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The third annual Digital Engineering Awards took place in Dallas, Texas, recognizing over 35 organizations and 14 individuals for their groundbreaking contributions to digital engineering. Co-hosted by ISG, L&T Technology Services, and CNBC-TV18, the event highlighted innovations across key sectors such as mobility, sustainability, and technology. Key Takeaways Event Overview The Digital Engineering Awards serve as a platform to honor the pioneers transforming engineering and technology. This year, the nominations surged, reflecting the increasing prominence of digital engineering across various industries. The event celebrated innovations in sectors including automotive, industrial products, manufacturing, energy, aerospace, medtech, and telecommunications. Award Categories The awards were divided into two main segments: Notable Winners Judging Criteria Submissions were evaluated by a panel of global experts based on: Remarks from Leaders Michael P. Connors, Chairman and CEO of ISG, emphasized the transformative potential of digital engineering, stating that it continues to redefine various aspects of modern life, from clean energy to healthcare innovations. Amit Chadha, CEO of L&T Technology Services, noted the growing diversity within the engineering community, highlighting the increasing participation of women in engineering roles. Conclusion The Digital Engineering Awards not only celebrate outstanding achievements in engineering but also inspire industries to push boundaries and deliver impactful solutions. As digital engineering continues to evolve, these awards play a crucial role in recognizing the innovators driving change in the global landscape. Sources
Greg Gayne A contestant quickly proved to know their facts. In just the second episode of the new spinoff a point was given back to a team. The show, which consists of three trios competing against one another, put their judging panel to work when they challenged an answer. The clue was: " , , & play the sister to , the title character of this familial film." A contestant named Rob quickly answered, “What is... ” Host then docked the group’s points, saying the correct answer was a close, During the commercial break, however, Rob’s teammate (and freelance journalist) Jordan called for a correction. Related: Greg Gayne; Aldara Zarraoa/WireImage "In the previous round, Rob answered , which we did not accept as correct, but Jordan correctly pointed out that the original title at Sundance was , not ," Jost said after the break. The team got a 1200-point increase from the catch, although they still fell behind and didn’t end up winning at the end of the episode. Jost hinted this might happen during his with . When the morning show host on the comedian, he didn’t perform well. The final question was about his wife — — asking the country where her last name originated. “How much did you plan to set me up on this?” he joked with the crew. “What is... Denmark. I had to get that, right?” “She knew [you] would get it wrong,” Guthrie laughed. “It is, ‘What is... Sweden,’ Colin!” Mike Coppola/Getty “Oh my God, because they came over from Sweden?” he asked. “That is a crazy — I can't say the word — loophole. That's not fair. That’s a technicality.” He added that on there are judges who can “overturn things that were absurd, like that.” Related: Earlier in the interview, he revealed that he thought was harder than regular after filming the season. As for himself, the star said he was better off hosting the game show than being on it. “I’m not that great with trivia in general,” he admitted. “I feel like I know a lot of stuff, but when I'm under the pressure to say it, as you know, it's a hard thing.” The first three episodes of are now streaming on Prime Video. Read the original article on
What do the Seahawks’ playoff odds look like after Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings? And who was to blame for the game-winning touchdown scored by the Vikings? Let’s review those questions in this week’s Four Downs with Seahawks beat reporter Bob Condotta. A: Yes they do. But as everyone noted after the game, the Seahawks no longer control their own destiny, which was the biggest loss Sunday. To recap, the Rams are 9-6 after winning for the eighth time in 10 games Sunday against the Jets while the Seahawks fell to 8-7. Sunday’s results mean the Seahawks' only realistic path to the postseason is for the Rams to lose their final two — Saturday night against Arizona and the following weekend against the Seahawks, both at SoFi Stadium. That means the most important game for the Seahawks' playoff hopes is one in which they won’t be playing — the Arizona-Rams game. If the Rams beat Arizona, then regardless of a loss to the Seahawks, L.A. will almost certainly win a tiebreaker thanks to a better strength of victory — a lead that would be strengthened with a victory over Arizona which has seven wins (the Bears have only four). According to The Pro Football Network, L.A. has a nine-game edge in that tiebreaker heading into Monday night’s Saints-Packers game, 60 wins by their combined opponents to 51 wins. According to The Upshot’s playoff calculator, a win by the Saints over Green Bay Monday night — L.A. beat New Orleans earlier this year — would all but assure that the Seahawks could not overtake the Rams in strength of victory. The Seahawks have a 12% chance to win the division, via The Upshot (and hey, that number is a good omen!). Wins by the Seahawks and Cardinals this week improve the Seahawks' playoff odds to 36%, or essentially the odds The Upshot gives of the Seahawks being able to beat the Rams at SoFi Stadium. Because of the strength-of-victory tiebreaker, losses by the Rams and Seahawks this weekend leave the playoff percentages basically the same — 35%. A Rams’ loss to Arizona means the Seattle-L.A. game is winner-take-all regardless of what the Seahawks do against Chicago. That’s because if the Seahawks beat the Rams and each team finishes at 9-8, the Seahawks would get the nod. That’s because the two teams would have split the season series, which is the first tiebreaker. In that scenario the Seahawks would win the second tiebreaker, which is division record, at 4-2 to the Rams’ 3-3. We’ll know by Saturday night if there is any life left in the Seahawks' season. A: As noted, two wins and a Rams win over Arizona leaves the Seahawks with a less than 1% shot of making the playoffs, via The Upshot. Those odds are the same for the division and a wild-card spot — meaning, there remains at least a chance. At least according to The Upshot’s model. ESPN Analytics stated Monday the Seahawks have no shot at a wild card. A: Well, the Cardinals did beat the Rams in Glendale 41-10 on Sept. 15 in a result that wasn’t a fluke — Arizona outgained L.A. 489-245. That was before each team’s seasons took drastic turns. While L.A. is one of the hottest teams in the NFL, the Cardinals are one of the coldest, losing four of five, including an overtime defeat Sunday at Carolina. That loss by Arizona also ended their playoff hopes, a drastic fall when you consider that the Cardinals were 6-4 and all alone in first place in the NFC West before coming to Seattle and losing on Nov. 17. Can the Cardinals find the gumption to go to L.A. and get a win? The Vegas oddsmakers don’t think so, installing the Rams as six-point favorites. But it’s the NFL, and on any given Sunday ... A: Minnesota scored the final points of the game on a 39-yard TD pass from Sam Darnold to Justin Jefferson on a first-and-10 play that followed a face-mask penalty on Byron Murphy II that negated a sack. Jefferson broke open down the sideline, running past cornerback Riq Woolen and catching the pass at the goal line as safety Julian Love raced over in a vain attempt to break it up. Macdonald explained after the game that the Seahawks were in a Cover Two zone. He didn’t go into more detail than that, but that defense generally calls for the cornerback — Woolen — to cover the flat/sideline area of the field and for the safeties to have the deep responsibility. That’s why Woolen would allow Jefferson to run past him, assuming the safety is coming over to pick him up. Many seemed to focus their blame on Woolen — the NFL Network’s Maurice Jones-Drew, for instance, who said, “I don’t know what Woolen was doing" during a replay of the TD. It's more likely the responsibility fell on Love to get over there quickly. Pro Football Focus assigned the blame to Love. Asked about the play again Monday, Macdonald said he would not publicly assess specific blame. But he did say that he thought the called defense was appropriate for the situation. “We’ll get that fixed in house and we’ve got to move forward,’’ Macdonald said. “But (for) those chunk situations, I thought we had a good plan and we just didn’t get it done.’’ Darnold, who had to step up to avoid pressure, seemed to say that it was Love's position that compelled him to throw the ball to Jefferson. “Jeff (Jefferson) is doing a great job of feeling that zone, and feeling the crowd, to get a little bit of width to get away from the safety,’’ Darnold said. “And I felt like I needed to give him a shot, put it on his back hip and let him do the rest.’’ The tragedy for the Seahawks is that it was the team’s only big defensive breakdown in the game — it just happened to come at the worst possible time. The Vikings are averaging 5.6 yards per play for the season but had just 4.8 on Sunday and didn’t have a play of longer than 27 yards until the TD that won it.
ST. LOUIS, Dec. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Marketing Alliance, Inc. (OTC: MAAL) (“TMA” or the “Company”), announced its financial results today for its fiscal 2025 second quarter ended September 30, 2024. Fiscal Q2 2025 Financial Key Items (all comparisons to the prior year period) Revenues were $4,928,950 compared to $4,891,830. The increase was primarily due to 10% revenue growth in the insurance distribution business that was offset by a decline in construction revenue Operating income from continuing operations of $486,639 compared to $591,187 in the prior year period Net income was $401,511 or $0.05 per share compared to $236,599 or $.03 per share in the prior year period Subsequent to the end of the quarter, on October 28, the Company announced its Board of Directors had authorized a share repurchase program to repurchase up to 800,000 shares of issued and outstanding common stock and decided to discontinue paying dividends effective immediately Management Comments Timothy M. Klusas, TMA’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “While our bottom-line results were similar to the second fiscal quarter last year, this quarter showed a 10% revenue increase in the insurance distribution business. The investments in the business we made, and continue to make, appeared to begin to result in growth. During this quarter the Company filled two key open leadership roles, introduced a new logo to reflect a more modern customer-centric company, and integrated new tools and technologies on to our insurance distribution platform for customers to save time, save expense, and in turn drive better outcomes for their customers. In the construction business we completed a large job that was initiated in the prior fiscal year. We continued to maintain a very disciplined approach to only undertaking jobs that were economically profitable with respect to our capabilities. We continued to believe this approach positions us to perform better and have capacity to undertake more suitable jobs.” Mr. Klusas added, “Our general and administrative operating expenses increased this quarter due to a one-time $147,720 non-cash compensation expense. While we have worked very hard to reduce our expenses, we recognized that we may have to adjust these expenses to continue to perform at a high level. We continued to reduce debt and further strengthened our balance sheet by changing our position on dividends.” On October 28 the Company announced its approval of a share repurchase authorization and its decision to discontinue the dividend. At the time, Timothy Klusas, the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "The share repurchase authorization represents our financial strength and commitment to enhance shareholder value, and the Board’s willingness to change tactics to do so. The Board recognized, nor did it take lightly, that this action would be a significant change in our shareholder distribution strategy of paying dividends, which the Company has paid consistently since its founding in 1996. The Board arrived at this decision after monitoring the stock price while paying dividends and has concluded in its judgement that its dividend policy was not adequately reflected in the stock price." As of November 27, the Company has repurchased approximately 62,000 shares under this authorization. Fiscal Second Quarter 2025 Financial Review Revenues were $4,928,950 compared to $4,891,830, due to 10% growth in the insurance distribution business that was offset by a decrease in the construction business. Net operating revenue (gross profit) for the quarter was $1,367,731, compared to net operating revenue of $1,427,796 in the prior year fiscal period. While Net operating revenue was greater this quarter in the insurance business, it was offset by a decrease in the construction business versus the prior year quarter. Operating expenses increased to $881,092 compared to $836,609 for the prior year. The increase was due to a one-time non-cash expense of $147,720. The Company reported operating income from continuing operations of $486,639 compared to $591,187 in the prior year period, with differences due to factors discussed above. Operating EBITDA (excluding investment portfolio income) of $553,396 was less than the prior year quarterly EBITDA of $669,709. A note reconciling operating EBITDA to operating income can be found at the end of this release. Investment gain (loss), net (from non-operating investment portfolio) for the quarter was $61,203 as compared with ($129,263) during the same period the previous year. The Company has reduced its holdings of equity securities by 32% at the end of the quarter versus the prior year. Net income was $401,511, or $0.05 per share, compared to $236,599 or $0.03 per share. Common shares outstanding increased 100,000 pursuant to Director retention plans. Balance Sheet Information TMA’s balance sheet on September 30, 2024, reflected cash and cash equivalents of $1.4 million; working capital of $6.1 million; and shareholders’ equity of $6.4 million; compared to cash and cash equivalents of $1.8 million, working capital of $6.1 million, and shareholders’ equity of $6.5 million as of September 30, 2023. About The Marketing Alliance, Inc. Headquartered in St. Louis, MO, TMA provides support to independent insurance brokerage agencies, with a goal of integrating insurance and “insuretech” engagement platforms to provide members value-added services on a more efficient basis than they can achieve individually. Investor information can be accessed through the shareholder section of TMA’s website at: http://www.themarketingalliance.com/shareholder-information . TMA’s common stock is quoted on the OTC Markets (http://www.otcmarkets.com) under the symbol “MAAL”. Forward Looking Statement Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may affect TMA's business and prospects. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding our expectations of growth based upon our investments in our business, our recently announced stock repurchase program, our plans to reduce expenses, and our ability to undertake more suitable jobs and generate earnings from our construction business. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release represent our estimates, expectations or intentions only as of the date hereof, or as of such earlier dates as are indicated, and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, expectations of the economic environment, material adverse changes in economic conditions in the markets we serve and in the general economy; the ways that insurance carriers may react in their underwriting policies and procedures to the continuing risks they perceive from public health matters; the ability of our construction business to be engaged for projects and for those projects to commence on the anticipated timetable and with the anticipated profitability; our reliance on a limited number of insurance carriers and any potential termination of those relationships or failure to develop new relationships; privacy and cyber security matters and our ability to protect confidential information; future state and federal regulatory actions and conditions in the states in which we conduct our business; our ability to work with carriers on marketing, distribution and product development; pricing and other payment decisions and policies of the carriers in our insurance distribution business, changes in the public securities markets that affect the value of our investment portfolio; and weather and environmental conditions in the areas served by our construction business. While we may elect to update forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. . Note – Operating EBITDA (excluding investment portfolio income) The Company elects not to include investment portfolio income because the Company believes it is non-operating in nature. The Company uses Operating EBITDA as a measure of operating performance. However, Operating EBITDA is not a recognized measurement under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, and when analyzing its operating performance, investors should use Operating EBITDA in addition to, and not as an alternative for, income as determined in accordance with GAAP. Because not all companies use identical calculations, its presentation of Operating EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies and is therefore limited as a comparative measure. Furthermore, as an analytical tool, Operating EBITDA has additional limitations, including that (a) it is not intended to be a measure of free cash flow, as it does not consider certain cash requirements such as tax payments; (b) it does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, its working capital needs; and (c) although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized often will have to be replaced in the future, and Operating EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements, or future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments. To compensate for these limitations, the Company evaluates its profitability by considering the economic effect of the excluded expense items independently as well as in connection with its analysis of cash flows from operations and through the use of other financial measures. The Company believes Operating EBITDA is useful to an investor in evaluating its operating performance because it is widely used to measure a company’s operating performance without regard to certain non-cash or unrealized expenses (such as depreciation and amortization) and expenses that are not reflective of its core operating results over time. The Company believes Operating EBITDA presents a meaningful measure of corporate performance exclusive of its capital structure, the method by which assets were acquired, and non-cash charges and provides additional useful information to measure performance on a consistent basis, particularly with respect to changes in performance from period to period.
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The latest development came hours after thousands of his supporters, defying government warnings, broke through a barrier of shipping containers blocking off Islamabad and entered a high-security zone, where they clashed with security forces, facing tear gas shelling, mass detentions and gunfire. Tension has been high in Islamabad since Sunday when supporters of the former PM began a “long march” from the restive north-west to demand his release. Khan has been in a prison for more than a year and faces more than 150 criminal cases that his party says are politically motivated. Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, led the protest, but she fled as police pushed back against demonstrators. Hundreds of Khan’s supporters are being arrested in the ongoing night-time operation. Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters that the Red Zone, which houses government buildings and embassies, and the surrounding areas have been cleared. Leaders from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, have also fled the protest site. Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan’s army took control of D-Chowk, a large square in the Red Zone, where visiting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is staying. Since Monday, Mr Naqvi had threatened that security forces would use live fire if protesters fired weapons at them. “We have now authorised the police to respond as necessary,” Mr Naqvi said Tuesday while visiting the square. Before the operation began, protester Shahzor Ali said people had taken to the streets because Khan had called for them. “We will stay here until Khan joins us. He will decide what to do next,” Mr Ali said. Protester Fareeda Bibi, who is not related to Khan’s wife, said people have suffered greatly for the last two years. “We have really suffered for the last two years, whether it is economically, politically or socially. We have been ruined. I have not seen such a Pakistan in my life,” she said. Authorities have struggled to contain the protest-related violence. Six people, including four members of the security services, were killed when a vehicle rammed them on a street overnight into Tuesday. A police officer died in a separate incident. Dozens of Khan supporters beat a videographer covering the protest for the Associated Press and took his camera. He sustained head injuries and was treated in hospital. By Tuesday afternoon, fresh waves of protesters made their way unopposed to their final destination in the Red Zone. Mr Naqvi said Khan’s party had rejected a government offer to rally on the outskirts of the city. Information minister Atta Tarar warned there would be a severe government reaction to the violence. The government says only the courts can order Khan’s release. He was ousted in 2022 through a no-confidence vote in Parliament. In a bid to foil the unrest, police have arrested more than 4,000 Khan supporters since Friday and suspended mobile and internet services in some parts of the country. Messaging platforms were also experiencing severe disruption in the capital. Khan’s party relies heavily on social media and uses messaging platforms such as WhatsApp to share information, including details of events. The X platform, which is banned in Pakistan, is no longer accessible, even with a VPN. Last Thursday, a court prohibited rallies in the capital and Mr Naqvi said anyone violating the ban would be arrested. Travel between Islamabad and other cities has become nearly impossible because of shipping containers blocking the roads. All education institutions remain closed.