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Xbox One Will Come to Japan in Early 2014
July 3, 2013 12:14 PM
comment(s) - last by
Microsoft said Japan is a "Tier 2 country"
Sorry, Japan -- it looks like you're going to have to wait until next year to get a Xbox One.
Microsoft announced that Japan will receive the Xbox One in early 2014 instead of late 2013. It will release in North America in November and Europe in either November or December of this year.
Microsoft Japan President Yasuyuki Higuchi said this is because Japan is considered a "Tier 2 country." This is based on demand for the Xbox in the country as opposed to others.
According to reports, other countries in Asia won't get their hands on a Xbox One
until late 2014
The Xbox One has been a controversial machine for Microsoft. When the console was announced in late May, the company revealed that it would allow third-party publishers to
opt out of used game sales
. Both Microsoft and the publishers don't receive license fees on used game sales, but Microsoft was sneaky about the new policy by allowing third parties to make the decision on whether to ban the new games -- which puts them to blame instead of Microsoft for upset gamers.
Gamers were also upset to learn that of the new "always-on" digital rights management (DRM) system, which posed a problem for many people who are either in rural areas with slow Internet connections, travelling or experience Internet issues with providers.
But the consumer backlash was so brutal that Microsoft
retracted these features
. This meant that gamers no longer needed to have an Internet connection to play an offline Xbox One game (they will only need to go through a one-time setup over the Internet when the console first boots up), and gamers can trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like they do now.
Earlier this week, Microsoft lost
-- the president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business -- who left to become the CEO of Zynga. He aims to help the struggling social game company survive.
However, some wonder if Mattrick got the boot for his controversial statements regarding the Xbox One. When gamers lashed out about the new always-on issue, Mattrick advised that they
don't buy an Xbox One
The Xbox One sports an APU with eight x86-64 cores; 8GB of DDR3 RAM; a GPU based on an AMD GCN architecture with 12 compute units (768 cores total for 1.23 TFLOPS; a 500 GB non-replaceable hard drive; three USB 3.0 ports; HDMI, and a Blu-ray optical drive.
Games Industry International
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: grammar gripe
7/3/2013 2:29:05 PM
+1 I love it!
So tired of grammar Nazi's... + All heil Klink.
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Wafacash is a Morocco-based financial service. This company has announced a move that will scale up its operations, through a partnership with the WorldRemit to provide instant money transfers across regions in West and Central Africa.
The two companies, WorldRemit and Wafacash, are already working together in Morocco and Senegal. They now plan to extend that partnership into Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin, Cameroon, and Cote D’Ivoire by the end of this year.
How Wafacash-WorldRemit financial solution works
Using the Wafacash app, users can now send/receive money through WorldRemit as quickly as they send/receive an instant message.
WorldRemit argues that the digital mobile-first model has considerably improved security and compliance standards. Users sending money will not have to visit a brick and mortar agent. Wafacash has pay-out points across the Wafacash offices and Attijariwata Bank branches and agents. This setup will enable customers to withdraw or deposit funds quickly and conveniently.
As opposed to going to a brick and mortar bank, where the customer will have to queue up and waste time on the line. Some workers are forced to take off days to complete this task.
Over the past decade, …read more

domain: news


text:
Adult Industry News
Sat, Dec 13 2014 12:00pm PST
Falcon Studios Group announced plans to debut its most star-studded movie of the year, "America’s Finest."
Sat, Dec 13 2014 06:00am PST
MiKandi announced this week that it has launched "8 Bit Dick: Adventures of a Retro Pornstar," an all-new, original game developed exclusively for its adult app store.
Fri, Dec 12 2014 05:33pm PST
Wicked Pictures on Friday announced the release of “Axel Braun's Naughty Neighbors."
Fri, Dec 12 2014 03:45pm PST
In an effort to educate adult industry talent, the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee (APAC) tackled a hot topic last week, hosting a panel on “Transitioning to Non-Sex Work."
Fri, Dec 12 2014 03:29pm PST
ElectricDistro.com has announced that it is moving to bigger warehouse in South Bronx next year.
Fri, Dec 12 2014 03:05pm PST
U.K. attorney Myles Jackman and #pornprotest organizer Charlotte Rose made appearances on "Sky News Tonight" this evening to discuss why there was a porn protest outside Parliament today.
Fri, Dec 12 2014 03:00pm PST
Veteran adult distributor Williams Trading Co. announced that the full line of Rock Solid cock rings is in stock and available for immediate shipment.
Fri, Dec 12 2014 02:30pm PST
The Free Speech Coalition is pleased to announce its seminars for the upcoming FSC Summit. The conference will be hosted at the site of XBIZ 360 on Jan. 14-15.
Fri, Dec 12 2014 01:28pm PST
Cloud Evangelist has announced the offering of new revenue models and workflow automation allowing webcam operators to monetize the content of recorded live cam sessions.
Fri, Dec 12 2014 12:00pm PST
Several hundred protesters outside Parliament made their points clear today: The new law putting a crimp on streaming various acts of pornography has got to go.


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Apple just announced they will be moving away from Intel within the next two years. This is the end of a 15-year partnership between Apple & Intel.
Apple plans to use its own ARM-based chips in all Apple products including desktops as soon as the end of this year.
Why the move away from Intel?
Rumors are the biggest reason is heat and power demands which have caused problems with the MacBook line of Apple products. ARM processors are simpler and generally run a lot cooler and require far less power.
How much money is this partnership worth?
Apple is 5% of Intel's annual sales and accounts for around $3.4 Billion in revenue.
One of the main advantages for Apple and their customers is the ability to run iPhone & iPad apps directly on Mac devices without any changes.
Secret benefit for Apple?
What hasn't been talked about is the practice of running macOS on non-Apple hardware commonly referred to as Hackintosh. Apple has always hated the practice of running their software on non-Apple hardware and has had limited success in stopping it. By moving to ARM it will be almost impossible to find suitable hardware outside of Apple to run macOS.
In my experience, Hackintosh computers perform far better than Apple hardware but are a lot more work. The process has gotten far easier over the years to the point it is really straight forward these days. That all will end with the move to ARM processors.
This won't happen immediately though, it will take a while before Apple stops supporting Intel-based Macs but the writing is on the wall.
Will this be the end for Intel?
Nah, I don't see this change being a huge impact on Intel outside of their ego. In fact, I think it might give Intel the kick in the pants to do something about the power demands of their CPUs. Maybe the switch to ARM will fail and Intel will be there to say I told you so.
Intel is still the primary CPU sold today and used by most computer companies like Dell, Sony, HP, Toshiba, IBM.
Will this be the solution to the ongoing throttling problems on Apple's high-end Macbook Pros or is it just a way for Apple to make more money and eliminate the competition?


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If the Forces of Disapproval ever tire of beating up on Wal-Mart, they’ll need a new business to blame for the world’s not being everything it ought. George Will thinks Coca-Cola might fill the bill (“Liberalism as Condescension”, syndicated/RealClearPolitics, Sept. 14).
Commentary on soda-tax proposals that’s equally applicable to the obesity litigation wars:
…soda, by itself, isn’t making us fat. According to numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, regular soda consumption has been falling every year since 1998, but at the same time obesity has skyrocketed. In 2004, we actually drank less soda per person than in 1995, long before obesity was making headlines.
(Sara Cseresnyes and Andrew Chamberlain, “Soda Tax the Wrong Way to Help Curb Obesity”, Denver Post, Jul. 21, reprinted at Tax Foundation site) (via Radley Balko, who adds, “Yep. In fact, the beverage that has by far seen the largest increase in consumption since about 1980 is bottled water. Diet soda is second.”) Related: Lorraine Heller, “The Obesity Blame Game”, Beverage Daily, Aug. 7, and reader feedback at that publication.
More skirmishing in preparation for the expected lawsuit against soft-drink vendors over sales in Massachusetts schools (see Dec. 5, Dec. 7, Feb. 7, etc.), via a Boston Globe editorial (“Vending against obesity”, Jan. 30):
In advance of the suit, Washington lawyer John Banzhaf sent an e-mail to 50-100 school committee members in Massachusetts ”to warn of your inevitable involvement in these law suits as a named party or otherwise…”
A couple of years back, Banzhaf threatened to sue the Seattle school district for renewing a $400,000 vending-machine contract with Coca-Cola (Jul. 3, 2003). Prof. Banzhaf’s other doings, which have ensured him regular appearances on this site, include proposing lawsuits against parents of obese children and against doctors who fail to warn their obese patients about overeating (Dec. 3, 2004).
My op-ed on the litigation against Big Cola (see Feb. 2) draws an L.A. Times reader letter (Feb. 7). Also welcome Andrew Sullivan readers (Jan. 27). More by Sullivan: “Hey, these adverts are making me fat”, The Times (U.K.), Jan. 29; blog posts including Jan. 25 and Jan. 26. And see Philip Wallach, “There Are Deeper Pockets than ‘Big Soda'”, The American Enterprise, Dec. 15; John Luik, “Sponge Bob, Wide Pants?”, TCS Daily, Jan. 25; and Rogier van Bakel, Jan. 23.
American children are now gaining weight even as they watch somewhat less commercial television than previous generations did. One study estimated that children saw about 15 percent fewer TV ads in 2003 than their counterparts did in 1994. Alas, that does not mean today’s kids are playing outside more. They simply have many more commercial-free alternatives such as premium cable, tapes and DVDs, and video and computer games.
Another unfortunate fact for advocates of regulating food advertising is that their pet idea has already been done to the max – that is, in the form of outright bans of ads targeting children – in places such as Sweden and Quebec. The obesity rate of Swedish children differs little from that of British children, however. The same is true in Quebec vs. other Canadian provinces.
The plaintiffs say it’s not about the money. I believe them. This lawsuit, which CSPI and its allies plan to file under a Massachusetts consumer protection statute prohibiting “unfair or deceptive acts or practices,” is really about censorship. By threatening onerous damages, CSPI aims to achieve through the courts what it has unsuccessfully demanded from legislators and regulators for decades: a ban on food advertising aimed at children.
Earlier, Sullum reported on the CDC venturing into West Virginia to stalk obesity “vectors” (“Watching the Detectives”, syndicated/Reason, Aug. 26).
I’ve got a piece in the new issue of the Manhattan Institute magazine City Journal examining the emerging barrage of obesity suits against soft drink companies (Walter Olson, “Taking Cola to Court”, City Journal, Winter). For more, see Dec. 5 and Dec. 7. If you’re in search of a listing of all my writings in City Journal, incidentally, it’s here.
The New York Times finally weighs in on the impending case against Big Soda (see Dec. 5). Maybe it took them longer than expected to get the spin in favor of the suit just right. Prof. Daynard’s role gets somewhat downplayed this time around, the Center for Science in the Public Interest looms larger, and the most priceless bit comes at the end:
One detail yet to be decided is whether the group will seek financial damages. Under Massachusetts’s consumer protection law, successful plaintiffs are entitled to $25 per violation, which could mean $25 for every time a student has purchased a soda in a public high school in Massachusetts over the past four years.
Mr. Gardner said he and the other lawyers realize that damages could run into the billions. “We haven’t decided about this yet,” he said. “We don’t want this to come off looking like a greedy-lawyer lawsuit.”
“Richard Daynard, a Massachusetts law professor who made his name working as a consultant on class actions against tobacco companies, is part of a broad effort by both private attorneys and nonprofit groups to sue Atlanta-based Coca-Cola and other soft drink companies for selling high-calorie drinks in schools.” (Caroline Wilbert, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nov. 29; Caroline E. Mayer, “Lawyer coalition targets soft drink manufacturers”, Washington Post/Detroit News, Dec. 4; Todd Zywicki and vast comment section; Colossus of Rhodey). In the Boston Globe magazine, contributor Michael Blanding writes supportively of “a national legal movement to make soft drinks the next tobacco” (Oct. 30).
For more on the search for ways to blame business for our collective struggle with the waistline, see many entries in our Eat, Drink and Be Merry section. More on caffeine “addiction” theories: Aug. 18-20, 2000, Jun. 1, 2004. More on vending machine suits: Jul. 3, 2003. And as regular readers know, we’ve been covering Prof. Daynard’s activities for a long time; see Apr. 21-23, 2000 and many others.
Food, 2003: “Give me my million“, Jun. 20-22; “Lawsuit’s demand: stop selling Oreos to kids“, May 13 (& update May 16-18: suit dropped); “Fast-food opinion roundup“, Mar. 25-30; “They’ll be back for seconds“, Feb. 19; “Claim: marriage impaired by tough bagel“, Feb. 3; “Judge tosses McDonald’s obesity case“, Jan. 23 (& Jan. 27-28); “U.K.: coercive campaign to constrain Cadbury“, Jan. 20; “Anti-diet activist hopes to sue Weight Watchers“, Jan. 13-14.
2002: “California’s hazardous holiday” (acrylamide), Dec. 27-29; “Scourge of the Super-Size order“, Nov. 7; “WHO demands pretzel de-salting by law“, Nov. 1-3; Letter to the editor, Oct. 23; “Personal responsibility roundup“, Sept. 12; “Fat suits, cont’d“, Jul. 26-28; “‘Ailing man sues fast-food firms’“, Jul. 25; “Sin-suit city“, Jun. 10; “McArdle on food as next-tobacco“, May 27 (& Jun. 3-4); “Nader credibility watch” (calls fast-food restaurants “weapons of mass destruction”), May 24-26; “The mystery of the transgenic corn“, May 14-15; “‘Targeting “big food”‘“, Apr. 29-30; “‘Woman sues snack food company for spoiling diet’“, Apr. 23-24; “No more restaurant doggie bags“, Mar. 20-21; “Fast-food roundup“, Mar. 11; “King Cake figurine menace averted“, Feb. 1-3; “McMouse story looking dubious“, Jan. 25-27; “Life imitates parody: ‘Whose Fault Is Fat?‘”, Jan. 23-24. “‘Hot-dog choking prompts lawsuit’“, Jan. 2-3.
2001: “There’ll always be a California” (chocolate and Prop 65), Dec. 4; Letter to the editor (Wisc. exempts lutefisk from toxic-substance status), Nov. 29; “Disposable turkey pan litigation“, Nov. 23-25; “‘Diabetic German judge sues Coca-Cola for his health condition’” (candy bars too), Nov. 18; “‘Baskin-Robbins lawsuit puts family in dis-flavor’“, Aug. 2; “‘Couple sues over flaming Pop-Tart’“, July 30; “Feeling queasy?” (E. coli), July 27-29; “‘Man sues Rite Aid over stale jelly bean’“, July 20-22; “By reader acclaim: ‘Vegetarian sues McDonald’s over meaty fries“, May 4-6; “Woman settles hot pickle suit with McDonald’s“, April 16 (& Oct. 10, 2000); “Putting the ‘special’ in special sauce” (alleged rat in Big Mac), March 29.
2000: “You deserve a beak today” (McDonald’s chicken case), Dec. 6.
1999: “Are they kidding, or not-kidding?” (proposal for suits against makers of fattening foods), Nov. 15; “Toffee maker sued for tooth irritation“, Nov. 5-7; “More things you can’t have” (unpasteurized cider), Sept. 27; “Not just our imagination” (calls for class actions against fast food, meat industry), Sept. 25-26; “Taco Bell not liable for Ganges purification pilgrimage“, Aug. 30.
Beverages: “Litigation good for the country?” (Carl T. Bogus), Aug. 19, 2002; “British judge rejects hot-drink suits“, Mar. 29-31, 2002 (& Aug. 10, 2000); “‘Diabetic German judge sues Coca-Cola for his health condition’“, Nov. 18, 2001; “‘Group sues Starbucks over tea ingredient’“, Sept. 10; “By reader acclaim” (maker of cup holder), Jan. 11, 2001; “‘Court says warning about hot coffee unnecessary’” (Nevada Supreme Court), July 18, 2000; “Now it’s hot chocolate“, April 4; “Next on the class-action agenda: liquor?“, March 22, 2000; & see Sept. 10, 2001. For burns from hot beverages that were under the control of the complainant, see also personal responsibility page.


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Automation and Industry 4.0 tools are transforming the manufacturing ecosystem globally including in India which is set to benefit from exports of high-quality automotive products.
The global manufacturing ecosystem is undergoing a huge transformation with the onset of digitisation and Industry 4.0 technologies that are enabling an improvement in productivity as well as quality. Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, which is a key supplier of metrology tools, design and simulation software to leading OEMs in India is driving the industry's shift towards new-age solutions.
Josh Weiss, president, Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence talks about how India stands a clear chance to emerge as the new manufacturing hub of the automotive world which is seeing a realignment of the global supply chain after the pandemic. He also speaks about how Hexagon is scaling its R&D and manufacturing footprint in India to tap into the growth opportunities.
In Conversation with Hyundai Motor India's Tarun Garg
The Korean carmaker is confident about doubling volumes of its C-segment Verna sedan which has been introduced in a futu...
In Conversation with Lumax Auto Technologies' Anmol Jain
Anmol Jain, managing director, Lumax Auto Technologies, talks about how the company is bullish about its prospects in th...
In Conversation with Nissan Motor Corporation's Ashwani Gupta
Renault-Nissan Alliance to explore electrification avenues in India along with scrutinising opportunities to collaborate...


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Geekbench leaks yet another Samsung smartphone
The Geekbench smartphone database has leaked one more Samsung handset under the name of Galaxy On5 (2016). The device carries the SM-G570F code name and managed to get 2000 points in the multi-core test of the database.
As to the tech specs the Galaxy On5 (2016) comes with a quad-core Exynos 4412 processor, which runs at 1.4 GHz. The device also has 2 GB of RAM, up from the 1.5 GB found in its predecessors and Android 6.0 Marshmallow will be the mobile OS the Galaxy On5 (2016) will come with.
No other tech specs are available as of now. The new Samsung smartphone will probably get launched within the next few months.


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MDPL names Saudi cheese distributor
Cairo, April 19, 2011
Egyptian Mashreq Des Produits Laitiers (MDPL), a subsidiary of the French Group Soparind Bongrain, which is a global leader in dairy products, has appointed Abbar Foods as its Saudi distributor of Milkana cheese.
“Abbar Foods' well established experience in food distribution going back 50 years in Saudi Arabia, along with the outstanding quality of MDPL cheese products, especially Milkana, gives us the advantage to better serve the Saudi consumer market,” said Medhat Azer, general manager of MDPL.
MDPL has its own factory in Burg el Arab in Alexandria where products are directly exported to different countries including GCC, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Sri Lanka.
“We are proud to introduce to Saudi consumer one of the best international brands in dairy products, that is Milkana cheese – the fine outcome of traditional and unique French technology and expertise in dairy products,” added Abdulkarim Abdulrahman Abbar, business development manager of Abbar Foods.
He added that Milkana, with its fine components and quality, offers consumers of all family members a healthy cheese with unrivaled quality that is tasty and rich in nutrients. He also said that Abbar Foods, with its vast network of branches all over the Kingdom from Jeddah to Dammam and from Hael to Jazzan, is perfectly capable of helping Milkana establish itself in Saudi market soon.-TradeArabia News Service


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Luxury hotel chain which owns the Dorchester on Park Lane loses £1m in boycott over gay rights
Pressure is growing on the Dorchester Collection luxury hotel chain after a boycott over gay rights has cost it approaching £1million in lost bookings in Los Angeles alone.
Chief executive Christopher Cowdray told a US television network that former celebrity favourite Beverly Hills Hotel has missed out on income of about $1.5million due to cancelled events, but he insisted the company could ‘weather the storm’.
‘We’re very, very much larger than that,’ he said.
Celebrity boycott: Prominent figures such as Richard Branson and Sharon Osborne have pledged to boycott the chain
The group, owned by the Sultan of Brunei, has been targeted after he approved laws in his country making adultery and homosexual acts punishable by stoning to death.
The group’s flagship Central London hotel, the Dorchester on Park Lane, is also in campaigners’ sights after celebrities including Stephen Fry and Sharon Osbourne pledged to boycott the chain and Sir Richard Branson tweeted: ‘No Virgin employee, nor our family, will stay at Dorchester Hotels until the Sultan abides by basic human rights.’
Travel firm www.cruise.co.uk also announced it was boycotting the chain and that guests asking to book one of the hotels would be offered an alternative.
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PARIS: It’s so small wags joke that it can only hold a single Tic Tac, but French brand Jacquemus’ teeny weeny bag, ‘Le Mini Chiquito’, is arguably the biggest thing at Paris fashion week.
Never has something so tiny excited so much fashion passion and hilarity on social media.
The handbag, or should we say finger bag made its debut last week on the opening night of the Paris shows.
A shrunken version of the miniature and already cult $500 (440-euro) ‘Le Chiquito’ bag which has the likes of Rihanna and Kim Kardashian have been spotted clutching between their thumb and forefingers ,it is merely 5.2 centimetres (two inches) long.
Jacquemus has sold ‘tens of thousands’ of Le Chiquito bags in the last year, according to Cosmopolitan magazine, with fashionistas so desperate to get their fingers on them that there are lengthy waiting lists for some colours.
Although the brand told AFP that they have yet to set a price for Le Mini Chiquito, if the reaction on Instagram and Twitter is anything to go by, demand could be equally brisk.


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The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission's new information standard around claims of free range eggs took effect on 26th April 2018. While opinions differ on what a hen needs to truly range freely, "free range" is defined by the ACCC as a maximum of 10,000 birds per hectare, or one bird per square metre of … Continue reading Free range egg claims: new laws come into effect
Back in 2016, the Australian government introduced new requirements for labelling almost all food with Country of Origin information. On 1 July 2018, these requirements become mandatory for all food retailers, including stall holders at farmers markets. There are very few exceptions: alcoholic beverages, tea & coffee, biscuits, seasonings, confectionery and snack foods. Ready-to-eat vendors … Continue reading New Country of Origin labelling requirements mandatory from 1 July 2018
After more than a year of planning, a new state-based organisation has launched to represent genuine farmers markets in New South Wales and is calling for membership. Recognised by the Australian Farmers' Markets Association, the new Farmers Markets Alliance of NSW will work to raise public awareness of what makes an authentic farmers market, ensuring … Continue reading Farmers markets in NSW unite to support our farmers
Notice is given that the inaugural annual general meeting of the Farmers Markets Alliance of NSW Inc will be held 8.00pm Wednesday 29 November 2017 via teleconference AGENDA Attendance President’s report Financial report Election of office bearers Other business Contact FMANSW President Kate Raymond on 0413 920 620 for teleconference dial-in details.


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US auto parts suppliers warned of more production cuts at major automakers as a global semiconductor chip shortage worsens before easing in the second half of the year and aiding in a partial recovery of lost sales.
The chip shortage came at an inopportune time for automakers as demand rebounded from pandemic lows due to low interest rates and consumers’ preference for personal transport amid the health crisis.
“We have embedded a 3% reduction in industry production to factor in what we are anticipating and expecting as further announced downtime that hasn’t been publicly announced at this point,” Lear Corp Chief Financial Officer Jason Cardew said.
“We have line of sight on a more meaningful reduction (in production) in the second quarter than IHS Markit and others are projecting,” Cardew said.
Ford Motor Co, a major customer for Lear and peers including BorgWarner and Magna International, has said the chip shortage would halve its vehicle output in the second quarter.
Europe’s Volkswagen, another customer for the three suppliers, has said it is in “crisis mode” over the lack of badly needed automotive chips, with the shortage intensifying and hitting its profits in the second quarter.
Lear, which makes automotive seating, cut its global vehicle production forecast to a 9% rise, from up to 12% it had predicted at the beginning of the year, while also expecting second-quarter revenue to fall 9% from the first.
Auto suppliers also cautioned that the pain from the shortage could linger at least until the next year.
“We don’t expect the supply/demand imbalance to fully recover to normalised levels until 2022,” said Joseph Massaro, chief financial officer of Aptiv, a maker of advanced driver assistance systems, vehicle computers and high-voltage cabling.
Auto suppliers are also grappling with pressure on their margins from rising costs of key inputs such as steel and copper.
However, many expect to offset some of those costs as automaker customers focus on building higher margin, more profitable pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.
“On the biggest raw material purchases, we have about 60% pass through with our customers,” BorgWarner Chief Executive Officer Frederic Lissalde said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 9th, 2021.


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A fire at Tesla’s Inc.’s factory in Fremont, Calif., was brought under control on Thursday evening and there were no immediate reports of injuries, the fire department told Reuters.
The fire took place in a part of the factory property that was under construction, according to Aisha Knowles, a spokeswoman at the Fremont Fire Department.
“The deep-seated fire was contained to a vehicle manufacturing stamping machine”, she added.
The fire was caused by hydraulic fluid coming in contact with molten aluminum, the spokeswoman said.
Fremont firefighters coordinated with the Tesla fire response team. Two Fremont Fire engines and one truck remained at the scene to monitor the situation, according to the spokeswoman.
Local media outlet KTVU Fox 2 had earlier tweeted a video of smoke rising from the factory.
It was not immediately clear whether production was affected. Tesla did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Tesla last month temporarily halted some production at the assembly plant in California because of problems with its supply chain. The issue was due to a delay in some parts supply. Tesla took that as an opportunity to do equipment upgrades and maintenance,CEO Officer Elon Musk told employees in an email.
Bloomberg contributed to this report.


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Four Seasons Introduces Complimentary Wi-Fi For Unlimited Devices
Photo courtesy of Thinkstock
Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts is shaking things up for all of its guests, announcing a series of Wi-Fi upgrades this week, including complimentary Internet service across a majority of the company's portfolio.
"We have introduced new global standards to give Four Seasons guests a seamless, convenient and higher quality internet experience, whether staying with us, using our mobile app or visiting the public areas of our hotels and resorts," Four Seasons' Senior Vice President of Rooms Scott Taber said in a statement.
On top of saving guests money by eliminating Wi-Fi fees, the new service will provide added convenience.
Guests will be able to connect to the Internet with one click regardless of where they are inside the hotel. That means no more hunting down logins and passwords.
"In addition to free, faster Wi-Fi, with seamless, one-click service, guests no longer need multiple logins in different areas of the hotel, and they can access our Wi-Fi network with as many devices as they wish," added Taber.
Since guests can connect to Four Seasons' Wi-Fi on multiple devices, they'll have additional range when it comes to getting work done or simply connecting.
For example, guests won't have to rely on their data plan inside the lobby or at the hotel bar.
There is a limit to the free service, though, as guests requiring additional bandwidth for large file downloads and uploads, HD streaming, gaming and conferences will have to pay a fee to access Four Seasons' 20 MB premium service.
For now, Four Seasons says the single click Wi-Fi connection is unavailable in China and India because of local regulations. The service also remains unavailable at Four Seasons properties in very remote locations due to limited bandwidth.


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It’s just past 3 a.m. on an early Monday morning and while most are still sleeping, Eli Tate, owner of Gambino’s Bakery in Lafayette, is just beginning his day. For him, it’s all part of tradition.
With the smells of cinnamon sugar in the air, and orders for king cakes filled their back wall, Tate said Gambino’s Bakery is one of the go-to places every year as Mardi Gras approaches.
“Our busiest time of the year starts at the beginning of January all the way through the end of Mardi Gras,” Tate said. “It’s definitely by far busiest time of the year.”
Tate said king cakes are a type of a phenomenon during this time of the year. As proof, he noted that, at both of their Lafayette and Baton Rouge locations, they produce an average of 1,200 king cakes combined a day.
“On a typical day, we sell between a 150-300 king cakes a day here at our Lafayette store during Mardi Gras,” Tate said. “Typically before January, we sell 10, 15 a day and with the start of Mardi Gras, there is a spike overnight.”
Tate joked the week after Mardi Gras, he can’t give a king cake a way.
Made of a traditional Danish dough, Gambino’s king cakes are mixed, rolled out, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar on it, according to Tate. The cakes are then proofed and baked off.
“We top it with a white icing and with the traditional three colors of Mardi Gras,” Tate said. “Purple, green and gold, which means ‘justice,’ ‘power’ and ‘loyalty.’”
The name "king cake" takes its name from the biblical three kings, Gambino’s website said.
“Mardi Gras begins on the fifth night of January and that’s the same time the three wise men were set to arrive to see baby Jesus,” Tate said. “And so the baby represents baby Jesus.”
The website added the season for king cake extends from the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas, up until Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, the day before the start of Lent.
The self-titled and then trademarked “King of the King Cakes,” Gambino's Bakery originated in New Orleans and the bakery is a household tradition that offers over 65 years of “experience with delicious baked goods,” the website said.
Gambino’s is a full-scale bakery and they do everything from cookies and brownies all the way to wedding cakes and custom cakes, which has been their specialty, according to Tate.
Gambino’s in Lafayette has been open since November 1999. Tate and his wife took it over in September 2000.
Tate says it’s the traditions that make the concept of king cakes so special today.
“One thing about South Louisiana, anytime to celebrate something, to get together, there is a strong sense of family here,” Tate said. “And the king cake is something that brings people together.”
Tate added South Louisiana is always looking to bring people together, and king cakes help to facilitate that.
As he enters his 20th year at Gambino’s, Tate said one of the great things about his job is he gets to deal with people during happy times.
“When they come in here, they have a smile on their face because they about to get a treat,” Tate said
Even after the early mornings and late nights, Tate said he won’t stop from doing what he loves, adding how providing a service like his means a great deal to him.
“I always said, ‘Bringing a smile to someone’s face is money in the bank,’” Tate said. “It’s priceless.”


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Cadillac has been testing the 2014 CTS sports sedan at the Nürburgring, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing at the 14.2-mile German circuit. Our colleagues at Motor Trend happened to spot a 2014 CTS prototype testing on the ‘Ring, only to see the car end up off the asphalt and on the grass.
The car was likely the same Cadillac CTS prototype we previously saw lapping the Nürburgring. As the photo shows, the car didn’t crash or sustain any damage. Motor Trend later learned that the prototype experienced mechanical problems, which temporarily forced the Cadillac off the asphalt and onto the grass. So it wasn’t a case of an overzealous test driver exceeding the limits of the new CTS.
When the car was running properly, MT managed to take the following video of the 2014 CTS lapping the ‘Ring. The rear-wheel-drive sedan will be a big bigger than the current Cadillac CTS, and positioned to compete with cars like the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class. We expect it will offer the turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four engine from the 2013 ATS, probably making 270 hp, as well as a 3.6-liter V-6 with at least 318 hp. The 2014 CTS moves to General Motors’ new “Alpha” chassis, which also will underpin the next-generation Chevrolet Camaro.
You can watch the 2014 Cadillac CTS lapping the Nürburgring in the video below. Unfortunately, the off-track excursion wasn’t caught on film.
Source: Motor Trend


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Tilda Swinton stars as Elizabeth Abbott.
She's perhaps best known for her striking features, unique fashion sense and refusal to conform to the industry standard.
Watch this exclusive preview of Breaking Down the Bars, a new series on OWN premiering Tuesday, February 15th at 9pm/8c.
The latest news from The Oprah Winfrey Show.
OWN Announces June Premiere Dates for Four New Original Series, including "Unfaithful: Stories of Betrayal", "The Dr. Laura Berman Show", "Visionaries: Inside the Creative Mind" and "Carson Nation".


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More than a year after the announcement of the Flyme 9, the news is on the horizon for Meizu. Today, the Chinese company announced the 10th birthday of its UI Flyme: let’s say that globally updates have never been his forte, but his homeland is the brand however, it has certain notoriety among fans.
They return to the birthday of the interface, through the Asian social network Weibo the company has revealed that there will be other exciting news in August, always related to the tenth anniversary.
Obviously, this is a clear reference to the release period of the Flyme 10: the teaser poster seems to preview the possible logo of the new version of the Meizu UI. In addition to software-side news, they could also come about the next top of the range of the brand. Meizu 19 has been officially confirmed but there is still a release date.


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More than 200 people attend meet to discuss BID potential in the area.
The British Jewellers’ Association’s (BJA) meeting to discuss the future of Hatton Garden welcomed more than 200 guests from the jewellery industry last night, focusing on the creation of a Business Improvement District (BID) for the area, as well as the needs of Hatton Garden businesses and craftspersons.
The meeting was hosted at Etc Venues on Hatton Garden and featured guest speakers Jason Holt of Holts Gems, Jeremy Shapiro of Camden Council and Alistair Subba Row, a senior partner at local chartered surveyors Farebrother. Guests included members of the London Diamond Bourse, Hatton Garden retailers, jewellery designers and goldsmiths working in the area and representatives of the BJA, Camden Council and the City of London authority.
BJA chairman Gary Williams led proceedings, telling those present that their efforts were needed to help revive Hatton Garden and ensure its future as the jewellery quarter for London. Focusing on the potential of creating a BID for Hatton Garden, Williams said: "This is an opportunity for us to pull together and to grow our businesses. Shoppers can go where they like in 2014 and they do, so why do we think they should come to Hatton Garden in the future?"
The meeting featured a presentation from Alistair Subba Row, who has worked on a number of BID proposals and implementation in central London, and is also chairman of the Camden Business Board. He explained the process and potential of a BID for Hatton Garden, including how it could win seed funding to begin proceedings.
Subba Row explained that the creation of a BID would allow Hatton Garden businesses – not just its jewellers but larger advertising and digital firms in the area, as well as Sky and Tesco – to work closely with Camden Council to deliver enhanced services for the area. Such services can include extra policing after dark, CCTV, Christmas lights and nearby signage to direct people to the street and its environs.
Subba Row forecast that the area could generate about £450,000 a year towards the BID, an amount of which would need to be spent on full-time management of the BID, as well as the additional services it provides. Grants of about £30,000 are available for BIDs within the Greater London Authority, with London mayor Boris Johnson pushing business improvement districts, with the aim of creating 50 before the end of his current tenure.
At present there are 36 BIDs established in Greater London, and several near to Hatton Garden. Possible seed funding from local authorities and local freeholders has also helped to boost the start-up of BIDs in London, with some areas securing up to £100,000 in funding from freeholders alone.
It would take between 18 months to two years to get a potential BID off the ground, with a consultation period created to establish the viability of the BID and whether it would actually answer the needs of Hatton Garden. Residents, business persons and freeholders would have chance to air their views during the consultation. If successful, a BID levy would be applied to all business in the area based on the total rateable value of the area – roughly 1% to 1.5% – on top of business rates.
However, a number of concerns were raised by those present at last night’s meeting, including retailer Daniel Caspi of Davril, who asked how a business plan would be formed if a BID was successful, and who would oversee the creation of this plan.
Some attendees stated that despite being perceived as a open forum, the meeting was clearly trying to push the BID as the only answer to Hatton Garden’s needs, with one attendee stating that she felt like she was being "sold an idea that was being led by just a few people".
One speaker who introduced himself as Jeremy said that he had been manufacturing in Hatton Garden for 31 years and felt that if a BID was created it would be he and his fellow makers behind the scenes that would lose out. "The cheap rented accommodation that we need has been driven up and rising rates will drive small-scale manufacturing out of the Garden," he said. "While it can be argued that a BID ‘drives business upstairs’, my business has no dealings in Hatton Garden; I do more business in Qatar and New York."
One point that was reiterated was the fact that jewellers are not the only businesses in the area. In the past few years in particular there has been growth in the number of media agencies and design companies operating in the Hatton Garden locale, with advertising agency Grey on Hatton Garden, while Sky and Tesco have also made a move into the area, alongside Possible, part of advertising giant WPP Group. It is understood that £100 million has been placed into property investment and development in the Camden area in the last 12 months.
With Crossrail set to open at Farringdon station in 2018 – boosting the north, south, east, west intersection for commuters and tourists – it is forecast that several hundred thousand people will be leaving the station each week, massively impacting potential of investment and footfall in the area.


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Frozen vegetables are just as good as fresh. Why do we still stick our noses up at it?
Britain has a strange relationship with frozen food . Despite evidence showing that plenty of frozen fruit and vegetables retain their nutritional value – sometimes even better than fresh produce – there seems to be a prevailing attitude that frozen food is just not as good as fresh.
Home cooks such as Delia Smith , Nigella Lawson, and Jack Monroe have long hailed the practicality and usefulness of frozen vegetables at hand. However, Smith’s 2008 cookbook, titled How To Cheat At Cooking , drew intense backlash because she recommended ingredients like frozen potatoes and tinned mince.
Chefs such as Raymond Blanc criticised the TV cook for her audacity in suggesting the public use produce that had been packaged and preserved for longevity. At the time, he told The Daily Express : “Suddenly the great lady who helped us all to connect with our food has published a book which undermines her credibility.”
But the Michelin-starred Blanc appears to have now changed his tune. In an interview with the Radio Times , the French chef praised Smith for being the first TV chef to “really simplify food”.
Take the frozen pea. First, it’s delicious – all the nutrients are trapped in
Blanc said: “[Smith] was heavily criticised for using tinned and frozen food in her recipes, but she was absolutely right.
“Take the frozen pea. First, it’s delicious – all the nutrients are trapped in. Not quite as good as fresh, but nobody wants to pick and pod peas. If it takes two hours, you’re not going to want to eat it.”
Anna Mapson, a nutritional therapist and founder of Goodness Me Nutrition , tells The Independent that in general, frozen food is just as good as fresh food, and at times, can have an even higher nutritional value.
She points out that a lot of fresh produce is flown into the UK from all around the world, and then stored for weeks at a time before it even reaches the supermarket shelves.
“A lot of fruit and vegetables we see in supermarkets are not really as fresh as we think,” Mapson says. “But when frozen, vegetables do retain a lot of goodness because they are frozen in time.”
However, the majority of Britons still idealise fresh produce. A 2020 YouGov survey found that the majority (64 per cent) of Britons “definitely” or “tend to agree” with the statement “fresh food is better than frozen”, while only three per cent said they “definitely disagree”.
The survey found that among those who prefer frozen foods, 68 per cent said it offers better value for money compared to fresh food. This reflects the significant difference in pricing between the two categories – for example, Which? found that in 2020, consumers spent around £1.57 per kilo of fresh broccoli compared to just 86p for frozen.
But despite the cost-efficacy and high nutritional value of frozen food, it’s still considered less good compared to fresh food – and this prevailing attitude boils down to wealth inequality.
When you are on a budget, frozen food can be really beneficial
Because fresh food is significantly more expensive than frozen, it is mainly purchased by higher income households. A study by the University of Cambridge that tracked the price of 94 key food and beverage products between 2002 and 2012 found that fresh fruit, meat and vegetables, which were considered “healthy foods”, were three times more expensive per calorie than less healthy products.
The researchers found that a quarter (25 per cent) of people said they felt that healthy and nutritious food was unaffordable in the UK. This figure rises among individuals with incomes lower than £20,000 and £10,000 to 27 per cent and 44 per cent respectively.
This means that frozen foods, largely purchased by lower income households looking to stock their freezers with food that is less likely to go bad before they get a chance to use it, have been relegated to the “unhealthy” foods camp.
Mapson says: “When you are on a budget, frozen food can be really beneficial, but the attitude of looking down on frozen foods may come from the other types of frozen food you can get.
“Plain fruit and vegetables with no additives are just as nutritious as fresh, but there are a lot of processed frozen foods like pizza or oven chips that people associate with being unhealthy.”
There is also a pervasive wellness culture that heralds perfect-looking fresh food as being better than anything else that feeds the view that frozen food is not as good.
That culture of everything being perfect, almost putting food on a pedestal, is actually quite unhealthy
Mapson says: “That culture of everything being perfect, almost putting food on a pedestal, is actually quite unhealthy.
“It’s all over social media and is about everything being clean, eat everything fresh – which of course would be great, but it’s not manageable for a lot of people. In the grand scheme of things, making sure you’re hitting your five a day and getting enough fibre can be met through frozen food.”
But things are changing, and not necessarily because Britons are starting to realise that many frozen foods are just as good as fresh. A combination of the Covid-19 crisis, inflation at its highest level for more than a decade and rising gas prices has pushed hundreds of thousands of people into poverty , while an increasing number of people are struggling with higher prices.
So as the nation grapples with stagnant wages and rising living costs, some Britons might just have to cast their snobbery aside and welcome more frozen food into their freezers – and, hopefully, develop more empathy for those who have relied on frozen food all along.


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Tata Chemicals Sold it’s Urea Business
Tata Chemicals has sold its urea and customised fertilizer business to Yara Fertilisers India, a wholly-owned arm of Norway-based Yara International ASA, for ₹2,670 crore.
MUMBAI, 11 AUGUST, 2016: The deal, which is expected to be closed in 9-12 months, includes transfer of all assets and liabilities (working capital) relating to the Babrala plant in Uttar Pradesh.
The plant, which has a capacity of 1.2 million tonne (mt) of urea and 0.7 mt of ammonia, generated revenues of $350 million (about ₹2,345 crore) and earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $35 million (about ₹234 crore) in FY 2016.
Tata Chemicals, which as of March end had a consolidated debt of ₹8,694 crore, has retained Paras, TKS and Daksha brands made at the Babrala plant.
Yara, which currently employs 51 people in India, will absorb all the 425 employees of the Babrala plant.
Terming the move a part of its strategy to push its new businesses, R Mukundan, Managing Director, Tata Chemicals, told a news conference on Wednesday that “the future investments would be in recently launched consumer-facing business such as branded dal, spices and R&D-driven nutraceuticals and nanotechnology. We would focus on farm business through the subsidiary Rallis India and Metahelix.”
Tata Chemicals, he said, has also stopped further investments in the 1.2 million tonne phosphatic fertiliser plant at Haldia in West Bengal and is in the process of finding a partner or buyer for it.
Urea is a controlled fertiliser and sold at a fixed price of ₹5,360 a tonne. The difference between the cost of production and the selling price is paid as subsidy to manufacturers. The government assigns subsidy only to a portion of the production capacity of each company depending on its sales for the previous year.
But reimbursement of subsidy often gets delayed, locking up precious working capital. As of June quarter, Tata Chemicals had subsidy dues of ₹1,479 crore.
Sanjiv Kanwar, Managing Director, Yara Fertilisers, said the company is aware that the urea business in India is highly regulated. It would work closely with farmers to introduce a series of crop-specific balanced multi-nutrient products to establish itself.
Asked on the subsidy receivable from the government, Kanwar said Yara would get all pending subsidy related to the Babrala plant. A chunk of the subsidy dues will flow to Yara as the government subsidises only urea.
“We believe the new fertiliser policy announced recently addresses most of the industry’s concern. The government is also working to transfer subsidy directly to farmers rather than giving it to companies,” he said
Last fiscal, Yara sold 40,000 tonnes of speciality fertilisers and recorded a turnover of ₹180 crore in India.


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Diners have continued to grumble about the San Francisco service charge imposed by some restaurants, but it seems like the complaints have gotten louder since it was revealed that some restaurants end up getting a big chunk of change back at year’s end. Restaurant owners still have to pay into a health care system, which ties up the money, but if it’s not used by employees it reverts back to the restaurants. It’s a system that many simply don’t understand, including the restaurateurs who have to pay the premiums.
Of course, it’s not just the health ordinance that has increased the cost of doing business in SF. We’re the only city in the country that now pays more than $10 an hour minimum wage — as of Jan. 1, the minimum went up 32 cents to $10.24 an hour.
Some restaurants have decided to drop the surcharges intended to cover the cost of the health and other city ordinances. At Park Tavern, owner Anna Weinberg said part of her decision to remove the charges is that she now knows more about how the laws work.
“The way I saw it is that it’s just become a cost of doing business, so you adjust your prices just like you do if your rent goes up,” she explained. She figured the cost of health care and the minimum wage increase would amount to about 5.5 percent, so she raised some menu items a dollar or two, and left others the same.
“It just seemed like the logical thing to do,” she said. It also avoided the inevitable questions from guests, particularly those from out of town who didn’t understand the charge.
That was the reason Roland Passot did away with the service charges at La Folie. He gets lots of tourists and some were offended by the additional charges. In some cases he removed the charges. So this year he decided to raise each of his fixed-price menus by $5. His menus now range from $80 for three course to $100 for five.
“People from out of town just didn’t understand it,” he said. “I just decided that raising $5 would cover what needs to be covered.”
I tend to agree. At first I understood why established restaurants would add the service charge — the laws were new and they wanted to stay competetive with restaurants outside the city. However now the surcharges seem almost gratuitous because it’s often the highest-priced places that tack on the largest percentage. That’s the reason that last year we started indicating in our reviews whether the restaurant adds a service charge or not. This will also be a new addition to this year’s Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants, which comes out April 1.
I have a feeling that in the next year or so the service charge will be eased out at most restaurants; diners don’t like it and it is becoming bad PR for the restaurants.
However I’d love to hear from other restaurateurs about how they are handling the various San Francisco initiatives going forward.


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Ok we’re not terribly excited about this — actually not excited at all — but we’re pretty sure there are quite a few tinny bopping tweens, their moms and maybe some of their guy friends out there who are jumping over the moon when they found out about this.
So Bieber beavers, Justin will be in KL on April 21, 2011 and Tune Talk subscribers get first pick on tickets next Saturday, January 15 at Bangsar Village 2!
[pictured borrowed from here]
We all can recall the big brouhaha the external antenna on the iPhone 4 has caused, and as of now, there is still no real fix to the problem. Apple has issued a firmware update to downplay the matter but drop calls are still a problem for people who use their iPhone 4s sans a case.
Now, it seems that Apple is looking to bury the antennagate issue for good with a proper hardware fix — specifically, a redesign of the external antenna.
The new antenna, presumably destined for the next generation iPhone which is set to be released sometime in the middle of this year, features four black bands separating the antennas as opposed to the three band design on the current iPhone 4. The additional band should see the “death grip” problem disappear altogether.
If the picture is genuine and this new antenna design is real, it gives us a major clue as to how the next generation iPhone would look like.
By the looks of it, we predict that the next iPhone will look very much like the current iPhone 4, externally at least — akin to how much the iPhone 3GS looked a lot like the iPhone 3G. Internally, the next iPhone could be different.
It is also possible that this new antenna design is for the CDMA version of the iPhone 4 for the US market, but considering that the redesigned antenna has a micro-SIM slot on it and that CDMA phones don’t use SIM cards, this possibility is unlikely.
The new antenna could also be for the still elusive white iPhone 4 that Apple says will ship in early 2011. It could be. But launching the white iPhone 4 less than six months away from when the next iPhone is expected to hit the market? Not sure if there’s any point in that.
The LG Optimus 2X which was previously known as the LG Star is currently one of the fastest android available in the market right now thanks to its dual-core Tegra 2 processor from Nvidia. Now LG has released a video commercial which promises Optimus 2X in delivering speedier application start up, multi-tasking without lag, HDMI mirroring, full HD 1080p video recording and much more.
Watch the 3 minute video after the break.
DiGi’s Discovery Day broadband plan which offers 3GB of data for a mere RM38/month is now cheaper. If you order online now, you’ll get 50% off your subscription which makes it RM19/month which is rather a steal for cheap mobile broadband. The speed offered is average of 700kbps download and 200kbps upload.
However what they didn’t tell you up front is that this 50% promo is only valid for the 1st and 2nd month of your subscription. Such details is shown only when you hit the “More Info” button in the Online Store page. We all know Marketing gimmicks can be deceiving for customers but we don’t understand why can’t they be more up front on the terms. Most people might think that 50% applies throughout your subscription tenure when it is only valid for 2 months.
P1 too is doing something similar with their 50% promo but at least they make it visible that their 50% off is applicable only for 2nd and 3rd month. They are doing the same also for their new P1 MiFi device. Personally, we don’t look highly on such gimmicks and there’s gotta be a better way to promote their services clearly to potential customers.
Back to the Discovery Day Time offer, you can order this online with RM50 upfront payment where you get a SIM and RM50 credit which can last you more than 2 months subscription. If you need a short term broadband which you mainly use during the day, 3 months subscription without contract for this Discovery Day offer would only cost you RM76. After 7PM, you still can continue using it but download speeds are throttled down to 128kbps. If you need a 3G USB modem, you can add that in for additional RM100 at the online store.
More details at DiGi Online Store page.
UPDATE: Sony Ericsson Malaysia PR informs us that the sleek looking Xperia Arc will be heading to Malaysia within Q2 2011.
Sony Ericsson has finally shown some action with its latest Xperia Arc Android smart phone. The Arc is a sleek little candy bar device which curves in the mid section of its back, forming an “arch” like appearance. In the midsection, the Arc is only 8.7mm thin! We gotta admit this one sexy device from Sony Ericsson and we like the fact that it runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Hopefully the Sony Ericsson days of using old Android versions are over. Other specs include a 1GHz Qualcomm processor, a 8MP camera with Sony’s Exmor R technology and a 4.2″ screen with BRAVIA engine that supports 854×480 resolution.
Head after the jump for more pictures & video.
Android developers had released a sneak peek video on the upcoming Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS. This gives you a better picture of what to expect from this new OS especially its UI. Among the things shown are enhanced Gmail and YouTube interface which obviously make full use of the new expanded display real estate and support for video call on GTalk.
Honeycomb OS was built from the ground up and Google claims to have spent tremendous amount of effort in refining the experience for tablet use. The major upgrades are on the web browser which will come with tabbed browsing, Google Chrome synchronisation, the latest 3D Maps of Google Maps 5.0 and much more.
Check out the video after the jump


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In addition to her deep agency experience, Baglivo also brings thought-leadership on next-generation marketing.
NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2016 — Verve™, the industry leader in location-powered mobile marketing, today announced the appointment of Mary Baglivo as its first independent board director. Baglivo is chief marketing officer and vice president of global marketing at Northwestern University. Prior to Northwestern, she spent eight years as chairman and chief executive officer at Saatchi & Saatchi, The Americas. Baglivo’s former leadership roles also include president at Havas’ Arnold Worldwide, chief executive officer at Panoramic Communications, and chief operating officer at J. Walter Thompson.
“Mary provides unique perspective to the Verve board,” said Tom Kenney, Verve’s chief executive officer. “In addition to her deep experience at the helm of one of the world’s leading agencies, she also brings thought-leadership on next-generation marketing from Northwestern, one of the most respected schools in this discipline.”
For the past three years, Baglivo’s leadership at Northwestern has been marked by major branding initiatives. As the Chicago Business Journal notes, Baglivo has put “big creative” at the heart of the university’s efforts to attract top students worldwide.
During her tenure at Saatchi & Saatchi, clients included P&G, General Mills, and Toyota. Baglivo’s tenure also included major new accounts added, including Chase Sapphire; Lenovo; Miller Brewing; Wendy’s; JC Penney; Avaya; Ameriprise; and top Kraft brands Trident, Capri Sun, and Kool-Aid.
“Mary’s marketing experience with CPG, retail, and QSR businesses adds a new dimension to the Verve board,” said John Gardner, partner, Nokia Growth Partners and member of Verve’s board of directors since 2012. “Adding a best-in-class marketing expert will prove invaluable when it comes to our support for the Verve mission.”
Regarding this appointment, Baglivo said she accepted it based on Verve’s proven record of innovation and dynamic growth.
“I am excited about the opportunity to join the board of such a progressive company,” said Baglivo. “Verve is at the heart of the hottest space in marketing today. Tom and the leadership team impress me on every level. They have a clear vision for the future of mobile, and both the skills and experience to deliver results and drive the industry forward.”
Baglivo serves as board director on two Fortune 500 companies — PVH Corp. and Host Hotels & Resorts. Baglivo holds a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Arts in English, Phi Beta Kappa, from Rutgers University.
Reposted from author’s originals article appearing on Medium.com
Originally published on PubNative.net


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JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s Tiger Brands, which faces two class action lawsuits over a listeria outbreak that has killed 180 people, said results from an independent laboratory confirmed the presence of the deadly listeria strain in one of its food factories.
The government, which has been criticized for taking too long to find the cause, in March linked the outbreak to a meat product known as “polony” made by Tiger’s Enterprise Food in the northern city of Polokwane.
“On 24 April 2018, Tiger Brands received confirmation of the presence of LST6 in these samples,” it said in a statement.
In March the company stated that in a batch of one of its products tested by it in February, the presence of the ST6 strain could not be confirmed and the relevant samples had been sent to an external laboratory for the identification of the strain.
The test results were received on March 15, but these had proved inconclusive and as a result the samples were sent for further re-testing.
The samples were manufactured at the Enterprise Polokwane processing facility, which has since been closed along with other three sites in South Africa, which produce polony, and other cold meats.
Tiger Brands said in March it had received notice of two class action suits against the firm, with the total claimed against the company estimated at 425 million rand ($34.10 million).
($1 = 12.4626 rand)
Reporting by Nqobile Dludla, Editing by William Maclean
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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LG has released the first game, named Puppy Pop, which can be played through the window in its Quickcircle case for the LG G3.
Earlier this month LG unveiled the first in a new generation of large-format flexible and transparent displays that could one day turn gadgets we now see in sci-fi movies into reality. We only got to see the new panels in still shots at the time, but now we can get a better look at the new tech from these two short videos.
A filing from the US Patent and Trademark Office reveals LG’s design for a smartphone which appears to be squashed down into the form factor of a smartwatch.
The LG G Pad 10.1 has now arrived to Best Buy, priced at $249.99 and packing a Snapdragon 400 SoC.
LG has confirmed that the LG G3 Cat 6 will start shipping July 25th in South Korea, armed with an improved Snapdragon 805 CPU.
LG officially launched today its new “mid-tier” variant of the G3, the G3 Beat. The 5-inch phone will be marketed as the LG G3 s in Europe.
We take a an in-depth look at the first of many Android Wear smartwatches to come. Here’s our review of the LG G Watch!
Both the LG and Sony flagships are fantastic phones. But how do they fare against each other? We find out in this comparison of the LG G3 vs Sony Xperia Z2!
In our latest flagship smartphone battle, we pit the latest and greatest from LG and HTC against each other. Here’s a look at the LG G3 vs HTC One (M8)!
As market saturation bites hard and the smartphone ASP falls ever lower, how are the big Android OEMs going to cope? Declining profits and a push for a more uniform experience from Google could present a real problem.


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Rovio, the makers of Angry Birds, has nabbed a total of $42 million in a first round of venture capitalist funding. This isn't necessarily quite that big a payday for the company -- while that's obviously a lot of money, the company has reportedly already pulled in about $70 million from app sales and the various licensing money it's been making off of those frustrated flyers and their grunty pig counterparts. But what this does mean is that any company looking to buy Rovio will have a tougher time of it, since the Finnish mobile game developer is now worth that much more.
Of course, going from what I saw of Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka at last week's GDC conference, I strongly doubt the company wants to be bought anyway. Vesterbacka seems to believe that Angry Birds is more or less vindication for the other fifty games his company made before it, and he's interested in having Rovio ride this franchise for as long as it will carry them. It's possible Rovio could get acquired (if the check gets big enough), but since Vesterbacka believes there's a lot more to do with Angry Birds, my guess is he'll use the money he's already put together to stay his own company.


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It’s official folks, the LG G-Slate and the LG G2X are now part of T-Mobile and will both come pre-loaded with the new NVIDIA Tegra Zone app for quick and easy access to awesome games. The LG G2X (Optimus 2X) will also come with stock Android 2.2 Froyo as well as Qik, Need for Speed Shift HD, T-Mobile TV, and DTS Ultra Mobile sound enhancer. This will be the first smartphone to have the NVIDIA Tegra Zone pre-loaded as well.
Now onto the T-Mobile G-Slate…in all 8.9 inches of Android tablet awesomeness. This device shoots 3D video, running Android 3.0 Honeycomb, all while bringing you 1080p video output, and 4G network connectivity. This tablet is priced at $529.99 at T-Mobile after a $100 mail-in rebate. It’s pricey…but spicy!


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The U.S. construction market is exhibiting an upbeat picture, of late. The space has gained immensely from rise in the GDP numbers, favorable job market scenario, and sturdy business and consumer confidence. Per the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Commercial Construction Index, 93% of the total contracts in the country would witness a surge in profit margins by 2019.
Against this backdrop, investors can make the most of this opportunity by betting on top-ranked U.S. construction stocks for booking alluring returns.
Among the numerous potential gainers in the Zacks Construction sector , including Gibraltar Industries, Inc.ROCK to your portfolio will prove a masterstroke investment move. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock has rallied 15.6% in the last three months, primarily on the back of its unique business strategy and solid revenue prospects.
Why Should You Grab the Stock?
Unique Strategy: Gibraltar Industries has been boosting its competency on the back of the company's four-pillar value creation strategy. In sync with this program, the company is making well-planned acquisitions, improving operational excellence, advancing technological know-how and undertaking calculated portfolio management moves.
The company is currently improving its operational efficacy by lowering complexity, simplifying product offerings through 80/20 initiatives and adjusting costs.
Under the portfolio management pillar, the company is allocating resources and leadership time to high margin businesses.
Per the acquisition pillar, the company's current target markets for buyouts are residential building products, post & parcel solutions, renewable energy and conservation, perimeter security and infrastructure.
Also, the innovation pillar is focused on patenting the products that are developed through acquired product lines or internally within business.
Three years post the implementation of this transformational strategy, Gibraltar Industries has boosted its return on invested capital from 3.9% to 12.6%.
Over the past year, shares of the company have rallied 18.9%, outperforming the sectoral gain of 7.1%.
Revenue Prospects: In first-quarter 2018, Gibraltar Industries' revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.6% and also came in 4.2% higher than the prior-year tally. The company expects that increased demand from industrial, conservation and solar end-markets will improve its top line in the quarters ahead.
The company currently anticipates generating revenues of $257-$267 million in the second quarter and more than $1 billion in 2018.
Per our estimates, the company's year-over-year sales are projected to be up 4.1% and 3.8% for 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Profitability: Gibraltar Industries pulled off a positive average earnings surprise of 12.12% for the last four quarters. In the first quarter of 2018, the company's earnings grew 30% year over year. We believe the 80/20 simplification initiatives and reduced corporate tax rates will aid in improving the company's bottom line in the upcoming quarters. The company anticipates earnings of 52-57 cents per share in the second quarter and $1.96-$2.08 per share in 2018.
In the past 30 days, the company's Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings has moved up nearly 1% to $2.08 and 0.4% to $2.36 for 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Per our estimates, the company's year-over-year earnings are projected to be up 21.6% and 13.5% for 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Oher Stocks to Consider
Some other top-ranked stocks in the same space are listed below:
Boise Cascade, L.L.C. BCC currently sports a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy). The company pulled off an average positive earnings surprise of 32.92% over the last four quarters. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here .
Century Communities, Inc. CCS sports a Zacks Rank #1, currently. The company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 46.36% over the preceding four quarters.
Beazer Homes USA, Inc. BZH holds a Zacks Rank #2. The company recorded an average positive earnings surprise of 177.21% during the same time frame.
Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars?
Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge.
With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research.
It's not the one you think.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report


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More than £200m has been wiped off the stock market value of AO World after the online retailer blamed driver shortages and supply chain problems for lower than expected profits.
The warning prompted a sharp sell-off, with investors fearing a reversal of fortunes for the electric goods retailer – one of the star performers of the pandemic when online shopping boomed – as supply disruptions caused by shortages of lorry drivers and parts and materials ripple through.
Shares fell 23%, making it the top faller on the FTSE 250, as investors reacted to sales target misses in the UK and Germany in the six months to the end of September. The warning also weighed on its rival Currys, which fell 8%, making it the second biggest faller on the UK-focused index.
Bolton-based AO said UK growth had slowed because of a “nationwide shortage of delivery drivers and ongoing disruption in the global supply chain”.
The company said: “The challenging market dynamics in both the UK and Germany resulted in lower volumes than expected, which affected operational leverage, particularly in the second quarter. “While we continue to see industry-wide issues relating to ongoing supply chain disruption, we have implemented measures to help mitigate these challenges in our logistics operations.”
AO expects profits this financial year to be between £35m and £50m, a sharp drop from the pandemic-fuelled buying boom that drove profits to £64m in the retailer’s previous financial year, and below City expectations of £51m. Before the coronavirus pandemic the company was making about £22m in profit.
Until now, AO had been a pandemic winner as the public embraced online shopping en masse while stores remained shut during lockdowns.
“It’s astonishing how fortunes can change in the matter of a year,” said Russ Mould, the investment director at AJ Bell. “Online operators were the envy of the retail world as the pandemic took hold. Now being an online operator means having to contend with shortages of drivers to get the goods to the customer. Online retail is more complicated than you might have thought.”
Despite the sharp sell-off on Friday, AO’s shares were still more than 160% higher than at the end of February 2020, shortly before the pandemic was declared.
AO attempted to assuage investor concerns that the peak retail season running up to Christmas – known as the “golden quarter” for retailers – may be affected, saying it is “well-placed to meet customer demand” for that period.
“Selling fridges, TV and washing machines online is a low-margin business and success is down to achieving high sales volumes,” Bell said. “With cost pressures intensifying and sales volumes disappointing, AO faces a big squeeze on profits.”


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» Cewek Bahenol Ngangkang
Cewek Bahenol Ngangkang
Cewek Bahenol Ngangkang on Technology News and Updates AdmaTechnology.com at Thursday, April 24, 2014
This is good news for the fans of Nintendo games. Wii U, Nintendo’s latest console launched across the United States starting on Sunday (11/18) morning.
Wii U offers high definition clearer, innovative, and control tablet called GamePad. GamePad [...]
Among users of Android smartphones again got good news. This time, an application that has been available only on devices with iOS platform, will also be present on the platform bearing the green robot.
Snapchat, an application that allows you to transmit [...]
The use of female anime characters are cute.
On Monday (10/29), Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said that since its launch last week, the rate of sales of Windows 8 exceeds the rate of sales of Windows 7, which is the top-selling version [...]
Grand Theft Auto V is a radical re-creation of the GTA series.
Rockstar Games announced that the latest release of the Grand Theft Auto series of games will be on the market early next year.
Grand Theft Auto V alone in sieve-sieve by leading games publisher [...]
Sony seems keen to use Firefox operating system that was released recently.
Quoted from Ubergizmo, Friday (3/1), one of the latest series of Xperia, Xperia E, used as the test material to adopt the OS.
“At Sony Mobile, we continue to evaluate [...]
Eidos Montreal announced a new game genre action adventure titled Thief 4, which is scheduled to be released on the PS4 console, PC and next-gen Xbox.
The game is scheduled to be released in 2014. Thief Game is a reboot of the classic series that brings [...]
WhatsApp has been widely used by a number of platforms such as Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows Phone and iOS.
WhatsApp apprise that it’s quite fun for the users of the Apple iPhone 5.
Mobile instant messaging has proved its existence in many [...]
Apple has recently released iOS 6 operating system update to the new version, the iOS 6.1.4.
Quoted from Ubergizmo, Friday (3/5), strangely this update is only intended for those users of the iPhone 5.
It is something that is not unusual for Apple to [...]
Yahoo ranked third under Hotmail.
Based on data released by comScore (a website traffic monitoring agency world) in October 2012, which is a Gmail email service owned by internet giant Google, is expressed as the number one email service in the world.
Microsoft to train their employees to be able to explain the differences in the operating system Windows RT and Windows 8 to consumers.
“We’re trying to make sure our store teams provide explanations to consumers about Surface or PC Windows [...]
Results showed children control their emotions after playing this game.
If you are not able to help children who have problems with anger emotions through psychotherapy alone, try video games. But not indiscriminate video game. But RAGE Control, a video [...]


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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Technology stocks rose Wednesday in the wake of Cisco Systems Inc.'s upbeat quarterly sales report and a ratings upgrade of Dell Inc.
With Cisco in the lead, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index
rose more than 22 points to 2,266. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index
and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index
Dell reports its latest quarterly results next week.
Dell's top computer rival Hewlett-Packard Co.
Other bellwether stocks that rose included Oracle Corp., Texas Instruments Inc. and International Business Machines Corp.
Apple Computer Inc.


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From December, buy potatoes online at government rates in Kolkata
The cash-on-delivery facility will also provide customers a chance to buy other vegetables at wholesale rates like bottle gourd (lau) at Rs20/kg, onions at R50/kg, cabbage at Rs35/kg.kolkata Updated: Nov 27, 2013 09:58 IST
Come December you will get good quality potatoes delivered at your doorstep at government rate.
Amicus Healthcare Services and Solutions, an agro-based company, with its infrastructure of a chain of integrated cold storage facility, is now venturing into online marketing of fruits, vegetables, groceries and dairy products in the city from the next month with wholesale prices for all products.
“We are looking at starting the operations by December 7. The integrated cold storage chain will have 11 refrigerated vehicles with controlled temperature and a foodprocessing unit. The agricultural products will be procured directly from the farmers and we will make them available to our customers at wholesale rates,” said Saibal Ganguly, managing director of the agro company.
The cash-on-delivery facility will also provide customers a chance to buy other vegetables at wholesale rates like bottle gourd (lau) at R20/kg, onions at R50/kg, cabbage at Rs35/kg.
Apart from vegetables, branded milk products, butter and other groceries like flour, oil etc would also be available on this platform.
With an initial investment of Rs22 crore, including Rs4.5crore aid from the Union ministry of food processing, Amicus is looking at starting of with receiving orders and supplying goods at every doorstep in the city.
“We also have plans to start similar facilities in the urban hubs like Durgapur and Siliguri. The concept would not work in the rural setup,” said Ganguly.
A service charge of Rs25 would be charged on a billing amount of below Rs500, while, the aged, who find it difficult to walk upto the markets and buy vegetables, would not have to pay any service charge and can place orders over the phone, instead of logging on to the website.
“The concept is to take the products directly from the farm to the customers, thus providing it at cheaper rates and in the best of conditions,” said Ganguly, who is hopeful of the new concept picking up on popularity in the city.
The Mograhat cold storage facility will be operational from January, when the company would be able to store their procured goods.
On another note, Arup Roy, minister in-charge, department of agricultural marketing, said the state government is already building the Krishi Bazaars in 95 blocks of the state and 81 other markets are coming up in another 81 blocks.
“Out of the total 341 blocks, work on 95 of them have already started and another 81 have been identified and would be completed soon,” said Roy at the website launch of Amicus.


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Industry innovators collaborate to tackle compostable coffee pods in hospitality sector
Here at Tidy Planet, we’ve teamed up with AstraZeneca, Sodexo, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, and Halo Coffee, to close the loop for one of the hospitality sector’s trickiest, and most abundant, waste streams – coffee pods.
We see this as a massive challenge for not only the hospitality sector but society and businesses as a whole. That’s why we’ve collaborated with some of the most innovative minds in the industry to help address the problem.
You may remember that we recently shared the news that AstraZeneca and Sodexo invested in an A900 Rocket Composter – to process the 24 tonnes of annual food and green waste generated on the firm’s 100-acre manufacturing site. And it was back in 2019 when Raymond Blanc’s Michelin-starred luxury hotel and restaurant installed an A1200 to help it compost 94% of its annual food waste.
Well, these are the two sites involved in this latest project – a compostable coffee pod trial.
How the project came to life…
Last month, Halo – the creator of the world’s first pulp-based Nespresso-compatible coffee pods – provided AstraZeneca and Le Manoir with coffee machines and a batch of their pulp-based capsules, in a bid to help further strengthen their already sustainability-driven credentials.
Halo’s strapline, ‘the world’s best coffees in a way that’s best for the world’, sums up the heart and soul of the project – helping to reduce waste and keep our planet healthy.
This means that as well as composting their organic wastage on the premises, both locations are now able to divert another material from being landfilled.
Regarding the process, the pods are combined with the food waste and fed into the Rocket Composter – affectionately named, Gino D’Compo, by AstraZeneca – to be converted into a valuable compost resource, for use in the sites’ flower beds and cultivation plots.
The pods themselves are made from waste sugar cane fibre and paper pulp – instead of aluminium or plastic – and all the packaging they come in is fully compostable. Even the black ink on the box is also produced using vegetable waste.
What does compostable packaging really mean?
The truth is, there’s lots of greenwashing in the media about what can and can’t be composted – not to mention the countless terms such as recyclable, biodegradable, bioplastic, and compostable, which cause confusion. And it’s part of ours and Halo’s mission to break down these barriers and provide people with one clear version of the truth.
Halo cites, “In order for a product to be compostable, it has to meet a specific EU standard (EN 13432). This includes various requirements, one of which is that after 12 weeks at least 90% of the product should have disintegrated enough to fit through a 2mm sieve.
“Conditions required for most compostable capsules to break down requires ‘industrial composting’. Your council or waste company needs to be using the correct equipment and run the process for 12 weeks for the capsules to break down as described.”
And when speaking to some of these waste management facilities, Halo found that, “the time period they ran each composting process was as little as half the required time for industrial compostable capsules to break down, meaning the leftovers are often going to landfill with everything else that does not compost.”
In reality, much of the country’s ‘compostable packaging’ ends up being landfilled, as the UK doesn’t have the segregation system and processing infrastructure to deal with it – and this is where the flaws are.
Here at Tidy Planet, we believe that on-site industrial composting is a key piece to helping solve the puzzle – not only giving organisations autonomy over their waste materials, but reducing off-site disposal costs, transportation, and carbon emissions too.
We’re incredibly proud to be a part of this movement to help the world’s businesses sustainably manage their waste coffee pods – generating valuable nutrients for their soils – and we can’t wait to see more organisations close the waste management loop.


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Security experts uncover a trove of millions of stolen passwords to websites including Facebook, Google and Twitter.
Troubled mobile phone maker BlackBerry still has at least one very loyal customer: US President Barack Obama.
Almost one third of users do not feel safe making e-payments on their smartphones or tablets, according to a survey.
Items 41 - 50 of 62
Criminals can take advantage of a smartphone's satellite-navigation system, as well as its wi-fi connections and mobile connectivity.
SA banks lost millions of dollars this year in biggest ever payment card fraud to hit continent's wealthiest economy.
North Korea has staged thousands of cyber attacks against the South in recent years, a Seoul lawmaker said.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff announced that her government was creating a secure email system.
Depending on the cyber threat, a variety of firms are bidding for cyber talent.
US homeowners are increasingly turning to an unlikely source for home security - the cable company...
Malware attacks have long been costing users cold, hard cash. Are you protected?
Microsoft said it is paying a well-known hacking expert more than $100 000 for finding security holes in its software.
Could you just be a mouse click away from striking up an online contact with someone who wants to do you harm?
Software titan Adobe Systems warned that hackers breached its defenses and stole source code along with credit card numbers.
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Women’s apparel retailer The Limited has closed all 250 of its stores, laying off 4,000 employees in the process. The retailer announced the closures in a statement on its web site on Jan. 6. The Limited will remain but as an e-Commerce only retailer.
The shutdown isn’t a surprise to those working within The Limited brand. The retailer sent an internal message to employees during its first set of layoffs in December indicating that it would close operations if it couldn’t find a buyer. The retailer reportedly had $100 million in debt obligations following numerous missed sales targets in recent quarters.
Like other mall-based brands such as Aéropostale, American Apparel, Pac Sun and Wet Seal, The Limited saw heavy sales declines that ultimately led to shrunken brick-and-mortar footprints and bankruptcy filings. All these brands suffered from similar challenges — an inability to handle the influx of fast fashion brands and online competitors, many of which have done a better job reacting to consumer behavior.
And with traditional mall-based anchors like Macy’s, JCPenney and Sears all having tremendous difficulty bringing in foot traffic, lower-tier brand closures put more pressure on major mall operators Simon Property Group and General Growth Properties to fill real estate space.
"In an increasingly challenging environment for mall-based retail and women's apparel, we are very disappointed that the company has had to make the difficult decision to close its retail locations," said The Limited’s parent company, private equity firm Sun Capital, in a statement.
- Amazon Digs Into NYC With Bookstore Openings
- Food Supplier Partners With Alipay To Expand Reach In U.S. Chinese Community
- Unbxd Raises $12.5 Million To Improve AI Platform
- GroupBy Acquires Edgecase To Build Site Search, Merchandising Platform
- Cloud Commerce Platform Boosts Business For DIY Home Center, Soccer Express


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It’s no secret that creative has lagged behind marketers’ ability to optimize media campaigns. Turns out that some of the delay derives from creative agency business models.
To David Moore, President of WPP Digital & Chairman of its Xaxis unit, it comes down to being able to pull as many levers as possible for clients.
“With the advent of dynamic creative optimization, it’s another lever for us to pull,” Moore says in this interview at the recent Beet.TV Leadership Summit titled Outcomes and presented by Eyeview. “We have found that when you are tailoring ads on the fly for a particular user or group of users, that performance normally increases almost every single time.”
Asked what is holding back the advance of dynamic creative optimization—the ability to tailor ads on the fly to make them most relevant to particular audiences—Moore points to traditional business practices.
Companies like Eyeview benefit from media agencies adding an incremental CPM onto a media buy, harness dynamic creative optimization “and are getting a very fine return on investment,” according to Moore.
Contrarily, creative shops have tended to be time-and-materials focused. As a result, they don’t have budgets to fund such incremental media buys.
“I think they have to reexamine their business models and embrace the data that comes from utilizing dynamic creative optimization,” Moore explains.
So will the advertising industry ever re-bundle creative and media assets, which became separated in the 1990’s as a result of marketers awarding their creative assignments to one agency and media to another?
“It’s a good question and I think with the advent of digital, the whole value chain has become blurred,” says Moore. “You have a lot of people intruding on parts of the value chain that were historically parts of an advertising agency.”
Now, every big digital media company has a creative group not only for internal purposes but also for ideation of creative themes that are pitched directly to brands. As a result, agencies often buy what’s already been created.
In the addressable television space, Moore envisions creative and media shops working closely together: creative figuring out the “right” ad and media deciding who the “right person” is to target with it.
“In the future, it’s going to be video advertising coming together in real time and tailored to a particular user or group,” Moore concludes.
Interviewing David Moore for Beet.TV was Rebecca Lieb (Conglomotron).


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Oh, the (250,000+) places you’ll go! A letter from Matt Bell
When we founded Matterport in 2011, virtual reality was beyond the horizon, a technology that had captured everyone’s imagination for decades but had never delivered. We were focused on a dream of our own: enabling easy 3D capture of the real world.
Matterport Virtual Reality Making Big Waves in Real Estate
This week, Matterport was highlighted in a feature story on CNN Money which discussed the future of virtual reality and ...Read More
We’re unveiling something special at ICSF 2015
Matterport HQ has been bustling in the weeks leading up to Inman Connect SF 2015. At the last Inman event, we launched multi-floor navigation, a significant improvement to 3D Showcase that allows viewers to navigate spaces floor-by-floor. Our very own Bill Brown, Matterport CEO, took to the Inman main stage to demo multi-floor and share his vision of how immersive media, like our 3D technology, will forever change numerous industries, starting with real estate. ...Read More


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Tech 16 May 2018Erik Gibbs
FedEx turns to blockchain for cargo shipment tracking
It seems like everyone is jumping on the blockchain these days, and global shipping company FedEx was certain it wouldn’t be left in the dust. The company is in the process of exploring how to use the blockchain to track its most precious cargo, joining companies like Samsung and Walmart in using the technology for its supply chain operations.
In an interview with Bloomberg at the Coinbase Consensus 2018 conference, FedEx CEO Fred Smith said, “We’re quite confident that it has big, big implications in supply chain, transportation and logistics. It’s the next frontier that’s going to completely change worldwide supply chains.” Smith, like many, is extremely confident that blockchain will revolutionize logistics around the globe.
The blockchain is the perfect solution for supply chains, as it provides a permanent and immutable ledger. With shipments that reach from one point of the earth to another, it’s important to provide a high level of transparency within a single record agreed upon by all parties involved. The blockchain will help to reduce problems that can arise due to issues with anything from the price of shipping to lost packages.
FedEx says that incorporating blockchain technology into its operations will also help to improve customer service and allow it to stay a step ahead of the competition. The new offering will be backed by the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), whose mission reads in part, “BiTA was formed by experienced tech and transportation executives to create a forum for the development of blockchain standards and education for the freight industry. Our goal is to bring together leading companies in the freight technology industries that have a vested interest in the development of blockchain technology.”
The partnership with BiTA will also benefit the entire industry. The testing could help to produce industry-wide standards and the blockchain will, as it has with a number of industries already, significantly reduce costs while making processes more efficient and quicker. The BiTA includes several well-known international shipping companies, such as Koch Logistics, Penske and BNSF Railway.
Smith also pointed out that staying on top of innovation will make the difference between a successful company of tomorrow and one which has fallen off the radar. He went so far as to say that those who don’t embrace the technology will, at some point, face extinction.
Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BSV is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.
Tech 15 January 2019
Accenture leads firms in assessment for blockchain services
Professional services company Accenture was among the firms assessed by Everest Group as most capable of delivering blockchain solutions successfully.
Tech 15 January 2019
Cryptojackers remain biggest malware threat
Cryptocurrency mining remains the most prevalent use for malware distribution, according to the latest study by Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.
Tech 14 January 2019
Smart-card based wallets for a smarter, more secure wallet
Wright points out that a smart-card application tied to a wallet can offer better security for crypto assets while also allowing for private system authentication.