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Starting tomorrow, 9am PT / 12pm ET / 4pm GST, Microsoft is kicking off their annual Build conference for developers. Once again, the three-day event is taking place in beautiful San Francisco, California and this year looks to be its biggest yet.
Traditionally, Build has always been for and about developers of Microsoft's various platforms, from Windows, to Azure, to Windows Phone, and Xbox. This year Microsoft looks to expand that to HoloLens and the Internet of Things (IoT) as well.
However, the consumer story is always in the background. Sure, on occasion Microsoft gets on stage and announces "new" devices like the Lumia 930, the Lumia 1520 in green, and the Lumia 635. However, more often than not, the software is the focus and not new hardware. Case in point, Microsoft pre-announced the Surface 3 weeks ago instead of waiting for Build.
As Mark Guim and I prep to fly out tonight to San Fran, let's break it down what we should hear over the next few days.
What we do NOT expect
As always, expectations are super high for Build, but usually things come in a little lower than what people want. So let's mention a few things we do not expect to hear about:
- New flagship Lumias – Microsoft will very likely at least reference that this device (or devices) are being worked on and are coming "later this year". They may even hint at some details. However, we do not expect a big on stage reveal of any new hardware. Not yet, as it is just too early.
- Surface Pro 4 – Sure, we just ran a story about some possible specs of this tablet/hybrid, but I do not expect anything until later this year, possible near the holiday season. Releasing it too early muddles the Surface 3 message by the sheer fact its model number ("3") is lower than a Surface Pro 4.
- Microsoft Band 2 – People can barely buy the first Microsoft Band right now worldwide, so it would be premature to release a new version so early in the product's lifespan. Microsoft appears to be still feeling this one out, both in terms of customer demand and selling a device with robust and refined capabilities. Still, the Band itself should get attention during this event and even some new news about Microsoft Health.
The takeaway for Build is this – Microsoft typically does not squish in big new product launches during a developer conference. Instead, they would rather hold a single, focused press event for new hardware. Then they could invite the right journalists, and have a large, controlled and concentrated event. Doing anything less and risk overshadowing your own products by having too many announcements.
What we DO expect
- Windows 10 – File this under 'duh', but Microsoft is going to dive deep into Windows 10. This includes more on Project Spartan (how about that official name?), Windows 10 for Phone, Cortana, Continuum, and new, previously unannounced features. Release dates would also be an excellent thing. How about Windows app development on OS X and Linux? A new cross-platform Visual Studio may do the trick.
- Windows Redstone – Redstone is the internal name for the next Windows 10 milestone. Microsoft has been very forthcoming about plans for Windows, and we expect more details about their Windows roadmap post-Windows 10. New features, UI goals, and more are all likely candidates. That's right folks when Windows 10 launches, it is but a drop in a bucket of what Redmond has planned.
- HoloLens and Microsoft Band – Not much news has come out since January on Microsoft's new augmented reality headwear dubbed HoloLens. Developer SDK, release information, and demos are all expected to get some love at Build. As far as Microsoft Band, we expect some new feature announcements and details on the expansion of Microsoft Health.
- Android apps on Windows/Windows Phone? – The project to run Android apps on Windows and Windows Phone 10 has been known for months now. Last we heard, legal concerns were holding it up, not technical. Will Microsoft finally pull the covers off of this project and throw the switch? Maybe.
- Xbox One apps – Tying into the Windows 10 story, more details about Xbox One and Store apps may be on the table, including developer news and timing. We do not expect too much in the way of gaming specific news because E3 takes place just a few weeks from now in June.
Of course, we are not even touching upon Azure, cloud computing, IoT, Office 365 APIs, Windows Hello, SharePoint, Design UX, and more developer focused announcements. Make not mistakes, those will happen too.
Where to watch, how to follow
Finally, after you take all of that in you may want to know what to do next. So here are a few bits.
- Build 2015 Landing Page – This has all of our news coverage for the week and what we know so far in one place www.windowscentral.com/build-2015
- Keynote 1 – April 29 9am PT / 12pm ET / 4pm GST. This keynote will be the BIG big talk, featuring Satya Nadella, Joe Belfiore, Terry Myerson and more. This event will be live streamed on Microsoft's website (buildwindows.com). Windows Central will also have a live blog and the video embed with a chat room for you folks to discuss the event. More info on that is coming up in a post later today.
- Keynote 2 – April 30, 9am PT, 12pm ET This keynote focuses more on developer news and cloud computing. As such, for consumers it is a little less interesting.
- Sessions, sessions, sessions! – The rest of Build consists of developer sessions for three days, which we will be attending. Expect small news reports to pop throughout the day on these events.
- Windows 10 Breakout Sessions – This is an invite only press meeting with some key members of the Windows leadership team. Expect our notes after that event as it should be revealing.
- Grab the Event app – If you are attending or want to see the sessions, grab the free Build Events app for Windows Phone, iOS, or Android
You can also follow Mark Guim and I on Twitter and Instagram:
- Daniel Rubino: @Daniel_Rubino, Instagram.com/Daniel_Rubino
- Mark Guim: @MarkGuim, Instagram.com/MarkGuim
Sound off in comments what you expect to happen this week!
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Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.


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Aussie-founded blockchain email startup Sendy, which rewards people for engaging with marketing emails, has raised $500,000 in its initial coin offering (ICO) pre-sale.
The pre-sale has been led by two crypto funds, New Zealand based Techemy Capital and Australian Apollo Capital, in the lead up to Sendy’s public ICO, planned to open later this year.
Headquartered in Singapore, Sendy was founded last year by Aussies Josh Reyes and George Hartley — a pair familiar with the startup journey.
Hartley previously co-founded Bluethumb, an online art marketplace, alongside his brother Ed Hartley. He also co-founded SmartrMail, a personalised email marketing tool for e-commerce and graduate of the Startmate accelerator backed by Blackbird Ventures. At the latter, Reyes served as marketing coordinator.
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According to Hartley, Sendy is designed to solve a “twofold problem” in the way emails are used.
Because emails are free, there’s a lot of scope for spam — according to Hartley more than 50% of all emails are junk — and very little incentive for readers to click on content. This means interaction with legitimate marketing content is also reduced.
Sendy provides a decentralised email API, meaning companies can attach value, in the form of Sendy tokens, to their emails. It works on the concept that “your attention is valued”, Hartley says, and rewards customers for engaging with marketing content.
As well as the pre-ICO funding, the co-founders have also got some high-profile advisors on board in Horizon State founder Jamie Skella and, Dave Bean, head of sales at Earn.com, which was recently acquired by Coinbase for $US100 million.
“They’re two lovely guys, we’re lucky to have them,” Hartley says.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency is “such a new space,” he adds, so “having people who have done it before is really important”.
The Sendy platform is in beta-stages now, but Hartley says when it’s fully launched it will be platform-agnostic, able to plug into any browser and multiple email service providers, in a bid to help marketers get better engagement from their email campaigns and to reward email subscribers for their attention.
Even for people who are not crypto-savvy the system will be “super low-friction,” Hartley says, with users’ Sendy balance appearing at the bottom of the email.
As users read emails, their Sendy balance will “naturally go up”, he adds.
“All you need to do to redeem Sendy and start using it is click the link, and set up your wallet”, he says, stressing that setting up the wallet is far from an onerous process.
Email subscribers don’t have to be “across” cryptocurrency in order to use Sendy tokens.
“We’re hopeful that this could be a product that puts crypto more into the mainstream,” says Hartley.
Once users have acquired Sendy tokens, they can either trade it for other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, or for fiat currencies; use it to donate to charity; or simply use it to pay for things.
The token will have “real value”, Hartley says.
Sendy’s pre-sale funding will be directed primarily into marketing, and into further development of the platform. The team is working on creating a fully decentralised inbox, whereby users will have full control of their own data, although Hartley doesn’t reveal many details around this.
“We’ve done a couple of startups before and understand that development and marketing both need to be a really strong focus in getting out there,” he says.
The founders are also prioritising bringing more service partners on board.
“They’re the ones who are really going to spread Sendy to their networks,” Hartley says.
“Interaction rates are really important for our email service providers, and this helps that improve.”
For blockchain startups thinking of launching an ICO, Hartley advises getting “the best advisors you can” on board, and “don’t rush it,” he says.
“There’s a perception that it’s easy money,” he adds, “but you only have one reputation, and I think you really need to treat [the ICO process] the same as if you were raising from angels or VCs.”
When people back you, they’re investing money into your project, he says. And, there are more and more choices becoming available for crypto investment.
“Be serious about it,” Hartley concludes.
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Largely Unregulated, E-Cigs Flood U.S. Retail Market and Are Easily Available to Kids
New research suggests policy change and pricing strategies to reduce e-cigarette use and protect kids
Nearly one-third of convenience stores, pharmacies, supercenters, and other retailers located near schools nationwide sell e-cigarettes, according to research published today in a special issue of Tobacco Control. In the absence of federal regulation on e-cigarettes, 34 states have taken the initiative to regulate e-cigarettes and other tobacco-derived products, but those policies are not comprehensive and only 22 states have laws that restrict youth access to e-cigarettes.
The research presented in the special issue also provides new insight about how price impacts demand of the potentially harmful products and finds policies that increase e-cigarette retail prices, such as limiting rebates, discounts and coupons and imposing a tax, will reduce e-cigarette consumption among youth and adults.
“Not only are kids seeing advertising for e-cigarettes on TV, they’re seeing them in local stores near school and can buy them for relatively low prices,” said Frank J. Chaloupka, PhD, director of the Health Policy Center at University of Illinois at Chicago. “We know enough about e-cigarettes to say with certainty that policymakers need to act now and need to take strong measures to prevent the use of these products among young people.”
Researchers working together as part of Tobacconomics, an initiative led by Chaloupka, authored three of the studies included in the special issue, which was funded by the National Cancer Institute State and County Tobacco Control (SCTC) Research Initiative.
The new studies help make the case for stronger regulation of e-cigarettes and identify specific policy solutions for protecting children and adults from potential exposure risks while in public places where state regulation lags behind. Key findings show that:
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of U.S. retailers that sell e-cigarettes. In 2012, e-cigarettes were available in 31% of retailers located in middle and high school enrollment zones, up from only 3% in 2010. E-cigarettes are more available in areas where tax and smoke-free air policies are weak. The authors conclude that tobacco retailers are likely selling e-cigarettes where there are more smokers and greater demand, in part due to weaker tobacco control regulation.
States need to expand and strengthen their existing laws. While 34 states have preceded the federal government by setting their own regulations for e-cigarettes, existing polices are not comprehensive. In 2013, 22 states restricted youth access to e-cigarettes, 12 states applied smoke-free air provisions to e-cigarettes, and only Minnesota had an excise tax on e-cigarettes. The authors caution that the policy gap undermines the clean indoor air environment that smoke-free air laws are designed to protect and allows youth access to e-cigarette products that may contain nicotine and other harmful ingredients.
Raising the price of e-cigarettes will reduce consumption. E-cigarette sales are very sensitive to price changes, 2 to 3 times more sensitive than traditional cigarettes. A 10% increase in price would reduce sales of reusable e-cigarettes by about 19% and sales of disposable e-cigarettes by about 12%. E-cigarettes are promoted as cheaper alternatives to traditional cigarettes and users often cite the lower cost as a reason for use. Daily e-cigarette users spend about $33 per month, while a pack-a-day cigarette smoker spends $150–$200 per month. The tax imbalance between e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes is a major contributor to the price difference.
The full-text articles from the special issue, Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS): New Evidence from the State and Community Tobacco Control Research Initiative, are available at: http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/23/suppl_3.toc.


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The German luxury auto manufacturer BMWs, two wheeler division recently announced about the production of their two millionth bike off their assembly in Berlin Spandau. The ceremony was but naturally celebrated with huge fanfare, with the ceremony seeing the Berlin Mayor attending, along with BMW Motorrad workers across their company among others.
Chris Pfeiffer, the four times European and World stunt champion, also a street bike freestyler, was made an appearance, showing his moves to mark the event. The company’s two millionth bike is question was a special edition one-off R 1200 GS, which was unveiled by the stunt champ. The bike will be part of a raffle win in a tourist ‘be Berlin’ movement for promoting the city.
During the event, Pfeiffer rode his F 800 R stunt motorcycle delivering an awesome performance to members of their Berlin plant along with other invited guests. He concluded his performance by burning out the figure 2,000,000 with his bike’s rear tire on tarmac.
Chris Pfeiffer said that he was very proud to be able to present BMWs two millionth bike. In spite of having a busy schedule, he wanted to make it to the event, as it was a unique event.
Hendrik von Kueheim, the head of BMW’s bike division, Motorrad, said that their bikes fulfill a pure riding pleasure in their most original form. These bikes are the ambassadors of their brand as well as of Berlin to the whole world. Their motorcycles which are exported feature the air of Berlin in them, and that their long relationship with the city will only continue.


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This Weekend’s Designer Sample Sales
Take a quick “lunch” break and get to the Isabel Marant, Jerome Dreyfuss, and Ippolita sample sales now! OK, so it probably won’t be a “quick” trip to the Cooper Building downtown or the W Hotel in Westwood, but it will definitely be worth it to try to steal away a couple hours in exchange for some hot new items.
According to Refinery 29, designers Isabel Marant and husband Jerome Dreyfuss are hosting a sample sale featuring items including Marant’s self-titled and Étoile lines, as well as Dreyfuss’ handbag collection.
The sample sale, which opened its doors at the Cooper Building March 1 at 10 a.m., will end at 4 p.m. today. Of course, if you can’t make it today, you can definitely still catch some hot deals Friday, March 2, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Daily Candy reported that shoppers will be able to enjoy 50% to 70% off Marant’s clothing, jewelry, and shoes, as well as 60% to 70% off Dreyfuss’ leather handbags.
Lucky for you, LA.Racked.com has shared live reports of the event in order to give shoppers a heads-up for what’s in store today and tomorrow. Fashionistas—clutching their Celine, Gucci, Alexander Wang, and Bottega Veneta bags—were very eager to purchase brand new items from the sale, as many began waiting in line at 9:12 a.m. At 9:39, there were more than 30 people waiting in line, and at 10:01 the doors finally opened. Check out the LA.Racked live blog for updates on the event.
The Cooper Building is located downtown at 860 S. Los Angeles Street, Ste. 1100 (at E. Ninth Street). Quick tip: there is no sign or number on the showroom door, so keep an eye out for a crowd of fashion forward women.
If you’re more of a jewelry buff, making a stop at the Ippolita sale at the W Hotel should definitely be at the top of your iPhone “Reminders” list.
According to Daily Candy, shoppers can get 40% to 70% off earrings, bangles, and rings in gold, rose gold, and silver.
If you work full time, don’t worry because the Ippolita sample sale will be open on Saturday, and the weekday hours are scheduled to end well after you get out of work. The shopping event will take place Thursday, March 1, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday, March 2, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Saturday, March 3, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The W Hotel is located in Westwood at 930 Hilgard Ave., Studio 1 (second floor). Get to shopping, ladies.


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For some time now, smartphones have become tediously similar (see “The New Smartphone Incrementalism”). We’ve been to the glitzy U.S. launches—the Motorola Droids, the Nokia Windows phones, the iPhone 5, the Blackberry 10, and so on. Let’s face it: they are much the same. Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona was filled with the latest advances—but, again, these were at the margins.
The real interesting story is at the low end: how to put mobile Internet in the hands of the world’s poorest two or three billion people. The next wave of innovation and the biggest impacts will come from their hands. As Manoj Kohli, CEO of Bharti Airtel, said today in Barcelona: “They are young and hungry to pick up the Internet faster than anyone else.”
CEOs like Kohli are of course trying to tap this market. Nokia’s Xpress browser is cloud-based and consumes less data—helpful for people crimped by expensive dataplans. Some analysts believe Apple may be stalled, in part, because it so far has no low-end, developing-world product. Mozilla thinks its Firefox OS software, because it creates a Web-based platform that can run on lower-end phones, will fill a need. “We’re all going to participate in writing the next chapter of the Web,” said Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs at a panel in Barcelona.
Meanwhile, battered Nokia simple-phones and other models from a decade ago still circulate in market stalls in Kenya and many other countries. (Nokia this week launched its latest simple phone the Nokia 105, to sell for around $20.) Thin connectivity and simple functionality can be a dramatic game-changer for commerce, health, banking, and networking (see “Kenya’s Startup Boom”). People in poor countries who scrape by with little tend to be more resourceful and creative than the rest of us. They’ll do amazing things with whatever new or used technology they can get their hands on. And no one company’s strategy or solution is going to trump that force.
This startup wants to copy you into an embryo for organ harvesting
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VR is as good as psychedelics at helping people reach transcendence
On key metrics, a VR experience elicited a response indistinguishable from subjects who took medium doses of LSD or magic mushrooms.
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Yes, it's happening finally. Motorola will be reviving the Moto X lineup at the IFA 2017 trade show in Berlin. Motorola's event is scheduled to happen later today, but the company seems not to hide what they're launching. A photo captured at the Motorola's booth confirmed that the brand is launching the long-rumoured Moto X4 smartphone.
That said, the photo did not reveal any specifications of the device, apart from the device's name. However, we have been hearing about the Moto X4 for a long time now. Motorola is said to launch two variants of the Moto X4 with different processors and same design.
The leaked renders of the device suggest that the smartphone does not feature a metal body like other Motorola smartphones. Instead, it will feature a glass body on both front and back with curves on either side as seen in the image.
Specs wise, the Moto X4 is rumoured to sport a 5.2-inch Full HD display with a 3D curved glass on top. The device will likely be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 SoC, and the other variant will likely be fuelled with a Snapdragon 660 SoC. Of late, most of the leaks claimed that the Snapdragon 630 variant may be only one arriving, and there won't be a Snapdragon 660 SoC variant after all.
In line with Motorola's recent smartphones, the Moto X4 will rock two 12MP sensors at the back, but the implementation is still a mystery. Up front, there might be a powerful 16MP front-facing camera. The device will run Android 7.1.1 Nougat out-of-the-box and will receive Android 8.0 Oreo update in coming days.
Other rumoured features of the device are 3GB/4GB of RAM, 32GB/64GB of internal storage, water resistance, and a 3000mAh battery with Turbo Charge support. The base variant of the Moto X4 might cost around $350 (approx. Rs. 22,500), and it will be released in various colours such as gold, blue, and black.


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Cryptocurrency conferences come to Las Vegas; insiders say digital currency is here to stay
Two conferences with a heavy focus on cryptocurrency like bitcoin are in the Las Vegas valley for the week. While there has been a rise and fall on digital money, backers say it’s on the tipping point of becoming mainstream.
8 News NOW went to Coinagenda and the Money 20/20 conferences to find out why insiders say blockchain-backed money is here to stay.
Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin picked up steam slowly at first over the last decade or so. There are even stores in Las Vegas such as strip clubs, casinos, and attorneys that accept the digital money.
It’s all a part of what blockchain and digital currency pioneer David Chaum, the pioneer of Elixxir envisioned years ago.
“Well, “I’m actually thrilled to see this stuff that I started working on back in the 80s now reach a point where I think it’s poised to take it to the next level and become something that everyone can use,” Chaum said.
By some estimates, there are $30-40 million people worldwide who have cryptocurrency.
There were less than a million people when Michael Terpin got into the digital currency space five and a half years ago.
“So this is about where we were in 1995 when Newsweek wrote a big editorial saying ‘why on earth does anybody need the internet,” Terpin asked.
In 2017, bitcoin saw a sharp spike in value, peaking at nearly $ 20,000 in December.
It’s now valued at about $6,400.
Some economists point to the swings in value as a measure of volatility.
Terpin, the CEO of Coinagenda Host Transform Group disagrees.
“If you bought it two years ago when it was $250 (a coin), you’re still way up,” Terpin said. “If you bought it when it was a penny eight years ago, you know, you’re exponentially up.”
A big hurdle to widespread adoption of cryptocurrency is an ease of use, Terpin said.
Some 30 years after envisioning digital currency, it’s something Chaum is trying to solve with “Elixxir,” a mobile payment and messaging platform currently in the initial testing phase.
“Elixxir” works like a combination of Apple Pay and Facebook Messenger, combining payments and messages into a secure system that can handle hundreds of thousands of transactions per second.
Beta testing is scheduled for the first quarter of 2019 with an anticipated mid-year roll-out to consumers.


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Meta surged more than 17 per cent on Friday as the Facebook parent’s first dividend declaration and robust results increased expectations of strong returns from its investments in “metaverse” technologies and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Days ahead of Facebook’s 20th anniversary, Meta authorized an additional US$50 billion in share repurchases and said its quarterly dividend would be 50 cents per share.
The social media giant is the first of its generation of internet juggernauts to issue a dividend, and the fourth from the so-called “Magnificent Seven” stocks, with its yield of 0.51% matching that of Apple, according to LSEG data.
“The returning of cash to shareholders is a bold and well-regarded move. The amount of free cash pumping through the business means it is more than able to afford it, and it helps pay investors for their patience,” Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said.
The new dividend plan would also mean a hefty payout for CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who owns about 350 million Meta Class A and Class B shares. The Facebook co-founder could get about $175 million every quarter.
Business Matters: Meta offers Canadian Facebook users $51M in class-action lawsuit
“Meta’s strategy of announcing buybacks and dividends right before the Fed begins to cut rates is a brilliant move. As the battle for innovation grows … in the Big Tech space, investors will see any extra capital as dry powder for future earnings growth,” said Thomas Monteiro, analyst at Investing.com.
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The company flagged strong ad sales and a rebound in user growth during its fourth-quarter results on Thursday, while also forecasting current-quarter revenue above analysts’ estimates.
“Revenue growth and guidance likely put to rest the biggest hang-up of owning Meta … but we were more impressed with the long-term vision laid out,” Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik said.
Meta has been working at keeping costs low during the last year, and let go of more than 21,000 employees since late 2022, with Zuckerberg calling 2023 the “Year of Efficiency”.
The world’s biggest social media company has been spending billions of dollars over the past decade to boost its computing capacity for generative AI products it is adding to Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and to hardware devices such as its Ray-Ban smart glasses.
Trudeau criticizes Meta for news ban in Canada amid wildfire devastation
Meta’s shares trade at 21.29 times expected earnings, compared with a forward PE of 83.85 for social media rival Snap , 20.38 for Alphabet, 40.51 for Amazon.com , 31.57 for Microsoft and 27.36 for Apple.
Meta was on track to gain roughly $180 billion in market value, based on its share price of $464.44, if gains hold.
“The ‘Year of Efficiency’ has paid off, with both headcount and costs dropping, and Meta exceeding our expectations for full-year 2023 ad revenue,” Jasmine Enberg, principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, said.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal and Samrhitha Arunasalam in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Medha Singh and Yuvraj Malik; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)


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January 16, 2020 - An amended complaint was filed.
July 15, 2019 - An investor in shares of Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (OTC: RBGLY) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by Reckitt Benckiser Group plc in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between July 28, 2014 and April 9, 2019.
London based Reckitt Benckiser Group plc manufactures, markets, and sells health, hygiene, and home products. On July 24, 2017, the Company announced in connection with its second quarter 2017 financial results, that it had recorded a £318 million charge related to ongoing U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Federal Trade Commission investigations into its former Reckitt Pharma operations.
On February 19, 2018, Reckitt announced, in connection with its full year 2017 financial results, that it had recorded an exceptional charge of £296 million due to the investigations, and that the investigations now also involved the California Department of Insurance.
On April 9, 2019, the DOJ filed a criminal indictment against Reckitt Pharma (now known as Indivior), which detailed a multi-billion-dollar scheme to defraud the public and the Company’s investors through the marketing and sale of Suboxone Film.
Ultimately, Reckitt agreed to settle the federal investigations into its marketing and sale of Suboxone Film for $1.4 billion.
According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of purchasers of Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (OTC: RBGLY) common shares between July 28, 2014 and April 9, 2019, that the defendants violated Federal Securities Laws.
More specifically, the plaintiff claims that between July 28, 2014 and April 9, 2019, the Reckitt and its most senior executives perpetrated a scheme, which generated over $3 billion in proceeds, to facilitate opiate abuse among U.S. consumers and mislead investors and the public regarding the health and safety risks of Reckitt’s new key opiate product, Suboxone Film.
the complaint alleges that in order to maintain and grow profits, senior executives at Reckitt devised a plan to switch prescribers from Suboxone Tablets to the Company’s new proprietary treatment, Suboxone Film. Suboxone Film had similar active ingredients to Suboxone Tablets, however it was dispensed in a thin film placed under the tongue and stored in single-use foil wrappings. Executives planned to create a marketing campaign that touted the purported safety benefits of Suboxone Film over Suboxone Tablets in order to prevent generic competition. Key to this campaign was fabricating safety concerns with existing treatments in order to delay the entry and approval of generics for Suboxone Tablets. Defendants’ scheme to fraudulently inflate sales of Suboxone Film was a success. Between 2010 and 2014, the Company’s revenues from sales of the drug increased ten-fold to over $840 million annually.


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JD.com Inc. is ramping up its food retail offering by opening a 24-hour supermarket 7Fresh Life and the lifestyle concept store Seven Fun in Beijing over the past week.
The 7Fresh Life supermarket was launched Dec. 20 at the Huilongguan residential area in northern Beijing and includes a community restaurant, fresh food store and convenience store in an area between 300 to 400 square meters.
The supermarket will offer a home delivery service covering a 1.5-kilometer radius, reaching 50,000 families and 1,000 office professionals, the company said.
JD.com said 7Fresh will offer its services for industry partners to benefit from its supply chain, IT and omnichannel capabilities.
The Seven Fun concept store, a portfolio brand under 7Fresh, targets working professionals with an annual income of 100,000 Chinese yuan and those aged between 26 to 45. Its outlet at Beijing's Galaxy SOHO has 12 eateries, three bars as well as event spaces for hire.
JD.com said it will be focusing on tier-one cities for future expansion of the Seven Fun brand. The Beijing-based retailer hopes that Seven Fun will be the "third place" for working professionals, a concept made popular by Starbucks Corp. where its stores become a socializing and networking place.
JD.com launched the 7Fresh supermarket chain in January 2018 and has since opened nearly 20 stores in major cities including Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu and Guangzhou. The brick-and-mortar stores also offer online grocery and home delivery services, while a large number of goods sold on JD.com can be bought on the 7Fresh platform, the company said.


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Proprietors at an exclusive designer goods village in Dungannon are determined that the Christmas show must go on - despite extensive flood damage.
Many stores at the Linen Green - which attracts well-heeled shoppers from across the island - suffered flooding up to a foot deep on Sunday due to Storm Desmond, which swept across the UK.
The retail village is located at Moygashel on M1 side of Dungannon.
Claire Murray of the five star restaurant ‘Deli on the Green’ said they had lost some £150,000 worth of gourmet imported stock which had just arrived for festive shoppers.
However, like all the other traders affected, she is determined to be back on business in no time so as not to disappoint her Christmas regulars.
Likewise, Gareth Bell of Panache shoes and Peter Stevenson of the Paper Works stationary company had also suffered from the flood damage, but were determined not to lose any Christmas trade.
Lord Morrow MLA vowed to ensure businesses affected by flooding in the Linen Green, Moygashel are given every possible support.
Speaking after visiting the scene Lord Morrow said, “I was shocked when I heard the news and even more shocked when I witnessed the destruction first hand. Traders are heartbroken to see stock ruined as they prepare for their busiest time of year. I have submitted an Urgent Oral Question to the Assembly on the devastation which has occurred.”
Traders reported that the area has never flooded before.


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ArenaNet today announced the Guild Wars II Heroic Edition, a $50 premium bundle that packs in a copy of the fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game and various digital wares.
Digital pack-ins include One Legacy armor, an 18-slot Mithril Box for increased loot carrying capacity, and 10 experience boosters that will help players level up faster.
A free trial for Guild Wars II will open for all players in North America and Europe beginning at 12:01 a.m. PDT on August 23. The trial period will end at midnight on August 25. Those interested in participating can sign up through the Guild Wars II website.
Guild Wars II was released in August 2012 and has sold over 3 million copies to date. ArenaNet announced earlier this week, citing data from DFC Intelligence, that the fantasy game is the fastest-selling Western MMO game of all time.
ArenaNet said Guild Wars II has the potential to see its player base double when it’s released in China. To bring the fantasy MMO game to China, ArenaNet has partnered with KongZhong Corporation. No date for the game’s release in China has been announced.Learn More


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More diesel engine torque and more towing capacity are the highlights of the new 2016 model 2500 and 3500 Heavy Duty (HD) pickups recently introduced by Ram Trucks, a division of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA).
Topping the list of improvements is a new fuel delivery calculation and turbo boost calibration for the optional Cummins 6.7-liter I-6 diesel engine offered for Ram’s HD pickup line.Jointly developed by Ram and Cummins engineers, those new tweaks help produce an additional 35 lb.-ft. of torque – boosting the 6.7-liter diesel’s torque output from 865 lb.-ft. to 900 lb.-ft. That’s allowed Ram to beef up the towing capacity of the 2016 Ram 3500 to 31,210 lbs., the OEM said.
Ram also pointed out that its 2016 model 2500 will offer 17,980 lbs. of towing capacity.
Furthermore, to handle that increased towing capacity, Ram said its engineers beefed up the rear axle ring gear hardware on its 2016 models from 12 to 16 bolts on all trucks equipped with the 11.8-inch axle. That additional hardened bolts and stronger material are used in the differential case to assure long-term durability, Ram stressed.
The OEM added that the maximum payload available for its HD pickup line is 7,390 lbs. for a 6.4-liter-equipped 3500 model, or more than 3.5 tons.
Ram noted that the base sticker price for its 2016 model 2500 will be $31,485, with the price tag for its 2016 model 3500 pegged at $31,990. The OEM emphasized those prices not include a $1,195 destination charge.
Ram added that 2016 model 1500, 2500 and 3500 pickups will begin arriving in dealerships starting in the fourth quarter this year.
The 2016 Ram 1500 Crew Cab and Quad Cab models will be built at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant in Warren, MI; a plant that’s built more than 12.5 million trucks since it started operations in 1938.
Regular Cab and additional Crew Cab models of the 2016 model 1500 will be built at the Saltillo Truck Assembly Plant in Coahuila, Mexico, which is also where the new 2016 model 2500 and 3500 HD pickups will be assembled.


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Even tourism director surprised by growth of county’s tourist appeal
By Cindy Klepper | Huntington County TAB
Tourism in Huntington County is growing by leaps and bounds.
So many leaps and bounds, in fact, that the director of the Huntington County Visitor and Convention Bureau asked the researchers if their figures were right.
“They said, ‘We double checked everything,’” Tina Bobilya says.
“The increases are across the board,” Bobilya said as she presented the Rockport Analytics study, 2015 Economic Impact of Tourism in Huntington County, to the Huntington County commissioners on Monday, Jan. 9.
Tourism across Indiana is up 8 percent, she said, while Huntington County tourism is up 21 percent.
Rockport Analytics studied the impact of tourists — defined as anyone who travels more than 50 miles to get to Huntington County, or who spends the night in Huntington County — on revenue and jobs in the county. The research company compiles the information for the state tourism agency, then breaks out county-by-county information for counties that want that data. The HCVB received its first and only report in 2013; the current report compiles information from 2015.
In 2013, Bobilya says, tourism generated $18 million in spending in Huntington County. For 2015, she says, that figure is $21.9 million. Sixty-nine cents of every dollar a tourist spends in Huntington County stays in Huntington County, she says.
And tourism has generated 57 new jobs since 2013, she says, for a total of 396 tourism-related jobs in the county.
“Tourism is the highest growing industry in Huntington County by jobs,” she says.
Bobilya says she attributes the increases to “a lot of things that are happening at once,” including regional advertising that makes heavy use of social media.
Major tourist draws in Huntington County are destinations, Salamonie Lake, Zip Timber Lake and Huntington University; events, the Forks of the Wabash Pioneer Festival, Huntington Heritage Days and Rolling into Roanoke; and food and beverage, Two-EE’s Winery, Nick’s Kichen, Antiqology and Joseph Decuis.
The Rockport Analytics Report showed double digit growth in all areas of tourism — 21.7 percent in lodging, 27 percent in food and beverages, 20.4 percent in shopping and retail, 25.3 percent in entertainment and recreation and 16 percent in transportation.
“Food and beverage is by far what people are spending their money on,” she says.
While Salamonie Lake attracts a high number of visitors, it doesn’t always generate revenue.
“They can come out and go to the reservoir and not really spend any money,” she says.
Some of those visitors, though, come to the area with a double mission, Commissioner President Tom Wall says.
“People are coming to our area for vacation and also looking for a job,” he says.
Tourism has a role in economic development, he says, by promoting the area’s quality of life as part of attracting new residents.
Wall requested that Bobilya add a link to the HCVB website for a page on the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership site, which lists all jobs and internships available in each county of the partnership.


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It has long been established that eating the right food can be good for the health. A new study, however, shows that following a certain diet can be even more effective in controlling seizures when epilepsy medication doesn't help.
It's known as the ketogenic diet and it calls for consuming high levels of fat and little carbs and protein. Think heavy cream, eggs, mayonnaise, butter, and bacon. It requires up to 90 percent of the diet to come from fat, which is sometimes unattainable for people. Alternatively, a modified Atkins diet may be adopted, translating to 65 to 70 percent fat.
A study published in the journal Neurology reviewed five researchers carried out on the ketogenic diet and five on the modified Atkins diet, assessing 132 subjects in total.
Across all the studies, researchers found out that 32 percent of those on ketogenic diets and 29 percent of those on modified Atkins diets registered a reduction of at least 50 percent with their seizures.
For 9 percent from the ketogenic group and 5 percent from the modified Atkins group, however, at least 90 percent less seizures were enjoyed.
The positive effects of the diets are also quickly felt, some just within days of switching. These effects lasted but only when adult subjects stuck to their recommended diets. For children, the results of eating ketogenic or modified Atkins diets persisted even though they stopped following what was prescribed to them.
Since the diets were difficult to maintain, 51 percent of those on the ketogenic diet and 42 percent of those on the modified Atkins diet gave up before the end of the study.
"Unfortunately, long-term use of these diets is low because they are so limited and complicated. Most people eventually stop the diet because of the culinary and social restrictions. However, these studies show the diets are moderately to very effective as another option for people with epilepsy," concluded Pavel Klein, M.B., B. Chir., the study's author, American Academy of Neurology member, and part of the Mid-Atlantic Epilepsy and Sleep Center.
The ketogenic diet works by placing the body in a state of "fasting" or ketosis. When a person is fasting, the body looks for fuel, tapping into fat stores. With a ketogenic diet, however, the body turns to dietary fat for energy, not fat stored. As a last-resort option, the diet is recommended to patients who responded unsuccessfully to two or three prescriptions for epilepsy.


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Kormotech, a family-owned pet food manufacturer from Ukraine, has completed its new factory in Lithuania. The wet pet food plant in Kėdainiai Free Economic Zone (FEZ) will help the company to increase production capacity and reach customers in other countries more efficiently. The investment exceeds €10 million.
Kormotech aims to be among the top 50 players in the global pet food industry by 2023. To reach this goal, the company plans to increase its revenue and capitalization by three times. According to Rostyslav Vovk, owner and CEO of Kormotech, the plant in Kėdainiai marks an important strategic step towards international expansion.
“Kėdainiai FEZ offers us multiple benefits. First, there is the geographical advantage that paves the road for further expansion in Europe. Second, we get favourable conditions for doing business, including income tax breaks for the first 10 years of operations,” says Rostyslav Vovk.
The company believes that their plant will stimulate further development of local raw materials suppliers needed for the production of pet food.
“Lithuania offers a well-developed infrastructure, and the Kormotech factory is an excellent example of how competitive Lithuania’s regions are in the global context,” states Marius Skuodis, Vice-Minister of Economy and Innovation. “The success story of Kėdainiai is also an excellent example of how valuable local, highly educated talents are.”
Giedrius Valuckas, member of the board of Kedainiai Free Economic Zone emphasizes that Kormotech managed to successfuly complete the investment project, although, due to pandemic, the final stages had to be executed remotely. “Modern, highly automated plant of highest standards employs local specialists of various competencies; the company already cooperates with local service providers and the supply chain, thus contributing to the development of the region.“
Kormotech controls quality at 60 production touchpoints. All of their products meet European quality standards and are compliant with FSSC 22000. The company also plans to have its Lithuanian plant BRC and IFS certified.
“The new plant is 90% automated and requires 61 employees. Despite the lockdown, we installed equipment from the world’s leading manufacturers – Selo, Somic, Lan, Karshnell, Steriflow, Ishida and others”, says Igor Paranyak, Chief Production Officer at Kormotech.
According to Paranyak, the company seeks to automatize as many processes as possible. The inclusion of robots in the production line will help the Lithuanian plant to reach an annual capacity of 20,000 tons.
“Kormotech’s significant investment into a modern and highly automated manufacturing plant will positively impact the regional business environment by not only creating new job opportunities, but also contributing to a highly ethical working culture. What’s more, Kormotech will strengthen the pet food manufacturing industry in Lithuania,” says Mantas Katinas, General Manager of Invest Lithuania.
The company’s product portfolio includes over 500 SKUs sold under five brands, including super-premium Optimeal with non-grain dry kibble and wet feeds, premium Club 4 Paws that includes a variety of snacks, standard dog food HAV!™ and cat food MYAU!™, as well as Master. Kormotech also produces a range of white-label brands for clients around the world. Each product is developed alongside world-class pet nutrition specialists in the US and Europe and under the control of Ukrainian technologists and veterinarians.
About the company:
Kormotech Ltd. is a family-owned Ukrainian manufacturer of cat and dog food. The company’s facilities include two dry and wet pet food plants in the Lviv region and now one plant in Kėdainiai, Lithuania.
The company manufactures products under its own brands Optimeal, Club 4 paws, HAV!™, MYAU!™ and Master, as well as white-label brands. Kormotech exports products to 31 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Poland, Turkey and Chile.


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Financial stocks closed Friday slightly higher after a report showed the U.S. savings rate jumped in May as consumers remained anxious about the economy.
The benchmark financial sector exchange-traded fund, Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund
The Commerce Department reported personal incomes rose 1.4% in May, boosted by one-time checks from the government's stimulus package, sending the savings rate to a 15-year high of 6.9%. See full story.
"In our view, the savings rate will need to stay above 6% for some time to restore household balance sheets to pre-credit boom days," wrote economist Sal Guatieri at BMO Capital Markets in a note to clients.
The move for households to pull back spending, and shore up their finances may hurt the economy in the near-term as aggregate consumption remains weak.
Also, the agency reported consumer spending rose 0.3%, the first increase in three months.
Among companies making notable moves, shares of UBS AG
UBS also said that it expects a loss for the second quarter, which it blamed on previously announced restructuring costs and the value of its own debt. See full story.
Not all news was negative for the Swiss bank. Credit Suisse analysts upgraded UBS shares to outperform from neutral Friday, and said the risks to the franchise of UBS are beginning to lessen. The analysts said once the U.S. makes needed concessions on the UBS tax litigation, the bank can begin to rebuild its sales process in private banking.
In related news, the Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.
Elsewhere, Japan's Financial Services Agency ordered Citigroup Inc.'s


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EA's new Star Wars title, Jedi: Survivor, was the second biggest seller on Steam last week.
The game debuted on April 28th and came in at No.2 after pre-orders clocked in at fifth place the previous week. That's despite widespread reports of poor performance that publisher EA has addressed. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive once again was the biggest earner on Steam, while Valve's hardware dropped two places to No.4.
EA's battle royale Apex Legends rose six places week-on-week, likely off the back of hype surrounding the upcoming 17th season – Arsenal – which includes a wealth of updates and a brand new playable character.
The fifth highest selling game on Steam last week was Catfood Studio's 雀魂麻将(MahjongSoul), which is only available in China. PUBG: Battlegrounds drops two places to No.5, charting ahead of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which has dropped to seventh from third last week.
Free-to-play military title and colossal security risk War Thunder returns to the Steam Top Ten in eighth place, just ahead of fellow free-to-play title Warframe in the wake of the release of the new Duviri Paradox expansion.
Rounding off the Top Ten are pre-orders for Age of Wonders 4 from Paradox.
Here is the Steam Top Ten for the week ending May 2nd:
1. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valve
2. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, EA
3. Apex Legends, EA
4. Steam Deck, Valve
5. 雀魂麻将(MahjongSoul), Catfood Studio
6. PUBG: Battlegrounds, Krafton
7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Activision
8. War Thunder, Gaijin
9. Warframe, Digital Extremes
10. Age of Wonders 4, Paradox (P)


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SA tech companies kick off electric minibus taxi research project
The group of SA fleet management companies will test an electric minibus in 2023
MiX Telematics and other SA tech companies are embarking on a mission to electrify the SA taxi landscape. The fleet management company says the effects of the high cost of fuel on the industry can be countered by electric minibus taxis.
Privately-owned minibus taxis are ubiquitous in Sub-Saharan Africa and carry more than 70% of daily commuters, according to the company. A project team of companies and research institutions have announced a partnership to investigate the feasibility of an electric minibus taxi in SA conditions by testing production vehicles in 2023.
The project includes MiX Telematics, GoMetro, HSW, ACDC Dynamics, and various entities within Stellenbosch University’s faculty of engineering. GoMetro says in the last five years it has collected data on taxi operations across SA to advance e-mobility development, with a view to having a demonstrator project to test the electric minibus in this market starting in and around Stellenbosch.
A number of viable electric minibus taxi models from the EU and China have been identified and the acceptance and practicality of the model will be extensively tested with taxi owners and drivers. Several of the current models earmarked are EV versions of diesel vehicles, but a number of emerging brands are purpose-built EVs for public transport, which should come online in 2024.
The plan is to import a few models for evaluation, then homologate the models which prove viable for sale in SA until the market trusts EVs enough to purchase them consistently and at scale. This is when local assembly would be viable and local manufacturers could be set up.
Charging infrastructure would also be feasible at adequate scale and at certain density and demand as taxis generally spend a lot of time at central points such as ranks and holding facilities. Providing charging facilities at these sites could make charging infrastructure much more viable than private vehicle models.
“Taxi drivers and owners are very interested and intrigued by the idea of an electric minibus taxi, and are constantly asking us when the first electric minibus taxi will arrive on our shores”, says GoMetro CEO Justin Coetzee.
“We have built valuable relationships with a large number of taxi associations, and the ever-increasing fuel price is a huge concern among owners, drivers and riders alike, as there does not seem to be any relief in sight. The industry has long acknowledged that business as usual will not suffice — and that change is required, especially after the effects ofCovid-19”.
We have seen the adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles increasing exponentially in Europe, and so look forward to learning how we can support these solutions in the SA context,” says Catherine Lewis, executive VP of technology at MiX Telematics.
Professor Thinus Booysen, research chair in the internet of Things at Stellenbosch University, will lead the team of testing experts. “The informal taxi sector must transform to EVs, but little is known about their energy requirements. This unknown is overshadowed by our energy scarcity and coal dependence on the electricity supply side. This collaborative project will ensure we are prepared for and carefully manage this exciting transition,” says Booysen.
Motor News asked Toyota SA if it has a similar plan and a spokesperson said there is talk of hybridisation of its people carriers, but not at this stage and not as full battery electric cars.
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“…we are an Indian business family. Drama is our middle name.”
Tarun Tahiliani is synonymous with elegance, style, craftsmanship and impeccable quality.
Tarun Tahiliani has been named the opening designer of the forthcoming edition of Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) Autumn-Winter 2014...
It was quite by chance we met Puran Singh, who was quietly watching the last-minute chaos before a show of the recently-concluded Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week from a distance.
Fashion designer Tarun Tahiliani Wednesday opened the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week autumn-winter 2014 with his impressive collection and actress Shilpa Shetty, known for well-maintained figure, heightened the glamour quotient when she hit the r
Azva launches the ‘Tarun Tahiliani for Azva’ collection in Ahmedabad, an exquisite range of bridal jewellery in 22 karat gold
All of 22 and Jabalpur boy Ankit Raj has already made his footprints in the fashion world by walking for leading designers such as Manish Malhotra, Rohit Bal, Troy Costa, Wendell Rodricks, Karan Johar & Varun Bahl and Tarun Tahiliani to name a few.
Quirky motifs, boardgame influences, floral patterns and global inspirations were aplenty at the ongoing Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2014.
Tarun Tejpal, who has been accused of sexually assaulting his colleague will remain present in the High Court on Tuesday. The Bombay high court Monday allowed his application to attend the court during hearing of his bail application.
The Goa government has "suo moto" directed Goa police to conduct a "preliminary enquiry" into charges of attempted rape against Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal. Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who is also the home minister, said there is a prima facie case against Tejpal and that police have already begun the preliminary enquiry. The report of his enquiry will decide the next course of action, Parrikar said.


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More years ago than I care to admit, I was first trying to get my arms around what Toyota was doing – we knew it as JIT back in those murky days before Jim Womack et al coined the term 'Lean' – and an invaluable mentor who helped me enormously was a fellow by the name of Cash Powell. He taught me a lot, listened patiently to my first hair-brained concepts of what was behind Toyota's success, and he orchestrated my first speaking engagements through the Dayton, Ohio APICS chapter. Cash is still at it and I am sure that a long list of young manufacturing and supply chain people in and around Dayton are reaping the benefits of Cash's wisdom and generosity, much the same as I did.
He offered a comment to my recent post Lean Is Not As Simple As ABC that deserves much more prominence than the comments section of last week's post. He wrote:
"Bill, The lean experts know this already but Wall Street hasn't caught up yet. I knew there was a reason I kept this WSJ article, July 21, 2005, "GM Reports Net Loss of $286 Million." GM offered an employee discount in June at retail level of 224,000 vehicles thereby reducing inventories by about 18 %. However,the article goes on to say " GM books revenue on production, not retails sales. Its second-quarter North American production was down by 142,000 vehicles, or about 10%. GM moved inventory at the expense, [repeat expense] of moving vehicles directly off the assembly line. If we had kept inventories at the high level, we would have been break even for the quarter." This occurred about three years after a 100 year old, publicly owned, well respected machine tool builder in Ohio was purposely building inventories, at the direction of the CEO, in the spring of 2002 so the profit figures would look good for Wall Street by June 30. They, too, went Chapter 11 and are sold. In the wake of the past few years, has the FASB caught up with lean accounting? Until they do and Wall Street does, and the universities, the public companies will be where they have always been."
I do not believe that anyone has ever made a fundamental point about lean any better or any clearer than Cash did.
GM has done as much or more Lean stuff in their factories as anyone, and you all know the results. Without a fundamental change in accounting, along with the management processes accounting drives such as performance metrics and the organizational structure, no company can be truly lean. That is, no company is going to get long term Toyota-like results.
This is why I am a nay-sayer when it comes to what has recently been called Lean-Lite on these pages. GM was way beyond Lean-Lite.
This is why I continually advocate changing management processes first, then all of the factory stuff will naturally follow.
This is why I challenged the lean community's praise of GM and Delphi years ago when others were awarding them Shingo Prizes and declaring them to be lean.
This is why the demise of GM was so easy for Norm Bodek and I to predict years ago when we wrote Rebirth of American Industry.
All of the JIT deliveries, kanbans, U Shaped cells and 5S in the world is not going to make a company into a world class performer as long as it defines profits with accounting systems that drive management to do this sort of nonsense.
And this is why I decided years ago to only work with privately held companies. Publicly traded companies area waste of a lean advocate's time.
And this is why no publicly traded company in the United States has really become lean, other than a few like Danaher with rather unique circumstances, for the exact reason Cash described.
Thank you Cash — again.


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Spirits make drinkers feel sexy and angry while tipples like red wine are relaxing, a London study has found.
Scientists at King's College London have found proof that certain types of alcohol can have different effects of people's mood.
Red wine and beer make us feel relaxed whereas spirits cause someone to feel more sexy, angry or morose.
The large study was published in the journal BMJ Open.
It questioned nearly 30,000 people between the ages of 18 and 34 from 21 different countries around the world on the effect alcohol has on them.
People tend to drink more in order to continue to feel the positive effects of alcohol - but drinking can also have negative effects, the survey found.
Of the people questioned, many said red wine made them feel more lethargic than white wine - but it also made them feel more relaxed.
When it came to drinking spirits, participants reported they became more aggressive and tearful when consuming them. Hard alcohol also made them feel unwell or restless, respondents said.
The study also revealed that men were far more likely than women to associate aggression with alcohol.
In terms of the positives associated with drinking, over half of the individuals who took part in the survey said that alcohol gave them confidence and over 40 per cent said that drinking spirits made them feel sexy.
Professor Mark Bellis, from Public Health Wales NHS Trust, told the BBC that the environment in which we drink may contribute to the way we feel when we consume it.
He said: “Young people will often drink spirits on a night out, whereas wine might be drunk more at home, with a meal.”


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Proof Collective, the Web3 company that developed Moonbirds' non-fungible token collection, just announced, users may now explore their favorite artists and profiles across the Proof ecosystem.
Users are now able to browse the profiles of their favorite artists and profiles throughout the Proof ecosystem thanks to the NFT feature made available by Proof Collective.
The introduction of the next NFT artist browsing function was revealed by Evidence Collective founder Kevin Rose in a blog post that was posted on February 24. Users can browse artist profiles thanks to the enhanced features offered by the dashboard.
In December 2021, the exclusive NFT community known as Proof Collective was launched. It is the creation of 10,000 pixelated owl NFTs with a fixed edition from the hugely popular projects Oddities, Grails, Emotes, and Moonbirds.
Proof Collective started out as a modest podcast and has since developed into a significant company. The collection includes works from over a thousand emerging non-fungible token producers and collectors, albeit some are still unidentified.
Thanks to the new NFT functionality, users will be able to research all artists within the Proof ecosystem and learn more about their background, location, and NFT industry experience.
According to Proof Collective, the best way to appreciate an artist and their work is to learn about their background, how they've honed their craft, and get first- and second-hand descriptions of their contributions to the space through engaging media.
Appreciating an artist requires knowledge of their background, field of endeavor, and artistic development process. Thanks to the artist profiles at PROOF, Web3 users will soon be able to discover new musicians and establish stronger relationships with them. According to Proof, they may quickly develop their skills by understanding an artist's past. To truly appreciate an artist and their work, it's essential to hear first- and second-hand accounts of one's space journeys via magnetic media.
Proof Collective invests significantly in producing original content, such as video, audio, and comprehensive writing, to showcase their artists' work. As part of this effort, each artist associated with PROOF will have their own Artist Profile, with more data and features being added in the coming months. Web3 aims to track upcoming projects, strengthen existing connections, and discover new talent.
Proof Collective had organized a conference in May where artists and NFT collectors could discuss future prospects of the ecosystem. Unfortunately, the organizers had to postpone the event earlier this week due to lower-than-anticipated demand.


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Manchester Food and Drink Festival have announced that wine expert Fiona Beckett will host an exclusive event at this year’s festival.
Taking place at the Festival Hub on Albert Square, she’ll be taking wine lovers through her six favourite tipples.
As well as drinking the wines, attendees will learn all about the history of wine from one of the world’s most well-regarded names in the industry.
Fiona is best known for her popular column in the Guardian, and is an award-winning food and drink journalist, author and web publisher.
With 25 years of experience writing about food and wine, she’ll be heading back to MFDF this October.
She has previously appeared at the festival as part of the ‘Three Wine Women’, alongside BBC’s Kate Goodman (who also owns Manchester’s very own Reserve Wines) and Jane Dowler, of tapas and wine hotspot Evuna.
Fiona is also a renowned restaurant critic for Decanter and writes for National Geographic Travel Food magazine, as well as running her own website matchingfoodandwine.com .
The solo wine tasting event will see her guide guests through six wines that shaped her career and is sure to be a relaxed and informative take on a wine tasting.
The 12-day Manchester Food and Drink Festival, now in its 21st year, will run from September 27 to October 8.
Other events that have already been confirmed for this year’s festival include cocktail masterclasses, themed tasting menus, and collaborative supper clubs.
Wellness and nutrition expert Jasmine Hemsley will team up with Manchester’s Trove bakery for a supper club on September 29, street food traders from Hatch will host a pop-up in the Dining Dome on October 4, and fine dining restaurant The Rabbit In The Moon will pair up with Seven Bro7hers brewery for a one-off dinner too.
The festival will culminate on October 8 with an awards ceremony, that will recognise the city’s brightest talents in the food and drink industry.
Six Wines That Shaped My Career will take place on Saturday October 6 at 6.30pm, at the Dining Dome in Festival Square, the central hub of the festival.
Tickets for the event cost £25, which includes all six wines, and are available to purchase here .


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Walt Disney Co. said its new $5.5 billion Shanghai theme park attracted four million visitors in its first four months and will be close to breaking even in its first full year of operation in 2017.
About 50 percent of the park’s guests are from outside the Shanghai area, a “big surprise” as the Chinese city had been expected to account for more than three-quarters of visitors initially, Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Thursday. “The fact that it’s so balanced leads us to believe that word of mouth on this and the intent to visit from well beyond Shanghai is very, very high,” he said.
The Shanghai theme park, Disney’s first in mainland China and largest foreign investment, opened in June as the company races to capture the country’s growing middle class and dominate its $180 billion media and entertainment industry. The company has also started producing movies in Asia’s largest economy. Full Story: Bloomberg


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– Night Safari wins 11th honour for Best Visitor Attraction Experience category.
– Singapore Zoo’s ‘Wild Discoverer Tour’ joint winner for Best Travel Experience.
– ‘Pandamonium Hits Singapore’ wins Most Innovative Marketing Initiative.
Singapore, 21 October 2013 – Wildlife Reserves Singapore walked away with three accolades at the Singapore Experience Awards 2013: Night Safari, the world’s first wildlife park for nocturnal animals, was again recognised for providing the ‘Best Visitor Attraction Experience’, making this its 11th honour in this category; Singapore Zoo’s Wild Discoverer Tour was a joint winner for Best Travel Experience; Wildlife Reserves Singapore also won the Most Innovative Marketing Initiative with ‘Pandamonium Hits Singapore’.
Hosted and presented by the Singapore Tourism Board, the Singapore Experience Awards is Singapore tourism’s highest accolade; celebrating the luminaries who constantly innovate and create distinctive and compelling Singapore experiences.
World-famous Night Safari beat two other nominees; Singapore Zoo, which is also managed by parent company Wildlife Reserves Singapore, and Botanic Gardens to win the ‘Best Visitor Attraction Experience’ category.
Singapore Zoo’s Wild Discoverer Tour tied with ‘Changi WWIITM – A Changi Museum War Trail’ for the ‘Best Travel Experience’ award.
These two awards are among 11 that were given out in the ‘Experience’ category, which recognise organisations which package experiential elements to create a distinctive Singapore experience that encompasses product and service excellence, and is enjoyable and memorable to visitors. Finalists were also scored against factors such as the delivery of the experience, customer satisfaction and marketing initiatives undertaken to enhance overall guest experience. Another important criterion for the category was a mystery shopping experience at the shortlisted attraction by the judging panel.
In the awards category for marketing and media, ‘Pandamonium Hits Singapore’ won the Most Innovative Marketing Initiative, beating ‘A Classic GSS Affair @OC’ and ‘Singapore “Be A Star Kid” Children Enrichment Program’.
This award is one of four in the marketing and media category, which celebrates marketing and promotional efforts through creative campaigns and media that showcase the compelling sights and sounds of Singapore.
Results were unveiled at a gala presentation ceremony at the Marriot Hotel Singapore this evening. This year saw a total of 82 finalists vying for 27 awards. Finalists in each category were nominated by industry players and experts, with the final winner picked by a panel of judges.
Mr Lee Meng Tat, CEO of Wildlife Reserves Singapore, said: “There is much to celebrate this evening. We are elated and honoured to receive this trio of awards, which are testament to our hard work and commitment to achieving, maintaining, and even surpassing the best international standards for our wildlife parks.
Being the world’s first nocturnal zoo, Night Safari’s unique offering and stellar reputation has made her a firm favourite and iconic attraction for both foreign and local visitors. Through the years, the team has worked hard to maintain this world class establishment. Winning this year is especially sweet as we look forward to celebrating her 20th anniversary in May 2014.
And with Singapore Zoo celebrating her 40th anniversary this year, having our Wild Discoverer Tour jointly win the Best Travel Experience is definitely the icing on the cake!
We are equally thrilled that ‘Pandamonium Hits Singapore’ has been chosen Most Innovative Marketing Initiative. It’s just been a year since we welcomed giant pandas Kai Kai and Jia Jia to Singapore’s shores, and clearly Singaporeans have embraced them with open arms and continue to follow their every move.”
He added: “We will continue to set the bar higher for ourselves every year, to provide our guests with their most memorable experiences at Night Safari and Singapore Zoo, and our other attractions, Jurong Bird Park and River Safari.”


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Despite its stature as a global mega-brand, with 30,000 restaurants and 46 million customers a day, McDonald’s can’t seem to supersize its earnings.
Sales and profit growth at the pioneering global fast-food business with its signature golden arches has stalled and the company’s shares are trading at seven-year lows. On Dec. 17, 2002, McDonald’s announced it would record its first quarterly loss ever, following a disastrous price war with U.S. burger rivals.
Overseas, the company is a target for anti-Americanism; in the last month alone, bombs have been thrown at restaurants in Paris, Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and Indonesia. McDonald’s has even been blamed for making Americans fat in a class-action suit modeled after the tobacco litigation.
With little room to grow in its saturated markets, the company is struggling to find ways to build on the formula that made McDonald’s, of Oak Brook, Ill., ruler of its market for more than 40 years. “That’s the Achilles heel of success,” says Wharton marketing professor Stephen Hoch. “Over time, the trick is to figure out how to shed the bad stuff and keep what is good.”
McDonald’s has tried to expand its brand with new menu items, including pancakes, ham and cheese sandwiches and mango shakes. But the new items slowed McDonald’s hallmark speedy service and created quality problems. “They have gone down the road of trying to expand their sales through broadening their menu and I think have recognized – correctly – that this is a slippery slope,” Hoch adds. They end up hurting operations “when they veer too far away from a core set of items.”
Wharton marketing professor David Reibstein is worried that the same underlying issues currently bedeviling McDonald’s will take a toll on Starbucks, which is also trying to grow sales by expanding the kinds of products it sells. “It used to be you could say Starbucks is coffee. You could envision Starbucks selling coffee-related items such as mugs, beans or coffee pots,” says Reibstein. “But now they sell greeting cards, music, sandwiches and mango juice. My concern is that Starbucks is losing what Starbucks is … That’s a risky thing to do.”
Many examples exist of companies with mature brands being able to develop new brands that did not diminish the original franchise, points out Reibstein, noting that Coke has been successful in adding second and third brands to its powerful core product. Automakers and hotel chains are others that have been able to expand with new brands.
Hoch and Reibstein endorse McDonald’s strategy of buying all or part of other chains to add growth. In the past four years it has acquired Boston Chicken, which was under bankruptcy court protection, Donatos Pizzerias, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Aroma Cafe, a London-based coffeehouse chain. “Going in and buying or creating new brands without trying to spread themselves too thin on the core product is smart,” says Hoch.
Still, non-burger sales are tiny, amounting to only $1.2 billion of the company’s annual sales of $40 billion, according to Carl Sibilski, who follows McDonald’s for Morningstar Inc. in Chicago. He says the new acquisitions will be less important for sales than as a source of new ideas for products and business operations.
The Golden Arches Go Abroad
International growth is crucial to McDonald’s, which already holds a huge lead in the American burger market abroad. “There are a lot of fast food restaurants out there and they have a lot of competition,” points out Hoch. “It’s not going to be that easy to grow domestically, and yet every time they enter into a new market internationally they have a different set of issues to deal with. Sometimes they get it right, and sometimes they don’t.”
Sibilski suggests that the mad-cow disease scare in Europe is behind the company now but is still a problem in Japan. Even though beef served in Japan is raised in the United States, “the Japanese people have not bought into that.” The company also has been hurt by unfavorable currency exchange rates and floods in Central Europe this summer, he adds.
Culturally, the chain has become a bulls-eye for anti-American sentiment around the world. In many foreign countries, says Hoch, “there is a love-hate relationship with the United States. People have a love-hate relationship with McDonald’s. It’s partly the price of success.”
In England, a determined group of anti-McDonald’s campaigners has launched a global effort against the company, painting it as an exploitive arm of capitalism. “The corporation is desperately trying to prop up their pathetic but expensively-manufactured image and the attraction of their mediocre and largely useless products,” says David Morris, one of two defendants McDonald’s sued for libel in a celebrated British case.
“Whatever the marketing strategy, the corporation’s only interest (like all corporations) is making as much money as possible for their elite group of powerful shareholders, and increasing their profits and power at the expense of consumers, workers, animals, society and the environment,” adds Morris. According to Sibilski, however, the protesters have had little impact on McDonald’s bottom line; moreover, bombings hurt local franchisees and employees more than the corporation.
Meanwhile, the company’s top echelons have a more international tone these days, following the abrupt retirement of McDonald’s chief executive Jack Greenberg on Dec. 5, 2002. (Earlier this year Greenberg had said he planned to stay on until 2005.) McDonald’s named Jim Cantalupo, 59, a former vice chairman and chief executive of McDonald’s International, to step in as chief executive. Charlie Bell, 42, an Australian who ran operations in Europe, was named president and chief operating officer and is viewed as an heir apparent.
Losing Ground with Baby Boomers
Back home, the company also faces cultural issues, notes Jon Lansner, a Wharton graduate who follows the fast-food industry as a business columnist for the Orange County Register. “McDonald’s led the revolution to standardization. Seemingly there was a McDonald’s in every mall and every corner of America. And perhaps that was a comfort when you were going into a strange town or another country ten years ago.”
Since then, he says, Americans appear to have grown bored with the brand and more willing to experiment with smaller local restaurants. “I think culturally, all of a sudden, we are more comfortable with the new and exciting.”
McDonald’s still dominates the kiddie market with its elaborate playgrounds, Happy Meals and so forth, Lansner adds, but it is losing ground with baby boomers who have grown tired of the golden arches. Teens and young adults, he said, resist McDonald’s as “their fathers’ fast food.” McDonald’s has become “the big behemoth, which on one hand is laudable. On the other hand, in today’s age, that’s not all that attractive … The cultural issue is going to be a tough challenge.”
McDonald’s is not the only fast-food chain struggling. On Dec. 13, Diageo, the London-based owner of Burger King, announced it will sell the hamburger chain to an investment group made up of Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, for $1.5 billion. But that price is down from $2.26 billion announced in July after Burger King failed to meet price and performance targets.
According to Sibilski, the new, lower price will help McDonald’s. He argues that if Burger King’s new owners had invested more in the business they would be under greater pressure to pump even more capital in to compete more effectively with McDonald’s.
Meanwhile, there is a bulge of McDonald’s franchisees nearing retirement who have been reluctant to reinvest in their stores, Sibilski adds. The company is about to inaugurate a new program to invest up to $400 million renovating or rebuilding every McDonald’s in the United States that is more than 15 years old. The company will loan franchisees money to make the improvements; if sales do not increase franchisees do not have to pay back the loan. A similar program in Southern California and France, he says, resulted in sales growth of one to three percentage points at individual stores.
But no company, no matter how great its brand, can afford to sit back, says Reibstein, noting that all companies must grow to attract financial and human capital in the form of dedicated and innovative workers. If companies don’t provide growth, investors will shift their capital to another investment that provides better returns. McDonald’s, he states, “has a growth imperative.”


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By Zhao Qian
The high-end bottled drinking water market is huge in China but some domestic companies feel there’s room for even a brighter future, especially for Chinese brands.
This is true despite the fact that foreign companies have long tapped the domestic market, officials at some water companies said yesterday.
“We predict that there will be 20 million to 30 million consumers who will drink high-quality water in the near future,” said Fang Wenge, president of Hong Kong-based China Water Group.
“We prefer to enter into the high-end market, because the lower-end market has been saturated,” Fang said.
Currently, a subsidiary of China Water Group – Guangzhou Xinchen Water Co – produces “Nine Thousand Year Dagu Glacier Water,” which is sourced from a glacier in Sichuan Province.
“Consumers of high-quality water are those who pursue a high-quality life and have a high salary,” Fang said.
Each bottle of 335-milliliter water costs about 11 yuan ($1.61), much more than the average bottles that go for about 1 yuan ($0.15) in stores.
Some other local bottled water companies, including Tibet Glacier Mineral Water and Shenzhen Ganten Industry, are also striving to expand into the high-end drinking water market.
Foreign companies such as Evian of France has been in China for some 20 years and remains competitive.
But Fang doesn’t see Evian as a threat.
“Thanks to Evian, the image of water has been changed for the Chinese consumers,” Fang said.
“In the past, they did not want to pay such a large amount of money to buy a small bottle of water,” he added.
Fang said his “Nine Thousand Year Dagu Giacier Water” would eventually become China’s Evian.
Fang Jian, an Evian sales manager in Dalian, said that the small local brands are unlikely to catch up with Evian, not to mention the competitions brought by other foreign brands.
Explore the World, Understand China!
Please log on www.gloaltimes.cn


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Redmi recently confirmed that it will be launching Redmi 9 power in India through its event page. The company has created a teaser page on its website to reveals some of the details of the phone which confirms that the device will be packing a powerful battery, display, camera, performance, and many more. This is likely a tweaked version of Redmi Note 9 4G that was released in China.
A known tipster Ishan Agarwal shared the rendered image of the upcoming Redmi 9 Power. The renders show a quad-camera setup on the rear panel with Blue colour on the back. The rectangular camera layout that can be seen in the image is similar to what we have seen in Redmi Note 9 4G which was launched in China last month. The Indian variant has an additional sensor, unlike the Chinese variant. The sensor will be a 2 MP depth sensor which will be replacing the AI logo in Chinese variant.
Specifications of Redmi 9 Power
As we know that the Redmi Note 9 Power will feature a quad-camera setup which will have 48 MP primary camera, 8 MP secondary camera, 2 MP tertiary camera, and 2 MP depth sensor. The front camera of Redmi Note 9 power is allegedly 8 MP and will be backed by 6000 mAh battery which we have recently seen in a lot of smartphones. The smartphone will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 662
It is also rumoured that the smartphone will have a fingerprint sensor mounted on the side of the smartphone. The phone will have 4 GB of RAM and offers 128 GB of inbuilt storage. It will be powered by Android 10 with custom MIUI 12 out of the box. The phone could come with 18W fast charging support through USB Type-C.


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Siphon, Wick Hill and Zycko, the three companies in Nuvias Group, a pan EMEA value distribution business, announced 2016 award wins.
Unified communications specialist Siphon, has been named the 24th fastest growing technology company in the UK, as part of Deloitte’s prestigious UK Technology Fast 50 rankings. Advanced networking specialist Zycko has won two channel awards from Lifesize, a global vendor of video conferencing technology. Zycko has been declared EMEA Distributor of the Year 2016 and EMEA Marketing Partner 2016.
Paul Eccleston, CEO of Nuvias, said: “These awards show a significant achievement for companies in the Group in 2016 and illustrate their commitment and ability to deliver excellence to channel partners. Although two of these awards are UK-based, the industry leading solutions and services that all companies in the Group provide are available to channel partners across EMEA.”
“In the last few months alone, for example, we have signed pan-EMEA contracts with Malwarebytes, Nokia and HID Global. The awards also justify the acquisition of all three companies into the Nuvias fold, as forward thinking organisations with a focus on innovation and technical excellence, as well as an ability to fulfil channel and vendor partner needs.”
Siphon, a unified communication solutions and technology integrator for the channel, has been named by Deloitte as the 24th fastest growing technology company in the UK. This is the second consecutive year that Siphon has been selected to be part of the prestigious Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50.
The Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 is a ranking of the UK’s 50 fastest growing technology companies. The rankings are all about growth and are a celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship. Rankings are based on percentage revenue growth over four-year period to May 2016, during which Siphon grew by 723%.
David Cobb, Lead Partner, Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 and Technology Fast 500 EMEA Programmes, commented: “Making the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 is a testament to a company’s commitment to technology. With its 723% growth rate over four years, Siphon has proven that its leadership has the vision and determination to grow in competitive conditions.”
Steve Harris, Managing Director of Siphon said: “It is an honour and privilege to find ourselves ranked once again in the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50. The high growth that this award acknowledges is indicative of the large and growing number of unified communications channel partners who look to us as their trusted technology partner across a wide range of cloud, Microsoft Skype for Business and, more recently, video and collaboration offerings.”
Wick Hill, a value-added distributor focussed on security, has many achievements in 2016.
- 34% increase in UK sales, with improved services to reseller and vendor partners
- Named one of London Stock Exchange’s 1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain
- Substantially improved sales for many vendors and resellers, one example was the phenomenal 93% sales increase for channel partner Rockford IT.
- Introduced a Partner Enablement Portal, bringing together various vendor contents and providing a comprehensive blend of marketing automation, rich content and effective reporting for channel partners. One reseller commented: With the help of the portal, sales have increased by an amazing 290% over the last year.
- 40th anniversary in the IT business
- New office in Vienna
- Exhibited at Infosecurity Europe, with vendor and reseller partners on the stand, generating in excess of £2.5 million worth of potential business
Zycko, an international specialist distributor of advanced networking solutions, has won Lifesize’s, EMEA Distributor of the Year 2016 and EMEA Marketing Partner 2016 awards.
David Galton-Fenzi, CCO of Nuvias and CEO of Zycko, said: “To be once again recognised by Lifesize for our commitment and quality-of-service to our channel partners inspires us to continue to innovate and develop a world class portfolio of services, delivered consistently across EMEA. The recognition we have received is a reflection not only of our success, but of our customers’ success and only goes to reinforce our teams’ true determination to making a difference.”
Craig Malloy, CEO at Lifesize, added: “Our partners bring tremendous value to Lifesize. We are proud to honour our long-term partner Zycko, a Nuvias group company, with these two awards to commend the consistent services and marketing quality Zycko provides to the reseller channel, and ultimately the exceptional momentum it has made in increasing workplace productivity to organisations of any size.”Click below to share this article


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Apple has discontinued the 2020 model of the iPhone SE. The smartphone is no longer available on Apple online store. Though it is still available on Flipkart. The development comes hours later Apple unveiled the third generation of iPhone SE at its first event of 2022.
The 2022 model of iPhone SE retains the same design and form factor as iPhone SE 2020. But it comes with multiple upgrades like 5G connectivity with the latest processor, software-based photography improvements to the camera and iOS 15. In terms of pricing, iPhone SE 2022 model is priced Rs 1,400 more than its predecessor. To recall, iPhone SE 2020 was priced at Rs 42,500 and the new model comes with a starting price of Rs 43,900. The move to discontinue the older model is not surprising and makes more sense than having two similar devices with largely similar prices compete against each other.
Compared to the 2020 model, the new iPhone SE comes powered by the faster A15 Bionic chipset. Apple iPhone SE 2020 was powered by A13 Bionic chipset. Also, the new iPhone SE comes with 5G support. It is the cheapest iPhone with 5G support so far.
iPhone SE 2022 also comes with improved battery life, which was not a known strength of the previous iPhone SE. The new phone also retains the TouchID integrated on the Home button. It also features an IP67 rating for water resistance, the same as the 2020 model.
The camera specs of the phone are also the same. The new iPhone SE is equipped with a single 12MP rear camera and a 7MP selfie camera. Thanks to the A15 Bionic processor, it comes with camera software improvements like Deep Fusion and HDR 4. Apple, however, has not added any new colour option for this year’s iPhone SE. It will be offered in midnight (black), starlight (white) and Product Red


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The Rogue One: A Star Wars Story prequel comics may be significantly delayed or might not be made at all. Read ahead for details.
A couple of months back C2E2, Marvel announced a comic book miniseries that will lead into Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The comic was intended give fans a first look at the group of rebel heroes before they banded together to hatch the plan of stealing the plans of the first Death Star. However, reports are circulating that the comic might not be happening after all.
Comicbook.com is reporting that the preorders of the series and its accompanying one-shot comic are now being cancelled. Amazon has been sending out notices explaining that preorders will no longer be fulfilled, indicating that the book has either been cancelled or postponed. The comic tie-in was to be part of a merchandising wave that was meant to initiate the countdown to the scheduled release of Rogue One in December.
So far, there hasn’t been an official announcement of a cancellation or delay from Marvel or Lucasfilm. We will update this article when we receive more information.
According to Bleedingcool.com, there was a reason why the Rogue One comic series was cancelled.
I’m told it’s all down to rewrites. Re-writes, reshoots, changes to the movie and no time of budget for a comic book creative team to keep reworking and reworking pages.
This is really curious. It makes you wonder just how much did the film change from the original John Knoll story.


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America’s Got Talent host will talk teen Internet safety at a congressional briefing on Wednesday.
A pending online privacy bill is set to get the star treatment. America's Got Talent host Nick Cannon is scheduled to discuss teen Internet safety at a congressional briefing on Wednesday.
Also present at the briefing will be co-sponsors of the Do Not Track Kids Act of 2011, Representatives Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Joe Barton of Texas. The two serve as co-chairs of the Bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus.
If passed, the Do Not Track Kids Act would prohibit operators of websites, or mobile or web apps aimed at children or minors from compiling or disclosing their personal data to third parties for targeted marketing purposes. It would also establish a Marketing Bill of Rights for Teens to ensure that site and app operators "do not subject minors to unfair and deceptive surveillance, data collection, or behavioral profiling."
The bill gives the FTC the ability to create regulations requiring site and app operators to provide clear and conspicuous explanation of the types of personal data they collect, how it is employed, and if it is disclosed to other parties. It also deals with location data, proposing that site and app operators cannot collect such data from children without parental consent.
At the briefing, Cannon will act as spokesperson for children's online security firm Safe Communications. The popular TV and radio host, who has over 3 million Twitter followers, could help raise awareness of the privacy legislation and related issues. Online privacy is a hot topic, especially after the White House joined with the ad industry's self-regulatory privacy coalition and Federal Trade Commission in February to plan for a browser-based do-not-track standard.
The congressional briefing is scheduled for Wednesday, March 7, 2012 in the Rayburn House Office Building, Washington D.C. American University professor Kathryn Montgomery is also expected to attend.
Kate Kaye was Managing Editor at ClickZ News until October 2012. As a daily reporter and editor for the original news source, she covered beats including digital political campaigns and government regulation of the online ad industry. Kate is the author of Campaign '08: A Turning Point for Digital Media, the only book focused on the paid digital media efforts of the 2008 presidential campaigns. Kate created ClickZ's Politics & Advocacy section, and is the primary contributor to the one-of-a-kind section. She began reporting on the interactive ad industry in 1999 and has spoken at several events and in interviews for television, radio, print, and digital media outlets. You can follow Kate on Twitter at @LowbrowKate.
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ONE can only hope that both the weather and market performance have not peaked too early.
Last weekend was of course fabulously warm and summer- like, but markets turned chillier by mid week, and not even record profits from BP or the announcement of a share buy-back from Shell could help restore sentiment.
Results have been thin on the ground with AGMs really taking centre stage (and thankfully containing few surprises).
The talk surrounding Shell's overstated oil reserves will continue but at least this week we could sit back and actually enjoy reading both Shell and BP's results.
BP's first quarter record profits came in at #2.64bn, up 17% (boosted by the sale of two Chinese oil companies), with sales for the same period up by 9% to #37.8bn. BP is looking to sell half its chemical business to focus on profitable areas of the business. A premier set of results with the group also stating that it is on track in terms of strategy, dividend growth and share buy-backs. Importantly, Lord Browne confirmed that "our reserves are solid". The share price, though, was left little changed.
Shell posted a 9% jump in profits and announced a #1bn share buy-back programme. Shell earned #2.3bn in the first quarter of this year which was at the top end of market expectations. Of course, it will take more than these figures to win back keen followers but the market did warm to the report and shortly after the results announcement, the shares rose by 2.4% to 396p.
On initial reading, it may have appeared that British American Tobacco has been left looking a little burnt out with cigarette sales falling by 23% in France and 6% in Germany following.
But BAT has been working hard and has picked up market share in low-tax countries such as Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain. First quarter profits actually rose by 9% thanks to increased sales in expensive brands.
Global performance was mixed but in 2004 we are looking for double-digit earnings growth and at 865p the shares look reasonably valued at 11.8 times earnings. Don't forget, BAT yields an impressive 4.8%.
It was also revealed this week by consultants Strategy Analytics that world sales of mobile phone handsets were up by 40% in the first quarter of the year to #153m helped by cheaper camera phones (somebody must be using them) and upgrades in the US, Korea and Europe.
This begs the question how Nokia of Finland will react, its market share having now fallen below 30%.
Car parts and bike retailer Halfords should announce next month its return to the stock market spearheaded by owner CVC Capital, which bought it from Boots less than two years ago. The issue could be valued at as much as #800m.
If they proceed Halfords, will be one of the biggest flotations this year. Private investors will not be able to buy a stake until the shares start trading in early June.
Always interested in statistics, I thought you might like to know that on average house prices yielded gains of around #100 per day in April according to Nationwide.
Now you're not likely to return that in the bank these days but there is always the stock market as an alternative investment!