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Here you will find the latest news and most recent developments on the Samsung Gallery, with regular updates and all the information you need.
Samsung’s rolling out a new update for its Gallery app, and while the new version doesn’t bring much new to the table, it should help Samsung customers who own Galaxy devices equipped with expandable storage. Samsung has released version 14.0.00.10 of its Gallery app. According to the changelog, the latest version adds a new menu […]
Samsung introduced several improvements to camera quality and software with the Galaxy S22 series. One such software improvement is the ability to remove unwanted shadows and reflections from images using the built-in Gallery app. Now, those features have been released to other Galaxy smartphones as well. The South Korean firm has started rolling out an […]
Trying to edit a photo in Samsung's Gallery app presents you with some pretty powerful tools, and it now has something as basic as time and date editing.
In recent versions of Samsung Gallery, clicking the play button on a video doesn't open them in a dedicated video player, but there's a workaround.
Samsung constantly updates its apps with new features. This week, the company has updated its Gallery app with new features that cover both phones and tablets. Well, there’s just one new feature for each, and it’s arguably the one for tablets that’s the bigger deal. Anyone using a recent Galaxy tablet will now see a […]
The Samsung Gallery app has received a new update which adds another tool to its widening repertoire of image retouching and management features. Called ‘remasters’ in-app, the functionality refines any photo you desire and does that all on its own. The completely automated nature of the solution does limit its usability a bit, but from […]
Did you know the Samsung Gallery Android app comes packaged with a (not-too-)secretive Galaxy Labs menu? More importantly, enabling this array of impressive and entertaining features on your end shouldn’t take more than a literal minute. Largely on account of the fact that Galaxy Labs support has been built into every single one of Samsung’s […]
A new update for the Samsung Gallery app debuted on the Galaxy Store earlier today, introducing several UI improvements and tighter cloud support – at least for users of one particular service. Identified by build number 11.5.00.33, the release introduces video previews within the Photos tab in a bid to deliver a more dynamic media […]
Samsung has pushed out an update to its Gallery app that brings the ability to hide albums. Samsung’s Android devices already offer a slew of methods to keep your data secret, including Private Mode and Secret Mode, but the new Gallery feature is a simple one that doesn’t involve any passwords or security, or even […]


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WABI interviews Agrrawal about how rising interest rates will affect Mainers
Pankaj Agrrawal, professor of finance at Maine Business School, spoke to WABI (Channel 5 in Bangor) about how rising interest rates will impact Mainers. Aggrawal says the rise in inflation happened due to a combination of imbalance in supply and demand, overseas conflict, supply chain shortages, COVID-related impacts on unemployment and the housing market. Raising interest rates now is a way to slowly drive down consumer demand, realigning it with decreased supply. ”Now that the interest rates are going up, it is going to create a pressure on the mortgage rates. Being careful with your work, being careful with your spending, the world has changed. Things are changing, and being adaptive is difficult. But, as you know, being adaptive is the number one trait of being a successful species,” Aggrawal said.

domain: news


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Microsoft has revealed its long-awaited entry to the tablet market, unveiling two devices that will run versions of its forthcoming Windows 8 operating system.
Ditching its traditional strategy of using partner-built hardware, the software giant revealed the tablets with Microsoft branding, and borrowing the name of its table-top, multi-user device, the Surface.
The tablet will come in two varieties, one based on an Intel chipset and the other based on a lower-power, but likely cheaper, ARM chipset. Both will run Windows 8 when it is released later this year, but the ARM version is set to run a hobbled version dubbed Windows RT.
The main device is a 10.6-inch tablet with Corning Gorilla Glass multi-touch screen, 16:9 aspect ratio up to "full HD" or 1080p resolution, according to Microsoft.
The ARM-based Surface is likely to have a slightly less capable, 720p screen.
Both tablets will come in a magnesium-based case with an integrated kickstand at varying thicknesses; the ARM variant measures at 9.3mm compared to the Intel-based tablet at 13.5mm.
The Intel model is also much heavier at 903 grams as opposed to the ARM one, which weighs 676 grams.
The Surface has two magnetic cover accessory options: a capacitive-based Touch Cover that has a full multi-touch keyboard, and the plastice Type Cover, with tactile keys.
Hand writing recognition will also be available on the Intel-based Surface mode..
The Intel model will also offer faster USB 3.0 ports and a mini DisplayPort for external monitors.
The company said it will make apps available from the Windows Store for the Surface, including music, videos and Xbox games.
The ARM Surface will be capable of running Office Home and Student 2013 RT already installed on the device. The Intel variant will not come with productivity software.
The ARM-processor equipped Surface for Windows RT will come in 32 and 64GB versions, whereas the Intel variant will feature more storage at 64 and 128GB options.
Availability for either model or their pricing was not revealed by Microsoft executives at the launch.


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Currently, gaming accounts for 72% of all spending in app stores.
According to App Annie’s research, the global spend on mobile games is expected to touch $100 billion in 2020 from $86 billion in 2019. Mobile games saw 25% more spending as compared to all other games combined in 2019.
The spending on mobile games was 2.4 times more than the spending for PC and Mac games, and 2.9 times that of gaming consoles. The report also indicates that $120 billion was spent on apps 2019 globally, of which $25 billion came from the US.
The report predicts a $240 billion spend on mobile in 2020 by advertisers, up by 26% from 2019. The combined IPO valuation of mobile-focused companies like Alibaba and Uber is $544 billion, 6.5 times more than companies which aren’t mobile-centric.
[2 minute read]


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Disney is officially not messing around with classic Star Wars games anymore.
We received a bundle of new Star Wars games earlier this week — including Galactic Battlegrounds and X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter — and now another Star Wars supply drop has landed via the mythical powers of digital distribution.
Today, we’re getting three classic LucasArts games…
…followed by another three titles on Monday, January 27th…
Five of the six titles appear to be selling at full price at either $5.99 or $9.99, while Empire at War is 20 percent off at $11.99.
Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II is near the top of my list, but what really gets my midi-chlorians going? Rogue Squadron. It defined my Nintendo 64 experience (alongside GoldenEye and Perfect Dark), so playing with a joystick on PC will be a welcome shot of nostalgia.
This latest wave of LucasArts titles brings GOG’s total up to 18 — non-Star Wars titles included — and “GOG will release more Lucasfilm titles throughout 2015.” More to come, young padawans…more to come.
Source: GOG.com PR


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‘One of the most successful’ Streamway Villa Christmas bazaars also had a positive impact on the local community
The event raised $1,298 for the home’s residents’ council, and Streamway also found a way to give back to the people of Cobourg
Streamway Villa held its annual Christmas bazaar in mid-November, and while the event was “one of the most successful” Christmas bazaars life enrichment co-ordinator (LEC) Christina Doughty has seen at the Cobourg long-term care home in terms of fundraising, it also helped make a positive impact in the local community, she says.
Given that the holiday season gets extremely busy at Streamway Villa, the home decided to host its Christmas bazaar a little early this year.
Christina started advertising for the Nov. 16 event at the end of September, putting notices in local newspapers and on social media asking for donations.
On the day of the bazaar, tables were overflowing with baked goods that were sold to help support the home’s residents’ council.
“Not only did the community come together, but the staff members and the family members also came together – I have never seen so many baked goods in my life,” Christina tells The OMNIway.
In fact, there was so much baking leftover from the bazaar that team members filled a trolley with items and went to the Cobourg Santa Claus Parade the next day to sell even more.
“This was so well received – we made an additional $65 after the parade was done,” Christina says.
In total, $1,298 was raised for the Streamway Villa residents’ council.
As a token of goodwill to a community that has been kind to Streamway Villa, team members started handing out baked goods for free, a gesture that also went over well with the crowd.
“People were thanking us and still trying to donate money for Streamway; it was just such a fun-filled day that got us rolling into the Christmas season,” Christina says.
“This was one of the best Christmas bazaars I have seen in my nine years here, and a big thanks to all the staff, family members and the community.”
If you have a story you would like to share with The OMNIway, please contact the newsroom at deron(at)axiomnews.com.
If you have feedback on this story, please call the newsroom at deron(at)axiomnews.com.


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Forget Monopoly - a retired Chinchilla truck driver has put his own spin on a novel board game in a bid to educate people about the ins and outs of the high pressure industry.
More than 20 years after rolling out a mega piece of paper in his lounge room to draw his gaming concept, and overcoming prototype challenges during the GFC, Trefor Jones, 72, has finally released Linehauler.
Players are tasked with transporting freight and goods throughout the Australian playing board all while navigating the boundaries of operating costs, mandatory logbook stops and double-line overtaking restrictions.
Also read: Christmas crackle on the menu for Fawckners
Since officially launching in September, the game has already attracted buyers from England, Germany, Spain, Canada, India, Argentina and America, as well as locally.
Mr Jones said the idea was born at a time when there was a lot of animosity between cars and truck drivers.
"I was in the vehicle rental industry for 40 years on and off and I've been on the road throughout different stages of my life and I just had a belief that this would work because I'd played the prototype with different people," he said.
"There were a lot of disbelievers, people thought I was mad.
"It's actually an educational game as well because it depicts everything a truckie sees along the road, even motorists."
The game is stocked online at the Linehauler website and in regional stores, including the National Road Transport Hall of Fame in Alice Springs.
"The response has been encouraging," he said.
"It's got good educational sectors to it too because for anyone wanting to get into the industry, this is a first-hand look at what you'll encounter while travelling on the roads."
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Normally, this isn’t something you’d find on the front page of OSNews, but the amount of craftsmanship and attention to detail going into this project is just mind blowing. In fact, it’s so mind blowing that many Apple rumour websites posted this as a possible shot of an upcoming Apple netbook. Well, yeah, if Apple started making laptops out of wood…
Cult of Mac posted a photo earlier this week of what appeared to be a small version of the white Apple MacBook. While it looked like a real laptop, it did have a few oddities that made it feel “not right”. Still, the photo made its usual round across the copy/pasting Apple webring.
Gosh, do they feel silly now. Cult of Mac later revealed that said photo was part of a series of photos sent to them by an artist… Who replicated a white MacBook out of wood, and drew all the details on the device with a pencil. The full photoset is just astonishingly beautiful.
Of course, it also illustrates the sad state of Apple reporting these days. The various Apple websites have turned into a sort of copy/paste webring automaton with barely any critical thinking, who will post anything even if it’s obviously fake. Just one website has to write that Apple will buy Twitter, and by the end of the hour, Apple has not only bought Twitter, but also FaceBook, MySpace, and three camels. It’s time we finally get an Apple news website of decent quality, with good, critical editors who can properly discern fact from fiction.
Well, at least Steve gets a good laugh out of this every morning. I guess.
I used to be one of those who would follow the apple rumor mill quite closly. This was when appl was releasing new, exciting products all the time.
The various forms of the iMacs, the ipod the cube!
Now, its sortof generic hardware with a niceish case…
I think Ives has grown to old for this cutting edge lark 🙁
Hey everyone, my friends brother aunt second cousin met Steve Jobs in a bar last night and heard that Apple will buy Twitter!
“It’s time we finally get an Apple news website of decent quality, with good, critical editors who can properly discern fact from fiction.”
I thought Apple put those down?
And i’m quite sure they’ll keep them down!
Asus has made laptop casings (partially) of bamboo and leather, and I recall seeing a home computer in the 8-bit era that sported wooden side panels (the case was a bent metal sheet with wooden side panels and all connectors in the back). Of course, a lot of homebrew laptop/computer cases sport wood and other natural materials.
Next is a real clamshell laptop. 🙂
But a laptop case entirely of wood would be too fragile and won’t conduct heat well enough. I suppose thin plywood would be O.K. for the screen backing and around the keyboard (as these parts don’t get too hot). Wooden keys would be rather stylish, I think — especially if the symbols on the keys are made of inlaid wood.


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McDonald’s has linked up with parenting website Mumsnet in a bid to expand its menu.
This month, the fast food giant invited parents into its development kitchens to work with chefs and produce a new product for its Happy Meal boxes.
The partnership, announced on Thursday, is the next step in the brand’s continued efforts to give parents healthier options.
Recent years have seen the likes of carrot sticks and orange juice introduced alongside the traditional burgers and fries.
The new menu item will launch in the summer, and follows ongoing discussions with Mumsnet members.
Parents have for some time been telling McDonald’s that they’d like to see ‘greater choice’ in restaurants, The Mirror reports.
McDonald’s has yet to decide on its new dish, but suggested that it could include grilled chicken, or vegetarian. The likelihood is it will be ‘non-fried’.
Emily Somers, vice president for food and marketing at McDonald’s UK, said: “We are constantly looking for ways to enhance our menu from introducing new items to evolving the recipes of our iconic favourites.
“We’ve taken big steps to improve our Happy Meal in recent years and reducing saturated fat, salt and sugar content across our menu remains a priority. This is why we’re excited to work with Mumsnet to offer even greater choice for parents and their families.”
And Carrie Longton, co-founder of Mumsnet, added: “Mumsnet users tend to be pretty focused on providing healthy food and snacks for their children, so the opportunity to help McDonald’s develop a new Happy Meal option was too good to pass up.”
Today, Mumsnet posted a new thread inviting parents to make suggestions: “Tell McDonald’s what’s important to you when eating out with your family”.
The feedback will be relayed to McDonald’s and there’s a chance to win a £300 voucher.
Although McDonald’s plans to add just one new menu item to its Happy Meals, the wider menu, aimed at youngsters, could also expand.
The director of food development at McDonald’s UK, Duncan Cruttenden, said: “We were delighted to host the Mumsnet team and work to the clear brief from parents.
“We want our menu options to represent what parents are looking for and what better way to do that than with parents beside us in the development kitchen.
“We are working hard to turn the many options created in the development kitchen into a successful new product for the Happy Meal, which we hope to launch later this year.”


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WATCH: Jetman flies with the Breitling Wingwalkers in Dubai
This is SO cool
Jetman Dubai teamed up with the Breitling Wingwalkers to soar over Dubai’s iconic coastline, and the video is seriously impressive.
According to this list of mutations, we are all X-Men
"Shadowland" will be airing at the Dubai World Trade Centre for three nights this September
Visit levels 124 and 125 of the iconic tower for AED75 until the end of September
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Technology is generally considered to be the preserve of the young; anyone who has children, nephews or nieces has probably been astounded by their computer skills. But it’s at the other end of life’s spectrum that designers face some of their biggest challenges and greatest opportunities.
Older consumers now make up a huge swathe of our population, a trend that’s repeated across the Western world. According to specialist charity Help the Aged, the UK now has more people aged over 60 than under 16, and Government statistics predict that by 2031 more than a quarter of the population will be over pensionable age. Yet, until very recently this sizeable potential audience has, to a large extent, been ignored by the technology industry.
A report out last month highlights that this will need to change. Verdict Consulting’s The Future’s Bright, The Future’s Grey report acknowledges the aging UK population, but perhaps more importantly, it predicts a shift in mindset that will produce an older consumer with a younger outlook: one who will shop for a wider variety of products and be more avaricious in their buying habits than older consumers today.
‘The older shopper of tomorrow is simply not the same person as the older shopper of today,’ says Verdict Consulting director Neil Saunders. ‘The blue-rinse brigade is steadily being replaced by the evergreen shopper, consumers who want to stay young both physically and emotionally, and that’s reflected in the type of products older consumers of tomorrow will buy.’
Manufacturers that want to make the most of this opportunity must begin to create products with this market in mind. Some are already taking the lead – Telecommunications company Doro, for example, launched a series of phones targeting senior citizens last month and BT, which has long been at the forefront of making its technology accessible (its large-number phone was a design winner back in the 1990s) is working with the Helen Hamlyn Institute on a similar project. In both cases design plays a vital role in distinguishing the offer specifically for an older audience.
Cian Plumbe, co-founder of Studiohead, has been working with BT on its Two Tone phone project. The phone, which is currently only a prototype, aims to open up broadband technology for older non-computer users by combining standard phone functionality with Voice Over Internet Protocol technology (such as Skype). A light on the handset enables users to see when friends and family are on-line and it offers video calling using a TV-based webcam.
The phone has no screen; instead it uses buttons, each of which has only one function. It also employs gestural commands – users simply flip the phone over to take it on- or off-line. ‘It doesn’t bow to current design trends,’ Plumbe explains. ‘Older users don’t want to brag about functionality and they aren’t interested in brash design; products must meet a specific need.’
It’s a thought that Maria Bentzen, an industrial designer at Ergonomidesign, echoes. Bentzen has worked with Doro on its latest range of home and mobile phones, which specifically target the over-65s. The products feature volume boosts to help the hearing impaired, high contrast displays and they are all ‘easy to grab and touch’, according to Bentzen, with buttons that are further apart and a lighter handset than usual.
‘Products need to address specific needs, such as reduced dexterity, loss of mobility, impaired cognitive function or poor sight and hearing. Tests have shown that older consumers prefer more traditional handsets and designers need to bear that in mind,’ says Bentzen. ‘But at the same time it’s important to recognise that older consumers are very diverse, they have different needs and different tastes, and aesthetics are just as important when targeting that age group as any other.’
Plumbe agrees. ‘No one wants to buy a product that looks like a disability aid,’ he says. ‘Older users still want something elegant, something that fits in with their life. A product should look obvious and it should also be intuitive to use. The product’s layout and appearance must reflect the function, so that someone who hasn’t seen it before can instinctively understand how to use it.’
It seems that, contrary to popular belief, age does not nullify a taste for good design and that, just as younger consumers have diverse tastes and preferences, so do the over-65s. The technology companies that recognise this look set to profit from what is a rapidly growing market.
‘Historically, it was the younger consumer that drove retail growth,’ says Saunders. ‘That won’t be the case going forward – over the next ten years the over-45s will prove to be the engine of retail activity.’ Designers take note.
Verdict’s findings – In the next ten years:
• Consumers aged between 65 and 74 will increase their retail expenditure by more than 75%
• Technology, in particular electronics, music and video, will see a 73% growth in demand from over-65s
• Average spend per head on technology by over-65s will grow from £226 to £391


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TAMPA (FOX 13) - This year’s Florida RV Super Show has arrived at the Florida State Fairgrounds.
The show will last from January 17 to 21 where you can come out and see the latest the RV industry has to offer.
From the smallest of pop-up campers to the huge tour buses, they will have a little something for everyone. If you ever thought about buying an RV, this is a great, no-pressure way to see what’s out there.
Florida RV Super Show
Location: Florida State Fairgrounds
4800 U.S. 301
Tampa, FL 33610


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AN Australian company has launched a touch-free payment platform for the maritime industry.
Secure Seas said its electronic payment platform provides financial security to seafarers by transferring their pay electronically.
The platform removes the antiquated and problematic system of cash distribution in US dollars. This provides seafarers with basic facilities the rest of us take for granted: full access to their funds in their preferred currency, use of an international, non-jurisdictional bank account and debit card to withdraw cash or transfer funds home, and the ability to transfer payments via PC or smartphone.
Secure Seas director Warwick Norman said although the platform was designed with the welfare and human rights of the seafarer at its heart, it also provides significant benefits for employers.
“The simplified, streamlined payroll process means there is no need for excess levels of cash onboard or foreign currency accounts – and so it also reduces the risk of piracy and corruption,” Mr Norman said.
“The ability for contactless payment is also particularly relevant with the current pandemic: it unfortunately remains the case that seafarers are not allowed off ships in most ports.”
Seafarers themselves have been enthusiastic early adopters of the system, signing up directly via the Secure Seas website.
Secure Seas also encourages ship owners and crew managers to investigate the platform, which – aside from the humanitarian benefits it provides seafarers – is a cost-effective payroll process that integrates easily with existing systems, improving the transparency and financial management of vessel operations.
Secure Seas CEO James McCully said there are substantial benefits for ship-management companies to have offshore banking facilities in a secure and regulated jurisdiction.
“The significant fee reduction for pay dissemination alone makes a compelling business case for the use of the Secure Seas payments platform,” Mr McCully said.
“However, in the end, it is the human element that drives our business. A significant proportion of our profits will be reinvested in seafarer centres to help them provide the much-needed support for seafarers.”
Secure-Seas has appointed Cyprus-based Evrostia Financial Services for representation in Greece and Cyprus. Evrostia’s chairman, Andreas Grammatikos, has significant experience in the development and administration of insurance, banking and bancassurance products and services.
Secure Seas’ electronic payment platform offers a convenient multi-currency payroll solution to global shipping organisations and their employees, who will benefit from lower banking and foreign exchange costs and greater security & convenience whilst travelling in their jobs.
The founding directors of Secure Seas, through their various careers in the maritime industry and work with seafarer welfare, recognised the complexity, cost and inefficiencies of the incumbent seafarer payroll system, as well as the benefits a modern program would bring to both seafarers and their employers.
A desire to alleviate the unnecessary burden bought by the maritime industry’s antiquated payroll systems saw the re-development of the Secure Seas electronic payment platform with full bank resources released in 2021.


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Anyone who owns a smartphone can now attend the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Mobile developer Jam City, in partnership with Portkey Games, have released Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. It’s free-to-play (with microtransactions) and available now for iOS and Android.
“There are so few moments where a mobile entertainment company has the chance to truly bring magic into the world and we’ve been thrilled by the amazing response our game has already received from Harry Potter fans everywhere,” said Chris DeWolfe, co-founder and CEO of Jam City. “We at Jam City have been working hard to ensure that any aspiring witch or wizard can enter Hogwarts through their smartphones and tablets and begin their magical journeys.”
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery lets players create their own personalized young witch or wizard, and join one of the four houses of Hogwarts. Students attend classes under the tutelage of familiar teachers like Snape and McGonagall. They cast spells, craft potions, and form friendships and relationships with other students.
The gameplay features interactive spellcasting as well as important dialogue scenes that impact your student’s own personal Hogwarts narrative.
The world of Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is set during the 1980s. That’s well before the era depicted in the Harry Potter books and movies. It’s a time when many of the adults in the main series were attending teens.
As previously announced, the game also includes a stellar cast of voice talent, with many of the actors and actresses from the films reprising their roles.
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is available now on iOS and Android devices. It’s rated E for Everyone.


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Blog is a collection of diary entries, news, gossip and other Cotswold
Free Parking Gesture Gives Stores A Festive Boost
Shoppers are being given free use of all Cotswold District Council-owned car parks on every Saturday in December in a festive gesture aimed at boosting the local economy.
Council Leader Cllr Lynden Stowe announced the move following news of further gloom on the High Street which shows retail spending has plummeted.
Cllr Stowe said: “Although the Council is facing its own tough financial challenges, we want to do something to spread a little Christmas cheer in the Cotswolds.
“This will help both shoppers and businesses and is our way of putting back into the local economy some of the limited amount the Council will save following the recent changes in VAT rates.
“There’s no need for people to travel out of the Cotswolds to shop. We have just about everything anyone could possibly want for Christmas, so let’s support our local businesses.”
Cllr Mark Tufnell, Portfolio holder for the Environment, said: “By offering free parking on every Saturday in December, we hope to encourage more people to spend more time – and money - in the stores in our market towns.
“I hope the move will encourage visitors from the surrounding area to spend their cash locally.”
The Council-owned car parks where parking charges are suspended on December 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th are:
Cirencester: The Abbey Grounds, Brewery, Beeches, Waterloo, Forum, Cotswold Leisure Centre, Sheep Street, Old Station & Lorry Park.
Tetbury: West Street & Old Brewery Lane
Stow-on-the-Wold: Maugersbury Road
Bourton-on-the-Water: Rissington Road
Moreton-in-Marsh: Station Road
The Council also owns car parks at the Railyard, Tetbury, and the Fosseway, Stow (next to Tesco) at which no charge is levied permanently.
The Chippings Car Park, Tetbury, is not included in the offer as it is administered by the Council on behalf of a third party.
The Market Place, Cirencester, is not included as it is ‘on street’ parking, rather than a CDC car park.
: 28/11/2008 16:19:38
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Vodafone, the U.K. telecom company, is enabling customers to make and receive phone calls via an Amazon Echo Speaker with Alexa, its digital voice assistant, built in.
According to a report in the Mirror, customers link their mobile phone number to their Alexa account and then will be able to make calls using voice command with the calls charged against their existing mobile phone plan. The report noted customers get to choose which Echo device rings and can turn off ringing anytime they want.
“This is just one more way Amazon is continuing to expand our Alexa Communication service, making it even easier for our customers to stay in touch with family and friends around the world,” said Brian Oliver, Director of Alexa Communication, according to the Mirror.
If the smartphone is lost or the battery died, customers will still be able to make phone calls through the Echo device. The service works using OneNumber, Vodafone’s service that lets customers share mobile phone data, minutes and texts with different devices including Alexa and smartwatches.
“We are of course proud to be the first to offer this service globally, but more importantly provide another easy way for our customers to stay connected,” said Max Taylor, Consumer Director at Vodafone U.K., according to the Mirror. “Vodafone U.K. customers can now tap into their mobile call allowances, doing away with their landlines, and through an integrated address book make or receive calls over Alexa devices in the home.”
The Mirror noted the new feature comes as Vodafone is gearing up to launch its 5G network. On July 3 the network will move over to 5G in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, and London. It will roll out in other cities in the UK during the summer, noted the report. It promises speedier internet and downloads then what is available today with 4G.


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Will record-breaking profits in the Scots food and drink sector mean more capital for some of Scotland’s forgotten and furlough?
It was reported earlier in the year that whisky exports had helped grow the Scots Food and Drink market to £5.4 billion. Now the Scottish government has just announced new grants worth over £5 million for distillery projects.
Adelphi is among the lucky whisky companies to have been awarded money; the Argyll drinks company intends to build a new ‘green’ distillery, which will help local farmers profit from by-products after distillation. John Fergus and Co. will make use of their award to build a micro distillery and warehouse in Glenrothes, and the Falkirk Whisky Company will use their £444,403 to meet costs in Polmont.
The economic boom means that Glen Keith is now back in business thanks to investment from Chivas Regal. Chivas has responded to worldwide demand for the Speyside Glen Keith who closed its doors 14 years ago. Chivas announced that a new distillery is to be built at Carron on the River Spey and will open in 2014.
But one pervading question in light of these new monetary awards is whether enough is being spent.
Many whisky writers have waxed elegiac over those silent distilleries seemingly ignored and left to rot in the wilderness; and as profits continue to role in, perhaps the government could be doing more.
Whisky fans want more stories like Glen Keith because it is a real sign of economic strength, and above all, progress.
image: © static.guim.co.uk


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Apple may have just released the Apple Watch a few months ago, but it is reportedly already working on the second iteration of the device.
The second version will include a number of improvements over the first, according to reports citing "multiple sources" on the matter.
One of the most important additions to the device will be a FaceTime camera, which will be included in the top bezel of the Apple Watch 2 and will enable users to make video calls through their watch. Apple actually expressed interest in a FaceTime camera in the Apple Watch 2 at its Worldwide Developers Conference, when it began rolling out watchOS 2.0, the second version of the operating system for the watch.
WatchOS 2.0 also includes the ability to take FacetTme audio calls straight from the Watch, further highlighting the interest that Apple has in the functionality.
Another highly called for feature for the Apple Watch 2 is increased independence from the iPhone. Currently, the Apple Watch is rather unusable when not tethered to an iPhone, and while it can do some things, the bulk of the device's features rely on iPhone connectivity.
To make the device more independent, Apple will likely include a more advanced chipset, enabling Wi-Fi straight from the watch. While iPhone connectivity will likely be required for heavier data transfers, such as when the device needs to be updated, basic functions and day-to-day use will likely be able to operate separately, especially from within the home.
Unfortunately, it seems as though Apple will not be looking to improve the battery life of the Apple Watch in its second version, with most consumers reportedly ending the day with a charge of 30 percent to 40 percent. It may slightly improve the battery life of the Apple Watch, but this will likely not be enough for heavy users.
Last but not least, Apple may look to release additional variations of the watch, beyond the Sport, Steel and Edition tiers currently on offer. According to reports, it will release versions that sit between the standard Steel Apple Watch and the high-priced gold Apple Watch Edition.
Of course, the release date for the device is also important - Apple will be looking to release the Apple Watch 2 in 2016, debunking rumors that it would release just before the holiday season, instead targeting a full year after the release of the original.
There are certainly many hoping that Apple will greatly improve the Apple Watch 2, with some even calling the original a rushed response to the possible rise of Android Wear.


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Praise for Hartlepool scheme which has helped hundreds fight food poverty
Praise has been given to a programme set up to help develop a sustainable solution to food poverty in Hartlepool.
Hartlepool Borough Council’s finance and policy committee was provided with an update on work undertaken with The Bread and Butter Thing at its latest meeting.
The scheme went live in January and residents involved receive a week’s worth of fresh food and other essentials in return for a nominal membership fee.
The model is based on a similar scheme developed in Manchester, which provides three bags of food, including chilled produce, fruit and vegetables and store cupboard items, with a normal retail value of at least £30 for around £7.
The service began at Community Hub Central and has now expanded to five locations over five days per week, with between 50 and 85 people accessing each session.
Independent councillor Shane Moore, the council leader, said: “Having the ability to engage with a scheme like this, where people feel like they are able to pay their way, is really, really important to them and it helps their self-worth and their confidence as well.”
Labour councillor Pamela Hargreaves paid tribute to everyone involved with organising and volunteering for the scheme, adding: “What is brilliant is that we’ve got this scheme and it’s successful and it is self-funding and it is carried on.”
The cost of implementing this model is £125,000 for the first year although after 12 months it is self-sustaining with no further investment required from the council.
Council officers added the scheme has been signposted to residents who could benefit by organisations working with the most vulnerable and then through word of mouth.


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Accelerated landing of alliance chain, "arms race" and challenges coexist
21st Century Business Herald Ni Yuqing from Guangzhou
Source: 21 Finance
Since the advent of Bitcoin in 2009, the application of blockchain technology has gone through 10 years. Of course, the role of the blockchain is not only reflected in the token (Token) side. As the core technology of digitalization, the journey of the blockchain is to serve various industries.
In recent years, while blockchain technology has evolved, domestic policy dividends have emerged frequently. As early as 2016, the State Council's "13th Five-Year Plan" National Informationization Plan released by the State Council included blockchain. Support at the local government level.
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China has once again set off a wave of exploration of blockchain. Blockchain, as explained in terms, is a decentralized distributed ledger and distributed storage database, which has the characteristics of decentralization, tamper resistance, and traceability. According to access and management rights, blockchain can be divided into three categories, one is public chain, the second is private chain, and the third is alliance chain.
Among them, the alliance chain is the type with the most domestic enterprises.
In contrast, the public chain mainly refers to the "blockchain of consensus process" that anyone in the world can read and send information (or transactions) and that information (or transactions) can be effectively confirmed, and can also participate in it. The core application of the public chain is digital currencies including Bitcoin.
However, the public chain cannot meet the business needs of many enterprises, and the affiliate chain to Token (token) came into being. The so-called alliance chain refers to a blockchain that is jointly managed by multiple organizations. Each organization or organization manages one or more nodes, and its data only allows different organizations in the system to read, write and send.
This means that on the alliance chain, partners can solve the problem more efficiently, but at the same time, the blockchain is still in the initial stage of application, and the alliance chain also encounters many challenges, including profit models, credibility, and privacy issues. and many more.
At the 2019 CCF Blockchain Technology Conference, Chen Chun, a professor at Zhejiang University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, pointed out that in terms of the industrialization of the alliance chain, blockchain technology can expand from a single digital currency application to various areas of society and economy, including Finance, legal, medical, energy, entertainment, public welfare and other undertakings.
From the perspective of the industry, these B-side enterprise applications will become the main battlefield of the blockchain in the future, so the alliance chain will also be the mainstay of the blockchain.
A blockchain developer told a 21st Century Business Herald reporter:
"There is no public token in the alliance chain, there is no publicly raised funds, and it is easy to cooperate with supervision. Although the public chain and the alliance chain have different needs and scenarios, large companies tend to be alliance chains."
There are many participants on the desktop. Well-known foreign alliance chains include IBM's Hyperledger Fabric, Microsoft's Coco, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), and Corda of R3; domestically, BAT, Huawei, Weizhong and other companies have chosen Alliance chain power.
In March 2019, the Cyberspace Office released the first batch of domestic blockchain information service filing numbers. A total of 197 blockchain information services from 18 provinces and cities nationwide were listed. According to statistics, in the first batch of 197 projects, the number of alliance chains was as high as 116, accounting for 59%, and nearly 60%.
From the perspective of the route, the mainstream approach is for enterprises to launch BaaS services (Blockchain as a Service).
Li Jieli, Senior Director of Ant Blockchain, introduced to 21st Century Business Herald reporter:
"At present, the ant blockchain alliance chain is not only in the exploration stage, but has successfully landed about 40 application scenarios, including finance, government affairs, warehouse receipts, real estate and other industries. Trust is used to improve the efficiency of the industry and make these areas complex and collaborative It takes an average of one week from one week to only one minute, an average increase of 10,000 times. At the same time, for SMEs and developers, Ant Financial also launched an open alliance chain product to provide more small, medium and micro enterprises with low cost Use of blockchain technology with low technical difficulty, low threshold. "
There are also a few companies that choose the open source path.
Taking Weizhong as an example, Weizhong established the FISCO BCOS open source platform in 2017 with the Golden Chain Alliance open source working group. "Why Weizhong should be a blockchain? Why should we be open source?" This has become a frequently asked question of Fan Ruibin, the deputy general manager of Weizhong Bank's distributed business technology development department and the leader of Weizhong's blockchain.
Weizhong took the lead in the blockchain layout 4 years ago, laying the foundation for distributed commerce. From the beginning, Weizhong chose the alliance chain. "When the development path was initially decided, out of awe of finance, we considered the alliance chain to be a sustainable development route that takes into account financial innovation and financial stability." Fan Ruibin told the 21st Century Economy Reporting reporter:
"When we wanted to do open source in 2017, the relevant talents in the team were still insufficient. We started from scratch to build a domestic alliance chain open source bottom platform together with partners. , The route taken is quite correct. "
Fan Ruibin further analyzed:
"Even though the majority of alliance chains are not open source to this day. But this logic does not make sense, because blockchain is called a machine that creates trust. If the machine itself is a black box, it is not appropriate, so we will I want to open this black box in an open source way, which greatly reduces the technical and psychological barriers for users. "
Open source is not only as simple as open code, but also requires the support and use of a large number of partners. Therefore, Weizhong has adopted the method of aggregating the upstream and downstream industry chains, and joined together with many partners to build an open source ecosystem. The more vitality.
Hyperledger Fabric is also an open underlying technology. It is understood that its blockchain alliance has more than 250 participating companies. Many technology companies use Fabric's technology to provide blockchain services for businesses. At the same time, the blockchain developer told reporters that there are also many startups in China that make modifications based on Fabric's code and algorithms. They are not self-developed and their competitiveness is not strong.
Disputes and challenges
At the same time, the alliance chain also faces challenges, such as how to let partners in the alliance chain share dividends, future killer needs and scenario exploration, whether it is truly decentralized, privacy issues, and so on.
A blockchain practitioner told 21st Century Business Herald:
"The alliance chain is a trade-off between efficiency and decentralization. Decentralization and efficiency are scales. The public chain is the most decentralized, and the efficiency is actually not high. The fastest public chain, TPS (system swallowing) Measure, the number of system processes per second) is about 1,000, but Visa's TPS can be 10,000, and the efficiency is definitely the highest in a centralized organization. "
Therefore, the alliance chain is based on weakening part of the decentralization and greatly improving business efficiency. Therefore, there are also opinions that the alliance chain weakens the decentralization of the blockchain compared to the public chain.
Focusing on the alliance chain and public chain system, Ma Zhitao, vice president and chief information officer of Weizhong Bank, said that the alliance chain is not only able to serve members of the alliance. It can provide services to the public through the Internet. The evolution and sublimation of the alliance chain should be able to evolve into an ecosystem that provides services to the public. We call it the "public alliance chain". It is not a single chain, but a new block-based The ecosystem created by chain business applications. "
In addition, a major challenge of the alliance chain lies in application scenarios and business models.
In fact, at present, no matter Hyperledger Fabric, FISCO BCOS, or ant blockchain, there are many application scenarios, mainly for B-side industry applications, including finance, logistics, supply chain, and so on. Especially for the players of the open source route, the application of its underlying technology is even more.
For example, Fan Ruibin said that in the financial field, Weizhong has built a supply chain financial service platform based on the blockchain. Supply chain finance has already existed. In Fan Ruibin's view, the most important value of the blockchain is that it can change the application of core enterprises. Good separation of circulation and transfer to small and micro enterprises at the end of the supply chain, so that small and micro enterprises can better obtain financial services from financial institutions.
In addition, many stakeholder decision-making issues can also use the blockchain. Under the guidance of Shenzhen's local financial supervision department, Weizhong, in conjunction with the Shenzhen Mutual Fund Association, launched a benign withdrawal voting platform for online loan institutions. In the field of smart government affairs, Weizhong cooperated with the Macau government to use blockchain technology to help build a smart city in Macau. Fan Ruibin introduced: "Smart City has independently developed and completed the open source entity identification and trusted data exchange solution WeIdentity and other blockchain technologies through Weizhong Bank to achieve secure and efficient cross-agency identity authentication and data cooperation to enhance the residents of Macau. Service experience. This project was completed in July and is currently undergoing internal testing. It will be gradually opened to the public by the end of the year. "
For the Weizhong blockchain, the issue of profitability is currently not considered. However, how to make developers and partners make money is the test they are facing. Of course, the open source ecosystem can help enterprises master blockchain technology for free, do systems at low cost, and help enterprises to connect with resources in the circle. But for the alliance chain enterprises, how to find more B-side requirements and find explosive scenarios is still the problem.
Right now, the alliance chain is still in the stage of trying and verifying technology. A number of blockchain practitioners told reporters that a series of problems such as restrictions on needs and scenarios, unresolved business models, etc., have also led small companies to not have enough motivation to settle their hearts for R & D. And large companies, especially Internet companies, have deep software capabilities, stronger development capabilities and business endorsement capabilities.
In addition, the alliance chain also faces technical challenges, including the relative scarcity of storage space, privacy and security issues, and so on. However, blockchain technology has entered the application phase and is accelerating to land. Combining 5G and AI in the future will become the infrastructure for digital upgrades.
Li Jieli said:
"From the current development trend of domestic blockchains, the alliance chain is combining some of the characteristics of the public chain. The alliance chain is slowly moving towards a more open and more public direction when technology and compliance conditions permit. It is expected that This year may become a year of concentrated outbreak of the alliance chain. "
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Who are these “job creators” and how did they get so many government agencies working for them? Here are 10 things small businesses won’t tell you:
1. “We only look small next to Exxon.”
The idea of big business doesn’t exactly give most Americans the warm fuzzies, with the BP oil spill, the banks’ role in the financial crisis, and Big Tobacco’s many historic obfuscations representing only a few of the corporate misdeeds that have turned consumer sentiment against it. Small business, in sharp contrast, ignites a flame of good feeling among many. Indeed, it seems to rank in Americans’ imaginations somewhere between Mom and Little League Baseball.
Politicians know that—and in an election year, they’re not shy about exploiting it. The White House website proclaims that small-business owners “are on the front lines of strengthening America’s economy while helping the country rise to the many challenges of the 21st Century.” Not to be outdone, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney insists he hears from small business “day in and day out,” and he lists being a “champion of small business” as one of the five pillars of his plan to boost the economy.
Just who are these individuals hailed as “champions of change” (by President Obama) and “job creators” (by Romney)? It turns out, the answer isn’t simply the woman down the block trying to get her boutique off the ground, or the apron-wearing man ringing you up at the cash register of your local hardware store. It’s a lot more complicated.
When Congress passed a rare bipartisan economic-development bill this year, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, for instance, the businesses reaping many of the rewards weren’t exactly tiny.
While the Act did partly address pothole issues like cutting regulatory paperwork, other provisions dealt with issues that truly small businesses almost never deal with, like initial public offerings and hedge-fund marketing. Despite the hoopla, many JOBS Act provisions “are not top priorities” for mom-and-pop businesses, says Kevan Chapman, a spokesman for the National Federation of Independent Business, a lobbying group that represents companies that typically employ about 10 workers.
Like Congress, the Small Business Administration also takes a the-more-the-merrier approach. By its count, 99.7% of businesses in America qualify as small, possibly making them eligible for special aid. (About half of all private-sector workers are employed by small businesses, however.) So just how big can a small business be? In general, the government contracting standards accommodate firms with up to 500 employees—but the cap can get as high as 1,500 for industries that are dominated by conglomerates, such as oil-refining or aircraft-manufacturing.
That has some experts crying foul, saying the SBA handouts are just another out-of-control government program. “Everyone is a small business,” says Veronique de Rugy, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, a right-leaning think tank. “It’s meaningless.”
2. “We’re not the job creators you think we are.”
If there’s one thing most people think they know for sure about small businesses, it’s that they’re important to the economy. “Small business has created about two of every three net new jobs in the United States since at least the early 1970s,” says the National Federation of Independent Business. The same stat has also been touted by the White House.
The only problem is that economists who have studied job creation aren’t entirely sure it’s accurate. While consensus has gone back and forth over the years, one recent study by researchers at the Census Bureau and the University of Maryland suggests the notion is only partly true. Although on balance, small businesses do create more jobs than big ones, the study found, there is a big catch: The job growth doesn’t have much to do with their smallness. It only has to do with youngness—that is, being a start-up. In fact, after the authors controlled for company age, they found “no systematic relationship between firm size and growth.”
While few dispute the notion that a culture of entrepreneurial striving is key to the success of American business, many experts say it’s a mistake to assume all small-business people—doctors, lawyers, plumbers—are aflame with ambition.
Nearly half of new businesses provided an existing good or service to an established market, according to a study from the University of Chicago. Most entrepreneurs cited benefits like “wanting flexibility over schedule” and “to be one’s own boss” over potential riches as their prime motivator in starting a business.
3. “We don’t have any monopoly on innovation.”
The small inventor with a big dream is an American icon, an idea that runs all the way from Ben Franklin flying his kite to a long-haired Steve Jobs founding Apple in his garage. While there’s certainly some truth to the lore, don’t forget that Jobs also found inspiration outside his business—it was on a visit to Xerox PARC that he saw a demo of a mouse and graphical user interface, and realized their commercial potential—and that many Apple achievements, like the iPod and iPad, appeared long after the company had become a big business.
The lesson, say experts, is that the less romantic contributions of faceless conglomerates, universities and—gasp—the government may be just as or more important to the march of technological progress.
One indication: Of the 13 Nobel Prize winners affiliated with U.S. businesses, as opposed to a more traditional perch like academia, all have come from just three well-known (and very large) companies: IBM
One reason is, big companies can afford to spend far more on research and development—more than $3,300 a year per worker for the largest companies, versus about $800 for small ones, according to the PPI study. There are some industries where small companies have a very hard time innovating: While creating a Web-based business, for example, can be achieved at little cost, when it comes to industries like health care, energy or transportation, it’s a different story, according to the PPI study’s author Michael Mandel. “These problems need to be tackled on a bigger scale,” he says.
4. “We’re a bunch of white guys.”
To hear many politicians tell it, the defining characteristic of small-business owners is merely “success.” But a look at the numbers suggests that being born into the right demographic bucket makes a big difference. While the white population of the U.S. is about six times the black population, the number of white-owned small business establishments is 53 times that of blacks, according to recent government data. And men own twice as many businesses as women.
To be sure, not all minorities are behind: Asians were slightly more likely than whites to own a small business and, in a separate study, the SBA found that immigrants had higher ownership rates than other Americans, typically leaning on personal or family savings to get the ball rolling.
Moreover, the feds have worked to correct historical imbalances, with rules that direct government contracts to women and minorities in order to foster equal opportunity. But that displeases many on the right, like Cato Institute budget analyst Tad DeHaven, who has argued on the libertarian think tank’s Downsizing the Federal Government blog that the government’s small-business bureaucracy “shouldn’t be in the business of favoring, or disfavoring, any race.”
5. “You’re better off working for a megacorp.”
It may be great to be a small-business owner, but working for one is another matter altogether. For all the cracks about soulless cubicles and numb middle management, some argue that by most tangible measures, it’s better to work for The Man. “Simply put, large firms offer better jobs and higher wages than small firms,” concludes a recent study by the Federal Reserve. On average, workers at firms with more than 2,500 workers earned $27.05 an hour, compared with just $15.69 for those at firms with fewer than 100. Workers at big companies were also more likely to have employer-sponsored health insurance and enjoy other perks like retirement plans and paid vacation.
There are some caveats: While salary figures held largely across the board, there were notable exceptions, like retail and health care, where workers at the biggest companies made slightly less than their small-company counterparts. Sorry Wal-Mart.
Of course, small-business advocates say, job satisfaction can go way beyond the paycheck. Workers at small companies often have perks like face time with the boss, the chance to get out from behind the cubicle wall and to take on a bigger range of tasks—think of an innkeeper that welcomes the guests, plans the menu, cleans the rooms and manages the marketing, versus someone that waits tables in the restaurant of a giant hotel chain.
“You have a little more responsibility and opportunity,” says Charles Purdy, senior editor at job website Monster.com “There is a feeling of satisfaction.”
6. “Others have regulators, we’ve got a friend…”
The federal government has plenty of departments that regulate a particular segment of the economy, like the Department of Agriculture or Energy. But experts say few, if any, cheerlead as unabashedly as the Small Business Administration, which gushes—you may have heard this before—that “small business is America’s most powerful engine of opportunity and economic growth” and which promises to be “the voice of small business on Capitol Hill.”
That kind of boosterism rubs many, even on the frequently business-friendly right wing, the wrong way. De Rugy, who has called for the Small Business Administration to be abolished, doesn’t mince words: “It’s a taxpayer-funded interest group.” While the agency’s annual budget request, about a billion dollars, is small by federal standards, it routinely spends much more because of the loan guarantees it offers to small businesses. Actual outlays eclipsed $6 billion in 2011, according to de Rugy, although with the economy healing, that figure is expected to be only about $3 billion this year.
For its part, the SBA says, “when the market operates properly,” small businesses don’t need any help from government. “But, oftentimes, there are viable small businesses that can’t get a conventional loan. This is when the SBA can help.”
7. “…And that’s just a taste of the gravy we get from Uncle Sam.”
Even bigger than the SBA’s loan guarantees are federal rules that require agencies to direct a slice of their spending on everything from hammers to guided missiles to small businesses, with significant portions going to ones owned by groups like women or veterans. Lest they slide, each agency gets a an annual grade handed out by the SBA: Department of Health and Human Services, A. Housing and Urban Development, C.
Advocates of so-called set-asides argue they’re not about favoritism, but rather about making sure small-business people aren’t overlooked by the government’s giant bureaucracy.
Last year, the federal goal of spending 23% of all purchases with small businesses translated into more than $90 billion dollars worth of checks written by Uncle Sam to Mom and Pop. To put that in context, that’s $10 billion less than the government lent to students last year, but about $15 billion more than it spent on food stamps.
Not everyone is happy about the arrangement. Critics, like Cato’s DeHaven, point to recent scandals like one in which small companies ostensibly owned by Alaskan natives turned out to be fronts for larger, nonminority business interests. “With so much money at stake, abuse is unavoidable,” he says.
8. “The tax code favors us--when we pay.”
While nothing about taxes is ever simple, at least some experts on the left and the right point to a number of provisions in the tax code that tend to favor small business. One big leg up: Most Fortune 500 companies pay income tax on their profits before handing whatever is left over back to shareholders in the form of dividends. Hence the infamous “double taxation” that many economists say justifies a lower tax rate on dividends. By contrast, the vast majority of small-business owners simply report profits as income on their individual returns, paying once. The upshot: Profits earned by big business are often taxed at a combined rate of up to 44.75% while mom-and-pops pay only up to 35%.
There are some big caveats. Not all large businesses pay corporate income tax, and some small ones do. Many people would argue that those who sweat to get a new enterprise off the ground deserve a lower rate than their neighbors who simply collect monthly dividend checks.
At the same time, big companies are famous for finding inventive ways to minimize—or even reverse--their tax bills. Last year, the New York Times won a Pulitzer Prize in part for explaining how General Electric
Of course, little guys have tax avoidance methods too. Ever had a contractor offer you a discount if you paid in cash? The IRS estimates unpaid taxes amounted to $450 billion for 2006, the latest year studied, and small business--accounting for $179 billion--was the biggest culprit. While large employers have huge record-keeping operations, small frys often work on the honor system. “There’s no third-party check,” says Eric Toder, a tax expert with the left leaning Urban Institute. “They have the opportunity.”
9. “We’re old buddies with politicians.”
If small businesses has one constant complaint it may be that bureaucrats and career politicians don’t understand their needs, saddling them with red tape and “silly” rules. But many Washington insiders say, in fact, almost nobody has the ear of politicians to the extent small businesses do. After all, most congressional representatives started out as would-be assemblymen, giving speeches before the Rotary Club. “Go to any list of local big wigs,” says economist and George Washington University law professor Neil H. Buchanan. “There’s the guy whose name is on the Chevy dealership.”
This year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents 3 million businesses, won the gold medal in “Washington’s Influence Olympics,” sponsored by the watchdog group OpenSecrets.org, after pouring $460.1 million into its lobbying effort in between 2008 and 2011. The Chamber also won the equivalent of the 100-meter dash, spending another $55.3 million in the first six months of 2012.
To be sure, the Chamber also represents interests like big banks, which have been pushing politicians hard in the wake of the financial crisis. But there’s also the National Federation of Independent Business. Among the NFIB’s priorities are things almost any American would love, like simplifying the labyrinthine tax code. Others, such as its support for the elimination of the estate tax are far more controversial. While not as famous as the Chamber, insiders say there is little doubt it’s a powerful force. The name of the Supreme Court case that recently came within a single vote of nullifying the Obama Administration’s controversial health-care law: National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius.
“We just pounded the issue again and again,” says Karen Harned, executive director of the group’s legal center. “We were aggressive.”
10. “The local press handles our PR.”
With newspapers struggling to cope with declines in mass circulation and the kind of low-rent advertising that for decades dominated classified sections, they’re desperate to attract the ever-more-affluent readers that brand-name companies hawking cars, watches and mutual funds want to reach--readers such as small-business owners, experts say. “They’re the perfect scenario for advertisers,” says University of Mississippi journalism professor Samir Husni. “They want someone who has money and who has the authority to spend it.”
While this doesn’t necessarily mean softball stories, some experts have argued that the media has a big incentive to shape coverage around these readers’ sensibilities, by assigning reporters to profile tech entrepreneurs, say, rather than chronicling problems at inner-city housing projects.
In small towns and cities, boosterism can be even less subtle. Although, local papers may be fading, radio and television remain strong. That’s often great news for those that don’t live in a big city served by a national paper (and for those that love to high school sports scores). For better or worse, however, many of these publishers and station owners are small-business people too. When the zoning board has to decide whether to approve a new subdivision or convention center, they can often see dollar signs every bit as much as contractors and real-estate brokers, according to critics like John Logan, a sociologist at Brown University.
“There is a growth point of view,” he says. “It’s a vested interest.”


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Manrags has undergone a rebrand, renaming itself Upparel, to celebrate its milestone of preventing 1 million textiles from ending up in landfill.
The Aussie business has established itself as a leader in the circular fashion space, becoming the world’s first circular subscription essentials brand and an authority in textile waste prevention.
Upparel's recycling mission began with a sock recycling program in September 2019, that rewarded consumers for sending their old socks to be upcylced, laundered and donated or transformed into other garments such as beanies and t-shirts.
Fast forward to October 2020 and the millionth textile passed through the business' recycling program, taking the total weight of saved textiles to over 100,000kgs.
Speaking on the achievement, Upparel CEO Michael Elias said the business is thrilled to reach such a significant milestone in less than a year.
"It feels amazing and we are so so proud! [We achieved this] in less than one year!
"The future excites us more though, to think what we can achieve in the next 12 months is what motivates the team to continue to pioneer solutions and partner with industry partners to deliver a greater impact," he said.
Elias added that the business renamed itself to reflect the expansion of the business beyond just men's essentials.
"When we launched Manrags our purpose was to deliver quality essentials to men around the world and this was achieved having amassed an audience across 70 countries around the world.
"As we have evolved, taken responsibility and stepped up to eradicate textile landfill as well as increased our range of sustainable essentials to men, women and children it was necessary to better represent who we are today through our brand and a name that guides where we are going.
"We’ve pulled our socks up and have stepped up for the benefit of the next generation and pioneered Australia first and unique upcycling program for the apparel and fashion industry. Upparel," he said.
Co-founder Tina Elias added that the business is working on a range of new launches set to be debuted in the coming months.
"Expect to see Australia’s first recycled cotton range of essentials and amazing developments in our product offering as we continue on our journey to become more circular.
"We have been inundated with partnership opportunities over the last few months and we have been focussed on getting through our rebrand.
"Over the next few weeks and months, we’ll be announcing major partnerships across the country for our digital and offline recycling programs and launching our very first post-consumer upcycled range," she said.


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LIQUI MOLY achieves previous year’s turnover within ten months
“Are you up for a new record, a new milestone, and a very special and outstanding achievement?” With these words, Ernst Prost, Managing Director of LIQUI MOLY, motivated his colleagues at the beginning of October. The goal: Achieving the sales volume of the entire previous year in only ten months. The Ulm-based company repeatedly set new records over the past year. And today, the motor oil producer also cracked its own 10-month target: € 611 million in turnover. The company also set a new monthly record of €70 million in October. “Our company is healthy. And oils, additives and lubricants are the engine of the economy,” says Ernst Prost, proud and grateful for the team’s performance. Indeed, this milestone is more than a respectable achievement. Worldwide, raw material prices have risen to astronomical heights, and some are no longer available at all. Added to that, there is the global decline in travel and freight capacities. “All of this makes our down-to-earth and socially committed business extremely difficult,” says the LIQUI MOLY boss. Business agility seems to give the German medium-sized company with more than 1,000 employees an advantage. “We are able to adjust our course spontaneously. This also means that we are constantly evolving and working hard. Otherwise we will go under,” explains Ernst Prost. Success proves the company right. “Not only are our products used everywhere, but our customer service, our quality and our lived values are also appreciated. Coupled with our team spirit, fighting will and our strong branding, this is our secret to success. Now we are concentrating on the final spurt of the year and are hoping for the next record. The highest sales growth. As always, we are not resting on our laurels, but are stepping on the gas,” concludes Managing Director Ernst Prost.


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Noel Quinn, chief executive officer of HSBC bank, which manages $ 3 trillion in assets, called central bank digital currencies a “new form of money.”
“Quinn published an article in which he said that public stablecoins can be considered a legal means of payment because they are backed by central banks and governments. This proves their transparency and stability, while avoiding many of the risks inherent in private stablecoins and public cryptocurrencies, Quinn believes.
He sees many advantages in public digital currencies. First, they can contribute to the economic development of countries by improving the efficiency of payments and settlements and reducing their cost.
“Central bank digital currencies could improve countries’ fiscal and monetary policies. This will further stimulate demand for public cryptocurrencies,” Quinn said.
The HSBC CEO also highlighted the potential risks central banks should avoid when launching their own digital currencies. Central banks need to ensure that their new products and services are genuinely secure and innovative. For example, public authorities must take into account the impact of these products on the supply of credit, market activity and financial stability. In addition, digital currencies issued by central banks are required to ensure user privacy and resist cyber attacks.
According to Quinn, public stablecoins should operate on the basis of a two-tier model in which commercial banks participate. This will prevent central banks from building a new account management infrastructure, with commercial banks remaining an important link in the financial sector.
Quinn said that as one of the largest financial institutions with extensive experience in international payments, HSBC will continue to explore the potential of public digital currencies. The bank is cooperating on this matter with the central banks of the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, as they are actively exploring the possibility of issue their own digital currency.
On cryptocurrency, the HSBC executive said there was nothing new about private money. Previously, Quinn had said that he did not view Bitcoin as a class asset due to its instability, so the bank did not consider offering its clients investments in cryptocurrencies.


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ACCORDING to a salesman at the Brooklyn shop Butter, it took less than one week for Ann Demeulemeester’s wide-brimmed swingers to sell out. Sonia Rykiel’s candy-colored bowlers, another coveted hat this season, have long been gone from her Madison Avenue boutique (although at Urban Outfitters, similar styles are available for one-twentieth of the price). The point? While hats will probably never be as popular as they were a half-century ago, there has clearly been a resurgence.
“I’ve been at it 15 years,” said the milliner Albertus Swanepoel, who was a runner-up at this week’s CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award. “And it’s only recently that I haven’t had to have three other jobs.”
As the man behind Proenza Schouler’s sleek cloches from last fall and Carolina Herrera’s theatrical Alpine hats this year (not to mention the fedora with swirling feathers that Jennifer Aniston donned on “30 Rock” last Thursday), Mr. Swanepoel has had a strong hand in making hats look modern again. A rugged Western hat assumes a kind of elegance with an antiqued ribbon wrapped around the crown; a cloche is merely a costume piece until it’s shaped close to the face, covering the eyes for an air of cool.
The key to wearing a hat well, Mr. Swanepoel advised, is making it your own. “You almost have to have a relationship with it,” he said. “But not in a precious way. You have to wear it with a certain carelessness.
“Like perfume, it has to be personal.”Continue reading the main story


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News Story Tech Sponges Squeeze Customers
According to the Associated Press article, "[URL="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100706/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_technology_consolidation;_ylt=Aue.2rGwfTjg.EXFBurPtDIjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTMwZ2I5cjU2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNzA2L3VzX3RlY190ZWNobm9sb2d5X2NvbnNvbGlkYXRpb24EY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA3RlY2hjdXN0b21lcg--"]Tech customers question industry's takeover spree[/URL]," large technical companies have absorbed smaller tech companies to the detriment of their customers although these tech "sponges" say they're doing it "for their customers." How can there be such a disparity between the reality of customer pain and the public face of the tech companies? But why would a customer complain about their favorite tech company getting soaked up by a larger, better funded company? In a single word: Delivery. Delivery is how efficiently customers are served by a provider. And, it's a major pain point for …
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News Story Oracle Buys Sun. Linux Gets a Boost.
As you probably have heard, Oracle bought Sun for $7.4 billion today. I'm no Larry Ellison fan, because frankly, I think he's a few cards short of a full deck but I think in the long run, this is good for Sun. Not all of Sun but a lot of it. And Linux will get a boost out of it as the operating system of choice. My Sun Predictions/Hopes: [B]1. MySQL and InnoDB Reunite[/B] - Ah, it's good to have these two back together again. Oracle bought InnoDB in 2005--much to my surprise and disappointment--but now with Oracle's purchase of …
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For Immediate Release:
9 November 2020
Hiraj Laljani; [email protected]
Dr Kiran Ahuja; [email protected]
Vegan Restaurants, Fashion, and Community Help State Nab Top Honours
Panaji – November marks World Vegan Month – and in honour of the occasion, Goa has won the title of 2020 Most Vegan-Friendly State from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India. A certificate has been delivered to Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant in thanks for providing an environment in which vegan-friendly establishments can thrive, making the world a better place for humans and other animals.
Photograph of Dr Sawant receiving the award is available for download upon request.
The state’s top vegan eateries include Bean Me Up, which offers a wide variety of Western-style dishes, such as burritos, lasagne, and even pizza from a traditional wood-fired oven; Shantaram Raw, which boasts a rooftop deck where diners can enjoy smoothies, juices, and more; and Cafe La Boheme, which dishes up vegan burgers, tapas, crepes, and salads, among other treats. Other beloved vegan eateries include Gratitude Cafe, SoulBooster, Svasti, Bibhitaki Vegan Cafe and Restaurant, Vegan Casa, Bodhi Greens, Maya Organic, and Okapi Vegan Kitchen. For vegan fashion, there’s No Nasties, a 100% cruelty-free, vegan clothing store – and for community potlucks and other vegan events, there’s The Vegoan.
“Goa is quickly becoming a top dining destination for the increasing number of people interested in healthy and cruelty-free fare,” says PETA India Vegan Outreach Coordinator Dr Kiran Ahuja. “PETA India is recognising Goa for leading by example and showing other states how to meet the growing demand for vegan food and fashion in style.”
Every person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals a year daily suffering and a terrifying death. In today’s meat, egg, and dairy industries, chickens’ throats are cut while they’re still conscious, fish suffocate on the decks of fishing boats, pigs are stabbed in the heart as they scream in pain, and calves are torn away from their mothers shortly after birth. At the slaughterhouse, animals are often killed in full view of others and dismembered while they’re still conscious.
Vegans are less prone to suffering from heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer, and obesity than meat-eaters are. They also dramatically reduce their carbon footprint, as animal agriculture is a leading producer of the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change – and they help prevent future pandemics, as live-animal markets, crowded factory farms, and slaughterhouses have been linked to the spread in humans of numerous zoonotic diseases in humans (illnesses that can spread to humans from other animals).
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” – opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.


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It may be nearly the end of the year, but the Triumph Motorcycles Group has released its financials for the first half of 2011 (Q1 2011 & Q2 2011). Selling 48,684 units worldwide, Triumph saw a 7% increase in unit sales when compared to the first half of 2010. This sales increase brought an 11% boost in revenue, which totaled £312.4 million. Triumph attributes the sales and revenue boost to the incremental models that have been added to the range, like the Triumph Tiger 800/800XC and Triumph Daytona 675R.
The company’s operating profit also grew over the same time period, with earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) growing from £15.1 million to £22.3 million. This 47% gain in income is quite the coup for the small British brand, which is showing strong performance in an otherwise horrible market. With the 500cc motorcycle market down nearly 50% from where it was before the recession, 2011 has similarly been doom and gloom, down nearly 7% worldwide, though the turbulent sales numbers do appear to be bottoming out.
Despite showing a rebound for 2011, and several brands posting strong growth over the past six months, industry-wide motorcycle sales in the United States grew only a modest 1.7% over the first six months of 2010. The news comes as Honda, Yamaha, and Kawasaki report continued sales decreases in 2011, and as the Japanese brands constitute a large portion of sales in the US, those losses have more than offset the record sales posted by smaller unit sellers like Ducati and BMW.
Ducati North America has posted its Q2 2011 sales figures, and business is apparently booming for the Italian company in the US, Mexican, and Canadian markets, as sales are up 61% in the second quarter of this year. Selling over 5,200 bikes to customers so far this year, Ducati North America’s year-to-date sales are also up an outstanding 63%. Helping drive the sales increases are the extremely popular Multistrada 1200 models and the new Diavel. Along with the already sales-topping Superbike 848 EVO and Monster 796, these models account for most of Ducati’s sales growth.
Harley-Davidson had some good news to report in its Q2 2011 financial report, as the Milwaukee company reports selling 53,599 units to customers in the US during the three-month period, and total of 83,396 units worldwide (120,642 units worldwide so far this year). These sales figures translate into a 5.6% sales increase worldwide, and an even more impressive 7.5% sales bump in the United States market.
While those increases might seem modest, CEO Keith Wandell’s restructuring efforts have clearly been paying off for the Bar & Shield brand as operating income was up 36.8% for Q2, while revenue was up only 18% to $1.34 billion. This is also the first year-over-year quarterly rise for unit sales that Harley-Davidson has seen since the Q4 2006. Read that last sentence again, but it’s sort of a big deal for Harley-Davidson.


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Kia Motors has announced that it plans to build a third manufacturing plant in China, in order to meet dramatically increasing local demand and to maintain its positive sales momentum in the Chinese market.
Upon completion of the plant, which will be able to produce 300,000 units annually, Kia will have increased its production capacity in China from the current 430,000 units at its existing two plants to a total of 730,000 units per year.
The plant will be located just 5km from Kia’s second plant in Yancheng’s Economic and Technology Development Zone. The close proximity to the existing facility will enable Kia to utilise the established infrastructure.
Kia plans to begin the construction of the plant at the end of next year, and anticipates completion of the facility and the roll out of production models in the second half of 2014.


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Title: General Motors Surpasses Expectations despite Ongoing Labor Strikes
General Motors (GM) has defied expectations in the third quarter, reporting better-than-anticipated earnings despite enduring strikes by the United Auto Workers union. The labor strikes, which commenced on September 15, have been costly for GM, resulting in a loss of approximately $200 million per week in vehicle production. Overall, the strikes have caused a detrimental impact on the automaker’s pre-tax earnings, resulting in around $800 million in losses.
Providing insight into the magnitude of the financial hit caused by the strikes, GM’s CFO Paul Jacobson confirmed a $200 million loss during the third quarter. Such volatility in operations prompted GM to withdraw its previously announced earnings guidance for the year. The guidance had projected adjusted earnings ranging from $12 billion to $14 billion, signaling a significant setback due to the strikes.
Before the labor conflicts, GM was on track to achieve upper-half earnings within its forecast. However, the strikes disrupted the automaker’s progress, as evidenced by the adjusted earnings per share of $2.28 for the third quarter, which surpassed the estimated $1.88 per share. Additionally, GM reported revenue of $44.13 billion, exceeding the estimated $43.68 billion, although its net income attributable to stockholders dropped by 7.3% year-on-year, amounting to $3.06 billion, or $2.20 per share.
While revenue increased by 5.4% from the prior year, adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) declined by 16.9% to $3.56 billion. GM’s North American adjusted earnings suffered a 9.5% drop to $3.53 billion during the third quarter. However, international operations experienced a 7% increase in earnings to $357 million. Nevertheless, GM’s equity income from operations in China witnessed a significant downturn, decreasing by approximately 42% year-on-year, totaling $192 million.
GM also revealed significant losses on Cruise, its majority-owned autonomous vehicle subsidiary. From January to September of this year, the company reported a loss of approximately $1.9 billion, with $732 million attributed to the third quarter alone. The losses stem from the expansion of Cruise operations.
Despite the ongoing labor strikes and financial losses, GM’s ability to surpass Wall Street’s expectations in the third quarter demonstrates resilience within the automaker. The challenge lies in navigating the strikes’ impact on future earnings and the company’s ability to recover swiftly amid industry uncertainties.
Overall, GM’s performance in the third quarter highlights both the difficulties faced during labor disputes and the company’s potential to overcome adversity in the face of ongoing challenges in the auto industry.


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Dad's Army fans will be marching to the auction house when a van made famous by the BBC sitcom goes under the hammer.
The Ford Box Van, made in 1935, has an expected price tag of between £20,000 and £30,000, so those hoping to buy will require plenty of financial ammunition.
Owned by Clive Jones' character Lance Corporal Jones, the van began its service as a butcher's van, then moved on to ferry the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon around.
It'll be a case of 'Don't panic, Mr Mainwaring!' when the hammer comes down at the Bonhams auction on December 3, because other lots will be available if this one whizzes past you.
The van is part of a classic 19-vehicle collection, which will all be sold in Weybridge, Surrey, at Mercedes-Benz World Brooklands.
Other cars in the collection include a 1931 Invicta 4.5-litre S-Type Low Chassis Tourer, which is estimated to net a cool half a million pounds, at least.
A 1938 Jaguar SS100 3.5-litre Sports Two-Seater is expected to field bids of £220,000 to £280,000.
The vehicles form part of a third instalment set to be auctioned off, and are part of the Patrick Collection, which was previously housed in a private Birmingham museum.
Lance Corporal Jones's van was bought by Patrick Motors Ltd, a Midlands family business, once Dad's Army shot its final episode.
Copyright Press Association 2012


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A case of bird flu confirmed last week in the heart of America’s poultry region, is certain to mean more export restrictions, increasing U.S. supply and forcing the world’s biggest poultry companies to trim prices.
The USA Poultry & Egg Export Council said it expects 30 to 40 additional countries to impose new trade restrictions on U.S. poultry and egg imports in the $5.7 billion export market. Additional limits could come from Mexico, the biggest U.S. chicken importer, which already is blocking poultry imports from Minnesota, Missouri and California due to bird flu, the trade group said.
Previous cases of avian flu in other states caused China and South Korea to recently impose bans, still in effect, on U.S. poultry imports. Last year, they accounted for about $428.5 million in export sales of poultry meat and products, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
Other countries have only banned exports from states or counties with positive cases of avian flu


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Wall Street analysts expect Collegium Pharmaceutical Inc (NASDAQ:COLL) to announce $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the current fiscal quarter, according to Zacks Investment Research. Six analysts have issued estimates for Collegium Pharmaceutical’s earnings. The lowest EPS estimate is $0.09 and the highest is $0.63. Collegium Pharmaceutical reported earnings of ($0.05) per share in the same quarter last year, which indicates a positive year over year growth rate of 800%. The firm is scheduled to report its next quarterly earnings report on Wednesday, May 13th.
On average, analysts expect that Collegium Pharmaceutical will report full-year earnings of $2.62 per share for the current year, with EPS estimates ranging from $1.20 to $3.41. For the next fiscal year, analysts forecast that the business will post earnings of $3.47 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $2.42 to $4.00. Zacks’ earnings per share calculations are an average based on a survey of sell-side research firms that that provide coverage for Collegium Pharmaceutical.
Collegium Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ:COLL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $74.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.31 million. Collegium Pharmaceutical had a negative return on equity of 26.43% and a negative net margin of 7.66%. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 EPS.
In other news, EVP Scott Dreyer sold 1,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.87, for a total value of $31,532.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 35,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $852,540.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael Thomas Heffernan sold 295,287 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.93, for a total value of $6,475,643.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 402,086 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,817,745.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can bought a new position in Collegium Pharmaceutical during the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Collegium Pharmaceutical during the fourth quarter worth about $125,000. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Collegium Pharmaceutical during the fourth quarter worth about $237,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC grew its holdings in Collegium Pharmaceutical by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 11,875 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,764 shares during the period. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc bought a new position in Collegium Pharmaceutical during the fourth quarter worth about $283,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.95% of the company’s stock.
COLL stock opened at $17.03 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.04. The stock has a market cap of $594.41 million, a PE ratio of -25.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Collegium Pharmaceutical has a 1 year low of $10.01 and a 1 year high of $25.59.
About Collegium Pharmaceutical
Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc, a specialty pharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes various products for patients suffering from pain. It provides DETERx platform technology that is designed to maintain the extended-release and safety profiles of highly abused drugs in the face of various methods of abuse and misuse, including chewing, crushing, heating, and injecting.
See Also: Why is cost of goods sold important?
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13 February 2023, New Delhi: The 9th International Chefs Conference, organized by the Indian Federation of Culinary Association (IFCA) and supported by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, started off in New Delhi today. The first day of the event was inaugurated by the Minister of State, MoAFW, Mr. Kailash Choudhary.
To celebrate the enthusiasm of the ongoing International Year of Millets 2023, this year, the ‘nutri-cereal’- Millets has taken centerstage at the three-day culinary extravaganza, featuring several workshops, live cooking demonstrations, masterclasses, experts panel discussions and indulgence.
Upon India’s behest, the UNGA declared the year 2023 as the ‘International Year of Millets’. The resolution, sponsored by India, was supported by more than 70 countries. The Government of India is at the forefront of the celebration, led by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.
In his inaugural address, Mr. Kailash Choudhary encouraged the boost of local as well as global consumption of millets. Appreciating the chefs’ community’s endeavour to revive the glory of millets, he also spoke about popularizing regional millet-based delicacies like ‘Bajre ki Kheech’ in hotel menus. Recalling how millets provided nutrition to ancient Indian warriors, he highlighted how the superfood could cater to people’s holistic nutritional demands. Later, he also cooked a delicious millet-based delicacy in an impromptu live cooking demonstration with the help of chef Manjit Gill, President, IFCA.
Secretary of Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Mr. Manoj Ahuja, who was also present at the event, emphasized the importance of millets to the world, to address the global hunger issues. In a presentation by Ms. Shubha Thakur, JS Crops (DA&FW), the audience and participants were sensitized about the initiatives along with infrastructure being developed by the Department towards positioning India as the ‘Global Hub for Millets’. As per the vision of the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, the DA&FW has been working in ‘mission mode’ to make IYM 2023 a ‘People’s Movement’.
Chef Manjit Gill, President, Indian Federation of Culinary Association, welcomed the guests, which was followed by a ‘Millet March Past’ by the chefs and members of IFCA. A captivating session on ‘History of Millets’ by anthropologist Dr. Kurush F Dalal spoke about how millets’ were among the first crops to be domesticated in India, evidence of consumption of millets can be traced back to the Indus Valley civilization.
One of the key highlights of Day-1 was the live cooking demonstration by Chef Satinder Shergill, who cooked delicious millet cuisine. During the panel discussion, speakers highlighted the nutritional benefits of the ‘golden grains’. Millets are considered as superfood, packed with protein, antioxidants, and other essential nutrients, which is great for human health, farmers and the environment. The slow-digesting characteristic of millets helps in maintaining blood sugar level, improving heart health and boosting the immune system.
The second part of the event discussed entrepreneurship opportunities with millets and explored various avenues viz-a-viz diversity of millets, ethnic specialities, processing & value addition and overall scope of business. A Corporate Chefs Panel shed light on the nutrition of millets along with its potential use in Hotels and Catering industry.
The Government of India has been taking numerous efforts to promote millets as an important household ingredient by promoting a robust value chain. With the help of millet-based Start-ups supported by the DA&FW, various millet food products are being introduced in the country, which has received immense popularity. From grains to ready-to-cook millet items, packaged snacks and beverages, millets have already created a buzz and are set to restore its lost glory.
The upcoming discussions over the next two days of the 9th International Chefs Conference will discuss and demonstrate millets cuisines and promote these nutri-cereals among the chefs community to make it a preferred kitchen ingredient, – be it a local, regional or international recipe.
Also Read: Developing Agricultural Research Institutes
(For Latest Agriculture News & Updates, follow Krishak Jagat on Google News)