people become more aware, the usage grows.”
Noriko Katsuraga, a Central Connecticut State University student shopping recently at the Super Stop & Shop in Newington, said she charges her groceries on her Visa card because she doesn’t carry much cash and doesn’t have a bank or debit card. “Using the card is convenient,” she said.
Many customers also use credit cards to earn points toward free products and services. Some supermarkets — although none in Connecticut — are introducing cards that give discounts on groceries.
Herb and Margaret Kreitner, also shopping this week at the Stop & Shop in Newington, charged about $65 worth of groceries on their American Airlines Visa for points toward free flights.
Herb Kreitner said he and his wife, who have traveled to Seattle and New Orleans on frequent-flier points, don’t buy items they can’t afford, and pay off their charges every month.
“If you’re an impulse shopper, that’s not for you,” he said.
Critics agree: If you can’t pay off your bill at the end of the month, you shouldn’t charge your food.
“We’re not opposed to people using credit cards to charge their groceries,” said Ruth Susswein, executive director of Bankcard Holders of America, a Virginia-based consumer group. “We’re opposed to people borrowing money to pay off a bill for something they digested weeks earlier.”
About 70 percent of credit card holders do not pay off their bills in full each month, she said, meaning that more than two-thirds of the country’s consumers are borrowing money at interest rates that average 18 percent.
Credit cards not only allow customers to buy a $200 barbecue grill or $30 bottle of wine at the supermarket, but also encourage shoppers to throw an extra bag of cookies or better cut of meat into their cart — buying items that they may not be able to afford, or otherwise wouldn’t buy.
“We may not be able to afford the amount we already borrowed, and can end up on a debt treadmill,” Susswein said.
But some say there is no reason that customers shouldn’t charge their groceries, whether they pay their bill in full each month on not.
The interest they would pay is less than if they took out a cash advance on their cards, which accounts for the highest possible rates, said Ronald I. Urquhart, the People’s Bank vice president who oversees the credit card operation.
“People are very responsible,” he said. “I don’t think we give them credit enough to control their finances.”
Consumers, he said, should be able to use credit cards for any purpose they choose.
“Grocery stores aren’t saying you have to use a credit card,” Urquhart said. “They’re saying that payment method is available to you if you want to use it.”


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BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY; Perfect Imitations Spur Quest For a Perfect Christmas Tree
By TOM DAMMANN, Special to the New York Times
Published: November 16, 1988
WOLVERINE, Mich.— The Gearhart family, which has been growing Christmas trees on its farm here for almost 50 years, plans to ship 25,000 of them in coming weeks, and each will carry a tag with a number that identifies the grower and certifies the tree's quality.
The tags reflect a new era in the Christmas tree industry - the quest for the flawless tree. Growers across the country have come to see the perfect tree as the answer to the industry's most vexing rival: perfectly shaped imitation trees made of plastic that shed no needles and can be taken down and put away in a closet to rise again year after year. It is estimated that as many as one-third of all trees decked out in holiday finery this year will be artificial. A Stress on Quality
The Gearhart trees are part of a Michigan quality program that is considered one of the country's most aggressive. It reflects a growing trend in the industry to increase substantially the quality of the trees that millions of consumers will pick through all over the country in coming weeks.
Trade associations have no precise figures, but they report that a large number of trees now carry tags identifying them as grown in a particular state or region and attesting to their quality.
''Growers want trees grown in their state to be known in the same way that Idaho potatoes or Florida oranges are known,'' said David E. Baumann, an official of the National Christmas Tree Association in Milwaukee. ''Most are not trying to create a specific brand name, but rather a branded image.''
The tags on Michigan trees represent growers' Snow Fresh Tree quality-assurance program. To have this stamp of approval, a tree must be straight and cannot be cut until after Nov. 1. Dead needles must be shaken out and the trees must be shipped either in an enclosed truck or covered with a tarpaulin. Once they reach the retail lot, the trees must be watered and kept in the shade.
About 100,000 of the tagged trees are being shipped this year, and the Michigan growers expect to get $1 to $2 more per tree.
''There is so much more of a market if we can just persuade people to go back to the natural tree,'' said H. A. Schudel, president of Holiday Tree Farms in Corvallis, Ore. The company is shipping 500,000 trees this year.
Growers also hope to command perfect prices. This year the Gearharts will ship 2,500 Fraser firs, one of the most desirable Christmas trees, from their farm in the far north of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Other trees, particularly the Scotch pine, which is still the industry's staple, fetch less, but the gamble is that consumers will pay more for quality.
The perfect Christmas tree must have many specific traits. For consumer appeal, the growers want a tree that is straight, has branches that lift upward at a 45-degree angle, and carries thick needles that hide the trunk and do not fall off to litter the living room floor. The conical shape must taper upward at a 35-to-45-degree angle. For the grower, added traits include fast growth -about seven years - and resistance to pests.
In their quest for the perfect tree, growers across the country are turning to a variety of technological approaches. They range from trying to clone the perfect tree so that thousands of identical copies can be planted, to coming up with the best green stain with which to spray a tree in the weeks before it is harvested to enhance its color.
More efficient seedling planters pulled behind tractors have been developed; machines that quickly trim and shape a tree as it grows in the field have been invented.
Growers are experimenting with herbicides that keep weeds from choking out young trees. And they have been testing whether trees from one region can be adapted to another. Michigan growers, for example, are working to adapt the Fraser fir, a particularly handsome conifer from the mountains of North Carolina.
But the industry's use of technology has tended to rely on individual innovation. There are no heavily financed research projects.
''The Christmas tree industry hasn't enjoyed the degree of academic support comparable to such industries as cherries, wheat and corn,'' said Dr. Melvin R. Koelling, a forestry expert at Michigan State University. ''Research funding is nonexistent. We don't have one research project at Michigan State that has the name Christmas tree in it. As a result, there has been far more innovative work in species improvement by individual growers than in university labs.''
The National Christmas Tree Association estimates that Americans will buy 34.1 million trees this season. The industry has seen annual growth of 2 percent to 2 1/2 percent for the last 15 years. The wholesale value of this year's crop is put at $680 million.
The industry remains one of small operators, often family-founded farms that cultivate trees on several thousand acres. Large-scale farming by agribusiness companies has not yet appeared.
The country's largest farm, for example, the Kirk Christmas Tree Company, in Tacoma, Wash., was founded in the 1920's by George Ridgeway Kirk. His grandson, Paul Kirk Jr., now heads the company, which expects to ship 1.5 million trees in coming weeks. It raises trees in Washington, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Wisconsin.
As they seek to increase the quality of their product, the nation's growers are also moving to market it more aggressively.


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Bank of America CEO says Europe debt crisis could slow U.S. growth
- Staff Nashville Business Journal
Speaking at an investor conference in New York, the Charlotte-based bank CEO said Wednesday that sovereign debt in Greece and other European nations poses an indirect threat to growth in the U.S. That could lead to a global slowdown and hamper BofA's efforts to grow its various businesses as the nation's second-largest lender.
Moynihan said the U.S. economy continues to improve at a slow pace, with consumers beginning to spend more.
Bank of America is the second-largest bank in Nashville.
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On the corner of Seneca and Tioga streets in downtown Ithaca, people are piling onto the No. 13 bus at a rate rarely seen in car-obsessed America. Taken out of context, the scene might be mistaken for the inauguration of a new bus route or a protest against the high cost of gasoline, but it’s not. This is the bus to Brewfest.
A brewfest is a gathering of craft brewers offering beer tastings in a festival setting. Ithaca Brewfest is hosted by the Ithaca Beer Company and includes more than 30 brewers, food, music, merchandise and the picturesque backdrop of Stewart Park on the shore of Cayuga Lake.
Dan Mitchell, the owner of Ithaca Beer, said he was inspired to start Ithaca Brewfest last year because so many other brewfests already existed, and Ithaca didn’t have one.
“For us, it’s all about the setting,” he said. “It’s more than just coming down and drinking beer. You’ve got local food vendors, local bands; it’s a much nicer setting than a lot of places I’ve been.”
The bus to Brewfest is populated mostly by college students. Conversation is light, easy and mostly about getting drunk.
But for Mitchell, Brewfest isn’t about drinking. It’s about tasting and appreciating the craftsmanship of beer.
“What we’re trying to do is educate the consumer on what craft brewing is all about,” he said.
Still, Mitchell said many Brewfest visitors misinterpret that message. He relies on event security, police and even his own staff to keep an eye out for people who have had too much.
Like most large outdoor festivals, Brewfest takes on a life and logic of its own after an hour or so. The people from the bus to Brewfest run into each other periodically, smiling knowingly — or drunkenly — at their shared experiences. A brewer agrees to trade a pint of his beer to a volunteer for a pulled-pork sandwich.
As the event wears on, the difference between the drinking crowd and the tasting crowd becomes more obvious. But Brewfest visitor Doug Lockwood, a Cornell Dining employee who lives in Ithaca, feels even those who come to Brewfest to get drunk leave with a better understanding of craft beer.
“I don’t think you can help but be exposed to the craftsmanship here, that’s the whole way it’s set up,” he said. “Everybody’s talking about the beer. It’s not about, ‘I’m feeling buzzed from this one,’ or ‘I’ve already had eight of these.’ It’s, ‘This one tastes good,’ ‘I like the flavor of this one.’”
Senior Alyssa Zahler said she went to the event with the intention of both drinking and tasting, and enjoyed listening to brewers talk about their products.
“My favorite beer at the festival was actually from a brewery in Horseheads, N.Y.,” she said. “They had this amazing pumpkin beer. I learned about that and got to talk to the people who own the brewery, which was awesome.”
It was the number of breweries present at Brewfest that impressed Lockwood and his friend Steve Montross, of Tully, N.Y.
“They all seem to want to show off their beer,” said Montross. “They want to tell you about it.”
Lockwood, Montross and other visitors to Brewfest were eager to listen. Two such visitors were Stephanie Egan ’06 and Ryan Engels ’06, who came to Brewfest looking to learn about craft brewing.
The recently engaged couple purchased 70 acres of land in nearby Brooktondale in July and is hoping to eventually grow hops, one of the most basic ingredients in brewing beer, either for local brewers or for their own use. For them, Brewfest is not only a learning experience, but also an opportunity to show their support for the local brewing industry.
“We try not to buy any beer from breweries that have commercials on TV because they’re wasting their money on advertising,” Engels said.
Of the breweries present, Delaware-based Dogfish Head was the star. Lockwood, Montross, Egan and Engels all mentioned the brewery’s booth, which had the longest line at the festival for most of the day.
The brewery offered two popular beers. The first one, Raison D’Extra, is a beer flavored with raisins that has an alcohol content of at least 18 percent. This attracted the drinkers. The second is a beer called Chateau Jiahu, which is a modern interpretation of an ancient Chinese recipe. This attracted the tasters.
The two groups mingled peacefully in the line. Regardless of whether they had come for the taste or for the alcohol content, they were all there for the beer.


text: Fine particle air pollution, consisting of particles measuring less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), poses serious health risks (including heart attack risk) when deeply inhaled—and PM2.5 levels in China routinely reach hazardous levels in large cities such as Beijing. Chinese health and consumer groups are pushing for a national standard for anti-smog masks, after finding that some masks on the market are low-quality fakes. Demand for the masks has soared since 2012, with sales of 2.53 billion in 2013 and projections of 3.92 billion in 2015. The China Nonwovens Industrial Textiles Association has finished the first draft of a proposal to the national standards commission to regulate the booming industry. The issue of standardizing PM2.5 masks dominated discussions at a February 2014 forum on air pollution management and prevention in Beijing.


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Spansive, a company developing new wireless charging technology, today announced the launch of the Spansive Source, a multi-phone wireless charging accessory that's designed for families.
The Spansive Source is able to charge up to four Qi-enabled devices at one time, using what the company calls "Drop-N-Charge" technology that doesn't require exact placement on the charging surface.
Spansive says the Source uses "software-designed induction to shape magnetic fields" to create a device that allows four smartphones (or other Qi-based devices) to charge at once using a three-dimensional charging field that can "sense where devices are located."
The charging technology also allows smartphones to charge "regardless of phone case," supporting PopSockets and other thicker cases. According to Spansive, the Source should work with almost all iPhone cases and popular accessories.
Along with space for wirelessly charging four smartphones using Qi-based wireless charging, there are an additional two USB-A ports on the Source for charging other accessories.
Unfortunately, the Source charges iPhones at a maximum of 5W, so the faster 7.5W charging specification is not supported. It does, however, connect to a home's WiFi setup, which allows it to receive over-the-air firmware updates.
Spansive says that software updates will bring improvements like faster charging speeds, better charging range, and compatibility with future devices.
You can get the Spansive Source in either white or charcoal colors, and it is priced at $189. It is available for purchase today from the Spansive website.
Back in March, Apple launched the new 10.5-inch iPad Air with Touch ID, a headphone jack, A12 Bionic processor, support for the Apple Pencil, and compatibility with the Smart Keyboard. Today, B&H Photo and Amazon have kicked off the first sales for the 2019 iPad Air, discounting select configurations by up to $40.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
There are both Wi-Fi and cellular options in the sale, with prices beginning at $474. These discounts aren't particularly steep given how new the iPad Air is, but they are notable for being the first markdowns on the line since its launch in March.
Students pursuing higher education prefer to use Macs over PCs, according to new data shared today by Apple device management company Jamf.
71 percent of students surveyed said they would either use a Mac or prefer to use a Mac if cost were not a consideration. At the current time, of those students, 40 percent use a Mac and 60 percent use a PC. 51 percent of current PC users would rather be using a Mac.
67 percent of students surveyed said they would choose or stay with an organization that offered a choice between Mac and PC. 78 percent of students said that it's important for employers to offer their employees a choice between PC and Mac.
Students who said they preferred Mac over PCs offered up several different reasons. 59 percent cited ease of use, 57 percent cited durability, and 49 cited synchronization over other devices. 64 percent said they "like the brand," while 60 percent preferred the style and design of the Mac.
Among those who said they preferred PCs, the only dominant factor in the decision was price.
43 percent of students using a PC said that the Mac provides the greatest value despite its higher price point, while 80 percent of Mac users said that the Mac offers a better value. 83 percent of students currently using a Mac said they want to continue using Macs in their workplaces.
"Employers are looking for top talent in a competitive job market. Providing workers with the tools they know and love is a key way to attract, retain and empower them to be their most productive," said Dean Hager, CEO, Jamf. "The next generation of job seekers wants their tech to just work so that they can focus on their job. They see Mac as more modern, intuitive and reliable - and would like to continue to use it as they launch their careers."
Jamf's survey, conducted by Vanson Bourne, is based on responses from 2,244 current college and university students across five countries.
A security researcher found a flaw in Instagram's website that caused thousands of users' email addresses and phone numbers to be exposed online for several weeks, it was revealed on Thursday.
David Stier, a data scientist and business consultant, told CNET the website source code for some Instagram user profiles included the account holder's contact information whenever it loaded in a web browser.
Although the contact information was available in Instagram's mobile app if users chose to reveal it in their profile, it was never displayed on the desktop version of the Instagram website, so it's unclear why the details were exposed.
The leaked contacts are said to have come from thousands of accounts belonging to private individuals, including minors, as well businesses and brands. Stier alerted Instagram to the problem shortly after discovering it in February, and the photo-focused social platform issued a patch in March.
According to Stier, including the details in the source code could have let hackers scrape the data from the website relatively easily and use it to compile a database listing the contact information of thousands of Instagram users.
A similar data haul may have already occurred. On Monday it was revealed that a database containing contact information for millions of Instagram influencers, celebrities, and brand accounts had been leaked online.
The records included public data pulled from Instagram, such as profile picture, biography, and follower numbers, but also private contact information like phone numbers and email addresses.
The database was initially uploaded and shared by Mumbai-based social media marketing firm Chtrbox, a company that pays Instagram influencers to share sponsored content. Though uploaded by Chtrbox, the database included info from influencers who have never worked with the company.
In a statement, Chtrbox said the information in its database wasn't private and that it didn't source the information through unethical means.
Instagram parent company Facebook said on Monday that it was investigating the Chtrbox database. "We're also inquiring with Chtrbox to understand where this data came from and how it became publicly available," said Facebook.
A Chinese man on Wednesday pleaded guilty in Oregon to one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods, after he managed to trick Apple into replacing hundreds of fake iPhones with authentic handsets through its warranty program (via Bloomberg).
Quan Jiang, 30, a former engineering student at a community college in Albany, Oregon, sent around 3,000 counterfeit devices to Apple, via one of the state's three Apple stores or online. Jiang used fake names and claimed the iPhones wouldn't turn on and should be replaced under warranty.
Apple replaced almost 1,500 of the fake handsets with authentic iPhones, each with an approximate resale value of $600 on the Chinese market, where counterfeit Apple products are a big problem.
Apple only realized something was afoot as early as June 30, 2017, when its legal counsel sent Jiang a "cease and desist" letter to an address in Corvallis where 150 of the warranty claims had originated.
Apple's lawyers said that's when the company knew he was importing counterfeit Apple products, according to comments made by Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Thomas Duffy in a court document.
"Submission of an iPhone that will not power on is critical to perpetuating iPhone warranty fraud, as the phone will not be able to be immediately examined or repaired by Apple technicians, triggering the Apple iPhone replacement process as part of its product warranty policy," Duffy wrote, quoting Apple brand protection representative Adrian Punderson.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon, between January 2016 and February 2018, Jiang was the recipient of multiple packages containing as many as 20 to 30 inoperable, counterfeit iPhones from partners in Hong Kong.
After delivering the genuine replacements, Jiang's associate would pay Jiang's mother, who lives in China, who would then deposit the money into Jiang's bank account.
Apple is said to have rejected 1,576 warranty claims associated with Jiang, but the 1,493 claims that resulted in replacement iPhones being delivered by Apple represented an $895,000 loss to the company, according to court documents.
Jiang will be sentenced on August 28 and faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $2 million fine or twice his proceeds, whichever is greater. Bloomberg reports that the U.S. Attorney's office will recommend a prison sentence of three years and at least $200,000 in restitution to Apple, under a plea agreement, provided Jiang also forfeits his 2015 Mercedes-Benz CLA 250 coupe.
Apple has registered eleven unreleased iPhone models in the Eurasian Economic Commission database this week, including models A2111, A2160, A2161, A2215, A2216, A2217, A2218, A2219, A2220, A2221, and A2223, according to the Indian blog MySmartPrice.
The filings are legally required for any encrypted devices sold in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia.
These models likely represent Apple's refreshed iPhone line-up expected to debut in September 2019. Rumors suggest the successors of the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR will again be 5.8 and 6.5-inch OLED iPhones along with a 6.1-inch LCD iPhone, respectively.
Rumors suggest the 5.8 and 6.5-inch iPhone XS and XS Max successors will feature triple-lens cameras while the LCD iPhone will use a dual-lens camera setup.
We don't yet know what Apple will call the new iPhones, but iPhone XI or iPhone 11 are possibilities for the iPhone XS successors.
The EEC filings reveal all the new devices that have been added to the database run on iOS 12, although iOS 13 is likely to be available this fall as a free software update. Apple is expected to unveil all the new features coming with its updated mobile OS at WWDC in June.
Panic, a company known for developing apps for iOS and macOS, today announced plans to enter the hardware market with the launch of the Playdate, a new handheld gaming system.
Playdate features an entirely unique design with a black and white display, d-pad, A+B buttons, and a crank on the side that's designed to be similar to an analog stick.
Oh yeah, the crank! No, it doesn't power the device. It's a flip-out rotational controller that puts a fresh spin on fun. Some games use it exclusively, some use it with the d-pad, and some not at all. pic.twitter.com/XYW97nLZKK
The black and white 400 x 200 screen is not backlit, but it features a "crystal-clear image" and high reflectivity, which Panic says is "an aesthetic like no other."
On the surface, it might be tempting to compare the screen to, say, the Game Boy. But Playdate's display is quite different: it has no grid lines, no blurring, is extremely sharp and clear, and has much higher resolution. It sounds odd to say, but: it's truly a "premium" black-and-white screen.
The pocketable gaming system, which is going to come in a bright and inviting yellow color, will feature pre-installed games from developers like Zach Gage, Shaun Inman, Bennett Foddy, and Keita Takahashi.
At launch, there will be 12 games included with the system, delivered one per week for a few months. Panic says the idea is to give gamers something to look forward to. Most of the games are going to be kept secret until launch, and additional games will be added in the future.
The Playdate comes equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a USB-C port for charging, and a headphone jack.
Playdate is going to cost $149 when it becomes available for purchase in early 2020. Those interested in purchasing can sign up on the website to get notified when it's ready for purchase. Stock will be limited at launch, so Panic recommends signing up.
The new 4K display looks quite similar to the prior-generation 4K and 5K UltraFine displays with a black plastic body with relatively thick bezels and a black aluminum stand. Like prior models, it can be VESA mounted if you prefer.
It's larger than the original 4K UltraFine display as it measures in at 23.7 inches instead of 21.5 inches, but it features a 3840 x 2160 resolution rather than a 4096 x 2304 resolution like the first model. That's still considered Ultra HD, though, and qualifies as 4K.
Though this display has a 4K resolution, it's not meant to be used at the full 3840 x 1260 resolution given its 23.7-inch display size because everything on the display would be super small. Instead, it's meant to provide retina clarity when downscaled to a more reasonable resolution like 1920 x 1080 or 2560 x 1440, which is what we have it set to.
Along with the larger display size, the new UltraFine Display features two Thunderbolt 3 ports instead of a single Thunderbolt 3 port, which means you can daisy chain two of these monitors together. We didn't have a second on hand, but used daisy chaining with a different 4K LG display, which worked well.
You can also connect other Thunderbolt 3-enabled accessories directly to the display if preferred, and there are also three additional USB-C ports. Both a Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C cable are included. There's no webcam, but there are built-in stereo speakers available, much like the prior version of the LG UltraFine displays available from Apple.
The display is crisp and vivid, rivaling the Retina display on Apple's Macs, and we liked the high gloss finish despite the fact that it tends to add more glare. With 500 nits brightness, it's fairly bright, and because it has P3 wide color support, all the colors are rich and true to life.
All in all, we came away with a positive impression of this display. Since you can daisy chain two of them together, it might be nice to have two of them if you can given the smaller size and the $700 price point, which is half of the price of the 5K UltraFine display.
With the 4K LG UltraFine Display having been replaced, Apple may also have a replacement for the 5K UltraFine monitor on the horizon. The 5K monitor is sold out on Apple's site right now, though the listing for it hasn't been removed entirely.
Apple is also planning to get back into displays with rumors suggesting a 31.6-inch 6K display is in the works and set to be released alongside a new Mac Pro that's coming this year. Unfortunately, Apple's 6K display is rumored to be super pricey, so it may be out of range for a lot of Mac users who will instead need to rely on other options like the UltraFine displays from LG.
Ahead of the 2019 Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off on Monday, June 3 with a keynote event, Apple has updated its official WWDC app for iOS devices.
There have been no design changes to the app aside from a new neon icon that better matches the darker theme of the 2019 conference, but according to Apple's release notes, the update adds a new profile area for managing notifications, virtual queuing for labs, and app icon selection. App icon selection means you can change the color of the Apple logo on the icon in the Settings section of the app.
You'll also see new WWDC-themed iMessage stickers in the Messages app following the update.
The new update introduces placeholder titles for upcoming sessions and labs, with official names hidden because many of these sessions are based on features that have not yet been announced.
For developers who are on-site and attending WWDC, the app offers up on-site tools like maps and start times for labs, sessions, and events. For those unable to attend, it will include live video streams of the keynote, labs, and sessions.
Apple is also offering a tvOS app for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV so developers can also watch WWDC sessions on their television sets.
The Worldwide Developers Conference starts on June 3 with a keynote that will take place at 10:00 a.m. Apple will live stream the keynote on both its website and on the Apple TV, and MacRumors will also provide live coverage on MacRumors.com and through the MacRumorsLive Twitter account.
Apple today quietly released an updated version of macOS Mojave 10.14.5, which is designed for 15-inch MacBook Pro models that feature a T2 security chip, aka the 2018 and 2019 machines.
The new version of the software can be downloaded through the "Software Update" section of System Preferences on all compatible Macs.
According to Apple's release notes, the new software addresses a "firmware issue" impacting Macs with a T2 chip. Apple provided no additional detail, so we don't know what the specific firmware issue might be, but we may get more information when the security notes become available.
The MacBook Pro Supplemental Update addresses a firmware issue affecting 15-inch MacBook Pro computers with T2 Security Chip, and is recommended for all users.
Apple released the macOS Mojave 10.14.5 update on May 13, adding AirPlay 2 support for sharing music, photos, videos, and more from the Mac to AirPlay 2-enabled smart TVs from companies like Samsung, Vizio, LG, and Sony.
Minor Apple News+ interface changes were included, allowing users to follow a magazine directly from the catalog browsing view, and there were improvements to audio latency on 2018 machines.


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Gulf petrochem industry booming
The total investments in the petrochemical sector in the Gulf region will balloon to more than $250 billion by 2015, said an expert while speaking at a major industry event in Dubai.
The 4th International Conference for Plastics Conversion (PlastCon 2013), which opened on Sunday and will run till April 9, will see experts discuss several topics including challenges facing plastic manufacturers and exporting plastics to international markets.
“Currently, most petrochemical downstream industries in the entire Gulf are somewhat basic and not that sizable due to these countries being mainly exporters of basic petrochemical products,” remarked Muayad Al-Faresi, the procurement director of Equate Petrochemical Company, a top sponsor of PlastCon 2013.
A major player in the petrochemical sector based in Kuwait, Equate is an international joint venture between Petrochemical Industries Company, The Dow Chemical Company, Boubyan Petrochemical Company and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company.
“Having an ambitious and productive downstream industry requires having a suitable local market to consume the output or ensuring that these exports will find sustainable markets,” said Al-Faresi, who is also the vice chairman of The Gulf Petrochemicals & Chemicals Association (GPCA) Plastics Committee.
- Tunisian, Moroccan Chambers of Commerce meet to discuss economic partnership
- Winter wonderland: Dubai debuts Aspen Chalets with view of Ski Dubai
- Egyptian economic experts predict inflation rate will continue to climb
- Shoura Council: Expats cannot buy property in Mecca, Medina, Riyadh
- Tensions increase between Egypt, Italy over renewable energy projects
- Plastics poised for a big surge in the Gulf states
- Al-Faresi: USD 250 billion value of Gulf Petrochemical investments by 2015 EQUATE sponsors GPCA PlastCon 2013
- Time for a wake-up call: shale boom triggering over-protectionism, threatening the Gulf
- GCC Pet-chem industry set to boom
- Right on spot: Sabic profits rise 7% despite imminent shale boom


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Mercedes-Benz's luxury arm, Mercedes-Maybach, recently announced that they wanted to unveil a concept at the Monterey Car Week, more specifically during the Pebble Beach car gathering.
However, pictures of this vehicle were leaked on the Internet a few days before the official launch. Thanks to Autoexpress, we can now marvel at what the future of Mercedes-Maybach will look like.
- Also: A Maybach Coupe in our Future
- Also: Maybach Brand Officially Laid To Rest - Mercedes-Benz S600 Pullman Waits In The Wings
Its styling takes cues from both the recent Maybachs—like the Excelero Concept of 2004—and the products from Mercedes-Benz. For example, the side profile reminds us of the S-Class Coupe.
Another element is the sheer size of the beast. With a length of around six metres, the car is as long as a Ford F-150 SuperCrew. This size is a throwback to the pre-war era: back then, the most expensive vehicles—like the Delahayes, the Maybachs and the Rolls-Royces—were all huge.
The vehicle's cockpit is clearly not production-ready: the seats look like they are out of a Stanley Kubrick movie, while the heads-up display wouldn't look out of place on the USS Enterprise.
The Mercedes-Maybach Concept 6 will be shown in the flesh on the Pebble Beach lawn later this week.


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The J&B Met is just a few days away and we can’t wait to see what everyone is wearing. This year the organisers have turned the dress code on its head and gone for an open-ended theme. The theme, ‘Made Different,’ inspired by the ‘unique heritage of J&B Scotch Whisky’ urges those spending this Saturday at the races to challenge the conventional fashion that one would usually see paraded at the Met and well, put simply, come in something different.
What do you think of the theme? And what will you be wearing?


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Juhi Mirza is an archaeology major who is obsessive about blockchain/Crypto technology and deems it to be the foundational philosophy of the future. Her dogged ability to research and crystallise technical facts/multiple perspectives into rivetting stories makes her an accessible finance writer. She tends to her archaeological pursuits and loves unearthing the past over the weekends.
Höptner also explained that the worldwide adoption of Bitcoin does not necessarily mean that the traditional financial infrastructure will be considered useless.
In a blog post updated on Wednesday, Höptner has extended his support to El Salvador’s BTC adoption drive. According to BitMEX CEO, developing countries will adopt Bitcoin because of three major reasons, the central being the nations requiring a faster and cheaper method to ensure remittance processing. Höptner further highlighted that developing economies have been experiencing heavy pressure lately which has been derived exclusively from the issues related to cross-border payments and processes. Such issues require instant redressal which can be availed by making Bitcoin a legal tender in many emerging economies.
BitMEX CEO Believes Bitcoin Adoption Can Weather Inflation Spikes
Höptner additionally stated that remittances made up 23% of El Salvador’s gross domestic product. Meanwhile, the world bank has issued statistics stating that the low and middle-income countries receive a total of 75% of global remittances. Höptner cited the example of Turkey, stating how the nation accelerated its crypto drive when the country was experiencing a turbulent inflation phase of 19.2%. He also stated that the world is perceiving Bitcoin as a competent solution that can be used to stabilize heavy inflation rates in the majority of nations.
BitMEX CEO further commented that El Salvador’s move to adopt BTC early will compel other nations and countries to assess the associated pros and cons of adopting BTC in the long run. Höptner is not the only one who believes in the supremacy of Bitcoin to suppress inflationary blocks. The founder of Cardano, Charles Hoskinson had earlier predicted that the majority of the countries in the future will consider Bitcoin as a possible game-changer in the world of digital payment assets. Edward Snowden, a renowned computer programmer has also expressed his support towards cryptocurrency and has stated that latecomers might regret it later if they are reluctant towards adopting this new technological change.
Höptner also explained that the worldwide adoption of Bitcoin does not necessarily mean that the traditional financial infrastructure will be considered useless. But the countries should always look for better, more sophisticated, and faster payment options and alternatives that can benefit their nations and population as a whole.
Alexander Höptner was appointed as the CEO of 100x Group in 2020. 100x Group is a holding group for HDR global trading limited that manages and operates the BitMEX platform.