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Sweet Dreams are made of this… NR’s annual confectionery feature
From September to December, the sales opportunities for all things sweet and sticky soars. It’s the season of Trick and Treat for Halloween, swiftly followed by the November/December sales surge in confectionery for Christmas.
How best can independent retailers capitalise on this lucrative sector? And what is the UK confectionery market worth? Almost £4 billion, with over 750 enterprises wholesaling sugar, chocolate, and sugar confectionery.
The market continues to expand as manufacturers develop new means of tempting its consumer base to indulge its sweet tooth. The already huge number of products available to UK consumers at retail is expanding as a result of increasing consumer demand for innovation.
Sales of chocolate just keep growing and growing, with an estimated 35% increase in sales over the next five years (Mintel).
A recent survey of the UK’s top chocolate bars revealed that we still seek out traditional brands and bars – top 10 favourite chocolate bars – Dairy Milk, Galaxy, Snickers, Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut, Kit Kat, Terry’s Chocolate Orange, Wispa, Crunchie, Bounty and Dairy Milk Caramel all make it into the top ten.
The Big Hitters
Who are the biggest confectionery companies?
The Mars Corporation, leads the chart of the world’s largest chocolate companies. Mars Inc owns some of the most famous sweets brands in the world, including M&Ms, Galaxy, Snickers, Skittles, and, of course, Mars bars. It is the largest player in the sugar confectionery industry globally.
The Ferrero Group is also a big hitter. Founded in Italy, Ferrero has long been one of the world’s top chocolate companies in the world with over $13 billion annual sales. Ferrero invented the hazelnut cream filled chocolate product Ferrero Rocher, which now has become one of the top chocolate brands in the world. Its other famous chocolate brands include Kinder and of course, Nutella.
Mondelēz International – the American food giant Mondelez, formed in 2012, now owns some of the most famous confectionery and chocolate brands in the world such as Oreo, Milka, Toblerone, TUC, and Cadbury. The company currently operates in over 80 countries and generates annual revenue of around $12 billion, making it one of the top 10 largest chocolate companies in the world.
The Swiss food and beverage giant Nestlé is not only one of the world’s largest sugar confectionery manufacturers, but it is also the world’s largest food and beverage company with over $8 billion annual sales. The company currently has over 335,000 employees and more than 2000 brands ranging from global icons to local favourites presenting in 191 countries around the world.
Lindt is one of the world’s most famous chocolates and truffles manufacturers. Its annual sales are nearly $4 billion. While demand for the company’s products in the US has diminished greatly over the last few years, the brand has maintained popularity across Europe, and in Australia, where Lindt ice cream is available.
Pladis (UK) – based in London, has annual revenues of $4.5 billion and operates in 120 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas. The company has 34 factories in 13 countries and mainly operates in all major categories of chocolate, biscuits, cake, candy, and gum. Its three core brands include McVitie’s, Ulker and GODIVA.
Chocolate Market Trends for Future
One of the recent developments in the global chocolate and cocoa market is the growing inclination towards Fair Trade certified products. Such chocolate products are made from cocoa produced from farms that do not indulge in inhuman practices such as slavery and child labor. The Fair-Trade organization have been dedicated to promotion of trade relationships that support livable incomes for farmers, laborers and families of cocoa growers through commitment to prices that produce a stable economic and social environment.
Over the recent years, growing number of leading chocolate companies are also introducing healthy chocolates such as organic, vegan, sugar-free, and gluten-free chocolates to cater to the health-conscious consumers. It is expected that the increasing incidences of health problems, weight management issues, and the demand for nutritious food will influence the global chocolate market to produce more healthy sugar-free and gluten-free chocolates.
Northern Ireland spends the most on sweets and treats
Northern Ireland is the UK’s most sugar-obsessed region, with households spending more of their weekly grocery budget on sweets than any other area – according to the Office for National Statistics.
Scotland, the North-East and the West Midlands are the UK’s second biggest sugar lovers, while London and Yorkshire on the Humber spend the lowest amount on sweet treats
Northern Ireland has the biggest sweet tooth in the entire UK, new research can reveal.
Out of all UK regions, residents of Northern Ireland devote the biggest proportion of their food shop to sweet treats – spending 23 percent more than London and Yorkshire on the Humber, the areas which spend the least on sugary food and drink.
The study, conducted by commercial kitchen experts Maxima Kitchen Equipment, used new ONS data on household spending between 2018 and 2020, to discover the areas which spend the most on sweet food and drink, as well as meat, fruit and vegetables, and alcohol.
Scotland, the North-East and the West Midlands are the UK’s second most sweet-obsessed regions, spending 15% more than London and Yorkshire on sweet drinks, chocolate, ice-cream and other confectionary.
Take the cake
Northern Ireland takes the cake as the UK’s biggest sugar lover, and it is also the region which spends the most of its shopping budget on meat in the whole of the UK.
Households in Northern Ireland spend 25% more on meat than households in London and Yorkshire, which spend the least on meat overall.
London is the area which devotes the biggest proportion of its weekly shop to fruit and vegetables. London households spend 37.5% more on fruit and vegetables than households in Northern Ireland, where residents spend the smallest amount of their weekly shopping budget on fruit and veg.
Scotland is the biggest spender when it comes to alcohol and tobacco, with residents devoting over a fifth of their weekly food budget to the products – a full 50% more than London, the region which buys the least alcohol and cigarettes.
A spokesperson for Maxima Kitchen Equipment, which conducted the research, said: “It’s fascinating to see the regional variances in grocery shopping habits across the country. While residents in Northern Ireland are still clearly meat-lovers, it looks like Londoners are moving away from meat to plant-based options which might indicate increases in vegetarian, vegan, or flexitarian diets.”
The analysis was conducted by Maxima Kitchen Equipment which has more than 40 years of experience in the supply and maintenance of professional kitchen equipment.


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Solid-state drives (SSDs) are hard to ignore these days considering the media buzz about them. However, far not every maker of traditional hard drives believes that there is a market for SSDs just now. Western Digital, a leading maker of hard disk drives (HDDs), said in an interview that that the company may enter new markets for itself, such as SSDs or serial attached SCSI, but right now the firm is calm about them and has nothing to announce.
“Western Digital enters markets that exist, announces products when they are available, and runs a tight model with opportunities greater than resources; such that we take a controlled, methodical, sequential, incremental approach to product portfolio expansion,” said Richard Rutledge, senior vice president for marketing at Western Digital, in an interview with The Register web-site.
Western Digital is particularly known for cautious approach of new products introductions. The firm still does not offer hard drives with serial attached SCSI (SAS) interface for enterprise customers and also does not have any HDDs with 15 000rpm spindle speed in the lineup. No surprise, the company does not sell flash-based solid-state drives.
But this all does not mean that the hard drive maker has no plans for any of the aforementioned markets. Indeed, Western Digital is constantly considering all of them and makes decision whether to spend the resources on development of appropriate products or not.
“We do not currently supply to either several platform categories [game console, car, phone] or product categories [SAS/FC-AL on 10K/15K, SSD]. This said, we know [and] understand each of these segments and are open to enter any [or] all of them when they present appropriate opportunity,” said Mr. Ruthledge.
Since WD has close ties with SanDisk Corp., it may relatively easily enter the SSD market, according to the company’s comments made back at CeBIT 2008 trade-show in Hannover, Germany. Unfortunately, the company is not that open about entering the market of HDDs with 15K rpm spindle speed.
Currently Western Digital is looking forward two market segments where solid-state drives would make sense: ultra low-cost or ultra-tiny storage solutions for netbooks or smartphones as well as high-performance and extremely expensive solutions for enterprises. Since flash has limited lifecycle, WD does not think that SSDs make a lot of sense for mainstream or even performance-minded consumers.

domain: news


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DALLAS, Jan. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — World Sequence of Golf, Inc. (OTC Pink: WSGF) (“WSGF”) at the moment reported very 95% survey assist for the corporate’s cryptocurrency technique at the side of the corporate’s total fintech short-term rental property acquisition various finance enterprise.
Together with the corporate’s cryptocurrency plans, administration performed a cryptocurrency survey. Immediately the corporate reported the survey outcomes.
95% of respondents supported the corporate’s cryptocurrency technique and 84% expressed curiosity within the buy of actual property with cryptocurrency. One other 12% expressed curiosity in proudly owning an curiosity in Vaycaychella by means of cryptocurrency. The complete outcomes are included beneath.
Vaycaychella is subsidiary operation of WSGF acquired final 12 months that now represents the corporate’s major enterprise focus. A company identify change is underway.
Vaycaychella has constructed a peer-to-peer (P2P) know-how answer designed to attach short-term rental property patrons with various buyers. The P2P software (app) is a part of a fintech ecosystem answer suite for short-term rental property house owners that features a Visa Card answer and plans for a cryptocurrency part.
Over the previous three years Vaycaychella has constructed a portfolio of short-term trip property investments that might not qualify for standard mortgages. Now the corporate is scaling its enterprise mannequin with the introduction of its P2P know-how.
WSGF plans to beta launch its Vaycaychella P2P app to beta customers in February 2021 with a manufacturing launch anticipated in June.
Lately, the corporate introduced plans so as to add a cryptocurrency technique to its Vaycaychella P2P enterprise mannequin
personal a number of crypto currencies 55%
able to put money into crypto foreign money 23%
have to be taught extra earlier than I’m able to put money into cryptocurrency 22%
consider cryptocurrency will substitute money and shares 10%
consider cryptocurrency will probably be a substitute for money and shares 78%
consider cryptocurrency is only a passing pattern 3%
I do not know 9%
assist a Vaycaychella cryptocurrency technique 95%
assume Vaycaychella ought to keep out of cryptocurrency for now 5%
Vaycaychella Cryptocurrency Precedence
functionality to buy properties with cryptocurrency 44%
capability to buy fractional possession in a number of properties 40%
cryptocurrency backed by possession in Vaycaychella 12%
Vaycaychella shouldn’t have a cryptocurrency providing at the moment 3%
perceive cryptocurrency rules 39%
discover cryptocurrency rules complicated 22%
don’t perceive cryptocurrency rules 22%
did not know there the place cryptocurrency rules 12%
not desirous about cryptocurrency rules 5%
To be taught extra and sustain with the most recent updates at Vaycaychella, go to https://www.vaycaychella.com/. On the firm web site, one can find a weblog with frequent business publications on the short-term rental market usually, in addition to entries particular to Vaycaychella.
Disclaimer/Protected Harbor: This information launch incorporates forward-looking statements throughout the which means of the Securities Litigation Reform Act. The statements replicate the Firm’s present views with respect to future occasions that contain dangers and uncertainties. Amongst others, these dangers embrace the expectation that any of the businesses talked about herein will obtain vital gross sales, the failure to satisfy schedule or efficiency necessities of the businesses’ contracts, the businesses’ liquidity place, the businesses’ capability to acquire new contracts, the emergence of rivals with larger monetary sources and the influence of aggressive pricing. Within the gentle of those uncertainties, the forward-looking occasions referred to on this launch may not happen.
William “Invoice” Justice
+1 (800) 871-0376
SOURCE World Sequence of Golf, Inc.


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That’s not very ethical, Stella! McCartney's new clothing range is made in an Indonesian factory by workers paid just 98p an hour – even though she campaigns for fair wages
- Stella McCartney's luxury sportswear line with Adidas is made in Indonesia
- Workers earn on average £188 a month, far below recommended pay level
- Miss McCartney, 46, is one of few fashion designers never to use leather or fur
She refuses to use leather and fur in her clothes and campaigns against cheap labour.
But it seems Stella McCartney may need to check whether the Asian factories that manufacture her upmarket designs match up to her high ethical standards.
The 46-year-old outlines her ‘Respect for People’ mission statement on her website, claiming that ‘everybody should earn a fair wage’.
However, her luxury sportswear line with Adidas is made in Indonesia by workers who earn on average £188 a month, the company has confirmed.
Stella McCartney's new fitness line for Adidas (pictured) is made in an Indonesian factory where workers are paid just 98p an hour
It is far below the pay level recommended by the Asia Floor Wage Alliance, which last year recommended that the living wage for Indonesia should be 5.886million rupiah (£312) per month (pictured: an Adidas factory)
This is equivalent to just 98p an hour if they work the South East Asian country’s typical 48-hour factory week.
And it is far below the pay level recommended by the Asia Floor Wage Alliance, which last year recommended that the living wage for Indonesia should be 5.886million rupiah (£312) per month.
Miss McCartney, 46, received an OBE for her services to fashion in 2013 and is now worth an estimated £57million.
A vegetarian, the daughter of Sir Paul McCartney is one of the few fashion designers never to use leather or fur.
The mother-of-four opened an ‘eco-friendly’ store in central London in June, complete with rocks filled with dirty puddles and moss.
The store has a section dedicated to Miss McCartney’s pricey sportswear, including £60 tank tops, £55 shorts, £120 leggings and jackets costing £140. The fashion designer’s celebrity fans include the Duchess of Sussex, Beyonce, Melania Trump and Amal Clooney and her close friends, the supermodels Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.
But this latest development may come as a shock to many of her loyal buyers.
Asad Rehman, executive director of War on Want, a charity working with garment workers internationally, said: ‘Ms McCartney’s customers will be shocked to learn she is paying poverty wages and racking up huge profits.
‘Her brand income went up 42 per cent to £7million this year, after just a 30 per cent increase in sales. That points to rising exploitation.
‘The garment industry is only able to rack up huge profits because its business model is built on paying poverty wages – mainly to women working in the global South.
Miss McCartney, pictured, is one of the few fashion designers never to use leather or fur and outlines her ‘Respect for People’ mission statement on her website, claiming that ‘everybody should earn a fair wage’
‘Even “ethical” high street brands, such as Stella McCartney’s, refuse to practise what they preach. PR exercises, voluntary codes and warm words do little to fix the problem.’ Dominique Muller, policy director of anti-sweatshop charity Labour Behind The Label, said Miss McCartney should be aware that workers making her sportswear were being paid such a low wage.
She said: ‘I think she is aware of the practices of the majority of the fashion industry, low-cost fashion and how damaging it can be, so I think it’s important that she fulfills her promises to her customers and to her brand by making sure she follows the full supply chain of any brand collaboration.’
Jay Kerr, from No Sweat, a campaign group which calls for the protection of sweatshop labourers, said companies like Adidas that spend a fortune on celebrity endorsements had ‘an ethical obligation’ to ensure the people making their clothes were paid a Living Wage. He said: ‘Adidas made operating profits of €2.1billion [£1.87billion] last year. It can afford a massive dividend and a €3billion [£2.67billion] shares buy-back. It can afford decent pay.
‘Workers like these in Indonesia make these profits for the sportswear giants.’
A spokesman for Miss McCartney declined to comment, calling the issue an ‘Adidas supply chain matter’ and directed comment instead to Adidas. A spokesman for Adidas Sport said the company did not determine the wages suppliers paid their employees, but claimed the average monthly take-home wage in Indonesia was ‘well above’ the current minimum wage. He said: ‘The current average take-home pay for workers employed at Adidas’ contract suppliers in Indonesia currently is Rp 3,558,769 [£188] per month, plus Rp 431,548 [£23] in non-wage benefits (such as social insurance).
‘On a Purchasing Parity basis this is the equivalent of £572.52 in monthly income in the UK, plus benefits. Mandated minimum wages in Indonesia vary across the country, but on average are Rp 2,264,676 [£120] per month. Adidas requires employers to pay at least the remuneration required by law or negotiated in a collective bargaining process.’
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Somewhere in Singapore, someone is looking in the mirror. They could be poking at a pimple, stretching out a new laugh line, or pinching some belly fat. They could be from all walks of life, from the PCMEs to the housewives, but they will still share that one moment in front of the mirror, fleshing out their insecurities.
This doesn’t just happen in Singapore. It’s a human insecurity that affects everyone, and from that need to look better comes the monster of the beauty industry. The traditional beauty salons like Jean Yip salons and slimming services are there for women (and sometimes men) of all ages and backgrounds. It is a language that transcends time and differences, connecting to something within our core.
Then one day, someone decided to move it online.
We’ve seen consolidation of services brought online, such as e-retailers like Zalora or ASOS; or food review and booking systems on websites like HungryGoWhere. Now, there are several companies are stepping up to take their place to try to take the crown for the sole beauty and wellness service consolidator of Singapore – a grand title.
We’ve previously spoken about two online directories for beauty and wellness service providers – LookBooker and PagePink. They were both launched in Singapore at around the same time, and are both run by startups. PagePink Marketing Director and co-founder, Audrey Ang, said that bringing the beauty industry online serves to help both consumers and service-providers.
“Consumers with limited time and budget have a multitude of services & treatments available to choose from. It is ever more important to have information available for them to make an informed decision about services they would commit to. For service providers, it is an opportunity for them to be discovered, share what’s great about them, and tell their stories through content, photos, and reviews in a way that’s easy to manage and requiring very little effort to attract new customers.”
And as of October, PagePink has also launched their new Gifts & Loots page, with acts like a page of e-coupons filled with discounts and vouchers, which you can gift to your friends or use yourself. It essentially brings the age-old practice of offering discounts and trials that beauty-providers in brick-and-mortar establishments use to attract new customers. According to Audrey, this could solve the problem of deep-discount providers that end up offering less than satisfactory experiences.
“Previously (beauty service gifts are) not conveniently bought and sent or without having to resort to deep-discount providers that may not always provide the best experience. Now consumers can access excellent pampering services as an gifting option with Pagepink. For service providers, it’s another way to attract new customers without having to resort to dramatic price cut, which tends to attract a different type of customer.”
But websites like PagePink aren’t the only entrants to this industry’s new foyer. GetKlarity, a new local app, wants to “connect unfulfilled consumer demands to unfulfilled appointments, starting with the beauty and wellness space in Singapore”. According to Joelle Pang, co-founder of GetKlarity, their app fulfils a need in the beauty and wellness industry that allows businesses to be accessible to their customers 24/7. Many are still relying on the clunky practice of accepting personal SMSes, calls, or online booking forms.
An Industry Hot For Something New
The monster of a beauty industry is thriving here. A report done in 2008 by the International SPA Association stated that Singapore has the highest active spa-going population across the globe (67%), beating cities in Europe, America, and Asia by a very wide margin. Singaporeans average at 6 visits a year, with the average Singaporean spending more than US$600 on spa treatments within a year. With a population of 5 million, that’s 3.35 million people spending more that US$600 6 times a year.
Who will be the one to take the lead? Who knows. The digitization of the beauty and wellness industry is still at its ground zero, inching its way forward and testing the waters bit by bit. It’s a brand new territory that we ourselves as service consumers aren’t aware of how to navigate. We hate the hard-sell, but we have also lost so much money from it. The best to the worst use the same tactics, and we as the consumers are powerless. Perhaps this is the step we need to take the control back.


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MADISON – The Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce announced the remaining early-stage companies joining the summer delegation to pitch in front of prominent venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. The four fast-growing businesses were selected by partner organizations and join Brian Jensen, president of Fishidy and winner of the inaugural Pressure Chamber, which debuted at neXXpo: Business in Fast Forward.
Trip participants include:
“We are confident these five companies will leave a positive, lasting impression on Silicon Valley while gaining key connections and exposure at a critical time in the growth of their business.” said Chamber President Zach Brandon. “We are proud to be connecting the coast to a small sampling of the high-caliber innovation happening throughout Greater Madison.”
The delegation kicks off June 24 with a tour of the Facebook campus. Following the June 25 investor meetings, the Chamber will host a reception, sponsored by Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), which will include attendees from other Bay-area investors, entrepreneurs, and business leaders including organizations that have ties to Greater Madison such as Google, Zendesk and The Badger Entrepreneurship Forum.
“There is a remarkable story unfolding in Greater Madison and we are looking forward to sharing it in Silicon Valley just as we have in Austin at SXSW, the White House Business Roundtables and the Quebec City Conference to name a few,” said Brandon. “As with any great novel, our story keeps getting better knowing that the best is yet to come.”
The Chamber’s summer delegation is supported locally by Michael Best & Friedrich, State of Wisconsin Investment Board, 4490 Ventures, Kegonsa Capital Partners, Venture Investors, Lindsay Stone & Briggs, Accelerate Madison, Capital Entrepreneurs, Great Oaks Venture Capital and Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
About the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce:
The Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce is the voice of business with more than 1,300 organizations – ranging from one-person shops to corporations with more than 7,000 employees – working to bring the Greater Madison area to its full potential. The Greater Madison region is a leader in innovation. From cutting-edge technologies to distinctive retail shops to inventive services and products, our members vary greatly but are united by the region’s entrepreneurial spirit. More information can be found at greatermadisonchamber.com.
Contact: Jo-ell Carson, Communications Director, at 608-443-1952 or 608-213-1799
Click here for a pdf version of the press release.


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Auto Sales Make Gains in August, Buyers Still Leery
Major automakers posted double-digit U.S. sales gains for August from year-earlier levels, a steady result for a month that began with a plunge on Wall Street and ended with a hurricane shutting down the East Coast.
General Motors Co reported a sales gain of 18 percent, slightly below some analyst expectations. Ford Motor sales were up 11 percent. Chrysler had its best August sales in four years with a 31 percent sales increase.
Auto industry executives said the sales gains pointed to an encouraging stability in demand for big-ticket purchases in the face of renewed economic uncertainty.
``In our view, consumers are being cautious, yes, and rightly so, but they are not retrenching,'' said GM's head of U.S. sales, Don Johnson. ``You have to remember that the sales we're seeing are very low by historical standards.''
Sales for Nissan Motor Co rose 19 percent. Sales for Volkswagen AG were up 10 percent.
GM estimated that industrywide U.S. auto sales would be about flat from July when adjusted for seasonal factors and tracked on an annualized basis. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall and Kevin Krolicki, editing by Matthew Lewis)


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The company Microsoft is going to build in support for Android-applications in the upcoming operating system Windows. The fact that on Windows-based devices, including PCs, smartphones and tablets, you can run programs written for the platform Google, said the blog’s author and analyst Paul Thurrot.com Tarrott.
According to Tarrott, referring to informed sources within the company to support the Android-apps in the “top ten” will be announced at the conference BUILD 2015, which will be held this week in San Francisco. How exactly will this function is unknown. It is possible that Microsoft will have to create a separate store Android-applications within Windows.
Last week, the company has released a test build Windows 10. A test version of the “axis” introduces two new applications: “Mail” (Mail) and “Calendar” (Calendar), corrects errors and makes the user interface more convenient.
It is expected that in the BUILD conference for developers Microsoft will reveal more details about Windows 10 and, quite possibly, has announced the official release date.
Earlier in the company said that the new OS will be released “this summer” once in 190 countries and 111 languages. The exact date of the debut “Ten” was not called. Previously, AMD CEO Lisa Su accidentally let slip that Windows 10 will be released in late July.


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Yahoo! and Open Sourcing Innovation
Tim O’Reilly writes an interesting post about the latest Yahoo story in the NYTimes, about Yahoo as an increasingly big player in new media, taking on a similar role of a network, but grounding their strategy on the web, of course. Yahoo is definitely different than the rest of the big Web 2.0 Companies. They’re […]
Tim O’Reilly writes an interesting post about the latest Yahoo story in the NYTimes, about Yahoo as an increasingly big player in new media, taking on a similar role of a network, but grounding their strategy on the web, of course.
Yahoo is definitely different than the rest of the big Web 2.0 Companies. They’re a content creator, in addition to a service builder. Amazon distributes goods, Ebay holds auctions, Google helps us find stuff…these three companies don’t rely on content production in the same way that Yahoo does. Yahoo makes stuff, they don’t just allow people to distribute it better.
I was particularly heartened to see that Yahoo! is not abandoning user created content, just working to supplement it. However, the characterization of user-generated content as “community” has a 1990’s ring to it, and misses the insight that value added by users is the secret sauce of all successful Web 2.0 applications. Yahoo! also needs to understand that personalization doesn’t just mean narrowing down the broadcast stream so that it matches the user’s interests, but creating radically new mechanisms for harnessing the collective intelligence of users to provide better results.
Tim makes a great point, I think. In addition to personalization, Web 2.0 is about innovation. In addition to knowing a lot about people and giving them what they ask for or show us they want (personalization), Web 2.0 is about giving them tools to create new things…things they can’t tell us they want (innovation).
The new iPod Nano is an example of this type of innovation. Apple took what was the world’s number 1 selling MP3 player and discontinued it in favor of something that they though people would like more. For the vast majority of companies, this would be ludicrous. They would have instead turned to milking the Purple Cow for all it was worth. That said, hardware innovation is much more difficult to open source than software or services innovation. Most folks couldn’t design or build a working MP3 player, there are many more people who can build cool software that extends the basic platform offered by a company like Yahoo or Amazon.
Jeff Bezos pointed to this phenomenon back in 2003, referring to the great innovation they were seeing with their web services: “It’s like an ecosystem. People are doing things that surprise us”.
Surprise. That’s the essential part of Web 2.0 that Tim is suggesting for Yahoo. They’ve mostly been about providing services that are useful to folks, like Mail, Movies, Search, and myriad of others, but they have only recently started to open it up to outside innovation. See the Yahoo Developer Network for more.
Opening up is essential, though. Being able to predict exactly how people will use a service is not a sign of strength, but a sign of weakness.


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On November 1, the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal hosted a talk with Jacques Farcy, President and CEO of the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC).
Mr. Farcy reflected on the organization’s last four years, its challenges to meet consumer expectations and its desire to build on a specific organizational model.
A public health mission
In his opening remarks, Jacques Farcy stressed the importance of SQDC’s mission and its raison d’être in public health policies in Quebec.
“Our mission is to turn consumers into SQDC customers, without increasing consumption or stimulating the market.”
– Jacques Farcy, President and CEO, SQDC
This guideline governs the SQDC’s overall direction, from leadership choices to field operations.
“When I arrived, I spent four days at a store to get to know our teams better. I learned how crucial our mission was and how it was a source of motivation for our employees.”
Continuous learning for the organization
The past four years have been a continuous learning process for the SQDC as it operates in a new market in Quebec.
“There was a learning culture in how to market the SQDC and how get to know our customers. We want to closely monitor our industry and innovations, as well as promote production in Quebec. Today, more than half of our suppliers are from Quebec.”
This culture is also reflected in terms of talent management within the government-owned company.
“We seek to cultivate talent by investing heavily in training. Our goal is for all of us to have a common framework and a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities in our market.”
Outperforming the black market with a competitive offer
One of the challenges faced by the SQDC involves gaining a competitive advantage over the black market that consumers were long accustomed to.
“Our customers want simplicity and efficiency. We make sure to strike a balance between price and quality that’s superior to the black market.”
In addition to ensuring easy and secure transactions, the SQDC has also positioned itself to provide its customers with a diverse range of traceable products.
“We have a vast selection of over 450 products. With most of our supply coming from Quebec, we make a strong case to consumers and we see them stepping up.”
Jacques concluded by referring back to the SQDC’s long-term objectives:
“We’re not perfect and there’s still a long way to go. Our goal today is to keep listening to consumers, develop our ability to compete as a retailer, and ensure the well-being of our teams.”


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The Wall Street Journal reports that desktop internet use is falling.
The amount of time people spend accessing the Internet from desktop devices is showing signs of decline, according to online measurement specialist comScore.
Data from the research company indicate overall time spent online in the U.S. from desktop devices—which include laptop computers—has fallen for the past four months, on a year-over-year basis. It dipped 9.3% in December 2015, 7.6% in January, 2% in February and 6% in March.
This data supports the theory that users are switching from desktop to mobile browsing. The Wall Street Journal focuses on the implications of this for media companies and others hoping to attract online readers.
That’s important, but there’s something else. Desktop internet use doesn’t exist in a vacuum. If people are browsing the web less from laptops and PCs, then it’s logical to assume they are doing less of everything else computer related from these devices. That overall use is switching from desktops and laptops to mobile devices. From this data it seems we are now past the tipping point.
And that helps explains why consumers are buying fewer computers; they are no longer central to our digital existence.


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But these days, the real China is making Manzano's prosperity as precarious as a two-legged stool. In a perfect example of globalization at work, ferocious competition from Chinese manufacturers is snatching away Manzano's customers. Over the past three years, about 200 Manzano companies have closed and a worrying number of the remaining 900 are struggling. Sawmills have moved to Croatia, Poland and Romania, where an increasing amount of initial pre-fabrication is being carried out. Manzano's once dominant share of the market for no-frills office swivel chairs has almost entirely collapsed because Chinese producers can churn them out at almost the same quality for a fraction of the cost. Now the Chinese are starting to attack the market for residential and other chairs, not just basic models in metal and plastic but more sophisticated ones in wood and leather, too. Talk about "the crisis" is ubiquitous in Manzanoeven the executives of thriving companies say they worry that the unique industrial fabric of the area is fraying. "We see people with tears in their eyes not knowing what to do next," says Simone Focacci, manager of one of Manzano's three principal banks.
Valerio and Lucio Minin are two of those shedding tears. During the 1990s, the company their father founded half a century ago, Mininsedie, produced up to 500,000 chairs annually. But this year Mininsedie will make just 130,000many of those stacked and waiting for buyers in a cavernous warehouse that serves as the firm's headquarters. The French distributor who was their biggest customer is out of business. Revenues have declined by 50% in two years and, with losses mounting, the Minin brothers recently laid off five of their 15 employees. "The situation here is tragic," says Valerio, 51. "I just don't know how we're going to continue. You keep banging your head against the wall and either the wall fallsor you do."
Italy is the sick man of Europe these daysits economy has shrunk by 4% since 1999 after adjusting for inflationand the predicament of the chair triangle helps to explain why. Along with Germany and France, the nation has been struggling with weak consumer spending, waning productivity and rising government deficits. But unlike its neighbors, Italy lacks robust large corporations that can export their way out of trouble. Many of the thousands of small and medium-sized companies that once gave the Italian economy its flexibility and dynamism are poorly equipped to deal with the challenges of a fast-changing world. Most don't have the scale, the funding or the commercial know-how to become global players. What they produce is beautiful, but it's neither particularly sophisticated nor difficult to replicate. In other words, Italy's economic structure is almost perfectly shaped for an attack by China, which excels in moderately sophisticated manufacturingand can turn out products far cheaper than is possible in western Europe. In sector after sectorfrom textiles to shoes to furniturecompanies have been losing ground.
When Italian manufacturers ran into competitive problems in the past, there used to be an easy fix: currency devaluation, which made Italian exports cheaper relative to those of other countries. But that solution is no longer a panacea, because Italy swapped the lira for the euro, which has risen against most other currencies. "We used to say small is beautiful, but that's no longer true," says Adalberto Valduga, president of the regional chamber of commerce in nearby Udine, the provincial capital. While the strong euro is penalizing firms, he says the real challenge is a more fundamental one: "We need to change our way of thinking." The International Monetary Fund agrees. In a tough report last month, it castigated Italy's economic policies and said the nation's waning competitiveness was due to "deep-seated inefficiencies" as much as to foreign competition. China looks set to overtake Italy this year as the world's sixth-largest economy after several years of jockeying for the spot.
The Italy vs. China manufacturing battle has a significance that transcends national borders. If the Italians can find a way to carve out an upmarket niche for themselvesas the most successful chair manufacturers are attempting to dothere's every reason to believe that Europeans and Chinese can coexist and flourish, with each building on its respective strengths. Several Manzano entrepreneurs are already looking to China as a market where they can both buy and sell. "Nobody can stop the Chinese anymore," shrugs Lucio Zamò, one of the few remaining successful manufacturers of office chairs in the district. Zamò has been able to cut expenses by building chairs using imported Chinese aluminum bases, which cost 40% less than Italian ones. But should the Europeans prove unable to resist the fierce competition, politicians may try to level the playing field by imposing protectionist trade restrictions on Chinese imports. The European Union made a botched attempt to restrict imports of Chinese textiles this year and is now considering slapping tariffs on leather shoes.
But if Manzano is to recover its mojo, the chair triangle's entrepreneurs know that theyand not politicianswill be the ones to find it. "This is a moment of maturation," says Fanin, the machine-tool manufacturer, who recently laid off six of his 15 workers. "You can't compete on price. You need to believe in the company and innovate. There's no third way."
Manzano's claim to be the chair capital dates back centuries. An eighth-century altar in nearby Cividale contains the first trace of chairmaking. During the Renaissance, local carvers and carpenters from the region had their hands full with orders from Venice, 120 km away. Production of chairs for the masses began in the 1800s but the real boom came after World War II. Big distributors, primarily from Germany, discovered the local craftsmanship and started buying in bulk, turning Manzano chairs into a $1 billion-per-year business. To cope with the demand, the number of firms grew tenfold as highly specialized artisans set up on their own, supplying individual parts to their neighbors who would then work them into the next stage of the manufacturing process before passing that on to another firm. One artisan would just do leather upholstery, for example, or specialize in varnishes. This highly decentralized industrial structure, a type of extreme outsourcing network, is quite common in Italy. By one estimate there are about 100 such industrial clusters in the country, producing shoes, clothes and even some food products.
The flexibility of such clusters is sometimes held up as a model by experts on economic development such as Harvard Business School professor Michael E. Porter. But the system has proven vulnerable to an onslaught of international competition. About 90% of the firms in the district have fewer than 20 employees, while just a dozen have more than 50, according to a study by Professor Roberto Grandinetti of the University of Padua. Local bankers say that all but a few are sorely undercapitalized and lack the resources to build their business up to a global scale. And virtually nobody has much experience selling to customers other than the big German distributors who once snapped up as much as 70% of the district's output. "Twelve years ago, I began saying that it wasn't enough just to make chairs, but that we also needed to sell them," says Giovanni Masarotti, president of the Manzano chair district and chief executive of Montina, one of the oldest firms. "If I say three companies have true marketing departments, I'm exaggerating."


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The continuing rise of global carbon emissions has brought with it a rise in sustainable transport solutions, but the Volta Zero truck is one that takes this ethos further than most. In addition to an all-electric drivetrain, the truck will feature panels made from sustainable natural composites and is pitched as a holistically green way for logistics companies to deliver goods around cities.
With the Volta Zero, Volta Trucks hopes to offer a cleaner means of completing freight deliveries in urban settings. The 16-tonne truck features an all-electric drivetrain that draws power from a 160-200-kWh battery pack, which makes for a range of up to 200 km (125 mi) and a top speed of 90 km/h (56 mph).
President Donald Trump casually dropped Friday that he would “ban” TikTok. That added heft to earlier statements made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the administration was considering a ban.
But how would a ban on an app that’s already been downloaded by 165 million Americans, and that anyone can currently download from Apple and Google app stores, actually work?
The world may be at something of a standstill thanks to COVID-19, but Samsung is still out here making flagship phones and, uh, other things. As such, we have another Galaxy Unpacked event to look forward to this week.
Samsung previously announced that its next Galaxy Unpacked would be online-only for obvious reasons. The event will stream on Samsung’s website at 10 a.m. ET on Aug. 5. In a blog post, Samsung revealed it would announce five new devices at the event. Since the new Galaxy Z Flip 5G has been officially confirmed, we can probably strike that one off the long list.
Thanks to a litany of leaks (what else is new?), we have a pretty good idea of what we’ll be seeing at Galaxy Unpacked. Get ready to see the word “Galaxy” way too many times.
Chipotle wants its customers to eat — and wear — its avocados.
The company announced a new “responsibly sourced” clothing and goods line Monday, and all of the T-shirts, sweatshirts and tote bags will be dyed with the food chain’s used avocado pits that would otherwise go to waste.
After using avocados to make guacamole, Chipotle is left with nearly 300 million avocado pits that go to waste in its restaurants every year. Each item in the clothing and goods line will require five avocado pits, which is roughly equivalent to five orders of guacamole, according to the press release.
Sprint was a storied American brand, but it is no longer. T-Mobile, which closed its $30 billion merger with the wireless carrier in April, officially retired the Sprint brand Monday.
“I want to acknowledge the Sprint history and its 120-year legacy that is now part of our legacy as we launch into this new era,” said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert in a statement, adding, “We did it! Another historic day for new T-Mobile!”
The long-awaited merger means the end of Sprint’s long corporate history, but it also puts a capstone on several bruising decades of failed bets and teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.
Customer service over the phone matters a great deal to customer satisfaction and your brand’s professionalism.
Customer service requires etiquette that is often unspoken but always expected by your customers.
Outsourcing management of your phone lines to a call center could free up internal resources and boost the quality of your customer service.
This article is for small business owners who want to improve their customer service over the phone and are considering outsourcing to a call center or answering service.
Seems like we are inundated with information every day. I don’t know about you but sometimes, I find it difficult to unplug and not feel like I need to be in front of a screen or talking to someone.
It sure feels like we are digesting information and communicating with others in one form or another all the time. With so much information coming at us from all angles, it’s easy to become distracted and not give important items the attention they deserve. It’s very easy to default to passive listening pretty much all the time.
Effective leaders are more like coaches than managers. Instead of leading an employee toward a preset answer that meets their own objectives, coaches support the person on a path toward career development and, ultimately, greater job satisfaction.
Coaches help their teams grow on a professional level, but being a coachable employee is a vital part of the equation, says behavioral scientist and master certified coach Marcia Reynolds, author of Coach the Person, Not the Problem: A Guide to Using Reflective Inquiry.
Signal has become the privacy-focused consumer’s go-to messaging app. But a recent change to its back-end systems that was designed to make the app more accessible and competitive with other encrypted messaging services could be putting user data at risk.
At the core of Signal’s appeal is a level of digital protection and commercial disinterest in its users’ communications rarely seen by messaging service providers. Signal is now used broadly not just by hackers and professional paranoids, but activists, journalists, politicians, and any number of people who believe that their text messages and phone calls should be as private as an in-person conversation. Few other apps offer a similar level of security and privacy.


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Business leaders celebrate progress, pledge to invest more in AfricaJun 11, 2009
Cape Town, South Africa — Global business leaders gathered today at the World Economic Forum to mark the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Business Call to Action (BCTA). The breakfast event, hosted by the Business Call to Action International Partnership, highlighted the immense opportunities for investing in Africa despite the global economic crisis.
“Although playing no part in its causes, the poorest countries have suffered as much as anyone from the global economic crisis.” said Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, UK Foreign Minister for Africa, Asia and the United Nations. “Aid, trade and investment must all play their part in driving the recovery. The Business Call to Action offers an opportunity for the private sector to help create a better, more secure future for all.”
The Business Call to Action was launched by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at a high level event for CEOs held in London on 6 May 2008. The Business Call to Action International Partnership was announced in September 2008. Partners include the UK Government, AusAid, UNDP, Clinton Global Initiative, The International Business Leaders Forum and the UN Global Compact. In its first year more than 60 CEOs signed the Business Call to Action Declaration and committed their companies to invest in ending poverty. To date, 18 companies have already launched initiatives creating thousands of jobs, establishing hundreds of small independent businesses and increasing trade with, and sourcing from, Africa and Asia.
Some companies are currently providing financial support and technical trainings to thousands of farmers and aspiring entrepreneurs in the developing world; expanding mobile money transfer services to over six million people in Africa; and supplying accurate, timely and personalized information to over a million farmers in India which has helped them increase their profit.
“The Business Call to Action builds upon the enlightened self-interest of the private sector to find financial gains while contributing to development and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals,” said Bruce Jenks, Director of UNDP’s Partnership Bureau. “At a time when global business leaders are facing difficult decisions about how to manage growing costs and dwindling profits, it is even more important for companies to boldly explore business models that include the poor in their core strategies, and take advantage of new business opportunities.”
Business leaders met in South Africa to take stock of the company initiatives and to encourage more companies to join the Business Call to Action. During the breakfast, companies celebrated the progress made so far, showcasing success stories and lesson learned. The organizers of the event, along with African ministers called on companies in Africa to sign and launch new business initiatives that promote sustainable development and combat poverty.
“We are encouraged to see this unique and bold initiative,” said Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Rwandan Minister of Trade and Industry. “Africa provides an obvious starting point because of the potential opportunities for inclusive markets development. We will welcome the initiative in Rwanda and encourage national companies to participate, and also contribute to the generation of learning and good practices.”
The Business Call to Action challenges businesses to implement concrete initiatives that apply their core business and skills in a transformative and scalable manner that will enhance growth and create wealth. This is not about encouraging more philanthropy or corporate social responsibility, but producing business ideas that are both commercially viable and help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
“The Business Call to Action recognizes that the private sector has a vital role to play in transforming the greatest challenges of our young century —poverty, climate change, social inequity, hunger, and disease, among others— into opportunities, especially in the face of today’s troubled economic climate,” said former US President Bill Clinton. “I’m proud that my Clinton Global Initiative, whose members have made commitments valued at more than $46 billion to improve the lives of 200 million people, is a partner of the Business Call to Action. By working together, we can build a more just, sustainable, and equal world for future generations.”
Business can help improve the lives of people in developing countries by increasing investment, creating jobs and increasing skills, and developing goods, technologies and innovations.
· Coca Cola has set up 700 small distribution centers, creating 4500 new jobs.
· Diageo is investing in the development of sorghum to support its brewing operations in Cameroon by providing support to farmers as well as developing transport and storage systems.
· ASDA has significantly increased it sources of fresh produce from Africa and is investigating importing new products.
· Microsoft has launched it Students to Business Programme in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya and Senegal.
· PepsiCo has begun a pilot in South Africa on improving nutrition for children and pregnant women.
· SABMiller is on its way to doubling the amount of barley it sources from India. The initiative is benefiting around 7500 farmers.
· Standard Chartered is proceeding with training small businesses in Pakistan – conducting multiple workshops in several cities.
· Sumitomo is opening a stitching factory in Ethiopia this month that will process 3 million bed nets a year and employ 300 people.
· Thomson Reuters is providing accurate, timely and personalized information on more than 125 crop types to 400 markets in India. The programme benefits over a million farmers in India, increasing their profits and savings in losses.
· Vodafone now has more than 6 million people using its mobile money transfer service and is developing its initiative to include new services.
· Cadbury is moving to make its Cadbury Dairy Milk brand Fairtrade in the UK and is working to help 100 Cocoa Partnership communities achieve Fairtrade certification.
· MAP International has biometrically enrolled over 50,000 Ugandans in its Integrated Banking Platform and hundreds of thousands of transactions have taken place over their network of ATMs, Point Of Sale units and mobile phones.
· Ericsson’s Innovation Centre in Sub-Saharan Africa has produced a number of mobile applications that focus on solutions in health, education, agriculture and small business investments.
· Cisco Systems is currently establishing a number of Connected Community Research Centres (CCRC) in Kenya to bring a range of affordable services to the local residents. The on-line services focus on e-government, education, healthcare and vocational training.
Sustaining development in Uganda
BCtA and Coca-Cola (Large version)
BCtA and Diaego (Large version)
For more information of UNDP’s work with the Private Sector, please visit http://www.undp.org/partners/business/index.shtml
For further information, or set up interviews please contact:
In Cape Town: Maureen Mundea, Tel. +27 716718734; email: email@example.com
In New York: Sausan Ghosheh, Tel. +1 (212) 906-5390; e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org


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Supermarket giant Woolworth could be facing over AUS$2.5 million in fines for breaching Anzac Day trading restrictions in New South Wales, Australia. Employees were reportedly allowed into stores early on Monday morning to receive deliveries and prepare seafood, chickens and bread for the 1pm opening.
Anzac Day being a restricted trading day, NSW law does not permit large supermarket chains to open for customers before 1pm; nevertheless, Woolworths allegedly dodged the rule and now risks up to AUS$11,000 for each store that breached it.
A spokesperson for the company told media that salaried managers performed their work voluntarily, in line with regulation. Even though the NSW Industrial Relations information only states that ‘shops cannot open for customers until after time’ and, in previous years, inspectors had allowed businesses to prepare for trade, retailers said that government enforced the 1pm opening time on Anzac Day this year.
Woolworths’ main rival Coles claimed that Woolworths had broken the law and questioned whether ‘volunteer’ staff had the necessary expertise to prepare food.


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#N95Masks; #3M; #DefenseProductionAct; #DonaldTrump; #JaredKushner; #JustinTrudeau
Ottawa, Apr 5 (Canadian-Media): When Canada learnt that U.S. had ordered Minnesota company 3M, which produces N95, used by front-line health workers, not to export these masks to Canada and other countries by invoking Defense Production Act (DPA), Canada was both angry as well as unhappy, media reports said.
N 95 mask. Image credit: Twitter handle
The president of U.S. is empowered by DPA, which was passed 1950, to expand industrial production of key materials or products for national security and other reasons.
3M company warned that by U.S. stopping mask exports could prompt retaliatory measures that could hurt the U.S.
"There are, however, significant humanitarian implications of ceasing respirator supplies to health-care workers in Canada and Latin America, where we are a critical supplier of respirators," the company said in its statement.
3M company also said U.S.' decision could actually result in fewer masks being available for Americans if other countries retaliate.
When U.S. President Donald Trump learnt of 3M company's disapproval of Trump's decision, he labelled the company as bad.
On Friday Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Trudeau said his government has clarified to the Americans that the flow of essential supplies, products and services both ways between Canada and the United States every day was important, highlighting the example of nurses from Windsor, Ont., who travel to Detroit to work.
Trudeau said, during his daily briefings Saturday that he will not be retaliating as it would hurt both the countries and announced that millions of surgical masks and other supplies are expected to to arrive in Canada Monday on a chartered cargo plane from China.
To resolve this dispute, the Trudeau government is looking to the relationships it established with some of the U.S. political leaders during NAFTA negotiations, including Trump's son-in law and and special advisor, Jared Kushner.
Kushner had played a key role in finalizing NAFTA negotiations with both Mexico and Canada, and can influence Trump in ways that other members of the administration cannot.
Although Kushner had been criticized in Washington, after being assigned key responsibilities within the White House coronavirus task force, the White House is standing by Kushner when he claimed that that the national stockpile of emergency medical equipment is not for use by states.


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According to a press release from Amyris, the company is entering bankruptcy to facilitate a restructuring of its business. It claims that doing so will help it improve its cost structure, capital structure, and liquidity position.
To go along with that, Amyris is seeking to streamline its business portfolio during the bankruptcy. This will see it better focus on its main operations, such as R&D. Part of that includes scaling up, commercializing, and developing its biofermentation platform for sustainable ingredients.
In addition to this, Amyris said that it will exit the consumer brands business. This will have the company putting this business up for sale. However, it plans to still collaborate with the brand even if it changes ownership.
As for continuing operations, lender Foris Ventures has agreed to supply the company with $190 million of debtor-in-possession financing. This funding, if approved by the bankruptcy court, will allow Amyris to continue normal operations throughout its restructuring.
What This Means for AMRS Stock
A bankruptcy filing is never good news for a company’s shares, and that includes AMRS stock. It’s possible the company will face delisting from the Nasdaq Exchange due to this filing. If that happens, the company may choose to trade its shares on an over-the-counter exchange.
As far as stock movement goes, today’s news pushed investors to sell shares of AMRS stock. As a result, more than 6.5 million shares have traded hands this morning. That’s already above the company’s daily average trading volume of about 5.2 million shares.
AMRS stock is down 66.8% as of Thursday morning.
Investors can find more of the latest stock market news ready to go below!
We’ve got breakdowns of all the biggest stock market stories for Thursday! That includes what’s going on with shares of Galera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:GRTX) stock, PHAXIAM Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PHXM) stock, and Capri (NYSE:CPRI) stock today. All of that info is available at the following links!
More Stock Market News for Thursday
- Why Is Galera Therapeutics (GRTX) Stock Down 83% Today?
- Why Is PHAXIAM Therapeutics (PHXM) Stock Up 37% Today?
- Why Is Capri (CPRI) Stock Up 58% Today?
On Penny Stocks and Low-Volume Stocks: With only the rarest exceptions, InvestorPlace does not publish commentary about companies that have a market cap of less than $100 million or trade less than 100,000 shares each day. That’s because these “penny stocks” are frequently the playground for scam artists and market manipulators. If we ever do publish commentary on a low-volume stock that may be affected by our commentary, we demand that InvestorPlace.com’s writers disclose this fact and warn readers of the risk.
On the date of publication, William White did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.


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In less than two weeks, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will go into effect in the European Union—solidifying the most expansive overhaul of privacy regulations in a generation. In addition to the risk of major data breaches, cybercrime and mismanagement of personal data, privacy is now front of mind for governments across the globe.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) ambition is in full swing across Europe this spring as governments roll out visionary strategies to drive the development of world-leading AI technologies.
IBM takes seriously our obligation to preserve the trust of our clients. The Cloud Act in no way alters our stance on government access to client data.
IBM released the following statement on the Senate’s passage of SESTA/FOSTA legislation to combat online sex trafficking:
In 1996, Congress passed the first major overhaul of U.S. telecommunications law in more than 60 years. Tucked away in Title V of the Telecommunications Act was a provision that granted immunity from liability for providers of an “interactive computer service” who publish content from others.
IBM today wrote US Trade Representative Lighthizer urging that internet platforms not be granted broad exemption from liability in US trade agreements.
Data is the phenomenon of our time. It is the world’s new natural resource, growing exponentially not only in quantity but more importantly in form. Every action and interaction, every decision and relationship, every event occurring in any of the world’s complex systems, natural and human-made, is now being expressed as data. Read the introduction […]


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Several carriers offer nonstop flights to European cities from the Fort Lauderdale and Miami international airports, and some will add routes this year.
"This year with fuel prices down, the one bargain that we're likely to see is international flying, and prices for international flying come down," Rick Seaney, co-founder of travel website FareCompare.com, said in a recent podcast.
For European travel, the cheapest days to fly will be March 12, May 15 and Aug. 23, key dates before seasonal prices take effect, Seaney said. Airfares departing on the March and May days are about 15 percent to 30 percent cheaper that those that immediately follow, while Aug. 23 marks the end of peak summer prices, he said.
For Spring Break, although airfares tend to increase sharply, travelers can still snag deals by flying on Tuesday of the spring break week and returning on Saturday, Seaney said. By avoiding weekend-to-weekend flights, you can save up to 50 percent or more.
As for summer, the best airfare bargains will be found if you fly up to the first week in June or after the third week in August, Seaney advised. But whatever the date, travelers should buy their tickets no later than 30 days before departure.
Toronto, New Orleans are among North American favorites this year and China for international travel, while Asheville, N.C., makes it into the top five for laid-back, smaller American cities, according to travel website Orbitz.com.
One upside for South Floridians is that low-cost carriers like Spirit added flights last year, some to hot spots like New Orleans and Asheville.
Spirit's once-daily nonstop service between Fort Lauderdale and New Orleans launched in August, while Allegiant Air added a flight from West Palm Beach to Asheville in May. Allegiant already served Asheville from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
"Spirit is growing rather aggressively again at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood after a few years of focusing its growth elsewhere such as in Dallas," said Seth Kaplan, managing partner of Airline Weekly, a Fort Lauderdale-based publication. "Lately they've been very aggressive against JetBlue, and Fort Lauderdale is a key battleground in that war, and that's good for consumers."
If you plan to parlay airline miles into free or discounted travel rewards, you may be surprised by changes some airlines made to frequent flier programs in 2014.
For consumers, the biggest changes are occurring at Delta and United, which will now grant awards based on how much travelers spend rather than how far they fly, Kaplan said. Southwest, JetBlue and Virgin America are already doing this, he said.
The changes will result in most travelers accumulating fewer miles, and those that spend the most, by purchasing first-class tickets, for example, will earn more than before, Kaplan said. "Airline loyalty programs have become somewhat less generous to the average traveler than was the case in previous decades."
More people will explore cruising as a vacation option in 2015, according to trade group Cruise Lines International Associations, which represents the world's leading cruise lines including Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian.
In 2014, some 21.7 million consumers globally were forecast to take a cruise, the majority from North America, according to CLIA.
The Washington, D.C.-based trade group will officially announce its 2015 cruise forecast and key industry trends on Jan. 27.
European river cruising will continue to blossom in 2015 as more travelers seek to experience an authentic Europe while only unpacking once, said Vicky Garcia, chief operating officer and co-owner of Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative in Coral Springs.
"The smaller river cruise ships allow travelers to get close to the city centers in Europe," Garcia said.
"We expect continued rise in occupancy and rate as we see increasing demand exceeding the new supply [of rooms]," said Bob Diener, a Miami-based industry veteran who's president of hotel booking website GetARoom.com.
Both Fort Lauderdale and Miami are in its top 10 markets for hotels being booked now for 2015, Diener said. "Cold weather is helping demand from air travelers, and lower gas prices are increasing demand for those driving in."
To snag hotel deals in 2015, Diener says travelers should book rooms 14 to 21 days in advance or more; stay weekdays rather than weekends as these tend to be cheaper, particularly at beach hotels; and take advantage of flash sales that offer lower rates for a limited time.
Millennial travelers, especially those aged 18 to 34 years, have a greater desire to travel in 2015 than their older counterparts, according to findings of a recent Hotwire.com survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults. And 70 percent of these younger adults are more likely to have budgeted money for annual travel than those ages 45 and over.
South Florida tourism officials are launching marketing programs to attract more millennials, and some hotels are also making property improvements to better cater to them.
"Millennial travelers are impacting the travel industry in a big way, particularly given their overall excitement and interest in taking more trips," said Henrik Kjellberg, president of the Hotwire Group, in a statement.
More people will travel for business, and corporations will spend more on company trips this year, travel reports and surveys released this week show.
U.S. business travel spending is expected to climb 6.2 percent to $310.2 billion in 2015, according to a report from the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association. And total volume is expected to increase 1.7 percent to 490.4 million trips.
More mobile use, improved technology
As consumers increasingly become tethered to mobile devices even when vacationing, use of wireless Internet services and travel-related mobile sites, as well as mobile payment systems, will continue to rise, experts say.
More hotels are also starting to offer free Wi-Fi.
In February, all Hyatt hotels worldwide will offer free Wi-Fi in guest rooms and social spaces, the hotel chain announced last month.
"Internet connectivity is no longer an amenity. It has become an integral part of travelers' daily lives and a basic expectation," Kristine Rose, vice president of brands for Hyatt Hotels Corp. said in a statement.


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mCig Inc (OTCMKTS:MCIG) has reported an update for its Hemp project and the soon to be launched line of CBD products. The firm is a large company that serves the legalized cannabis market.
The company is focusing on the NYAacres project that is Industrial Hemp on 40 acres. This is a CBD concentrated organic type known as Cherry Wine. It aims to produce 55,000 pounds of flower that will be used in producing organic CBD oil.
Five fields on the certified organic farm are already planted are being closely monitored on a daily basis. So as to enhance production conditions, organic honey bees are being used for cross-pollination in addition to installing irrigation as back up. The hot and long sunny days, as well as the cool nights being experienced in the area, provide an ideal environment for the crop.
Getting into Hemp business
Three years ago, MCIG began selling Hemp/CBD products, but later it unveiled its own VITACBD brand. However, it sold the brand to a public firm after two years. After a while MCIG formed a partnership with the farm, thus, reentering the hemp market.
Since different sectors of the company have experienced growth, MCIG has decided to expand the CBD sector by launching a new line of hemp products. The new products consist of probiotic pet edibles, natural skin cosmetics, and whole spectrum tinctures. The firm seems to have all the pieces of the puzzle. It has a professionally ran hemp farm, a capable research and development team and a dedicated sales team.
MCIG has also revealed that its consulting and construction department has managed to bag another management deal with a Costa Mesa client. The move will bring the total number of contracts to three. The department will now supervise operations across Palm Springs, Sacramento and now Costa Mesa.
MCIG has a legal license to cultivate, manufacture and to supply cannabis products. Thus, it has commenced concept designs for the construction of its own facility in California.


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Today’s desktops and laptops are changing the way people shop, connect, and gather information online. The search engine showdown between Bing and Google is more like a modern version of Pepsi and Coke. What Bing has in its favor is the fact it is automatic in Internet Explorer, the biggest browser in the world. Both engines search the Internet and offer news, images, and information in readable formats. The search engine search landscape is changing.
Both Microsoft and Google have significantly improved the way each performs search for the last few months, applying various techniques to help consumers find what they are looking for. According to statistics from ComScore, Google remains as the search king, getting approximately 66% of searchers, in comparison to Bing with only 15 percent. One search engine is excelling at offering quick results while the other is trying to make its search social, offering information from friends in social networking sites. Experiment with your own notebook and find out which search engine reigns above all others.
Since the Internet has no index for search, users rely on the search engines to look for specific websites, and pages within those sites. So how do these search engine giants measure up to the challenge of filtering irrelevant, junk websites and delivering the appropriate ones? When Google and Bing were both used to look for Obama’s official YouTube channel or the dosage Tylenol (infant), their top results were right. But the difference comes when you search the term “CDC flu vaccine information” on both search engines. Google’s top result showed a chart of the organization’s full data sheet about flu. However, Bing only offered a generalized CDC page containing information about flu.
While the results themselves are very important, the time it takes to get those results is also a crucial factor. Search engine innovations, such as refinements, autocorrect, and Google Instant are certified timesavers. Although the Google Instant feature is a welcome search aid, Bing became zealous in autocorrecting queries. Both Google and Bing automatically corrected wrong spellings but it seems that the latter went far on this experiment. When you search for “Obama’s YouTube channel”, Bing automatically includes the search results for “Barack Obama youtube TV”. But in all circumstances that Bing assumed what users wanted to look for, the results were pretty disappointing.
Bing’s search snapshot column doesn’t have a similar feature on Google. Oftentimes, Google shows map links to the right side of your search results. The new Bing is still on limited release, and snapshots are usually shown when users are searching for commercial data, such as restaurants, flights, and reservations.
Laptops, computers, and tablets have replaced dictionaries, encyclopedias, and books for everyone’s “to go resource” for answers. In general both Google and Bing handle queries with aplomb, offering a wealth of information on various topics. But it seems that Google has a significant edge. If you search for 2012 Oscar winners, Google brings you to a result page with no clicks required. The list of winners for key categories is already displayed atop search results. On the other hand, Bing brings you to the Oscar.com site as its top result, and you need to click through the site for complete information. So as it stands today Google wins over Bing in usability, relativity of search results and overall user experience and the position of Google as the biggest search engine remains unchallenged.


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Salvation Army volunteers are hard at work with their Red Kettle Drive this holiday season, however, the organization still needs your help.
The number of donations so far this year in Erie County is lower than last year.
According to the Salvation Army, that difference is around $8,000. The change in shopping habits is one reason the organization believes donations are down.
With bell ringers scheduled to be out until Christmas Eve, officials hope there is enough time to meet their goal.
“What we really think is beginning to happen is internet shopping is beginning to have a real impact. We’ve seen a change over from our biggest kettles being at retail stores. Now, they’re at grocery stores, because people are still wanting to go out and do their grocery shopping,” said Bernie Myers, Salvation Army Business Administrator.
You can head to the web exclusive section of yourerie.com to watch the full exclusive, only online.


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The Winnipeg Free Press reported some disturbing news today. Tests by the Canadian government, it said, have found that some plastics labeled as being free of bisphenol A — an estrogen-mimicking chemical — actually contain the potentially toxic substance.POLYCARBONATE’S TELL-TALE CRACKLES One distinctive clue to whether plastic food ware is made from BPA-based polycarbonate is the crackling that occurs over time, particularly as the material has been run through a dishwasher. Travis Payne
Canwest News Service unearthed the new government data along with correspondence from government researchers through use of the Access to Information Act — the Canadian equivalent of the Freedom of Information Act.
Animal studies have demonstrated a host of deleterious effects from ingestion of BPA, the basic building block of polycarbonate plastics. And human studies have confirmed that use of polycarbonate food-ware containers releases BPA that can later be found in the body.
Because so many baby bottles and sippy cups have been made from BPA, several municipalities have passed ordinances to ban sales of polycarbonate food ware that might be used by children.
Last year, Canada became the first nation to announce it would ban polycarbonate baby bottles over concerns about BPA health risks. Almost immediately, a host of polycarbonate alternatives — labeled BPA-free — began springing up in the marketplace.
Health Canada researchers were attempting to confirm that these alternatives were indeed BPA-free. Of the nine brands of baby bottles it tested, two hosted the hormone mimic, Canwest’s Sarah Schmidt reports. The name of each brand was blacked out in the materials that had been turned over to Canwest.
According to Schmidt’s account, “The study says ‘traces’ of the toxin [sic] were found in ‘BPA-free’ bottles while internal correspondence between a department official and the lead scientist went further, characterizing the amounts in two brands as ‘high readings.’”
It’s no surprise how BPA gets into polycarbonate food ware. The plastic consists of BPA molecules that have been chemically linked into long chains. However, some of the BPA feedstock never gets bound up into these polymeric chains, which means it’s free to leach into foods and beverages that later make contact with the plastic. The polymers can also break down when the plastic is heated – such as by introducing hot foods, running polycarbonate materials through a dishwasher (even the top rack), or microwaving materials in this plastic. One hint that this breakdown has started: Polycarbonate’s formerly crystal clear appearance takes on a distinctive crackling (see photo).
The big question mark — one that isn’t answered by the Health Canada data — is why BPA should show up in a plastic whose recipe doesn’t include this feedstock. The supposition is that it must be due to some type of cross contamination in the production facilities.
And whether the amount of BPA that Health Canada turned up is especially worrisome remains to be seen. The Canadian press accounts don’t give the values. But regardless of how much is there, the presence of this toxicant in bottles labeled free of it constitutes fraud.
I put a call in to Health Canada first thing this morning to confirm details of the Free Press report and see if I can’t root out additional details. I’ll update this account when I hear back — hopefully yet this morning.UPDATE…~4 P.M.I just heard back from the news office at Health Canada. The data reported this morning evidently came at least in part from a paper published last month in a journal with the unwieldy title: Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A: Chemistry, Analysis, Control, Exposure & Risk Assessment. All six of the report’s authors work for Health Canada in Ottawa.They report a leaching from polycarbonate baby bottles into materials meant to simulate food or beverages at levels ranging from roughly 0.1 microgram per liter (simulating watery beverages) to to 2.4 micrograms/l (simulating fatty foods). Such values were, of course, to be expected, based on earlier work by chemists at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other labs. But the Canadian scientists also detected “trace levels of BPA” from non-polycarbonate bottles and bottle liners. The abstract (which is all I’ve gotten access to thus far) doesn’t identify what constitutes “traces”. But for perspective, the limit of detection for BPA in these tests was a value around a billionth of a gram per liter.Conclude the authors: “This study indicated that non-polycarbonate plastic baby bottles, baby bottle liners and glass baby bottles might be good alternatives for polycarbonate bottles.”


text: JK Tyre’s revenue from operations advanced 63 per cent to Rs 2,927.28 crore.Shares of the country’s leading tyre maker JK Tyre and Industries rose as much as 6.2 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 131 on the BSE a day after it reported March quarter earnings. JK Tyre reported net profit of Rs 189 crore against loss of Rs 107.80 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. Its revenue from operations advanced 63 per cent to Rs 2,927.28 crore compared with Rs 1,792.56 crore in the same quarter last year.The business in the March quarter of last year was impacted adversely due to the strict lockdown imposed by the government to curb the spread of Covid-19, JK Tyre said.”COVID-19 pandemic has caused serious disruptions on the global economic and business environment. Government of India declared lockdown on March 24, 2020 which has impacted the business activities of the Company,” JK Tyre said in a stock exchange filing.Resumption of operations and improved business environment from second quarter onwards resulted in company attaining healthy sales and profitability, JK Tyre added.”The year began with India in lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic and the economy grinding to a halt with Q1FY21 almost a wash out. Economy started opening up gradually from mid-May. As a result of several initiatives taken JK Tyre recovered fast and achieved highest Sales in Q3FY21 & Q4FY21 increasing its market presence. With high capacity utilization, control on costs and reduced working capital, special focus on customer outreach and premium products offering, profitability improved significantly. Similarly, JK Tyre subsidiaries – Cavendish Industries and JK Tornel also added to substantial overall improvement in the profitability of the Company,” Raghupati Singhania, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), JK Tyre said in a statement.On a consolidated basis, JK Tyre’s net revenues stood at Rs 2,945 crore up by 63 per cent, its EBITDA or operating profit came in at Rs 472 crore and profit before tax (PBT) and profit after tax (PAT) on y-o-y basis stood at Rs 281 crore and Rs 195 crore respectively.As of 11:15 am, JK Tyre shares traded 3 per cent higher at Rs 127.35, outperforming the Sensex which was trading on a flat note.


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The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that Nigeria’s inflation rate for the month of April 2020 increased by 12.34 percent (year-on-year).The NBS said in its monthly report of the consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation that the rate was 0.08 percent points higher than the rate 12.26 percent recorded in March 2020.
It noted that on month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 1.02 percent in April 2020, representing 0.18 percent rate higher than the rate recorded in March 2020 of 0.84 percent.
According to the report, increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the Headline index.
It added that the corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 12.26 percent in April 2020. This is higher than 12.15 percent reported in March 2020, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in April 2020 is 11.20 percent compared to 11.14 percent recorded in March 2020.
“On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 1.06 percent in April 2020, up by 0.18 from 0.88 percent recorded in March 2020, while the rural index also rose by 0.98 percent in April 2020, up by 0.18 from the rate recorded in March 2020 (0.80) percent.
“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending April 2020 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 11.71 percent, showing 0.09 percent point rise from 11.62 percent recorded in March 2020.
“The urban inflation rate increased by 13.01 percent (year-on-year) in April 2020 from 12.93 percent recorded in March 2020, while the rural inflation rate increased by 11.73 percent in April 2020 from 11.64 percent in March 2020,” the report said.
According to the NBS, the composite food index rose by 15.03 percent in April 2020 compared to 14.98 percent in March.
“This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of potatoes, yam and other tubers as well as bread and cereals, fish, oils and fats, meat, fruits and vegetables,” the NBS said.


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iPhone security threats skyrocketted in 2021! Here is a WARNING and what you can do
Atlas VPN, an online privacy company has found almost 400 gaps in Apple iPhone security programming. This news comes after it was found that the security of other tech companies was exposed on a similar level in 2021. Read on to find out more.
First Published Date: 19 Apr, 10:59 IST
NEXT ARTICLE BEGINS


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Secure communications provider Wickr has announced that it will shutter its free encrypted messaging app, Wickr Me, next year.
The shutdown will only affect the consumer-facing version of Wickr, which has become popular among journalists and whistleblowers looking to send end-to-end encrypted and self-destructing messages. Wickr’s other products, which are geared towards government agencies, military organizations, and enterprises, won’t be impacted.
“After careful consideration, we will be concentrating Wickr’s focus on securing our business and public sector customers’ data and communications with AWS Wickr and Wickr Enterprise, and have decided to discontinue our consumer product, Wickr Me,” Amazon said, adding that the company was working on allowing Wickr customers to securely communicate with individuals outside of their organization.
Amazon-owned Wickr is shutting down its free encrypted messaging app by Carly Page originally published on TechCrunch


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Kate Middleton is becoming a Book Fairy for the day.
The Duchess of Cambridge is working with the Book Fairies to give away free copies of her Hold Still book on its release day. The organization urges readers to share books they have read by leaving them in public spaces for others to find,
Kensington Palace shared a clip of the royal leaving copies around her residency, each adorned with a gold book-fairy sticker, a gold ribbon, and a letter from the duchess tucked inside.
The message stated the Hold Still judges and participants of the final 100 were leaving copies at places that gave them hope during the lockdown.
To make this activity even more special, book fairies, the Hold Still judges and participants of the final 100 images are leaving copies at places that gave them hope during the lockdown.
This special book documenting the unique collection of photographs goes on sale today! pic.twitter.com/JpmgdOQYzk
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) May 7, 2021
The post comes after Kate shared a number of phone calls with kids featured in her new photo book.
The royal’s new release includes photos of the U.K. during the pandemic lockdown. One photo features young Mila, who was diagnosed with leukemia, and who was at one point isolated from her family to protect her from COVID-19.
In another conversation, the duchess spoke with a woman named Gimba, who is featured in a photo wearing her blue scrubs and enjoying a takeout meal.
See more in the clip below.
Hold Still is out now.


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Tech giant Apple has posted a record September quarter revenue of USD 64.7 billion, with strong performance across markets including India
Bengaluru: Tech giant Apple has posted a record September quarter revenue of USD 64.7 billion, with strong performance across markets including India.
"Geographically, we set September quarter records in the Americas, Europe and Rest of Asia Pacific. We also set a September quarter record in India, thanks in part to a very strong reception to this quarter's launch of our online store in the country," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an earnings call.
In September, Apple launched its first online store in India - a market that is dominated by Android smartphones.
Apple, which competes in the premium smartphone segment in India with players like Samsung and OnePlus, has been aggressively ramping up its presence in the Indian market.
The US-based company, in collaboration with partners like Wistron and Foxconn, had recently started assembling iPhone 11 in India.
According to research firm Canalys, the tech giant's renewed focus on India paid off with a double-digit growth to nearly 8,00,000 units in the region during the July-September 2020 quarter.
A Counterpoint report had noted that Apple led the premium segment (over Rs 30,000) surpassing OnePlus even before its flagship launch, driven by strong demand for its iPhone SE 2020 and the iPhone 11. Its latest offering, iPhone 12 will further strengthen its position in the December quarter, it had noted.
India's smartphone shipments in the premium segment (priced above Rs 30,000) was one of the least affected segments and reached its highest-ever share in the overall India smartphone market, contributing more than 4 per cent in total smartphone shipments, as per Counterpoint.
Apple, in its statement, said international sales accounted for 59 per cent of the revenue (USD 64.7 billion) for the fourth quarter ended September 26, 2020.
"Despite the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, Apple is in the midst of our most prolific product introduction period ever, and the early response to all our new products, led by our first 5G-enabled iPhone lineup, has been tremendously positive," Cook said in the statement.
He added that Apple capped off a fiscal year defined by innovation in the face of adversity with a September quarter record, led by all-time records for Mac and Services.
"We also achieved new September quarter records in the vast majority of countries that we track, including among others the US, Canada Brazil, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Russia, India, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, Apple CFO Luca Maestri said on the investor call.
Apple's products revenue was at USD 50.1 billion, while services set an all-time record of USD 14.5 billion.
Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.
Last Updated Oct 30, 2020, 1:49 PM IST


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Posted On 13 Sep 2016
80 business meetings with the participation of Ecuadorian producers and exporters of bananas, coffee, cocoa, chocolate, fish, shrimp and frozen vegetables were recorded during the Moscow World Food Fair, held from 12 to 15 September, in Russia. Eleven Ecuadorian companies achieved sales commitments of about $ 12 million during a business conference organized by the commercial office of Pro Ecuador in the Eurasian country, within the framework of this fair.
According to statistics of the Federal Customs Service of Russia, in the first half of 2016 domestic exports to Russia amounted to $ 659 million, growing by 11% compared to 2015. Ecuadorian exports to the Russian market are mainly bananas and flowers. In the first half of this year the Ecuadorian banana exports increased to $ 541 million, exceeding by 13% those of the previous period.
Regarding flowers, Ecuador remains a leader among exporting countries of this product to Russia, with a market share of around 40%. At the same time 12 flower exporting companies will participate along with Pro Ecuador at the Flowers Expo 2016, to be held from 13 to 15 September in the Russian capital.


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Epilog Laser, industry leaders in the engraving, cutting and marking space, recently celebrated the company’s 30th anniversary at Denver’s Mile High Station, following a two-day North American Sales Meeting.
“The anniversary party was a huge success,” said Mike Dean, vice president of sales and marketing for Epilog, as well as one of the company’s founders. “To see so many familiar faces from the past three decades was simply incredible. I’m so grateful to everyone – our employees, distributors, and our industry partners - who were able to come and help us celebrate this important milestone.”
Epilog Laser got its start in 1988 when two Georgia Tech buddies – Steve Garnier and John Doran, Epilog’s president and CEO and vice president of engineering, respectively - combined their talents to create the industry’s first small-format, computer-controlled laser engraving and cutting system.
Dean came on board not long after and the trio worked tirelessly to become game-changers in the laser engraving space.
“One of the things Epilog prides itself on is our sense of family and community,” Dean said. “It was heartwarming to look out into a crowd of 300+ and feel like we were all surrounded by family. We can’t wait to see what the next 30 years have in store.”
To learn more about Epilog’s 30-year journey, click here.
Press Contact for Epilog Laser:
Amy Dallman, Marketing Communications Specialist
Email Amy Dallman
About Epilog Laser
Since 1988, Epilog Laser has been designing and manufacturing flying-optics-based CO2 and fiber laser systems that can engrave and cut wood, acrylic, plastic, fabric, rubber and many other materials. Epilog specializes in developing laser systems that create unprecedented marking and cutting quality on all types of products. The company produces versatile and reliable systems that are affordable and easy to use. For more information, visit www.epiloglaser.com.


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The Baselworld 2016 begins today in Basel, Switzerland. The watch makers have made already their big announcement ahead of the opening of the show. New smartwatches share the spotlight with new masterpieces in mechanical watch making.
The Baselworld 2016 opens its doors today, Thursday, March 17. This is the most important trade show for watch makers. The traditional watch making will continue to collide with consumer electronics as smartwatches advance. The Apple Watch has not yet been on the market at last year's Baselworld, but smartwatches have already been a big topic.
Don't Miss: Sam's Club Black Friday 2016 Details
Baselworld is an experience every watch fan should have enjoyed at least once. The presentation of the luxury time pieces is a thing of beauty. See the new photos of the Baselworld 2016 show floor capturing the unique athmosphere.
This year more watch makers than ever before feature a smartwatch in their line-up. Movado announced at the Baselworld 2016 to bring their HP based smartwatch technology to their brand portfolio including Coach and Hugo Boss watches.
Samsung breaks into the luxury watch segment with a partnership with de GRISOGONO and unveiled the Samsung Gear S2 by de GRISOGONO at the Baselworld 2016. The price of the limited luxury Gear S2 is not known yet.
Tag Heuer has no big news for its Smartwatch offering. The Swiss watchmaker only announced a leather strap for its successful $1,500 Tag Heuer Connected Android Wear smartwatch.
Fossil, which acquired Misfit last year, has its own little Baselworld exhibition featuring their new line of smartwatches along other watches.
The luxury time pieces are still dominating Baselworld 2016. Watches that have a price tag of a car are still thriving and have their place in the market. Breitling unveiled at the Baselworld the Breitling Avenger Hurricane and the Breitling Superocean ChronoWorks.
Tag Heuer has no big smartwatch news, but unveiled six new Tag Heuer watches including the new Tag Heuer Carrera Heuer 02T and new Heritage Tag Heuer Monza.
Don't Miss: See the first leaked Black Friday 2016 Ad
Baselworld 2016 expects 150,000 visitors over the coming week including about 4,000 journalists from around the world. Read all Baselworld 2016 News.


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The iPhone is 10. Its streak is in danger
The iPhone has come a long way since it debuted in 2007 as a no-keyboard, AT&T only and (for the time) expensive phone option.
According to company data from 2016:
- The billionth iPhone was sold last July.
- Apple has more than 2 million apps available, and they have been downloaded more than 140 billion times.
- The apps have paid out around $50 billion in revenue to developers.
- Apple music has over 17 million subscribers and has posted more than 30 million songs.
That era is in danger: In December, the Nikkei Asian Review reported that Apple slashed iPhone 6 production due to accumulated inventory, and lowered production of the new iPhone 7 by 20%. Apple will trim iPhone sales by 10% in the first quarter of 2017, according to Nikkei.
What's next: As iPhone growth slows, Apple knows it needs to keep innovating to stay relevant — such as with artificial intelligence — where rivals Amazon and Google are making big strides.