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MADRID – Life remains expensive and is getting more and more expensive. Inflation in Spain rose to 2.3% year on year in July. An increase was mainly driven by a 10.8% increase in food prices.
This is according to data released on Friday by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE). Underlying inflation, which excludes unprocessed food and energy products, rose 0.3 points to 6.2% year-on-year.
The main factors contributing to the increase in the consumer price index (CPI) are closely linked to tourism. A sector that is preparing for a full recovery in the summer season. Fruit prices increased by 11.6% and oils and fats by 20.4% in July this year, in contrast to the decline recorded in the same month of 2022.
Fuels cheaper than years ago
Fuels, which have had the most impact on the rise in headline inflation, have accelerated their price increase by two percentage points from the previous month, but are still 5.3% cheaper than a year ago. This is due to the €0.20 discount on petrol and diesel introduced by the government to mitigate the price increases of energy products caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Prices for leisure and culture increased by 7.2%
In addition, leisure and culture prices increased by 7.2%, two points more than in June, due to the higher cost of tourist packages. National prices increased by 17.9% compared to a year ago and international prices by 17.8%. On a monthly basis, this is the biggest increase in July, up 24.3% from June prices. Meanwhile accommodation costs rose 10.8% from the previous month.
Harmonised CPI Spain is among the lowest in the EU
As for the harmonised CPI, an indicator that provides a common measure of inflation for comparisons with the European Union. This stood at 2.1%, five-tenths higher than in June. Although this is one of the lowest numbers in Europe, Spain has once again crossed the 2% threshold, a target set by the European Central Bank (ECB) for its monetary policy.
Inflation returns to the rising trend
With the final July data published by the INE, inflation is returning to an upward trend after two consecutive months of declines. These brought the CPI to 1.9% in June, the lowest level since March 2021. This return to the upward trend highlights that prices will continue to fluctuate throughout this year due to the base effects and various price increases that took place in the last months of 2022.


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The U.S. Postal Service, realizing that e‐mail threatens its traditional monopoly, has announced plans to offer free e‐mail to its more than 120 million residential customers. One wonders how an organization that cannot reliably deliver a package on time and in good condition is going to manage what will end up the largest e‐mail database ever. Benjamin Franklin, our first postmaster, must be cursing from the grave.
The Postal Service proposes to assign everyone a free e‐mail address on the basis of his or her street address, which raises the possibility that those addresses could be turned into massive mailing lists, making people susceptible to “spam” (junk e‐mail) and mail fraud. Holding off the deluge for the time being, however, is the Postal Service’s inability to work out all the bugs in delivery.
For one thing, Postal Service gurus have not decided how much to charge for delivering your e‐mail. What they have decided is that the local post office will print out the e‐mails and deliver them — limit two pages — at a premium rate of 41 cents, 8 cents higher than normal first‐class postage. The Postal Service seems untroubled that its new e‐mail plan defeats the very advantage of e‐mail (that it is free and fast), but so it goes in government bureaucracies.
A similar high‐tech offering launched by the Postal Service in 1982 was a miserable failure. E-COM, an attempt to fight off competition from fax machines, allowed patrons to send electronic messages from printer to printer only in local post offices. The program was axed, but only after squandering $42 million. More recently, the Postal Service introduced an on‐line postage system that has yet to make a profit.
Deputy Postmaster General John Nolan promises, “We’ll be as secure, or more secure, than other sites in the terms of the privacy people can expect from us.” But the prospect of a centralized e‐mail operation carried out under the auspices of a government‐enforced monopoly does not bode well for privacy. Imagine the potential dealings between the FBI, armed with its new e‐mail surveillance tool “Carnivore,” and the mail police at the Postal Service. Let’s suppose for a moment, however, that this operation manages to get up and running and is reasonably popular. Then we come to the real problem: Why should the Postal Service be permitted to leverage its government‐protected monopoly into an otherwise competitive market, potentially driving out private entrepreneurs?
As a quasi‐governmental agency, the Postal Service is exempt from many regulations that constrain private businesses. It also wields regulatory power that could be used against its own competitors in the e‐mail business, such as America Online and Earthlink. All Postal Service activities are tax‐exempt, and the massive retirement fund for its 900,000 employees is subsidized by federal government matching grants. The Postal Service even has a line of credit with the U.S. Treasury. Dave McClure, executive director at the U.S. Internet Industry Association, points out the unfairness: “They are a monopoly. It all comes down to this: The e‐commerce industry should not have to compete with its own government. The purpose of government is to govern, not to put private enterprise out of business.”
Certainly, the Postal Service loses patrons when people use e‐mail rather than traditional “snail mail.” But this does not justify expanding into electronic services; rather, it is a sign that the time has come to remove the Postal Service’s special protections and allow everyone in the message delivery business to play by the same rules. No doubt the Postal Service would like to preserve and even expand its protections, but that will be bad for consumers, who benefit from increased competition and innovation, and will force e‐commerce businesses to redirect energy to fight off unfair competition from the Postal Service.
It is the e‐commerce entrepreneurs who are enriching lives by creating jobs, spurring the economy and increasing the efficiency of everyday life. By intruding, the Postal Service can only harm that progress.

domain: news


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NEW YORK A bulk ferrous scrap cargo has shipped off the East Coast to Turkey at prices well below offers earlier in the week, cementing the bearish outlook that has rapidly gripped the market.
Uncertainty on price direction in the U.S. and Turkish scrap markets forced one U.S. exporter to ship cargo carrying mostly heavy melt scrap at about $10 below prices offered to Turkey Jan. 13, according to sources.
This is the first U.S. bulk cargo sale to Turkey in more than five weeks and market participants said the cargo shipped Jan. 15 at $396 per tonne c.i.f. Turkey for an 80/20 mix of No. 1 and No. 2 heavy melt. Barely a day or two earlier, U.S. offer prices were reported in a range of $405 to $412 per tonne, while Turkish mills countered with bids in a range of $395 to $400 per tonne (amm.com, Jan. 13).
"There were concerns that U.S. domestic scrap prices are coming down, so its just locking in sales. You dont want to be caught holding the highest inventory," one market participant said.
Concerns that Turkish mills would continue to secure scrap from Europe and leave U.S. exporters with unsold inventory also likely contributed to the exporters reasoning for the sale, he said.
The cargo, which also comprised small volumes of other grades such as shredded scrap, was originally offered at $398 per tonne for HMS 1&2 (80:20), according to a source in Turkey.
Exporters are likely to continue gauging domestic mills interest in their scrap as Turkey remains reticent on bulk orders and container exports have also dropped significantly.
One U.S. trader said bulk exporters continue to offer scrap to U.S. mills, adding that one exporter unsuccessfully offered shredded scrap into the Ohio Valley at $425 per tonne.
"I think all exporters are trying to sell tons inland. Even at down $30 from earlier numbers it is better than export. Once we get the domestic shred numbers to $410 per ton, then they will stop offering," he said.
Meanwhile, Turkish traders speculate that prices will continue to be under pressure.
"I see the scrap prices loosening in the following weeks since the final product prices are way below the cost," one trader said.
"Turkish mills are currently cutting production from 30 to 60 percent and are still not in a purchasing position," a second trader said.
"Mills have the expectation that there could be a price decreasethat the U.S. will sell at the $385 to $390 levelbut personally I believe this is not very possible as theres not much material available on the market," he said. "I believe only Turkey is having a crisis and the rest of the world has had a hopeful start to 2014."


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Facebook says ‘Discover more of what you like’
By M4G Bureau - March 12, 2018
Planned & executed by Kinetic India, the campaign urges people to discover what they like on the social network
After ‘find your kind of people’, Facebook pushes another message i.e. ‘Discover more of what you like’ through their second OOH campaign in India on the similar lines of ‘Live what you love’. Planned and executed by Kinetic India, the campaign, which has a variety of creatives, is promoting the social networking platform as a highly personalised space for the users.
The campaign has been deployed on high impact sites in multiple cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.


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A number of notable applications for the iPhone and iPod touch, some free, and some commercial, have debuted with this morning’s launch of the App Store. Listed below are a small selection of these titles.
Facebook has released its free Facebook application. It allows users to talk to friends using Facebook Chat, browse profiles and pictures, update their profiles, and allows for uploading of photos to Facebook from the phone.
Connected Flow has released Exposure, a new application for mobile browsing and use of popular photo sharing service Flickr. It allows users to browse photos, create favorites and comment on photos, and provides automatic searching of photos taken nearby through the use of location services. It is available in a free, ad-supported version, as well as in an ad-free, $9.99 commercial version called Exposure Premium.
MySpace.com has released MySpace Mobile, a free mobile client for the popular social networking site. It allows users to send and receive messages, browse their friends’ profiles and photos, post comments, update and share photos, and more.
Using the AIM application, one can send and receive messages over Wi-Fi, EDGE, or 3G networks to anyone on the AIM network, including AOL, AIM, ICQ, .mac, and MobileMe users, manage his/her Buddy List, take pictures with the iPhone’s camera to use as a buddy icon, and more. AOL Radio offers users access to over 200 stations covering more than 25 genres of music, as well as 150+ CBS Radio stations from across the U.S.
eBay has released its free eBay Mobile application, which allows users to search, bid, and check their auction activity directly from the iPhone or iPod touch. In addition, the company’s PayPal subsidiary released its free PayPal client application, which allows users to send money and check their account balance on-the-go.
Six Apart has released its TypePad application, which allows for mobile posting of writing and photos, as well as the ability to automatically update Twitter with alerts about new blog postings. It is a free download.
The Iconfactory has released its previously revealed Twitterriffic application, which allows users to read and publish messages, photos, and location updates to the social network Twitter. The application is available as in a free version, which includes periodic advertisements, or as a $9.99 paid app (Twitterriffic Premium) that contains no ads.
Google has released its free Google Mobile App, which lets users find web pages, business listings, phone contacts, and more, and also offers single-click access to mapped results.
NewsGator Technologies has released its NetNewsWire RSS reader application as a free download. It features the ability to sync with all of NewsGator’s free RSS reader applications on the web, Mac, and PC, and also allows users to save items for later reading using the Clippings feature.
Shazam Entertainment has released Shazam, a free application that identifies music playing around the user using audio from the iPhone’s built-in microphone. In addition to identifying music, the app allows for saving tagged songs, provides links to the iTunes Store for purchasing tagged songs and links to YouTube to watch related videos, and features the ability to add photos to tagged songs, and send tagged songs to friends via email.
Jott Networks has released Jott for iPhone, a free mobile notepad application. Jott allows the user to record and save audio as notes, which can be used organized into to-do lists.
Evernote has released its free Evernote client application. It allows the user to take notes, snap photos, create to-do lists, and record audio, all of which can be synced to an Evernote client online, and to client applications on both the Mac and PC.
Wanderspot has released its free Urbanspoon food-finding application. Using the iPhone’s Location Services, its finds nearby restaurants by neighborhood, price, or cuisine, including ratings and reviews, and allows the user to shake the iPhone to find a random eatery.
Yellowpages.com has released its free YPMobile, which offers users the ability to search for nearby businesses and events, save multiple locations, businesses, and events into “Plans” which can be saved and shared with friends, and more.
Previously highlighted during Apple’s WWDC keynote address in June, MLB.com’s MLB.com At Bat application delivers real-time scores and in-game video highlights directly to the iPhone or iPod touch.


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HxGN LIVE merges old and new, urges epic leaps forward
HxGN LIVE, the Hexagon group’s annual userfest, brings together thousands of people from manufacturing to fire/rescue/police to construction to mapping professionals. Walking the halls, it’s hard not to run into someone who does something I know nothing about — truly an interesting mix of technologists, end-users, industries and geographies.
Lots of stories to come, but the main news out of this year’s event was the launch of Xalt (pronounced “exalt”), a combo of current and future technologies that create what Hexagon calls its Autonomous Connected Ecosystem (ACE). Hexagon bristles when you call it a platform; they see it as a mechanism that delivers industry-specific solutions for Industrie 4.0. Depending on the end-industry, this may be a combo of sensing technologies (via its own brands or third parties), software from its divisions, and data orchestration. While the name Xalt is new, bits and pieces have been in development for years, and some of it already has installed customers. CEO Ola Rollén says that Xalt has 50 to 60 customers, some operating hundreds of NC workcells that embody what he believes Xalt will eventually bring to all of Hexagon’s end-industries: smarter, connected, digitally-enabled decision making that operates faster than humans can. His example: a Hexagon metrology device is embedded into a production line, measuring parts as they are produced. The metrology device has some analytical ability via edge computing, and can tell the line manager that a measured flaws means a tool is about to fail — replace it soon! This is faster than in today’s typical workflows, where metrology happens in a Quality Lab, offline, feeding back into production perhaps too late to be truly useful. Of course, Xalt will also feed data to a cloud analysis engine to enable queries such as “is this tool failing across all machines?” to help optimize production even further. That’s just one example — Hexagon CTO Claudio Simão says his team has identified over 500 applications for Xalt, and that’s before Hexagon’s 8 divisions start adding in their specific applications.
And that, the domain expertise from the divisions, is what Hexagon believes will make Xalt different from everything else on the market. Mr. Rollén sees huge potential in the vast amount of data created every day by comms-enabled devices, but a huge lag in what is actually used. He sees Xalt as a framework that accelerates customers’ ability to harness that data simply, even autonomously, where that’s appropriate. Rather than being a toolkit, Xalt will be embedded in the hardware and software Hexagon sells, so that the customer decision becomes where and when to use it, and not so much how. The “how” will be enabled by the solutions from Hexagon Process, Power & Marine, Manufacturing Intelligence (as in the example above), Mining or or or… The experts in the divisions will leverage the core Xalt tech from Mr. Simão’s group, add to it as needed and serve it out to customers. Rather than being an IT/OT research project at each customer site, Xalt will jumpstart the realization of business benefit from all of that data. Action, rather than IT.
A couple of other quick thoughts –again, longer posts to come:
- MSC Software, acquired by Hexagon a bit more than a year ago, shared their development priorities for the next year. UI improvements, adding more solvers to Apex, closer coordination with sister companies in the Manufacturing Intelligence division — all good ideas. What amazed (and heartened, to be honest) me was the level of energy. Hexagon is investing in MSC, boosting resources in R&D, support and sales.
- And that’s true across brands and divisions. Hexagon told investors that it plans to spend 10% to 12% on R&D in 2018 and beyond. For a company that still gets over 40% of revenue from hardware, that’s a lot. And in real terms, it’s a lot, too: about €350 million in 2017.
- There were product announcements across the divisions, more that I can cover here in this brief post. But if you’re a PP&M customer, look into HxGN SDx, SaaS solution that aims to help owners create and maintain a “digital twin” of an industrial facility and EPCs run projects. SDx is based on SmartPlant Foundations, so migration is simplified — but the end-result is modern, work-process and role-centric.
- The least surprising thing I learned? I spent as much time as I could in PP&M sessions and it still seems as though oil & gas/chem/etc. is still stuck in patterns technology can’t fix. Why doesn’t design talk to purchasing? Why don’t owners pay EPCs for digital models? Why are contracts to adversarial? These issues haven’t changed in the many years I’ve been in the industry, and it’s truly a !@#$ shame. We keep talking about it but little changes.
- The most interesting thing I learned? I tend to thing of Hexagon as a holding company, with each division doing its own thing. That’s changing, as Mr. Simão’s team works with CTOs from across the divisions to reduce duplicative efforts — and, as a huge side-benefit, expose cool concepts from one industrial area that can benefit others. Hexagon has typically been slow to create cross-division offerings, but it sounds like we’ll see an acceleration there.
More to come. In the meantime, I suggest you check out Mr. Rollén’s keynote about epic leaps and the risks of being left behind — and hang in there because the baby bird makes it (yup, spoiler but necessary):
Note: Hexagon graciously covered some of the expenses associated with my participation in the event but did not in any way influence the content of this post. The cover picture is of Hexagon CEO Ola Rollén, courtesy of Hexagon.


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UK: Small diesel car sales up 25%
Thanks to their low running costs, miserly fuel bills, and refined, nippy performance, small diesel cars are soaring in popularity amongst UK car buyers, Citroen UK claims.
Sales for 2003 to the end of August were up by more than 25% compared to the same period last year and diesels now account for 10% of all small cars sold.
Europe's second largest car maker, PSA Peugeot Citroën, claims to be the UK's most successful small diesel car supplier, with Peugeot and Citroën having sold 18,709 models from their 206 and C3 ranges so far in 2003, up some 23% from 15,142 in 2002.
Key to this success has been the group's latest-generation 1.4 litre HDi diesel engine, developed as part of a partnership with Ford that will result in a comprehensive range of advanced power units from around 1.4 to three-litres in size.
The latest model using the 1.4 litre engine, the Citroën C2 launched in the UK on 19 September, emits a claimed 108g/km of CO2 - the lowest of any car with a conventional engine - and promises fuel economy of up to about 70 mpg.
Peugeot Citroën Automobiles UK chairman Tod Evans said: "We intend to focus on producing diesel engines which emit less than 120 g/km, and at year-end 2002, 190,000 vehicles fell into this category. Our plan is to increase that figure by a factor of 9, to 1.7 million vehicles with emissions of less than 120g/km by 2006. The vast majority of these vehicles will fit into the small car, supermini category."


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Video rental firm Netflix, soon to be hitting the UK shores, has raised $400m in fresh capital from long-time investors to try to boost the firm after a tough few months. The US company has dropped nearly 75 per cent of its market value since July, when it announced an ill-fated plan to split its DVD and streaming services and …
If they can offer SD and HD streaming, i.e. lovefilm quality, and then something approaching 4 or 5 Mbps at a reasonable resolution, then they will get my custom, and good bye LoveFilm.
since I am not interested in streaming I will be staying with Lovefilm, Broadband in this country is too flaky for streaming
- YARR! Pirates walk the plank: DMCA magnets sink in Google results
- Pics Whisper tracks its users. So we tracked down its LA office. This is what happened next
- Review Xperia Z3: Crikey, Sony – ANOTHER flagship phondleslab?
- OnePlus One cut-price Android phone on sale to all... for 1 HOUR
- UNIX greybeards threaten Debian fork over systemd plan


text: Biometrics and identity solutions firm Applied Recognition has announced the award of a patent for detecting and using faces in images.The firm says the new tech relates to application such as personalised advertising, personalized computer game faces, missing-person searches, and immersive animations and movies.”In 2002, the DreamWorks blockbuster Minority Report wowed audiences worldwide with a vision of a future where advertisements would recognize and self-customize for individuals. Today, similar services and more are finally possible based on the science behind our patent”, said Ray Ganong, co-CEO and CTO of Applied Recognition, Inc.The company adds: “This new face detection and recognition technology makes it easy for companies to present truly personalized marketing messages. ߪ Imagine visiting an eyewear website and being able to swap your face behind different styles of glasses.”Don Waugh, Co-CEO, Applied Recognition, said: “The market opportunity here is enormous. Applied Recognition's technology now makes it easy for companies to create the next generation of truly personalized products and services. We are delighted that The United States Patent Office has recognized the novelty and precedence of our innovative and broadly-applicable research and development efforts in this area”.


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Volkswagen Group has announced it will use Amazon Web Services (AWS) to automate manufacturing and logistics processes across its network of 122 plants and more than 30,000 facilities that make up the group’s global supply chain.
The carmaker said it had signed a multi-year agreement with AWS, the cloud computing unit of Amazon, to build a cloud-based industrial digital production platform. The services that AWS will provide include IoT, machine learning, analytics and other functions that VW hopes will make its plants more efficient and improve production flexibility.
Industrial manufacturer Siemens will also play a key role in ensuring that machinery and equipment from different manufacturers at the 122 Volkswagen plants are networked efficiently in the cloud.
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume, who oversees production across the VW Group’s 12 brands, said the collaboration with Amazon would “strengthen production as a key competitive factor”.
AWS CEO Andy Jassy promised in a statement that “Volkswagen’s and AWS’s collaboration will have a profound impact on efficiency and quality in production through Volkswagen’s global supply chain.”
The planned ‘Industrial Cloud’ will gather all data from VW’s manufacturing plants in real time and the functions provided by AWS will be designed to help boost effectiveness and track vehicle parts across the supply chain.
Teams from Volkswagen and AWS have already set 140 projects for integration, including a system for tracing the transfer of goods in and out of the factory by truck and services for the cross-plant analysis of system efficiency. The goal is to put the Industrial Cloud and the first concrete services and functions into operation by the end of this year.
VW said that, combined with a company-wide data ‘lake’, it expected the new system to provide insights into operational processes that would help identify gaps in production and waste.
The two companies also plan to deploy machine learning to optimise the operation of machinery and equipment.
Over time, VW plans to include its 1,500 suppliers and partners in the project.
AWS offers a broad range of cloud-based applications which companies pay to use, avoiding the need for them to invest in their own infrastructure. As AWS serves numerous clients, it can easily scale its offering as and when needed.


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The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced stricter regulation of tanning beds that are used by millions of Americans. The agency said that it would require manufacturers to put a black-box warning — one of its sternest — on the devices stating that they should not be used by anyone under the age of 18, but stopped short of banning their use by minors.
Indoor tanning before the age of 35 increases the risk of developing melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer, by 59 to 75 percent, studies have shown.
Manufacturers will also have to assure the agency and consumers that tanning beds do not deliver too much ultraviolet radiation, potentially causing burns, and that timers or alarms intended to prevent the overuse of the tanning beds work properly.
“It’s huge,” said Dr. Eleni Linos, an assistant professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco. “We’ve been trying to get the FDA to change its rules both on labeling and classification of tanning beds for a really long time. It indicates the FDA is finally taking into account the evidence that tanning beds are dangerous.”
By late 2015, the agency will expect manufacturers to stop selling models that do not meet the new standards.
John Overstreet, the executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association, which represents tanning facilities, said the new requirement for federal clearance was “going to add another layer of difficulty getting products to market, and certainly the cost will ultimately be borne by the consumer.”
Nearly 30 million Americans use tanning beds each year, and more than 2 million of them are teenagers, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
Repeated exposure to indoor tanning during childhood is associated with the greatest increase in the risk for melanoma, researchers say.
In addition to the black-box warning on tanning beds, brochures and websites must also have warnings.
But Sherry Pagoto, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, cautioned that users may not read labels. She said it was vital to get the message out to parents that children should not use tanning beds, “because in most states, there are parental consent requirements where there aren’t bans.”
Ideally, she said, states will include information about the federal warning on consent forms. “That would be really important information for a parent’s decision,” Pagoto said. “We can’t just expect them to know.”


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Big changes are afoot in the pharmaceutical air freight sector as it adapts to market, regulatory and technological trends. Surya Kannoth...
Global handling standards of pharmaceutical goods has always been essential for the air cargo industry to improve its share of the $60 billion a year pharma logistics market. The industry needs to meet customer demands for the integrity of their goods, while complying with increasing amounts of regulation from global authorities.
The industry has to deal with very tight regulations but, unfortunately, there is no single standard. With each region in a country introducing different regulations, it has a major effect on the supply chain. The GDP certificate and IATA’s CEIV certifications represent the first steps towards a unitized standard for the air transport of pharmaceutical goods. IATA’s initiative, the Centre of Excellence for Independent Validation in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma) has now been successfully piloted, and is rapidly gaining acceptance as a universal, independent and comprehensive compliance and training scheme.
CAL became the first group to implement IATA's Center of Excellence for Independent Validators Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV) certification for both its freighter airline and cargo ground handling operations. The Liege-hubbed group’s road feeder services and other ground handlers are also validated by the CEIV, which means it provides “end-to-end pharma capabilities that conform to the highest standards” said CAL.
“New regulations have caused an increase in the amount of temperature controlled shipments. The higher demand comes from shippers that drive the forwarders to comply. CAL positions itself in the frontline of providing solutions and complying with these demands and we see that the market recognizes it, hence CAL’s business in this sector is increasing,” said Navot Hirschhorn, temperature controlled and special products manager with CAL Cargo.
In support of IATA’s CEIV pharma certification, Alan Dorling, Global Head Pharmaceuticals & Life Sciences at IAG Cargo said, “We must remember that these drugs are intended for human consumption; ensuring their integrity is, therefore, an absolute priority. It is also worth mentioning that the cost of pharmaceuticals can be very high; with shipments often worth many millions of pounds. As such, it is incumbent on us to do all within our power to ensure products arrive to market in perfect condition.”
“To meet these challenges it is vital that we are absolutely compliant with all relevant regulations and that our staff have the right training. All of our 106 Constant Climate network stations are fully quality approved, audited, meet the IATA Chapter17 Regulations and are GDP compliant. We also invest in our people to ensure they can meet the needs of our customers at all times with one of the most in-depth training programmes on offer,” he added.
All in all, compliance, competence, and preparedness are key words for the transport of pharmaceutical goods. Finnair Cargo received IATA’s CEIV Pharma certificate as first airline in the world. “The purpose of the IATA CEIV Pharma certification is to create a uniform way of handling pharmaceuticals in air cargo. Therefore, we encourage all stakeholders of air cargo industry to participate in the program, including forwarders, handling agents and fellow airlines. We do not see the IATA CEIV only as a pharma certificate; we see it as a quality certificate. Since starting the certification process, we can see that the overall quality of our Helsinki hub has improved due to increased process discipline in the organization also on general level,” said Jan Skutnabb , Finnair Cargo’s sales director for South East Asia, India, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and New Zealand.
Finnair Cargo's Nordic Pharma Chain offers a reliable solution for the transportation of time and temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals. In addition to the service features provided for pharmaceuticals requiring temperature control, the airline also offer Pharma Light service that ensure storage in dedicated pharma area and high loading priority, without the temperature control related features.
The successful delivery of a parcel or pallet for a pharmaceutical customer is only possible when you are fully in control of all the factors that could impact quality, compliance and product security. And for all of it to fall in place, airports, handlers, airlines and every stakeholder in the air cargo industry have invested heavily in state-of-the-art equipment, improved and adjusted operational process embedded in QMS, qualified resources, continuous improvement programs etc.
All cargo airline Cargolux, for instance, is considerably investing in modern and energy-efficient aircraft. The airline’s 747-400F and 747-8Fs are the ideal equipment to guarantee an unbroken cool chain with improved air-conditioning capabilit), whereas LuxairCARGO, its handling partner at its Luxembourg hub, is investing in new handling facilities dedicated to specific commodities, such as their dedicated pharma and healthcare center. The same is happening at other key Cargolux locations such as Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore.
“In the future, the healthcare industry will expect that only fully pharma compliant transport service providers (or logistics service providers) will be qualified and form the basis of global cool chain activities. What our clients are mainly asking for is a high service level and ‘deliver as promised’ guarantees. Making the air cargo transport more efficient and attractive is the most urgent challenge facing our industry today,” said a spokesperson from Cargolux.
IAG Cargo has one of the world’s most advanced products for the transport of pharmaceuticals: Constant Climate. Through Constant Climate, customers benefit from the delivery of pharmaceutical shipments in a pure, potent and stable condition for safe administration to patients.
“We recently received third-party recognition for the quality of Constant Climate when we became the first carrier in the world to be awarded a Good Distribution Practice certification by a national government health agency: the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. This achievement is widely recognised as meeting the diamond standard for pharmaceutical transport. In addition we were granted Wholesale Distribution Authorisation for medicines intended for both human and veterinary use. The award was granted in recognition of pharmaceutical supply chain excellence at our Heathrow hub,” added IAG Cargo’s Dorling.
A key innovation for American Airlines Cargo is its new Philadelphia facility which opened earlier this year. It is a dedicated pharmaceutical and healthcare handing facility which is the first of its kind for an air carrier in the NE region of the United States.
“We continue to invest in our ExpediteTC° program as traffic in the last several years has grown significantly. Coupled with positive industry feedback on our infrastructure, equipment, and process enhancements, we see continuing demand for this key vertical. This sector will continue to become more and more important, particularly with the increased demand for advances in the temperature-controlled supply chain. This is largely due to both increasing product complexity and more stringent regulatory requirements for the supply chain,” said Tom Grubb, manager of cold chain strategy for American Airlines Cargo.
Turkish Cargo has also made several investments to improve its pharmaceuticals service. “We focus on the biggest pharmaceuticals markets in Europe and South Asia to increase our market share. Turkish Cargo’s strategy in 2015 is to increase pharmaceuticals share in our all shipments. Owing to our new investments and projects that support this strategy, we expect more than 50 percent increase at the end of the 2015 in pharmaceutical transportation,” anticipates Halit Anlatan, vice president - cargo marketing and sales, Turkish Cargo.
Turkish Cargo has gone a step further by redefining standard operating processes for pharmaceuticals. While all its business plans and processes comply with IATA’s current regulations, the airline has recently inaugurated a new cargo storage area and 39 separate special cargo rooms. It has also built local pharma handling expertise and a pharma mindset training the employees on pharmaceutical handling.
Qatar Airways Cargo announced a series of enhancements to its QR Pharma service earlier this year. The Middle East carrier will be further supporting pharmaceutical customers with the addition of Va-Q-tec container technology; a new QR Pharma advanced passive transportation method that complements Qatar Airways Cargo’s existing Envirotainer and CSafe active containers to offer customers a flexible airfreight solution.
“By investing in sophisticated technology and a team of highly qualified staff, Qatar Airways Cargo can now offer healthcare companies and their logistic partners a state-of-the-art service for shipping temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals all over the world, while maintaining the integrity and quality of their products throughout the supply chain,” said Ulrich Ogiermann, chief cargo officer, Qatar Airways Cargo in a press statement.
Brussels Airport’s cargo arm BRU Cargo has a clear strategy when it comes to integrating the cool chain through its airport. “By standardising and aligning the procedures to the IATA CEIV pharma standard, we can guarantee a robust and reliable handling with a very low risk profile for temperature deviations. By working together with our cargo community we manage to come up with innovations, resulting in a continous step by step improvement of the overall quality. The airport’s cargo management team plays an active role in this process,” said Steven Polmans, head of cargo at Brussels Airport Company.
Steven explains that after infrastructure, the elements that can make a big difference in the service offering is training of the staff handling the pharma shipments, clear procedures and good risk based quality management (improvement) systems. “With our cargo community, we are developing a low cost and guaranteed controlled temperature solution with our cool-chain dolly. This results in a complete elimination of the most extreme temperatures when the pharma shipments are transported to the aircraft,” he added.
Pharmaceutical companies are more and more looking at outsourcing their logistics operations. They are under great pressure to deliver value to the shareholder, and outsourcing their logistics is one of the areas that can help them in achieving this goal.
Every market has different conditions; but, irrespective of the location, it is compliance, quality and product security that are universally the three major focuses in supply chain management for pharmaceutical companies. Leading logistics player CEVA has a rapidly-growing global involvement in this sector, with dedicated sector management and the knowledge and resources in house to satisfy customers’ requirements.
“We constantly strive to better understand the specialised requirements of this sector, working closely with customers on a local basis to maintain the necessary quality standards and ensure compliant delivery. GDP provides the model for our services, and ensures we support the customer with standardized, quality driven solutions,” said Bart Beeks, EVP-Benelux, CEVA Logistics.
Yusen Logistics’ recently opened GDP pharma facility at Schiphol is at the very heart of Yusen’s global pharma distribution capability. The operation adds to Schiphol’s collective pharma capability and Yusen is benefitting from the strong advantages of Schiphol as the ideal location for this hub.
This new operation has been developed in close consultation with Yusen Logistics’ pharma customers, who are increasingly looking for new ways to optimize flows within the constraints of GDP. The operation links Yusen Logistics’ Antwerp import/export consolidation centre and European central warehouse (EDC) with its Schiphol Air operations, to form a true multi-modal hub. This is managed from a single Control Tower, manned by a UK based international team linked to Yusen Logistics’ offices around the world. The service is dedicated solely to the stringent requirements of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, with over 50,000 delivery points in Europe alone. Yusen is currently making 20,000 deliveries per week across 36 countries.
Meanwhile, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is working on other innovations to enhance efficiency and -improve the customer experience. “Currently, we are conducting trials of the new ‘Milk Run’ project, in which we aim to speed the availability of import cargo (and ultimately shorten lead times for exports) by rationalising and centralising trucking between handlers and freight agents. We are already seeing reductions in vehicle movements and congestion, and more efficient use of vehicle capacity. This is an interesting exercise in multi-party collaboration driven by the Schiphol Cargo community, and illustrates how other airport communities could take on a similar facilitation role to the benefit of their airports and the industry as a whole,” said Jonas van Stekelenburg, Director Cargo, Schiphol Cargo.


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Taita Taveta traders accuse Tanzania border officials of harassment
By Renson Mnyamwezi | August 17th 2016
Kenyan traders have accused Tanzania border officials of harassing them despite the existence of the East African Common Market Protocol.
Taita-Taveta County cereal dealers complain they are not allowed to conduct business in the neighbouring country freely. “Tanzania authorities at Holili along the Kenya-Tanzania border recently ordered me to return several bags of maize I had bought from farmers in the country. I incurred heavy losses as I had to obey the order,” Charles Wachira, one of the maize dealers, protested.
“For the time being, I have stopped buying maize from Tanzania due to many trade barriers,” he said. Speaking to The Standard yesterday, Mr Wachira said traders from Tanzania were now transporting cereals to Taveta border for the local traders to buy stuff using the Kenyan currency to make huge profits.
“We used to buy maize cheaply using Tanzania currency but authorities no longer allow us to trade in the neighbouring country. Our counterparts in Tanzania instead bring maize to Taveta for lucrative business,” he said. “We do not get profit if we buy maize locally. A number of local traders have resorted to buying maize in Uganda to avoid exploitation.”
Taveta Deputy County Commissioner Henry Wafula confirmed several Kenyan businessmen had complained to his office about harassment by Tanzania authorities. “It is true that local traders have complained that they are not being allowed to buy maize in Tanzania,” said the commissioner.
Mr Wafula said he would liaise with his Tanzanian counterpart Reuben Kipuyo (Rombo DC) to address the matter. “Tanzania traders are not releasing maize to Kenyans. The standoff has occasioned maize shortages in the area,” he said.
In a recent stakeholders' meeting, Governor John Mruttu noted traders among them maize and gemstone dealers complained they were always being subjected to arbitrary arrest and theft of their goods while conducting business in Tanzania.
This is despite a joint communiqué signed by the two countries to reduce non-tariff barriers at border points a couple years ago. “We thought the signing of the agreement will bring a sigh of relief to Kenyan traders but it has become a nightmare. Tanzania authorities have ignored the agreement together with the EAC Treaty signed by the five member states,” the governor told the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) MPs.
The leaders told EALA members that the current laws do not provide level ground for all the citizens and should be relooked into. “We need to have standard laws that will provide a level playing ground for all citizens of EAC member states,” said governor Mruttu.
Mr Mruttu told EALA members Nacy Kabisai, Abubakar Zein and Judith Pareno that the current laws had failed to facilitate cross border and intra-regional trade between citizens of the two countries.
Electricity bill up this month on high thermal power production
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- How to make money to love you back
MONEY & MARKET
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- Tax collection up by a third to Sh125.4b
- Prices of juices and water to increase on higher excise duty


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Nintendo of America has announced The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Explorer’s Edition bundle, which had leaked earlier in the week.
The bundle, which will see release on Black Friday as part of Nintendo’s effort to offer “a variety of products to make holiday shopping a little bit easier and a lot more fun for everyone,” will include a copy of the game for Nintendo Switch, a 100-page Explorer’s Guide, and a two-sided map.
With a $59.99 price tag, Nintendo sees these items as a helping hand for those new to the series as well as those still yet to wake Link from his slumber to once again save Hyrule from destruction.
Link’s open-air adventure still remains a strong game of the year contender, with us writing in our review:
“The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild delivers the adventure of a lifetime, and it is exciting that it will thrive on shared experiences around the way that everyone chose to interact with the world before them.
“ We have long awaited the day that Ocarina of Time was dethroned, and here we have a renewed blueprint that will similarly have a momentous impact on where the series is steered next.”
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is now available exclusively for Nintendo Switch and Wii U worldwide.


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Google’s saying some new coverage modifications surrounding the usage of Gmail, Docs, and Google Photographs. In an effort to purge unused storage, Google is updating its coverage to delete customers’ knowledge from its hottest providers on accounts which might be inactive for greater than two years. That is famous on Google’s Assist web site.
Starting on June 1, 2021, Google will enact a brand new coverage that applies to the storage on a number of of its providers. As early as June 1, 2023, Google will delete knowledge from Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Jamboard, Gmail, Photographs, Drawings, Varieties, and Websites if they’re inactive for 2 years.
Google explains that customers who don’t want their knowledge to be deleted ought to use service with related account both on a Google app or through browser to maintain it lively. Google additionally explains that this alteration is not going to apply to Google One customers who pay a month-to-month payment, nor will it apply to Google Workspace (previously GSuite for enterprise), GSuite for Training, nor GSuite for non-profits.


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Upper Marlboro, MD – With winter around the corner, BLE Executive and Virtual Suites, leader in the alternative workspace industry in Prince George’s County, has announced a limited-time..
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Fleeting foot traffic and constant disruptions are just two of the major challenges for foodservice businesses in 2022 as we move into a new phase of COVID-life. Living with the virus will be no easy feat so it’s important to understand these challenges as we move forward.
Despite the array of shifts that have transpired throughout the hospitality industry, one thing will remain key to a business’ success, and that’s customer appeal and satisfaction. With consumers understandably tighter with their funds and cautious with their movements, it’s imperative that you capture their attention and tick all their desired boxes.
But what will customers be looking for in 2022? It’s a question front of mind for most hospo management teams. If you’re looking for answers, here’s what we believe will be high on consumer wish lists this year when it comes to foodservice:
1) Strict Hygiene Standards
Although some diners will be willing to throw caution to the wind, there is still a large portion of Australians that will be wary to venture out to dine regularly. Which means that holding your health and hygiene practices to a high standard is a must. Don’t let potential customers turn themselves away because they’re unsure that you’re taking this seriously. If you’re operating with a reduced team due to staff shortages, be sure to leave ample time between diners to clean and clear any mess.
2) No cash, no problem!
The industry was already trending this way, but COVID has made carrying cash even more redundant. According to Reserve Bank data analysed by the Australian Banking Association, ATM withdrawal amounts are down 37% following the impacts of COVID. While credit and debit spending has skyrocketed. So, if you aren’t investing in a quick and efficient payment system, now’s the time to.
3) Outdoor dining
There has been a greater emphasis on outdoor dining over the past couple of years and something to strongly consider investing in if you have the space available. States like Victoria and New South Wales have relied heavily on the success of outdoor dining, with grants and rebates still available in some areas to help businesses develop. Strike while the weather is still hot as customers could potentially become more cautious to leave the house when Winter rolls around.
4) Clear & honest communication
Despite some cases of harassment from customers, most people seem to be fairly understanding of the current situation. So, if you have to close or make changes to your operation, don’t be afraid to communicate the reasons why. It’s important that you find an effective way to communicate these important messages as well. Whether it’s through your social media pages, newsletter database or a simple sign posted in the store front (or ideally all three!) you’ll want to build a clear line of communication with your existing customers.
5) Retail offering
Throughout the pandemic, many businesses have successfully turned their famed menu items into take-home retail products. With supply chains expected to struggle in 2022, there could be opportunities for you to exploit when certain things become unavailable at supermarkets. The #supportlocal movement has made people more willing to spend for quality goods if it means helping local businesses. So why not ask your customers what’s missing from their cupboards at home and see if you can offer what it is they’re looking for.
6) Efficient takeaway
The delivery app market boomed with the implementation of lockdowns, but any momentum has taken a hit as staff shortages hamper these services as well. Considering the often-shaky relationship between these apps and business owners, some are choosing to change the way that they do takeaway. If you can limit delivery times by employing your own fleet of riders, then this could be extremely beneficial as consumers may become fed-up with waiting so long.
A more traditional approach to takeaway is also a possibility for those struggling financially. So long as you’re online ordering system is simple and easy to use, people should be more open to picking up their food themselves.


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Sonoco issues first sustainability report
January 29, 2014
1 Min Read
International packaging manufacturer Sonoco today issued its first annual sustainability report. The company says the report details plans for achieving sustainability goals by focusing on a trio of key measures.
"We have a long history of pursuing sustainability. In fact, we were engaged in sustainable activities such as recycling long before it was considered important," said Harris E. DeLoach Jr., Sonoco's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Our goal is to be the packaging industry leader in creating and enhancing a sustainable future that benefits all of our stakeholders -- shareholders, customers, employees and the communities where we live and work."
Sonoco plans to achieve its sustainability goals by focusing on the "triple bottom line," according to DeLoach. "By balancing and integrating environmental stewardship, social responsibility and economic performance within our business strategy and culture, we are becoming more competitive and better prepared to meet the challenges of the future."
In addition to discussing initiatives to reduce Sonoco’s environmental footprint, the 16-page electronic report also highlights more than 15 sustainable products and services offered by the company’s consumer and industrial packaging businesses.
The report is available online at http://www.sonoco.com/sustainability
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Adobe taps startup Bolt to add one-click checkouts to commerce sites
Information about Adobe taps startup Bolt to add one-click checkouts to commerce sites
By Stephen Nellis
(Reuters) – Adobe Inc on Thursday said it was partnering with San Francisco-based startup Bolt to add one-click checkouts for retailers that use Adobe’s e-commerce software tools.
Once known for software such as Photoshop, Adobe has branched out into digital marketing and e-commerce tools for retailers.
Offering a one-click checkout feature to the merchants that use Adobe’s tools will help them compete against Amazon.com, which has long had such a feature. It will also help Adobe compete for merchants against rival Shopify Inc, which has its own one-click checkout technology called Shop Pay.
Under the deal, Adobe’s customers can integrate Bolt’s one-click feature into their checkout screens. Bolt has a network of about 10 million shoppers, and if it has seen a shopper before, it can …


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Corporate acquisitions can be difficult affairs, often beset by integration challenges and, especially, cultural differences between the merging companies. But few ever turn into public brawls between high-profile founders, complete with finger pointing, accusations of incompetence and even regrets over a windfall of more than half a billion dollars.
Enter Nest and Dropcam.
In 2014, Nest, the smart-home unit of Alphabet run by former Apple exec Tony Fadell, agreed to acquire Dropcam, a security camera maker, for $555 million. It was not, apparently, a good match. Talk about disagreements and cultural clashes between the two companies began circulating in Silicon Valley almost immediately, and Dropcam employees began defecting.
The simmering discontent burst into the open last Thursday when tech news site The Information published a damning report on the troubles at Nest, describing a toxic work culture, and notably, a contentious post-acquisition life for employees of Dropcam. One of the article's sources was Dropcam co-founder Greg Duffy, who called Fadell a "tyrant bureaucrat" responsible for holding back progress. Another source was Fadell, who said a lot of the Dropcam employees "were not as good as we hoped."
On Tuesday, Duffy fired back, saying he regretted having sold the company and accusing Fadell of "blatant scapegoating." In a post published on Medium, Duffy said he was "compelled to set the record straight."
Just before we were acquired, Dropcam was in the middle of a record year of sales, had a 4.5-star bestselling camera on Amazon, was rolling into large brick-and-mortar retailers with huge merchandising support, had innovative new products imminently launching, still had most of its financing in the bank, and our investors and team actively didn’t want to sell (it was my mistake to sell — but that’s a story for another day). We created positive ROI marketing campaigns, mass-manufactured a sophisticated hardware device, and built a cloud video service that processed more incoming video than YouTube. We pioneered one of the first hardware-service models in our industry with a 40%+ conversion rate paid subscription and better-than-Netflix churn — now a gold standard used by VCs looking for related investments. And we accomplished all of this while remaining a really great place to work.
Duffy went on to suggest that without Dropcam, Nest, which is best known for its smart thermostat, wouldn't amount to much.
I can’t publish Dropcam’s revenue, but if you knew what percentage of all of Alphabet’s “other bets” revenue was brought in by the relatively tiny 100-person Dropcam team that Fadell derides, Nest itself would not look good in comparison. So, if Fadell wants to stick by his statement, I challenge him to release full financials (easy prediction: he won’t).
Nest itself was acquired by
In his online tirade, Duffy also laid blame for the high attrition at Dropcam -- and at Nest overall -- directly at Fadell's feet.
The ~50 Dropcam employees who resigned did so because they felt their ability to build great products being totally crushed. All of us have worked at big companies before, where it is harder to move fast. But this is something different, as evidenced by the continued lack of output from the currently 1200-person team and its virtually unlimited budget. According to LinkedIn, total attrition to date at Nest amounts to nearly 500 people, which suggests that we were not alone in our frustrations.
Nest declined to comment.
If you're a current or former Nest or Dropcam employee, I'd love to hear from you. Please contact me: atilley at forbes dot com


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§ Mr. Teddy Taylor
asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on how many occasions anti-dumping measures have been enforced by the EEC over the past five years in cases when the exporting nation has made proposals to the Commission for increased prices to remove the extent of the alleged dumping.
§ Mr. Channon
A definitive remedy in cases where foreign manufacturers are found to have dumped their products in the European Community to the detriment of Community industry can take the form of an anti-dumping duty or the acceptance of a price undertaking.
The discussions between the Commission and a foreign manufacturer following the offer of a price undertaking are confidential: some offers are rejected. In approximately three quarters of anti-dumping cases over the past five years, price undertakings have been accepted as the definitive remedy.


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Cable cooking shows glamorized the culinary field and attracted a whole generation of celebrity chef hopefuls. Yet restaurant industry opportunities go beyond the kitchen and the dining room.
As our professional networking groups demonstrate, restaurants offer opportunities for internal auditors, quality assurance specialists, marketers, and more.
“The industry now has a need — and a demand — for a greater variety of talent,” says Kevin Bechtel, senior vice president of purchasing and menu development for Shari’s Café & Pies, a family dining concept in the western United States. “You have to look for it all: purchasing, legal, HR."
Even real estate. Laurie Burns joined the restaurant industry in the late 1980s after receiving an MBA in real estate and finance. Her first job: scouting new locations for Taco Bell. Today, she's chief development officer for Darden Restaurants, which operates more than 1,500 restaurants, employs more than 150,000 people and serves more than 320 million meals a year.
The influx of non-traditional roles isn’t only opening various career options for those already in the industry; it’s also pulls in people who might never have considered a restaurant career.
Large companies such as Darden Restaurants and McDonald's seek a new breed of talent: people who know precisely how to tap into the latest tech to improve customer experiences.


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CBS on a a lawsuit claiming high levels of arsenic in California wines. "
"The lower the price of wine on a per-liter basis, the higher the amount of arsenic," he said. They included Trader Joe's famed Two-Buck Chuck White Zinfandel, which came in at three times the limit, a bottle of Ménage à Trois Moscato was four times the limit and a Franzia Blush had five times the EPA limit for drinking water."
In the Press Democrat Feds say aging wine underwater may be illegal. "It adds that even a wax coating may not make a bottle impermeable. In fact, biological growth on a bottle could degrade the cork and wax seal, contaminating the bottle when it is opened."
Wine Enthusiast on cool wine labels.
The Drinks Business on the top 10 under-rated white grape varieties.
Palate Press asks is Provence more than just rosé?


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The first Great British Calf Week will take place from 2-9 February to celebrate the progress made by the industry since the launch of the GB Dairy Calf Strategy in 2020 and to raise awareness of the work of the strategy and how farmers can be involved .
The GB Dairy Calf Strategy is a cross-sector campaign, led by AHDB and the NFU, and aims to ensure that all dairy-bred calves are raised with care and for a purpose – as part of the dairy or beef supply chains.
The week will include a series of online events, webinars and farm walks, each focusing on a different aspect of successful calf management.
Topics range from practical on-farm approaches, such as colostrum management, to more strategic issues, such as genetics and selecting the right bull for your crossbred dairy calves.
Workforce, skills and business management will also be in the spotlight. The event offers farmers a unique opportunity to hear from recognized experts in the field and have all their questions answered.
Great British Veal Week
“Great British Calf Week will celebrate all the progress made through the GB Dairy Calf strategy,” said Nic Parsons, dairy development manager at AHDB.
“Farmers will also be able to hear a range of speakers discussing ways to maximize the health and nutrition of calves, for example, to ensure that each animal reaches its full potential.
“Making targeted breeding decisions is another way farmers can increase the value of their calves, ensuring that each calf born is fit for purpose.”
As an industry stakeholder in the GB Dairy Calf Strategy, Chris Dodds, Executive Secretary of the Livestock Auctioneers Association (LAA) supports the initiative.
“It is important that each calf is presented for sale in good health and with as much health information as possible, to ensure strong market value.
“The LAA is supporting Great British Calf Week to promote this information, as we continue to work with our members to further enhance the benefits of the live auction system by providing calf producers with a fair and genuine market for their animals. “


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A new report by one of Canada’s biggest banks estimates that legal marijuana will overtake liquor in sales by 2020, Business Insider reported on Wednesday.
In 2017, Canadians spent more than $5.1 billion on liquor, CIBC said in its new report. However, Canadians are expected to spend $6.5 billion on legal marijuana in 2020.
In the report, CIBC says Canadians are expected to buy over 800,000 kilograms or over 1.7 million pounds of marijuana by 2020.
The recreational use of marijuana will dominate sales by 95 percent while medical cannabis will account for only 5 percent, the report added.
The private sector is expected to generate over $1 billion in earnings on marijuana sales, with a big portion of the money will be flowing back into the production side of companies, which are cultivating and producing the green herb.
Mergers and acquisitions in the sector are set to continue at a “frenetic pace” as producers seek to acquire medical expertise and venture into new markets.
The news should not come as a surprise.
In March, the resort town of Aspen in Colorado saw its legal-marijuana suppliers reaping $11.3 million in revenue, topping the amount of profit by liquor stores, which made $10.5 million in 2017.
Colorado was one of the earliest U.S. states which legalized recreational marijuana in 2014.
Canada is currently on the verge of legalizing recreational marijuana this summer.


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BusinessWeek Investor -- Inside Wall Street
Wilsons: Set to Go Hell for Leather
With Christmas just around the corner, are retail stocks set for a lift? Maybe not, considering the slowing economy and the sharp sell-off in stocks. But Daniel Schwarzwalder of Buckingham Capital Management--whose fund, mainly in retail and apparel, is up 35% this year--bets big on one specialty retailer. He thinks Wilsons the Leather Experts (WLSN) will score. Why? He calls leather the "sweet spot" in fashion today, and he's impressed with Wilsons' "very focused" management. Schwarzwalder says it has created "a good brand, whose sales have been growing at 20% a year." Wilsons operates 529 retail stores in 44 states, Canada, and Britain. "The stock, down from 21 in August, to 14 1/4, is cheap," he says. He sees it doubling in 12 months.
John Rouleau of Gruntal says shares of Wilsons have yet to reflect its acquisition of El Portal, a retailer of luggage and travel accessories. Its 38 stores--in five states and Guam, selling such brands as Coach, Bally, Hartmann, and Kenneth Cole--could swell to 300 stores under Wilsons, he says. El Portal, adds Rouleau, will make Wilsons profitable all-year round, because its business is less seasonal. Most retailers make their money in the fourth quarter. In 2002, Rouleau figures El Portal will add $75 million in sales and will up earnings by share by 20 cents. He sees Wilsons earning $2.33 in the year ending Jan. 31, 2001, and $2.83 in 2002.By Gene G. MarcialReturn to top
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SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — When Joe Viele confronted the reality that the Taste of Southern Rhode Island wouldn’t be tasted this year, he remained undaunted in finding another way to bring the community together.
He, along with his staff at the Southern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce and other chamber officials, began considering options to replace the now eight-year-old big bash that included restaurants cooking on-site some favorite recipes.
“We really know that not having the taste event was perceived by the membership and public as a big void to fill,” said Viele, the chamber executive director.
The Taste of Southern Rhode Island — last year was the 8th annual one — is the autumn forget-me-not recipe of local restaurants and sellers of spirits to show area residents a renewed love after a summer fling with temporary tourists.
Nearly 40 restaurants, distilleries and breweries set out their food under a large tent for the fall reunion of area residents and their local purveyors of food and drink.
Chamber officials have said that the reason they have done the taste event each year at the end of October is to raise money and subtly advertise the restaurants who need local patrons during the winter months after the tourist season passes.
So, if a cooking up a storm brings too many people together in close proximity, a virtual auction could still pull them together right from their computers, tablets, and smartphones, Viele said.
“At a time we are being told not to be together at Thanksgiving, we are hoping that the virtual auction will give everybody a connection and that they can feel it doing something that’s fun,” he explained
This is about rising to a challenge, he explained, that the coronavirus posed to the organization’s efforts to bring the community together and trying something new to boost community spirits beleaguered by eight months of varying restrictions on everyday life.
This virtual fundraiser is called the Taste of Southern Rhode Island Auction. It started this week and will run until Dec. 2 at noon. The public can go to the chamber website (srichamber.com) and will be directed to a Facebook page.
They can view over 50 items ranging from a vacation timeshare to a “work from home basket.” Viele said people can bid online for each of the items.
In addition, people can call the chamber (401-783-2801) to have their bid registered, he said, noting that this is a convenience for those who may not have a computer or don’t want to create a Facebook account.
The auction items will have photographs to illustrate them and to entice the buyers, he said with a laugh.
In addition to the timeshare and special basket for those working from home, other items include a design agreement from DiStefano Brothers Construction that includes an in-home design consultation, measurements, and schematics and renderings for one space ($1000 value).
Other prizes include a two-night stay at Shelter Harbor Inn with a $50 gift card to The Bridge in Westerly for dinner ($600 value), a “Booze Tower” (featuring a variety of wines and spirits with $400 value) and a stained glass anchor from Bosgraaf Studio in Peace Dale ($350 value).
There also are other restaurant gift certificates, donated overnight accommodations, candy and food baskets and even a basket of handmade crafts.
“I think it’s a good response when you consider the conditions and the economy. Over 50 businesses recognized the value of our organization, especially when they are willing to give something because most businesses are still challenged financially because of the effects from the pandemic,” he said.
Proceeds from the auction help to benefit the number of programs the chamber runs to boost area businesses, especially during the height of the tourist season in this seaside vacation spot year-round.
In addition, the funds help the chamber’s efforts to represent business interests in the various issues that arise in local communities and with government officials. The chamber helps them, Viele said, to understand the contributions the businesses make to local economies as well as South County in general.
He hopes this auction will capture as much local attention as the program it temporarily replaces due to various restrictions related to the spread of the coronavirus, especially as the virus is surging in the state.
Viele said part of the reason for holding the auction is to keep the businesses and what they offer in front of local residents.
“It’s good for everybody — good for the public, good for business and good for the community,” he said.
A list of the businesses and individuals contributing money or gift items for the auction includes:
Arturo Joe’s, Belmont Market, Best Practice Energy, Bosgraaf Studio, Brightview Commons Senior Living, Carla & Christopher Crowshaw, Clean Rite Cleaning & Restoration, Cross and Crown Fiber Arts, DiStefano Brothers Construction, Dutchman Dental.
Elderwood of Scallop Shell at Wakefield, Fayerweather Craft Guild, Finishing Touches Custom Picture Framing, Gates Insurance, Geabers Liquors, Gooseneck Vineyards
Grandscapes Nursery, Hal’s Garage & Auto Body, Julie Brayton Fine Art, Kim Stack & Mike Williams, Kimberly Kelley Agency — Allstate, Koolco., Inc., Law Office of Joshua A. Sroka, Esq.
Liberty Wine & Spirits, Linda Musch, Matunuck Oyster Bar, Michael K. Marran, Esq., Mika Seegar, Narragansett Property Management, Narragansett Rubbish Removal
Northeast Construction Services, Padgett Business Services, Peter Geisser, Phil’s Main Street Grille, Ram Point Marina, Rawlings Floor Covering, Rhode Island Credit Union.
ServiceMaster By Mason, Shaidzon Beer Co., Sherman’s Garage, South County Art Association, South County Habitat For Humanity, South County Smiles, South County Tourism Council, South Kingstown Land Trust, Steve Black Carpentry, Tapped Apple Cidery & Winery, The Break Hotel/Chair 5, The Glass Station, The Right Click, Twin Willows, Westwind Financial and White Orchid Media.


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Online retailers that sell to California customers must collect California sales taxes beginning April 1 – and not only for the state. They also must collect and remit sales taxes for individual districts in which their total annual sales exceed $100,000 or separate transactions number 200 or more.
California will require these sales-tax collections in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair decision. The ruling affirmed a state’s authority to put the same sales-tax obligation on online retailers as on brick-and-mortar retailers.
In California, district taxes are voter-approved sales and use taxes imposed by cities, counties and other local jurisdictions. Retailers can find the tax rates for each district here: http://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/sales-use-tax-rates.htm


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Ralph Lauren quietly shuttered its two-year-old 20,000-square-foot store last week. Other brands are expected to close boutiques in a city that has lost its luster for cash-rich mainland Chinese tourists.
The decision could be a landmark ruling for Western brands in China.
December 8, 2016
• Nyima Pratten
COMEBACK KID: Attention laddies: don’t write off GQ just yet. After a 12.9 percent decline in newsstand sales in the first half of 2002, following a 16.5 percent drop in the second half of 2001, editor in chief Art Cooper believes the magazine...
WWD's Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide is brought to you by @styleontherise and is complete with the perfect presents for everyone on your list. Click the link in our bio to start shopping NOW. #WWDHoliday #Sponsored
@rebeccaminkoff is bringing self-checkout to high fashion: The brand has partnered with @queuehop to bring its customers self-checkout options, beginning this holiday season at its SoHo store. (📷: @aurorarosephoto)
It was a big night for Demna Gvasalia at the Fashion Awards 2016 in London: The designer took home the award for international ready-to-wear designer for his work at @balenciaga, while his brand @vetements_official scooped international urban luxury brand. (📷: @giovanni_giannoni_photo)


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Founded in 2008 by Salman Lakhani, Cubix is a digital product development agency. With the sincere intention of revolutionizing the digital product development sector, Mr. Salman has made enormous exertions to make Cubix the top E-commerce development company, as recently certified by GoodFirms’ research.
Cubix has its branches in Washington DC, USA , and Dubai, UAE, along with a production house in Karachi, Pakistan. The company is growing leaps and bounds each day, by utilizing their innovative approach of giving the best to its clients.
Recently GoodFirms conducted an exclusive interview with Mr.Salman Lakhani, CEO of Cubix – a B2B research platform, wherein he talked about his journey of shaping Cubix as one of the highly regarded digital product development companies across the globe.
During the interview with GoodFirms, he mentioned that Cubix deals in mobile application development, game app development, augmented reality, big data, and related technologies. Also, the firm’s team is deeply regarded for creating development grade software platforms for their clients. Starting from the core of all projects, their 100+ employees have successfully rendered services to more than 500 global clients.
Mr. Lakhani mentioned the ideals of the company since its establishment. He cited that his main role comes under implementing business strategies and brand building. He also vividly expressed that the agency has served various niche clients from industries like e-commerce, health and fitness, entertainment, cosmetics, wearables, marketplace, food, and drinks,
Moreover, he also stated that Cubix believes in the concept of an in-house team of developers, designers, engineers, project managers, and digital marketers. Working under the same roof brings a higher amount of transparency and shoves productivity, resulting in speedily developing & delivering of products.
Along with this, in terms of application development, he cites that they are well- versed in creating apps for Android and iOS platforms. Further, he takes pride that his firm’s developers have proven their excellence in America by delivering highly scalable iOS-based apps. Their great expertise in building apps using iOS leads them among top iPhone app developers at GoodFirms.
Apart from this, Mr. Salman mentions that all their developments begin after thorough research of the products.The team executes this practice by maintaining regular consultations with their clients. Thus, with this open process, the firm successfully shapes unique, innovative, and high-quality solutions for its clients.
Signifying their punctuality, he says that his team meticulously plans and decides the timeframe for the projects. By following agile practices, they succeed in satisfying their clients, resulting in a huge client repeat rate.
Mr. Salman also talks about his experience with GoodFirms, stating that getting listed on the platform has boosted their credibility among the clients. The technology Cubix deploys has made a substantial contribution, helping it in reaching new heights.
Read the detailed interview for getting insights into Cubix’s tech mantra!
Washington, D.C. based GoodFirms is a maverick B2B research and reviews firm that aligns its efforts in finding the top E-commerce development and Mobile app development companies delivering unparalleled services to its clients. GoodFirms’ extensive research process ranks the companies, boosts their online reputation and helps service seekers pick the right technology partner that meets their business needs.


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Following a huge connection issue, Coinbase, a Nasdaq-listed bitcoin exchange, is apparently still suffering system issues.
“This might result in failed trades, delayed transactions, and unusual behaviour on the Coinbase website and mobile apps,” according to the exchange.
The bug was no longer affecting the exchange goods and services as of 2:00 a.m. UTC on November 24, the exchange claimed. The exchange resolved the situation in less than two hours, according to the exchange’s incident and planned maintenance histories.
A number of users quickly took to social media to vent their displeasure with the platform’s ongoing connectivity troubles, with several observers pointing out that the exchange had a similar problem just a month ago. Coinbase’s “connectivity troubles” have been attributed by several users to rallying currencies including Shiba Inu (SHIB), GYEN, and Crypto.com (CRO).
According to CoinGecko statistics, once Coinbase put CRO on its platform in early November, the coin rose by more than 300%. According to Coinbase Status, GYEN has been unavailable for buying, selling, and trading on the exchange since November 19 owing to technical issues.
Users still facing troubles even after resolving the problem
Following the exchange’s announcement that the problem had been resolved, some users are still reporting troubles with the platform.
“I get up, and Coinbase is still down a day later”. Imagine the litigation if a stock exchange slammed the door in your face like that,” one user stated.
Another purported consumer commented on Twitter, “It’s been 24 hours and Coinbase is still down”.
The exchange Support is currently accepting new customer complaints on Twitter. However, the exchange has failed to give any more information on the issue. “We had connection troubles on both Coinbase.com and Coinbase Pro”. “However, we fixed this issue”, stated the exchange’s spokesperson.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has indicated his support for cryptocurrency investors transferring their cash off of centralised exchanges in order to preserve their investments. Musk previously stated, “you should avoid any crypto wallet that will not give you your private keys at all costs”.


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Ford plans electrified versions of all Lincoln models by 2022, says report
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Ford Motor Co’s premium brand plans Lincoln to offer hybrid gasoline-electric versions of all its U.S. models by 2022, Canadian news outlet Reuters reported citing three sources familiar with the plans.
“Details could be announced as early as October 3, when Ford Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett plans to update investors on the automaker’s strategy,” says the report.
Ford already builds a hybrid non-plug-in version of the Lincoln MKZ in Hermosillo, Sonora, but some necessary investments would have to take place at the assembly plant and among suppliers in order to make plug-in hybrid and full electric variants.
Reuters said the Lincoln hybrids are part of a broader Ford program to offer at least 18 new electric and hybrid models over the next five years.
See the full report here.


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The Chevrolet Corvette hit the market back in 1953 and since then, it has developed a reputation for being one of the greatest sports cars in the world.
Without Lithium, we don’t have enough battery manufacturing capacity to meet projected public demand.
It has been many moons since a new Trans Am was offered by General Motors at the New York Auto Show, but the team at Trans Am Depot has rolled out their new 455 Super Duty at the ongoing Big Apple
Back in December, we featured a video from the folks at Hennessey Performance showing a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat beating a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in a series of three roll races on the HPE test t
For years, Chevrolet has been provided the “Festival Cars” for the Indianapolis 500 race and for the 2017 running of the fabled American race, the Chevrolet Camaro SS Convertible has been chosen at
Dodge will soon unveiled their newest high performance supercharged Hellcat Challenger with an “evil” name, but the crew at Hennessey already has something to defeat the demons – the Chevrolet Cama
The 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE is marketed as the most track-capable muscle car ever to ever roll off of a GM assembly line.
The Denso Spark Plug Nationals in Las Vegas, Nevada marked the 4th event of the 2017 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season and after winning the 1st and 2nd events of the season, the Don Schumacher
The Ford Mustang is on quite a roll, having outsold both of its key competitors in all but two of the months since the new generation hit dealerships back in November 2014.
Each month, TorqueNews teams up with the crew from the Camaros Unlimited Facebook page to select our Camaro of the Month.
When Ford introduced the newest Mustang with a factor right hand drive configuration for the Australian market, it gave hope to GM fans in that market that General Motors would introduce the 6th ge
This years NY Auto Show will be open to the public from April 14th to April 23rd, 2017 at the Javitz Center in NYC.
The Chevrolet Corvette has long been the leader in the world of premium American performance cars and based on a new patent filing from General Motors, the company is working on an active aerodynam
Regarding the traction battery configuration of the the Chevy Bolt vs the Chevy Volt, the Bolt has a 60 Kw Battery and 150 Kw Motor and 266 ft pounds of torque (we are Torque News so I knew I had t
While we still don’t know what it will be called, we know that there is some version of the C7 Chevrolet Corvette on the way which will be more extreme than the current Z06.
The owner of a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro 2SS reached out to members of a Chevrolet Camaro forum about a problem with his new car’s interior lights.
Corvette Racing is unquestionably one of the strongest teams in the world of production-based endurance racing, racking up a long list of major event wins (and championships) all over the world dur
There is no street-legal, production-based electric car in the world which is faster than the Genovation-built Chevrolet Corvette GXE, which set the record for EV top speed when it was the first to
The 2017 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series opened with a fiery feud brewing between Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) and John Force Racing (JFR) after the team owners had an unpleasant exchange at the trac
Each year, the Dream Giveaway group has a variety of sweepstakes for all sorts of prizes, including home improvement packages, technology packages and plenty of vehicles.
The last true high performance street trucks sold in America were the 2004 Ford F150 SVT Lightning and the 2006 Dodge Ram SRT10 – both of which had a big, powerful engine, rear wheel drive, a regul
During his eight years in office, Barack Obama supported green initiatives with gusto.The Obama administration oversaw an expansion of federal taxpayer funding of solar, alternative transportation
President Donald Trump visited the Detroit area yesterday and with his headlining push for more American manufacturing jobs, General Motors made an announcement that they would be adding or preserv
The Chevy Bolt has only been on sale a few months, but the Insurance Institue For Highway Safety knows a winner when it sees one.
Since the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray introduced the world to the C7 generation of the fabled American sports car, there has been a ton of speculation about new trimlines and the engines which


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Paytm revenue hits Rs 3,629 crore
Digital payments major Paytm in September ...
Digital payments major Paytm in September said its revenue for the fiscal year ended on March 31 increased to Rs 3,629 crore with a 40 percent decline in losses.
Paytm said that expanding its financial services with lending, wealth management and insurance offerings opened up new revenue streams for the company. “We are on the path to empowering millions of Indians with digital financial services that would play a key role in building Atma Nirbhar Bharat,” Madhur Deora, President, Paytm, said in a statement. “We are also investing heavily in building digital services for our merchant partners so that they can benefit from technology and financial inclusion.”
The homegrown financial services platform said its Android-based point of sale system (POS) devices have also been gaining traction among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), kirana stores and getting adopted rapidly.
Over 17 million merchant partners are benefiting from its payment and financial services according to the company which has launched a slew of merchant focused products such as Paytm for Business app, Soundbox, Business Khata and Payout services, among others.


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Romania is now the fastest growing economy in the EU and is attracting the attention of international developers and investors.
With investment in Central Eastern Europe growing at a rate of 30 per cent last year, Romania has started to take centre stage among the former communist states.
JLL’s Head of Capital Markets in Romania, Silviana Badea, said: ‘The industrial and logistics asset classes are seeing a great boom now. They are grossly undersupplied in comparison with Poland and the Czech Republic.’
A population of 20 million makes Romania attractive to the world’s retail companies and over sixty new brands have entered the market there in the last few years.
Romania suffered from the global financial crisis in 2008, and it has only really been since 2014 that the economy turned around into recovery. However, it now seems to be making up for lost time.
Around 70 per cent of investment over the last few years has gone into the capital city of Bucharest, but it is expected that developers and investors will soon start spreading to other areas of the country.
The East-West Carpathian Mountains split the country in half, meaning that retailers need to set up networks on both sides if they are to cover the whole territory.
Cities such as Cluj-Napoca and Lași saw consumption grow by 10 per cent last year and are likely to provide strong returns for investors, particularly in the office sector.
Infrastructure in Romania is also stronger than before, making the real estate market a safer bet than previously.
Silviana Badea commented: ‘Romania is much more robust now than it was in 2007/08. The fundamentals are there regarding real estate. We have transparency, we have professional advisers; It’s a much more mature market now. There’s no turning back.’
With growth in the office and retail sectors strong, residential real estate growth will follow as workers in these burgeoning areas require housing, particularly in the cities.
Romania may now be one to watch if overseas property investors are looking for a strong capital return on their money.


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ADEJOKÉ BAKARE IS TAKING CHISHURU TO CENTRAL LONDON
After outgrowing her Brixton Market home, Adejoké Bakare is moving her West African restaurant central
Adejoké Bakare was a talented home cook who opened her own place after she won the amateur category of 2019’s Brixton Kitchen competition and landed a spot on Market Row. She turned that spot into the critically-acclaimed West African restaurant Chishuru, which despite launching in the first year of the pandemic, quickly won plaudits from diners and critics alike. It became so popular that the tiny restaurant – just 20 covers inside with 14 more outside – was constantly booked out, so she started looking for a new home at the end of last year.
Now we know that the location for Chishuru 2.0 will be just off Oxford Street and will be significantly bigger, with more than 50 covers across two floors and an open kitchen. It’ll be opening this summer, we just don’t know exactly when yet, and though the site is in good condition, Joké is raising money via a crowdfunder to help fund the design and fit out of furniture and kitchen appliances, so you can help bring the restaurant to life.
STAY IN THE LOOP. SIGN UP TO OUR DROPS
Opens summer 2023
Great Titchfield Street, London


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While Google app has been on iOS for a long time now, Google finally brought in Google Lens, the feature that was introduced last year when the Google Pixel 2 was released.
Google Lens is a feature that helps its users to learn about the things they see through the phone camera. By pointing your camera towards objects, landscapes or even texts, the Google Lens is able to provide information regarding the matter such as what it could be, the history, or even translation.
Few months after its launch, Google Lens was not only available in Google Photos and Google Assistant, but it was also supported by selected Android devices where it can provide real-time information. Now, Google finally brought the feature to the Google app for iOS users, so now even iPhone and iPad owners can try out the feature.
Now iPhone and iPad users can click on the Lens icon on the right of the search bar, and it’ll automatically switch to the device’s camera, where Google will identify the subject or landscape and provide further information. This will be more convenient especially if you’ve been capturing image and using the Lens vis Google Photos.
Despite that Google announced the Google Lens on the search app, it is still rolling out hence there might be many users who still haven’t get the new update. Either way, iOS users will finally get to catch up with Pixel users once the feature arrives in their Google app.


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According to a rumor out of China, Apple may release a 128GB version of its next-generation iPhone, but restrict the option to a higher-end 5.5-inch model in a bid to differentiate the "phablet" device from the company's stable of smartphones.
Citing sources familiar with Apple's supply chain, Chinese Apple blog Feng.com claims Apple will limit its 128GB "iPhone 6" offerings to a rumored 5.5-inch handset, meaning the supposed 4.7-inch version will carry over the current maximum capacity of 64GB.
The report comes on the heels of another questionable rumor from Wednesday that predicted Apple's next iPhone will launch on Sept. 19. Coming from Chinese Internet firm Tencent, the date is thought to be an estimated guess that happens to line up with similar claims made by German wireless provider Deutsche Telekom in May.
Relating to Thursday's rumor, Tencent claimed Apple's new handset will launch in 32GB and 64GB capacities for about $850 and $1,000, respectively. No mention was made of a 16GB model, suggesting the company may ditch the lowest-end model altogether.
A theory put forth by noted KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple may be looking to further differentiate a larger 5.5-inch iPhone version from its smaller-screened siblings. Kuo said in a report earlier this week that the larger model will likely feature a rear-facing camera module with optical image stabilization, while the 4.7-inch variant will go without.
While mere speculation, Apple could be pushing users toward new iCloud pricing plans that build on the current 5GB of free storage by adding 10GB for $20 per year, or 20GB for $40 per year.
When the next-gen iPhone lineup launches, many expect a complete redesign with thinner profiles, relocated sleep/wake button and advanced "A8" processor. Apple has already released two beta versions of the forthcoming iOS 8 that will power the unannounced devices, though the latest builds yield little information about the new hardware.


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This summer is set to be an ultra-competitive one at the Box Office. For film marketers used to the slow crawl of the pandemic era, the need to breathe new life into extended promotion might be feeling a little alien. Yet, as the recent woes Netflix has suffered highlights all too well, exclusive cinema runs that build brands and excitement are still a key way to engage the moviegoing public. Brandon Blake, our inside expert and an entertainment lawyer with Blake & Wang P.A, unpacks the lessons up ahead.
The Summer Box Office
Many look to Jaws as the film that crystalized the value of smart summer marketing. Spending a then-immense $700,000 on its TV marketing alone, it paid off in spades, making the iconic film the first to pull in over $100M domestically. There may be new blood in the water this year, however, as film execs who’ve fronted lackluster advertising campaigns for the last two years fight to reclaim critical marketing share.
Summer 2022 offers a slate that’s packed with tentpoles and blockbusters backlogged from COVID delays. The landscape looks a whole lot different now. Rich pickings lie on social media, and there’s an argument that no modern marketing campaign can thrive without it. And influencers and content creators competing for limited attention spans lie on every corner.
Yet in a packed field, marketing is going to be the make-or-break difference between what thrives and what dies. Yet the idea of theatrical marketing has not been strong in recent years, and many have gambled on streaming to take a lead it hasn’t, in fact, managed to pay off on. While it was the saving grace and darling of the pandemic era, Netflix’s recent loss of ground regarding subscribers illustrates that it’s not quite the replacement for the theatrical experience many were bargaining on. The smart films of Summer 2022 will learn that lesson.
The Return of the Box Office
People’s confidence in returning to theaters has boomed, yet we’re still lagging behind 2019 attendance figures by around 40%. Behavior changes suggest that ‘casual movie night’ has become the realm of streaming services. People will head to theaters, but they want an event, something that feels special to enjoy. To date, the recent chain of superhero movies has delivered, but if filmmakers want to thrive post-pandemic, it’s time to return the ‘event’ to other genres. And smart marketing is what will do that.
Yet the near-guaranteed TV advertising attention anchored on ‘prime time’ shows is no longer there to mine, all while the cost of TV spots has increased. Digital is an attractively cheap alternative, but requires targeted demographics that don’t always work well with hype generation. Marketing campaign times have shortened from the traditional six months to a cramped three to four months.
And yet all indications are that the real value for films lies in combined theatrical and streaming campaigns, not one or the other. Undivided theatrical attention buys content valuable traction and builds franchises, as well as boosting the perceived brand value of a streamer.
In short, the nay-sayers who predicted streaming would be the be-all, end-all of films getting attention, trading only on the streaming brand itself, have to take a back seat. Industry insiders suggest some of the summer tentpoles could need $150M and upwards in global marketing spend to create the traction needed to truly thrive in a packed environment.
Who will deliver, and who will slide into obscurity? It’s too early to tell, but we hope the marketing machines are already primed and ready to deliver. Success depends on it.


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Tokyo (AFP) - Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors plans to compensate customers in a bid to limit the fallout from a fuel-efficiency cheating scandal, the Nikkei reported on Saturday.
Authorities raided the company's office on Thursday after the company admitted it had falsified efficiency data for hundreds of thousands of vehicles.
Mitsubishi Motors shares plunged more than 40 percent in the three days after the news emerged, their worst hat-trick of losses since the company listed in 1988.
The scandal has raised questions about the Japanese carmaker's future, after German giant Volkswagen posted its first loss in 20 years in 2015 because of the fallout from its own huge emissions-rigging scandal.
Mitsubishi Motors plans to offer to cover the extra fuel costs incurred by vehicle owners because their engines were less efficient than advertised, the Nikkei reported.
The move aims to "appease angry customers' nonstop inquiries" and prevent an "exodus" of buyers, the Japanese business daily said, without giving its sources.
Mitsubishi Motors has said it will halt production of more than 600,000 affected vehicle models -- mini-cars sold in Japan, including some made for rival Nissan.
But that has not been enough to save off criticism of the company, which was brought to the brink of bankruptcy in 2004 over revelations it covered up defects in its vehicles.
"I can't help but have doubt about the company's basic attitude towards compliance," Japan's transport minister Keiichi Ishii told reporters Friday.
"This is extremely regrettable."