text:
National chain a rare breed in China
Wal-mart Stores Inc. is trying to become the nation's biggest hypermarket chain with its bid to buy Trust-Mart, a Taiwanese competitor, for close to 1 billion US dollars. It only unveils the biggest challenge for retailers is the sheer difficulty of building and running national chain in China.
Roughly the size of the continental U.S., China still doesn't have a nationwide logistics network of trucks, highways and warehouses that can efficiently deliver supplies from farm to shop shelf, said the paper.
Local tastes -- in a country with over half a dozen major dialect groups and climates ranging from tropical to subarctic -- are extremely diverse, making it hard to stock shelves in large quantities. In the northeastern province of Shandong, for example, the top carbonated soft drink isn't Coke or Pepsi. It's a local brand called Laoshan.
Half of every dollar spent on food in China goes to live and fresh products, according to Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. estimates. "So it's very difficult to run a national chain and get efficiencies," says Merrill analyst Denise Chai, "What Wal-Mart is buying is a footprint. They're not trying to buy a brand or operations; they're just getting a footprint really fast."


text:
The Williamsburg Pottery is offering a cash-back program for the holidays.
Shoppers who present receipts from purchases made between Sept. 20 and Nov. 20 can earn cash back based on the amount spent.
Shoppers who spend $100 during that time will earn $10 back. Shoppers who spend $200 will earn $30 back, and shoppers who spend $300 during the two-month period will earn $50 back, according to an email promotion.
The Pottery is located on Richmond Road in Williamsburg. For more information, visit williamsburgpottery.com.

domain: news


text:
Anheuser-Busch Wants to Have ‘The Official Beer of Esports’
The beer giant is seeking to trademark the somewhat ambiguous phrase.
Esports — aka video games as professional competition — might not quite be at NFL levels of popularity, but it’s a growing industry, and one with young, dedicated fans, so it’s no surprise that marketers, even major ones, are taking notice. Coca-Cola, Red Bull, and Buffalo Wild Wings are just a few of the food and beverage brands that have esports sponsorships (not to mention that chef José Andrés even designed the menu Las Vegas's Esports Arena). And now, it appears as if the esports world could be getting an “official beer” as well… kind of.
Last week, lawyer Josh Gerben tweeted a screengrab showing that Anheuser-Busch had recently filed a trademark for the phrase “The Official Beer of Esports.” And as the site The Esports Observer points out, the beer giant also trademarked the slogans “The Official Beer of Gamers” and “The Official Beer of Gaming” as well.
Though trademarks can be approved for any phrase, it’s probably worth noting that there’s nothing really that “official” about being the “official beer of esports.” “Esports” is simply a broad term for the competitive gaming category, not unlike the term “sports” itself — and if you said you were “The Official Beer of Sports” that would just be kind of silly. (Go sports!) No one is really presiding over all sports to officially give you that title. It’d be like saying you’re “The Official Beer of Drinking Outside.”
Still, truly “official” or not, it’s easy to understand why Anheuser-Busch would want to lock in this association if they can. The company reportedly confirmed to AdAge that the trademark request was earnest. “This move to trademark ‘The Official Beer of Esports’ is another signal of our investment to connect with fans in this ever-growing territory,” a spokesman told the site. The rep added that Anheuser-Busch has “long been a supporter of esports,” adding that Bud Light’s sponsorship of the Overwatch League means the brand “will have a presence at league events this season and beyond.”
As Sports Business Daily reported in April, Bud Light truly is the “official” beer for the Overwatch League everywhere except China after signing a deal with the gaming organization. But hey, why pay for one official esports partnership when you can claim to be the official partner of all esports for free?!


text:
As major sponsor for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London the McDonald's store will rise its biggest store at the venue and its succeeding Paralympics event.
The hamburger chain started as the sponsor during 1974 Montreal Olympics and they even sponsored the swimming staduim in Los Angeles.
The details for the project revealed as the world’s biggest McDonald’s will cover an area of 3,000 square meters or roughly the six of half an American football field. The store will be built of recyclable materials in keeping with the Olympics’ green ideals.
The seating capacity of the biggest store will be 1,500 for customers visiting the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics Games.They will open for six weeks during the London 2012 Olympic games with 2,000 working employees.
The 50,000 Big Macs are expected to be served for the duration of its operations and 180,000 servings of French Fries are projected to be sold at the world’s biggest McDonald’s store.


text:
A Chinese trading company has bought Chateau Latour-Laguens in Entre-deux-Mers – the first Chinese purchase in Bordeaux.
The 60ha property in Saint Martin de Puy, 50km south of Bordeaux centre, has 30ha under vine.
It bottles its reds under AOC Bordeaux Superieur and produces 160,000 bottles per year, a large proportion of which is now expected to be exported to China.
The price Longhai International, based in Qingdao, paid for the property has not been disclosed.
The average price per hectare in this southern part of Entre deux Mers is between €18,000-20,000 per ha, among the lowest in the region and one of the areas most affected by drops in land value from the recent wine crisis.
Daniel Carmagnat, of property agency A2Z who were handled the purchase, told local newspaper Sud Ouest, ‘The attraction wasn’t the appellation itself, but a foothold in one of the most prestigious wine regions in the world.’
Qingdao, a region between Beijing and Shanghai, has a rapidly growing wine centre, with several vineyards, as well as a history of beer production.
According to its website, the company already imports wines from Australia and South Africa into China, and is now looking to further expand its operations in France.
The purchase was completed on 24 January 2008. Current owner Serge Laguens declined to comment.
Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux


text:
Posted in Marketing & Strategy Articles, Total Reads: 7104
, Published on 17 September 2014
“We were not thinking about numbers then, but we knew something big can be built out of e-commerce”
Binny Bansal & Sachin Bansal, Founders, Flipkart.
The e-commerce industry is a sunrise sector in the Indian market at present. This can be primarily attributed to the significant reduction in the price of personal computers, the increased internet penetration in India, & the many incentive schemes (i.e. COD, varied payment options, discounts) that online retailers give to consumers. India has close to 10 million online shoppers , which is growing with a whooping CAGR of around 30%.In addition, India has one of the youngest online demographic audiences globally, with 75% of them in the aged group of 15-34 years. Apparel has been the fastest growing sub-category in online retailing, followed by consumer goods & sports & outdoor merchandises.
A leading global research and advisory firm, Forrester Research’s projections for Asia-Pacific e-commerce sales by country (in billions, in U.S. dollars) in 2012 & 2016-
A report recently published by the Boston Consulting Group also says that online retail in India could be a $84- billion industry by 2016 — more than 10 times its worth in 2010 .
Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) estimates for Indian e-commerce industry growth
Flipkart is presently one of the largest online retailers in India, present across more than 14 product categories & with a reach in around 150 cities. Flipkart is currently a 10,000 member strong team, with
3000 sellers on its platform and delivering 5 million shipments per month. It made its presence felt in online retailing by offering path breaking services like Cash On Delivery (COD), 30 Day replacement Guarantee, EMI options, Flipkart mobile app, etc.
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer entered India in 2013, & soon became a huge success, with their sales growing exponentially. As direct FDI is still not permitted in India, Amazon started by bringing together different online vendors on a single platform. It soon came up with innovative service features like ‘100% Purchase Protection’ on shopping, ‘guaranteed one-day delivery’, ‘next day delivery’ , ‘free shipping’ & ‘happy hours’. Amazon now sells 15 million products across 20 product categories. Like Flipkart, it too has launched its Amazon app & COD schemes.
Future Prospects - Flipkart
With the entry of Amazon in the Indian market, Flipkart needs to renovate & expand its business in order to sustain or increase its present market share. Flipkart’s plans for the future mainly include scaling up the size of its business. It plans to have 10-12000 sellers on its platform within the next few years. Also, on acquisition of Myntra, Flipkart presently owns about 50% of the organized lifestyle market in India. It plans to increase this figure to 70%. It has more than 1000 sellers now, & it wants to scale up this number to 10,000 to 15,000 in a year’s time, & to a few lakhs in 4 to 5 years. Around 40% of Flipkart’s online traffic now comes from mobiles. It thus wants to add more features to its mobile shopping app, to increase customer satisfaction & loyalty.
Flipkart is also trying to develop its IT infrastructure, as online shopping is heavily dependent on technology. It wants to customize its IT framework to perform 2 functionalities. One is the ability to recommend its buyers to what other purchases can be bought to complement a product that has been already purchased from Flipkart (like recommending a stereo headset for a mobile phone). The other one is to simultaneously conduct a live survey by siphoning a small portion of this data to analyze customer purchase patterns & preferences.
Flipkart is also considering having their own logistics so as to reduce dependability on the third party companies to provide it. Flipkart has also recently launched its own digital accessories brand Digiflip, & its apparel brand Flippd, & is yet to see how they perform in the market. Also part of its agenda is to be present in more number of cities, & for that it is contemplating on having larger no. of warehouses & increased automation in its supply chain system. Flipkart also wants to include more categories of products in its domain, & plug the gaps in its existing categories.
Future Prospects - Amazon
As part of its expansion plan in India, Amazon has been pushing its Kindle tablet, especially the Kindle Fire range, which can automatically act as a catalyst for promoting its merchandise sales. As consumers are majorly shifting from computers to mobile handsets, they will be majorly benefited from reading e- books & streaming live music & videos through the Kindle devices.
Amazon is mostly interested in its cash flow per share valuation rather than percentage margins. Thus, they are likely to offer even larger discounts to push sales. The company is also in talks with leading retail chains of India like Future Group, Spencer’s Retail, Woodlands, Shoppers Stop & Crosswords to act as a selling platform for their products. Amazon is also planning to introduce its very own mobile handset in the future, through which it hopes customers will have more access to its online store & its contents.
But perhaps the most interesting & path-breaking service that Amazon is about to offer yet, is using drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, to deliver packages to customers. Amazon came up with this concept in 2013, & will supposedly (according to media reports) be launching it first in India during in late 2014.The drone, known as Amazon’s Prime Air is an octocopter, i.e. fitted with 8 rotors, weighing less than 25 kg and travelling at over 80 kmph. The drone is supposed to be carrying a payload of up to 2.26 kg, which covers 86% of products sold on Amazon. Using this, Amazon believes, top-selling products like mobiles & books within 90 minutes to 3 hours for select customers.
The article has been authored by Anindita Banerjee, Goa Institute of Management(GIM)
If you are interested in writing articles for us, Submit Here


text:
East meets West: A comparative tale of two e-commerce giants placing big bets on the cloud
Alibaba Cloud, AWS focus on build-outs of global footprints via infrastructure investments in 5G and expansion of data center and edge locations
While the growth of the two globally dispersed e-commerce giants Alibaba and Amazon is largely fueled by retail, both businesses have showed marked dedication to the growth of their respective cloud empires, focusing on infrastructure to fuel global expansion and investment in augmenting their respective portfolios. The investment in cloud is evident as the backbone driving each business as they compete on the global stage to become leaders in digital transformation (DT).
Alibaba Group’s aforementioned profit margins, fueled by its B2B operating model, have enabled a hefty investment of $28 billion dedicated to the cloud business. As the world was gripped by the initial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic back in April, the parent company announced the allocation of the sum, which stands as a massive proclamation of the company’s dedication to cloud and related technologies as the core drivers toward the enablement of DT. The sweeping investment, coupled with new leadership and an expanding partnership strategy, solidifies Alibaba’s intent to position its cloud business as a viable contender against AWS, especially in APAC. Alibaba is clearly placing a large majority of its bets on cloud and the future of DT, as the investment equates to 40% of its total 2019 revenue and is 5.7x the revenue of Alibaba Cloud.
The investment will have a profound impact on Alibaba Cloud’s ability to execute on strategies around DT, infrastructure build-out and R&D, and came at a time when the world could not have been in more need of capabilities such as increased bandwidth and enterprise and SME support. The focus in the medium term is a multifaceted push to gain scale globally, attract new customers and expand wallet share with existing customers, and much of this growth will be propelled by the expansion of Alibaba Cloud’s infrastructure backbone with the build-out of data centers and investment in 5G across EMEA and APAC.
Since solidifying its dominance in China and garnering competitive positioning on the global stage, Alibaba has been frequently referred to as the “Amazon of China.” Both companies have anchored their businesses as e-commerce platforms and have demonstrated parallel growth trajectories, becoming mainstays in the lives and businesses of customers globally. The uniqueness of their respective journeys, which have been significantly shaped by their foundations as e-commerce giants, does not overshadow the companies’ similar strategies. Over time, Alibaba and Amazon have evolved rapidly into diversified companies with a distinct focus on technology and digital transformation. While the companies are in different phases of their growth, in terms of size and global footprint, and have different operating models, the investments in and focus on their respective cloud businesses to drive growth are evident when comparing their evolutions and forward-looking growth strategies.
Leave a ReplyWant to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!


text:
The video: When the iPad debuted in April, it was touted as a renaissance gadget: Simultaneously, the newspaper of the future, a novel platform for video, and a whole new way for advertisers to sell their wares. Now Apple has unveiled the first-ever commercial specific to the iPad — a video-based promo for the Disney film Tron: Legacy. (View below.) The Tron "iAd" "will serve as a preview of a broader rollout of the iAd advertising network on the iPad next year," all part of Apple's attempt to compete with Google, the current king of mobile advertising.
The reaction: These commercials, or something like them, "are the way of the future," says Pascal Emmanuel-Gobry at Business Insider. It's key that Apple has added social-media touches — letting viewers send an email from inside the ad, for instance — since "one of the big pluses of gorgeous, immersive ads is that they make you want to share them." Unfortunately, says The Financial Times, enthusiasm for Apple's iAd network has "waned amid high prices for ads, a slow production process and client withdrawals." One quoted executive says that "clients don’t really take [the new ad model] that seriously yet. It goes in the experimental category, along with most of the rest of mobile advertising." Watch the Tron iPad ad:
THE WEEK'S AUDIOPHILE PODCASTS: LISTEN SMARTER
- 43 TV shows to watch in 2014
- Here comes the Pentagon's newest space plane
- How 1,000-year lifespans could remake the economy
- How to be the most productive person in your office — and still get home by 5:30 p.m.
- Extreme haunted houses: Inside Halloween's most terrifying new trend
- 3 horrific inaccuracies in Homeland's depiction of Islamabad
- 10 things you need to know today: October 25, 2014
- Why the government should pay every American child an allowance
- How foreign aid screwed up Liberia's ability to fight Ebola
- Let us now praise Billy Joel
Subscribe to the Week


text:
You may be paying more for things in this region – but probably not much except for apparel, according to the latest data.
Consumer prices in the New York-Newark-Jersey City area rose 0.2 percent in August and 1.8 percent from a year ago, according to the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest data.
Bureau of Labor Statistics Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli said “the slight increase reflected higher prices for food and apparel,” up 0.6 and 5.7 percent, respectively.
The 6 percent rise in clothing came after prices fell 3.1 percent last August, as costs rebounded from that drop. “Apparel prices often rise at this time of year with the introduction of fall and winter lines,” Kohli said of the end-of-summer increase.
Prices for food away from home jumped 0.7 percent, the largest increase in over a year, he said. Prices for food at home increased 0.5 percent, with higher prices in three of the six grocery groups.
The index for all items except food and energy increased 2.3 percent over the year, largely due to a 2.2-percent increase in the index for housing.
“In contrast, energy prices declined 4.0 percent over the year, reflecting in part a 4.7-percent drop in the price of gasoline,” Kohli said.


text:
In a groundbreaking move, the Kenyan parliament has directed the Blockchain Association of Kenya (BAK) to draft the country’s first comprehensive cryptocurrency regulation bill. This marks a significant step towards establishing a clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies in Kenya.
The National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning summoned BAK representatives on Oct. 31 to discuss regulating digital assets. According to BAK’s legal and policy director Allan Kakai, the committee gave the association two months to prepare the bill. This is the first time a Kenyan parliamentary committee has ordered an industry association to write legislation for review and potential approval.
This directive is seen as a pioneering effort, as Kenya is poised to become the first country in the world where industry representatives are actively involved in shaping the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. The move seeks a collaborative effort for favourable web3 policies. If things flow in this direction, Kenya would become the first country to pass a crypto bill from industry leaders which is lauded across the community as a game changer that will drive investment to the market.
The push for legislation comes after Kenya introduced a 3% tax on crypto transfers and exchanges under the new Financial Act 2023 in September. BAK unsuccessfully lobbied against the tax earlier this year and has since challenged it in the High Court of Kenya.
With Nigeria, South Africa and other African nations making strides in crafting crypto regulations, MPs are urging BAK to demystify digital assets and help Kenya become a leader in the “Silicon Savannah”. The association has been asked to emphasize robust public education in its draft bill.
This development marks a significant milestone in the evolution of digital currencies and their integration into mainstream financial systems. As the Kenyan Blockchain Association continues to refine their regulatory approach, the future of cryptocurrencies in Kenya looks promising.


text:
Small and medium food and beverage manufacturers can now apply for up to $25,000 to save money on energy bills, improve energy efficiency and adopt new energy technologies under the new $19.9 million round of the federal government’s Energy Efficient Communities (EEC) program.
The grants can be used to replace existing equipment with more energy efficient models, carry out energy audits or improve energy monitoring and management.
The food and beverage manufacturing industry is the largest manufacturing sector in Australia, contributing around $22.4 billion to the economy. The federal government supports this vital sector of the economy as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic through programs such as the EEC program.
The EEC program targets food and beverage manufacturers, which include some of the most energy intensive small and medium businesses in Australia, according to assistant minister to minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction, Tim Wilson.
“It’s because they’re the engine room of the economy employing 1 in 4 manufacturing workers that the Morrison government is backing food and beverage manufacturers to be competitive, through grants to lower their power costs and slash emissions as part of the solution to Australia’s carbon neutral future,” Wilson said.
“We’re supporting fantastic Aussie manufacturers like Bellevue Orchard based in Officer, Victoria. Businesses like this and others around the country will benefit from investing in new energy efficient technologies and by understanding their energy consumption more thoroughly.
“Reducing needless energy consumption also cuts emissions and is at the heart of the Morrison government’s focus on technology, not taxes because it boosts competitiveness, creates new jobs and reduces Australia’s environmental footprint.”
Applications close on 18 February 2022, or earlier if funding is exhausted prior to this.
For more information, grant guidelines and application forms, food and beverage manufacturers can visit www.business.gov.au/EECFB or call 13 28 46.


text:
The first day of summer will also be the first time in over four decades that Picasso’s Femme Assise(1909) will be up for grabs. On June 21st, the artists’ early Cubist work will be up for auction at Sotheby’s London. In 1973, the piece was purchased for an estimated $833,000. Today, the anonymous seller is expected to pass it on was around fifty times their purchase value at around $45 million.
Helena Newman, Sotheby’s global co-head of Impressionist and modern art, explained in a statement to the press that, “It is several decades since a Cubist painting of this caliber has been offered at auction, since virtually all the significant works of this period are in international museums and institutions.”
Janie Cohen, a Picasso expert and director of the Fleming Museum of Art at the University of Vermont, told the TAN, “This is indeed a big deal to see this early Cubist work come onto the market… The palette of the painting reflects the palette of the Spanish countryside, as well as of Cézanne’s late landscapes painted in Provence. The limited but bright palette would become more subdued and monochromatic as Cubism developed.”
Picasso’s work is no stranger to steep price tags, the artist currently holds the record for the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction. The record was made last year when Les Femmes d’Alger (Version O) sold for $179.4 million at Christie’s New York.
Femme Assise will headline Sotheby’s June Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale in London. The painting will be on view in the galleries of Sotheby’s Hong Kong from May 26 through 30 and Sotheby’s London from June 10 through 21.


text:
Local real estate market’s pandemic recovery continues
Sarnia-Lambton real estate sales continue to rebound after being restricted to essential transactions only in the spring when the pandemic hit.
Real Estate Board President Donna Mathewson said for the second month in a row, volume sales in July hit an all-time high at nearly $88.8 million, $26 million more than July 2019.
She said some sales in the higher price range helped push the numbers up.
“In the residential area we had 31 sales that were over $600,000, once again similar to last month, that’s a lot of high-end homes that are selling in one month,” said Mathewson. “We do still think that this is some carryover from us not having as many sales in April and May.”
Mathewson said two farms sold.
“We had just under $2 million in farms sell, which does attribute to our overall total. For commercial buildings, we had $3.2 million in sales that was the equivalent of four sales in the commercial sector. Vacant land, we had just under $1.5 million and that was five different sales in the vacant land sector.”
She said there were only 18 sales under $200,000, a category usually driven by first time home buyers.
Mathewson said while they sold a lot more, overall listings were down over 30 per cent in July compared to 2019.
“We still have an extremely low supply. If you look at our total listings for the month, we sat at 230 listings, versus 331 in 2019. So, overall listings were down 30 per cent, but yet, the number of units sat at 214 for the amount of houses sold, compared to 185 in 2019.”
The average residential sale price so far this year is $380,736, up 13 per cent compared to last year at this time.
The previous record for monthly sales was $80 million set in June.


text:
|The Israel Diamond Institute (IDI) reports that the Israel Diamond Pavilion at the September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair will feature 84 Israeli companies, with an additional 15 Israeli companies exhibiting at different locations at the show venue. This will make the Israeli diamond industry one of the largest national exhibitors at the show.
Four of the IDI's ‘Find Your Diamond' terminals will be available at the IDI Lounge, located at the heart of the pavilion, says the IDI. The trade show search platform innovated by IDI, which enables buyers to search a computerized database of all goods offered by Israeli exhibitors at the show, has been expanded to include a Chinese version in addition to the English one. Buyers will also reportedly be able to access the system on their smartphones, as well as at the dedicated terminals.
IDI Chairman Shmuel Schnitzer says he is cautiously optimistic about the show, despite the challenging conditions faced by the industry. "...We believe in Asian markets and we are there for the long haul," he said.IDI Managing Director Eli Avidar notes that, "Hong Kong is a very important part of our marketing strategy and we participate in four shows during the year. The September show is always the most important since it sets the tone for the upcoming holiday season. This show attracts buyers from all over Asia - Hong Kong, China, India, Singapore and even the U.S. and Australia. As usual our exhibitors will work hard at the show and I believe they will be rewarded."


text:
Fayetteville, North Carolina — Sanderson Farms says it is no longer planning to build a $95 million poultry processing plant in Cumberland County, but that didn't stop hundreds of people from turning out for a public hearing in which most speakers opposed the project.
Media outlets report almost 800 people attended the 5-hour hearing in Fayetteville on Monday night.
Almost 100 people addressed the crowd and about three-quarters opposed the plant that could create almost 1,000 jobs.
Sanderson Farms said last month it is no longer considering the county, but opponents worry the plant could be built.
The county board of commissioners has been considering a $6 million incentive package to try to lure the plant.
Supporters say the plant will bring needed jobs. Opponents worry about its effects on the environment.


text:
With all the hullabaloo surrounding Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm, the newly announced Star Wars movies, and the questions of who will be involved in them, one exciting bit of upcoming Star Wars material slipped between the cracks. I’m referring to Star Wars 1313, a rather awesome-looking video game that has been described as “Uncharted meets Star Wars.” Good news: from the sound of things the Disney purchase will not affect 1313. That’s a relief, because 1313 has already earned a spot on my must-play list, and it would be a damn shame if it got sunk by the vagaries of the business world.
The folks at Tech Crunch decided to find out the status of Star Wars 1313 for themselves, contacting Disney CEO Bob Iger to find out what the huge deal would mean for the game, if anything. It sounds like 1313 is safe, but Iger also hinted at how Disney might approach future video games. Iger says the company would be “likely to focus more on social and mobile than we are on console.” In other words, expect a lot more stuff along the lines of Angry Birds Star Wars.
As Tech Crunch points out, that doesn’t mean there won’t be more ambitious Star Wars PC or console games in the future, it just means they’re focusing on the social/mobile game area. Iger says that the company will consider further console games “opportunistically.” In other words, if somebody’s got a good idea that will likely make money, the Mouse will hear their proposals. And if they don’t like those proposals, I like to imagine they’ll be dropped into a pit and killed by those freaky pink elephants from Fantasia.
Star Wars 1313 is still targeted for a release sometime in 2013.


text:
SCOTTSDALE, AZ – GPS Insight has introduced cell-phone-based messaging, cell-phone maps, and cell-phone queries. Overall, this new suite of cell-phone capabilities is an advance for the company’s customers who communicate with their drivers using text messages, as well as those who would like to use a cell phone to determine their vehicles’ whereabouts.
GPS Insight’s new cell phone mapping demo page, located at http://crm.gpsinsight.com/crm/campaign_trackerv2.php?track=5151be49-73c7-4db3-df36-473bbb3a83fb&identifier=903d0cab-5a17-3abf-2583-473bcce96aa7, allows customers to see how GPS Insight mapping will look on their phone. Using drivers’ cell phones and GPS Insight, customers can now send and receive messages via text message. Additionally, they can see exact, satellite maps of their vehicles’ locations on their Google Mobile Maps capable cell phone. The company offers a 30-day money back guarantee and offers free trials for qualified companies. GPS Insight’s main Web site is located at http://crm.gpsinsight.com/crm/campaign_trackerv2.php?track=7125203a-fc28-43ff-ff5c-473bbbd61113&identifier=903d0cab-5a17-3abf-2583-473bcce96aa7.
Originally posted on Automotive Fleet
See all comments


text:
LOS ANGELES - In an effort to brand itself to surfers, OCCash has launched its Web 2.0 network and flagship site FilthFreaks.com.
Jason Quinlan, vice president director of marketing for OCCash, said the new network will make it easier for surfers.
"We've always been OCCash, but what does that really mean to a guy who is surfing porno sites?" he said. "OCCash is more of a brand for our webmasters. So we decided to split it into separate entities: one for the surfer and one for the webmaster."
Quinlan said Filth Freaks is a "deep" pay site that takes what users get in the traditional members' area and "flips it inside out."
"Our members' area is already very deep," he said. "We have more than 1,700 episodes, and we continue to update with fresh content twice a day. This network is completely Web 2.0 in that the site will morph itself based on what users find the most appealing. What's used the most, what rated the highest ... all the good stuff will rise to the top."
OCCash began branding the "Filth Freaks" name months ago, including watermarking all of the content. Several promotional events are planned for the coming weeks and months, including xPeeps gatherings.
Filth Freaks is offering $35 per join on all trials. Several new promotional tools are available, including deep linking banners, peel ads and XML Flash banners.


text:
Kids Holiday Farmers Market
Students practice food literacy over winter break.
Food Literacy Center will send students home with an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables in partnership with Nugget Markets, Kaiser Permanente and LIBERTY Dental Plan.
By sending these students home with fresh produce, they can continue practicing the healthy habits that we have helped them develop in food literacy class. They will shop for fresh ingredients, learn how to advocate for veggies at home and in school, and take home a soup recipe and kit made with spice packets donated by the Allspicery. They can use the veggies they shop for to recreate a healthy meal at home using their soup kits.
The Kids Holiday Farmers Market will take place December 16 at an elementary school in Sacramento City Unified School District.
Follow along on Instagram or watch our Facebook Live feed on Dec 16 at 3:30 pm to experience the joy right along our kids as they shop for their favorite fruits and vegetables.
Fund a Student
You can provide 14-weeks of FREE food literacy class to one student for just $15.50/month. Donate now!
We are grapefruit grateful for our sponsors:


text:
Coca-Cola launches first Coke-branded energy drink
In its latest move to become a total beverage company, Coca-Cola is extending its brand into energy drinks for the first time. Coca-Cola Energy will have different packaging, four times the amount of caffeine of ordinary Coke and launches in the UK in April with an integrated campaign to accompany its release.
The new drink is pitched at 18- to 35-year-olds, with the brand clearly trying to pitch to the health conscious millennial, listing ‘natural caffeine, guarana extracts and B vitamins in the ingredients.
The news is part of CEO Jame’s Quincey’s vision to become a total beverage company. The drinks giant recognises that fizzy drinks aren’t growing at the pace they need to so Coke needs to be catering to different lifestyles in other occasions.
According to a report by the British Soft Drinks Association, energy drinks market saw volume sales rise 2% to 679 million litres, up 2% year on year and giving it 5% of the soft drinks market, up from 3.8% in 2011.
This is definitely not going to be the last in innovations from Coke. Last year the company made headlines for a series of acquisitions most notably Costa, but we predict this year will be focused on product launches.
Marmite splits opinion with peanut butter launch
No, it’s not an early April Fools’ Day prank, Marmite is launching peanut butter. The brand is branching out with a new innovation that combines two of the nations favourite spreads.
The peanut butter has caused an onslaught of hot takes with Twitter divided on whether they love or hate the new idea.It’s a smart move from Marmite, with the nut butter category growing at a fast rate Marmite is rightly ensuring it can lead as consumer tastes evolve.
Marmite’s owner, Unilever, has also done research that suggests the innovation won’t steal from sales of its core product, with 60% of consumers telling the company they would buy Marmite Peanut Butter in addition to original Marmite.
The social media cycle can make this feel like a quick innovation to spark mild controversy but in fact is a well-thought out product launch that ensures that Marmite retains its iconic status while staying relevant.
AB InBev looks to become more famous as it rebrands to Budweiser Brewing Group in the UK
AB InBev has changed its name to Budweiser Brewing Group in the UK and Ireland as it looks to boost consumers’ awareness of the wider business.
As it stands, if you mention AB InBev to most people they probably won’t have any idea what it is or does. Very few would realise it is the maker of some of the UK’s biggest beer brands – not just Budweiser but Stella Artois, Becks and Corona.
As part of the move, Budweiser Brewing Group has also outlined a new set of commitments to sustainability and responsible drinking, among other things, that it believes its new positioning will better enable it achieve.
Tying the company to one of its best known brands can only be a positive move for the business as it will provide an instant lift in recognition and understanding, not just at a consumer level, but when it comes to partnering with organisations within the industry too.
This intention was outlined by Budweiser Brewing Group’ s newly-appointed president Paula Lindenberg, who says: “Through the power and recognition of the Budweiser brand, we want to open ourselves up to working with more partners to achieve our ambitions.”
Whether it becomes confusing down the line for the wider business to be known as Budweiser Brewing Group in the UK and AB InBev elsewhere is a challenge the company will have to consider going forward. Especially if they take a similar approach in other markets where Budweiser isn’t the brand of choice.
TUI develops academy to create more rounded marketers
TUI is on a mission to create more rounded marketers. The company has launched its own maketing academy in a bid to ensure that old and new marketers across the company are educated both in the business but marketing principles as a whole.
The company’s CMO for UK & Ireland, Katie McAlister, admits that previously much of the company had operated in silos with marketers sticking to their core capabilities – digital or TV for example. That held back movement between teams and led to a less cohesive customer journey.
The academy is made up of three elements: online learning courses, leadership training and TUI specific workshops. The e-learning platform, which has been developed by Marketing Week sister brand Econsultancy, is made up of eight online topics while workshops will be led by TUI’s top marketers.
Last year, TUI extended McAlister’s CMO remit to include sales, which has also been applied to to the academy, something which she describes as a “natural progression”.
Other company’s would do well to follow suit not only in prioritising marketers’ education but removing siloes in the business. That can only lead to more cohesive marketing and will ensure that TUI gets and retains the best talent.
Government preps upskilling programme for marketers
The government is preparing to launch an upskilling programme for its marketers as part of plans to position its communications for a future where “everything is digital”.
The ‘accelerate’ programme focuses on four key areas: campaign management, programmatic, social media and paid search. There will be opportunities for learning including information sharing, online courses, podcasts and formal training. While it is not mandatory, marketers will be encouraged to get involved in areas they think are most relevant to their jobs and departments.
The programme is similar to a journey many brands have been on to ensure their marketing is fit for the future. By looking to best practice across government and learnings from outside, the Government Communication Service (GCS) should be able to position its marketers to improve effectiveness and deliver the best possible ROI on tax payer money.
However, the risk is GCS becomes too focused on digital and forgets other areas of marketing strategy. Having teams trained in best practice for execution is a worthwhile investment but must also be backed up with investment in other areas of marketing from research to insight and data.


text:
Dismal earnings reports from Kohl's and Macy's doesn't mean the consumer is weak, says Thomas Wilson of Brinker Capital.
Wall Street couldn't hold on to its earlier gains all three indexes trading lower. For more on how to navigate this market we're joined by Thomas Wilson. He's a senior investment managers Brinker capital welcome Tom Apple's down sharply oil's down Coles head dismal earnings got jobless claims rising. What's really driving them. It's yeah I think first off jobless claims was a big economic news that came out. I jobless claims are up that was a little bit of a surprise. Coming in about 294000. That moves the four week average up a bit too closer to 48 to sixty. I think is you'd think about where we are at this point of the business cycle. Having jobless claims between 550000. Is about. Right all right now moving on corporate news Coles up profit quarterly profit dropped 87 saying coming one day after Macy's dismal earnings and also better earnings from. The likes of gap soul. What's your feelings about investing in the retail sector or at least department store apparel sector sure why I think. I think to be incorrect for investors to extrapolate that. These companies that poor results is it signaled that the consumers week because we don't see it that way there's lots of suggested consumers strong. Rather this is just part of it longer term secular trend of consumers wanted to our purchase items online as opposed to going into the big boxes him. And as for the consumer that you're still positive about their spending in other areas a laps absolutely ghastly. One of his barber positive on the consumers some of that economic that for example we just have been rising for some time clearly on appointments dale. The number of employees who are pro actively leaving their jobs today is at a rate that we haven't seen since the end of 2007. So. If you're proactively leaving you feeling good about your prospects elsewhere. A Brazilian stocks there have made it come back this year what are your thoughts on. Emerging market is the continent to weighed in at this time at a time when you still have factors such as you know China and low oil prices. Well on on this subject to present itself there's a lot of horrible point. Fifteen a country it's experience unemployment double digits inflation for double digits for multiple years. Really Brazilian market is kind of rally this year that I hope. That political change lead to economic change. Brazil being eighth largest economy in the world clearly key economy get emerging markets role. As oil and other commodities. We can succumb which we have seen thus far points sixteen. That is a general positive for the emerging markets lastly. Fixed income yeah abdicate investing in non traditional fixed income what do you mean by that or so with not traditionally look at high yield is verse of books ample. But also long short fixed income. There are managers or purple is out there were managers will. Buy gold along the credits that they feel comfortable at. And like my short the credits that the wrong couple as a result the overall portfolio tends to have a fairly low standard deviation. And a lot of interest rate or duration risk before this old the individuals small investor out there. Option they still be buying intermediate long term intermediate term funds. As Connolly in the report we will. It moved one of the great things but in immediate terminal extrapolate you know quality bonds. Is that they're gonna go up when bad things happened in the market however to further diversify that segment of the fixed income. You probably would look at having 2030%. To some non traditional fixed and come. So that when we do start to see rates rise in the values of those bonds that are long core quality holdings can be offset. But these nontraditional investments that could potentially do well and rising rate. Excellent treatment. Our thanks Thomas Wilson a breaker capital I'm Fred Katayama and this is.


text:
Futures, which had been trading down all morning, got a small boost when personal spending for July came in a big stronger than expected (0.4 percent vs. 0.3 percent consensus), but then resumed their downward move and are now at the lows for the session.
1) Hewlett-Packard rises 3 percent after announcing a $10 billion addition to its stock buyback program. The tech company expects to repurchase at least $3 billion of its shares in the current quarter alone. This comes as H-P's share price is hovering right near a new 52-week low, having fallen 18 percent since the abrupt resignation of CEO Mark Hurd earlier this month.
Gap, Ann Taylor, Nordstrom, Dillard's and Intuit have announced buybacks recently.
2) Intel announced it is buying a wireless unit from German chipmaker Infineon for $1.4 billion in cash. The acquisition would give Intel access to wireless technology it could implement in its processors used in portable devices like laptops, tablet PCs, and smartphones. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.
3) Biotech firm Genzyme raises 4 percent after it rejected an $18.5 billion bid by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis . Genzyme's CEO Henri Termeer declared "this is not the right time to sell the company" and that the bid "dramatically undervalues our company."
Rumors of a potential deal have been circulating for about a month, but over the weekend, Sanofi-Aventis went public with its $69/share cash offer for the biotech firm. Since the rumors began, shares of Genzyme are up nearly 30 percent.
4) The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported a 1.2 percent sequential rise and a 37 percent year-over-year gain in chip sales last month. Despite recent warnings from companies like Intel on 2nd half sales, the SIA reaffirms its 2010 forecast for industry growth (28.4 percent).
5) The Financial Times reports that iron ore miners like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto will see a drop in iron ore prices during the 4th quarter — the first quarterly decline in a year. Although the price declines, which will likely to be made official tomorrow, are a negative for mining companies, they will be welcomed news to steelmakers, which have been up against lower steel demand in recent months. As a result, steelmakers have seen their steel prices drop and have been reducing their production outputs appropriately.
Bookmark CNBC Data Pages:
Questions? Comments? email@example.com


text:
Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body, and this is necessary for keeping bones and teeth healthy. Having a deficiency can lead to bone deformities such as rickets in children, and several conditions in adults. If you are spending a lot of time indoors, the NHS suggests you should take 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day to keep your bones and muscles healthy. Over-supplementation of vitamin D, however, can be harmful and should be avoided.
NIH notes that other signs include nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, confusion, pain, loss of appetite, dehydration, excessive thirst, and kidney stones.
It adds: “Extremely high levels of vitamin D can cause kidney failure, irregular heartbeat, and even death.”
“Confusion, apathy, recurrent vomiting, abdominal pain, polyuria, polydipsia, and dehydration are the most often noted clinical symptoms of vitamin D toxicity”, notes a study published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Vitamin D toxicity might progress to bone pain and kidney problems, such as the formation of calcium stones.
In April 2020, the NHS issued a statement, based on recommendations from Public Health England (PHE), that we should all consider taking 10 mcg/day vitamin D as a supplement, to keep our bones and muscles healthy.
This was advice issued largely because of the restrictions imposed by quarantine and lockdown.
Nonetheless, the NHS says that in summer months, the majority of the population will get enough vitamin D through exposure to sunlight and a healthy, balanced diet.
Between October and early March the health body says we do not make enough vitamin D from sunlight, so you need to get vitamin D from your diet.
Nonetheless, research is ongoing into whether the ‘sunshine vitamin’ can boost immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in laboratory experiments.
Dietary vitamin D is available in foods such as oily fish, cod liver oil, red meat, fortified cereals, fortified margarine/spreads and egg yolks.
In the UK, milk is not fortified with vitamin D, so dairy products contain only small amounts of vitamin D.
The NHS says risk factors for vitamin D deficiency include a lack of sunlight exposure, darker skin, being housebound, malabsorption, and being pregnant or breastfeeding.
Around 20 percent of adults may have low vitamin D status, and there are several main risk factors for vitamin D deficiency.
The body creates vitamin D from direct sunlight on the skin when outdoors, so the winter may be a time when vitamin D deficiency is more common.
The NHS says risk factors include a lack of sunlight exposure, darker skin, being housebound, malabsorption, and being pregnant or breastfeeding.
“There is currently not enough evidence to support taking vitamin D solely to prevent or treat COVID-19,” the NHS says.


text:
5 results for Article, Blog post and Nutriceuticals
Not everyone’s fond of algae – whether it’s clogging up waterways or wrapped around sushi. But as yet more cool uses for aquatic vegetables surface, even the slime-averse might become algalytes.
With lupin markets on an upswing thanks to the legume's newfound health benefits, more farmers might want to consider planting this useful- and potentially profitable- rotational crop.
Which nations are best positioned to profit from the worldwide trend towards buying ‘organic’? The answers, as detailed in a new global report, might surprise you.
A bioactive component in ‘emu bush’, a plant Aboriginals have used medicinally and in smoking rituals for millennia, has been found by Australian scientists to be a potent antimicrobial agent that can be used to treat everything from skin ailments to staph infections.
Academics from The University of Sydney and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology are part of a growing global field of food analysis that is finding new, effective ways to isolate, identify and quantify the beneficial components of health-promoting foods and natural remedies....


text:
28 likes 1 talking about this. EmCash is a small emerging loan company that providing a quick and easy loan top up until your next PayDay with a low-interest rate.August 22, 2018
If you’re interested in crypto, be sure to check out CryptoList – my hand-researched list of over 7,000 crypto companies, and consider subscribing to CryptoWeekly, my weekly crypto newsletter.
Dubai is one of the world’s fastest-growing hubs for international trade, so it makes sense that it’s a big hub for crypto companies, too. It may not be immediately obvious, but some of the largest crypto companies in the world are now based here in this tiny emirate.
- Dubai’s Crypto emCash Could Be the Fiat Currency Slayer. Dubai recently announced that it is launching a cryptocurrency called emCash, that will be used through a mobile-based wallet called EmCredit. It will be the world’s first state-backed cryptocurrency, meaning digital currencies and the underlying blockchain technology have reached a.
- Pundi X plans to make cryptocurrency microtransactions in Dubai a reality with a new stablecoin called emcash. Together with Ebooc fintech and emcredit, citizens and residents in the megacity will.
Crypto startups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are flocking to the city due primarily to its supportive regulatory environment, political stability, and low taxation rates.
Its government is all-in on crypto too, with the Dubai Future Foundation and other regulatory bodies putting their full support behind initiatives to integrate blockchain technology into every facet of society.
With over 200m users, Telegram is one of the largest encrypted messaging services in the world. It recently started getting into crypto in a big way, and its long-anticipated ICO became the largest of all time this year with $1.7b raised to date in its private token sale. Telegram plans to use the proceeds from its token offering to develop what it calls the “Telegram Open Network” blockchain, which if successfully executed, will be even faster and more secure than both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Although Telegram has a global presence, its headquarters is in Dubai primarily due to the UAE’s tax-free zone, which allows the organization to grow without being encumbered by tax regulations.
Founded in 2015, Dubai-based BitOasis is one of the largest crypto exchanges in the Middle East market. The firm is targeting its crypto wallet and exchange services towards emerging markets and is taking a mobile-first approach to product development.
This year, the company plans to work more closely with the Dubai government to develop regulations around crypto as well, with an eye towards becoming a fully-licensed exchange by the end of the year. The company is also preparing to embark on a massive growth spurt this year, with regional rollouts planned for Saudi Arabia and other new markets later in the year.
BitPado is one of Dubai’s newest and fastest-growing crypto exchanges. Founded by serial entrepreneur Omar Kassim (founder of ecommerce network JadoPado) and backed by a number of prominent investors, BitPado is aiming to be the highest-volume crypto exchange in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The exchange is presently in private beta, but is slated to open up to more customers soon. For its exchange services, BitPado currently supports Ethereum, Bitcoin, Ripple, and a wide range of other major cryptocurrencies. In addition to BitPado, Kassim also heads up Esanjo, a blockchain-powered property administration service.
Emcredit is a subsidiary of the Dubai Government’s economic department, and it’s responsible for developing the country’s first official cryptocurrency, called emCash. The cryptocurrency was developed in partnership with the UK-based Object Tech Group in late 2017, and it’s now being piloted as an official currency within the country. The Dubai government is hopeful that emCash can become the primary currency layer for the country’s blockchain initiatives, and so far, results have been encouraging.
In addition to being a crypto firm, Emcredit also serves as the UAE’s official credit information agency, which gives it a unique ability to establish groundbreaking public-private partnerships in the crypto space.
Palmex is one of the UAE’s newest crypto exchanges, and it’s the first digital asset exchange in the Middle East. Launched early this year by parent company Arabian Chain, the exchange allows users to trade in Bitcoin, Ethereum, DubaiCoin (Palmex’s native token), and other major cryptocurrencies.
In addition to crypto trading, Palmex also supports a number of trading pairs, including AED to Bitcoin. Palmex has only launched in the Middle East and North Africa market to date, but has plans to grow beyond these markets this year with additional backing from ArabianChain.
6. Adab Solutions
Adab runs the First Islamic Crypto Exchange (FICE), the world’s first Shariah-compliant crypto exchange. Fully compliant with Islamic law, the Dubai-based company launched in August of this year and plans to launch its first public token sale later this year.
As part of the company’s token sale, it will be issuing Adab tokens, which will be used for all commission transactions on the platform. The company is poised to do big business in the Middle East region, as Dubai is now the region’s indisputable hub of Islamic finance.
Verify is a distributed reputation protocol that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. The startup raised $2.5m in its ICO last December, which sold out in less than 90 minutes. The Dubai-based startup plans to use this fresh injection of funds to develop its ecommerce payments platform and reputation tracking system for buyers and sellers.
The Verify platform allows the reputations of both buyers and sellers to be tracked over time, which enhances trust between both parties. Transactions conducted through the platform use CRED, Verify’s native token, and each transaction completed gives buyers and sellers additional points for successfully fulfilled transactions.
The Dubai-based OneGram has developed the world’s first Shariah-compliant cryptocurrency backed by physical gold reserves. The startup achieved its Shariah certification from Al Maali Consulting, and is aiming to make its cryptocurrency the online payment system of choice throughout the Middle East.
The startup has also inked a number of partnerships with property and real estate groups across the UAE that allow customers to purchase real estate using OneGram’s gold-backed tokens. Adding the its list of partnerships, the firm also recently announced that it would be partnering with online gold trading platform GoldGuard to build one of the world’s largest gold vaults inside Dubai Airport’s free trade zone.
ArabianChain is one of the largest crypto firms in the Middle East, with projects ranging from crypto exchanges to developer APIs already in flight. The firm is headed up by serial entrepreneur Mohammed Alsehli, and raised over $1.5m from private investors last year to help it further develop its platform.
ArabianChain’s vision is to create a decentralized, blockchain-based platform that anyone can run applications on top of. ArabianChain’s network is primarily designed for enterprises, and the team is already working on several commercial use cases for its platform. In line with its commercial vision, the firm is also partnering with the Dubai government to achieve its stated goal of securing all government documents on the blockchain by 2020.
10. Regal RA DMCC
Regal RA DMCC is the first company in the UAE to become a fully licensed and government-sanctioned crypto trading firm. The firm, which is also one of the most well-known gold dealers in Dubai, recently expanded into the crypto storage space, and now offers its clients cold storage vaults for their crypto holdings.
The vaults are located at the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, one of the fastest-growing economic free zones in the UAE, and are open to all Regal RA clients. With an eye on the future, the firm is also working on building its own online gold-backed crypto exchange, which will be regulated and overseen by the Dubai government.
Launched just last month, Evareium is a platform that allows anyone to make real estate investments using crypto. Users can invest in all or part of numerous properties across the Middle East, and then sell their holdings for tokens which are held on the platform. By solving the illiquidity problems of the real estate market, Evareium hopes to empower an entirely new generation of real estate investors.
Evareium’s ICO was launched last month, and runs through the end of April 2018. The firm is hoping to raise $150m in its first round of funding, and plans to use the capital to build out its platform, accelerate hiring, and expand further in the region.
12. UAE Exchange
UAE Exchange is one of the largest foreign exchange and remittances firms in the Middle East, and it’s recently started leveraging blockchain technology to improve its service offerings. In February of this year, it announced a landmark partnership with Ripple that will allow the exchange to use RippleNet to facilitate payments and remittances globally.
The exchange does not use Ripple’s native token (XRP) for transactions, but is instead opting to exclusively leverage the RippleNet technology stack. UAE Exchange is hoping that the partnership will give it a competitive advantage in the increasingly crowded payments space, and early adoption indicators have been positive so far.
13. Al Kasir Group
The Dubai-based Al Kasir Group offers publicly-traded crypto assets backed by IGI-certified diamonds. The project, which is a joint venture between an arm of the Dubai government and a local jewelry trading portal, launched earlier this year and is scheduled to make crypto assets available for trading later this month.
Crypto assets purchased through Al Kasir’s proprietary exchange are backed by diamonds, but can also be used to purchase other luxury goods on Al Kasir’s platform, ranging from precious stones to lifestyle products.
Loyyal is a Dubai-based startup that’s in the midst of rapidly growing its blockchain-based universal loyalty platform. The firm is focused on tokenizing the world of loyalty programs, and already counts a number of Fortune 500 firms (such as IBM and Deloitte) as clients.
Last year, Loyyal closed its Series A round of funding and partnered with Smart Dubai to develop the incentivization program for DubaiNOW, a mobile app that gives users access to a full suite of government services. The firm is also partnering with the Dubai government on several other blockchain-based initiatives aimed at improving the accessibility and security of government data.
15. Global Blockchain Council
The Global Blockchain Council is an arm of the Dubai Future Foundation, a government agency that seeks to use emerging technologies to prepare Dubai’s workforce and economy for the future. Launched in 2016, the GBC is a public-private partnership that’s already made significant progress towards solving some of the country’s most critical data-related problems.
Right now, the GBC is focused on bringing its experience to bear on seven key projects, ranging from digitizing its thriving diamond trade to incorporating new businesses on the blockchain. The council remains highly active in Dubai’s crypto community, and often hosts events in the area as well.
Still in private beta, ArabCoin is looking to launch the first fully regulated crypto commodities exchange in the United Arab Emirates. The project was launched as a joint venture between a private group of Emirati investors, and several members of the royal family’s investment fund.
The gold-backed cryptocurrency will be traded on crypto exchanges throughout the region, and will be issued by DUCCX, “a fully licensed crypto commodities trader in Dubai”. The firm also has announced plans to partner with brick-and-mortar retailers across the UAE on rolling out crypto payments supported by the ArabCoin platform.
Etherty is another one of the many Dubai startups looking to tokenize the world of real estate investment. The Etherty platform allows users to buy, sell, and trade property-backed cryptocurrency on a secure, decentralized real estate exchange. Properties can also be purchased outright through Etherty using the platform’s native tokens.
Etherty’s public token sale launched earlier this year, and is scheduled to run through April 30th of this year. The firm is targeting an initial funding round of $5.3m, the proceeds of which will be used to fund development of the platform.
18. Block Gemini
Block Gemini is the leading crypto and blockchain consultancy in the Middle East and North Africa region. Its team consists of a diverse team of crypto researchers, blockchain developers, and investors that are passionate about helping startups integrate blockchain technology into their business processes.
The consultancy offers clients a mix of both consulting services and bespoke software solutions, ranging from crypto wallets to digital asset exchanges. The firm is also quite active in Dubai’s crypto community, and frequently participates in the city’s event circuit (such as the Future Blockchain Summit, happening from May 2-3 later this year).
Headquartered in Dubai and founded in 2014, RightBTC is one of the world’s leading digital asset exchanges. A true pioneer in the Middle East’s crypto ecosystem, the exchange was the first to launch a coin-to-coin exchange in Dubai, and the firm remains active in the city’s crypto community.
The exchange allows users to trade amongst a basket of popular cryptocurrencies, which users can then store on the firm’s proprietary digital wallet. RightBTC distinguishes itself from other crypto exchanges by continuously performing risk control on all tradable assets to avoid fraud or unsavory trading activity on the platform.
The Dubai-based KEYRPTO is a blockchain-based ecommerce platform currently in private beta. The service, which bills itself as “crypto’s answer to eBay”, empowers buyers and sellers to exchange cryptocurrency for products – all through smart contracts, which are securely stored on the KEYRPTO platform.
Since the 60s under Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the Emirate of Dubai has developed the city of Dubai at an extraordinary pace, culminating in the phenomenal growth seen over the last couple of decades. From a humble trading port, Dubai has been transformed into one of the most popular luxury tourist destinations in the Middle East, in addition to being the region’s undisputed financial hub.
To achieve this, the Emirate’s leadership not only poured in copious investment funding (predominantly derived from the oil discovered off Dubai’s coast in 1966) but also established a multitude of Special Economic Zones across the city, to foster business growth and attract foreign investment. Numerous technology, finance, and media companies have been established in Dubai as a result, forming a receptive environment for Bitcoin.
Should a similar approach of investment and deregulation be applied to Bitcoin and blockchain projects as was applied to the city itself, Dubai could bring equally amazing growth to the cryptocurrency space. There are several encouraging signs which point to the likelihood of such an occurrence, as the government is pioneering numerous blockchain projects while the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund remains “open-minded” in regards Bitcoin investment.
Dubai and the UAE Embrace Blockchain Technology
Under the ambitious UAE Blockchain Strategy 2021 announced in April 2018, the region intends to become the world’s first “government on the blockchain,” with half of federal transactions made via cryptocurrency by the aforementioned date.
As part of the Crown Prince of Dubai’s Dubai Blockchain Strategy announced in 2016, a multitude a blockchain-based initiatives have been launched. These initiatives aim to improve governmental efficiency, legal processes, public happiness, and the ease of doing business. These ventures include:
Smart Dubai, which seeks to shift administrative functions such as billing, visa application, license renewal into a blockchain system by 2020. The result should be reduced costs and greater efficiency, maintaining Dubai’s status as a “city of the future.”
Sports to bet on. Court of the Blockchain, which ultimately aims to bridge the gaps between the traditional legal system and blockchain-based smart contracts. For now, the focus will be on reducing paperwork and realizing greater legal efficiencies.
The Dubai Blockchain Business Registry Project, developed in partnership with IBM, will create a blockchain-based Unified Commercial Registry to better issue, store, and manage trade licenses. The Dubai Silicon Oasis free zone will be the first to implement the technology.
The Dubai Land Registry’s blockchain property database, which serves to record property ownership, secure property-related money transfers and facilitate communication between property owners, tenants and utility providers.
Bitcoin is Considered Halaal under Sharia Law
In April of 2018, Bitcoin was declared acceptable under Sharia Law by Muhammad Abu-Bakar of the Indonesian firm, Blossom Finance. This has opened the door to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investment by Muslims around the world. Note that this declaration should not be presumed to extend to each and every cryptocurrency, as some contain an element of interest earned on loans. To the best of our knowledge, none of the coins offered by Coinmama fall in this category.
Bitcoin’s Legal and Tax Status in Dubai
Although Dubai and the UAE have clearly embraced blockchain, the legal and tax status of Bitcoin is still somewhat unclear.
Buy My Cash Houses Quickly In Dallas
There existed some perceived contradiction existing between the UAE central bank’s ruling which prohibited “virtual currencies” and emCash, planned as the official state cryptocurrency of Dubai. However, the central bank’s governor later clarified that the prohibition does not extend to cryptocurrency.
According to legal experts consulted for an article in Gulf News, the buying and selling of Bitcoin is considered a “tolerated practice” within the UAE. While Bitcoin is not explicitly legal within the region, regulators will not prosecute those who trade in it.
The Dubai Financial Services Authority has publically warned against the high risk of cryptocurrencies but washed its hands of their regulation.
According to the Khaleeji Times, the taxation situation regarding cryptocurrencies is currently unclear.
How to Buy Bitcoin in Dubai
Buy My Cash Vacant House In Dallas
Coinmama allows people in Dubai and the UAE to buy bitcoin with a debit or credit card issued by either VISA or MasterCard. If you’re looking to buy bitcoin with your credit or debit card, then Coinmama allows this in a few simple steps:
Step 1 – Create Your Coinmama Account:
- Head to the Coinmama website and select the blue “Sign Up” tab.
- You will need to enter your email, password, first name, last name and your country of residence.
- If you already have an account, just sign in with your login details.
- For more information on how to create an account with us, click here.
Step 2 – Verify Your Account:
- To purchase bitcoin (BTC), you first need to become verified.
- It is necessary to upload your ID or passport, plus various other documents depending on which level of verification you wish to reach.
- For further help with account verification, please click here.
Step 3 – Purchase Your Bitcoin:
- Once signed in and verified, navigate to the “Bitcoin” tab in the top menu bar.
- Once there, you will be presented with several choices: either purchase a set amount of BTC ,or enter in a custom amount of up to roughly $5,000 (as of the time of writing).
- Supply your Bitcoin wallet address; this is where we’ll send the bitcoins which you purchase.
- Next, select the “Proceed to checkout” button.
Step 4 – the Checkout Page:
Buy Emachines Online
- Complete the form with your relevant details. Make sure that your card details, such as your address, correspond with the details you supplied when creating your Coinmama account.
- Finally, proceed to payment by clicking on the “Pay now” button. Note that only VISA or MasterCard are accepted.
Once your payment has been made, the order status will read “In Process.” This means that your order is being processed by the card company. After a few moments, the order will be processed and the payment will be approved.
Your wallet then needs to be confirmed. In approximately 10 minutes, you will receive payment to bitcoin at the address you supplied. After a further 10 minutes or so, this transaction should appear as confirmed within your wallet. Note that during times of especially high traffic, your transaction may take slightly longer to confirm.
Dubai is likely to emerge as a regional or even world leader in the implementation of blockchain technology. However, this should not be taken to imply that all things crypto are permissible. We at Coinmama recommend that our valued clients in Dubai and the UAE conduct their own research into local taxation laws and all other regulations which pertain to cryptocurrency.


text:
China is streets ahead when it comes to digital payments. The latest leap is facial recognition technology that allows a customer to pay by literally flashing a smile.
Alibaba’s Ant Financial affiliate launched the ‘smile to pay’ service in Hangzhou, the location of the company’s global HQ, where it is being trialled with KFC.
As the video from Ant below shows, the payment process doesn’t require a smartphone, assuming that the customer has already signed up for the Alipay app and enabled facial recognition. A 3D camera located at the point-of-sale scans the customer’s face to verify their identity, while there is a phone number verification option for additional security.
The technology is available to customers registered to the Alipay app – the mobile and online payment platform established in Hangzhou by Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma.
KFC was targeted for the debut as it is a subsidiary of Yum China, one of Alibaba’s major investments.


text:
Google Maps is going to get even better for when you don't have an Internet connection.
The Google Maps app will be updated later this year with offline support for maps, turn-by-turn voice navigation, search and information about destinations like reviews, ratings and hours of operation.
Google vice president of engineering Jen Fitzpatrick made the announcement at the Google I/O conference on Thursday.
The push is part of an initiative to improve Google services and the Android user experience in emerging markets such as India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, where Internet service is often more scarce.
The update will allow users to pull up maps when they're in areas without any cellular connectivity or Wi-Fi. The ability to search for places, such as restaurants and stores, is especially useful if, say, you're on an airplane, where Wi-Fi may not be available.
Better offline Google Maps support will also mean less mobile data will be used, as all of the information will be stored locally within the app. But it wasn't clear how much data about the world Google Maps would store offline, or whether it would be limited to emerging markets or available everywhere.
Of course, you'll need to get online to get the most up-to-date maps. For example, a newly closed road won't show up on an outdated offline version of a map.


text:
Congratulations are in order: Lea Michele is officially engaged to boyfriend Zandy Reich. The Glee actress announced the news on Instagram, giving us a close-up look at the massive ring. How cute is she?
With a diamond-studded band and large rectangular stone, the ring is anything but subtle—and definitely stunning. The couple has been dating for at least a year, and in case you weren’t familiar, Reich is the president of the brand Celebrity Style and Fashion Trend Coverage | http://www.whowhatwear.com


text:
The cost of beer has rocketed over recent years – with the average pint now costing £3.60.
Much of that – roughly about 54p – goes to the taxman as beer duty.
But the tax on alcohol could be about to be cut for the first time in two years.
Chancellor Philip Hammond is under pressure to knock at least 1p off beer duty in the Autumn Budget, on Wednesday, November 22.
Cutting the tax could save Brits an average of £87 per year, studies reveal – and even more for big drinkers.
The average UK bloke aged 45 to 64 drinks 16 pints of beer a week, according to a 2016 Drinkaware study.
40 Tory MPs have signed a letter asking for beer duty to be reduced in next week's budget.
If Hammond agrees to cut beer duty by 1p, it will mean your boozing will cost £87 less per year.
Nigel Evans MP, president of the all-parliamentary beer group, said: "The battle to save the pub is on."
The price of a pint in the UK has gone up by almost two thirds in the past 15 years, according to the British Beer and Pub Association.
In 2002, the average pint of beer cost £2.02.
By 2014 that same pint could set you back £3.23.
The British Beer and Pub Association recently called for a drop in tax on beer, after 35 million fewer pints were sold over the summer, compared to the same time last year.
Pub bosses today said the Chancellor would be barking mad to not cut duty.
Tim Martin, founder of Wetherspoons, told Daily Star Online: "Pubs are under enormous pressure from high taxes.
"Hammond would be mad to put up beer duty."
But he also warned pub-goers not to get their hopes up about cheap pints.
"He's a dinner-party guy," said Martin, "not a pub regular, so don't hold your breath."
Under then-Chancellor George Osborne, beer duty didn't rise between 2013 and 2016.
But Hammond put up the tax on pints in his Budget in March.
Cutting beer duty could also save your local boozer, at a time when British pubs are closing at a rate of 20 a week.
Tim Page, Chief Executive of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), said: "Ultimately it is the consumer that is affected when the price of a pint goes up."
Brits are still paying some of the highest prices for beer in the world.
An average pint in London will cost £5.70.
Drinkers in Krakow in Poland, a popular stag do destination, only pay £1.93 for a beer.
Have a look at how much Budget 2017 could cost you at the petrol pump.


text:
We often talk about incoming chief executives throwing the kitchen sink at company’s accounts when they come in - i.e. getting all the bad news out there in one go - well Kier’s (KIE) Andrew Davies looks like he’s thrown the whole kitchen at it.
The shares are down 10% to 118p as he announces the suspension of dividends, 1,200 job cuts and the sale of non-core businesses, including the housebuilding division, in a strategic review brought forward thanks to supply chain issues which are seeing the business haemorrhage cash.
Debt will be higher than previously guided, hitting £195m by its June year end up £140m and averaging up to £450m on a monthly basis from £365m. As a reminder it is around six months since the company launched a £264m rights issue which appears to have done little to solve its balance sheet problems.
READ MORE ON KIER HERE
It feels very much like the business is in survival mode at this point. Two months into his tenure Davies has had precious little time to get his feet under the table.
In 2017 he was announced as the new CEO of Carillion just months prior to it collapsing into insolvency in January 2018 and before he'd even had a chance to take up the role.
Numis comments: ‘The expected actions are broadly as we would expect, and in our view could generate circa £260m of proceeds and entail a major reduction in the debt profile. However, this needs to be enacted immediately, as the supply chain squeeze could accelerate from here.’
AJ Bell investment director suggests the job done by Leo Quinn at Balfour Beatty (BBY) could offer a template for the company, adding: ‘Construction firm Kier’s decision to ditch its dividend should not be a shock given the company’s precarious financial position. The shares were yielding a scarcely credible 10% before this morning’s announcement.’


text:
Starship Technologies Raises an Additional $17m in Funding as it Hits One Million Autonomous Deliveries Milestone
UCLA and Bridgewater State University Join Growing List of Campuses to Offer Starship’s Contactless Delivery Service
SAN FRANCISCO (January 27, 2021) – Starship Technologies, the world’s leading provider of autonomous delivery services, today announced that it has raised an additional $17m and added service to two new campuses – UCLA and Bridgewater State University (Massachusetts). Investors include TDK Ventures and Goodyear Ventures.
The company has also reached the significant milestone of completing one million autonomous deliveries, the first autonomous delivery company in the world to do so. The new investment brings Starship’s total funding to $102m to date.
UCLA, regularly considered one of the top public schools in the US, has launched Starship’s service with on-campus delivery from restaurants including Blaze Pizza, Bruin Buzz, Lu Valle, and Southern Lights. Bridgewater State University is also now providing delivery from campus restaurants including Starbucks Cafe and Bears Den. BSU, which offers one of the country’s most distinguished Teacher and Education programs, is the only public or private university aviation program in New England and offers a new photonics engineering program.
The additional funding comes at a time of increasing interest in the autonomous delivery industry. Contactless delivery has proved to be one of the most reliable ways to protect vulnerable populations and enable social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Goodyear Ventures is very excited to join Starship’s journey as it revolutionizes the autonomous delivery space,” said Abhijit Ganguly, senior manager, Goodyear Ventures. “Goodyear’s trusted services footprint combined with its custom solutions for autonomous vehicle companies comprise a solid platform to support Starship in the market. Goodyear Ventures fuels the future of mobility by partnering and investing in seed-to-growth-stage startups in emerging mobility technologies.”
“Over the last few years there has been a growing interest for food deliveries on campus, and
our new partnership with Starship Technologies has come at the perfect time,” said Cindy
Bolton, Associated Students UCLA Director of Food Operations. “The new service is an excellent alternative to traditional delivery, especially as we continue to confront the challenges of COVID-19. By using delivery robots, ASUCLA Restaurants can serve more essential workers and students on the UCLA campus.”
Starship has continued to see exponential growth since starting its first commercial delivery service in 2018. In the past year, Starship set several new delivery records within the company and expanded to more college campuses including Arizona State University (ASU), University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) and UC Irvine. In addition to starting service in Mountain View, CA, the company also began deliveries in Modesto, CA with its new partner The Save Mart Companies.
“Completing one million deliveries is a milestone that everyone at Starship is celebrating,” said Ahti Heinla, Co-founder and CEO of Starship Technologies. “We are delivering a fully commercial service operating 24-7 across five different countries now doing thousands of deliveries a day and millions of autonomous miles per year. This scale puts Starship on par with the biggest companies in the self-driving car market when it comes to miles travelled in the last year alone. We’re proud to be offering a crucial service that is now becoming part of everyday life for millions of people.”
The Starship Food Delivery app is available for download on iOS and Android. To get started, users choose from a range of their favorite food or drink items, then drop a pin where they want their delivery to be sent. They can then watch as the robot makes its journey to them, via an interactive map. Once the robot arrives, they receive an alert, and can then meet and unlock it through the app.
Starship Technologies operates commercially on a daily basis around the world. Its zero-emission robots have travelled millions of miles and make more than 50,000 road crossings every day.
# # #
About Starship Technologies
Starship Technologies is revolutionizing deliveries with autonomous robots. The robots are designed to deliver food, groceries and packages locally in minutes. The delivery robots have traveled millions of miles and completed over 1m autonomous deliveries around the world. They drive autonomously but are monitored by humans who can take control at any time. Starship was founded by Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis (Skype Chief Architect and Co-founder).
VP of Marketing
Janel Steinberg (US) / James Meredith (UK)
Liberty Communications for Starship Technologies
+1 415 429 5652 / +44 207 751 4444
TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH STARSHIP TECHNOLOGIES RELATED NEWS, IMAGES AND VIDEO, SIGN UP AND DOWNLOAD AT:


text:
The number of houses listed for sale in Auckland dropped to its lowest number in 20 years at the end of December, the city's biggest real estate agency says.
Barfoot and Thompson has released its figures for the month, saying the 796 sales in December was 19.3 per cent lower than sales in November and the lowest in any month for the past 22 months.
The average sale price of $NZ869,492 ($A814,360) was down only 0.8 per cent on November's record average price while the median price rose 0.6 per cent to an all-time high of $NZ800,000.
"Sales data for the final month of the year is sending mixed messages as to where the market will head in 2016," said managing director Peter Thompson.
The factor most likely to affect January sales was the extremely low number of listings at the end of December which, at 2431, was down 25.2 per cent on November, and the lowest number for any month for more than 20 years, he said.
"With a growing population and the number of new builds failing to keep pace with demand, competition for properties is likely to remain strong in the first quarter of 2016."
January sales were always influenced by the summer holidays February's sales data - available in mid-March - would paint a clearer picture for the year.
The Reserve Bank has identified the heated Auckland property market as one of the biggest risks facing the country's lenders, along with a slump in dairy prices.
DECEMBER STILL EXPENSIVE IN AUCKLAND:
* 278 properties sold for in excess of $NZ1 million
* 202 for in excess of $NZ750,000.
* 44, or 5.5 per cent, sold for less than $NZ500,000.
* In 2015, the average sale price was $NZ817,096, an increase of 14 per cent on 2014
* In 2015, the median price was $NZ755,333, 17.4 per cent higher than 2014.


text:
Last year, in an apparent display of one-upmanship, Mozilla decided to speed up Firefox's release cycle dramatically. The result? We went from Firefox 4 to Firefox 11 in just under a year.
Trouble is, Firefox's update mechanism still involves an old-fashioned installer, and being confronted with an update every six weeks can get a little tiresome. That is, happily, all about to change. Mozilla has announced that "silent updates" will be introduced in Firefox 13 later this year:
To cater to update fatigue, updates will now be downloaded and installed silently in the background. It means that startup and shutdown of the web browser won’t be affected by installation routines. Additionally, the What’s New page displayed after an update can now be displayed depending if there is important information needed to be displayed to the end user. Silent updates are currently planned to land in Firefox 13.
Chrome's silent updating is one of the reasons I switched from Firefox a couple of years back. The convenience factor is pretty huge, so I'm happy to see Firefox heading down the same path.
Silent updates are a big deal for non-tech-savvy users, too—and not just from a security standpoint. In a perfect world, everybody would be running the latest version of their browser of choice, and web developers would be able to use the latest and greatest web technologies without worrying about backward-compatibility.
|Here's the not-so-live video version of The TR Podcast 164||13|
|Here's what's cooking in Damage Labs||19|
|Deal of the week: An IPS ultra-wide for $420, plus cheap SSDs and more||22|
|Microsoft's quarterly revenue up 25% on strong Surface, Xbox sales||23|
|Assassin's Creed Unity PC requires 6GB of RAM, GTX 680||216|
|Join us as we attempt to live stream The TR Podcast tonight||13|
|Civ: Beyond Earth with Mantle aims to end multi-GPU microstuttering||69|
|CPU startup claims to achieve 3x IPC gains with VISC architecture||59|
|I just found this AMAZING trick! Call of Duty takes up 0GB if you just don't buy it!||+119|


text:
Slowdowns in China, the European Union and Russia are affecting dairy markets and U.S. milk checks. But some potentially positive developments are in the making.
Slow buying by China is casting a pall over the international dairy market and helping weaken dairy prices.
In addition to China’s slowdown, the strong dollar is depressing demand in developing markets, says Bill Schiek, economist with the Dairy Institute of California, which represents the state’s dairy processors.
Adding to the bearish picture: The world’s milk supply is outpacing demand, and U.S. dairy exports to Asia continue to decline. The latest numbers, from November 2014, show U.S. dairy exports to Southeast Asia and China were the lowest since early 2013.
Moreover, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) foresees a “subdued” world economy in 2015, shaped by “persistent negative factors.”
That global scenario is helping to lower prices for dairy products and shrink milk checks for U.S. dairy producers. February Class III futures have plummeted to the $14 level, a sharp drop from 2014’s $23 price average.
“It’s going to be hard to see where real upside momentum will come from,” Schiek says. “Dairy commodity prices are likely to remain at or near present levels for some time. While U.S. domestic dairy demand has been a bright spot, it is hard to see it taking up all of the export slack.”
Predicting that exports will remain below year-earlier levels during the first half of 2015, Schiek expects milk prices to stay at lower levels for the next six to eight months. A major weather event, of course, could change the market’s dynamics.
For now, the eyes of the world's dairy trade are on China.
“China still isn’t buying a whole lot and [its] domestic dairy farmers are really struggling because milk prices have plunged there as well as everywhere else,” says Alan Levitt, vice president of communications with the U.S. Dairy Export Council.
China went a little “crazy” importing milk powder last year, purchasing three times as much as usual, according to dairy market analyst Jerry Dryer with JDG Consulting. Traders who knew nothing about the dairy business stepped in to try to reap the success they had observed in the 2013 market. Their lack of dairy expertise resulted in a “mess,” with much of those milk-powder purchases now sitting in Chinese warehouses, Dryer says.
Even though dairy consumption continues to grow in China, “supply is overwhelming demand, like elsewhere,” he adds.
Market dynamics also are at play in other parts of the world. In the Northern Hemisphere, “the European Union (EU) has slipped into recession, which could impact domestic consumption and leave more supply for export,” Levitt says.
The EU has 10 weeks left before its milk production quotas are lifted April 1. For now, dairy producers may be curbing production, but once the quotas come off, milk output in the 28 countries that make up the EU is expected to expand. “While it’s hard to project how much, we could see a 4-5% increase in milk production in the EU after April 1,” says Matt Gould of dairymarketanalyst.com.
“The Russian economy is a mess, and that’s impacting consumption,” adds Levitt. “Further, there’s no sign of Russia lifting the ban on EU products anytime soon.”
Even so, the EU has done a decent job of avoiding a major build-up of dairy product Inventory. Despite a government program that pays to store product to avoid a market collapse, "there have not been enough manufactured dairy goods making their way into those warehouses to cause an inventory hangover on the market,” Gould says. "Instead, EU dairy processors have cut back on cheese production in favor of aggressively turning out milk powder for the export market."
Despite these bearish factors, some potentially positive developments are in the making.
Milk powder prices are at multi-year lows, bringing back many buyers shut out of last year’s market, Milk Specialties Global said Jan. 23 in its January Dairy Market Update. The company is a specialty dairy ingredients manufacturer with 10 facilities in the U.S.
It reports that interest from Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Mexico is rising as milk powder prices hover near $1 per pound. Over the past six months, China has ratcheted back milk-powder buying and has been able to bring its stocks more in line. Although last year’s buying spree is unlikely to reoccur in 2015, China is still not self-sufficient in milk and dairy products. With lower stock levels, that implies China could be in the market at more normal levels this year.
In another potentially bullish turn for dairy prices, “New Zealand is starting to deal with a potential drought,” Levitt notes.
While New Zealand is at the low point of its milk production season, which peaks in October and November, the El Nino weather phenomenon “is starting to gain traction” in the Southern Hemisphere, says Dryer. That could bring dry weather from March to June, depriving Oceania's dairy pastures of much-needed moisture for grass growth.
That could curtail milk production in New Zealand, the world’s top dairy-exporting country with a major foothold in Asia, which could lend support to dairy prices later in the year.
Additionally, Milk Specialties Global noted, the U.S. economy is growing at a faster pace, and consumer confidence is on the rise. While a strengthening U.S. dollar could stymie U.S. dairy exports, a strong domestic economy could spark food service demand as consumers have more money in their wallets to eat out.
The pendulum could also swing back to the upside for exports, as falling prices make U.S. dairy products attractive again on the world market.
“U.S. price levels have finally come down to the point where our products can be priced competitively in the export market,” says Schiek. “I have heard reports that butter and skim milk powder exports are starting to show some life and are slowly picking up. Export interest in whey products and cheese is still weak and does not seem to have turned a corner, yet. We are beginning to see larger volumes being exported with Cooperatives Working Together assistance in the last couple of weeks.”


text:
Who Am I Wearing? Funny You Should Ask. (NY Times) “Was it only a couple of years ago that these showily outfitted swans — stylists, bloggers, fashion editors and style-struck students — click-clacked on the pavements, showing off a mash-up of vintage clothes, fast fashion and high-end labels in what used to be seen as a commerce-free zone? Today many of them are Web icons, trotting out their finery for scores of fans.”
The Fancy’s E-Commerce Expansion Continues (TechCrunch) “This week, New York-based The Fancy, a Pinterest-like site with a focus on not just browsing, but buying from its collection of inspirational imagery… The ‘Buy’ button is targeted at bloggers and other publishers, not online merchants or e-commerce sites, of course.” Qatari royal family buys Italian fashion house Valentino (Reuters) “Iconic
Could small be the new big for the fashion industry? (Guardian) “Small companies have proven to be leaders in innovation, particularly when it comes to re-engineering products or processes, and when trying brand new approaches. The UK trend forecasters, Index B, identify six major UK trends in its The Ones to Watch report 2012.” Windows of opportunity open among sales rails (Marketing Week) “Brands are using
Luxury Market Surges While the Rest of the Economy Sputters (Atlantic Wire) “Economic news these days is pretty bleak: job growth is anemic, retail sales are stagnating, and consumer confidence is plummeting. But the luxury goods market is another story… According to Reuters, investors are now pouring money into luxury stocks.” UK brands: retro in new markets (FT) “Clamour for British brands among emerging
Derek Lam launches crowd-sourced collection on eBay (The Cut) “Upon the collection’s initial unveiling, anyone with Internet access will be able to vote immediately for their favorite looks online to determine what goes into production.” U.S. luxury, dept stores set for Xmas bounce (Reuters) “Luxury and department stores will be the biggest beneficiary of expected growth in the U.S. retail market this
Kate Moss and Topshop to end design deal (BBC) “A three-year design partnership between Kate Moss and Topshop is to end later this year. When the supermodel unveils her autumn and winter range in October – it will be her 14th and last collection for the chain.” Gucci opens its new luxury digital flagship store (Fashion and Runway) “Following an 18 month architectural renovation under the direction of Gucci
Bonjour Couture (Vogue.com) “Just as Haute Couture Fashion Week begins the high fashion market has posted some very positive sales news. Top Parisian labels, including Chanel, Dior and Jean Paul Gaultier, have revealed a marked increase in both sales and demand.” Cosmetics from Burberry and Topshop (FT) “Fashion brands are often able to make that transition from clothes to fragrance, but with make-up it is harder.
Even Luxe Buyers Expect Discounts (Adweek) “We examine some other aspects of the luxury-buyer mind-set, including attitudes toward discounting and brands’ use of the Internet, as well as the post-recession outlook.” The New Must-Have Accessory (WSJ) “Amid a recession that’s clobbering sales of designer apparel, growing numbers of designers are rushing to embrace mobile-device technology in hopes of