CM.com introduced its AI Playground solution this week allowing customers to develop their own AI applications The company announced this while presenting its results for the third quarter of this year more profit was recorded in this quarter than in the same period last year CM.com is strongly committed to integrating AI and quietly launched the AI Playground environment this week customers can use AI technology themselves especially the new “AI knowledge assistants” or agents According to CEO Jeroen van Glabbeek the functionality of AI agents will be expanded in the coming years because this type of solution will become increasingly important AI agents can support CM.com customers and their end customers CM.com not only implements AI technology in its platform to help customers but also applies it on a large scale in its own operations After collecting the right data and gaining valuable insights this enables the company to more easily automate tasks using AI the CEO said in commenting on the quarterly results CM.com posted revenue of 65.4 million euros a stark contrast to the loss of 800,000 euros in the third quarter of last year The profit margin also increased in the previous quarter The positive results led CM.com to issue a higher profit forecast for the full year 2024 the company now expects a profit of between 16 and 18 million euros compared to the previously assumed 14 to 18 million euros Developments at CM.com are moving in the right direction CEO Van Glabbeek was even less optimistic about his company’s prospects two years ago Read more: CM.com sees tough times ahead Techzine focusses on IT professionals and business decision makers by publishing the latest IT news and background stories The goal is to help IT professionals get acquainted with new innovative products and services but also to offer in-depth information to help them understand products and services better © 2025 Dolphin Publications B.V.All rights reserved 24/7 Call: 1-309-786-5421 · Rock Island · Milan · Reynolds · Knox Chapel ·  Call 24/7 for Immediate Needs: 1-309-786-5421 · Rock Island · Milan · Reynolds · Knox Chapel Call 24/7 for Immediate Needs: 1-309-786-5421 · John Modricker, 83, died comfortably with his family at his Andalusia home after a short illness on March 13th, 2017. John was the oldest son of Charles and Leona Modricker of Logansport, Indiana, where he spent his youth.  Preceding him in death were his parents, his Uncle Robert Modricker, and his daughter, Katherine Ann (Kam) Modricker of Moline, Illinois (1981). John is survived by his wife, Veronica, of Andalusia, Illinois, his brother, Richard Modricker of Kokomo, Indiana; two sons, Mark Modricker of Chicago, Illinois, and Joshua Carlson and fiancée, Tessa Evans, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee; a niece, Kelly Van Glabbeek, her husband, Douwe, and their two children of Atlanta, Georgia.  John graduated in 1952, lettered in four sports (Football, Basketball, Track and Cross Country).  John was the winner of the 1952 Dewey Woodland award (which is now the John Price award).  John attended Wabash College, and went on to attend Bradley University in Peoria, and graduated Southeastern Louisiana University, with a degree in Biology and Chemistry.  He participated in collegiate level athletics at both universities. John was a pharmaceutical salesman when he graduated college, and went on to teach high school Biology and Chemistry at United Township High School in East Moline, Illinois, where he also coached the JV baseball team.  He went on to work as a Sales Engineer and retired from EIS Corporation. John and Veronica (Carlson) would have celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this October, 2017.  They built their Andalusia home (AKA The Ranch) together 22 years ago, and have enjoyed hosting  holidays, birthdays, wedding and baby showers, retirement parties and many more events.  John never knew a stranger and was loved by all with his vast knowledge of basically every subject on earth and the stories to go with it. His hobbies were golfing, fishing, mushroom hunting, refereeing, all sports, carpentry, and spending time with his family and friends.  Cremation will be with Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, Milan, Illinois.   As were his wishes, there will be no public service.  Any contributions can be given to Unity Point Hospice, who employees the most amazing staff of kind and caring individuals.  The newly-elected President of the Democratic Republic of Congo was once a resident of the rural Flemish Brabant municipality of Glabbeek. On learning that Félix Tshisekedi had been elected to become Congo’s new Head of State, the Mayor of Glabbeek Peter Reekmans told VRT Radio 2 Flemish Brabant that “He is always welcome to come and visit us again”. Félix Tshisekedi lived in Glabbeek between 1989 and 1992. Mr Tshisekedi’s father was the former Prime Minister and opposition leader in what was then Zaire Etienne Tshisekedi. He and his family lived in Belgium as refugees for many years.     Mr Reekmans told Radio 2 that "A large part of the Tshisekedi family once lived in Kapellen (a village that is part of Glabbeek) in the Dorpsstraat. My business (Mr Reekmans has a window and door business) is located in the same house”, a proud Mr Reekmans said. "The Tshisekedi family was very friendly and participated in the local community. They made every effort to integrate into our society. They were really nice people”, the Mayor added.  Something went wrong.The page you are looking for could not be found outspoken talent who used to run the kitchen at Hollywood Casino’s Final Cut Steakhouse – gets credit for putting the Reserve’s new chef on my radar “His name is Shaun Brady,” Roth told me in May when he called to say that Geoffrey Van Glabbeek the executive chef at the 10-month-old restaurant in the new Ambassador Hotel “He’s from Ireland and has exceptional credentials.” (Roth left Kansas City several years ago to take a job in Wichita as the executive chef of the Ambassador Hotel in that city.) “I think he’s going to make a name for himself in Kansas City.” few young chefs get to open their own restaurants Fewer still are 22 when opportunity doesn’t just knock but insists by leading a tour of prospective restaurant locations Get the latest from The Pitch delivered directly to your inbox Subscribe WILD RIDE: Iconic jet boat operator Hukafalls Jet in Taupo has expanded since opening its doors in 1990 Iconic jet boat operator Hukafalls Jet in Taupo has just turned 25 and celebrations are well under way One of New Zealand's pioneer adventure tourism businesses Hukafalls Jet has grown from a small wooden shed on the Waikato river to a thriving business the firm has blossomed from a one-boat operation using a 'brick' of a cellphone and minimal staff to a four-boat business with a purpose-built base and more than 750,000 passengers through its doors Hukafalls Jet is the only jet boat operator on the river offering a ride right up to the base of the thundering Huka Falls - one of New Zealand's most visited natural attractions It is also the only North Island commercial jet boating company to boast a female driver who has just celebrated one year with the company Sarah Van Glabbeek graduated from Queenstown Resort College with an Adventure Tourism Management diploma in early 2014 and shortly after headed north to join Hukafalls Jet in a customer services role she qualified as a commercial jet boat driver and loves taking people out on the river Originally known as Huka Jet the company began as a subsidiary of Ngai Tahu owned It rebranded in December 2006 to Hukafalls Jet at the same time launching four new state-of-the-art twin-engine jet boats designed by Shotover Jet and built by 3D Design in Queenstown Hukafalls Jet is going from strength to strength translating not only into a substantial economic benefit to the Taupo region but also offering about nine full-time jobs for locals as well as work experience opportunities for students and school leavers In 1999 Christchurch-based Ngai Tahu Corporation invested in the Shotover Jet Group and since then has taken full ownership of the group and has also expanded it with new acquisitions Ngai Tahu Tourism now includes Hukafalls Jet the Hollyford Track and a joint-venture with Agrodome in Rotorua -To celebrate everyone buying a ride online via hukafallsjet.com until November 14 is in with a daily chance to win back their ticket purchase price Business uncertainty from US tariffs may lead to a recession Having survived more than three months in bombers my father knew he was going to need all the luck in the world to make it four he made a point of saying "rabbits" out loud It was a superstition he had grown up with The idea was that you would receive a month of luck if the first word out of your mouth Dad would creep into my room on the first morning of the month and mouth as quickly as he could He would be delighted if I did and seemed almost convinced of the power of it Perhaps his experiences in August 1941 had given him good reason to believe in it He had even written "Rabbits" at the top of the page in his diary on the first day of August it was the only month he ever wrote this in his 1941 diary that this month he was going to need all the luck in the world He was probably also aware that Germany had been dramatically strengthening her air defences There were now many more defensive fighters for the allied crews to contend with over Europe that in the first 18 nights of August 1941 August hadn't long begun when my father's crew were detailed for what would be his 15th op The odds of surviving this many operations were heavily stacked against an airman A great many bomber crews got shot down after only a few trips My father returned safely from his 15th op Some of his colleagues weren't so lucky during the raid and my father had the shocking misfortune to witness the moment a nearby crew were blasted to eternity A real town blitz - with the post office as the objective Took off into a thick fog and dirty weather The weather was lousy for our little jaunt to Hanover No searchlight opposition due to 10/10 cloud There was plenty of flak but it was not very accurate Passing Bremen I saw an aircraft receive a direct hit from flak It was a ghostly sight " a huge flash then a ball of flame hurtled earthwards Coming back we got lost and finished up with a wireless fix in the middle of the North Sea Landed at an aerodrome near Hull at 06:00 hours after having been in the air for nine and a half hours I was pretty tired and glad to get to bed." That was the last time my father made an entry in his red The pages from August 5 to December 31 remain ominously blank The diaries of the 55,000 men in Bomber Command who died during World War II must also have ended abruptly one day Chills ran down my spine when I first saw all the blank pages in my father's 1941 diary Even though I already knew what had taken place to prevent him from writing anything further it made what followed seem all the more real - and all the more shocking my father and his crew set off at 10.47pm in their Wellington bomber this was his 16th flight towards Nazi-occupied Europe He had complete trust in the other members of his crew: their captain Flight Lieutenant Frederick Lorne Litchfield; second pilot Sergeant Richard Hammer Hilton"Jones; navigator Sergeant Donald Arthur Boutle; wireless operator Sergeant Alexander Scott Lawson; and front gunner Their lives were quite literally dependent on the vigilance and skill of each other The sun had already set in the west as they flew in near darkness towards the German coastline that night They looked forward to seeing it rising in the east on their return one of their engines began to give them some trouble But it wasn't long before the pilot became sufficiently concerned that he announced they should jettison their bombs and head back as fast as possible They chose a nearby bridge and rapidly unloaded their bombs With no associated anti-aircraft fire they had good reason to be worried Searchlights without associated flak meant there were certain to be German night fighters about The pilot immediately took violent evasive action the bomber hurtled through the air in a complex corkscrew manoeuvre But the highly skilled German searchlight operators were able to keep the illuminated aircraft firmly stuck in their cone of light The pilot put the plane into another deep stomach-churning dive and this time though not without considerable difficulty No sooner had the men breathed a sigh of relief than a German fighter the Wellington crew knew they were in serious trouble my father discovered the hydraulic system that operated his turret wasn't working The engine that had failed controlled this system He was faced with a fighter right on his tail and no guns at his disposal he knew it would take only one on-target shell to vaporise them The enemy fighter unleashed a burst of gunfire My father's highly skilled pilot took further evasive action trying to shake off their attacker they had lost considerable height and were down to about 2000 feet my father tried to breathe deeply in an attempt to calm his harried nerves He knew the Wellington bomber was quite capable of flying on only one engine Despite the gnawing apprehension deep within him he tried not to let doubt infiltrate his mind Getting back safely was all he needed to focus on But it wasn't long before he heard front gunner Ted Lambert suddenly scream out He had no idea what the problem was up the front It was obvious that Ted desperately wanted someone to open his door The bulkhead door behind his front turret could only be opened by the pilots on the other side The lack of response gave him further cause for concern looking below as he tried to gauge their altitude The pitch darkness encompassing the enemy territory below stared back at him he didn't know exactly what was going on in the rest of the aircraft 'What's the trouble Ted?' my father said through the intercom completely isolated from the rest of the crew He tried to ignore the suppressed fear building inside He looked anxiously out into the endless blackness all around him But there were no clues as to the nature of their predicament The plane was careering through tall trees and into a potato field my father was horribly surprised by the deafening "rending crunch on impact with Mother Earth" in the fleeting moments before he passed out Complete blackness followed as he lost consciousness In the wee small hours of the morning in the nearby village of Glabbeek the commotion startled some of the local Belgians He managed to open the turret door manually Shattered bones protruded through the flesh below his knee Ted Lambert's front turret had been knocked off the aircraft on impact and had rolled around and around eventually coming to rest who miraculously emerged with scarcely a scratch The rest of the aeroplane was in two pieces Pieces of wreckage were strewn chaotically among broken branches and scattered leaves My father drifted in and out of consciousness dragged the injured crewmen away from the aircraft It was pitch black and they could hardly see a thing The pilot explained that tall trees had broken their fall it is unlikely any of them would have survived the crash (Perhaps this was the genesis of my father's deep-seated love of trees.) Sergeant "Jock" Lawson had an injury to his face set fire to it by exploding the oxygen bottles villagers spotted the fire and rushed out to help The crewmen heard them coming but didn't recognise the language they were speaking The airmen asked the villagers where they were and learned that they had arrived Their rescuers helped them back to the village It was a five-minute walk to the home of Franz and Bertha Willems-Harry on Kersbeekstraat in Glabbeek - Zuurbemde along with neighbour Mr de Becker and mayor Victor Mertens Bertha cut Boutle's parachute off him as he lay on a stretcher Local doctor Dr Homans gave my father some medication for the pain emanating from his left leg Everyone was most concerned about Donald who apart from being helped to sit up to vomit lay motionless on a mattress with his eyes closed Mr de Becker could see that the other airmen were young and handsome but couldn't tell if Donald was a man of 25 or 55 He was in such a bad way that it didn't look as if he was going to survive None of the locals spoke English but the airmen managed to make themselves understood when they asked if there was a priest nearby Pastor Van Maegdenbergh arrived with holy oil and administered last rites Franz and Bertha gave the men some breakfast My father felt ever so grateful for the kind way they willingly shared what little they had and hungrily devoured his food Mr de Becker was amazed at my father's appetite despite his badly fractured leg Word of the airmen's presence soon spread and most of the village filed in to see their "RAF heroes" the villagers had no option but to notify their German occupiers to arrange for an ambulance to take them to the nearest hospital my father was about to officially become a prisoner of war Not just because he had survived the crash but also because the horror of night raids to Germany was finally over Having left England abruptly in the dead of night crashing into a field in Belgium had just preserved his life releasing him from further perilous bombing raids instead of being in a plane that dropped the bombs he was on the very ground that would be subjected to heavy bombardment for the next few years But he didn't concern himself with that right now Having already survived something akin to Russian roulette he certainly had good reason to be relieved The work he had been doing was so hazardous that more RAF aircrew were lost over Germany than German civilians killed on the ground I'll always remember how palpable Dad's relief still seemed when he told us about surviving his plane crash in Belgium He hadn't known how he could have endured the horror of night raids indefinitely yet carrying on had seemed his only option despite being bound for a prisoner of war camp with shattered bones to boot seemed to have been profoundly grateful to have arrived on a foreign field • From Battle of Britain Airman to POW Escapee: The Story of Ian Walker RAF by Angela Walker Distributed by South Pacific Books and available in bookshops nationwide A weka hitched a 300km ride to Christchurch in a ute.