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The rand firmed on Tuesday, supported by rising risk appetite globally and recovering from a sharp selloff in the previous session when it was hit by a sudden escalation of controlled power cuts in South Africa.
At 1657 GMT, the rand was 0.36% firmer at R13.75 per dollar, compared to its close of R13.80 the previous day.
The rand tumbled nearly 2.5% on Monday to its weakest in nearly three weeks as ailing power company Eskom cut 4 000 megawatts from the national grid after seven generating units unexpectedly went offline.
The power crisis persisted on Tuesday, exposing the frailty of state-owned Eskom despite government promises to revive the utility.
“The reality of developments this week regarding Eskom and its ability to keep the lights on is that it matters not whether the first, but not last, failure of this magnitude was deliberate or the consequence of cumulative neglect, incompetence and lack of expertise,” said Gary van Staden, an analyst at NKC African Economics.
“The consequence either way for the economy is severe and the best laid plans of politicians and policymakers will fail if the power grid does too,” he said.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year South African government bond rose by one basis point to 8.79%.
In the equities market retailer and wholesaler Spar topped the Top 40 blue chip index after reporting a 8.2% increase in 17-week sales.
The grocery and building materials retailer closed 5% higher at R199.78.
Spar lifted sentiment in other retailers as well, such as grocery retailer Pick n Pay and supermarket chain owner Shoprite, which gained 4.09% and 2.69% respectively.
Recent sales updates from retailers have been a mix bag, with the majority of them on the downside as financially strained consumers spent less on food and clothes.
Gold stocks were also on the rise after bullion rose, supported by a slight pause in the dollar’s rally as the United States and China continue talks aimed at ending their trade conflict.
The gold index jumped 1.9%.
Harmony Gold was also supported by a robust first-half operating performance. It rose 2.08% to R29.88.
Bucking the upward trend, EOH Holdings plunged 25.87% to R19.80, a level last seen in April 2011 after it said Microsoft has given notice to terminate its channel partner agreement with its subsidiary.
The Johannesburg all-share index closed 1.03% higher at 53,960 points, while the top 40 index rose 1.23% to 47,807 points.
($1 = 13.7498 rand) (Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Nqobile Dludla Editing by Susan Fenton)


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The UK Government’s announcement that people in England will soon have to pay a deposit when they buy drinks bottles and metal cans [28th March 2018] in an attempt to curb waste is expected to create a ‘bottleneck’ in the recycling chain.
Scotland has previously announced plans for a deposit return scheme and Wales has launched a study to consider it.
Other countries, including Sweden and Germany, already operate schemes where people pay a deposit when purchasing some drinking containers.
Bunting Magnetics commented:
“This latest announcement may be considered as a knee-jerk reaction to the global dismay about plastic waste following the airing of the Blue Planet II series.”
“Environment Secretary Michael Gove said there was no doubt that plastic was “wreaking havoc” on the marine environment and discarded plastic bottles and cans “end up dumped on pavements and lobbed into rivers, lakes and the sea”.
“Although most people agree with the sentiment of the new policy, there are serious concerns about the UK’s ability to handle the increase in the amount of plastic waste. The UK Government has not outlined how the recovered plastics will be recycled and how it will work financially.
“Already, since China banned plastic waste imports [January 2018] there have been concerns about how the UK will manage plastic waste, especially as 2.7 million tonnes was shipped to China since 2012. This new policy will potentially reduce the amount of plastic going to landfill, but also add to the amount of plastic waste that was previously shipped to China. That equates to a lot of plastic waste.
Are There Enough Plastic Recycling Plants?
“An increase in recovered plastic waste means that there needs to be a significant growth in the number of specialist recycling plants. However, profitably operating a plastics recycling plant has proven to be difficult, with many plants being commissioned and then closed or sold within a very short space of time.
Metal Separation Module in a Plastics Recycling Plant in Kent
“There has been an established network for the collection and successful recycling of steel and aluminium beverage cans for decades. Part of the reason for the success is that both materials are easily recyclable, using a combination of Magnetic Separators and Eddy Current Separators, and converted into new steel and aluminium. Presently, the same cannot be said for plastic.
“The UK Government may decide to commit all the collected deposits to expanding and funding a network of specialist recycling plants, although where this money will go is presently unclear. It will be interesting to hear if there are plans to invest in the development of technology to enable successfully and financially viable mixed plastic recycling. Also, will product designers now be forced to consider the recyclability of a product rather than the aesthetic appearance?
“Certainly, a holistic plan is needed before this new initiative is put in place.”

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The Future of Trade Shows – Luke Bilton on ‘In Case Of An Event’ podcast
The days of digital revenue making up a small amount of an event organiser’s economic model are “long gone”.
That’s the advice from Luke Bilton, ExpoPlatform’s chief growth officer, on the latest episode of In Case Of An Event – a podcast with industry leaders and experts to share success stories, inner secrets and lessons learnt.
Luke told host Hayley Haggarty how organisers can aim towards 25% of revenue being virtual, while also covering data control and the changing landscape of events.
In the interview, he described how his career went from first getting the “digital bug” at Future Publishing before moving into the exhibition business at UBM and Informa.
Luke said he came to believe that much of the future of events industry will belong to online marketplaces.
He told how he first became interested in ExpoPlatform when he was looking for something which could be an all-in-one platform, rather than a “Frankenstein’s monster” of different tools which have to “somehow” be integrated together.
That’s how he came to be involved with the online event vendor – “it’s the right time and it’s the right solution, I believe, for any tradeshow trying to digitise itself.”
Download our free Marketplace Blueprint ebook for a complete guide on setting up an online marketplace.
He added: “I think most organisers want to find a way to reinvent their model and make more money from digital.
“But there’s a lot of lip service being paid to it as well.
“If you are serious about it, then I think a really useful exercise is to forget about the legacy contracts and to start with a blank sheet of paper.
“The objective being to create a pandemic-proof budget where digital is right at the core of packages – and probably represents about 25% of revenue.”
Luke said that live events will still represent the “high-point of engagement”, but firms should place year-round digital subscriptions at the core of their business model.
That would include one or two main physical shows each year while also having some form of ongoing engagement.
Examples of this include monthly virtual meet-ups or webinar series as well as articles and other content.
He said: “It feels like the days of digital just being 5% of the profit and loss (P&L) are long gone.
“Most progressive organisers seem to be aiming for around that 20% – almost 25% – of the product mix.
“You can’t get to that by just adding an upsell to a booth contract – you do really need to think about how you are going to get to that 25% of revenue.”
That figure represents a massive rise from what was reported in the Reinventing Live publication, which found only 2% of exhibition revenues came from digital in 2020.
How to monetise digital events and communities
Luke advised organisers to segment different packages for each tier of customer, which would include a year-round digital listing price.
An entry-level option should be offered to “newbies” such as start-ups or anyone who is not yet a client.
This could be a low or no-cost “freemium” option to have a very basic listing in a marketplace.
Luke explains the benefits of this approach is that having more exhibitors makes the product more attractive to buyers.
It would also give suppliers “a taste of what they could get” from a full listing, gather contact details and nurture them through sales reach outs.
The next stage is to put together packages for clients who want to “make more of an impact”. through content, branding and lead generation, with a strong go-to-market strategy to confidently promote the offerings.”
He added: “Start by having a clear overall statement of intent to create a digital-first business – not just bolting on to the legacy business.
It’s a fairly straightforward process, but the main thing is having that mindset to say ‘I am going to make this work’.”
Who owns the data?
The move to virtual platforms has has created an explosion in attendee information and event data that is redefining the way organisers understand and shape the communities they serve. However, not all event technology platforms handle this information in the same way.
Luke said the industry was witnessing a “collision of two different worlds” – with the introduction of technology and social network capabilities transforming the conversation around data control.
Panellists from world-leading organisers recently highlighted their concerns over platforms owning data in UFI Connects session in July.
Luke said: “I don’t think anyone’s trying to do it for evil reasons – it’s just a different business model to ours.
“It’s a very different investment pitch if you’re essentially building your own social network – if you’re going to be the Facebook of events – that’s a very different proposition to the one we have.
“I think that people just didn’t really see it coming.”
Luke said he recognises how an event platform controlling the data may create some convenience but questioned “at what cost?”
He added: “If you don’t keep control of your attendee and exhibitor data, there ain’t much left really.”
Pandemic-proof your budget
The interview also covered how events have had to adapt to a changing world – with Covid-19 still looming over the industry.
One of the main success stories in this has been the digital transformation of hosted buyer programmes, as it had proved an effective way to make sure that key buyers “make the effort” to turn up to an event.
Luke said: “We’re hearing from a lot of marketers that we speak to that it’s getting harder and harder to market to people to come to live events at the moment.
“Understandably, because people are out of the habit of it and they’re not sure what’s going to be happening in terms of the Delta variant.
“There’s still a lot of uncertainty, so implementing the right digital tools can help to mitigate some of that risk and help to pandemic-proof your budget.”
There's more you might like
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The live events industry faces a crucial challenge – how to make their shows more sustainable while delivering value to their clients. A report by AMEX revealed 80% of event professionals said their organisation considered this area while planning shows. Of these, 76% said they had a sustainable meetings program strategy in place. Miguel Neves ...
Exhibition Think Tank Club is to progress on its “journey of hierarchy-free collaboration” across our industry through its renewed partnership with ExpoPlatform. The global online platform allows exhibition professionals to network, debate and continue to help the sector move forward. It has now received refreshed backing by the leading event technology provider as an Online ...


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A spokesperson for Intu SGS said the proposals “provide us with the stable financial platform to move forward as we continue to recover from the impact of Covid-19.”
“Creditors have also agreed to inject up to £ 30million in new money if needed, in a new statement of support,” he said.
“Intu continues to manage these four centers which continue to return to business as usual with 92% occupancy and over 90% of the units now open and traded.
“Attendance continues to increase at all four centers, the best performing being intu Braehead, who has almost returned to pre-pandemic levels, underscoring the continued attractiveness of these destination assets to visitors. ”
The proposals include what has been described as a ‘super senior facility’ of up to £ 30million, which will be funded if liquidity needs to be improved; and the release of cash previously held in certain accounts to increase the cash available for operations.
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Global Mutual has been appointed asset manager of the four shopping centers and Savills as property manager, once the transition is complete.
The news comes two months after the appointment of directors of intu Properties Plc and seven other core group companies.
Intu, who once owned the Broadmarsh Shopping Center before it was taken over by Nottingham City Council, has racked up debts of £ 4.7 billion. The shopping center giant was trying to grant a suspension of its loans with its lenders, but negotiations failed.
The directors have not been appointed for any of the real estate companies (PropCos) which own the various shopping centers.
The centers, which continue to operate normally, and are managed by intu, now operate under the supervision of KPMG administrators.
Follow this blog for updates.


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We have seen quite a few videos of Apple’s iPad being installed in various vehicles, and now the guys from Sonic Electronix decided to install Google’s new Nexus 7 tablet in a Dodge Ram.
Have a look at the video of it in action below, and it has been integrated into the cars audio system, complete with Google Maps for navigation.
We suspect this could end up being a popular choice for in car entertainment, considering the Google Nexus 7’s reasonable price tag.
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Miaopai: 10-second video filming app
A Chinese company running Vine-like short video filming and sharing app Miaopai has joined the unicorn club merely two years after its launch.
Miaopai means filming within seconds. The app’s parent company Beijing-based Yixia Technology is valuated at USD one billion after its USD 200 million Series D financing last November. This round of financing was led by Weibo Corp., with funding from South Korea’s YG Entertainment and Sequoia Capital.
Apart from allowing users to shoot, share and edit 10-second videos, the app also provides an array of themes, special effects, sounds, music and filters that can be added to the videos. It is embedded in the largest Chinese social media Sina Weibo, which claimed to have more than 100 million daily active users in its third quarter report of 2015.
Besides the huge user base from Weibo, the app also promotes itself through celebrities. It landed Series C investment from StarVC, a venture capital firm founded by Chinese celebrities including Li Bingbing and Huang Xiaoming.
In order to make it easier for Chinese users who have to pay a large amount for mobile data, this app is specially designed for low amounts of data transfer. It only requires up to 600K of data to upload a video, equivalent to the amount needed to upload four pictures.
CEO of Miaopai, Han Kun, the former co-founder of video media site Ku6.com, told NetEase portal that Miaopai would keep producing good video content to avoid a similar fate to apps that were a smashing success when they were first launched and later failed. According to Miaopai, over one million videos were uploaded every day on its platform and they had 510 million daily video views and more than five million daily active users as of November 2015.
Miaopai has to contend with domestic rivals such as Weishi, which was launched by Tencent, and Meipai, produced by the Meitu Xiuxiu team. Out of these three video apps, Meipai had the most Android downloads in 2014. Its overseas equivalents Vine and Instagram have secured support from leading social networks Twitter and Facebook.
Besides Miaopai, another of company’s signature products is Xiaokaxiu, which means “grassroots star show”. Launched in May 2015, Xiaokaxiu has already accumulated five million daily active users. Users use the app to record videos of themselves and share them on social media like Weibo and Wechat. Its highlight is that users can produce funny videos by lip syncing to the provided gallery of sound clips and captions, which are well-known excerpts from Chinese movies, songs, ads and talk shows.
Chinese stars including actress Jiang Xin have backed the product and used it to increase their popularity. One of Jiang’s funny videos recorded on the app were clicked more than 15 million times.
CEO Han believes it can go far because it differs from other video social apps in concept – in other apps, users shoot videos to entertain themselves, while in Xiaokaxiu, users record videos to entertain others. Xiaokaxiu rose the top of the App Store’s free apps list with over 20 million users only 80 days after it was launched. As of 2015, it had 1500 stars registered on its platform.


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Blackphone, the Swiss-based, secure hardware/OS mobile phone from PGP inventor Phil Zimmerman has announced that it will provide a store with privacy-oriented apps that are sandboxed to minimize data-misuse.
The Blackphone app store will be available in January and will monitor apps to make sure they do not snoop on users.
“We’ll have a few degrees of vetting,” Blackphone chief executive Toby Weir-Jones told the Guardian. “We’ll validate that the apps will do what they intend – call it the Apple model. If you have an app to manage your social media accounts and it wanted access to your microphone and your camera we might ask why and get on a first screening.”
Several apps have been caught spying on users through leaky permissions systems, accessing unconnected features of smartphones, including an Android torch app that silently sent user location and device data to advertisers, which sparked and investigation and subsequent fine from the US data privacy regulator.
Blackphone launching world’s first privacy-focused app store [Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian]
Sen. John Cornyn [R-TX, @JohnCornyn, +1 202-224-2934] introduced the Building America’s Trust Act as a “long-term border security and interior enforcement strategy” but refused to release the bill’s text, which has now leaked.
A group of researchers from Oxford and TU Berlin will present their paper, White-Stingray: Evaluating IMSI Catchers Detection Applications at the Usenix Workshop on Offensive Technologies, demonstrating countermeasures that Stingray vendors could use to beat Stingrays and other “cell-site simulators” (AKA IMSI catchers).
This summer, two of the west coast’s largest metropolitan areas—Seattle and California—took major steps to curtail secret, unilateral surveillance by local police. These victories for transparency and community control lend momentum toward sweeping reforms pending across California, as well as congressional efforts to curtail unchecked surveillance by federal authorities.
Toaster ovens are the perfect appliance for small things like toasted sandwiches and roasted garlic (try it!), but anything more involved usually requires a full-sized conventional oven.However, despite its small size, the Wolfgang Puck Pressure Oven can handle anything from baked pastries to broiled meats. This kitchen appliance has a minimal countertop footprint, and cooks […]
The Pry.Me Bottle Opener holds tens of thousands of times its own weight, and you can pick one up now from the Boing Boing Store.This remarkable keychain is considerably smaller than any of your keys, but don’t let that fool you: it can easily open any bottle, and could even tow a trailer full of […]
Guaranteeing your privacy online goes way beyond checking the “Do Not Track” option in your browser’s settings. To ensure that your internet activity is totally hidden from Internet Service Providers, advertisers, and other prying eyes, take a look at Windscribe’s VPN protection. It usually costs $7.50 per month, but you can get a 3-year subscription […]


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This week in the BFC writes to government with concerns
This week in the media, concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of the Furniture & Furnishings (Fire) (safety) Regulations 1988, as amended (FFFSR) – and also regarding flame retardant chemicals used in upholstered furniture and beds.
The British Furniture Confederation (BFC) has always said that the industry’s first and foremost concern is for people’s safety and has long been pressing government for reforms to the current legislation and standards, in order to simplify testing, iron out anomalies and improve compliance, while also helping to reduce the amount of fire retardant chemicals needed for compliance.
It is extremely disappointing that no progress has been made in over a year, after the government announced it needed time to consider the many conflicting responses to its proposed changes to the current standards.
The BFC opposed the government’s proposals for amending the standards because it felt that they would fail to deliver the desired result of maintaining fire safety levels while also minimising the use of flame retardant chemicals. In an effort to kick-start the process of much needed reform, the BFC submitted its own proposals in July, after consulting widely. To date we have had only a standard response acknowledging their receipt.
We will be reiterating our call to BEIS to address this increasingly contentious issue, especially in the light of more recent claims questioning the overall effectiveness of the standards and potential harm to health of FR chemicals.
The Government urgently needs to call a halt to escalating scare mongering by announcing a fresh programme of robust research and evaluation into these claims. Everyone affected - the furniture industry, fire officers, consumers - needs and deserves proper clarity and effective, enforceable regulations and standards which protect people from the potential dangers caused by both fire and harmful chemicals.
Meanwhile the industry will continue to obey UK law by meeting the current UK regulations on flammability and following the requirements of REACH regulations regarding use of any chemicals to meet those standards.
1. The British Furniture Confederation is an executive body chaired by Jonathan Hindle and made up of representatives from the UK’s leading furniture, furnishings and bed trade associations:
- British Contract Furnishing Association (BCFA)
- British Furniture Manufacturers (BFM)
- Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA)
- Leisure and Outdoor Furniture Association (LOFA)
- National Bed Federation (NBF)
- Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers (WCFM)
It also has affiliations with other trade associations including: the Association of Master Upholsterers and Soft Furnishers (AMUSF) and Anti-Copying In Design (ACID).
2. The British Furniture Confederation (BFC) maintains regular dialogue with Government and other influential stakeholders in an effort to ensure that its policies and initiatives support a thriving furniture, furnishings and bed sector. Many of its activities are done in partnership with the All Party Parliamentary Furniture Industry Group (APPFIG), chaired by Stephen McPartland MP.
3. UK furniture, bed and furnishings manufacturing is a substantial industry. According to 2015 Government statistics its 8,113 companies contribute £11.1 billion to the country’s GDP (10% up on previous year), which equates to 2.2% of manufacturing output. Over a quarter of a million jobs are dependent on the success of the industry, with 107,000 in manufacturing alone. There are 150,000 in specialist furniture and furnishings retail and wholesale, 3,000 in repair, 10,000 in leasing, plus a proportion of the 52,000 registered specialist designers. Consumer expenditure on furniture and furnishings equates to £16.2 billion per year. In addition to this there is an unquantified value of product entering the contract and office markets.


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Consumer spending numbers for January came out Friday, a mere 0.2% bump in January. That’s the month when the coronavirus headlines started coming. Incomes did jump upward, however — 0.6%, the biggest gain in nearly a year.
Consumers have been responsible for a lot of the recent economic growth. But now we’re dealing with a global health concern.
Consumer spending makes up about 70% of the U.S. economy, so any disruption would have dire effects on growth. But Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist at the National Retail Federation, says consumers are still in a good place right now.
He said Americans are saving at almost 8%, up from about 6% in 2009. And when people save, they also may be spending.
“Their income has exceeded their consumption in the last few quarters, which leaves a net benefit of saving,” Kleinhenz said. He added that low interest rates are also driving people to buy homes and refinance their mortgages.
But January’s report may not reflect consumer spending in the wake of COVID-19 which, said Matthew Luzzetti, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, is the real wild card right now.
“With a pretty resilient labor market, you would think that the consumer outlook remains sturdy, except for these worries about the impact of the coronavirus,” Luzzetti said.
He said spending on things like eating out, concerts, live sporting events and other entertainment could be the first to suffer — even without a broad outbreak in the United States.
COVID-19 Economy FAQs
What’s the latest on the extra COVID-19 unemployment benefits?
As of now, those $600-a-week payments will stop at the end of July. For many, unemployment payments have been a lifeline, but one that is about to end, if nothing changes. The debate over whether or not to extend these benefits continues among lawmakers.
With a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases, are restaurants and bars shutting back down?
The latest jobs report shows that 4.8 million Americans went back to work in June. More than 30% of those job gains were from bars and restaurants. But those industries are in trouble again. For example, because of the steep rise in COVID-19 cases in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, increased restrictions on restaurant capacities and closed bars. It’s created a logistical nightmare.
Which businesses got Paycheck Protection Program loans?
The numbers are in — well, at least in part. The federal government has released the names of companies that received loans of $150,000 or more through the Paycheck Protection Program.
Some of the companies people are surprised got loans include Kanye West’s fashion line, Yeezy, TGI Fridays and P.F. Chang’s. The companies you might not recognize, particularly some smaller businesses, were able to hire back staff or partially reopen thanks to the loans.
You can find answers to more questions on unemployment benefits and COVID-19 here.
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Direct Brain-to-Game Interface Worries ScientistsWired said:Your brain might be your next videogame controller.
That might sound pretty awesome, but the prospect of brain-controlled virtual joysticks has some scientists worried that games might end up controlling our brains.
Several makers of brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs -- devices that facilitate operating a computer by thought alone -- claim the technology is poised to jump from the medical sector into the consumer gaming world in 2008.
The entertainment industry has driven the growth of the home computer industry for a long time. Maybe it is going to push neurofeedback into the research forefront. While I share the concerns of the scientists referenced in the article, I think the attention to issues this prospect raises is ultimately a good thing.


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Comcast may divest about 4 million subscribers after its merger with Time Warner Cable and may sell a portion to Charter Communications.» Read More
"Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary discusses recent mergers between pharmaceutical companies.
*U.S. revenue rises 4 pct at Omnicom, 5 pct at Interpublic. *Omnicom 1st- qtr revenue $3.50 bln vs est $3.48 bln. April 22- Omnicom Group Inc, the No. 1 U.S. advertising company, said it was unable to predict when its $35.1 billion merger with France's Publicis Groupe SA would close as the deal was yet to win some key approvals.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Bill Ackman are proposing a cash-and-stock deal for Allergan that could be worth about $45 billion.
Netflix announced it intends to raise its membership price for new subscribers, and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings remarked on the proposed Comcast and Time Warner Cable deal during the webcast, with the "Squawk Box" crew.
Pharmaceutical industry observers have been waiting for a rush of deals for months - and they might have finally arrived.
CNBC's Catherine Boyle discusses reports that U.S. drugmaker Pfizer held informal talks with pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca about a takeover bid.
The U.S.-listed healthcare firm signed a sweetened merger agreement after the consortium raised its offer to $24 per share from its original $19.50 per share, Chindex said in a statement late on Monday. The rival group declined to bid further, Chindex said.
April 21- Video streaming service Netflix on Monday became the most visible company with a business relationship with Comcast to oppose the No. 1 cable operator's $45.3 billion merger with Time Warner Cable.
NEW YORK, April 21- Netflix Inc, the video streaming service, on Monday criticized AT&T's high-speed fiber network as inadequate and slow, while renewing its call for AT&T to interconnect directly with Netflix.
SANTIAGO, April 21- A significant majority of shareholders in Chilean shipper Compania SudAmericana de Vapores lent their support to the firm's merger with Germany's Hapag-Lloyd, allowing the agreed deal to clear a hurdle.
NEW YORK— Valeant Pharmaceuticals has teamed up with activist investor Bill Ackman to make a bid for Botox maker Allergan that could be worth about $40 billion. Valeant said Monday that it intends to propose a merger with Allergan using a combination of Valeant stock and cash.
April 21- A merger between Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc and Allergan Inc would create an "unrivaled platform for growth and value creation" in the healthcare sector, a spokesperson for Valeant said on Monday.
TORONTO, April 21- Talks between Barrick Gold Corp and Newmont Mining Corp about a potential merger have hit a snag, but sources close to the situation say the companies remain keen to reach a deal and discussions are likely to resume.
Comcast and Time Warner Cable have entered negotiations to sell cable assets worth up $20 billion to Charter Communications in a deal aimed to allay Washington's concerns about their proposed merger.
WASHINGTON, April 17- A possible merger between Sprint Corp and T-Mobile US Inc could prompt U.S. regulators to rewrite rules they are now weighing for a 2015 auction of airwaves, according to sources familiar with the proposed regulations.
*Euro STOXX 50 up 1 pct, moves back above 50- day moving average. PARIS, April 16- European shares rose on Wednesday, reversing the previous session's slide as economic growth data from China came a touch above forecasts. French utilities Veolia Environnement and Suez Environnement both surged around 3 percent, boosted by merger speculation.
John Sculley, former Apple CEO and Managing Partner at Inflexionpoint, expects Alibaba to push on with its buying spree after listing in the U.S.
Global drinks firm Diageo on Tuesday announced the launch of a tender offer to acquire up to 26 percent more in India's United Spirits.
WH Group and some of its shareholders launched an up to $5.3 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong last week, the second-biggest ever listing by a food and beverage company. Yang Zhijun, an executive director in charge of investment, merger and acquisitions and financing for WH Group, was issued another 245.6 million ordinary shares.
April 14- Blackstone and Goldman Sachs' investment arm are set to buy Ipreo from KKR in a private equity secondary deal that values the data company at $975 million, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Ipreo was formed by the merger of i-Deal and Hemscott in 2006, with the backing of Veronis, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup.


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Citing an alleged Apple software engineer, German-language Apple site Macerkopf.de reported on Wednesday that a new iOS update will arrive quickly to further resolve battery issues that have plagued some users. Apple already issued one update in the form of iOS 5.0.1, but battery life problems have persisted for some users, and Apple has publicly said it is looking to address any remaining issues.
The report claims that Apple's internal goal is for iOS 5.0.2 to provide iPhone 4S users 40 hours of standby with 10 hours of active use. It said that the update will arrive "no later than next week."
As for the next major update, iOS 5.1 will allegedly feature "many changes" related to Siri voice control, but the update is not expected to arrive by the end of 2011, as work on Siri is "very expensive."
The site claims that Apple will add new voice commands to Siri, allowing users to initiate activities like taking photos, recording a video, turning Wi-Fi on or off, or enabling and disabling Bluetooth.
Macerkopf.de has had a hit-or-miss track record on iOS-related rumors, as the same site erroneously reported earlier this year that Apple would unveil iOS 5 and a newly updated MobileMe at a media event in early April. Though Apple had held preview events for new builds of iOS around that time in years past, this year the company actually waited until its Worldwide Developers Conference in June to publicly show off iOS 5.


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NEW YORK — Ralph Lauren’s women’s collection is off to a galloping start, as the company just posted a 15 percent increase in fall orders at its annual trunk show at the Rhinelander Mansion flagship.
Sales of fall merchandise topped $1.9 million for the sales event this month, led by advanced buzz about the Edwardian-inspired collection. That’s in comparison with sales of $1.7 million at the fall trunk show a year ago.
Among the top sellers were a $1,795 leather Cambridge jacket, a suede blouse at $2,495, a black tiered skirt around $1,295 and a beaded top worn by Carmen Kass in Lauren’s fall show that sold for $3,995. Also a bestseller was a $3,795 black, off-the-shoulder dress shown on the cover of the July issue of Town & Country, as well as inside the July issue of Elle on Penelope Cruz.


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Nintendo: Super NES Classic Edition Is A Form Of Virtual Console; Classic Games Might Be Sold At Retail
Months after the release of the Nintendo Switch, the Japanese company has yet to talk about the Virtual Console service for its latest console. At the same time, it's been announced that the Super NES Classic Edition, which will include some of the best games ever released for the 16-bit console, will launch in a few months in all regions, giving nostalgic players a chance to play through some all-time classics. Judging from what the company's Senior Executive Officer said during the latest shareholders meeting, the retro console is indeed a form of Virtual Console.
Asked about the possibility of making Game Boy Advance titles available through retail, Satoshi Yamato highlighted how Nintendo is thinking about different ways to make use of the Virtual Console titles, with the Super NES Classic Edition console being a form of Virtual Console. As for releasing single titles at retail as packaged software or download cards, Yamato stated that it's possible, but they would have to consider if there's enough demand for them.
We have been thinking about a lot of different ways to make use of Virtual Console titles, and not just Game Boy Advance titles. Similar to these software titles we have made available on a variety of platforms over the Internet, we consider the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Famicom (to be sold as
Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition in the U.S.), scheduled to be launched in Japan this October (and September overseas) to be a type of Virtual Console. It would be possible to sell these titles as packaged software or via download cards, but if we were to start selling products like this in the future, I think we would first have to consider whether we can establish that kind of business model, and do our due diligence in finding out if there is sufficient demand for it.
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- 2 min read
Tencent posts slowest sales growth as regulatory scrutiny, slowing ad sales bite
A year-and-half-long crackdown by Beijing on tech giants such as Tencent has brought decades of unbridled growth to an end and placed them under new rules governing how they interact with their users and how they conduct mergers and acquisitions...
Tencent said revenue rose to 144.2 billion yuan ($22.63 billion) in the quarter ended Dec. 31, below an average of 147.6 billion yuan from 17 analysts, Refinitiv data showed.
Revenue for the full year rose 16%, its slowest ever pace as well.
A year-and-half-long crackdown by Beijing on tech giants such as Tencent has brought decades of unbridled growth to an end and placed them under new rules governing how they interact with their users and how they conduct mergers and acquisitions.
Regulators have frozen game approvals since August last year, casting a chill over the sector and putting many small gaming studios out of business.
Advertising has also been hit as many industries affected by the regulatory crackdown cut back on spending.
Tencent said in a statement it expected to benefit from new game launches when new game monetisation licenses are released, adding that it also expects its advertising business to resume growth in late 2022.
Last year, Chinese regulators ordered Tencent to end exclusive music copyright agreements and found its messaging and payments app WeChat illegally transferred user data. They also imposed new gaming limits for young players.
During an internal meeting at Tencent at the end of 2021, chief executive Pony Ma told staff that the company should prepare itself for a "winter", according to two other sources.
Tencent's stock has lost more than a third of its value in the past 12 months.
Tencent and its peer Alibaba Group Holding - whose stock has more than halved in the past year - are preparing to cut tens of thousands of jobs combined in one of their biggest layoff rounds as the internet firms try to cope with the new regulatory climate, Reuters reported last week citing sources.
However, shares in Tencent and its peers have rallied in recent days after Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said last week that Beijing would roll out support for the economy and keep markets stable.
Tencent said on Wednesday its adjusted profit for the December quarter fell by a fourth to 24.9 billion yuan as costs rose.
It posted a 60% jump in quarterly net profit, helped by one-off gains made through deals such as its disposal of most of its stake in JD.com.


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From calls in the middle of the night to Trump’s tariffs, solar panel manufacturer executive shares how the deal evolved and was made.
China-based JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. settled on Jacksonville for the first new U.S. solar-panel plant since tariffs were announced in January because of a focus by the city and state.
“Everybody really wanted to make it happen,” said Nigel Cockroft, general manager of JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc., covering the U.S. and Canada.
JinkoSolar is based in Shanghai. Cockroft is general manager of San Francisco-based JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc. and is responsible for photovoltaic module sales and operations in the U.S. and Canada.
In April, the company registered the name JinkoSolar (U.S.) Industries Inc. with the state.
JinkoSolar Director of Business Development Jeff Juger said many of the company’s top customers wanted it to build a factory in the U.S.
“They suggested many places to us, including Jacksonville,” he said.
JinkoSolar received proposals from seven or eight states in the Southeast, including Texas, Cockroft said. Jacksonville was chosen for the 200-job solar-panel plant over another Southeastern location that Cockroft said was not disclosed.
“The coordination between the city and the state was the best that we saw,” Cockroft said in an interview after speaking at the fourth-quarter meeting of JAXUSA Partnership, the economic-development division of JAX Chamber.
City Council supported incentives for JinkoSolar in a resolution adopted March 13.
JinkoSolar agreed to open the $50 million plant in AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center in West Jacksonville with the support of city and state incentives. The 200 jobs, which will pay an average annual wage of $45,562, must be created by the end of 2019.
The company leases 285,652 square feet in a 407,435-square-foot building at 4660 POW-MIA Memorial Parkway.
The city’s economic development agreement states that JinkoSolar would create 100 jobs by year-end 2018. An executive with JinkoSolar, a public company, said Nov. 26 in an analysts’ conference call that the company launched pilot production.
Cockroft said Thursday the company hired more than 100 people. More than 30 were sent to China for training.
It expects to reach full production – two panels a minute 24/7 – in late February.
Cockroft said the state’s strategy to promote Northeast Florida was apparent.
“At the city and JAXUSA level, they were just extraordinarily organized, and they made it clear that building a factory in a hurry would be doable here,” he said.
A dinner with Mayor Lenny Curry and chamber members helped to persuade JinkoSolar, he said.
“Every one of them made a compelling case around the table for Jacksonville and what their experience was,” Cockroft said.
Access for assistance also helped, especially given that Shanghai is 13 hours ahead of Jacksonville. For example, 3 p.m. in Shanghai is 2 a.m. in Jacksonville.
“Anytime there was an issue, we could just call them on our cellphones in the middle of the night,” Cockroft said. “If we needed an answer, they would go above and beyond to get those answers.”
That wasn’t the case elsewhere.
“We sensed that we couldn’t get that level of support from any other city that we talked to,” he said.
“Even though they all had good intentions and even though they were all willing to put money up for it, it doesn’t substitute for getting the job done by getting good support,” Cockroft said.
He said during the speech that “everybody we needed to talk to was brought to us” during a two-day “intensive” site visit to Jacksonville.
Tariffs changed the deal
The city and state offered $4.2 million in incentives. That assistance included city tax incentives of $3.4 million consisting of a $3.2 million Recapture Enhanced Value grant to be paid over 10 years and a $200,000 Qualified Target Industry tax refund for JinkoSolar to be repaid over five years.
The state will pay the remaining $800,000 of the total $1 million QTI refund.
JinkoSolar is the first Chinese company to set up a factory in the U.S. after President Donald Trump approved 30 percent tariffs in January on imported solar panel technology.
JinkoSolar initially pursued a larger Jacksonville presence under the code name Project Volt, requesting $53.9 million in city and state tax assistance. Council approved the Volt agreement Jan. 23.
It included nearly $25 million in city-backed incentives in exchange for 800 jobs and the creation of two facilities in North and West Jacksonville to establish a North American headquarters, manufacturing and distribution facilities.
The company was planning to invest $410 million to build-out and lease a 815,000-square-foot warehouse in North Jacksonville for a solar-panel assembly and distribution center and the AllianceFlorida building for a manufacturing plant. It now leases part of that building.
In March, the city Office of Economic Development announced that JinkoSolar decided to reduce the initial investment. Council repealed the Volt agreement and new legislation was introduced and adopted that identified JinkoSolar.
“There was a refinement associated with the finalization of the tariffs,” Cockroft said, as well as “some of the unknown additional tariffs that were being considered.”
“There were tariffs in consideration for steel and aluminum,” he said, such as the aluminum used on the panels.
“There were additional tariffs that have been put in place around some of the other materials we import, some of the equipment, so a little bit of the scale-back here has to do with the continuing tariff situation,” he said.
People and production
Cockroft said hiring includes retired Navy personnel with technical and engineering skills.
“I think it’s a tight labor market, but I think we’re doing quite well,” he said.
A bigger challenge was the construction schedule because of the stretched availability of contractors during a strong economy, he said.
Cockroft told the 400 JAXUSA members and guests that the facility will be the world’s most technologically advanced solar panel plant, producing 1.2 million panels a year.
He said that production at that level previously would have required up to 3,000 employees, but automation allows JinkoSolar to do the same work with 200.
“We have ideas about the plant being the most efficient in the world,” Cockroft said in the interview. “There’s no shortage of demand in the U.S. for solar panels, so the market is here.”
JinkoSolar and Juno Beach-based NextEra Energy Inc., the parent company of Florida Power & Light Co., announced in March that NextEra would buy about 7 million solar panels from JinkoSolar over four years.
JinkoSolar, one of the world’s largest solar panel manufacturers with eight production facilities worldwide, has customers in 88 countries.
Cockroft said two other companies also have announced plans to build U.S. solar-panel plants.
Asked whether JinkoSolar had plans to expand the Jacksonville plant beyond the 200 employees, Cockroft said the company would “wait and see how efficient the plant can run.”
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Every year millions of tourists go to Mexico and bring a lot of Mexican decorative souvenirs for their friends and for themselves as well. Very often the Mexican decorative souvenirs do not meet the standards of the USA. Specialists point out that most of the Mexican ceramic souvenirs are colorful, so they may not satisfy the US safety standards.
A lot of collaborative work has been done by the Mexican government and the United States. Nevertheless they did not manage to find a plan for effective monitoring of every person who sells the souvenirs in the street. But it is necessary to mention the fact that not only Mexican decorative souvenirs make the US government worry. For example, Spanish lead-glazed souvenirs do not meet the US standards either.
The problem is that when tourists buy Mexican decorative souvenirs, they cannot define whether this or that piece of ceramics contains the dangerous amount of lead. Specialists are more aware of such problems. For example, specialists say that most ceramic products that are sold in local shops and roadside stands can dangerously violate the US standards.
For example, one of the specialists in the sphere was in Mexico and asked a saleswoman in a little shop which was situated near his hotel whether the Mexican decorative jars she was selling could contain some dangerous amount of lead. She was proud to tell that the owner of the shop reassured her that all the products were safe. But when the specialist tested one of the items he bought in the shop the level of the lead leach exceeded the norm established in the USA.
A lot of citizens of the United States are in danger of lead poisoning because they can stay abroad for rather a long time. For example, it once happened to two men who stayed in Italy. They bought some household items including a pair of coffee mugs. Each of them drank about 10 cups of coffee from the mugs every day. It killed them three years later.
It is necessary to mention the fact that lead poisoning symptoms are rather insidious and are difficult to diagnose. The two people had different symptoms which weakened them.
Now the FDA has worked out special color tests which can define rather quickly whether the ceramic product leaches excessive amount of lead. This test is going to be used during the inspection of the importing products. This test will be used by import inspectors at the ports of entry. They will send all the suspect pottery for the laboratory analysis. Soon the test will be available to general public as well.
But specialists say that it is impossible to check everything.
One common mistake is that often the FDA inspectors test Mexican decorative souvenirs and ceramic souvenirs from other countries which come in large quantities but not in small batches.
Every country has different situation. Traditionally the FDA focuses its testing on the products coming from those countries which have violation history. Fortunately there are countries where the control procedures are of quality and similar to those in the United States.


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Zomato ropes in Vijay Deverkonda as brand ambassador
Vijay Deverakonda the emerging star of Tollywood has a huge following among the youth and also enjoys good female following. Vijay Deverakonda was last seen in Dear Comrade, which turned out to be debacle at the box office.
But this stop him from becoming brand ambassador for corporate brands, His following and image among the youth is so strong that no wonder then that corporate brands are taking him in as their brand ambassadors. He has now signed as a brand ambassador for Zomato, the food delivery app.
Vijay enjoys good popularity among all south Indian metros and is famous among bollywood circles too and Vijay one of those stars who knows to market himself brilliantly. Keeping all these aspects Zomato has taken him as brand ambassador. He is said to be charging Rs 1 Cr as his remuneration. The promotional campaigns have already began with airing television ads.
After Mahesh Babu, Vijay is becoming a hot favorite for the corporate companies among Tollywood stars. He is already associated with brands like Flipkart, KLM Fashion Mall, and South India Shopping Mall.
Currently Vijay Deverakonda is working on Kranthi Madhav’s film which is touted to be romantic entertainer, Raashi Khanna is the female lead. He has also signed a film Puri Jagannadh that is expected to roll on from January 2020.


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March 29, 2018
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The sharing of thousands of online images is a big part of daily social media interaction. Even with the accompanying comments enhanced by expressive punctuation or clever emoticons, however, nothing beats an actual spoken response for an accurate representation of how a person has really responded to an image or what they really think about that image. SayRoom makes this possible by allowing users to actually voice and share their recorded reactions. The service also provides the SayRoom API that allows developers to access these audio messages created by users.
Taplister, assisting craft beer connoisseurs find beer nearby since 2009, announced "its new nationwide craft beer discovery platform that helps bars and restaurants promote and socialize their beer selection across digital outlets with one update." The platform allows restaurants to update their beer menus in a single location and have the latest version published across its web properties (e.g. website, Twitter, Facebook, digital signage, etc.).
Canadian based startup LoginRadius is a Software As A Service (SAAS) provider of social infrastructure (Social Login and Social Sharing) that is currently used by over 25,000 websites. Despite being a fairly new service (The company was founded in May 2011), LoginRadius has expanded rapidly, partly in thanks to the LoginRadius API.


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All week we've been offering tips on buying a new Windows 8 machine and getting started with it. Today we've gathered together all those posts, along with some of our other key Windows 8 advice, in one easy-to-digest package. Enjoy!
Windows 8 Ultimate Buyer's Guide: Wrapup
Trending Stories Right Now
Tattoos are certainly not for everyone, but if you're considering one, make sure you know what you're getting into. This pain chart highlights the parts of the body that can hurt the most when the needle comes down.
Australians have gone out in droves to buy up P2 smokes for the smokey bushfire conditions being experienced across the country in recent months. But with a new outbreak of Coronavirus spreading out of China and causing global concerns, the masks can actually work against being infected by airborne contagious diseases too. Here's what you need to know.


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Investing in nascent industries always carries certain risks. Alternatively, if the company is successful in gaining traction in an expanding market it can deliver exponential gains to long-term investors. One such industry is cannabis…
Consumers and investors are hopeful that within the not-too-distant future the U.S. government will decriminalize or even legalize recreational cannabis use at the federal level. If that were to occur, it would be quite bullish for marijuana stocks.
WIth that in mind, today we’re going to take a look at three cannabis stocks that Wall Street is bullish on right now.
Curaleaf Holdings (OTC: CURLF)
In the first quarter of 2021, Curaleaf reported sales of $260.4 million, an increase of 170% year over year compared to revenue of just $96.5 million in the prior year period. Sales were also higher by 13% on a sequential basis. Despite its stellar top-line growth, Curaleaf reported a net loss of $17.2 million or $0.03 share higher than its prior-year loss of $15.1 million but narrower than its Q4 of 2020 loss of $35.3 million or $0.05 per share.
Its adjusted EBITDA more than tripled to $62.6 million in Q1 and the company ended the quarter with a cash balance of $315 million, up from just $73.5 million at the end of 2020.
Curaleaf attributed its solid revenue growth to a 231% increase in retail cannabis sales that grew to $188 million. Cannabis sales gained momentum due to the opening of new stores in several states.
In Q2, Curaleaf has forecast sales between $305 million and $315 million allowing it to exit the quarter in the green in terms of net income and operating cash flows. Curaleaf confirmed that the recent approvals of adult-use cannabis in the states of New York and New Jersey will unlock new markets. It forecasts the New York market to total $5 billion in annual sales while this figure for New Jersey is forecast at $2 billion.
Analysts covering the stock have a 12-month average price target of $23.12 for Curaleaf stock which is 55% higher than its current trading price.
CV Sciences (CVSI)
A U.S.-based life sciences company, CV Sciences has two business segments which include Consumer Products and Specialty Pharmaceutical. The Consumer Products business develops, manufactures, and markets plant-based dietary supplements as well as hemp-based CBD (cannabidiol) products under the PlusCBD brand name. Comparatively, the Specialty Pharmaceutical segment develops CBD products to treat medical indications.
A micro-cap stock valued at a market cap of just $42 million, CV Sciences has…
Continue reading at ADAMMESH.COM


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Arrested for selling Samosas, Bhajiya and Kachoris.
Vadodara police arrested two for violating the lockdown rules and selling Samosas, Bhajiya and Kachoris. One of the accused said that due to shortage of money he started the nasta house.
The lockdown is implemented in the city to contain the spread of Coronavirus and police is having a strict watch on the violaters. During this time the daily earning people are suffering a lot as they have to face shortage of money for their expense.
Jitendra Jeswani a resident of Santkawar Colony in Warasia open Samosa and Bhaiya laari to earn some money in such difficult time. After the information Warasia police reached the spot and closed down the laari and arrested him.
In a second incident Ashwin Mali from the same area starts selling Kachoris in the area and arrested by the Warasia police after the information.


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LG G7 ThinQ
LG G7 Leaks in New Renders, Confirms Dual Front Camera
We’re only 12 days into 2018 but we’re already seeing a number of major smartphone makers look to steal a march on their competitors by announcing / unveiling / launching their flagship devices of the year.
Once such firm is LG, who have accidentally revealed some key information for their upcoming high-end mobile phone on the official LG website. Going by recent trends, the South Korean firm might release its 2018 flagship, the LG G7 imminently, with March looking the most likely launch month.
Now amongst all these speculations around LG’s to-be-launched device, a render of the supposed G7 has been spotted online. The render reveals the front side of the device, which confirms an 18:9 ratio bezel-less screen coupled with a dual set of front cameras. Previous rumours also indicated that the LG G7 would feature dual front-facing cameras and this newly leaked render of the purported flagship cements those previous claims.
Looking at the image, it appears that the front panel of the LG G7 will have a full-screen design and selfie camera with a number of sensors and receiver grill. A fingerprint sensor will be fitted on the rear side along with dual rear camera setup.
Under the hood, the LG G7 is anticipated to house a Snapdragon 835 chipset combined with 6GB of RAM. The phone will come with a Quick Charge 4.0 feature.
No other details about the LG G7 are available at the moment but with leaks coming thick and fast more information about the phone is expected in the next few weeks and we expect it to be available in the UK on pay monthly contracts and SIM free plans. Stay tuned for more updates.


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In February 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly adopted a historic resolution to develop the UN Treaty on Plastics Pollution, a legally binding instrument with the primary aim of protecting marine environments and human health.
Negotiations should conclude by the end of 2024. Now, over a year into the negotiation period, how are businesses preparing for the new legislation?
What Is the Plastic Problem?
The “Drowning in Plastics” report on marine litter produced in 2021 by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was unequivocal on the issue. Since the 1950s, we have generated around 6.9 billion tons of plastic and are adding to this at a rate of over 400 million tons per year.
Of all the plastic produced to date, only an estimated 14% has been incinerated and only 10% has been recycled. The remaining 76% has gone to landfills or ended up in the environment. Waste management systems can’t cope, which has led to the widespread contamination of our waterways, seas, and oceans by an estimated 8 million tons of plastic every year.
Plastic is a cocktail of fossil fuels and chemicals that breaks down slowly into microplastics, damaging marine environments from the shore to the deepest parts of the ocean. Apart from damaging marine life, they are a threat to people as they make their way into our food chain and drinking water.
Two countries, Spain and the UK, have already taken their first steps with the introduction of plastic taxes on non-recyclable packaging and packaging using less than 30% recycled content respectively. That said, at the time the report was written, there was no consistent policy framework to ensure global action to combat plastic pollution.
The SAP Circular Economy Solutions team, led by Stephen Jamieson, began work on this issue five years ago. The team is an active member of the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, convened by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and WWF, alongside some of the world’s biggest businesses and financial institutions.
SAP’s response to the resolution was to create a digital solution that would enable customers to apply the framework to their business as well as provide feedback to policymakers on what is and isn’t working.
The Biggest Business Challenge to Eliminating Plastic Pollution
“The biggest challenge is how to decouple virgin plastic production from growth. We need to break that connection, but, to date, nobody has the solution,” Jamieson says. “SAP’s strategy is data-driven. By helping our clients understand the implications of using virgin plastic and having information about alternative options at their fingertips, businesses can find a pathway to more sustainable growth.”
A Data-Driven Solution
With customers at all levels of the value chain, SAP set out to help its clients solve this problem using technology. Initial discussions with 30 or so organizations helped SAP understand the complexities involved and led us to identify the need for a plastics data resource. SAP built the SAP Responsible Design and Production solution to help deliver the information companies require to identify strategies and solutions for eliminating plastics or moving to other solutions such as reuse schemes.
Data transparency is key to begin the process of decoupling growth from virgin plastics and to facilitate a transition to a more circular economy. The first step involves measurement, in effect creating a digital twin of the plastic item a company produces to allow them to fully understand the types and amounts of components involved in the product itself. Then we do the same for the primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging.
Once the measurement phase is complete, the software can be used to apply EPR (extended producer responsibility) policies and local plastic taxes to the different components. With this data applied, businesses can compare materials like-for-like by connecting with digital material libraries to find the best-fit alternatives.
Once a new solution has been identified, the GreenToken by SAP solution comes into play. With its blockchain-based approach, the recycled content of products can be verifiable, which helps prevent fraud and provide assurance to customers.
Is There an Appetite to Change Business Practices around Plastic?
The desire to find solutions has evolved dramatically in the last five years. The level of seniority of the people driving the discussions and their determination is palpable. Rather than seeing this issue as an unnecessary cost, business leaders are genuinely engaged in finding solutions for several reasons.
Firstly, they recognize that the plastic problem is inextricably linked to the climate crisis and biodiversity loss and understand that change is necessary if we’re to stay within planetary boundaries.
Secondly, there is a feeling that solving the plastic problem will open the door to the next phase of growth, profitability, and social equity. This is creating a high level of competition between key players in the market.
Thirdly, companies are concerned with their reputation. They want to be on the right side of history and retain the loyalty and trust of their customers. In addition, there is now an acceptance – which didn’t exist previously – that there is no real downside to pursuing a solution.
These drivers coupled with data-driven technology means businesses will be ready, some even in an advanced position, when the UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution comes into force.
For more information on how SAP helps companies record, report, and act on their sustainability goals, visit www.sap.com/sustainability.
Heather Davies is a sustainability brand journalist.


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PLYMOUTH, Michigan — Standing before ussome nine years in the making, is Rivian’s first generation model, the Rivian R1T, also a high-riding, full-sized, electric, twin cab, all-wheel-drive pickup with a claimed 0 to 60 mph time of less than 3 minutes, the capability to ford streams and glow off-road, with a claimed range between fees as large as 400 miles, although presumably not when towing into its highest, 10,000-pound capacity.
Rivian ’ s truck isn’t set to deliver until late next year at the earliest, but it’s here today for us reflect upon to scrutinize and pore over, in its ginormous, steel, aluminum, and carbon fiber attractiveness. At its official reveal now ’s 2018 Los Angeles Auto Show, it will be joined by an SUV, ” the R1S, a Suburban, if you will, into this fraternal twin R1T’s Silverado.
Rivian is taking deposits now, but test-drives continue to be in the offing, as is verification of its staggering acceleration and range asserts. The RT1 will be marketed with prices announced to begin at $61,500 for an entry, 250-mile-range model after deduction of the Fed’s $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit–supposing it’s ’s still around.
Bollinger’s B1 model, which it’s also currently taking deposits for 2020 delivery, is a lot more spartan than Rivian’therefore RT1, heading into revenue responsibility with more unabashedly flat panels than a classic Land Rover and also an International Scout combined. The Rivian and the style card play down the middle of the American street, inherently brutal due to its dimensions, but essentially anodyne truck.
The post 2020 Rivian R1T is a Electric-Powered Super Truck with Range appeared first on Automobile Magazine.
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NBA 2K23 features popular streamer and gaming influencer Dr Disrespect in a somewhat prominent role. Over the years, the NBA 2K series has grown to become a pop culture event. Not only is it a must-have for basketball fans on an annual basis, but it has continued to expand with things like a pretty expansive story mode with RPG elements. Oftentimes, these story modes feature other NBA players, sports commentators, and other celebrities as cameos. 2K has invested a lot in these story modes, even going as far as to hire acclaimed director Spike Lee to craft an original narrative for NBA 2K16.
NBA 2K23 is taking things up a notch by adding Dr Disrespect. The notorious streamer is in the game as an NPC in the game's open world, known as The City. Players can interact with Dr Disrespect while completing a series of challenges to unlock a Mountain Dew billboard with the player's custom character standing next to the Doc. In addition to all of this, there's a Mountain Dew-themed three-point contest, Mountain Dew-themed half-courts, a Papa Johns/Mountain Dew bundle that offers in-game items, and much more. Needless to say, 2K and Mountain Dew are going all out on their joint partnership this year and it doesn't seem like it will be stopping anytime soon. Mountain Dew will also have additional NBA 2K23 content such as a special game mode and more in early 2023.
NBA 2K23's The City is massive and features a lot of content for players to dig into outside of Dr Disrespect's challenges. The city is so big that players now have things like skateboards, golf carts, and fast travel stations to help quickly move through the map. As of right now, it remains to be seen how players will respond to the game as it releases tomorrow and there are no reviews for the game yet. Either way, it sounds like players will be pretty busy until next year's entry.


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Consumer confidence unexpectedly improved in May.
The Conference Board's consumer confidence index jumped to 95.4 in May from a 94.3 in April. This was better thna the 95.0 exected by economists. (April's number was revised down from an earlier estimate of 95.2).
“After a three-month slide, the Present Situation Index increased, propelled by a more positive assessment of the labor market," the Conference Board's Lynn Franco said. "Expectations, however, were relatively flat following a steep decline in April. While current conditions in the second quarter appear to be improving, consumers still remain cautious about the short-term outlook.”
Here's some more color from the report:
Consumers’ assessment of current-day conditions improved in May. Those saying business conditions are “good” edged down from 25.5 percent to 25.2 percent. However, those claiming business conditions are “bad” also decreased from 19.2 percent to 17.4 percent. Consumers were mixed in their assessment of the job market. Those stating jobs are “plentiful” increased from 19.0 percent to 20.7 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” rose from 25.9 percent to 27.3 percent.
Consumers’ optimism about the short-term outlook edged down in May. The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months inched up from 15.4 percent to 15.6 percent, while those expecting business conditions to worsen also increased, from 9.1 percent to 10.8 percent. Consumers’ outlook for the labor market, however, improved. Those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead increased from 13.8 percent to 14.6 percent, while those anticipating fewer jobs declined from 16.4 percent to 15.5 percent. The proportion of consumers expecting growth in their incomes was unchanged at 17.4 percent, while the proportion expecting a decline increased slightly from 10.8 percent to 11.1 percent.
"Overall, most confidence indicators have fallen back over the past few months, but remain at levels that historically have been consistent with stronger real consumption growth than we have actually seen in recent months," Capital Economics' Paul Ashworth said.


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St Pierre Groupe, which recently rebranded from Carrs Foods, has won the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade. Scooping the UK’s highest accolade for business success in export, St Pierre Groupe takes home the prize for its growth in overseas sales over the past three years, increasing annual international sales by 159% as a result of significant US growth.
Manchester-based St Pierre Groupe includes in its portfolio St Pierre, Baker Street, and Paul Hollywood ranges. St Pierre is now the fastest-growing bakery brand in the US, according to Nielsen data.
Founders Jeremy Gilboy and Paul Baker completed a management buyout of Carrs Foods in 2004. They entered the American market 10 years after that. Introducing the company’s St Pierre brand to the US, they’ve had retailers remain loyal customers to this day, the company reports.
Increasing international sales to 51% of revenue, the duo has already increased turnover to £69m in 2018. With over 150 bakery products selling in the UK, its export range now has over 85 products, listed in over 35,000 stores worldwide. With 60% of its volume in the US, St Pierre Groupe’s turnover is forecast to nearly double in the next three years, aiming to reach GBP150m by 2022.
Previously achieving a Top 10 rank in the Sunday Times International Track 200 for the third successive year, St Pierre Groupe was listed in 8th place this year.


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Equalization has been on the minds of the politicians through the summer of 2006. For consumers it has been the cost of energy.
This edition of the Beacon provides insight of both.
Read AIMS’ Special Commentary Series on Equalization and view the editorials and columns written in support of its revelations.
Consider the latest Equalization Paper which suggests taxation, not transfers can be used to ‘equalize’ public services across the country.
And view what Carol Montreuil, VP of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, has to say about the future of energy – prices, supply and demand.
To read this edition of the Beacon, click here.


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Summit Coffee to open first franchise location in Huntersville this spring
Summit Coffee Co.’s first franchise location will open in Huntersville this spring. The cafe — the seventh for Summit — will be located in Birkdale Landing, along NC Highway 73.
Brian Kiley, Michael Rock and Bill Whittington will own that roughly 1,600-square-foot venture, which is slated to open in May. The space’s design includes indoor and outdoor seating, with plans for live entertainment as well.
Summit CEO Brian Helfrich says the proximity to residential and other strong concepts made that site a fit. Announced tenants for the project include Inizio Pizza, First Watch and Shake Shack.
“We’ve been eyeing this Birkdale Landing spot for more than a year,” he says.
That location is the latest for Davidson-based Summit. It currently operates two stores in Davidson, one in Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood, plus two in Asheville and one in Chapel Hill.
An eighth, soon-to-be-announced location is expected to open this spring near Charlotte’s uptown.
Summit, which got its start in Davidson in 1998, is focused on Charlotte, Asheville and Chapel Hill for growth over the next 12 months. It intends to open 15-plus units in those markets by the end of 2021.


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Recapping Anime Expo 2018 with Toonami Faithful
As always, Anime Expo continued to demonstrate why it is the biggest and most popular anime convention to attend. This year was a who's who of big-name stars and...
Attack on Titan simuldub premieres in August, Toonami airing still unconfirmed
FUNimation will premiere the Attack on Titan simuldub sometime in August, with a prospective Toonami airing still to be determined.
Sword Art Onine: Alicization New Trailer Released
Aniplex released the newest trailer for SAO season 3 during Anime Expo 2018, set to premiere in Japan in October.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable is Coming To Toonami
Announced today at the JoJo Panel at Anime Expo, Viz Media will debut the Diamond is Unbreakable English Dub on Toonami starting August 18 which will be right after...
What to Watch For: Toonami Related Panels to Check Out at #AX2018
Headed to Anime Expo this year? These are some of the panels to check out and watch for regarding potential news for Toonami and its shows.
Press Release: VIZ MEDIA WELCOMES FULL LINEUP OF GUESTS AND CREATORS AT ANIME EXPO...
Viz Media has unveiled their plans for Anime Expo 2018, featuring a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure on Friday, and a Sailor Moon panel on Saturday.
Press Release: Aniplex of America takes over Anime Expo 2018!
Aniplex has unveiled their plans for Anime Expo 2018, featuring their Industry Panel on Thursday and a Sword Art Online panel on Friday.


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JEKYLL ISLAND - The Jekyll Island Authority chose three developers Monday to take over key pieces of the state park's extensive makeover, which hit a snag six months ago when its main private partner backed out of the project.
Rather than hire another single developer to tackle all the privately funded components of the island's redevelopment - an investment estimated at $80 million to $100 million - Jekyll Island's board of directors voted to divide them among different firms.
One developer will design and build 40,000 square feet of space for retail shops in the project's centerpiece beach village. The others will develop two new hotels nearby.
State-owned Jekyll Island has been spent years planning the 46-acre redevelopment in hope of reversing a slump in tourism and convention business by replacing the island's musty hotels and outdated meeting rooms.
But the island authority had to scramble to get back on track after Atlanta-based Linger Longer Communities, the firm chosen in 2007 to develop the beach village, pulled out in December.
Both parties blamed the economic recession for scuttling the deal, saying the developer was unable to get the financing it needed to meet construction deadlines.
Jones Hooks, Jekyll Island's executive director, said Monday that bringing the new partners on board now puts the authority back on schedule to finish the village's retail shops and hotels by the time the island's new state-funded convention center opens in two years.
"In the summer of 2012 we will see the beach village ready to open," Hooks said. "We feel like we've been moving at lightning speed."
Construction has already begun on the state's $50 million investment in the project, which includes a new beachfront park that broke ground just before Linger Longer backed out in December.
Before Linger Longer pulled out of Jekyll Island, its 25-year contract to manage new developments had been widely criticized by residents, who said the deal gave too hefty a share of the profits to a private developer building on state land.
Van Hart, a Jekyll Island shop owner, applauded the decision to break up the projects among different developers.
"I think this is much smarter," Hart said. "They made a mistake. The authority never should've put all their eggs in one basket."


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By DIANA ZHANG
On October 31, 2014, University High School (UHS) hosted its annual Halloween Fashion Walk. Each homeroom was allowed to select one student to represent each classroom in the catwalk that took place at the Crossroads during lunch. The entire fashion show was separated into four categories: best costume, scariest costume, most creative and most effort.
In the end, Nico Ervoes (Sr.) in his homemade Storm Trooper costume, won best costume. Besides winning the title, the Star Wars costume actually meant something more to Ervoes.
“I started costuming during my freshman year and this was my first costume that I have ever made. My dad was a big inspiration for me and helped me a lot,” he explains, “I chose to be a Storm Trooper because I have always been a big fan of Star Wars and with this [the costume] you don’t have to show your face. Sometimes you can just pretend to be the guy behind the mask. I would prefer to be that.”
In the other categories, Andrew Ngyuen (So.) brought it home by winning Most Creative with his hand-stitched Naruto costume. Jazmin Soto (So.) also won the title of Most Effort with her pink cotton candy costume. Lastly, Natanael Cho (Sr.) won Scariest Costume as he spent over five hours piecing together his burned zombie costume.
Cho said, “Because this is my senior year, I wanted to go all out with my costume. I wanted to have a unique costume, so I decided on something extremely scary. This fashion show was a great way to show people’s artistic skills and creativity.”
The annual Halloween festival held by UHS was a great success this year, especially due to the addition of the catwalk. Noah Obstfeld (Jr.), the host of the fashion show, said, “Some of the costumes were fantastic. I really liked the dedication that the people had. The effort that some people made was amazing. This made the tradition continue on.”
Likewise, Victoria Pham (So.), one of the attending judges, said, “The catwalk, being a brand new event, went really well! I loved seeing all the different costumes. I could tell the participants put in a lot of time and effort into them. The amount of people that participated was amazing and the crowed showed a lot of support. I am looking forward to see what next year’s catwalk will have in store.”
Overall, the Halloween show this year has shown wonderful results. Many of the students showed up and were all very eager to participate in the catwalk. We will always have next year’s Halloween festival to look forward to.


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By Tonya Garcia, MarketWatch
Wedbush analysts are doubtful that this most recent quarter’s results will last, though they are optimistic about the future.
“While the current level of sales strength is unlikely to persist as fiscal stimulus fades and elevated unemployment persists, we continue to expect double-digit comps for 2Q and 3Q,” analysts led by Seth Basham said.
“Moreover, strong new customer growth and loyalty club member growth should help the company capture repeat purchases beyond the near-term, while the company’s digital-first strategy should enable it to capture market share in 2021 and beyond.”
Wedbush rates Williams-Sonoma stock outperform with a $90 price target, up from $80.
UBS analysts think Williams-Sonoma stands to gain market share with the bankruptcies of both Pier 1 Imports Inc. /zigman2/quotes/203305412/composite PIRRQ -8.26% and Tuesday Morning Corp. , as well as a shift in consumer spending away from leisure activities.
UBS rates Williams-Sonoma stock neutral and lifted its price target to $77 from $70.
“We believe Williams-Sonoma’s second half top line will likely depend on how quickly it can get back to optimal in-stock levels (it might take a couple of quarters) and the impact of the looming recession,” analysts wrote.
Williams-Sonoma’s inventory was down 7.3% year-over-year as the company sought to preserve liquidity, Julie Whalen, the company’s chief financial officer, said on the call.
Williams-Sonoma stock has rallied more than 42% over the past year while the S&P 500 index /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX +0.06% is up 10.6% for the period.


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In another boost for the digital credit ecosystem, small merchants and MSMEs will be able to get instant working capital loans from banks using their Goods and Services Tax (GST) profile with an app developed by a start-up company based in Ahmedabad.
Developed by digital credit platform provider Online PSB Loans (OPL), the GST Sahay app will enable owners of small shops, kirana/grocery stores and other micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to obtain instant bank loans between ₹10,000 and ₹2 lakh.
Notably, the OPL infrastructure was also deployed for the launch of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Innovation Hub pilot at GST Sahay.
“Traders or shop owners will need to update their details such as GST profiles with generated invoices etc. in the GST Sahay app and they will be able to apply for loans from their bank. Based on your GST profile and KYC, the bank can approve the loan instantly. This will meet any short-term financing requirements for these small merchants,” said Jinand Shah, MD and CEO, Online PSB Loans.
More than Rs 1.2 crores of GST filing MSMEs and small traders will benefit from this GST Sahay app.
“The interest rate for such loans would be 8 to 12 percent, depending on the bank. SIDBI is currently testing this application for its clients. We expect a launch in the first quarter of this fiscal year,” Shah said, adding that this is the first product of its kind in the country that allows instant short-term credit for MSMEs using their GST profiles.
Launched in 2018, the OPL platform has a majority stake of 10 financial institutions, including private and public sector banks and other development lenders, who are also among a large client base that includes financial institutions.
Apart from MSMEs, OPL’s digital lending platform is also being used for end-to-end digitization of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) in Karnataka, where State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BOB) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) are using this platform to extend credit to farmers. This has reduced the duration of available credit from 3-4 weeks to around 5-10 minutes.
In his recent visit to Ahmedabad, MK Jain, the RBI Deputy Governor shared the encouraging results of the pilot project and underscored the banking regulator’s intention to expand such platforms to “all types of credit, particularly for the bottom of the pyramid in society.” “.
“PSBLoansin59minutes.com is a pioneering OPL platform designed for credit automation for borrowers. We are India’s largest online lending platform assigned to all current lending processes regardless of the type of bank or lending institution. Over the past five years, we have processed loan applications worth more than Rs 1,300 crore, of which disbursements were Rs 72,000 crore. In total, we have processed more than 7 lakh applications in this period,” said Ronak Shah, co-founder and COO of OPL.
For OPL, revenue comes from the one-time loan application processing fee. Revenue has grown about 25 percent year-over-year for the past three years, but it expects to break even this fiscal year.


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Displaying results 1 - 10 of 93
More international cooperation needed to better protect consumers
15 Mar 2021
Countries are urged to step up efforts to safeguard consumers’ health, safety and economic interests amid the pandemic.
UNCTAD updates principles to promote biodiversity-friendly trade
18 Jan 2021
Guidelines to help governments, companies and consumers benefit from sustainable trade in precious plants and animals now include elements such as climate resilience and marine biodiversity.
Building back better requires stronger competition and consumer protection in the digital economy
24 Dec 2020
By Teresa Moreira, Head of the Competition and Consumer Policies Branch, UNCTAD
How biodiversity-friendly trade can support COVID-19 recovery
19 Oct 2020
A new call to action urges countries to make BioTrade a lever for recovery and resilience in the wake of the pandemic.
Building a ‘single window’ for trade in Turkmenistan
16 Oct 2020
The government signed with UN agencies an agreement to build an electronic portal for trade procedures and documents in the Central Asian nation
Countries focus on protecting consumers amid and after COVID-19
15 Oct 2020
Stakeholders gather to share experiences and exchange information to advance the welfare of consumers in open markets.
Blue BioTrade project set to improve fortunes in the eastern Caribbean
13 Oct 2020
The project is a point of convergence for conservation and sustainable use of marine resources, and a driver for a blue and green recovery from COVID-19.
COVID-19 has changed online shopping forever, survey shows
8 Oct 2020
The pandemic has accelerated the shift towards a more digital world and triggered changes in online shopping behaviours that are likely to have lasting effects
Mineral tracking tool helps Zambia combat illicit financial flows
1 Oct 2020
An UNCTAD data evaluation tool helps the southern African nation recover an additional $1 million in export dues from mining companies in one year.


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Katie Price on why she'll never be voted best dressed... as she conceals her famous cleavage for arty magazine shoot
With her hair extensions, fake eyelashes, surgically-enhancements and garish wardrobe, Katie Price is rarely associated with the 'natural look'.
However, the glamour model has decided to show her critics she can do modest sophistication too as she poses in a striking new photoshoot.
The mother-of-three wears barely any make-up, with her swept back into a tight bun underneath a saucer hat as she poses for the new issue of Ponystep magazine.
Who's that girl? Katie Price looks unrecognisable as she dresses down in a photoshoot for Ponystep magazine
The reality star, who recently underwent her fifth boob job, actually covers up her cleavage for once in a high-necked top.
She also switches her usual velour tracksuit bottoms or mini-skirts for a pair of black tailored trousers.
In the accompanying interview, Katie refers to herself as a 'product'.
Natural look: The mother-of-three says she knows she will never win accolades for her fashion choices
She said: 'I know for a fact when I do a fashion magazine they're going to make me look like - not me.
'If do a shoot that's about me and my clothing or something, it's me, I'm the product. But with fashion, they make you look completely different.'
Ponystep magazine goes on sale today
While Katie feels comfortable in her own style, she's well aware her wardrobe choices don't impress fashion crticis.
She said: 'I'm never going to get voted best dressed. I'm happy to wear my tracksuit and no make-up.
'I don’t know how some of these girls dress from head to toe so immaculately, with their hair and meake up done all the time. I mean, that’s exhausting!'
Katie also addresses speculation she would reunite with ex-fiance, Argentine model Leandro Penna.
She declared: 'It's official, me and Leo are over.'
Meanwhile, Katie has reportedly been approached to star in the new series of Celebrity Big Brother.
Of course, she is no stranger to reality TV having done several series by herself and with ex-husband Peter Andre.
She also starred on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! twice.
Her second ex-husband Alex Reid surprisingly won Celebrity Big Brother two years ago and ended up marrying Katie in Las Vegas just days after leaving the house.
Ponystep magazine goes on sale today.
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For some living in Denver, the closest thing to a grocery store in many miles is the corner convenience store.
Several areas of the city are in what is known as a food desert, where fresh produce is scarce. For those without cars, healthy food rarely makes it the kitchen table.
The city has set aside money to help solve the problem, but even the city admits it may not be enough.
Swansea, Elyria and Globeville, collectively make up a community with more than 10,000 people in it.
In this area, there's a major issue: a lack of good healthy food options.
“There is a food desert and not a lot of groceries stores around where we can get fresh food,” Alicia Perez, a longtime resident of the community, said.
Perez grew up in Swansea, and says the only option for fresh produce close by is The GrowHaus, a non-profit indoor farm and marketplace.
“I get most of my groceries from The GrowHaus here and whatever I can't find I have to go search for it,” said Perez.
The GrowHaus has been part of the community since 2009.
It offers people fresh produce and meat, something they can't get at one of the corner stores in the area.
“We have a little market in front and every day we have residents coming in to shop in the market for their daily meals,” said Perez.
But it’s not enough.
The city set aside about $3 million from grants to help start the process of attracting a grocery store. So far, none have opened.
The director of The GrowHaus, Colby Gould, says the perception of this being a low income community could be an issue.
“We need to fill that need but is it enough for the grocery stores to invest,” said Gould.
Plus there's the question of where a grocery store would open?
“There's trains that go through here both the A line and Union Pacific and it's just criss - crossed by trains,” Gould explained.
Without a grocery store, people with less seem to be paying more at convenience stores, like resident Dawn Little Thunder.
“It was $1.50 for one lemon and that was kind of expensive just for one lemon and if there was a grocery store close by I probably would have went there,” said Little Thunder.
With no car she's stuck walking and hoping a bigger store will come in the future.
“So I just stick to the overpriced lemons,” said Little Thunder.
The city says it's open to both small and large enterprise stores coming to the area, they are just waiting for a store to move in.
The GrowHaus, also offers cooking classes so families not only have access to healthy food, they can learn how to prepare it.


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EVEN a company that specializes in navigation can have trouble finding a quick way to complete a technology-transfer deal. Etak Inc. needed a year and a half of meetings, demonstrations and negotiations to nail down a technology agreement with Blaupunkt-Werke G.m.b.H., the West German maker of audio equipment. Nine more months passed before Etak was allowed to announce the deal last week, and it will take years to find out if the risks involved were worth it.
Etak is a four-year-old company, backed by venture capital, that converts road maps into electronic tapes. It has used its technology to develop navigational systems with a dashboard-mounted computer screen to show drivers where they are and routes they can follow to their destination.
Like most other start-up companies with intriguing technology but too few resources to market it rapidly, Etak accepted significant risks in dealing with multinational partners at this early stage of its development. A start-up company is usually hostage to its larger partner's plans.
Etak and Blaupunkt agreed in July 1986 on a ''multimillion-dollar'' contract giving Blaupunkt exclusive rights to sell equipment using the technology in cars in Western Europe. To wrap up the deal, however, Etak had to provide further demonstrations of its technology. A few weeks after the signing, George Bremser Jr., Etak's chief executive officer, and Stanley K. Honey, Etak's founder and chief engineer, flew to Blaupunkt's headquarters in Hildesheim to show off several prototypes programmed to navigate that German city's streets. The deal was completed last November.
The delay in announcing the licensing agreement gave Blaupunkt time to complete a prototype of its ''Travel Pilot'' unit, which will store maps on compact disks instead of the cassettes used by Etak. The delay also allowed Blaupunkt to gear its initial publicity effort toward a giant consumer electronics show that recently opened in West Berlin.
''They wanted to have something to show for it before announcing anything,'' said Mr. Bremser in an interview at Etak's offices here, near San Francisco. ''Blaupunkt is a conservative company.''
For Etak, the announcement finally lets it claim success in its search for powerful multinational partners in all major markets of the world. Etak signed licensing agreements with the Delco division of the General Motors Corporation in 1985 and, shortly before the Blaupunkt deal, with the Clarion Company, Japan's largest maker of car radios.
''The Blaupunkt agreement completes our international trilogy of powerful marketing and technology partners for our navigator product,'' said Mr. Bremser. ''The strengths of these strategic partners insures that Etak's navigation technology will soon be found in passenger cars and trucks across the world.''
Perhaps, but the history of start-up companies in electronics, robotics and biotechnology suggests that whatever success Etak reaps may be slower and more modest than its founders anticipate.
Etak has special reasons for seeking overseas partners. Any delay, it fears, could cede huge markets to competitors in vehicle navigation. Also, Etak feels that joining forces with a Blaupunkt in West Germany and a Clarion in Japan will make it easier to get help from their Governments in gathering information to create electronic maps.
When smaller companies seek alliances with larger ones ''it's not necessarily a problem in management experience,'' said Steven Lazerus, a former Baxter Travenol executive who is associate dean of the University of Chicago business school and an expert on technology transfer. Start-up companies backed by venture capitalists, he noted, often recruit senior executives from major companies, as Etak did with Mr. Bremser, a former president of the international division of General Foods and chief executive of the Texstar Corporation.
''The disadvantage is that there is unequal economic leverage,'' Mr. Lazerus said. ''A Baxter Travenol can negotiate a better deal because, in the last analysis, they can do it themselves if they can't get the right terms.''
Start-up companies face many of the same problems when they deal with large American multinational companies. The risks are often higher, though, in seeking foreign partners.
''If A.T.&T. takes advantage of you, you have a lot of courts where you can get back at them here, but an offshore entity may be much harder to reach,'' said John Goodrich, senior partner at the Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati Professional Corporation, a Palo Alto, Calif., law firm that has represented numerous Silicon Valley companies in negotiations involving technology licensing.
Etak's deals have involved a combination of up-front payments and royalties. The Clarion deal, valued by Etak at ''more than $1 million'' gives the Japanese company exclusive rights to sell navigational systems, using Etak's technology, in cars in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The Blaupunkt agreement, like that with G.M., gives Etak the added task of making the electronic maps.
''The mapping contract added a significant nuance to the deal,'' said Martin Fliesler, a partner at the San Francisco firm of Fliesler, Dubb, Meyer & Lovejoy, which served as Etak's patent attorney. ''Because of the maps and software, you get involved in copyrights as well as patents.''