#Drennn.

Kroegers counts on customer service, changing with the times and hometown roots Two tenets of business have kept one of Durango’s oldest businesses, Kroegers Ace Hardware, vibrant since its founding 100 years ago: a willingness to adapt to change and a belief in putting the customer first. Those two principles have driven the store since it was founded in August 1921, when Fred W. and John Kroeger bought the old Farmers Supply Co. and added hardware, paint, lawn and garden supplies and water systems – creating the store Durangoans recognize today. “Everybody asks: Wow, how can a business survive for 100 years?” said Joel Krueger, who owns the store with his wife, Margie. “It’s because it’s not the same business today. You have to be able to change, to decide which direction you want to go. You can’t say, ‘We’re going to hold our ground and stay the same.’ The world will move on without you.” Krueger, whose last name is confusingly similar to Kroeger, is not related to the founding brothers. He and his wife, Margie, bought the store in 2006 from Jim and Cindy Wendt, who had previously acquired the store in the mid-1990s from Fred V. Kroeger, the son of Fred W. Kroeger. Krueger, who moved to Durango in 1991, got a job at Kroeger Hardware and worked briefly for Fred V. Kroeger while he was in the process of selling the business to the Wendts. Through the years, the hardware store has added services like store pickup, free in-town delivery and assembly to match services increasingly common first among big chains and now with Amazon. “We’re probably never going to be the first on something new, but we’re sure as heck not going to be more than second or third,” Krueger said. “When we see something new that’s right for us, we’re going to try it and find a way to make it work for us.” In 2001, Kroegers Hardware affiliated with Ace Hardware, the largest dealer-owned hardware cooperative in the world. Becoming a member of a cooperative allowed Kroeger to keep its small-town independent roots while giving it access to economies of scale – allowing it to stay price-competitive with larger chains. Membership in Ace gives Kroegers the benefits of national advertising, allows it to buy products at scale, and gives the store access to the co-op’s computer network and web services. “We couldn’t do what we’re doing without a co-op behind us,” Krueger said. “Basically, what the co-op is, is strength in numbers.” Ordering 50 hammers for a single store, for example, it would be impossible to compete with the Home Depots and Walmarts of the world, Krueger said. With Ace, Kroegers is now able to place an order for hammers with the other 4,500 other independent hardware stores that are Ace members. Ace provides the software that allows Kroegers to track inventory, it provides the credit card processing for the store and Kroegers’ website is under the Ace umbrella. “We’re using Ace’s ecommerce system, but it’s our inventory,” Krueger said. While the cooperative model allows Kroegers to compete with Home Depot, it still unlikely to be the lowest-cost option. Krueger said that is why his store has to be the top option for customer service. “If we were a clothing store, I don’t think we could do this,” Krueger said. “Clothing is clothing. We can offer advice to get the right product. We can provide advice to help people replace a faucet for the first time.” Theresa Boomer, who was shopping at Kroegers on Wednesday, says she likes the smaller size of Kroegers compared with chain stores and she appreciates the helpful staff and the downtown location. Also, she said the COVID-19 pandemic that has disrupted lives and economies has illuminated the importance of shopping locally. “This past crazy year has made me more aware of how vital it is to support local business, and that most certainly attracts me to check out Kroeger’s first,” she said. “I’m happy to spend an extra buck there to support a local business – on top of all the other positive reasons to shop there.” Kroegers hasn’t finalized plans to celebrate its 100th anniversary. But it is looking to hold some type of event in the fall, hopefully at a time when the novel coronavirus is in full retreat and when larger public gatherings are allowed. The amount of sales at Kroegers purchased by the agricultural community has decreased over the years, but an increasing amount of sales is being taken up by newcomers, especially people with second homes, vacation homes and those fleeing cities. Krueger said: “It’s heightened our need to make sure our employees are trained enough to offer advice and to know when not to offer advice because someone wants to replace an electrical outlet, but they don’t know how to take the cover plate off. We tell them, ‘I don’t think you ought to do that. Find somebody to do it for you.’” Kroegers employs 40 people, 30 of them full-time. The company starts employees at $15 an hour, offers health insurance, a 401(k) plan and two weeks a year paid vacation. “For retail, you’re not going to get rich, but you should be able to make a good living, and we want our employees to find a home here,” Krueger said. “We like to think of ourselves as a family.” Treating employees right is fundamental to keeping a staff that’s knowledgeable and helpful when dealing with home projects. Krueger believes Durango’s growing number of second-home owners, newcomers fleeing cities and the po[CENSORED]rity of do-it-yourself projects – something that’s aided by YouTube videos – will provide Kroegers with a growing number of customers it can continue to serve, perhaps not for another 100 years, but well into the future.

In India cricket is much more than just a game, it’s a part of their lives for many fans. Unsurprisingly, fans have in-depth knowledge about cricket and over the last few years, the rise of fantasy sports has allowed them to convert that knowledge into winning rewards. There are many industry leaders in the field that essentially control the fantasy sports world. However, with each passing day, new platforms are catching the attention of fans. One such app is Khiladi Adda and their cricket fantasy mode (Fan Battle) is a bit different from other platforms out there. In fact, it is much easier to understand and win rewards on this app. But how? Let’s take a look at some of the top features of “Fan Battle.” 1. Simple & easy to understand User Interface Having a simple UI is quite essential to the po[CENSORED]rity of any application. Making sure that the user is not lost in the features is crucial and Khiladi Adda has achieved that with their Fan Battle section. Every feature of the mode is explained perfectly and there is a short tutorial video available for first-time users as well. 2. No need to scratch your head to build a team Most fantasy apps follow the same pattern – you have to build a roster out of the players available in the pool for any given match. However, this is a hectic process and could burn out players, who do not have an in-depth knowledge of the sport. On the contrary, Fan Battle provides you with a set of predetermined combos to invest in. These combos are tailored with a combination of players for any given match. By doing so, you can save a lot of time and use it to maybe invest in some other matches. 3. Minimal investment risk and low withdrawal threshold One thing that discourages players from trying out cricket fantasy apps is their high minimum investment rule. For example, in most apps you have to spend at least Rs.50-100 to start your journey. In Fan Battle, the minimum money you need to invest is just Rs.10. Thus, the risk is pretty low and it’s easier to try your luck out in fantasy sports. In case you are confident in your prediction skills you can always invest up to Rs.5000 in any combo. The most irritating part for any fantasy sports player is the inability to withdraw their winnings. Most apps have a high threshold to take out your winnings. However, in Khiladi Adda, once your winnings have reached Rs.20, you are allowed to withdraw your hard-earned winnings. 4. A wide array of matches to choose from To make sure users never sit ideal, there is a big library of ongoing cricket matches to choose from in the Fan Battle mode. Additionally, in those matches, you will find different types of battles ongoing. Thus, you always have an option to invest your coins in the Fan Battle mode. Usually, the matches, battles, and combos will be visible to users 24 hours prior to the scheduled start of any given match. This grants users enough time to easily gather more information about the match they want to invest in.

11 aprile 2021 - Cambiano ancora i colori delle Regioni in Italia, solo quattro sono rosse in mezzo all'arancione. Ecco le regole per spostarsi a piedi, in bici, moto, auto e altri mezzi di trasporto opo una Pasqua “in rosso” da domani, 12 aprile 2021, l’Italia è “meno intensamente colorata”. Due le opzioni, arancione e rosso, secondo le misure degli ultimi decreti e la fase di pandemia. In zona rossa ci sono Campania, Puglia, Valle d’Aosta e Sardegna. In arancio Calabria, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardia, Piemonte e Toscana. Arancio anche per Umbria, Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Sardegna, Basilicata, Liguria, Sicilia (tranne la provincia di Palermo, che è zona rossa) più le le Province autonome di Trento e Bolzano. Il passaggio a fascia arancio vede parecchie attività commerciali che riaprirono, soprattutto il mondo dei parrucchieri, i centri estetici, l’abbigliamento e le calzature. Il mondo della scuola riporta in presenza seconda e terza media, mentre le superiori sono in presenza a rotazione. Anche se la zona diventa arancione, non si esce dal Comune di residenza, salvo i noti motivi da certificare tra cui anche il recarsi in un esercizio aperto non presente ove si risiede (tra questi casi anche il mondo dell’autoriparazione, sempre operativo). Si possono fare visite, all’interno del Comune, ad amici e pareti in casa privata ma solo una volta al giorno (tra le 5 e le 22) in due persone massimo (non si conteggiano agli under 14 e le persone disabili o non autosufficienti). Il coprifuoco verrà ridiscusso prossimamente, per eliminarlo o spostarlo a tarda serata, intanto resta attivo in tutto il Paese dalle 22 alle 5, come già in vigore.

People of all ages are emerging from a year of introspection with new perspective; ‘It gave me that nudge’ Sarah Smalls, center, with, clockwise from left, her grandchildren and her husband, Curtis, at home on Wednesday; she said the pandemic pushed her to change some of her priorities. PHOTO: DEE DWYER FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Sarah Smalls is tiptoeing back into her old routine, now that she is fully vaccinated against Covid-19. She hosted Easter dinner. Her adult son now stops over for indoor visits. She and her husband plan to travel again. But like many other newly vaccinated Americans, Ms. Smalls, who is 74 years old and lives in Lorton, Va., isn’t seeking to merely unfreeze and restart her pre-pandemic life. Ms. Smalls says the person who went into the pandemic isn’t the same person coming out. She is emerging with new goals, priorities and concerns. The long pause that forced both isolation and introspection has been a catalyst to change course. Ms. Smalls intends to finally learn how to swim. She wants to take weekend trips with her best friends. And most notably, she won’t go back to the frenetic pace she kept for years while raising three grandchildren and working at a nonprofit. During the pandemic, she left her staff job to do consulting for the group, a change she said she hadn’t expected to make for several more years. “As the kids say, ‘I’m gonna do me,’ ” Ms. Smalls says. “It took a pandemic to come along and show me that you don’t have a whole lot of time to do what you want to do. It gave me that nudge, and it was a hard nudge.”

BUCHAREST, Romania — Marchers took to the streets Saturday in the Romanian capital of Bucharest to protest restrictive measures to fight the spread of COVID-19 even as new daily infections and deaths rose in the European Union nation. BUCHAREST, Romania — Marchers took to the streets Saturday in the Romanian capital of Bucharest to protest restrictive measures to fight the spread of COVID-19 even as new daily infections and deaths rose in the European Union nation. About 1,000 people converged on Victory Square and University Square, expressing frustration with an earlier curfew and shop closures that took effect at the end of March. Many demonstrators waved tri-colour Romanian flags and chanted “Freedom!” and “Down with the government!” “We came to fight against this state of alert that buries all our rights and freedoms,” Dumitru Balan, leader of the civic movement Action for the Nation, told The Associated Press. “We do not agree with compulsory vaccination, with wearing a mask on our faces … the quarantine of cities, online schooling, the closure of churches, playgrounds, restaurants and shops," he said. Romania does not have compulsory vaccinations. The protest was held on the same day that Romania passed the milestone of having 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases. Hospital intensive care units are struggling to cope with the record demand of just under 1,500 COVID-19 patients and 12,000 others are in other wards. “There are now very severe patients admitted in our clinical ward that normally would require intensive care … we don’t have enough ICU beds available and patients are waiting with sub-optimal care,” Dragos Zaharia, a pneumologist at Marius Nasta Institute, told the AP. “We are at risk of being accused of malpractice." The protesters halted outside Cotroceni Palace, where President Klaus Iohannis resides, and called for an early election. “I think Romania has a perfect storm of conditions that create this climate of anti-restriction protests,” Dani Sandu, a sociologist affiliated with the European University Institute, told the AP. “Romania is a society with low levels of trust in public institutions." On Friday evening, authorities transferred patients in the middle of the night from Bucharest’s Foisor Orthopedic Hospital to other facilities as it was turned into a COVID-19 hospital. An official from the governing National Liberal Party, Ben Oni Ardelean, called the situation a “circus” and said he will urge that Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu be fired. Romania has recorded 25,006 deaths in the pandemic.

Savona. Si sono scontrati violentemente una moto e un suv questo pomeriggio intorno alle 16 in corso Mazzini a Savona. A rimanere gravemente ferito un ragazzo di 23 anni alla guida della moto che ha subito un trauma importante al piede. Sul luogo dell’incidente sono subito arrivati soccorsi: i militi della Croce Bianca di Savona, l’automedica, i vigili del fuoco e la polizia municipale. Il ragazzo ferito è stato trasportato in codice rosso al pronto soccorso del Santa Corona di Pietra Ligure. Prestate le cure anche al conducente dell’auto in stato di shock per l’accaduto. Non sono ancora chiare le dinamiche dell’incidente.

After years of working to provide a comfortable lifestyle for his wife and two children, Louis is feeling the strain of his high-pressure, $275,000-a-year managerial job. He wants to retire this coming December, but he worries it might mean he can’t meet two goals that seem equally important to him and Maureen: to maintain their high standard of living throughout their retirement years and leave a substantial estate for their children, including their lakefront recreational property. The children, both in their early 20s, are living at home. By year end, his target retirement date, Louis will be 59. His wife Maureen, who has stayed home for the past 20 years to raise the children and manage the household, will be 53. They hope to keep their Toronto-area house for another few years and then sell it and perhaps rent a place in town or even move full-time to their lakefront second home. The wild card is the anticipated $2-million inheritance Louis stands to eventually receive from his parents. “Can we afford to carry $12,000 a month in expenditures in retirement given our situation?” Louis asks in an e-mail. Their retirement spending goal is $144,000 a year after tax. We asked Warren MacKenzie, head of financial planning at Optimize Wealth Management in Toronto, to look at Louis and Maureen’s situation. WHAT THE EXPERT SAYS Estate planning is first and foremost about clarifying goals, Mr. MacKenzie says. So Louis and Maureen have to decide which is most important to them: leaving a large estate for their children or living comfortably now and in their old age, he says. “Once that decision is made, the question about retiring at the end of the year is easy.” The plan is to leave the two children the lakefront property, valued at $1.8-million, and $200,000 each in cash with today’s purchasing power. “It is possible that they might be able to spend at this level and also leave a large estate, but this would require uninterrupted high investment returns (at least 6 per cent, or 4 per cent plus the rate of inflation), Louis receiving the full amount of an anticipated inheritance from his parents of $2-million and no unexpected expenses or investment losses,” Mr. MacKenzie says. With about $4.8-million of assets, retiring and spending at the desired level is not an issue, the planner says. “But if leaving a large estate is a very important goal, Louis will need to work until age 65,” he adds. “They need to make a choice: retire and enjoy life or continue to work so they can leave their children a larger estate.” Most of the couple’s net worth is tied up in real estate, so if Louis chooses to retire now, their retirement plan will have to include selling either their cottage or their home at some point. Their registered retirement savings plans can sustain them for about 10 years, but then they will have to sell one or both properties, or refinance the properties using the reverse mortgage option, Mr. MacKenzie says. “If their No. 1 goal is to leave the largest possible estate, then the appropriate course of action is for them to cut back on their personal spending and for Louis to continue working for as long as possible.”

Software upgrades improve user experience and cut design time in half New automated functions aid productivity and drive projects to be completed on budget and on schedule Cloud-based configurator ensures product data is accurate and up to date while enabling collaborative design and engineering from anywhere MISSISSAUGA, ON, April 9, 2021 /CNW/ - Schneider Electric, the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, today announced release of the new LayoutFAST software tool with enhanced user interface, configuration and design automation features – bringing greater speed, efficiency and accuracy to building information modeling (BIM) and electrical design. Building on its award-winning software, the new LayoutFAST offers an intuitive, cloud-based product configurator with parametric BIM objects and, for a limited time, free vendor agnostic design assist features. Consulting engineers, contractors, modelers and electrical designers can benefit from this free tool to select, configure and edit product models in an integrated design environment. "Building information modeling just got easier with the new LayoutFAST! Our enhanced design software allows you to seamlessly integrate customized and always accurate BIM objects from the cloud, into your design," said Bassem Ammouri, Director, Energy Management Software for Schneider Electric. "And thanks to our new pro features – like one-line diagram automation – design work goes from minutes, to seconds." LayoutFAST integrates with Autodesk Revit® BIM software and provides access to design data, drawings, specifications, and pricing across the entire Schneider Electric, Square D™, APC™, and ASCO™ portfolio. Accessible through the Revit or AutoCad plugin, via a web browser or mobile device, LayoutFAST offers easy and convenient product configuration – from schematics all the way to facilities management – in a few simple clicks. The new LayoutFAST offers enhanced functionality for greater: Speed: Reduce product selection time and make on-the-fly BIM changes by automatically generating single-line diagrams and riser diagrams based on your connected electrical distribution in Revit. Save time and increase productivity with page loads and downloads that now process twice as fast. Efficiency: Avoid manual efforts with advanced configuration options that reduce the inefficiencies associated with generic BIM object tools. Quickly configure control panels based on automated and predetermined rules, create comprehensive bills of materials, and easily share with colleagues or manufacturers in a matter of seconds. Accuracy: Keep stakeholders aligned, reduce change orders and minimize risk with accurate modeling designed for real-world operating conditions. Gain peace of mind with BIM objects that have been upgraded to the newest version of Revit to maintain universal standards and enhanced for greater precision. The new LayoutFAST supports the digital transformation needed to thrive in today's ways of working, and remote connectivity is essential for effective collaboration. The BIM object creator and web-based, product design tools are completely free. And, certain features – such as the one-line diagram and riser diagram automation – will be free while in the Beta phase. Create top-tier designs with the new LayoutFAST – configure your next project today: https://www.se.com/us/en/partners/resources/layoutfast/ About Schneider Electric Schneider's purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On. Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency. We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.

Asahi Linux—founded by Hector "marcan" Martin—has merged initial support for Apple M1 hardware into the Linux system-on-chip (SOC) tree, where it will hopefully make it into the Linux 5.13 kernel (which we can expect roughly in July). What's an Asahi? Asahi is the Japanese name for what we know as the McIntosh Apple—the specific fruit cultivar that gave the Mac its name. Asahi Linux is a fledgling distribution founded with the specific goal of creating a workable daily-driver Linux experience on Apple M1 silicon. This is a daunting task. Apple does not offer any community documentation for Apple Silicon, so Martin and cohorts must reverse-engineer the hardware as well as write drivers for it. And this is especially difficult considering the M1 GPU—without first-class graphics support, Asahi cannot possibly offer a first-class Linux experience on M1 hardware such as the 2020 M1 Mac Mini, Macbook Air, and Macbook Pro. What's been merged? Late Thursday night, Arnd Bergmann—co-maintainer of the arm-soc kernel tree—merged an arm/apple-m1 branch into for-next. Linux-next is the holding area for code expected to go into the next kernel merge window, somewhat akin to FreeBSD-HEAD. The new branch includes the early rudiments of a working Apple M1 boot environment, not everything necessary for a normal operating system. This includes a brand-new bootloader, which uses Apple's proprietary USB commands. Once booted, Asahi's environment currently only provides serial and framebuffer console access—no other driver support is present. Martin describes the process of accessing the serial console as "easiest [using] a second M1 box and a simple USB-C cable," with the alternative of "build[ing] a DIY interface using an Arduino, a FUSB302 chip or board, and a 1.2V UART-TTL adapter." Making it into for-next doesn't actually guarantee that Asahi's work will land in Linux 5.13. It's always possible that Linus Torvalds will see something he doesn't like and kick the can back to Linux 5.14 pending some necessary changes. But in order to land in for-next in the first place, Asahi's bootstrap work had to pass reviews from 20+ kernel developers—so a rejection seems unlikely at this point. So when can I have Linux on my Apple M1? As exciting as the news of Martin's work landing upstream might be, don't rush out to buy an Apple M1 device for Linux use just yet. It's been five months since we tested the first Apple M1 hardware—and it's taken every day of that time to get to a completely vanilla boot environment "just about suitable for debugging." It's impossible to guess how long it will take the Asahi developers to reverse-engineer the M1's GPU and produce a quality open source driver. Even now it's not impossible they'll fail to do so entirely; or for some reason their work might not be accepted upstream. We're cautiously excited about the idea of first-class Linux support on the M1, but we absolutely do not recommend buying M1 hardware for that purpose unless and until the Asahi project gets much, much farther down the road than it's managed so far. This isn't because we doubt Martin—his effort in getting the project as far as it's gotten already is outstanding—it's just far too early to assume success, let alone success within a concrete timeline.

While there's a lot to do in Monster Hunter Rise, those looking for their next great hunting adventure should give these games a shot. If you're someone who love the mystery and thrill of hunting and fighting powerful creatures, then you probably love the recently released Monster Hunter Rise. The series centers around traveling through a hostile alien-like world either alone or as part of a team, hunting down creatures and using their materials to craft and trade for better equipment. However, while Rise is a massive game with tons to do and see, some players may be looking for something else to enjoy. Plus, the game is currently a Nintendo Switch and PC exclusive, meaning those on other consoles are left out. Whether you've had your fill of Monster Hunter Rise, you just need a break before diving back in or you're on the outside looking in, here are some games that capture a similar energy and love of the hunt. The Hunter: Call Of The Wild Available on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One As great as the fantastical worlds and monsters of games like Rise are, some players may seek more realistic experiences. The Hunter: Call of the Wild is a hunting simulation game that drops players in wilderness areas around the world to track and hunt real life animals like deer, rabbits and pheasants. Players will need to look for animal tracks and droppings, while making sure to stay down wind so they can't detect that they're being followed. While hunters can kill these animals with weapons like rifles, shotguns or bows and arrows, those who simply wish to observe can use a digital camera to take photos of the critters. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch Arguably the crown jewel of CD Projekt Red, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an open-world RPG based on the fantasy novel series of the same name. Simply put, a Witcher's job is to hunt down hostile monsters threatening townsfolk throughout the land for a modest fee. While trying to track down his adoptive daughter Ciri, Geralt will often get sidetracked with exploring, looting and hunting dangerous monsters. This involves using his superior Witcher senses to look for clues to find and identify beasts. Before going headlong to fight whatever awaits, players will need to prepare by gathering the right potions and other equipment to properly defeat these monsters. Once killed, you can even cut off their heads to take as a trophy and hang from your horse. Available on PC and PlayStation 4 Developed by Guerrilla Games, Horizon Zero Dawn takes place thousands of years after the end of modern civilization, where humanity has returned to living in tribes and kingdoms that hunt for survival. Instead of animals, players will be hunting powerful robot dinosaurs as Aloy, a huntress who must leave her home and uncover the mystery surrounding her, these machines and how the old world ended. Using tracking skills and preparation with the right weapons, Aloy can hunt for the biggest and toughest machines out there. A number of different strategies can be used, including tearing off and using some of the monster's weapon systems. Some can even be hacked so they become temporary allies in battle. Shadow Of The Colossus Available on PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 4 An iconic PlayStation exclusive, Shadow of the Colossus doesn't have as many creatures to hunt as some of these other titles. However, the monsters players will encounter here more than make up for that. Many of these Colossi stand multiple stories tall and can unleash incredible destruction. The game follows a warrior named Wander and his quest to resurrect a girl named Mono. To do this, he must find and defeat all the Colossi scattered throughout the Forbidden Lands. Wander's only equipment is a sword he uses to both find and fight these creatures, as well as his trusty steed, Agro. Initially released on PlayStation 2, a remake was released on PS4 to universal acclaim. Hunt: Showdown Available on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One For those wishing for some survival horror to spice things up, Hunt: Showdown is an MMO that can easily turn the hunter into the hunted. Set in a Louisiana swamp in 1895, players take the roles of bounty hunters sent to hunt and kill various monsters, banishing them from the real world. The entire area is overrun with undead villagers and animals that will relentlessly try to kill players, who can participate alone or in a party of up to three. While traveling the bayou, players will need to gather clues to narrow down the search for the target, then try to escape after killing the boss. But these abominations aren't the only enemies players will encounters, as there are also rival teams trying to take out the target and claim the bounty for themselves -- and they'll kill anyone who stands in their way. While the game is available on various systems, it currently does not support crossplay.

Palestinian legislative elections are scheduled for May 22. Whether or not the vote takes place, finally scheduling elections was nothing short of remarkable. Palestinian politics has been in gridlock, with elections suspended since the terrorist group Hamas won a parliamentary majority in 2006. The stalemate gave way to civil war in 2007, during which Hamas conquered the Gaza Strip and the Palestine Liberation Organization clung to power in the West Bank. Since then, a bitter division between the two Palestinian territories has ensued. The Palestinians have had ample time to address this problem. It has been almost a decade and a half since the last vote. But the political system is dominated in the West Bank by one man, Mahmoud Abbas, and one party, Fatah, whereas in Gaza, it is dominated by one party, Hamas. Having failed to retool their system, the Palestinians are now careening toward another political crisis. Inexplicably, international stakeholders are watching the sudden return of Palestinian politics from the sidelines. The saga began in September 2020 in the wake of the Abraham Accords—normalization agreements between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. The peace deal was a wake-up call to Palestinians that they were losing traction among Arab states that historically championed their cause. Hamas and Fatah met in Istanbul, Turkey, for a dialogue that few, if any, believed would yield a political breakthrough. After all, the two sides had met and failed to agree many times before. The Egyptians, Saudis, Turks, Russians, and others had all tried brokering agreements and had all failed. Remarkably, on Sept. 24, 2020, the two sides emerged aligned. “We have agreed to first hold legislative elections, then presidential elections of the Palestinian Authority, and finally the central council of the Palestine Liberation Organization,” said Jibril Rajoub, a senior Fatah official. Using the past as a guide, the likelihood the two sides would follow through on their agreement was decidedly low. But once again, the Palestinians surprised. On Jan. 15, Abbas announced that Palestinian Authority legislative elections would take place on May 22 and presidential elections on July 31. Abbas’ announcement was nothing short of remarkable. The aging politician has an iron grip on power after winning a four-year term in 2005 and extending his term 12 additional years. He ostensibly did so to prevent the rise of Hamas. It was no surprise that Hamas welcomed his announcement. The group called for fair elections for Palestinians to “express their will without restrictions or pressures.” As election plans took shape, Abbas issued a direct challenge to Israel: He insisted elections could not happen without the Arab residents of East Jerusalem, which Israel considers a part of its capital, taking part. “We are very interested in having elections but not at any price,” Abbas said. The Palestinian Authority followed up with a formal request to Israel.

I am the founder and CEO of Apriorit, a software development company that provides engineering services globally to tech companies. During software development, in-house teams tend to prioritize creating new features to support the product's evolution. However, such an approach may lead them into a trap of spending all the budget on supporting legacy code. What can save them is finding the balance between a product's service value and functional value. One way to find this balance is by outsourcing software development to a team that understands the importance of the product's service value. In this article, I'll tell you how you can identify a software outsourcing company that will enhance your product's business value by improving its service value. Why Does Service Value Matter? The business value of software products is made up of two main parts: • Functional value. This derives from the functionality of a software product that is most valued by end users. This type of business value is formed out of the product's usability, functionality, performance, security and reliability. MORE FOR YOU How Fauna Helps Deliver The Serverless Future The Rise Of Containers: Are You Prepared? Should You Be Outsourcing? Eight Signs to Look For • Service value. This defines the implementation of the product's functional value in the current conditions. It's all about which technologies are used, which specialists work on the project, how fast developers adjust to changes and whether they can ensure a stable development process. The more a software product's functionality expands, the more code the software contains. That means you have to spend an increasing amount of time and money maintaining the continuously increasing volume of legacy code. Therefore, less budget remains for developing new features. If your development team puts functional value first, then a time may come when you have to spend all of your budget on maintaining the existing code. Taking care of the product's service value instead can help you ensure ongoing functionality improvements and can make adding new features simpler and cheaper. How To Improve Your Product's Value With Software Outsourcing Your in-house development team may be tempted to postpone the implementation of the changes that provide the product's service value in order to satisfy end users' requests by delivering new functionality. In contrast, it's easier for an outsourcing team to stay the course throughout the development process without being influenced by end users' requests. With the right approach toward the outsourcing team, you can even reduce your costs for delivering new features. Сompanies that provide outsourcing development services should not only be intermediaries between contractors and end users. Look for companies that understand how important your product's business value is and will work to strengthen it from the beginning of the project. An outsourced development team that functions this way can decrease the cost of delivering new features for your product by: • Increasing software efficiency by developing only useful features. • Removing unnecessary expenses by fixing defects, improving legacy code, reducing project downtime and so on. By dealing with a company that cares about your product's service value, you can enhance your product's business value with the least resistance from your in-house team. Looking For The Best Outsourcing Partner How can you find an outsourcing partner that will treat your product as their own and take good care of its service value? Here are some distinguishing features of such companies: • Well-implemented corporate culture. Pay attention to a company's corporate culture, as this factor alone plays a significant part in the success of your project. A mature corporate culture should consist of continuous learning and experience exchange. This will guarantee that your dedicated team can take advantage of new technologies, optimize development routines and continue to provide you with the required skills even if key specialists leave the team. • Contact person for your project. In-team communication is a vital part of a product's service value. Look for a partner who provides a contact person who is always available to you. This ensures the development process is manageable and sustainable. It also makes all project-related communications transparent and fast. • Full scope of engineering services. Freelance developers don't take as much responsibility for their clients' products as do companies that provide a full scope of engineering services. Consider partnering with a company that offers not only developers but also business analysts and project managers. The participation of such specialists significantly improves your product's service value. Also, they can give you a fresh perspective on your project and ensure efficient management of the project team and resources. • Strong attention to service value. Pay attention to the way a company plans the development process. While working on new features, they should also take into account the product's service value and allocate some time for its improvement. A lack of attention to infrastructure, technology and development sustainability may harm the functional part of the product. A competent outsourcing provider has its own mature development processes and follows its own best practices. This makes it able to reliably deliver new features, meet its clients' requirements and avoid budget overruns. It's natural for an in-house development team to be eager to release and improve a product, thus focusing solely on its functionality. However, in order for the product to succeed in the long term, it's important to maintain the right balance between its service value and functional value. Partner with companies that treat service value as an integral part of the product. Only then can the deep involvement of outsourcing specialists result in a fruitful partnership and lead your product to success.

Amid increased signs of an accelerating recovery in enterprise technology spending, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty on Thursday raised her estimates and price targets for a host of hardware stocks. Huberty turned bullish on the group last October in a prescient call—most of the stocks in the group have posted market-beating, double-digit returns for the year to date. And on Thursday, she’s upping the ante. Huberty notes that a new Morgan Stanley survey of chief information officers suggest that there will be “a more-robust IT-spending recovery, and implies material upside to current Street estimates.” She lifted estimates across her coverage universe, and says she’s now between 3% and 6% above Street consensus for calendar 2021 revenue and profit estimates. “In October 2020, we upgraded our industry view to Attractive on improving enterprise IT demand, and while our thesis has played out over the last several months, we believe it still has legs,” she writes. Huberty says that history shows that in a typical economic recovery, most hardware stocks outperform the market—and she notes that since IT spending bottomed in the 2020 second quarter, enterprise hardware has been the best performing tech group, beating the market by 46 percentage points. She thinks the trend will continue. Huberty ups her target prices on nine stocks, while trimming her targets on two. Among stocks she rates at Overweight, she boosts her target for CDW (ticker: CDW) to $188 from $164; for Dell Technologies (DELL), to $107 from $98; for NCR (NCR), to $51 from $47; for Seagate Technology (STX), to $90 from $86; for HP (HPQ), to $39 from $38; and for NetApp (NTAP), to $92 from $90. Among stocks with an Equal Weight rating, she lifts her target for Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to $17 from $15.50; for International Business Machines (IBM) to $150 from $140; and for Teradata (TDC), to $45 from $44. She trims her targets for Pure Storage (PSTG) to $25 from $28, and for Nutanix (NTNX), to $30 from $35, citing lower peer-market valuations. Huberty rates both storage stocks at Equal Weight. In the note, she writes that she highlights both Seagate and NetApp “on the back of robust operating leverage in a recovery and direct exposure to recovering infrastructure demand.” She views NCR as “a strong recovery play” due to its exposure to cyclical end markets (such as retailing) and synergies from its pending Cardtronics (CATM) acquisition. She likes HP, Dell and CDW “on the back of structurally higher PC demand and exposure to the mid-market,” which she notes was hit hard by Covid should recover. She’s also bullish on the potential Dell spinoff of its majority stake in VMware (VMW), and HP’s continued aggressive stock-buyback program. In a separate note, Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss writes that CIOs surveyed by Morgan Stanley expect a sharper rebound in 2021 than in 2010, with IT budgets see up 3.9% for the year. “Longer-term, almost 40% of CIOs see IT budgets expanding as a percentage of revenues versus 12% expecting declines,” Weiss writes.

Despite the fact that GTA 5 is playable on three generations of gaming consoles, and despite the fact that it’s been offered to millions via various subscription services over the years (most recently Game Pass), people still can’t seem to get enough of the 2013 game that regularly tops global sales charts. There’s a lot you can say about why GTA 5 has stayed po[CENSORED]r over the years, but any discussions have to start with the fact that it is a great game. It managed to surpass even unreasonable levels of hype and has received widespread acclaim from fans and critics over nearly eight years. Most importantly, it stands as developer Rockstar’s masterpiece despite the fact that their library of titles already makes many other Triple-A developers envious. That’s a bold claim, but a deeper look at GTA 5 after all these years reveals the many reasons that even the now mythical GTA 6 might not be able to top what Rockstar accomplished with GTA 5. GTA 5 Advanced GTA 4’s Mature Storytelling (Without Taking Itself So Seriously) GTA 4 remains arguably the most divisive modern Grand Theft Auto game, but there are ways that it undeniably brought the series into a new era of game design. Its stunning open-world city that felt truly alive was a highlight, but when you hear people praise GTA 4, they’re typically talking about the sequel’s mature story which touched upon the “American Dream” from the perspective of a down-and-out modern immigrant. While GTA 4’s story was certainly thematically ambitious compared to what came before, Rockstar clearly struggled to present that story against the absurd backdrop of this series’ trademark style. GTA 5 embraced that style a bit more with its ridiculous characters and sometimes silly stories, but it advanced GTA 4’s ideas of a character-driven narrative by focusing on the lives of three criminals at very different points in their lives and careers. I don’t know if GTA 5 gets enough credit for the way it examines three distinct protagonists through a series of events that weave their adventures in and out of each other while giving each of them more than enough time to shine as stars. Most importantly, GTA 5’s story never stops having fun. GTA 5 Recaptured The Fun of Simply Driving Around While GTA 3’s 3D open-world is rightfully credited with changing gaming forever, even the early GTA games captured that simple thrill of being able to explore a large environment without anything in particular to do. As GTA evolved, though, driving around the series’ maps became a little more about getting to the next story point or your own planned activities. By fixing GTA 4’s…well…awful driving system, GTA 5 surpassed its predecessor in terms of how much fun it was to just drive around. The joy of exploring GTA 5‘s world is about more than improved controls, though. Through subtle design decisions and some truly excellent vehicles, GTA 5 constantly encourages you to test the limits of your driving abilities and often rewards you in various ways for your efforts. Even if you don’t play GTA Online, it’s easy to justify firing up GTA 5 once more just to lose yourself in the ecstasy of getting behind the wheel with nowhere in particular to go. GTA 5 Learned From San Andreas’ Best Lessons and Biggest Flaws For quite some time, I considered San Andreas to be the peak of the GTA series. Its large map, ‘90s setting, and memorably outlandish moments thrilled me in ways that even GTA 5 did not when I first played it. Over the years, though, GTA 5 won me over with the ways it reimagined some of GTA: San Andreas’ best elements while acknowledging the ways in which that ambitious game was hindered by the limitations of its time. GTA 5 went back to the “wilder” style that was missing from the base GTA 4 experience, but by balancing those moments with more restrained storytelling and world-building methods that better grounded the entire affair, GTA 5 avoided feeling quite as comical as San Andreas while still taking time to just get weird with it. Rockstar clearly recognized that GTA: San Andreas brought something to the table that GTA 4 kind of lost, but it was their ability to draw from those qualities rather than depend on them that makes GTA 5 so brilliant. Grand Theft Auto 5 citizens GTA 5 Captured a Time Period in a Way That We’re Just Starting to Appreciate GTA: Vice City’s rightfully beloved soundtrack is really just an example of its best quality: the game’s over-the-top 1980s setting. The ways that Rockstar celebrated an especially beloved era in American pop culture history ensure that Vice City’s setting never really feels out of date simply because it’s trying to recreate an idea rather than an exact time. GTA 5 goes for something a little different but succeeds in similar ways. It tries to capture roughly the era it was developed in, which would seem to be a nearly impossible task given our ever-changing times and the fact Rockstar’s writers and designers couldn’t benefit from hindsight. GTA 5 doesn’t necessarily capture every nuance of the 2010s, but it impressively targets so many of the absurd elements of modern society that make our world feel more like the world of GTA games than ever before. From billionaires with a cult of personality that allows them to behave like supervillains to our ever-widening social gaps, GTA 5 uses its social commentary so well that some remain unsure whether it’s a parody of the GTA series itself or just a spot-on recognition of what was going on. Grand Theft Auto 5 Combat GTA 5 Finally Fixed the Series’ Combat by Taking Lessons from Max Payne 3 No matter how much you love the early GTA games, you have to admit their combat was usually pretty awful. Every GTA game improved the series’ combat somewhat, but it got to a point where many of us just assumed that GTA’s combat was always going to be limited. GTA 5 changed all of that by looking at the brilliant action of Rockstar’s Max Payne 3 and folding that game’s most refined action elements into the GTA universe. You aren’t constantly diving in slow motion while firing dual machine guns in GTA 5, but the way that you’re able to bounce in and out of gunfights and turn even minor encounters into spectacles speaks to the lessons that Rockstar learned over the years. I never thought that a GTA game would feature truly compelling combat, but I find myself wishing more games featured a variation of GTA 5’s action mechanics. GTA 5 Saw Rockstar Figure Out Multiplayer (Eventually) As I’ve talked about in the past, I feel that GTA Online’s evolution has been hindered by the expectations of the live service era, a few bad ideas, and Rockstar’s decision to not support that content with more traditional single-player DLC offerings. However, I can’t deny that GTA Online has succeeded in ways that no other Rockstar game (even the similar Red Dead Online) has ever matched. Rockstar has always been one of the premiere narrative-driven developers in the industry, and in GTA Online, they eventually found a way to combine those narrative elements with the series’ open-world anarchy in a way clearly spoke to millions of gamers. After years of failed attempts at a multiplayer mode (or no attempts at all), GTA Online captured the wonderful potential of GTA multiplayer in ways that are honestly still a bit hard to believe. GTA 5 Featured the Best Overall Cast of Characters in Rockstar History Any discussion about the “best cast of characters in a Rockstar game” tends to be contentious. This is a studio famous for assembling large casts of wild characters and usually getting the perfect people to voice them. The thing about GTA 5’s cast that stands out to me to this day, though, is how well-rounded it is. Maybe it features fewer throw-away characters designed to deliver a particular joke or embody an archetype, but that’s kind of what’s brilliant about it. If GTA 5’s cast isn’t “all killer, no filler,” then it comes closer to achieving that goal than any other GTA title. At the very least, GTA 5 features a trio of protagonists who could have easily starred in their own GTA adventures. That’s an accomplishment that can’t be overlooked. GTA 5 Featured the Best Collection of Missions While GTA made a name for itself via open-world mayhem, the series’ narrative-driven main missions and thrilling side-missions often end up defining so many of our memories of these games. As we looked at in our retrospective on the best GTA missions ever, this series has gifted us with some of the best assignments in open-world gaming history. GTA 5 distinguishes itself in that respect by raising the quality of the “average” GTA mission. Yes, there have been great standalone missions in GTA games of the past, but many of those early games relied on variations of simple fetch quests and other basic assignments to stretch out storylines. GTA 5 isn’t perfect in that respect, but more than any GTA game before (or any other Rockstar project) it finds a way to lend a bit of weight to whatever you’re doing and spice it up through some kind of twist or even just a memorable conclusion. Of course, GTA 5’s heists represent the absolute best of GTA mission design and should serve as the rough template for whatever comes next. GTA 5’s Map and World Are the Best in Series History When GTA 5’s map was first leaked online, there were those who noted that it seemed far less substantial than GTA: San Andreas’ world (which featured three distinct cities as well as rural connecting areas). Others said that there was just no way that GTA 5 could hope to match that living city that GTA 4 emphasized like no other game before it. While GTA 5 is indeed larger than previous GTA games from a statistical standpoint, it’s the ways that the game’s map and world emphasize the little things along the way that truly make it stand out. There’s a little something in nearly every bit of GTA 5’s map that helps distinguish it from the rest. That something may be little more than a beautiful stretch of highway that connects two key locations, but Rockstar found a way to inject more of GTA 5’s map with genuine personality. I’d say Red Dead Redemption 2 comes close to topping GTA 5 in that respect, but the difference is certainly debate. Speaking of RDR 2… GTA 5 Felt More Like a “Rockstar” Game Than Red Dead Redemption 2 I love RDR 2 and will always defend it against those who say it’s too slow, too awkward, or just too different than Red Dead Redemption. However, when it comes to the debate over whether Red Dead Redemption 2 lost those trademark “Rockstar elements,” it becomes a bit harder to defend that game. Much like GTA 4, RDR 2’s methodical design is hindered slightly by the realization that an otherwise impressive effort is being made by a company battling its instincts and trying to break out of its comfort zone. I believe RDR 2 succeeds (for the most part) in that pursuit, but there is certainly something to be said for the ways that GTA 5 tells a more refined story that still captures the sarcastic and outlandish voice of the studio that created it. Rockstar was right to challenge themselves with RDR 2, and I suspect GTA 6 will borrow heavily from that game. However, it’s hard to overlook the ways that GTA 5 pulled from the best of both storytelling worlds.

Un député propose que le prix des péages soit revu à la baisse lorsque des travaux induisent une réduction de la vitesse sur les autoroutes. Lorsque l’on part en vacances, une question revient souvent avant de pendre la route : est-il préférable de prendre les nationales, gratuites mais rallongeant le temps de trajet ou de choisir l’autoroute, plus rapide mais plus chère. De nombreux critères entrent alors en ligne de compte, tels que le prix de l’itinéraire, qui peut passer du simple au double en fonction de la destination, ou encore le temps gagné. Un calcul savant donc, qui peut parfois être compliqué par un détail, que l’on ne peut malheureusement pas toujours anticiper : les travaux sur les voies. Il est en effet courant que des chantiers commandent sur plusieurs kilomètres une ou plusieurs voies, réduisant alors parfois considérablement la vitesse des automobilistes, qui payent toujours le prix fort, peu importe les conditions. Sauf que voilà, l’autoroute, c’est comme n’importe quel service, lorsque l’on débourse une somme, il faut que nous recevions quelque chose en retour. Cela semble logique. Sauf que ce n’est pas toujours le cas, notamment sur les voies rapides, où il nous arrive de circuler parfois plus lentement que sur une nationale, sans compter les bouchons engendrés par les travaux. te constatation, le député LREM Julien Borowczyk l’a faite aussi, et a donc rédigé une proposition de loi visant à moduler les tarifs des péages en fonction des travaux et de leur impact sur la circulation routière. Le texte souligne en effet que « lorsque des travaux sont entrepris sur les voies d’autoroute, ceux‑ci ont un impact sur la fluidité du trajet et donc la durée totale. Or les tarifs en vigueur correspondent à un service rendu aux automobilistes. Le choix de ces derniers pour utiliser les voies rapides payantes est bien souvent motivé par la durée du trajet qui est plus courte. C’est pourquoi, lorsque la durée du trajet se trouve allongée du fait des travaux, l’amendement propose que les tarifs soient ajustés à la baisse pour prendre en compte la différence du service rendu pendant le temps des travaux. Les modalités de calcul de ces tarifs ajustés sont fixées par décret en Conseil d’État ». Le député dénonce par ailleurs également certains travaux pas toujours justifiés de la part des sociétés autoroutières, qui se font alors au détriment des utilisateurs. Vers des remboursements aux clients ? Mais ce n’est pas tout, car le député souhaite même aller encore plus loin, en demandant également aux sociétés d’autoroutes de rembourser les clients en cas d’intervention des forces de l’ordre ayant un impact sur la circulation. « Lorsque nous sommes sur la route, un accident quel qu’il soit peut se produire. Dans certains cas, nous pouvons, voire nous devons faire appel aux services des forces de l’ordre. Cette démarche semble tout à fait normale dans la mesure où les missions des forces de l’ordre sont le maintien de l’ordre public et la sécurité. Ceci semble d’autant plus normal que les routes font partie du domaine public. La notion d’intervention dans le cadre du maintien de l’ordre et de la sécurité est plus complexe lorsque ladite intervention a lieu sur une autoroute, dont la gestion et donc les profits sont concédés à une société privée. Sans remettre en cause la participation des sociétés concessionnaires d’autoroutes au budget de l’État via la fiscalité ; il serait intéressant que ces dernières participent directement au financement des dépenses engagées dans le cadre des interventions des forces de l’ordre sur les routes dont elles ont la gestion ». Pour l’heure, rien n’indique que cette proposition de loi sera adoptée, alors que les sociétés d’autoroutes n’ont pas réagi. On se doute cependant qu’elles ne devraient pas voir d’un très bon oeil cette mesure si elle finissait par être appliquée dans les mois à venir, alors que Julien Borowczyk souhaiterait sa mise en place dès cet été.

Celebrated on April 7 every year, World Health Day marks the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organisation (WHO). As the world still grapples with Covid-19, healthcare has become the biggest lifestyle concern of this decade. And thanks to Technology, a wide variety of wellness apps, mobile health monitors and wearable devices are empowering individuals to monitor and analyse key health indicators. Then there is telemedicine (consulting doctors online) which has boomed during these Covid-19 times and has been a life saver for many chronically ill patients. Last month e-commerce giant Amazon announced that it will be offering its Amazon Care telemedicine programme to employers in the US. Currently available to the company's employees in Washington state, Amazon Care is an app that connects users virtually with doctors, nurse practitioners and nurses who can provide services and treatment over the phone 24 hours a day. Gone are the days when people used mobile apps only for Social Media, e-commerce and communication. Now there are apps for almost everything health related. Monitoring your heart rate and calories, designing workouts, checking sleep patterns and mental health is just a click away. There are even apps to track your daily water intake! RELATED READ: Here's why a good mattress is imperative for a good backbone health Health is just a click away India’s healthtech market is estimated to reach US$ 21 Bn in 2025 on the back of telemedicine and preventive healthcare growth, according to an Inc42 Plus report called India’s Healthtech Landscape In A Post-Covid-19 World . It revealed that preventive healthcare in the country is expected to reach market size of US$ 170 Bn by 2025, primarily driven by fitness and wellness apps and diagnostics solutions. Almost every day, a new technological advancement is making it easy and convenient for us to manage and control our health, improve our overall lifestyle and help us live a healthier and more fulfilling life. While calorie tracking is not a new concept and fitness trackers have been used by sports persons for years, smart phones and watches now allow users to track their workouts much easier. Wearable devices are becoming a part of our everyday lives and are no longer limited to being merely fitness trackers. Fitbits, Apple watches, Garmins provide personalised workout plans for your body type and document your progress in order to help you achieve your fitness goals. Some health apps even assist you with tracking your daily food intake and offer health nutrition suggestions while some send daily reminders to stretch, take a stroll around the office or just take some deep breaths. Wearable heart monitors and devices make it easier than ever before for people to remain heart-healthy.

Egypt and Jordan on Thursday welcomed a US decision to restart economic, development and humanitarian assistance for Palestinians which includes funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). “The decision will contribute to alleviating the suffering of Palestinians, pave the way for providing financial support to the Palestinian people in the face of unprecedented economic and humanitarian difficulties and allow UNRWA to supply the essential needs of the Palestinian people,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “The financial support will help UNRWA to overcome its financial crisis and to provide its vital services," Jordan’s said in a statement. “Jordan sees the decision as a step that will have a significant and positive impact on UNRWA's capacity in addressing the education, health and humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Wednesday that the US plans to restart assistance for Palestinians, totaling $235 million. "This includes $75 million in economic and development assistance in the West Bank and Gaza, $10 million for peacebuilding programs through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and $150 million in humanitarian assistance for the UNRWA," Blinken said in a statement. Palestinians welcomed the move and termed it a "positive step." In a statement to Anadolu Agency, Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said: "The US declaration is a positive step that can be built upon to resume Washington's relations with the Palestinian leadership." Former US President Donald Trump froze aid to Palestine as part of his wider push to bring Palestinians to negotiations on his proposed settlement plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The proposal was staunchly rejected by Palestinians who dismissed it because of the plethora of concessions it made to Israel.

t’s no secret that PUBG Mobile was one of the most successful games in India in recent memory. And while Krafton has only teased of its return, that hasn’t stopped the rest of the Indian games industry from taking notice. During a recent episode of The Desi VC podcast (via AFK Gaming), venture capitalist Salone Sehgal broke down how po[CENSORED]r PUBG Mobile was and what kind of user behaviour it brought in. Sehgal is General Partner at Lumikai — one of India’s gaming-only fund houses. Previously she was at London Venture Partners, a fund that invested in companies such as Unity and Supercell early on. “PUBG was a great trend,” claims Sehgal.“It was an action game that came to market with a very heavy download . Who would have thought that game would have ever worked in India? But it did and at its peak it was at 18 million daily actives and just a phenomenal success in monetisation.” According to Sehgal a majority of these purchases were towards cosmetics like skins and she went on to explain that such behaviour has been seen in other titles like Free Fire as well. “Those purchases are largely vanity items,” she says. “Those purchases are skins that give you no gameplay benefit, just for the sheer satisfaction of a gamer. So Indians did monetise there. Indians are monetising in Free Fire too.” In the mobile space, Sehgal claims that “India is coming into the top 10 and top 5 grossing countries” for Lumikai’s “larger”investor base”. This hasn’t really happened before, with most considering the market as an after-thought. However what is most interesting is that while it’s easy to point out PUBG Mobile’s success in being simply a battle royale game, she thinks its quality is a reason for its success. “Gaming is something which is global and when you compare it to the best and when you look at that quality, you want that quality and then only you pay for it,” she says before divulging what it takes for game developers to succeed in the country. “An Indian user is a discerning user. She needs to be treated with that respect as well when you look into the quality of games that you build for the India market.” That said, PUBG Mobile’s Indian users may not have simply moved on to Free Fire. According to analytics firm App Annie (via TechCrunch) PUBG Mobile’s MAU (monthly active users) from India is over 15 million. Nonetheless, Sehgal is far from the only Indian industry exec that’s been talking up the local market. Recent Reliance Jio’s leadership echoed a similar sentiment while dropping details regarding its upcoming cloud gaming service as did Asus when it revealed its Asus ROG Phone 5 plans.

IT spending is on a sharp rebound in 2021, with enterprise software leading the charge as businesses shift priorities from surviving to thriving. This should be great news for finance leaders, especially at midmarket businesses. They’re optimistic about 2021, they’re investing more in finance and accounting, and they stand to gain considerably from AI, automation, analytics and more. But when it comes to finance software, the midmarket has long been underserved. Mid-sized companies generally had to choose between easy-to-use small-business software and complex but powerful enterprise solutions. However, advances in technology and increasing options are changing that. The Midmarket Software Conundrum Small businesses have a wide range of software options for their finance function. Free trials, self-serve setup and other standard offerings make small-business software quick and easy to implement. Many can manage their finances with these types of solutions — to a point. The world’s largest companies use enterprise resource planning (ERP) software like Oracle and SAP to run virtually every facet of their business. They can afford the higher cost and longer implementation cycles of typical ERP systems. MORE FOR YOU How Goodyear Is Using Data, Artificial Intelligence And Digital Twins To Create The Tyres Of The Future What It Means When Even Godiva Can’t Keep Stores Open Wellness Is Bigger Than You Think That leaves the midmarket, which I define as companies with annual revenues from $300 million to $3 billion. They’ve historically been underserved, having to choose between one end of the spectrum and the other. Why The Market Has Been Underserved Why hadn’t more vendors been vying for a market with such a clear need? Part of the answer is a simple numbers game: • Over 31 million small businesses make up 99.9% of all U.S. companies. • There are significantly fewer large enterprises, but their deep pockets and large end-user bases make them lucrative customers. • By my estimate, the midmarket only represents about 30,000 companies in North America, few of them with the end-user numbers of their enterprise counterparts. The other main factor is the breadth of finance and accounting needs among mid-sized companies. The midmarket represents a large, diverse range of company sizes, complexities and needs. It’s easy to see the challenge of delivering a single software solution for all of them. The Conditions Are Ripe For Change Worldwide IT spending is forecast to increase 6.2% in 2021, according to Gartner, up from a 3.2% decline last year. The strongest growth, at 8.8%, is expected to come from enterprise software. Looking next at midmarket companies, almost two-thirds (62%) expect to be thriving by the end of 2021. What’s more, 59% plan to increase IT spending, and 54% plan to invest specifically in new finance and accounting technology. On the technology side, cloud software adoption is another change driver, making it easier for vendors to offer scalable, flexible products for a wide range of business needs. Finding The Right Software For Your Midmarket Business If you’re a midmarket company looking for new finance and accounting software, you have more options today than ever — whether for regulatory compliance, account reconciliation, financial consolidation or other needs. But before you invest the time and money, make sure you insist on the following essentials from your vendor and their software: • Rapid implementation: ERP systems can take months or even years to implement. You may need the functionality of an enterprise system, but few can afford the time and resources to deploy one. You’ll want to make sure your vendor has a proven ability to roll out software in a matter of weeks. • Quick time to value: If you’re investing in new finance software, you need to show clear value quickly — to your finance team, your executives, your board and more. That time to value depends on quick and widespread adoption, itself a function of ease of use. Make sure the solution you choose is easy for finance to own, and easier for other stakeholders to use. • Scalability: Think about a company growing from $300 million per year to billions, with different subsidiaries, investments, regions and reporting requirements. If that’s you, your software needs to keep up with your growth in size, complexity and customer service requirements. Make sure your software can scale with you, addressing the full spectrum of your business’s needs. While historically underserved, midmarket companies have plenty of reason to be optimistic about the future. With technology advancements, spending trends and midmarket growth prospects, more vendors are taking notice. This year may be the dawn of a new era for the midmarket finance function.

Yesterday we noted that Apple launched a new Find My Certification Asst. app, designed to test support for third-party hardware. Find My, of course, has been a long-standing feature for Apple’s own hardware like iPhones, AirPods and Macs, but back at WWDC, the company announced plans to open it up to manufacturers. Today the company made official its Find My Network Accessory program and unveiled a handful of hardware that will take advantage of the new Made for iPhone (MFi)-affiliated offering. Users will be able to locate missing devices via Apple’s Find My app. At the top of the list are a pair of e-bikes, produced by VanMoof. The S3 and X3 will sport tracking functionality, along with a “Locate with Apple Find My” logo located on the bottom side of the crossbar. Belkin’s Soundform Freedom earbuds, meanwhile, will join Apple’s iPods in sporting the feature, while the Chipolo ONE Spot will beat the long-rumored AirTags to the punch. According to Apple, the new products are set to hit the market next week. There are a bunch of different privacy concerns laid out by Apple in the white papers, along with other specifications companies will have to adhere to. Interestingly, among the prerequisites is that a device needs to be able to emit sound in order to use the functionality. That’s pretty straightforward for things like earbuds, but the also means that things like the e-bikes need to make a sounds specifically for this purpose. Draft specs for chip makers will also be released in the spring, so companies can utilize the Ultra Wideband tech on Apple devices sporting a U1 chip. That should improve directional tracking, among other potential benefits. Approved products will be able to display the aforementioned “Works with Apple Find My” badge.

Avec plus de 38 000 exemplaires sur les routes, la Trabant reste toujours plus po[CENSORED]ire que les Tesla en Allemagne. Et la différence est assez importante. Lorsque l’on voyage en Allemagne, on s’attend évidemment à croiser une majorité de voitures du groupe Volkswagen, ce qui se confirme d’ailleurs sitôt que l’on pose les pieds en-dehors de l’avion. Mais une autre auto est également très présente sur les routes du pays, une voiture à laquelle on ne penserait pas forcément en premier lieu, bien qu’elle ait très largement marqué l’histoire de l’Allemagne. Il s’agit de la Trabant, une petite voiture produite entre 1958 et 1991 visant alors à remplacer l’IFA F8, lancée en 1938. Véritable icône de l’Allemagne de l’Est et produite en RDA au sein de l’usine de Zwickau, qui accueille aujourd’hui la production de la Volkswagen ID.3, cette petite voiture au look sympathique fut pourtant la cible de nombreuses moqueries, de par sa qualité d’assemblage médiocre et son inconfort le plus total. Pourtant, ce ne sont pas moins de trois millions d’exemplaires qui auront été vendus, jusqu’à la réunification de l’Allemagne en 1990. Un vrai succès pour cette voiture du peuple, née bien après la Volkswagen Coccinelle, qui fait qu’il est aujourd’hui encore très courant d’en croiser une si vous vous rendez en Allemagne. Plus surprenant encore, la Trabant, toutes générations confondues, est même plus répandue que n’importe quel modèle Tesla sur le territoire. Cette étonnante et amusante information nous a été relayée par le très sérieux journal The Time, qui nous confirme, chiffres à a clé, que la petite auto vieillissante et venue d’une autre époque est toujours très po[CENSORED]ire en Allemagne, plus de trente ans après la chute du mur de Berlin. Et pour cause, ce ne sont pas moins de 38 173 exemplaires qui seraient actuellement en circulation, soit 4 000 de plus que les Tesla, tous modèles confondus. Plus étonnant encore, environ 3 000 licences ont été accordées à des Trabant ces dernières années, afin de les autoriser à circuler. Une situation insolite Un fait pour le moins étonnant, surtout lorsque l’on sait à quel point l’Allemagne est friande de voitures électriques. L’an dernier, le pays d’outre-Rhin faisait en effet partie du top 5 des pays possédant le plus de véhicules branchés à travers le monde. Mais nul doute qu’un jour, les Tesla domineront les Trabant, alors qu’Elon Musk est actuellement en train d’implanter une usine à proximité de Berlin, incitant alors les automobilistes Allemands à opter pour un modèle de la marque californienne, dont la gamme ne cesse de s’étoffer au fil des années. En revanche, s’il y a un constructeur qui a un peu de souci à se faire, c’est sans aucun doute Opel. Selon l’Office Fédéral des Transports Automobiles, Opel est en train de voir ses immatriculations baisser de manière assez importante, alors que le nombre de véhicules de la marque au Blitz sur les routes allemandes a baissé d’un cinquième depuis 2010. Selon l’Office Fédéral « la baisse constante de la part de marché signifiera qu’Opel continuera à perdre de la visibilité sur les routes allemandes au cours des prochaines années ». Sans surprise, les marques du groupe Volkswagen connaissent quant à elles toujours un très fort succès, alors que les immatriculations ont augmenté de 4,2 millions depuis 2010, que ce soit des Skoda, Audi, Volkswagen ou encore Seat.

The first Saturday in May is usually associated with horse racing, mint juleps, fashion and the singing of “My Old Kentucky Home.” Since I am not originally from Kentucky, I do not have the memories of Derby hats and pies everywhere, but what I do recall is family coming together on this special day. The memory of names like Spend a Buck and Alysheba being shouted out by my dad as each rounded the home stretch, with Dad willing with all his might for each to go faster and faster will be something I never forget. Memories of my mom creating special handwritten betting tickets for my friends and me so that we would feel like part of the action, since we were too young to wager. I recall my dad reading the Daily Racing Form at breakfast, lunch and up until the race, trying to find and wager on the perfect combination of horses. In my teen years, my family would pack up and attend Derby parties at nearby racetracks, and that, folks, is how I fell in love with the Kentucky Derby. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had Derby fever. Even hundreds of miles away from Louisville, I imagined we were walking into Churchill Downs minus Churchill’s famous Twin Spires. Everywhere you looked, people were wearing brightly colored outfits and beautiful hats, drinking a certain mint concoction. The atmosphere and food were spectacular and for a starving teenager, it was nirvana. As I shifted into adulthood, I moved farther and farther away from Kentucky but never lost that fever I contracted so long ago. Even when my wife and I moved to Pittsburgh, we attended a Derby party hosted by the Meadowlands Racetrack. While the pageantry wasn’t there and no one sang “My Old Kentucky Home”—other than my wife and me—I was still excited to have a little piece of the Bluegrass State with me that day. That was the year that Barbaro finished first. I remember that well because my wife picks horses by name or color. She won that year because earlier that year her Aunt Barb was diagnosed with cancer, and since Barbaro had Barb in its name, that was her pick. Aunt Barb lived in Florida, but never forgot her Kentucky roots. One of her favorite songs was “My Old Kentucky Home,” which she would belt out for everyone’s enjoyment. It is hard for people outside Kentucky to understand how important the first Saturday in May is unless you have had that experience. Even though my family grew up outside of Kentucky, we were close enough to appreciate the day. I was lucky enough to experience my first in-person Derby in 2018. We had just moved back to Lexington, and our dear friends graciously allowed us to tag along that day. If you don’t remember, that was the wettest Derby in history but it was also the start of Justify’s run for the Triple Crown. What are the chances of seeing a Triple Crown winner at my first Derby? My dad was the biggest racing fan I knew. He died in 2015, but not before he witnessed American Pharaoh winning the Triple Crown. The first Saturday in May has a special meaning for everyone. It may be a chance to meet up with friends, put on fancy clothes and a hat, or drink mint juleps. For me, it is the memory of time spent with my dad and remembering the happiness he enjoyed every year on that first Saturday in May. Jake Kratzenberg is chief operating officer of The Lane Report, Inc. He can be reached at jake@lanereport.com.