Dutch company Airback has invented a backpack that can shrink its contents. Their eponymous backpack ($185) features a zippered airtight compartment with a port; once you've stuffed this compartment full, you attach either a household vacuum cleaner, or the company's small electric pump, to the port.

All of the air gets sucked out of the compartment, compressing the clothing within. The company reckons this allows you to cram in 50% more stuff.

The backpack also has a scale built into the handle, so you can avoid exceeding airline weight limits and being forced to check it at the airport.

The overall design is quite intelligent, featuring a passport stash pocket, a locking laptop compartment, bottle holder and more:

Following the popularity of the backpack—which was Kickstarted to the tune of €350,000 (USD ~$380,000), they designed a smaller Airback Go ($152) which fits beneath an airplane seat. This design lacks the scale in the handle.

There's also a larger Airback Max ($361), which boasts rollers and a telescoping handle…

…as well as the Airback Next ($416), a hard-sided carry-on roller.

All of the bags feature a built-in USB-C port, to which you can connect your own powerbank.

The company's separately-sold pump runs $52. One does wonder what to do if either that or the handle scale breaks. For their part, the company says "we've committed to a circular system - allowing you to send your bag back to us when it's lived its life, whereupon we, along with our partners, will give it a new purpose." However, what I'd prefer to see is some mention of repair options.

Despite some optimism that the US truck freight market would begin to recover from continued downward pressure during Q3 2024, U.S. Bank freight metrics showed challenges remain for motor carriers with shipments and spending softer in Q3. Shipments were off 21.2 per cent YoY, one of the largest drops. The bank’s national shipments index fell by 1.9 per cent in Q3 after a 2.2-per cent drop in Q2.

Global cotton markets saw slight declines and stabilisation in recent weeks, with NY/ICE December futures trading between 67–75 cents/lb since June, now at 71 cents/lb. The global A Index dipped from 85 to 83 cents, while China's index dropped from 101 to 97 cents due to a weaker yuan. Indian and Pakistani spot prices also declined, but both rupees remained stable against the dollar.

Many small-to-midsize banks and financial institutions are still running on-premise Microsoft Exchange email servers, whether in their own walls, or in the walls of their technology service provider. Microsoft recently announced that multiple hacking groups were targeting Microsoft Exchange servers in coordinated attacks, which could cause a damaging data breach for these organizations. With all...

The post Data Security for Banks and Financial Institutions: Top 4 Myths About Moving to the Cloud appeared first on Anders CPA.

Companies and candidates are continually asking, “what does the current hiring market look like?” And many are shocked by the response. The truth is that the market is incredibly short on good quality candidates right now, and many job postings are open for extended periods while companies search for candidates. So, how did the job...

The post Hiring Challenges Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels – 5 Ways to Recruit the Right Hire appeared first on Anders CPA.

For many business owners, obtaining a business valuation could be a new endeavor. Once you have made the determination that your business needs to be valued, it’s time to become more familiar with the business valuation process. As the first blog post in a series about the basics of business valuations, below we discuss the...

The post The Basics of Business Valuations: 5 Steps to Begin the Process appeared first on Anders CPA.

Corcoran CA Christie Bahamas, a franchisee of Corcoran Group, LLC, has announced the opening of its newest office location on Harbour Island in the Bahamas. Led by Corcoran CA Christie Bahamas Broker/Owner Gavin Christie, the new office will cater to the brokerage’s existing agents who serve the Harbour Island area, and any newly recruited agents,…

The post Corcoran Franchisee Expands in the Bahamas appeared first on RISMedia.

Report on the latest statistical data regarding middle and high school students and tobacco use.

Infographic showing data regarding middle and high school students and tobacco use.

Updated facts and data on youth and tobacco use.

Report on the latest smoke-free laws that are affecting public places.

The latest statistical data regarding adult tobacco use in the U.S. during 2013-2014.

The latest data regarding how advertising expenditures have been spent on sporting events in the United States during 1992-2013.

Data regarding smoking, quantity and access to cigarettes by youth in 45 countries during 2013 and 2014.

Data regarding the use of smoking and tobacco use among adults in 2014.

Data regarding the disparities with tobacco-related cancer incidences and death from 2004 until 2013.

Information regarding the current use of combustible and smokeless tobacco in the United States.

Protein powders, yogurts, and bars make hitting our protein targets easy, but can contain UPFs. Here's what happened when health reporter Rachel Hosie quit them for a week.

NFSA brings restored classic Proof back to the big screen at MIFF

As a platform designed for back-office operations, the Zone Data Platform surfaces meaningful insights specific to the user's industry for better, more informed decision-making

Sinoway defines GenAI as it applies to the business environment as an extension of how AI and machine learning have been used for decades, which had been primarily numeric. GenAI now allows for the same applications, but with text, video, and audio. The same tools we applied to numbers we're now applying to words. GenAI analyzes literally millions, even billions, of data-points and makes predictions about the next letter in a word, the next word of the sentence, or the next sentence in a paragraph. It then comes up with a response to answer a query. Its predictive qualities usually produce good answers, but the possibility of hallucinations, which is what incorrect predictions resulting in wrong answers are called, is worrying.

Valid Through: 4/30/2015
Sing for Free Beer or Wine
9000 International Drive
Orlando, FL 32819

Chris is catching up on the latest developments in the world of camera makers (Nikon goes 3D printing?!), new papers (awesome noise reduction), a train set with 10 miles of tracks (and photography thereof) and of one big question to Getty: is it really just about copyright questions? Really? Topics: [PHOTO, NEWS] Nikon vor 620 … Continue reading "918 Getty Bans AI"

The post 918 Getty Bans AI appeared first on PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS FROM THE TOP FLOOR.

A colleague who works in a field that uses a lot of survey research asks: Can you recommend papers about detecting bad survey responses? We have some such methods where I work, but I’m curious what the Census Bureau and … Continue reading →

Anna Riha, Nikolas Siccha, Antti Oulasvirta, and Aki Vehtari write: When building statistical models for Bayesian data analysis tasks, required and optional iterative adjustments and different modelling choices can give rise to numerous candidate models. In particular, checks and evaluations … Continue reading →

Laboratory assays are central to much of biomedical research. My colleagues and I recently received a research grant to do better assays using Bayesian inference. Beyond the usual challenges of fitting nonlinear hierarchical models to real data that can sometimes … Continue reading →

There’s some confusion regarding jumps in election forecasts. New information is coming in every day, so it makes sense that forecasts change too. But they don’t change very much. Each new piece of information tells you only a little bit. … Continue reading →

A political science colleague wrote in: We are all abuzz about the Harris +3 in that Iowa Poll with its great track record. When I check the write up of this poll I see a reasonably detailed description of their … Continue reading →

U.S. election day is tomorrow. So let’s talk about something else: 1. Encoding prior information using non-generative modeling I was talking with Hong Ge about the uses of non-generative models in probabilistic programming. An example I gave is the use … Continue reading →

I came across this blog comment from a couple years ago saying that, whatever was going on in the head of Brian “Pizzagate” Wansink when he wrote up those papers with the fake data, in any case his papers papers … Continue reading →

Quite often we hear in the news the lament that “if only we would have enough vaccine!”. In principal that is true, but more the theoretical claim, that only if we would have 170 Mio doses, everybody in Germany could get the two shots … Fact is, that being Germans and doing everything as thorough […]

A New York appellate court ruled that a worker was entitled to summary judgment for his injuries from a falling while painting a bathroom. Case: Mosquera v. TF Cornerstone Inc., No. 23663/16,…

A New York appellate court upheld the denial of a worker’s claim for the exacerbation of her preexisting psychological condition by alleged workplace stress. Case: Matter of Gorbea v. Verizon New…

A former U.S. Postal Service worker in Delaware was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay nearly $94,000 in restitution for defrauding the federal workers’ compensation program,…

The Delaware Superior Court upheld the denial of coverage for an Amazon employee’s back surgery, finding that his workplace injury did not necessitate the operation. Case: Hoskins v. Amazon.com, No. N23A-06-004…

The Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court activated its web-based data entry application for diagnostic related group reports. The Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Act requires covered hospitals, workers’ compensation insurers, self-insured employers and risk…

A federal appellate court upheld the summary dismissal of a widow’s wrongful death claim against the parent company of her late-husband’s employer. Case: Mesenbring v. Rollins Inc., No. 23-2473, 06/28/2024, published. Facts:…

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that an employer should have been allowed to set aside its stipulation of facts agreeing to the enlargement of an employee’s claim. Case: VNA of…

An injured worker’s 2023 medical malpractice action was time-barred because more than three years had passed since she underwent the physical therapy that allegedly caused the additional injuries, a California…

CompIQ Solutions and Bardavon announced a partnership to create an automated referral process for injured workers who need specialized care. The companies said they were integrating CompIQ’s IQSymphony claims portal with…

Goldberg Segalla announced the addition of new attorneys to its workers' compensation defense offices in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Beteley T. Mulatu The firm added Angelina Nordeman to its work comp practice…

The Connecticut Appellate Court ruled that the doctrine of res judicata did not bar an employer’s claims against its former comp carrier for allegedly misleading it into believing it still…

A divided West Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the doctrine of collateral estoppel did not bar a worker who failed to prove his occupational disease claim from seeking a civil…

A divided West Virginia Supreme Court upheld an increase in a worker’s award for a back injury. Case: Murray American Energy Inc. v. Falcone, No. 22-0489, 08/01/2024, published. Facts: Brandon Falcone suffered…

West Virginia’s Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld an increase in a worker’s award of benefits for a back injury. Case: ACNR Resources Inc. v. Knight, No. 24-ICA-121, 09/04/2024, unpublished. Facts: Matthew Knight…

The West Virginia Supreme Court upheld the denial of permanent partial disability benefits for a worker with a back injury. Case: Helmandollar v. Blackhawk Mining LLC, No. 23-430, 09/30/2024, published. Facts: Marion Helmandollar…

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that when a worker is injured in the course of his employment by the acts of an underinsured third-party tortfeasor, workers’ compensation exclusivity does not bar him…

A federal appellate court ruled that a worker’s Jones Act claims should be sent back to a Texas state court. Shanon Roy Santee worked as a remote-operated vehicle technician in the…

The Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation announced that it will hold a series of “brown bag” meetings in September and October to discuss the latest updates in dispute resolution. Agenda topics…

The Alaska Supreme Court ruled that employment based on friendship does not automatically fall outside the scope of the state workers’ compensation law. Samuel Amos, David Tidwell and Travis Plambeck all…