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6ABC Action News At 4
Pa. starts online TSA Surplus auction
HARRISBURG, Pa. - April 2, 2012 (WPVI) -- If you've ever wanted to get your hands on TSA surplus, we have the details for you!The Pennsylvania Department of General Services today began selling surplus property received from the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, through an online public auction.
"Online sales of TSA surplus property present a great opportunity for the public to get items they want for a good price, while generating revenue for Pennsylvania," Secretary Sheri Phillips said. "We're excited about getting this program started and being able to offer another service to the public."
Individuals interested in bidding on items can visit www.govdeals.com and search for listings by typing "PA State Surplus" in the keyword search box.
Bid listings will be posted on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays as new property becomes available. Listings will feature various items such as knives, scissors, corkscrews, sunglasses, jewelry, belts and hand tools among other items. Brands include: Leatherman, Swiss Army, Gerber Multi-tools, Craftsman, Gucci, Prada and Oakley.
Through the state's Federal Surplus Program, Pennsylvania is able to receive various items surrendered by airline travelers at TSA security checkpoints. The state receives items from several airports in the Mid-Atlantic region.
All revenue from the items sold goes to the state's general fund.
In addition to online sales, the public is invited to visit the State Surplus Store at the
Surplus Distribution Center
2221 Forster St.
The Center features a section of TSA surplus property for sale. The store operates Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.
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A new survey carried out by Carphone Warehouse has found that 57% of consumers would switch mobile phone contracts today if they could in order to get a better deal.
The survey was commissioned by Carphone Warehouse to gain an insight into the challenges facing consumers when they need to buy a new phone or switch contract.
Other findings in the survey included:
– Battery Life is the main feature consumers look for when choosing a new mobile phone (83%), followed by Data Storage (72%), Camera Quality (67%) and Screen Size (61%).
– The main reasons respondents gave for wishing to switch mobile phone contracts were: to get a better deal (56%), to get a brand new phone (22%) and to get a more affordable contract (20%).
– 44% of respondents found that finding a mobile phone contract pay-plan to suit their needs was the most confusing element of buying a new phone.
– The biggest influencing factor in choosing a particular phone or package was on a ‘good deal being available’ (36%).
– Price is a consumer’s top consideration when choosing a new phone (49%), followed by quality of network (35%) and mobile internet connection (14%).
To help people decide which phone or plan to go for, the Carphone Warehouse have redesigned their website which now includes a new ‘Compare and Save’ function where consumers can compare up to five mobile phones and plans at one time.
Some of the different options consumers can compare are dimensions, camera capabilities and operating systems, data allowances and out of bundle costs on plans
You can check out the new feature by visiting www.carphonewarehouse.ie

domain: news


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Retail sales in December were “underwhelming”, the British Retail Consortium said commenting on the results of its monthly retail sales monitor that showed that sales rose 0.3% on a like-for-like basis in the month. On a total basis, sales were up 1.5%, against a 4.1% rise in December 2011.
Online sales showed the best performance, increasing by 17.8% which was the fastest growth since December 2011.
Commenting on the figures, BRC director general Helen Dickinson said: “Against the relentlessly tough economic backdrop and low expectations, these results are not a cause for celebration, but not a disaster either. Total growth for December hasn’t beaten inflation and is only on a par with December 2010, when severe weather put sales volumes on ice for much of the month.
“Retailers knew they were facing a challenging Christmas. Some did better than others but they were generally well prepared for shoppers’ limited spending power. After a sluggish start, the final few days leading up to Christmas saw a last-minute sales boost, as many made the most of a full shopping weekend which the calendar didn’t offer in the previous year. Footfall was disappointingly low but it seems that when people did make shopping trips they bought a lot in one go.”
Meanwhile John Lewis has reported a 14.8% uplift in trade in the five weeks to 29 December compared to the same period last year. Electricals and home technology sales were up 30.9% on last year, while fashion and beauty sales rose 10.4%. Online sales at johnlewis.com climbed 44.3% in the five week period and now account for a quarter of the total John Lewis business.


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Production of the eight generation Volkswagen Passat commences at the company’s Aurangabad plant.
Volkswagen has announced the start of production of the Passat at its Aurangabad facility, in Maharashtra. The eigth generation Passat (B8) will be the first sedan from the Volkswagen stable to be based on the MQB platform. The vehicle will be launched next month. Volkswagen sold the sixth and seventh generation Passat in India but discontinued the D-segment sedan in December 2013.
The 2017 Volkswagen Passat has grown in terms of dimensions. The front fascia is dominated by the chrome grille and the headlamps with LED DRLs. The 3-slat chrome grille enhances the width of the car. The interior is said to be more luxurious and tech-laden. The dashboard of the Passat will feature a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster (borrowed from the Audi TT), heads-up display and tweaked infotainment system.
Powering the Volkswagen Passat will be a 2.0-litre TDI diesel motor that puts out 177 HP of power. This oil burner comes paired to a 6-speed DSG automatic gearbox. The new Volkswagen Passat will rival the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Skoda Superb in the Indian market. The new Passat is expected to be priced around Rs. 30 lakhs and is being locally assembled via the CKD route.
Volkswagen Passat Production Starts
– Volkswagen Passat production starts in Aurangabad
– The Passat will be the first sedan from VW to be based on the MQB platform
– The eight generation model will come powered by a 2.0-litre TDI mill


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New Matter launches Indiegogo campaign
One of our newest companies, New Matter
, has launched a crowdfunding campaign for their new WiFi-Connected MOD-t 3D Printer. The MOD-t brings high-quality, easy-to-use 3D printing to everyone and represents an end-to-end 3D printing system built around the premise that 3D printing should be affordable (sub $300) AND easy. In addition, the platform will include complimentary software to help users organize and print all their objects and an Etsy meets iTunes-like online store full of cool 3D-printable designs that they can buy, customize and share.


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There are big changes afoot at Poachers Pantry, the Canberra region’s most well known and loved smokehouse and vineyard. Today it announced its new wine label, Poachers Vineyard, proudly launching a line-up of estate grown wines, under the Poachers umbrella.
“We’re so excited to reveal the new line up of Poachers Vineyard wines. Just as our family has come of age, so have our wines, and we are releasing the latest vintage made exclusively from our organically managed vineyard that wraps around the hills close to the restaurant,” said Poachers Vineyard’s second-generation vigneron, Will Bruce.
“Wines under the Poachers Vineyard label include two new varietals, a Riesling that has just been awarded a gold medal by Winewise, and a Tempranillo. In total there are six wines in the new range including Sauvignon Blanc, Rose, Pinot Noir and Syrah.” continued Will.
The move is part of a total branding overhaul at Poachers, which was established near Hall on Canberra’s outskirts back in 1991, as the brainchild of founder, Susan Bruce. Susan, who is Will’s mother, is tremendously proud of how the family business has grown, and now sees three generations of the Bruce family living and working at the family farm near Hall. Poachers Smokehouse Restaurant showcases the family’s artisan smoked meats, and estate grown wines, and is an outstanding country wedding and event destination.
“The new Poachers branding will roll out across all our smoked products over the coming month providing a smart and more contemporary look, along with being more environmentally conscious,” continued Will.
Will also revealed a range of new Poachers food and wine experiences on offer for visitors from Spring, including delightful Poachers Spring Picnics in the vineyards from September to April, and the new five course tasting menu matched with wines. Susan and Will are also working on some very special experiences including Smoking Masterclasses and Food Photography Masterclasses – both in the pipeline.
For more information on Poachers Pantry and Poachers Vineyard, go to www.poacherspantry.com.au


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Pro Evolution Soccer is officially a thing of the past, with the iconic video game series being rebranded as ‘eFootball’ for the series’ next release later this year.
The move comes as part of a major shift in Konami’s strategy to challenge EA Sports, with eFootball now becoming a free-to-play game in the style of ‘Call of Duty: Warzone’ or ‘Fortnite’, breaking the cycle of paid annual releases that sports game traditionally follow.
In addition to making the game free for all, Konami will make a number of other changes to gameplay experience including the introduction of crossplay, which means PlayStation users can play against Xbox players online.
While still lagging far behind the FIFA series in terms of player base, Konami has made visible strides to increase the credibility of PES/eFootball in the last few years, going bigger on signing major clubs to exclusive deals that remove them from the FIFA database – with Juventus and Roma among the clubs not playable in recent editions of FIFA.
Leo Messi and Neymar join the eFootball family as lead brand ambassadors for the new game, while Andrés Iniesta and Gerard Piqué have been closely involved in development as official advisors for offensive and defensive gameplay, respectively.
More details about eFootball’s rollout will be made available closer to release.


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eaders of the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), at its annual meeting
held recently in Washington, took a look at the state of the industry and where it is likely to be
headed in the near future. Despite some positive developments, there also are difficult times
ahead. On the plus side are signs Congress and the Obama administration seem more inclined than
Congresses and administrations in recent years to address some industry issues, particularly in the
area of international trade. But on the other hand, the worldwide recession, a chronic trade
deficit and a global oversupply of production present daunting challenges.
In an overview of industry conditions, NCTO Chairman Anderson Warlick, Parkdale Mills Inc.,
cited significant accomplishments during the past year, but he warned the industry must step up its
efforts to have a greater impact on issues being addressed in Washington. Warlick said that while
the industry faces a variety of issues, “the greatest threat is apathy,” and he challenged every
CEO in the industry to become more involved in Washington-related issues and make it a part of
their daily jobs. He cited increased funding for the NCTO political action committee, “Hill to
Mill” visits by members of Congress to manufacturing facilities and contacts executives made with
their representatives in Washington as key elements in some of the successes the industry enjoyed
in the past year.
NCTO outgoing Chairman Anderson Warlick said
the textile industry must broaden its political reach
if it hopes to influence government decisions
impacting the industry. He called on
industry CEOs to join with NCTO in an
effort to become more politically active.
Major Accomplishments Seen
NCTO cited a number of successful efforts during the past year, including a reinvestment
program for cotton textile products that could provide US textile mills with as much as $75 million
annually for capital investments. Under the program, mills may receive 4 cents per pound of
eligible cotton used and must use the funds to invest in updating plants and equipment. The program
is seen as a key element in making the industry more competitive.
Another major accomplishment was getting a letter from President Barack Obama saying he is
“especially aware of the trade challenges faced by those working in our textile industries.” Obama
gave his support for a textile import monitoring program to pin down problem areas and said he
would use the monitoring system to ensure that imports from China do not violate applicable laws
and treaties. He endorsed the idea of Buy American requirements for textile purchases by the
Department of Defense (DoD) and other agencies, and he also supported a yarn-forward provision in
free trade agreements to ensure that those special trade agreements do not become conduits for yarn
and fabric sources outside of the participating countries.
Also in the past year, and continuing into this year, NCTO developed a strategy to deal with
problems arising from the elimination of Chinese safeguard import quotas including a statistical
monitoring program and consideration of trade remedy actions under US anti-dumping and
countervailing duty laws. It also is looking for violations of World Trade Organization (WTO)
rules. The industry succeeded in getting Congress to extend for two years a trade agreement with
Colombia, Peru and Ecuador that grants duty-free access to the US market for apparel made from US
yarn and fabrics. In order to combat illegal textile and apparel imports, Congress funded $9
million specifically for textile customs enforcement. And after years of failed efforts, the
industry and its supporters in Congress got the DoD Buy American textile and apparel procurement
requirement expanded to include agencies of the Department of Homeland Security.
Despite these and other accomplishments, NCTO sees some major problems on the horizon.
Global Trade Outlook
At the meeting’s opening session, Robert Antoshak, president of FCStone Fibers and Textiles,
a global consulting firm that keeps a close watch on textile trade developments, outlined a number
of major challenges the US textile industry faces in today’s global economy. He predicted major
changes in textile trade as nations cope with the combination of the global recession and
overcapacity not only in manufacturing, but also with retailers. He warned that prices are being
squeezed downward and there is little room to pass on rising costs. The key to success, and even
survival, Antoshak believes, lies in a textile company’s ability to make high-value products and
manage the risks in today’s changing business climate. That, he says, will require four basic
elements: doing a better job of managing costs; placing more emphasis on technology; developing new
products; and using better marketing techniques. He predicted the next year and beyond will see
more volatility in textile trade, with many risks, but he believes those companies that attempt to
understand those risks and have plans to address them will survive.
Ambitious Trade Agenda
Looking ahead, NCTO leaders have an ambitious trade agenda as they seek ways to cope with a
persistent trade deficit, continuing job losses and what they believe are unfair trade practices
running rampant throughout the world, particularly in China. They see a need to find ways to combat
unfair trade practices and open more overseas markets to US goods through bilateral and regional
trade agreements, and they will be making efforts to remove barriers that make it difficult if not
impossible for US exports to enter a number of markets. High on the agenda is an effort to do
something about Chinese currency manipulation, which they believe is an illegal subsidy that gives
China an unfair advantage in international trade. NCTO has joined with other affected industries
and labor unions in a broadly-based Fair Currency Coalition that has launched a renewed effort to
support legislation pending in Congress that would declare currency manipulation an unfair trade
practice and provide for greater use of US anti-dumping and countervailing duty laws to offset that
trade advantage. Although similar anti-currency-manipulation legislation died in the last Congress,
it appears to be gaining more bipartisan support in the current Congress. NCTO also strongly
supports textile import monitoring programs conducted by two government agencies and designed to
pinpoint problems with import surges and illegally subsidized imports. These efforts could result
in impositions of tariffs and/or quotas.
In addition to addressing the currency issue, NCTO will launch major efforts under three new
initiatives during the coming year. It has joined with other import-impacted industries to support
legislation that would address a long-standing problem with value-added tax programs used by many
US trading partners. It also supports legislation that would permit duty-free treatment for
finished apparel imports that use US-made yarn and fabric, and it is considering filing cases with
the US International Trade Commission seeking relief from import surges from China in a number of
product categories in which safeguard quotas were removed at the beginning of this year.
NCTO also is keeping a wary eye on efforts to restart the WTO’s deadlocked Doha Round of
trade liberalization talks, as textile manufacturers have problems with some proposals currently on
the negotiating table.


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Why Tanzanians are elated
|Tanzania's President Suluhu Hassan:|
her charm offensive paying off
This publication has not independently verified the data from the unnamed official source. However, we have no reason to doubt it because the December edition of Leading Economic Indicators, published by the National Statistics Office in Kenya, shows that Kenya’s exports to Tanzania rose 252 percent over the same period.
Further, the Statistical Bulletin published by the Central of Kenya shows that for the first time in years, Tanzania’s exports to Kenya breached the US$30 million mark for four consecutive months to June 2021. Thus the report is probably accurate giving reason to cheer.
The growth in trade between East Africa’s top two economies signifies improved trade relations between the two countries, said the media report.
We agree. Since May 2021, the new President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, has been on a charm offensive among her neighbors targeting improved economic ties. The trade data shows marked growth since March 2021 leading to the conclusion that her charm offensive is paying off handsomely, not just for Tanzania but her neighbor too.
A review of trade data since 2017 reveals a pattern of a ceiling of sorts to trade between the two countries. Kenya, it appears, set a ceiling of just under $300 million a year for Tanzanian imports. This works to an average of US$25 million a month with occasional breaches. For instance, in June and July 2019, Tanzania’s exports breached the $30 million mark before shrinking to the “normal range” of under $20 million.
Kenyan exports also faced a similar ceiling, generally under US$27 million a month, with occasional breaches past $30 million. These occasional breaches are evidence that the trade potential between the two countries is high if you keep politicians out of the way.
This is what politicians on the Tanzanian side have done- stepped aside- allowing trade to find its level. The ceilings have been breached! The 2021 trade data reveals a growth trajectory on both sides. Kenya’s exports to Tanzania more than doubled, even as Tanzania exports posted a large growth.
The Data shows that Kenya’s exports to Tanzania in the first ten months of last year rose 252 percent from US$22.7 million in January to $58.6 million in October, breaching the US$40 million mark for the first time. Tanzania’s trade grew 102 percent year on year, according to media reports.
I particularly do not like using data for the year 2020. It was a bad year. Covid-19 control protocols disrupted economic activity. It is thus a bad year to assess policy successes or failures. According to media reports, Tanzania’s exports to Kenya in the nine months of 2020 stood at $190 million doubling to $390 million over a similar period in 2021. Trade with Kenya in the previous years hovered around the same level, that is,$190 million. Therefore, the sharp rise in 2021 is significant.
Due to this surge, Tanzania has pushed past Britain as the second-largest destination for Kenyan Exports. Uganda is ill the leading market consuming an average of US$57 million a month. Could Uganda cede the top perch to Tanzania?
It is possible. After all, Kenya’s exports to Tanzania hit $58 million a month in October. Is Tanzania Kenya’s fastest-growing export market? It seems. What is not certain is if the current surplus in favor of Tanzania is sustainable.
Tanzania’s external trade in Africa is characterized by surges and retreats. For instance, Tanzania’s exports to Ugandan and Burundi rose suddenly, nay exploded, between June 2020 and July 2021 and then just collapsed. The East Africa Trade Report, published by TradeMark East Africa reported a surge in mineral exports from Uganda and Burundi since June 2020. At the same time, Tanzania's gold exports to these countries surged with Uganda Importing $1.09 billion worth of Gold from Tanzania.
|Tanzanian gold export in EA |
collapsed as fast as it began
The TMEA report shows that Burundi’s extra-EAC trade exploded from minus 7 percent in May 2020 to an astonishing 804 percent in July before declining to 52 percent in September 2020. Over the same period, Uganda’s Extra-EAC trade rose from minus 54 percent in May 2020 to 15 percent in June and then to 31 percent in July, then 16 percent in October. In June 2021, Uganda imposed taxes on Gold Imports resulting in the collapse of the gold trade.
Dissecting the data to establish the potential for consistency is important for it weeds out noisy exports. Noisy exports are seasonal surges that collapse in the future. For instance, Kenya is currently dealing with food insecurity due to poor rains in 2020. Her imports of food commodities from Tanzania have thus surged. The risk here is, once the situation improves in Kenya, demand for Tanzanian imports could decline.
Regardless of the nature of the imports and their future risks, however, the surge in cross-border trade between Kenya and Tanzania points to a greater benefit. It increases the quantity of goods and services available in the region and expands the market for local produce. That is the major goal of trade.That is why Kenya must resolve frequent spats with Uganda quickly. Kenya, the giant economy in East Africa should also be looking past these two countries to expand her export destinations into D R Congo, Ethiopia, and other parts of Africa.
There are underlying fears that a persistent trade deficit by one country against another is exporting local jobs. In East Africa, regional trade is sabotaged by politics and economic nationalism. However, if allowed to find its level, trade is likely to increase employment in both countries as trade satisfies unmet demand. This means that the importer does not produce enough to meet domestic demand. Imports, therefore, do not displace domestic producers but supplement them.


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All current-gen Sony Ericsson Xperia models will be updated to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
posted by Victor H. / Sep 08, 2011, 4:13 AM
All of the current generation of Sony Ericsson Xperia models including the Xperia arc and the Xperia ray will be updated to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), a London-based representative of the Swedish-Japanese JV confirmed for SoMobile. There’s no information on when the update will arrive, but possibly it will be a bit later than the October/November time frame, when ICS is expected to make a debut, as previously SE has said that its 2011 Xperia lineup will first get bumped up to Gingerbread 2.3.4 in October.
The ICS update is expected to be a major overhaul of Android bringing a redesigned, holographic UI. Google has also confirmed that ICS will feature a “Virtual Camera Operator,” somewhat similar to Kinect in functionality as it will use face detection to figure out who is calling and adjust the video quality.
Posts: 205; Member since: Oct 28, 2010
does this include the xperia x10? :DDD
posted on Sep 08, 2011, 6:42 AM 2
What about Xperia Mini and Mini Pro?
posted on Sep 08, 2011, 10:07 AM 0
Posts: 12; Member since: Jul 13, 2011
Newly released Xperia PRO and Xperia Mini Pro would also be provided with the update.
posted on Sep 08, 2011, 11:00 AM 0
All 2011 devices running android will be updated...x10is not a 2011 device and the Walkman does not run on android. For those doubting the update speed of sony... My play came out on 2.3.2 in may.withib two months 2.3.3 is out while announcing that within three months 2.3.4 will replace it.while waiting for 2.3.4,sony has releases a huge update with nice thmms such as xloud.. They are now a company that ison track.
posted on Sep 08, 2011, 10:18 AM 1
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Google’s Lookout app uses AR to help the visually impaired navigate
Finally, a use for AR that isn’t bloody Pokémon.
Augmented Reality (AR) apps are everywhere nowadays, but most of the well-known apps have been leveraging the technology for entertainment. Google has been working on an AR app called Lookout to help the visually impaired see, which is a pretty nifty use of the tech. It’s now available on the Google Play Store for Pixel device owners.
It works by the user waving their phone’s camera around, and the app then identifies things it recognizes with both an AR subtitle and spoken feedback. It’s built on the same tech that powers Google Lens, and it’s pretty impressive.
I installed the app earlier today and started wandering around my apartment. It identified things like my keyboard or my phone quickly, although it misidentified my partner as simply “clothes,” an unfortunate tag that I’m sure Google will improve upon.
The Lookout app has several modes for different situations. Explore is meant for new spaces, Shopping reads things like barcodes, and Quick read helps by reading out labels, signs or other useful written words. The Camera view gives live recognition of items as you move your phone around.
Google says it designed Lookout to work in places where the visually impaired might otherwise need to ask for help, such as daily routines such as cooking, cleaning or shopping, learning about new spaces for the first time, something that the visually impaired often avoid as it reduces their sense of safety, and reading documents or other texts.
Lookout is available in the Play Store for U.S. Pixel, Pixel 2, or Pixel 3 phones running Android 8.0 Oreo and above.
- Google’s patent for its game controller notes some interesting features
- The latest release of Chrome brings dark mode to macOS users
- Elizabeth Warren wants to break up ‘Big Tech’ companies like Google and Facebook
- Mark Zuckerberg publicly posted his privacy thoughts
- Windows 10 will start uninstalling buggy updates automatically


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After a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter back in 2018 and then over a year in Early Access, Monster Sanctuary is now set for a full release.
Viewing articles tagged for Monster Sanctuary
This may not be all of them, it depends on articles being correctly tagged.
The Early Access monster-catching title continues to improve. The newest update to Monster Sanctuary adds not only a new area but quality-of-life changes and a few other new features.
Creature capture and battle game Monster Sanctuary just had another huge update recently, adding in quite an interesting area to explore.
Monster Sanctuary is such a sweet game, another that has its own spin on the creature capture/collection genre with platforming, puzzles and metroidvania-styled exploration.
Monster Sanctuary is rapidly improving with a big update out now. The headline feature of this update is the ability to take your collection online to battle against others.
Currently in Early Access, Monster Sanctuary might not be finished by so far it's turned out a lot of fun. They're giving more people a chance to now try it, with an updated demo.
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Actually, the full title is Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance:
Actually, the full title is Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance:
Sony said today that it has slated Columbia Pictures’ Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance for wide release on Feb. 17, 2012. The 3D film, a sequel to the 2007 original, again stars Nicolas Cage, and is directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.
Norio Ohga, the former Sony chairman who helped revolutionize consumer electronics with handheld entertainment devices and who steered Sony into the entertainment biz with the acquisition of Columbia Pictures, died today of multiple organ failure in Tokyo. He was 81. (Sad that the current Sony Pictures Entertainment regime thought so little of Ohga’s passing that they didn’t even bother to inform the Hollywood media in a timely fashion.) Ohga, credited with developing the compact disc, led Sony from 1982 to 1995 after being talented-spotted by Sony founders Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita while still a university student. Some decisions made during Ohga’s tenure, such as the $5 billion purchase of CBS Records and then the Hollywood studio, were criticized as unwise and costly at the time. But Ohga insisted that “hardware and software are two wheels on a car,” and his focus on music, films, and video games as a way to enrich the electronics business helped create Sony’s success in his era. His own love of music and first career as an opera singer led him to ensure the CD held 75 minutes of music — enough to store Beethoven’s complete Ninth Symphony.
Also, his outgoing persona also made him comfortable with Americans, and he put the first non-Japanese, American physicist Mickey Schulhof, on the Sony board (they both shared passions for ham radios and jet planes), which later paved the way for the hiring of Howard Stringer as Sony Corp’s first non-Japanese chairman. ”It is no exaggeration to attribute Sony’s evolution beyond audio and video products into music, movies and game, and subsequent transformation into a global entertainment leader to Ohga-san’s foresight and vision,” Stringer said today.
Ohga stopped being involved in Sony’s day-to-day business in 2000. But had he been in charge I bet he never would have allowed Sony to become an also-ran to such electronics pioneers as Samsung and Apple as it has become in the last decade. Ohga saw Sony’s big consumer mistake of betting on its proprietary VCR technology of Beta over what became the industry standard of VHS. But that’s why Ohga bought into Hollywood and brought in Schulhof to head Sony USA and its entertainment subsidiaries: so that Sony would never be left out in the cold again by showbiz on such format decisions. With Ohga’s blessing, Schulhof negotiated a compromise between Sony’s proprietary CD technology and other showbiz companies and electronics makers to create a single industry standard. Again this paved the way for the same thing to happen for DVDs and Blu-ray.
Ohga assumed the blame when Schulhof brought in producers Peter Guber and Jon Peters to run Sony Pictures Entertainment, and they and their handpicked execs performed so poorly that Sony Corp took a humiliating $3.2 billion write-down on the studio in 1994. There also was considerable management turmoil inside CBS Records. On the other hand, Ohga with Schulhof oversaw one of the fastest start-ups in Sony’s history, Sony Electronic Publishing, whose CD-ROM compact discs led in market share until the format gave way to new technology as did Sony’s CDs and mini-discs. However, both missed, together with Bill Gates, the Internet phenom. Here is Sony’s official obituary:
Tokyo, Japan – It is with great sadness that Sony Corporation today announced the loss of Norio Ohga, Senior Advisor and former President and Chairman, Sony Corporation. Mr. Ohga passed away at 9:14 AM on April 23, 2011 in Tokyo. The cause of death was multiple organ failure. He was 81 years old. A private wake will be held among family and close relatives, and a company service will take place at a later date.
Commenting on today’s loss, Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman, CEO and President, Sony Corporation said, “When I first joined Sony in 1997, Ohga-san was serving on the frontlines of Sony management as Chairman and CEO. His numerous and successful endeavors were well-known both inside and outside of Sony. Witnessing Ohga-san’s leadership firsthand was truly an honor, and one I continued to enjoy and benefit from in countless ways in the years that followed.
By redefining Sony as a company encompassing both hardware and software, Ohga-san succeeded where other Japanese companies failed. It is no exaggeration to attribute Sony’s evolution beyond audio and video products into music, movies and game, and subsequent transformation into a global entertainment leader to Ohga-san’s foresight and vision.
I offer my deepest condolences on his passing and pray that he may rest in peace.”
Sony’s Columbia Pictures has acquired rights to adapt the just-released Joshua Foer book Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything for Matt Tolmach to produce. The story centers on the author’s real-life experience as a science journalist covering the US Memory Championship who decides to become a …
(Culver City, March 10, 2011) — Columbia Pictures has promoted Sam Dickerman to Executive Vice President of Production, it was announced today by Doug Belgrad, President of Columbia Pictures.
Dickerman, who has served as Senior Vice President of Production for the label since joining the studio in 2005, has overseen
BREAKING: Sony Pictures Entertainment has just announced this:
LONGTIME COLUMBIA PICTURES CHIEFS MATT TOLMACH AND DOUG BELGRAD TRANSITION INTO NEW ROLES
Tolmach Launches New Production Company and Joins Spider-Man Team As Belgrad Promoted to Sole President of Columbia Pictures
– Hannah Minghella Named President of Production for Historic Banner–
Yes, this is a reimagining of the Arnold Schwarzenegger blockbuster. Sony announced today that Len Wiseman is in final negotiations to direct Total Recall. (Funny how, two days ago, Wiseman’s agency ICM denied anything substantive was going on…) Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach, the presidents of Columbia Pictures, said the film will …
Some action on the feature front. Sony’s Columbia Pictures attached Barry Levinson to direct Brother Jack, a Mosaic-produced drama based on the life of human rights activist Jack Healey. Harley Peyton wrote the script and Kelly Masterson is rewriting. Levinson’s got a little momentum from the Jack Kevorkian biopic You …
Hollywood has newly minted its next star, and it’s baby-faced Andrew Garfield. [UPDATE: I’m told Garfield’s pay scale on the film is around $500,000 salary on the first film, $1 million for the second one, and $2 million …
EXCLUSIVE: Sony’s Columbia Pictures is getting closer to finding its new Spider-Man. I On Friday, studio decision-makers viewed the screen tests of most of the young actors they are seriously considering to play Peter Parker in the Marc Webb-directed relaunch of Spider-Man.
Columbia Pictures has made another deal with its Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer. The filmmaker has signed on to develop to direct Babe in the Woods, a Mike White-scripted comedy about a female freshman who arrives at Yale and is targeted by …


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Thai-inspired rolled ice cream spins into Milwaukee with Fro Zone
The Thai-inspired trend of rolled ice cream has been spinning its way across the U.S. for a while now – and now it's finally whirling its way into Milwaukee.
As first reported by the Milwaukee Business Journal, Fro Zone will open the first rolled ice cream shop in the area at 1320 E. Brady St., the former Pepi's Place pizzeria space. The store – the brainchild of recent college grad Mike Kaid and his business partner/current Marquette University student Ahsan Sikander Gondal – will sell the popular street vendor dessert for $6.95 with unlimited toppings.
So what the heck is rolled ice cream? Pretty much exactly what it sounds like: thin strips of ice cream, rolled into spirals, tucked into a bowl and covered in a variety of sweet toppings. But why tell you what ice cream rolls are when this video from Super Deluxe can do a much better job showing you in all their mesmerizing, intoxicating beauty.
So not only do you get a frozen treat, you might get bonus ASMR brain tingles too!
Fro Zone – which I assume will be themed around Samuel L. Jackson's character from Pixar's "The Incredibles" – is expected to open June 1.
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Dualit are excited to announce that the Intense Espresso capsule from the NX® coffee capsule range has made the finals of The Grocer magazine's New Product Awards.
The Grocer is the leading magazine in the food and retail sector and the New Product Awards, held annually, celebrate innovation in the UK FMCG sector.
The Dualit NX® Intense Espresso Coffee Capsules has been shortlisted in the Coffee and Hot Chocolate category, with the winners being announced at an awards ceremony on 30th September. Finalists have undergone extensive consumer testing and are rated across categories such as taste, texture, packaging, value for money and post-trial would-buy intention.
The Dualit Intense Espresso Coffee Capsules incorporate the finest Central and South American Arabica, paired with exotic African Robusta and Arabica - for a rich, indulgent flavour.


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Toddler food company Happy Family, launched on Mother’s Day 2006, announced on Mother’s Day 2013 that Groupe Danone acquired 92 percent ownership of the company “for hundreds of millions of dollars,” as the Wall Street Journal put it.
Every day operations will remain unchanged, with the original two moms — Shazi Visram, founder and CEO, and Jessica Rolph, founding partner and COO — continuing to oversee the business. Visram will be CEO and chairman. A new board of directors will oversee Happy Family, which is owned by Nurture Inc.
The Wall Street Journal reported Danone reached out to Visram in 2012 after they connected through a third party, and that Visram, in her business plan 10 years ago while a student at Columbia Business School, wrote that Danone was an ideal corporate partner for the exit strategy of her company.
“Groupe Danone will assume the role of parent company providing additional resources allowing Happy Family to pioneer even more new products that deliver positive nutrition to babies and toddlers,” read a company statement.
The exact price was not disclosed. Happy Family was often known as Happy Baby, after its first product line.


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Starting next year, WWE Raw, the highly popular weekly pro-wrestling show, will exclusively stream on Netflix. For the past 31 years, the program has been broadcast on TV worldwide.
However, with the announcement from TKO, the company resulting from the WWE-UFC merger, Raw will become available only on the streaming platform from January. This streaming service will extend beyond the US, offering viewers outside the country access to all weekly WWE shows and live events, including pay-per-view specials like WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble.
Initially impacting fans in the USA, Canada, UK, and Latin America, the exclusivity will later extend to other nations. WWE Raw, known for its live broadcasts, has aired 1,600 episodes and is a crucial watch for wrestling enthusiasts following the latest storylines.
The move is expected to influence 17.5 million weekly viewers in the US and cater to WWE’s 1 billion followers on social media. Nick Khan, WWE President, expressed confidence in Netflix as the ideal long-term home for Raw’s dedicated fan base. Netflix has yet to clarify if pay-per-view events will be included in the standard subscription.
Additionally, Dwayne Johnson, the renowned wrestler-turned-actor, has joined TKO as a director.


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Joe Raedle, Getty Images MIAMI, FL - FEBRUARY 19: A Tesla Motors vehicle is seen on the showroom floor at the Dadeland Mall on February 19, 2014 in Miami, Florida. Tesla said today it earned $46 million in the fourth quarter on a non-adjusted basis, or 33 cents a share and their shares jumped 12%. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 470945467 ORIG FILE ID: 470486015
The Christie administration has blocked the selling of Tesla cars in New Jersey. The administration adopted a new rule that will limit the ability to sell cars directly and not through a dealership.
The reason Tesla sells directly is for consumers to save money. By going through car dealers, there is a middleman with markups increasing the cost for people looking to buy electric vehicles. The administration would rather side with the car dealer lobby than save car buyers money.
The governor is trying to keep out the car of the year and the most important electric vehicle on the market. EVs are the fastest-growing sector of the car market, but New Jersey is completely unprepared because it lacks the electric vehicle infrastructure.
New Jersey was one of the first states to pass Clean Car legislation because it has some of the worse air pollution in the country. Now, under Gov. Chris Christie, New Jersey failed to join eight state governors who committed to putting 3.3 million electric vehicles on the road.
What the governor is doing undermines our efforts on clean air, reducing greenhouse gases and clean vehicle technology. The Christie administration's intentional failure to promote EVs will not only hurt our economy and environment, but puts New Jersey at a competitive disadvantage.
Again, Christie is siding with his national ambitions against the best interest of New Jersey. We need to pass legislation to override this rule and start promoting clean car technology that will drive New Jersey forward.
Outreach Coordinator, New Jersey Sierra Club


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Last month Huawei gave its MateBook X and MateBook 14 laptops a new lick of paint in a refresh that saw both product lines updated with new processors, improved thermals, and a redesign of the company’s nifty Huawei Share tech – and now it’s announced that the upgraded models are coming to the UK.
The MateBook X is the company’s almost-flagship, sitting just below the top-tier MateBook X Pro in the Huawei notebook pecking order. Appropriately then, it’s borrowed the lush Forest Green colour introduced on the X Pro earlier this year, along with a new Silver Frost finish. Other markets will also get Interstellar Blue and Sakura Pink finishes, but they’re not coming to the UK.
Beyond the fresh paint job, the MateBook X’s design has simply been refined. It’s a little lighter at 1kg, still slim at 13.6mm, and the 13in display’s bezels have been narrowed ever so slightly. The 3:2 LTPS screen has also had a welcome resolution bump up to 3K.
Inside the MateBook X you’ll find 10th-gen Intel chips up to an i7, paired with 512GB SSD storage and 16GB RAM – though only slightly sluggish DDR3 RAM, oddly enough. It’s also the first Huawei laptop to support Wi-Fi 6.
Perhaps the biggest change is actually to the company’s Huawei Share tech. This tech lets you connect a compatible Huawei or Honor phone to your MateBook to sync the screen, share files, or take calls over the laptop.
It’s been around for a couple years now, but was previously built into an obtrusive sticker on the bottom-right of the laptop, an unwelcome design blemish on some otherwise very slick hardware. Huawei has now managed to squeeze the tech inside the new, larger trackpad (which also features some nifty sounding haptic feedback), both hiding it away and making it a touch more convenient by increasing the detection area and range.
That improved Huawei Share trackpad integration also makes its way into the MateBook 14, but otherwise the changes here are less visible. The chassis remains essentially unchanged from last year’s model, but the internals have been redesigned entirely to make the jump from Intel to AMD’s Ryzen 4000 processors, with support up to the Ryzen 7 4800H.
The MateBook 14 is a little more of a productivity powerhouse than the X. It’s chunkier and heavier, at 1.49kg, but that gets you a 14in display, a bigger battery, USB-A and HMDI ports, and those Ryzen chips – likely to outperform the 10th gen Intel in the MateBook X.
The company was vague on why the 14 has jumped ship to AMD while the X sticks with Intel, but it’s likely mostly a question of positioning the 14 as a proper productivity device with extra power to enable that, while the X is more of a slim and light ultrabook, where form trumps function.
That might also explain why the 14 won’t get the X’s fancy colour options – it’s just Space Grey and Mystic Silver as standard – and other specs include a 2K display, 8 or 16GB DDR4 RAM, and 256 or 512GB of storage.
The MateBook X will be available from October, and will cost €1,599 for an i5 model, and €1,799 for the i7 version. The MateBook 14 will arrive around the same time, but cost much less, with prices starting from €849 for a Ryzen 5 model, and going up to €1,049 for a Ryzen 7 version with more RAM, more storage, and a touchscreen panel.
The new MateBooks were announced at the Huawei Developer Conference, where earlier today the company showed off EMUI 11 and confirmed that from next year it will begin releasing smartphones running its own HarmonyOS software – and not Android.
Updated with pricing and release date.


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Howe Sound King Heffy Imperial Hefeweizen
On June 5, 2010 At 5:43 pm
Responses : Comments are off for this post
SQUAMISH, BC – Howe Sound Brewing is getting set to launch King Heffy Imperial Hefeweizen, the latest in their John Mitchell Series, named after the craft brewing pioneer and former Howe Sound brewmaster.
According to the brewery, King Heffy is a strong German Hefeweizen (7.7%) with a touch of banana and clove and a unique hop profile.
The beer is available now on tap at the Howe Sound Pub, and will be released in bottles on June 15th.


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Today Litecoin has risen more than 15% owners virtual coins waiting for the launch of LitePay, which will be held in late February. But this is not the only event planned for the current month. Not far off the first hard fork of this virtual coin, which will lead to the emergence of Litecoin Cash.
The fork will take place at 1371111 block, which will be produced on February 18-19. The developers have announced a fork, promise the owners of the LTC in ten brand new virtual coins for each “old” stored in the wallet.
Update on the fork actively published in Twitter. And most vividly discussed already appeared skam-project posing as LCC has not yet released.
However, the Creator of Litecoin finds all the event of fraud, including “original” a fork of Litecoin Cash.
He urges not to invest in LCC, since the new coins will have nothing to do with “source” and the developers of the fork are simply speculating on an already famous name to attract attention. On the developers website the choice of name was explained thus:
“We use the name of Litecoin Cash because lately this is a common phenomenon: a new coin retains the name of the source to which it adds a distinctive prefix … We are not affiliated with any Charlie Lee, or anyone from the team Litecoin, although we are huge fans”.
In addition, the team has not offered a safe option for getting coins and not reported, will the coin to support the exchange.
As shown by last year the story of bitcoin, the forks is not just a fork in the blockchain. This separation crypto-community within a single digital currency. The ease with which you can start your option virtual coins, gives many possibilities for “not quite honest” suggestions. Now LCC has not yet started, but considering what is the reputation one gets coins before, you should think twice before to invest in it.


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Honda is moving quickly to catch electric-vehicle competitors in global markets, but the company’s top executive said combustion engines could last into 2040 and beyond.
Regarding the Japanese automaker’s rapid transition to EVs, chief executive Toshihiro Mibe said, “I’ve been in the engine development business for over 30 years, so personally it’s a bit alarming. But I have to separate my feelings from what’s best for the business.”
That includes setting up a standalone business unit next month to oversee the development of Honda’s EV and battery business, which could eventually include investing in charging stations similar to Tesla’s Supercharger network, Miebe said at the company’s headquarters in Marysville, Ohio. said in the center. American Operations.
“The charging infrastructure is not where it needs to be for our customers,” he said.
Miebe said Honda is running feasibility studies on everything from chargers and advanced batteries to aerial vehicles and rockets as well as new low-carbon e-fuels that could replace combustion engines — in performance cars, large trucks and airplanes. Could help keep up – for another decade or two.
But Mibe said, “As we move towards carbon neutrality, we are focusing on electrification and fuel cells – these are two key components of future mobility.”
Honda has been slow to follow larger rivals, from Volkswagen AG to General Motors Co., in committing billions of dollars to develop and manufacture EVs and batteries. It now plans to invest at least $40 billion through 2030, aiming for hybrid and fully electric vehicles to reach 40% of its sales by the end of the decade.
Those investments include a $3.5 billion joint venture with LG Energy Solutions in Jeffersonville, Ohio, to make batteries for use in Honda’s future EV factories in North America starting in 2025.
Before that, Honda will get two new electric SUVs, the Honda Prologue and the Acura ZDX, from GM’s Spring Hills factory in Tennessee in 2024.
Mibe confirmed that Honda is developing its own EV architecture, the first of which will arrive in the US in 2026, as well as advanced batteries of its own design for some future models.


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: Among US adults with internet access, 7 in 10 surveyed report having read a print magazine issue in the past 30 days, almost twice the proportion (37%) who have read a digital magazine issue, according to a Mequoda study. Digital magazine readers are split on their favorite format, though, with web editions (37%) slightly preferred over tablet (32%) and print (31%) editions. The most important functionalities of a digital magazine, per readers, are readable (79% very important) and scrollable (56% very important) text.
: 4 in 10 US TV households stream video over connected TVs, most commonly via an internet-connected media player (23%), reveals GfK in a recent study. The results indicate that TV households with kids under 18 (54%) are far more likely than those without kids (34%) to watch OTT content via a connected TV, with the former particularly apt to watch via an internet-connected VGS console (32%). Not too surprisingly, TV households with at least one Millennial (18-34; 58%) and those with at least one Gen Xer (35-49; 53%) also demonstrate an above-average likelihood to watch OTT content via a connected TV.
: Global advertising spending will grow by 2.3% this year (current prices), a forecast slashed from December 2014's predicted 4.8% growth, says Warc, based on an analysis of 12 countries that make up 75% of ad expenditures tracked by the company. Online (+16.1%), cinema (3.2%) and outdoor (+0.3%) are the only media expected to see an increase in spend this year. Next year, online ad growth is forecast to be slower (+12.9%), while TV rebounds to positive growth (+2.5%) presumably on the back of Political and Olympic spending.
: Netflix turned in another strong quarter in Q2, the company said in a recent release, gaining more than 2 million paid international subscribers. Indeed, Netflix's international paid subscriber base has grown rapidly over the past 3+ years, and is now more than half as large as the US subscriber base for the first time. The company also noted in its earnings release that almost 9 in 10 members have engaged with its original content.
Content marketing may be B2B marketers' greatest current opportunity, but its appeal looks set to recede in the years to come in favor of other exciting opportunities, according to a new report
[download page] from Econsultancy and Adobe. Instead, it will be customer experience (CX) emerging as the single most exciting opportunity for most B2B - and B2C - marketers.
Families with children in grades K-12 will spend an average of $630 this back-to-school (BTS) season on apparel, supplies and electronics, down about 6% from last year and the lowest average since 2011, finds the NRF
Total BTS spending is expected to be slightly less than $25 billion, representing a decline of roughly 6% from last year's estimated $26.5 billion. The study is one of many several looking at back-to-school spending trends, including popular shopping destinations and purchases.


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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — S-5! announced a new addition to its growing team to expand its Canadian business development amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn.
“While some companies are pulling in the reins in a hiring freeze and/or furloughing employees, S-5! continues to hire,” said S-5! CEO and Founder Rob Haddock. “The duration of this pandemic is uncertain and casualties dear but, it will be over and S-5! remains future-forward thinking focused on constant development and growth.


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P&O Cruises will launch a new campaign for Peaks entitled ‘Holiday Like Never Before’.
Starting on December 18, 2023, the campaign will look to highlight the benefits of a cruise and share the precise moment the guest realises why P&O Cruises is such a good option.
The campaign will be supported by P&O Cruises largest ever investment in media, including an extensive TV, print, audio and digital schedule. It will also be supported with strategic out of home placements, as well as in cinemas, from January 2024.
The first of a series of new TV adverts will premiere on Christmas Day and will then feature across national broadcasting channels. The TV ad features a wide range of guests enjoying their holiday in the Caribbean and on board P&O Cruises newest ship, Arvia. It was filmed in ‘bullet time’, a disruptive filming technique using sophisticated time-slice camera technology which captures guests caught in a specific moment in time, moving seamlessly from shore to ship in one single shot.
P&O Cruises VP brand, marketing and sales, Robert Scott said: “We wanted our latest campaign to reach beyond the cruise category and really stand out from the travel pack, both in content and execution.
“The unique experiences you can only have on a P&O Cruises holiday are central to the Holiday Like Never Before campaign and we’re so excited to share these with an audience who may never have thought about travelling on a ship before.”


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Mobileye, Intel’s driverless vehicle R&D division, today expanded its partnership with Ford to offer camera-based detection capabilities for the automaker’s advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). Mobileye will provide its suite of EyeQ sensing technologies to bolster features available through Ford’s Co-Pilot 360 suite, including lane-keeping, pedestrian and cyclist detection, auto high beam headlamps, pre-collision assist with automatic emergency braking, and adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go and lane-centering.
Mobileye’s collaboration with Ford isn’t new — the two companies have been working together for years — but it’s the first time Ford has committed to the company’s solutions for the lifecycle of its cars. Moreover, it marks the start of a Ford pilot to evaluate Mobileye’s Roadbook platform, which leverages anonymized, crowdsourced data from vehicle cameras to build a high-definition map for autonomous navigation and localization.
Along with its EyeQ family of devices, Mobileye says it will supply vision-processing software to support level 1 and level 2 driver-assist systems in Ford cars globally as a part of the expanded partnership. (The Society of Automotive Engineers reserves the “level 1” designation for cars with single systems for driver assistance; “level 2” indicates greater autonomy with regard to steering and accelerating or decelerating.) New Ford vehicles will tap Mobileye’s EyeQ software and chips — specifically the EyeQ3 and EyeQ4 — to identify what the windshield cameras can see and to power the forthcoming Mustang Mach-E’s and F-150’s Active Drive Assist hands-free mode, in addition to Co-Pilot 360. Both parties will work with Tier 1 providers to supply the tech for vehicle integration.
Ford previously announced that Mach-E buyers will have to purchase an aftermarket “Active 2.0 Prep Package” for autonomy, which ensures the car has the hardware necessary for Active Drive Assist. Active Drive Assist, which will work on 100,000 miles of divided highways in all 50 states and Canada, will require a separate purchase and won’t be available until later next year. Owners will get access to Co-Pilot 360 in the interim.
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Mobileye, which Intel paid $15.3 billion to acquire in March 2017, is building two independent self-driving systems. One is based entirely on cameras and the second incorporates radar, lidar sensors, modems, GPS, and other components. Both confer the full benefits of the Responsibility-Sensitive Safety (RSS) model, an open policy that imposes “common sense” constraints on the decisions driverless vehicles make, and Mobileye says the latter should be able to travel roughly 100 million hours without a crash.
Mobileye powers ADAS in 300 car models across 27 OEM partners and collects 3.7 million miles of sensor data every day, which it supplements with geospatial corpora like OS MasterMap and Ordnance Survey. The company expects to have more than 1 million vehicles in its European fleet by the end of 2020 and 1 million U.S. vehicles in 2021. By 2025, Mobileye anticipates its fleet will span more than 25 million vehicles globally.
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The European Commission has unveiled plans to allocate extra funding to support EU farmers grappling with challenges such as adverse weather conditions, escalating input costs, and various market and trade-related issues. This new financial aid package will provide €330 million to 22 EU Member States.
Furthermore, Member States have given the green light to a €100 million aid package for farmers in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, which was introduced on 3 May. The Commission is also considering other supportive measures, including the potential for increased advance payments for farmers impacted by unfavorable climatic events.
Farmers from countries including Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, and Sweden will receive this exceptional €330 million support from the CAP budget. These nations can supplement this EU aid with up to 200% of national funds. This decision came after Member States shared their evaluations of their agricultural sectors’ challenges. The proposal will be put to a vote in an upcoming committee meeting for the common organization of agricultural markets.
The aid will be distributed directly to farmers by national authorities. It aims to offset the economic setbacks caused by market disruptions, the repercussions of high input prices, plummeting agricultural product prices, and, where applicable, damages from recent climatic events, especially severe in regions like the Iberian peninsula and Italy. Part of the aid can also be used for wine distillation to prevent further market decline.
The €100 million aid package approved for farmers in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia will be distributed as follows: €9.77 million for Bulgaria, €15.93 million for Hungary, €39.33 million for Poland, €29.73 million for Romania, and €5.24 million for Slovakia. These countries face logistical challenges due to significant imports of certain agri-food products from Ukraine. Temporary measures on imports of select products from Ukraine were implemented on 2 May and are set to end by 15 September 2023. A Joint Coordination Platform is also in place to enhance trade flow between the EU and Ukraine through the Solidarity Lanes.
Both aid packages are expected to be disbursed by 31 December 2023. The Member States must inform the Commission about the specifics of the aid’s implementation, including the calculation criteria, the anticipated impact, its assessment, and steps taken to prevent market distortion and overcompensation.
In addition to direct financial assistance, the Commission proposes to permit higher advance payments of CAP funds. This would mean that up to 70% of direct payments and 85% of rural development payments related to area and animals could be accessible to farmers by mid-October, aiding their cash flow. Member States can also modify their CAP Strategic Plans to channel CAP funds toward investments that restore production potential after losses due to adverse weather events.


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How to have a festive fling, get nicely sozzled and be a Christmas cracker. ES enlists its favourite experts, including Kirstie Allsopp, Sarah Beeny and Louie Spence, to help us through the season
Starbucks trademarks 'duffin' two years after London baker claims to have invented muffin and doughnut hybrid
The owner of a small London bakery chain has hit out after Starbucks UK trademarked the name of one of her most popular products - the duffin.
09 October 2013
The boss of Starbucks today entered the fray of the US gun debate — by “requesting” customers don’t bring weapons into the coffee chain’s branches.
18 September 2013
An asylum seeker previously jailed for more than 30 months for stealing handbags from customers in coffee shops, bars and on the Tube was locked up for a further six months at the Old Bailey today.
05 August 2013
This is about power. The power relationship between big business and big government has long been a tense one because both know they need each other — but rather resent the fact. It is not a love match, but a marriage of convenience which has to be made to work.
22 July 2013
David Cameron today vowed to “break down the walls of corporate secrecy” as he hailed a global crackdown to stop international firms avoiding taxes.
19 July 2013
It is only July but this must be a contender for the Biggest Piece of Corporate Guff Award 2013.
09 July 2013
Months of speculation about where one of the City’s most-respected female bosses would go next ended today when WH Smith’s former chief executive Kate Swann was hired for the top job at travel concession giant SSP.
08 July 2013
Starbucks was attacked today for trying to “pick and choose” its tax bill after it offered to give £20 million to the taxman.
24 June 2013
23 June 2013
Police are growing increasingly concerned for a man with learning difficulties who disappeared after leaving a Starbucks in Kensington five days ago.
18 June 2013
- Lorries to trial top-down CCTV system to cut London bike deaths
- Family 'devastated' after British doctor Abbas Khan dies in a Syrian jail
- Matthew Perry and Peter Hitchens go head-to-head in fierce Newsnight debate on drugs
- Closing stretch of M25 to build new Heathrow runway is 'unthinkable'


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The Insider: Governor adds another adviser on aerospace
NOW BOARDING: Are there as many people charged with considering the future of the aerospace industry in Washington as there are actually working for Boeing?
Maybe not yet, but one more body was added to the list Friday, with Gov. Chris Gregoire's appointment of Bill McSherry as a special adviser on aerospace. According to a press release, McSherry will be looking for "innovative and practical ways to address concerns and possible hurdles that Boeing and the Washington aerospace industry now face."
McSherry is on loan for six months from the Puget Sound Regional Council, where he is director of economic development -- a subject into which Boeing's status figures prominently.
Already on the job of considering Boeing's future are the Governor's Council on Aerospace and the Aerospace Futures Alliance of Washington (McSherry has been a board member of the latter). One of McSherry's tasks, says a spokeswoman for Gregoire, is determining whether to continue the governor's council.
'FIZZING, NOT FIZZLING': Adobe Chief Financial Officer Mark Garrett was asked by an audience member at a conference last week to comment on Microsoft's Silverlight, a rival to the Adobe Flash media player. His response, according to news Web site BetaNews: While Silverlight launched strong two years ago, it "has really fizzled out in the last six to nine months."
But Microsoft Silverlight evangelist Tim Sneath insists that Silverlight is, in fact, "fizzing, not fizzling."
From a post on Sneath's blog Wednesday: "Silverlight 2 shipped four months ago, and in just the first month of its availability, we saw over 100 million successful installations just on consumer machines. That doesn't sound like 'fizzling out' to me -- in fact, it makes Garrett's comments seem as if he's living in a fantasy world."
Sneath's post appears to have generated a reaction from Adobe's John Dowdell, who wrote in response that there was no intention of offending and instead, "The chief financial officer was discussing trends and drivers behind the total business, and an audience member followed up with a question specifically about Silverlight. The view from that high-level perspective then got pull-quoted into a headline."
Sneath responded, asking Dowdell whether the comment had been taken out of context and was inaccurate. If so, he said, he would follow up with BetaNews to get a correction.
KINDLE IS IT: Amazon.com will not focus on inventing other gadgets beyond Kindle, according to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who spoke one-on-one with Reuters at the launch of the Kindle 2.
But Amazon is focusing on making books available via a variety of devices.
Bezos told Reuters, "We are totally focused on reading. We have no plans or thought about making any other kinds of devices. We are really focused on this."
Reuters asked, "What about a partnership with Apple or another partner?"
Bezos responded, "I don't want to talk about a particular company but we are excited about making Kindle interoperable with mobile devices."


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Microsoft has reported a 23 per cent year-on-year growth in revenue generated by its online marketing offering for the first quarter of 2007.
Chief financial officer Chris Liddell was quoted by ClickZ as saying: "We are now monetising more effectively in the US on our own adCenter platform than we had under third-party Overture at this time last year.
"Our display growth was in line with what is a healthy market, driven by an increase in page views."
The internet marketing revenue contributed to record quarterly results at the Redmond-based software giant.
At $14.4 billion (£7.2 billion), the revenue generated in the first three months of 2007 by the organisation as a whole was up by 32 per cent on the same period last year.
The firm reported an operating income of $6.59 billion, net income of $4.93 billion and returned $7.72 billion in cash to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends this quarter.


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It’s 2050, and YaoPeng is trying to hail a ride to work. He’s headed to the central business district, where the buildings are built from the ground up within a day – even in Rome. Robotics, 3D printing and software advances have made this possible
Today, such a reality seems crazy, but government must be prepared for the future. To accommodate disruption to industries, governments have to do what “the market itself has no incentive to do”, Aaron Maniam – Director of Industry Division, Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) – told GovInsider.
Singapore has announced a US$3.1 billion (S$4.5 billion) scheme in its 2016 Budget, future-proofing its industries against disruption and promoting growth and competitiveness.
The Industry Transformation Maps covers 23 industries, under six broad clusters: Manufacturing; Built Environment; Transport & Logistics; Essential Domestic Services; Professional Services; and Lifestyle.
For instance, in the food and beverage industry, the government plans for a shift in the dining experience to new formats, like vending machines for grab-and-go meals. It is also promoting a higher reliance on digital payments, which will allow staff to focus on more value-adding roles like customer engagement.
“This will mean that the role of an outlet manager could evolve and expand from managing guest services to engineering menus as well as managing productivity improvement within the outlet”, said Tharman Shanmugaratnam – Deputy Prime Minister & Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies – at the launch of the Food Services Industry Transformation Map in September.
In the field of precision engineering, the government aims to “shift the industry into new growth areas”, such as additive manufacturing and robotics, said Minister S Iswaran, Minister for Trade and Industry at an industry launch in October.
The government plans to prepare companies for the opportunities brought by digital manufacturing, and set up digital factories as a platform for users to trial and co-develop solutions, train and upgrade the workforce in digital manufacturing skills, and allow suppliers to learn the ropes of digital manufacturing, he added.
The government hopes to achieve four outcomes from this: increased innovation to boost competitiveness; open access to global markets; higher work productivity; and to have a workforce with relevant and up-to-date skills.
The Council for Skills, Innovation and Productivity will overlook the full implementation of the Industry Transformation Maps, and appoint six sub-committees to each oversee a cluster of industries.
If Singapore guides its industries the right way, it might just be able to build the city in a day. So much for that outdated adage.
The Singapore Government is gathering feedback from its citizens for its 2017 Budget, from 5 December till 13 January next year. Visit the website to submit your feedback.


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From Home Furnishing Business
Rent-A-Center to Raise Money for Food Bank Network
Rent-to-own powerhouse Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ: RCII) is partnering with the largest domestic hunger-relief organization, Feeding America, to raise $150,000 during September, which has been designated as Hunger Action Relief month.
The new fundraising campaign, called “Fill the Fridge,” will benefit Feeding America’s nationwide network of food banks. It will take place in all of Rent-A-Center’s core U.S. stores, its AcceptanceNOW kiosk locations in third party retailers, Rent-A-Center Franchising, Inc., and Home Choice and Get It Now! stores in Wisconsin.
“That means that our stores nationwide will raise money that will stay local and benefit local communities,” said Gina Hethcock, senior public and community relations manager for Rent-A-Center. “Hard working people are still struggling to make ends meet. Each dollar we raise helps to secure 11 meals for people in need. So when we meet our goal, we will have provided 1.65 million meals.”
Customers can support the effort by buying pin-up card at a point-of-purchase desk or kiosk; making a cash donation at a store; donating a down payment (available to customers who are returning to lease a new agreement after having previously paid in full); or donating online at www.feedingamerica.org/fillthefridge beginning Sept. 1.
“One in eight Americans may not know where they will find their next meal,” said Nancy Curby, senior vice president of corporate partnerships and operations at Feeding America. “We are thankful to Rent-A-Center for its support of Feeding America member food banks across the country, and we are happy to now partner on a national level. Fill the Fridge helps us provide more meals to people in need and creates an opportunity for everyone to help make a difference.”


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A collection of news and information related to Hilda Solis published by this site and its partners.
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The U.S. seafood industry and members of Congress are fighting a federal order that will boost the wages of tens of thousands of migrant workers as much as 30 percent. The H-2B program connects up to 66,000 foreign workers with seafood dealers,...
Aug 10, 2011 |Story| Daily Press
Original site for Hilda Solis topic gallery.


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LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Quantzig, a global analytics solutions provider, has announced the completion of their latest analysis on the top five customer analytics platforms for food industry companies. The food industry may be better positioned to take advantage of customer analytics than almost any other vertical.
The food industry is one of the rapidly growing sectors in the world. Players in the food industry are taking inspiration from the success of various other sectors and have started leveraging advanced data analytics technologies for improvising their business strategies.
According to the customer analytics experts at Quantzig, “Customer analytics solutions help food industry firms to know who their regular customers are, what are the items that they regularly order, and what kind of payment methods do they usually opt for.”
View Quantzig’s comprehensive list of the top five customer analytics platforms for food industry companies
Quantzig is a global analytics advisory firm concentrated on leveraging analytics for strategic decision making and offering solutions to clients across several industrial sectors. Listed below are the top customer analytics platforms for food industry companies.
Top customer analytics platforms for food industry companies
- Venga: A platform that aims to drive recurrent sales and modified services with the help of data collated from POS and reservation systems.
- Upserve: This helps food industry clients to augment their business and commence customer analytics using the data collected POS, inventory, accounting, and other business systems.
- FishBowl: Helps food industry clients drive foreseeable sales and profitability by using information from sources such as loyalty member database or e-mail campaigns.
- Visit our page, to view the complete list of the top five customer analytics platforms for food industry companies
Request a free demo to see how Quantzig’s solutions can help you.
Quantzig is a global analytics and advisory firm with offices in the US, UK, Canada, China, and India. For more than 14 years, we have assisted our clients across the globe with end-to-end data modeling capabilities to leverage analytics for prudent decision making. Today, our firm consists of 120+ clients, including 45 Fortune 500 companies. For more information on all of Quantzig’s services and the solutions they have provided to Fortune 500 clients across all industries, please contact us.


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The first meeting of the Port of Antwerp Covid-19 Taskforce was held early today. It confirmed that the port is considered as essential national infrastructure and is important to keep Belgium and indeed the rest of Europe supplied. The port remains 100% operational thanks to the daily efforts and commitment of all employees.
In addition the Taskforce defined various points for attention, and also set up a port monitor to survey the daily operation of the port with a view to additional measures.
Antwerp is Europe’s leading container port and accounts for one in every five containers handled by the Port of Montreal. (photo APA)


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At the 2013 National Radio Conference radio’s Jules Lund told the audience how to make content go viral on social media in order to build a tribe or following for a brand.
In the few weeks that followed Lund’s talk – it became entirely redundant, because Facebook killed Edgerank – the algorithm used to prioritise Facebook posts relevant to the user.
“Not only can Facebook detect viral content, but it can block it,” Lund told the 2014 National Radio Conference on Friday.
Following the demise of EdgeRank, the organic reach of every single brand page dropped to an average of 2%. “So if you had 100 fans, Facebook would only deliver your content to two of them,” said Lund.
At this year’s conference, Lund asked: ‘How does a brand reach consumers via social media?’ “Write a cheque,” he said.
“This is the business model we should have seen coming,” he said. Many businesses were relishing in the fact they could reach thousands and millions of fans for free. But Lund quipped: “The first hit was for free – now little junkies, you’ve gotta cough up.”
To explain the change in the social media marketing model, Lund used this analogy: “Imagine Channel Nine spending millions to create The Block. They then spend millions in marketing, which works, because millions of people are watching. But then imagine that the TV screen introduces a pay wall – so that the only way content reaches the audience is if Channel Nine pay that screen a shit load of cash. Then imagine how much money that screen would make from all of Channel Nine’s content. Now imagine the money that screen would make charging every channel in every country in the world. People paying shitloads to reach their own audience.”
Lund made the argument that every single brand page on Facebook is its own channel. “There are 21 million of them and it’s growing one million a month – all of them are paying to reach their own audience,” explained Lund. It’s a development by Facebook that Lund admitted is “fucking genius”.
Unlike a few years back when sharing pics, clips and articles was quite labour intensive, now everyone has smartphones and can post at the tap of a button. People are only collecting more friends and liking more pages, so as many as 15,000 potential stories can appear at any time they log in. As a result, competition in the newsfeed is increasing
Lund believes the only way around the monetisation of social media as a marketing tool is by buying reach. “It’s a trend that isn’t going away anytime soon,” he says. Twitter does a similar thing with promoted posts on its self-serve ad platform and the platform is working toward making user timelines more relevant which will encourage brands to pay for reach.
And many other social platforms, which were previously ad-free are now – or soon to become – monetised. These social platforms are able to deliver incredibly targeted advertising because of the access of big data, which is made easily accessible because of the information stored in an individual’s smart phone.
Lund calls big data “the gold rush of the 21st Century” but he insists consumers can make this work for them too. He said: “If I don’t have to sit through hundreds of tampon ads while watching The Bachelor, then that’s good. My smart TV will know I’m sitting there and will advertise to me locally because of the information it receives from my phone. I might get an ad for a nachos pizza at my favourite take away joint around the corner.”
Lund referenced a quote from his colleague, Clive Dickens, the outgoing director of digital and innovation at Southern Cross Austereo, who happened to be in the audience at the conference. Dickens had previously said: “Those who want to remain anonymous will simply have to write a cheque, so life will be more expensive for them. For those who can get over the creep-factor, they’ll have a more enriched content experience.”
In order to bring it back to ROI on social media as a marketing tool, Lund said he isn’t certain about how to achieve this. He said: “Using social to drag people to your site is a dying strategy.” He believes the best way for a brand to gain reach is by brands and influencers teaming up to promote a campaign.
“Traditionally, influencers were celebrities but in the digital world, it can be anyone with a fan base,” said Lund. The likely audience of a branded post will see it a mile away “and not give a shit,” he added.
Lund referred to a recent documentary he had watched called Generation Like and used the example of Tyler Oakley, a member of Generation Like as an example of a digital influencer. Oakley uses his presence on YouTube (his 5.5 million subscribers) to promote products and gets paid by brands to do so.
Lund believes brands partnering with influencers will be the future of social media marketing, because the influencers themselves are users of that particular brand. “There is no better endorsement than products you’ve already bought.”
A new global report on the damaging effects of promoting fossil fuels has singled out Australia as being uniquely compromised by agencies lobbying for oil, gas and coal. The joint study by Australian organisations Comms Declare and Clean Creatives lists the 90 advertising, marketing and PR agencies that have hampered cuts to greenhouse gas emissions […]
Freedom Foods and 72andSunny Sydney have launched the first advertising campaign for Australia’s Own range of plant-based beverages. The campaign introduces a new visual world and identity for the brand and captures the healthy, positive feeling you get when spending time in nature and when consuming Australia’s Own certified-organic, plant-based beverages. As well as featuring […]
Nine creatives from APAC are among the 94 finalists from 27 countries in The One Club for Creativity’s prestigious Young Guns 19 competition, celebrating international creative professionals age 30 or younger. The finalists from APAC are: Hiu Ching Kung, graphic designer, Hong Kong Lam Ieong Kun, graphic designer, illustrator, indego design, Macau Raxenne Maniquiz, graphic designer, illustrator, Santa Maria (Philippines) Kiyotaka […]
OOH transit company Adflow has announced the success of the first phase of its regional expansion program. Adflow’s regional footprint has increased by 60 per cent to now include 65 regional locations. With 9.1 million people living regionally in Australia (growth of 1.1 per cent experienced in the 19/20 Financial year) and most regional centres […]
Freshworks, a leading software company, has started trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, marking an important milestone for the company. The company priced its IPO at US$36 per share (AU$49.76), raising about US$1 billion (AU$1.4B), resulting in a total market capitalisation of AU$13.7 billion (US$10B). Freshworks, which was founded in India, has strong roots […]
Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) is the biggest player in the holiday shopping game and Google’s most recent research suggests consumer interest for the peak sales season starts much earlier than retailers may realise. The pandemic has fundamentally changed buyer behaviour over peak sales season, with Google suggesting that global consumer interest in Black Friday […]


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Donald Trump wanted a trade war….
He’s gonna get one….
And American consumer and product producers are gonna suffer for his actions….
Donald Trump is known to play ‘Blindman’s Bluff’….
The European Union threatened retaliatory tariffs on $294 billion of U.S. exports if the U.S. imposes tariffs on cars and car parts from the EU, Reuters reported.
The EU sent a submission to the U.S. Commerce Department on Friday claiming tariffs on EU automobiles could increase costs for manufacturers in the U.S.
The submission comes as the Commerce Department investigates automobile imports to the U.S.
The EU submission also reports a 25 percent tariff could have a $13-14 billion negative impact on U.S. gross domestic product, Reuters reported.
According to the report, the EU exported $43.6 billion worth of cars to the U.S. last year, while approximately $7.2 billion worth of cars went from the US to the European bloc.
Trump has slapped billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs on a number of countries in recent weeks, including tariffs on steel and aluminum from the EU…..
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Monday said it’s “premature” to say whether President Donald Trump will go forward with his plan to slap auto tariffs on foreign vehicles.
Ross‘ comments on CNBC come after Trump last month threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on foreign cars…..


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Smartphones can suffer a lot of damage if they fall from a little height. This is the reason why people use many types of cover-cases and screen protection.
While normal phones are broken by slipping by hand or falling from a pocket, an iPhone of five years old continued to work even when it fell from a height of thousands of feet.
The iPhone 6S model, launched in 2015, has survived despite falling from the plane.
What is the whole matter?
9to5Mac ‘S report states that filmmaker Galliotto was flying over the beach in Rio-de-Janeiro when his phone fell down.
Galliotto was making videos with the help of his iPhone 6S by hanging his hand out the window of the small ship, and with a strong gust of wind the phone fell from his hands.
The filmmaker admits that his phone has been lost forever, but the iPhone is returned in a very unique way.
How to get iPhone back?
Galliotto, who had given up hope of getting the iPhone back, tried to find the phone back after he stepped down.
On checking the Apple Find My App, he found that his phone was working.
After reaching the location seen on the app, he found that the phone dropped in the middle of the beach is absolutely safe.
He was surprised to see that there was no major damage to the iPhone 6S.
IPhone made video
Some small scratches were found on the phone, but no major damage was done.
Galliotto said that he had applied a regular silicone case and screen protector on the phone.
The funniest thing was that when the iPhone dropped, it had video recording on.
In this way, the iPhone made the entire video while traveling from airplane to land, which the filmmakers can show to the rest.
You can watch the video by clicking here.
The phone fell from a height of about a thousand feet
When the filmmaker’s iPhone fell from the plane, his ship was flying at an altitude of about 300 meters (about 985 feet).
It took about 12 seconds for the iPhone to reach the ground after falling from the plane.
Galliotto was lucky because his phone dropped on the wet sand of the beach. Because of this, the phone did not suffer much damage.
He is once again using his old iPhone.
IPhones with a strong metal body
IPhones are now coming with glass backs, which have a metal frame. At the same time, older iPhone models came with a fully metal back, which was not easily damaged. The iPhone 6S comes with such a strong build.


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If you’ve been following pre SHOT SHOW Magpul announcements you know that for the first time in its history, the company will be introducing a complete rifle chassis centered around the Remington 700 bolt action. However, their parade of new products does not end there and the company recently announced its line of AK furniture that includes folding stocks, hand guards and a variety of other accessories. With that announcement comes the revelation that it would be producing PMAG AK magazines with steel reinforcements and more importantly steel lock up points. The announcement comes as great news to AK owners across America. The new PMAG30 AK/AKM GEN M3 -7.62×39 Steel Reinforced Magazine will have an unofficial MSRP $26.95. However, this is a good budgetary start.
As excited as you all may be, be advised that if you own a milled receiver AK you will be be out of luck for any of the Magpul AK stock products – at least for the time being.


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Check out which companies are making headlines after the bell Thursday:
Dell - Founder and CEO Michael Dell and the company's board remain in talks ahead of Friday's deadline, according to sources. The talks focus on a higher bid from Dell in exchange for a change in the voting standard. Dells shares rose in extended-hours trading.
AIG - The insurance and financial-services company posted earnings of $1.12 a share, excluding one-time items, on revenue of $8.35 billion, against estimates for 85 cents a share on sales of $8.62 billion. In addition, the company resumed its dividend of 10 cents a share and launched a buyback program of up to $1 billion. Shares rallied in extended-hours trading.
ActivisionBlizzard - The videogame publisher posted earnings of 8 cents a share, excluding one-time items, on revenue of $608 million, edging past Wall Street estimates for 7 cents a share on sales of $605 million. Meanwhile, the company handed in current-quarter guidance that largely matched estimates, while full-year outlook was slightly lighter than expected. Shares ticked higher in extended-hours trading.


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Verizon, Apple, and AT&T: A Battle of Incremental Proportions
As every news organization, from Ars Technica to The Wall Street Journal is reporting today, two years of guessing and rumors are now correct: Verizon Wireless will carry the iPhone 4 starting in early February.
Let me be the first to say that, as an iPhone user, I am pleased that I now have a choice of carriers in the United States calling market. I'm also pleased that I may have a consistent chance to actually make a call that doesn't drop.
Yet, the new Verizon iPhone is, for better or worse, a throw-away phone that's going to have a number of people unhappy in their day-to-day use and very, very unhappy in just a few short months.
Why all this unhappiness? Data services.
The new iPhone (or vPhone as it's already been dubbed by some) should have better-than-average calling features, given both Verizon's CDMA network and Apple's redesigned antenna location to address the issues that vexed left-handed users everywhere last summer when the original iPhone 4 was released.
If you want a phone to make good calls in the United States, then the iPhone—or any of the hundreds of other CDMA phones on Verizon's networks—should give you greater calling reliability than we've experienced on AT&T. I say "should," because it's uncertain what the Verizon network will do over the next few months as a number of existing Verizon customers move up to the vPhone.
If you want to make calls and check your location on a map, or see if OpenTable has an opening for you at a local restaurant—all the stuff that Apple shows in its ads—well, you'll not be able to do that. Given the CDMA nature of Verizon's aging network, phones must either be used to call or access data, but not both simultaneously.
That's problem number one for the Verizon iPhone, and Apple knows it. Steve Jobs was noticeably absent from the presentation, perhaps because this iPhone is a step backwards in terms of this type of feature. Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, seemed very aware of the situation, noting that users will make the trade-off on data not being available on the call, just so that they can use the iPhone on Verizon.
Think about that for a second: Apple's releasing an iPhone that is a step backwards from its global status quo, and the best reason they can come up with for compelling users to use the Verizon iPhone is that Verizon users really want the phone.
Verizon's marketed global phones before that use CDMA in the U.S. and non-U.S.-frequency GSM when its customers roam outside the U.S. market, so it's not like Apple and Verizon lack the ability to create a phone that would stand the test of time and basic travel usage.
It's not that Apple's desperate for cash: With one of the highest market capitalizations on the planet, Apple could easily stand on its principles of global compatibility and non-exclusivity in its home mobile market.
Yet, instead, Apple choses to ditch those principles for a quick fling, perhaps as a way to show it was out on the market again, hunting for a more open relationship.
For those who have a history with Macintosh computers, it's going to be like the eMac: a dumbing down of capabilities to sell an all-in-one CRT-based Mac into schools several months after the iMac flat-panel version was released. People can't even give eMac's away on eBay these days.
So Apple creates a phone that is already obsolete, just to please Verizon, which has already moved past CDMA data delivery to the next big thing: LTE.
Verizon has just spent the last week touting its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) capabilities in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show, showing how data access and phone calls can occur simultaneously and even releasing a slew of new LTE-equipped phones.
But now they're undoing all that LTE goodness to push a phone that has much slower data rates than AT&T's data network, can't be used simultaneously for voice and data services, and for which only U.S.-based customers, with no plans to travel outside of the U.S., will find somewhat satisfying in terms of usage compatibility.
Will the new Verizon iPhone sell? Yes, there is significant pent-up demand from Verizon users: I've already received two texts in the space of the past ten minutes of writing from Verizon customers asking if I know particular details on the phone's pricing and early renewal plans.
Will the new Verizon iPhone peel off business from AT&T Wireless? Perhaps, although AT&T began an assault on Verizon before the announcement, with one representative saying he didn't think existing iPhone users were "ready to live life in the slow lane," a reference to the comparatively slow data rate that Verizon's CDMA network provides.
Verizon's offering of mobile hotspot capabilities, with up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices connecting to the iPhone for internet connection, will force AT&T to offer the same thing—a promise it made over a year ago that it's not had to keep, since it had no competition.
Yet it seems Verizon's offering itself up for ridicule, bringing a toothpick, in the form of CDMA data, to a knife fight with AT&T.
Will the new Verizon iPhone make a lot of its new iPhone customers unhappy, when their Android-based friends are at much faster LTE speeds? Absolutely. And Verizon knows it.
"We have a tremendous 3G network," said Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead, "and we want to be sure we can take advantage of that."
Or maybe it's that they just want to take advantage of their customers' lack of understanding of what exactly they're getting: an iPhone that does less than the first-generation iPhone, when it comes to data, but it can make really good calls.
The data services issue is important enough, and has enough fear, uncertainty and doubt attached to it that we'll cover more of the 3G-3.5G-4G-LTE market sleight of hand next week.
For now, suffice it to say that this new iPhone is not the user experience that anyone should have as their first experience with an Apple device. It seems the quick buck, and perhaps blind rage against AT&T, is the name of the game for Verizon's new iPhone 4—at least until the next shiny thing comes out in a few months.