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Infor/FIT Fashion Design ICONS Award
Collaborative creativity – it’s a new world for fashion students.
Infor and FIT have created the ultimate design contest exploring partnership between fashion designers and business management teams. "This year’s Infor/FIT Fashion Design ICONS contest is a real-world opportunity for both the fashion design and fashion business students of FIT" stated Christine Pomeranz, FIT faculty advisor for the business student teams. "Historically, fashion has often been viewed as exclusive, but with social media, and powerful retail software for manufacturing, everyone in the industry is becoming much more inclusive and collaborative."
FIT Fashion Design students submitted their red-carpet ready concepts to a panel of judges including fashion and retail creatives, and industry business leaders. They selected Brandon Johnson as the fashion design winner. His design is being fabricated by couturier Paula Varsalona and will be worn by Olivia Perez, fashion influencer, founder of Friend of a Friend, on the red carpet at the Harper’s BAZAAR ICONS event during New York Fashion Week in September.
The FIT business students gathered creative inspiration from fellow FIT student Brandon Johnsons’ winning design and collaborated with him then worked in teams of two and presented their marketing plans to take Johnson’s winning look from runway to market. After an afternoon of presentations, the judges picked team RC.e, -- "Red Carpet everyday"-- as the winners.
The exciting part for all FIT student award winners is attending the spectacular ICONS event which kicks off Fashion Week September 8. There, they saw the winning gown design, worn by Olivia Perez, fashion influencer and founder of Friend of a Friend, featured on the red carpet along with the world’s top models, designers and industry insiders in attendance.
Spectacular, eye-popping Harper's BAZAAR ICONS red carpet event features FIT students and the winning gown design.
Brandon Johnson, Katheleen Frey and Sonne Bajwa, winners of the second Infor/FIT Fashion Design ICONS award, step out on the red carpet to enjoy their moment. Says Bransdon Johnson, FIT student design winner "...I had an out-of-body experience...it's just so amazing."
Meet the three FIT students taking the fashion world by storm. Brandon Johnson, Kathleen Frey, and Sonne Bajwa saw their ideas come to life at this year’s Harper’s BAZAAR ICONS red carpet gala.
Team RC.e, Kathleen Frey and Sonne Bajwa, the FIT Business & Technology student winners of the 2017 Infor/FIT Fashion Design ICONS award program, earned the prize with creative collaboration with Brandon Johnson, the student design winner.
Brandon Johnson, winner of this year’s award, was inspired by memories of his mother putting on her pearls to go out for the evening. His hometown is Gardner, Kansas.
What does “ICONIC” mean for design?
CEO and Founder of MM Luxe Consulting
“A designer’s work is iconic when it has a point of difference – a wow factor. Many things and people are iconic today, it’s something people want to look up to, desirable. Icons used to be exclusive, and that’s changed dramatically - today icons are very inclusive.”
|Temple St. Clair |
Founder of Temple St. Clair Haute Couture Jewellery
“A design can be iconic as the centerpiece from which a larger collection is created. It’s how a piece is worn.”
Group Vice President, Fashion Director of Macy’s
“Iconic means timeless, a connection to something, that has heritage and foundation. With fashion it’s about how it’s brought forward, changed or adapted for today.”
|Marc Scibelli |
Chief Creative Officer, Infor
“Each designer expressed their own point of view and demonstrated their goals for their designs. That’s what made them iconic.”
Vice President, Infor Retail and Fashion
“In my view, iconic designs are representative symbols. The most iconic designs link us to who we are as individuals or as a society.”
Our all-star panel of judges are leaders in fashion and business. Marigay McKee is a well-known consultant in the luxury retail sphere known for her astute business acumen and elegant fashion aesthetic. Temple St. Clair is a lauded haute couture jewelry designer. Her passion for creative expression in gold and precious gemstones is recognized around the world, with museums competing to host her collections. Durand Guion provides the strategic direction for trends and fashion forecasting for Macy’s. He is known for his ability to translate his impeccable taste to meet the lifestyle needs of the Macy’s customer. And Marc Scibelli, Chief Creative Officer of Infor, leads Hook & Loop Digital—a team of strategists and creatives who partner with Infor customers to plan, design, assemble, and run large-scale digital ecosystems.
For the business plan contest, Erik Rowe, Infor Vice President for Retail and Fashion businesses represented Infor on the judge panel. Erick is leading the strategy to build the next generation of Infor software solutions to address the digital disruption taking place in the fashion and retail industry.
Who’s wearing the gown September 8 at the ICONS red carpet event?
Olivia Perez has been selected as the fashion influencer for this year’s ICONS event to wear the winning design. The FIT design students could learn more about Olivia through her well-established social media channels. Follow Olivia on Instagram and on her blog.
Why is a business software company sponsoring a fashion design contest for NYC college students?
Infor is not your typical enterprise software company. We’re committed to the success of our customers today, and investing in the next generation: the next generation of fashion designers and business leaders, the next generation workforce, and the next generation of software designers and developers.
Our software is designed to work beautifully—intuitively, responsively, and elegantly. Our industry-specific cloud applications are pre-built with last-mile functionality and requirements, and enhanced with scientific insights and predictive analytics.
We’re making a dedicated investment in next gen software for the fashion and retail industries. Retail software hasn’t seen much change in more than 20 years despite major technological advances. Infor is changing that. Learn about the Infor Retail revolution.
To continue to deliver on this promise, Infor is also investing in the workforce of the future through the Infor Education Alliance Program (EAP), we’re helping today’s students gain real world experiences that will prepare them for their professional careers tomorrow.
Our partnership with FIT includes the Infor | FIT Fashion Design ICON Award and the FIT/Infor Design & Tech Lab. The Lab will train cross-disciplinary teams of students to act as consultants to analyze and solve real world business problems, with the guidance of FIT faculty and Infor experts.


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It's been a long time coming, and this weekend, one of Public School's Air Jordan collaborations will finally release to the public.
Picking up where the New York-based fashion brand's friends and family exclusive Jordan 1 and Jordan X collabs left off, the Air Jordan XII has undergone a stylish greyscale makeover at the hands of Public School founders Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne, and we've got the best look yet.
The Jordan XII was chosen because it's one of Chow and Osbourne's favorite silhouettes. Set to drop alongside the Jordan Horizon and five pieces of matching apparel, the Public School x Jordan XII has been outfitted in a soft grey nubuck that serves as a nod to PSNY's traditionally dark palette. Inside, a leather liner makes it clear that this is very much a premium affair.
Go up close and personal with the collaboration below, then go ahead and set your alarm now for 3 p.m. EST tomorrow, December 12. Retail is $300.

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Also by 2023, it is expected that the wider Asia-Pacific region will be home to more than one million automated retail units as well as over 4.5 million smart vending machines.
That is according to ABI Research, a market insights firm, which said demand for technology-driven frictionless retail experiences, coupled with cheap production costs and limited data privacy barriers, is already driving rapid adoption – especially in China, Japan and South Korea.
“The initial growth rate of automated retail units in the Asia-Pacific market, driven primarily by China, has already been astonishing and will continue to grow exponentially over the next five years,” said Nick Finill, senior analyst at ABI Research.
“This will create a vast regional disparity in adoption figures, largely a result of technological and societal factors. Ultimately it signals a strong future for smart retail in East Asia,” he added.
The great advantage of smart vending machines is that they enable operators to keep immediate track of stock, sales and customer preferences in addition to allowing contactless payments.
Quite apart from all that useful data, it means, for example, that consumers no longer have to go through the frustration of finding that a vending machine has run out of their favourite snack or drink.
However, the ABI Research study goes further by predicting that further innovation is “around the corner”, such as autonomous vehicles acting as mobile vending machines, which needn’t limit themselves just to the sale of snacks.
Ultimately, the report stated, smart vending machines and automated retail units “offer immediate convenience to the customer while enabling additional revenue streams to be exploited by operators and partners”.
Sourced from ABI Research; additional content by WARC staff


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New bike shop gets ready to roll at USC Village
Entrepreneurial USC alum builds his business around style and simplicity, gearing it toward Trojans as a gathering place
Brian Ruben ’09 remembers the day he and two fellow Trojans spotted their future.
“We were walking home from class and saw somebody riding a fixed gear bike,” Ruben said. “The kid riding it told us it cost about $2,000, and a light bulb went off: ‘Why should such a simple looking bike cost so much money?”
Ruben is now chief bicycle officer with Solé Bicycles, which sells stylish, quality bikes starting at $399. The Venice-based company sold 5,000 bikes last year and will open a shop at USC Village this fall.
Entrepreneurial spirit on two wheels
Solé got his business rolling with the help of a $15,000 grant from the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the USC Marshall School of Business. Along with fellow Trojans Jake Medwell ’11 and Jonathan Shriftman ’10, Ruben built Solé around simplicity and style. Their first order of 200 bikes sold out in a couple of weeks, all by word of mouth.
Solé blazed a trail in back-to-basics bicycle building at a time when carbon fiber and 33 speeds sent bike prices racing way past the $3,000 mark.
“We’re doing it differently,” Ruben said. “In the past you had to go to a shop, some guy would sell you a bike you probably didn’t need and you’re paying their markup. We cut out the middle man, we make the process fun.”
No better place for bikes
The Solé store at USC Village won’t be anything like the common cramped bike shop where only advanced cyclists feel at home.
We want it to be more than a retail location. We want it to be an event space …
“The space will be designed-focused,” Ruben said. “We want it to be more than a retail location. We want it to be an event space, art space, gathering place for students. That’s how we’re going to create that store that tells our story.”
Laurie Michelle Stone, USC associate senior vice president for real estate and asset management, said: “Solé is not just a typical bicycle vendor — they engage with the community and we love that about them. After seeing their Venice Beach store and the fantastic bicycles they offer, we knew Solé would be a great fit.”
USC Village will offer residents secure indoor parking for about 1,200 bikes. Another 500 bike slots will be available for customers of shops and restaurants. And nearby Figueroa Street will soon join the city’s fast-growing 593 mile network of bikeways, a place to pedal the company’s planned Trojan model, tentatively titled the Coastal Cruiser.
More stories about: Alumni, Economic Development, USC Village


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The Story Behind Our Moisture Renewal Mask
In the fall of 2018, Bel Mondo Beauty reached out to Becky Kuehn, Founder and Director of Education at Oncology Spa Solutions, to discuss collaborating on a facial treatment mask specifically for use during oncology spa services.
The idea was to take Bel Mondo’s signature bio cellulose mask fabric – prized for its purity and occlusive properties – and infuse it with safe, premium ingredients that could hydrate and soothe compromised skin, without risk of irritation.
Over a nine-month period, multiple versions of prototype masks were evaluated by 30 oncology-trained estheticians, including Becky, who utilized the masks with patients at two hospital cancer-care centers located in her home state of Washington.
The feedback from these skin care professionals was exceedingly positive, and in September 2019, Bel Mondo proudly launched its Moisture Renewal Mask for Oncology Spa Services. We are equally pleased that our company has become one of Oncology Spa Solution’s Mission Partners.
Bel Mondo donates a percentage of revenue generated from the sale of our Moisture Renewal Mask to SPOT-ON, a non-profit association that provides spa professionals who have been oncology trained with support, education, and networking.


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Conor McQuaid, Chairman and Managing Director of Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard, must have achieved his ambition. Ever since leaving college he’d yearned to work for Irish Distillers and even hazarded a couple of unsuccessful job applications for same early on in his career. Eventually it paid off.
His first appointment after leaving University College Dublin with a degree in International Marketing & Spanish was with Golden Vale Group plc who’d bought a co-operative in Derry to make cream liqueurs for the international market.
But in 1998 he got a job as Irish Distillers’ Regional Manager for Southern Europe before becoming responsible for all Europe in 2000.
Five years on, he’d become Global Brand Development Director for Irish Distillers, joining IDL’s Executive Committee.
2011 saw him become Managing Director of Pernod Ricard South Africa (which also happened to be one of the strongest markets for Jameson after the US.) Sent out there for three years to build up Pernod Ricard’s brands he then spent another four years in Paris as European Vice President for Global Business Development.
In 2018 he was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive of Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard. Bearing in mind his early yearnings, the Louth-born native must be like the cat that got the creamery!
In today’s global Irish whiskey boom, Conor’s biggest challenges lie in three “focus areas”.
Firstly there’s the building out of the Jameson family of brands to make them truly “global”, so he’s seeking to expand the market in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
He also wants to broaden the Irish whiskey portfolio, particularly at the higher Super Premium end.
And thirdly, as every whiskey-maker must do today, he intends ensuring that Irish Distillers has sufficient stocks going forward.
Powers would be Irish Distillers’ second best-selling global whiskey by volume after the Jameson family followed by Redbreast, Green Spot and the new Method & Madness range, he says.
Here in Ireland, Jameson leads Irish Distillers’ other spirits brands Powers and Absolut by volume.
Innovatory Irish pubs
Returning home after so many years outside the country, he’s noticed a huge difference in the Irish pub observing, for example, the many ways in which today’s publican has to innovate to attract consumers back into the pub – and that includes whiskey-tasting sessions.
“There are light years in the difference from when I left Ireland in 2011,” he comments.
The way in which Irish Distillers helps grow the on-trade business has also changed during this time.
“Normally we’d put our brands to the fore but now we seek to collaboratively build our brand into what the publican would like to do, so we’re adapting ourselves to their on-trade business plans,” he explains, “Experiences for the consumer are to be focused on now.
This might help explain the €11 million investment in the development of the Visitor Centre at Bow Street to enhance that very visitor experience.
So how can Irish Distillers bring them into its portfolio via relevant activities?
“Well the on-premise is still the best way to build a brand. It allows you to bring the world of the brand into the outlet and it’s becoming a requirement globally for Generation Z who’re drinking less but better.”
Recently Jameson underwent a packaging redesign, something that’s carried out periodically every few years.
No small hill of beans goes into keeping the labelling fresh and appealing on global products such as Jameson so Government moves to introduce a cancer warning label onto Irish alcohol products as part of the Alcohol Bill are worrying.
“Clearly” he says, “we’d support the Bill’s intent for the responsible consumption of alcohol and there are aspects of the Bill that clearly we’re not against and would be happy to fall in line with. But we’re most concerned about the cancer warning label requirement. “Alcohol has been placed in the same context as processed meats by the World Health Organisation and for us to be singled out for statutory placement of a warning connecting alcohol and fatal cancers actually has a damaging effect on responsible alcohol consumption,” he argues, “It gives the consumer an expectation that’s beyond reasonable, particularly when we’re driving Irish whiskey around the world and need the support of the Irish authorities on this.
“Tourism needs us all to work together to emphasise such a historical and indigenous part of our culture; this labelling stipulation comes at just such a time of positive momentum for Ireland being a great place to come to. For us to be asked to put cancer warnings on labels at this time doesn’t bode well for an industry on the up.”
And of course nobody at Irish Distillers can ignore the impending consequences of Brexit, for the UK remains in Irish Distillers’ top six global markets.
“It’s one we fought hard in to reframe and refresh the vision of Irish whiskey,” he explains, “Big investment went into building out the Jameson opportunity and in the present context that’s a worry. As with every business today, everything is super nervous with the clock running down so fast.”
And like many Irish exporting businesses, Irish Distillers is making preparations.
“A lot of dry goods (glass components etc) are sourced out of the UK so there would be a logistical impact for continuing to supply these in a seamless manner. We’ve made contingency plans but it’s still very difficult to predict whether these will be sufficient at this point in time.”
Looking to the future
And while we may be cresting along on an Irish whiskey wave, has he planned for a future when the emphasis on Irish whiskey becomes less pronounced?
“There’s still lots of headroom left for the Irish whiskey industry globally,” he counters, “We’ve a relatively small global share of whiskey consumption and my challenge is to make sure that we’ll become a Top 10 global spirit brand.”
Well Impact’s latest figures for global brand domination puts Jameson firmly into that Top 10, one of only four whisk(e)y brands sitting alongside Johnnie Walker, Jack Daniels and Jim Beam.
In fact Jameson now outsells all other Scotch brands globally, other than Johnnie Walker (Red through Black expressions), he tells me.
So mission accomplished then.
“We achieved that with two years to spare!” he beams, “It puts us in a position to take on the global challenge of ensuring that Jameson is really global in nature.”
Thus the push into Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Of course Conor would like to see Irish Distillers’ products ‘future-proofed’ and so Irish Distillers is laying down stocks of Pot Still whiskey etc.
“A decision was taken to do this back in 2008 and since then we’ve launched 11 new Pot Still brands,” he points out.
These use a combination of malted and unmalted barley giving that sweetness and peppery flavour that’s been so well received, he says.
“The grain components used are what make this style of whiskey so unique to Ireland.”
And he remains confident of Irish whiskey’s future.
“The statistic that really rocks me on my heels is that in 2012 there were only four distilleries here; today there are 24, with more to come.”
And he remains confident too of Irish whiskey’s future for another reason.
“One of things my predecessors decided to do was to open Midleton to newcomers to whiskey distilling and help them keep product quality at the level it should be globally. It’s an Open Door policy which is good both for us and for the sake of the category.
“I think it’s the right thing to do. The Irish Whiskey Association plays an important role in bringing the whole Irish whiskey industry together and – while we do not agree about everything – when we go to market, the opportunity for us all is sufficiently large that we can grow together”.
And publicans here have been hugely supportive of that renaissance as it has happened, he says, even down to the domestic consumer seeking great whiskey cocktails.


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Garde-Malade. Garde-Malade, a Montreal-based company, specializes in selling nurse scrubs and other medical apparel has mandated House Of Socials as lead videography team.
House Of Socials will be responsible for creating and implementing social media campaigns for Garde-Malade, with the aim of increasing the company's online presence and reaching a wider audience.
Who is Garde-Malade?
Garde-Malade is a Montreal-based company offering a collection of trendy clothing for healthcare professionals.


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Delivering the kind of results Wall Street is looking for. That was one commentator’s response to Amazon’s surprise profit and better-than-expected sales figures.
The online retail giant reported a 92 million dollar profit in stark contrast to the 126 million dollar loss for the same period one year ago.
Sales figures showed a 20 percent rise in the second quarter to 23.2 billion dollars.
Profits surged more than 18 percent in after hours trading on Wall Street.
Amazon was also upbeat on its prospects for the current third quarter, forecasting sales growth between 13 and 24 percent compared to last year.


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Investors who focus on the domestic side of the online retail industry are just beginning to learn about social commerce, or the marriage of social media and online retail.
Key to Social Media in Emerging Markets Online Retail
While social trading is still a nascent investment concept, it is also relevant for online retailers in developing economies, confirming that there are implications for exchange-traded funds such as the Emerging markets Internet and e-commerce ETFs (EMQQ ) and the Next Frontier Internet and e-commerce ETFs (FMQQ).
“Small sellers have taken advantage of online marketplace platforms to capitalize on the ongoing digital shift and reach more buyers in new markets. Yet 40% of these agile, market-native companies believe that these platforms will not ultimately determine their future success,” Remarks PYMNES.
Although this data point is not specific to developing economies, it underscores the idea that, as is the case in the United States, there is significant potential in emerging markets as consumers in these regions continue embrace online media and social media.
Specific to EMQQ, several of this ETF’s flagship geographic exposures are countries where large swaths of the population are avid online shoppers and users of social media platforms. For example, China, India and South Korea together account for nearly three-quarters of the fund’s weighting. While China blocks many social media platforms in the United States, it is home to many domestic equivalents that can cross paths with online retailers. That’s important as coronavirus restrictions remain tight in the world’s second-largest economy.
“The pandemic certainly didn’t create online shopping, but it has clearly fueled its growth, as 61% of businesses surveyed say they have increased their use of marketplaces over the past year. We found that 68% of large multi-product merchants increased their marketplace usage over the past year, as did 68% of businesses that earn more than $100 million per year,” according to PYMNES.
China is also relevant in the conversation about emerging market social commerce, as one of the problems of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which its regulatory crackdown on consumer internet companies focused on allowed sellers to operate across multiple platforms – something some EMQQ previously prohibited assets. Western sellers don’t have to express their devotion to any particular e-commerce platform, and as more and more developing economies follow suit, EMQQ member companies could benefit from it.
“Only 7% of companies surveyed operate through a single market, and most companies try to diversify far more than just using a second one. Of the companies we surveyed, 42% operate through four or more markets,” concludes PYMNES.
For more news, insights and strategy, visit our Emerging Markets channel.


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Specialist small wind turbine maker Gaia-Wind has been saved from collapse thanks to an investment and restructuring deal, which will see the Scottish manufacturer revived under a slightly modified brand name. The Glasgow-based company confirmed it had called in the liquidators in March, after subsidy cuts and uncertain market conditions left the business with “no option but to cease trading”. But in a turnaround in fortunes, Dubai-based International Power and Water Investments (IPWI) subsequently stepped in to invest in the ailing company. The revived firm will now be known as Gaia Wind (Green Energy Solutions) and will attempt to tap into a growing global market for small and mid-sized turbines. IPWI’s Alistair Munro has stepped in as the new chairman and CEO at Gaia Wind.
Business Green 11th June 2018 read more »
Onshore wind power has the potential to cut household energy bills, benefit consumers by well over a billion pounds and create thousands of jobs, particularly in Scotland, according to a new report. The Power of Onshore Wind report, from renewable energy consultants BVG Associates, claims that awarding contracts for five gigawatts (GW) of new onshore wind power between 2019 and 2025 could deliver a net payback to UK consumers of £1.6 billion.
Herald 12th June 2018 read more »


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Remember when flagship smartphones used to come with 8GB storage options? Yeah, that’s a distant memory, and it might soon be joined by the 16GB storage option if this latest report is to be believed.
According to 9to5Mac, the next iPhone could be ditching the 16GB option completely in favour of the more roomier 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB storage options. The rumour apparently comes out of Foxconn, the manufacturers behind Apple’s upcoming flagship refresh, though it’s being considered as a “sketchy” rumour.
It seems the source out of Foxconn has revealed that the next device will start at 32GB as a 16GB sticker for the new iPhone’s packaging doesn’t exist.
Though it seems like a pretty drastic decision, 8GB storage quickly went the same way on flagship devices, and due to apps, games, and operating systems having more and more features, 16GB might soon leave very little in the way of storage for consumers meaning 32GB is a much more sensible option.
Unfortunately what that could mean is that the base model of the next iPhone could be considerably higher compared to the launch price of the 16GB iPhone 6 model.


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Swansboro Downtown Market
The Downtown Market is located in the heart of historic downtown Swansboro, in Olde Towne Square at the intersection of Front and Church Streets. The Downtown Market features hand-made works from quality crafters as well as a variety of homemade and homegrown products. The Downtown Market will be open on Wednesday’s April 16, 23, and 30. In May the market will open on Wednesday and Saturday 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. and run through September 27. Visit us online at swansboro.recdesk.com.


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NEW YORK — John Legere means business.
The CEO of T-Mobile has been a disruptive force in the wireless industry the past two years, pushing such consumer-oriented “Un-Carrier” initiatives as eliminating onerous contracts and paying early-termination fees when folks switch to T-Mobile. The strategy has paid off. T-Mobile has gone from 33 million to 55 million customers during that span.
Now Legere is training his company’s sites on the business market, where T-Mobile has been a distant also-ran, with only 3% to 5% of the $83 billion in wireless revenue that the major U.S. carriers collectively received from business accounts. Verizon and AT&T account for $72 billion. Sprint, $10 billion.
“It’s a gigantic opportunity (for us),” Legere said in an interview.
On Wednesday, T-Mobile unveiled the new plans that it hopes will start to alter its standing in the business market. “We are going to do for businesses what we’ve already been doing for consumers,” Legere says. “Eliminate pain points and force change.”
FOCUS ON SMALLER FIRMS
According to T-Mobile, the vast majority of U.S. businesses – a full 99.7% – have fewer than 500 employees and don’t have the money or resources to negotiate and decipher wireless carriers’ pricing, still too often a “haggling back room hidden rate card” kind of experience. “This was created for the mega-companies,” Legere says.
T-Mobile’s answer is a flexible rate plan for businesses that starts at 10 lines for $160. Each additional line up to 20 costs $16. The price drops to $15 per line from there on up to 1,000 lines. Companies that require even more pay $10 per line. There is no haggling.
Each line comes with unlimited talk, text and up to 1 GB of data high-speed 4G LTE data. An extra 2GB of high-speed data costs $10 per line, unlimited high-speed data $30 per line.
T-Mobile is offering pooled high-speed data options as well, starting at $475 per month for 100GB.
Meantime, businesses that sign up for at least one line with additional paid data get a free “.com” domain and website from GoDaddy. Such businesses also get a free custom .com e-mail address for their company, powered by Microsoft Office 365. The offer includes one free business e-mail address for every T-Mobile business line with additional paid data.
T-Mobile is also heavily discounting prices for people who combine their personal plan with a business plan paid for by their company – 72% of customers use the same carrier at home that they use at work. The business-paid line is treated as the first line in the family plan. Legere claims that can save customers up to 50%, compared to the “measly 8 to 15% discount” you get from rivals when business and personal plans are combined.
One of the reasons that T-Mobile hasn’t done well with the business crowd has been a perception that its network didn’t live up to the standards of rivals, especially outside metropolitan areas. Legere claims such a view is longer valid.
“The feedback we’re getting is, ‘are you “bleeping” me’ — I can’t believe the speeds are that fast,” Legere says.”We’re no longer defensive about network.” He cited a recent study that said that T-Mobile’s LTE is 52% faster than Verizon.
T-Mobile will be in markets covering 300 million people for high-speed LTE by year end, up from 270 million.
“T-Mobile’s new business offerings should be very popular with smaller businesses, which buy services very much like consumers, with the buyers being office managers or business owners rather than professional IT directors,” Jackdaw analyst Jan Dawson says.
“However, for larger businesses, rate plans are just part of the picture, and other features like mobile device management, other communications and productivity applications and wireline services will be part of the picture too, and T-Mobile can’t address any of those today,” he said.
WILL COVER PAYMENTS UP TO $650
While focusing on business with today’s announcements, T-Mobile didn’t totally ignore the consumer. T-Mobile unleashed what it calls the “un-contract,” in which it guarantees that the rates people are paying under their current plan will never go up – and could go down – so long as those people remain customers. That’s the case even if the plan was under a promotion that had been set to expire. “If you’re on a promotion, it just changed to permanent,” Legere says.
Pricing for unlimited data plans will not change for at least two years.
Moreover, T-Mobile says it will now cover the remaining payments on a smartphone or tablet due to AT&T, Sprint or Verizon, for those who switch to T-Mobile, up to $650 per line. Legere says 29 million people are currently stuck on device payment plans. Until now, only early-termination fees were covered.
Customers who want to take advantage of the plan must trade in their phone to T-Mobile and buy a new device.
Email: email@example.com; Follow @edbaig on Twitter
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July 20, 2023
Cedar Farmers Market Boosts Local Economy by $3.7 Million Annually, Study Finds
– FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
Nanaimo, BC – (July 19, 2023) – Cedar Farmers Market is a significant economic player in the Nanaimo Regional District, injecting nearly $3.7 million annually into the local economy, according to a recent study.
“Although people know the market is a great place to buy fresh, local food,” said Kate Poirier, the farmers market executive director, “the results of this study help us to communicate to others how valuable the farmers’ market is to our community.”
About 59,291 people visit the farmers’ market annually and on the day of the study, June 25, 2023, about 2,646 people visited the market. About 397 of these visitors participated in the survey. Almost 40 percent of shoppers visit the market either ‘regularly’ (almost weekly) or ‘frequently’ (2-3 times per month).
The Cedar Farmers Market is participating in a province-wide study of the economic benefits of farmers markets. “Farmers’ markets continue to serve as the face of farming in BC,” said Heather O’Hara, Executive Director of the BC Association of Farmers’ Markets. “There has been significant growth in the number and vitality of farmers’ markets in BC and it is important to understand not only what they contribute but also how much they contribute to local neighbourhoods, cities, and towns,” she explained.
Dr. David Connell, a professor from the University of Northern BC who is leading the project, added, “This project builds upon the results of a similar study we did in 2006 and in 2012. At the end of this project, we will be able to compare our results with these past studies to see how much has changed.”
In the tranquil setting of Woodbank School, just south of Nanaimo, families gather to relish the abundance of Vancouver Island at the Cedar Farmers Market. What began as a humble roadside venture over 25 years ago has blossomed into a thriving market with 100 stalls, earning recognition as one of the Island’s most beloved markets. The market was honoured with multiple accolades in 2022, including Nanaimo’s Best Farmers Market as well as a first-place award among large farmers’ markets in British Columbia. Visitors are treated to a diverse array of local vendors offering everything from fresh produce and baked goods to hot food, refreshing treats, and artisan crafts.
The project is carried out by the BC Association of Farmers’ Markets in collaboration with Dr. David Connell, a professor at the University of Northern British Columbia. Financial assistance was provided by the BC Association of Farmers’ Markets and the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
Kate Poirier, Executive Director, Cedar Farmers Market Agricultural Society, 250-668-9907 or firstname.lastname@example.org
Heather O’Hara, Executive Director, BC Association of Farmers’ Markets, 604-734-9797 or email@example.com
David Connell, Professor, Ecosystem Science and Management, UNBC, 250-960-5835 or firstname.lastname@example.org


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Bangladesh is hunting Bitcoin traders
Bangladesh wants to ban cryptocurrency trading and its usage by recently announcing that several major state institutions will begin ramping up efforts to crack down on Bitcoin adoption among Bangladeshi citizens.
Bangladesh Central Bank had warned its Financial Institutions against Cryptocurrency transaction. Bangladesh Bank officials have again issued a warning pertaining to cryptocurrencies, this time, seeking to stop the country’s banks from providing any services related to Bitcoin.
The Authorities dealing with the financial matter of the country are maintaining a strict vigil on cryptocurrency trading and a circular will soon be sent out detailing the matter.
A high-level official from Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit says,
“There is no way to purchase these currencies legally through banking channels. Cybercrime investigators are working on the matter.”
Investigators from the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) are reported to “hunt for bitcoin traders,” with the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) allegedly aiding said investigations. Officials from the BFIU and BTRC have held four meetings regarding cryptocurrency so far.
Nazmul Islam, the assistant deputy commissioner of Bangladesh’s cybercrime unit, stated
“We have already located a few Bitcoin users, and are on the hunt for more, along with a few web pages which are being checked for authenticity. Investigating cryptocurrency trading is a complex matter.”
Bangladesh’s central bank also indicated that they are actively monitoring Bitcoin – with a report soon expected to be delivered to the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the punishment for transacting in bitcoin.
Dhaka Tribune wrote,
“Localbitcoins.com says that cryptocurrencies are being traded in Bangladesh through banks, bKash, Rocket, and other methods of mobile banking”
Bangladesh Central Bank was recently hacked by hackers who stole the money from Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York using fraudulent orders on SWIFT. Many analysts have said Blockchain is the only panacea that Bangladesh needs.
Iqbal Rahim Khan, a Bangladeshi blockchain developer from Dublin says,
“Considering the recent SWIFT or traditional banking system related scams and hacks, blockchain is the way to go and the world will soon accept it”
Source: Read Full Article


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Hailey Bieber is being sued for trademark infringement on her newly released skin care line.
The model launched a new range called Rhode on June 15, but TMZ Bieber is currently being sued by a fashion line of the same name, which has been around for eight years.
According to legal documents obtained by the store, a New York-based Rhode clothing company founded in 2013 and owned by Purna Khatau and Phoebe Vickers claims that they were approached by Bieber in 2018 in an attempt to acquire the “Rhode” trademark.
READ MORE: Waiter kicks woman out of restaurant because she’s ‘revealingly dressed’
The duo denied but alleged Bieber, 25, went ahead and launched her own brand of Rhode. They also allege that the model, who is married to singer Justin Bieber, used a logo that looked similar to their fashion brand.
Owners Khatau and Vickers also claim that there has been a lot of consumer confusion online and customers have mistaken their fashion label for Bieber’s skin care line.
To eliminate confusion, they officially asked the model’s agency to stop using the name Rhode, which is Bieber’s middle name.
READ MORE: Prince William’s rare personal tweet as royals celebrate his 40th birthday
“Miss Bieber launched a line of beauty skin care products using the exact same brand as Rhode,” an excerpt of the lawsuit, according to The flashiness. “She did this despite knowing about Rhode and its previous rights. Ms. Bieber tried to buy the RHODE trademark from Rhode four years ago.”
“This is a textbook case of reverse confusion in which a large minor brand user threatens to trample the market of a smaller high-end user.”
Khatau and Vickers have since spoken out, saying they have shed blood, sweat and tears for their fashion label Rhode.
“Nine years ago, we quit our jobs and started Rhode in our apartment, creating a fashion company from scratch. We were two businesswomen who met in college, built brands. RHODE and spent years working hard for our minority co-worker – owned company,” they wrote in a statement shared on Instagram.
READ MORE: What are the 6 children of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie up to now?
“Today, we are forced to file a lawsuit against Hailey Bieber and her new skin care line that launched last week and uses the brand ‘rhode’.” We don’t want to file this lawsuit, but we have to to protect our business,” they continued.
“We admire Hailey. She works hard and has the ability to create her own skincare line. We don’t want to sue Hailey; we want to honor her. As businesswomen. We wish her every success.”
“Hailey can choose any brand for her skincare line. We just have the ‘RHODE’ brand that we’ve built,” they concluded. “That’s why we didn’t sell our brand to her when she asked 4 years ago and why we asked her now to rebrand her skincare line. her use of our brand is harming the company, our employees, our customers, and our partners.”
However, there seems to be a legal battle raging as a source related to Bieber’s group told TMZ that she owns the skin care brand and the other Rhodes holds the trademark for the clothing. .
For the daily dose of 9Honey, Subscribe to our newsletter here.
Children of Hollywood’s elite


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The usually tight-lipped tech giant had this to say to All Things D:
Apple has never worked with the NSA to create a backdoor in any of our products, including iPhone. Additionally, we have been unaware of this alleged NSA program targeting our products. We care deeply about our customers’ privacy and security. Our team is continuously working to make our products even more secure, and we make it easy for customers to keep their software up to date with the latest advancements. Whenever we hear about attempts to undermine Apple’s industry-leading security, we thoroughly investigate and take appropriate steps to protect our customers. We will continue to use our resources to stay ahead of malicious hackers and defend our customers from security attacks, regardless of who’s behind them.
It’s not just Apple, of course, although by dint of size their name always makes the headlines. What’s new is this situation where American companies are actively and publicly working against our national intelligence establishment — and that most Americans (including yours truly) think that’s a good thing.
Gives one hope that Washington can actually be rolled back.


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Dubai: The fallout of a slowing Indian economy, the UAE’s largest trading partner, may cause inflation concerns in the country’s near-term and could possibly impact its tourism revenue, according to an economic expert.
“India’s economy is slowing down due to high inflation. High commodity prices act as a tax on production profits and consumer spending. The UAE is going to face cost-push inflation because a lot of its consumer and intermediate production goods are imported [from India],” Dalton Garis, an Abu Dhabi-based economist, told Gulf News.
“Food prices are getting more and more expensive, leaving the middle class with less money for everything else,” he added.
Article continues below
According to a Frost Sullivan analysis, the rising interest rates in India — around 11 interest rate hikes by the Reserve Bank of India in the last 18 months — are responsible for the construction industry being worst hit with a growth of a mere “1.2 per cent”.
“The slow growth rate has resulted in a huge disappointment, especially for business houses in the UAE that have exposure to the real estate industry in India,” Kirti Timmanagoudar, Director, Business Financial Services at Frost Sullivan, told Gulf News in an emailed statement.
She added that although growth in the manufacturing sector in India improved “from 5.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2011 to 7.2 per cent in the second quarter”, it is lower than second quarter 2010 growth rate of 12.7 per cent. “This slowdown in the manufacturing sector has brought down the overall gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of India,” Timmanagoudar said.
However, one Dubai-based commodity analyst said there won’t be a major impact. “This economic slowdown in India is only a blip — India is still growing at a massive rate. The UAE’s trade with India will continue to be robust,” said Pradeep Unni, Senior Relationship Manager at Richcomm Global Services DMCC. India’s statistics bureau indicates that further sluggishness in the economy is looming in the wake of high inflation, a series of interest rate hikes and weak global conditions.
“We foresee challenges in the structural problems like delay in implementing power projects, ban on iron or mining, etc. as they continue to affect the economy,” said Frost Sullivan’s Timmanagoudar.
She added: “While we would like to believe that India is a high growth economy led by domestic consumption [unlike China], exports do form a significant part of its GDP. Slowdown of the western economies that are our biggest export markets has affected India and will continue to pull down GDP in the next two to three quarters.”
The Frost Sullivan analysis also says the quality of GDP growth has shown a positive impact on the economy, as Timmanagoudar pointed out. “The service sector has held up and grew at 10 per cent while the overall stock markets maintained the positive sentiment,” she said.
India is the UAE’s largest trading partner. According to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade, in 2010, imports from India were valued at $22.65 billion (Dh 83.17 billion), while the UAE’s exports to India were valued at $7.61 billion. India’s re-exports from the UAE were valued at $14.22 billion. India’s two-way non-oil trade with the UAE rose a whopping 53.45 per cent on year to $44.53 billion in India’s fiscal year that ended March 2009.


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Discover all news about ProductIP, Updates, Events and Regulations!
Make sure you stay up to date with all the news we offer.
On June 14th, 2023, ECHA added two new substances to the SVHC Candidate List, it contains now 235 substances.
A time-saving and stress-reducing functionality!
The business of ProductIP is developing, resulting in the hiring new staff for the team in Hong Kong.
National governments are taking national measures that limit the free movement of certain medical goods. In this article the imposed restrictions by the Belgian government of certain medical products.
The EC has published a guidance document on adapting workplaces and protecting workers for when the physical distancing measures achieve a sufficient reduction in COVID-19 transmission rates and national administrations are authorising a gradual resumption of work activities.
Are you exporting PPE outside the EU. Per 26-4-'20 there's a new EU Regulation applicable. As a result an export authorisation will be required.
The first published recalls of facemaks in 2020 are a fact! Consider if you are making these mistakes, because your product may be at risk.
Finally, a clear guide on surgical masks and respiratory devices! The updates version is now available for free download.
Do you know the new Mutual Recognition of Goods regulation?


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How Trump’s WeChat ban could devastate Apple’s Chinese business
We're a group of animal lovers who want to solve everyday problems pets and their owners face, in fun and innovative ways.
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
President Trump’s executive order banning WeChat could have far-reaching consequences for almost the entire technology industry, thanks to the app’s parent company, Tencent, having investments in companies like Riot Games and other US-based brands. But the ban could also have a big impact on Apple, which is deeply entrenched in China.
Apple has a significant Chinese customer base, and nearly all of its critical manufacturing and assembly partners are based there. Trump’s ban might not only force Apple to remove WeChat from its App Store — which would destroy Apple’s Chinese smartphone business — it could existentially change how Apple is able to build and sell new products in the future.
It’s hard to emphasize the prominence of WeChat…


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WASHINGTON (Medill News Service) -- Excess body weight, even just a little, increases your risk of cancer, according to a study released this week by the American Institute for Cancer Research. But staying active and following six rules for good eating can turn the odds back in your favor, researchers say.
Researchers analyzed more than 7,000 large-scale studies over five years and are now convinced, said Philip James, a member of the report's panel of experts, that excess body fat increases risks for cancer of the colon, kidney, pancreas, esophagus and uterus, as well as breast cancer in post-menopausal women.
But the report also found that "there are changes you can make in the way you live that will reduce your risk of getting cancer," said Jeffrey Prince, AICR's vice president for education.
Among the eight steps the 517-page report recommends are six that relate directly to diet. Top of that list: two-thirds of every meal should be made up of plant-based foods, such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables and beans.
Other dietary recommendations include limiting intake of "energy-dense foods," foods that contain high amounts of fat, sugar or calories, such as fried foods, hamburgers and soft drinks. Consumption of alcohol, red meat and processed meats were also linked to elevated cancer risk. The report advocates eating no more than 11 ounces of red meat per week, and no more than one alcoholic drink per day for women, and two per day for men.
The panel specifically advocated abstinence from all processed meats, such as bacon, ham and other lunchmeats. They were unable to find a level of consumption that could be considered safe.
In addition to dietary restrictions, the report also recommended being physically active at least 30 minutes every day. Tobacco should be avoided altogether.
Concerned, but willing to change?
In this year's "Facts vs. Fears Survey," an annual breakdown of Americans' health concerns also published by the AICR, more people (39%) listed cancer as their No. 1 health concern.
Yet despite those findings, and despite the researchers' confidence in their recommendations, it is unlikely people will change, said Edward Abramson, professor emeritus of psychology at California State University-Chico and author of "Body Intelligence," a guide to losing weight and eating well without strict dieting.
"I'm sure that there are a couple of people who would latch on and follow them," Abramson said. "But for most people, the immediate reward of having a high-calorie, sugary treat more than offsets the long-term reward of possibly avoiding cancer at some ill-defined point in the future."
"There's nothing intrinsically wrong with [the guidelines]," he said, "except for the fact that people typically don't live like that."
Arthur Frank, medical director of the George Washington University Weight Management Program in Washington, agreed.
"It's very difficult to change the way people eat," he said. "If it weren't, we wouldn't have an obesity epidemic."
The researchers say they understand the difficulty. A second report, to be released next fall, will contain information on how to help the public actually achieve the goals outlined in this year's study.
In the meantime, "Eat less and exercise more," Frank said. "Everything else is a variant of just that -- you cannot violate the laws of thermodynamics."
The American Institute for Cancer Research has released these eight guidelines for avoiding cancer. The last six are eating related:
- Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight
- Be physically active as part of everyday life
- Limit consumption of "energy-dense foods," foods that are high in calories, fat and sugar. Avoid sugary drinks.
- Eat mostly foods of plant origin, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans
- Limit intake of red meat and avoid processed meat
- Limit alcoholic drinks to one per day for women, two per day for men
- Limit consumption of salt. Avoid moldy grains or legumes
- Aim to meet nutritional needs through diet alone, without dietary supplement


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Cryptocurrency exchange Binance intends to launch the Binance Card debit card in Russia, despite the CFA law prohibiting payments with cryptocurrencies in the country.
The law “On Digital Financial Assets (DFA) and Digital Currency” was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in July and will come into force on January 1, 2021. According to the law, it will be prohibited in Russia to pay with cryptocurrencies for goods and services, as well as to disseminate information about the acceptance of digital currencies as payment.
However, according to Gleb Kostarev, head of Binance’s operations department in Russia and the CIS, Binance’s mission is to provide users all over the world with the same experience, while fully complying with local laws.
“Russia is a very important market for Binance. We are working hard to launch the Binance Card in Russia. However, we cannot name the exact date of the card’s release in this country, nor can we give any legal comments on this issue, ”he said.
According to Kostarev, the current version of the CFA law “does not cover all aspects of cryptocurrency regulation.” Nevertheless, further amendments to the law, proposed by the RF Ministry of Finance, may negatively affect the exchange’s activities in Russia. They imply the introduction of a fine of up to 1 million rubles and imprisonment for up to 7 years for operations with cryptocurrencies.
As a reminder, Binance introduced its own Binance Card debit card back in March. In July, this card became available in the European Economic Area (EEA) with support for BTC, BNB and SXP (domestic Swipe and Binance tokens), as well as the BUSD stablecoin. Binance’s management plans to roll out the card in 200 countries.


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The Sensex and the Nifty surged in trade as the RBI Cut interest rates by 0.25 basis points. In what was a surprising move the central bank cut repo rates or rates at which the RBI lends money to banks. The rates were cut from 8 per cent to 7.75 per cent, which saw the Sensex surging a huge 726 points in trade.
HDFC was also in the limelight following the cut and the stock rallied more than 5 per cent. Other notable winners in trade were ITC which had fallen sharply on Wednesday following reports of a likely cigarette ban on the company.
Tata Motors ended the day 2 per cent higher on reports that the company will launch small car Bolt in 100 cities simultaneously.
Shares in Bajaj Finserv's rallied after the company's Q3 consolidated net profit jumped to Rs 347.4 crore versus Rs 281.1 crore
Meanwhile, markets across Asia ended the day with gains while most of Europe was trading sharply higher.


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Comcast Interactive Capital (CIC) and Genacast Ventures, our seed fund run by Gil Beyda, will be supporting an exciting program this summer to help build the entrepreneurial sector in New York City. The program, called "SeedStart Media 2011," is an initiative designed to provide innovative start-up companies in the e-commerce, ad infrastructure, mobile technology and digital content areas with funding and access to a network of mentors in the media business. Coming off its successful debut in 2010, SeedStart companies will participate in lectures, coaching and networking events, and each will interact closely with representatives of traditional media companies, digital media companies, e-commerce companies, experienced venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.
In addition to CIC, a number of the world's largest media, advertising and technology companies are supporting SeedStart, including AOL Ventures, Hearst, MTV Networks, News Corporation, Time Warner, and Vivendi, with more to come. Four other venture capital firms will also provide funding and mentorship, including Contour Venture Partners, NYC Seed, Polaris Venture Partners and RRE Ventures. The program is supported by NY Tech Meetup, Silicon Valley Bank, New York University and well-known law firms and accounting firms based in New York. Representatives of these firms will serve as mentors to the program's participants, providing them with guidance on their ideas, their products, and how to accelerate their companies' growth.
We're thrilled to be working with SeedStart to expand opportunities for entrepreneurs in New York, to be partnering with such well respected firms, and are looking forward to seeing the great results that are generated by the program.
For more information about SeedStart Media 2011, please visit www.nycseedstart.com.


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Tencent launches invest platform Lingqiantong to rival Alibaba’s Yuebao.
Bytedance’s news app Toutiao launches mini programs.
Tencent takes after Bytedance’s Pipixia to launch short video app HaPi.
Chen Lin replaces founder Zhang Yiming as CEO of Bytedance.
Amazon China and Tencent Video launch the first Prime joint package.
Bike sharing startup ofo exits 8 countries in one month.
Real identity social platform WeiLian completes Angel round financing.
(Reported by Wanying Zhang, an intern at The Passage)


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Color Concepts Blog
Check out the latest news and updates below
“Color Concepts was the answer!” Fedrigoni’s Paola Cerichai elaborates on their strategic collaboration with Color Concepts in new interview
"Color Concepts was the answer!" explains Paola Cerchiai, in a recent interview with Jack Gocher of Eye On Display. Cerchiai, Business Development Manager at Fedrigoni Self-Adhesives, met with Gocher to discuss Fedrigoni's new strategic collaboration with Color...
Color Concepts and Fedrigoni Self-adhesives announce a collaboration to boost usability of key Fedrigoni Self-adhesives films
Color Concepts is collaborating with Fedrigoni Self-adhesives to conduct rigorous performance tests, certifications for HP Latex printers, and create accurate printer profiles for popular Fedrigoni Self-adhesives print materials. In total, the two companies will...
Color Concepts is undergoing a radical transformation. It is quickly becoming a leading-edge tech company connecting the industry.
Color Concepts is incredibly excited to launch its first product for print shops: ColorBase.com.
Color Concepts expands the HP Latex Media Certification Program with the HP Latex 700 & 800 Printer Series
Color Concepts proudly announces that the new HP Latex 700 & 800 series are added to the HP Latex Certification Program.
Color Concepts works closely with universities to hire fresh, motivated, and energetic interns. A new generation is born.
Color Concepts welcomes Kara Noble – bridging the technical side and creative side of Color Concepts
Kara Noble will be the connector between the lab and ColorBase Creative Studios.
We want to shine some light on Marco Hansen who has been a member of the Color Concepts team for 10 years today!
Talent keeps finding its way to Color Concepts! Meet our newest team members: Chad Rutter, Nathalie Stroobants, and Christo Saayman!
What a year it has been. A year of up and downs – of uncertainty, change, creativity, and growth. We are closing 2020 with a speech for you!
Color Concepts continues to grow and has welcomed three new faces to the team: Kai Chaplin, Dania Noseir, and Sander Roos!
The Canon Colorado 1650 is the second member of the Colorado family at Color Concepts, with new flexible ink and unique FLXfinish technology.


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Updated: 2nd December 2019
Dorset County Foods Limited is a traditional catering firm supplying the south of England with an established customer based built over 25 years’ trading. The company employs nine members of staff and has built up an international reputation for supplying high quality cured meats.
Due to the customary seasonal differences in trade figures, the company had always struggled with cash flow and it became apparent that their issues were starting to worsen. They undertook some serious cost-cutting exercises but to no avail. The company was soon deemed insolvent and contacted Real Business Rescue for advice.
Dorset County Foods Limited was placed briefly into administration in order to allow the pre-pack sale to take place, with Ian Walker of Real Business Rescue (part of the Begbies Traynor Group) appointed administrator on Friday 18 September 2015.
Eversfield Organic Ltd, which farms 450 acres on the edge of Dartmoor, purchased Dorset Farms’ goodwill, plant and machinery and stock for an undisclosed sum. All of Dorset Farms’ nine staff retained their jobs and continued working at the business’ existing site in Beaminster.
Mr Walker said the business had a secure future under its new ownership.
“ I’m delighted to announce the sale of this fantastic business. It means that not only is Dorset Farms’ future safeguarded but it also enables Eversfield Organic Farm to offer a broader range of ethically produced and traceable products to its existing customer base. ”
13th May 2021
The government and HMRC have issued a warning to businesses to be on the lookout for operators within their supply chains who may be committing fraud via the use of mini umbrella companies.Read More
12th May 2021
The British Retailer Consortium (BRC) is arguing for the creation of a new arbitration process to help find a solution to the issue of billions of pounds being owed.Read More


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Facebook brings more content partners on board
Facebook (FB) is expanding its Watch video service. The service is Facebook’s answer to Google’s (GOOGL) YouTube. The Watch video service will likely compete with the video services that AT&T (T) and Comcast (CMCSA) plan to launch later this year or next year. Recently, Facebook provided an update on the progress it has made with the Watch service. The service boasts a monthly audience of more than 720 million people and a daily audience of more than 140 million people around the world. The numbers refer to people who spend at least one minute using Watch.
Originally, Facebook’s Watch service launched in the US in August 2017. The service was rolled out globally a year later. In the latest Watch expansion, Facebook has partnered with more global publishers to bring their content to Watch. Facebook has lined up more original shows that will be coming to Watch. The company is rolling out a program that allows creators to monetize their Watch videos through commercials to more markets.
Video advertising dollars
With Watch, Facebook has its sights on the rapidly growing digital video advertising market. In the US alone, the spending on digital video commercials is projected to reach $36 billion in 2019 and top $58 billion by 2023, according to eMarketer estimates.
The other companies pursuing the revenue opportunity with Facebook are Google with its YouTube brand, Twitter (TWTR), and Snap (SNAP). Twitter said that more than half of its advertising revenues come from video advertising. Snap has partnered with several content providers to bring its shows to the Snapchat platform. Viacom (VIAB) produces shows specifically for distribution through Snapchat. AT&T and Comcast are preparing to launch ad-supported video services this year and next year.


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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Shares of two Chinese tech companies, Dangdang and Youku, soared Wednesday after making their debut on the U.S. market.
E-Commerce China Dangdang is similar to Amazon.com (AMZN, Fortune 500) in that it's China's largest Internet book retailer. Dangdang (DANG) shares priced at $16 a share and settled 87% higher at $29.91.
In a press release, Dangdang called itself a leading business-to-consumer e-commerce company that offers "more than 590,000 book titles and a range of other media products as well as selected general merchandise categories."
Like Amazon, dangdang.com includes a marketplace program that allows third-party merchants to sell their products alongside Dangdang's.
Youku calls itself "China's leading Internet television company." According to a press release Wednesday, the company's mission "is to become the primary source of video content for Chinese internet users across all Internet-enabled devices."
According to iResearch, the company said, Youku attracts approximately 203 million monthly unique visitors from homes and offices and 61 million monthly unique visitors from Internet cafes -- which are popular in China. iResearch data also shows Youku has a 40% of the online video market in China, as measured by time spent watching.
The companies' successful initial day comes amid high interest in Chinese tech properties. According to the government-sponsored China Internet Network Information Center, the country had 420 million Internet users in June.
Other Chinese tech companies have performed well this year. Baidu (BIDU), which is China's largest search engine, has skyrocketed 163% year-to-date.
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett released his 50th annual letter to shareholders. The Oracle of Omaha thinks the next 50 years will be great and knows who will replace him. More
Potential presidential candidate says that improvement in unemployment rate is due to millions of jobless not being counted. More
With the death of Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played Star Trek's Spock, we remember his character's legacy: The technology we use every day. More
A social media frenzy about the color of a dress is bringing fame and fortune for one small British fashion company. More


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19th May 2022, Skopje – U.S. academic, economist, author and Nobel laureate, Paul Krugman will visit Skopje at the occasion of attending the Skopje Economic Finance Forum. Krugman will have a 30-minute key note address at this year’s Conference under the auspices of the Skopje Economic Finance Forum (SEFF), a platform for economic and financial dialogue, launched last year at the initiative of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of North Macedonia.
Krugman received the 2008 Nobel Prize for his research redefining the existing theory of international trade and economic geography and reorienting the further research on these issues. By having shown the effects of economies of scale on trade patterns and on the location of economic activity, he introduced a new model of international trade.
Paul Krugman is a Neo-Keynesian economist and is considered as one of the world’s most influential economists. In addition to redefining existing theories of international trade, Krugman is also renowned for founding or co-founding several new disciplines in international economics, from New Trade Theory (NTT) and New Economic Geography (NEG) to models of financial crises and exchange rate movements.
Throughout his career, Krugman has taught on the faculties of Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Princeton, Stanford, and the London School of Economics. Since 2015, at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), he has served as both Distinguished Professor of Economics and Distinguished Scholar in the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality. He has been a prolific and diverse author, with a long list of publications ranging from best-sellers on economics and politics for a general audience to textbooks and academic papers on macroeconomics, exchange rate theory, international development, international trade, and economic geography. He is the author or editor of 27 books and over 200 academic papers in professional journals. Krugman is also a popular Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times.
Second SEFF Conference will take place at Aleksandar Palace Hotel in Skopje on 30th – 31st May 2022. Conference’s key theme “Sustaining Growth in Times of Uncertainty and Beyond” comprises four pillars:
- Macro-economic challenges in turbulent times,
- Resilience, competitiveness and regional cooperation,
- Energy, green transition and infrastructure,
- Beyond crisis: Drivers for sustaining growth.
In addition to Krugman, among the participants attending are many renowned economists, high representatives of international financial institutions, Ministers of Finance, Governors, … who will present their views and debate on one of the eight panel discussions at #SEFF2022.


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Technology distributor Westcon Group Inc. said Tuesday it is engaging resellers in “out of the box partnering” in order to help them manage operational aspects of their business in areas such as human resources, finance, marketing and business strategy.
Westcon Group has delivered guidance to resellers on a range of functions, such as recruiting and retaining talent, extending terms and managing receivables, developing sales and marketing efficiency and establishing and articulating a value proposition.
“In order for us to help our customers be more successful, we need to understand their businesses — not just at a traditional distribution level, but on a more strategic level,” said Lynn Smurthwaite-Murphy, vice president of Westcon Canada. “Gaining a multidimensional view of our customers’ business has helped us remove obstacles they face in their own growth plans, and as a result we have become a more strategic partner.”
Tim Cook, vice president of sales for Dramis, a Westcon partner, said the distribution has helped its business with custom sales training, HR support as well as a business strategy review. “These things set them apart from all other distributors, while creating stronger loyalty between both companies,” Cook said in a press statement.
“Since we began working with Westcon just over a year ago, they have consulted with us on a range of areas such as HR, marketing and finance. We have in turn applied this expertise to our own business. Our relationship with Westcon far exceeds what one might expect from other technology distributors,” said James R. Marsh III, senior vice president of sales for Carousel Industries, a Rhode Island-based multinational technology solutions provider.
Late last year, Westcon delivered strategy sessions for some of its North American resellers. These sessions, which will continue in 2009, cover a range of topics including:


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Fresh croissants on Packard
A Loy returns to the food business
From the November, 2008 issue
While young Kathryn Loy, owner of Pastry Peddler, was on the phone with a technician trying to get her credit card machine to work, the older woman at the counter explained that this was exactly the kind of annoying glitch that had kept the new bakery's Coming Soon sign in the window several months longer than expected. A customer sympathized, pointing out that business owners have to pay rent all those months before they open.


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Online fish exchange service up and running
More processors and fishermen looking for an alternative to the spot auction model for live fish are taking part in a new Internet-based seafood exchange service called FYSH-X.
Gloucester, Mass.-based Open Ocean Trading formally launched the forward-contracting service on 1 May after a soft launch at the International Boston Seafood Show in mid-March.. On FYSH-X’s exchange, participating vessels from the Northeast United States list the species and amount they plan to catch or harvest, along with biographies about their companies. Buyers can negotiate with the vessel for the catch for free, then, if the contract is executed, a FYSH-X per-pound fee based on species is split between the buyer and the seller.
While the exchange currently has nearly 80 members, around 10 seafood processors and 10 commercial fishermen are currently trading product.
“We are always looking for new buyers and sellers. We can already ship anywhere in the U.S. and are working import and export services,” said Keith Flett, founder and CEO of Open Ocean Trading. An example of a recent exchange was a mid-size processor who contracted with a day boat for 4,000 pounds of yellowtail flounder, deliverable over the course of two weeks.
Flett is working on educating the seafood industry about the new alternative to the spot auction model.
“It is always challenging to change behavior and get people to think longer term, especially in this industry,” he said. “Fishermen are so reliant on the spot auction system … in the Northeast.”
However, many fishermen have been very open to contracting their catches in advance. “They are willing to structure their business,” said Flett. Processors are also open to buying fish under contract, so they can guarantee a certain amount of finished product to their buyers, he added.
So far, larger restaurant and retail chains that have looked at the exchange are hesitant to try it and opt to continue working with their larger suppliers. “A lot of their contracts are in frozen seafood, which we plan to delve into,” said Flett.
Open Ocean is in the process of integrating its systems with Traceall in Glasgow, Scotland, so buyers can identify where their product is coming from. “When a vessel is reporting, it [Traceall’s system] captures the data and puts it in an HTML file for buyers. The data is very clean because it is what they are reporting to the government anyway,” said Flett.


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Johnson & Johnson, Baby Powder, and Asbestos
A series of lawsuits and reports have recently linked the talc in Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder to asbestos. Johnson & Johnson is the world’s most famous supplier of baby powder.
A 2018 Reuters investigative report broke down the timeline using officially released documents from the company
According to the investigative report:
- In 1957, trace amounts of asbestos fibers are found in samples of talc from Johnson & Johnson’s Italian supplier.
- In the mid-1960s, talc from Vermont mines owned by a subsidiary company of Johnson & Johnson is also found to contain traces of asbestos. Sample tests continue to find small amounts of talc through the 1970s.
- Instead of reporting all findings, Johnson & Johnson only submitted select studies to the FDA in the mid-1970s. The company emphasized studies that fit their agenda and claimed that their talc contained no asbestos.
- The company even used its influence to craft its own studies in the mid-1970s—in which they told researchers what results they wanted.
- The company also tried to influence government studies by having its subsidiary companies act as advisers.
- Studies continued to find trace amounts of asbestos in the company’s baby powder through the early 2000s, when the company started sourcing its talc from China.
- Johnson & Johnson is currently facing lawsuits from nearly 12,000 plaintiffs who are claiming that their products caused them to develop cancer.
- Johnson & Johnson disputes the claims in the Reuters report and is looking to appeal the verdicts.
- At this time, there are have been no announcements for a recall of Johnson & Johnson baby powder.
Asbestos denial is a common theme among American talc mining companies, which all claim their cosmetic-grade talc does not contain asbestos.
Outside of the U.S., many countries have ignored the dangers of asbestos and have lax regulations, allowing asbestos-containing talc to be mined and used in baby powder. Though not common, it’s possible for baby powder with asbestos to be imported to the United States from these foreign countries.
Johnson & Johnson Talc: Breaking News
In May 2020, Johnson & Johnson announced that it would no longer sell Johnson’s Baby Powder® in the United States and Canada.
The corporation made this decision after several lawsuits brought awareness to the link between asbestos in talc-based products and mesothelioma. The concerned public stopped buying Johnson’s Baby Powder in response.
Despite the many victims who developed cancer after using the company’s talc-based powder for years, Johnson & Johnson continues to deny that its products cause any harm.


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Kicking off this week in San Francisco is VMware’s annual VMworld conference. One of the major yearly virtualization conferences, it’s also host to a number of virtualization-related product announcements. And this year NVIDIA is wasting no time in making their announcements, releasing their major GRID news alongside this afternoon’s welcome reception.
To that end, today NVIDIA is announcing the next generation of their Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) GPU technology, GRID 2.0. This is the first full-point update of their VDI technology since the company launched GRID 1.0 back in 2012, and comes as GRID 1.x vGPU capabilities are finally widely available in the latest versions of VMware’s and Citrix’s respective hypervisors. GRID 2.0 in turn builds off of what NVIDIA has accomplished so far with...
ATI's production problems and supply demand for XBOX 360 have prompted the company to lead their R5xxx launch with RV515; their successor to the X300. ATI's midrange will...
Kristopher Kubicki & Vinney Shimpi on 8/16/2005
The next in our 7800 GTX graphics card series, this XFX GeForce 7800 GTX has an impressive factory-overclock. Let's see how it stands up to the competition.
Josh Venning on 8/16/2005
ATI implements HyperMemory with their latest Catalyst driver. Just how does this new edition affect performance?
Josh Venning on 8/13/2005
Today, the 7800 GT hits the streets. More powerful than the 6800 Ultra at just about the same prices, the 7800 GT offers quite a punch for the money.
Derek Wilson & Josh Venning on 8/11/2005
We had the chance to play with EVGA's latest 7800GTX this week. With default clock speeds of 490MHz and 1.3GHz (core/mem), this lifetime warrantied card is sure to please.
Josh Venning on 8/9/2005
Continuing our GeForce 7800GTX graphics card series, we look at BFG's solution this week. With a factory overclock and a t-shirt, many are interested in this part. Let's see...
Derek Wilson & Josh Venning on 8/4/2005
The second in a series of vendor 7800 GTX reviews, we're looking at the MSI NX7800 GTX. How does this card measure up to the EVGA e-GeForce 7800 GTX?
Derek Wilson & Josh Venning on 7/24/2005
CrossFire is still in development at ATI, but Gigabyte was kind enough to lend us a test system with a functional CrossFire master card.
Derek Wilson on 7/22/2005
First, in a series of vendor 7800 GTX reviews, we bring you the EVGA e-GeForce 7800 GTX. With a default overclock, does this card have what it takes to...
Derek Wilson & Josh Venning on 7/16/2005
UPDATED... With the release of another current generation graphics engine, we investigate graphics performance over multiple classes of cards.
Derek Wilson on 7/7/2005
Today marks the release of NVIDIA's latest graphics solution. Is it simply a rework, or is there some real power under the hood?
Derek Wilson on 6/22/2005
In response to ATI's CrossFire, NVIDIA is introducing 16xAA for SLI in a driver soon to be released.
Derek Wilson on 6/9/2005
ATI is revealing information about the upcoming features and performance of their next 3 driver releases. Catalyst 5.6, 5.7 and 5.8 look to polish up ATI's software offering.
Derek Wilson on 6/9/2005
ATI is introducing a 16 pipe version of its M28 graphics processor. This part should be just as powerful as ATI's high end desktop parts. We take a look...
Derek Wilson on 6/6/2005
ATI antes up with its own flavor of multi-card gaming. Competing with NVIDIA's SLI technology, CrossFire brings a couple of new ideas to the table.
Anand Lal Shimpi & Derek Wilson on 5/30/2005
Having already looked at budget discrete solutions, we break out our integrated solutions to see how the latest on-board technology holds up.
Derek Wilson on 5/26/2005
We spend some time testing budget graphics cards with slower RAM in order to verify their predicted behavior on cheaper systems.
Derek Wilson on 5/19/2005
ATI was demonstrating Remedy's upcoming title Alan Wake on R520 silicon...
Anand Lal Shimpi on 5/18/2005
We take a quick look at the official unveiling of Microsoft's Xbox 360.
Anand Lal Shimpi on 5/12/2005


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Kaspersky Labs cybersecurity company reveals that about 10% of people have used Bitcoin and other cryptos to pay for online goods.
The number of merchants who are accepting Bitcoin seems to have grown in the past six years by 700% says Bitcoin directory service provider, Coinmap’s data.
Heading towards mass adoption
Cryptoglobe notes that although the digital assets have not yet achieved mainstream adoption, the global percentage of people who are using BTC and crypto has been steadily growing.
About 14% of the world’s population (from urban locations) are using crypto to pay for goods that they purchase online via e-commerce sites, says Kaspersky’s survey.
They gathered responses from 13,000 consumers in 22 different countries.
The results of this survey show that crypto is currently the least popular payment method as 81% of the people who responded at the poll said that they prefer using bank-issued debit and credit cards to buy items online.
Vitaly Mzokov, the business lead at Kaspersky, said that “Despite a fall in cryptocurrency prices, there is still a strong desire for digital transactions amongst consumers. Our consumer research has found a significant number of consumers are using cryptos for payment], which was surprising to see.”
More merchants introduce crypto as a payment option
Even if the whole crypt market was bearish in 2018 and it fell pretty hard towards the end of the year after the coins recorded their all-time highs back in 2017, it seems that a small percentage of people still prefer using crypto as payment.
On the other hand, more online merchants introduce crypto as a payment option.
Cryptoglobe notes that “Currently, there are 14,346 venues globally that take BTC as payment – which is considerably more than only 1,789 merchants that accepted bitcoin about six years back. Ryan Radloff, the CEO at CoinShares, a crypto treasury management firm, recently revealed (via Twitter) the dramatic increase in BTC acceptance rates in the past five years.”
It is said that this year we’ll be witnessing crypto mass adoption and all the achievements in the crypto space so far seem to lead towards this goal.


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Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) is scheduled to announce Q4 earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st, after market close.
Amid customers undergoing digital transformation, Q4 demand is seen higher likely to benefit the company’s top and bottom line; consensus EPS Estimate is $1.36 (+61.9% Y/Y) and the consensus Revenue Estimate is $7.99B (+9.2% Y/Y).
Growth in top line seems to be slower as businesses become more stringent with their spending and cutback their budgets; however the company has managed to push the bottom like with measures like cost cutting, reducing workforce.
Results are likely to see headwinds from factors like forex, drop in software spending by small medium businesses amid macro economic uncertainty.
Over the last 2 years, CRM has beaten EPS estimates 100% of the time and has beaten revenue estimates 100% of the time.
Over the last 3 months, EPS estimates have seen 29 upward revisions and 4 downward. Revenue estimates have seen 8 upward revisions and 28 downward.
The company set these strategic goals:
YTD, the stock gained 21.6%.
Of the 53 Wall Street Analysts covering the stock, 27 analysts rate it a Strong Buy while 12 rate it a Buy; Average Quant rating stands at Strong Buy while average SA Authors rating stands at Hold.
Recent earnings Analysis from our contributors: Salesforce: Is The Stock A Buy Before Q4 Earnings? (Technical Analysis, Rating Downgrade)


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Sony meant to show that Blu-ray sales have been double that of HD DVD. Instead, it's shown that sales of both formats have been decreasing.
Watch out, some ingenious modder out there has turned a Motorola ROKR into a Transformer. Hopefully, it's not a Decepticon.
Almost two weeks back, we told you guys about the iPod Nano supposedly getting a makeover. Well now the rumours have turned into facts and Apple has introduced a completely redone iPod lineup.
In a move to help garner more attention to its Windows Live service, Microsoft has started taking steps to integrate it into the OS.
Anti-Microsoft fanboys rejoice! The Office Open XML format has failed to gain a fast track approval from the International Organisation for Standardisation.
AMD has accused Nvidia of using an aggressive noise reduction algorithm in order to help garner a perfect score in Silicon Optix's HD HQV benchmarks.
Dell and HP have both introduced new widescreen monitors this week coming in at 20 and 24 inches respectively. One of them will rotate and the other will watch you work.
Over this past weekend, many UK mobile users have found a new feature activated on their mobiles called PayForIt, which allows users to make purchases using their mobile.
Sony has come out and confirmed the recent security debacle over the Microvault USB thumb drives.
NBC Universal has declined to renew its contract with Apple to sell TV shows through the iTunes store. Apple responds by not selling any new NBC show.
Everyone loves to hate the RIAA and that especially includes the EFF. Well sit back and lavish those feelings thanks to a 25 page report published by the EFF.
After four years of being open, Sony's Connect music store will shut down in March 08 which will effectively kill their proprietary ATRAC format.
EarthLink loses deals with two major US cities to provide city-wide Wi-Fi coverage after cutting 900 jobs from its workforce.
AMD hopes to increase the performance of future x86 based processors with the introduction of SSE5 on its "Bulldozer" line of CPU cores in 2009.
The much anticipated SP1 for Vista should be out for release during the first quarter of 2008 according to Microsoft.
A budget HD DVD player will soon hit the market thanks to Venturer Electronics.
A hacker group named "Storm Botnet" has spammed the Internet with spoofed YouTube emails to create a bot network.
A survey of a random sample of around 1,800 British adults has shown that the majority have a broadband Internet connection.
Yahoo! has asked the federal court in San Francisco to dismiss a lawsuit filed against it on behalf of jailed Chinese users.
Going completely wireless with your A/V equipment is one step closer to reality thanks to Amimon's Wireless High-Definition Interface chipsets.
A couple days back, it was revealed that Monster.com had a security breach on its servers. What's even worse is that it took over five days for users to be notified.
It's about that time again. Time for a refresh to the iPod product line, that is.
Henri Richard, the chief sales and marketing officer of AMD, resigns just one month after Dave Orton.
October 14 2021 | 15:04
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Britain has overtaken France to become the second-largest market for new electric car sales in Europe so far in 2021. New figures compiled by Matthias Schmidt, who is an independent analyst, reveal that the UK is second only to leader Germany when it comes to the sales of clean cars.
During the first three months of the year, nearly 32,000 electric vehicles (EVs) were registered in the UK. These booming sales figures mean that zero-emissions battery electric vehicles (BEVs) now account for 7.5 percent of the market. The figure is double that for the same period in 2020.
Schmidt believes the sales of electric cars in the UK looks set to remain strong and it’s likely that the UK will remain in second position for the rest of the year. This is partly due to the subsidies on offer, although these were reduced by the government earlier this year, and partly due to a big change in the attitude of the UK car-buying public over the last year.
Sales of electric cars have continued to grow throughout the last year despite the pandemic, while combustion engine vehicles saw a massive drop in sale. According to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) new car registrations in the UK fell by nearly 30 percent in 2020.
Battery electric vehicles bucked this trend seeing growth of 185.9 percent during 2020 with 108,205 new registrations. Electric vans have also fair well seeing 64.4 percent in sales in the UK during 2020.
Schmidt suggests that his home country of Germany will remain top of the table when it comes to EV sales in 2021. This is down to generous subsidies that were doubled from an already-impressive level in the summer of last year. Germany has already sold almost 65,000 EVs this year. He also believes that sales of electric cars will top one million in Europe in 2021.


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[infographic] "The perfect seat" Apr-2012 by Skyscanner.net - Survey: Over 1000 people told Skyscanner where they like to sit on a plane - Original Post: http://www.skyscanner.net/news/skyscanner-reveals-perfect-seat-6a
Revealed: Best and worst plane seats on the plane #dailymail
Traveling doesn't have to be that complicated.
Looking forward to an overseas adventure soon :)
SCG VIRALS: Here's why some plane seats don't line up with the windows
Which airline has the perfect plane seat? Our experts reveal their best and worst seat experience.
New Sliding Plane Seats: A Brilliant Idea? (SmarterTravel.com 09.28.12 email)
A row between passengers over reclining plane seats has caused a third plane in the US to be diverted in seven days.
Legroom wars: the device that stops plane seats reclining - Telegraph
Evil plane seat design would ruin whatever good remains of air travel


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The research firm, Gerson Lehrman Group, reported today that Sprint is switching over to LTE service, and that they have actually already started the process. Supposedly its internal codename at Sprint is "Project Leapfrog", and will be fully implemented within the next three years. The report had this to say, "Sprint has initiated project leapfrog with Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, and Samsung to upgrade its network to LTE. This three year project is designed to leave Sprint with a competitive, nationwide LTE network while reducing operating costs." There have already been rumors in the industry suggesting that Sprint was soon to dump WiMAX, but now it seems likely that this will soon be a reality. In fact, a few weeks ago, Steve Elfman, Sprint’s president of network operations, indicated that a transition to LTE would be relatively easy, and that Sprint could offer nationwide LTE coverage by 2013.
It looks like renewed competition is starting to heat-up in the smartphone world. It would seem we are seeing a serious comeback run from Sprint. With their recent announcement of a $125 dollar credit to smartphone users that port over to Sprint, and their recent statements committing to truly unlimited data plans, and now we find out they are switching their networks over to LTE, they seem to be gearing up to fight hard. In the long run, this will be nothing but great for consumers. Share your thoughts.
Source: SprintDroids.com via AndroidPolice and BGR


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New NYC diamond exchange based on Israeli model
Manhattan building to be established upon Israel Diamond Exchange model. President of Israel's exchange praises initiative, says Israel may even benefit from it. Exchange building, which will cost $750 million, will provide all necessary services and security for those working in field
Another source of pride: A diamond exchange center is being established in Manhattan based on the Israeli model. Upon the mid-2011 completion of the building that will house the largest diamond and jewelry center in the US, Manhattan's Diamond District is expecting to be revolutionized. The building will be known as the International Gem Tower.
The new center is in actuality an exact copy of the model used in the Israeli Diamond Exchange, which is located in Ramat Gan, and will provide all the necessary services for the industry under one roof and will up the level of personal security provided to those working in the field. The project will cost an estimated $750 million.
The diamond and jewelry exchanges in Manhattan are located in what is known as the Diamond District, located on 47th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. According to US-based Extell Development, which is building the new exchange building, hundreds of people in the diamond business around the world are renting old, dilapidated buildings in the Diamond District, and are forced to deal with below par work conditions on a daily basis.
Extell additionally claimed that the existing level of security is insufficient for dealing in diamonds and jewelry. This also happens to be the reason the American company takes pride on the fact that it has planned the new complex based on the Israeli model, in which four buildings are interconnected through a system of bridges, which provide diamond dealers from around the world comprehensive and total answers for all their needs. The model has been combined into one 34-storey, 70 sq. meter (about 750 sq. feet) building.
"Israeli diamond dealers have grown accustomed to doing business under the mantle of increased security provided by the diamond exchange in Ramat Gan that provides quite a wide range of services," said Extell's Senior Vice President of Project Management, Raizy Haas. "The tower that will be built will provide the perfect response for all the needs of the diamond and jewelry dealers, including the most advanced security methods in the world."
'Israel won't be hurt'
Israel Diamond Exchange President Avi Paz did not hide his sense of pride in the planned Manhattan complex in a conversation with Ynet: "From India, from Turkey, and from other countries, people have come to learn from us how to organize secure compounds for diamond dealers. We teach them how to provide a commercial infrastructure for the diamond dealer from a security perspective and supporting services for the diamond dealers."
But will this come at the expense of the Diamond Exchange in Ramat Gan?
"The fact that such amenities will be accessible to the Israeli trader will help, serve, and make trading easier. Such a center in New York is a blessing for us because the city is our sales center. The more developed the center is, the more convenient and simple it will be to sell merchandise there – also in terms of security.
"You also have to remember that every second diamond sold in the US comes from Israel. We still have a comparative advantage in polishing, especially in large stones," added Paz.
You won't lose buyers to the center in New York?
"The second intifada decreased the number of buyers. Buyers abroad have already grown accustomed to the fact that we go to them and we are making huge efforts in order to bring them back."
But, when the situation improves, they are likely not to return because there are other options.
"Yes. It is good that these centers are being established. We must find new markets and improve existing ones. We are already on the path to bringing buyers back to Israel."
And what about the diamond dealers themselves?
"The diamond dealers won't move their businesses (to New York). Those are just offices in a building in New York that provides support and security for trading. As of now, there already is the capability of going abroad in the Israel Diamond Exchange. The better the facilities, the better the marketing capabilities will be."
It's no secret that the sector is facing difficulties. Will this building help boost the industry?
"The market will grow when the recession recedes and the demand for luxury items increases, especially for those that maintain their value like diamonds. A diamond is a long-term investment channel. In this context, the building in New York will only help."
Extell is slated to host an event on October 19 for Israeli diamond company representatives to explain and market the New York project.


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by Semiconductor Industry Association
WASHINGTON—Nov. 29, 2017—The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, today released the following statement from SIA President & CEO John Neuffer in support of the corporate tax reform bill reported out of the Senate Finance Committee.
“SIA supports the corporate tax reform elements in the bill reported by the Senate Finance Committee on Nov. 16. This bill includes several important provisions to make U.S. semiconductor companies more globally competitive. These include lowering the corporate rate to 20 percent, modernizing our international tax structure, providing for the distribution and favorable treatment of intellectual property repatriated to the U.S., and appropriate transition rules for historical foreign earnings. SIA looks forward to engaging with Congress to address any changes that may be needed to improve the bill and to enact its many important reforms.
“America’s outdated tax system places U.S. businesses at a disadvantage to overseas competitors and makes it harder for U.S. semiconductor companies to grow and innovate. The Senate Finance Committee bill represents a significant step toward modernizing the corporate tax code and improving the competitiveness of the U.S. semiconductor industry, and we look forward to working with policymakers to ensure it is enacted.”
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is the voice of the U.S. semiconductor industry, one of America’s top export industries and a key driver of America’s economic strength, national security, and global competitiveness. Semiconductors – microchips that control all modern electronics – enable the systems and products we use to work, communicate, travel, entertain, harness energy, treat illness, and make new scientific discoveries. The semiconductor industry directly employs nearly a quarter of a million people in the U.S. In 2016, U.S. semiconductor company sales totaled $164 billion, and semiconductors make the global trillion-dollar electronics industry possible. SIA seeks to strengthen U.S. leadership of semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research by working with Congress, the Administration and other key industry stakeholders to encourage policies and regulations that fuel innovation, propel business and drive international competition. Learn more at www.semiconductors.org.
1101 K Street NW Suite 450, Washington, DC 20005