text:
As the full list of comments on BitLicense is revealed, the list of contributors and their requests makes for interesting reading – even including a potentially prominent new critic of the scheme.
Western Union and Amazon feature notably among the several thousand contributors, whose full texts were released yesterday and confirmed by Benjamin Lawsky on Twitter.
All 3,746 public comments DFS received on Bitlicense now live on our site. Revised reg should be out later this month t.co/cvkrFrwjMx— Ben Lawsky (@BenLawsky) 3rd december 2014
They reveal Western Union calling for all Bitcoin ATM installations to be ratified by Benjamin Lawsky himself, as well as for the company itself to be exempt from the regulations even if it were to deal in digital currencies in future.
“The Final Rule Should Expressly Clarify that Engaging in Money Transmission Activity by a MT [money transmitter] Licensee or Non-Financial Activity that Supports a VC Licensee is Not a Virtual Currency Business Activity,” Western Union stated.
Media pressure and recent publicity blunders have forced Western Union to cement its stance on cryptocurrency.
Walmart is vocal about the proposals affecting gift cards and vouchers, while Amazon highlighted the risks posed to its alternative payment methods such as prepaid cards and suggested the “definitions” of virtual currency be made less “broad.”
“They want to maintain control, and not have their incumbent power disrupted, so they use pressure tactics to get exempt while forcing Bitcoin and other crypto currencies to be stuck with the burdensome, and inflexibility the BitLicense brings,” uBITquity COO Nathan Wosnack told Cointelegraph. “It's ridiculous.”
The comments are to be found amid a sea of submissions from private individuals, some of which are left unsigned. An interesting standout signature is that of a certain Bill Clinton, whose entry, despite carrying doubts of authenticity, makes some interesting points critical of BitLicense. The comment reads:
“The current framework threatens the privacy of virtual currency users, innovators, and researchers. […] it infringes on the privacy rights of individual users […]. It forces virtual currency innovators to undergo rigorous background checks and submit fingerprints to state and federal law enforcement. This will create a barrier to entry for start ups and inventors looking to create new services.”
The author also refers to the broadness of definitions contained in the literature, and cites “First Amendment concerns,” but does not provide further detail as to what these entail.
“The NY DFS [New York Department of Financial Services] is letting the fear of money laundering drive a massive regulatory proposal forward that would affect users who are doing nothing wrong,” ‘Clinton’ concludes. “NY DFS should respect the privacy of technology users, and limit its regulation to what is proportionate to the real threat at hand.”
“It's a good thing that the DFS is being transparent and giving us an opportunity to view the comments for public consumption and feedback,” Wosnack added. “It gives us an idea about what the public and those in our community think; from those in the crypto space who are against this, and those who are willing to ‘meet half way’ or toe the line, so to speak, to appease regulatory bodies.”
Meanwhile, Walmart’s concerns about prepaid card exemption reflect recent criticism of Bitcoin by MasterCard, whose stance nonetheless may strike some as hypocritical.
Having expressed criticism of digital currencies’ anonymity in a recent submission to the Australian tax authorities, MasterCard is seemingly ignoring its own anonymous prepaid cards, which may be loaded and spent at least once without registration, depending upon the specific product.
While banks underpinning such products are subject to regulations at government level, which impose limits on anonymous spending, these often do not take into account the ability to purchase multiple cards, increasing available funds several times, as Reddit user u/martypete explains.
Did you enjoy this article? You may also be interested in reading these ones:


text:
Kiwi vehicle certifier VTNZ bring a Mad Max like post-apocalyptic warrior to register his car in brand new campaign.
New Zealand vehicle safety company VTNZ have gone post-apocalyptic in their latest campaign.
VTNZ have launched this 45-second campaign to promote the vehicle certifiers customer service.
In the ad, Road Commander, a post-apocalyptic warrior, attempts to get his certification from VTNZ in a car that looks like it's from Mad Max complete with a flame thrower.
Sharon, who is in charge of advising Road Commander about the car, kindly informs him that he cannot have these dangerous weapons in the car. After removing the weapons, she adds windscreen wipers on his vehicle and it passes certification.
The short piece ends panning away from the car with the words “VTNZ, we’re on your side".
VTNZ aim to show that regardless of the situation they will deliver a high standard and work towards ensuring that whatever you aim to achieve with them the process will be without any stresses.
The campaign will roll out over the next 18 months and will consist of five TV commercials along with radio ads, out-of-home advertising and across social media.

domain: news


text:
Could the iWatch crack the wearables riddle by merging the smartwatch with the activity tracker?
Apple’s iWatch sits currently in the mythic twilight between rumor and reality. It is obviously happening, but we’re far enough away from it being a real thing that we can keep romanticizing how awesome it might be. Six months away from commercial release, at the very least, the rose-tinted iWatch hype looks like this: the Fitbit as you’ve always wanted, matched with a smartwatch you’ll actually use
New from Reuters this morning are reports that Apple has been on a medical technology hiring binge for the iWatch. Reportedly, Apple is poaching medical professionals and hardware experts like its a two-for-one sale on Amazon with free shipping. Most of these new hires are said to be in the medical sensor technology space, out of companies like Vital Connect, Masimo Corp, Sano Intelligence and O2 MedTech, known collectively for things like tracking oxygen saturation and respiratory function, heart rate and body temperature, and manufacturing sensors themselves. Apple has even gone as far as looking at non-invasive glucose tracking, but apparently sees that as a longer endgame.
The CEO of Masimo Corp Joe Kiani sounded kind of mad when he talked to Reuters, noting that he’d lost people to Apple who had access to “deep wells” of trade secrets. “They are just buying people,” he commented.
Late last year, Shasta Ventures’ Rob Coneybeer commented that the “iPhone moment” for wearable technology was still a year or two away. I’ve quoted it before, but I think the sentiment is apt. Apple obviously sees that the answer to solving this market exists somewhere between smartwatches and activity trackers. There’s a market out there for each, but there are major problems on either side. According to a report in January by Endeavor Partners, one in ten Americans over 18 and one-quarter of all 25-34 year-olds owns an activity tracker. However, as Endeavor reports, more than half the people who have bought an activity tracker no longer use it. One-third of all users had ditched it within six months.
Meanwhile, the smartwatch has generated more hype than sales heat. The Samsung Galaxy Gear shipped 800,000 units, but was largely panned. There were reports that as many as 30 percent of all sales through Best Buy were returned. The Gear Fit debuted last week, and while it tried to bridge the gap between a smartwatch and an activity tracker, reviewers commented that it was really a watered-down version of each.
A new generation of consumers has grown up with a phone in their pocket and nothing on their wrist. The smartwatch hasn’t offered enough to reverse that behavior. The health benefits of the activity tracker have offered enough vto get people to try it out, but past a pedometer its sleep and energy burn readings are inexact. We've forked out, but we haven't fallen in love.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is on the record as being bullish on medical sensors, noting that any device that is going to find a home on our wrist has to be exceptional. The iWatch might be a colossal disappointment yet, but if it can bridge the smartwatch and activity tracker markets and actualize these medical ambitions, it could be the first product to solve the riddle of wearable technology.
[illustration by Brad Jonas for Pando]


text:
Euro 2020 postponed for a year; ITV reacts
March 17, 2020
UEFA has postponed Euro 2020 until the summer of 2021. The move intends to allow European leagues more time to complete their seasons amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The tournament will be played between June 11th and July 11th 2021.
The decision comes after UEFA held conference calls with its 55 member associations, the board of the European Club Association and the board of the European Leagues.
The FA will meet on March 19th to discuss the completion of its football league seasons.
UK commercial broadcaster ITV said the direct impact would be to reduce its schedule costs in 2020 by £40 million to £50 million, including the cost of replacement programming. There will be no loss of sponsorship revenue as the tournament is pre-sponsored. “We look forward to broadcasting the Euros and providing a significant marketing opportunity for advertisers in 2021, a year which does not have any other large sports tournament,” it added.
ITV continues to closely monitor the implications of the Coronavirus and will update the market further as appropriate. Its priority remains to protect its people. Currently ITV’s guidance for March and April advertising revenue has not changed.
According to data and analytical company GlobalData’s Sportcal Intelligence Centre, there were $148 million of sponsorship commitments for the tournament, including the likes of Heineken and Coca-Cola – which spent a respective $45 million and $35 million. It is likely that the UEFA will simply roll these agreements over to next summer when the tournament is likely to be played.
“However, for broadcasters, the impact is likely to be much more profound,” suggests Conrad Wiacek, Head of Analysis and Consulting at Sportcal. “With the likes of the BBC and ITV having paid over $200 million for broadcast rights in the UK and ZDF and ARD having committed over $160 million in Germany, the situation is unique. Many broadcasters will have committed funds for sports rights and the creation of schedules around the tournament, so the impact of this decision will be profoundly felt.”
“For commercial broadcasters who use major international sporting events as a means of driving advertising revenue, they will be hoping that those advertising budgets are simply rolled over into next year as opposed to brands looking to claw back that marketing spend.”
“With many brands facing an uncertain time over the next 12 months due to the wider economic impact of COVID-19, it remains to be seen whether that planned advertising spend will need to be deployed elsewhere in the meantime, leading to a severe economic impact for many broadcasters.”


text:
Apple, Facebook, Twitter attacked using security exploit in Java browser plug-in.
Apple has revealed that it was also the victim of the same hackers that recently attacked Facebook. In a statement to The Loop, Apple has said that hackers infected systems being used by Apple employees with malware using an exploit in the Java plug-in for browsers. Ars Technica reports that the infection originated from the same source in both Facebook and Apple's case- an iPhone developer forum called iphonedevsdk.com (don't visit the site as it may still be infected).
Sources close to Reuters have revealed that the recent Twitter hack was also a part of the same cybercrime campaign. Apple has said that it has shipped a Java malware detection tool for Mac OS X users. Like Facebook, Apple has also claimed that even though the hackers did manage to successfully infect computers within the company, no user data or critical data had been found to be at risk.
This latest revelation by Apple marks a particularly eventful period with respect to cybersecurity and American companies. Facebook recently revealed that it too was attacked by hackers with the exact modus operandi as the Apple hackers. The social networking giant said that after being informed, Oracle (the company behind Java) rushed out a patch that fixed the vulnerability. Earlier this month, Twitter also revealed that hackers had made off with data of 2,50,000 users leading the micro-blogging service to introduce more stringent security measures including a two-step authentication system.
It remains to be seen how Oracle will deal with these numerous security exploits that have popped up in its Java platform. Apple has already been shipping computers without Java for a while and also recently blocked Java entirely from running on its Safari browser until Oracle was forced to release a hasty update.


text:
US Constitution will go on display
US billionaire art collector and financier Kenneth Griffin has confirmed he is the new owner of the rare copy of the US Constitution that sold for $41m hammer at Sotheby’s on November 18.
He intends to loan the document to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Griffin outbid a collective of more than 17,000 cryptocurrency enthusiasts who had joined together online to crowd-source funds.
Although they had raised about $47m, their final bid of $40m reflected the extra costs they expected to incur such as auction fees, insurance, transportation and security.
The price paid by Griffin, $43.2m with premium, was a record for any document sold at auction.
Auction buys boost British economy
Rising sales of second-hand goods are helping to boost the UK’s economy.
When the Office for National Statistics released its bulletin for October’s retail sales results earlier this month it noted that although overall sales were up just 0.8% month on month in October, the main sector that grew is called ‘non-food stores’.
This sector enjoyed a monthly sales volumes rise of 4.2% last month. And within that sector, a sub-sector that the ONS calls ‘other non-food stores’ reported the fastest rise in sales of all: 7.2%.
Businesses whose sales contribute to ‘other non-food stores’ figures include art and antiques firms. The ONS says “second-hand goods stores (charity shops and auction houses) had the largest contribution” ahead of sports equipment, games and toy stores.
Einstein takes €10.2m in Paris auction
One of Albert Einstein’s manuscripts has been sold at auction for a hammer price of €10.2m (£8.7m) or €11m including buyer’s premium.
The document contains preparatory work for the physicist’s signature achievement, the theory of general relativity, published in 1915 which revolutionised modern physics.
The 54-page document was handwritten in 1913 and 1914 in Zurich, Switzerland, by Einstein and his colleague Swiss engineer Michele Besso.
It had been estimated at €2m-3m. Christie’s Paris sold the lot on behalf of auction house Aguttes. It was part of the huge haul of works from defunct manuscript investment scheme Aristophil which was declared bankrupt in 2015.
Aphrodite back on sale after 70 years
More than 70 years after it was last seen in a New York auction, the Roman sculpture dubbed ‘The Hamilton Aphrodite’ is to be offered at Sotheby’s with an estimate of £2m-3m.
Dating back to the 1st or 2nd century AD, the imperial marble figure of the ‘Capitoline Aphrodite’ will be offered in its own dedicated sale on December 7.
The statue had been in Scotland for 144 years between 1776 and 1919 and is recorded as standing in Hamilton Palace’s ‘Great Staircase’ in the 1850-70s, and is one of four ancient marbles that adorned the halls of the house.
Of the other three, one is in a US museum, another was last sold at auction in the 1970s in New York, and the whereabouts of the last remains unknown.
This statue has recently been uncovered by Sotheby’s but was last publicly recorded when it sold in 1949 at Parke-Bernet Galleries in a sale of the estate of the late Joseph Brummer.
Celtic war trumpet returns to action
A rare miniature Celtic war trumpet, otherwise known as a Carnyx which would have been used in battle and ceremonies, is to offered by Dix Noonan Webb on December 1-2. Estimated to fetch £2000-3000, the object dating from the 1st century AD was discovered five years ago by a metal detectorist in a field in Bardwell. Nigel Mills, consultant (artefacts and antiquities) at DNW, said the trumpet has a hollow slightly curved shaft with a snarling boar’s head at the summit with a wide open mouth projecting forwards and a series of curving crests along its back. There is a small opening behind the head which could have been for attachment of a wooden tongue.
“The only known carnyx found in Britain was in 1816 in Deskford (Scotland) and was a lip-reed instrument mounted on a vertical hollow pole with a mouthpiece at the bottom – it is now in the National Museum of Scotland.
“Three carnyx players are illustrated on the famous Gundestrup cauldron, which is on display in the National Museum of Denmark.”
Nagel will open a Berlin branch
Stuttgart auction house Nagel is opening a Berlin branch on November 30 in the former rooms of the Ruth Schmidt Gallery in Keithstrasse. It joins representative offices already open in Hong Kong, Beijing, Cologne and Munich.
The most viewed stories for week November 18-24 on antiquestradegazette.com
1 Conservationist’s moose not on the loose
2 Record price for an IKEA item made before flat-pack fame
3 Prince Albert’s drawings for Queen Victoria’s coronet
4 National Trust property secures 18th century portrait destined for auction
5 Agnews offers rediscovered Dürer drawing bought four years ago for $30
The rise in usage in 2021 of ‘NFT’ which made it the Collins Dictionary word of the year. Collins defines ‘non-fungible token’ as “a unique digital certificate, registered in a blockchain, that is used to record ownership of an asset such as an artwork or a collectable”.


text:
Edinburgh’s iconic Jenners department store could leave its Princes Street home after more than 180 years.
The iconic building could be transformed into a hotel, rooftop restaurant, cafes and luxury shops under plans revealed on Tuesday.
The building’s owner, Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen, said he had been unable to agree terms with Jenners’ owners Sports Direct on staying in the building.
The store, which has been associated with the building since 1838, could move out as early as next year.
Mr Povlsen’s plans would see more than half of the total site turned into a hotel, with the rest reserved for retail.
The Victorian facade and central atrium would be renovated, while a rooftop restaurant and bar would overlook St Andrew’s Square.
A private terrace for the hotel’s corner suite would have views of the Mound and Arthur’s Seat.
Project manager Anders Krogh said: “Our intention is to strengthen the Jenners building.
“The iconic Jenners building will always stay and is the very DNA of our plans.”
The building was sold to private investors in 2005 after House of Fraser bought the Jenners brand.
Mr Povlsen bought the property two years ago for a reported £53 million.
He said Jenners was due to move out in 2020-21.
“If they should end up not wanting to continue, it is unfortunately not our decision.”
Since the Sports Direct group bought over House of Fraser last year, owner Mike Ashley has tried to cut rents on the group’s stores.
He has previously criticised “greedy landlords” for refusing to change rental agreements.
Jenners has been a huge presence in Edinburgh’s main shopping street since 1838.
It was opened by local drapers Charles Jenner and Charles Kenningon and was initially called Kennington and Jenner, selling fine silks and linens could normally just be found in London.
The shop changed its name to Charles Jenner & Co in 1890 and expanded into neighbouring buildings, making it one of the biggest stores in Scotland.
Fire destroyed the shop two years later and celebrated architect William Hamilton Beattie, who also designed the Balmoral and Carlton Hotel, was brought in to create a new look Jenners.
Charles Jenner died for the work was completed in 1895.


text:
Over the weekend, Target stopped selling an "Illegal Alien" costume after Latino groups complained that it was insensitive.
The costume featured a space alien holding a green card in a prison jumpsuit. Lest there be any doubt about the pun, the advertisement made explicit mention of terrestial immigrants.
"He didn't just cross a border, he crossed a galaxy! He's got his green card, but it's from another planet!"
After Target banned the costume, anti-immigration groups took it up as a banner, urging followers to buy and wear the costume on Halloween in a show of free speech.
Just one problem: The nativists likely weren't buying American.
The "Illegal Alien" costumes are distributed by BUYSEASONS inc., a Wisconsin company that bills itself as "the leading online-only retailer of costumes and accessories." Jalem M. Getz, the company's CEO and President, has been named one of the four most successful people in Wisconsin under the age of 40.
BUYSEASONS clammed up shortly after the controversy broke and hasn't returned phone calls. Meanwhile, it has seen brisk sales thanks to the notoriety. The costume sold out everywhere it was still available, and it's selling for two or three times it's original value on eBay.
So who will reap the rewards from this buying spree? Sadly, not the American worker. For most likely, the Illegal Alien costume was not manufactured here. A high-ranking director of the company confirmed as much in an email, when we innocently asked where the costumes originated:
Some of our costumes are made in the USA but many are made overseas, in Mexico and Central America. Why are you inquiring?
I called to specifically ask about the Illegal Alien costume, but by then, the jig was up and the company refused to answer any more questions. Suffice to say, "Illegal Alien" probably wasn't Made in America.


text:
Often we heard some rumors like that Samsung will appear with something new and different from others. As a company Samsung to launch the first foldable smartphone and several prototypes with displays of bending to make a boom on the market. Samsung Company is known about how strange are their models, especially when we talk about smartphones, their strange lines and specific design of the Samsung devices. They are first that have made the first step of creating a super-sized smartphone, which at that time such a step was really strange.
Company from South Korea threatened a completely different design of the mobile device. Galaxy smartphone created in a different way, by adding specific commands designed curved edge display. It has never appeared such a prospect and function that certainly goes a step ahead of the other mobile devices. The latest news say that the folding technology is perfected and users will get a phone with a plastic display that can be slender two-part to easily fit in a pocket and will ensure his durability, so if the phone fall on the ground, the screen will not break.
But as the announcers are more often lately, which, according to statements the company has already tested, we hope that in January we will have the opportunity to see the new Foldable Samsung. The Samsung Galaxy View is certified by the Bluetooth SIG. The latest information coming from Chinese social networks suggests that this technology will become a reality if you can believe the rumors, already in January next year can be expected device from Samsung with folding screen, which when opened, it should form a unified whole.
Samsung smartphone foldable is encoded with Project Valley and tested with two different chipsets Qualcomm Snapdragon called 620 and Snapdragon 820. The mobile device includes a built-in battery, RAM memory 3GB included with an expandable memory.
It is important to note that Samsung unannounced tests Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset. The results of this review were to determine whether this chipset will be included in the cooperation of these models and leaders or not. For future flexible screens bending and folding rumors have been heard for three years. Technology as such is represented long ago, but no commercialization. So far, there are a number of concepts and patents on this topic and realized only in the form of devices with mild curvatures, such as LG Flex or Edge models of Samsung.
In other news, the mysterious Galaxy View Samsung which was mentioned during the IFA event with an 18.4-inch tablet from the company that was actually certified Bluetooth SIG model SM-T670. A Bluetooth SIG listing of the tablet does not reveal many details about it and remain secret, except that it will be Bluetooth version 4.1.
Samsun eventually IFA event “threatening” with new product and what appeared to be a great tablet. Dubbed Galaxy view, mysterious enough to hide pretty details, but patiently wait for Samsun to announce this all. It is especially great news for those loyal fans of these mobile devices, which anxiously monitor every posting news about the Samsung Company and their new invention that definitely got more customers than previously.


text:
The University Park Women's Club recently held it's third annual book exchange at the home of Jan Hoffman. Members donate books that they have enjoyed and exchange them for books they would like to read.
Several dozen members took advantage of this opportunity to literally make new friends and share in a common interest.
Books that remain at the end of the day, are donated to "Friends of the Selby Library," which is located inside the Selby Library in downtown Sarasota.
Katy Arrillaga, Lyn Conway, Bonnie Mellor, Jan Hoffman and her family pet Scottish Terrier "Sydney."


text:
More than half a million shoppers have jumped on the Click Frenzy website in the first 12 hours of the 24-hour online shopping bonanza.
As the sales event passed the halfway mark, organisers said there had been more than a million visits to the websites of participating retailers and they were "very happy with the results so far".
- Click Frenzy pulls in shoppers
- Kogan gets legal threat from Click Frenzy organisers
- Frenzy fight in rush for sales
- Retailers bank on glitch-free Click Frenzy
Organisers were also relieved the clickfrenzy.com.au website had withstood the rush for a bargain after the site crashed in the opening hours of the sale last year under the weight of heavy traffic.
The meltdown, which lasted for three hours, was an "embarrassment for Australian retailers" and was quickly dubbed "Click Fail" on social media.
"There were plenty of smiling faces in the office after a smooth start," Click Frenzy's Grant Arnott said. "At the same point last year, I wanted to crawl into a hole."
Click Frenzy organisers had invested heavily in their hosting infrastructure in the lead-up to this year's sale to ensure there wasn't a repeat of last year's disastrous opening.
More than two million shoppers tried to visit the site when it opened at 7pm last year. This year there were just over 200,000 visitors in the first hour.
Some reported they were still seeing the pre-event site once the site went live but Mr Arnott said the problem appeared to be "isolated" and was being investigated.
In the lead-up to the event, Mr Arnott said last year's widespread meltdown had provided a "wake-up call" to Australian retailers to invest in hosting infrastructure.
The websites of several other participating retailers, including Myer and Toys 'R' Us, also failed during the opening hours of last year's sale. On the same day, David Jones' attempt to hijack the Click Frenzy event with a one-day sale of its own backfired when its site went down for two hours.
Mr Arnott said the websites of most participating retailers seemed to be coping well.
"We have received reports of some retailer sites that are running slowly and we have a full team monitoring that and alerting the relevant retailers," he said.
He said Big W, Myer and Bonds had received the most traffic in the first half of the sale. While the most popular categories for bargain hunters so far were women's fashion, electrical goods and toys.
Click Frenzy has enlisted computing giant Amazon Web Services to host this year's sale, which has 300 participating retailers - up from 200 last year.
"We don't have sales figures to report yet," Mr Arnott said. "But I certainly feel that it is on track to parallel or surpass the 2012 outcome."
More than two million shoppers participated in last year's event and Mr Arnott estimates they spent between $15 million and $20 million.
Cyber Monday in the US last year attracted close to 130 million shoppers who spent more than $US1 billion ($A1.07 billion) on online bargains.
This year's Click Frenzy event has sparked a string of copycat sales including David Jones' "Christmas Frenzy"; "Kogan Frenzy" by online electronics retailer, Kogan; QBD The Bookshop's "Book Frenzy"; and DeCjuba's "Fashion Frenzy".
Mr Arnott said the attempts by the retailers to gatecrash the official event designed to support Australian retail were "disappointing" and he had issued a cease-and-desist letter to Kogan accusing it of breaching its registered trademarks for the Click Frenzy phrase and logo.
However, Kogan founder Ruslan Kogan says a national online sales day should be open to all retailers as it is during Cyber Monday in the US, and not "owned" by one central body.
Click Frenzy closes at 7pm.


text:
As a classic car fanatic, I should be fundamentally opposed to the idea of the Dodge Viper. After all, the Viper was Chrysler’s attempt at co-opting the heritage of the Shelby Cobra. The later coupe was even worse in this respect, aping the legendary Cobra Daytona Coupes.
It’s blasphemous, I tell you. Imagine the uproar should Mazda, for example, try to recreate an MGB or Lotus Elan.
Because I want a car that will depreciate faster than my 2014 Genesis 5.0 R-Spec, I inquired at a local Pennsylvania Dodge dealer about a 2016 Dart GT with a manual transmission. After a week of them trying to order one for me, I was told that the factory would not sell the Dart GT with a manual transmission to PA dealers because of something to do with emissions.
I figured I was being given the runaround so I did a search and, sure enough, there were no 2016 Dodge Dart GTs with manual transmissions for sale in PA.
More than half a million 2011 through 2016 Dodge Chargers are being recalled because they can’t stay up.
Jack points on the Chargers may become deformed, causing the cars to slip off their jacks when owners are changing a flat.
Three minor injuries have been attributed to the issue, said Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. One minor headline joke can also be attributed to Dodge’s problem of keeping it up. There’s no word on whether Dodge will be asking sister-brand Fiat for blue pills to rectify the issue. Read More >
FCA’s sweater-in-chief Sergio Marchionne has a plan to turn around the debt-laden and ailing automaker: stop building cars that lose money. That sounds like common sense, so long as oil prices stay low and the demand for trucks, SUVs and crossovers remains high.
But that plan introduces a new set of problems, chief among them the fact that ditching the car market leaves FCA exceptionally exposed to future volatility in oil prices. Crude prices affect prices at the pump, which affects the demand for certain types of vehicles. Sergio is betting oil prices will stay low by focusing on vehicles with ever-increasing price tags and ever-growing gas tanks.
Still, there will always be some demand for small cars. It was true in 1950 and it is true today. So what will Mr. Sweater do to meet that demand? Simple: he’ll buy those vehicles from another automaker and badge engineer them the old-fashioned way.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne on Wednesday said the automaker would rely more heavily on profitable Jeeps and Rams in North America and Europe to help its business remain profitable in other sagging areas and regions.
“We are not of the view that this industry is facing an impending demise,” Marchionne said before announcing FCA’s adjusted earnings of $1.78 billion in the fourth quarter.
Marchionne and CFO Richard Palmer said Jeep’s success in North America and Europe led the company last year and would be the “bedrock” for the automaker’s future. The automaker laid out specific plans to bring forward a Jeep pickup and Wagoneer, and let wither less-profitable models such as the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart. Read More >
On Wednesday, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne will update investors on his long-term plans and fourth-quarter profits — namely, how many Jeeps it sold — during his scheduled earnings conference call.
It’s widely expected that Sergio will address the near-certainty that Jeep will build a pickup based on the Wrangler, as well as the future for the Jeep Compass that’ll likely survive from the Patriot/Compass twin billing, and Jeep’s potential to keep afloat fledgling FCA brands such as Maserati and Alfa Romeo.
Analysts say FCA’s ambitious target of $5 billion profit by 2018 would be almost unattainable at this point.
“‘Ambitious’ is not really an adequate word to describe it, ‘fantasyland’ might be more appropriate,” Bernstein’s Max Warburton told Automotive News.
Volkswagen’s chief in China says they’re probably not retaking the crown from General Motors there anytime soon.
That, Apple’s lead car guy is gone, Takata’s in trouble and more … after the break!
FCA has to clean up its act in a hurry, or pay a lot more to sell cars in the future.
That, Europe wants Volkswagen to treat its owners the same as American owners, General Motors’ lawyers get down and dirty and Porsche’s plug-in 911 … after the break!
Investors say Volkswagen should have told the world they were cheating earlier because then they could have bought more Apple stock.
That, Mercedes-Benz prices new E-Class in Europe, BMW’s bigger i3 battery and Jeep soars in Europe … after the break!


text:
Today, August 20th and until now Apple has not confirmed the launch of Watch in any new country this month. As it always does this with a certain antecedence, we can already consider that the whole of August passed without a new wave of international expansion. The last occurred on the last day of July, when the product arrived in New Zealand, Russia and Turkey.
Currently, only 22 countries market the Apple Watch. Just to give you an idea of how long the international expansion of the watch is taking, last year Apple launched the iPhones 6 and 6 Plus in 28 (!) Countries in the first month of sales. The Watch originally arrived on the market on April 24th and is now almost four months of waiting now.
THE Brazil it has everything to be in the next wave of international expansion, but so far no sign of when that will happen.
Last April, shortly after the product was launched, the MacMagazine received reliable information that Apple would launch Watch in our country during the month of July. Unfortunately the plan did not materialize due to a number of factors, including stocks limited, delay in hiring and in training employees of partner stores (Apple Premium Resellers) and even a difficulty that Apple Brazil faced to enter the country with the tables used for demonstrating watches in Retail Stores. The change of board Apple Brazil appears to have influenced the product's release schedule.
J more than two months ago that National Telecommunications Agency completed the approval of all components related to the Watch. Apple never took so long to launch a product after all certificates were issued by Anatel.
The price table that we released at that time, with the recent surge in the dollar, is difficult and unfortunately will be similar to the prices we will see when the product is finally launched in Brazil. Not to mention that, from l to c, Provisional Measure 668 was sanctioned, increasing taxes for imported products. That is: fasten your seat belts.
The two national Apple Retail Stores, the one at VillageMall, in Rio de Janeiro, and the one at MorumbiShopping, in So Paulo already have in their inventory boxes with indications that they cannot be opened. Employees of both have already received a series of training focused on Watch, and Apple is also in the process of training network employees iPlace, which at least initially will be the only place where the clock can be found apart from the official means of the Apple.
It is worth remembering that it was only recently that Best Buy started selling some models of Apple Watches in the United States; depending on how these trainings progress with iPlace employees, it is possible that it will also be for a second moment of the watch's arrival in Brazil. Even though they are APRs, not all iPlaces have been approved for the sale of Apple Watch only 15 of the 36 stores in the group, we have found, most of them among the last ones recently opened / renovated.
Although the Apple Watch page on the Brazilian website is already complete and in Portuguese, for now it only indicates that it will arrive in our country in 2015. However, it is curious to note as the reader warned us Marcos Tulio that when consulting the warranty coverage of an Apple Watch here the support area is already prepared:
That is, there is little left. Let's hope now, then, that it does not pass in September.
(required to all who contributed to this article!)


text:
A narrow 40-year-old bridge at Chengakandi in Sonargaon upazila has turned into the source of agony for commuters.
This bridge, now old, rickety and risky, was constructed over a small canal that has long been filled up in Pirojpur union. Accidents occur regularly on the bridge due to its dilapidated condition.
The bridge is located just beside the road leading to Chengakandi, Mridhakandi, Nagergaon and Chohissa villages of Pirojpur union on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway. It sticks out like a sore thumb.
On one side under the bridge is the boundary wall of Sony SR Company while a sawmill’s road occupies the other side. From the lowland left unoccupied, one can hardly say a canal or a stream ever existed here. No water reaches the canal from high tide even during the monsoon.
The bridge is so narrow that only one rickshaw can cross it at a time. When one rickshaw enters the bridge, the rickshaw at the other end must wait. As a result, quarrels and brawls often break out.
Sometimes pedestrians are injured by rickshaws and motorcycles crossing the bridge. Passengers on rickshaws also get hurt when the rickshaw falls into the ditch through the broken railings.
Locals, who spoke to the correspondent, said the bridge is not needed anymore, and suggested building a road in its stead to facilitate smooth commuting.
“The bridge was built almost 40 years ago for pedestrians. As the roads improved, people started crossing the bridge on vehicles,” said Nowab Prodhan, a resident of Chengakandi village.
“No step has been taken even after we approached the ward member and union parishad chairman numerous times to tear down the bridge and build a road,” he said.
Nuruzzaman Nuru, member of ward number 5, said Chairman Masudur Rahman Masum is aware of the situation and accused him of not doing anything.
Pirojpur Union Parishad Chairman Masum could not be reached for comments.
A young man of Boalkhali upazila in the district has turned around his fortunes by cultivating Malta on Jaisthapura hill in Amuchia area.
Alongside sweet Malta, Lokman Azad, 30, is also farming China orange, Thai mango, dragon fruit, date and other fruits on his 90 decimals of land on the hill.
His initiative has encouraged many youths of the area to become self-employed by farming.
Lokman said he had an interest in botany from his childhood. In school life, he planted fruit trees on his house yard.
He said he could not continue education after completion of his Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination.
But without sitting idle, he said, he set up a poultry farm to earn his livelihood and later went for the Malta cultivation.
He bought a 90-decimal land in the hilly area and also started a dairy farm and cultivation of Malta, lemon and other fruits, he said.
He said the upazila agriculture officer suggested to him that as Malta is a lemon-type fruit and the land of the area is suitable for cultivating this type of fruit, he could benefit from Malta cultivation. Following his suggestion, Lokman started Malta farming in June 2017.
“First I planted 400 Malta trees. Seeing the prospect of profit, I also planted another 100 trees. I bought each grafting tree at Tk 120 from Hathazari’s Foteyabad Nursery. I’ve invested a total of Tk 20 lakh here. At present, the age of each tree is 3 years. I started selling Malta from the third year though I started getting fruit from the second year. There were 100-200 Maltas from each tree though I was supposed to get 500 from each,” Lokman said.
“In the first year, I got 5 percent fruits, 40 percent in the second year and 50 percent in the third year (running year). I expect, there’ll be 100 percent production next year. Now, I seek government help so that I can cultivate Malta on a larger scale which will help the demand of the fruit across the country,” he added.
Several orchard owners of the area said the cultivated Malta of the area is sweet and juicy. For that the demand among the fruit sellers has increased. Malta from the area is being sold in different markets across the country.
Lokman’s initiative has already encouraged many youths in the area to follow suit, said locals.
Atik Ullah, Boalkhali upazila agriculture officer, told UNB that several farmers are cultivating Malta in the upazila for the last 2-3 years. Among them, Lokman has been popular in the area for Malta cultivation.
“From the agriculture office, we always try to cooperate with the farmers. From the office, there was also an initiative for training on Malta farming. Besides, saplings of Malta have been provided among farmers,” he said.
With a target of cultivating 1800kg of Malta, Lokman Azad was able to produce 1600kg of Malta last season. In the current season, the output is most likely to exceed the target.
Atik Ullah said they have a plan to help the fruit farmers transport and market their produces easily.
Besides, he said, the Agriculture Department will help them get the fair prices of Malta.
Businesses are taking advantage of the increasing demand for warm clothes amid a bone-chilling weather which is likely to continue for a few days more.
People are thronging the markets and makeshift stalls on Dhaka’s footpaths to buy clothes for winter, prompting sellers to hike prices.
Vendors said they have also stockpiled colourful winter wears to attract buyers.
A large number of people were seen at shopping centres and markets in Gulistan, Bangabazar, Chawkbazar, New Market, Elephant Road, Baitul Mokarram Mosque area, Mouchak and Bashundhara shopping complex.
Makeshift shops on footpaths are doing brisk sales.
Traders said buyers are more interested in sweaters, jackets and shawls that have hit the stands recently. Anis Hawlader, a salesman in Bangabazar, said they usually get good response from customers during chilly days.
“The price of each blanket increased by Tk 20-100 thanks to the cold weather,” he said.
Anis said they are now selling a local blanket at Tk 90-500 and imported one at Tk 450 to Tk 4,000. “We’ll keep selling the items until February,” he added.
Ariful Islam, a trader from New Market, said business is brisk because of several days of severe cold. “Our sale has been good in the last four days. We hope to sell warm clothes for another two months,” he added.
Jatrabari resident Hasan Mia said he bought clothes for himself and his children from the market. “I bought these because of severe cold. We don’t know when the weather will improve,” he added.
The demand for winter cosmetics items such as petroleum jelly, moisturiser cream, lotion, lip balm and glycerin has also gone up.
Jasim Uddin, general secretary of Polwel Super Market (an imported apparel business hub of the country), said they were selling only imported high-end clothes.
“The sales increase if there’s severe cold. Our sales have been great in the last several days because of the cold wave. It’ll increase further if the cold persists,” he added.
It took only three months for Mir Jumla Sarak, adjacent to Digubabu Bazar area, to return to its ‘original’ state – filthy, congested, and hard to navigate.
About three months ago, police freed the road after several rounds of drives. People going to Narayanganj College, Narayanganj High School, T&T office, launch and bus terminals prefer this route.
“But makeshift markets usually keep the road occupied throughout the year,” a local man said, declining to be named.
Continuous eviction drives helped keep the road free and clean to some extent for several months. But now, a large number of makeshift shops have occupied the road and are dumping wastes there.
During a recent visit, the UNB Correspondent found that the road has turned into waste dumping zone, making it very hard for people to move in the area.
Vehicles cannot enter as the road became narrow thanks to illegal occupation.
Some of the shops’ owners were extremely rude to this correspondent and said that running reports on the road’s condition will be in vain.
People said a former district police chief removed all makeshift shops from the road but after he was transferred, the shop owners occupied the place again. They have since been dumping wastes on the road.
Locals blamed the lack of supervision by authorities concerned for the sorry state of the key road and demanded freeing it as soon as possible.
Shyamal, the cleaning inspector of Narayanganj City Corporation, said a number of chicken traders set up shops on the road, preventing waste collection vehicles of the city corporation from entering the area.
“That’s why there are wastes on the road. Necessary measures will be taken to remove the garbage as soon as possible,” he said.
A doorway of new possibilities is set to open for flower farmers of Gadkhali in Jashore, distinguished as the Flower Capital of the country, where the government is establishing the first flower processing centre and a modern flower market.
Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are jointly building the modern flower market and cooling chamber spending Tk 19 crore.
Although the slow progress of the project is making the local flower farmers fidgety but a new hope of future prosperity is predominating their minds.
The flower business commercially started in Gadkhali of Jhikargasa in 1983 that is currently meeting 70 percent of the overall demand of the country. The flower cultivation subsequently spread to different places of the country.
The livelihood of more than around one lakh people of Gadkhali and its adjacent areas were revolving around flower farming.
The local flower farmers have been looking for a specialised cold storage and modern market in the area for a long time as it has been hindering their route to profit in the season.
Meanwhile, LGED Executive Engineer of Jashore Mirza Iftekhar Ali said the project was launched in 2015 and they hope to complete it within 2020.
Centering the flower garden, the government has also taken different development projects for easy road transportation around the flower market areas, he added.
Different modern technologies will be used in the Flower Processing Centre that would facilitate the farmers to package and grade the flowers. The farmers will be provided with proper training and modern cooling chamber that would be used to reserve the packaged flowers for future sale.
Flower farmer Sher Ali said, “I thought we would be benefitted from the centre in the current season but the building process is yet to be completed.”
He urged the government to finish the work quickly.
Bangladesh Flower Society President Abdur Rahim said, “We’ve suffered a lot due to the lack of modern flower processing..Now we want its quick completion.”


text:
Can't decide which fancy phone is for you? This handy chart from BillShrink, via GigaOm, ought to help.
The average costs of the iPhone and Droid are equal.
5 innovations in radiology that could impact everything from the Zika virus to dermatology
More "Digital Industry Insider" »
We just created the best Google Chrome extension on the market for latest news headlines
More "BI Innovations" »
Available on iOS or Android


text:
In recent times, there has been a lot of initiatives for financial inclusion in almost every sector of the Nigerian economy ranging from small-scale farmers to petty traders.
Financial inclusion generally calls for individuals and businesses to have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs, however, not much has been done about creating access to funding for women-led businesses.
Financial technology is a well-funded field but not much of it goes to female-founded outfits. This is evident in the abysmal 3.2 percent funding that was awarded to female-led startups out of the whopping 3 billion dollars attracted by Nigerian fintech in the year 2021. In an attempt to change this anomaly, Dayo Ademola, Managing Director at Branch Nigeria, a leading digital finance app providing a full suite of financial services such as loan and payment solutions to individuals, has championed the chart for Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors to direct more funding towards female-led startups.
Speaking during the recent 2022 Forbes Leading Women Summit, Ademola shed light on the large number of women trying to access funding for their business. “A large proportion of the loan applications Branch receives are unsurprisingly from women who need working capital for their micro-businesses”, she revealed. The summit explored the gaps in accessing funding for female-led businesses and attempted to raise solutions on what needs to be done.
Co-panelist, Odunayo Eweniyi, Co-founder of Piggyvest, a digital savings platform stated that there are myths that women are not building. Eweniyi insisted that she, as well as so many other women, are building but the problem lies with discovery as a lot of partners are skewed towards funding the male-led startups in the sector. She went on to explain that a lot of VCs have a male-dominated portfolio and they would argue that this is due to a lack of awareness of female startups in need of funding.
Eweniyi however did not quite agree with this notion as she believes that VCs need to put in the work to seek out female-owned companies to fund especially at the early stage.
“Women need that belief capital, same as men, to be able to take these ideas off the ground”, Eweniyi stated. It is important that female-led startups are able to access funding at the early stage, as this would help these women founders catch up on their male counterparts at subsequent seed rounds.
Eweniyi also called for a need to investigate the biases causing VCs to fund male-led companies over their female counterparts as data shows that female-led businesses are performing at the same level as the male-led businesses. “Not giving women funding is simply just a bad thing because those businesses are not underperforming”, she added.
Speaking on partnerships, Ademola advised women who are looking to grow their businesses and careers to find a mentor.
According to Ademola, “You invest in what looks like you and so we need more women-led angel investors and venture capitalists. I think that as human beings, we are geared towards emulating what we see and what we believe to be the pinnacle of achievements”. This would ensure women businesses get as much capital as needed.
Ademola concluded by stating that more work has to be done in creating more spaces for these partnerships to take off as this would bring about the kind of growth that needs to happen in the fintech ecosystem for women. Additionally, there is a lot more work that women founders need to do in terms of formalizing networks and partnerships between women-led businesses and investors. In general, mentorship and partnership would be the major game-changers to drive the much-needed financial inclusion for female-led businesses in the fintech ecosystem.
As a leading finance platform, Branch leverages on an innovative outlook, as well as today’s digital solutions at their disposal, in creating access to a wide range of services for customers. Indeed, Branch continues to prioritize the provision of real solutions to meet up with the growing demands of the dynamic financial environment, for all categories of people – including women.


text:
25 years ago, Netcetera registered in the commercial register, developed its first customer project, the very first pizza online store in Switzerland, and recruited its first employees. The start-up then grew into a global company, with locations from Europe to the Far East. The founding members Andrej Vckovski, CEO, and Ronnie Brunner, Fellow and member of the Board of Directors, who are still active in the company, told invited guests at various customer events how it all came about. The opportunity to celebrate this special event in person was greatly appreciated by all those present.
In a discussion, the founding members highlighted various stages and important milestones from the last 25 years. For example, the foundation of Netcetera Skopje in North Macedonia in 2001 or the cultural rethinking that had to take place when Netcetera introduced product development. Ronnie Brunner remembers: "The desire to program products has existed since the company was founded. However, developing ideas as products requires investments and a different mindset than developing individual software. You also have to accept that not every idea will be a success – and still try again and again. Today, over 40 percent of our revenue is already in the product area and we are the market leader for secure digital payment in the DACH region with our products, with many more customers globally."
In addition to the past, however, the future was not left out of the equation. When asked what comes next, there is a clear answer from Andrej Vckovski: "There is a big and constantly growing demand for software. But the number of people who can produce it is not increasing at the same rate. This is a great opportunity for us, and we will continue our global expansion to meet the increasing demand. The innovative power of our employees has helped Netcetera grow and stabilize in recent years and will continue to simplify the lives of our customers and humanity with useful digital solutions."
Netcetera also took the anniversary year as an opportunity to write down and illustrate its history as well as visions of the future in a creative style on about 140 pages. Many different protagonists such as founders, current and former employees, customers, and partners tell Netcetera's journey. With this exciting story, the company says thank you for the last 25 years and looks to the future with strong growth plans and a sustainable product pipeline.


text:
Walmart is Offering a Half-off Deal for its Amazon Prime Competitor and Walmart+
Insider | November 2, 2022
Ahead of Black Friday, customers can now enroll in Walmart's membership program, Walmart+, at a discounted 50% off its annual price to enjoy early access to holiday shopping deals. Launched in September 2020, the Walmart+ membership was the company's answer to Amazon Prime. The initial membership offered free shipping with no order minimum, fuel discounts, and same-day delivery — all at a more affordable rate compared to the Amazon Prime membership.
Insider previously reported on the Walmart+ membership in its entirety, including membership perks, and a side-by-side comparison of Amazon Prime and Walmart+. The new discount — not available for current, paying members — saves new customers $49 over the first year of their membership. The Walmart+ membership typically costs $98 a year with a 15-day free trial period. The offer ends on Nov. 3, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. EST.
Early access to Walmart's online Black Friday deals: Walmart+ members loved getting early access to Walmart's online Black Friday deals last year and this year, Walmart is offering extended shopping hours. This year, Walmart+ members will get seven hours — compared to last year's four — of early access. The online early access starts at 12 p.m. EST on Nov. 7, Nov. 14, and Nov. 21. Those who aren't Walmart+ members will be able to shop at 7 p.m. EST.
Paramount+ Essential Subscription: Since September, Walmart+ members could create a Paramount+ account at no additional cost (otherwise a $59 value).
Walmart Rewards: Walmart+ members earn additional savings toward future Walmart purchases after accumulating dollars from shopping trips or online orders.
InHome Delivery Service: Since July, InHome Delivery Service, which delivers groceries straight to customers became available as an optional add-on within Walmart+.
Expanded Fuel Discount: Since April, Walmart+ members can save up to 10 cents per gallon at more than 14,000 fuel stations nationwide, including Exxon and Mobil locations. Walmart+ members can also save five to 10 cents per gallon at Walmart and Murphy's stations.
Spotify Premium: Since March, new and existing Walmart+ members have been able to receive six months of Spotify Premium for free.
Unlimited free delivery: Walmart+ members can select free standard delivery from stores, and free shipping with no order minimum required.
Return pickup from their home: For some select stores, Walmart+ members have the option to have their returns picked up from their chosen addresses. Using the Walmart app, Walmart+ members can schedule a return and hand off the return to one of Walmart's delivery drivers.
Scan & Go: Using the Walmart app, Walmart+ members can scan their items as they shop and pay using Walmart Pay without needing to interact with a single person in the store.
There are other limited offers along with the Walmart+ membership including $15 Lyft credit and six months of Spotify membership.
Read the full article here


text:
CVS Health To Hire 25,000 Across The U.S. At One-Day Virtual Career Event
(RTTNews) - CVS Health is set to recruit qualified candidates to fill 25,000 clinical and retail jobs during a one-day national career event on Friday, September 24. This will enable CVS to meet the high demand for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, nurses, and retail store associates to support flu season, COVID-19 vaccinations and testing.
These new and existing positions will help the company continue to respond to the needs of communities across the country during the fall and winter months when the incidence of flu is expected to increase and as COVID-19 vaccination and testing remain in high demand.
The majority of the available positions are for full-time, part-time, and temporary licensed pharmacists, trained pharmacy technicians and nurses at CVS Pharmacy store locations. These positions will help increase support for patients and fellow pharmacy professionals.
Apart from these positions, the company requires retail store associates who provide attentive service, assist with purchases, and manage store inventory to ensure availability of desired health, wellness, and convenience products for customers.
The hiring will also help the company in administering COVID-19 booster shots, pending regulatory approval, as well as support the ongoing vaccinations and testing for COVID-19 at CVS Pharmacy locations across the country.
CVS Health said it has already helped in administering more than 34 million COVID-19 vaccines and more than 32 million tests.
The company generally needs additional team members during every flu season, but this year the hiring requirement is more due to the additional burden of the COVID-19 vaccination drive and testing.
CVS is requesting eligible qualified candidates to text "CVS" to 25000 or visit the CVS Health Career Website to begin the application process for the one-day national career event. This will enable them to enter a streamlined digital screening process that facilitates an online application, virtual job tryout and immediate hiring.
The company is offering full-time employees a competitive pay, paid training, and a generous benefits package, including vacation, 7 paid holidays and one floating holiday as well as a 20 to 30 percent employee discount at CVS retail stores. CVS Health had in August raised the corporate-wide minimum wage to $15 an hour, effective July 2022.
The offer also includes health, dental and vision insurance, employee discounted stock purchase program, 401K with company match, tuition reimbursement and career advancement opportunities.
CVS Health is also offering a cash bonus for current employees who refer full-time pharmacists or pharmacy technicians that are hired into the company.


text:
Quick & Reilly Inc., the discount brokerage firm in New York, has selected Grey Direct in New York to handle its account, which was at Kirshenbaum & Bond in New York for 19 months until that agency resigned earlier this year. Billings were estimated at $7 million.
Russell Nype, director of acquisition marketing for Quick & Reilly, confirmed a report of the appointment this week in Adweek. He said Grey Direct was awarded the account after a three-month review that also included Clarion Direct in Greenwich, Conn., and Rapp Collins Marcoa in New York. A campaign is expected to begin on Nov. 1.Continue reading the main story


text:
We have actually lost count of instances when Gears of War remaster for Xbox One has been spoken of. While it is indeed one of the many remasters Xbox fans would want to see, reports claim that no such thing has been planned by the developers. However, some industry insiders apparently have a different take on it.
According to insiders who broke the news to Polygon, even though a Gears of War remaster may be headed for Xbox One, it may still not be a complete trilogy collection (Like the Halo: Master Chief Collection), rather a standalone remaster of the first game in the series.
As it stands, the re-release of Gears of War for Xbox One is said to include updated visuals and reworked cutscenes, thanks to animation studio Plastic Wax, according to a source.
"Stills of Gears of War's remade opening cinematic were shown to Polygon, offering a new look at the Locust invasion with updated visuals," says the report.
"According to another source, Brink and Dirty Bomb developer Splash Damage is working on the Xbox One remaster of Gears of War. The U.K.-based studio has several job listings that say it's working on a 'very well known and highly popular AAA title with next gen technology'," the report adds.
Polygon also claims that it has seen some multiplayer screenshots of the Gears of War remaster. From the screenshots, it "appears that the Xbox One game features improved lighting and increased texture quality. We're told that the multiplayer runs at 60 frames per second."
If indeed a remaster to the first game is in the works, we could expect to see something real related to it at this year's E3 event. Gears of War will complete 10 years in 2016.
Back in the day, the first game in the GoW series was released on Xbox 360 in November 2006, and was later ported to Windows PC the following year.


text:
Zoom for Improvement: Lessons Learned from Zoom’s Privacy and Security Backlash
As anyone working from home amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic can appreciate, the video conferencing platform Zoom has rocketed to popularity as the app of choice for hundreds of millions of self-quarantined users. This unprecedented growth of Zoom’s user base caused the company’s stock price (not to mention my kids’ daily screen time) to soar.
But the company has also experienced a major backlash over its privacy and data security practices. In just the last two weeks, Zoom has:
- been sued in two federal class actions for the unauthorized disclosure of users’ personal information to Facebook;
- become the subject of inquiries by at least three state attorneys general about its privacy and data security practices;
- had several organizations, including the United States Senate, the New York City Public Schools, Google, and Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, tell their personnel not to use the platform based on concerns about privacy and security;
- been publicly accused of making deceptive representations about its security practices by United States Senators Richard Blumenthal and Sherrod Brown, both of whom called for the FTC to open an investigation; and
- had the FBI’s Boston Field Office issue a warning to the public about security threats directed at its platform.
Zoom’s CEO issued a statement last week acknowledging that the company had fallen short of its users’ privacy and security expectations. That statement also announced the company was freezing feature development for 90 days and shifting all its engineering resources to focus on trust, safety, and privacy issues.
In this post, we discuss some key lessons that Zoom’s recent experience teaches on the privacy and data security front.
The Longer You Wait, the Harder It Gets
Businesses—including and especially startups and emerging growth companies—sometimes treat privacy and data security as tomorrow’s problem, or a “nice-to have” line item in the budget. They defer building a privacy and data security program in favor of other seemingly more pressing priorities.
But in a world of widespread and evolving privacy legislation, increasingly emboldened privacy regulators, and a steady drumbeat of data breaches, that strategy simply isn’t tenable anymore. Companies that treat privacy and data security as anything but a business-critical issue may find themselves expending far more time, resources, and goodwill to fix problems that will inevitably arise than they would have in avoiding those problems in the first place.
In Zoom’s case, an apparent lack of focus on privacy and data security has come back to haunt the company at a most inopportune time. At a critical moment of growth, the company is reallocating all of its engineering resources to fix problems that it might have avoided through earlier and more careful consideration of the privacy and data security issues that its platform might encounter.
Zoom’s CEO, for his part, seems to have learned this lesson, admitting in an interview over the weekend that he and the company “messed up” and declaring that “we need to slow down and think about privacy and security first. That’s our new culture.”
Know the Company You Keep
As we discussed in our last post, Zoom is facing two federal class action lawsuits that arise from its alleged disclosure of user personal information to Facebook. To that end, Zoom has already admitted that it implemented a feature called “Login with Facebook” in its platform. According to the company’s statement, unbeknownst to Zoom, its implementation of that feature allowed Facebook to collect information about Zoom’s users and their devices that was unnecessary for Zoom to provide its services. And critically, Zoom didn’t inform users that it was sharing this data with Facebook.
Separately, the Zoom platform reportedly included a data-mining feature that allowed users who subscribed to LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator service to covertly view meeting participants LinkedIn profile data—like locations, employer names, and job titles. According to the reporting, the feature disclosed those details even if a meeting participant signed into the meeting under a pseudonym.
Zoom disabled both features after they came under media scrutiny.
As this aspect of the backlash shows, businesses must have a detailed understanding of how and when they share data with third parties, the rights third parties have to use that data, and the choices consumers have about that sharing.
Learn to Love Privacy by Design
Other aspects of Zoom’s trouble arose from default configuration settings or features in its platform that ran contrary to basic privacy and security principles and user expectations. To that end, Zoom caught flack for:
- An attention-tracking feature that notified the host of a Zoom meeting when an attendee clicks away from an active Zoom window for more than 30 seconds, without notice by Zoom to the attendees of the meeting; and
- Default settings that made all meetings public, and enabled attendees to share their screens without permission from a host, leading to a new phenomenon known as “Zoombombing,” in which people gain unauthorized access to a meeting and share hate-speech or pornographic images.
Privacy by design—the practice of embedding privacy into the creation of new systems and technologies by default—might have flagged both issues as problematic from the beginning. That practice has been enshrined in the law in Europe since 2018, when GDPR became effective and required organizations to implement data protection principles into all stages of their processing of personal data.
Here in the United States, privacy by design isn’t an express requirement of any law or regulation. But it’s a wise practice: the Federal Trade Commission has been calling for companies to implement its practices into the development of their products and services since its 2012 report on protecting consumer privacy. And as Zoom has discovered, failing to properly consider privacy at the beginning of the product development process can lead to design decisions that put a product or service on a crash course with consumer and regulator expectations.
Public Commitments about Data Security : No Place for Puffery
Until recently, Zoom claimed on its website and in a security whitepaper that all Zoom meetings are “end-to-end encrypted.” The problem, according to Senator Brown’s letter to the FTC and media reports, is that Zoom used a questionable definition for that term that left room for Zoom itself to access unencrypted video and audio from meetings.
Last week, the company issued a statement “apologizing for the confusion” it caused by “incorrectly suggesting that Zoom meetings were capable of using end-to-end encryption.” Even though there doesn’t appear to be any evidence that Zoom’s actual encryption practices led to the compromise or misuse of video or audio from meetings, Zoom may still have reason to be worried: the FTC has a long history of bringing enforcement actions against companies for making aggressive data security promises in privacy policies and marketing materials that later turned out to be false or misleading.
Those actions often arise when the lack of security measures a company claimed to have causes a data breach. But the FTC also recently settled a case with a company that arose out of misleading claims about the security of its Internet-of-things products, even though the FTC did not allege that users’ personal information was ever compromised.
As that history and Senator Brown’s letter show, when it comes to statements about security, accuracy is critical: overselling a company’s security practices can create low-hanging fruit for regulators and private litigants.
* * *
Time will tell whether Zoom’s recent mea culpa, and its unprecedented shift of engineering resources to get its privacy and data security house in order, will stop the bleeding and return the company to the public’s good graces. In the meantime, companies would do well to take these lessons to heart, lest they too find themselves victims of their own success.


text:
|Broadcast Date||APRIL 21, 2015|
|Guests||Patrick Beja, Jennie Josephson|
Patrick Beja is on and we’ll talk about Twitter’s new anti-harassment measures. expect an appearance from producer Jennie Josephson on the subject as well!
- The Next Web notes Adobe launched a major upgrade to Photoshop Lightroom for desktop and mobile platforms with an emphasis on integrated workflow via Creative Cloud. New features include: Leveraging GPUs for faster render performance especially with 4K and 5K displays, an updated HDR Merge tool that can get an effect out of just 2 images, a new Panorama Merge, Facial Recognition that can find files without tags, and improved Filter Brush with greater precision. The iOS app can now group photos by date, gets a n improved crop and the ability to sign up for a subscription in the app. Android users get tablet support, DNG raw file support for Lollipop devices, and access to microSD storage. You can buy Lightroom for the desktop for $149 or as part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud Photography Plan for $9.99 a month. Companion apps are free for iOS and Android.
- TechCrunch reports BlackBerry is buying WatchDox a startup in Israel that develops secure file sharing software. The plan is to add WatchDox software to BlackBerry’s Enterprise Mobility Management portfolio. In addition to the software, BlackBerry may use the WatchDox team to build an R&D operation in Israel.
- Twitter announced new anti-harassment measures on its blog today. Language around threats was widened to include a broader range of threats including promoting violence against others. Twitter staff may now lock abusive accounts until certain measures are taken by users. And a filter will be put in place that limits the reach of posts that an algorithm deems may be abusive.
- Re/code is reporting Yahoo earned 15 cents a share on an adjusted basis, down from 38 cents the year before, analysts expected 18 cents a share. That was down from 38 cents the year before. Revenue was $1.043 billion missing expectations of $1.055 billion. But the good news is Microsoft can terminate its search deal with Yahoo as early as October 1st.
News From You
- Sean Hollister’s Gizmodo report says that it is now possible to download your entire Google search history to your computer. Search history includes subject lines of private emails, street address, your personal entertainment tastes, etc. Google suggests setting up two factor authentication to protect the downloaded data. Hollister suggests taken advantage of another feature provided by Google. Delete your search history. All of it.
- Submitted by starfuryzeta
- iMore.com reports that Google is shutting down older YouTube apps. That means YouTube will no longer work on original white box Apple TVs, devices running iOS6 or older, Google TV versions 1 and 2 and some older TVs and Blu-ray players.
- Submitted by Hurmoth
- Wired has an article about John Deere asserting farmers don’t have the right to fix their own tractors. John Deere filed with the US Copyright Office arguing people should not be allowed to alter or repair software systems in John Deere tractors because it violates copyright. Among other things, John Deere argued allowing an exemption for tractor repair could somehow lead to music piracy using the tractor’s entertainment system.
- Submitted by spsheridan
- Engadget has very important news. Remember BB-8, the new circular rolling droid in the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie? Remember how J.J. Abrams shocked the world last week when he revealed that BB-8 was a practical effect? Well robotics company Sphero has confirmed that its technology is behind the droid ball, and that there is a CONSUMER VERSION IN THE WORKS. No word on whether it will be out in time for the holiday season, or whether it will be sphero-sized or full droid-sized.
- Submitted by starfuryzeta
- TechCrunch reports that Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet will be available for download Thursday. It comes with support for OpenStack Kilo the free open-source cloud computing platform, a new LXS Hypervisor virtualization tool for container deployments and a new stable version of Canonical’s Snappy Ubuntu Core, a stripped-down version of its OS for container hosts and small connected devices.
- Submitted by AudioIllusion
- Twitter's Inexplicable New Settings Highlight Problems with Abuse
- Twitter announces crackdown on abuse with new filter and tighter rules
- Policy and product updates aimed at combating abuse
- Twitter Makes Tweaks To Limit Abuse And Abusers
- Twitter executive: Here’s how we’re trying to stop abuse while preserving free speech
Pick of the Day
- After listening to Nate Lanxon’s discussion on audio quality (4/16/15), I thought I’d pass a long a pick for him, and anyone else into high fidelity listening. I too prefer lossless audio formats, but like you mentioned yesterday, who wants to bother with a CD drive these days? I was turned onto hdtracks.com via a Audiogon newsletter about a sampler album they put together. For those who don’t know, Audiogon is a marketplace for dealers, industry techs, and consumers to buy and sell used, often higher end, audio equipment (Inception-pick-of-the-day). HD Tracks offers (DRM FREE!) WAV, ALAC, AIFF, and FLAC formats for download with a majority of albums at sample rates of 96kHz/24 bit and up. It’s definitely not the best place to go if you’re looking for a single song, but if anyone was going to purchase the album to rip, this would save a step. For anyone not sure of why high fidelity music is a big deal, HD Tracks has an album sampler to download for the low cost of your email address, so that you may see for yourself.
- Submitted by Burhan
| Preceded by:
"Are you Nokia or Yeskia?"
| John DeeRM
|| Followed by:|
"Don’t Fear the Robots"


text:
US food giant Kraft Foods posted healthy third-quarter earnings of $869 million (€890m) on Wednesday claiming solid sales and a boost from new products.
"Kraft delivered strong earnings growth in the quarter, driven by higher volume, productivity and synergy savings, and lower interest expense," said Roger K. Deromedi, co-chief executive officer of Kraft Foods.
"With added momentum from new products, increased marketing investment and gains in developing markets partially fuelled by acquisitions, pro forma volume grew 3.3 per cent," added Betsy D. Holden, co-chief executive officer of Kraft Foods. "We continue to expect full year volume growth of around 3 per cent."
Net earnings amounted to 50 cents a share, a massive 73 per cent higher than the previous year's $503 million, or 29 cents a share.
Excluding an accounting change for goodwill amortisation, which strongly boosted quarterly results, profits were up 14 per cent. Revenue climbed to $7.2 billion from $7 billion.
The company cited particularly strong quarters in North America for such newer items as Double Delight Oreo, Chips Ahoy! Cremewiches and DiGiorno deep dish pizza, along with more-established products such as Maxwell House coffee, Kool-Aid Jammers and Honey Bunches of Oats with Strawberries.
Volume in cheese and meats was down amid tough competition for cheese and lower consumption of luncheon meats.
Earlier this week Kraft announced the US$110 million (€111.4m) sale of its Fleischmann ingredients business in Latin America to Australian bakery ingredients company Burns Philp.


text:
We round up the latest developments from the Netherlands as Albert Heijn considers the supermarket of the future and prepares to trial checkout-free stores, while Jumbo bids for Sligro’s Emté business.
Albert Heijn considers the supermarket of 2025....
As Albert Heijn gets ready to celebrate its 130th anniversary, it is considering the supermarket of 2025.
Commenting on this, Albert Heijn CEO Wouter Kolk said, ‘Supermarkets will be much more diversified in 2025, with a different approach depending on the suburb or whether they are in urban or rural areas. Experience, convenience and speed are the trends to follow. Soon, everything you want will happen and technology will play a major part … I do not know how strong [online’s] growth will be, because customers still value physical stores. I personally think that a supermarket in 2025 will become a source of advice and inspiration when it comes to food’.
Want more inspiration on the topic? IGD has published a new free flagship report, 'the evolution of the physical store' in partnership with CGF. Find out more here.
...As it prepares to trial checkout-free shops
Albert Heijn is also to begin trialling chain is to trial checkout-free stores from 2018. This would allow shoppers to choose their items and exit stores without scanning for products, while payment will be taken automatically. It is expected the trial will take place in the retailers AH to go convenience stores, because ‘speed and convenience are already important at those stores’.
There has been a wave of innovation in this area around the world. Last year, Amazon unveiled its Amazon Go grocery convenience store in Seattle, which uses advanced digital technology to create a ‘Just Walk Out’ shopping experience. Meanwhile, in May, 7-Eleven launched their first convenience store without any staff at Lotte World Tower in Seoul.
Jumbo bids for Sligro’s Emté business
Elsewhere in the market, last week Jumbo and a third party reportedly made a bid for Sligro’s Emté business in the region of €300m, although this has been rejected by Sligro.


text:
Kingshuk Biswas, who is on the UNWTO panel of Tourism Experts, delves into how the tourism industry can generate demand in such a dismal scenario, and offers some suggestions for ‘creating’ this demand post COVID.
According to a recent Booking.com research report, 86% Indian travellers will take more health and safety related precautions when travelling in the future. It also states that more than 70% Indians would avoid certain destinations altogether due to safety concerns. Seventy-seven per cent of Indian travellers will only book a particular accommodation if it’s clear what health and hygiene policies it has in place, with almost 80% favoring accommodations that have antibacterial and sanitizing products. In the wake of COVID-19 second wave in the country the question the industry is asking is, “how does the tourism industry generate demand in such a dismal scenario? ” Here are my few suggestions for ‘creating demand’ for the industry post COVID.
Market safety, hygiene and green practices (accommodation sector)
Interesting in the post-COVID scenario, I am seeing lot of hotels across India offering attractive packages focusing primarily on the ‘price factor’. I wonder that as a customer is ‘price’ going to be the motivational factor for me to travel with family post-COVID? For customers’ family & friends, health, safety, seclusion will be key motivators, not ‘price’ alone. Some results of a quick search of the major OTAs:
Booking.com has a filter for hotel search for ‘properties with ‘additional health & safety measures’
MakeMyTrip has a search filter exclusively for ‘safe, hygienic stays’
Expedia has a filter for hotel search on ‘Enhanced cleaning – properties taking additional steps to clean and sanitise’
Tripadvisor has a hotel search filter for ‘electric vehicle charging station’
The point I am trying to make is that it is high time that hotels start promoting their (1) green/sustainable practices, (2) hygiene factors, (3) COVID-free environment, etc., rather than just offering price discounts. The entire marketing and branding of the hotels in the post-COVID era should be on the lines of health, nature, discovery, rejuvenation, solace, going local, etc.
Create culturally immersive experiences
Having a cursory look at the social media platforms of the state tourism boards in India post COVID-19, it is evident that most of them have been aggressively promoting unknown/lesser known destinations. Again few findings from the OTAs:
Thrillophilia, which is majorly into experiences and tours, has a separate section ‘Away from the crowd’
Viator, the international OTA specialising in tours, has amongst many sections interesting sections like ‘unique experiences’ and ‘outdoor activities’
Tour Operators thus are perfectly poised to promote and highlight the cultural identity of the destinations. This strategic and smart investment in creating new unique local experiences would go a long way in their recovery.
Explore virtual experiences & shopping
I strongly recommend that tour operators/tours guides in India take a leaf out of Intrepid Travel’s foray into this area. Customers pay and sign up for an online experience led by someone in another country and spend an hour or two interacting, learning a new skill, asking questions, and learning about local culture and traditions. The virtual experiences would also provide tour guides in India with a new kind of product offering to help support economic recovery. The live virtual tours can be expanded to virtual shopping experiences, where customers can actually shop, for example in Janpath market in Delhi, and the goods can then be shipped directly to the buyers.
Promote community based tourism (CBT)
Destinations belong to communities and tourists are merely visiting the location. Community-based tourism is not something new but it gets more prominence post COVID-19. As such it was mostly the NGOs and a few passionate tour operators/boutique hotels who have been promoting community-based tourism till date. Post COVID-19, given the changing mindset of the tourists, they will look for more meaningful, responsible and immersive experiences. CBT experiences will boom.
Market sustainable luxury travel
The COVID-19 crisis has led to the behavioral change of social distancing and seclusion. Currently in India, boutique hotels/homestays away from the city are doing much better than city hotels. There is an emerging trend for booking the entire property just between family and friends, and customers are ready to pay for that privilege and exclusivity. Tour operators are experiencing more focus on customised travel itineraries rather than large group bookings.Customers want immersive experiences at one destination with guarantee of seclusion. Luxury travel has a new mantra of ‘seclusion & privacy’.


text:
What you need to know
- The latest version of Windows Defender has a bug that causes Quick and Full scans to fail.
- Real time scanning still works for Windows Defender despite the bug.
- Microsoft confirmed that the company is working on a fix.
The latest version of Windows Defender has a bug that will cause Quick and Full scans to fail after only a few seconds and scanning only a small number of files (via ZDNet). The bug affects Windows Defender version 4.18.1908.7 and later. Several users reported the issue on Microsoft support forums as well as Reddit.
Windows Defender version 4.18.1908.7 was released earlier this week. The bug causing scans to fail was introduced while Microsoft attempted to fix a separate bug in the July 2019 Patch Tuesday update.
In addition to Windows Defender on Windows 10, the bug affects all versions of Windows Defender on all versions of Windows. As pointed out by ZDNet, the bug also affects Security Essentials.
Microsoft confirmed to ZDNet that the company is working on a fix for the bug. Microsoft pointed out that real-time scanning protection still works despite the bug and that malware should be detected in real-time.
If you'd like to scan your system while the bug is still affecting Windows Defender, you can still perform a Custom scan with the tool.
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.
Microsoft shares details of a security breach of customer support database
Microsoft disclosed the details surrounding a security breach from last December. The breach involves roughly 250 million entries from an internal customer support database.
Project xCloud on the NVIDIA Shield is almost like playing a regular Xbox
The only Android TV box really worth buying is already part games console, and xCloud takes that even further. Sideload at your own risk, but this is a lot of fun.
You can now manually check for the Windows 10 November 2019 Update
If you're running a recent version of Windows 10, you can now manually check for the Windows 10 November 2019 Update.
These are the best PC sticks for when you're on the move
Instant computer, just add a screen! That’s the general idea of the ultra-portable PC Compute Sticks, but it can be hard to know which one you want. Relax, we’ve got you covered.


text:
Noting that he highly values the development of China-Belarus ties, Xi said he stands ready to work with President Lukashenko to jointly push forward China-Belarus comprehensive strategic partnership and expand mutually-beneficial cooperation between the two countries in various fields, so as to create new benefits for the two countries and peoples. Enditem
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi gives an exclusive interview to Xinhua on China-U.S. ties in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 5, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)
"It is certainly something that we can achieve together," he said.
That calls into question the notion of rule of law in the United States, Marlin said.
The USCBC is a trade group representing more than 200 U.S. companies that do business with China. Enditem
He also recalled that while the world was clamoring travel restrictions to and from China during the outbreak, Cambodia had maintained its commercial and tourist flights to and from China to ensure China's economy vis-à-vis regional supply chain remain less impacted.
"This very huge market access enables Cambodia to diversify its products and markets and reduce over-reliance on a few trading partners, i.e., Europe, U.S., and Canada, who traditionally trade with Cambodia on a concessional basis such as Everything But Arms (EBA), Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)," he said.
Speaking of the BRI, Cambodia has greatly benefited from the cooperation with China under this framework, Sorasak said, adding that from physical infrastructure, connectivity development to trade and tourism, the BRI has brought about significant contributions to its economy.
Noting that China's economic growth turned to positive in the second quarter, Zhao said the Chinese economy has withstood the impact of the epidemic and demonstrated strong resilience and development potential.
"Cambodia's commitment to liberalization is reflected in its efforts in entering into many regional FTAs, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, ASEAN-China FTA, and others," he said.
The two sides wrapped up their negotiations on the bilateral FTA on July 20.


text:
Which companies do you hold in highest esteem? It may depend on your age. RepTrak, which gathers data to help companies understand how consumers perceive them, has released its annual list of the world's 100 most reputable companies. It also broke down its findings by generation. Unsurprisingly, boomers' top companies look a little (well, a lot) different than those of millennials, or Generation Z. Do you agree with your contemporaries? Read on to find out.
Related: Advice from Seniors to Millennials


text:
NEW YORK (AP) -- Logitech International SA said Wednesday that company President Bracken Darrell has become its CEO.
Darrell joined the company in April and Logitech said it had aimed to make him its permanent CEO. Before joining Logitech he was in charge of Whirlpool Corp.'s business in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Chairman Guerrino De Luca has been acting CEO of Logitech since Gerald Quindlen left the company in July 2011. De Luca was also Logitech's CEO from 1998 to 2008.
Logitech is based in Switzerland. Its products include computer accessories, video conferencing equipment and other gadgets.
Logitech shares fell 1 cent to $7.53 in afternoon trading.


text:
Samsung has officially announced a new entry-level smartphone dubbed as the Galaxy M13 5G which will be first available in the Indian market where the phone carries an affordable launch price of just INR13,999 ($175).
The new Samsung Galaxy M13 5G builds around a 6.5” LCD display that features a HD+ screen resolution along with a smooth 90Hz refresh rate. Other than that, it also has a 5 megapixels front-facing camera housed within a waterdrop-notch along it’s upper bezel.
Over at the back, the phone has a dual-cam setup which include a 50 megapixels main camera and a 2 megapixels depth sensing unit to help with portrait shots. Likewise, a LED flash is also present on the right side of the camera array to help with low-light photography.
The device is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 700 chipset which will be paired with up to 6GB RAM and 128GB built-in storage which supports storage expansion via a microSD card. It’s also backed by a large 5,000mAh battery that brings support for 15W fast-charging.
Other notable features accompanying the device include a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, 3.5mm headphone jack, as well as One UI based on Android 12 OS. It will be available in a trio of colors such as Midnight Blue, Stardust Brown and Aqua Green.


text:
The giant global payments Visa, has filed an application at the Patent Office and Trademark united States (USPTO). Mainly, with the aim of creating and having your digital currency based on a Blockchain. Although the us dollar is mentioned as one of the currencies held in trust to be used for this project, Forbes reported that the patent could be applied to other currencies such as the pound, the yen and the euro.
Investors Simon J. Hurry, and Alexander Pierre, with the Association International Service Visa in San Francisco, have finally applied for a patent for a digital currency recorded in a Blockchain controlled by a computer of the central entity. The application was published on may 14, but submitted in November 2019. This details two logs: Visa creates a digital currency for an amount related to the name for a public key associated with a digital wallet. Removal of the physical currency from circulation in a system of Fiat. J. Christopher Giancarlo, a senior attorney for Willkie Farr and Gallagher and former president of the Commission on Trade in commodity Futures of the usa. UU., commented on the patent of Visa filed in the USPTO:
“This presentation of a patent is evidence that the private sector is working hard on the future of money”.
The summary of digital currency-Visa
Receiving by a computer of the central entity, a request for digital currency. The request includes a serial number and a denomination for a physical currency.The generation includes the record of the digital currency on a Blockchain.The computer of the central entity transmits a notification of the generation of the digital currency of Visa.This computer causes the removal of the physical currency from circulation in a system of fiat currency.
Visa mark a course to the use of the cryptocurrencies
Visa has made important announcements before, closely monitor the cryptocurrencies ecosystem and Blockchain. Last year, it was announced originally as a member of the new Association Pound established by Facebook, until he retired in October. In addition, in June of 2019, Visa announced that it was entering to the market of transactions between companies (B2B) cross-border. Above all, using technology of accounting is distributed to make payments faster, cheaper and more transparent. Also, in February of this year, Visa announced that it had granted permission to Coinbase. That would allow them to issue a debit card where people could spend their cryptocurrencies through the same. As stated by a spokesperson for Visa:
“They respect intellectual property and we are actively working to protect our ecosystem, our innovations and brand name Visa in this world of currencies digital.”
Despite being one of the main defenders of the traditional financial system, Visa is a fervent advocate of the emerging technology and, in particular, of Blockchain. Will you be able to Visa to win in where Libra ruled and have your own digital currency?


text:
Ralph Lauren quietly shuttered its two-year-old 20,000-square-foot store last week. Other brands are expected to close boutiques in a city that has lost its luster for cash-rich mainland Chinese tourists.
The decision could be a landmark ruling for Western brands in China.
December 8, 2016
• Nyima Pratten
The stores that carry the Ann Turk line were incorrectly identified in an article on page 12, Jan. 31. The collection is available at Nordstrom in Seattle, Henri Bendel in New York and Joyce Boutiques, Hong Kong.
WWD's Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide is brought to you by @styleontherise and is complete with the perfect presents for everyone on your list. Click the link in our bio to start shopping NOW. #WWDHoliday #Sponsored
@rebeccaminkoff is bringing self-checkout to high fashion: The brand has partnered with @queuehop to bring its customers self-checkout options, beginning this holiday season at its SoHo store. (📷: @aurorarosephoto)


text:
This year’s list of memorable marketing campaigns includes iconic products, menu hacks, leveraged partnerships, and more. The post 12 Outstanding Marketing Campaigns from 2022 appeared first on Practical Ecommerce.
The rise of consumer privacy initiatives will likely upend cross-platform ad tracking. Or it already has. Welcome to the “first-party data arms race” The post A Gathering Storm for Digital Ad Tracking? appeared first on Practical Ecommerce.
Pura makes and sells smart fragrance diffusers controlled via a phone app. Launched in 2015, the company has scaled to 180 employees. CMO Daniel Lacey tells the story. The post Homes Smell Better with Pura appeared first on Practical Ecommerce.
WhatsApp offers ecommerce merchants an excellent engagement and sales channel. Here’s how to get started. The post Using WhatsApp for Ecommerce appeared first on Practical Ecommerce.
Based on popularity in 2022 and trends in the past few years, we can anticipate Google Ads’ focus in 2023. Here are four likely themes. The post What to Expect from Google Ads in 2023 appeared first on Practical Ecommerce.
The dark mode feature has become increasingly popular on the web and mobile devices. Ensuring emails render in dark mode is essential for successful marketing. The post How to Design Emails for Dark Mode appeared first on Practical Ecommerce.
This installment of our monthly content series offers ideas for improving a blog, publishing an editorial newsletter, starting a podcast, launching videos, and teaching a class. The post 5 Content Marketing Ideas for January 2023 appeared first on Practical Ecommerce.
Amazon’s new “Customers ask Alexa” could be a marketing opportunity for brands and retailers. Here’s how to get started. The post Amazon’s ‘Customers ask Alexa’ Is a Marketing Opportunity appeared first on Practical Ecommerce.
Rising fees strain FBA sellers — forcing some to raise the price of goods and others to pursue alternative sales channels. Contributor Marcia Kaplan takes a closer look. The post Amid FBA Fee Hikes, Sellers Consider Alternatives appeared first on…
With today marking the very last collection for next day shipping, we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and our Best Wishes for 2023. 2022 was always going to be a challenging year, but no one could have…