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Hudson's Bay says Ottawa, Quebec aren't major markets for luxury retail
A man leaves the downtown Toronto flagship Hudson Bay Company store in Toronto, Jan. 27, 2014. (Nathan Denette / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Linda Nguyen, The Canadian Press
Published Friday, September 12, 2014 8:34AM EDT
Last Updated Friday, September 12, 2014 5:10PM EDT
TORONTO -- Hudson's Bay says it still sees most of its future growth coming from the high-end retail market even as one of its major competitors, Holt Renfrew, recently announced it was shuttering its stores in two Canadian cities.
Hudson's Bay, which also owns Home Outfitters and Lord & Taylor, is in the midst of preparations to bring the first two Saks Fifth Avenue stores to Canada in the spring of 2016. It also plans on opening the first Canadian store in the Saks' discount chain, Saks Fith Avenue Off 5th, around the same time.
CEO Richard Baker shrugged off news that Holt Renfrew has decided to close its stores in Ottawa and Quebec City in January 2015, adding that he doesn't see it as an indication of a shrinking appetite for luxury retail in the country.
"What happens in Toronto has nothing to do with Ottawa," he said in an interview Friday, following the company's latest earnings release.
"We don't plan on going to Ottawa, or Quebec City, because we don't consider those to be major luxury markets. But we certainly believe that a spectacular city like Toronto can more than handle two luxury department stores."
Baker said Hudson's Bay sees Holt Renfrew as a direct competitor to Saks Fifth Avenue, but doesn't see the upcoming arrival of U.S. retailer Nordstrom as much of a threat.
"We don't consider Nordstrom a luxury retailer, we consider Nordstrom a mid-tier retailer," he said. "We think that Saks and Holt will sit above Nordstrom."
Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc. is set to open its first store in the former Sears location at the Toronto Eaton Centre by the fall of 2016.
HBC said it will eventually bring a total of seven Saks Fifth Avenue stores and as many as 25 Saks Off 5th stores to Canada.
"I just believe that major Canadian cities have been underserved with luxury retail compared to peer cities throughout the United States and throughout the world," said Baker. "It's more typical in major markets throughout the world to have more than one or two luxury purveyors and in any given metro market."
The retailer said its sales jumped almost 87 per cent during its second quarter, helped largely by its acquisition of Saks in 2013 for $2.9 billion.
It reported that it cut its loss by nearly half to $36 million in the period, boosted by strong sales from Saks. That loss of amounted to 23 cents per diluted share from continuing operations, compared with a loss of $66 million or 55 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
Retail sales were $1.76 billion, an increase of $821 million, or 86.6 per cent, from $948 million for the previous year, primarily due to Saks.
Sales growth at Saks Fifth Avenue was led by menswear, gifts and accessories, while Saks Off 5th stores saw strong sales across the majority of its product categories.
Consolidated same-store sales, which refers to stores open for at least a year and a key metric in the retail industry, increased by 1.9 per cent on a local currency basis. Same-store sales at Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor grew by 1.1 per cent; Saks Fifth Avenue grew by 2.2 per cent and Saks Off 5th grew by 1.49 per cent.
Online sales, an area where Hudson's Bay has been concentrating efforts, were $162 million, including $116 million from Saks.
The retailer has been working to integrate its Home Outfitters business with the home business of its department store banner. The move has been touted as a way to drive efficiency and bring down costs.
Hudson's Bay has 90 locations, one outlet store and thebay.com. Lord & Taylor operates 49 full-line locations primarily in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic U.S., four Lord & Taylor outlet locations and lordandtaylor.com.
Saks Fifth Avenue has 39 U.S. stores, five international licensed stores and saks.com. Saks Off 5th sells value-priced merchandise through 78 U.S. stores and saksoff5th.com. Home Outfitters is Canada's largest kitchen, bed and bath specialty superstore with 69 locations.
HBC shook off early losses and closed up 20 cents at $17.87 Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.


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Quest Buys Cardlink From Alpha, Eurobank
- by XpatAthens
- Thursday, 19 February 2015
The Quest group has completed the acquisition of Cardlink SA from Alpha Bank and Eurobank, which split the price of 15 million euros that Quest subsidiary U-You Ltd paid out to buy 100 percent of Cardlink’s shares.
Cardlink is active in the banking sector, specializing in point-of-sales network services for electronic transactions with cards. It is one of the main suppliers of electronic transaction products and services involving shops and banks.
In 2013 Cardlink posted revenues of 8.8 million euros, 11 percent down from 2012, and losses of 1.4 million euros, against profits of 0.18 million euros in 2013. At end-2013 it employed 17 people.
To read more, please visit ekathimerini.com

domain: news


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“The state will vote on that resolution Thursday. Now if it passes dispensaries like this one in Ypsilanti tell me they’re worried they’re going to end up paying a lot more for product they once bought directly from caregivers.”
Owner of Sticky Ypsi Jake Abraham says all of his product now, is from caregivers — personal growers allowed 72 plants for up to 6 patients. Abraham buys their excess product.
If the state’s medical marijuana licensing board approves a resolution from LARA- the state’s regulatory arm, the excess product would first need to go to a licensed grower and processor to be state tested.
“I’ll have to overpay for my product and it will be about half the quality of what I’m getting now.”
According to the LARA, new testing requirements aim to keep patients safe.
This caregiver, who asked we not show his face, says if the new rule goes into effect… people like him will be pushed into the black market.
“It’s gonna up the value the product and make it cost way more money than it should because there’s gonna be three hands dipping in the pot.”
If the caregiver market, which right now is 44,000 strong, goes underground, some patients are worried about supply.
“The issue that we’ve kind of been running into in this state lately is just places closing down,” says medical marijuana patient Carmen Tubbs.
“They need to extend the deadline for legs dispensaries to buy from caregivers for at least another year and then revisit the situation to see where the state’s at.”
If the resolution is agreed to, the proposed changed would take effect April 1.


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AllGambling.com announces the launch of its website to be somewhere in the middle of
December 2020. With an aim to create a one-stop-shop for information and data for the gambling world, the brand’s objective is to do the basics better than their competition with truthful and honest information about the gambling world in general.
The new site is expected to provide reviews of literally hundreds of online gambling sites, casinos, and poker rooms, etc. In addition to comprehensive guides on how to play, users will also be able to find up-to-date information about exclusive bonuses and promotions currently running in the online gambling industry.
— We have done a lot of research and found that there is a gap of opportunity when it comes to transparency, correct, and unbias information when it comes to online gambling services and this is exactly what we want to tackle, stated the creators of the website.
With the recent boom in the industry, the global online gambling market is expected to reach USD 127.3 billion by 2027. With this humongous growth that is expected in the coming years in the online gambling industry, the market is expected to gain a lot of traction over the forecast period.
The growing popularity of betting across the globe and the freemium model in online gambling are among the potential opportunities likely to unfold in the next few years. But with so much happening in the online gambling industry, it is difficult to keep a regulatory check on the
information on the internet and earn the trust of the general public.
This is exactly why the owners of AllGambling.com want to create a personalized user-friendly journey often seen in other industries, with tailored advice and offers to the individual readers with nothing but true information and facts.
— There are industries out there that are a lot better than the gambling industry at personalizing their content and user-experience. We will do our best to be first with implementing these features among our competition.
Launched as a traditional review site
The website will be launched as a traditional gambling site with reviews of online casinos and
games, with comprehensive guides on how to play and win the right way. With amazing
information, the makers of the website have also focused greatly on its clean and attractive
design with awesome UX (User Experience).
— Mobile has been the favourite entertainment tool for some years now. This is quite visible when looking into data from the online casinos. Google is also prioritizing mobile-first, so for us, it is natural to build our product around the preference of common users.
AllGambling.com is set to provide awesome in-depth tutorials, comprehensive guides, and tips
for gambling amateurs and experts alike. Experienced online gamblers will also be able to take
advantage of the gaming tips especially geared towards them.
Wants to help the inexperienced
Considering the growing interest in online gambling paired with rather inexperienced players, people at AllGambling.com decided to spread their knowledge and make the website available in India.
— Compared to Europe, India is pretty new to online gambling. When working in the industry, all of us noticed the inexperience among many. This made us all agree that India was the country we could help guide most people, to begin with. – Founders of AllGambling.com
The team working on AllGambling.com has over 40 years of combined experience from working in and for online casinos, which has given them a lot of experiences to share with common people to make the most of their gambling skills.
— We do have a lot of experience from the industry. Everything from ownership, through content creation, all the way to customer support. We know what is real and what is simply just myths. Now we want to share that knowledge with the world.
AllGambling.com is highly anticipated amongst gambling lovers and they will be able to see the brand new website before the end of 2020.


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Dave Clark, Amazon's former worldwide consumer CEO, told a room full of more than 1,000 logistics experts and executives Tuesday that much of their labor could eventually be automated.
Kenya is taking steps to green up its transport sector as it seeks to reduce the emission of hazardous gases.
The Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) announced in April that it would soon re
– ZTO is one of the leading players in the intensely competitive Chinese logistics market. Despite standardization across the industry, ZTO boasts margins >2x the average of its peers.<
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EDGEWATER, MD — Attention to detail is everything at Harper's Waterfront Restaurant.
The new steak house and seafood eatery will offer eye-catching plate presentation, warm hospitality


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A new streaming service aims to capitalize on a growing trend of students who are enrolling in French language courses in the United States.
The France Channel quietly debuted earlier this month, offering hundreds of films and television programs at launch. Live international news is available to stream through a content partnership with France 24, the country's government-backed international news channel.
At the moment, the France Channel is supported only on Roku streaming devices, though streamers can also download the service on Apple and Android phones and tablets, then cast movies and TV shows using a Chromecast device. Support for other devices is coming down the road, according to the service's website.
"France Channel is the first 'Culturetainment; video streaming service where French culture and creation play the main role," a synopsis on the service's Roku listing says. "France Channel offers a unique 'Francetainment' experience: discover and explore France and the French lifestyle and learn French with French and English subtitles."
The launch of the France Channel adds to a growing list of streaming services that are sourcing and distributing content within a specific genre in order to cultivate an audience with niche interests.
Over the last few years, several of these services have popped up, offering anything from documentaries (Curiosity Stream, History Vault), horror films (Screambox, Shudder) and foreign programs (Britbox, Acorn TV).
While much of the attention in the so-called "streaming wars" is focused on attempts by Amazon, Apple, Disney and others to take on Netflix, some industry experts say there is plenty of space for smaller streaming services to co-exist with the giants in the room.
"There's 120 million [television] households in the U.S. alone, and everybody has different streaming interest," Jason Cohen, a former financial analyst and portfolio manager who later co-founded the streaming app marketplace MyBundle.tv, said in a phone interview. "There's room for all of these little streaming services to have 50,000 or 100,000 or 200,000 customers and still be successful."
Some of those hyperfocused streaming services are drawing even bigger numbers: Britbox, a service launched through a joint venture between BBC Studios and ITV, has more than 1 million subscribers in North America, according to figures released by the company early last year. The company's success in North America convinced it to launch in the United Kingdom, where it grabbed another 500,000 subscribers.
Shudder, a streaming service launched by AMC Networks, found a similar measure of success with its catalog of horror movies and TV shows. Last year, AMC said Shudder had more than 1 million subscribers, becoming the second AMC-operated streaming service to reach that milestone (the company also operates Acorn TV, a Britbox competitor, which reached 1 million subscribers in late 2019).
But those streaming services are backed by big-name media companies with the financial resources to market their startup products — something smaller streaming services, particularly those launched by independent media companies, may not have.
"For the smaller streaming services, that's a challenge," Cohen said. "How do they tell customers that they exist? How do they play in pools where people hang out?"
One idea floated by Cohen is to start an affiliate program, where bloggers are given a commission when they promote a streaming service. The idea has caught on with media companies as they seek coverage on marketing blogs that offer pseudo-editorial content designed to help cord-cutters ditch cable and satellite services for cheaper, streaming-only options.
Cohen's MyBundle.tv is another approach at distribution: The interactive service allows consumers to choose the kinds of live television channels they want to receive online, then points them to a handful of options collated from more than 100 vMVPD, SVOD and AVOD services. Obvious options like YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are suggested, but so are lesser-known products like Willow, a streaming service that offers cricket matches, and one called True Royalty, which offers programs on royal families from different countries.
France Channel's marketing strategy
Rather than send out a press release or launch an affiliate program, the France Channel went in a different direction. Just prior to its launch, the company's founder and CEO Julien Verley agreed to a handful of interviews with news outlets that target Francophones and the French community in the United States. (Despite several attempts, no one at the France Channel agreed to an interview; in a social media message, Verley said they were busy with the launch of the service).
"Today, the U.S. market shows an unmatched appetite for foreign content in general," Verley told Merci SF, a website that targets French speakers in San Francisco. "French is the second-most taught language in the U.S.A., [and] it was time to propose a 100% French offer that responds to this trend."
The France Channel is also slated to launch on Struum, a streaming television aggregator backed by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner that gives customers an allotment of credits to spend on individual movies and TV shows from more than 30 independent streaming partners. The France Channel's website says it expects to offer its content through Struum later this year.


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Every year, small businesses across the U.S. band together for what is known as Small Business Saturday. The day is typically held on the last Saturday of November as a way of encouraging people to shop locally during the holiday season. If you have never participated as a customer before, there is a great reason to make 2020 the first of many years of participation: coronavirus.
They told us back in March that shutdowns would only last a couple of weeks. It was months before local boutiques and mom-and-pop store started reopening. But now, with winter on the doorstep, states and local governments are talking shutdowns once again. Small boutiques and family-owned businesses cannot afford a repeat of spring.
Local Is Their Lifeblood
Nothing against Amazon, but it has suffered very little as a result of the coronavirus crisis. If anything, Amazon’s volume and profits have soared thanks to people being told to stay home. Smaller stores, like The Stockist clothing boutique in Salt Lake City, Utah, have struggled without foot traffic.
Some local boutiques and family-owned businesses also sell online. But they still rely on locals coming in the door. In fact, almost all smaller local shops consider foot traffic their lifeblood. Without local residents, their businesses will not survive. That’s why it is more important than ever to shop locally this year.
Every downtown boutique represents a business owner who has poured everything into the store. Every family-owned retail outlet employs people who have nowhere else to go. They have families to support and bills to pay. Amazon stockholders will not be there to help them make ends meet when their paychecks stop coming.
Local Is the Right Thing to Do
It is hard to dispute that shopping online is easy and convenient. Open up your computer or grab your phone and, with just a couple of clicks or taps, you can fill your shopping cart and checkout. Everything you order will be delivered right to your door. How can you beat that?
On the other hand, shopping locally is the right thing to do. Why? Because local stores employ local people and pay local taxes. Many local businesses, completely unknown to residents, contribute to worthy causes like soup kitchens, Toys for Tots collections, kids’ charities, and so on. They are the ones who sponsor Little League teams and make annual summer festivals work.
If coronavirus shutdowns manage to kill off a large percentage of local boutiques and shops, the communities that once supported them will suffer. The resulting lower tax base will mean higher taxes for homeowners. Fewer jobs will mean more people on unemployment. It is a cycle we have seen repeat time and again.
Support Local Businesses
It is important to support local businesses now more than ever. Look, there’s nothing wrong with corporate America in terms of shopping convenience and great retail prices. The biggest of America’s corporations, even if they suffer from coronavirus shutdowns, have the resources to survive. They will make it one way or another. Local small businesses may not.
Small Business Saturday is the one day every year that we shine a spotlight on local boutiques and shops. Maybe we need to expand it to a year-round enterprise. For the sake of local business owners and your own community, support them this holiday season.
Invest in your local community by supporting the small businesses that make it work. Help them survive so that companies like Amazon do not become the only game in town. By spending your money with them, you are investing in the foundation of American business.


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Most of the analysts and press put this slump down to a saturated market, with phones lasting longer, and as the New York Times said, “the lack of another hot product to pry open the wallets of customers.”
It is definitely true that new functionality has been thin on the ground for the smartphone and tablet market, but this could be about to change and new connectivity standards - particularly 802.11ad Wi-Fi (aka WiGig) - will be playing a key role in this.
With nine generations of iPhone (and six of iPad) and looking back at the first few, what drove the success was simple: the first iPhone gave access to the web via a proper browser (not a terrible WAP interface) for the first time. The iPhone 3G added a fast web connection while on the go. The iPad made it easier to view video and read content. As it continued, people demanded ever-better screen resolutions, cameras and processors. In short, media is what has driven sales and the demand is definitely still there.
The proof of this comes from Google Trends - a service that allows you to analyse how the popularity of a search term changes over time - with records dating back to 2004. In this case, just look at the change for 4K TV and HDTV.
Google Trends data for 4K TV (blue) vs HDTV (red) search volumes - March 2011 to March 2016
People want better quality and 4K TV has finally overtaken HDTV in terms of the public’s mindshare. And this is not just of interest for TV. Strategy Analytics predicts ( February 2016 ) that over 1.5 billion smartphones will have shipped with 4K capability by 2020.
We know that people will want to access this very high resolution content via their smart phones, not just to watch while on the move, but because they’ll also be able to use the devices’ on-board storage as video libraries for renting films and streaming them to the big TV.
Video is once again the killer app and connectivity - especially WiGig - will once again be an essential enabling technology
Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and Google have repeatedly shown that people want to access higher resolutions, indeed Netflix now shoots the vast majority of its own content at 4K. Even phones - such as the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium - are beginning to be shipped with 4K displays. And according to TechRadar, Apple didn’t announce it, but the iPhone 6 can play 4K videos .
The problem is that accessing content from the phone is hard. You certainly wouldn’t get many 4G data packages that allowed you to stream a 4K UHD film - roughly 60 GB of data. And even if you download it over wired, rather than mobile internet, there are complications.
Netflix, which has been streaming content at 4K since February 2014, says it can deliver it over a stable download speed of 15.6 Mbps; but the firm’s chief exec’s statement saying those with a 50Mbps connection would be “fine” suggests this will fluctuate


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The upgrade means Morgan customers will be able to choose from over 100,000 colour variants from the Glasurit Color Profi system, which include solid, mettaclic, xirallic and pearl finishes. Two Junair spray booths have been built in order to cater for the application of new finishing techniques. All Morgan cars will use Glasurit’s paint, which is covered by a lifetime paint warranty.
Morgan upgrades paint technology
15/01/2007 in Latest News


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Consumer watchdog Which? has named the winners and runners-up of its 2014 Awards.
Which? said its teams of experts chose the best brands of the last 12 months, across 11 categories including retailers and home appliances, ‘that consistently delivered excellent-quality products and customer service’. Brand innovation and value for money were also key factors.
Which? tests more than 2,500 products every year and assesses services by asking tens of thousands of customers to rate them, and by carrying out its own undercover investigations into the quality of advice given. It awards Best Buy or Which? Recommended Provider endorsements to the products and services that achieve the highest results in its comparative testing and analysis. The teams of Which? researchers use these results to help shortlist the best-performing companies in each category.
John Lewis was voted Best Retailer. “There’s not much that doesn’t impress us about John Lewis, part of the John
Lewis Partnership, which also includes Waitrose,” Which? said. “It just keeps getting better according to its customers, with its customer score improving by 5% compared with last year’s high street
shops survey results.” Which? added that the number of Which? Recommended Provider awards it has
earned this year is unmatched among retailers; and it’s been voted the best in 10 of the 13 shopping categories it appears in, performing better than specialist retailers in some areas. Also shortlisted for this award was Lakeland, Lush, Richer Sounds and Screwfix.
Cosmetics chain Lush won the award for best customer service. It recently took the number one spot in the 2014 Which? high street shops survey, and was voted top in the Which? Awards 2014 for its ‘five-star rated customer service; for having knowledgeable and helpful
staff, and for making customers feel valued’. Also shortlisted was First Direct, RAC, Trailfinders, Ecotricity and Utility Warehouse.
Waitrose was named best supermarket, for performing consistently highly for its store and online offerings. “Waitrose continues to be rated an excellent supermarket by shoppers, both in-store and online,” Which? said. “No other supermarket matches its five-star rating for in-store customer service. It gets top marks for quality of produce in-store, too.” Also shortlisted was Aldi, Ocado, Marks & Spencer and Lidl. Ocado was rated as the best supermarket for online shopping.
The best home appliance brand accolade was scooped by Bosch, which has won this award four years in a row. “It’s the king of the kitchen appliances, “ Which? said. “It also makes the quietest vac we’ve ever tested.” In this category, the performance of appliances such as washing machines, tumble dryers, fridge freezers, dishwashers, cookers and ovens were assessed. Bosch, along with Miele, dominates with the most Best Buys currently being sold in UK shops – Bosch has 35 in total. It also has the highest number of Great Value and Energy Saver models compared with any other brand tested by Which? Also shortlisted was AEG, Miele, Neff and Siemens.


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Marvel Games isn’t forcing its developers to tie their video games into existing Marvel Cinematic Universe storylines. This might sound weird, given how interconnected the MCU has been over the past decade, but it’s actually a blessing in disguise.
Marvel Games creative director Bill Rosemann told IGN at DICE 2017 that the teams behind Marvel’s upcoming video game releases were granted the freedom to come up with their own storylines, and they won’t have to match release dates with upcoming films. These include: Spider-Man for PS4, Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, and The Avengers project from Square Enix.
“It’s a bit like we’re saying, ‘Hey you’re the chef, you’re going to make this meal. Here’s all of the ingredients. You pick the ingredients that you like and make a new meal,’” Rosemann said. “We want all of our games to tell an original, all new story.”
This is not an accident. Even though the MCU has been, on average, more successful than the DCEU, Marvel has largely sucked in the video games department. Many of their movie tie-in games were critical and commercial flops, like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (based on the Sony film) or Thor: God of Thunder. Even when they got the original voice cast, like with 2008's Iron Man video game, the games failed to impress.
It’s partially why in 2014, Marvel Games pressed the pause button on the entire video games division, refusing to renew long-standing licenses for Activision and Capcom. They pulled several titles from Steam, including a Deadpool game that had only been out for six months (it was later reissued after the film’s success). They also refused to make console or PC games for some of their most successful franchises, including The Avengers, whose first-person game had been cancelled two years prior. Since then, it’s been mostly mobile games, along with the occasional Lego release and Disney Infinity, which was cancelled late last year.
Marvel’s games may have struggled, but DC’s thrived. DC has had some of the most successful superhero games in recent memory, including the Batman: Arkham series and Injustice: Gods Among Us, whose anticipated sequel comes out in May. That’s because Warner Bros., which took over DC video game production in 2009, gave developers more freedom to come up with their own interpretations of the comic book characters. It’s clear Marvel took inspiration from DC’s success, and pressed the reset button on their entire video game enterprise so they could start fresh. In fact, Jay Ong, Marvel’s vice president of games, told Polygon in 2016 that they were ushering in a “new era for Marvel Games.” In doing so, Marvel made the right choice.
Players have shown time and time again that they don’t want a simple recreation of a movie they’ve already seen. They want to see their favorite heroes in unique yet identifiable situations they can’t get anywhere else... including at the box office. It’s why Marvel’s shows on Netflix have been doing so well: They’re darker and more ethically complex than their cinematic counterparts, showing fans a different angle of something familiar. Only time will tell whether Marvel Games’ gamble will pay off (Telltale’s Guardians game will be the first test, coming out sometime this year). But hey, at least they’re taking the risk.


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Dun & Bradstreet, a provider of business decisioning data and analytics, has expanded its ESG Rankings coverage from 42 million to 75 million.
The firm said this expansion reflects a recent update regarding the materiality weighting assigned to the company’s ESG Rankings to better align with the Sustainability Accounting Board Standards (SASB).
SASB Standards are designed to help companies around the world communicate to investors how sustainability issues are driving long-term growth and promote transparency and accountability in corporate sustainability reporting.
Dun & Bradstreet said its ESG Rankings help companies strengthen their ESG goals, manage supply chain disruption risks, and perform marketing segmentation.
Some current Dun & Bradstreet ESG customers will see an increase in the coverage of their portfolios, with approximately 68% of evaluated companies seeing their rankings change on the ESG levels.
Dun & Bradstreet chief data and analytics officer Gary Kotovets said, “This expansion increases the depth and breadth of our ESG data coverage, and further strengthens Dun & Bradstreet’s position in the ESG space as organizations seek to make sustainable decisions with confidence.”
Workiva, a cloud platform for assured integrated reporting, has integrated disclosure system CDP into its platform.
CDP is widely regarded as the leading disclosure system for measuring envirionmental impacts.
According to Workiva, this latest innovation leverages its ESG Program and ESG Explorer to streamline customer responses to CDP questionnaires, empowering companies to manage their sustainability data more efficiently and effectively, and drive positive environmental impact and business outcomes.
Keep up with all the latest FinTech news here
Copyright © 2023 FinTech Global


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• Shyam Nagarajan, executive partner at IBM consulting, believes that CBDCs are the future of money.
• He suggests that issuers of CBDCs should consider a hybrid model of permissioned and permissionless currency.
• Nagarajan was speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual conference in Davos, Switzerland.
At the World Economic Forum’s annual conference in Davos, Switzerland, Shyam Nagarajan, executive partner at IBM Consulting, discussed the future of enterprise blockchain, CBDCs, and Web3. He suggested that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have the potential to change payment systems and that issuers of CBDCs should consider a hybrid model of permissioned and permissionless currency.
Nagarajan has been a part of IBM for over a decade and is an expert in blockchain, Web3.0, and sustainability. He believes that CBDCs will replace the current digital currency system and noted that the current system has a few issues that need to be addressed.
The current financial system has a lack of interoperability, he said, which prevents users from being able to move their money between different systems. He added that this lack of interoperability can lead to higher costs for users, and that a CBDC-based system would be more efficient and cost-effective.
Nagarajan also noted that the current system is slow and inefficient when it comes to transferring money. He said that a CBDC-based system would be much faster and more efficient, as transactions could be processed in seconds instead of days.
In addition to these benefits, a CBDC-based system would also be more secure, he said. He noted that CBDCs would be issued directly from the central bank, which would ensure that transactions are secure and that users’ funds are safe.
Nagarajan also discussed IBM’s sustainability efforts and his insights into discontinuing blockchain-enabled shipping solution TradeLens. He believes that TradeLens was a successful venture and that the discontinuation of the program is due to the fact that it was not cost-effective for IBM to continue to operate it.
Overall, Nagarajan’s viewpoint on CBDCs is that they offer a more efficient and secure payment system that has the potential to revolutionize the financial system. He believes that issuers should consider a hybrid model of permissioned and permissionless currency in order to maximize the benefits of CBDCs. With IBM’s sustainability efforts and insights into discontinuing blockchain-enabled shipping solution TradeLens, Nagarajan is working to help shape the future of enterprise blockchain and CBDCs.


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Honda might be headquartered outside the United States, but your local Detroit dealership can still provide a huge range of American made cars. Even as rival manufacturers start turning their backs on sedans and other small car models, Honda’s U.S. presence remains exceptionally strong, with:
Ford has just made headlines by announcing a halt on the production of Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, and Taurus models, which would eliminate close to 90% of their North American car lineup by 2020. Though we’re not yet certain how that will affect jobs in the U.S., we do know Ford has started cutting thousands of jobs across Europe and are thinking about closing their factories as well. General Motors has followed suit by making substantial layoffs and shutting down 5 U.S. facilities – they’re also losing the Chevrolet Cruze, Chevrolet Impala, Chevrolet Volt, Cadillac CT6, Cadillac XTS, and Buick LaCrosse.
On the other hand, Honda is showing no signs of slowing down car production at the U.S. plants that manufactured close to two-thirds of Honda and Acura models sold in the America during 2018. Just in case you’re curious, 2018 U.S. production totals include:
Honda has always pushed itself to support the U.S. economy. In 1985 and 1989 respectively, Honda became the first Japanese automaker to build engines and transmissions in America. They also became the first to export U.S.-built cars to overseas markets in 1987 and have exported a staggering 1.3 million automobiles from America since that time.
Today, they have 12 manufacturing plants spread across the U.S. working to create Acura and Honda vehicles, plus transmissions, engines, and other components. They even make aircraft and aircraft engines, power equipment, and powersports products.
Honda’s Ohio facilities are found in Marysville, Anna, and East Liberty. They’re responsible for producing the Honda Accord, Accord Hybrid, CR-V, and various Acura models, plus a wide range of engine types.
Honda’s 10-speed automatic transmission is exclusively produced by Honda Precision Parts of Georgia.
The ultra-efficient Honda Insight Hybrid comes from Indiana, where Honda is further increasing investment in the U.S. production of electrified vehicles.
The all-new 2019 Honda Passport just became the 8th Honda light truck to be developed and built here in the U.S. when it became part of the Alabama production roster.
The Honda Aircraft Company’s worldwide headquarters is located in Greensboro while aircraft engines are built by Honda Aero in Burlington.
Honda opened its first American plant in Marysville, Ohio back in 1979. Today, 12 other manufacturing plants across the United States have helped build 26.1 million cars and light trucks in the U.S. since 1982.
The first Honda U.S. business operation was a simple storefront in Los Angeles. That was back in 1959, and they’ve continued investing in the U.S. for over six decades to foster a longstanding commitment to building cars closer to the consumer.
New investments in U.S. operations have reached $5.6 billion in the last five years, and further standout points include:
In fact, Honda has the longest U.S. manufacturing presence of any international automaker.
Honda doesn’t just invest directly in the U.S. economy. They’re always looking for ways to invest in communities all across America. The American Honda Foundation has existed since 1984 to award grants to community organizations that have served over 118 million Americans.


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Chinazor Megbolu |
The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) has threatened to sanction any shipping company that fails to ensure all shipping documents carry NXP number.
The directive, given by the Federal Government,was to audit shipping companies and keep a tab on all exports.
Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, at a virtual meeting with the shippers, shipping companies and Nigerian Shippers’ Council, expressed Government displeasure over non-compliance of shipping companies with the directive.
However,the Nigeria Shippers’Council (NSC) has said it will partner with other government agencies towards making shipping firms in the country comply with the Nigerian Export Proceeds (NXP) numbers as directed by the Federal Government.
In a statement signed and issued on Wednesday by the Head, Public Relations, NSC, Ms. Rakiya Zubairu, the agency said the action became necessary due to failure by the shipping lines to comply with the directive.
The statement noted that the issue was the focus of discussions during a recent meeting organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
It also added the directive was to ensure that all shipping documents carry the NXP number, which they discovered that several shipping firms were not complying with which will henceforth attract strict sanction.
During the virtual meeting, Emefiele noted that they were going to set up an auto system, where if someone wants to send cargo, copies of the NXP form will be sent directly to the person.
“So that if you don’t have it on line on your system that the NXP has been registered, you turn back that cargo. You cannot accept any number and use it as a basis for shipping”.
“We are not going to allow that. That is not acceptable. If you don’t see NXP Forms, that cargo should be turned back,” Emefiele said.
The CBN Governor used the virtual meeting as an opportunity to enquire as to why the shipping companies were not complying with the federal government directive regarding the NXP..
Meanwhile, the Managing Director, MSC Nigeria Limited, Mr. Andrew Lynch in his reaction, said his company received NXP forms on all major agro commodities like cashew, cocoa and sesame, but not for commodities like charcoal and timber.
“We found out that these items do not have NXP forms after they have already arrived at the port and once cargo gets to the port and has gotten clearance from the Nigerian Customs Services (NCS), there is pressure, due to space constraints at the port, to ship immediately,” he said.
Lynch buttressed further that one of the challenges also faced was in their inability to verify the authenticity of an NXP Form.
Moreover, the Managing Director, Grimaldi Nigeria Limited, Mr. Ascanio Russo in his submission noted that in addition to not being able to verify the authenticity of the NXP Form, his organisation was unable to access CBN online portal.
However, the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, NSC, Barrister Hassan Bello noted the agency is in partnership with the CBN and has carried out three awareness creation meetings in Lagos State and Port Harcourt, Rivers State towards educating the shipping companies and exporters on the need to implement the directive on the NXP.
He explained that the NSC would work with other agencies of government to ensure shipping firms comply with the NXP directive in full.
© 2020, maritimemag. All rights reserved.


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BSCI 2021 following up audit was carried out on Mar.3,2021 in our factory. After a busy day of factory inspection, Yuancheng Auto Manufacturer Co., Ltd. passed the audit one more time.SGS issued the new copy of BSCI 2021 to us. And this is the 10th year we have passed the BSCI audit.
BSCI factory inspection refers to the BSCI (Business Social Compliance Initiative) , which is a Social responsibility audit conducted by the Business community Compliance organization (BSCI) on the global suppliers of BSCI members; These include compliance with the law, freedom of Association and Collective Agreement, Prohibition of Discrimination, compensation, working hours, Workplace Safety, prohibition of Child Labour, prohibition of forced Labour, environment and safety. BSCI currently has more than 180 members from 11 countries, most of them European retailers and buyers, who will actively push their suppliers around the world to accept BSCI to improve their human rights.
Post time: Mar-15-2021


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Rental cars companies are scrambling to meet the spiking demand for vehicles in the wake of superstorm Sandy, which damaged scores of cars on Long Island.
Residents needing temporary replacement vehicles are swamping rental car companies. And the businesses are having a hard time filling the need.
"Demand is at an all-time high for our 50 Long Island branch offices," said Laura Bryant, a spokeswoman for Clayton-Mo.-based Enterprise Holdings.
The upshot is wait times of as much as a month at some car companies and waiting lists with as many as 250 names. And some offices are restricting rentals to customers of insurance companies.
The rental companies' corporate offices declined to provide data on local car rentals because they said they haven't yet compiled such statistics. Employees at local offices provided information but declined to give their names.
The Hicksville Enterprise office said it had a waiting list of 250 and that it was focusing on people affected by superstorm Sandy and Wednesday's nor'easter. The Huntington location said its demand for cars has jumped to about 250 a week, from the typical 200. And it has 55 people on a waiting list. For now, it is renting to insurance customers only.
"We gave everyone who lost a vehicle priority," a manager said.
The Hertz Corp. location in Huntington Station has "hundreds" of people on a waiting list but the person answering the phone declined to elaborate. The Hicksville location said the wait time ranged from two weeks to a month.
A woman answering the phone Thursday at the Hempstead location of Avis Budget Group said the business had received "a few extra cars," and was calling people on the waiting list. But, she said, "Tomorrow is another story."


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Local restaurants struggle with staffing shortage amid pandemic
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Throughout the pandemic, many of Chattanooga’s local restaurants have struggled to get by.
And now, nearly eleven months in, things are just as tough as ever.
With indoor dining restrictions and many reliant on takeout and delivery, many business owners have said that it’s been difficult to stay afloat.
Elizabeth St. Clair of Charlie’s Barbecue and Bakery says that finding enough employees to work has been a daunting task for not just her business, but the industry as a whole.
“For a long period of time we were only Wednesday through Saturday and that was because we could find anyway to open on Tuesdays. We’re very fortunate now to have a full staff but we may set up twenty interviews and have one person show up. It’s not just us, it’s the whole industry in general,” says St. Clair.
She says that she had to open up indoor dining, since just relying on takeout simply wasn’t cutting it.
“We weren’t going to make it if we didn’t open up inside and do something with the patio and only car hop, it just wasn’t paying the bills,” she says.
Eve Williams, the owner of Mojo Burrito, says that she hopes customers can show compassion for local restaurants, saying that it’s been a learning process to adapt.
“People might be doing something completely different than they’ve ever done. Restaurants can be subject to their operating systems they use, to the Internet, to technology, which is basically how all of this is happening for most restaurants. So they’ve never been in the restaurant business, they don’t realize how many aspects of technology can really interfere and mess things up. That’s troublesome,” says Williams.
Above all else, Williams is grateful that she’s still in business, saying that many others haven’t been so lucky.
“I have dear friends who have shuttered their doors. I see people who have been long standing in this community that I’m just like oh my gosh, you know, it’s terrible.”


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Ninety-four multinational companies recently participated in A.T. Kearney's global survey of indirect procurement, and the results suggest that unfortunately, many firms remain resistant to updating analytics techniques.
Specifically, the data showed that even though indirect procurement categories like IT, marketing and advertising, facilities management, MRO, Logistics and professional services, have become increasingly important to Chief Procurement Officers and their organizations, most companies are adopting new practices at a much slower rate than analysts expected.
For example, A.T. Kearney found that:
Despite the fact that indirect spending accounts for 60 percent of third-party spend in non-manufacturing companies, up to 50 percent of spend in manufacturing organizations and more than 90 percent in the financial services industry, indirect procurement groups are too often analyzing data to track historical trends. They are not using advanced data analytics techniques such as predictive modeling to deliver highly useful future insights.
More than two-thirds of respondents measure such financial and internal key performance indicators such as addressable spend, identified savings and addressable categories. But less than half of the respondents track compliance management metrics such as spend integrity or accuracy and supplier commitments, scorecards and reviews.
Outsourcing of procurement has shifted focus from business process outsourcing to close collaboration with managed service providers for specific spend categories like facility management, fleet and travel.
I wasn't at all surprised to learn that the most successful indirect procurement organizational model uncovered in the survey was a central-led organization with collaboration across business units. Users of this model achieved savings greater than 10 percent over the last two years in 47 percent of categories.
"We conducted the first Indirect Procurement Study in 2007 and there were high expectations among the respondents for the adoption of advanced practices like outsourcing of indirect procurement, advanced data analytics and benefits tracking. The 2010 study shows that the adoption of these advanced techniques have taken place at a much slower rate than anticipated," says Jan Fokke van den Bosch, A.T. Kearney Procurement and Analytic Solutions vice president and study co-leader.
Other recent research has revealed that automating AP processes can result in significant cost savings while reducing errors and mitigating certain risks. Procurement is no different. The automated risk management systems now available enhance data integration and provide real-time information updates that can reduce inefficiencies, improve decision-making and help develop the business dexterity needed to compete in today's complicated global business environment.


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Rolloffs Hawaii to be sold at auction
A major Hawaii commercial refuse and recycling firm will be sold at a court auction early next year.
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A major Hawaii commercial refuse and recycling firm that has been struggling financially will be sold at a court auction early next year in an effort to keep the business running.
Rolloffs Hawaii LLC is scheduled to be sold Jan. 4 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Honolulu, and already two competing local trash hauling companies have committed to bid.
Rolloffs sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday under the weight of about $9 million in debt.
As part of preparing the Chapter 11 case, the company lined up a purchase offer from West Oahu Aggregates for $5 million. Another firm, Honolulu Disposal Service, has since committed to pay $5.2 million for the struggling company. The auction will allow the two competing firms, and others if interested, to keep bidding in $30,000 increments until a high bid is reached.
“It should be interesting,” said Jerrold Guben, a local bankruptcy attorney representing Rolloffs. “It’s a fast-moving Chapter 11.”
As it is now, Rolloffs is operating normally under court protection from creditors that include the City and County of Honolulu, which claims it is owed
$2.9 million for waste dumped at city facilities.
Rolloffs, which has served Hawaii for more than 40 years and is recognizable by its red trucks and bins, has contracts with a variety of large companies including Outrigger Hotels, Foodland Super Market, McDonald’s, Chevron and a contractor at Ala Moana Center. The refuse company had revenue of $29 million in 2015.
Guben said he didn’t have information about how Rolloffs got into financial trouble, but the company owes American Savings Bank $6.5 million.
The bank, which has a claim on Rolloffs assets securing its debt and is entitled to be paid back before other creditors, agreed to selling the company’s assets and will allow some of the sale proceeds to at least partially repay junior creditors, Guben said. How much other creditors receive will depend on the sale price.
The city is the largest creditor after the bank. The next largest creditors are Garlow Petroleum Inc., owed $205,870; Pyramid Insurance, owed $90,639; and PVT Land Co., owed $67,150.
Rolloffs has 83 employees and about 70 vehicles, according to the bankruptcy filing.
The company is an affiliate of Trashmasters LLC, which was formed in 2009 and is a holding of California-based private equity fund Corridor Capital LLC. Trashmasters was formed to acquire and improve underperforming businesses. Corridor CEO Craig Enenstein, who signed the bankruptcy petition for Rolloffs, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.


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Commercial and defense vehicle maker Ashok Leyland has reported a 9 percent on year growth in January sales at 19,741 units, driven by M&HCV trucks and LCV segments.
The company sold 18,100 vehicles during the same month last year.
Medium & heavy commercial vehicle sales, which majorly contributes to total sales, increased by 8 percent to 14,694 units YoY including trucks growth of 9 percent and bus 1 percent YoY.
Ashok Leyland sold 5,047 units under the light commercial vehicle segment, higher by 13 percent against 4,458 units in January 2018.
Also read: Top 5 most powerful trucks in India.


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The Municipality emergency team carried out field tours on the shops, supermarkets and cooperative societies in Qibla, Shuwaikh Industrial and Bneid Al-Qar, which resulted in the administrative closure of 7 shops and the liberation of 7 violations.
The tours came to ensure that the stores excluded from the commitment to the municipal decisions and circulars issued in implementation of the esteemed cabinet and health ministry’s decision to take precautionary and preventive measures to avoid the spread of the new Corona virus.
The head of the emergency team, Zaid Al-Enazi, confirmed that 50 incoming reports were dealt with through the team’s hotline by the inspectors, Nubia C.
Al-Enezi explained that the team’s inspectors closed 142 stores and edited 142 violations according to the decisions and circulars of the municipality during the period from March 3 to April 24.
The Public Relations Department in the Kuwait Municipality invited everyone in the event of any complaint related to the municipality, sent via WhatsApp 2472773


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One Virginia man decided to bring his idea for an invention to fruition—and there's never been a better time for the device.
Mark Apelt, 44, has created something that allows birthday candles to be blown out without the flying spittle. The University of Virginia graduate said that he was inspired to come up with the idea while at a child's birthday party before the pandemic hit.
"We were at a kid's birthday party with some friends and the sun was coming through the window at just the right angle so that you could see all of the droplets fly through the air and all over the cake when the kid blew out the candles," Apelt said.
Apelt recalled chatting with other parents and wondering aloud whether or not there was a product that had been designed to prevent spit from getting on the cake during the candle-blowing tradition.
Apelt subsequently designed the Blowzee, a device that allows children to still blow out candles, but the air that is expelled from the device is not from their lungs.
"There's a little electric sensor in there, so when you blow into it, you're activating the sensor, and it switches on the fan, and that creates enough clean airflow to blow out the candle. Meanwhile, the air you blow circles around and comes back toward you," Apelt explained.
He is now selling the hit invention online.


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Brand Loyalty Challenged by Shortages & Inflation, Reports WSJ
New York, NY, March 30, 2022-U.S. shoppers are buying what they can find-and afford, reports the Wall Street Journal.
“Well-known brand names and flashy ad campaigns are no longer enough to command U.S. consumers’ loyalty in grocery stores, retail executives said. As inflation spreads and stretched supply chains leave gaps on shelves, shoppers are becoming increasingly fickle, with availability and price determining what goes into their shopping carts.
“Shoppers’ new willingness to switch brands could shift the balances of power inside grocery stores. Big food companies like Kraft Heinz Co. and Kellogg Co. risk losing market share to competitors and store brands that are more readily able to fill in empty spots in store aisles, industry executives said. Supermarket operators, while grappling with shortages, said the situation is giving them more leverage with major brands and flexibility to test newer, often lower-cost products.
“‘We are seeing people make more choices on items because they are available,’ said Tony Sarsam, chief executive officer of grocery chain SpartanNash Co. In the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company’s supermarket aisles, Mr. Sarsam said, Tropicana orange juice lost share to Coca-Cola Co.’s Simply Orange in recent months, which has been easier for SpartanNash to stock, while Tyson Foods Inc. similarly lost share in frozen breaded chicken to Conagra Brands Inc.’s Banquet meals.
“Mr. Sarsam said he and his team now are examining the variety of groceries the company sells, recently trimming the number of items it offers in cookie, cracker and salty snack sections in response to some brands’ inability to meet demand and slower sales. SpartanNash is sometimes giving more shelf space to local brands, which are better able to keep products in stock.
Tyson said it is working hard to meet high demand for its products. Coca-Cola, Conagra and private-equity firm PAI Partners, which owns Tropicana, declined to comment.
“About 70% of U.S. shoppers said they had purchased a new or different brand than they had pre-pandemic, according to a survey conducted from May 2020 to August 2021 by private-label consulting company Daymon Worldwide Inc.
“As consumers try less familiar names, brand loyalty for companies with supply challenges is declining, according to market research firm IRI. Brands with low availability, or in-stock rates of between 72% and 85%, have lost 0.7 percentage point of share of wallet on average, the firm said. Share of wallet, which measures brand loyalty, shows whether companies are gaining or losing buyers.
“Consumers often stick to brands they know out of convenience and buy more items from names they are familiar with, industry analysts said. But shoppers are inclined to switch brands when belt-tightening if they can find a better deal. During the financial crisis, major brands across the grocery store developed lower-priced versions of their products to try to keep consumers loyal, as Procter & Gamble Co. did with cheaper versions of Tide detergent, Olay skin cream and Pampers diapers, for example.
“Today, however, shoppers feel the pressure of higher prices while also facing shelves that are short on products, companies said. Those factors, in tandem, are driving more consumers to switch brands, executives said.”


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- Former Cape cop faces stealing-by-deceit charge (6/18/17)3
- Jackson scores high in survey of residents; better streets, Aldi are high priorities (6/20/17)4
- Jackson woman accused of trying to hit another with her truck (6/15/17)
- Marble Hill mayor hires city manager without board approval (6/21/17)2
- Police search for two suspects in abduction, robbery case; victim found unharmed in Scott County field (6/16/17)1
- Cape man faces charges of victim tampering (6/18/17)
- Racial disparity of traffic stops inches upward in Cape (6/15/17)6
- Police: Cape abduction may have ties to Georgia homicide (6/18/17)5
- 3 drown in Southeast Missouri in three days (6/16/17)
- Two men accused of selling meth to undercover cop (6/22/17)
Downtown Christmas Open House is Friday
If you're ready to get in the Christmas spirit and need something to do on Friday night, look no further than the Downtown Christmas Open House.
The open house is from 5 to 9 p.m. and will include a variety of activities, all of which are free, according to Old Town Cape marketing and event coordinator Katie Amrhein. First Friday with the Arts also will occur downtown that night.
"Pictures with Santa will be available at Santa's Workshop at 32A N. Main St., and the Southeast Athletic Department will be doing craft with kids as well," Amrhein said. "The carriage rides will be offered from the new Arts Council of Southeast Missouri location at 16 N. Spanish St."
There will also be caroling, sweets and shopping specials at downtown shops.
There is a $1,500 shopping spree giveaway that many businesses are participating in. Shoppers can visit Hutson's Fine Furniture or Santa's Workshop to pick up a raffle-ticket booklet and then as they shop at various businesses they turn in the coordinating raffle ticket to a downtown business to be entered into the drawing.
"So the more businesses that you visit and drop off a raffle ticket, the more chances you have to win," Amrhein said.
Amrhein said the hope is to announce the winner live on Facebook after it's selected next Tuesday.
"It's a great way to kick off your holiday shopping," Amrhein said. "And it keeps your money in our local community. You'll be able to find unique gifts ... and meet the actual business owners."
We encourage you to bundle up and get downtown Friday night to have some Christmasy fun and support our local businesses.


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The MHTC aims to bring together regional and local investors, hospitality leaders, industry experts and government officials for networking and the chance to learn about new developments in myanmar best hotels, as well as to share their expertise and experiences and forge new business.
A main focus at this year’s MHTC was on investment opportunities in the emerging tourism destination of myanmar best hotels. The country is seeing a surge in international tourist numbers and there are still largely undeveloped areas, such as the Myiek Archipelago, that hold much potential and thus offer investment possibilities.
Director-general of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, Tint Thwin, said reforms were being undertaken in the tourism sector. The focus was to create more jobs and generate income for the nation, while paying attention at the same time to environmental protection.
Myanmar is seeing its international tourism figures increase, with the country having welcomed some 4.68 million tourists in 2015. This continued with 1 million visitors for the first time in 2012, 2 million arrivals in 2013 and 3 million in 2014.
The expected figure for visitor arrivals in 2016 is around 5.5 million.
Under myanmar best hotels‘s reform process the tourism industry has been prioritized, as it can generate a high level of income and create more job opportunities for the country. The Ministry of hotels in myanmar and Tourism plans to grant more licenses for guest houses, tours and tour guides.
On the sidelines of the MHTC, Tint Thwin said his ministry would work to encourage private sector participation and also engage more with other ministries. Among the hotel and tourism ministry’s priorities will be to promote ecotourism and community-based tourism, increase connectivity and create new destinations.
July of 2016 saw Thai Lion Air launch a new flight twice daily between Bangkok (Don Mueang International Airport) and Myanmar’s largest city Yangon.
Tint Thwin noted that his ministry was aiming to encourage more airlines to open up new routes to major destinations in Myanmar such as Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan.
While many of the international visitors to Myanmar include a stay in Yangon in their travel plans, cities like Mandalay and Bagan are among the other fascinating destinations in the country.
An exciting new way to experience these cities involves embarking on a luxury Myanmar river cruise on the mighty Ayeyarwady River, which made its much-awaited appearance in 2016 in the form of the Strand Cruise. A 61-metre purpose-built cruise ship operates these three and four night cruises between Bagan and Mandalay, with the cruise schedule featuring weekly departures in either direction.
And if the name sounds familiar, that’s because the Strand Cruise’s sister property is the legendary Strand Hotel in Yangon. With its new luxury Myanmar river cruises – billed as voyages of discovery that treat passengers to a blend of exceptional comfort, discreet personalized service and the latest technology – the Strand Cruise mirrors the style and heritage of the world-renowned colonial-era hotel.
To help celebrate its inaugural 2016 season, the Strand Cruise has various fare promotions. A 25 percent discount off the fare price per person can be enjoyed for all cruise departures between 2 September and 30 September. There is a 30 percent fare discount for selected Strand Cruise departures in October, November and December.


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London-based classic car hire platform BookAclassic has joined with Luxury Retreats, the luxury arm of Airbnb, to provide high-end classic vehicles to customers around the world.
BookAclassic has vehicles in 36 countries and offers them to discerning travellers who want something special from their holiday transport. As a preferred supplier, BookAclassic’s vehicles will be available as part of the exceptional service the Luxury Retreats specialists provide.
This means that clients renting a high-end property can also choose to have a beautiful classic car sitting on their drive ready for road trips around the local area.
The high level of customer service that Luxury Retreats provides, coupled with a dedication to creating authentic travel experiences fits perfectly with BookAclassic’s ethos.


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The new initiative aims to digitalise international supply chains to enable faster and cost-efficient trade
Supply chain blockages have caused major disruptions to the semiconductor industry, writes entrepreneur and investor Shailesh Dash, who shares his perspective in this monthly column
The Suez Canal Authority temporarily suspended navigation in the canal on March 25
Gulf Business talks to Jack Muhs, regional president of FedEx Express Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and Africa, about the challenges of delivering Covid-19 vaccines around the world
Over the longer term, governments need to build up local food supplies, reinforce supply chains, and increase the flow of imports
The company has already processed more than 17,000 transactions for over 1,400 customers
As a key international trading partner, how is the region protecting its supply chain during the current crisis?
The country has reported 2,359 cases of coronavirus and 12 deaths
© 2021 MOTIVATE MEDIA GROUP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.


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Twenty-nine states and Washington D.C, have legalized the use of medical marijuana and on top of that, nine states have legalized recreational pot. But the question is, why was it illegal in the first place? Just the FAQs
A heavy cloud of marijuana smoke hangs over the Denver 420 festival on Friday, April 20, 2018.(Photo: Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY)
DENVER – Marijuana retailers raked in the green last week as the industry celebrated what experts called history’s single-biggest cannabis sales day.
April 20 – known as 420 – has long been a day for cannabis enthusiasts to light up in public, but the increasing legalization of marijuana means more people are joining in. An estimated 70,000 fans packed into Denver’s Civic Center Park on Friday for the world’s largest cannabis festival, many of them lighting up at 4:20 p.m.
Cannabis sales platform LeafLink predicted retailers nationally would sell about $1.17 billion worth of cannabis products for this year’s 420 celebrations. Flowhub, another sales platform, reported that nationwide, Friday’s sales were 51% higher than normal, and 30% above last year’s April 20 sales day.
“I think it’s awesome,” said Sydney McCallum, who came from Dallas with her father to buy marijuana for the Denver festival.
Added fellow attendee Kennya Anderson, of Minneapolis: “It’s been amazing, so refreshing. You don’t have to hide.”
Every year, April 20 is the single biggest sales day for pot, and the days leading up to it are a combination of Thanksgiving, Christmas and Black Friday rolled into one. Since Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational marijuana in January 2014, participation has risen


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SiriSports a new Cydia tweak is a must for sports enthusiasts!
A few weeks ago we reported a new Siri tweak by jailbreak developer Evan Coleman called SiriNBA which would allow you to check scores and start times for NBA games. In that article, we mentioned that it probably wouldn't be long before we saw similar tweaks for other professional sports. Now, Evan has brought us a new tweak dubbed "SiriSports." This new tweak includes the SiriNBA functionality, while adding support for MLB and NHL scores and times.
There is no word yet on when support for other leagues(NFL, MLS, etc) will be added, but we can be sure that with the amount of work Evan has been putting into this project, it shouldn't be long.
Also, on his website, Evan suggests that ESPN may even be working with Apple, currently, to bring scores and game times to Siri natively. However, this is just speculation and we cannot be sure when or if this will happen. Until then, jailbroken users with Siri enabled devices can enjoy SiriSports for free from the Cydia store.
And for our gaming enthusiasts, after you're done checking on your different sports scores and games, make sure to head over to our friends at Party Poker for a quick game!


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Singapore’s inflation eased to 5.0 per cent on-year in May, down from 5.4 per cent in April, as prices for accommodation and oil-related items rose at a slower pace.
Forecasters had expected May’s consumer price index (CPI) to rise 5.1 per cent.
Accommodation cost inflation fell from 12.7 per cent in April to 9.0 per cent in May, largely due to the timing of the disbursements of rebates for services and conservancy charges for HBD households, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a statement.
Imputed rentals on owner-occupied accommodation also rose at a slightly slower pace of 10.4 per cent in May.
The overall price increase for domestic oil-related items eased from 8.9 per cent in April to 7.8 per cent in May, reflecting the recent weakness in global oil markets.
Services and food inflation rose marginally, by 0.1 percentage point to 2.9 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively in May.
However, private road transport costs picked up from 8.2 per cent in April to 10 per cent in May after a spike in COE premiums which pushed up the cost of cars.
Experts said this spike will continue to feed through to at least next month’s CPI. But the high COE premiums for cars are expected to keep CPI above 5 per cent next month, analysts forecast.
Together, accommodation and private road transport costs account for about two-thirds of CPI-All Items inflation in May.
Regional economist at CIMB Research Song Seng Wun said: “I think looking at the trend so far, we suspect CPI won’t drop in June but probably in the second half. For June – we think we could see CPI rebounding from the 5 per cent to perhaps the 5.2 to 5.4 range. Reason being, 2 sides, COE prices continue to climb. COE prices only came off with the June allotment, so that will show up in the July CPI. On housing side, we are still seeing pressure on that side, in terms of the rentals.”
Excluding the costs of accommodation and private road transport, MAS Core Inflation remained steady at 2.7 per cent.
The MAS said CPI-All Items inflation “will likely ease gradually in the second half of 2012 after averaging an estimated 5 per cent year-on-year in the first half, though it could fluctuate from month to month”.
The central bank said accommodation and car costs are expected to remain high, with “leasing contracts continuing to be renewed at rentals that are considerably higher than those under existing contracts, especially in the HDB segment.”
Car prices are also likely to remain elevated, MAS said.
The MAS expects the upward pressure on wages and other business costs will continue to pass through to consumer prices, but at a more moderate pace than that seen earlier in 2012.


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Philips’ transformation from being a trusted electronics brand into a healthcare services company is not an aberration, reckon branding experts.
For most ecommerce ventures, the funding scenario is tough, and the only way to stay viable is to hunker down, go easy on discounts and offers.
A learning from the experience for Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal was that hustle, on its own, is a bad word. Hustle has to be accompanied with intense thinking.
Bhavik Vasa, chief growth officer of ItzCash, contends the market opportunity is huge as 85% of the population is still dealing with cash.
The model of the payments bank might turn out to be one that wallets specialise in: a high-volume, low-margin game.
MobiKwik is one of the two companies in the wallet space that has the scale and the ecosystem of users and merchants to stretch beyond wallets.
Human beings are social animals, they like to socialise. And socialising happens in a physical environment. It doesn’t happen in a digital environment, says Kishore Biyani
How Samsung is standing up to an onslaught from a group of Chinese handset makers like Vivo and Oppo
Although Samsung's market share has been stagnating, it is too early to write it off and it won't be a pushover like the desi players, say experts.
It takes loads of investment to create a product or solution but hackathons help creating the same solutions at a fraction of those cost
Xploree is adding swagger to 'dumb' smartphone keyboards, going beyond predictive texting to suggestions. Is it a keeper or a passing fad?
Currently, Nasdaq has the shares of new-age Indian companies like Make-MyTrip (MMT), Yatra Online and Azure Power trading on it.
For Mumbai based Indus, Apple and Microsoft's OS products are small fry. In a short time span the company has out run these two global giants.
Undaunted by Paytm's swagger, the 'others' in the fray give themselves a fair chance of toppling the leader.
Armed with their own wallets and UPI, banks are aggressively pushing digital payments services and going head-to-head with mobile wallet players
Thanks to demonetization, mobile wallet players are having the time of their life. But should they temper their enthusiasm?
Home to about 870 million people, the countryside will be in the thick of action for the rest of the decade, according to a recent BCG report.
Consumers will never get to see or know these unsung heroes of ecommerce when they get their gift boxes delivered at their doorstep.
In the middle of last week, just after noon, the hashtag #HelpAskmeEmployees became one of the top trends on Twitter in the Capital.
A promising start, a boast of marquee investors, and learning from mistakes, these founders spill all.
For Samar Singla, Chinmay Agarwal and Isha Singla, the co-founders of Chandigarh-based autorickshaw aggregator Jugnoo, starting up in the “City Beautiful” happened by default.


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A friend just contacted us to say that she'd seen Green Giant vegetables on sale with large FarmVille stickers on them. Consumers purchasing these veggies get codes which can be redeemed online for Farm Cash, which can be used to purchase virtual goods in the game.
Promotional deals and free virtual cash in exchange for purchases are nothing new for Zynga, but so far the company's marketing efforts have taken place online. This deal is fairly odd -- there's no reason to think that there's much of a correlation between purchasing real vegetables and growing fake ones online. But the deal will put the FarmVille name in front of a number of fresh eyes, and Farm Cash isn't in short supply.


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GM MyLink System Announced to Rival Ford's Sync
GM’s MyLink, available starting with the 2012 Chevrolet Volt and Equinox, will offer smartphone charging, Pandora radio streaming, GraceNote music identification, Bluetooth, XM satellite radio, voice activation, OnStar, and USB inputs, in case listening to drive-time radio is too crushing for commuters.
The MyLink comes hot on the heels of Ford’s SYNC as an inevitable comparison. But unlike the SYNC, MyLink includes the full power of GM’s OnStar behind it, for starters. It will also come with Powermat charging for the smartphones that you won’t need to fiddle with once behind the wheel. And, uh, that’s about it. Functionality between the two infotainment systems is remarkably similar otherwise, which makes you wish that GM had introduced this earlier.
The MyLink includes a 7″ full-color touchscreen standard, which controls climate control and navigation operations. The first GM cars that will be equipped with it later this year will be the Chevrolet Volt and the Equinox, before the rest of the General Motors lineup.
More by Blake Z. Rong


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(CNN/CBS) - Samsung took the wraps off the world's first smartphone with a curved screen.
The new design is expected to improve comfort and convenience for users. The Galaxy Round has a 5.7 inch display and goes on sale today in Korea. There's no word on price or when it will be available in other countries. Rival LG announced this week that it would begin mass producing its own flexible curved screen phone that's expected to hit stores next year.
The cardless ATM is coming soon. So, leave the debit card at home. All you'll need is an app on your phone. Financial services giant FIS recently announced its new cardless ATMs. When using the app, you select how much money to withdraw. Then, when you're at the ATM, use the app to scan a code on the ATM screen, and money comes out. Right now, it's still in the testing phase.
In the face of the government shutdown and showdown in congress, Starbucks is launching a "pay it forward" campaign. Now through Friday, customers who buy a drink for a fellow patron will get a free tall brewed coffee. In a letter to employees, CEO Howard Schultz said the government shutdown and other factors have created a period of uncertainty in the U.S. The pay it forward campaign is meant to help fellow citizens support one another in this challenging time.
The Jonas Brothers have canceled their up-coming tour. The boy band had a disagreement over the direction of their music and decided to call the concerts off. The 19-date tour was set to begin on Friday. Fans who already bought tickets can get refunds from the vendor who sold them.


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Ham is a popular sandwich filling, and picnics are perfect with prosciutto, but if processed meats are linked with increased health risks – should you bring home the bacon?
Processed and cured meats are classified as discretionary foods under the Australian Dietary Guidelines because they can be high in added salt and saturated fats.
Processed meats including ham, sausages, salami and hot dogs are also classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a ‘Group 1 carcinogen’ as research shows eating processed meat causes colorectal cancer.
Health and Wellbeing Queensland Public Health Nutritionist and Dietitian Fiona Nave said as a meat, pork can be a healthy choice that is high in protein and rich in vitamins.
‘However, when pork is processed into ham it becomes a less healthy choice. That’s because ham is made by curing or smoking and the addition of preservatives such as salt and sulphates,’ Ms Nave said.
‘What often gets left out of the conversation is that most foods aren’t eaten in isolation but are part of a meal; a wholemeal bread sandwich made with ham, cheese, and a few vegetables like tomato, lettuce and cucumber can be a filling lunch that provides lots of nutrients our bodies need.
‘But if you are worried about the health impacts associated with a processed food like ham, choose ham that is lower in salt, or swap with other lean proteins like chicken, roast meats or tinned fish, so that you are not eating it every day.’
The Australian Health Survey 2011-12 showed Australian adults eat more than 12 grams of processed meat per day on average, with men eating more than 50 per cent more processed meat than women. Ms Nave noted that studies have shown Australians eat more protein than they need, which can lead to weight gain.
‘We know that less than five per cent of Australian kids and adults eat enough vegetables daily. This means that most people’s plates of food at a mealtime are likely to include more meat than needed, which may contribute to weight gain and chronic diseases,’ she said.
‘Adding more vegetables into meals, including in sandwiches, is an easy way to balance your plate and is also likely to keep you fuller for longer, and potentially save money at the supermarket.’
Sarah Motherwell, Senior Media Advisor
0439 599 210


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Chain Store Age
L Brands reported mixed results for its crucial fourth quarter amid falling sales at its embattled Victoria’s Secret division.
The retailer plans to close approximately 53 underperforming Victoria’s Secret locations in North America this year. The lingerie chain currently has some 957 U.S. stores. Victoria’s Secret same-store sales have fallen for the past three years. . . . more


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Looking to raise some money for your startup? There are venture capital firms and angel investors, of course, and some startup companies go the boostrapping route, paying for costs of their own pockets.
But crowdfunding, as TechCocktail reports, “offers a viable alternative for entrepreneurs to raise funds by appealing to a wider audience of potential customers.” That might be why at least one local app development firm is trying the crowdfunding path.
There are five guidelines entrepreneurs should follow if they choose to crowdfund an investment round, according to TechCocktail.
- Set realistic funding goals.
- Keep the explanation of your startup simple.
- Plan early the list of people you’ll contact directly.
- Pitch key bloggers before the launch of any crowdfunding effort.
- Pay attention to offline marketing tactics.
Technically Baltimore reported in August that Bizelo, which creates apps for small businesses and was founded by TechBreakfast organizer Ron Schmelzer, is trying to raise a $750,000 seed round through crowdfunding efforts.
In a YouTube video announcing the seed funding launch, Schmelzer says Bizelo hopes “to forever change the way that enterprise apps are built by profoundly changing the economies of app development.” Schmelzer also says that those who “chip in” to Bizelo’s seed funding round can receive “free months of access” to specific apps the company is developing. The goal is to develop 34 apps in 12 months.
Watch the Bizelo crowdfunding video:
JHU-born Treyetech picks up $30K at prominent business plan competition
PaverGuide looks to reduce stormwater runoff, pollution after the water hits the road
UMB startup NextStep Robotics raises $600K for device treating foot drop
Building a data acquisition system? Don’t make this mistake
Clean Creative is now clean.io, raises $2.5M seed round
emocha Mobile Health moves to Mount Vernon offices
Baltimore hosted Venture for America’s regional job fair connecting new fellows and startups
How SmartLogic accelerated these startups’ product growth trajectories
Sign-up for daily news updates from Technical.ly Baltimore


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The ship will go from Long Beach to Oakland, Seattle and then to China, collecting and dropping off goods along the way...but it's a French company behind the ship. They've named it Benjamin Franklin to honor the first American ambassador to France.
"We see the United States as a growing market. And still a strong market. There is growth in this economy, it's doing well." said Marc Bourdon, the President of CMA CGM America.
Crews at the Port of Long Beach have spent years making room for bigger ships. They've dredged the harbor bottom so ships that size can dock there.
And they've had to raise cranes for the height of ships.
As ships continue getting bigger, officials say the L.A. area could see more jobs and a price drop at stores.
"They're essentially bringing more goods at one time. That creates more jobs over time. They're allowed to bring more boxes on any given vessel. That reduces the cost per container. That essentially reduces prices to consumer. So the bigger the ship, the lower the cost," says Dr. Noel Hacegaba, Chief Commercial Officer and Managing Director of Commercial Operations Port of Long Beach.


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An innovative solution from a team at the Korean Institute of Science and Technology could hold the key to powering wearables continuously, using the wearer's own body heat as a generator.
Unlike most people today, I still wear a wristwatch. I bought it six years ago in Japan, and the great thing about my Citizen Eco-Drive is that I've never had to change the battery: It runs on a solar-powered rechargeable battery.
We're all used to plugging in our devices overnight, and sometimes during the day, to make sure they have sufficient power. But sometimes we forget, and suddenly our beloved gizmos die when needed most.
Now, with a new wave of wearable technology arriving like a whirlwind, we're facing more technology that needs frequent charging. Although most smartwatches and fitness bands popping up in the market today do not require daily charging, eventually we'll forget to plug them in, and they'll run out of juice.
An innovative solution from a team at the Korean Institute of Science and Technology could hold the key to powering wearables continuously, using the wearer's own body heat as a generator. The Korean team, led by Byung Jin Cho, has designed a new light and flexible generator made out of thermoelectric (TE) substances printed on glass fabric.
The output power per unit weight is remarkable (28 mW/g at 50 K) and could be used to provide enough energy to charge a smartwatch.
For example, the Sony SmartWatch 2 promises three days to one week battery power depending on use, but in reality, to be fully functional it needs to be charged every other day. The watch uses a Li-polymer 140 mAh battery. If you installed a slim TE strip on the SmartWatch wristband, it could power the watch and enable it to function without the user worrying about the battery dying.
The concept isn't new. For years researchers have been looking at ways to harvest body heat and produce electricity, but the size and weight of the devices, and the limited amount of power collected this way, made the technology ineffective for commercial use -- until now.
What's new about the Korean design is its use of a "glass fabric-based textile," which is made by screen printing on inorganic materials, and its use of a self-sustaining structure of a TE device without top and bottom. According to the paper, the developed device not only achieves unprecedentedly large output power density but also "can be bent as low as 20 mm without change in performance upon repeated bending for up to 120 cycles." The team concludes: "The output power per unit weight is remarkable (28 mW g-1 at a ΔT = 50 K), and this will facilitate its use in applications where the weight of the TE device is critical."
If further tests are successful, we should start seeing wearable devices, such as the Sony SmartWatch or Samsung's Gear, without the need of external charging early next year.
— Pablo Valerio is a freelance blogger who writes about mobile and telecom issues for EE Times. He lives and works in Barcelona.


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Bridgestone Develops New Technology for Improving Guayule-Derived Natural Rubber Productivity through Joint Development with Kirin Holdings
TOKYO, January 28, 2021 /3BL Media/ — Bridgestone Corporation announced the development of a new technology for improving guayule-derived natural rubber productivity through a joint development project with Kirin Holdings Company, Limited (Kirin Holdings). The project combines the technologies of Kirin Holdings with the guayule cultivation expertise of Bridgestone to deliver large-scale propagation of guayule plants from high-quality seeds. With this innovation, Bridgestone aims to increase the productivity of guayule farms and advance sustainable materials*1 for tires through the diversification of the world’s natural rubber supply.
Bridgestone will field test the new technology on guayule seedlings grown at its 287-acre Agro Operations Research Farm in Eloy, Arizona. The new technology may also be used to support the guayule breeding process to more rapidly increase a desired genotype for testing and production. Through these efforts and others, Bridgestone seeks to develop alterantive and viable sources for tire-grade natural rubber, reducing its long-term environmental impact and simultaneously furthering its business.
Bridgestone is taking steps to decouple economic growth from environmental impacts, as indicated in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. More than 90 percent of the world’s natural rubber supply is extracted from the Para rubber tree, which primarily grows in Southeast Asia. As part of the company’s Our Way to Serve corporate social responsibility commitment, Bridgestone launched its guayule research and development efforts in 2013 to help diversify the world’s natural rubber supply. Utilizing the Kirin Holdings’ world-class bio technology, we will develop the technology for propagating massive stable quality guayule for practical use. In addition to the Agro Operations Research Farm in Eloy, Bridgestone operates the Biorubber Process Research Center in nearby Mesa, Arizona, where a team processes guayule-derived natural rubber for testing in tire applications.
To achieve the company’s vision, “2050, Bridgestone continues to provide social value and customer value, as a sustainable solutions company,” Bridgestone have set a new environmental mid-term goal, Milestone 2030, to further promote the challenges of "decoupling" the growth of its business from its environmental impact and increased resource consumption. The company provides solutions through innovation to contribute to safer and more secure transportation, as well as it will further reduce its impact on the environment by contributing to CO2 reduction and realizing the circular economy including expanding renewable resources.
Bridgestone will continue to evolve technological innovations by combining our unique rubber knowledge with digital technologies and will co-create value through the work with various partners.
The Bridgestone Group defines sustainable materials as materials “1) that come from resources with a guaranteed continual supply, 2) that can be used as part of our businesses over the long term and 3) that have a low environmental and social impact over their lifecycle from procurement to disposal.”
About Bridgestone Corporation:
Headquartered in Tokyo, Bridgestone Corporation is a global leader providing sustainable mobility and advanced solutions. With a business presence in more than 150 countries worldwide, Bridgestone offers a diverse portfolio of original equipment and replacement tires, tire-centric solutions, mobility solutions, and other rubber-associated and diversified products that deliver social and customer value. Guided by its global corporate social responsibility commitment, Our Way to Serve, Bridgestone is dedicated to shaping a sustainable future of mobility and improving the way people around the world move, live, work and play.


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BEVERLY HILLS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 22, 2021 / ClickStream Corp. (OTC PINK:CLIS), the creator of HeyPal™ language learning app that focuses on "language exchanging" between users around the world announced today that Jonathan Maxim, CEO of ClickStream subsidiary Nebula Software Corp. will appear on HeyPal™ app's Instagram Live on Thursday September 23rd 2021 at 1:30 PM ET/10:30 AM PT to discuss HeyPal™'s newest features, upgrades, plans for expanded content and upcoming global launch on Android. The broadcast can be seen on @HeyPalApp IG page at https://www.instagram.com/heypalapp.
Maxim will also discuss HeyPal™ apps advertising and marketing campaign as well as answer questions posted by fans in the comments section of IG Live.
- His vision for the HeyPal™ Platform and role as CEO of Nebula Software Corp.
- New features and product roadmap for Q4 and beyond
- Platform: build your audience, learn a language, meet a friend
- Android Launch
- Premium App Features
- Key growth and company metrics
- Q&A with investors and app users
Jonathan Maxim, CEO of ClickStream subsidiary Nebula Software Corp., stated "I'm excited to meet our users and investors one on one in this authentic format. Understanding their wants and needs and garnering creative new ideas from our community is a key part of what drives our business and apps forward. Viewers can request to join the live and even ask their own questions in real time."
ABOUT CLICKSTREAM CORPORATION
ClickStream is a technology company focused on developing apps and digital platforms that disrupt conventional industries. The company is currently marketing and developing WinQuik™, HeyPal™, Nifter™ and Joey's Animal Kingdom™ respectively. For more information, please visit them online at https://clickstream.technology/ and follow them on social media; Twitter at https://twitter.com/ClickstreamC and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/clickstreamcorp/.
WinQuik™, is a free-to-play synchronized mobile app and digital gaming platform. The platform is designed to enable WinQuik™ users to have fun, interact and compete in order to win real money and prizes. For more information, please visit them online at http://www.winquik.com/ and follow them on social media; Twitter at https://twitter.com/winquikapp and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/winquiktrivia/.
HeyPal™, by way of ClickStream subsidiary Nebula Software Corp., is a language learning app that focuses on "language exchanging" between users around the world. For more information, please visit them online at https://www.heypalapp.com/ and follow them on social media; Twitter at https://twitter.com/HeypalA and Instagram at https://instagram.com/heypalapp/.
Nifter™, by way of ClickStream subsidiary Rebel Blockchain Inc., is a music NFT marketplace that allows artists to create, sell and discover unique music and sound NFTs on the Nifter™ marketplace. For more information, please visit them online at https://Nifter.io and follow them on social media; Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nifter7 and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/nifter.io/.
Joey's Animal Kingdom™ is a children's entertainment and education app that takes kids all around this amazing planet to see incredible animals and creatures. For more information about Joey's Animal Kingdom™, please visit Website at https://www.wowee.world/.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT
This press release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "believes," "expects," "potential," "plans," "suggests," "may," "should," "could," "intends," or similar expressions. Many forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results implied by such statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, our ability to continue to enhance our products and systems to address industry changes, our ability to expand our customer base and retain existing customers, our ability to effectively compete in our market segment, the lack of public information on our company, our ability to raise sufficient capital to fund our business, operations, our ability to continue as a going concern, and a limited public market for our common stock, among other risks. Many factors are difficult to predict accurately and are generally beyond the company's control. Forward-looking statements speak only as to the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made.
FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT:
SOURCE: ClickStream Corporation


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Apple's new Music Memos app is instant gratification for musicians, backing band included
When a bolt of musical inspiration hits, many musicians will reach for their smart phones, pop open the built-in voice-recorder app, and make a quick recording of some combination of guitar, voice or piano, hoping to capture the essence of the idea before it fades.
But a voice memo is a blunt tool for capturing a song idea, and the artist is left on their own to figure out how to translate a rough recording into something more substantial -- or even to remember what chords were played.
Enter Music Memos, a new iOS app from Apple. This simple app is a new type of voice-memo recorder, built around capturing musical ideas, giving them a slight polish, and sending the best ones on to a more powerful music tool, such as Apple's own GarageBand or Logic Pro. It's completely free, and should be available on the App Store later today.
Windows File Explorer gets a multi-tab look like Apple's Finder
File Explorer's tabs could make dragging and dropping easier. It's part of Microsoft's more ambitious Sets interface due this fall.
Firefox Quantum leader takes over all Mozilla products
Mark Mayo, who led the recent Quantum overhaul of Mozilla's browser, has a bigger job now. Mozilla's top lawyer also gets a promotion.
Ghostery tool for web privacy goes open source
Unlocking the browser extension's underpinnings could attract outside improvements and dispel 'conspiracy theories' about data about users it used to gather.
Online photo editor dumps Flash, makes the leap to web tech
PicMonkey no longer relies on Adobe's dying browser plug-in. An overhaul also turns the photo editing tool into a design tool, too.
How Chrome ad blocking is already changing the web
Google's browser doesn't go as far as full-on ad blockers and won't always stop ad trackers. But already it's cut ads on 42 percent of websites it's tangled with.
Apple's new Logic Pro X 10.4 update matches all your beats
The music-making software gets new beat detection tools, new reverbs and even two new AI drummers.
Firefox update kicks graphics speed up a notch
Graphics get faster in Firefox 58. Also new: better support for when you're on the mobile web.
Photo format from Google and Mozilla could leave JPEG in the dust
Apple's got one idea for next-gen photo technology, but a rival approach based on the new AV1 video compression tech could go a step further.
The best job in America is, oh, software developer
Commentary: US News and World Report releases its list of 100 best jobs. At the top, a job that apparently offers great work-life balance. Really?
Samsung's next big thing isn't something you can buy
Instead of showing off the features of its new products, Samsung spent much of its CES press conference talking about its vision for connected devices.
Brave browser offers to boost your online search privacy
A partnership with search engine DuckDuckGo means private-mode searches can become more private.
Speedy new Firefox Quantum browser has people flocking to it
Lots of us are installing the overhauled browser, but it'll take a busy 2018 to turn that into a real recovery for Mozilla.