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Will American fast-food chains in Russia lose sales because of geopolitical tension between the U.S. and Russia over Thursday's airstrikes on Syria?
"Any time you have geopolitical tension, you can typically have some backlash," said Jack Russo, an analyst at Edward Jones. "As I think back upon instances when this has happened, you have a short-term consequence in that consumers stay away from Western brands. If there's good brand equity, the customers will flock back."
In spite of harsh words between Washington and Moscow, Russo said that the conflict may be lost on some Russian consumers, especially younger ones, that are unaware that some fast-food players are American companies. And other customers, he added, especially the younger ones don't really care about differences between the two countries and dine out where they choose.
McDonald's (MDM) is strongly identified as American, Russo added. And among all American fast-food companies, it by far has the strongest presence in Russia—601 stores at the end of 2016, about double the number from 2011.
However, Russia has taken action against McDonald's in recent years. Three years ago, just as the U.S. criticized Russia for its Ukraine invasion, a Russian agency shut down four McDonald's in Moscow citing health violations.
McDonald's did not respond to a request for comment.
Dave Henkes, an industry analyst for Technomic, said it was "too early to tell" whether Russia will use punitive actions against American companies operating there. Similar to what Russo said, Henkes believes that the average Russian citizen doesn't care enough about the airstrikes to boycott American businesses. Plus, he added, many of the Russian outlets of American stores are owned or run or both by Russians. "It [a ban or shutdown] ends up hurting local people," he said.
Russia has a history of taking retaliatory measures against countries and regions that disagree with its politics. It has restricted the importation of wine from Georgia and dairy products from Belarus after those countries began warming up to the West. And in 2014, President Vladimir Putin ordered an embargo, responding to economic sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis, of meat, poultry, fish, dairy and produce from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Norway and the European Union.
Other America-based restaurant chains with stores in Russia are: Starbucks (SBUX) - Get Report , Dunkin' Brands (DNKN) - Get Report , Wendy's (WEN) - Get Report and Yum! Brands (YUM) - Get Report , which owns KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. None of those companies, except for Dunkin' Brands, responded to a request for comment.
Henkes said that he believes the American companies and their crisis teams are aware of the potential for problems and monitoring the situation to be ready should they be targeted by the government or protesters.
"We've neither seen nor heard of any issues," a spokesman for Domino's Pizza (DPZ) - Get Report wrote in an email to TheStreet on Friday. "Events around the world generally don't have any short-term impact on our business. The stores in Russia are owned by local operators and are not necessarily seen as an American brand."
Dominos opened its first store in Russia in 1999 and currently has 78 there—63 of which debuted in the last five years. All are owned by local franchisees.
Dunkin' Brands' Dunkin' Donuts entered Russia in 2010, and its Baskin-Robbins, in 1988. The company has 38 Dunkin' Donuts restaurants and 266 Baskin-Robbins shops in Russia, which are owned and operated by its local licensees.


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Reminiscent of the MacOS versus Windows wars of the 1980’s, a market showdown is brewing between Microsoft’s Windows CE and Palm Computing’s Palm OS. And like that cold-war battle of the recent past, Microsoft finds itself once again in the role of come-from-behind kid.
At least, for now.
What does this face-off ultimately mean for consumers? Whether they know it or not, most consumers have a similar dream with a similar destination–a handheld Shangri-La, of sorts. And one thing’s for sure: Microsoft and Palm are leading consumers on entirely different product paths to get them there.
So just what is this Shangri-La, and what paths are these two combatants taking to reach it? Well, for starters, let’s explore the three cornerstones of Shangri-La.
First, there’s functionality. By this we mean things like a color display, a fast processor, good handwriting recognition, stereo sound, wireless email and Internet access, and a full portfolio of standard applications. Unfortunately, no device has all of these features just yet. Second, there’s a small package, not to be confused with a, um, small package. For handheld computers this means one thing, a device that easily slips into your shirt pocket. Only the Palm V really meets this criterion, though others, like the Casio E-15 and the Aero 1520, come awfully close. And third, there’s reasonably priced, which translates to less than $500, the threshold for handhelds. Most–not all–devices meet this price point.
Obviously, no device can do all of this at this time.
So who will be the first to reach the promised land? Well, that’s where Microsoft’s and Palm Computing’s paths diverge.
Microsoft, admittedly, bet the farm on functionality, gambling that Moore’s Law would ultimately kick in and make size and price non-issues. Microsoft envisioned these devices as small computers, while Palm Computing saw them as electronic organizers. Big difference. Palm Computing, meanwhile, put its money on the package, insisting that, above all else, size matters. But Palm is keenly aware that eventually it must play in the functionality sandbox.
So it’s quite apparent that both parties must alter their paths to reach Shangri-La. And while noted business-cheerleader Tom Peters says, “You can’t shrink yourself to greatness,” that is exactly what Microsoft is counting on for the future of Windows CE. Word is, Microsoft will trim its next release of Windows CE, code-named Rapier. And at least two of its manufacturing partners, Casio and Compaq, have already released thinner models.
Palm Computing, on the other hand, has begun exploring ways to expand the functionality of its Palm OS. And Handspring, a Palm licensee, will begin shipping Palm-clones with enhanced capabilities later this month.
All in all, it’s a coin toss. Will Palm Computing be able to add functionality before Microsoft and its manufacturing partners reduce size?
For that, let’s look at computing history. Have you seen the slim, new NEC Z1 and Gateway Profile desktop computers? How about the super-thin notebook computers from Sony and Sharp? Obviously, there’s a noteworthy history of computers that run Microsoft operating systems becoming smaller in size, yet increasingly more powerful.
On the flip side, has an operating system ever grown significantly in functionality? Sure. But it often takes a completely new OS, like NT or Windows 95, to actually do it. And, there’s the rub. Has Palm Computing ever done this in the past? No.
That’s one of the main reasons (the other being the growth curve of the business market versus the growth curve of the consumer market) why many industry analysts, including Brighthand, are predicting that Windows CE will eventually overtake Palm OS in the marketplace.
Tell us three years from now if we were wrong.

domain: news


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Amid the global supply chain relocation, Taiwan's investments are increasingly gaining attention in India. Ben Wang, former director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in Chennai and current representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Papua New Guinea, recommends Taiwan-based firms avoid using experiences in China or Vietnam in managing their facilities in India, and capitalize on the opportunity when Chinese investments are largely restricted in India.
Wang told DIGITIMES Asia in an exclusive interview that India's interest in Taiwan is growing due to Taiwan's outstanding performance during the pandemic, its dominance in semiconductor manufacturing, its key providers for EV components, and Taiwan's role in electronics manufacturing as companies embraced WFH. India may benefit significantly if Taiwan's investments in India generate a lot of jobs.
Difficulties with retaining talents
Taiwan's investments in India have been relatively small compared with that of Japan and South Korea. According to Wang, many Taiwanese investments failed before, leading to cautiousness from Taiwan-based companies toward India. Taiwanese companies had difficulties retaining talent as expats sent to India might find little leisure and entertainment at Indian facilities.
According to data from the Investment Commission of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan, approved outward investments from Taiwan to India totaled US$1,222 million between 1952 and November 2022, though increasing rapidly, still far less than most major Southeast Asian economies, such as Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Furthermore, Wang said the biggest challenge for Taiwan-based companies in India is their limited understanding of local cultures, such as caste and religion, and their attempts to apply their experiences in China or Vietnam to India.
Wang believes that India's time has come as the world is looking for the next world factory after China, especially when global inflation lingers. India's low labor cost and large population, a two-billion-people market if other South Asian countries are included, represent enormous opportunities for Taiwanese companies looking for diversified production and emerging market.
Taiwanese companies to fill the void left by China
Besides, the souring relationship between China and India provides an opportunity for Taiwanese companies, as India has restricted investments and business travels from neighboring China, allowing Taiwanese companies to fill the void when Chinese investments are absent.
Wang recommended Chennai as one of the best locations for investments, as mobile and automobile ecosystems are in place, in addition to a port required for electric vehicles that have to be shipped through sea routes.
Meanwhile, thanks to local engineers and fabless design houses, Bangalore and Hyderabad are also options worthy of investment for manufacturing PCs and mobile devices, which could be shipped by air. Still, Chennai may be a better place than Bangalore to invest in India for Taiwan-based companies, Wang said.
There are difficulties as well as opportunities ahead for Taiwan-based companies investing in India. According to Wang, Taiwanese firms may not rely on past experiences in China and Vietnam for managing their factories in India and should actively keep in touch with government officials and local communities.
'Taiwan towns', where entertainment facilities, such as gyms, malls, and theaters are offered besides production lines, are necessary for companies to retain expats sent from Taiwan. Companies from Taiwan in India must work together instead of competing for limited resources such as the labor force, and the supply chains, Wang said.
Taiwan-based companies have to choose their Indian partners carefully when investing in India. Big conglomerates such as Tata and Mahindra may help thanks to their understanding of the local market, while Taiwanese firms may also collaborate with Japanese counterparts as they have begun investing in India 40 years ago.
Local governments in India are wooing investments in electronics manufacturing and electric vehicles - a situation that companies from Taiwan could use as bargaining chips when investing in India. According to Wang, neighboring cities in different states, such as Sri City in Andhra Pradesh and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, or Bangalore in Karnataka and Hosur in Tamil Nadu, are willing to offer better deals than their counterparts to attract Taiwanese investments.
Approved outward investment from Taiwan (US$ m)
Source: Investment Commission of MOEA of Taiwan, December 2022
Credit: DIGITIMES Asia
Ben Wang studied finance, computer science, and cross-cultural studies at Feng China Univerisity, the University of Detroit, and Fu Jen Catholic University, respectively. He served as a diplomat since the 1990s, and was appointed as minister of the Embassy of the Republic of China in 2019 before becoming the director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in Chennai in 2020 and representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Papua New Guinea in 2022.


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Honda says aims to boost global car sales by 15 percent this year
TOKYO (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co (7267.T) aims to increase its global car sales by 15 percent to 4.40 million vehicles in calendar 2013, from 3.82 million vehicles last year, a company executive said on Thursday.
Honda, Japan's third-biggest automaker, aims to sell 750,000 vehicles in China this year, up from 604,000 vehicles in 2012, Executive Vice President Tetsuo Iwamura told reporters.
- Exclusive: Radar data suggests missing Malaysia plane flown deliberately toward Andamans - sources
- Investigators focus on foul play behind missing plane: sources |
- Search for Malaysian plane may extend to Indian Ocean - U.S |
- Russia blocks internet sites of Putin critics
- Tire blows out on passenger jet taking off from Philadelphia airport


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Downpour fails to rain on Toyworld's parade
On Saturday, children, parents, friends and grand parents all braved the dreary morning's downpour to get a glimpse inside the region's newest toy store.
Toyworld Gladstone opened its doors at 9am, smack bang in the middle of the first real rain the town has seen in months.
But the weather didn't take away from the grand opening in the slightest, co-owner Dennis Boyce said.
"The store (was) full all day, everyone in Gladstone (came) down and supported us, it (was) flat out all day ...," Mr Boyce said.
Despite getting wetter with every puddle they had to step in to get to the store, the children and adults determined to pay Toyworld Gladstone a visit were immediately rewarded once inside, with free face painting, balloons, a jumping castle and give-aways on offer to customers.
Mr Boyce said the opening had been extremely popular and that the store had almost run out of balloons by 10am because of how many people had already showed up.
"It's overwhelming. It's been unreal."
Mr Boyce and his wife Katrina Boyce opened the store at 89 Hanson Rd together, after realising a lot of Toyworld Gladstone customers were driving up to Rockhampton from Gladstone in order to get their hands on some goodies for the kids.
"We think it's a viable prospect to have a Gladstone store to provide that service for the community," Mr Boyce, who also owns the Rockhampton store, said.
When asked how successful he hoped the store would continue to be in Gladstone, the co-owner said he and his wife knew Gladstone was "a very stable town."
"Sure we had the LNG, it's come and gone, but Gladstone was here long before LNG, so we're very confident in the town being able to support us.
Proving the new Toyworld Gladstone wasn't just a hit with the kids, Manuella Cuda said she was very excited by the opening.
"I collect puzzles, and once I'm finished building them I frame them and hang them up in the house," she said, holding two new 1000-piece puzzles.
Customer Belinda Moore brought four children to the big opening, each of whom was given $20 to pick their own new toy.
"It's really great, it'll save us big time at Christmas too," she said.
As they waited in line, young'ins Ava Hughes and Bri Naggs hugged their new family doll sets to their chests, which they each picked out with the 20 bucks.
Toyworld Gladstone employee Khloe Thring, 15, said it was her love for people and kids that gave her job the most meaning.
"It's my first job and it's also a great way to interact with people and gain customer service skills."
Toyworld Gladstone's opening day ended at 4pm on Saturday. The store's first Christmas catalogue will be released on Tuesday.


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February 17, 2017
AdAsia Holdings launches in-feed native ad formats, expands to Cambodia
SINGAPORE – 16 February 2017 – AdAsia Holdings, an advertising technology company and creator of the AdAsia Digital Platform, has today launched in-feed native ad formats for both desktop and mobile devices.
Available through the AdAsia Ad Network, these native content ad units are added to AdAsia’s growing native advertising offerings including out-stream video and Parallax.
Marketers can also track these efforts alongside display and video advertising, and social media marketing activities through a single, transparent reporting dashboard, available through the AdAsia Digital Platform.
Kosuke Sogo, CEO and co-founder of AdAsia Holdings said: “Enabling businesses and marketers across Asia to easily leverage on modern marketing means we have to provide the best ways for them to reach their desired audiences.”
“We are working with our publishers in the AdAsia Ad Network to roll-out our native ad formats across all our markets. Native advertising coupled with the ability to purchase programmatically creates a more relevant and less disruptive advertising experience for users,” said Otohiko Kozutsumi, COO and co-founder of AdAsia Holdings.
“We are looking to raise not only the standard of marketing but also the standard of online properties where the ads are shown. That is why we’ve moved into emerging markets like Phnom Penh and Hanoi, enabling them from an early stage,” said Sogo.
Publishers and media owners can customize the styling of their in-feed native ad units, including the addition of images and logos, for greater blending into their online properties.
New office in Cambodia
The company has also entered Cambodia with the launch of an office in Phnom Penh.
Similar to the move into Hanoi, the Phnom Penh expansion serves as a means to enable Cambodian marketers and businesses to leverage on modern marketing technologies including programmatic media buying and data-driven influencer marketing.
Sogo said: “In the past year there has been a rise in mobile device and social media usage, along with mobile broadband penetration in Cambodia. Our offerings including Parallax, CastingAsia and other mobile solutions, will allow us to enable marketers to capture users in a fast-emerging market.”
“We are also looking to grow the AdAsia Ad Network and AdAsia Video Network, enabling publishers to easily enhance yield from their online properties, and open clients to premium ad inventory in Cambodia,” he added.
This is the company’s seventh office and sixth country since starting out in April 2016, allowing the company to provide localized solutions and services to marketers across Asia.
AdAsia’s office in Cambodia is located at 18/F Canadia Bank Tower, No. 315, Ang Doung St, Corner Monivong Blve, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
March 24, 2017
SpotX, the video inventory management platform for media owners, announced key appointments for the Asia Pacific region with a hire in Indonesia and staff relocation…
March 16, 2017
Wondered what the highlights of this year’s SXSW Interactive Festival at Austin, Texas were? The team from MEC reports that looking at SXSW 2017 overall and its…
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Yahoo Singapore has launched Yahoo Storytellers, a content marketing solution for brands and agencies that leverages Yahoo’s editorial expertise, extensive data, and native advertising through Yahoo Gemini. Now…


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The Government of Andhra Pradesh will organize Navaratri Bommala Koluvu competition for Navaratri 2011 on October 6th 2011, on Dasara. Bommala Koluvu is the popular ritual celebrated during Navaratri in Andhra Pradesh.
Displaying dolls or exhibition of dolls is known as Bommala koluvu in Telugu. The cultural department of Andhra Pradesh has decided to organize this event at Ravindra Bharathi in Hyderabad.
The enthusiastic people have to display their Bommala Koluvu on mentioned date and in mentioned place. The winners will get the cash prize of 5000 rupees and certificate of appreciation. For more details you can contact the mobile number – 9848 99 2826.


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Price rises push US soy beyond reach of poor
Tempeh and tofu used to be an inexpensive protein staple for many in developing countries, but with the price of imported US soybeans remain high, even that supposed luxury is falling beyond the means of many of the world's poor.
September 8, 2008 By Associated Press/Brandon Sun
September 8, 2008
With the dollar a day he earns scrounging for scrap metal and paper, Jumadi can't buy his family beef or even chicken. But until now, the rail-thin scavenger could at least afford soy.
His wife and two children snacked on slabs of fried fermented soy, known as tempeh, and tossed the cake-like staple into bland bowls of noodles and soup. The soy provided protein, and it was cheap.
Not any more. The cost of tempeh and tofu has doubled to record highs, driven by the soaring price of soybeans imported from the United States.
"What kind of life is this?" complained the 25-year-old, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name, as he stood outside his plywood shack that was buzzing with flies. "I just eat crackers now."
The cost of soy is spreading hunger on the country's main island of Java, where millions of poor and working-class families depend on tofu and tempeh every day. It is also devastating an entire local industry based on soy products. Hundreds of factories have closed, thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest soy prices and at least one soy vendor killed himself after falling into debt.
The lessons of the soy crunch, however, go far beyond Indonesia.
Over the past decade, Indonesia went from growing more than half its soy to relying on the U.S. for 70 percent of it. Now the poor among this country's 220 million people are going hungry because of changes thousands of miles beyond their shores. It is the same story for dozens of countries that came to depend on richer nations for cheap food, only to find themselves squeezed when prices start rising last year.
"There has been a drastic change in prices and these smaller countries have little to say. They basically have to take it," said Abdolreza Abbassian, a grain economist with the FAO. "They were exposed to the negative sides of globalization, rather than the positive."
Soy has long been a staple in Indonesia. But in the 1990s, farmers complained that it was too expensive to grow because the government did not provide cheap seed or low-interest loans. At the same time, they could not compete with cheaper, better soy from countries like the United States, where farmers had advanced technology and government subsidies.
Ruslan, who farms 7 1/2 acres of land in Ponorogo in East Java, planted soybean for two decades. But in the late 1990s, the 50-year-old farmer began growing melons, corn, onions and chili instead.
"I got out of the soybean business because the cost of production was so high that I was not making any profit," he said. "Since I switched to corn and melons, I've always had a good profit."
Because of farmers like Ruslan, Indonesia's soy production dropped over the past nine years from 1.4 million tons to around 700,000. The country stopped fixing prices for imported soy, and this year eliminated import tariffs on soybeans.
At first the imports worked fine. Beans were big, prices were low and people were happy.
But Indonesia was now dependent on the soy fields of the U.S. And it paid the price when the Mississippi River flooded in June, leaving thousands of acres of soybeans waterlogged. By July, soybean futures were up 82 percent over the past year, although they have come down since.
Indonesia also felt the ripples from a new demand for alternative fuels.
About 20 percent of soy now goes to make biodiesel in the U.S., up from almost nothing three years ago, the FAO said. And the demand for corn to make ethanol has prompted American farmers like Larry Gleason and Tim Henning to switch away from soy.
Gleason, his three brothers and his dad split 3,500 acres in central Illinois evenly between soy and corn until last spring. Now 70 percent goes to corn.
"It's like any other business: You try to find where you're going to make the most money," Gleason said.
Because of the demand for ethanol, the U.S. expanded corn production by 23 percent in 2007, the World Bank found. At the same time, it reduced soybean fields by 16 percent.
Henning calculated last spring that corn brought $75 to $85 more profit per acre than soy. So in 2007, he planted 50 more acres of corn on his 800-acre Minnesota farm and that much less soy. At a time when costs have risen for fuel, fertilizer, machinery and land, Henning is trying to squeeze what money he can from the earth.
"A number of years ago, the farmer got blamed because corn and bean prices were too cheap and farmers overseas were going broke," said Henning, 50. "Now, they are saying the prices are too high and people can't afford to buy the food. So, we kind of feel we are in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation."
Fuel costs are making it more expensive not just to grow soy, but also to transport it to faraway places like Indonesia by truck, rail and ship. Prices have gone up further because of a shortage of containers from the booming demand from India and China, said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Iowa-based Soy Transportation Coalition.
The cost of shipping soy from the Midwest to ports in the Pacific Northwest and onward to Asia has increased from $32 a metric ton two years ago to $80, according to Mark Klein, a spokesman for Minnesota-based Cargill Inc., one of four companies that import soybeans to Indonesia.
"You add it all up and to take a bean from the Dakotas/Minnesota to the Far East is now $1.90 a bushel more than two years ago," Klein said. "That tells part of the story."
The story of the soybean ends back in Indonesia, in cities like Bandung, famous for its tempeh and tofu industry.
Streets in this West Java city are lined with shops selling crispy tempeh crackers and vendors with small carts offering meatball soup with tofu to passing motorists. Hundreds of mom-and-pop operations make tofu and tempeh, Young men fry soy in vats of oil or ferment the pea-size beans in wicker baskets.
With slim profit and no cash on hand, few were prepared when soy prices started rising steadily in August 2007. Since then, soybean prices have jumped 50 percent to a record high — or about twice the rates in 2004.
The price of kerosene and cooking oil rose at the same time. Almost 300 producers in Bandung shut their doors this year.
"If the price keeps going up, maybe the tofu and tempeh industry will disappear," said H. Akil Dermawi, who heads Bandung's tempeh and tofu cooperative. "We know the global economic situation doesn't support micro businesses like tofu and tempeh makers."
One such maker is Syahroni, who came to the West Java town a poor farmer. Over the past decade, he built a successful business selling tempeh to 150 vendors in the city and converted a ground floor room in his Bandung house into a factory.
But since January, he has had to raise his prices 25 percent to cover rising costs, and has reduced the size of his tempeh portions. He promptly lost a third of his customers and profits fell by half.
"In the past, this was profitable. You can see I bought a house," said the 34-year-old father of two. "But now, it's difficult to even buy food for my children. Last year, I could go on a holiday. Now, I can't go anywhere."
Slamet, a street vendor who sold cubes of deep-fried tofu from a cart in the village of Cidemang a few hours outside Jakarta, fared even worse.
For nine years, he worked the town's main street. He brought in a few dollars a day, enough to feed his two children and afford a simple two-room house near the main market.
But as prices peaked in January, he fell 2 million rupiah ($220) in debt, became depressed and stopped eating. His wife came home Jan. 14 to find him hanging by a rope in one of the family's two bedrooms. He was 45.
"He couldn't take the higher prices," said his wife Nuriah, breaking down in tears inside the family's house. "He said there was no point in selling. Now, there is no one to bring in money."
The day he killed himself, thousands of people converged on the capital, Jakarta, to demand that the government provide relief from rising soy prices. The demonstrations sent a chill through a government that still remembers how protests over food prices sparked the overthrow of the Suharto regime more than a decade ago.
The government responded by providing subsidized cooking oil and rice to 19 million households and offering subsidized soybeans to more than 100,000 small tofu and tempeh producers. It also launched a plan to spend more on agriculture and offer incentives like cheap fertilizer, but Indonesia will not be able to meet its own demand for soy until at least 2015.
There is now talk of giving the state the power to set the price for imported soybeans, which worries Ali Basry, the American Soybean Association's country representative. Basry said the rising prices are simply a reflection of market forces.
"Suddenly, the government is trying to calm the situation by putting a subsidy on the bean price," he said. "I don't know."
But tofu and tempeh producers want fixed prices and accuse importers of profiting from the volatility. They are convinced the problem remains the country's dependence on imports.
"My customers get angry because the pieces of tofu are smaller," said Sukarndar, a 38-year-old vendor in Jakarta, who buys freshly baked brown tofu daily at a neighborhood factory and resells it for a few cents at a nearby market.
"I tell them the soybeans come from America," he said, his voice rising in anger. "It is not our fault. I'm being oppressed because of prices in the United States."


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Alstom recorded a sales revenue of over 16.5 billion euros in the 2022-2023 financial year. The acquisition of Bombardier lead to Alstom becoming one of the leading rolling stock manufacturers in Europe in 2019, combining its market shares of 16 percent to Bombardier’s 28 percent. Alstom’s workforce worldwide also rose in 2023 to over 80,000 employees as Bombardier Transportation’s personnel was included in the company.
Covid-19 pandemic financial impactRolling stocks represented over half Alstom’s global revenue in 2022, making it the largest segment of the company. While the company had a revenue increase of over 6.6 percent between the 2020/21 and 2022/23 financial years, its earnings before interest and taxes increased by over 100 million euros during that same period. This is in part due to the continuing economic recovery after the fiscal fallout caused by Covid-19 pandemic, which impacted rolling stock manufacturing in part through an overall drop in demand and price increases of primary material. Total order backlog climbed from 81.01 to 87.39 billion euros, with rolling stocks climbing by 89 percent. Similarly, order intake increased by over 1.4 billion euros in the 2022/23 fiscal year. Representing over 61 percent of orders, Europe was the leading market for the company.
The European market leaderThe global rolling stock market value is projected to reach some 64.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2025 (around just under 54 billion euros). Multiple units were the most popular type of rolling stock in Europe, making up over a quarter of the market in 2023, compared to metro units. That same year, Alstom was one of the European market leaders in multiple unit trains, holding 39 percent of the worldwide market.
CRRC Corporation was the market leader in metro rolling stock. In 2022, around 6,300 rapid transit and metro units were sold by the China-based company. Stadler remained one of the European leaders for multiple unit train manufacturing. In 2022, the latter generated around 2 billion euros in revenue of rail activities, compared to Alstom’s 16.5 billion euros. Alstom’s acquisition of Bombardier has lead the company to become a key player in global rolling stock manufacturing, behind the CRRC.


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ABC'S AM Program, interview with Chris Uhlmann
Subjects: Trade negotiations with China, IR reform, tax avoidance
Transcript, E&OE, proof only
6 March 2014
CHRIS UHLMANN: After eight years of negotiations a free trade deal with China has moved a step closer, with the Chinese premier Li Keqiang saying talks would be accelerated. The premier told the National People's Congress China would strive to make progress in the negotiations.
It's good news for the man who has been pushing for the finalisation of a raft of agreements. Trade Minister Andrew Robb, good morning.
ANDREW ROBB: Good morning.
UHLMANN: So can you tell us what this deal would mean for Australia if it went ahead?
ROBB: Well, it's a very encouraging signal. It could mean many billions of dollars of increased sales, exports. It could mean a greater, a closer investment relationship. You look at a country like New Zealand who struck a free trade agreement four years ago, their sales of dairy products in that time have increased $2.2 billion at the same time that our dairy sales have increased by just $60 million into China.
So that's the sort of on the ground effect of these sorts of agreements.
UHLMANN: So have countries like New Zealand though stolen the March on Australia?
ROBB: Well, in terms of China, yes they have. New Zealand have been very effective in terms of China. Hopefully we've stolen the march on them now with Korea and hopefully we will with Japan in the near future.
UHLMANN: Now you're rushing to get through these deals, are there downsides as well as upsides? We've seen that it's very difficult for Australia to compete wage-wise with China, so are there industries that might be exposed by a deal like this?
ROBB: Well, the focus of our agreement or the discussions and negotiations has been to try and ensure that the things that we are very good at - you know, agriculture, resources, education, lots of things associated with health and medical research, all of the medical devices, these sorts of things, tourism - that these are advantaged by the agreement. That's been our focus, to stay with our strengths.
And of course that means that we liberalise areas that China is strong in. Now that's the Government's intent across the board, not just for free trade agreements. And that's why there will be some pressure and structural adjustment in some cases but it is a very healthy thing for Australia and it is critical if we are to get sustainable jobs in Australia.
UHLMANN: Well, we always talk about the free movement of goods and services in deals like this. Is the free movement of labour been discussed?
ROBB: No, no it's not; no more so than the usual business arrangements which are fairly sophisticated already with China and of course the tourism market. Now our biggest tourism market, 676,000 people came from China last year to Australia as tourists. Now that was a 17 per cent increase, our biggest market.
These sorts of areas are areas that we need to develop and it also includes what happens with aviation and these other sorts of areas.
UHLMANN: Now you were always hoping to finalise this by September. Tony Abbott, the Prime Minister, is going to China next month. Could the deal be finalised by then?
ROBB: No, I don't think. We’ve still got a few stages to work through I think on the China deal.
But the important thing is that to get Premier Li making these statements about the priority and the acceleration of these negotiations sends a signal to everybody throughout his administration, and it certainly gives us the encouragement to bring it to finalisation. I see no reason that we can't conclude this satisfactorily within this year.
UHLMANN: In order to take or make the most benefit of these kinds of deals, the Australian economy has to restructure. We've seen some painful restructuring at the moment. One of the parts of that that business is pushing for is industrial relations. And we see reports this morning in the Financial Review that the productivity report on industrial relations is going to be delayed until after the two state elections. Are you shying off industrial relations reform?
ROBB: No, we're not. I mean the move that we've made as one of the first steps when taking government to re-establish the Building and Construction Commission, last time when John Howard introduced that body it led to a $7 billion a year increase in productivity. We've got a very significant agenda and we're moving on it.
UHLMANN: And finally, the Australian Financial Review has also done a lot of work on what Apple is doing and it's found it's shifted $9 billion in untaxed profits offshore. So what can be done about that?
ROBB: Well, our view has been as a Government that all companies must pay a fair share of tax and we are very strongly committed to seeking to capture that tax which has been avoided inappropriately. It's why Joe Hockey has put this issue front and square in our G20 meetings this year.
UHLMANN: Just briefly though, if Apple is doing that, is it behaving as a good corporate citizen?
ROBB: Well, look, the point is in most cases the companies are doing what is legal, but is it fair? Is it what they should do as companies that are benefitting greatly from Australian commerce? No they're not and we've got to look though in a global sense as how we tackle this problem. That's why it's on at the G20.
UHLMANN: Andrew Robb, thank you.
ROBB: My pleasure.
- Trade Minister's Office: (02) 6277 7420
- DFAT Media Liaison: (02) 6261 1555


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The State Government has unveiled plans to turn Kingsford Smith Drive into a six lane boulevard demonstrating its commitment to the ongoing development of Northshore Hamilton.
Brookfield Residential Properties Regional Director Lee Butterworth said the large investment in infrastructure from the government would be a huge boost for Portside Wharf, increasing accessibility and making it more attractable for buyers.
The waterfront retail and residential precinct along the Brisbane River in Hamilton is one of Brisbane’s most sought-after destinations for boutique shopping, fine dining and luxury living.
Mr Butterworth said Portside Wharf was the beating heart of the entire Northshore Hamilton development and offered riverfront living at its best.
“The Queensland Government is investing around $650 million to turn Kingsford Smith Drive into a six lane boulevard through to Newstead with a pedestrian, walking and cycle track crossing the river,” he said.
“An enormous infrastructure investment like this demonstrates absolute commitment by the government, ensuring Northshore Hamilton continues to grow as Brisbane’s largest master planned, integrated residential community and urban renewal project.
“Located in the heart of this project is Portside Wharf, sitting just six kilometres from the CBD, 15 minutes from the Brisbane Airport and within easy reach of the Gateway Motorway and CityCat.
“The waterside boutique shopping and dining precinct sits in an enviable pocket of Brisbane that boasts the ultimate in convenience and lifestyle. It’s a location that is hard to beat.”
Apartments in Portside Wharf’s most recent stage, Pinnacle are available from $595,000 with a display apartment set to open in the coming weeks. Bookings will be essential and can be arranged through the sales and information centre.
Portside Wharf is home to boutique retailers such as Dendy Cinema, IGA supermarket, Jetts Fitness, Ella Bache, Urbbana Men’s Style Studio and Bou’s for Men barber as well as waterfront restaurants and eateries including Sono, Byblos, Gusto da Gianni, The Burrito Bar, Aamaya Indian Restaurant and Bamboo Basket.
For further information, visit the Portside Wharf Sales & Information Centre in the Portside Wharf Plaza, at 39 Hercules Street, open between 10am and 4pm daily, call 07 3630 1666 or visit www.pinnacleportside.com.au.


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Though still in the early stages, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming a powerful tool in sales and marketing, and the most successful marketers are taking advantage of AI to help them reach their sales goals.
AI can help improve a salesperson's efficiency and productivity, managing time-consuming tasks and tapping into data to make better decisions.
But AI isn't about to take away the job of a salesperson: The future of sales will depend on a blend of AI and the human touch. Marco Casalaina, vice president of product at Salesforce, and Shari Levitin, founder of the Shari Levitin Group, which trains salespeople, shared how the future of sales with AI might look at Dreamforce 2018.
AI can predict the best sales opportunities.
Analyzing reams of data, AI can make predictions about potential deals: It can calculate the likelihood that a particular strategy will translate into a successful sale, for instance, as well as forecast the value of an expected deal.
It's important for us to know where AI stops and where the human comes in.
—Shari Levitin, founder, The Shari Levitin Group
AI can manage rudimentary tasks.
AI can be used to classify data, including unstructured data such as a photograph. For instance, it could take a picture of a conference room and determine the makeup of the audience, breaking it down by gender or by the number of empty seats.
But the biggest challenge for AI is making it think like a human.
AI by itself can't do much. It requires humans to establish rules and workflows so that the data can be processed and turned into predictions and other useful information. “The hardest problem to solve is making the output comport with human intuition," Casalaina said.
A successful sale depends on a human connection.
"While AI can take over certain tasks, it still requires a human to close a deal. The majority of customers decide to make a purchase because of a trusted advisor," said Levitin.
The key thing that AI can't do? Levitin called it the “CALL" method, or connect, ask, listen, link:
Connect: We can empathize and care for another person.
Ask: AI can ask basic questions, but they only skim the surface. We have the ability to ask more probing questions that get to the heart of why a customer wants to buy something.
Listen: One of the most critical attributes for anyone in sales is the ability to listen.
Link: We can take what we heard and learned from a conversation, assimilate it and turn it into a sale.
“I'm optimistic of a future with AI, but I think it's important for us to know where AI stops and where the human comes in," Levitin said.


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(Bloomberg) — Growth for China’s food delivery giant Meituan has peaked as competition heats up in the $145 billion industry, said a China tech analyst, who is the lone bear on the Hong Kong-listed stock.
Most Read from Bloomberg
“Other players will start to take shares from Meituan especially when there’s a lack of growth anywhere in the industry,” Barclays Plc’s Jiong Shao, the only analyst who has a sell call on the stock according to Bloomberg data, said in an interview with Bloomberg last week.
China’s food delivery market — the world’s biggest — had feasted on surging demand for takeouts during Covid lockdowns, but Shao sees limited growth potential now that the country has reopened. Competition is also heating up as other tech firms including ByteDance Ltd. expand efforts into the delivery space.
The company missed out on a sizzling rally in China tech after the nation dropped restrictions and eased its regulatory stance toward internet giants. Meituan’s shares have slumped 17% this year and is the worst performer on the Hang Seng Tech Index.
Shao has kept his contrarian underweight rating on Meituan ever since he initiated coverage in November 2021. The call returned 23% over the past year, beating every other analyst.
Shao said Meituan will continue to “underperform its peers” as the lifting of health restrictions dampens demand for food delivery companies, if global experiences are any guide. A world-beating rally in Europe’s food delivery firms quickly reversed last year as deepening losses and rising costs deterred investors.
Another factor weighing on the stock is major stakeholder Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s divestment of Meituan’s shares as part of an effort to comply with Beijing’s anti-monopoly campaign. Among those who will receive the shares, Prosus NV has already announced it will sell them.
To be sure, Meituan’s earnings are looking up. It swung to a quarterly profit in the third quarter last year after almost two years in the red and Shao will be awaiting upcoming results for clues on its fundamentals.
“I’m somewhat skeptical about the true fundamental values they create and bring to the table,” Shao said. “Sure they bring some, but do they bring the values that are worth hundreds of billions of dollars in market cap? I obviously doubt that.”
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.


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Thursday, October 07, 2010, 11:45 am PT (02:45 pm ET)
Alleged Apple iPad part sports dual docking portsPhotos of a part claimed to be the back of an Apple iPad show openings for two 30-pin iPod dock connectors, which would allow the device to be docked in both portrait and landscape orientations.
The part, obtained by Mission Repair, is a metal back for Apple's iPad. It shows one dock connector in the regular spot on the bottom, as well as another on the side, which would allow the device to be docked in landscape mode.
The site came to the conclusion that the obtained part is "pretty indicative" that the next-generation device will have a second dock connector in landscape mode.
Currently, docking an iPhone or an iPad with an official dock connector from Apple requires the hardware to stand in portrait orientation. This angle is not ideal for some tasks, such as watching a widescreen movie.
If the pictured component is legitimate, it's unknown whether it is a part from an upcoming next-generation iPad, or if it is an unused concept from an early prototype before the iPad was introduced early this year.
Apple has also shown interest in allowing its devices, including the iPad and iPhone, to dock in multiple orientations. In addition to designs that showed dual 30-pin connectors on the iPad, Apple has also filed for patents that describe an entirely new docking mechanism.
In documents revealed this July, Apple showed interest in adding an inductive connection to the back of an iPad, allowing the hardware to charge and sync in any orientation.
On Topic: iPad
- Next-gen iPad Air with Touch ID, new gold color option may also debut at Apple's Sept. 9 event
- Apple's rumored iPhone 6 mobile payment system seen as 'most legitimate potential threat' to PayPal
- Apple will re-bid on nixed $1 billion LA Unified School District iPad contract
- Cook says tablet sales slump is 'speed bump,' looks toward future growth
- Rumor: Apple's jumbo-sized 12.9-inch iPad in the works for early 2015 debut


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GO-BIZ AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES ANNOUNCE $844,000 FEDERAL GRANT FOR TRADE AND EXPORT INITIATIVE
Friday, October 14, 2016
The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) and the California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) today announced that California received an $844,214 grant from the federal government to help small businesses boost trade and exports abroad. GO-Biz and the CCCCO will use the funds to help small businesses participate in activities like foreign trade missions and access foreign markets through trade promotion initiatives.
“The success of last year’s program demonstrates the effectiveness of the STEP grants in helping more small business become international exporters. We look forward to further expanding this program to bring even more California business into the global economy.” said GO-Biz Director Panorea Avdis.
The grant is part of the US Small Business Administration (SBA) State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) which awarded grants to 44 states and territories to support activities to increase exports by US small businesses. Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and member of President Obama’s Cabinet, announced the grant award this week in Washington D.C.
Click here for the complete article.


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Snap crackled and popped at its Wall Street debut.
Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, began trading at $24 a share on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, a 40% increase over its IPO price.
At that price, Snap now has a market valuation of about $33 billion.
The company priced its initial public offering at $17 a share Wednesday, above its previously proposed range of $14 to $16 a share. Snap is the biggest U.S. tech IPO since Facebook in 2012. In fact, Snap is now worth ab
RelSci News & Alerts gets you:


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QUT Creative Enterprise Australia (CEA) has announced that the opportunity to participate in Virgin StartUp’s mini-accelerator program has been added to the prize pool for the winner of its annual creative-tech pitching competition Creative3 Pitch.
CEA’s Creative3 Pitch is Australia’s only pitching competition approved to send an Australian startup to be part of the exclusive Virgin StartUp program. The successful startup will have their participation fees, flights and accommodation covered to work alongside Virgin StartUp’s mini-accelerator program StepUp.
As in previous years, the winner of Creative3 Pitch will also travel to Copenhagen to represent Australia as part of the global initiative for creative entrepreneurship and innovation, the Creative Business Cup.
“We continue to drive firsts for the Australian creative industries ecosystem, and we’re proud to promote the winner of Creative3 Pitch to work with Virgin StartUp in London and the Creative Business Cup in Copenhagen,” says CEA’s acting CEO, Mark Gustowski.
“Virgin StartUp are renowned for their track-record of driving entrepreneurs, creating jobs, developing cutting-edge products and systems, and strengthening the creative economy.”
“The businesses that we have seen come through Creative3 Pitch in the past have had enormous potential, and we want to continue to nurture them by bridging the gap between creative startups and early-stage investors.”
CEA will run workshops and coaching for startups looking to apply for the Creative3 Pitch to maximise the pitch from each participant. Up to eight applications will be chosen to participate in the pitch semi-finals in July, with four businesses progressing to the final of Creative3 Pitch.
Creative3 Pitch forms part of the annual Creative3 conference, which will be held in Brisbane on September 2017 this year. Applications for the Creative3 Pitch are now open and will close on June 26.
Update on last year’s winner – Storyboard Social
Storyboard Social is a photo sharing app that allows you to post photos tied to a particular geography to share a story, rather than a snapshot. Storyboard won the Creative3 Pitch in September last year and went on to represent Australia at the Creative Business Cup, where the business placed 13 out of 65 countries.
In 2017, Storyboard Social was chosen by CEA to become the first Australian business to attend Virgin StartUp’s mini-accelerator StepUp.
Founder Darren Tonkin says: “From winning Creative3 to being the first Australian company to be part of Virgin StartUp’s bootcamp, the last 10 months have been an absolute whirlwind.”
“I’ve met entrepreneurs from around the world, been introduced to royals, and had opportunities I would never have expected to experience this early into Storyboard’s journey.”
“Creative3 has really helped me hone in on what I want to do with Storyboard, not just in terms of how I want the platform to operate, but from a business perspective as well.”


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Recently, Swiss famous watch brand Replica Richard Mille launched a smart watches.It is called Mission from appearance to see this watch which is very much like traditional sports watch. Watch is used in the main body of polycarbonate and stainless steel materials. The official said, the watch has reached the 10 – ATM waterproof level (can be 100 meters water depth under pressure), can be said to be the “water” the best smart watches at the moment.
Richard Mille RM 022 Aerodyne Deuxieme Fuseau Horaire
Mission USES a 1.39 -inch AMOLED touchscreen, covered the gorilla protection glass. Is the first commercially qualcomm Xiao dragon Wear smart watches, 2100 chips used 512 gb of RAM + 4 gb ROM storage combination, equipped with GPS, temperature sensors, altimeter, gyroscope, acceleration sensors, electronic compass, hygrometer, such as sensors, run Android Wear operating system, battery life is about one day, for $400 (RMB 2600), will launch in the fall of this year.
Richard Mille RM 027 Nadal Tourbillon
Its biggest selling point is the collocation of specialized App can display skiing, surfing environment real-time data from all over the world. Believe that this watch will be welcomed by many consumers like extreme sports. And officials have launched an similar to MOTOROLA Moto360 custom solutions, can customize the watches and the polishing and the color of the wrist strap, which makes this watch to cater to the current fashion trends.
Richard Mille RM 008 V2 watches, many traditional watches factory launched Smart watches are on the road, the movement earlier Casio Casio during CES is released a called Smart is suing Watch WSD – F10 Smart watches, sold for $500 (RMB 3249), this Watch also USES the design of sports watches, support dust-proof and it broke and 50 meters waterproof, equipped with a 1.32 -inch, 320 x 300 resolution display, sensors with the same way as the Mission, but without a GPS module. This watch has a feature, it is equipped with monochrome display, if the user USES only monochrome screen, battery life up to a month.
Richard Mille pushed android smart watches support 100 meters of waterproof
Two watch is different, the location is also a response to different scenarios, a more extreme sports, another is the tendency of traditional sports. With the continuous development of smart watches, these traditional watches factory seems to have found his feeling, launched many products have their own characteristics. And it also has a great advantage in design and can borrow their traditional watch appearance, for consumers to find a kind of friendly feeling. And these traditional watches factory join it the biggest advantage is that the more choice for consumers, reduce the misery of a lot of people with clothing.


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Bethesda Game Studio’s Fallout 4 is getting a closed beta on Xbox One soon to test out mods.
You can currently sign-up to be one of the few to experience Fallout 4’s mods on console. The studio also recently celebrated 1 Million mod downloads on PC, which I am sure it will hit the same number on consoles once it’s fully released.
Fallout 4 mods on PC range from simple textures and performance enhancements to adding new settlements in the Wasteland. There is still no word on when PS4 will get its closed beta, but it will supposedly be a short while after Xbox One’s.
The closed Xbox One beta is set to take place after the release of Far Harbour DLC, which will be available starting May 19th on all platforms. The official release of console mods will be in May for Xbox One and in June for PS4.


text: "We are also planning to launch the Wii U, which is the successor to the Wii, during the next fiscal year. We would like to show the final format of the Wii U at the E3 show next year,"The big question is will that be too late because most rumors have Microsoft possibly showing off their new console at E3 next year as well. Even more rumors have placed the next generation PlayStation as coming out next year. Whether these rumors are true remains to be seen; but if they are we could be in for the most exciting E3 event in years. Imagine all three major console developers showing off their next generation consoles, it could get pretty intense. Do you see all three console makers showing off their next gen consoles at E3 next year?


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New York City plans to enact a far-reaching ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks at restaurants, movie theaters and street carts, in the most ambitious effort yet by the Bloomberg administration to combat rising obesity, according to The New York Times. The proposal does not include vending machines. For the full story, click here.
Editor’s Insight: While this proposal does not, at present, impact the vending industry, vending operators need to keep abreast of it since the affected industries are going to seek to change this proposal.
The mayor has made obesity a signature issue, and no one should fault him for this. However, he has not followed much guidance in coming up with any plans that will actually change people’s consumption habits. His track record to date has been poor; a widely publicized soda tax failed, as did a plan to outlaw the use of food stamps for buying soda.
His lack of forethought is reflected in his comment that restaurants can simply raise prices on their smaller servings if they lose money from not being allowed to sell larger size servings. That doesn’t show much empathy for the cash-strapped consumer. 05-31-12 By Elliot Maras


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Two Vancouver residents suspected in Safeway $15,000 ORC thefts
Two Vancouver residents accused of stealing more than $15,000 from local Safeway
stores since February made first appearances in Clark County Superior Court on
Wednesday. Alicia F. Brown, 26, and Jacob A. Beatty, 33, face allegations of
first-degree organized retail theft, 10 counts of trafficking in known stolen
property, first-degree theft and first-degree possession of stolen property.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in Superior Court, investigators
with the Northwest Organized Retail Crime Alliance met in February after
noticing a large amount of Similac infant formula and personal care items being
sold for prices substantially lower than retail value through online store
fronts, such as OfferUp. Private investigator Christopher Frazier found a
posting for the formula and shaving razors on OfferUp being sold by an
individual who went by the name Alicia. This pattern of stealing merchandise
from Safeway stores across Clark County and then selling the merchandise to
Frazier went on until about June 7, the affidavit says. In total, Brown
allegedly stole $7,935.52 worth of merchandise from Safeway. Beatty allegedly
stole $7,358.73 worth of merchandise.
Violin worth $200,000 stolen from Lilburn shop in purported instrument 'theft
ring' Dressed to the nines in a sharp suit, a man with jet black,
curly hair strolled into a Lilburn violin shop earlier this month and began to
browse. It was a busy Saturday at Ronald Sachs Violins on Pleasant Hill Road,
recalled Cody Sisk, an instrument maker at the business. Sisk said the man had
his eye on one item in particular, a "gorgeous" violin made in 1781 by the
renowned Italian craftsman Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi. "He picked it up and asked
one of our employees, How much is this?" Sisk said Wednesday. #The answer:
$200,000. Taken aback, the man put the violin down, and the employee went about
his work, leaving the man to himself. Ronald Sachs Violins wouldn't see the
prized instrument until a week later. Police found it in a room at a Roswell
extended stay hotel in a bust that shook up what some in the niche violin
community are calling a "theft ring" in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina.
Along with the violin from Lilburn, police say they found five instruments from
Atlanta Violins in Roswell, as well as several other instruments. The Roswell
store owner realized the violins were gone after a shop owner in Raleigh, N.C.
called to say they had the instruments, police said.
County, OR Sheriff's arrest 2 in $6,000 Electronics theft from Walmart
Two people are accused of being part of an organized retail theft operation that
resulted in the loss of more than $6,000 from Walmart. Aurora Hinkley and Jason
David Wigley have been indicted by a Multnomah County grand jury with one count
each of organized retail theft and first-degree theft. Court records show that
on or about Sep. 5, 2013, they unlawfully and knowingly, while acting in
concert, took property from Walmart that, within a 90-day period, that exceeded
more than $5,000. Lt. Steve Alexander, a spokesperson with the Multnomah County
Sheriff's Office, said in January 2015, Wigley and Hinkley were stealing
electronics. He said Detective Rian Hakala was working and the case and could
not provide additional details. Officials said there are pending investigations
against Wigley and Hinkley in Washington and Idaho.
Georgia Woman stole 131 pairs of underwear from Walmart
A Georgia woman was arrested after stealing 131 pairs of underwear from a
Walmart store, police said. Julia Marie Jones, 22, tried hiding the garments in
her purse, a handbag and grocery bags, according to a Huffington Post report
citing police. The underwear was worth about $750, the HuffPo story said. Jones
was charged with felony theft by shoplifting and released on $5,000 bond.


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At the end of Galaxy Unpacked 2024, Samsung released a big teaser: the Samsung Ring. A wearable device, focused on your health and well-being. Here’s what we know now about the Samsung Ring.
Well, what we know isn’t very much. Samsung teases us with this teaser of the Samsung Ring and that is of course exactly the idea behind this glimpse into the future. At the end of Galaxy Unpacked 2024, where the Samsung S24, S24+ and S24 Ultra were launched, the major tech company released this news.
We were there in San Jose, California. Also watch the video below for an impression of this moment:
More than what is shown in the video is not known. However, several sources wrote a long time ago about the patent (for a smart ring) that Samsung applied for.
We’ll keep an eye on it and hope to know more soon…
Galaxy AI 2024: this is what it will bring you
Samsung unveils Galaxy S24 series with far-reaching AI options
Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024: watch it live from San Jose


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Enlisted Battle of Berlin closed beta moved to its next phase, and adds new maps and weapons in latest patch
Enlisted Battle of Berlin closed beta moved to its next phase and added new maps and weapons in the latest patch.
MMOBEEP found out that the WWII shooter Enlisted has gotten many updates for both the base game and the currently closed beta campaign released in April.
For the base game, this brand new update adds a new map to the Normandy campaign where players need to either apprehend or defend an airfield and develops the Battle of Moscow campaign with brand new locations like the Wilhelmstrasse. All campaigns also advise brand new progression levels with brand new squads, weapons, and vehicles. Each of these campaigns is open to all players.
The Battle of Berlin Campaign starts pushing into the subsequent phase with this update as progress is polished, brand new campaign maps have been added, and brand new squads and weapons are acquainted. Those who have played in the closed beta will see their progression be cleansed, but progression will not be wiped after the CBT period concludes.


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Nike on Thursday announced that Michelle A. Peluso has been appointed to the company’s board of directors.
Peluso, 42, is chief executive officer of Gilt, an online luxury goods retailer.
"Michelle’s leadership experience in marketing, branding, innovation and digital media for global brands makes her an outstanding addition to our board,” Nike co-founder and board chairman Phil Knight said in a news release. “We look forward to her contributions to expand Nike's position as the world’s leading athletic brand and industry innovator.”
Peluso served on the Gilt board of directors until her appointment as chief executive officer, starting in February last year.
Prior to joining Gilt, she served as global consumer chief marketing and internet officer of Citigroup Inc. from 2009 to 2013; and from 2002 to 2009, she held senior management positions at Travelocity.com LP, being appointed chief operating officer in 2003, and president and chief executive officer in 2004. Prior to joining Travelocity, in 1999 she founded Site59, an online travel site, serving as its chief executive officer until its acquisition by Travelocity in 2002. Peluso was also a director of OpenTable, Inc. from 2008 to 2012.
Prior to leading Site59, Peluso served as a White House Fellow in the Clinton Administration and senior advisor to Labor Secretary Alexis Herman and worked as a case leader for The Boston Consulting Group in New York and London.
A Dec. 30, 2013 profile in The Irish Times touches on one of Peluso’s management axioms:
As for Peluso’s role at the helm of the shopping website, she says: “I never want to be a lonely arrogant CEO that is fed b------t by everyone else.”
She received her master's degree in economics, philosophy and politics from Pembroke College at Oxford University where she was a Thoroun Scholar, and her bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.
No Nike products were available on the gilt.com site Thursday.
Earlier this year, Gilt was poised for an initial public offering and had selected Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to manage the IPO, Bloomberg reported.
Peluso’s Gilt, by the way, is not in any way related to Portland’s Gilt. The vintage and antique jewelry retailer Gilt at 720 N.W. 23rd Ave. celebrates its 20th year in business in August, all spent at that location.
-- Allan Brettman


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I just want to wish everyone a happy holiday. I hope you got something good out of the passing year.
Well Xmoor keeps moving forward Eric and I are excited by the response that has been given to the release of the Keylon Jakes bust. Currently we have gotten the bust into several of the major stores in and around Manhattan including MIDTOWN COMICS on 40th street, and TOY TOKYO at 121 2nd ave. At the begining of the year we will also be available at JIM HANELY’S Universe at 33rd street. Here’s a link to Eric’s step by step production of the Bust:
We hope to have more stores coming in the next few weeks and issue #3 of GALTOW will be out in a few weeks.
I have more news but that can wait for the New Year.
That’s it for now


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Windows 12 release date – Veracity of this buzz explained.
Windows 12 release date: Things you need to know!
The current universal truth is Microsoft’s last windows update is Windows 10. Microsoft is keenly working on windows 10 to make it a supreme operating system in the world.
Microsoft released its game-changing operating system on July 29th, 2015. Its been four long earth years, now people are really crazy cause Microsoft is reticent about its next operating system.
The speed with which Microsoft is adding new features is astonishing. Fans are having a lot of expectations on its next release.
From many authentic sources, they have been telling that Microsoft is changing the course of releasing it’s operating systems. Instead of changing UI, tweaking and renaming it as a new operating system, they want to focus more on the current release. They want Windows 10 to be more stable and secure.
Microsoft will give long-term support for Windows 10. The Company is going to append all the new features of Windows 10 itself.
The company didn’t make any news about Windows 12 release date on social media, announcements or even in conferences. This makes us infer that Windows 12 existence is not a moment too soon. However, there is something you need to know!.
Microsoft is setting internal expectations that it won’t deliver any Windows 10X devices in calendar 2020, This isn’t really surprising, given what’s going on with the COVID-19 pandemic. But for fans who were looking forward to dual-screen Surface Neo devices this holiday season, the reality is taking a hit. Microsoft is working on it. So Windows 12 release date is light-years away if it’s going to happen.
Microsoft recently announced that it will cease all the support for windows 7, a decade-old operating system. This convinces that it will put more focus on current build i.e Windows 10. Support for Windows 7 will cease from Jan 22, 2020. Time to upgrade 10 Windows 10.
This August Microsoft warned Windows users to update Operating System because of two critical vulnerabilities which hackers might exploit. “There are potentially hundreds of millions of vulnerable computers,” said Simon Pope, Microsoft’s director of Incident Response. Don’t ignore windows update. I know Windows updates are very annoying but you should know the purpose of it. This must be in priority before hackers get into your system.
Windows Lite – A light Version
Recent sources mentioned that Microsoft is planning to release a light version of Windows OS. This is going to be Windows Lite which is a stripped version of windows 10. This Lite operating system is more focussed to lite devices like Chromebook, HoloLens 2, etc.
Windows Lite is prioritized for dual-screen devices. Microsoft has been heavily working on core OS and modularising it. Part of this will be powering windows Lite version as well.
Microsoft has given the code name as “Santorini” for the new Windows Lite project. This is going to target for dual-screen devices then followed by Chromebooks and other lite devices. You can refer here for more information about it. listen to this podcast if you have time.
Microsoft is working on a cloud OS restore feature. This feature allows the user to recover from the cloud. Similar feature Apple has it. This feature has been used in its Surface lineup. This allows the devices to download the copy of windows 10 from the cloud.
They are just experimenting with these ideas for years, as they observed Chrome OS grow in popularity throughout schools in the US. It’s not very clear when Microsoft will ship Windows Lite to devices or what it will eventually be named.
Microsoft’s strategy to own part of the Chromebook market under progress, So its creation of Windows Lite, in a bid to have a version of Windows that can run on cheap Chromebook-like devices.
They are working left and right to enter into its rivalry’s Chromebook market. I hope they will make a mind-blowing operating system for lighter devices and make the experience better.
Microsoft is conducting its Build conference in Seattle in early May, and that would be the best time to start unveiling parts of its Windows Lite strategy, especially if it wants developers to build a native app and web experiences for next-generation dual-screen and Chromebook-like devices.
Windows Lite release date
There is no mention of the Windows Lite release date officially. While many people had hoped to get a snapshot of Windows Lite at Microsoft’s Build 2019 event, but it couldn’t make it there.
A recent tweet by Tom Warren of The Verge mentioned that Windows Lite won’t be at the event near future, but that it might make an appearance later this year. But we are experiencing pandemic right at the beginning of 2020. Things are going to get much slower than expected.
There’s a ‘Windows 12 Lite’ OS in the market but you shouldn’t use it!
Yes, As I was mentioning about Windows Lite operating system. Apparently there is a Linux based distro based on LiteOS called Windows 12 Lite is on the market. Microsoft has never announced anything official about Windows 12 Lite related news.
These developers have their own website and claiming that this operating system is much more secure than Windows 10 and attracting people to buy their operating system. Fun fact is they claimed that their so-called Windows 12 Lite is faster and much secured from ransomware attacks.
They are selling their operating system on DVDs. They are fooling people by using the theme on the Linux distro called LiteOs with some modifications.
I request you all not to fall for it. officially nothing has been told from Microsoft. We will update in this article for any news regarding this from official sources.
We are also aiming to help people not to fall for these tactics. We will make sure that we will update all the scams related to Windows 12.
Those who are searching for windows 12 release date should pause here. I am going to keep an eye on this buzz. I will update this article if any news arrives.
Let me know your thoughts on Windows 12 release date. Please share your thoughts in the comments section and help this article to stay updated.
Please feel free to share this article. Dont forget to comment.


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The continent is leading the way in developing mobile applications, research shows.
Africa's booming mobile market's edge lies in its role as an innovative hub for new products in the banking, health, education and commerce sectors. A number of recent reports released by PwC, Deloitte and the GSM Association have confirmed this growing trend.
It is generally accepted that Africa has more than 500m mobile subscribers across its 54 countries, although telecommunications analysts Informa Telecoms & Media forecast last week that this number would be as high as 750m before the end of 2012 and would reach a billion by 2015. Considering that the number of mobile subscribers in Africa was 16m in 2000, the year when mobile overtook fixed subscribers on the continent, this growth is impressive.
What is more interesting is the way Africa is leading the way in developing mobile applications.
A recent report from PwC's quarterly journal, Communications Review
, says: "In addition to being one of the world's most dynamic telecoms markets, Africa is also among the most innovative, a global testing laboratory and a leader in digital and mobile-enabled applications in areas like payments, commerce, health and education."
Continue reading the full story


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GRANTS PASS, Ore. — A grassroots effort, bubbling right here in Oregon, is helping solve one of the biggest problems our frontline heroes are facing: a rapidly dwindling stock of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Healthcare workers and makers joined up to help fill the need.
Brad Converse, an engineer by trade, coordinates and organizes the logistics out of his golf shop in downtown Grants Pass.
He put together a team called "Covid Skunkworks" last Sunday after talking to a Southern Oregon hospital supply chain director.
“Within less than 24 hours we had 35 local experts on the phone where we heard directly from the hospital what is the problem, what do you guys need, and then starting the very next day we were already delivering face shields. By now we have over 150 experts worldwide coordinating on this effort and we've already delivered face shield instructions to the world,” Converse said.
Covid Skunkworks is working to empower people to innovate in their own communities and build the necessary equipment and devices that health care systems need.
Converse and the team of experts provide instructions on their website for how to organize a team made up of health care workers, innovators and makers and delivery coordinators in your community, create 3D prints, assemble parts, sanitize equipment, deliver to the front lines, implement safely and reuse.
Face shields to shelter health care workers from airborne droplets that could contain coronavirus are just the first piece.
“We weren't going to be getting those for quite a while - if at all - waiting on the government or waiting on big business to step in but now our garages and schools are doing it and we are protecting our own health care,” Converse said. “The instructions we provided will allow for millions of face shields and other parts to be printed right at the source as much as possible."
Directions for designing physician-approved N95 respirators, ventilator parts, filters, and surgical gowns are next. Converse says all designs and instructions for devices and medical equipment are vetted by engineers, physicists and physicians.
“There are some regulatory hurdles just with doctors making sure they can keep their job but they are working directly with senators to get approval to be able to say that they're on board with this. We're tackling this from every angle possible.”
Together with those experts, he created a logistical package, tied up in a bow, with instructions 3D printer users and others can follow.
“Rather than just saying ‘we don't know who you are’ and ‘why are you doing this’ [hospitals] can go to CovidSkunkworks.com to see documentation for why it works, makers can go on there to know exactly how to make it and assemble it, the sanitization team knows exactly how to sanitize it prior to use, the reuse team knows how to sanitize it between uses and how many uses it’s good for,” Converse told KGW.
A patchwork of selfless people, now working together to try to control some of the chaos and help our frontline heroes.
“It's sobering but at least you can hear some hope in their voice and they know we're doing everything we can, at least, to make sure they are protected as they do the frontline work,” Converse said.
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) says printed PPE provides a physical barrier but it may not have the same level of fluid barrier protection or air filtration as FDA-cleared gear. The administration has an FAQ page dedicated to 3D printing of medical devices, accessories, components and parts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The FDA outlines what health care providers should do if they’re using a 3D-printed mask:
- Check the 3D-printed mask's seal for leaks.
- Confirm that they can breathe through any makeshift filter materials.
- Exercise caution in surgical environments where the need for liquid barrier protection and flammability is a concern.
- Recognize that the mask may not provide air filtration enough to prevent transmission of infectious agents.
- Safely dispose of infectious materials and disinfect any part they intend to reuse.
Converse would argue the designs they’re sharing are up to par.


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After over two years of being the chief commercial officer at social media platform ShareChat, Ajit Varghese has announced in a LinkedIn post that he had stepped down from the role of the company.
Varghese joined the company in December 2020 and was in charge of expanding and strategising its revenue efforts along with content partnerships. He was overseeing marketing functions of the platform and reported to ShareChat co-founder Farid Ahsan.
"We can confirm that Ajit has decided to step down from his role as CCO at ShareChat after a very successful run of 2.5 years. He has been instrumental in helping us build our revenue function since his joining in 2020 and has successfully established ShareChat and Moj as credible advertising channels among marketers across industry verticals,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
“He has also assembled and groomed a solid team that is well-placed to take us to the next level. We are grateful for all his efforts and accomplishments in the last two years, which were highly critical to our growth. We wish Ajit all the best in his future endeavours," a ShareChat spokesperson said.
Prior his joining to ShareChat, Varghese had served as the global president of Wavemaker, a media network owned by the WPP group. He has over 25 years of experience in the media, content, sports, creative, digital, data, and performance industries.
In June, ShareChat secured $78 million as part of its Series H funding round at a valuation of about $4.9 billion from Google’s parent Alphabet and Temasek Holdings.
India has over 350 million online video users, and the user base growing nearly twice as fast as markets such as China and Indonesia, according to an October 2021 report by Bain and Co.


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Needham’s Charlie Wolf this morning raising his rating on Research in Motion (RIMM) to Buy from Hold. In a research note this morning, he notes that “despite an increasingly crowded competitive landscape, the BlackBerry continues to stand out as the leader in the smartphone space.”
Wolf says his rating “is based on two simple concept:”
* First, the potential market for push email is far from saturated, especially with new designs and data plans beginning to bring consumers into the fold.
* Second, the reaction to the Pearl has been impressive. RIM has demonstrated a knack for terrific design in addition to the reliable middleware and ease-of-use that has already won over the enterprise.
Wolf concedes that “strong growth is priced into the stock,” but contends that “as continued execution brings this growth to fruition over the next twelve months the stock will continue to outperform.”
Wolf puts the total potential market for push email at 130 million subscribers worldwide, compared to RIM’s current subscriber base of 5.5 million. “While the addressable market at present is much smaller, we think that it will grow as more affordable pricing and increasingly ergonomic phones (such as the Pearl) make push email more attractive to those both inside and outside of the enterprise.”
In case you were worried that RIM was going to kill off its rivals, Wolf says you shouldn’t worry.
This is not a zero sum game. While we believe RIM will continue to flourish, this does not spell disaster for the efforts of Palm (PALM), Motorola (MOT), Nokia (NYSE:NOK), Good Technology, or Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). The competition should warm new many users to the benefits of push email, which is good for RIM.
Interestingly, Wolf picked up coverage of the shares just a few weeks ago, with a Hold rating. At the time, he said: “It is an open question, then, whether the company can translate its success in the enterprise market into a successful consumer product, which demands even greater ease-of-use along with affordable data plans. However, success in both arenas, which should be evident when the product [the Pearl] is introduced, could lead to adoption rates that exceed our current expectations, and in turn, trigger an upgrade.”
I guess the evidence is in.
This morning, RIM shares have gained $1.87, to $86.11.


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Lenovo has revealed another Moto smartphone called the Moto E3 Power in India. Estimated at 7,999, the gadget will be accessible solely through Flipkart. The gadget sports a 5-inch HD display and is controlled by a 64-bit MediaTek MT6735P SoC with 2GB of RAM. There is a 8MP camera at the back of the smartphone, while at the front is a 5MP camera. Moto E3 Power offers diverse photography modes, for example, Burst Mode, Panorama, and beautification. Further, clients will likewise get two years of storage free on Google Photos. The smarthone additionally accompanies a water-resistant nano coating.
Moto E3 Power runs Android Marshmallow v6.0 and offers 16GB of inbuilt storage that can be extended by up to 32GB. Be that as it may, the highlight of the gadget is the substantial 3500mAh battery, which the organization says can offer in regards to 287 hours of standby time. The gadget additionally offers 4G LTE and VoLTE, and the organization has collaborated with Reliance Jio for offers.
Key Specifications of Moto E Power :
|Processor||Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 series|
|Android Version||Android Marshmallow|
|Display||5 inch HD Display|
|RAM||2 GB RAM|
|Internal Storage||16 GB|
|External Storage||Expandable upto 32GB|
|Battery||3500 mAh Battery|
|Front Camera||5MP Front|
|Rear Camera||8MP Primary Camera|
The company has additionally reported a few offers that might be accessible amid dispatch day. Clients will have the capacity to get up to Rs. 7,000 off while exchanging their old smarthone. They can likewise get an extra Rs. 1,000 off on regular exchange value. Purchasers will likewise get a 32GB MicroSD card for free and they can purchase the Moto Pulse headset alongside the smartphone by paying Rs. 499 additional. Client’s can likewise benefit no cost EMI and pay Rs. 1,334 every month for six months. Further, the individuals who buy the gadget with a SBI credit or platinum card get Rs. 800 off.


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Esti Chazanow is a busy woman. Based in Miami, Chazanow is the cofounder and brand manager for Swiss watch company LIV . Though the brand has no problem selling its watches, its most recent accomplishment is pretty impressive. To raise funds for a new design, Chazanow turned to crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.
Not only was her $40,000 goal met within the first 34 minutes, but it was also exceeded. By the time the campaign ended last Friday night, LIV had raised $1,119,030, donated by more than 2,000 backers. But this wasn't the watch company's first attempt at crowdfunding.
“We were already on Kickstarter previously — at the end of 2014 — so we gathered hundreds of fans there,” Chazanow explains. Her co-creater, Chaz, started LIV because he wasn't satisfied with the watches on the market. According to the brand history, Chaz wanted a watch that embodied “strength, quality, and fashion,” stating that he felt there was a lack in the market that represented other “nonconformists” like himself.
LIV's most recent Kickstarter campaign, in which supporters backed the Genesis X1-A watch design, was such a success that it shattered a record and received the title of "Most Funded Timepiece" in the history of the crowdfunding website.
You're probably thinking, What makes this watch so different? Well, the timepiece has a starting price of $390, it's Swiss-made, and there are tons of customizable options. It's a pretty nice deal for a sleek Swiss watch.
The LIV Swiss Automatic has a long list of features that includes a double sapphire crystal front and back (which is both reflective and scratch-proof), it's water resistant up to 100 meters, and has an assortment of straps to choose from.
“We haven't skimped anywhere, and that's what makes us unique,” Chazanow says.
The company's strong online presence also helps the with expansion of the brand. “After [the 2014 Kickstarter campaign], we sold through our website and on Amazon, where we become the number one customer-reviewed men's watch,” Chazanow explains. “People who bought our watch became avid fans and ambassadors for our brand. As soon as we were ready to launch and let them know about it, they helped us spread the word.”
LIV's shipping and logistics are done out of the company's Brooklyn office. Marketing, customer service, business development, and crowdfunding campaigns are handled in Miami. The watches themselves are made in Switzerland. Just like the intricate mechanism of a watch, the company has a lot of moving parts.
“I guess you could say the brains are here in Miami,” Chazanow jokes.
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By Russ Banham, Contributor
Three thousand years ago, Aztec and Mayan cultures in Mesoamerica harvested cacao tree seeds and made the world’s first dark chocolate as a beverage for ceremonial and medicinal purposes. Today, dark chocolate is enjoyed the world over, with prices dependent in part on where the cacao comes from.
In the 20th century, the bitter taste of dark chocolate made it a lesser confection than that of its sweeter cousin, milk chocolate. Market perception changed when scientists pointed to the many healthful benefits of eating dark chocolate, a source of powerful antioxidants and other organic compounds that may lower heart disease risks, enhance blood flow, and improve brain function. Sales of dark chocolate in the U.S. subsequently skyrocketed, from $1.88 billion in 2006 to $45.6 billion in 2018, and a projected $62.4 billion in 2024.
However, not all dark chocolate is alike. As health-conscious nibblers know, a higher percentage of cacao is a determinant of its medicinal properties (and bitter taste). Most dark chocolate bars are advertised as having 70 percent to 90 percent cacao (or cocoa as it is labeled following the roasting of cacao seeds).
Much like coffee, the region in which the cacao was harvested factors into its market appeal and price. Venezuela’s sustainably farmed Criollo cacao, for instance, is used in making the world’s priciest dark chocolate. The dark chocolate retails for about $90 per pound or about $19 per bar, compared to three or four dollars for a typical bar of dark chocolate at the local supermarket.
“By verifying the chemical signature of different agricultural goods, producers can be held accountable for their product statements.”
-Shannon Stitzel, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry at Towson University
But, what if the cacao didn’t come from Venezuela? That was a question that piqued the curiosity of Shannon Stitzel, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry at Towson University, and her undergraduate chemistry students. “I was looking for compounds [to analyze] that my students wouldn’t find boring and could readily appreciate and had just read an article on dark chocolate,” she says. “When I offered it up as a research project, they were intrigued and eager to dive in.”
Food Fraudsters Beware
One in 10 foods across all food categories is adulterated or mislabeled, with the highest risk of such frauds found in the organic cacao and sugar markets, according to ethical product research firm Ecovia Intelligence. Malefactors know they can reap high prices for low-quality dark chocolate by attesting the cacao came from a particular country, the firm stated, adding that the real origin is difficult to ascertain because of the many intermediaries through which the cacao passes before the point of sale.
The fraudsters may have a harder time pulling off the scam in the future, following Stitzel’s research that culminated in a way to identify the unique chemical makeup of dark chocolate. By comparing the chemical signatures of a particular bar of dark chocolate to different soil compositions on a country-by-country basis, its geographical provenance, and whether or not the product is “fair trade” or “organic,” can be verified.
Although it is now up to the food industry to invest in the novel methodology, the research holds importance for consumers of other agricultural products like coffee, olive oil, beef, and honey, whose stated provenance affects point-of-sale pricing.
“By verifying the chemical signature of different agricultural goods, producers can be held accountable for their product statements,” says Stitzel.
A Rose Is a Rose Except When It’s Not
Stitzel and her research team studied 132 cacao samples from five different countries—Vietnam, Mexico, Indonesia, Ecuador, and Honduras. “We used liquid chromatography to separate and identify the different compounds of dark chocolate,” Stitzel explains. “We then used a mass spectrometer to identify each compound’s unique chemical patterns or signatures.”
With high-performance liquid chromatography, a bar of solid-like dark chocolate is first turned into a liquid. The liquid solvent is then passed through a pump that pressurizes it to separate into individual components. The mass spectrometer measured the mass-to-charge ratio of the molecules of the different components to identify known compounds like caffeine, theobromine, and catechins. Each country’s cacao was found to have a unique composition of these compounds, hence their different chemical signatures.
The team did not compare the cacao samples to soil composition, as the researchers already knew where the samples were grown, having sourced the products from cacao farms in each region. For manufacturers of dark chocolate to verify the origin of cacao, another step is required: Once the chemical signature is isolated, the cacao’s chemical signatures would need to be compared to different countries’ soil composition.
Technology to the Rescue
In this capacity, artificial intelligence tools like machine learning can be leveraged to rapidly search and compare the unique elemental signatures of different geographic soil compositions. This information is available in a number of soil-related databases like the United Nations’ Harmonized World Soil Database or the World Soil Information Service Soil Profile Database.
This comparison could determine if a dark chocolate bar alleged to have been made from expensive Venezuelan Criollo cacao seeds was actually made with cheaper cacao from another country. Assuming dark chocolate makers perform this two-step process, consumers can rest assured they’re buying what they’re paying for.
“We were excited by the consumer ramifications of our work,” says Stitzel, “as we felt we were at the forefront of answering the [food] traceability question, something that is relevant across the agricultural industry.”
“We were excited by the consumer ramifications of our work, as we felt we were at the forefront of answering the [food] traceability question, something that is relevant across the agricultural industry.”
She’s referring to products like Kobe beef, Manuka honey, extra virgin olive oil, and Kona coffee where provenance rings up the cash register. The price of Kona coffee, for instance, is as high as $45 for an eight-ounce bag—real Kona coffee, that is.
In 2019, bona fide Kona coffee farmers in Hawaii’s Kailua-Kona region sued several major retail chains in a class-action lawsuit for selling products designated as Kona coffee they alleged contained few if any Kona coffee beans at all. The lawsuit points out that Hawaii produces about 1.7 million pounds of actual Kona coffee annually, yet some 20 million pounds labeled as Kona coffee are sold each year. Obviously, something is amiss.
Stitzel says her research team’s findings could be applied to determine the geographic origin of Kona coffee beans, as well as the origins of other agricultural products. Meat products advertised as “Kobe beef,” made from cattle raised in the Hyogo prefecture of Japan, can be validated, as can New Zealand’s pricey Manuka honey products and the world’s most expensive olive oil, manufactured from Koroneiki olives in Greece and retailing at $140 per ounce.
“The chemical signatures also could be used to verify the origins of wines and champagne, which has to originate in the Champagne region of France to be sold as such,” says Stitzel.
Her team was in the midst of pursuing additional research when the pandemic struck. “We were hoping to get the [soil-product] comparisons even tighter, down to a sub-region of a country and even to the actual farm, but then COVID-19 shut down the university,” she says.
A research team really can’t work in a lab on a remote basis, Stitzel continues. “We’re not sure when we’ll all physically be back in the lab, but some of the undergrads are already at work individually on their own projects. One of them is actually working on developing coffee signatures to see where the beans are from and whether or not they’re organically grown.”
Down the line, she imagines that food producers can assure customers they’re buying the real deal, by affixing an RFID tag or QR code to products. “Consumers can use their smartphones to scan the information and see the entire farm-to-store traceability of the product,” she says. “Prices could then vary based on how much they like the story.”
In other words, if the story of a $19 bar of chocolate is as good as its bitter taste, the price may well be worth the value.


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January 17, 2008 – Business Management Article
Dell’s Turnaround Strategy working…
Ever since founder Michael Dell returned as CEO a year ago, Dell has forayed into retail, made more acquisitions and focussed on cutting costs. IDC reported that Dell is back to double-digit percentage growth in global PC shipments in the fourth quarter. Dell’s worldwide shipments shrank 8.4 percent last year.
Dell leaves behind HP as Largest PC Supplier in the U.S.
One of Dell’s Turnaround move was switching from a direct sales model to selling PCs through retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart. Dell’s new retail sales strategy is starting to pay off in the U.S. where Dell sold 15.2 percent more PCs than a year earlier. This figure is more than overall U.S. market growth of 8.8 percent and HP’s 9.8 percent. Dell shipped 5.5 million units in the U.S. Competitor HP’s (Hewlett-Packard)growth slowed. HP shipped 4.5 million units. But still Dell remained in the No. 2 market-share spot globally (Dell shipped 14.6 percent of the global PC market; a total of 11.3 million units). HP kept the No. 1 market share spot with 19 percent. HP remained the world’s largest PC dealer, topping Dell, Acer and Lenovo, according to figures from both firms. Taiwan’s Acer held 9.6 percent of the worldwide PC market and is aggressively expanding. Acer in October 2007, purchased Gateway Inc in the United States after which Acer’s PC shipments increased 60.3 percent. Apple Inc, held 5.7 percent of the U.S. market with its computers sales increasing by 30.9 percent in the fourth quarter. Lenovo made slower growth in the global market and is struggling to retain its core audience of business users.


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Even though the Nintendo DS has sold a ridiculous amount of systems, a lot of analysts feel that the company should watch out for the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad. As for Apple’s newest device, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata wasn’t impressed by Steve Jobs’ latest announcement saying, “It was a bigger iPod Touch.” Well…yeah, but that doesn’t mean it won’t sell. That said, a lot of Nintendo DS owners are younger gamers that shouldn’t be messing around with a $500 tablet; I don’t think there will be a ton of overlap.
In the immortal words of Ginsu, “But wait, there’s more!” Iwata also brushed off 3D televisions in the context of gaming. A lot of mainstream outlets went nuts over 3D TV at CES 2010. Iwata doesn’t see what all the fuss is about, “I have doubts whether people will be wearing glasses to play games at home. How is that going to look to other people?” I’m totally with him here. I have no interest in donning goggles for 3D games.
What do you make of Iwata’s comments? Is he just brushing everything off because Nintendo is outselling the world? Or do you agree with his points?