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Change This Facebook Setting ASAP If You Value Your Privacy
Why having your phone number on Facebook is NOT a good idea.
Listen up, Facebook users: In order to “protect your account” you were once asked to enter your phone number for the platform’s two-factor authentication (2FA), and you likely complied.
What you don’t realize, however, is that Facebook is using your phone number to target you with ads, and additionally, anyone — regardless of your privacy settings — can use your number to look up your profile.
Inside Hook explains that by default, the phone number lookup is set to “Everyone,” and though you can change the settings to “Friends of friends” or “Friends,” if someone has your phone number, there’s no way to completely hide your profile.
Security expert Zeynep Tufekcii explains it perfectly with this tweet:
Phone number is such a private, important security link. But Facebook will even let you be targeted for ads through phone numbers INCLUDING THOSE PROVIDED *ONLY* FOR SECOND FACTOR AUTHENTICATION. Messing with 2FA is the anti-vaccination misinformation of security. Unconscionable. pic.twitter.com/zIQqc6QPoN
— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) March 3, 2019
So, the solution that’d completely ensure your privacy would be to delete your Facebook profile, but if you’re not that committed, it’s recommended to change your settings so that your phone number lookup is for “Friends.”
Or you could simply not use your phone number for 2FA, which has been an option since last May.


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By Kimberley Donoghue PBN Web Editor Twitter: @kdonog
BOSTON – Prices for consumer goods and services increased in the Northeast at a slower rate over the last 12 months than in the rest of the country.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Indexes for All Urban Consumers, which encompasses about 87 percent of the U.S. population, the U.S. city average increased for “all items” 3.4 percent in November 2011 from a year earlier.
In the Northeast, the CPI-U for “all items” increased 3.2 percent and in the Boston-Brockton-Nashua area, it advanced 2.9 percent. The data was not seasonally adjusted.
The BLS does not publish data on Rhode Island. The Boston index – which includes New Bedford – is the most relevant data available.
In the Boston area, the cost of food and beverages jumped 4.3 percent; housing increased 2.6 percent; fuels and utilities surged 6.2 percent; apparel added 3.7 percent; and transportation leapt 6.9 percent.
The Consumer Price Index is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. It is used as an economic indicator, as a deflator of other economic services, and as a means of adjusting dollar values, according to the BLS.

domain: news


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Processor chip maker AMD is reporting that Windows 11 on hardware with its processors could see performance degradation when running some applications.
Microsoft released Windows 11 to the masses this week. It got a major visual refresh but also is mostly restricted to newer hardware, which improves security benefits but also means a slower rollout.
Despite a year of testing with Windows Insiders, AMD and Microsoft have now disclosed that there may be as much as a 15% hit on performance after installing Windows 11 on AMD processors, such as its EPYC and Ryzen line. The size of the impact depends on what applications are running, and it affects games more severely.
See also: Windows 11 upgrade: Five questions to ask first.
"Expected performance impact of 3-5% in affected applications, 10 - 15% outliers possible in games commonly used for eSports," AMD explains in a support note.
The note documents "known performance impacts reported on Windows 11 when running compatible AMD processors on certain applications," AMD says.
AMD says a fix is coming from Microsoft in the form of a Windows update scheduled for this month.
"A Windows update is in development to address this issue with expected availability in October of 2021," AMD says.
To help consumers navigate strict hardware requirements for Windows 11, Microsoft released an updated version of its PC Health Check app. Microsoft's page detailing its Windows 11 system requirements is available here.
But around half of the business workstations won't be able to upgrade immediately because of these hardware requirements, according to one survey.
AMD also notes that "measured and functional L3 cache latency may increase" by a factor of three.
The chipmaker, which has about half of the desktop market, also lists its "preferred core" technology as an issue with Windows 11. The hardware interface "may not preferentially schedule threads on a processor's fastest core", AMD says. With some applications, this also affected performance and is more likely to impact enterprise organizations and gamers with high-end machines.
See also: Microsoft's Windows 11: How to get it now (or later).
Performance issues will be more noticeable in machines with more than 8-core processors and over 65W Thermal Design Power (TDP), including many of its popular Ryzen processors.
"AMD and Microsoft are actively investigating these known issues for resolution via software updates," AMD notes.
Microsoft hasn't listed the AMD issues on its known issues page for Windows 11. The issues currently include compatibility problems between Windows 11 and Oracle's VirtualBox virtualization platform, Intel's networking software, and the Chromium-based Cốc Cốc browser for Vietnamese-speaking users.


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ISLAMABAD: Samsung has launched its most advanced Galaxy Note 8 smart-device in Pakistan.
This smart-device is priced at Rs. 108,999/- in Pakistan and is available in three attractive colors; Maple Gold, Midnight Black, and Orchid Gray.
The pre-booking of this device had already begun from 4th September till 24-September-2017.
This phone features the fascinating S-Pen and numerous other revolutionary technologies.
The launching ceremony held at the Expo Center in Lahore where President Samsung Pakistan Y.J. Kim was the chief guest.
Some of the fascinating features of the Note 8 include; a 6.3-inch Quad HD+ Super AMOLED (Infinity) display, Android 7.1.1 Nougat Operating System, 64GB internal memory (expandable).
The device boasts a powerful Dual 12MP camera at the back with OIS and a Wide-angle f/1.7, telephoto lens, along with an 8MP front-camera.
All this is powered by a 3300 mAh battery.
Samsung Note 8 faster than IPhone 8
According to a YouTuber’s speed test, the Note 8 turned out to be faster than the iPhone 8.Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 has certainly been hitting the headlines for all the right reasons unlike its predecessor and there is another positive development.
Though speed tests aren’t really the most scientific way to evaluate the performance of a device, it certainly gives a sense of how the device might perform. They are a way to put synthetic benchmark results into practice, in a way, and yet the outcome can be very surprising, like in this case.
The A11 Bionic chip aboard the iPhone 8 (and iPhone 8 Plus) is certainly a monstrously powerful system-on-a-chip (SoC), capable of beating even desktop-class computers such as Apple’s own MacBook Pro.
David Rahimi, the man behind the YouTube test, has been making speed test videos for years now, using a rather straightforward process to rank smartphone speeds. Under the test, a fixed set of 16 apps are opened in two laps on a device, ranging from light programmes like Calendar and Settings to more graphics-intensive tasks, like games and a Photoshop image export.
iPhone has had a good record in past tests— save for the one with the OnePlus 5 — beating most top-rated Android phones by a wide margin. Apple’s tight hardware and software integration has always been one of its biggest strengths; and the A11 Bionic was expected to be no different.
After initially losing the first lap by a few seconds, the Galaxy Note 8 was able to pick things up again and ultimately close in on the iPhone a full six seconds earlier.
Interestingly, the Note 8 used in the test was powered by the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835, a chip that is almost a year old, rather than Samsungs own Exynos SoC.
iOS 11, in particular, put much emphasis on certain design tweaks, and now has new and exciting yet somewhat slow app-opening animations. The Galaxy Note 8’s TouchWiz software, on the other hand, makes transitions faster.
Although such differences may not really pop up in real life usage, Note 8’s 6GB of RAM and its internal components still matter, independently of how a manufacturer fine-tunes them.


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Good morning, good lookin'... The four things you need to know on December 10 are:
Cramer says PVH is always in fashion while Alliance Data Systems had earned his loyalty.
The trading panel discussed the U.S. government's liquidation of its GM stake.
The stock market eked out a minimal gain today, with investors following through on enthusiasm from last week to send the S&P 500 to a new record. But several stocks led the way with big gains, as Twitter climbed 9%, Sysco gained almost 10%, and DaVita HealthCare Partners rose 7%. Find out more about what helped these stocks soar.
McDonald’s ends as worst in Dow on sales slump in U.S.
On today's Investor Beat, a big merger from SYSCO, a disappointment from McDonald's, and social media networks unite to take on Washington.
Will this massive new food distribution giant change the way food gets to your table?
The smart investors are already buying and making money hand over fist.
Limited economic data has major indexes trading flat.
The food distributor will buy its rival for about $3.5 billion and assume $4.7 billion in debt, making a company with about $65 billion in annual revenue.


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Entries in 'settle' (4)
The names of nine publishers have been released in conjunction with claims that a fresh spate of anti-piracy lawsuits has emerged across Europe.
Microsoft and accessory manufacturer Datel have settled their Xbox 360 patent infringement and antitrust cases against each other.
Social games giant Zynga has ended its legal action on Brazilian games firm Vostu for alleged copyright infringement.
Apple and Nokia have settled an ongoing patent dispute which will see the firms bury their respective legal hatchets and Apple pay Nokia an undisclosed sum.


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The latest update will add EON Marketplace, where users can buy and sell exclusive content
IRVINE, CA, December 8, 2022 – EON Reality, Inc. (“EON Reality”), a global leader in Virtual and Augmented Reality (“XR”) industry and education solutions powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), announces the release of EON Marketplace. This release, which will be available on December 12, includes updates for a number of EON Reality products, as well as the release of EON Interact and several new features.
With EON Marketplace, EON Reality’s AI-powered XR solutions will now allow users to buy and sell pre-made content and experiences with other members of the global network.
Learn and Earn
Renowned universities, scholars and experts will be able to open their vault of exclusive content to “Learn and Earn” on the EON Marketplace. By selling their created experiences, these institutions will have a helpful new way to generate revenue, as the creators will keep 80% of the profit from each of their sales. For some of EON Reality’s existing power users, this feature could immediately become a way for the XR solutions to be an easily profitable venture.
“Our new ‘Learn and Earn’ model will be an incredible new way for institutions to earn supplemental revenue through XR content creation,” says Dan Lejerskar, Founder, Chairman and CEO of EON Reality. “The revenue generation will help university departments continue to fund their research and work, and learners will have access to multitudes of quality content that is — as they say in France, prêt à porter — or ready to wear.”
Expert-Made Purchasable Content
On the other side of “Learn and Earn,” those looking to expand their libraries and further their XR learning will have easier access to better material than ever before. By opening up the EON Marketplace, users will be able to purchase pre-made content and implement it easily. And while it’s as easy as looking over a menu at a restaurant and ordering your favorite dish, users can have faith that these experiences are created by subject matter experts — such as world-class professors and instructors who teach the specific topic.
In making these top-notch experiences available to EON Reality’s entire global network, learners seeking AI-powered XR knowledge in virtually anything will have exclusive access to new ways to learn about vital subjects in a variety of academic fields and industries. Moreover, the content on EON Marketplace is already optimized for EON Reality’s solutions, meaning that it will be ready for instant integration the moment the transaction is completed. This is knowledge transfer in the blink of an eye.
Since its inception, EON Reality has been innovative, pioneering and uncompromising in its quest to make education accessible to all. To fulfill this, EON Reality has worked hard to make the transfer of experiential knowledge available, accessible and affordable. EON Reality understands the power of AI and knows that XR solutions enable users to learn faster, retain information longer, and make better decisions.
About EON Reality
EON Reality is a leading company in Artificial Intelligence-powered Augmented and Virtual Reality-based experience creation for education and industry. EON Reality’s 25 years of existence and success are tied to its belief that knowledge is a human right and should be available, accessible, and affordable for every person on the planet. To carry this out, EON Reality developed and launched EON-XR, a SaaS-based platform dedicated to the democratization of XR content creation that brings code-free XR development and publishing to smartphones, tablets, laptops, and any other XR-focused devices. EON-XR and many of EON Reality’s other solutions can be used in devices of different sizes, in different shapes and at different types of locations: from hand-held mobile devices, to head-mounted displays, to large-scale screens, and even at mega-size facilities. EON Reality’s global network now comprises more than 1.8 million licenses who are collectively building a vast digital community in more than 75 locations. EON Reality has also created the world’s leading XR library for education and industry with access to at least 4.4 million assets and counting. For further information, visit www.eonreality.com.


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Leisure and retail supplement 2004
Thornfield is continuing to move from out-of-town projects to redeveloping town centres with a £150m scheme for Bury town centre
Large-bra retailer Bravissimo has joined the growing number of businesses – which include Fat Face and Subway – that have found success in niche markets
Antisocial behaviour is plaguing Britain’s shopping centres but new tactics are helping managers fight back.
29 October 2004
Plans for the much-needed redevelopment of Sunderland are being delayed by a fight between the local regeneration company and supermarket Tesco over one of the main site
Since our last visit …School’s out in Newton Aycliffe
Local celebrities have produced a list buildings in Newcastle they would like to see demolished – and by making way for new developments they could ease the city’s severe shortage of office space
Two of the north-east’s property heavyweights are fighting it out over Wynyard One, a derelict manufacturing premises in Teesside
As the north-east prepares to vote in a referendum for a regional assembly, the ‘No’ campaign is claiming that putting politicians in charge of development could hamper the property sector
International Supplement 1 October 2004
The 10 new European Union member states have brought with them myriad economic, political and historical interests.
EU accession has brought Warsaw its first chance to catch up with the west. But will planning struggles and environmental protests hold back the city? Natalie Stevenson reports from Poland
The Slovakian economy and property industry are speeding ahead since joining the EU, thanks largely to motor manufacturers and a flat-rate tax system.
The already well-established property markets of Hungary and the Czech Republic are now gearing up for the expected influx of western investors.
1 October 2004
Gypsies and travellers are the sworn enemy of planners and property owners. Natalie Stevenson explores a culture clash that is tearing middle Britain apart
10 September 2004
A new generation at Town Centre Securities heralds a new dawn for the company and the Leeds retail scene.
A speculative office scheme in Leeds city centre joins the fray of those already on site. But is there demand for it?
Will Alsop’s talk of Tuscan hills in Barnsley and waterways in Bradford prompted much cynicism. Natalie Stevenson reports on how far the towns’ visions are being realised
As Yorkshire’s development sites are snapped up and business grows in the Humber estuary ports, the first of many huge shed schemes in the area is coming forward at Goole.
27 August 2004
Law firm Cobbetts takes 50,000 sq ft at Town Centre’s Whitehall Riverside
23 July 2004
Gamesworld is launching its UK drive in Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton.
More by Natalie Stevenson
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20 July 2022
Harvesters convoy marks Scandinavia market expansion for West Flemish potato machinery manufacturer
A MACHINE convoy of eight trucks which left AVR Roeselare for Denmark last month have marked an expansion in Scandinavian markets.
The West Flemish potato machinery manufacturer delivered eight harvesters from Roeselare to its Danish dealer. On the way, an additional truck with a Falcon hopper joined the convoy from the production facility in the Netherlands, bringing the total convoy to nine machines.
The export project is part of AVR’s growth strategy. The sales in the home markets Belgium, the Netherlands and France remain fairly stable, so for further growth, AVR is aiming at export countries such as the Scandinavian ones.
"Denmark is a growth market for us. For the last three years, we have had a very strong and motivated dealer there, WekoAgro, with three branches across the country", says Tom Lootens, International Sales Manager.


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Small.biz left standing in ecommerce gold rush
There's riches in them thar stores
Despite the rapid increase of ecommerce the majority of retailers are neglecting to reap online benefits, a survey by Actinic Publishers has shown.
The findings highlight the increased profitability of retail Web stores in the small to medium-sized business sector. However, the results reveal that a disproportionately low number of businesses are adopting online business channels. The net result of this could be supplier shortage and limited consumer choice due to vendors' resistance to ecommerce adoption.
Actinic CEO Chris Barling said: "Surveys over the last year have consistently found that online spending is growing rapidly, but that's only one side of the coin. Just as importantly, our results show that economic profitability is growing too, the low overheads compared to a high street outlet make selling online especially attractive to start-ups and micro-businesses.
The survey shows that the profitability of retail Web stores has increased from 53 per cent in 2003 to 72 per cent this year. In contrast, only three per cent of retailers have an online sales facility. Among companies that have yet to adopt ecommerce, fewer blamed lack of interest from customers while more blamed lack of resources.
Barling added: "What I find disappointing is that the vast majority of retail businesses are not taking advantage of this golden opportunity to increase their sales, profits and customer base."
What is encouraging, however, is that ecommerce is most popular among entrepreneurs and small businesses with 40 per cent of ecommerce businesses starting up online exclusively, and 75 per cent of sites run by companies with 10 employees or less.


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IKEA is developing a vegan meatball that tastes like traditional meat as part of its efforts to become more sustainable.
The Scandinavian multinational warehouse chain debuted its meatballs in the 1980s. The product has since become one of the most popular food items sold by the company. The vegan version will contain ingredients commonly used in Swedish cuisine — apple, potato, oats, and pea protein.
Speaking at the World Food Summit last month, IKEA Food Managing Director Michael La Cour described IKEA’s meatballs as the company’s “icon product.”
“Our ambition is to make healthier and more sustainable eating easy, desirable and affordable without compromising on taste and texture,” La Cour said.
“We know that the IKEA meatballs are loved by many people and for years the meatballs have been the most popular dish in our restaurants,” said La Cour. “We see a growing demand from our customers to have access to more sustainable food options and we want to meet that need.”
IKEA already offers a vegetable-based, vegan-friendly meatball that contains chickpeas, green peas, and carrots. However, the new plant-based meatballs will be more like their meat-based counterparts to encourage meat-eaters to try them out.
“Looking at the quality of the products that we have been tasting I am looking forward to serving a delicious plant-based meatball made from alternative protein at IKEA. I hope that the many meatball lovers out there will like it as well,” said La Cour.
Ikea’s Environmental Responsibility
IKEA has long been vocal about its commitment to sustainability. It launched an Environmental Action Plan in 1992 which aims to minimize the use of packaging, energy, and other resources. IKEA has pledged to not produce any new products containing animal meat and aims to have a 20 percent plant-based menu by 2022.
IKEA’s vegan options include seaweed-based caviar, dairy-free smoothies, and vegan soft-serve ice cream. IKEA launched vegan hotdogs last summer to extremely high customer approval.
The new vegan meatballs will launch in Europe in August next year, and in America and Asia Pacific later in 2020. The meatballs will eventually be available at all stores globally.


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Bumble Bee brand is recalling its smoked clams after tests by the Food and Drug Administration revealed harmful levels of PFAS. chemicals.
Category: Thyroid Disorder
Toxic PFAS Forever Chemicals are Leaching into Your Home Air at Worrying Levels, say scientists
New study results have revealed that we are breathing in concerning levels of toxic outgassed PFAS chemicals inside our homes, schools and workplaces everyday.
Toxic Chemical in Drinking Water and Thyroid Problems: Bigger Threat than Previously Believed
Perchlorate, a chemical compound used in rocket fuels, fireworks, fertilizers, food packaging and many other industrial materials, seeps into groundwater–the very source of our drinking water. Now scientists have discovered perchlorate presents far more of a threat to our thyroids than previously believed. Unfortunately, the U.S. government has just decided not to regulate the amount of this toxic chemical in our drinking water.
Gut Microbiome Affected by Toxic Chemicals in Products, Environment, Food
The microbes that inhabit our bodies are influenced by what we eat, drink, breathe and absorb through our skin, and most of us are chronically exposed to natural and human-made environmental contaminants. In this study, scientists reviewed the research linking dozens of chemicals present in our personal care products, home care products, general environment and our food to changes in the gut microbiome and associated health challenges.
Stop Exposing the Public to Unnecessary Toxic Chemicals: Scientists
Scientists are calling on corporations and regulators to stop unnecessarily exposing the public to potentially deleterious chemicals like PFAS.
Another Common Household Chemical Linked to Harming Cats
Kitty wasting disease, or hyperthyroidism (a common endocrine disorder in adult cats) has been on the increase for the past … More
These two activities can lower your exposure to toxic chemicals in your home
New research on environmental chemicals reveals two activities that may actually lower your exposure to toxic flame retardant chemicals in … More
Common Household Chemicals May Impair Young Girls Thyroids: New Research
There are some worrisome findings from recent scientific research that studied the effects of common household chemicals on children. The … More
Toxic Food Packaging Chemical BPA Still Present in US Canned Goods
The results of the recent laboratory testing of canned goods containing toxic food packaging chemical Bisphenol-A (better known as ‘BPA’) … More
The Kitty Hyperthyroidism Epidemic and Common Household Chemicals
When my first radio program and blog articles focused on the potential harm to cats from flame retardants on household … More


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Huda Beauty founder Huda Kattan is now one of the investors in micro learning app Uptime, which raised $16 million in seed funding in February.
Kattan, who joins YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley as an investor, among others, will also serve as a board member of the platform through her HB Investments.
Uptime is a self-described "knowledge hacking app", available to download for free, giving users five-minute snippets of a variety of content – everything from books to courses and documentaries. Users then have the option to purchase the content in its entirety via the app.
The platform is aimed at anyone who wants to learn, but only has a short amount of time or limited resources to do so, said co-founder Patrick Walker, a former YouTube and Facebook executive.
"It's perfect for Gen-Z, millennials, parents, anyone with an interest in enhancing their personal or career prospects, and a desire to fill their time with constructive and uplifting content," he told TechCrunch in February.
Kattan’s involvement brings the total raised by Uptime to $19 million in less than a year. The company will use the new funding to continue to develop the product, the content and accelerate global growth, it said.
“Democratising access to education is something I care deeply about and so does the team at Uptime,” Kattan, who is also the chairwoman of HB Investments, said. "I’m excited to be joining them on this journey as an investor and board member to create a truly global ed-tech platform."
Hurley, an angel investor, said: "I've been watching the Uptime team closely and it's clear they're on to a winner with the innovative learning format and blending of advanced machine learning and human curation.
“Consumer tech products are no longer just about engaging users, they have to offer value and this is one app I’m excited to be backing.”
Ever since it launched in 2017, Kattan's HB Investments has been funding and mentoring entrepreneurs around the world. Last September, it became one of the principal shareholders of the UAE luxury resale marketplace The Luxury Closet.
In April, Kattan announced she was sponsoring Nascar's first female Arab driver Toni Breidinger, who made her debut driving the Huda Beauty 02 Chevrolet SS at the General Tire 200 series at Talladega Superspeedway.


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Bitcoin was first introduced in a 2009 white paper, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. Since then, cryptocurrencies, also known as virtual or digital currencies, have exploded, with thousands of different types in circulation, achieving a $2T market cap in early 2021, and with the number of blockchain wallet users rising to more than 70 million as of May 2021.
However, the blockchain concept, which makes cryptocurrency possible, remains a mystery to most. For years, niche groups profited from this often-mysterious and confusing technology; however, as recently as 2014, well-known companies such as Overstock began making a foray into the cryptocurrency arena by accepting BTC (currently the market leading cryptocurrency) as payment for online purchases. The financial industry later followed with JPMorgan launching a cryptocurrency exposure basket, and Goldman Sachs endorsing cryptocurrency as a new asset class. While not all businesses have billions to invest in this new asset class, savvy industry leaders appear to be paying attention to these market makers’ moves as a sign of things to come.
In 2020, many investors flocked to cryptocurrency as an inflation hedge, as the recent stimulus packages passed by Congress initiated the start of dramatic inflation which has yet to be fully realized. Many businesses are already feeling such impacts, especially those in the construction industry where lumber and other material prices have increased significantly over the last year.
In January 2021, Tesla made news by announcing that it would buy $1.5B in Bitcoin and start accepting BTC as payment for its cars. However, this was short-lived. Despite touting cryptocurrency generally, in May, Elon Musk announced that Tesla would no longer accept BTC payments stating that it would resume doing so once “mining transitions to more sustainable energy”, noting that Tesla is seeking a cryptocurrency that uses significantly less energy per transaction than BTC, which is capped at approximately 7 transactions per second by its software regardless of processing power. Shortly after these announcements, BTC’s price fell significantly, bringing the entire cryptocurrency market with it.
For the uninitiated, cryptocurrency is a history of encrypted transactions, known as a blockchain, recorded on a distributed ledger, which is audited by a network of computers, commonly called “miners”, that confirm the legitimacy of transactions. In most cases, a distributed ledger is a public database that shows what amount of cryptocurrency is held in each wallet, when incremental amounts were received, and from where they came. While wallet addresses are typically public, ownership of wallets is more difficult to determine as cryptocurrencies are decentralized, lending anonymity to the system. Cryptocurrency decentralization means there is not a single governing body, but instead users and the software itself dictate transaction flows.
Cryptocurrency features are built into the software at the beginning of a cryptocurrency’s life, and when the need for change arises, new cryptocurrencies are typically created through “forks”, rather than allowing changes to the software. Cryptocurrencies typically have a capped “token” supply or a set inflation rate for token generation. A token is a unit of ownership and can be backed by physical assets or by nothing at all. Often, a single token is denominated into one-hundred-millionths of a unit, often called “satoshis” or “sats” inspired by the pseudonym of the author for the 2009 white paper, Satoshi Nakamoto. Blockchain technology has many use cases. Some examples include smart contracts, which facilitate automatically executing multi-party transactions, while others include security features such as increased mining complexity and transaction confirmation requirements (which may one day…


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GlobalData’s forecast reveals promising growth in New Zealand’s mobile service revenue, projecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1 percent from $1.6 billion in 2023 to $1.7 billion in 2028. This surge in New Zealand’s mobile service revenue is predominantly propelled by the mobile data service segment.
The forecast, outlined in GlobalData’s New Zealand Mobile Broadband Forecast (Q3-2023), anticipates a contrasting trajectory for mobile voice service revenue in New Zealand. Mobile voice service revenue in New Zealand is expected to decline at a 2.7 percent CAGR due to the rising consumer preference for internet-based communication services, leading to a decrease in voice service average revenue per user (ARPU) levels.
However, mobile data service revenue in New Zealand is set to experience significant growth, estimated to increase at a CAGR of 4.2 percent between 2023 and 2028. This uptick in mobile data service revenue in New Zealand is attributed to increased consumption of mobile data services on 4G/5G networks, a continuous surge in smartphone subscriptions, and the projected rise in higher-ARPU yielding 5G subscriptions.
Hrushikesh Mahananda, Telecom Research Analyst at GlobalData, emphasized that the average monthly data usage in New Zealand is forecasted to rise from 6.5GB in 2023 to 12.2GB in 2028. This surge is propelled by heightened consumption of online video and social media content on smartphones, facilitated by the growing availability and adoption of 4G/5G services and data-centric packages offered by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in New Zealand.
The forecast indicates that 4G will maintain its position as the dominant mobile technology in terms of subscriptions through 2028 in New Zealand. This is primarily driven by operators’ continued upgrades and expansions of their LTE networks.
However, 5G subscriptions in New Zealand are expected to witness the fastest growth rate, projected to secure approximately 32 percent of the total mobile subscriptions by the end of 2028. This growth is fueled by ongoing investments and expansions in 5G networks by operators.
One New Zealand, formerly known as Vodafone New Zealand, is poised to lead the mobile services market in subscriptions through 2028. The operator’s robust focus on 4G and 5G network advancements and expansions across the country positions it prominently. Additionally, the operator is strategically eyeing Machine-to-Machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) opportunities, with plans to cover up to 60 percent of the geographic area with NB-IoT network by 2024.


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Ford thinks it has all the pieces together to dominate the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year, but the automaker's racing car isn't quite put together the same way as the 4,000-piece Lego model it is displaying on the sidelines of the grueling race in France.
Rendered in 1/3 scale, the Lego version of the new Ford GT race car is on display for the next couple of days at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans alongside a similar model of the original Ford GT40. It was that first GT40 that cemented Ford's reputation at Le Mans by finishing 1-2-3 in 1966 in one of the most dramatic races ever.
The Lego version of the current GT is the same number 66 as one of the four race cars Ford is entering in the race, and it features many details rendered as clearly as possible with the world-famous plastic bricks. It was assembled over the course of three weeks and it weighs close to 90 pounds.
Although the weekend is just getting started, Ford has a lot more to be excited aboutat Le Mans than just the Lego GT: Dirk Muller claimed the pole position Wednesday behind the wheel of the number 68 GT, while Ryan Briscoe was close behind in the number 69.
And Ford Racing plans to begin streaming the race live beginning at 8 a.m. Eastern time Saturday morning at its website: www.fordperformance.tv.


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Rakuten To Put Its Bitnet Investment To Work And Accept Bitcoin Worldwide
TECHCRUNCH: Rakuten, Japan’s largest online retail firm, has announced that it will soon accept bitcoin across its global marketplaces. The company is putting its investment in Bitnet — a startup that raised $14.5 million last October — to work with this development. Bitnet, which was founded by ex-Visa execs and is rivaled by Coinbase and Bitpay, will initially be integrated into Rakuten’s U.S. marketplace to allow customers to pay in BTC.
Next up, the new payment option will roll out in Germany and Austria, with other international markets to follow. Interestingly, there’s no specific mention of when Bitnet will be integrated into Rakuten Japan, which is the most prominent of its 12 country-specific services.
Last year was a breakthrough year for bitcoin as a sea of established retailers, including Dell,Overstock and even Microsoft, hopped onto the cryptocurrency to give customers an alternative avenue for payments.
“The integration with Bitnet’s platform will make Rakuten one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world to begin accepting bitcoin,” Rakuten said in a statement with no uncertain pride.
Nonetheless, this news is notable because it not only continues the momentum for bitcoin among retailers, but it could help position Bitnet as a credible alternative to the increasingly dominant duopoly that is Coinbase and Bitpay — both of which have raised significant venture funding, and own the most lucrative bitcoin retail partnerships.
Coinbase is particularly well-floated, having raised $75 million in January in a round that featured several Wall Street institutions, including The New York Stock Exchange. Bitpay raised $30 million last summer in what was at the time the largest round ever for bitcoin startup. Coinbase has since nabbed that accolade — the U.S. company has raised more than $100 million in investor money to date.


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Central Govt declares war on junk food
A law is on its way to help you know exactly what is going into the munchies and fast food your child is eating, report Sanchita Sharma and Jatin Gandhi.
The threat from junk food to India’s health is now recognized at the highest political levels. Two senior ministers have identified it as a top public enemy, the Lok Sabha Speaker has described it as a “serious threat”, and a law is on its way to help you know exactly what is going into the munchies and fast food your child is eating.
The Food Safety and Standards Bill — now in its final stages of preparation by the Health Ministry — will be tabled in parliament’s monsoon session. It will make product information mandatory on all processed food labels.
“Labelling rules have been amended, and the final notification is ready to be put up for public comment. The Act will ensure that all processed foods manufactured and sold in India carries weight and nutritional information including energy value, amounts of protein, carbohydrate, fat, information on vitamins and mineral, and amount and types of fats, especially harmful trans fatty acids that raise cholesterol,” Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told Hindustan Times.
On Friday, Ramadoss was echoed by Sharad Pawar, minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution. At a conference, Pawar said: “Ingredients of food products should be clearly known to consumers along with information regarding quality, quantity and purity. Most importantly, likely health hazards need also to be published.”
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who spoke before Pawar, delivered a similar message. He described junk food as “one of the serious threats looming large over the health of our children.”
Law Minister HR Bhardwaj, whose ministry must clear each proposed law before it reaches parliament, was sitting on the dais as Pawar and Chatterjee spoke.


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Both make way more than companies outside Silicon Valley.
Silicon Valley companies are more efficient at making money than traditional industries, as evidenced by net income and revenue per employee in their latest quarterly filings.
Facebook, which employed 20,658 people this quarter — a 43 percent increase over the same period last year — made the most profit per employee out of the companies we measured*: $ 188,498 per employee in the three months ending in June on revenue of nearly a half million per employee.
Facebook beats out Google parent company Alphabet by more than four times the profit per employee. Alphabet made $ 46,610 per employee in the second quarter.
And the social network is getting even more efficient at making money. Last year, Facebook profited $ 157,503 per employee. Note that Facebook employs numerous contract workers who don’t contribute to the employee count.
Twitter, which saw a net loss of $ 116 million this quarter, was at the other end of the spectrum, losing about $ 36,000 per employee.
Facebook’s efficiency is partly because software products don’t require humans at as many steps of the production and distribution process as companies creating physical objects that need to be mass produced and delivered to stores or doorsteps. Of course, even jobs formerly assigned to humans are coming under the purview of robots — so more industries could see consolidation of labor.
Companies like Amazon and its brick-and-mortar counterpart Walmart have employee counts that include part-time workers and are orders of magnitude bigger than their peers, which necessarily dilutes their profit and revenue per person.
As far as tech companies, their contribution to the wider economy isn’t entirely clear. Productivity in the U.S. has been flat as we struggle to measure the economic output of internet technology, whose services are largely free.
* Our research is restricted to select major companies that have reported their employee count in their latest quarterly earnings (companies only have to do so in their annual report).
Here’s the dataset behind the revenue and profit per employee:


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One of the best things that could ever happen to the cryptocurrency industry, especially, Bitcoin (BTC) was PayPal. Since PayPal’s announcement of integrating Bitcoin (BTC) alongside other major cryptocurrencies into its platform has taken the entire world by a surprise.
Ever since the announcement, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) is constantly growing higher, which is attracting even more investors. The most surprising thing that happened was that since PayPal’s announcement, the market capitalization of Bitcoin (BTC) has far-exceeded than that of PayPal itself.
However, still, it is a fact that it is PayPal that has caused a dramatic impact on the current position of Bitcoin (BTC). In the light of the recent events and announcements made by PayPal, Bitcoin (BTC) has started running short on supply.
One of the major crypto investment firms ‘Pantera Capital’ revealed some information around PayPal’s current take on Bitcoin (BTC). The firm revealed that the recent shortage of Bitcoin (BTC) is indeed caused by the amount of investments being made via PayPal.
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On top of that, even the majority of Bitcoin (BTC) is now being minted through the PayPal platform. This has caused a significant shortage in the supply of Bitcoin (BTC) in the crypto-markets.
The firm also revealed the scale at which the PayPal is currently impacting the position of Bitcoin (BTC). It confirmed that PayPal is currently pulling in more than 70% of all the Bitcoin (BTC) that are currently in the circulation.
The firm confirmed that another platform ‘Cash App’ is also responsible for snatching away all the remaining Bitcoin (BTC) in circulation. The Pantera Capital confirmed that the Cash App and PayPal together are responsible for buying all of the Bitcoin (BTC) currently in circulation.
The Pantera Capital firm informed that PayPal currently has more than 300 million unique users. It plans on rolling out the crypto-platform to all its users in the beginning of the year 2021.
However, PayPal has already its crypto-trading services in the United States from the current month. Initially, the payment firm has allowed its users to trade in cryptocurrencies for up to $20,000 per week.
As PayPal has now entered the crypto-market with its unique and really high fan base, things have started taking a whole new turn for Bitcoin (BTC) and other major cryptocurrencies.
As per many analysts, it was really difficult to buy Bitcoin (BTC) back in 2017 when it had hit its highest price. However, now the situation has changed as PayPal, Cash App and platforms such as Robinhood have made Bitcoin (BTC) purchase way easier.
Furthermore, Bitcoin (BTC) prices are now showing significant stability and very less volatility with respect to its price. This is again very promising for the Bitcoin (BTC) as its bullish nature would bring in even more investors.


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Here's a look at what Sprint supposedly has on deck for the next two quarters of the year, thanks to the ninjas over at the Boy Genius Report.
You'll note the Palm Treo Pro, which was just released. Slated for the second quarter is the HTC Willow, which we expect from those monster leak sheets to be a front-facing QWERTY messanger phone. Probably not as up to snuff as the Maple, but we'll see.
In Q3 is the Samsung Ace II. Dieter took a look at the original Ace about a year ago and was plesantly surprised.
Finally is the HTC Rhodium, which we expect to be the replacement for the Touch Pro.
What's it all mean? The rumors, conjecture and rampant speculation that we may see some of the new HTC phones on Sprint in the next couple of months is looking better. Or, ya know, we could all have egg on our face.
Spec sheets after the break, including for the Cedar, which we don't even see on this roadmap.
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Peter Navarro, a top adviser to President Trump, said the Chinese Communist Party’s lies about the spread of the coronavirus overshadow the trade deal between Beijing and Washington.
The director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy said Americans need to understand that “China lied, people died.”
“There is this bigger issue that China spawned the virus and they hid the virus for about six weeks, which allowed that virus to escape Wuhan and infect the world, and then during that time, China hoarded an enormous amount of personal protective gear,” Navarro said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Monday. “They essentially went around the world vacuuming up over two billion masks.”
He emphasized that “those are the bigger issues around this context of what may or may not happen with the trade deal and I do think at this point, that’s a much bigger issue.”
There are now more than 3.6 million cases worldwide and the death toll has surpassed 250,000.
Navarro was commenting on whether the Trump administration has seen any sign from China that it will not be able to follow through on a pledge to buy $200 billion worth of American goods over two years, as spelled out in phase one of the trade deal with the US.
He said he didn’t think Beijing would meet its promise, but noted that he has been focused on the supply chain rather than the trade deal.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue were monitoring those developments, he said.
The deal that Trump signed on Jan. 15 sought to ease tensions between the two global powers that had been rising since the president accused China of taking advantage of the US through unfair trade policies.
The deal addresses some of Trump’s main concerns, including intellectual property theft and access to Chinese markets.
Trump has blasted Chinese officials for deliberately hiding the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak and not accurately reporting the number of the cases in the country.
He also said he’s seen evidence that the pandemic began in a lab in Wuhan, China.
Navarro echoed Trump’s concerns in the interview.
“It’s what did China know? When did they know it? Did the Communist Party bleach the wet market to hide something? Did they make scientists disappear from those labs in Wuhan to hide something?” Navarro said.
He also said it’s important that the US shift the supply chain of goods from China back to America, and pointed out that GM was working to make much-needed ventilators for hospitals treating people with the coronavirus.
“We need to do the same thing for things like pharmaceuticals, we need to do the same things for medical supplies like masks, and we are seeing that,” Navarro said.
“So Buy American is going to be the law of the land I believe soon,” he added.
Source: Read Full Article


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Updated 3:40 p.m. ET
THE HAGUE, Netherlands A salmonella outbreak that has left hundreds of people sick in the Netherlands and the U.S. has been traced to smoked salmon, health authorities stated Tuesday.
The Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) said the salmon has been traced to Dutch company Foppen, which sells fish to many major Dutch supermarkets and to stores around the world, including the United States.
The institute said in a statement that around 200 people -- and likely more -- in the Netherlands and more than 100 people in the U.S. have been sickened.
Harald Wychgel, a spokesman for the Dutch public health institute, said the institute got its information on Americans becoming ill from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, a representative for the CDC said the agency was investigating and had not confirmed any illnesses.
Health agencies around the world have access to the CDC database that records reported cases of salmonella. The CDC has a specific procedure for confirming an outbreak is from a specific cause, including interviews with those who become ill.
Costco Wholesale Corp., which sold the salmon in the U.S., said it had no reports of illness.
Foppen also estimated the number of infections was higher, and said this was "probably the tip of the iceberg" to the BBC.
Company spokesman Bart de Vries said that since the company set up a public information phone line two days ago, some 1,400 people had called and around 350 of the callers "reported symptoms consistent with a salmonella infection."
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, salmonella is a type of bacteria that passes from the feces of people or animals to other people or animals. It causes an infection called salmonellosis, the source of 1.4 million cases of food-based illness and 400 deaths each year.
Symptoms of salmonellosis include diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever within 8 to 72 hours after the contamination of when the food was eaten. People may also have chills, headache, nausea and vomiting for 4 to 7 days. Most people recover without medication, but it may be life-threatening for pregnant women, infants and young children, unborn babies and older adults. People with weakened immune systems, such as those who have HIV/AIDS or cancer, are also at a higher risk.
De Vries said that in the U.S., Foppen sells only to wholesaler Costco and that Costco would deal with any U.S. recall. It was not immediately clear how much contaminated fish had been sold in America. A Costco representative did not immediately have that information.
Costco got a call from Foppen regarding the recall late Monday afternoon, said Craig Wilson, vice president of food safety at Costco.
He said Costco immediately pulled the items from shelves and blocked its sale in stores, meaning the products won't scan at registers.
The smoked salmon was sold under the Foppen name, as well as under Costco's store-brand name, Kirkland.
Customers who purchased the items will be called by the company Tuesday to notify them of the recall, Wilson said. The calls will be followed up with a letter.
Wilson said Costco's independent testing of the smoked salmon hasn't yet turned up any positive results for salmonella. He said the company has not received any reports of illnesses.
Roel Vincken of the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, which carried out tests confirming the salmonella outbreak, said he had no information on a U.S. recall.
De Vries said the company did not believe contaminated fish had been sold to any other countries.
Foppen, which processes fish in the Netherlands and at a factory in Greece, is investigating the cause of the outbreak.
"The investigation into the cause is under way and has been narrowed down to one production line at one factory (in Greece)," De Vries told The Associated Press. "We can't yet say what the cause of the infection was."
Foppen has halted all production of smoked salmon until the investigation is completed, he added.


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When the mask mandates crumbled, Marvin Williams was more than happy to remove the “masks required” sign from the front door of Abrusci’s Fire & Vine, the Italian restaurant he manages in Lakewood. He tore it down as soon as Gov. Jared Polis made the state’s intention clear Friday — only to put it back up until the official word came from Jefferson County’s health department Saturday night.
“Some of my staff were ripping their mask off like it was a Band-Aid,” Williams said. “This is a real step toward normal.”
Mask signs came down quickly at many metro Denver restaurants, stores, gyms and other businesses — but they’re still up, and very much in force, at other places, including some major grocery store chains. Recent days have revealed a hodgepodge of policies that required customers at King Soopers and Safeway stores to wear masks inside, even as they might be able to take them off inside a liquor store, Starbucks coffee shop or restaurant in the same shopping center. Uber and Lyft still require drivers and passengers to wear masks during rides. (Update: Starting May 20, King Soopers’ parent company won’t require fully vaccinated people to wear masks.)
Businesses that had followed blanket government rules, lifted by the state, Denver and several suburban counties over the weekend, now are grappling with their own decisions. They’re weighing customer and staff safety against new federal guidance that vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks in many indoor settings.
At the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health officials recommend unvaccinated people keep their masks on to protect themselves and reduce continuing transmission of the coronavirus. In Colorado, slightly more than half of adults have been fully vaccinated, state data show.
City Floral Garden Center in East Denver opted to keep its all-masking requirement in place for at least a few more weeks. General manager Trela Phelps said a handful of customers have threatened to take their business elsewhere, an option she considers their prerogative.
“We’re just too busy,” said Phelps, citing a weather-delayed start to gardening season. “We also hire a lot of high school students who are just now eligible for the vaccines. So, with the risk of exposure to them and other people, we just think it’s the right thing to do.”
There was less hesitation among the operators of Planet Fitness’ 31 Colorado gyms, which on Monday changed to a policy of recommending that members wear masks, but not requiring it. For now, staff members will continue wearing them.
Robin Jost, who owns a franchise group of eight locations, said the decision rested not just on the discomfort of wearing a mask while sweating it out but also on staff members’ uncomfortable role in policing the prior policy.
“Our heart, it has just been aching for them because we have had very many upset members who have had to wear a mask while they’ve worked out,” said Jost, who also sits on the board of the Colorado Fitness Coalition; she called the end of the mask mandate a relief for the industry. “There was no hesitation on our part when the governor came out on Friday — we were in tears.”
Some facilities are still working out the details. The YMCA of Metro Denver said on its website Monday that it would update its mask policy later this week.
Masks have so defined life for the last year that many people are eager to ditch them — even as others, including some who have been vaccinated, don’t yet feel comfortable entering crowded spaces without them.
The lesson so far: It’s best to keep one on hand for a while longer, even if you don’t need it as often. And the mask mandate isn’t entirely gone, including in some schools. Masks also are still required for everyone on public transportation, aboard trains and planes, and inside hospitals, homeless shelters and prisons.
A pandemic milestone
Still, the change in official stances marks an important milestone in the pandemic — one embraced by Howard Thomas, a regular at Fire & Vine.
“It should have been this way a long time ago,” he said as he waited for a friend to join him for lunch Monday. “What a relief.”
Inside the restaurant, there was a mix of attitudes toward masks. Some customers entered without them, ready to tuck into a plate of linguine and clams or a serving of penne gorgonzola, and most of the wait staff wore only smiles on their faces. But a couple of employees still wore masks, either because they aren’t fully vaccinated or they are close to someone who is more vulnerable to the virus, Williams said.
And Thomas still keeps his mask in his breast pocket, knowing he may still need it at other businesses and public places.
Outside Applejack Wine & Spirits in Wheat Ridge, customer Jose Lara had no objection to the liquor store’s continuing mask requirement.
“Half of the people have not been vaccinated,” he said, as he lifted boxes of wine into his car. “There’s still danger.”
In revising its indoor mask guidance, the CDC cited recent evidence that the vaccines not only protect those who have received them but also prevent spread of the virus and work against the new variants. The CDC’s recommendation that the unvaccinated still wear masks includes children older than age 2.
After the CDC released its new guidance, Colorado joined at least 18 states in announcing plans to dial back mask rules either immediately or within a matter of weeks, the Associated Press reported. But in California, state officials decided to wait until mid-June to drop the indoor masking requirement for vaccinated people.
Tricky considerations for businesses
Among businesses’ considerations is a reluctance to sort out who’s been vaccinated or not, making all-or-nothing policies more likely.
Some eateries quickly dropped their requirements over the weekend, including Rhein Haus in downtown Denver. But others, including Uncle Julio’s Hacienda Colorado in Wheat Ridge, have kept firm policies in place for customers and staff.
National chains have revised their mask policies at different paces. Walmart, Sam’s Club, Costco, Home Depot, Target, Starbucks and CVS are in the process of removing masking requirements for fully vaccinated people in places where mandates have lapsed, as are Trader Joe’s and Sprouts grocery stores. Some of those chains still require employees to wear coverings, however.
Among the large chains with mask requirements still in place Monday were Walgreens and the parent companies of King Soopers and Safeway. (King Soopers’ parent, Kroger, later announced a policy change Wednesday that takes effect Thursday.)
“As we have throughout the pandemic, we are reviewing current safety practices, the CDC’s latest guidance, and soliciting feedback from associates to guide the next phase of our policy,” Jessica Trowbridge, a spokeswoman for King Soopers and City Market, wrote in an email.
But as other places relax their masking requirements, old habits die hard.
In Arvada, the Apex Park and Recreation District put up new signs Sunday suggesting — but not mandating — that unvaccinated people wear masks inside the Apex Center, spokeswoman Katie Groke said.
More than a dozen people walked into the center in a short time on Monday afternoon, every one of them wearing a mask. And down in the workout room, most people using the treadmills and exercise bikes still had their mouths and noses covered.


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We already know that Lenovo is all set to launch Lenovo K8 Note in India on August 9. The company is leaving no stone unturned to build up the much-needed hype around its upcoming smartphone and it has been teasing heavily these days about the upcoming device on social media. Now Lenovo has posted various camera samples of the K8 Note on company’s official Twitter handle showing its camera capabilities. This time Lenovo has skipped the K7 Note after launching K6 Note last year in December and will be launching K8 Note as its next Note series smartphone.
The camera samples posted by Lenovo include shots from major modes of shooting like Landscape, macro shot, nature, portrait and city shot. The portrait mode shot reveals that the smartphone will support the Bokeh effect. The other shots including Landscape, macro, nature and city shots focus on the features like the colours and camera capabilities of the smartphone.
Lenovo has been teasing the K8 Note with the hashtag KillerNote from the beginning. The camera samples also have the killer tag in its tweets which hints at the Killer Photography capabilities of the smartphone.
Lenovo K8 Note was earlier spotted on the Geekbench benchmarking website revealing the expected specifications of the upcoming smartphone. In the GeekBench listing, the Lenovo K8 Note got 1659 points in single-core test and in multi-core test it received 4844 points. As per the listing on Geekbench, the Lenovo K8 Note has 4GB RAM and MediaTek Helio X20 1.39 GHz deca-core processor. The handset is based on the Android 7.1.1 Nougat operating system. Meanwhile, Lenovo’s earlier teasers revealed that the processor that will power the upcoming Note series phone will be killer.
Lenovo K8 Note will be the successor of Lenovo K6 Note which was launched last year in India for Rs 13,999. Lenovo K6 Note features a 5.5-inch full HD display with (1080×1920 pixels) resolution. It is powered by octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 and Adreno 505 GPU. The K6 Note comes in two variants – 3GB and 4GB RAM. The K6 Note runs on Android Nougat operating system and comes with a 4000 mAh battery. Besides, the Lenovo K6 Note offers 32GB of internal storage and 128 GB micro SD card slot. The Lenovo K6 Note boasts a 16-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and an 8-megapixel front shooter. For connectivity the smartphone has 4G/LTE, WiFi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), micro-USB port, Bluetooth 4.1 and GPS/A-GPS.


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First question is whether the GST will roll out and whether electricity sector will form part of the GST domain and be taxed at zero per cent, CLP India said
Consumers who are not entitled to the AAP government’s 50% subsidy on power bills may benefit in the long run by investing in solar rooftop projects. About 15% of Delhi’s consumers don’t get the subsidy as they consume more than 400 units per month.
the reverse auction of wind projects may prove to be a game changer for the sector as it is likely to reduce the cost of power, improving its relative competitive advantage, said the report by ICICI Securities.
The objective of the Repowering policy is to promote optimum utilization of wind energy resources by creating a facilitative framework, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said in a statement.


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As one of the hard-hit sectors to be impacted by COVID-19 and the resulting containment measures throughout 2020, retail businesses have much to be proud of for making it out the other side of an unforgettable year.
Reflecting on her own experience from the past year, Christine Pace, Managing Director at Dorkins Limited, says “The past few months have been tough for the retail sector, however, leaders always come out on top.”
“I would like to personally thank every single one of Dorkins Ltd’s employees, anyone that has formed part of Arcadia Group in the past, as well as anyone from Clarks and all the other brands that Dorkins Ltd. works with. You have taught me so much.”
Ms Pace has been involved in the fashion retail business for over three decades, starting her career employed with a clothing boutique to growing a multi-brand franchise company, including popular brands Clarks and Superdry.
Recently, the retail Group announced its launch of five new stores in Sliema, including three new brands for the Group: Salsa Jeans, Stonefly | Fitflop, UPIM (Croff Home, BluKids), Sisley, as well as a new Clarks Men, Women & Kids Store.
Nearly every retail business has jumped on the Black Friday bandwagon over the last 10 years. Customers expect it, and ...
You nailed your interview and got your promotion as the HR Manager! Congrats! You know that you were born to ...
You can get better at giving constructive feedback and dealing with difficult conversations.
Picking up from our last article, I have now started discussing the actual execution of a Lean change, by identifying ...


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|07/08/2015 18:05||India's Lupin gets Russian production site in deal for Biocom ( FiercePharma Manufacturing )|
... million manufacturing plant in Kaluga that it had started in 2010 before a tumbling oil market and sanctions from the West over Russia's involvement ...
|06/19/2015 15:50||Kremlin names Russia's 10 best regions to do business (Russia Beyond the Headlines)|
Russia's top 10 places with the best business climates include the Tambov, ... "They primarily include the Kaluga region, the Belgorod region and ...
|06/11/2015 07:10||Drop In Demand Leads To Layoffs In Russia's Auto Market (WFAE)|
And officials in Russia have been sounding more optimistic about that ... The slump hit hard in industrial regions such as Kaluga, southwest of Moscow ...
|06/02/2015 23:25||Bentley Expands in Hard-Hit Russia With Third Dealer in Moscow (Bloomberg)|
To adapt to the decline, VW's mass-market namesake brand has reduced production and offered buyouts to workers at its Russian factory in Kaluga.
|06/02/2015 15:10||Dedication's what you need to be a record breaker (Steel Times International magazine)|
Russian steelmaker NLMK is the mood for breaking records. The company's Kaluga long products division has just announced that its next-generation ...
|05/30/2015 23:15||Cihan News Agency Diary (Cihan News Agency)|
TURKISH COMPANY INVEST IN RUSSIA: A leading holding in wood ... of world's largest particle board fabric of the world in Russian city of Kaluga.
|05/30/2015 08:30||Starwood Introduces Four Points Brand to Russia (eTurboNews)|
Four Points brand enters Russian market - eTurboNews
|05/22/2015 23:10||VW Polo Sedan And Vento Get A Facelift Too (Carscoops (blog))|
The VW Polo Sedan is built in Kaluga, Russia and will go on sale on the local market in June. The VW Vento is built in Pune, India and has been ...
|05/11/2015 23:40||Weekly Wrap: Darth Vader, Debaltseve and the Kind Pineapple (The Moscow Times)|
Without argument, the best thing to come out of post-Soviet Russia is ... A company in Kaluga â a city that, before the crisis, was better known for ...
|05/05/2015 15:01||Novo Nordisk building $225 Danish plant to support haemophilia drugs (BioPharma-Reporter.com)|
... Biotech to support its haemophilia products. And just last month the company opened a new insulin formulation and filling plant in Kaluga, Russia .
|04/28/2015 07:26||Why Foreign Investment in Russia's Regions is Falling (The Moscow Times)|
The World Bank warned earlier this month that Russia faces an "era of ... the Kaluga and Lipetsk regions in central Russia, the republic of Tatarstan, ...
|04/24/2015 23:06||Western companies wait out Russia's economic slump (The Daily Star)|
MOSCOW: Western companies are sticking with Russia, waiting for an ... opened a $100 million factory in Kaluga this month, its first in Russia.
|04/23/2015 23:10||RPT-For Western companies, Russia's recovery is worth waiting for (Gulf Times)|
Russian market remains pretty for Western firms - Gulf Times
|04/22/2015 15:05||Industrial companies count the cost of doing business in Russia (gulfnews.com)|
The sharp economic downturn in Russia has hit demand for the German ... this year adjacent to its existing factory in Kaluga, southwest of Moscow.
|04/21/2015 23:11||Active Stocks to Watch: Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO), Badger Meter Inc. (NYSE:BMI), Rogers ... (Stock Transcript)|
Denmark's Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) said on Friday it had opened a factory in Kaluga, Russia, for the production and assembly of insulin ...
|04/15/2015 21:50||L'OrĂŠal Russia Becomes First Company in Russia to Receive EDGE Gender Equality Certification (WorldPressOnline (press release))|
Moscow, Russia/Geneva, Switzerland âApril 14, 2015 â L'OrĂŠal Russia is the first ... We are proud to be the first company in Russia certified by EDGE. ... Russia has Factory in the Kaluga region, which produces hair shampoos, ...
|04/14/2015 06:35||Severstal inks Renault-Nissan AvtoVAZ contract (just-auto.com (subscription))|
Severstal will meet 83% of the demand from its two factories in Russia. ... Metal blanks are produced at Severstal-Gonvarri-Kaluga - a joint venture ...
|03/25/2015 14:05||Volkswagen cuts down jobs and working hours at its Russian facility (CarTrade.com)|
The Russian market still has a significant growth potential long-term.â The Kaluga plant located in Russia shall be working four days a week from April ...
|03/25/2015 14:05||NLMK Kaluga produces millionth tonne of rolled steel (SteelGuru)|
NLMK Kaluga mini mill was launched in July 2013 in the Kaluga Region close to Moscow, Russia's largest construction market. The mini mill concept ...
|03/24/2015 22:20||Volkswagen will cut production and jobs at Russian plant in Kaluga (Automotive Business Review)|
Volkswagen to cut 150 jobs in Russia - Automotive Business Review


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Synthetic identity fraud, where fraudsters create an artificial identity out of multiple pieces of real and fabricated data, resulted in $20 billion in losses for U.S. banks and financial institutions in 2020, according to a new report from software company FiVerity.
Financial institutions using legacy identity verification systems are missing between 85% and 95% of likely synthetic identity fraud, FiVerity said. The report also found that fraudsters can take as long as 18 months to build up their credit before they strike and that the average synthetic identity fraud profile successfully steals between $81,000 and $97,000.
In the past three years, according to the report, a series of data breaches has exposed 3.4 billion personally identifiable information elements. “The sheer amount of exposed data has turned personally identifiable information into an affordable commodity. On the dark web, criminals can purchase a Social Security number for as little as $1, or a driver’s license for $20,” the report said.


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McClung To Head Texas Produce
Produce Association, here, has named John McClung president and chief executive officer.
McClung, who is currently vice president and director of industry relations for the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, Alexandria, Va., will succeed current president Bill Weeks. Though Weeks is scheduled to retire on December 31, McClung will join the organization prior to its annual convention in August.
McClung joined the UFFVA in 1987, holding several management positions, with an emphasis on governmental and media relations programs. Prior to joining the UFFVA, he served as director of information for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington.
Bella Joins Second Harvest
CHICAGO -- Second Harvest, one of the nation's largest hunger-relief organizations, has appointed Rick Bella produce coordinator, a new position.
In his new role, Bella will be part of the group's business development team in its recently announced initiative to triple donations by the year 2000. He will also organize produce donations for distribution to Second Harvest's nearly 200 regional food banks.
Prior to this, Bella was director of produce operations at Chicago-based Fairplay Food Stores. Before that, he served in an identical position at the Westville, Indiana division of Roundy's (Midland Grocery), where he was also fresh vegetable buyer.
California Commission Makes Changes
WATSONVILLE, Calif. -- The California Strawberry Commission, based here, has appointed Cindy Jewell executive vice president.
Jewell previously was director of operations. Her new responsibilities include overseeing day-to-day operations and working with allied associations.
The CSC also named Kari Volyn communications director. Volyn, who previously was public relations events manager for the Washington Apple Commission, replaces six-year veteran Teresa Thorne, who left for personal reasons. Volyn's new responsibilities include heading up the commission's various public relations and public affairs programs.
In addition, the commission named Andrew Mott director of marketing. Mott, who previously was Eastern merchandising manager, began his new role December. He replaces Stephanie Chastian, who relocated due to personal reasons, but will remain with CSC as export and food-service director. Mott's responsibilities include heading up the marketing program, as well as overseeing the commission's various merchandising managers.
Pavich Family Farms Changes Director
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Pavich Family Farms, here, has named William Holbrook director of marketing. He previously was the vice president of strategic planning with Denver-based Hinckley-Schmitt Bottled Water Group. Prior to that, he was director of marketing for Coors Brewing Co., Golden, Colo., and before that was home-market planner for the Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta. He had also worked for Woodbridge, N.J.-based Pathmark for a number of years.
His responsibilities include advancing the grower/shipper's strategic marketing efforts, promoting the company's year-round organic produce program, marketing juices and raisins and developing new product lines.


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John Perkins, author of the New York Times bestseller, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man,” says that all Americans need to do to face the uncertain future is simply change their mindset.
Perkins, who also wrote “The Secret History of the American Empire,” and most recently, “Hoodwinked,” was invited by the students of Model United Nations to speak to the Boulder community Feb. 16 in the Glenn Miller Ballroom.
He addressed topics such as the perceptions of America, its popularity overseas and the labels we give ourselves.
Parts of his talk centered on the unsustainable direction America is headed today, the geopolitical future of our increasingly interconnected and diminishing world, and the steps Americans can take during revolutionary times.
Laura Kellogg, a 21-year-old senior international affairs major and the speaker coordinator for Model U.N., said one of the reasons she chose to invite Perkins to Boulder was because he served as a break in the traditional speakers they’ve brought in.
Traditionally, speakers for Model U.N. had a military and more conservative background.
“He was controversial enough we could create a dialogue and provide a different perspective to what we hear in the main media outlets,” Kellogg said. “It’s nice to get a bigger picture of what’s going on in the world.”
Perkins addressed this controversy when he told the audience: “We’re in the midst of a revolution. And the economic crisis we’re having is no fluke. And we don’t want to go back to normal. We’ve created this monumental, massive failure.”
Part of this failure stems from the global empire Americans have created for themselves, Perkins said. And they have truly created the world’s first global empire with their customary brand of predatory capitalism.
His discernment of predatory capitalism comes his time as an “economic hit man” where developing nations were essentially coerced into paying off massive debts to the United States by selling oil or other natural resources at cheap prices.
“In this way we have created a global empire,” Perkins said. “The world is in a dangerous position.”
The hazards come from the use of a particularly selfish, greedy form of capitalism, Perkins said, that stems from the economics of Milton Friedman.
According to Perkins’ synopsis of Friedman economics, there are three main provisions to this type of fiscal management. One: The sole responsibility of businesses is to maximize profits. Two: Businesses should not be regulated. And three: Everything should be run by private businesses.
“It’s especially predatory,” Perkins said, noting this form of capitalism’s targeting of Third World countries. “But a change in mindset could change everything.”
Perkins stressed how the current global phenomenon of interconnectedness and communication is the first of its kind in history.
“For the first time in history, we’re living in a very small, highly integrated, highly dependent planet,” Perkins said. “For the first time in history we’re all communicating with each other. This is monumental. And we’re all recognizing we’re really in this together.”
Currently, Perkins said, it’s the big corporations calling the shots. Before, one could look to the structure of geopolitics of to gauge the center of world power.
“The marketplace is essentially democratic,” Perkins said.
And the importance of a democratic marketplace is that power falls to the consumers, should they be passionate enough in their values, ideals and talents to utilize it.
Perkins used the example of Nike using slave labor in sweatshops to manufacture their merchandise. He reiterated the power of consumers in changing the way they think and see corporations and their behavior.
“We’re not going to buy from any company that isn’t committed to creating a just and peaceful world,” Perkins said. “We have sent the wrong message, you and I: ‘If it’s made by slaves, I’ll look the other way.’”
So, with every revolution comes the chance to create better openings and prospects for the future.
“There’s an opportunity to create a whole new economy. We need to move to this higher level of consciousness,” Perkins said. “And more than anything, you need to follow your passions and talents. Go for the passion. Don’t follow the money. Follow the passion.”
In an interview with the CU Independent, Perkins talked about the impact his talks have had past audiences.
“I get a lot of e-mails from people forming competitive, responsible organizations,” Perkins said. “There was one about a young woman who started a company that hires women in India to collect plastic bags, and then turns them into purses and boots.”
A similar impact was made on Vladimir Dubovskiy, a 23-year-old senior majoring in applied mathematics. He said he had read Perkins’ book “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” prior to the talk.
“His book was the first I’ve ever read that made me angry. It made me genuinely angry,” Dubovskiy said.
Dubovskiy said he felt compelled to do something about the gloomy reality of corptocracy, Perkins’ term for corporations running politics. It was a big influence in his starting Greenlighted, a Web site that ranks companies on their social and environmental performances.
“It gives power back to the consumers,” Dubovskiy said. “Consumers now have appropriate information to vote with their dollar.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Sheila V Kumar at Sheila.email@example.com.


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The Sustainable Food Policy Alliance (SFPA) thanks everyone in the food and agriculture supply chain – from our farmer and rancher partners, to our suppliers, to truckers, to grocery store employees, to our own employees – for their tireless efforts to keep store shelves full, food on tables and American families and their pets fed and healthy during this challenging time. We are also grateful for those in our health and public safety communities across the country for their tireless work to keep Americans safe.
Food offers an important sense of security, comfort and community, particularly during this public health crisis. The widespread effects of COVID-19 have demonstrated that access to nutritious, affordable food is critical now more than ever. That is why we stand together to respond and innovate in order to support the supply chain and Federal feeding programs as they mobilize to address the impacts of the coronavirus.
As food and beverage companies, we are working to ensure that our employees and the communities in which they operate are safe, to minimize disruptions to our supply chains, and to ensure that food gets to where it is needed most in the United States and around the world. SFPA member companies have also taken steps to provide hospitals, food banks and other relief organizations with donations of food, hygiene products and other critical supplies and resources. We will continue to explore additional opportunities to provide support throughout the crisis.
We have prioritized the health and wellbeing of our employees, their families and the communities in which they live. We have implemented additional safety measures in our manufacturing facilities, as well as distribution centers and offices, including strict adherence to the guidance set forth by the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and recommendations from government and local officials. We have also taken steps to protect employee livelihoods against the potential negative financial impacts of coronavirus. While each company had strong paid leave and benefits policies in place prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the current and impending public health and economic impacts of the pandemic on American families further shine light on the need for a strong, comprehensive national paid sick leave policy.
As the situation continues to evolve, leadership and clear communication from the highest levels of government to officials on the ground will be paramount. We are in unprecedented times and the full, long-term impacts of this crisis on American families, the food and agriculture industry and the global economy are not yet known.
We are pleased to see Congress continue to advance bipartisan legislation to support economic recovery in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Similarly to our own individual efforts, Congress rightly expanded food assistance and access programs as a part of the economic support packages. We believe that the U.S. government should focus financial assistance on the individuals, families and small- and medium-sized businesses, including food and farm businesses, hit hardest by the crisis.
While we are all eager to return to “normal,” we urge all Americans to follow the recommendations of public health officials at the national and local levels and continue to maintain physical distancing and other measures these experts advise to isolate, contain and one day defeat the coronavirus.
We know that the days and weeks to come will be challenging for our consumers, our employees and our partners. We will continue to do everything we can to protect our employees and meet the needs of our customers, while supporting strong, healthy families and the resilience of our country’s communities.
Read more about efforts underway at each SFPA member company:


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Shah Rukh Khan’s next performance on the big screen will have a personal touch to it. The superstar will appear in a commercial for his son Aryan Khan’s luxury streetwear business Dyavolx. Surprisingly, this is also Aryan’s directorial debut. On Monday, the first teaser for the brand’s advertisement was unveiled.
A paintbrush is spotted on the floor in the teaser, and presumably, Shah Rukh picks it up, though the camera angle switches before the face is revealed. Towards the end, SRK’s visage emerges for a fraction of a second, just long enough for fans to recognise the Pathaan star.
A snapshot on the brand’s web page shows Aryan Khan sitting in the director’s chair and inspecting the monitor. Aryan is recognised as the ad’s director and one of the creative minds behind the concept in another article. Shah Rukh also shared the preview with the caption “X marks the spot.” There are only 24 hours left. Exclusive stuff can be found by following @duavol.x.”
Aryan Khan discussed the brand and his aspirations for it in an interview with Vogue. “As of now, we’re thinking of an apparel line that will be brought to the consumer by limited edition capsule collections, made available to them via drops on our web store,” he stated. There may be further verticals as we progress,”
Aryan Khan, unlike Shah Rukh Khan, is not interested in pursuing a career as an actor. As a director, showrunner, and screenwriter, he is working on his debut web series.
Suhana Khan, Aryan’s sister, will make her acting debut in Netflix’s The Archies. Zoya Akhtar directs the film. Shah Rukh, on the other hand, will be featured in the next film Jawan.


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Latest News on Reebok
Showing of 0 - 10 from 56 results
Reebok - Total results - 56
Dec 08, 2017
Kangana Ranaut says Padmavati row 'not very surprising', attacks on women are commonKangana Ranaut has opposed the threats issued to Padmavati actress Deepika Padukone, and said patriarchy in the society needs to be attacked.
Nov 17, 2017
Women are now fighting back! There is a reason why working women are constantly following the new Reebok #FitToFight campaignArray
Mar 10, 2016
Kangana Ranaut says video of her temper tantrum is realActress Kangana Ranaut, has confirmed that a video depicting her temper tantrum at a crewmember, which went viral on social media, is authentic
Mar 09, 2016
'Today’s women should stay fit in all aspects': Kangana Ranaut is Reebok India's new brand ambassadorThe Queen of Bollywood Kangana Ranaut was announced as the brand ambassador of Reebok India
May 06, 2014
New Reebok campaign urges viewers to 'Live With Fire'Array
Apr 21, 2014
Reebok India: Betting big on the fitness segmentArray
Dec 30, 2013
Govt starts prosecution proceedings in Reebok fraud caseIn its FIR filed with police last year, Reebok had alleged financial fraud to the tune of Rs 870 crore at the company by certain persons including senior executives of its India arm.
Dec 04, 2013
Lilliput fiasco: Kroll, BMR join hands to battle India's PE fraud claimsStressing on synchronisation, Kroll will deal with external evidence while BMR will focus on internal financial faults to protect PE investors.
Sep 09, 2013
From Walmart to NSEL: CEOs face axe for non-performanceExperts say that the tolerance level for under- performance has come down considerably due to the challenging economic conditions and such exits are now mostly sudden and brutal, while CEO departures were earlier handled discreetly.
Jul 22, 2013
Reebok signs John Abraham as brand ambassadorArray


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Recently it was announced that the Japan based messaging giant LINE has added TRON, which is a global decentralized blockchain platform, to Bitbox, their own cryptocurrency exchange. This inclusion has been approved by the open listing committee of Bitbox who allowed blockchain startups to be included in Bitbox by evaluating them. Bitbox is also accepting application from blockchain projects that wish to be listed in Bitbox. Youngsu Ko, CEO of LINE Tech Plus, LINE’s Singapore-based branch that manages BITBOX said,
Integrating TRON (TRX) with BITBOX will enable us to connect with the world’s fastest-growing blockchain project, TRON has a solid tech platform, especially now it has joined forces with BitTorrent. We look forward to building a strategic partnership with TRON and offering our users the best experience available in the cryptocurrency space.
LINE had also closed its acquisition of BitTorrent this year in July. The company made this announcement via a blog post. They also informed that the regular operation of BitTorrent will be continued with a difference that it would be aiding the development of decentralized solution for its 100M users worldwide. They intend to create an “Internet of options” not of “rules”. Justin Sun, the CEO of TRON shed some light on this subject in a recent interview,
Our role as the largest decentralized protocol is to provide the best possible service to our users. Our mission is to provide a fast, safe, and reliable product that is usable both on desktop and mobile. Currently, we are actively working on Project Atlas, a major step toward a fairer Internet. The project is in collaboration with Bittorrent, and will extend the lifespan of their torrents’ swarms, offer rewards to peers who seed torrents, infuse resources into the torrent ecosystem, and establish financial rewards in return. The project will transform the way people share and consume content, helping to re-shape the industry for the better.
With the aim of further promoting the use and development of blockchain technology in mind, the company has also launched a token venture fund by its Hong Kong based subsidiary, unblock corporation. The venture has received a capital commitment of $10 million by LVC, which is also a LINE group company. This makes LINE the first ever publicly traded corporations to formalize token investments through a corporate fund.
Justin Sun, lay emphasis on the fact that how all these ventures are aimed to achieving one goal, that is decentralizing the internet. TRON was also developed in order to house the decentralized applications for the users. By promoting the DLT, they intend to ensure that the creators get the credit as well as the profit they are rightly entitled to. TRON was developed with a vision to introduce a healthy and prosperous ecosystem and that is what they are striving to achieve.
During our early stages, getting content online was one of our top priorities. Now that TRON is well established as a major public chain, we are looking beyond just incentivizing content and more toward building a healthy ecosystem. In fact, TRON is already a top blockchain operating system for decentralized apps, and our mission is to provide an affordable, efficient, and convenient infrastructure to development. Essentially, we are working to achieve our dream of decentralizing the web.
In addition, he also mentioned that these services will not be provided solely to the countries where crypto and blockchain usage and development is on a surge. They want to make it possible for people all over the world to get access to the decentralized web and benefit from it.
If you look at our portfolio, you will find exchanges from all around the world: US, Korea, Japan, India and the list continues. It is very important for us that our tokens are available to the most people since our company mission is to the decentralize the whole Internet.
He added on, that TRON has seen a massive adoption of blockchain technology with an ever growing number of users. With all the new ventures it has already introduced, they do not intend to stop now and keep coming up with new platforms that promote usage and incorporation of blockchain.
TRON has embraced a massive network with over 100 million active users. We have more exciting news coming out in the fourth quarter as well.
In a nutshell, LINE is vigorously partaking in the development of blockchain based platforms. With tech giants introducing us to newer platforms of DLT every day, the inevitability of the future, where the whole web is decentralized seems undeniable.


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Microsoft is gearing up to reveal some "big updates" at 3:30pm PT today where it's expected the company will reveal more Xbox games available for backwards compatibility. However, it seems that the updates may have already gone live for some games on the Xbox Marketplace as several original Xbox games, like The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, are now newly backwards compatible.
We expect Microsoft to make an official announcement for backwards compatible games later today, but the update may have already gone live for some titles. Thanks to WindowsCentral we know that a handful of games are already listed as backwards compatible including: The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, Destroy All Humans, MX Unleashed, and FUll Spectrum Warrior.
As previously noted, these leaks are similar to those during the first rollout of backward compatible titles, presumably a result of getting the games ready for the marketplace as soon as they're officially announced.
Still, there could be more games announced at the Microsoft update later today so it's still a good idea to tune-in. We'll definitely be checking it out. But even then Morrowind is a pretty big get for backwards compatibility, and no doubt fans are eager to return to the classic, 100-plus hour RPG.
Morrowind was most recently revisited in Elder Scrolls Online with last year's Morrowind expansion. However, ESO has recently moved away from the volcanic lands of Morrowind for the more temperate Summerset Isles, which we recently checked out.
Microsoft's backwards compatibility program has proven to be incredibly popular with gamers, especially with a strong lineup of games that includes Halo 3, The Witcher 2, and more. You can check out Microsoft's update announcement over at the Xbox website at 3pm.


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HYUNDAI-KIA AUTOMOTIVE GROUP IS WORLD'S SIXTH LARGEST AUTOMAKER IN 2005
Group posts global sales gain of 11.6% in 2005
HASEEB AHMED FAROOQUI
July 17 - 23, 2006
The Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group ranks as the sixth largest automotive manufacturer in the world, according to the Detroit-based weekly Automotive News.
In Automotive News' most recent survey of global automotive sales and production, Hyundai Motor Co. and its subsidiary Kia Motors Corp. registered an 11.6 percent jump in global sales in 2005 to 3,715,096 units. It was the largest percentage gain of any carmaker in the million-plus sales category. With it, Hyundai and Kia climbed one spot in the global rankings.
Kia Motors has enjoyed double digit sales gains in Europe, China and Australia while in the more competitive North American market a more modest pace of growth has been registered.
The survey results were published in the June 5, 2006 edition of Automotive News and include sales of cars, light trucks, commercial vehicles and buses.
2005 GLOBAL SALES
Toyota Motor Corp.
Ford Motor Co.
Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group
Nissan Motor Co.
Honda Motor Co.
*Source: Automotive News June 5, 2006 Edition
Kia Motors Corporation (www.kiamotors.com) -- one of the fastest growing automakers in the world -- was founded in 1944 and is Korea's oldest manufacturer of motor vehicles. As part of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, Kia aims to become one of the world's premier automotive brands. Kia's 12 manufacturing and assembly operations in 7 countries produce more than 1.1 million vehicles a year that are sold and serviced through a network of distributors and dealers covering 160 countries. Kia today has over 32,500 employees and annual revenues of almost $16 billion. It is the major sponsor of the Australian Tennis Open and an official worldwide sponsor of the Davis Cup. From 2007 to 2014, Kia will be an official automotive partner of FIFA -- the governing body of the FIFA World Cup. Kia Motors Corporation's brand slogan -- "The Power to Surprise" -- represents the company's global commitment to surpassing customer expectations through continuous automotive
Dewan Farooque Motors Limited (www.dewan-motors.com) reserves the exclusive rights for the assembling and distribution of Kia vehicles in Pakistan. Over the past six years, Dewan Farooque Motors Limited (DFML) has earned national recognition in producing a diversified range of quality vehicles for people from different walks of life. The plant has state-of-the-art production facilities located at Sujawal, around 145 km from Karachi in southern Pakistan. The company has just recently launched the new and exciting range of imported Kia vehicles in Pakistan. These include the powerful 2.0L CRDi 4x4 diesel Sportage, the sublime 1.4L RIO and the exciting 1.1L Epsilon Picanto. By offering these products the company intends to get closer to it's customers by offering a lineup of top quality new models. These products are sure to come as a pleasant surprise to the customers and will enable them to lead energetic lives filled with delight and excitement. Therefore, Dewan Farooque Motors Limited promises a better tomorrow for the Pakistani automobile customer.


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People who are using Windows Phone 7 on their older Nokia Lumia devices are eagerly waiting for the Windows Phone 7.8 update. This update will bring a lot of Windows Phone 8 features to smart phones which are not compatible for the Windows Phone 8 update, and the list of such smart phones includes a lot of Lumia devices. So, the Windows Phone 7.8 update is very important now.
There have been a lot of news about the update coming very soon. And today, we have a proof for that. The admin of the windowsmania.pl has today posted a few photos and a video of a Nokia Lumia 800 running the yet to be released Windows Phone 7.8 operating system.
As you can see from the image here, the home screen has undergone a few cosmetic changes. Apart from that, you will not be able to see a lot of changes in the user interface. This is because most of the new update includes changes only under the hood, for example, performance upgrades and new features.
One of the features which has been most desperately waited for is the ability to share files between different Lumia smart phones over Bluetooth. I do not understand why Microsoft and even Nokia did not include this feature in the first release itself. I feel that such a feature is very important. Now, with the update to the newest operating system, Windows Phone 7.8, the Bluetooth file sharing feature has been made available.
Also, the Nokia Lumia devices have good cameras. The Camera app on these devices till now was good enough, but not serving all the needs of the users. But now, the company has updated the Camera app to include more features, which the users are going to love for sure.
So when can you expect the update to be rolled out? Well, we are not yet certain about that one thing. Now that the operating system is somehow available for one of the customers, the update may soon be released. Keep waiting.