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When should you expect an entertainer to delivery journalistic-type content? Short answer: Never. When should you expect an entertainer to delivery a “story”? Short answer: Always.
Actor and comedian Mike Daisey recently made hay from his one-man show about Steve Jobs and all things that go wrong in the world of Apple -- particular all the problematic worker issues surrounding super-long work hours in China where super-popular electronic products like iPads and iPhone are made.
Public radio storytelling program,“This American Life” ran an excerpt of Daisey’ on-stage spiel and found that some of the stuff he “reported” didn’t exist, such as a conversation with a worker at a Chinese plant called Foxcomm. Though the radio show did do some fact-checking, it allowed the piece to run as if it were “news.” (To be fair, worker conditions, as reported by outlets The New York Times, continue to yield big question marks for Apple in China).
Now Daisey owns up to his faults and what he should have done: “What I do is not journalism. The tools of the theater are not the same as the tools of journalism…. For this reason, I regret that I allowed ‘This American Life’ to air an excerpt from my monologue.” He says his act "uses a combination of fact, memoir and dramatic license to tell its story, and I believe it does so with integrity.”
Integrity of the story, I’m guessing. It further offers a little more collateral damage surrounding new media efforts when it comes to the term “content” in place of “journalism.”
For example, do we need to fact-check “content” for TV reality shows? How much of this veracity do advertisers really want? Marketers surely want to know what they are getting when they buy in -- even when it comes to public broadcasting-style “underwriting” and “sponsorships.”
This is not to say some of this stuff doesn’t have a place. “The Onion” seems to have figured this out well. But the mixing of created storylines and real-life facts can generally be confusing for consumers of such media.
We should have expected some of this. We are told the mountain of on-air opinions from cable news channels seemingly features real reporting and factual stories. Now, with hot and heavy competition among media platforms, we seem to be moving to the next step -- allowing entertainers to create a strange brew of fiction/fact “content.”
If we are not fact-checking this stuff, we need to create a new label, or at least slap a disclaimer on it.


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Thailand’s central bank holds interest rates
The central bank has announced several stimulus measures in recent months aimed at boosting consumption in rural areas, including an additional THB70 billion ($2 billion) in support for the housing market. Some officials also commented that the recent fiscal measures would do more to boost domestic demand than lower borrowing costs.
More free plastics newsPlastic resin (PP, LDPE, LLDPE ,HDPE, PVC, GPS; HIPS, PET, ABS) prices, polymer market trends, and more...
- European players question if bottom is near for PE
- Asian ABS players turn cautious after recent rally
- July PVC dealt lower in Europe, what lies ahead for August?
- China’s Jan-May total polymer imports hit a record of nearly two decades
- India’s local PVC market soars to 6-month high after customs hike
- China’s export PET market faces correction after rising 10% from two-year-low
- Spot propylene moves in opposite directions in Asia and Europe
- European PS hits year-to-date low on July drops
- Turkey’s PP market on par with China, LLDPE and HDPE trade at discount
- Bearish trend persists in July for PP, PE in Mid-East, Africa

domain: news


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Tech Groups Warn of Ripple Effects From App Store Ruling
As Apple is under fire, others worry about tech fall-out
This week, the Supreme Court of the United States opened the door to lawsuits against Apple over how it runs its App Store—and several associations are warning of potential risks to a key digital ecosystem.
The court’s ruling in Apple, Inc. v. Pepper holds that lawsuits claiming that Apple unfairly keeps the price of apps high by running the App Store as a monopoly may go forward to trial. The plaintiffs argue that because Apple requires developers to sell their apps for iOS devices through the App Store and because consumers have no alternative outlets to purchase them, the business model amounts to an illegal monopoly.
The Supreme Court didn’t determine the merits of those claims, but the decision allowing the litigation to proceed is leading to a bevy of concerns from the tech industry, including some associations.
Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.


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New version encourages to-go/delivery, but broadens safe dine-in options as COVID restrictions linger.
With pandemic safety restrictions still in place for dining out, Denver Restaurant Week will shift to April 23-May 2 in hopes that warmer temperatures will allow local restaurants to maximize patio-friendly outdoor seating. The annual restaurant showcase was originally created to inspire locals to explore Denver’s culinary offerings during slower winter months.
While dining capacity has already been expanded under current “Level Yellow” restrictions, a significant new element to the spring timeframe will be the option for diners to select eateries participating in the recently launched Denver Five Star Certification Program, which loosens capacity restrictions for restaurants that exceed mandated COVID safety standards. The move comes at a time when restaurant business continues to lag from social distancing guidelines that limit seating.
“Above anything else, we want to ensure we are focusing on advocacy for our restaurant partners, while keeping the health and safety of the community top of mind,” said Richard W. Scharf, president and CEO of VISIT DENVER. “We have an excellent culinary scene that is having a tough time right now through no fault of its own, so we wanted to build a new spring program that still offers as many to-go options as ever while increasing access to safe dine-in options as well.”
As always, Denver Restaurant Week will feature specially priced menus from many of the finest restaurants across the metro area. Participating restaurants will create a multi-course dinner based on one of the three available price points – $25, $35 or $45.
Restaurants can register to participate beginning on Tuesday, March 2 at DenverRestaurantWeek.com. Participating restaurants and menus will be announced to the public in on March 31 so eager diners can make reservations or plan their takeout orders early.
“We have done this for 17 consecutive years, but it has never meant more to the restaurants and to the community than it does this year,” said Scharf. “Our nationally recognized and award winning culinary scene is a huge part of Denver’s brand and destination appeal and these restaurants, as well as their hard working staffs, need our support more than ever.”
Many chefs and restaurateurs have been forced to develop creative offerings to remain in business during the pandemic. Some have added takeout options on food and alcohol while others have expanded patios to increase their dine-in capacity.
From the onset of the pandemic, VISIT DENVER has stepped up to assist the local culinary scene. When COVID forced the city to shut down last year, it developed several online resources including ToGoDenver.com, which generated support for more than 900 struggling local restaurants. And last November, VISIT DENVER launched its first-ever fall Denver Restaurant Week helping to drive business to hundreds of local eateries offering COVID-safe dine-in, take-out and delivery options.
“We are thrilled to participate again in Denver Restaurant Week,” said Marla Yetka, Co-Founder of Bigsby’s Folly Winery & Restaurant. “The previous programs proved to be some of our most successful weeks ever, with record sales, great margins and introductions to new patrons that have transformed into repeat guests.”
VISIT DENVER’s Denver Restaurant Week is sponsored by Society Insurance, Open Table and E&J Gallo Winery featuring Barefoot Cellars, Fleur de Mer, J Vineyards, Louis M. Martini, Whitehaven, and William Hill Estate. Media sponsors include Westword, 5280 Magazine and CBS4.


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Toyota Sienna minivan recall: Is your van affected?
The recall affects 2005-07, 2009 and 2010 Siennas, the automaker’s North American unit said Wednesday in a statement.
“Grease inside the shift lever assembly could transfer to other internal components,” causing them to malfunction, Toyota said. The problem may cause the shift lever to slip out of park without the brake being pressed. This could cause the vehicle to roll away and may lead to a crash.
The company said Toyota dealers will remove and replace an “appropriate amount” of grease and replace the shift lock solenoid.
Last year, Toyota pulled about 744,000 Sienna minivans in the U.S. because of a problem that causes sliding doors to open while the vehicle is moving.
A Toyota spokesman declined to comment on whether the company is aware of any injuries or accidents related to the shift lever problem. Toyota said owners will be notified via mail by mid-December.
“Toyota recalls 310,000 Sienna minivans to fix shift lever problem” originally appeared in Automotive News on 10/18/2017
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Futuristic hybrid drop-top does 0-60 in 4.4 seconds
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Credit markets have shrunk a great deal, and many banks are wary to lend money into small business loans. As a reaction to this, the Obama administration has increased the loan guarantee of SBA loans to small businesses. However, is this a good choice for the economy, or not? We’ll discuss some of the factors involved, in today’s article.
Although a lack of available credit may have created some demand for loans, the main issue is that many small business owners simply aren’t borrowing. They aren’t expanding their companies, they are cutting costs and employees wherever possible, and they typically don’t need or want additional funds. The extra cost of borrowing money, in terms of interest, makes this proposition even less attractive to most borrowers. The market for small business loans has shrunk in general, not just from lack of credit.
This brings us to the next point—Why has the market shrunk in the first place? This is mostly because a large percentage of business owners were defaulting on the loans they already had. Small business loans furnished by the SBA hit double-digit default rates in 2009 and 2010. 2011 has only shown slight gains.
Although the goal of increasing funding to small businesses may be well meaning, it is certainly not without its issues. It has been brought into question whether this is an appropriate use of stimulus funds, or whether there might be more fundamental issues to be tackled first. There are many ways of seeing this issue, and no single opinion is right.
For more information, go to Small Business Loans at http://www.unsecuredbizloan.com/small-business-loans/


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SpinXP from Betixon to Make Gaming More Social
Betixon, the mobile-first developer, has released a new social feature that is designed to enhance players’ engagement with games by allowing them to share their wins in real-time and interact with their fellow players.
The Betixon team developed the feature, known as spinXP, in-house, and it is currently going through the final stages of its patent application. It gives players the ability to share big wins from its games in real-time with all other online players who enjoy Betixon games. The players will see a notification that they can interact with, for instance, by sending “love” back to the winner.
The engine that powers spinXP will automatically filter and analyze events queue them, and then deliver the notifications in a non-intrusive way while still ensuring that payers are engaged with it. It has been extensively tested with live traffic, and it has received a hugely positive response from players who enjoy the social element it brings to online casino gaming for the first time.
Betixon is well known for developing highly engaging games for mobile players. Its titles are available in numerous regulated markets, including the UK, Greece, Lithuania, Estonia, Italy, Colombia, and Romania, and the company is currently applying for more licenses.
Playing online casino games can be a solitary pass-time for many, but with spinXP, players share their wins and successes with others, making it a much more social and interactive experience than before – similar to the experience of a land-based casino where you hear and see the wins of players around you, and can express your congratulations. That players can then respond to notifications takes this to the next level, allowing them to enjoy our games while also being able to engage with other players. Engagement levels from the tests we have carried out have surpassed all expectations, and we are truly proud of this product.
Cohen added that the company believes that spinXP will further establish Betixon as an innovative developer, and he said that they are looking forward to seeing operators make use of the new feature to provide players with a brand-new experience.
More Technology News
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Apple Launch Sports App That Features Live Scores and Betting OddsFeb 22, 2024
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RELATED TOPICS: Technology


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Sierra’s famous King’s Quest series was previously rebooted and re-imagined, with a new Chapter 2 out now on Xbox One, 360, PS4, PS3 and Windows.
Seagate's new Game Drive for Xbox stores 50 or more Xbox One games.
Since Microsoft announced Xbox One backwards compatibility for Xbox 360, the news has been met with waves of enthusiasm. But with just 21 titles released for the beta, most of which are lesser known Xbox 360 games, it has raised a few questions around whether Microsoft has long term plan for Xbox One backwards compatibility.
This is an unbearably good headline :-)
Great Stuff Sam - I wish this could go out to a larger audience.
5G will save us, and the NBN will have to be redone anyway.
As always, a great article Sam.
I will never forgive him.


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September 1, 2017 News of the Day: Goodyear Expands Innovation Network to Silicon Valley, Autoliv Partners With Global Automaker on Radar for Self-Driving Cars
【Summary】September 1, 2017 News of the Day
Goodyear Expands Innovation Network to Silicon Valley
AKRON, Ohio -- The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ: GT) has opened its first office in the Silicon Valley to connect with numerous automakers, suppliers and mobility-related startups working on self-driving cars and mobility services.
The company's initial focus areas for its Silicon Valley office are to optimize tires and service solutions for autonomous vehicles and ride sharing fleets; to utilize tire and vehicle data to plan for tire replacement and service; and to connect with leaders in the automotive industry to accelerate its own innovation platforms.
"People don't immediately associate tires with the digital transformation in the automotive industry," said Chris Helsel, Goodyear's chief technology officer. "But we see an unprecedented opportunity for tire electronics and information systems to improve vehicle performance, safety and, ultimately, the consumer experience."
As an innovation leader in the global tire industry, Goodyear has nearly 120 years of tire and vehicle expertise and knowledge, ranging from passenger vehicles and commercial trucks to aircraft and earthmovers.
The new Goodyear office is located in Sunnyvale, Calif., at the
"Our goal is to build smarter, connected products and services for future generations of vehicles and business models," said Helsel. "We are open for business in the Silicon Valley to connect with the best and brightest thinkers around the future of mobility."
Goodyear's Silicon Valley office is an extension of the company's global innovation network that includes innovation centers, development centers and tire proving grounds around the world. The network also includes open innovation partnerships with numerous customers, suppliers, governments and universities.
Goodyear is one of the world's largest tire companies. It employs about 65,000 people and manufactures its products in 47 facilities in 21 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry.
Autoliv Partners With Global Automaker on Radar for Self-Driving Cars
STOCKHOLM -- Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE: ALV), the worldwide leader in automotive safety systems, has been selected by a Global automaker to supply industry leading 77GHz high-resolution radar systems for autonomous driving.
Autoliv, Inc and its subsidiaries develops and manufactures automotive safety systems for all major automotive manufacturers with its joint ventures. Autoliv has more than 80 facilities with 70,000 employees in 27 countries.
As a leading automotive manufacturer in the race to bring more automated and ultimately autonomous vehicles to the market, Autoliv is recognized for its commitment and unique strength in ADAS development.
Autoliv's high-resolution radars, located on the four corners of the vehicle, allow for increased detection points, leading to improved ability to understand free space, better object separation in multiple target environments, and more precise detections in Blind Spot Warning and Rear Cross Traffic Alert.
Autoliv's 77GHz radar systems, which have a higher range, can see oncoming vehicles and autonomously manage lane changes during highway driving. The front and rear radars provide different functions for the vehicle; the front corner radars support object and free space detections, while the rear corner radars contribute to object detection, blind spot warning, and rear cross traffic alert.
"With our vision of saving more lives and quality first as guiding lights, we continue our journey to further strengthen our leadership in automotive safety," says Johan Löfvenholm, President, Autoliv Electronics. "We have developed state-of-the-art radar systems that are critical to the advancement of autonomous driving."
Qualcomm Announces Groundbreaking Cellular Chips to Support Automotive Safety
SAN DIEGO -- Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), today introduced its first-announced Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) commercial solution based on 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 14 specifications for PC5-based direct communications, the Qualcomm 9150 C-V2X chipset.
To meet automaker production demands for road safety using C-V2X solutions, the chipset is anticipated to be available in the second half of 2018. Qualcomm Technologies also introduced today the new Qualcomm C-V2X Reference Design, which will feature the 9150 C-V2X chipset with integrated GNSS capability, and include an application processor running the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) V2X stack and a Hardware Security Module (HSM).
C-V2X's overarching technologies encompass two transmission modes of direct communications and network-based communications, which are designed to serve as key features for safe autonomous driving solutions, while complementing other Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) sensors, such as cameras, radar and LIDAR, to provide information about the vehicle's surroundings, including non-line-of-sight (NLOS) scenarios.
C-V2X direct communications is designed to support active safety and helps enhance situational awareness by detecting and exchanging information using low latency transmission in the globally harmonized 5.9 GHz ITS band for Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) scenarios without the need for a SIM Card, cellular subscription, or network assistance.
Complementing direct communication transmissions, the network-based communications is designed to utilize the wireless operator's 4G and emerging 5G wireless networks for Vehicle-to-Network (V2N) and operates over licensed operator spectrum to support telematics, connected infotainment and a growing variety of advanced informational safety use cases.
"Today's introduction of the Qualcomm 9150 C-V2X chipset builds on our leadership in automotive technologies, demonstrating our continued commitment to design and offer advanced solutions for safe, connected and increasingly autonomous vehicles," said Nakul Duggal, vice president of product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "With its strong synergy with telematics and an evolution towards 5G, C-V2X offers benefits to the automotive industry by developing new capabilities for improving road safety, and enhancing autonomous driving and advanced connected services, while building on the ITS momentum and investments made over the last decade. C-V2X is expected to support safer roads, increase productivity and decrease traffic congestion. We look forward to seeing our 9150 C-V2X chipset play a key role in assisting the global market to achieve these benefits."
As C-V2X continues to gain momentum, the automotive industry and broad ecosystem for the technology continues to grow and work together. Auto manufacturers continue to express their global support and commitment in helping drive the commercialization of the technology for enhanced safety, advanced services and new applications in next-generation vehicles.
The OpenChain Project Welcomes Toyota
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Linux Foundation's OpenChain Project has announced Toyota Motor Corporation as a Platinum Member. Toyota is the first Japanese company and the first automotive maker to take a leadership role in our industry standard for open source compliance in the automotive supply chain.
The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent. In May, Toyota announced that the infotainment system of its revamped Camry sedan to be sold in the United States will run on a Linux-based, open-source technology platform as it tries to keep up with tech firms in developing software for cars.
"Toyota is a visionary company," says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Program Manager. "Toyota has constantly been at the forefront of transportation technology. They developed the first mass market hybrid vehicle, pioneered hydrogen fuel cell technology and have a key role in driving Linux in automobiles. Today's announcement underlines Toyota's commitment to leadership in the governance of software in vehicles. We look forward to collaborating with Toyota directly, through sister projects like Automotive Grade Linux, and through complementary organizations like Open Invention Network. Together we will build an ecosystem of excellence around open technology."
"We are extremely pleased to participate in the OpenChain Project as a Platinum Member," says Kenji Kondo, General Manager of IP Division of Toyota Motor Corporation. "The automotive industry has seen increased adoption of open source in recent years and an adjacent emphasis on addressing matters such as compliance hand-in-hand with the global IT community. We believe that the OpenChain Project will enhance the responsiveness and capability of the entire supply chain, and will ultimately contribute positively to software quality and to society as a whole. We look forward to working with our peers in the open source community to realize this vision."
Originally from New Jersey, Eric is an automotive and technology reporter specializing in the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley. Eric has over fifteen years of automotive experience and a B.A. in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the automotive industry and beyond. He has worked on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology. Outside of work, Eric likes to travel to new places, play guitar, and explore the outdoors.
Car-Sharing Platform Turo Raises $250 Million From Media Company IAC
Lidar Startup Luminar Raises $100 Million in Latest Funding Round, Is Working with 12 of the World’s Largest Automotive Companies
Volkswagen Investing $2.6 Billion in Ford’s Self-Driving Arm Argo AI and Will Collaborate On Electric & Autonomous Vehicles
Tesla Rival Xpeng Motors Launches a More Advanced Version of its G3 Electric SUV
BMW Unveils the Fully-Electric MINI Cooper With a Long List of Tech and Not Much Range
BMW Installs 100 EV Charging Stations at U.S. National Parks
Waymo is Offering Free WiFi in its Robo-Taxis to Lure in Riders
Former Tesla VP of Production Joins Rival Electric Automaker Lucid Motors
- Toyota AI Ventures Announces New $100 Million Fund for Autonomous Mobility and Robotics
- EV Startup NIO Announces New Joint Venture, Sends Stock 4% Higher
- Tesla Delivers a Record Number of Electric Vehicles in the Quarter
- Startup Valqari Reinvents Mailboxes to Cater to Drone Deliveries
- EV Startup NIO Begins Deliveries of its ES6 Crossover
- HERE Technologies Making it Easier for Drivers to Navigate with New Partnership
- Waymo Receives Permit to Participate in California’s Autonomous Vehicle Pilot
- Karma Automotive Showcases 3 Exciting Models at the 2019 Auto Shanghai
- An Electric BMW iX3 Might be Launched in the U.S. with a 75 kWh Battery
- Continental AG to Showcase a Low-Voltage 48V Full-Hybrid Solution


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Apple no longer has security patches for iOS 14, confirms this was “temporary”
Apple has run out of iOS 14 security patches and the company confirms the stance it took back in June was only a temporary measure, Apple tells ArsTechnica.
Apple told Ars that it always intended the iOS 14 security update option to be temporary[…] people could have a short grace period while Apple worked out the worst of the new operating system’s early bugs, but you would always eventually have to upgrade to stay patched.
Last June, Apple offered iPhone users a grace period to delay the inevitable update to iOS 15/iPad OS 15. When iOS 15 launched back in October, users would be given the option to stay on iOS 14 or experience the new update right away. Those who opted to say on iOS 14 would continue to receive critical security patches on the older update.Apple iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max
Apple initially said this feature would be for a “period of time”, though Apple never specified when it would stop offering security patches for iOS 14. The final iOS 14 update was iOS 14.8.1, but that is no longer the option for those on a previous version of iOS 14 and users are now bring prompted to jump to the latest version of iOS 15.2.1.


text: Hyundai has revealed the interiors of the 2022 Custo MPV. The interiors combine a layered design with modern features like the vertically placed touchscreen unit at the center which sticks out of the dashboard. The Custo gets many elements inside inspired by the Tucson SUV, like the gear shifter, and a digital driver display. The unique gear-shifter design has allowed Hyundai to carve a big storage space between the two front seats. The images revealed show a 2+2+3 seating layout, though the Custo might be available with a 2+3+3 layout as well.


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Activision, Inc. today announced that the company has retained legendary comic book writer Stan Lee as a consultant for the development of future video games based on Marvel characters. Lee will work closely with Activision’s studio divisions during the production process and consult on game design, as well as story and character development. Lee, who invented the modern Super Hero when he introduced such popular comic book characters as Spider-Man, the Uncanny X-Men and Fantastic Four, will bring a rare combination of expert character creation and storytelling knowledge to Activision’s Marvel- themed video games.
“Stan Lee has a legacy of creating incredibly rich characters and stories that appeal to multiple audiences from children to teens to adults,” states Lisa Gaudio, vice president of global brand management for Activision. “More than 40 years after their initial introductions, Marvel characters like the X-Men and Spider-Man continue to be top selling properties worldwide.”
Lee himself could not be more enthusiastic. “Can’t wait to get started! I’ve always been the biggest fan of Activision games and am tremendously gratified by their strong commitment to the Super Hero genre in particular,” says Lee. “I can’t think of any interactive entertainment company with which I’d rather be associated, nor can I imagine any arrangement between two parties which could be a more perfect fit.” Lee heads up his own Los Angeles- based POW! Entertainment with his producing partner Gill Champion and Arthur Liebman, head of business affairs. POW! is represented by Endeavor and has over a dozen projects in development.
Activision and Marvel Enterprises expanded their long-term, broad-based strategic alliance with the signing of a multi-year extension for their current video game licensing agreements. The expanded agreements grant Activision the exclusive rights to develop and publish video game products based on Marvel’s comic book franchises Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four and Iron Man through 2009.


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OPEN FOR BUSINESS — Representatives from Tops Friendly Markets, along with Boston Town Supervisor Martin Ballowe (pictured, center, in white) cut the ribbon to officially open the Boston State Road store, on Sept. 19. Photos by Lizz Schumer.
BOSTON — The new Tops Friendly Markets location in North Boston has been open since June, but a ribbon-cutting on Sept. 19 marked the grand opening of the newly-renovated store.
“This is part of our effort to expand into these communities that need our services,” said President and CEO Frank Curci. “This location has been a longtime member of our family, as a former B-Kwik store, and it worked out well that the owners were ready to move into a new phase of their lives. [The Tops company has] been moving toward smaller stores, anyway, which is where the industry is moving. That’s the wave of the future in the United States: to offer convenience and variety in these smaller footprints. This is a community that needed to be served and we’re very excited to be here.”
After Saxman Slim played background music for the gathering crowd, Andrew Brocato, director of community relations and events for Tops Markets LLC, served as master of ceremonies for the grand opening, at which several Tops executives, local community leaders, store associates and others attended.
THE GANG’S ALL HERE — Local dignitaries, Tops officials, employees and shoppers all gathered for the grand opening.
Following the Pledge of Allegiance and national anthem, Curci welcomed the crowd and thanked the Marean family, former owners of the North Boston Market, which Tops absorbed.
“Thank you for all of your hard work, over the years. I can only hope we can do as good of a job as you’ve done for the store and the community,” Curci said. “This store might not be the biggest in the world, but the level of enthusiasm and commitment is impressive.
“The heart and soul of a store is its management team,” he continued. “It’s those people who are going to make this store work. With the community’s support, we promise to preserve the long history and dedication to community this store is built on, by providing increased product variety and added convenience. We look forward to serving you for a very long time to come.”
In keeping with Tops’ stated mission of “thinking and acting locally to enrich the community and give back whenever and wherever we can,” Tops representatives presented four local organizations with donations.
Checks were presented to the Boston Emergency Squad, Boston Seniors, North Boston Fire Company and Boy Scout Troop 491.
John Sodaro, store manager of the North Boston location, thanked his team members for their hard work, as the store undertook its renovations.
“It’s exciting to be here to take the wraps off the new store,” he said. “We have a hard-working team that cares about the community and knows every customer that comes through our door. We are making a promise to the community to increase our selection [and] provide new products at exceptional values. We have made significant changes: new decor, significant upgrades in bakery, deli, dairy and frozen [sections], as well as a new Tim Hortons kiosk,” Sodaro said.
“I think we’ve cut the line at the store [down the street] in half. People can now come in and get their coffee in 2 seconds, rather than waiting in line for 20 minutes.
“There is one thing about this store that hasn’t changed,” Sodaro continued. “And that’s the commitment to giving back to the community and being the friendly store that gives you what you want, when you need it.”
Boston Town Supervisor Martin Ballowe, accompanied by board members Jeffrey Genzel and Jay Boardway and Town Clerk Jennifer Mule’, thanked Tops for its commitment to the community.
“This store has always been integral to the community and [has] always been there whenever we needed them,” Ballowe said. “This is needed in the community where we have a large proportion of seniors and families who don’t have time to run into Hamburg for what they need. Thank you and good luck.”
The Tops Friendly Markets in Boston is located at 7375 Boston State Road. The store is 12,000 square feet and employs approximately 40 people, both local and new to the town. The location is open every day, 6 a.m. – 11 p.m.


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Tractor Zoom announced today the launch of its new What’s It Worth? feature for over 40 makes and models of equipment up for auction. The new feature, which is the first for any equipment marketplace, utilizes Tractor Zoom’s extensive database of equipment auction data including equipment hours, condition, age, make, model and size category. Using this information, in addition to measures such as inflation and cutting-edge machine learning techniques, Tractor Zoom is now able to predict the sale price of a piece of agriculture equipment with a high degree of precision.
“It’s our goal at Tractor Zoom to help leaders in agriculture make confident buying decisions about farm equipment,” said Kyle McMahon, Founder and CEO of Tractor Zoom. “The biggest pain point for farmers when buying equipment, according to our research, is understanding what equipment is worth and this new feature will put them one-step closer to answering that question.”
Equipment available for What’s It Worth? will include not only the average low and high price point for the specified piece of equipment, but the predicted price identified by Tractor Zoom. Visitors can provide their feedback on what tractors or other equipment is worth by voting lower or higher than the featured predicted price. Additionally, visitors can sign up to be notified after the auction is over to view the final sale price.
“Developing a predictive pricing model has definitely been a challenge given this year’s market volatility,” said T.J. Masker, Senior Product Manager for Tractor Zoom. “However, with over 80% of auction listings available on our site, we have a great data set to work from and when the market stabilizes our hope is to scale What’s It Worth to a greater number of makes and models, providing more price transparency to farmers.”
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Aloft prepares to open sleek new downtown location
Workers fastened decorative covers onto light fixtures and front desk agents role-played as guests Thursday morning as Aloft staff put the finishing touches on Greenville's latest downtown hotel.
The modern 144-room hotel will open its doors to the public on Monday, Dec. 21, with reservations available to be booked for dates as soon as Dec. 22. While Aloft follows the sleek, contemporary motif of its other locations, the new downtown Greenville hotel has added local touches through art reflecting city images and made by local and regional artists.
The opening team of about 85 -- 60 hotel employees and about 25 corporate -- has been working "around the clock" to get the hotel ready for business, with some staying in the hotel's rooms.
The hotel has five types of rooms: poolside cabanas, king and corner suites, king rooms and double queen rooms. Prices start at $299 per night, and will fluctuate according to demand and events in the city, as most hotels' prices do, according to Michael Bonasia, director of sales.
Aloft's guest won't just be human; as a pet-friendly hotel, staff welcome dogs under 40 pounds with their own bed, water bowl and bag of treats and toys. There is also a pet walk on the sixth floor, along the pool deck.
Hotel management hopes not only to make the new Aloft a destination for business and recreation travelers, but a nightlife spot for Greenville residents. The hotel bar, the W XYZ Lounge, has craft cocktails and a selection of South Carolina brewed beers, including Greenville's Quest and Brewery 85 and Mount Pleasant's Westbrook. The lounge, which includes an outdoor terrace will have live music every Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the year, kicking off New Year's Eve.
"It's not just for our guests," Bonasia said. "We want to be a part of the city."
The hotel will utilize the lounge for high-traffic Greenville events, including the upcoming Republican presidential debate, for which they have created a "Reagan-tini" cocktail. The building is already connected to the neighboring Bank of America building, from which Bonasia said he hopes employees will find an easy route to after-work drinks at the lounge. A game room adjacent to the W XYZ Lounge features a vintage tabletop Pac Man game and a billiards table.


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WorldRemit and VTNETWORK LIMITED (VTN), one of Nigeria’s mobile payment operators have partnered to bring a mobile money transfer service; that will see Nigerians in the Diaspora have a convenient and affordable option to directly deposit money into the mobile wallets of their loved ones in Nigeria. While full details will be announced this WorldRemit-VCASH service will be conveniently available 24/7 and there will be no minimum.
Monies in the wallets of VCASH subscribers can be sent on to other VCASH users, known as a person to person (P2P) transfer, or be used to pay bills and purchase goods or services. VCASH users can also deposit funds into their accounts in any of Nigeria’s commercial banks.
World Remit is just taking in a record-breaking Silicon Valley investment ($100 million) and recently launched a wildly successful app for android phones. Ojo , CEO of VTNETWORK LIMITED , said, “VCASH is pleased to launch this international mobile money transfer service in collaboration with World Remit . What is exciting for us is that this is a marriage of innovators.”
Peter Ojo, CEO of VTN said’ “Our solution is a revolutionary system, which makes it convenient for Nigerians to receive payments. It is fitting that we have collaborated with WorlRemit, a leader in online global payment services, to allow Nigerians in Diaspora to direct money into the VCASH wallets or bank accounts of their loved ones and have this capability 24/7. The choice, flexibility and convenience – given the vast remoteness of some parts of our nation – are priceless.”
He added, “We are thankful to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) mobile payment regulatory framework, which allows non-bank model operators to facilitate international remittances to both scheme and non-scheme recipients. Such innovation within its strict regulatory guidelines facilitates greater economic prosperity at all levels for all our citizens and residents.”


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The GPT-4 from OpenAI is slated to launch next weekMarch 12, 2023 By admin
According to Microsoft Germany’s CTO, GPT-4, the eagerly awaited new big language AI model from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, might be delivered the following week. The model is most likely several times more potent than its forerunner, bringing up new business applications for generative AI.
Microsoft has been a partner of OpenAI since 2019, when it invested $1 billion in the firm. After the success of ChatGPT, the AI-powered chatbot that has been sweeping the internet in recent months, Microsoft increased its share in the AI lab by several billion dollars in January.
While OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sought to downplay what the system would be able to achieve in an interview earlier this year when he warned it was likely to “leave people unsatisfied,” rumours about GPT-4 and its capabilities have been circulating for a while.
A week from now, GPT-4 will be released?
Andreas Braun, CTO at Microsoft Germany, declared that the system will soon be available at a speech in Germany.
Braun made the remarks in remarks initially published by German news site Heise. “We will present GPT-4 next week; there we will have multi-modal models that will give entirely fresh possibilities, for example movies,” Braun added.
Information may be gathered from a multitude of sources by a multi-modal LLM. This might make it more likely for it to use the data it discovers in online movies and pictures. OpenAI’s current LLM, GPT-3.5, is just text-based.
Kosmos-1, a model that can use data from text and visuals, was described earlier this month by Microsoft, which has previously been working with multi-modal AI models.
What information do we currently have about GPT-4?
GPT-4 may succeed in resolving ChatGPT’s issue of responding slowly to user-generated inquiries in addition to its multimodal capabilities. It is anticipated that the next-generation language model would respond considerably more rapidly and naturally.
According to rumours, OpenAI may also be developing a mobile application that uses GPT-4. Interestingly, ChatGPT does not yet have a mobile app and instead operates as a web-based language paradigm.
It is quite likely that GPT-4 will be utilised in Bing conversation even though Microsoft and OpenAI are being coy about using it in Bing search (perhaps because of the current controversy surrounding the search assistant).
Although Microsoft’s Bing search employs GPT-3 and GPT-3.5 together with a proprietary system called Prometheus to provide results rapidly while utilising real-time data, ChatGPT is developed on top of GPT-3.5.
Using artificial neural networks, ChatGPT is a chatbot that responds to inquiries in a manner reminiscent to a human. In November 2022, San Francisco-based OpenAI debuted the world’s most popular chatbot, which has since gone viral. Only two months after its inception, it just surpassed the milestone of 100 million active monthly users, although it took the well-known social media applications Tik Tok and Instagram about nine months and two and a half years, respectively, to reach the illustrious number.
The news that OpenAI was aggressively seeking software developers and programmers, particularly those skilled at describing what their technology does in human language, leaked earlier this year. Because to this, many believe that GPT-4 and other upcoming products will push AI further farther in order to create new ground-breaking computer code. This may result in more potent iterations of programmes like Microsoft’s Github Copilot, which right now employs a tweaked version of GPT-3 to enhance its capacity to translate natural language into code.


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The loot boxes have recently been attacked for being a game form. The argument is that because the players have no idea what they will get, but still they put money in real life in advance, so in a way it is similar to the game. Of course, not everyone agrees with that evaluation, but it has not stopped regulatory agencies around the world from investigating.
For the most part, the investigations have been carried out in other parts of the world, but now in the USA. UU., The FTC has agreed to investigate the loot boxes in the games. This is in accordance with an official request from Senator Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) Where, according to Hassan, "The loot boxes are now endemic in the video game industry and are present in everything from casual smart phone games to the most recent and high budget versions."
In a statement made to Polygon in response to the investigation, the Entertainment Software Association said: "The loot boxes are a way for players to improve the experience offered by video games. Contrary to assertions, loot boxes are not games of chance. They have no value in the real world, players always receive something that improves their experience and are completely optional to buy. They can improve the experience for those who choose to use them, but they have no impact on those who do not. "
Of course, if the research will end up favoring the developers / publishers or it could end up with tougher controls and regulations to be seen. Meanwhile, companies like Blizzard have deactivated loot boxes in their games in Belgium.
Filed in. Read more about Ftc and Legal.


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LOCAL BUSINESSES FLY FIFE FLAG AT UK FOOD & DRINK EVENT
Six local businesses flew the flag for Fife’s food and drink sector during a four-day virtual food and drink event, under the auspice of InvestFife, Fife Council’s external branding for Economic Development services.
Welcome to the October issue of fbm Update!
In the coming pages, fbm Update features a variety of news stories from a range of businesses, all showcasing versatility and determination, skills that are vital in these uncertain times.
Scottish Government Announces Further Support for Businesses Affected By COVID
Fund to provide grants and employment support.
Innovative degree programme helps Fife businesses revitalise local economy
Local businesses will have an opportunity to upskill their workforce this January, with the launch of a BA Business and Enterprise degree programme.
NEW VIRTUAL CODING ACADEMY LAUNCHED ATTRACTING OVER 1,000 FIFE PRIMARY PUPILS
Fife College with support from InvestFife’s Business Enterprise Team has launched a Virtual Coding Academy for Fife’s primary school pupils.
CARR’S MEETS UNPRECEDENTED DEMAND AS PRODUCTION INCREASES ALMOST THREE-FOLD
Carr’s Flour experienced an unprecedented spike in demand for its flour during the coronavirus lockdown.
A National Mission with Local Impact
The Scottish Government are consulting on a Draft Infrastructure Investment Plan which covers the financial years 2021-2022 to 2025-2026 and outlines a coherent approach to delivering our National Infrastructure Mission and demonstrates the vital role infrastructure has to play in enabling inclusive, net zero and sustainable growth.
EAST COAST REFRIGERATION TAKES UP HOME IN THE FIFE FOOD & BUSINESS CENTRE
East Coast Refrigeration, Fife’s newest refrigeration, air conditioning and cold store business, has moved to new premises as it seeks to expand the service side of its business.
Fife Business Week - Free Access Online!
FIFE Business Week 2020 is set to be the biggest yet, with around 30 events running throughout the week from 2nd to 6th November 2020.
Welcome to fbm Update issue No.10
The tenth issue of fbm Update (www.fifebusinessmatters.co.uk) offers an opportunity to reflect on what’s been achieved in the last five months.
TAYPORT DISTILLERY TOASTS CO-OP DEAL
The family owned Fife distiller, Tayport Distillery, is celebrating a deal to supply the CO-OP with its Raspberry Liqueur in up to 50 stores across Scotland.
BUSINESS SERVICES UNITED IN FIFE
Businesses in Fife will now be able to access a range of support services from a single entity following the launch of InvestFife by Fife Council.
Top names from Tayside and Fife to appear at major Scottish food festival
Angus, Dundee City, Fife, and Perth and Kinross councils have teamed up to sponsor the Taste of Tayside and Fife tent.
Tay Cities Deal partners reaffirm desire to sign Final Deal
At a Tay Cities Deal Joint Committee meeting yesterday, held virtually due to ongoing Coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions, the four local authorities, along with business and higher/further education and third sector representatives committed to signing as soon as possible.
Decommissioning firm to open in Fife
A new oil infrastructure decommissioning facility at Energy Park Fife, Methil, is on track to open later this year.
Your Opportunity to be part of this year’s Virtual Taste of Grampian
The 4 Local Authorities along the banks of the River Tay (Fife, Dundee, Angus and Perth & Kinross) are working together to offer an opportunity for your business to be showcased at the Taste of Grampian virtual event running from Friday 18th September to Sunday 20th.
Bags of Opportunity
Having stepped ‘into the breach’ from day one of the coronavirus, Kirkcaldy-based Smith Anderson, a manufacturer of sustainable paper packaging, dispensing and carrier bags, overcame numerous and onerous challenges to remain open and functioning throughout COVID-19 as a key supplier to multiple pharmacy supply chains, including the NHS.
Welcome to Issue 8 of FBM Update!
Welcome to the latest issue of FBM Update, sharing positive business news from across Fife.
Tayport Distillery Wins Gold Outstanding at the International Wine and Spirits Competition Awards
Tayport Distillery are delighted to announce that they have won two Gold Medals at the International Wine and Spirits Competition! The IWSC is one of the most coveted competitions within the spirits industry.
Bowhouse Link tells of start-up success
Bowhouse Link, the online food hub featuring fresh goods from local producers, was established during lockdown to much acclaim.
The Farmer’s Son secures significant deal
Auchertool’s The Farmer’s Son, producer of award-winning artisan black pudding, white pudding, haggis and lorne sausage, has secured a significant contract with a leading retailer in the North of England, securing the growth of its business.
Work to begin on £4.1m world-leading composite test centre Fastblade
The first major engineering works on FASTBLADE, a state-of-the-art composite structures research facility, begins this month (July) as part of an industry-academic partnership between Babcock International Group and the University of Edinburgh.
Peachykeen joins virtual food and farming extravaganza
Kirkcaldy’s PeachyKeen participated in the Royal HighlandEducation Trust’s (RHET) virtual Food and Farming Extravaganza, which took place last month.
Cowdenbeath’s AJS Production at work on two renewable energy projects
Cowdenbeath-based fabricator, AJS Production, has reopened to complete two significant projects for clients in the renewable energy sector.
Welcome to issue 7 of fbm update
Welcome to the seventh issue of fbm Update. Since thelast issue, many businesses in Fife have taken the significantstep of reopening for the first time since March and, as theregion slowly gets back on its feet, fbm Update is pleasedto share some of the positive news coming from the region’sbusinesses.Help, guidance and advice is available for businessesreopening, or seeking to reopen. For more information, visit TheScottish Government, Fife Council and Business Gateway Fife.
Ductform hfe completes marine project
Glenrothes-basedDuctform HFE has just completed a significant marine project to rectify damageto an oil rig off the North East coast of Scotland.
Welcome to issue 6 of fbm Update
In this issue pages, we showcase local businesses adapting and preparing for the ‘new normal’ as they reopen, recover or, maybe even, ramp up their operations! Many businesses have reopened already and, with tourism expected to follow in the coming weeks, there is an abundance of guidance and advice available for businesses seeking to operate during COVID-19 restrictions.
Local businesses support home learning
Raytheon UK’s STEM ambassadors are missing interacting with budding STEM learners across the UK via its normal engagement opportunities. However, they have been busy creating a STEM activity booklet for families to do at home.
SDP Success Stories: Keela Supplies COVID-19 PPE to NHS Scotland
Keela has gone from strength to strength in winning publicsector work with support from Supplier Development Programme Scotland
Welcome to Issue 5 of fbm Update!
Welcome to Issue 5 of fbm Update! Here we are in the middle of June, and the message from the Scottish Government remains to stay at home but, with the possibility of lockdown easing in the coming weeks, businesses are starting to plan for reopening as soon as it is safe to do so.
fbm update, issue 4
Welcome to Issue 4 of fbm Update. Once again, there is an abundance of positive news emanating from Fife. Click here to read. To sign up to the fortnightly business newsletter email: firstname.lastname@example.org.
Fife businesses go online to deliver
Online trading can help brick and mortar businesses survive COVID-19 and, crucially, assist building a more resilient business post lockdown. No longer is ‘click’ seen as the enemy of ‘brick’, they can sit alongside giving businesses several routes to market, and enabling 24/7 trading. Fife businesses are a shining example of this adaptation as they adjust to make online trading easier for customers.
fbm Update, Issue 3
Welcome to Issue 3 of fbm Update. Once again, there is an abundance of positive news emanating from Fife. Click here to read.
Babcock International Group one of the winners of £1.4m Clean Maritime Call
£1.4m has been awarded to 10 organisations as part of the Clean Maritime Call, a Maritime Research and Innovation UK (MarRI-UK) initiative supported by the Department for Transport (DfT). The grants will help find innovative ways to develop technology to assist the UK’s transition to a future of zero emission shipping, a long term ambition of Government.
H100 Fife is SGN’s pioneering plan for a world-first greenhydrogen heating network.
Eden Mill is donating hand sanitiser to charities and hospices across Scotland
The brewer and distiller is distributing an initial 1000 bottles of antibacterial hand gel to CHAS (Children’s Hospices Across Scotland) Robin House in Balloch (pictured), The Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, and five charities supported by Eden Mill’s sponsorship partner, the Celtic Foundation: The Salvation Army at Parkhead, Spirit Aid, FARE Scotland, The Wayside Club and Glasgow’s Golden Generation. Eden Mill is also supporting care facilities close to its distilleries, including Eden Hospice in Carlisle and Barrogil Care Home in Cluny, near its site in Guardbridge.
Diageo employees make hand sanitiser for local communities in scotland
Diageo employees across Scotland have begun distribution of more than 55,000 bottles of free hand sanitiser - produced at the company’s Leven packaging plant in Fife - to communities where the company has distilleries and operations.
fbm Update May 2020
fbm is back sooner than initially planned, due to the positive response from our readers, as well as the sheer volume of business news.
fbm Update has launched today.
fbm Update, a new monthly version of Fife Business Matters, has launched today.
Coronavirus: Fife clothing firm Keela makes gowns for NHS staff
A Fife-based manufacturer of high-specification clothing is recruiting more staff and ramping up production of personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS workers as it joins the fight against Covid-19.
Briggs Marine secures seven year contract with Forth Ports
Briggs Marine has been awarded a seven-year contract with leading UK Port Authority, Forth Ports Limited.
City Region Deal launches Covid-19 Job Support
A Job matching service has launched today for the Edinburghand South East Scotland City Region, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Planning Permission Approved for City Region Deal Project in Kirkcaldy
Fife’s flagship Industrial Innovation Investment programmehas now secured planning permission for seven single storey business units onland to the east of Midfield Drive, within Dunnikier Business Park, Kirkcaldy.


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Mumbai: De Beers is optimistic about an increase in demand for diamonds in India and US in 2015 following the downwardly trending oil prices. It expects the slide in oil prices to turbo charge the diamond consumer markets, according to a report published in The Times of India.
At the recent reception to mark the first 12 months of sightholder sales in Gabarone in Botswana, chief executive officer of De Beers Group Philippe Mellier said, “The recent downtrend in oil prices is also expected to be an important factor in 2015. This should benefit the US economy, but also the emerging markets as the price changes have had the effect of transferring benefit from oil exporters to importers. India is expected to be among the bigger beneficiaries of this trend and its growth is forecast to increase to around 5.5 per cent in 2015.”
The Indian diamond jewellery consumer market is pegged at $8 billion per annum and it is predicted to achieve the growth rate of 14 per cent per annum.
Chairman of Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) Vipul Shah said, “The purchase power of Indian consumers has increased with prices of petrol, diesel, gas and other linked commodities coming down drastically. However, the diamond industry needs to capitalise on this trend to push their sales.”
He said jewellery manufacturers have come up with the jewellery designs in economical range suiting the taste and pockets of even the middle class consumers who can now purchase diamond jewellery in the range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000.


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Electrification of the waste and recycling sector is gaining momentum, as local authorities across the UK strive to reduce their carbon footprint and improve air quality.
A brand-new series of Freight in the City webinars kicked off on 11 February with a focus on urban innovation and electric delivery vehicles, in partnership with Renault Trucks UK and Ireland. MT takes a look at some of the key themes explored in this engaging session.
Dorset-based Superior Seals has received a second all-electric Mercedes-Benz van in the form of a 3.5-tonne eSprinter.
YOYOMultiDrops has appointed a new director, Brian Bachelor, to spearhead the company’s growth as its innovative quick-swap bodies head into production.
Carbon-fibre body-builder Penso is on track to double capacity at its Coventry production line as demand for its lightweight Blue Ocean home delivery pods ramps up.
New research from the Gas Vehicle Network (GVN) has shown that in 2019 almost 80% of the total dispensed volume of gas for transport fuel was biomethane – a renewable and sustainable low carbon option.
A temporary halt to the roll out of low emission zones in four Scottish cities, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, should be used to review the impact the zones will have on local hauliers already struggling with the impact of the pandemic on their businesses, according to the RHA.
2020 may be the year when battery electric vehicles some of age and what have been until now largely prototypes start to become mainstream, according to speakers in the Tech Talk sessions at the 2019 Freight in the City Expo at London’s Alexandra Palace last week.
Reducing carbon emissions from fast-growing final-mile e-commerce deliveries isn’t just about switching to low emissions vehicles, as the Freight in the City Expo heard recently.
Essex-based TEVVA displayed a pair of 12-tonne range-extended electric vehicles. David Thackray, Tevva sales and marketing director, said the new truck is available “with or without a range extender. With the range extender it has an 80kwH battery, and without the truck has a 154kwH battery”. Thackray told CM that the vehicles are available with a full repair and operating lease, which costs 25% more per month but saves 30p per operating mile. He said Tevvas covering in excess of […]


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Ross Stores opens 37 new stores in 14 states
Ross Stores recently opened a total of 30 Ross Dress for Less and 7 dd's DISCOUNTS stores in 14 different states.
Trending on the Topix Network
Wed Mar 05, 2014
Insider Selling: Ross Stores CEO Unloads 150,673 Shares of Stock
Ross Stores CEO Michael Balmuth sold 150,673 shares of the stock on the open market in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd.
Thu Feb 27, 2014
Ross Stores Management Discusses Q4 2013 Results - Earnings Call Transcript
Good afternoon, and welcome to the Ross Stores Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2013 Earnings Release Conference Call.
Ross Stores profit falls; offers cautious outlook
Revenue for the three months ended Feb. 1 fell to $2.74 billion from $2.76 billion.
Ross Stores (ROST) Releases Quarterly Earnings, Hits Estimates
Ross Stores posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the analysts' consensus estimate of $1.02, Stock Ratings Network.com reports.
Wed Feb 19, 2014
Earn a 20% Return With Low Risk by Investing in Ross Stores
Ross Stores is an attractive stock currently showing up in the Magic Formulai 1 2 Investing screens .
Earn A 20% Return With Low Risk By Investing In Ross Stores
Ross Stores is an attractive stock currently showing up in the Magic Formula Investing screens.
Tue Feb 18, 2014
Is There Upside Left In The Citi Trends Turnaround?
Retail turnarounds are never an easy sell, at least to me. The list of retailers that have gone under goes on and on, and fashion changes not even by the season, but sometimes by the week thanks to innovative retailers like h&m and Zara.
Fri Feb 14, 2014
Slidell Boys & Girls Club Power Hour program gets a partner
The Slidell Boys & Girls Club has partnered with Ross Stores Inc., which is providing support for the club's daily Power Hour.
Thu Feb 13, 2014
Ross Stores Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2013 Earnings Release and Conference Call
Ross Stores, Inc. will announce its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2013 earnings results on Thursday, February 27, 2014.
Mon Feb 10, 2014
Narrow Moat and a Favorable Economic Environment Drives Growth for Off-Price Retailer
Recession has been an excellent ally for Ross Stores Inc. . This North American off-price apparel and home fashion retailer achieved a same store sales increase of 6% in 2012, while the rest of the department stores suffered on average a 5% decline in comps during the same period.


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Aston Martin launches first car made in St Athan factory
Aston Martin has launched its first Wales-made car, which it hopes will deliver a sales boost after posting losses of £13.5m in the three months to September.
The Welsh Government pledged millions of pounds of public money to attract the carmaker to the Vale of Glamorgan.
The St Athan plant is set to employ 750 people when fully operational.
The DBX sport utility vehicle, the first to be made there, was unveiled by the company on Wednesday.
Aston Martin said it was the “culmination of an extensive development programme that began with physical testing in Wales last year and virtual development stretching back to 2015”.
Chief executive Dr Andy Palmer said: “DBX… not only [represents] the promised expansion of our portfolio but also signalling the start of production at Aston Martin’s second manufacturing plant.”
Its launch marks a move by the company, famed as fictional agent James Bond’s favourite brand, to expand its reach beyond its traditional customer.
A “female advisory board” has been involved in the development of the vehicle, which is the firm’s first full-size five-seater and will cost £158,000.
Earlier this year, Aston Martin announced it was borrowing £116.7m to bolster its financial position ahead of the launch.
“We’re essentially holding the cost of a complete factory right now without the benefit of the revenues coming in… so from that point of view of course it’s a really important model,” Dr Palmer told the Reuters news agency.
Earlier this month, the 106-year-old firm said its sales to dealers fell 16% to 1,497 cars from July to September after demand fell in Europe and Asia.
Despite posting a loss for the quarter, Aston Martin said it expected to meet market expectations on its earnings.
The company, which is primarily owned by Italian and Kuwaiti private equity groups, has suffered since its flotation last October when its shares launched at £19 before dropping for months and languishing at £4-5 for the past few weeks.
The Welsh Government pledged £18.8m in grants to attract the carmaker, with the funding linked to job creation, skills training and research and development.
It has also provided a 30-year guarantee to Aston Martin that would see taxpayers’ money cover the rent of the factory should the firm leave – the value of the guarantee has not been revealed.
Aston Martin has previously said St Athan will also be its “home of electrification” where it will build its new Lagonda and RapidE cars, although these will be produced on a much smaller scale.
The unveiling of Aston Martin’s new SUV and the jobs it is expected to create comes as 1,700 workers at Ford in nearby Bridgend are due to be made redundant when that plant closes in 2020.
Ineos has said it will start car production in Bridgend in 2021.


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Just When You Need a Financial Cushion, Banks Snatch It Away
If you were counting on your credit cards to see you through the coronavirus economic crisis, don’t. BILLSHARK wants to alert you to the latest evidence that corporations care more for their bottom line than their customers or employees. Credit as a lifeline Let’s take the banks’ latest move on credit cards, for example. At a time when at least 30 million Americans are suddenly unemployed, many are living on their credit cards to survive.
This is not a move recommended by experts, because it not only sinks a person deeper into debt which could take years to repay, but can also lead to bankruptcy if you don’t get back to work in time to make the required payments.
The current situation is exceptional, however, and many people need their credit cards to survive right now. If you are among the 77 percent in a recent survey who expect to return to their old jobs within a few weeks and feel confident about your ability to repay, and you have no available alternatives to obtain some badly needed cash, it may make sense to borrow against your credit line for necessities. Credit limit cuts But if you do, you better move fast. As CBS News reported last week, a customer survey by LendingTree found that already about 25 percent of credit card holders (nearly 50 million Americans) have had their credit limits cut or their card accounts closed in the last 30 days.
This is a preemptive move by issuers that want to reduce their exposure to bad debt. Most people are not aware that banks can legally reduce credit limits with a written notification or close an account altogether with no advance notice and without explanation.
“We’re continuing to utilize internal and credit bureau triggers to dynamically reevaluate the customer’s credit worthiness to manage credit exposure,” Brian Wenzel, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Synchrony Financial, said during an earnings call recently.
In other words, the customer is always last.
“While the moves make bottom-line sense for card issuers, they don’t make it any easier for cardholders,” LendingTree analyst Matt Schulz told CBS News. “These reductions and closures come at the worst possible time.”
“Many consumers intend to use their cards to help bridge the gap between their last pre-layoff paycheck and their first unemployment check,” he added. “Having their cards’ limits slashed makes that much harder.” How to protect your cards Fortunately, there are steps you can take to head off a move by your credit card issuers to reduce your credit line.
One of the first targets of card issuers will be unused credit cards. If you have cards with a high limit and no monthly balance, this will draw the attention of companies that are on the hunt for risky borrowers.
To keep lines of credit open in the current crisis, LendingTree’s Schulz recommended spreading out purchases over multiple cards, which keeps these cards active. He also suggested moving small recurring purchases, such as subscriptions to streaming services, to a dormant card and using autopay to make payments.
“That regular $10 to @20 charge keeps your card active without adding any unnecessary expense to your budget,” he told Newsweek.
If your limit is decreased on one card, you can ask a different lender to increase the limit on another card, although this might be a tough sell right now. If you’re having trouble If your credit line has been reduced or your account suspended, contact your credit card company. Assuming you can get through to them, you might be able to convince them to restore it if you can provide proof of a steady income or an increase in pay or assets.
If you’re not in a financial position to make the full minimum payment or any payments at all, don’t just let the penalties and interest pile up; instead contact your card issuer.
Everyone realizes the economic impact the coronavirus has had on the entire world, and at the moment many banks are willing to be flexible.
“In response to the coronavirus pandemic, many issuers are supporting their customers by offering flexible bill payments and by waiving late fees and interest,” said Jeff Sigmund, spokesman for the American Bankers Association.
Even before the crisis, all creditors had in place a little-publicized hardship program. Look for a phone number on your bill that says something like “call this number if you’re having trouble paying your balance.”
They may not call it a “hardship” program, but simply call and say you’re having trouble with your account and want to talk to someone about customer assistance. You may be able to obtain a lower interest rate, a lower minimum payment, or reduced fees and penalties.
In extreme circumstances, banks may offer the option of a forbearance, allowing you to suspend payments entirely for a brief period, or even to ultimately reduce the amount owed.
And remember that BILLSHARK stands ready to help you in your battle against the broadband behemoths. We have helped thousands save on bills for such necessities as Internet and wireless service. It costs you nothing to let us review your bills to see how much we can save you every month.


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Kickstart This! Pine
Nintendo Download: Mario Sports Superstars, Has-Been Heroes, New Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers, more
It Came From 200X: Spider-Man
New Retail Releases: MLB The Show 17, RBI Baseball 2017, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5, More
The Scientifically Proven Best Video Games of All Time #78: The Secret of Monkey Island
Graceful Explosion Machine will be released for the Switch on April 6
Try not to die of dysentery in The Caribbean Sail… now available for PC
Enter the Gungeon will be available for the Xbox One on April 5
Daily Scoop: March 28, 2017 – Hyper Light Drifter on sale at Steam!
Bungie and Nathan Fillion tease Destiny 2’s “Worldwide Reveal Trailer” with “Last Call” teaser
All Articles: Mario Power Tennis
Nintendo has announced that Pikmin 2 will finally make its way to the Wii on June 10, more than three years after the “New Play Control” version was released in Japan, Australia, and Europe.
Instead of carrying the “New Play Control” banner that the other GameCube re-releases were saddled with, Pikmin 2 will be released as part of the Nintendo Selects line, complete with a $19.99 budget price.
Nintendo plans to add three more titles to their Nintendo Selects line on June 10 alongside Pikmin 2. Mario Power Tennis (another GameCube re-release), Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl will all be given new maroon packaging and a price cut.
Donkey Kong Country Returns and Super Smash Bros. Brawl will be priced at $29.99, while Mario Power Tennis will match Pikmin 2’s $19.99 pricetag.


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Grocers Feel Chill From Millennials
Younger shoppers spread purchases across many new options, including online services
Grocers are struggling to lure e-commerce-loving millennials into their aisles amid what experts say is a permanent shift in shopping patterns among consumers.
Baby boomers used to bring long grocery lists to supermarkets and club stores. Now shoppers in their 20s and 30s are visiting supermarkets less frequently than their parents, government records and survey data show. They are spreading purchases across new options, including online grocery services such as AmazonFresh, beefed-up convenience stores and stronger food offerings from omnibus retailers like Wal-Mart Stores and Target


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Stability system called best thing since seat belts
Automakers could eliminate most rollover accidents and dramatically cut the number of car-crash deaths if they expanded their use of a computerized stability system to all models, an insurance industry-funded group says.
The system, known generically as electronic stability control, is as important a safety device as seat belts and air bags, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said in a study released today. It is standard on 40 percent of vehicles sold in the country, the group said.
The stability control system could reduce "the risk of fatal vehicle rollovers of SUVs by 80 percent, 77 percent for cars," and could cut fatalities in vehicle crashes of all kinds by nearly a third if it were standard on all cars, trucks and SUVs, the institute said.
"Very few safety technologies show this kind of large effect in reducing crash deaths," said Susan Ferguson, the institute's senior vice president for research.
"This is the most important safety device since seat belts," said David Champion, director of testing for Consumer Reports' auto research center in East Haddam, Conn. "It's standard on the highest-price cars, and people are willing to pay for those safety features. I think the government should step up and make (electronic stability control) standard on all cars."
The system is already found in all 2006 models made by Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, the insurance institute said. It is optional on all models produced by Cadillac, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Mini, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.
Depending on the car, electronic stability control can add anywhere from $300 to $2,000 to the sticker price, the insurance group said.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration intends within a few months to propose that the system be standard on all cars, spokesman Rae Tyson said Monday.
"We've been working on this for a while," Tyson said. "We've found (the stability system) to be very effective in reducing ... crashes in both cars and SUVs."
Given the time required for public comment and government paperwork, it could be years before such a rule would take effect. Auto industry officials expect stability control to be standard by about 2010.
Tyson said the federal agency has "seen (vehicle) rollover ratings improve considerably" with the advent of electronic stability control, which was first put in cars in 1995.
That system is becoming more common -- 69 percent of 2006 SUVs sold in this country have it, up from 43 percent the year before, Tyson said.
The nonprofit insurance institute that released the study conducts crash tests comparing the safety of cars, trucks and SUVs. Today's report was based on information from federal safety officials and from police reports of crashes in 10 states from 2001 to 2004, the group said.
Stability control systems use computerized electronic sensors to detect when a car veers sharply and when a driver is about to lose control because the car has started "straying from the intended line of travel," the insurance institute said.
That "straying" usually means a high-speed maneuver -- either intentional, such as trying to avoid a child who suddenly steps into the street, or unintentional, such as skidding on a slippery surface. At that point, the stability control system activates the brake on the wheel most likely to correct the vehicle out of its slide. The system also sometimes automatically reduces the vehicle's acceleration.
The system is "terrifically important on SUVs in particular," said Ken Digges, a George Washington University auto safety professor and former senior executive at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
"We've seen so many cases (where drivers) turn the steering wheel and there's a delay between the time you turn it and the time the tires and suspension respond," Digges said. "That response is a lot slower for SUVs."
In an emergency situation, an SUV driver is "totally out of sync and can't control it," Digges said. An electronic stability system "makes the vehicle go where you're pointing it by applying the (computer-assisted) brakes. I think this is definitely a milestone."
At General Motors, product safety spokesman Alan Adler said electronic stability control is standard on about 45 percent of the company's vehicles and should be found on all GM cars by the end of the decade.
Ford spokesman Dan Jarvis said about 90 percent of the company's 2007 SUVs will have stability control systems. The firm's "next emphasis," he said, is spreading such systems in passenger cars.
At Chrysler Group, a division of DaimlerChrysler, spokesman Cole Quinnell said half the firm's models have electronic stability control, either standard or as an option. By the end of 2006, he said, it will be standard on all Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep SUVs, and it will be phased in on other vehicles.
Help in slippery situations
Electronic stability control, or ESC, keeps vehicles stable during highspeed maneuvers and on slippery roads.
Understeering vehicle turns less than the driver intends because the front wheels lose traction.
ESC applied to inside rear brake keeps vehicle on intended path
Oversteering vehicle turns more than the driver intends because the rear wheels lose traction.
ESC applied to outside front brake
How it works
ESC uses antilock brake technology and sensors to monitor how well a vehicle is responding to a driver's steering. If a vehicle goes off course, ESC brakes individual wheels and reduces the engine's throttle to stay on course.
1 Steering angle sensor records the steering wheel position
2 Rotation rate sensor measures rotation around the vehicle's vertical axis
3 Speed sensors and braking on all four wheels.
4 The control unit monitors when the steering and rotation sensors detect that the vehicle is about to travel in a direction different from steering wheel position.
Otherwise known as...
Car manufacturers refer to electronic stability control technology by many names, including vehicle stability control, electronic stability program and vehicle stability enhancement.
The Boston Globe


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Bon-Ton Stores Inc. (BONT) Issues FY15 Earnings Guidance
Bon-Ton Stores Inc. (NASDAQ:BONT) updated its FY15 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided EPS guidance of $0.25-0.55 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus EPS estimate of $0.59, AR Network reports.
Bon-Ton Stores Inc. (NASDAQ:BONT) opened at 9.05 on Thursday. Bon-Ton Stores Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.76 and a 52-week high of $19.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.66 and a 200-day moving average of $10.3. The company’s market cap is $185.3 million.
Bon-Ton Stores (NASDAQ:BONT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 21st. The company reported ($1.86) EPS for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of ($1.54) by $0.32. The company had revenue of $563.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $577.10 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($1.74) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Bon-Ton Stores Inc. will post $0.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc is a department store operators in the United States, offering an assortment of apparel and accessories for women, men and children.
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The new iPad is coming out but a surprising number of voters aren’t interested, according to our survey.
This week we asked if you would be buying the new iPad. Apple is expected to unveil its latest version of the much-hyped tablet next Wednesday. It sent emails to journalists this week inviting them to a special event in San Francisco, noting: “We have something you really have to see. And touch.”
The jazzed up iPad is expected to come with several improvements, including a better display and 4G capability. But 40% of voters said they weren’t going to buy it. Roughly 60% said they would buy it.
We weren’t prepared for so many deciding not to buy the iPad. In retrospect, we should’ve configured the poll to allow readers to tell us why. Maybe next week?


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Volkswagen is taking matters into its own hands.
On Friday, the German auto giant said it's going to spend €870 million (about $995 million) by 2020 to develop electric vehicle (EV) components.
It did so because there isn't a major battery manufacturer in Europe, which leaves European car makers at the mercy of Asian suppliers.
This blockbuster announcement comes just two months after Volkswagen said that it plans to spend almost $50 billion on developing EVs, self-driving cars, and new mobility services. It's gearing up its production capacity so it can manufacture one million EVs.
Of course, Volkswagen isn't the only major car maker going "all in" on electric vehicles.
• Every major car company in the world is transforming itself into an electric car company…
This is why I've been pounding the table on this theme for months. It's one of biggest megatrends out there.
Unfortunately, most investors are going about speculating on EVs all wrong. They're betting on EV makers like Tesla. But as I've explained many times, that's asking for trouble.
The good news is that there's a better way to profit from this megatrend. You can speculate on the commodities that make the EV revolution possible.


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Caribou Coffee has announced that all of its coffees and espressos are now sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms, making it the first major U.S. coffeehouse to reach this sustainable achievement.
Caribou Coffee first started working with the Rainforest Alliance in 2003. Last April, Caribou Coffee announced an aggressive goal of sourcing 100 percent of the coffee across all its products from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms by the end of 2011.
â€œReaching 100 percent certification is a significant accomplishment for Caribou Coffee,â€ said Caribou Coffeeâ€™s senior director of coffee and tea, Chad Trewick. â€œIâ€™ve seen how communities thrive from working with the Rainforest Alliance, and Iâ€™m proud to say that all of our beans come from sustainable, healthy sources.â€
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Posting pictures of yourself partying on Facebook or bragging about your lazy Sundays could result in a more expensive insurance premium, it has emerged.
Insurers are planning to introduce ‘predictive modelling’ schemes – which monitor online data about people’s social life and spending – in the UK after studying the results of U.S. trials.
While the firms claim the analysis provides valuable information about customer’s health and life expectancy, civil liberties organisations are likely to be concerned about its implication for people’s privacy.
Trials conducted by Deloitte Consulting LLP revealed that the consumer data of 6,000 people was as useful in revealing potential health risks as sending an insurance customer for a blood or urine test.
Richard Verdin, protection director Aviva, said awareness of ‘how much alcohol a customer buys’ or ‘how much they spend a week on petrol’ would be mutually beneficial to firms and applicants.
‘It all comes down to data and what you need to know about the customer to process their claim as quickly and effectively as possible,’ he explained.
‘This allows us to find out what we need to know without asking any questions. It simplifies everything.’
He told the Sunday Times: ‘As well as online data collection we are looking at partnerships with banks, supermarkets, gyms and employers to share data with a view to introducing these methods next year.’
Insurers purchase the data from online market research and data collection companies, who compile huge databases of consumer information from social networking profiles as well as online sales forms, marketing polls and surveys, subscriptions, registrations and public records.
And many consumers could be unwittingly releasing their private date to market research and insurance giants by simply forgetting to click boxes at the bottom of application forms.
While Aviva’s plan to introduce the ‘predictive modelling’ scheme is a new concept, some firms already research applicants’ online behaviour when pricing premiums or investigating claims, according to Craig Beattie, insurance analyst with Celent consulting.
‘In certain high-profile cases where there’s a lot of money at stake, the insurer will look at a person’s online presence,’ he said.
‘Insurance analysts have found common factors within the friendship groups, interests and family backgrounds of people who live beyond 100.
‘If you are selling someone life insurance, it’s very useful to know if they have these indicators and insurers can find it just by looking at the person’s Facebook profile.’
Deloitte, who conducted the trials and have inspired Aviva and Swiss Re to follow similar models, said the online analysis is just a more in-depth take on the type of data already studied by life insurance underwriters.
‘It is easy to establish if a person has gym membership but what’s more important is how often a person actually uses that gym as that can say a lot about their health and lifestyle.’
In response to concerns about the privacy implications of the ‘predictive modelling’ studies, Deloitte, Aviva and Swiss Re all insisted they would not use online third-party data without customer’s permission.
Source : Daily Mail


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Twelve South African restaurants have been ranked among the top 1,000 in the world, in the latest La Liste for 2018 – the worldwide restaurant review aggregator endorsed by the French Foreign Ministry.
The list is based on a compilation of hundreds of guidebooks and millions of online reviews, and offers the best global restaurant selection handpicked by discerning food critics and expert guides.
It takes into account critic reviews of each restaurant, as well as customer reviews, where all data points are stadardised into a single ‘La Liste Score’, which determines where it places.
Of the twelve South African restaurants ranked for 2018, The Test Kitchen scored the highest points, with a La Liste Score of 84.75.
The top South African restaurants are listed below:
The Test Kitchen – 84.75
Terroir – 84.25
Rust en Vrede – 83.75
Restaurant Mosaic – 83.75
Restaurant at Waterkloof – 82.00
Greenhouse – 81.50
La Colombe – 81.25
Jordan – 81.25
DW-Eleven 13 – 80.50
The Tasting Room – 80.50
Foliage – 80.25
Overture – 80.00


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From pv magazine USA
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released a tool that it said will increase supply chain transparency and help ensure that solar components are “made ethically throughout the solar value chain.”
The Solar Supply Chain Traceability Protocol is a set of guidelines intended to help solar companies meet compliance obligations and “provide customers with assurances that their solar products are free of unethical labor practices.” (Read the protocol here.)
“Solar customers expect their products to be ethically produced, and this protocol helps ensure that solar products coming into the United States are not made using forced labor,” said John Smirnow, SEIA’s vice president of market strategy.
In early February, some 175 solar companies, including some of the top solar manufacturers in the world, signed an SEIA-led pledge opposing forced labor in the solar supply chain. In an interview with pv magazine, SEIA President and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper said that the industry trade group became aware of the forced labor issue late in 2020 and had been communicating with our companies that “they need to move their supply chains.” She set a goal of late June for companies to have adjusted their supply chains to avoid conflict regions.
The SEIA supply chain traceability document said it is intended to have “universal application” across product lines intended for export to the U.S. market. It expected key adopters to include equipment manufacturers and U.S. importers. It said that while its aim is to focus on “the provenance of material inputs,” it also recognizes the importance of independent, third-party audits and a “strong corporate social responsibility and import compliance platform.”
SEIA said that the U.S. government has “identified forced labor as an area of concern for the solar supply chain.” It said that U.S. solar customers also are “increasingly seeking assurances that the products they purchase are truly sustainable and, in particular, free of forced labor.”
SEIA said that that the new tool “by itself will not stamp out forced labor, companies need to go through the steps laid out by the protocol.”
In a statement released by SEIA, George Hershman, president of Swinerton Renewable Energy and SEIA board chair said, “This important tool provides a consistent set of guidelines rooted in equity, security and sustainability to thousands of solar companies across the country.”
The protocol is a set of recommended best practices that SEIA said is designed to prevent forced labor in the solar supply chain; help companies meet their U.S. import compliance obligations; and provide customers value chain transparency. SEIA said the tool has been structured as an industry specification or de facto standard, with the expectation that it will be further developed into a formal industry standard.
pv magazine’s UP Initiative is looking at what solar and energy storage companies can do to lead by positive example when it comes to the workers, often far removed, involved in the production of their products and services. Topics include: Impacts on global polysilicon supply for solar manufacturers; supply chain audits and transparency in PV; and relevant policy directives in the United States and Europe. Keep up-to-date on our coverage as we go through Q2 2021.
The protocol includes an audit mechanism intended to measure a company’s implementation and compliance. SEIA said that in assessing conformance, “no single factor will be dispositive.” It said that auditors would assess conformance based on a “holistic approach.”
SEIA also updated its Solar Commitment, which defines common labor, health and safety, environmental, and ethical standards and expectations for solar companies. The update includes guidance on workplace safety and ethical labor practices.
In addition, the standard includes recycling and refurbishment best practices, information on energy consumption tracking, procedures to avoid the use of conflict minerals in solar products, and additional guidance that companies can follow to hold suppliers to the standards.
SEIA also released a Solar Buyers’ Guide on Traceability, which summarizes the protocol and offers a set of questions that customers, developers, financiers, and other stakeholders should ask suppliers about products in the solar + storage value chain.
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Fire breaks out at Sealdah Big Bazaar
Kolkata: A fire broke out at the Big Bazar in Sealdah on Thursday morning triggering tension among the staff members and customers. No casualty or injury has been reported in the incident so far.
Some of the employees spotted smoke billowing out of the first floor of the four-storeyed shopping complex at around 10.20 am.
The security personnel of the shopping mall swung into action and tried to douse the flames with the fire fighting system available at the building. A thick black smoke soon covered the entire floor.
The shopping mall was opened at around 10 am and some customers had also started pouring in when the incident took place. The security men tried to bring the situation under control but they failed to control the spread of the smoke to the other floors.
There were, however, less number of customers in the morning hours, who were eventually safely removed from the area. The electricity connection was immediately put off following the incident.
After being informed, 4 fire tenders were pressed into action. The firemen faced difficulties to reach the source of the fire as the entire first floor was filled with smoke.
They broke the glasses on the first floor to release the smoke. Senior police officers also reached the spot and cordoned off the entire area.
The other floors of the building were soon evacuated to avert any untoward incident. According to preliminary investigation, the fire officials suspect that an electrical short circuit in the AC machine might have caused the fire. An eyewitness said there were electrical sparks from an AC machine situated at the Women and Child section of the shopping mall.


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Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding has been removed from Sony's official list of PlayStation 4 exclusive games on their website. Death Stranding was listed as PS4 exclusive as recently as 31 May 2019 according to ResetEra user vestan.
You may remember that Hideo Kojima's upcoming action "social strand system" Death Stranding was originally announced for PlayStation 4 and PC. However, ever since the reveal, not a lot has been said about the PC version. In fact, Kojima doesn't even mention the platform anymore, suggesting that the game could be a PlayStation 4 exclusive.
Today, we have an interesting clue, suggesting that Death Stranding may not be PlayStation 4 exclusive after all. If PC is your preferred platform and you just can't get your eyes off Death Stranding, you'll be happy to hear that Sony have removed the game from their official list of PlayStation 4 exclusives.
On Sony's website, there's a section where you can find all PlayStation 4 exclusives that already released and are scheduled to arrive in the future. You'll find titles like Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War and Days Gone but Death Stranding was there too as recently as 31 May 2019 according to ResetEra user vestan, who noticed the removal.
It's possible that this is somehow connected to the recent announcement from Hideo Kojima, who said that "an exclusive new look" at Death Stranding will be revealed on this year's Gamescom, which is just around the corner. Could this be the day for a PC version announcement? One can only hope.
Furthermore, the recent reveal of Death Stranding cover art doesn't feature "Only on PlayStation" branding which can be found on other PlayStation 4 exclusives.
All in all, a lot of clues that point at PC version but, of course, these are just rumours until we get an official confirmation from Kojima himself.


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Today’s presentation of a petition to Parliament for GST to be removed from food shows debate around this is only going to intensify leading up to the election.
It seems there’s support coming from Maori and Mana Parties and the Greens. With Labour’s stated policy to remove GST from fresh fruit and vegetables there is growing public sentiment which National may find hard to bat away should they be forced into tough post election negotiations to stay in Government.
Of course it’s not just low income households which would benefit. The biggest spenders would save the most. So it could be a real vote winner.