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Well, while we are still three months away from its launch, leaks and rumors surrounding the OnePlus 6 have already started doing rounds on the Internet. The smartphone is said to sport a taller 19:9 display compared to the 18:9 fullscreen display last seen on the OnePlus 5T.
The development comes just after four months of the OnePlus 5T launch. Under the hood, the device will be powered by Qualcomm's most efficient chipset, Snapdragon 845 combined with 6GB of RAM.
The OnePlus 6 is going to be officially unveiled in June, so there's still a long way to go and you should take all of the above mentioned details/images with a pinch of salt as they might change at any time and any moment. Customers in USA and Canada will have to wait for OnePlus' new flagship to buy a device from the Chinese phone startup. The phone has been subjected to various leaks in the past and the new one reveal the specifications of this upcoming OnePlus flagship.
On the rear side, the device sports a powerful 20MP and 16MP dual camera setup while the front end could sport a 20MP selfie camera.
Trump Approves $1.3 Trillion Budget, Averts Govt Shutdown
The veto threat pushed to the forefront concerns over Trump and his staffers' eroding credibility. It was written to fill out a budget outline that Congress passed, and Trump signed , in February.
First off, the OnePlus flagship for 2018 carries the model number A6000, which is similar to most of the OnePlus devices. A leak sized a 8GB RAM variant of the smartphone with flagships from other companies.
The phone will run Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box and will feature a large 3,450 mAh battery.
Further, in the photography department, the OnePlus 6 will feature a dual-camera setup at the back with a combination of 16-megapixel primary and 20-megapixel secondary sensors with a f/1.7 aperture. The battery pack will be boosted with 3,500mAH, with the support of company's iconic DashCharge technology which is equivalent to QuickCharge by Qualcomm.
In the good news department, OnePlus sold out of 5Ts much more quickly than it had anticipated.


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BENGALURU | MUMBAI: It has been a month since the government launched its war on cash, but it is unclear yet if the digital wallet providers have been able to piggyback because of disparate figures that have left the industry flummoxed.
While online wallet companies including Paytm
, MobiKwik and Free-Charge are declaring massive growth in business post the withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from circulation, provisional data shared by RBI paints a far less buoyant picture.Digital payment
companies have been rushing to capitalise on the short supply of physical money following the government’s announcement on November 8 and its push to encourage cashless transactions. They have been pumping in lakhs of rupees to expand and ensure their platforms are accessible widely, in taxis and auto-rickshaws and at the smallest of stores and street vendors.
But, the central bank’s numbers indicate that digital wallet transactions aren’t picking up as rapidly as these firms would have hoped for. The companies’ own numbers suggest otherwise.
According to RBI data, in the first four days of December, the volume of transactions done daily through eight leading mobile wallets and prepaid payment instruments (PPI) was about 25 lakh, worth about Rs 60 crore. According to Paytm, though, the country’s largest digital payments company is registering at least 32.5 lakh transactions every day on its digital wallet. Overall, including the non-wallet transactions through its platform, Paytm said it registers more than 50 lakh transactions worth about Rs 100 crore every day.
The company declined to comment on RBI’s data. FreeCharge said it has registered a nine-fold jump in merchant transactions on its platform, and MobiKwik reported an overall 18-time increase in its transaction volumes.
Oxigen Services, which also has a digital wallet, said transactions increased to Rs 600 crore in November from an average of Rs 450 crore a month earlier. However, 90% of the company’s transactions are peer-to-peer payments, Oxigen said, which would mean
that the company may not have been considered for RBI’s provisional data since it only factored online payments for goods and services.
According to RBI, Rs 1,320 crore was paid through the eight mobile wallets across 5.9-crore transactions for goods and services in November. The regulator did not provide comparative figures for previous months.
Some payments industry executives, though, concede that growth for digital wallets has remained sluggish. “I have maintained that (credit and debit) card transactions are the ones showing real growth (post demonetisation
), while for wallets it has generally been difficult,” said Amrish Rau, chief executive of PayU India.
The company’s payment gateway registered 12 lakh card transactions a day post demonetisation. “98% of the volumes are on cards and 2% on wallets,” Rau said, adding that Pay-U’s digital wallet has contributed only 1% to the company’s revenue. The fact that physical cash is gradually coming back into circulation, coupled with RBI’s new rule waiving two-factor authentication
for transactions up to Rs 2,000 is likely to temper the growth plans of the digital wallet providers.

domain: news


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Vivo Z6 5G to launch on February 29 in China
Vivo is set to launch a new device named the Vivo Z6 5G, in China. It comes as a successor to the Vivo Z5.
From the images, the device will have a hole-punch display upfront while situated on the back is a quad-camera setup inside a rectangular shaped module. A fingerprint scanner can be found on the rear as well. It’s set to have a Snapdragon 765G chipset, and will also feature a “PC-grade” liquid cooling, dual-mode 5G, and a 5,000mAh battery.
The smartphone will be offered in three colors, namely black, violet, and white. Vivo has not yet unveiled any other specs of the Z6 5G. Stay tuned for its launch on February 29.


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Mark your calendars boys and girls for the Samsung Galaxy S4 event on March 14.
I really love this invitation with that “Episode 1” tease. Samsung is one tough advertiser and a giant threat to Apple and now, as The Verge pointed out very well, is even getting Google a little worried.
Unlike Apple, Samsung has been able to keep their product a complete secret. Very little is actually known about this Android equipped device but trust me, it will be a screamer.
The event will take place here in New York City at 7 P.M. ET and will be live-streamed on Samsung’s Youtube channel.
So, how excited are you for this? Leave your comment in the section below!


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Currently, Apple employs 84,000 people nationwide in all 50 states.
Despite many employees' transition into the newest campus, Apple Park, not yet being complete, it makes sense for a company of Apple's scale and growth to continue expanding its corporate footprint.
This move follows other moves by tech companies to invest in the US economy and workforce. Under the new tax bill, all overseas cash is subject to a one-time 15.5 percent tax whether Apple leaves it overseas or moves it to the United States. Companies can pay over eight years. Before 2016's election, Trump criticized the California giant's practices.
That figure includes the company's existing impact on the USA economy - which includes employing about 84,000 people from coast to coast - while it does not include tax payments, the tax revenues generated from employees' wages and the sale of Apple products. "You can't have an announcement of a million jobs".
For starters, there will be $30 billion, which will help fund a number of projects including building the aforementioned new campus.
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The company did not say how much of its investments were already planned.
Later on Wednesday, Trump tweeted a response lauding Apple's announcement. Apple has 94 percent of its total cash outside the United States.
"Apple CEO Tim Cook has been a critic of American tax laws".
Apple just made a lofty promise to the American economy.
This commitment doesn't necessarily represent a big incremental increase - if any - in Apple's capital spending plans.
Facebook selfie helps to convict killer
Ultimately, a tip led police to a witness, who said Antoine confessed to the killing that night. "I will never forgive myself". As a component of her request, Antoine acknowledged duty regarding Gargol's death yet said she didn't recollect killing her.
"They're going to have well over $200bn by the end of this year that will be available for incremental investments, capital returns and M&A", said Matthew Kanterman, a New York-based Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. "And Apple hasn't historically done big M&A", he said. Along with a lower corporate tax rate, Apple can now bring back some or all of the roughly $252 billion in cash or cash equivalents it has parked overseas at a thrifty 15.5% tax rate.
Some of these jobs would be at existing Apple centres, and some at a new centre.
Apple is presently breaking ground on a new facility in downtown Reno, which will support its existing Nevada facilities, the company announced on Wednesday.
Tragedy in Kazakhstan: 52 people burned to death in bus
Two of the survivors suffered burns to their hands, emergency services officials told AFP, while others suffered minor injuries. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, but investigators believe a short circuit may have caused the bus to ignite.


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New Zealand has welcomed its first voco branded property with the launch of voco Auckland City Centre, a brand new, state-of-the-art hotel in the heart of the City of Sails.
voco St. John’s, Solihull has reopened following the signing of an exclusive contract and a series of transformative refurbishments. The property is home to 201-rooms.
As voco™ Hotels is honoured by voters at the World Travel Awards, Will Yell, vice president, luxury and upscale conversion and affiliate brands, voco, Europe, tells Breaking Travel News how it feels to have won
IHG Hotels & Resorts has confirmed Charles Godot will lead the new voco Dubai Palm Jumeirah in the role of general manager. He arrives from Holiday Inn Abu Dhabi.
The new hotel joins the voco family in Dubai, with voco Dubai on Sheikh Zayed Road and the soon to open voco Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers Dubai.
Marked with the upcoming opening of voco Grand Central in Glasgow and voco Edinburgh – Haymarket, the company is seeking to boost its place in the city break market.
The brand will also debut in the picturesque Strasbourg later this year, in the unofficial champagne capital Reims, with a new hotel to follow in Beaune, Burgundy, in 2022.
IHG created the new flag two years ago, focusing on conversion opportunities that combine the informality an independent hotel with the reassurance of a global brand.
InterContinental Hotels Group has signed voco, the Bank, Rosebank in South Africa in partnership with Valor Hospitality Partners Africa. voco combines the informality and charm of an individual hotel with the quality and reassurance of a global and respected brand.
The 81-room hotel embodies the characteristics of the latest InterContinental Hotels Group brand, with exclusive features and distinctive hallmarks, setting it apart for a memorable stay.
InterContinental Hotels Group has announced the rebranding of voco Oxford Thames. The hotel was acquired in 2019 as part of IHG’s strategic partnership with Covivio to acquire 12 Principal and DeVere properties.
voco Kirkton Park Hunter Valley has become the second property from the new InterContinental Hotels Group-owned brand in Australia. The move follows an overhaul of the hotel.


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Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Cricket called on the Cultural Engineers of Seattle-based strategic non-traditional marketing and events firm NEVERSTOP to craft a unique campaign leveraging the creation of the world’s largest fully functioning cell phone. The campaign will included pop-up retail stores, inconspicuous wallet drops containing cards, coupons, and sometimes cash to drive traffic to the official campaign website. Commuters who spot fellow commuters reading green newsprint featuring the letter “K” and containing the campaign URL will be rewarded with Cricket-branded free subway or train passes. http://www.getsomerespekt.com
The Cricket pop-up boutique with the world’s largest cell phone will be active March 6th through 15th in Chicago. The campaign will launch in Philadelphia on March 20th.


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Cruise & Cruise Line
Celebrity Ascent Completes Sea Trials
Spending the Holidays in Puerto Vallarta
Flair Airlines has announced that it will fly three times weekly between Toronto Pearson and Kingston, Jamaica’s Norman Manley International Airport (KIN) beginning December 16.
Flair says it recognizes the unique travel needs of the Jamaican-Canadian community and the importance of this connection to facilitate affordable travel between families, friends, and cultures.
Kingston in Jamaica at sunset. (photo via GummyBone / iStock / Getty Images Plus)
"This is more than just a new route for us -- it's a bridge between communities and an opportunity to create lasting memories,” said Garth Lund, Flair’s Chief Commercial Officer.
“There is a vibrant Jamaican community in Canada who will be able to use this service to reconnect with loved ones more often at an affordable price. We look forward to welcoming travellers onboard as we embark on this exciting journey together."
One-way fares from Toronto to Kingston begin at $149 (pending government approval), including taxes and fees. There are limited seats and availability for the fares, which are available now.
MSC Meraviglia Sails Into Saint John For First Canadian Visit Since 2019
A journalist by training and extensive experience, Bruce spent the early part of his career writing about business, fashion and...
Explore the latest travel news, advice, updates, upcoming exclusive deals and more.
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Big pharmaceutical companies such as Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck and Johnson & Johnson face a looming threat that will put tens of billions of dollars in sales at risk between now and 2030, as blockbuster drugs will tumble off a so-called patent cliff.
That refers to when a company’s patents for one or more leading branded products expire, which opens the door for competitors to sell copycats of those drugs, often at a lower price. That typically causes revenue to fall for drugmakers and costs to drop for patients, who can access more affordable options.
Certain drugmakers appear well prepared to offset some losses from upcoming patent cliffs, as they build their drug pipelines and ink acquisitions or partnerships with other companies, some Wall Street analysts said.
Patent cliffs are an unavoidable issue for pharmaceutical companies. They must replenish older top-selling drugs with new ones that they hope will not just sustain their sales, but also grow them.
The loss of exclusive rights on a drug can affect companies differently, depending on how much of their sales they get from the product or what type of treatment it is. Some drugs facing patent expirations will also be subject to the Biden administration’s Medicare drug price negotiations, a policy that may further threaten the companies’ revenues.
The top 20 biopharma companies have $180 billion in sales at risk from patent expirations between now and 2028, according to estimates from EY.
“It does differ by company at this stage, and I think there are a number of products in the ’25, ’30 timeframe that will be major growth drivers for large biopharma companies … but all in all, there are plenty of companies that have revenue holes to plug,” William Blair & Company analyst Matt Phipps told CNBC.
Merck’s Keytruda is an immunotherapy that treats melanoma, head and neck, lung and other certain types of cancers.
- Key patent expirations: 2028
- 2022 sales: $20.94 billion
- Percentage of company’s total 2022 sales: Roughly 36%
- Estimated future revenue: $14.9 billion in 2030, according to Guggenheim estimates.
Bristol Myers Squibb’s Eliquis is a blood thinner used to prevent clotting, to reduce the risk of stroke.
- Key patent expirations: 2026 to 2028
- 2022 sales: $11.79 billion
- Percentage of company’s total 2022 sales: Around 25%
- Estimated future revenue: $478 million in 2032, according to Leerink Partners estimates.
Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo is an immunotherapy used to treat cancers, including melanoma and lung cancer.
- Key patent expirations: 2028
- 2022 sales: $8.25 billion
- Percentage of total 2022 sales: Almost 18%
- Estimated future revenue: $3.18 billion in 2032, according to Leerink Partners estimates.
Johnson & Johnson’s Stelara is an immunosuppressive medication used to lower inflammation and treat several conditions, including plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
- Key patent expirations: 2024 in Europe, 2025 in the U.S. (Stelara’s patents began to expire in the U.S. last year, but the company struck deals with competitors to delay the launches of copycat drugs).
- 2022 sales: $10.86 billion
- Percentage of total 2022 sales: Around 12%
- Estimated future revenue: $2.63 billion in 2028, according to FactSet estimates.
The type of drug matters
Patent cliffs could differ depending on whether the product is a small-molecule drug – meaning it’s made of chemicals that have low molecular weight – or a biologic, or a medicine derived from living sources such as animals or humans.
Many of the biggest drugs facing upcoming patent expirations are biologics, including Merck’s Keytruda, J&J’s Stelara and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo. Those drugs will inevitably rake in less revenue, but it may take time before so-called biosimilars threaten their dominance.
Investors will get updates on Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb’s plans for the years ahead when they report earnings on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
Phipps said biosimilars have historically “had trouble gaining market share” from their branded counterparts. That’s unlike generics, which are cheaper copycats of small-molecule drugs like Bristol Myers Squibb’s Eliquis.
The difference is that many biosimilars aren’t identical copies of branded biologic drugs, while generics are.
That means biosimilars are not interchangeable: Pharmacists can’t directly substitute a branded biologic for a biosimilar when filling a prescription. Not all patients will react to a biosimilar in the same way as they do to a biologic, which makes some physicians more wary of switching patients to them.
Biosimilars also cost much more to research and develop, and are more complex to manufacture, than generics, making biosimilar makers less willing to sell them at significant discounts to branded counterparts, Phipps noted.
One example is AbbVie‘s Humira, a biologic that helps treat an array of inflammatory diseases. Several biosimilars of Humira debuted on the market last year, but the drug has so far only lost 2% of its market share to those copycats, according to a report released this month by Samsung’s biopharmaceutical subsidiary, Bioepis.
That’s partly because the drugmaker has offered rebates on Humira to pharmacy benefit managers. Its lower price has cut revenue, but it is also helping the drug stay competitive.
“What’s really impacted is not volume in the market, it’s price,” Piper Sandler senior analyst Christopher Raymond said. He added that Humira is a highly profitable drug, so AbbVie can set a lower price and “still maintain a very, very decent margin.”
Still, AbbVie expects that Humira’s revenue declined by 35% last year compared to 2022, when the drug raked in more than $21 billion.
Raymond forecasts a 33% drop in 2023 and an identical decline in 2024, to slash its revenue to about $9.5 billion.
Drugmakers prepare to offset losses
JPMorgan sees the upcoming patent cliffs in the mid-2020s as “largely manageable” as drug pipelines improve, and expects the biopharmaceutical industry’s sales to be “roughly stable” through 2030, analyst Chris Schott said in a note in December.
Take Merck: Schott wrote in a January note that the company “has made substantial progress in addressing its post Keytruda” patent expiration, adding that the company’s “post 2028 profile is looking increasingly attractive.”
During the JPMorgan Health Care Conference earlier this month, Merck CEO Robert Davis said the company expects to have more than $20 billion in sales from oncology drugs by the mid-2030s, which is double the forecast the company provided during the same time last year.
That improved outlook now includes three antibody-drug conjugates – which target cancer cells and minimize damage to healthy ones – from the licensing agreement Merck inked with Daiichi Sankyo in October. It also includes Merck and Moderna‘s personalized cancer vaccine, which has yielded promising mid-stage data when combined with Keytruda to treat the most deadly form of skin cancer.
The company also hiked its revenue outlook for cardiometabolic drugs to around $15 billion by the mid-2030s, up from a previous guidance of $10 billion.
Davis noted that Merck views Keytruda’s patent expiration as a “hill, not a cliff,” and is focused on making “the dip as small as possible and the return to growth as fast as possible.”
Meanwhile, JPMorgan’s Schott said shares of Bristol Myers Squibb had a challenging 2023, as new drugs ramped up “slower than expected.”
But JPMorgan expects those new products, along with the drugmaker’s recent acquisitions and growing mid- to late-stage pipeline, will “ultimately position the company for growth” after upcoming patent expirations. For example, Bristol Myers Squibb acquired Karuna Therapeutics, which develops drugs for psychiatric and neurological conditions, for $14 billion in December.
Meanwhile, Schott said he believes J&J is “well positioned for healthy growth” after Stelara’s patent expires. The firm believes the company’s pharmaceutical business can deliver mid-single digit sales growth through 2030, he wrote in a December note.
J&J’s medical devices business is also becoming a bigger share of the company’s revenue, which could help the company offset the Stelara patent cliff, CFRA analyst Sel Hardy said. The business raked in roughly $30 billion of J&J’s total $85 billion in 2023 sales.
In addition to internal developments, companies will likely look for opportunities to acquire more drugs, particularly those in late-stage development that are close to entering the market, said Arda Ural, EY’s Americas industry markets leader in health sciences and wellness.
The biotech and pharmaceutical industry is also starting the year off with about $1.4 trillion on hand to make deals, he added.
Drugmakers buy more time
To avoid losing revenue, pharmaceutical companies are also moving to delay competition or extend patent protections on drugs.
Merck is testing a new, more convenient version of Keytruda that can be injected under the skin rather than through intravenous infusion. If that new form is approved, it may land the company a separate patent and extend Keytruda’s market exclusivity by several years.
Bristol Myers Squibb is also testing a new form of Opdivo, which is currently administered into a patient’s veins. A version that’s injected under the skin showed promising results in a late-stage trial in October, and could also lead to extended market exclusivity.
J&J’s strategy with Stelara is a bit different.
In 2022, J&J sued Amgen over its plan to market a biosimilar for Stelara, saying it would infringe two patents for the drug. J&J confidentially settled that lawsuit in May, but will allow Amgen to sell its biosimilar of Stelara no later than 2025.
“Pharma is doing what they can to make sure that they squeezed that the most they can out of these drugs before they open up widely,” Mike Perrone, Baird’s biotech specialist, told CNBC. But he noted that “while you can tack on some years and extend revenues, there’s only so much time you can add.”
Medicare drug price negotiations are a factor
Medicare drug price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act are an additional threat to companies, but how the policy affects revenues could differ depending on when a drug loses exclusivity.
Medicare is beginning price talks for the first round of 10 prescription medications this year. The talks include Stelara and Eliquis, along with a few other treatments facing patent expirations.
By the fall, the federal government will publish the agreed-upon prices for those medications, which will go into effect in 2026.
It’s too early to know how much Medicare will be able to negotiate down prices.
But some experts said lower prices in 2026 may have less of an effect on drugs already expected to see revenue decline as patents expire around the same time. For example, Stelara will lose exclusivity in the U.S. in 2025.
It’s a slightly different story for drugs that will face generic competition after 202https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/center-biologics-evaluation-and-research-cber/what-are-biologics-questions-and-answers. Perrone said a lower negotiated price on a drug will result in companies losing revenue earlier, before the patents expire.
Still, he said the bigger threat to revenue for drugs – regardless of when they lose exclusivity – is competitors entering the market, not a new negotiated price with Medicare.


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The people of the Internet world have spoken. They want Burberry's new Christmas ad, starring Domhnall Gleeson and Sienna Miller, to be made into a real film.
As part of its Christmas marketing campaign, the luxury fashion brand released a lavish three-and-a-half minute film called "The Tale of Thomas Burberry" early last week, to tell how Thomas Burberry (Gleeson), the founder of the brand, built his fashion empire during WWI.
The story covers Burberry's personal relationships with his love interest (Miller), his friends and colleagues. The film, which is technically a teaser advert, was directed by the Oscar-winning documentary maker Asif Kapadia.
While Christmas still has more than one month and a half to go, the spot has gotten people talking, with numerous Tweets asking for the rest of the footage to be released.
WHY isn't the new Burberry campaign an actual feature film?! I have never been so gripped by a campaign.
— Olivia (@livnicfelt) 3 November 2016
— Rebecca Reid (@RebeccaCNReid) 1 November 2016
And in case, you haven't seen the spot, watch it here:
Within six days, the Facebook post has garnered more than 2.5m views, 32k likes and 8.5k shares. Its YouTube video has already generated 4 million views.


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The popular service, whose mobile apps are available for both Apple‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone and mobile devices running Google‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system, announced on Tuesday that it now has more than 100 million users. That’s up from 90 million users in January, PC Magazine noted.
Intagram, which was founded in 2010, was acquired last year by Facebook for $1 billion.
In December, a change to its terms of service agreement that would have allowed it to put user images in advertising without permission or compensation provoked a harsh response from critics. Stung by the backlash, Instagram quickly returned to its original user agreement.
Shares of Facebook fell more than 1% in Wednesday midday trading.


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INTERNET SERVICES GIANT Google has revealed that its acquisition of Motorola almost doubled its workforce, which increased from 33,077 on 31 March to 54,604 as of 30 June.
The firm has certainly come a long way from its start-up roots in the 1990s, with recently departed veteran Marissa Mayer famously having been employee number 20.
The headcount increase means that Google continues its rise as one of the world's biggest firms, although as our list shows, it still has some way to go to overtake other industry stalwarts in terms of number of employees.
1. IBM: Around 450,000 (as of January 2012)
The clear leader, the firm is closing in on half-a-million full-time staff, based on information given by the firm's chief information officer at its Lotusphere event in 2012 attended by our sister IT news publication V3.
2. HP: Around 350,000 employees (as of 2011)
While the firm has seen new additions in recent years from Palm and Autonomy, and the loss of some 27,000 jobs announced earlier this year, HP remains one of the biggest employers in the information technology industry.
3. Oracle: 115,116 (as of June 2012)
Enterprise software specialist Oracle outdoes Apple and Google in terms of staff, employing approximately 115,116 workers around the globe.
4. Intel: 100,100 (as of February 2012)
Intel employs a rather binary 100,100 employees, more than the number of staff working for Microsoft as the company's revenues continue to grow.
5. Microsoft: Around 90,000 (as of 2011)
Despite posting its first loss yesterday due to its high-profile Aquantive write-off, Microsoft is home to 90,000 staff across the globe, thousands more than its main rivals.
6. Cisco: 65,223 (as of 2012)
Cisco employs 65,223 staff, split over 165 countries across the world in over 475 offices.
7. Apple: 60,400 (as of September 2011)
Apple has 60,400 full-time staff, 30,000 less than Microsoft, although the company has another 2,900 temporary employees and contractors.
8. Google: 54,604 (as of June 2012)
As noted, the completion of its acquisition of Motorola has seen the firm's workforce rocket towards 55,000, a far cry from its start-up days.
9. Facebook: 3,200 (as of December 2011)
The social network company worth around $60bn is one of the smallest firms in terms of number of employees, despite being one of the biggest global brands, with an SEC filing revealing that just 3,200 staff are employed at the firm as of the end of 2011.
10. Twitter: Around 1,000
Official figures on Twitter employee numbers don't exist - we asked, but it didn't get back to us - but it's estimated there are around 1,000 full-time staff at the company, based on reports online. µ
Note: Figures are accurate from recent SEC filings and widespread reports but are obviously not definitive.
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One case of acute non-viral hepatitis has been linked to the product in New Zealand, according to the country's government.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a similar warning this month and is engaged in an ongoing investigation of the matter, while US-based manufacturer USPLabs has defended its product, saying the hepatitis link, if proven, was not down to its products, but those produced by counterfeiters the company has long been fighting.
The Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) warning follows similar actions taken this week by authorities in the UK, Spain and Denmark.
FSANZ alerted health authorities to look out for cases of acute non-viral hepatitis with symptoms including, “fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine, clay coloured bowel movements, joint pain, yellow eyes, and jaundice.”
FSANZ CEO Steve McCutcheon highlighted the typically online nature of the product sales and the increased potential for product fraud on the internet.
“Consumers need to exercise caution when using any dietary supplement and should do so under medical supervision,” he said.
“People also need to be particularly careful about purchasing products online. Online products can have unsafe ingredients and consumers can’t be certain they are getting legitimate products.”
“FSANZ will continue to liaise with health authorities and food regulatory agencies on the investigation and will update its advice to consumers as necessary.”
In New Zealand, the acting director general of the Minister for Primary Industries, Scott Gallacher, said the ministry, “is working with the FDA and FSANZ to obtain additional information.”
It added: “MPI is aware of one non-viral hepatitis case in New Zealand, with no current cause, arising in a consumer of OxyElite products.”
An investigation into that case is ongoing.
In its warning letter to USPLabs the FDA questioned the alleged botanical source of the active ingredient, aegeline, also referred to as N-[2-hydroxy-2(4-methoxyphenyl) ethyl]-3-phenyl-2-propenamide, which it said lacked approval in the US.
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) this week also increased attention via a consumer warning on the industrial chemical DNP, that is being used as a pre-workout aid. That action was welcomed by the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA).
“The Food Standards Agency’s campaign against DNP is very welcome,” said ESSNA general secretary, Chris Whitehouse.
“DNP is a chemical, plain and simple. It has nothing to do with either sport or nutrition, and should not be available to the public in any form. It is unacceptable that products containing DNP are available over the internet, and we hope the FSA’s campaign will help crack down on sites that are peddling illegal products that could potentially put consumers’ lives at risk.”
“We urge all consumers to be very careful about the content of the products they are purchasing, to stick to legitimate sports nutrition products, and make sure they are buying from reputable retailers and manufacturers.”


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Trade’s primary benefits — in Wisconsin, Texas, and Ohio
In the Washington Times today, Donald Lambro focuses on the recent primary in Wisconsin and questions the attacks on trade by presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Lambro points out how Wisconsin has gained from trade:
In dollar terms, Wisconsin’s exports totaled $17.2 billion in 2006, up by 64 percent since 2001. Its largest export industries were in construction, farming and industrial machinery, plus engines and power transmission equipment.
He also offers some broader advice on trade to would-be POTUSes:
But turning away from trade agreements, now and in the future, will not strengthen our economy but only weaken it. There is nothing wrong with the economy in Wisconsin or the rest of the country that cannot be helped by opening overseas markets to our products and services. U.S. export sales have been running at about $1.3 trillion a year and that figure will climb as a result of an expanding world economy and a weaker dollar that is making our products more competitive.
Now that the candidates are under the eyes of Texas for its upcoming primary, they should also check out how that state benefits enormously from trade, and — contrary to what the candidates are spouting — the North America Free Trade Agreement — is responsible for a large share of Texas’ export growth.
According to the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank,
Having surpassed California as the top exporting state in 2002, Texas today sells $150 billion worth of goods overseas. If Texas were a nation, it would rank among the top 20 exporting countries in the world.
Who are Texas’ best customers? Mexico has traditionally been the state’s preeminent trading partner—not at all surprising, given its proximity. Geography and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) of 1994 helped make Mexico the destination for 35 percent of Texas exports in 2006 (Chart 1). Laredo has become the nation’s fourth busiest port district.
But don’t expect a candidate conversion to this view. The anti-trade pandering may play well in Ohio, even though that state also depends heavily on trade with NAFTA countries for its export growth:
Ohio’s export shipments of merchandise in 2006 totaled $37.8 billion, up 36 percent ($10.1 billion) from 2002. Ohio recorded the eighth largest export total of all 50 states in 2006.
Ohio’s increase in exports of $10.1 billion from 2002 to 2006 was the ninth largest among the 50 states.
Ohio exported globally to 205 foreign destinations in 2006. The state’s largest market in 2006, by far, was our NAFTA trading partner Canada, which received goods exports of $18.3 billion. This was nearly half (48 percent) of Ohio’s total exports that year. Ohio’s second-largest market was our other NAFTA partner Mexico ($2.7 billion), followed by Japan ($1.4 billion). Other top markets included China, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Australia, and Saudi Arabia.


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Posted on 14 January, 2010 by Keron Calame | No Comments
Branex Design has announced the iTamTam M1 Stool iPod Docking Station at the CES. The iTamTam comes with a 5.25-inch subwoofer with 80W output along with four 1.5-inch tweeters offering 10W of power.
It is compatible with the iPod and iPhone or just about any media player which has a 3.5mm jack. Available in multiple colors, the iTamTam M1 will be released in the US later this year for $570.


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Millennials are snapping up the world’s largest publicly traded marijuana company ahead of its earnings report (CGC)
- Canopy Growth, the world's largest marijuana company, is set to report earnings after the closing bell Tuesday.
- The stock has long been popular among millennials on Robinhood, and Tuesday was no exception.
- Follow CGC's stock price in real-time here.
Canopy Growth — the world's largest marijuana company and the first to trade on the New York Stock Exchange — has been a wildly popular stock among millennial investors, and heading into the Canadian company's firs- quarter earnings report, that enthusiasm was only growing.
More than 26,000 investors on the stock-trading app Robinhood , which skews much younger than traditional brokerages, held the stock as of Tuesday afternoon. That's a 179% increase in holders since the stock first appeared on Robinhood's "Top 100" list in June. It's now the 42nd most-popular stock on the app.
Canopy soared earlier this year when Canada passed legislation legalizing marijuana throughout the country. However, it saw heavy selling Tuesday, down 7%, alongside its peers as the Ontario province delayed the launch of brick-and-mortar marijuana sales until April 2019.
Analysts polled by Bloomberg expect Canopy to report an adjusted loss of $0.11 a share on revenue of $26.33 million.
Shares of CGC have fallen by 12% this year.


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Drug safety is now as American as apple pie, based on the 96-1 vote the Senate took to reauthorize the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA). Few things pass through Congress with such overwhelming support, and we are heartened that Senators came together to pass this “must-pass” legislation.
Millions of Americans rely on medications every day, from people with chronic illness, to seniors, to anyone who takes a pill for allergies or a headache. As a member of the Alliance for a Safe Drug Supply, Community Catalyst has advocated for solutions to this critical issue. Assuming the House will also pass similar legislation and we’ll have a new law soon, one piece of the complicated health care puzzle will have been made safer. How do you spell relief? P-D-U-F-A.
Truly, the bill marks a momentous occasion for consumers. Today, roughly 80 percent of ingredients used in U.S. medicines are made overseas, and there has been a historic disparity between the number of inspections conducted at U.S.-based plants and foreign plants. Under the new bill, the fees paid by name-brand and generic drug manufacturers will allow more frequent inspection of foreign manufacturing sites that produce drugs imported into the United States, addressing a critical gap in supply chain safety. As Pharmalot notes, 12.7 percent of capsule makers in China were recently found to be making unsafe capsules. While it is unclear whether those particular capsules were being introduced to the international supply chain, as Ed Silverman so eloquently puts it, “the episode underscores the larger concern that some Chinese companies that are intertwined in the pharmaceutical supply chain operate as if China is a modern-day version of the Wild West.” Of course, there’s also been a drumbeat of recalls and egregious safety problems in U.S. plants—but we only know about them due to more inspections here in the U.S. Now we’ll have parity in foreign inspections, too.
The PDUFA bill also marks the first time the generic drug industry will be contributing to the FDA’s inspection and oversight funds, pitching in nearly $1.6 billion over the next five years. We view this commitment from generic pharmaceutical producers as a notable contribution to ensuring the safety of the effective, affordable generics that we all rely on today.
In addition, the bill requires pharmaceutical companies to track each batch of drug products along the supply chain, from the factory to the pharmacy or hospital. This has been a long-sought after consumer protection, given that “track and trace” systems can be utilized to ensure counterfeit drugs are not introduced into the supply chain. Prescription drug counterfeiting is one of the most lucrative crimes in the world, and the infamous heparin contamination is believed to have been economically-motivated. And although it is relatively rare in the United States, there are far too many instances of intentionally-adulterated or counterfeit medications having breached the supply chain and been consumed by Americans, and we need to put an end to it.
One more piece of good news is the updated system to proactively address drug shortages. According to the Pew Health Group, more than 200 drugs went through periods of shortages in 2011. The bill puts in place an early warning system that manufacturers must inform FDA in advance of discontinuing manufacture of any drug. Hopefully, patients receiving cancer treatment will soon be able to cross one thing off their list of worries.
The bill was not perfect, however. Patients would greatly benefit from the earliest possible access to generic drugs when brand name patents end, so we were disappointed that the “pay-for-delay” amendment was defeated. Additionally, there are grave concerns about medical device safety, and we are disappointed that the Senate did not authorize medical device user fees to be used to evaluate the safety of devices in the market, despite the many recalls of dangerous devices in the past few years.
While there is room for improvement, we applaud the FDA, the Senate, and drug manufacturing companies for working together to pass this legislation, and eagerly await the House to follow suit.
— Anna Dunbar-Hester, Program Coordinator and Policy Analyst


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mavericks Stories December 22, 2014
mavericks Stories December 11, 2014
mavericks Stories November 26, 2014
mavericks Stories October 24, 2014
mavericks Stories October 17, 2014
The numbers are small as yet, but early indications are that Mac users are keen to get their hands on the new Yosemite features. Social sharing tool AddThis, which collects analytics data from 13 million websites, is reporting that Yosemite adoption is already running at 2%, versus 1.2% for Mavericks in the same timeframe … expand full story
The best 4K & 5K displays for Mac
mavericks Stories September 29, 2014
Apple has just released a new download for users on OS X Mavericks to address the recently-discovered “Shellshock” bug. Apple previously noted that that only a few Macs were actually impacted by the bug and that most users were protected by default. The company promised to release an update shortly to address those who had manually configured their computers in a way that left them exposed.
For users on older versions of OS X, the Mavericks fix will not work. To secure those systems, there are separate downloads for Lion and Mountain Lion. The patch will likely be available through the built-in OS X Software Update mechanism soon. There is currently no patch for machines running the public or developer builds of OS X Yosemite.


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SSP Group, a London-based multinational food retailer and caterer, said it plans to cut up to 5,000 jobs in the U.K. as a dramatic reduction in passenger travel has hurt its outlets in airports and railway stations.
“We have therefore come to the very difficult conclusion that we will need to simplify and reshape our U.K. business, and we are now starting a collective consultation on a proposed reorganization,” the company stated.
SSP operates in more than 30 countries, including the U.S., India and China, but job cuts are only currently envisioned for its U.K. outlets.
Global sales in April and May plunged by 95% from year-ago levels, although in June the company showed somewhat stronger performance in continental Europe and North America.
The company’s most well-known franchises are the Upper Crust bakeries, deli operator Camden Food, the Caffe Ritazza coffee chain and luxury bar chain Cabin.
SSP currently has 580 outlets across Britain, but less than 10 are currently open. British rail stations, where SSP has a majority of its U.K. businesses, have suffered an 85% drop in passengers over the past year.
The company noted it only expects about 20% of its U.K. stores to reopen by the autumn.
Other regions of the company will be spared job cuts “due to our expectations of a more rapid recovery [outside Britain].”
“Covid-19 continues to have an unprecedented impact on the travel industry and on SSP’s businesses in all geographies,” said SSP Group chief executive Simon Smith. “We are beginning to see early signs of recovery in some parts of the world and are starting to open units as passenger demand picks up. However, in the U.K. the pace of the recovery continues to be slow.”
SSP added: “If the pace of the recovery continues at the current level, this could lead to up to 5,000 roles becoming redundant from within the [London] head office and U.K. operations.”
SSP typically has about 9,000 workers in the U.K., however many have already been furloughed or have availed themselves of the government’s wage subsidy scheme.
“The reality is that passenger numbers still remain at very low levels,” Smith added. “We are now taking further action to protect the business and create the right base from which to rebuild our operations.”
SSP expects to take a related restructuring charge of up $12.37 million.
The company also said it has access to about £750 million ($932 million) in liquidity and was confident it has enough funds to continue to operate “throughout even its most pessimistic scenario.”
SSP had a global workforce of about 40,000 prior to the pandemic.


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Xinjiang Cotton: A Case of Difficult Decisions
Swept in the recent furore are Western fashion labels who have to grapple with the need to balance between their domestic and international demands.
Cotton, the raw material integral in the production of many of the world’s garments, is in the spotlight for the past week. In particular, cotton sourced from the Xinjiang region takes the centre stage and is the source of contention that has resulted in H&M and other Western brands such as Adidas, Burberry and Nike being boycotted by its Chinese customers.
Now, why is this a big issue and shouldn’t these Western brands be given the freedom to choose where they obtain their raw materials? The short answer is, yes, these Western brands have the liberty but most of the time when profits are at play, each decision can have far-reaching consequences.
This is not the first time fashion brands have incurred the ire of the Chinese people, but the current issue related to Xinjiang is highly sensitive, unlike the previous cultural faux pas that has happened. This is because the region is home to many ethnic minorities including the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority, which has been in the spotlight since 2016. In 2020, foreign brands such as H&M and Nike have issued a statement saying that they will be cutting out cotton sourced from Xinjiang due to the alleged use of “forced labour”—the Chinese government has vehemently denied these claims.
The ripples effect from this is observed most prominently online where netizens have voiced their discontent on microblogging sites and major e-commerce platform have removed these brands. Following this, many Chinese brand ambassadors have either distanced themselves or completely cut ties with their Western employers.
One thing to note is that in China, brand ambassadors play a pivotal role in influencing sales for many brands. Celebrities have the ability to legitimise brands and drive sales, unlike the West where it is predominantly through the brand’s storytelling and heritage. In an article by the Business of Fashion, Chinese fashion blogger, Mr. Bags sold 3.24 million RMB worth of handbags for Tod’s in just under six minutes. His previous record saw him sold 1.2 million RMB worth of Givenchy handbags in twelve minutes. This new marketing strategy has proven to be a new favourite amongst Western brands which saw the appointment of many Chinese stars as their brand ambassadors. For H&M it was Victoria Song, Nike with Wang Yibo and Burberry with Zhou Dongyu.
This issue serves as a two-pronged assault on the Western brands and navigating through this quagmire can be tough because it involves two distinct groups of customers that hail from both the West and China. On the one hand, customers from the West still make up a significant portion of the income stream and increasingly, these customers are placing more importance on how their clothes are made such as the conditions of the workers and if the environment is protected. On the other hand, China is an important market for these international fashion brands. The Chinese economy was not as affected as the West when the pandemic hit and it is now registering growth faster than its Western counterparts. Given the burgeoning middle class in China, fashion labels do not want to miss a slice of that pie where its home market is still reeling in from the effects of the pandemic. For these Western brands, this is a Sisyphean task to choose between morality and profits.
In conclusion, the fashion industry is one of the most convoluted sectors in the world economy. Each component of the supply chain involves a multitude of key players that can span across political and cultural divides, thus, further altering the already muddy industry. For the Western brands, it will prove to be a herculean task to balance the demands from its domestic market against that of the growing Chinese market.


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IDA Ireland, the investment arm of the Irish government, is looking for pitches to handle its U.S./U.K. account.
It wants to reach executives in the information technology, cleantech, pharmaceutical, media, consumer goods and business services sectors.
IDA worries that its competitive 12.5 percent corporate tax rate is sometimes perceived as a "tax haven" negative by the media and Washington lawmakers who are concerned about shipping jobs overseas during a time of high unemployment here.
According to its RFP, the U.S. accounts for more than 70 percent of investment in Ireland, exceeding the combined value of American outlays in Brazil, India, Russia and China combined.


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Greenwear Fashion expands solar powered looms in Lucknow
Textiles business Greenwear Fashion has transformed its handlooms into solar power driven looms to boost production in an eco-friendly way. The Lucknow-based business has reached a turnover of Rs 4 crore.
“We count it as an achievement that clothes readied at our village unit are being sold by some leading women fashion brands,” said Greenwear Fashion’s founder Abhishek Pathak, the Times of India reported. “In Uttar Pradesh, we might be the first to be working for these brands.”
Greenwear Fashions is classified as a micro, small, and medium enterprise and is based in Safedabad in Barabanki. Pathak set up the business in 2019 after graduating from the National Institute of Fashion Technology and working for a US-based home fashions company.
“We have transformed the handloom at out unit into solar looms and women working on it need not use their hands on the loom as it is the handle that operates on solar energy that makes the working easier,” said Pathak. “We have an aggregation unit in Safedabad, otherwise women can work from home as it is a decentralised system of working. I also have my own outlets where I sell these products. I also work for men’s fashion and home fashion, which is making products for kitchen and baths using textiles.”
Next, the business aims to convert its sewing machines to work on solar power to boost the artisans’ efficiency. The business currently has 380 employees.
Copyright © 2023 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.


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All is not what it seems
London 2012 organisers have been forced to apologise for airbrushing the historic World War II ship HMS Belfast from an official poster depicting the capital’s skyline. Games organisers said it was “a simple mistake in the advertising production process” for London 2012 Festival. The ship, which served in both World War II and the Korean War, has been moored near Tower Bridge since 1971.
A London 2012 spokesman said: “HMS Belfast was unfortunately excluded from one of the seven adverts for the London 2012 Festival. “We are very sorry about this – it was a simple mistake in the advertising production process, and we apologise if this mistake has caused offence. The mistake has been rectified and posters without HMS Belfast in are being removed.”
One of my own personal favourite Photoshop blunders is this one – how on earth did this manage to get past quality control???
Posted on November 10, 2011, in Trivia and tagged 2012, HMS Belfast, Olympics, Photoshop. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
Ha ha, how did nobody manage to notice this before it got out! So weird.


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Aiways has reaffirmed its commitment to accelerated growth and entering more markets after completing a new round of financing worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The new investment has led to a restructuring of the board in line with Aiways’ global growth plans in 2022 and beyond. Long-standing shareholder Chen Xuanlin (William Chen) has become Chairman of Aiways. Chen has played a pivotal role in Aiways’ domestic and international growth with strategic and financial support since 2017, when the company was founded. Chen has been joined on the Aiways board by Zhang Yang (Charlie Zhang), a former VP of NIO. Both Chen and Zhang have extensive experience in the automotive industry, and have long been advocates for new energy vehicles and the move to sustainable mobility.
Dr. Alexander Klose remains the Vice President of Overseas Operations based in Shanghai and Munich – spearheading the brand’s successful growth strategy in Europe and other global markets to come in 2022. Aiways’ Founder Samuel Fu will continue to serve as President from Shanghai.
The new investment and changes to top-level management will accelerate the development of the Aiways business globally – with particular focus on new market launches, products and sustainable mobility, enhancing the user experience and developing the brand’s digital capabilities.
Aiways was the first electric vehicle start-up from China to start selling cars in Europe and continues to grow its presence on the continent. Aiways currently sells the battery electric U5 SUV in ten European markets – Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, plus Israel – with more to follow throughout 2022.
Across all markets this year, the Aiways U5 SUV will be joined by the Aiways U6 SUV-Coupé. Both models are all-electric, offering accessible zero emissions motoring, long range and class-leading practicality. Aiways intends to release one new electric vehicle per calendar year in Europe.


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WELCOME TO The itinfrastructure REPORT
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Feature market insights and perspectives from top C-Level executives, elite technology influencers and thought leaders from your company here. This signature initiative has garnered immense support...
Google | June 02, 2020
According to Cyware, researchers at Trustwave recently discovered numerous hackers infecting users with malware by targeting them via Google's Cloud infrastructure.
By leveraging Google Cloud’s infrastructure in their campaigns, threat actors have attached...
newsherder | April 25, 2020
This tremendous amount of work – roughly half of the turnover that the entire company generated in the 2019 financial year – underscores the importance of a business that Alibaba relies on to drive its international expansion. The Chinese e-commerce giant is now planning to build additional data centers to complement an existing network covering 21 regions worldwide and to support the development of technologies in areas such as AI inference chips, a statement said....
prnewswire | October 15, 2020
Frost & Sullivan's recent analysis, Strategic Analysis of the Global Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Market, Forecast to 2025, finds that V2X sales across the globe are projected to rise. In North America, sales are estimated to reach US$1.12 billion by 2025, while Europe and China are forecasted to reach US$3.29 billion and US$6.27 billion, respectively. Most regions prefer cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) over dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) because the technology will see...
Yahoo Finance | January 21, 2020
PoE Texas announces the newest Power Over Ethernet (PoE) innovation that cuts network cable infrastructure by up to 75%. Whether you need to add network devices and cannot install any more cables or whether you're just ready to reduce your cabling runs, the new GBT-4-IW combines up to four cables into one. Simply use one ethernet cable to send PoE to this device and connect four ports of PoE in one stylish wall mount....
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Nokia Lumia 800: Editor’s Choice Award
The Nokia 800 was just crowned Editor’s Choice Award at the What Mobile Awards 2011. This award is means even more than you think on Nokia’s “comeback” trail because this award wasn’t voted on by some tech geeks in a room. No, no, no it was voted on by real readers voting for their favourite new phones, apps and networks during October at What Mobile.
Looks like Nokia has a hit on their hands with this one!! I can’t wait to see what they unveil at CES in January!
Via: Nokia Conversions


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Like the Chinese character that means both crisis and opportunity, the recent spike in the Consumer Price Index — inflation — may not be quite the retail calamity that some of the headlines have suggested.
In fact, a shot of inflation may be the best medicine there is for an industry savaged by the pandemic and, before that, ground down by nearly a decade of constrained price flexibility.
Those who are worried point to the surge in real estate prices and the stock market, trends reminiscent of the last inflationary period (2004-2007) which accompanied a similar rise in home and stock prices. That boom ended with a spectacular crash in all asset categories, wiping out the savings of millions and lingering for years. Or they cite such anomalies as the breathtaking prices of used cars: on average, a pre-owned pickup truck now costs almost twice what it did a year ago, according to CarGurus.


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Parents in Texas have been charged with child endangerment after having their 13-year-old daughter drive them home from a club.
A two-pronged taxi service that caters specifically to those who have unexpectedly had one too many and been left unable to drive themselves home could launch in the US.
The King of Beer’s craft-beer-inspired “brewed the hard way” strategy continues to drive its advertising.
Sotheby’s wine sales in New York have exceeded US$10 million in the first half of this year following a successful sale last weekend.
Constellation Brands has reaffirmed its confidence in the Mexican beer market, announcing plans to invest $2 billion in expanding its brewery and bottle plant.
English sparkling wine producer Ridgeview has teamed up with US-based New Horizon Wines in a bid to develop a market for its wines in the US.
Craft beer could be undone by its own success, as leading industry figures warn that the rapid boom in the craft category is leaving hops in short supply.
Cider will grow around 5% annually for the next five years thanks to the category strengthening its position in the US, Australia and South Africa, a market report has said.
A proposal by the Canadian government to impose staggering taxes on US wine imports will be considered by the World Trade Organisation next week.
Underage and binge drinking rates among young people in America are falling, according to a US government study, mirroring similar trends in the UK.
© 2015 Union Press Ltd | Unit 122, 30 Great Guildford Street, London SE1 0HS, UK | Registered in England and Wales No. 03606414 | Tel: +44 (0)20 7803 2420


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Workers ate the firm’s 11 plants in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham will share in the £2m festive payout.
It tops a landmark year for JCB which saw it celebrate the production of its one millionth machine and the elevation of chairman Anthony Bamford to the House of Lords.
Lord Bamford said: “At the start of this year we anticipated that the business would face a number of economic headwinds and that has certainly been the case with trading being tougher than expected. However, while certain markets have slowed, we are seeing growth in other parts of the world which is very encouraging. I’m delighted that the company is able to award a Christmas bonus in 2013 and I thank everyone for their commitment and hard work this year.”
Mark Willmore, 40, is a team leader in the backhoe loader business unit at the World HQ in Rocester, Staffs and has worked at JCB for 16 years. He said: “We never take getting a Christmas bonus as a foregone conclusion, so it’s great when we get one, especially with so much extra expense at this time of year. It’s nice to celebrate the company’s success for another year and I’d like to say thank you to Lord Bamford for awarding the bonus. ”
Marketing communications manager Joanne Langton, 24, said: “I only joined JCB in April so it’s the first Christmas bonus I’ve received, which makes it extra special.”
Pictured below are JCB employees (left to right): Shaun Alcock, Becky Whittaker, Joanne Langton and Mark Willmore.


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The list of banks that are compatible with Google Pay has grown since we saw a couple of weeks ago how you can add a debit or credit card to pay with your mobile phone. In these last days they joined three new banks,
After a few months, the list of compatible banks did not increase; now we see how they joined in November of this year. Bankia, BancaMarch and Banca Mediolanum for Google Pay,
In very few days, we have moved from eight to eleven entities. We hope that the pace will not prevent banks from adding more to the Google mobile payment platform, which still lacks many important organizations, such as Banco Santander, Sabadell or CaixaBank, which are not yet compatible with Google Pay.
Banks compatible with Google Pay
With these three new additions, we see that Google Pay is already compatible with the following objects:
- Banca March
- American express
- Post Card
- Ticket Restaurant
Not all debit or credit cards of these objects are compatible. You can check if your card is compatible with the Google Pay app when you try to add it or on the Google Pay support page that tells us a complete list of banks and compatible cards.
Google Pay: Pay in thousands of stores, websites and apps. It depends on the device.
Additional information | Google pay


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Europe's six-year sales slump finally came to an end in 2014 as more than 80 percent of the auto brands competing in the region reported a year-on-year increase. While industry watchers only see European sales rising slightly this year, companies including Ford and Fiat are already making positive moves such as increasing production and adding staff.
Overall, Europe’s 2014 sales were up 5 percent from a two-decade low in 2013 and 16 of the 31 brands tracked by European automakers association ACEA grew faster than the market. Just five brands sold fewer vehicles in 2014 than in 2013.
The big winners based on sales percentage growth were Jeep (+70 percent), Lexus (+30 percent) and Mitsubishi (+25 percent). The brands that made the largest increases in volume were Renault (up by 73,231 units), Skoda (+70,968) and Dacia (+68,668).
Helped by key new model launches, those three automakers accounted for 32 percent of the overall market’s growth of 669,568 unit sales to 13,006,451.


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Appeals court affirms Triton Tech patents not infringed by Nintendo Triton Tech sued Nintendo of America alleging that its Wii Remote infringed Triton's patent, but a district court ruled that the asserted claims of Triton's patent were invalid for indefiniteness, which an appeals court affirmed. Reference Link
Nintendo reports nine-month operating income Y42.49B vs. Y31.60B last year Reports nine-month revenue Y425.66B vs. Y442.92B last year. Reports nine-month ordinary income Y55.30B vs. Y92.36B last year. Reports nine-month profit attributable to owners of parent Y40.56B vs. Y59.52B last year. Reports nine-month net income per share of Y337.64 vs. Y502.78 last year. Reports total assets as of December 31, 2015 was Y1.41M.


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The 2023 BMW M3 CS may not be one of the prettiest saloons out there, but it's certainly among the fastest. In fact, few other four-door cars dare to go up against Bavaria's latest Clubsport model, at least when it comes to straight-line acceleration. An unmodified example of the sporty saloon was taken to an unrestricted section of the Autobahn where it delivered supercar-like performance. In typical M fashion, it was faster than claimed.
BMW may say the M3 CS does 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 3.4 seconds, but in reality, the limited-run super saloon will do the job in just 3.2 seconds. It needed 10.37 seconds to go from 0 to 124 mph (200 km/h), thus beating the official 11.1-second sprint time provided by the German luxury brand. It went on to complete the quarter mile in 10.86 seconds after doing 62 to 124 mph (100 to 200 km/h) in 10.37 seconds.
2024 BMW M3 CS
Remarkably, it's not even the fastest BMW saloon out there since the larger and more powerful M5 CS was tested a couple of years ago by the same folks at AutoTopNL and it delivered even better numbers. It hit 62 mph (100 km/h) in an amazing 2.98 seconds and completed the 0-124 mph (0-200 km/h) sprint in 9.67 seconds. The quarter-mile run took 10.64 seconds.
You'd be forgiven for thinking the M5 CS is a lot heavier than the M3 CS, but it actually isn't. The difference between the BMW M’s high-performance saloons is just 60 kilograms (132 pounds), with the bigger of the two vehicles weighing 1,825 kg (4,023 lbs).
The adjacent video is also a good opportunity to see the M3 CS at full tilt, hitting 193 mph (311 km/h) on the German highway. The GPS-verified velocity was slightly lower, at 190 mph (306 km/h), which is still slightly higher than what BMW claims.
As was the case with the M5 CS, the new M3 CS will be available for only a year, and is expected to have a production run of anywhere between 1,700 to 2,000 cars.


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Merry Swiftmas to all — and to all, a brand new, nostalgic Christmas song to enjoy. On Friday, Dec. 6, shortly after she revealed to her fans that she had written a surprise holiday song, Taylor Swift released "Christmas Tree Farm," complete with a nostalgic music video, which featured actual home movies from the singer's childhood Christmas celebrations. The night before its release, Swift revealed on Instagram that she had "just written a Christmas song" and didn't want to "wait a year to put it out," and so "Christmas Tree Farm" was released in true Swift fashion: as a surprise gift to all.
In the upbeat, cheery song, Swift sings about escaping the "stress" and "holiday shopping traffic" that comes with December by returning to the idyllic Christmas tree farm of her youth, to celebrate the holidays with her loved ones. However, while the singer might not be able to literally return to the farm where people "dance under sparkling lights," being with her love by the fireplace helps bring the Christmas spirit back to her. "Just bein' in your arms / Takes me back to that little farm/ Where every wish comes true," Swift sings in the chorus.
While there's no lyrics that hint that the person who reminds her "of home" is her longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn, it's clear that the holidays are a time of love and celebration for Swift. The home movies are proof, giving fans a glimpse at the happy times of her younger self and her family opening presents, playing in the snow, and meeting Santa Claus. (There's even a shot of young Swift unwrapping what could be her first guitar.)
As the singer explained in a post on Instagram, Swift "actually did grow up on a Christmas tree farm," as a child in Reading, Pennsylvania. "I had the most magical childhood, running free and going anywhere I wanted to in my head," she told Rolling Stone back in 2009 about growing up on the Pine Ridge Farm. A few years later, Swift explained that her "weird" upbringing is part of the reason why she loves the holiday season so much. "It has cemented in me this unnatural level of excitement about fall and then the holiday season," Swift told Esquire in 2014. "My friends are so sick of me talking about autumn coming. They’re like, 'What are you, an elf?'"
Though Swift didn't literally grow up "in a gingerbread house, deep within the yummy gummy gumdrop forest," as she joked on Instagram, it's clear that her childhood on a Christmas tree farm played a big role in shaping her love of the holidays and Christmas traditions. With the release of "Christmas Tree Farm," it's likely that Swifties everywhere will continue to celebrate the holiday season with the same joy and festive cheer as the singer herself.


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The past few months have forced us all into new ways of working.
At times, the pace of change may have felt a little uncomfortable.
But it has also created opportunity.
There has been the opportunity to rethink past ways of working, and the opportunity to embrace technology and experiment with new business models.
Now there's also the opportunity to look at all the changes we’ve all made and to embed those which have made the greatest positive difference.
UK CEOs have told us they believe this period of disruption has given them a licence to make fundamental changes that may put them years ahead of where they would otherwise have been.
Far from stopping them in their tracks, COVID-19 has forced businesses to overcome inertia around trends such as digital transformation and collaboration and remote and flexible working.
What’s more, the findings of our CEO Panel Survey, show they are also working to ensure the changes they now embed don’t just benefit the business, but also their people, society and the environment.
CEOs are looking at this moment in time as an opportunity to reset - to rethink - to reconfigure - what they do and how they do it.
Pease read the full findings of our CEO Panel Survey and get in touch with us to discuss any of the issues raised.


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Amazon is pretty shy when it comes to sharing sales figures, but this time they're ready to brag. Amazon.com today announced that Kindle devices remain the hottest products this holiday season - for the third week in a row, customers are purchasing well over 1 million Kindle devices per week, and Kindle Fire remains the number 1 bestselling, most gifted, and most wished for product across the millions of items available on Amazon.com since its introduction 11 weeks ago. Kindle sales figures include the $79 Kindle, $99 Kindle Touch, $149 Kindle Touch 3G and the $199 Kindle Fire.
"Kindle Fire is the most successful product we've ever launched - it's the bestselling product across all of Amazon for 11 straight weeks, we've already sold millions of units, and we're building millions more to meet the high demand. In fact, demand is accelerating - Kindle Fire sales increased week over week for each of the past three weeks..." said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "Our family of Kindle e-ink readers are close behind Kindle Fire on the Amazon.com bestseller list. Customers continue to report preferring their Kindle e-reader for long-form reading, and in fact we've seen many customers buy two."


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The Bank of England (BoE) have decided to take drastic actions to stop the UK entering a recession by cutting interest rates from 0.5% to 0.25% and pushing billions of newly created money into the economy. This is the lowest level interest rate cut in the institution’s history of 322 years. The BoE also dramatically cut its growth forecasts for the UK economy by the largest singular amount since 1993, dropping its GDP projection for 2017 from 2.2% to 0.8% while also predicting unemployment to rise to 5.4% from 5%.
The Bank hinted that if the economy performs as they have forecasted that they would further cut interest rates down to “its effective lower bound at one of the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) forthcoming meetings during the course of the year. The MPC currently judged this bound to be close to, but a little above, zero”.
Alongside this rate cut the BoE will reignite its quantitative easing scheme, buying a further £60bn of government debt and taking the total size of the scheme to £435bn. They would also buy £10bn of corporate bonds.
The Bank said it would create a £100bn system it called the Term Funding Scheme to provide cheap funding to banks. This will lend directly to banks at rates close to the new 0.25% base rate to encourage them to pass on lower interest rates to businesses and households. Mr Carney, the governor of the BoE, took a tough stance on the introduction of its Term Funding Scheme. The governor said that banks have “no excuse” not to pass on the lower borrowing costs to customers and will be charged a penalty if they fail to do so.
This combined package may also result in an extra £170bn of new money being printed, which would make the policy package one of the biggest ever to be unveiled by the central bank.
At a news conference after the announcement, Mark Carney said Britain is expected to avoid recession but would face slower growth than previously thought, with the bank believing that it could fall worryingly close to zero over the final six months of this year.
Carney said: “By acting early and comprehensively, the MPC can reduce uncertainty, bolster confidence, blunt the slowdown, and support the necessary adjustments in the UK economy.”
Stock markets reacted positively to the move, with the FTSE jumping almost 100 points in the minutes after the rate cut announcement.
The pound fell on the move, falling more than 1% against the euro and nearly 2 cents against the dollar. A weaker pound makes imported goods more expensive, which boosts inflation. The Central Bank has predicted that inflation would rise above its 2% target. Further sterling volatility is expected in the coming days as markets react to these announcements. Secure your margins today by talking to one of our trade experts.
For any businesses concerned with Sterling volatility and interested in discussing their foreign currency requirements, call our 24 hour phone line – Ireland: 01 635 3700 or UK: 0207 6599185. Alternatively check out our website on www.transfermate.com.


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Lee County businesses honored at 2019 Industry Appreciation Awards
From 16 finalists, six companies made the final cut at this year's Industry Appreciation Awards ceremony in Lee County, walking away as winners.
The annual awards — sponsored by the Horizon Council, Horizon Foundation and Lee County's Economic Development Office — were handed out Friday during an afternoon ceremony, held at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort in Bonita Springs. They recognize outstanding local businesses for their hard work and positive impact on Southwest Florida.
The winners were kept secret until officially announced one-by-one at the event, with a little suspense added by the emcee — NBC-2 morning anchor Clay Miller.
For each category, Miller paused after announcing the finalists then slowly opened the envelope containing the winner's name, like a master of ceremonies at the Oscars.
The recognition ceremony drew a lively crowd of about 530.
In case you missed it:State Road 80 becoming next area of hot growth in Southwest Florida
Businesses big and small received awards in five categories. And the winners are ...
Community Steward of the Year
Markham Norton Mosteller Wright & Co.
Since founding the accounting and consulting firm in 1979, Gail Markham, who serves as president, has recognized the importance of giving back. So have her partners, who encourage employees to find a cause they're passionate about and to get involved in it. In a video, partner Victoria Loyola said employees strive for excellence every day and truly care about one another. "We give 100% all the time to our clients, to each other and to our community," she said.
Innovator of the Year
The company, founded in 1999, is focused on creating clean fuel solutions for mission-critical buildings, such as hospitals and data centers. In a video, Jeff Poirier, CEO, said what started out as a small company selling small products and commodities has evolved into a full-fledged manufacturing firm. "Our goal is really to make systems and to make improvements in the industry so there are no hiccups and no down time," he said.
Manufacturer of the Year
MY Shower Door/ D3 Glass
The family-owned and operated manufacturing and commercial retail business, founded by the Daubmanns, recently expanded into a new 60,000-square-foot headquarters and manufacturing plant in Fort Myers. In a video, Bill Daubmann, a company founder and co-owner, said he sees a bright future ahead, with plans to grow both sides of the business. As for D3, he said he envisions the glass manufacturer making new products, not just shower doors. Meanwhile, there are plans to expand MY Shower Door in Florida and beyond. "We've already tested it in six affiliate locations. The business plan works and now we're ready to roll out MY Shower Door nationally."
Startup of the Year
Creative Architectural Resin Products
Founded in 2014 by Marilyn Santiago and Steven Russell, the company designs, manufactures and installs architectural decorative trims and accents made from a high-density polymer resin. In a video, Santiago said: "Our mission for the company is growth. We just acquired a piece of equipment that basically is going to double or maybe triple our production capability. With that said we are going to be able to serve more clients and also to bring more jobs to the area."
Small Business of the Year
Edison National Bank
When the bank opened in 1997, under the leadership of Robbie and Geoff Roepstorff, it was the only locally-owned and chartered community bank in Lee County. The financial institution expanded in 1998, opening the Bank of the Islands offices on Sanibel. The bank is still standing strong after more than 20 years in business. In a video, Robbie Roepstorff, said the bank is always looking for new and better ways of doing business, while keeping its hands-on, personal touch approach to serving its customers. "No voicemail during the day," she said. "You won't get it at this small business."
Large Business of the Year
Scotlynn USA Division
In March 2010 the trucking and brokerage company was founded in Fort Myers to haul perishable products. Since then it has seen rapid growth and has quickly become one of the fastest growing logistics providers in the country, with a sharp focus on service. In a video, Ryan Carter, a co-founder, said the company has grown into what he expects to be a $250 million business this year, with the help of an extremely talented crew. "The talent level in Fort Myers has increased substantially in the last 9 years," he said. "I think the area has become a great place to live whether you are a young professional right out of college, or nearing retirement."
See how past winners blazed a trail to success at leecountybusiness.com/iaw.


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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the intelligent edge platform for securing and delivering digital experiences, announced today that it has joined The Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (“MassTLC”) Tech Compact for Social Justice .
As one of the 62 Massachusetts technology company signatories, Akamai commits to make change towards racial equality in its organization.
Akamai believes that an inclusive culture fosters diversity of thought which translates into an innovative and collaborative environment.
is dedicated to encouraging the next generation of technology innovators by supporting STEM education, with a focus on the pursuit of excellence in mathematics in grades K-12.
To learn why the world’s top brands trust Akamai, visit www.akamai.com, blogs.akamai.com, or @Akamai on Twitter.


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Are businesses, including lenders, hurting from financial regulations and consumer protections under the Dodd-Frank legislation enacted by Democrats in 2010? President Trump thinks so. Trump signed an executive order Friday…
The nation’s largest servicer of both federal and private student loans allegedly failed borrowers “systematically and illegally,” according to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Navient,…
The CFPB fined the three companies almost $800,000 in total in fines for making false promises to potential borrowers, which included claims that they could never lose their homes.
Offering a small incentive to prepaid card users to put some of their money into a savings “wallet” doubled uptake of the wallet.
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says that Americans often fall victim to unauthorized auto debits.
Nearly two weeks after Russell Simmons’ RushCard fiasco came to light, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says it is investigating the freezing of financial accounts that left customers without access to their funds.
The CFPB saw a 56 percent increase in the number of credit reporting complaints submitted by consumers between June 2015 (4,289 complaints) — and July 2015 (6,969 complaints).
About 7 million consumer accounts were affected by Citibank’s “deceptive” marketing, billing, and administration of debt protection and credit monitoring add-on products, the Bureau said.
Issues with debt collectors, mortgage servicers and credit reporting agencies made up the top three categories in the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s first monthly report on complaint volume. Consumer…
Past practices by Honda Finance resulted in thousands of African-American, Hispanic, and Asian and Pacific Islander borrowers paying higher interest rates than white borrowers for their auto loans, according to U.S. authorities.


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Not long ago on this blog, Julie Siwicki explored Senator Elizabeth Warren's controversial idea that post offices begin offering checking and savings accounts, small loans, and money transfers. Would underserved consumers would actually benefit from the plan? Would expanded financial services actually help the struggling post office turn a profit? With the proposal now before Congress, FAI's managing Director Tim Ogden spoke with Next City, a non-profit that covers leaders, policies and innovations in metropolitan regions, about what it would take for postal banking to meet the needs of the unbanked:
“Many people assume that the unbanked live simple financial lives, when actually their lives are complex. Building a service presuming that the needs of the unbanked are simple is naive and not likely to work,” says Ogden.
Ogden points to why designing a program for the unbanked would be tricky: The poor tend to make more transactions, which wind up more expensive for their banks. As many of the unbanked manage funds in cash, there’s no guarantee that they would want the extra step of a pre-paid card.
If the USPS were to accomplish the hard task of making systems that could serve the unbanked and underbanked well, then Ogden agrees, postal financial services could be a big deal.
“For a household with very little slack, say 10 dollars a week, you don’t have to save them a lot of money to make a difference,” Ogden explained in an email. “Saving them a few dollars, or offering a product that is better suited to their needs and helps them manage their finances a little better can matter a lot. The opportunity to deliver better products at a cheaper price and make a difference is there.”


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It’s barely been a month since Sony announced its first pairs truly wireless earbuds in India in a long time. But Sony doesn’t think it’s late to the game. In conversation with Mashable India, Mani Balan (Audio Category, Product Manager - Sony India) talks about Sony’s new products and the Indian market of truly wireless earbuds.
Sony’s WF-1000XM3 that were released last year received rave reviews from critics and users alike for their superior active noise cancellation and great sound output. Although, it took Sony more than a year to launch the earbuds in India that were only announced about a week ago.
Preceding the launch of the Sony WF-1000XM3 was the launch of two other pairs of truly wireless earbuds, namely: Sony WF-XB700 and the Sony WF-SP800N. Launched last month, these were Sony’s first truly wireless products for the Indian market in a long time.
Considering that the Indian market witnessed a YoY growth of over 700% in 2019, due to the availability of plenty of variants from brands such as Samsung, Apple, Jabra, and Bose, to name a few, it was definitely a bit surprising to see Sony not announce related products in the Indian market.
But Mani Balan says that the market is still in its nascent stage and there’s a lot more growth that’s expected to take place in the coming years.
“We’ve been following the Indian market alongside other international markets for more than 2 years now. While the contribution of truly wireless earbuds in the US is about 75%, that number only stands at about 20% in India. But in the next few years, we see this number go beyond 60%,” says Mani Balan quite confidently.
SEE ALSO: Houseparty Could Be Here To Stay As We Adapt To The New Normal, Claims Epic Games India GM
Given that 3.5mm jacks are a dying breed and that affordable truly wireless earbuds are available in plenty now, it’s not too difficult to see why this segment won’t grow. In fact, due to the sheer potential of the truly wireless earbuds market, it’s difficult to go a week without seeing new products, and quite often even from new companies.


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IRISH DISTILLERS IS in talks to sell the Paddy Irish Whiskey brand to New Orleans-based Sazerac.
The Jameson maker, which is owned by multinational spirits company Pernod Ricard, has entered into ‘exclusive negotiations’ with the 150-year-old US distillery over the deal.
Paddy Irish Whiskey, the fourth-highest selling Irish whiskey brand worldwide, is produced in Irish Distillers’ Midleton Distillery in Cork and the company said it would continue making the spirit if the agreement went through.
It predicted there would be no impact on jobs at Irish Distillers with the proposed agreement.
Pernod Ricard said the sale would be in line with a strategy of ‘simplifying’ its portfolio of brands and investing further in its existing products like Jameson and Powers.
Paddy Irish Whiskey sells about 200,000 cases worldwide each year, compared to around 5 million cases of Jameson.
The brand was named after a former Cork Distilleries Company salesman during the 1920s and was taken over by Irish Distillers when the new company was formed in a merger with the Jameson and Power’s distilleries.
The planned sale, the terms of which haven’t been revealed, comes as the Irish whiskey industry has enjoyed a boom period, growing at more than 10% per year between 2009 and 2014.
Drinks industry analysts IWSR recently said the main challenge for distillers in the short term could be keeping up with consumer demand.
An alternative spirit
Sazerac president Mark Brown said Irish whiskey had been outpacing all other spirit categories in growth during recent years with consumers “seeing it as an alternative to other whiskies”.
“If this deal goes through, we are confident that we will be able to take Paddy to the next level, building on its strong history and roots.”
Sazerac has been progressively adding Irish whiskies to its stable of bourbons and other spirits, buying the Michael Collins brand last year. It also distributes Concannon Irish Whiskey in the US under license.
Irish Distillers CEO Anna Malmhake said the deal with Sazerac, if it was completed, would help Irish whiskey’s footprint and reputation internationally.
“At the heart of everything that (we do) is a desire to see Irish whiskey grow,” she said.
The deal is expected to be signed within weeks if the companies’ negotiations prove successful.


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Posted: Mar 31, 2020
Wineries’ March losses could top $400M
A survey conducted by the Wine America trade group found about 10% of U.S. wineries have collectively lost about $40.4 million so far in March — and extrapolated those numbers to assume the entire sector lost more than $400 million this month as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The survey of about 1,100 wineries also found 4,496 layoffs out of 11,043 employees. The wineries also canceled 4,582 events.
Assuming the respondents were representative of the entire industry, multiplying everything by 10 comes to a total loss of more than $400 million in March, wrote Jim Trezise, president of the trade group. About 85% of U.S. wine comes from California.
The average winery surveyed expected a 75% decrease in visitors to tasting rooms in March, compared with previous years.
On March 15, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for all tasting rooms to be closed as a result of the public health emergency.
The average respondent anticipated a 63% decrease in sales during March.
June viticulture conference canceled
The American Society for Enology and Viticulture canceled its national conference, scheduled for June 15 to 18 in Portland, Oregon, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The event also was to host the annual meeting of the group’s eastern section division.
The society in a statement said its board of directors made the call to cancel to prioritize members’ and attendees’ safety and well-being.
Allen Wine Group hires new manager
The Allen Wine Group of Santa Rosa, a financial advisory and accounting firm for the sector, hired Evan Conklin as accounting manager.
Conklin came to the firm after working two years as an accounting manager at Santa Rosa-based internet provider Sonic. He was a controller at Thomas George Estate, where he was responsible for all accounting and finance functions, and also performed accounting services for the wine industry while at Frank Rimerman and Co. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a minor in wine and viticulture from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
By Bill Swindell
March 27, 2020
Source: THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Go-Wine's mission is to organize food and beverage information and make it universally accessible and beneficial. These are the benefits of sharing your article in Go-Wine.com


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The Federal Trade Commission is poised to file a law suit against McCormick & Co., Sparks, Md., according to industry sources. The suit would allege the company paid different allowances, mostly in the form of discounts, to retailers for shelf space and good position for its spice products. Should the manufacturer be found at fault, retailers who solicited payments or even knew about them could also come under fire.
tson's, Boise, Idaho, said last week it will close bakery facilities in Brea and Buena Park, Calif., Dec. 27. Albertson's gained the latter site when it acquired American Stores Co., Salt Lake City, earlier this year. The company said the bakeries were unable to satisfy the demand generated by Albertson's southern California locations, and it will buy breads, buns and other baked goods from Interstate Brands Corp., St. Louis, instead.


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A couple weeks back, we wrote about how San Francisco took a key step toward reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages by passing an ordinance requiring warning labels on advertisements for the products. We also talked about ongoing efforts at the statewide level aimed at confronting the health crisis posed by sugary drinks. In particular, we pointed to two bills: SB 203 (Monning), which would have required warning labels similar to those passed in San Francisco, and AB 1357 (Bloom), which would have imposed a two cent per ounce fee on the distribution on the beverages. Unfortunately, both of these bills failed to pass through the legislature. But a new study out of Mexico might breathe new life into at least one of these efforts in the coming years.
In recent years, public health advocates have ramped up efforts to highlight the health consequences of consuming soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages. Today, those efforts yielded some success as San Francisco supervisors approved an ordinance that requires advertisements for sugary drinks to include warning labels about the products’ adverse health side effects.
The ordinance applies to all drinks, including soda and energy drinks, that include 25 or more calories from sweeteners per 12 ounces. Advertising methods impacted include billboards, buses, and taxis within the city limits, but not newspapers and the internet. Milk and 100% natural fruit juice are exempted from the ordinance.
The label for billboards and other ads would read: "WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay. This is a message from the City and County of San Francisco…”
"These are not harmless products that taste good," said Supervisor Scott Wiener, who authored the soda warning proposal. "These are products that are making people sick and we need to take action."
The movement to alert consumers of the health dangers of sugar-sweetened beverages has been gaining steam in the Bay Area for some time. Last fall, voters in Berkeley approved a tax on the beverages in hopes of reducing consumption.
Unfortunately, SB 203 (Monning) did not receive enough votes to make it out of Senate Health Committee. Our allies, and the bill's sponsor, the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, puts it best:
An immense disappointment. CA Senate Health members took step backward in pub. health & failed to pass #sodawarninglabel bill #SB203.
You can help advance legislation to stem the growth of diabetes and promote healthy options to consumers. Diabetes is now the seventh leading cause of death in California and continues to disproportionately impact communities of color. Two legislative proposals are seeking to help make consumers aware of the health problems associated with sugar-sweetened drinks and to promote healthy alternatives. Please send in your letter of support for AB 1357 (Bloom) and SB 203 (Monning).
Letters of support must be received by this Wednesday, April 15th, so please download and send in your letter TODAY.


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Zuckerberg testifies again on Capitol Hill, Spotify and Hulu offer bundle discount
This is CNET, and here are the stories that matter right now.
Day two of Mark Zuckerberg's testimony has been overshadowed by somewhat of a strange first day in Washington, where Senators and Congress almost seemed to lack the knowledge of what Facebook even does.
Nevertheless, Zuckerberg continues to defend his company's mistakes And ensure that the future of the massive social network is [UNKNOWN] with more data safeguarding in place.
Hulu is teaming up with Spotify to offer a discounted bundle of both services' premium subscriptions.
To start, only existing Spotify subscribers will be able to pay $13 a month to add Hulu with limited commercials.
This Summer, the deal will open up to all possible customers.
And finally, a new spec leak obtained by Android Headlines says, that LG's G7 phone will have a notch screen design that can be toggled on or off, in addition to two 16-megapixel cameras on the back.
Also in the leak is an emphasis on the phone's AI.
Which will help with the camera quality and other human recognition features.
Look for an official unveiling on May second.
You could stay up to date with the latest by downloading the CNET tech today app in the Apple or Google Play Store.
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Fresh on the heels of Telstra's first 4G-enabled smartphone, the HTC Velocity 4G, come rumours of a Samsung Galaxy tablet with 4G LTE.
According to Android news site AusDroid, an 'inside source' at Telstra has confirmed the existence of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE, which will launch in either late February or early March. As its name implies, the new Galaxy model will come with an 8.9in display and will be the first 4G LTE tablet in Australia.
We've contacted Samsung's PR about the mystery tablet and are currently awaiting a reply.
If the rumour is indeed true, we expect the benefits of the 4G network -- provided you can actually get it in your area - would be even more pronounced when using a tablet. The larger form factor lends itself to web browing a lot more than your average smartphone. The addition of a tablet would make Telstra's 4G compelling.
You can see a demonstration of how Telstra's 4G network speeds fares against Vodafone's 3G network in the video below:


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7th March 1947, Page 30
7th March 1947
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