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The sun shone for the three days of the Ploughing last week - a welcome relief for everyone after Storm Ali caused carnage at last year's event. Farmers, for the most part, were in good form, with record crowds turning up in Carlow.
Much of the talk revolved around the beef protests as ministers, farming organisations and even President Higgins tried to persuade those still on the picket lines at the factory gates to return to negotiations.
The vast majority of farmers we spoke to at the Ploughing want normality to resume, even if beef prices are still on the floor.
A small number, however, used the event to highlight their genuine concerns that the threat to the future of small beef farmers is also a threat to the backbone of many parts of rural Ireland.
There's no doubting that, but the fact is a very small number of people, and possibly not all of them farmers, were holding the rest of the sector to ransom.
Farmers who said the protests should continue were vastly outnumbered by those looking for a return to normality.
The reality is that beef markets are not returning the prices to justify more than €3.50/kg.
And the fear is this situation may get worse. A no-deal Brexit has the potential to decimate the beef sector, simple as that. Damaging our relationships with other markets and buyers has the potential to destroy the entire industry.
There has been much debate in recent weeks over margins, and farmers' share of the retail beef price.
What is undeniable is that farmers' current share is not enough to provide them with a sustainable income.
The processors and supermarkets must realise that the current system is pushing their farmer suppliers to the brink of ruin.
Farmers cannot continue producing cattle at current low price levels; it just doesn't make economic sense.
The factories, in particular, must also understand that they need farmers as much as the farmers need them.
Beef farmers deserve a better price for their beef, and the country needs farmers.
But the question must be asked: if beef farmers cannot make money at market prices, should they be subsidised, and by how much?


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BERLIN— BMW AG BMW -0.19 % , the German luxury car maker, said on Wednesday that will make three additional car models in China, including a new compact, and confirmed plans to expand the capacity of its two manufacturing plants there.
"We are strengthening our focus on meeting the needs and aspirations of our Chinese customers," said Friedrich Eichiner, BMW's chief finance officer, according to the text of a speech he delivered in Beijing. "We are going to double our range of locally produced models in the future—from three to six."
Germany's leading premium car manufacturer sold 391,713 cars in China last year, an increase of 20% over the year earlier. As the Chinese car market continues to grow, BMW sales keep rising, growing 23% to 225,035 in the first half of this year. The sales include cars produced by its BMW Brilliance joint venture in China and imports.
The company's plants in Dadong and Tiexi can produce up to 300,000 vehicles combined a year. BMW plans to expand that capacity to a combined 400,000 cars over the next two years.
The plants now produce BMW's 5 series sedans, the 3 series sedan, and the BMW X1 luxury compact sport-utility vehicle. In future, it plans to build a new entry model car positioned below the 3 series to compete with new luxury compact models being developed by rivals Nissan Motor Co. and Daimler AG DDAIY 0.64 % 's Mercedes-Benz.
BMW also will roll out a variant of its X3 SUV, made especially for China, and an as yet unidentified model targeting Chinese families that Mr. Eichiner described as "a high functionality car that combines usability and typical BMW dynamics."
BMW and Brilliance have invested more than €2 billion ($2.72 billion) in the Dadong and Tiexi plants over the past five years. BMW gave no details on the new investment, but confirmed earlier reports that its joint venture with local manufacturer Brilliance has been extended to 2028.
The German car maker operates 430 BMW-brand dealerships in China and 97 dealerships for its Mini brand. Mr. Eichiner said the company will continue expanding its sales and service networks in China.
Write to William Boston at firstname.lastname@example.org

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BlackRock’s Robert Kapito, president of the world’s largest asset manager, said the firm sees an opportunity to grow by selling more mutual funds to individuals.
“Retail is an enormous growth opportunity,” Kapito said this past week at the Credit Suisse Financial Services Forum. BlackRock is “underpenetrated” in the U.S. retail market, excluding exchange-traded funds, with under 2 percent market share for assets under management in open-end mutual funds, he said.
BlackRock, which manages $3.79 trillion, has been urging investors to get back into higher-yielding assets such as stocks as it seeks to expand its retail business.
Kapito has said that clients need to diversify and can be harmed by staying in cashlike products.
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Kapito said individuals represents about 12 percent of BlackRock’s assets under management, while accounting for 34 percent of base fees.
BlackRock has less patience with underperforming active products and will seek to replace teams quicker than in the past, he said, as the firm seeks to boost performance and attract new money.


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In case you missed it, yesterday's headlines reported a study linking pesticide intake and ADHD in children. Unfortunately, reports focused on foods most people associate with pesticides: fruit and vegetables. While recommending organic fruit and vegetables is great, the truth is that most pesticides, including the organophophate pesticides specifically researched in the study, are found at high levels in milk and meat.
Through a process called biomagnification toxins such as pesticides concentrate at higher levels as they go up the food chain. Biomagnification is illustrated by a study of the pesticide DDT. One study found when DDT soil levels were 10 parts per million (ppm), earthworms in the soil had a DDT concentration of 141 ppm, and robins eating earthworms had DDT levels of 444 ppm (Pesticides, People and the Environment, Science Scope, 2005).
This is true for the fish and livestock we consume. Due to pesticide run-off in water and air, or pesticides sprayed directly on animals in feedlots, they are found animal tissue. And because commercially raised livestock consume grain contaminated with organophosphate pesticides, we can expect to find them in the milk and meat of the animals. This is also true for fish, since mercury and pesticides concentrate as they move up the food chain.
Last month, ABC news ran a report entitled "Weak Regulation Means Tainted Beef on U.S. Plates, USDA Report Urges Greater Government Effort to Limit Contaminants in Meat" which began: "The government is doing too little to ensure that the beef Americans eat is uncontaminated by 'residual veterinary drugs, pesticides and heavy metals,' according to an audit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's inspector general." To read the whole article, click here.
So know that pesticides are not primarily found in fruit and vegetables, even though that is the common belief. By eating less meat and dairy, we are eliminating high levels of pesticides and other toxic substances from our diet.


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That's just pants! Daisy Lowe wears sheer shirt dress and flashes her lacy underwear at fashion event in Berlin
Model Daisy Lowe must have been feeling a bit cheeky when she got ready to go out on Wednesday night - as she decided not to wear any trousers.
Instead, the stunning 25-year-old wore a sheer shirt dress with a Peter Pan collar which exposed her high-waisted pants and lacy bra.
The pretty brunette certainly turned heads at the Jimmy Choo and mytheresa,com dinner in Berlin, Germany.
Trousers wouldn't go amiss: Daisy Lowe exposed her undergarments when she wore a sheer dress to the Jimmy Choo and mytheresa.com dinner in Berlin
Smiling for the cameras, Daisy looked incredibly sexy adding a pair of black stilettos to her look and tying her hair in a loose up 'do.
While at the exclusive affair, Lowe caught up with model Atlanta De Cadenet who looked elegant in a silky midnight blue smock dress.
Daisy was so excited to see her long-term friend that she posted an adorable image of the pair via her Twitter account.
Playfully flirty: The model's dress had a cute Peter Pan collar
Cute cuddles: The 25-year-old caught up with her good friend and model Atlanta De Cadenet at the party
Accompanying the snap, she wrote: 'Thank you mytheresaprgirl and @jimmychooltd for bringing me and my love bunny @atlantabean together.'
She also posed for a snap with a very smart looking Justin O'Shea, the buying director of mytheresa.com
Sitting down for meal at a table adorned with yellow flowers in glass vases, Daisy proved she has friends in high places.
Friends in high places: The girls posed with Justin O'Shea, buying director at mytheresa.com
Friends forever: Daisy wrote alongside the snap: 'Thank you mytheresaprgirl and @jimmychooltd for bringing me and my love bunny @atlantabean together'
She spent time conversing with Jimmy Choo's Creative Director, Sandra Choi who shone in a white dress.
The night before, Daisy partied with her mother, Pearl Lowe, at the launch party of luxury brand Globe-Trotter's new flagship London store.
However on this occasion, she opted to cover up in a pair of skinny jeans, leotard and pinstripe box jacket.
Mixing it up: The night before, Daisy covered up to attend the Globe Trotter store launch party with mum Pearl Lowe
Dining out: Sandra Choi, creative director at Jimmy Choo was Daisy's dinner companion
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A panel of out-of-town venture capitalists had a good discussion about investing trends Tuesday night at the Red Herring conference in Seattle. Too bad there were only about a dozen people in the audience.
Here are some highlights from the discussion with Paul Hsu of NeoCarta Ventures, Daniel Ahn of Woodside Fund, Rob Ketterson of Fidelity Ventures and Paul Matteucci of U.S. Venture Partners.
In healthcare, “we’re seeing a lot less interest in drug discovery, a lot more in medical devices,” particularly those going after big market opportunities such as diabetes and heart disease, Matteucci said.
Healthcare-related Web services are interesting but unlikely to get funded until their services covered by insurance, he said. That’s a key threshold for his firm.
“We do deals that we think insurance companies are ready to pay for,” he explained. “Insurance companies typically don’t pay for information services.”
Regarding information technology, Matteucci said “security is waning,” but there’s big opportunity in network storage infrastructure as virtualization, falling storage costs and energy consumption push companies to upgrade their networks and reduce operating costs.
Microsoft, Google and other may be investing in these services, but Matteucci said “they’re one-offs — it’s not a trend.”
Ahn said there’s “waning interest in nanotechnology and materials.” In nanotechnology, “people are realizing the task of manufacturing the stuff you’re trying to sell is really hard, especially in the U.S.”
Despite the promise of thin film materials and photovoltaics, investors are seeing that they’re also a “pretty big challenge, not necessarily a venture opportunity.”
Ketterson said there’s “money still pouring into cleantech,” but he wonders if they’re really venture deals if it takes $200 million to $300 million to get the new technologies commercialized.
Matteucci talked up a shift in cleantech investing to vertical categories, where entrepreneurs are taking energy-intensive businesses such as concrete production and remaking them to be more energy efficient.
Hsu said VCs like capital efficient businesses and “biotech and solar can get very capital intensive.”
Telecom, communications and networking are no longer the new thing, but the opportunity “hasn’t gone away — if you want to be a contrarian, do that,” Ketterson said.
As for software, the old model “is on its last legs,” he said, and Matteucci commented that its hard to build the software as a service model.
Ahn noted that semiconductors are the one area that’s consistently attracted investment over the past 25 years.
In response to a question about whether automotive startups will start being acquired, Matteucci said he expects struggling old manufacturers like Ford may try to buy startups such as Tesla Motors.
“We’re looking at a car deal right now,” he said.
Looking forward, Ahn’s interested in mobile phones emerging as the “platform of choice” in India and China and other places where people won’t have multiple PCs but may have several mobile devices.
Hsu said he’s interested U.S. companies selling abroad and opportunities in virtual currencies, either on mobile phones or related to online gaming. He’s also looking into opportunities to invest in location-based services.


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FOUR SUPERMARKET chains in the UK have confirmed they’ll be cutting petrol prices following recent drops in wholesale oil values.
Asda said it would be reducing petrol pump prices by 2p to 122.7p per litre. Tesco confirmed it would be reducing costs by an identical amount this evening (November 6). Morrisons will introduce its own 2p price reduction on November 7, with Sainsbury’s following suit on November 8.
⚠⚠ We’ve dropped the price of our unleaded petrol! ⚠⚠ From Thursday 8th Nov we’ll be cutting the price of our petrol by up to 2p per litre across our 312 petrol stations⛽?
— Sainsbury’s News (@SainsburysNews) November 6, 2018
While paying 2p per litre less at the pumps is good news for motorists, according to figures from the RAC Foundation, wholesale costs have fallen by over 6p per litre in the last month alone, from 101.21p per litre on October 5 to 95.11p per litre on November 5.
And although diesel wholesale values have fallen by 4p per litre over the same timeframe, none of the supermarkets have yet announced diesel pump price reductions.
Motoring groups in the UK have welcomed the move, though. The RAC’s fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “This is excellent news for motorists as it should spark cuts from all retailers bringing the price of petrol down nationwide.”
He added: “We badly need a case of ‘follow the leader’ now and for big retailers to actually have the often-talked-about ‘pump price war’ as that would rightly benefit consumers.”


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Smartphone displays are getting larger and increasingly more advanced, as companies like Apple, Samsung, and LG work tirelessly behind-the-scenes to perfect and polish their display technologies.
Apple has been working on a highly-advanced evolution of OLED technology dubbed MicroLED, which the company envisions applying to a range of devices from Apple Watch to iPhone, iPad, and even Macs. At the same time, Apple’s fiercest competitors including Samsung and LG have also been working on their next-generation display technologies — with the former reportedly gearing up to commercialize theirs within the next year.
At last month’s annual Society for Information Display (SID) expo 2018, Samsung showcased an intriguing new sound-emitting OLED display concept, which is essentially an advanced OLED display panel that relies on subtle vibrations and bone conduction to generate sound in lieu of a traditional front-facing earpiece.
Watch a Samsung rep demonstrate and explain how the technology works below! (via DisplayWeek)
Not only does the technology effectively override the need for an earpiece like traditional smartphones, but according to the report, Samsung’s “Sound on Display” tech will afford the company more space to stretch its OLED display panels even further up and down the front of their devices, including the upcoming Galaxy S10, which Korea’s official ET News reported (via Google Translate) could be the first commercially available smartphone to feature the breakthrough.
Interestingly, at SID 2018, Samsung showcased Sound on Display technology on a 6.2-inch Galaxy S9+ — but ET News confirmed that the company’s smaller, non + variant of the Galaxy S10 will be the one featuring a larger 6.2-inch display next year, suggesting the display on Sammy’s Galaxy S10+ could be even larger like 6.5-inches.
Since there would be a good amount of extra space up front with no earpiece onboard, it only makes logical sense that Samsung would stretch the panel out to create a truly edge-to-edge design like so many smartphone OEMs, including Apple, have been striving for.
“The transmission bandwidth is said to be in the 100 ~ 8000 Hz range, and, thanks to the very fine vibrations, you would only hear the sound if you put your ear to a fairly wide area at the top half of the screen,” PhoneArena reported of Samsung’s technology, which can be visualized via the circular symbol on the prototype’s display.
It’s hard to say whether the tech will be well-received or not, or whether it will actually function acceptably as a medium of relaying audible tones.
Luckily, the concept appears quite promising, and as Samsung’s rep assures us, the company will continue working on it over the next few months and years.
LG is also slated to commercialize a variant of sound-emitting display tech next year, though today’s report is mum on those details.
Asian smartphone maker, Vivo, whose V20 flagship was first to market with display-embedded fingerprint scanning tech, is likewise on track to release a sound-emitting display tech dubbed ‘Screen SoundCasting’ on its freshly-announced NEX flagship, and according to a Vivo spokesperson, “compared to other audio solutions for bezel-less smartphones, [Screen SoundCasting] conserves power, reduces sound leakage, and optimizes low to high pitch sound for a better and more balanced audio experience.”


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Photo: mendesrocha, Flickr
Things are not so sweet for the U.S. sugar beet market. A federal judge's ruling may prevent farmers from planting genetically modified sugar beets.
The controversy stems from a case in which the Center for Food Safety, Organic Seed Alliance, High Mowing Organic Seeds and the Sierra Club challenged the U.S. Department of Agriculture for allowing farmers to plant GM sugar beets before enough research had been conducted to determine their possible environmental impact. A judge ruled in favor of the environmental groups in August, but by September, the USDA had issued four "non-flowering" permits to growers in Oregon and Arizona -- where most sugar beet seedlings are grown. The action prompted environmentalists to challenge the government in court yet again.
On Friday, Judge Jeffrey White of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California will hear more arguments in the case. His ruling could have a significant impact on the industry. Nearly 95 percent of the U.S. sugar beet production is grown from GMO seeds -- a speedy and considerable change from 2005 when the GMO seeds were first approved. Over half of all U.S. sugar production comes from sugar beets; the rest is derived from sugar cane.
"The government didn't look at how these GMOs could contaminate organic table beets or Swiss chard, which are in the same family," says Paige Tomaselli, staff attorney for the Center for Food Safety. "The court said that going forward it was illegal to plant any GMO sugar beets. While it was okay to harvest what was already in the ground, it wasn't legal to sell any GMO sugar beet seeds."
According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. sugar production could be cut by 20 percent if farmers are banned from planting GMO seeds. Worries loom that a shortage of traditional seeds could reduce next year's crop by 1.6 million tons.
The shortage of traditional seed puts future crops in limbo, says AgJournal.
"The food industry is worried that a shortage of sugar-beet seed and a potential shortage of farmers willing to grow it will limit supplies and raise prices," writes AgJournal reporter Candace Krebs.
That's a valid concern when you couple it with strict U.S. sugar tariffs and already tight worldwide supplies. In fact, it sort of makes the future seem a little bit less sweet.


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The new Airbnb security camera ban takes effect April 30. Hosts have said they protect property, while some guests have worried about being spied on.
Many of the best places to invest in Airbnbs in 2024 are small cities in the South near national parks or lakes, like Huddleston, Virginia, or Helen, Georgia.
Hosts or regular homeowners can outsource taking garbage bins to the curb, which is especially handy for those who manage properties from afar.
Over 85% of short-term rentals in the US have cleaning fees. Some hosts say they're essential, while others think they're overkill. Share your view.
Airbnb hosts both love and loathe Christmas as they try to make as much money as possible: 'It's something we count on for the winter months'
Here's why your Christmas Airbnb costs so much: Many owners raise prices in December as short-term-rental profitability is "harder than ever."
The shift in Hochatown, Oklahoma, from 400 cabins to rent to 2,400 in just a few years is taking a toll on roads, noise, sewers, garbage, and more.
How your Airbnb host went from a mom-and-pop business owner to a multibillion-dollar corporation. Of course, there are risks and rewards.
Hosts are eager for more support after Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says 'we need to get our house in order'
Airbnb hosts are ready for action after CEO Brian Chesky says explosive growth post-lockdown might have been a detriment to Airbnb.
"We want prices to move and to be more competitive vis-à-vis a hotels—that is really important," Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky told Bloomberg.
I bought Austin's famous seashell-shaped Bloomhouse and rent it on Airbnb. See inside this popular, magical property.
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Monica Lee White made $136,000 renting out other people's homes on Airbnb through rental arbitrage. She now teaches others her method for making six figures.
A 70-year-old Phoenix real-estate agent explains why she converted her 4 Airbnbs into long-term, furnished rentals. 'It's the most overheated market I've ever seen.'
Peggy Gascon said investors flooded Phoenix and short-term returns dried up. So now, year-long tenants live in her four former Airbnbs.
Forget Nashville and Phoenix. These 10 watering holes are easy to get to, have fewer than 500 listings, and are growing destinations for travelers.
California and Florida dominate the list, which includes cities that have the best combination of bookings, rates, and return travelers, according to AirDNA.
I stayed in a VRBO with a shocking list of checkout chores. I'm an Airbnb host myself, and I worry it gives our industry a bad name.
Guests are instructed to wash, dry, and put away sheets and towels before leaving. One guest with hosting experience said it's too much to ask.
A 28-year-old paid just $10,000 for a rundown house that she and her dad are renovating into a hot-pink Airbnb
The price on Zillow was so low that Katie Hanes thought it was a typo. Now she's turning the cottage into a paradise with walls of roses and bright appliances.
Airbnb predicts travelers will book fewer rooms this summer. So, CEO Brian Chesky said, hosts may have to cut prices to compete with rival stays.
See the pitch deck a startup trying to rival Airbnb used to raise $14 million to turn entire buildings in Miami and Nashville into short-term-rental apartments for bachelor parties and big groups
Roami, which said it's profitable, operates more than 600 units in Austin, New Orleans, and more with robot bartenders and hotel-style room service.
Strangers kept arriving at an LA man's home, thinking it was their Airbnb. The company left him hanging for more than a year.
3-4 times a week, strangers came to Jeff Palkevich's door looking for a nonexistent Airbnb. They were likely victims of a scam to get around short-term rental laws.
This Airbnb owner put 2 tiny houses in his yard to make extra cash, and now they're his primary income — see inside
Ansel Troy is an Airbnb owner in Oakland, California. He rents out two $35,000 tiny homes in his yard, and they're now his primary income.


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For Valentine's Day, lingerie sales double on Snapdeal – bikini jewellery a top seller
- Celebrating the day of love brought in business for India’s e-commerce sites.
- Interestingly, the sale of
lingerieon Snapdealhas doubled over last year.
- The e-commerce platform also saw Tier 2 cities like Chandigarh, Ranchi, Lucknow, Bhopal, Indore, Patna and Visakhapatnam order three times more gifts than metro cities.
More often than not, most of us fall for it too everytime. And, we are talking gifts here, falling in love would be a discussion for another day...
This time around, gifts are getting kinkier. India’s third largest e-commerce site Snapdeal saw a rise in orders as people set out to celebrate the day. Interestingly, the sale of lingerie on Snapdeal doubled over the last year. “Bikini jewellery was a new entrant to top sellers on Snapdeal,” said the company.
The e-commerce platform also saw Tier 2 cities like Chandigarh, Ranchi, Lucknow, Bhopal, Indore, Patna and Visakhapatnam order thrice the gifts than metros. “Amongst the metros, users in Kolkata placed the most orders,” said the company.
The most popular gifts were – watches, handbags, backpacks, couple T-Shirts, personalised cushions, bracelets, and makeup essentials.
Raking in similar benefits is OYO – which saw a 90% jump in bookings for Valentine’s Day. “As per our internal data insights, couples account for the maximum share of bookings on 14th February followed by families/ groups of friends celebrating this long weekend, followed by solo bookings,” Gaurav Ajmera, COO, OYO Hotels & Homes - India & South Asia told Business Insider.
OYO makes room for love with a 90% jump in bookings for Valentine’s Day
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Why community-led enterprises should be at the heart of the rural recovery
As we emerge from lockdown, our villages and market towns are relying on local services being able to recover and thrive. James Alcock of the Plunkett Foundation outlines how community-owned and led initiatives can help rural economy, offer more sustainable shopping choices, and provide much-needed work experience for local young people.
Covid has already led to the closure of many commercial and private services in rural communities. We’ve seen a 50% increase in the number of permanent pub closures over the year. But at Plunkett we’ve also seen a 100% increase in enquiries from communities wanting to save or set up a local pub, and a 50% increase in allocations of business support for such groups. Communities have found themselves again and reconnected in lockdown.
Another trigger for change is that many traditional volunteers in a village setting, who are often retirees, have had to reduce their activities because they are high risk and have needed to stay at home. That has led to a new generation of people getting involved in village life, and a real revival of community spirit across all ages over the past 12 months.
These two developments – the accelerating closure of rural services, and revival in community spirit – present us with a unique opportunity to see more community-owned services, activities and businesses becoming part of the post-Covid recovery.
Local food and supply chains
The first potential opportunity is the ‘relocalisation’ of supply chains. Too often in the countryside, local shops have closed altogether or have turned to expensive or specialist ‘artisan’ products rather than things the community really want and need. The pandemic has exposed the inadequacies of that system. Closures of traditional village shops are accelerating, but the new breed of community-owned shops, that are providing services the community really want and need, are faring better. And selling local food gives these shops a real point of difference.
After supermarket shelves were raided by panic buyers last year, supermarkets in turn used their purchasing power to raid the wholesalers who would traditionally supply smaller local retailers – so rural shops were struggling to access food from national suppliers. That made them realise that to survive and be more resilient in future, they need to go back to their roots, reconnect with local suppliers, and give their community fresh, distinctive local food.
Reviving local economies
There’s also a real opportunity for business-to-business sales within communities to help revive local economies – not just in local food, but also in other industries that put local jobs and people first. We could see a revival of shops, post offices, cafes, pubs – not just in rural villages, but in our often overlooked market towns.
We already have some brilliant farmers’ markets in our market towns, and it would be good to see these having a more permanent presence, such as local food being sold through a farmer-owned co-op. Or to see communities coming together to purchase or lease empty properties and turning them into bakeries, butchers, delis – anything that’s taking goods and services to market and serving the local community’s real needs. This would help revitalise those spaces and bring back the sense of community.
Creating local jobs
There will undoubtedly be many economic and social challenges, post-Covid, including unemployment and lack of training for young people. Community-owned businesses provide an opportunity to harness new blood and new ideas from all sections of the community. For example, community shops that extend opening hours may attract people of all ages to volunteer and gain valuable experience.
Rather than operating solely with volunteers, many community businesses combine paid employment alongside volunteering. They can often provide meaningful work and training opportunities to people on low incomes, those who can only work limited hours due to childcare commitments or health issues, and to young adults just starting out on their careers.
Going green – and championing innovation
Community businesses are often at the forefront of implementing environmental initiatives – whether that’s a community café avoiding throwaway plastic packaging, or a village shop selling local produce with low food miles. There’s a real opportunity for community businesses to sell their fantastic green credentials to the increasing numbers of us who are looking to buy more responsibly.
There are also opportunities for community businesses to innovate technologically, and in particular, digitally. During lockdown, we saw a number of community businesses setting up online sales systems, which was a great way to continue operating without people having to come into their physical spaces.
In the longer term, this digital presence enables these businesses to broaden their customer base and connect with members of the community who won’t necessarily be around to pop into a village store between nine and five. This will allow businesses in areas with low footfall to increase sales and regularity of orders, become more viable, and compete with bigger businesses based elsewhere.
We’ve helped over 700 community businesses in the UK in the last 25 years, but we don’t see any reason why that shouldn’t turn into 7,000, and not only help to revive the rural economy post-pandemic, but to secure a lasting future too.
James Alcock is the chief executive of the Plunkett Foundation, a national charity that supports rural communities to tackle the issues they face through community business.
A version of this article was originally published in CPRE’s award-winning magazine, Countryside Voices. You’ll have Countryside Voices sent to your door three times a year, as well as access to other benefits including discounts on attraction visits and countryside kit from major high street stores when you join as a CPRE member. Join us now.


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Argentina ask for Maradona Hand of God shirt before it’s sold for £5m Former England international Steve Hodge is set to sell the jersey for a record £5m
Maradona's 'Hand of God' shirt sells for record €8.4m at auction
The Argentine footballer wore the famous shirt during the 1986 FIFA World Cup quarter-final against England.
Diego Maradona ‘hand of God’ shirt sold for record £7.1m at auction
Blue Argentina No 10 jersey kept by England player Steve Hodge beats mark set by 1892 Olympic manifesto
Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ shirt sells for over £7 million at auction
The jersey was worn by the Argentina great during the 1986 World Cup quarter-final.
Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ shirt sells for record £7m at auction
Worn at the 1986 World Cup, it becomes the most expensive match-worn sports jersey in history
Diego Maradona's iconic 'Hand of God' shirt sells for record-breaking $9.3 million at online auction
The shirt Diego Maradona wore against England at the 1986 World Cup -- synonymous with his brilliance at that tournament in Mexico -- has sold for almost $9.3 million in an online auction, smashing the record for an item of sports memorabilia.
Maradona's 'Hand of God' shirt sold for 7.1 mln pounds
The shirt worn by Diego Maradona when he scored two of the most famous goals in soccer history was sold for 7.14 million pounds ($8.93 million) on Wednesday, marking a new auction record for an item of sports memorabilia.
Maradona’s Hand of God shirt sells for £7.1m
The shirt worn by Diego Maradona when he scored his infamous “Hand of God” goal against England at the 1986 World Cup has sold for a record £7.1 million at auction.The Argentina jersey, which went for the highest price ever paid for a shirt during a


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Jack Wills, the British fashion and lifestyle brand, today announces the appointment of Claire Wain as its chief financial officer.
Wain has 18 years’ experience leading international retail and FMCG businesses, and joins from Jigsaw, where she was CFO and board member covering finance, supply chain, secretariat and legal. During her time at Jigsaw, Wain led the successful refinancing and recapitalisation of the business under its new owner.
Prior to this, Wain held roles at Mothercare, where she was Director of Group Finance, and the John Lewis Partnership, where she held various roles in planning, buying and merchandising finance. She also has a breadth of experience across a spectrum of financial areas and brings strong leadership skills and a proven track record of forming, developing and leading large finance teams.
Claire will report directly to Suzanne Harlow, CEO of Jack Wills, and will join the business in April.
Suzanne Harlow, CEO of Jack Wills, said: “I am delighted that Claire will be joining us as CFO. She has an impressive background within the retail sector and I am looking forward to working with her as we continue to restore the business to profitable growth. This appointment is further evidence of Jack Wills strengthening its team to ensure we have the very best people taking us forward.”
Wain added: “I’m delighted to be joining Jack Wills at such an exciting time for the business, and look forward to working with Suzanne, Blue Gem and the newly formed management team in maximising the potential of such an iconic British heritage brand as it continues to push forward on its turnaround journey and return to profitability”


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The fourth and final round of testing for the upcoming Sanhok map will begin later on this evening, and PUBG Corp has announced a string of changes for the final beta.
First of all, the general improvements made to the live game in this week’s Update #14 have now also been applied to the test server. Check out that link for the full lowdown on the many quality of life/grenade improvements that have been made.
To make the new map look even prettier/deadlier, a number of environmental changes have also been made to Sanhok. Towns now have many more environmental elements to lurk within, the rugged rocky landscape looks a lot, well, rockier, and the various caves and ruins have been tarted up a little too.
Besides that, there’s a handful of bug fixes and quality of life improvements that you can learn more about by reading the official announcement on the Steam store.
Sanhok will be added to the live game towards the end of June, and our Sanhok guide contains everything you need to know about the new small-scale map. If you want to try it out for yourselves ahead of launch, the test period kicks off at 7:00pm PDT tonight, which is 3:00am tomorrow in the UK and 4:00am in Europe.


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Demand from enterprise customers more than doubles
Samsung Electronics announced on Nov. 29 that the number of Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip smartphones sold for enterprise use had more than doubled over the past year.
From January to October 2022, Samsung said that the number of foldable smartphones Samsung contracted to enterprise customers had jumped 105 percent compared to the same period in 2021.1
With foldable smartphone shipments expected to reach 16 million units worldwide, the form factor is rapidly becoming mainstream, and shipments are expected to grow to 26 million units in 2023, according to Samsung.
The ease of multitasking on a large screen, and the powerful app optimizations for foldable devices, are helping drive adoption among enterprise users, Samsung noted.
As more and more companies shift toward work-from-anywhere policies, they are looking to technology for new ways to maximize productivity.
Foldables have particularly attracted the financial services industry, where 74 percent of a sample group of financial advisors say staying connected via mobile apps is important or critical.
“Samsung Galaxy foldable smartphones were created to open up opportunities for new ways to work and explore creativity,” Samsung Executive Vice President KC Choi said in a statement.
“This rapid growth in investment demonstrates our enterprise customers’ need for meaningful innovations to enhance workforce productivity.”
Samsung said that these experiences had been popular across many sectors of businesses and industries. In the current market, competition is fierce, especially in the financial services sector.
Professionals need the best tools to help them maintain consistency and routine, even while working remotely.
Samsung pointed out that these prompted them to find better technologies like foldable phones supporting complex workflows.
Samsung is the world’s largest manufacturer of smartphones, memory chips, and flat-panel displays.


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Audi considers A6 Allroad return to US market
The company hasn't officially made a final decision, however.
Audi is reportedly considering bringing the A6 Allroad back to the US market after a 15-year hiatus.
Rumors have hinted at the possibility of a US-bound A6 Allroad for many years, however the speculation has not yet come to fruition.
Speaking to Car and Driver, a spokesperson has now confirmed that Audi is seriously considering launching its latest-generation ruggedized A6 in US showrooms, though a final decision has yet to be made.
An American model would presumably drop the EU-spec 3.0-liter diesel in favor of a turbocharged gasoline V6 that powers the current A6. The engine delivers 335 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque.
If the A6 Allroad does come to the US, it will likely carry a starting price above $60,000.


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FIFA 23 makes history with Ultimate Edition cover, the first global cover featuring women's soccer
EA Sports unveils the cover of FIFA 23 Ultimate Edition, featuring Kylian Mbappé (PSG) and Sam Kerr (Chelsea). EA's franchise makes history.
The preseason of virtual soccer has already begun. EA Sports has shared the official cover of FIFA 23 Ultimate Edition, which marks a milestone for inclusion in the sport. It will be the first release to feature a global cover that includes the presence of women's soccer. The chosen players are Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) and Sam Kerr (Chelsea).
On the cover we can see both stars sitting on a pedestal. On either side are their names, while Mbappé plays with next season's UEFA Champions League ball, a clear message about the impact of licensing on the video game and the Frenchman's interest in winning the trophy as the leader of Paris Saint-Germain.
There are other small details that do not go unnoticed. On the one hand, we find the Dual Entitlement seal, the Electronic Arts program to offer the version of the past and present generation in a single package. On the other hand, the team alludes to Hypermotion 2 technology, the new version of the animation engine that was used for the first time in FIFA 22. We will know the specific details in the near future.
What can we expect from FIFA 23?
FIFA 23 will mark the end of the partnership between EA Sports and FIFA. The American company will begin to build its solo stage from July 2023, with that EA Sports FC of which we already know some information. Despite being the last installment, the level of ambition will remain high as a farewell to these nearly three decades of success. "It will be the most ambitious game ever created" within the saga, said Cam Weber, executive vice president and general manager of EA Sports.
Source | EA Sports


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It’s the company’s 93rd store in Florida.
Trulieve Cannabis Co. is inching toward a triple-digit footprint in Florida, cutting the ribbon on its 93rd store on Friday afternoon.
The new shop is located at 4967 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee and was formerly operated by Harvest Health & Recreation.
Only patients and their state-approved caregivers will be allowed inside the waiting room and dispensary.
Trulieve has Florida’s largest selection of THC and CBD products in a variety of delivery methods, including edibles, smokable cannabis, concentrates, tinctures, topical creams and vaporizers. It, like other dispensaries, is a vertically integrated “seed-to-sale” company.
Trulieve was the first and largest fully licensed medical cannabis company in Florida. It recently acquired Harvest Health & Recreation and is in the process of rebranding all of the company’s locations, with more openings planned throughout October.
When Trulieve finalized its purchase of Harvest Health & Recreation on Oct. 1, the company became the nation’s largest cannabis company.
In a news release announcing the Kissimmee store, Trulieve said it has reinstated some policies designed to curb the spread of COVID-19.
It is currently offering “Designated Care Time” for immunocompromised patients in which the first half-hour after dispensaries open


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Fortune Magazine - Grady McGregor
Aug 4, 2022
Alan Yeung dismissed the idea that Foxconn would ever renege on its tax commitment. “It’s not only groundless, it is irresponsible to speculate.” “I am still a believer in Wisconn Valley,” he says.
‘We’re stuck with this white elephant’: A Wisconsin town’s big bet on electronics maker Foxconn hasn’t panned out as planned
In 2017, Terry Gou, then CEO of electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn, announced in the White House’s East Room that his firm would spend $10 billion to build a state-of-the-art megafactory in Wisconsin that would make LCD television and computer screens. “We are committed to creating great jobs for American people,” Gou said at the press conference, promising 13,000 new jobs for Wisconsinites.
The announcement spawned the Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park and the aspiration that the cornfields of southeastern Wisconsin could become a global tech hub with the help of Foxconn, best known for producing iPhones for Apple. “We believe this will have a transformational effect on Wisconsin, just as Silicon Valley transformed the San Francisco Bay Area,” Wisconsin’s then-Gov. Scott Walker declared at the press conference, alongside then-President Donald Trump and top Wisconsin lawmakers...


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Smart Phone Shopping Stages [CHART]Rate this post via emarketer.com Interestingly, the research found that 54% of US smartphone owners used their phones to shop before arriving at a store. A smaller number said they had used their phone after getting to a brick-and-mortar location. This indicates that customers are “pre-shopping” on smartphones before deciding whether […]
Mobile Shopping Behavior Of Smart Phone Owners [CHART]Rate this post via emarketer.com Customers are using web-enabled devices for a variety of purposes, but the highest percentage of respondents, 47%, said they relied on smartphones to find out more information about a product. Thirty-six percent of those polled had used their phones to read product reviews […]
Smart Phone Shopping Behavior [CHART]Rate this post via emarketer.com Two-thirds of US consumers with smartphones have used the devices to aid shopping, according to a report by research firm Leo J. Shapiro and Associates. The February 2012 survey also found that 38% of respondents researched products on their smartphones while shopping at a physical store. […]
Smart Phone Proximity [CHART]Rate this post via marketingcharts.com The vast majority of smartphone appear tethered to their devices, finds a pair of separate studies released in April 2012. According to Arbitron and Edison Research survey results [download page], a whopping 91% of smartphone owners say their device is within arm’s length either always (60%) or […]
WiFi Users By Carrier [CHART]Rate this post via marketingcharts.com iPhone users are far more likely than Android or Blackberry device users to use Wi-Fi, finds Jumptap in an April 2012 report. Looking at data from its network of more than 107 million unique visitors in March, Jumptap found that iPhone users were 66% more likely […]
Mutlitainment: Frequency Of Smart Phone & Television Use In Europe & America [CHART]Rate this post via paidcontent.org In America, some 86 percent of smartphone owners say they use their their phones as a second screen at least some of the time. Among U.S. tablet owners, 26 percent describe their second-screen behavior as fairly avid, checking […]
Multitainment: Frequency Of Tablets & TV Use In Europe & America [CHART]Rate this post via paidcontent.org There’s been avid interest among private equity in TV “check-in” start-ups like GetGlue and Shazam — and this may be one reason why: New research from Nielsen found that 88 percent of U.S. tablet owners use their devices while […]
Millennials Switch Media 27 Times An Hour [STUDY]Rate this post via c-e.com A recent study found that consumers in their 20s (“digital natives”) switch media venues about 27 times per nonworking hour—the equivalent of more than 13 times during a standard half-hour TV show. The study of consumer media habits was commissioned by Time Warner’s’s […]
How data hungry is your phone?
Tablet Use Frequency By Activity [CHART]Rate this post via emarketer.com Tablets are also likely contributors to online movie growth. According to comScore, almost half of US tablet owners viewed full-length movies or on-demand video or TV episodes on the tablet on at least a monthly basis. Read the rest at eMarketer.


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The new look, which is already on some store shelves, came at the behest of the company’s new CEO Scott Lerner who told FoodNavigator-USA that when he joined the company last November it was immediately “apparent to me that we have an amazing trademark – something that is super telegraphic with consumers when you say the words ‘Farmhouse Culture,’ but it didn’t have a lot of meaning from a visual context.”
As a result, he said the company’s “never pasteurized, always organic” krauts, Gut Shot probiotics drinks and Kraut Krisp kraut-based snacks were getting lost on shelf.
“From a shoppability perspective, the current brand and packaging wasn’t working hard enough to standout due to some color schemes and some of the imagery,” which Lerner said over-emphasized function and appealed more to older consumers who are less likely to think of food as medicine than Millennials and younger generations.
Appealing to a younger shopper
After taking a “deep dive” into the brand’s positioning and identifying who its primary shopper was and its main points of difference, Farmhouse Culture decided to appeal more towards Millennials consumers with a more youthful look that played with vibrant colors, airy white space and a clean design, Lerner said.
He explained that the company wants to appeal to younger shoppers in large part because they are more likely than older consumers to look for health and wellness benefits from food, and therefore appreciate the potential health benefits of the wild probiotic strains uses to ferment Farmhouse Culture’s products.
“One of the things we found in our research is that older people are more inclined to get their probiotics from a pill whereas younger consumers are looking for probiotics through their food. So, it made a lot of sense that we were encompassing that younger consumer base … with a fresher, unique approach,” Lerner said.
For example, he noted the block print, line drawings, jewel-tones and call outs on the new packaging is more modern, than the previous packaging, which Lerner said was “geared towards” older consumers, “whether [the brand] knew it or not.”
He explained the old imagery of wood paneling and pictures of farms were “natural clichés” that many older consumers had used for decades to identify organic or natural products on looks alone.
Playing up organic
In addition to the new look, the company adopted a new tagline – “Always Organic” – to help consumers better understand the brand’s value proposition and its premium price point compared to the competition.
“Our products have always been organic and my feeling was we were not necessarily getting credit for that in the marketplace. So, a lot of consumers thought we were just a higher priced item and didn’t really understand that we were organic or the benefits of us being organic,” Lerner said.
He explained that being organic is important to Farmhouse Culture because its products are “not cooked, they are not pasteurized … they are all taken from the ground and fermented and refrigerated and given to the consumer. So, the idea that there are no pesticides, it is clean, it is just something we want to hold true to and something our founder started with.”
He added that being “Always Organic,” as the new tagline declares on the front of pack, also is a strong point of differentiation in the competitive landscape.
The packaging reinforces the brand’s commitment to being organic with the addition of a large window on the front of the pack, Lerner said.
“The previous packaging, believe it or not, had a small window on the back of the pack, which didn’t make a lot of sense. You know, you want to showcase the freshness of the product,” Lerner said, adding, “it also goes back to always being organic and being transparent with consumers. We have simple ingredient lists, you won’t find things you can’t pronounce. Obviously, we are all natural and organic, and the window kind of feeds into that as well.”
Flavor and function
The rebrand also addresses consumers’ perceptions that Farmhouse Culture’s products were “some kind of mystical gut health products,” when in reality they also are “delicious” foods that can be used in a wide variety of ways to give meals a flavorful punch, Lerner said.
“We needed to move beyond just trying to force down a functional message to consumers, and really try to help them understand what to do with these products, and specifically with the kraut,” Lerner said. “A lot of people thought or think it is a mystical health food, but in reality it is not that different from a pickle. And the way you can use it is very similar to how you would use a pickle, but the great thing is it does have a tremendous health benefit in terms of being naturally probiotic.”
With that in mind the new packaging plays up the different flavors, which Lerner says is the primary reason that most shoppers buy products.
“There are niche groups who are going to eat all the forward-thinking foods, but for us to grow, we need to access a larger consumer base and they are tasting flavor and quality first, and health benefits second,” he explained.
Overall, he said, he sees a lot of potential with the new look, which he says was a big project but hopefully worth it in the end.


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Following last year's upheaval in the buy-to-let (BTL) market, many landlords started considering setting up limited companies to avoid the negative impact of certain tax changes. Given the increased demand for BTL deals that are available to limited companies, it's not surprising that providers are now offering more fixed products for them than ever before.
This is according to our own figures, analysed by finance expert Charlotte Nelson, who found that "the number of fixed rates available to limited companies has almost tripled in the space of just two years." As a result, there are now 235 such mortgages available – the highest number on our records.
|Apr 13||Apr 16||Apr 17||Apr 18|
|Number of fixed limited company mortgages||17||80||212||235|
"The reality of last year's tax changes hit landlords hard, as they were unable to claim tax relief," said Charlotte. "With things working slightly differently for limited companies, many landlords started to shift their focus from individual ownership to this type of private company."
Naturally, providers have responded to this increased demand by offering more mortgages to them. Yet, despite there now being more of these products than ever, it's still less than a quarter of the BTL market that offers this option.
That's why borrowers considering this type of mortgage should be wary, as they may find that the rates they are offered are higher than for the rest of the market. Charlotte points out that "the average two-year fixed BTL mortgage rate, for those applying as a limited company, stands at 4.29% today, whereas the average two-year fixed rate for the rest of the market is significantly less at 3.01%."
Combined with all the hassle and paperwork that's involved with becoming a limited company, not to mention the potential costs, Charlotte warns "any borrowers considering it" that they "should consult a financial adviser and do the sums before committing to this option."
To get an idea of what kind of rates you can currently get, have a look at the BTL charts
If you're not sure what the right option for you is, why not speak to an adviser?
Want to know more about how to set up a limited company? We've run through the basics here
Information is correct as of the date of publication (shown at the top of this article). Any products featured may be withdrawn by their provider or changed at any time.


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PC market continues to decline but beats expectations
Reports from leading analysts for the third quarter of 2013 suggest that the PC market is still in decline. However, sales haven't declined as quickly as predicted.
According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker PC shipments totalled 81.6 million units in the third quarter. This represents a 7.6 percent decline over the same period last year, better than the 9.5 percent that was being predicted. IDC says the market was buoyed by business purchases plus the channel intake of Windows 8.1 systems in September.
Rival analysts Gartner record slightly lower shipments of 80.3 million units, an 8.6 percent decline over last year. This marks the sixth consecutive quarter of decline. Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner says, "The third quarter is often referred to as the 'back-to-school' quarter for PC sales, and sales this quarter dropped to their lowest volume since 2008. Consumers' shift from PCs to tablets for daily content consumption continued to decrease the installed base of PCs both in mature as well as in emerging markets. A greater availability of inexpensive Android tablets attracted first-time consumers in emerging markets, and as supplementary devices in mature markets".
Broken down by market the US continues to show recovery with sales down only 0.2 percent according to IDC or 3.5 percent up on Gartner's study. Europe the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) continue to decline. Asia Pacific shows an 11.2 percent drop in shipments on Gartner's study. IDC separates out Japan and shows an Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) decline of 8.8 percent whilst most of the top five vendors in Japan saw growth.
Looking at vendors, Lenovo and HP continue to battle for supremacy, each with around 17 percent of the market worldwide. Dell rounds off the top three with 11.7 percent. Only these three recorded positive shipment growth in 2013.
"The United States outperformed many other regions as growth stabilized just under 0 percent. Continuing upgrades from Windows XP boosted shipments, particularly in the commercial desktop segment, while retail acceptance of new and emerging product categories, such as Chromebooks and Ultraslims, helped the portables segment," says Rajani Singh, Senior Research Analyst, Personal Computers at IDC.
These figures are preliminary and may change a little in the final analysis but they do seem to indicate that PC market hasn't reached the bottom just yet.


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Yesterday, 7:32 PM
- Day two of Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) AWS re:Invent conference has brought the beta launch of AWS IoT, a service for processing and analyzing data from numerous Web-connected embedded devices (cars, home appliances, industrial equipment, medical devices, etc.).
- AWS exec Jeff Barr: "Although critics sometimes dismiss [IoT] as nothing more than 'put a chip in it,' I believe that the concept builds upon some long-term technology trends ... To me, the most relevant trends are the decreasing cost of mass-produced compute power, the widespread availability of IP connectivity, and the ease with which large amounts of information can be distilled into intelligence using any number of big data tools and techniques."
- Microsoft, IBM, and Salesforce are among the companies to have already announced cloud-based IoT analytics/data-processing services. AWS IoT follows Amazon's March purchase of IoT service provider 2lemetry.
- Also launching today: AWS Mobile Hub, a solution promised to simplify "the process of building, testing, and monitoring mobile applications that make use of one or more AWS services." A console UI gives app developers the ability to pick "higher-level features" combining one or more services, SDKs, and pieces of code. Barr: "What once took a day to properly choose and configure can now be done in 10 minutes or so." A slew of AWS mobile app development services have launched over the last 3 years.
- Meanwhile, Amazon has received good reviews for yesterday's AWS announcements. Many observers note the new offerings, such as the Snowball storage/data-transfer appliance and database-migration services (not to mention a new Accenture business unit focused on AWS migrations), aim to make it as easy as possible for enterprises to ditch traditional IT infrastructures in favor of AWS' public cloud.
- The NYT's Quentin Hardy: "Previously, old-guard enterprise companies dismissed A.W.S. and cloud computing, then grudgingly ceded them a place for start-ups and new applications. But with about three-quarters of information technology spending going to maintaining legacy systems, they could afford to. Wednesday, Amazon went after the rest of their business."
Yesterday, 11:57 AM
- ETSY has sold off following the launch of the Handmade at Amazon craft goods marketplace (anticipated for several months). Volume has been moderate - 430K shares vs. a 3-month daily average of 1.12M.
- "Etsy has a decade of experience understanding the needs of artists and sellers and supporting them in ways that no other marketplace can," the company states in an official response to the Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) launch. "Our platform attracts 21+ million thoughtful consumers seeking to discover unique goods, and build relationships with the people who make and sell them."
- For now, Etsy's selection dwarfs Amazon's - the company had 29M items listed on its site at the end of 2014, whereas Amazon's marketplace (has set strict listing rules) currently has 80K+. Amazon is hoping to gain ground by promoting its marketplace to its 285M+ active customers, by offering craft goods makers access to its fulfillment services (including Prime, for those able to ship quickly), and by courting sellers who have struggled to get noticed on Etsy. “I want to get more than 150 page views," says one Etsy seller giving Amazon a try.
- Notably, Amazon is taking a 12% cut on marketplace sales. Etsy charges only 3.5% plus a $0.20/item listing fee. Not all Amazon e-commerce platforms attempting to unseat entrenched incumbents have been major successes, as Groupon can vouch.
Yesterday, 10:30 AM
- ChannelAdvisor (ECOM -5.7%) reports clients selling on eBay (EBAY -6.3%) saw their same-store sales rise 1.1% Y/Y in September. That's down from 3.4% in August, well below U.S. e-commerce growth of ~15% (per comScore), and the slowest rate of growth over the last 12 months.
- Only a 13.3% increase in Motors same-store sales (down from 20% in August) kept eBay's growth positive. Auctions were down 31%, and fixed-price sales 0.7%.
- Amazon (AMZN -1.9%) fared better, with same-store sales rising 19.2%. However, that's down from August's 24.7%, and also a 12-month low. 35.9% of Amazon-related GMV relied on Amazon's fulfillment services (FBA), up from 29.9% a year ago, with sellers using FBA seeing 30.1% same-store growth.
- Google Shopping/Product Listing Ads (indirectly competes with Amazon) were strong, registering 46.1% same-store growth with the help of higher conversion rates. Some of their growth came at the expense of search ads (dominated by Google), which saw a 9.5% same-store decline.
Yesterday, 4:13 AM
- Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has launched a marketplace for handcrafted goods, a move that takes direct aim at market leader ETSY.
- "We don't allow any mass manufacturing, we don't allow any factory-made products. All of these products have to be handmade and hand-manufactured," Amazon Marketplace vice-president Peter Faricy told Reuters.
- The new site, called Handmade at Amazon, went live at 3 a.m. ET with a lineup of over 80K items from 5K sellers in 60 countries.
- Take a look at the new website here
- Previously: Amazon plans to launch Etsy rival (May. 22 2015)
Wed, Oct. 7, 2:49 PM
- Accenture (ACN +0.7%) is partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS), by far the biggest player in the public cloud infrastructure (IaaS) services market, to create the AWS Business Group, an Accenture unit that will offer consulting and IT services to enterprises looking to migrate and/or run workloads on AWS.
- Accenture and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) promise to "invest significant resources over multiple years in the development of new services and technology solutions including application migration and development, cloud-based enterprise applications, and analytics and Big Data solutions," and to "train an additional 1,000 Accenture professionals and certify 500 Accenture professionals on the AWS Cloud in the first year."
- Initially, the main focus areas will be "transformation services" for migrating existing apps and developing new apps on AWS, and enabling AWS-powered big data/analytics services. IoT and security-related services will be explored, among others.
- The announcement comes during Amazon's annual AWS re:Invent conference, and a day after Accenture announced a refresh for its cloud services platform. New features include easier virtual machine migration, better data resource control and bill management, and integration with top cloud IT service management (ITSM) software vendor ServiceNow's products.
Wed, Oct. 7, 1:38 PM
- As expected, AWS chief Andy Jassy's keynote at the annual AWS re:Invent conference (webcast) hasn't been short on product announcements. Perhaps the biggest is QuickSight, a cloud-based business intelligence/analytics service that integrates with AWS cloud storage and database services, and which Amazon (AMZN -0.2%) claims will allow customers to start visualizing data within 60 seconds.
- The WSJ recently reported an analytics solution was on tap. Much like BI/analytics tools from Tableau (NYSE:DATA), QLIK, Microsoft, and Salesforce (among others), Amazon is looking to appeal to non-technical corporate workers, many of whom still use Excel spreadsheets for data analysis and reporting.
- As usual, Amazon is pricing aggressively: It claims QuickSight will cost 1/10 as much as rival products (rivals might beg to differ). Analysts defending the market's existing players have argued Amazon's solution will appeal more to SMBs than enterprises, given enterprises have preferred on-premise BI solutions.
- Also launching: Snowball, a 50TB storage appliance for clients that need to transfer huge amounts of data to AWS. A built-in Kindle acts as an automatic shipping label.
- Other product announcements: 1) A service for migrating databases to AWS, a schema conversion tool for making databases AWS-friendly, and support for the open-source MariaDB database. 2) Kinesis Firehose, a data-transfer solution for the Kinesis real-time data streaming service (launched in 2013). 3) Inspector, a tool for detecting potential security and compliance issues with AWS-run apps.
- Amazon's AWS revenue totaled $1.82B in Q2 (+81% Y/Y), and op. income $391M. For the 12 months ending in June, revenue totaled $6B.
- Last year's AWS re:Invent announcements
- Update: Also announced: IT consulting/outsourcing giant Accenture is forming a new business group to help companies migrate workloads to AWS. Accenture and AWS plan to invest significant resources over multiple years in the development of new services and technology solutions including application migration and development, cloud-based enterprise applications, and analytics and Big Data solutions. The companies are committed to train an additional 1,000 Accenture professionals and certify 500 Accenture professionals on the AWS Cloud in the first year, and support go-to-market activities."
- Update 2: One thing not announced today: AWS price cuts. Jassy insists Amazon simply isn't choosing to focus on price cuts at re:Invent. "Prices will continue to go down. Prices went down several times already this year."
Tue, Oct. 6, 4:04 PM
- Following multiple rumors to the effect, Rackspace (NYSE:RAX) has announced a deal with rival Amazon Web Services (NASDAQ:AMZN) at the AWS re:Invent conference under which Rackspace will "offer tools, expertise, application management, and operational support to customers on the AWS Cloud."
- In addition to a core support service known as Fanatical Support for AWS, Rackspace is launching (in beta) AWS-related services for managed security, compliance support, and the management of Adobe's Experience Manager content management solution. The company has also become an authorized AWS reseller and consulting partner.
- With revenue of $6B for the 12 months ending June 30, AWS remains the 800-lb. gorilla of the public cloud infrastructure (IaaS) market. Rackspace closed down 0.5% today, after rallying strongly yesterday.
Tue, Oct. 6, 3:11 PM
- "Multiple content owners have told me that Amazon (AMZN -1.6%) has been quietly asking them about licensing content for a live streaming service," streaming industry analyst Dan Rayburn reports. He cautions those he has spoken to haven't disclosed how far Amazon has progressed in creating such a service, and that the company may simply be exploring its economics.
- Rayburn notes Amazon's recent purchase of video encoding/processing software and service provider Elemental Technologies (reportedly for ~$500M) would be helpful if it goes ahead with a live streaming launch. This year has seen Dish and Sony respectively launch their Sling TV and PlayStation Vue Web TV services; there have also been several reports Apple is prepping an offering.
- Separately, in a report that helps back up Eric Schmidt's assertion that Amazon (rather than Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.) is Google's (GOOG -0.2%) biggest search rival, e-commerce software firm BloomReach states a survey of 2,000 U.S. shoppers found 44% go directly to Amazon's site/apps when looking looking to buy/research a product online. 34% start with Google or another search engine, and 21% go to another retailer's site.
- Direct visits to Amazon affect Google's search ad revenue, which depends heavily on ad-buying from online retailers (including Amazon). Google has been trying to counter Amazon by integrating its successful Product Listing Ads with search results, and (through a feature called Purchases on Google) by allowing those who click on the ads to complete their orders on Google's site, using payment data already connected to their Google account.
- Amazon's AWS re:Invent conference kicks off today. New product announcements, including possibly an analytics service, are expected during a Wednesday keynote (starts at 11:30AM ET) from AWS chief Andy Jassy.
- Update (10/7): Bloomberg also reports Amazon is working on an online TV service. It adds the company has reached out to network owners such as CBS and NBCUniversal to gauge their interest.
Mon, Oct. 5, 5:08 PM
- The WSJ reports Amazon Web Services (NASDAQ:AMZN) plans to use this week's AWS re:Invent conference (runs from Tuesday-Friday) to unveil a cloud-based business intelligence/analytics solution (codenamed Space Needle) aimed at non-technical workers, thereby challenging existing products (offered both on-premise and via the cloud) from Tableau (DATA -1.4%) and Qlik (QLIK +2.2%), as well as IT giants such as IBM, SAP, and Microsoft.
- Details about the service are limited; the WSJ notes it will "include a faster method for transferring or copying data to AWS," and that Amazon will "supply a storage device that customers could send back filled with data" in situations where uploading the data via the Internet would take too long.
- "This will be the new 800-pound gorilla in the [business intelligence] market," predicts a Forrester analyst talking with the WSJ. He argues (as Tableau often has) the enterprise analytics market remains in its early stages, and estimates spreadsheets are still used for half of all business reporting. AWS claims over a million clients, Netflix, Dropbox, Nike, Johnson & Johnson, and Bristol-Myers.
- William Blair's Bhavan Suri and FBR's Daniel Ives downplay the report, arguing most enterprises prefer on-premise BI solutions and that Amazon's reach (for now at least) will be limited to the low-end. Suri: "[W]e believe it makes the most sense for BI solutions to be deployed where the majority of an organization’s data resides. Thus, although we believe the company will be able to leverage its brand recognition to drive healthy initial traction at the SMB level and within businesses that currently house most of their data on AWS, we do not view it as a significant near-term threat."
- Ives: "We believe this market is only roughly 10% penetrated to date ... we view [Amazon's] ability to be successful in the big data market as very limited to the lower end of the market and not posing a major competitive threat to pure-play vendors in the near term ... The scalability and scope of current leading offerings from vendors such as Tableau have set a high bar in the market, with many enterprises already looking to pure-play analytics vendors for this enterprise-wide market, greenfield opportunity."
- Amazon has already launched a service for warehousing and analyzing structured data (Redshift), and a service for processing real-time data streams (Kinesis). Meanwhile, ahead of AWS re:Invent, Tableau has unveiled a connector that allows its platform to interact with AWS databases, as well as the availability of its core Tableau Server product on the AWS Marketplace.
Fri, Oct. 2, 9:26 AM
- Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) will be the number two player in non-food consumables by 2018, according to a new report from Cowen & Company.
- The company is leveraging its powerful Prime platform to gain market share in the highly-competitive field by highlighting to consumers its advantages on pricing and delivery.
- Amazon's gains could come at the expense of store traffic for Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Target (NYSE:TGT), and Walgreens (NASDAQ:WBA), notes Cowen.
- The Amazon Effect could also impact pricing in the personal care, household, pet, and baby products sectors - a wide swath of the consumer goods industry that impacts companies such as Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG), Avon Products (NYSE:AVP), Revlon (NYSE:REV), Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB), Carter's (NYSE:CRI), Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL), Ulta Salon (NASDAQ:ULTA), Unilever (UN, UL), and Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) as they negotiate deals.
- Related ETFs: IYK, UGE, SZK
Thu, Oct. 1, 7:22 PM
- GE, Samsung, and Oster are among 11 new supporters of Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) Dash Replenishment Service (DRS), which allows Web-connected appliances and electronics to automatically reorder supplies when they run low. Existing supporters include Whirlpool, Brita, and Brother.
- Examples of DRS-enabled devices at work include printers automatically reordering ink, water pitchers automatically ordering filters, and washers ordering detergent. Amazon claims hardware makers can support the service by adding as few as 10 lines of code to a device's software.
- DRS complements Amazon's Dash Buttons (mocked by some, praised by others), which let Prime subs reorder a name-brand product simply by pressing a button on a small device that can be hung or stuck someplace within a home. Supported brands include Gillette, Tide, Gatorade, Clorox, and Ziploc. Each button costs $4.99, but comes with a $4.99 credit towards an initial purchase
- Both solutions are arguably part of a broader effort by Amazon to keep consumers (Prime subs especially) habitually ordering from the company, by offering a level of convenience and value-added services smaller online retailers can't provide.
- Separately, in an eyebrow-raising move, Amazon has told marketplace sellers it won't allow Apple TV set-tops and Google's Chromecast HDMI stick to be sold on its site as of Oct. 29, The Fire TV vendor claims the move is due to the fact Apple TV/Chromecast don't "interact well" with Prime Video.
Thu, Oct. 1, 11:00 AM
- Amazon.com (AMZN +0.8%) and CBS (CBS -0.6%) have built on an existing partnership with a new exclusive multi-series licensing deal -- a coup amid hot competition with Netflix and Hulu for content rights.
- The move makes Amazon Prime the video home of upcoming comic thriller series BrainDead, where members will be able to stream episodes four days after a broadcast airing. The two used a similar quick-turnaround approach for Under the Dome three years ago, and Amazon also has rights to Extant, starring Halle Berry.
- The deal also means more CBS and Showtime library titles are available to Amazon Prime members, including I Love Lucy, The Tudors, The Amazing Race and films like Inside Llewyn Davis.
Tue, Sep. 29, 10:48 AM
- "Make $18–25/hr delivering packages for Amazon with your car and smartphone. Be your own boss: deliver when you want, as much as you want," reads the pitch for Amazon's (AMZN +0.2%) Flex part-time delivery driver network. Flex has launched in Seattle, and will be available "soon" in NYC, Chicago, Dallas, and several other cities.
- For now, Flex is limited to Amazon's Prime Now rapid delivery service (orders delivered in 1 or 2 hours), but could expand to other packages in the future. Drivers need to be at least 21 years old, have an Android phone, and pass a background check. They can "choose any available 2, 4, and 8 hour blocks of time to work the same day, or set availability for up to 12 hours per day for the future."
- Assuming it's able to hire enough drivers, Flex gives Amazon a low-cost way to expand its rapid/same-day delivery footprint, and represents a challenge to ride-sharing giant UBER, which has been hungry to expand into delivery/logistics services. Both Uber and Amazon (the latter via Prime Now) have launched food delivery services.
Wed, Sep. 23, 1:06 PM
- Amazon (AMZN -0.1%) will drop the price of a Prime subscription for new customers to $67/year in a one-day special offering launching Friday. The normal price for the service is $99/year.
- The company says the deal is to celebrate its strong performance at the Emmy Awards last weekend, although the development falls in a period of heightened competition between the Seattle e-commerce firm, Wal-Mart, and Target.
- Amazon is estimated by CIRP to have 44M Prime members as of July, up from 41M in May.
Sun, Sep. 20, 12:53 PM
- Publix is the latest large grocery store chain to step into the home delivery game. The private chain is using Shipt to delivery online orders to a large swath of Atlanta. Shipt offers the same type of delivery service as Peapod, Instacart, Amazon Fresh (NASDAQ:AMZN), and FreshDirect.
- Looking to keep market share, Kroger (NYSE:KR) and SuperValu (NYSE:SVU) have pick-up options for online orders and are dabbling with home delivery.
- Target (NYSE:TGT) has tipped that it would like to "test" grocery delivery in the future and already has a curbside pickup option at some stores. Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) is also testing various online grocery programs.
- Though Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFM), Trader Joe's, Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM), and The Fresh Market (NASDAQ:TFM) still hold an advantage with consumers for fresh produce - analysts note the specialty grocery category is getting crowded. Whole Foods is the company with the most advanced home delivery program (1-hour in some markets) in the group.
- Data dive: Online grocery shopping is estimated to be growing at a 25% to 30% rate. Perhaps an even more important statistic is that 87% of online shoppers use more than one store for their grocery needs in a trend that could pressure pricing.
Thu, Sep. 17, 10:06 AM
- Confirming a recent WSJ report, Amazon (AMZN +0.9%) is launching a $50 tablet simply called the Fire. It features a quad-core, 1.3GHz., CPU, 7" 1024x600 display, dual cameras, and 8GB of storage. Those buying five units get one a sixth one free.
- Also launched: 8" and 10.1" Fire HD tablets that respectively go for $150 and $230. Both feature 1280x800 displays - many high-end tablets now have higher resolutions - quad-core, 1.5GHz., CPUs, and 8GB-16Gb of storage. The Fire HD 6 (launched last year) remains priced at $100.
- All three new tablets rely on an updated version of Fire OS called Bellini said to feature "dedicated content pages for books, games, and apps, video, music, audiobooks, and Newsstand," as well as an app store feature called Amazon Underground that provides many freebies. By opting for a custom version of Android, Amazon's tablets have to do without Google Play and various other Google mobile apps/services.
- A week after Apple showed off a new Apple TV set-top supporting the App Store and Siri, a new Fire TV set-top has been unveiled: It costs $100, supports 4K video and the high-efficiency HEVC codec (lowers 1080p streaming bandwidth needs), the Alexa voice assistant, and 75% more processing power. Meanwhile, Amazon is now offering a version of the Fire TV stick that comes with a voice remote; it goes for $10 more than the standard Fire TV.
- Rounding out today's launches are two product bundles: A Fire Kids Edition that goes for $100, and comes with a "kid-proof" case and a year of Amazon's FreeTime kids' content service, and a Fire TV Gaming Edition that sells for $140, and comes with a gaming controller, 32GB microSD card, and two games.
AMZN vs. ETF Alternatives
Amazon.com Inc is an online retailer. The Company sells its products through the website which provides services, such as advertising services and co-branded credit card agreements. It also offerselectronic devices like Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets.
Other News & PR


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The Midlands is gearing up for one of it's biggest celebrations of the year. It's Diwali, and tens of thousands of people are heading into Leicester tonight for what's widely regarded as the largest celebration outside of India.
It's not only an important time for families, it's also vital for the economy. Leicester's Golden Mile has suffered in recent years, and Diwali is the busiest time of year for many shops and businesses.
More top news
The Range Rover had a number of parking tickets.
The 74-year-old was on vacation in Blackpool but is from the Midlands.
Oxygen levels are believed to have suddenly dropped, causing the fish to die.


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A Chula Vista Brewery was selected to be a part of a global expansion program alongside 14 other businesses for additional support, resources, and networking opportunities.
Novo Brazil Brewing company secured a spot in the sixth cohort of MetroConnect, a flagship program with the World Trade Center San Diego for businesses seeking global expansion. Only 15 companies were selected out of a pool with hundreds of applicants for the program.
Novo Brazil was the single brewery on this year’s list.
“Since one of Novo’s most important goals is to increase its international presence, the company decided to apply for the program in pursuit of the incredible benefits and networking capabilities that it will provide,” Novo Brazil’s owner and founder, Tiago Carneiro, said in a statement. “We are thrilled about this opportunity.”
They were selected alongside 14 other small to medium-sized companies.
The company has established its presence in 12 countries last year, including Japan, Guam, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Slovenia, and Croatia.
This coming year, the company plans to continue growing sales, continue its global expansion, and launch in Australia.
MetroConnect has helped the 80 small-and-medium-sized companies collectively add 269 new regional jobs, signed more than 542 new contracts, and set up 22 new overseas facilities since 2015.
The program has aided cohort companies to grow their exports by an average of 63 percent, and revenues by 40 percent.
Notable alums of the program include Blue Sky Network, Aira (acquired by Blue Diego Investment Group), Scientist.com, Modern Times, Dr. Bronner’s, Cypher Genomics (acquired by Human Longevity Inc.), Planck Aerosystems, Bitchin’ Sauce, and dozens more.
Novo Brazil has two locations in Chula Vista (901 Lane Ave. No. 100; 2015 Birch Road, Suite 1017) as well as a taproom in National City (41 East Eighth St.) Learn more at novobrew.com.


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Throughout the ongoing global battle against COVID-19, Kentucky’s health care technology, service and products manufacturing industry has consistently risen to the occasion, helping to curb the pandemic’s spread while spurring high-wage, impactful opportunities for thousands of Kentuckians.
“The innovative health care companies that call the commonwealth home are key partners on Team Kentucky. These companies are supplying nations across the world with the tools needed to beat this global pandemic, all while providing high-paying, rewarding careers for Kentuckians,” said Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. “Whether it’s supplying devices, services, medicines and therapies, producing PPE or providing medical equipment, Kentucky’s health care companies continue to improve global health as we build a better Kentucky.”
One rapidly growing Louisville company, for example, delivers life-preserving ventilators and other much-needed medical equipment around the world. Avante Health Solutions, a health care equipment supplier specializing in affordable new and professionally refurbished products, has undergone multiple expansions since 2015, including the addition of a new medical surgical division headquarters established last year. The company employs nearly 500 people nationally, with its Kentucky office comprising about a fifth of that workforce.
Considering Avante serves over 150 countries, the company’s mission became even more critical amid the pandemic. Two recent examples include the Eastern Caribbean island of St. Lucia, which received 12 ventilators from Avante — including one the company donated — and the Bahamas, which installed hospital beds from Avante specifically for patients suspected of having COVID-19 and displaying mild to moderate symptoms.
Avante is one of more than 200 health care-related technology, service and manufacturing operations in Kentucky, an industry employing 37,000-plus Kentucky residents full time. Those operations include tech startups, six headquarters of top health care companies, pharmaceutical, medical equipment and medical device manufacturers and a number of health care products distributors.
From 2014-2020, health care companies announced 113 new or expansion projects expected to generate about $726 million in investment and more than 7,200 new jobs.
Another Kentucky company, Lexington-based Summit Biosciences, attacks the pandemic from a pharmaceutical angle. Specializing in nasal spray medicines, Summit is expanding its operation at the University of Kentucky Coldstream Research Campus with a more than $19 million investment expected to create up to 78 full-time jobs. The expansion supports clinical and commercial production of several new nasal spray medicines, including a COVID-19 therapy.
In May 2020, Summit received a contract to accelerate development of a nasal spray medicine for preventing and/or mitigating a COVID-19 infection. The proposed product is being developed as an at-home, easy-to-administer preventative or treatment option for patients and is among a very limited number of medicines or vaccines that will rely on intranasal delivery.
Adapting to Challenge
The past year required adaptability to navigate the world’s unprecedented challenges, and Kentucky’s manufacturers rose to the occasion in a major way. More than 100 manufacturing facilities in Kentucky used their expertise to make personal protective equipment (PPE) which skyrocketed in demand because of the pandemic. These companies make barriers, masks, gowns, disinfectant, face shields, intubation boxes, ventilator components and, of course, hand sanitizer.
Many of those companies, like more than two dozen distilleries which pivoted to produce hand sanitizer, were new to the health care industry.
But the need for PPE also drove the creation of new jobs. A notable example is U.S. Medical Glove Co., a startup formed in October. In November, company leaders announced plans to create 192 full-time, high-tech jobs at a Paris, Kentucky, manufacturing facility to produce medical-grade gloves. They expect the company’s automated manufacturing operation to begin in the first half of 2021, with the production of more than 1 billion Liberty Gloves.
Not only does this expansion comprise a $32.5 million investment in Bourbon County, but it also will provide jobs for area veterans.
While the industry currently sits in the spotlight, Kentucky has long supported a diverse health care sector, one that’s well-positioned for future growth. For companies looking to grow, Kentucky boasts an available skilled workforce, a key geographic location for distributing products in the U.S. and globally, and a range of office, manufacturing and Build-Ready sites available on SelectKentucky.com.
Additionally, Louisville has the largest concentration of lifelong wellness and aging care companies in the nation. That attribute is particularly significant considering the U.S. Census Bureau projects the country’s senior population will increase by nearly 70% across the next 40 years, with the 65-and-older demographic expected to reach roughly 95 million by 2060.
Manufacturing and Logistics Stronghold
Kentucky also excels in medical equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals manufacturing, which contribute over $530 million annually to the state’s economy. Kentucky’s manufacturing excellence complements a host of other business-friendly traits, said Jeff Taylor, commissioner of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development’s department for business development.
“Kentucky’s manufacturing prowess, logistics leadership and strong R&D capabilities through its robust university systems are a few of the unique assets that make it an ideal spot for health care companies,” Taylor said. “This industry presents a wealth of economic opportunity, and we are leveraging our commonwealth’s advantages to support its continued growth.”
The state’s unparalleled logistics capabilities, as Taylor mentioned, pose enormous distribution advantages for businesses.
Kentucky’s top-notch transportation infrastructure and its status as the only U.S. state with three major air cargo shipping hubs — operated by UPS, DHL and Amazon — enables businesses in the commonwealth to quickly and efficiently ship products across the country and around the globe. For companies dealing with products that save lives, that capability is essential.
Additionally, a strong educational infrastructure helps underpin the state’s health care manufacturing industry. Kentucky’s eight public universities all offer four-year degrees in chemistry and other sciences, while several offer advanced degrees in medicine, pharmaceutical sciences and biomedical engineering.
These educational partners, along with several private universities and the state’s robust community and technical colleges system, help Kentucky to build diverse talent pipelines of highly skilled workers for health care-related companies of all types and sizes.


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Mi 11 Ultra was launched in India on April 23 and it has been more than a month since the launch but the Mi 11 Ultra still hasn’t gone on sale. It was communicated back then that the Mi 11 Ultra’s sale date will be shared later on and now Xiaomi has an update for the buyers.
In a letter shared on Twitter by the company, Xiaomi tells us that there will be a delay in the shipments of Mi 11 Ultra in India due to the circumstances “beyond the company’s control”. The company also says that it is working hard to bring the device to the buyers in India.
Xiaomi conveys that it will be able to share an exact sale date for the phone once the “current situation improves”. This could be due to several restrictions imposed all over the nation due to the COVID-19 second wave.
The Mi 11 Ultra is priced at Rs 69,999 for the sole 12GB + 256GB variant. One of the key features the device possesses is the support for 67W wired charging. However, due to some certification issues, the brand wasn’t able to launch the desired charger in India and had to include the 55W charger in the box.
But it seems like Xiaomi has finally gotten around the issues and is ready to launch the 67W charger brick. A report from last month claimed that Xiaomi will be selling the 67W charger brick separately and it now seems like that will only be possible once the device actually goes on sale.


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The Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC) has announced the one-week closure of a beauty salon located in Al Waab over the use of expired products.
The closure decision comes within the framework of its intensive inspection campaign to monitor markets and commercial activities in order to crack down on violations, price manipulation and counterfeit and substandard products, the ministry has said in a statement.
The beauty salon was fined and closed for a one-week period in line with Article 6 of Law No 8 of 2008. Article 6 prohibits the sale, display and promotion of substandard, counterfeit and fraudulent products.
A product is considered fraudulent if it fails to meet the standards, is unusable or has expired.
The administrative closure declaration shall be published at the expense of the beauty salon that has committed the violation in accordance with Article 18 of Law No 8 on Consumer Protection. The law stipulates that the closure decision shall be published on the MEC website and in two daily newspapers at the expense of the violator.
The ministry has stressed that it will not tolerate any violations of the Consumer Protection Law and its regulations. It will intensify its inspection campaigns and refer those who violate laws and ministerial decrees to the competent authorities, who will, in turn, take appropriate action against the perpetrators in order to protect consumer rights.
The MEC has urged all consumers to report violations or submit complaints and suggestions to its consumer protection and anti-commercial fraud department through the call centre: 16001, email: [email protected], Twitter: MEC_QATAR, Instagram: MEC_QATAR and the ministry’s app available on iPhone and Android devices: MEC_QATAR
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IMPINJ (NASDAQ:PI) had its price target decreased by Piper Sandler from $35.00 to $28.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, BenzingaRatingsTable reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock.
Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Canaccord Genuity reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of IMPINJ in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of IMPINJ from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. ValuEngine raised shares of IMPINJ from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of IMPINJ from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating and set a $34.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and issued a $30.00 target price (down from $34.00) on shares of IMPINJ in a report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The stock currently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $30.50.
Shares of NASDAQ PI traded up $0.81 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $23.60. 703,681 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 407,086. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.68. The company has a quick ratio of 7.59, a current ratio of 9.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $535.18 million, a P/E ratio of -15.73 and a beta of 2.56. IMPINJ has a twelve month low of $11.47 and a twelve month high of $39.49.
In other IMPINJ news, CEO Chris Ph.D. Diorio sold 6,073 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.12, for a total value of $164,699.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 287,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,807,793.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 25.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of IMPINJ by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,165,051 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,469,000 after purchasing an additional 6,456 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its holdings in shares of IMPINJ by 43.8% during the 1st quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 72,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,210,000 after purchasing an additional 22,050 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of IMPINJ by 105.8% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 11,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 5,714 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of IMPINJ by 84.1% during the 1st quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 156,279 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,611,000 after purchasing an additional 71,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of IMPINJ during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $84,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
IMPINJ Company Profile
Impinj, Inc operates a platform that enables wireless connectivity for everyday items by delivering each item's unique identity, location, and authenticity to business and consumer applications. Its integrated platform connects everyday items to applications, delivering real-time information to businesses about items they create, manage, transport, and sell.
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