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‘Back in the U.S.S.D.’: Most Smartphone Owners—Especially Women—Don’t Use Apps for Financial Services
Over the last 15 years, the basic mobile phone has revolutionized communications and finance across emerging markets of the Global South, bringing dramatic new capabilities to broad swaths of the population, including underserved geographies and socioeconomic groups.
But the future, we are told, belongs to smartphones. Unlike basic phones, which are limited to voice and text, ever-cheaper and more capable smartphones promise to provide the first truly global computing platform for all kinds of new use cases. Large color touchscreens display vivid media, GPS and other sensors offer personalized data and guidance, and an enormous ecosystem of native apps provide near-limitless user experience possibilities, all tied together and enabled by internet access and data services.
This ongoing transition from basic and feature phones to smartphones affects virtually every sector, from healthcare to education to transportation. But it is especially salient in financial services, where first-generation mobile money services (which can work on any phone) are being superseded by an explosion in mobile banking and fintech offerings that are often predicated on smartphone apps and internet access.
As with every large-scale technological shift, it’s instructive to examine to what extent this transition will exacerbate existing inequalities. Worldwide, women are less likely to have access to financial services, and less likely to have access to mobile phones of any kind. Could the transition to the smartphone era of financial services help to narrow the financial inclusion gap? Or will it widen it?
With financial support from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Caribou Data contributed to a comprehensive study of how payment system design — specifically, the Level One Project principles — could impact gender bias in digital financial services. While other project workstreams by Caribou Digital conducted field interviews and focus groups to understand customer attitudes and behaviors more broadly, our workstream at Caribou Data focused exclusively on smartphone owners. Working across five countries — Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa — we designed demographically representative panels of smartphone owners, and compensated them directly for sharing their data anonymously with us. The project website includes findings from all the workstreams, while an extension of the original work was supported by FSD Kenya and is available for download. Below, we’ll discuss some of these findings and what they mean for customers and providers in the markets we studied — and beyond.
The Ongoing Popularity of USSD in Mobile Money
If you have a mobile money account, you’ve probably memorized the different USSD codes for sending and receiving payments, buying airtime, and more. As the original user interface for mobile money and mobile banking, dialing a shortcode — such as GT Bank’s famous *737# — to call up the USSD menu is muscle memory for hundreds of millions of people. Yes, smartphone apps can offer a much richer, more functional user experience. Yet anecdotally, we know that most people still use the USSD menu, which works on virtually any device. (Some providers, such as Safaricom/M-PESA, use SIM toolkit instead of USSD, which embeds the functionality in the SIM card instead of at the network layer; functionally the user experience is similar, and I use the term USSD to refer to both types.)
In order to quantify this preference for USSD, and determine whether there is a gender difference, we analyzed transaction data across all five countries in the study, and categorized each transaction (e.g., person-to-person payment, bill pay, bank transfer, etc.) as conducted via USSD or via a mobile app. Relevant mobile apps that we examined included the mobile network operators’ apps (e.g., MyMTN), dedicated fintech apps (e.g., Tala), and mobile banking apps from the major banks in each market. Even amongst our study participants, who were by definition smartphone users, 87% of all transactions were conducted via USSD, only 13% via mobile app. If you consider that smartphone penetration is probably between 25-40% in the countries in question, across the general population of mobile money users, we estimate that at least 94% of transactions are performed via USSD.
Fighting for 6%?
What, then, to make of the frothy market for consumer-facing fintechs in the Global South, with many millions of dollars in acquisitions and venture capital, when only 6% of transactions are being made using apps? Clearly, many of the big players have adopted USSD channels, likely out of necessity, to complement their mobile apps.
For example, Opay, Paga and Carbon all promote their sophisticated mobile apps, but they have each launched USSD alternatives for common transactions. Indeed, per Carbon CEO Chijioke Dozie, “One of the biggest selling points of USSD is that it works with or without the internet, which is reassuring in the African context where internet data is expensive and inconsistent. As fintech continues to develop across Africa, and ingrains itself into people’s everyday lives, it is important to invest and innovate across the ecosystem, ensuring that individuals are not excluded from the benefits of financial inclusion.”
Recognizing this need, platform-as-a-service (PaaS) startups such as Hover are providing fintechs with specialized services to support USSD initiatives. These services are useful because, while the USSD channel is near universal, utilizing it to build highly functional and easy-to-use interfaces — especially across markets and providers – isn’t easy.
Women don’t use financial apps
The chart below shows a clear gender difference in financial app behavior. In every market we studied, men were considerably more likely than women to use a mobile app instead of USSD to conduct transactions. This is an important finding, because due to the nature of the study population we essentially controlled for device ownership — i.e., the reason the women in the study didn’t use mobile apps to transact was not because they didn’t have a smartphone.
While the nature of our study did not allow us to ask qualitative questions, other work has shown that, broadly speaking, people use USSD over apps because of the former’s familiarity — which also builds trust — and the high price of data. That is, USSD sessions are free to the user and don’t require an internet connection, making them the default, “always-on” option that users can depend on.
Other research has pointed to the inferior capabilities of low-end smartphones as constraints to more sophisticated digital usage — e.g., limited storage space forces users to uninstall apps before installing new ones, hindering adoption of new services. And of course poor touchscreen response, limited RAM and slow processors can make the user experience miserable. While we can’t disentangle all of the factors here, we did find that in Kenya, users with higher-priced devices were more likely to use apps to make transactions. (We determined price based on published retail sale prices for specific phone makes/models in each market, a reliable indicator of the relative difference in price between devices with different capabilities/performance.) The chart below shows that for the cheapest phones, those with a retail price of less than US $100, there is a significant decrease in the share of transactions made through a mobile app.
While we expect that many of these factors — especially the cost of data and higher levels of trust in USSD — play a role in the large discrepancy in financial app usage between men and women, we also assume an impact from well-documented structural gender inequalities. That is, recognizing that men are more likely to receive education, have income and access to cash, control household assets such as mobile phones, and enjoy the social acceptance of using mobile devices and the internet, we would expect a substantive difference in financial mobile app usage.
To the question posed at the beginning of this piece, these data suggest that at least in the near term, the smartphone era of internet-based transactions via mobile apps is more likely to exacerbate, not minimize, discrepancies in gendered adoption of financial services. This may seem counterintuitive, given the tremendously positive impact that mobile phones and mobile money have had on women’s access to financial services. But basic mobile phones and mobile money systems offered a fundamentally different ecosystem structure that mitigated many of the challenges limiting women’s participation in the formal financial sector. For instance, mobile money accounts are lower-cost to serve, they don’t require expensive bank branches in rural areas, they don’t require consumers to spend time and money to travel, and so on. The move from basic phones to smartphones, in contrast, offers comparatively few direct benefits for women that can’t be achieved with basic mobile phones and services.
This could change, however. As described above, the sensors and computing power of smartphones enable a wide range of use cases, including those not yet realized. It’s possible that in the future, a financial product might leverage smartphone functionality — say, biometric sensors — in a novel way that results in a direct positive impact on the gender gap, driving positive cycles of adoption and use of financial services.
One could argue that service providers such as Branch and Tala already use smartphones to do things that basic phones can’t: These digital lenders scrape data from their borrowers’ smartphones to inform their credit assessment algorithms — something that is indeed not possible with a basic or feature phone. These advantages might lead to greater smartphone app usage in digital lending. But the counterargument is that mobile money operators seem to be able to reach scale with USSD-based loan products just fine — as of December 2019, Safaricom and CBA’s M-Shwari loan/savings product had reached more than 31 million users, while M-Shwari saving account deposits had hit Sh18.7 billion.
In the meantime, service providers and policymakers would do well to recognize the biases that exist in mobile app usage, and to ensure that new financial services are accessible via USSD whenever possible. There is clearly a commercial incentive here, as many large fintechs have recognized the value in more broadly accessible services and have rolled out USSD alternatives. But there are also incentives for other actors, including handset vendors, mobile operators and network technology vendors, to promote smartphones as the standard interface for accessing digital products and services. If left unchecked, that development may have negative consequences for inclusive financial services.
Photo courtesy of Ketut Subiyanto.


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Nvidia Shield Android Gaming Console to be released in July 2013
Nvidia has pushed its latest gaming console release to July 2013 which was set to release in June 2013. Nvidia explained on their blog about the delay and it is a little development-delay to make the product more outstanding in the performance.
Customers who have booked their devices were hoping to get the Nvidia Shield gaming device in hands within days and now the release date has been moved to July 2013. Nvidia Shield is an Android-based gaming console with HD graphics functionality. It is being manufactured and designed by Nvidia and Nvidia Shield was announced on 7 January 2013 and scheduled to release in June 2013 and this delay would make buyers of Nvidia Shield more curious and little unhappier.
About Nvidia Shield Technology
Nvidia Shield is an Android based gaming console and its a big competitor to Xbox and PS4 devices of gaming line. Nvidia Shield looks to create competition for Xbox 360. Nvidia Shield provides an easy-to-understand gaming experience for game lovers and probably HD screen experience on Nvidia Shield can make you a fan of gaming. Nvidia Shield is having touch-screen display with 1280×720 pixels resolution for HD performance.
Nvidia Shield Android Gaming Console is priced at $299 and tech-experts are amazed with the price and looking ahead to see a tough competition going to be created by Nvidia against Mircosoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PS4 which almost cost higher than Nvidia Shield Android Gaming Console having HD 720p display.
Availability of Nvidia Shield Android Gaming Console
Nvidia Shield will be available to be released from Nvidia in July 2013. It was announced in January 2013 and set to be released in June 2013 but got late from the company and now Android-based first gaming console device will be soon in market and in hands of many customers.

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Two congressmen have sent Facebook a letter with questions about privacy in light of the recent controversy regarding applications exposing user data.
An investigation by the Wall Street Journal revealed some of the most popular applications on Facebook were exposing User IDs, the identifying numbers Facebook assigns to users. The numbers can be used to look up a user’s name as well as any other public information on their account. The applications reviewed by the Journal were sending Facebook IDs to at least 25 advertising and data firms, the paper reported.
In response to the incident, Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Edward Markey, D-Mass., sent Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg a list of questions seeking more information about the situation.
“Given the number of current users, the rate at which that number grows worldwide, and the age range of Facebook users, combined with the amount and the nature of information these users place in Facebook’s trust, this series of breaches of consumer privacy is a cause for concern,” the lawmakers wrote.
Among the questions in the letter are what procedures does Facebook have in place to detect and prevent third-party apps from violating its privacy policies, and how many users were impacted. A copy of the letter can be viewed here (PDF).
A Facebook spokesperson told eWEEK the site would work with the congressmen to answer questions they have.
“We also prohibit applications from transferring user data to ad networks or data brokers, and when we receive a report that such an improper transfer has occurred, we investigate and take action as appropriate,” he continued. “We are continually working with developers and other responsible parties in the community to put in place further safeguards against violations of our terms.”
In an online poll of more than 1,000 people, Sophos found about 95 percent believe Facebook should follow Apple’s example and institute a strict review policy for third-party applications on the site.
“Apple has successfully run a ‘walled garden’ on its iPhone App Store, meaning that only approved apps are allowed to be run on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant a Sophos, in a statement. “Although some people may not appreciate the level of control that Apple has over what apps you can run on your device, it certainly has been instrumental in keeping malicious hackers and malware off the platform.”


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February 3, 2010
Posted: 11:15 AM ET
Amazon has given in to publisher pressure and agreed to abandon their $9.99 price point for eBooks.
Publisher Macmillan felt that the $9.99 price devalued many of its bestsellers, which often sell for $30 in hardcover format. In response to the pricing dispute, Amazon briefly removed all Macmillan books from its store last week. However, the boycott lasted only a few days before Amazon gave in to Macmillan's demands.
In a statement Sunday, Amazon defended its position to customers:
Amazon's decision to throw in the towel may be related to Macmillian's recent agreement to sell books in Apple's iBookstore. Amazon has captured an overwhelming share of the eBook market with its Kindle reader, but if the iPad becomes successful publishers may turn to Apple to sell their eBooks.
During a recent News Corp. earnings call, CEO Rupert Murdoch indicated that HarperCollins may follow Macmillan's example. "We don’t like the Amazon model of $9.99," Murdoch told investors, according to a recap in MediaMemo. "We think it really devalues books and hurts all the retailers of hardcover books... Apple in its agreement with us, which has not been disclosed in detail, does allow for a variety of slightly higher prices."
Publishers seem more interested in protecting the value of their hardcover books than competing in a digital format. Will higher eBook prices convince you to purchase a physical copy of your next novel, or will accept a modest price increase given that eBooks are typically cheaper?
From around the web
Are you a gadgethead? Do you spend hours a day online? Or are you just curious about how technology impacts your life? In this digital age, it's increasingly important to be fluent, or at least familiar, with the big tech trends. From gadgets to Google, smartphones to social media, this blog will help keep you informed.


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It might be time to start stockpiling supplies of sauvignon blanc and hoarding your Burgundy because French wine producers been having a rough time. This year's harvest isn't looking good.
Figures released last week by the French Ministry of Agriculture show that hailstorms and an unseasonable springtime frost mean that the country's wine production is set to decrease by 10 percent when compared to last year's yield.
Bet those "wine terrorists" wish they hadn't wasted all that vino now.
According to the Guardian, the report blames the poor harvest on "the spring freeze that hit certain wine-growing areas, recurring winds made worse by drought around the Mediterranean, and damage stemming from frost."
It's predicted that Champagne will fall flat as one of the country's worst performing regions, with the volume of wine produced here dropping by a third. Meanwhile in the Loire Valley, known for its Sancerre and chenin blanc wines, unusually low spring temperatures have so far wiped out up to 30 percent of the grape harvest.
In total across all of France's vineyards, bad weather means that wine production is expected to come in at 42.9 million hectolitres in 2016, compared to 47.8 million hectolitres in 2015.
But France's misfortune could be the UK's gain.
Winemaking in Britain has seen a boom in the last few years, in particular English sparkling wine, which beat its Champagne counterparts in a blind tasting test earlier this year. The British wine industry also just popped corks over the largest ever shipment of English fizz to the US.
Speaking to MUNCHIES, Miles Beale, chief executive of the UK's Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said that English wine production is on course to double by 2020. He said: "Post-Brexit, there are opportunities which could see the English industry grow even more the predicted and without fear of production limits imposed by EU red tape."
But even with France's bad harvest, British winemakers still have a long way to go to catch up with the 6.32 billion bottles produced by the country last year.
That's a lot of sore heads.


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Singapore Press Holdings Reports A 64% Increase In Profits Compared To Last Year, Most Of Which Come From Property
The people at the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) are influencers. Not the Xiaxue kind though.
Love them or hate them, SPH plays an important role in our society. Having almost a complete monopoly over print media, and being a big player in online journalism, SPH has the ability to inform and influence society.
The Straits Times, for example, is so influential, that their comments section has its own meme page.
There’s a lot riding on the success – or the failure – of the company.
That’s exactly why we decided to break down the company’s most recent financial report, in plain English — not some foreign marketing or accounting mambo-jambo.
1. Show me the money
SPH has been getting that money.
It has racked in almost S$47 million worth of profits in the third quarter of this year. When compared to the S$28 million earned in the same period last year, this is a 64.3% increase.
The firing of 130 staffers and other cost-cutting measures that SPH implemented might have helped increase profits, by decreasing overall costs.
2. SPH: Singapore Property Holdings?
The biggest source of profits, however, comes from a very unlikely source.
Singapore Press Holdings has been investing real hard in – wait for it – real estate. And it’s proven to be incredibly profitable.
The SPH Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), owns popular malls like Paragon, Clementi Mall and The Seletar Mall.
With a revenue of around S$180 million, SPH REIT provides the company with a steady income stream.
SPH’s real estate ventures have been so successful, that it plans to acquire more property in Singapore and abroad.
3. Print circulation declines while digital circulation improves
When was the last time you read a physical newspaper? It’s probably been awhile because you are busy reading MustShareNews.
You aren’t the only one though.
All around the world, print newspapers are dying at an astonishing rate, and The Straits Times is no exception. Facing a decline in print circulation, it has placed its bets on digital journalism.
While it might be too early to tell, the gamble seems to be paying off.
With an increase of 121,000 digital copies sold (43% increase from 2017), SPH claims that the decline in print circulation, has been offset by the growth in digital copies.
4. No word about premium paywall
While the SPH says digital revenue and circulation has increased, it didn’t touch on the controversial “ST Premium” paywall that it implemented, earlier in the year.
Hence, it’s hard to gauge the effectiveness of the move and its impacts on profits.
5. New programmatic digital ad exchange?
Earlier this year, SPH and Mediacorp launched the Singapore Media Exchange (SMX) – a Programmatic Digital Ad Exchange.
That’s right, we now have a 4-worded beast of pure marketing jargon.
A Programmatic Digital Ad Exchange is essentially a place where people can buy digital advertisements.
However, since these advertisements are digital – and can be targeted at certain segments of a population – they are sometimes more valuable.
Since the SMX is a joint venture between Mediacorp and SPH, ad buyers have access to both companies online publications and properties.
All of this has increased total digital ad revenues for SPH by 10%.
While print media and journalism continues to suffer, SPH can be proud of itself for adapting to changing circumstances – by diversifying into digital media and investing in real estate.
In fact, they are proud, evidenced by this article they wrote about their stellar performance. Ownself praise ownself?
What do you think? Are SPH’s days numbered?
Are you enjoying the Straits Times paywall? Tell us in the comments.
Featured image from Campaign Asia.
Drop us your email so you won't miss the latest news.


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May 18, 2016
60 new shops and restaurants at Ibn Battuta Mall as Nakheel officially opens 300,000 sqft extension
Dubai developer completes first phase of massive expansion at world’s largest themed mall
Nakheel Chairman Ali Rashid Lootah today officially opened a 300,000 square foot extension at Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai, marking the completion of the first phase of a huge expansion at the world’s largest themed retail complex.
The extension adds 60 new shops, restaurants, cafes and services to the mall – which currently welcomes 20 million visitors a year – and brings the total number of outlets to almost 400. Among the new stores are Decathlon, United Furniture, Marks & Spencer, Under Armour, Iconic, Superdry, Jashanmal and Paul, as well as expansions to Homes R Us, which now spans two levels, and Paris Gallery.
The expansion is the springboard for a series of subsequent extensions that will transform the existing Ibn Battuta complex into a giant retail, entertainment and leisure destination spanning seven million sq ft.
A two-storey link connecting the mall to Ibn Battuta Metro Station is also due to open in the next few weeks, bringing another 90 outlets including a 24 hour food court, and Ibn Battuta’s first hotel – a 372-room Premier Inn – is scheduled to open later this year. These will be followed by another 4.7 million sq ft development – to be constructed over the next three to five – comprising a mall with a glass-covered courtyard, a new cinema complex, a multi-storey car park and another hotel.
Nakheel Chairman Ali Rashid Lootah said: “Today’s opening is a significant milestone for Ibn Battuta Mall and Nakheel’s retail business, which continues to grow in line with our company strategy. This extension, coupled with the soon-to-open Metro link and subsequent expansions at Ibn Battuta, cements the mall’s position as one of Dubai’s biggest, most popular destinations, and reinforces Nakheel’s position as a major force within the Dubai retail sector.”
Set on a 5.6 million sq ft site, the 1.2 km long Ibn Battuta Mall is themed around the travels of renowned 14th century Arabian explorer, Ibn Battuta. The mall has six individually-designed zones named after and featuring architecture to reflect the most influential places he visited. The extension follows the same architectural theme as the original mall.
Celebrations at Ibn Battuta continue until 4 June, with weekend family entertainment including an Archaeological Dig featuring an ancient exploration playground; traditional Indian, Persian and Egyptian dance performances; and a Great Mystery Hunt. For full details and timings, see local press, call 04 390 9999 or visit www.ibnbattutamall.com


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Target exec: Data, multichannel approach help define new, exciting customer shopping experience
During the “Power Panel” keynote session, the executive discussed the role that mobile plays in the company’s day-to-day initiatives. Executives from Alcatel-Lucent, General Motors, Qualcomm Technologies and Adobe also participated on the panel.
“Already today, many of our guests are on multiple devices,” said Beth Jacobs, executive vice president and chief information officer of Target, Minneapolis. “It’s about connecting with our guests across multiscreens at all points of the day.
“Whether it starts when you’re on your couch, at the office or in-store, it’s important to connect all those points together,” she said. “You have to think about all of these points of integration and the creative ways that data and other touch points come together.”
Keep it personal
When it comes to mobile, personalization and relevance are an important piece of the puzzle, especially for retailers.
Technology is rapidly changing and devices are becoming much smarter and sophisticated.
Consumers are becoming tech-savvy as well. Therefore, in order to stand out, marketers need to harness the power of data.
Personalization and relevance can help change the mobile shopping experience for the better. It is important that retailers reach consumers with relevant products and content, that will get them coming back in-store.
And, mobile helps accomplish that.
Nowadays, marketers need to use data to reach consumers in new and unique ways. For example, when harnessing the power of location, as well as demographic, retailers can dole out coupons or location-based ads and notifications to drive consumers to the nearest in-store location.
“I was just in San Francisco talking with the Target folks there and what they’re working on,” Ms. Jacobs said. “Imagine going down the grocery aisle and using different lenses of the shopping experience and having the products that you’re interested come up.
“Data and a multichannel approach help define this new and existing customer experience,” she said.
Leading the way
Over the past few years, Target has been revving up its mobile offerings and is continually looking at new ways to strengthen the mobile shopping experience.
Last year, Target ramped up its holiday efforts with a QR code initiative that let consumers scan the mobile bar codes featured on several products in-store and buy the items via their smartphones (see story).
In March, the retailer and Fast Company’s new vertical Co.Labs launched a competition that enticed developers to create an innovative mobile experience for Target (see story).
Most recently, Target used a combination of mobile advertising, SMS and its mobile site to educate consumers about its mobile coupon initiative and encouraged them to save money on several of their favorite products (see story).


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Britain will tear up its bankruptcy laws in a desperate bid to keep struggling business afloat during the coronavirus crisis.
Business secretary Alok Sharka vowed to introduce groundbreaking new measures to protect firms from insolvency.
Speaking at a government press conference, he vowed to slash red tape allowing new producers of hand sanitiser to enter the market “in a patter of days”.
He said: "We are also introducing a range of measures to boost the supply of personal protective equipment, such as face masks, to protect frontline NHS staff," he told the press conference in Downing Street.
"And we're removing administrative barriers to the production of hand sanitiser.
"By reducing the amount of red tape, new suppliers and businesses that produce ingredients for safe hand sanitiser will be able to bring their products to market in a matter of days."
Mr Sharma said that workers can now defer their annual leave for another two years.
He added: "This will protect staff from losing out, w
hile providing businesses with flexibility when they need it most."
Since its outbreak in Wuhan, China, there have been more than 600,000 cases and over 28,000 deaths.
In the UK, there have been 759 deaths with more than 15,000 cases.
It has been a week since the Prime Minister shut all pubs, clubs and restaurants and urged people to stay home to save lives and protect the NHS.
He told Brits on Monday “the time had come” for stricter measures and ordered all citizens to stay home unless absolutely necessary.
Under the measures, Johnson said Brits are only permitted to leave their homes for daily exercise, to seek medical care or shop for essential items.


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A month long ‘Asli Happyness Wala’ Sale begins at Seawoods Grand Central Mall
Navi Mumbai, July 1, 2019: The much awaited End of Season Sale has arrived yet again at Seawoods Grand Central Mall, as the mall announced second edition of its ‘Asli Wala Happyness’ sale. The month long shopping extravaganza which began on June 15 will continue until August 15 with the most lucrative offerings on over 400 brands.
Shopping will be more fun from June 6-7 as the mall will offer Flat 50% OFF with participation from leading brands such as Vero Moda, Ethnicity, Global Desi, Wrangler, Lee, VIP, Jack & Jones, Gap, Puma and Samsonite among others.
This year the sale offer is even more appealing for the patrons as the mall will offer assured gifts to anyone who shop for over Rs. 2,500. The customers will also stand a chance to take part in multiple lucky draws held throughout the day and therefore win many more exciting prizes.
Making the shopping experience even more pleasant, SGC Mall is offering extended shopping hours on every Saturday and Sunday and will facilitate free parking for everyone post 9:30 pm. Also on June 21, celebrated as longest day of the year, the mall’s gate will be opened till 11 pm.
‘Asli Happyness Wala’ Sale – June 15 – August 15, 2019
Flat 50% Discount – July 6– 7,2019


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Italian two-wheeler manufacturer will be joining DSK MotoWheels and will be launching their first five motorcycles in India. They will provided these motorcycles at an affordable price as they will be locally assembled.
The duo plans on introducing eight motorcycles in India during 2015. Their first launch consists of five and the next three will be by 2015-end. Stay tuned to our Twitter handle for live updates from the event.
DSK-Benelli will be launching the TNT 302, which is a parallel twin machine. TNT 600i and TNT 600 GT will be their in-line four cylinder motorcycle option. They will also provide TNT 899 and TNT 1130 in-line three cylinder machines.
Only pricing has been safeguarded by the manufacturer and we will be present at today's launch. Get ready for astounding prices and images from the event.
Bookings have already opened and showrooms have also been decided. DSK-Benelli will concentrate on expanding their dealership network across India during 2016.
DSK-Benelli will introduce new colours and we are expecting the duo to introduce their motorcycles with an attractive introductory offer. These motorcycles are highly anticipated and will be sought after if the pricing is appropriate.


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Hospitality businesses cautious about changing suppliers in the current tough market are being encouraged to take a Test Run by buying specialist Lynx Purchasing.
With the first quarter of the year traditionally the quietest, it’s a good time to trial the benefits of working with a purchasing company, says Rachel Dobson, managing director of Lynx Purchasing.
“Our Test Run challenges operators to give us one product area and a chance to demonstrate the savings we can make,” says Dobson. “It’s a risk-free way for operators to experience the benefits of using a purchasing company, making savings without any impact on their operation or on the customer experience.
“We’ve got a proven track record in delivering savings for businesses in every sector of hospitality, and across the full range of products and services they need. So, for the Test Run, we’re asking operators to give us just one product category to review.
“That could be a kitchen staple, but equally might be cellar gases, business rates or staff uniforms. With more consumers than ever taking a flexible approach to food and drink, maybe we can help with new vegan menu options or low and no alcohol drinks choices.
“As with every supplier recommendation we make, there are no fees or contracts, and it is completely open and transparent. There’s literally nothing to lose by taking a Test Run, and big potential savings to be made.”
The Test Run is being supported by a marketing campaign that will spotlight the savings that Lynx Purchasing has made for existing customers in key hospitality sectors including hotels, restaurants, pubs and bars.
“The Test Run is an opportunity to see how we work with our satisfied customers, and to experience the same benefits,” says Dobson. “Once we’ve delivered savings, and great products and service, we hope they’ll consider trialling another category – which is how most of our customers begin their relationship with Lynx Purchasing.”
To book a Test Run call 01325 710143, email firstname.lastname@example.org or visit www.lynxpurchasing.co.uk .
Notes to editors:
Lynx Purchasing works with more than 2,200 accounts in the hospitality and catering sector, on a no-membership and no-contract basis that offers like-for-like products at lower prices and often better quality than operators could obtain by negotiating alone.
As purchasing professionals, Lynx works with leading suppliers in the hospitality and catering industry. These include specialist fresh food suppliers, wines & spirits, catering equipment providers, utilities, and specialist service providers such as telecom, business rates consultancy and waste management.
Issued on behalf of: Lynx Purchasing
By: ShielPorter Communications
Further information: John Porter: email@example.com / 07734 054389
Ros Shiel: firstname.lastname@example.org / 07841 694137


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In addition to the moreover I love this show Mac McClung Wins 2023 NBA Slam dunk contest shirt, there will be a street fair experience made up of Vogue-curated newsstands and limited-edition items created in partnership with leading brands. There will also be a shoppable selection of runway looks via partners including Moda Operandi, Mytheresa, NET-A-PORTER, Nordstrom, and Ssense. “Fashion is changing and Vogue is doing something special to celebrate it—a fashion show-meets-street fair that captures the creative spirit of our community now,” says Anna Wintour, chief content officer, Condé Nast, and global editorial director, Vogue. “New York is the perfect place for this—a city that is as restless, as dynamic, and as revitalized as fashion is today.”
Mac McClung Wins 2023 NBA Slam dunk contest shirt, Hoodie , Sweatshirt , Longsleeve , Ladies T-shirt , 3D T-shirt , Blanket , Bedding Sets
For those not in New York Mac McClung Wins 2023 NBA Slam dunk contest shirt, there are many ways to celebrate the moreover I love this event. On September 12, viewers can tune into via a cinematic livestream on Vogue.com, the Vogue Runway app, and Twitter. It was no mere coincidence that Raul Lopez, founder of Luar, opened a pop-up shop in Lower Manhattan and sold this year’s hottest bag on one of New York’s hottest days. The designer —who found inspiration in the infamous Prada Marfa installation—wanted sweat to be a part of the experience. “So that it would feel like a desert,” Lopez said on Tuesday evening, standing outside the tiny space.


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One of the unexpected by-products of the current COVID-19 pandemic is the escalation of prices in musical equipment. Guitar Center, one of the United States’ largest music gear retailers, has such a reduced inventory right now you’d think they were selling toilet paper. Why is this? With more and more people stuck at home, people who already engage in musical hobbies are buying more gear to enjoy with so many more hours of free time on their hands. The other reason is simple supply and demand, with a twist: larger than normal demand for gear has made it harder to keep in stock, and the supply chain delays caused by factors related to the pandemic and global economic struggles prevent stores from staying well stocked.
Funny thing is, there’s been a tone-deaf (pun intended) undercurrent of opinion in the last few years that guitar music is dead. While there is a rise of non-guitarcentric music these days, the various forms of music centered around stringed instruments is alive and well, particularly the genres based on electric guitar.
Invented in 1932, the electric guitar was adopted by jazz guitar players, who wanted to play single-note guitar solos in large big band ensembles. Early proponents of the electric guitar on record include Les Paul, Lonnie Johnson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, T-Bone Walker, and Charlie Christian. During the 1950s and 1960s, the electric guitar became the most important instrument in popular music. It has evolved into an instrument that is capable of a multitude of sounds and styles in genres ranging from pop and rock to country music, blues and jazz. It served as a major component in the development of electric blues, rock and roll, rock music, heavy metal music and many other genres of music.
Right now, one of the metal guitar world “influencers”, Ola Englund, enjoys over a half million followers. For comparisons sake, not many NFL “influencers” can say the same thing.
With so many people snatching up music gear these days, it’s not hard to jump to the conclusion that many “hobby” industries are experiencing the same things. Just ask Netflix or any other streaming service that can’t put out new content fast enough for those voracious “binge watchers” out there. Or go by a home improvement store on a weekend morning - they’re packed and picked over, with folks buying everything from yard-centric stuff, to woodworking materials, to home renovation items.
Imagine how much this is just killing the NFL owners as they’re forced to tell fans “No, you cannot come to our stadium and spend money on our overpriced merchandise, $20 beers, and $50 parking passes.”
But that’s okay. People will still idolize their favorite flavor of entertainment activities, and if they can’t idolize their first choice, they’ll move onto a second or dive into a new third option. Maybe they’ll sign up for Fender Play and learn to jam on electric guitar? It will certainly be interesting to look back on this unprecedented period in history and see how it changed modern American life, both in hobbies/pastimes and everything else.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, it’s Saturday night and off-topic is not only welcome, but encouraged.
So whatcha got?


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PARK CITY, Utah – It’s not all about the bike. But some of it is. And don’t forget the kit, the helmet, the trainer, the nutrition, the sunglasses, the water bottle, the drivetrain, the tires, the tubes… And then there are the guys that put it all to hard use. For the 2012 season, the riders and management of Competitive Cyclist Racing Team will hit the pavement knowing they’re backed by the premium products of strong partners. The Team will be riding their hearts out representing industry-leading suppliers of gear, nutrition, and performance essentials.
“We couldn't be happier with our partners for the 2012 season,” said Jon Atencio, Competitive Cyclist athlete manager. “The brands that are backing our team this year are all top-tier brands that we're proud to use and proud to promote. We had a stellar first year with the RealCyclist.com Pro Cycling Team, winning five out of seven major stage races, and we look forward to rolling that momentum into the Competitive Cyclist Racing Team for 2012.”
Competitive Cyclist Racing Team’s 2012 sponsors are: Pinarello (official bike), SRAM (official drivetrain), Giordana (official Team kit) and Vittoria (official tires). Rounding out the full roster of sponsors are: 2XU (Compression), Catlike (Helmets and Eyewear) Reynolds (Wheels), 3T, Arundel, Biknd, Chamois Butt’r, Clean Bottle, DMT, Feedback, GoPro, Honey Stinger, K-Edge, Lezyne, Lexus of South Atlanta, Look, Motorex, PowerTap, San Marco, Veloshine, Feedback Sports, and Yakima.
Competitive Cyclist provides the personalized service of a local brick-and-mortar bike shop while offering the convenience and selection of an online retailer. Serving both road and off-road enthusiasts, Competitive Cyclist carries an extensive inventory of the industry's elite brands in cycling and mountain biking.
“We’re honored to partner with each and every one of our Team sponsors for the 2012 season. We’ll do our very best to represent the quality and strength of our sponsors when we’re out there racing,” said Gord Fraser, Directeur Sportif. “It’s motivating to see the excitement the industry’s vendors have for our team. Now we have to make them proud.”


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3.4% drop in industrial output for S'pore expected: Poll
SINGAPORE'S industrial production probably fell last month from a year earlier, dented by weak exports and the timing of the Chinese New Year holiday, a Reuters poll showed.
The median estimate in the poll of 10 economists was for industrial output to fall 3.4 per cent year-on-year last month, after rising 0.9 per cent in January.
On a month-on-month and seasonally adjusted basis, manufacturing output likely fell 0.7 per cent, after declining 4.7 per cent in January.
Economists said comparative base effects related to the timing of the Chinese New Year holiday were likely to weigh on manufacturing output on a year-on-year basis.
Last year, public holidays in Singapore for the Chinese New Year were on Jan 31 and Feb 1, while this year, the holiday began on Feb 19.
Export weakness has also weighed on manufacturing output. Singapore's non-oil domestic exports fell more than expected last month, as momentum in the global economy remained modest.


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Ford has released a video of their testing procedures for the upcoming all-new 2019 Ford Ranger. The testing regimen includes time in the laboratory, at the proving grounds in Michigan, and real-world testing at locations around the world.
Ford did not announce any additional specifications about the truck. We already know that it will be powered by a 2.3L EcoBoost I4 engine that is mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission. There will be an extended and crew cab versions of the truck, and trucks with an FX4 off-road package that you see in this latest video from Ford. Only one wheelbase will be offered in the foreseeable future. The extended cab truck will have a longer bed, than the crew cab Ranger.
It’s interesting to see the Ranger being tested with a trailer at Davis Dam grade in hot temperatures, running around Michigan in the winter, and pounding dirt and sand in Australia and other locations around the globe.
Another cool details is that Ford uses automation to test the truck on the rough roads at their proving grounds. The trucks run continuous loops on the treacherous course at the Ford’s facility without a human driver in the vehicle. The trucks get beat up, but humans don’t have to.
You can watch Ford’s Ranger testing video here.
Here is the first look at the new 2019 Ford Ranger.


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By Elaine Rose
It isn’t only Tesla anymore.
As people feel the sting in their wallets every time they fill up their gas tanks — or wonder how they’ll answer in twenty years when their grandchildren ask what they did to curb global warming — electric vehicles become more appealing.
Several major auto manufacturers make electric vehicles, and that number is growing. General Motors recently announced it plans to cease making cars with gasoline engines by 2035. Ford reported that its electric-vehicle sales more than doubled from 2020 to 2021. So these cars are definitely part of the future of transportation in America.
And the prices are becoming more reasonable.
As rapidly as sales are increasing, electric vehicles are still a tiny minority of what is traversing our roadways.
New Jersey ranks sixth in the nation for the number of EVs on its streets, with 30,400, or 0.51%, of all registered vehicles. There are 745 battery charging stations scattered throughout the state.
Keeping the battery charged will be an issue. Many EV owners choose to build a home charging station, as fueling the battery from a regular electric outlet can seem to take forever.
People who do a lot of long-distance driving might want to think twice about going all-electric, at least for now. About a year ago, the Biden-Harris administration announced it was budgeting billions of dollars to “put [the country] on the path to a convenient and equitable network of 500,000 chargers and make EVs accessible to all Americans for both local and long-distance trips,” according to the Associated Press.
But in the short term, long road trips will take some planning to avoid getting stuck in the middle of nowhere. The last thing you want is for the battery to run out of juice while you’re cruising I-84 in rural Idaho.
To help travelers, the U.S. Department of Energy maintains a website listing all charging stations in the country and southern Canada.
Another factor is that the technical glitches of these cars are still being ironed out. A Consumer Reports survey found that only four out of eleven electric vehicles had a reliability rating of average or better. They suggest for the time being, people might be better off with hybrids.
The cost of buying and owning an EV versus a traditional car can go either way.
Car and Driver recently compared the cost of owning two electric vehicles — The Hyundai Kona Electric and the Ford F-150 Lightning — and their gas-powered equivalents over the course of three years, assuming they drive the typical 15,000 miles per year. Energy use, maintenance, and depreciation were the main factors in the calculations. Insurance was not included because it varies widely around the country.
The gas-powered Hyundai Kona was somewhat cheaper to own compared to its electric counterpart, $19,385 versus $21,426 for the electric version. But the Ford F-150 Lightning cost less to run than the gasoline model, $23,840 as opposed to $26,505 for the conventional engine.
This analysis did not include the tax incentives, which can be a determining factor for some folks.
But that’s where it can get complicated. The Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress last year allows for up to a $7,500 tax credit on the purchase of a new electric vehicle and up to $4,000 for buying a used one.
To qualify for the Federal Electric Car Tax Credit, the price of the car must be $55,000 or less, and $80,000 for a van, truck, or SUV. They figure that if you can afford a more expensive vehicle, you don’t need the tax break.
But here’s the catch. To qualify for the first half of the credit, the vehicle must be assembled in North America (including Canada and Mexico). That means purchasers of many popular foreign models are out of luck.
To get the second half of the tax credit, a certain percentage (which will increase each year) of the battery and the materials it is made of must come from the U.S. or a country with which the U.S. has a free-trade agreement. To date, no EV battery on the market qualifies for this rebate, but companies are scrambling to make it happen.
If you buy the car in 2023, you must claim the credit when you file your taxes. Starting in 2024, the credit is applied at the time of purchase.
But if you’re ready to jump on the EV bandwagon, there are choices to fit just about every lifestyle.
Kelley Blue Book ranked the best electric vehicles for the 2023 model year in five categories: The Ford Mustang MACH-E topped the list for SUVs; The Chevrolet Bolt is the best car; the top truck is the Ford F-150 Lightning; and if you want luxury, the Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-EQ EQS is a great car and the Audi Q4 e-tron is a great SUV.
U.S. News & World Report did its own ranking, and mostly agreed with Kelley Blue Book. Only they chose the 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 as the preferred SUV and the 2023 BMW iX as the best luxury SUV.
So do your research and figure out which EV meets your needs. Or hang on for a few more years until the technology improves and the prices come down. The choice is yours.


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Want to join the conversation?
$THS said that its preliminary GM for 4Q15 is expected to show a 150 BPS improvement, due to improved operating performance and lower commodity costs. The expected tax rate for 4Q15 is 39.8%, higher than anticipated as a result of a state tax ruling late in the fourth quarter. The higher tax rate resulted in about a $0.05 decline in adjusted EPS.
$PYPL jumps 6% in after hours on strong results. I am bullish on this stock.
$TSCO stock remained active in the after hours trading and rose more than 2% after the retailer posted better than expected 1Q17 results.
Instagram has reached 700 million monthly active users. Looks like it will hit 1 billion soon. That would make it $FB’s fourth billion-user platform.


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An exhibit celebrating works from some of the most eminent creators of Japanese fashion is currently going on at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), Brisbane, Australia.
Dubbed as Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion, the event aims to chart the over 30-year-long evolution of the country’s avant-garde fashion, dating back to the early 1980s to the present.
An exhibit celebrating works from some of the most eminent creators of Japanese fashion is currently going on at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), #
Slated to run through February 15, 2014, the display gives an up and close insight into how Japanese fashion made an enormous impact on world fashion in the late 20th century.
Divided across four themes, the exhibition includes some 100 tremendously innovative hybrids of tradition and techno-couture designs, inspired by punk and classic Japanese aesthetics, from names like Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto.
The display also includes creations by the techno-couturier Junya Watanabe (a protégé of Kawakubo), the pioneer of ‘'Ura-Harajuku’ movement Jun Takahashi (Undercover brand) along with some radical new generation creators including Tao Kurihara, Hiroaki Ohya, Matohu, Akira Naka, Hatra and mintdesigns.
Sourced from Kyoto Costume Institute, the exhibits have been curated by the eminent Japanese fashion historian and the Director of the esteemed Kyoto Costume Institute in Japan, Akiko Fukai.
The event will be accompanied by the opening of Australia’s first-ever Comme des Garçons Pocket store, exclusive to GOMA, featuring pieces from the brand’s iconic Play line as well as accessories.
Also a pop-up-shop selling a stunning range of fashion-themed publications and merchandise highlighting the innovation and creativity of Japanese fashion, design and street-styles will run along the sidelines of the ongoing display. (PB)
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India


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The Oppenheimer Blue is up for grabs, but do put this wallet back in your pocket where it belongs: the ‘latest’ biggest blue diamond in the world, set to auction in May 2016, has a US$45 million price tag.
Anything Blue review – Who has the biggest blue diamond in the world this year?
Every year, either Christie’s or Sotheby’s breaks a new world record for selling ‘the biggest blue diamond in the world’.
In spite of a global Gem Market on the decline in 2016, it looks like the top market is consistent and the demand for coloured gems is increasing, pushed by the Asian audience.
It’s a market full of surprises: a 9.5 carat blue diamond previously owned by Shirley Temple was expected to reach between US$35 and US$45 million at a Sotheby’s sale in New York on April 19, 2016 (read Associated Press, Page 6). Instead, it didn’t find any buyer!
It bodes well for the biggest diamond in the world, the Oppenheimer Blue, scheduled for auction in Geneva a month later on May 18, 2016 by Christie’s.
Previously owned by Sir Philip Oppenheimer, whose family controlled the De Beers company, the gem was ‘only’ estimated at US$45 million to save some excitement for an even high price.
At 14.62 carat, it is 2 carats larger than the 2015 world record selling price of US$48.5 million – when a Hong Kong billionaire bought a 12 carat fancy blue diamond for his daughter. The previous world record price reached $1,799,953 per carat in May 2014 during the Magnificent Jewels sale organized by Christie’s for The Winston Blue, a 13.22 carat fancy vivid blue diamond that once belonged to Harry Winston.
How far can this go? Well, maybe until we find a gemstone to sell that is bigger than The Hope, the actual biggest blue diamond in the world currently exposed at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC. Also known as The King’s Jewel for it once belonged to Louis the 14th, the famous deep-blue diamond weights north of 45 carats.
How likely is it to happen? Unlikely: not only less than 0.0001% of all the diamonds in the world are blue (that’s 1 out of 10,000), but colour quality matters too.
“Achieving the strongest colors in traditional shapes, such as the 15-carat Oppenheimer Vivid Blue can only be achieved with a highly saturated intrinsic color of the rough diamond,” said Tom Moses, the executive vice president of the Gemological Institute of America, in a statement. “This blue diamond’s color and clarity, combined with its traditional cutting style and provenance, is truly exceptional.”
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OnePlus 3T Sales already stopped after six months
You can still order the OnePlus 3T via the website, but once the stock runs out stops selling. An employee stated on the OnePlus forum that the production of the 3T is stopped and not resumed. This is your last chance to get even in the house 3T.
OnePlus does not explain why the production of the device is stopped. Probably has to do mainly with the introduction of the OnePlus 5. This new flagship will be available this summer. Possibly OnePlus 3T delete to free up production capacity for the new device.
By its decision soon temporary no new OnePlus smartphones available. The manufacturer has always been old units soon after the introduction of a new model from the sale. The OnePlus 2 and OnePlus 3 are now no longer available and now also removed the 3T. When the OnePlus 5 appears exactly is still unknown.
Current owners of the OnePlus 3T have incidentally not worry. The manufacturer says that the device just software support continues to receive the next time. How long this support continues exactly is unclear, but the device later this year at least to Android O update is obvious.
The choice of whether to delete the device now is a standout. Other manufacturers like Samsung, Sony and Apple continue to sell their smartphones for years, even after the introduction of a new model. As the price of old equipment drops, consumers can make a choice between a cheaper device or smartphone with the best hardware. OnePlus seems to require consumers to choose the latest model.


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US viewers don’t like 3D glasses
September 12, 2010
American consumers like the immersive feeling of watch 3-D television, but are put off by having to wear special glasses because they restrict multi-tasking at home, according to US report on attitudes to TV.
High costs and lack of 3D content are also among factors causing Americans to hesitate in buying the latest generation of 3D television sets, according to the Nielsen Company and the Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing.
But while costs are expected to come down and content grow over time, unease about wearing 3D glasses could prove a bigger long-term barrier to mass adoption of 3D TV sets, the report issued on Thursday said.
3D TV set sales are poised to go mainstream in the next 12 months with manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony, Panasonic and LG all rolling out sets. Sports broadcasters like ESPN launched its first 3D channel during this year’s soccer World Cup.
But some 89 per cent of those questioned for the “Focusing on the 3DTV Experience” report felt the special glasses would constrain other activities they usually do while watching TV.
More than half said the glasses were a “hassle” and 57 per cent said they were “not likely” to buy a 3D TV set for that reason, the survey found.
The 425 randomly selected participants had watched 30 minutes of 3D television programming in a home viewing environment.
Although 57 per cent of viewers agreed that watching 3D television made them feel they were part of the action, 77 per cent said they thought the technology was best suited for special events like sports or movies, rather than everyday viewing.


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U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) are working together to protect dairy farmers and producers in Ohio and across the country from a European initiative that would change common names for cheeses frequently purchased by Americans.
In a bipartisan letter signed by more than 50 of their Senate colleagues, Brown and Portman urged the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to fight European Union (EU) efforts to prohibit American dairy producers from using dozens of common cheese names. The EU claims that dairy products baring names such as asiago, feta, parmesan, and muenster are "geographical indicators" and can only be appropriately displayed on products made in certain areas of Europe.
If the United States were to be subjected to a ban of these traditional brand names for various cheeses, consumers may be confused and American dairy farmers could suffer.
"Ohio dairy producers make some of the highest quality cheese in the world," Brown said. "Their product is as good as any from Europe and should be given equal opportunity to compete in the food market. The USDA and USTR should stand up for American producers by standing up to the European Union."
To read the full article, please click the source link below:Brown, Portman Join Effort to Protect Dairy Farmers, Products »


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Trader flees Turkey with $2bn in record crypto scam
A Turkish cryptocurrency trader is feared to have fled the country with $2 billion of his investors’ assets, garnered from fraudulent sales.
Faruk Fatih Ozer, 27, has left hundreds of thousands of furious customers in his wake, having allegedly carried out one of the largest ever cryptocurrency scams. Ozer was photographed going through passport control at Istanbul airport and police suspect he has fled to either Albania or Thailand.
Ozer’s Istanbul-based company, Thodex Exchange, was selling dogecoin, a digital currency founded in 2013, for a quarter of its market value. The company has generated much publicity, boosted by support from Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla boss, who had promoted it on social media.
In December Thodex generated gossip column headlines with a series of glossy


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The result is a turnaround of more than $US28 billion compared with the previous year. In 2009, GM lost $US23.5 billion as it entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy and was bailed out by the government.
Revenue was up 30 percent in 2010 to $US135.59 billion.
GM recorded a fourth-quarter net profit of $US510 million, and although it was considerably better than the $US3.52 billion loss in 2009, it was unexpectedly 41 percent below the $US865 profit in the first quarter. Analysts say the loss of financial momentum was brought about by the market’s continued shift from SUVs and pick-ups to smaller cars, as well as increased costs associated with parts and product launches.
Both Ford Motor Co and Chrysler Group also endured their worst three-month results in the fourth quarter of last year.
GM CEO Dan Akerson was cautiously optimistic about the 2010 financial results.
“I'm not sure anyone a year ago would have predicted that GM would deliver net income of $US4.7 billion," Mr Akerson said, as reported by Automotive News."In summary: good start, a lot more work to do.”
GM, like many global automotive manufacturers, will concentrate on smaller vehicles in 2011.
The decision is expected to lead to increased revenue but a decreased margin, as smaller cars are less profitable than larger, more expensive ones. The Chevrolet Sonic (new Holden Barina), Buick Verano and the Chevrolet/Holden Cruze hatch are just three of the small global vehicles planned for launch in 2011.


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Inland Steel Industries Inc. said Monday an improving economy, cost reductions and the sale of a partial interest in a joint venture resulted in its first quarterly profit in two years.
Inland reported second-quarter net earnings of $1.8 million, resulting in a loss of 20 cents a share after paying preferred dividends.
Excluding an after-tax gain of $15.1 million from the sale of a joint-venture interest, the net loss for the period was $13.3 million, or 69 cents a share, compared with a loss of $25 million, or $1.07 a share, in the second quarter of 1991. Sales rose 5 percent, to $909.4 million from $864.8 million.
``Inland`s performance reflects the slowly growing domestic economy,``
said Frank W. Luerssen, Inland`s chairman and chief executive. ``While shipments have increased modestly, prices remain at unacceptable levels.``
An analyst said the improvement was heartening.
``I think it`s mildly encouraging and indicates maybe we`ve turned the corner,`` said John Jacobson of AUS Consultants of Media, Pa. ``It`s not a real sharp turn and fast turn; hopefully we`re not just heading into a pit stop along the way.``
Inland said it sold half its 25 percent interest in Walbridge Coatings to Bethlehem Steel Corp., a partner in the venture. The sale coincided with the successful start-up of I-N Kote, Inland`s joint venture with Nippon Steel Corp.
The company`s integrated steel segment reported an operating profit of $13.3 million for the quarter and an operating loss of $18.3 million for the first six months of 1992. Integrated steel had operating losses of $25.5 million and $76.9 million in the second quarter and first six months of 1991, respectively.
For the first six months of 1992, Inland had a net loss of $25.6 million, or $1.35 a share, including the one-time gain. Excluding the gain, the net loss was $40.7 million, or $1.84 a common share. That compares with a net loss of $65 million, or $2.57 a share, in the first half of 1991.
Six-month sales of $1.8 billion were 6 percent higher than 1991`s $1.7 billion.


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It is effortless for feeling and rhetoric to have when you look at the real method of the important points.
Opponents regarding the payday financing industry have become passionate about their values, therefore we respect that вЂ“ just like we respect just the right regarding the state to modify our industry. But i’m there are a couple of facts of truth which are getting lost into the uproar that both sides need to comprehend and appreciate so all of us could make the decision that is best when it comes to 300,000 borrowers in Alabama continue.
Proposed regulation вЂ“ SB335 and SB110 — would close down payday lending shops in Alabama. Also some experts associated with the industry acknowledge that it is real. The others think that payday shops could nevertheless stay static in business, but this will not be the outcome; various other states which have used regulations that are similar payday shops have actually nearly universally closed.
A database to restrict loans to at least one $500 loan per individual at any onetime would close straight down payday lending shops in Alabama. The normal profit return per shop has already been lower than 5 %. Restricting customers to 1 $500 loan not just decreases their possibilities, in addition need a crippling financial effect on regional stores.
Borrowers whom can not visit loan that is payday will move to online loan providers. These loan providers are either located overseas or are observed on sovereign tribal lands. The prevalence of online payday lending has soared in states that have passed rate caps. From 2007 to 2013, revenue for online loan providers rose by over 166 % because of a variety of laws that shut down cash advance shops throughout the country. We anticipate the exact same to occur right right right here in Alabama should these extra state laws pass.
On line loan providers are far more costly and less regulated. The standard APR for an online payday loan provider is 650-750 per cent, relating to information. Plus, a Pew Charitable Trusts research unearthed that not just do online borrowers default a lot more frequently than brick-and-mortar borrowers, they even are two times as prone to have overdrafts on the bank reports вЂ“ which further advances the expense. Also, online lenders can avoid many state regulation by virtue of where they’ve been found.
On the web loan providers have now been prosecuted by state and federal governments for illegal methods, deception and fraudulence. final autumn, the CFPB and FTC both filed suit against online loan providers, alleging which they “originated payday loans online without customers’ permission” and utilized “misrepresentations and false documents” which makes “repeated, unauthorized withdrawals from customers’ bank records”. Many other actions have now been taken over the country against online loan providers.
From taking a look at the facts, it is clear that current database regulations that threaten to shut stores wouldn’t normally just cripple the industry, but would deliver Alabama borrowers towards the more costly much less regulated realm of online financing. We’d shutter businesses that are alabama-owned benefit of outsider entities which are not suffering from these laws.
If protecting customers is our objective, then we ought to proceed with the facts and appear with solutions that acknowledge the problem we are in, not place consumers into even worse circumstances. We must produce regulation it doesn’t provide the most effective passions of unregulated online loan providers. We are able to create laws that do not only provide customers, but also level the playing field for Alabama business that is small and mitigate the usually harmful impact of unregulated online lenders.
We in the market welcome legislation. But we must have regulation that follows most of the facts.
Max Wood is president of Borrow Smart Alabama, a coalition of lenders launched to advertise accountability when you look at the financing industry and monetary literacy for customers.


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The US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee has now formally approved the report accusing Big Tech organizations of buying or crushing smaller companies. This was announced by Representative David Cicilline in a statement recently.
This blueprint for legislation will rein in the power of the likes of Alphabet’s Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook. However, the companies have denied any such claims.
Initially, after the review, the officials suggested extensive changes to the antitrust law, describing dozens of instances where they claim companies had misused their market power. As explained by Cicilline, “Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook each hold monopoly power over significant sectors of our economy. This monopoly moment must end.”


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VOLKSWAGEN Group has sold an estimated 55,000 vehicles since being made aware of a fault with seat belts six months ago, a consumer group has claimed.
After the fault was discovered in May by Finnish motoring magazine Tekniikan Maailma, Volkswagen Group recalled thousands of new VW Polos and thousands more Seat Ibizas and Seat Aronas.
When all three rear seat belts are in use in affected cars driven at high speed, the rear left passenger side can become unbuckled.
Which? says it has concerns about how the car manufacturer has handled the issue and it has spoken to motorists who said they were not told of an ongoing seat belt issue when they picked up their cars in the summer. They had been using all three rear seats.
Which? believes that an interim fix involving the faulty seat belt block being temporarily secured with a plastic cable tie minimises but does not stop the chance of the seat belt coming undone.
A permanent fix, involving a spacer being fitted to the seat belt mechanism, is being introduced on Monday. Drivers will have to take their cars to a garage to get fixed.
Customers are being contacted in order to arrange a visit and the fix will be free of charge, Volkswagen Group said.
Alex Neill, Which? managing director of home products and services, said: “VW’s handling of this potentially lethal safety issue has been completely unsatisfactory. It’s shocking that they proposed a permanent fix that doesn’t even properly solve the problem, and we’re concerned that customers might not always be getting the right information at the point of sale.
“The decision not to suspend sales when the problem was discovered has now put substantially more drivers, as well as their passengers, at risk. The DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) must investigate VW’s handling of the whole situation.”
A Volkswagen Group spokesman said that customer safety was its top priority and it had been in contact with the DVSA and kept customers informed.
He said customers had been advised not to use the middle seat until they had the buckle modified.
He said: “It is important to note that there have been no known cases worldwide of any seat belts being released in this manner, other than in the highly specific and exceptional circumstances demonstrated in the test by a Finnish car magazine. We think it is important to emphasise that the issue arises only in exceptional circumstances which are accounted for in the steps taken by us to respond to the issue concluding in the release of the permanent solution.
“Given the limited circumstances in which the seat belt can (in the test conditions) come unbuckled, and the employment of the interim fix and further still the specific warnings provided to users, there is no materially increased risk. It is on that basis that sales continued.”


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Friday calls for beer news. This is one of the better stories we could find.
“Tom Ciccateri proved that the fourth time may be the charm when he was chosen Beerdrinker of the Year during finals competition in Denver. Ciccateri, who had made the finals three other times, will begin his role as America's craft beer ambassador this week with a trip to Belgium.
“Ciccateri has tried more than 2,500 beers in 30 countries, has visited 321 breweries, and attended 95 beer festivals. Thursday he heads for Belgium to attend the Zythos Beer Festival. 'I'm excited about carrying out my role as ambassador for America's amazing craft beer culture.'
Ciccateri's title grants him free beer for life at the Wynkoop Brewing Co., $100 worth of beer at his local pub, and other great prizes.
'And I'm still on my original liver,' Ciccateri said.


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Former Member of Parliament and the new ambassador to America, Kitso Mokaila and his wife have a closed-up shop in Phakalane. Their recently opened franchise Galitos was dismantled this week as the couple reportedly prepare to relocate the Chicken-centered venture to cheaper premises. I guess the former Minister and his wife are cleaning up before […]
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In this article:Chillin Out, Entertainment, Kitso Mokaila, Shaya
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The vote is a victory for President Obama, giving him final approval of legislation that enhances his power to negotiate trade deals.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will begin enforcing safe patient handling practices to prevent hospital workers from suffering debilitating injuries.
As a region, the Americas fare quite well in Gallup's new global index of personal well-being — but the U.S. fell from No. 12 to No. 23 worldwide.
Scientists are trying to predict what might happen if genetically modified salmon escaped growth facilities. It's a scenario often raised by critics who don't want the FDA to approve sale of the fish.
Breweries are grappling with more weather extremes — heat waves, snowy winters, heavy rains and drought. Many are coming up with creative ways to adjust to their changing environments.
A small but growing number of employers tie financial incentives to losing weight and exercising. The cost of nonparticipation can be so high that critics question whether workers have a true choice.
Some retailers have pulled Confederate-themed items from their shelves after the South Carolina shooting suspect appeared in photos with the flag. The debate over what the flag symbolizes continues.
Some businesses are removing Confederate flag imagery following last week's fatal shootings at a S.C. black church. But not every business is handling the Confederate flag issue in the same way.
Specialty medicines have forced some to choose between treatment and paying rent. California will put a lid on the amount anyone enrolled in most Obamacare plans can be charged for high-end medicine.
Instagram wants to be a source for your news. The photo-sharing app is rolling out an update that features trending tags and a beefed-up search tool that should help it compete with Twitter.
General Mills is one of the world's most successful food companies, with iconic brands like Green Giant. But fast-changing tastes are forcing it and other food firms to innovate to stay relevant.


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Also in this playlist...
This transcript is automatically generated
And -- move on -- some of the nation's biggest retailers reporting may sales numbers.
Overall good but a bit of a mixed bad -- sweat and equity analyst at Morningstar breaks it down for us.
Paul let's start what Nordstrom and Saks -- too high end brands and they did better than expected right.
Yet hope those chains did better than expected and -- in particular -- -- comp was only up war they were laughing at 20%.
Gain last year.
So again on an EU thirty year over year basis -- those -- had tough comparisons.
So they're they're -- are pretty positive and they still did pretty well despite the the tough comparison that you've got a hold on sax you've got out.
Basically kind of a -- on Norstrom let's move on that calls you've got a -- on that stock but -- did not do well is that right.
Yes and one of the things we tried ad buys stocks when -- when everybody else hates them so right now are pretty hates colds and the reason is because they did at negative in that.
In April and now they got even more negative with a negative 42 in May on an easy comparison of only zero point eight.
Gain last year so really the market's betting you don't think they're gonna get worse before they get better -- -- I actually like the stock just because they make a great return on capital they actually have the highest operating margins in the department's purpose.
Right now they've lowered their prices but there about 5% of their inventories down 5% does that get 10% headwind on their comps.
And they did -- negative four in April.
So that's overall Kana OK and what about may see downtown Macy's had some 40% jump and online sales what -- just discover the lab.
Act act back.
Well -- they've actually been doing strong online sales you know 3040 and 50% in the fourth quarter last year so.
Ironically -- -- me you know really big gains on line with more big gains.
Last -- about 1% of salad and they're gonna move up to two billion dollars in total felt on line in 2012.
But you may -- this still just rolling out its online sales capability and integrated inventory.
And shipping from stores all its -- -- -- not even half way there yet.
I think that can actually continue for the -- the years.
Men -- -- the little bit undervalued I think it's actually gonna continue -- that the safer bet alright now let's go to JC Penney.
Here's your penchant for abuse stocks and they fell lot of bad they've been punished for it but you like giving you say they're got to right this -- Yeah I I was kind of negative when they first announced their Ron Johnson land and I fed you know what can Ron Johnson do this is not apple.
-- visiting the stores I think they've really made a lot of changes very quickly and it's just gonna take time to connect to the customer.
For the big differences.
You don't -- as CEO of red -- 80% off when you walked into the -- you've got to find something you light.
And then discover what the prices.
Eventually I think they will -- the customer off of that crazy promotional cadence that they were on before.
I just think it's gonna take time.
That the problem is here investors saying well that's gonna take time -- I'd buy it in six or nine months off.
I -- I can't -- -- disagree with that but at the same time the stock surely cheaper point six but I think it's worth 38 dollars okay.
All right thanks for -- -- let's just hear one last thing though I never given up those discounts thank you Paul split with morning star Sheryl.
And just saying -- -- now thank you.
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“Pan Solo” is the result of a painstaking month-long process.
The image of Han Solo, frozen in Carbonite, is one of the most recognizable in the entire Star Wars franchise. Solo’s agonized, frozen face has served as the basis for numerous pieces of merchandise and fan projects, though crafting the precise details of it is known for being a very difficult process. If you thought making a regular sculpture of a frozen Han Solo was hard, though, try making one out of bread.
The proprietors of One House Bakery in Benicia, California have done exactly that, creating a life-sized replica of Han Solo through the medium of bread. Specifically, they created the sculpture with a combination of wood for a frame and two types of dough, one of which is longer-lasting thanks to its higher sugar content.
Hannalee Pervan and her mother, Catherine Pervan, carefully crafted the sculpture over the course of a month, doing their utmost to sculpt every aspect of the face and body down to the most perfect detail. “Mom made me leave it because I was obsessing over the lips,” Hannalee Pervan told the New York Times. “She was like, ‘You need to walk away.'”
A California bakery spent a month making a 6-foot recreation of Han Solo frozen in carbonite, made entirely of bread. The mother-and-daughter duo behind the creation called him "Pan Solo." https://t.co/bdm1sc1UQp pic.twitter.com/ghOwgzZmAV
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 15, 2022
Having previously fallen ill from COVID-19 last year, losing much of her ability to taste and smell in the process, Hannalee found the project especially important, as it gave her a way to connect with her culinary creations in a nontraditional way.
The sculpture is on display in front of the bakery, and has also been entered for voting in the local Downtown Benicia Main Street Scarecrow Contest.


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EGL USA has gotten into a bitter spat with the overseas EGLs, after persuading U.S. Customs to prevent other EGL reports from entering the country.
EGL USA says it can do this because it is the exclusive owner of the EGL trademarks in the United States and Canada. That means reports from labs outside North America infringe on its trademark and are therefore illegal.
EGL USA director Mark Gershburg says the lab made the move because “people would come to us with questions about the certificates from the overseas EGLs, and we couldn’t answer them. It was creating a lot of confusion and negative feelings towards EGL in general. We are trying to build and improve our name, and this was hurting us.”
The final straw, he says, was when the overseas EGLs began to advertise in U.S. trade magazines. “That’s a clear violation of our trademark rights,” he said.
The overseas labs were predictably upset.
“The whole thing is crazy,” says Dr. Menahem Sevdermish, president of the European Gemological Center and College in Ramat Gan. “It’s like saying if you buy a Rolex overseas you can’t bring it into the U.S. They want the United States all to themselves. Are they afraid of fair competition?”
Sevdermish notes that, until recently, EGL USA touted its association with the worldwide lab network on its Web site.
“We had a good relationship and suddenly they’ve become so nasty,” he says.
EGL USA spokespeople say that they bought the EGL names and trademarks from founder Guy Margel in 1986, and that the labs no longer have any association. Margel disputes this, calling EGL USA’s status “similar to a franchise.”
At press time, the overseas EGLs vowed to fight the ban, and both sides were talking to lawyers. Margel, meanwhile, is philosophical. “It’s like a family squabble,” he says. “Everyone gets all excited and three months later it gets back to normal.”


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Photo: CHRIS DELMAS/Getty Images
A week after Netflix announced a loss of subscribers for the first time in a decade, the company has begun raising new measures including a global campaign against password sharing and resort to the implementation of advertising.
The global streaming giant ended the first three months of the year with 200,000 fewer subscribers. Netflix, which currently has 221.6 million userssaw record growth in demand in the early days of the pandemic, when people around the world were stuck at home and flocking to their screens to watch shows and movies.
But password sharing and stiff competition from other streaming platforms have made it difficult for Netflix to attract new viewers.
This is what viewers can expect in the futurein an attempt by the platform to increase subscribers and stop the loss of income:
A measure against password sharing
According to Netflix estimates, there are more than 100 million households that use Netflix, but do not pay for the services.
Netflix admitted that it allowed users to share their passwords because it got more people hooked on their platform. However, the launch of other streaming services has made it much more difficult for the company to grow its membership base.
Last month, Netflix began testing ways to make users from Chile, Costa Rica and Peru, who share passwords, pay a fee by additional members.
This model could be expanded to other countries, although it has not been detailed when these changes would be implemented.
Cheap service, but with advertising
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings has long resisted endorsing the ads, but the company changed course on Tuesday.
“I have been against the complexity of advertising (…) But I am a bigger fan of consumer choice. Y allow consumers who would like to have a lower price and tolerate advertising get what they want makes a lot of sense,” he said last Tuesday.
The move to ads was met with skepticism by some Wall Street analysts, including Rich Greenfield, a partner and media and technology analyst at LightShed Partners. He told NBC News that adding ads would likely result in less viewing time per user per day and ultimatelyin a greater rotation of users.
Reduce investment in new content
To further boost revenue growth, Netflix said it would also you could withdraw spending on your movies and TV shows.
“We’re cutting back on some of our spending growth on both content and non-content spending,” Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann said in a recorded interview.
At $17 billion a year, Netflix currently spends more on content than any of its competitorsGreenfield noted.
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The survey was conducted by market research firm, Ipsos MORI, with 1,000 respondents from India between the age 18 and 50, and globally 12,100 respondents across 12 countries, an EY statement said.
According to the survey, 73% of the Indian respondents believe technology will change public services for the better, and 71% think the pandemic will lead to greater use of technology in their daily lives in the future.
It revealed that 63% Indian citizens feel comfortable in sharing their personal data online with the government in order to access a service.
Partner and Leader, Government and Public Sector, EY India, Gaurav Taneja, said digitisation is the new normal and the Indian Government was quick toadopt technologies, especially during the pandemic, to deliver safe, secure and improved digital services to all citizens.
Respondents in India are comfortable with technology replacing face-to-face human interaction and are inclined to use an artificial intelligence powered chatbot to communicate with the government, the survey found.
Discover the stories of your interest
They want the government to prioritise making certain services available online including pension planning, resources to help people set up businesses and providing more ways for citizens to have an online say in government decision making.
Looking ahead to the future,81%of the Indian respondents think that technology will change the way they bank and shop,80% think that it will change the way they work/study, and79% think that it will change the way they entertain themselves.
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- Fed Hikes Rates by 25bps, Signals One More on Cards
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, but indicated it was on the verge of pausing further increases in borrowing costs amid recent turmoil in financial markets spurred by the collapse of two US banks.FM Calls State-owned Lenders’ Meet Amid Global Banking Crisis
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has called a special meeting of state-run lenders later this week to seek their views on heightened global concerns over the banking system’s vulnerability due to monetary tightening.With Great Ecommerce Comes Great Responsibility for Online Platforms
The consumer affairs ministry is working on tightening ecommerce rules to make online retail platforms liable for fraud committed by sellers and attaching “fallback liability” to their role as intermediaries, said a senior official.
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Recently, Wipro share price has been in the news. According to Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji, 300 employees were let go when the company discovered a rival concurrently employed them. TCS’ quarterly results revealed a mixed performance, while other Tech giants like HCL Tech had nothing particularly noteworthy to share.
Supply-side pressures have impacted the margins of Indian IT businesses during the last few quarters. Growing travel costs brought this on, pay revision costs and retention costs. The reports from HCL Tech and TCS, which were underwhelming, suggested that Wipro may not be in good shape.
Analysts previously anticipated that Wipro would publish mixed profits, with a predicted fall in profit.
Analysisof Q1 result
The outcomes of Wipro’s Q1 may be summarised in these five ways.
- The consolidated net profit for Wipro decreased by 20.9% year over year (YoY) to Rs. 25.6 billion. Higher employee-related expenditures drove up the company’s expenses, which was the cause of this.
- A year ago, at this time, the business had generated a net profit of Rs. 32.3 billion.
- Revenues at Wipro increased 17% to Rs. 215.3 billion from Rs. 182.5 billion in the previous fiscal year.
- The business noted that its operating margin for IT services for the quarter was 15%, a decline of 200 bps from the previous quarter.
- The company stated in its projection for the next quarter that it anticipates IT services business revenue to be from US$2,817 million to US$2,872 million. This results in a progression of growth of 3-5%.
- About 10,000 of the 15,446 new hires the business made during the quarter were rookies.
- For the quarter, earnings per share were Rs. 4.69 ($0.06), and Net Income for the quarter was Rs. 25.6 billion ($324.4 million).
- Our closing employee strength for IT Services was 258,574, up 15,446 QoQ.
“We have made major investments in Wipro’s growth engine and are extremely happy with the results,” stated Thierry Delaporte, CEO and Managing Director. With the help of sizable transformative projects, our order bookings increased 32% YoY in terms of Total Contract Value, and our pipeline is at an all-time high right now. We keep up the investments that help us expand our company, be flexible in the marketplace, and operate efficiently as a company while maintaining our commitment to providing even more excellent customer service.
“We are continually investing in solutions and capabilities for our growth to improve further our position as a strategic partner for our clients,” said JatinDalal, chief financial officer. We consider that we have reached a bottom at 15% of operating margins.
“While Wipro’s’ revenue mostly met forecasts, its margins fell short of them. Recent attempts at restructuring, including a more straightforward operational structure, a step up in capability upgrades, and talent management under new leadership, augur well for Wipro in the medium run. However, the primary obstacles to maintaining margins in the short future would be supply issues and wage increases. We now rate Wipro share price as BUY with a 12-M target price of Rs. 570.”


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Thanksgiving has become more than just a time for being thankful. At some point in recent American history, it became a time to eat yourself silly only to subsequently shop till you drop.
What used to be a humble day on which the family got together has turned into a marketing bonanza.
Movie and other product releases are carefully timed to coincide with Thanksgiving weekend. The busiest shopping day of the entire year is the day after Thanksgiving. It means so much to the U.S. economy that it has been nicknamed Black Friday, as it gives several retailers the first chance to break even of the year.
A campaign spearheaded by Adbuster magazine to re-brand the day “Buy Nothing Day” has been underway for years now, but it is doubtful it even makes a dent in sales figures.
On the whole, the rampant consumerism is reaching dramatic proportions. Comprising about 5 percent of the world population, the United States is consuming about 25 percent of the world’s resources. This applies to resources across the board, ranging from cheap Wal-Mart-made products coming from China to oil imported from the Middle East.
This spiral of consumption as though there is no tomorrow will have to be stopped. Otherwise the United States may very well face a time when there really is no tomorrow for a sustainable society.


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Tampa, FL - The calendar might say September and Halloween is still more than a month away but several major retailers already want you to be thinking about the holiday shopping season.
Last week Kmart launched its first nationwide holiday season TV spot featuring a gingerbread man.
Not to be outdone, Toys R Us has rolled out a holiday shopping program offering a 10 percent cash-back reward on some toy purchases made through October 31.
And if that's not enough, Walmart is out with its annual top holiday toys list.
Appearing on this year's list: Furby Boom!, Sofia the First Talking Doll and Animal Friends and Hot Wheels Triple Track Twister.
But as 10 News found out, not everyone is so merry about Christmas in September.
"It seems crazy to me. I mean, we're not even through Halloween," said Adella Ashton of St. Petersburg.
"It makes me more inclined not to shop at the store that's advertising this early, actually," added Gina Kravitz.
The reason for the early displays and ads is simple: retailers are trying to get a bigger piece of the pie.
"There's only a fixed amount of money a lot of people would be able to spend on holiday shopping, so if you get it early you actually bank that money, rather than some other retailer (taking) it from you," said University of South Florida associate Professor of Marketing Dip Biswas.
Biswas also says the traditional holiday shopping season is shorter this year.
"This year, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is really short; four weekends, compared to five weekends last time."
Another reason for the early holiday shopping push: Hanukkah begins this year on Thanksgiving.
On top of that, the forecast for this year's holiday shopping season is not expected to be as strong as in recent years. Sales are estimated to rise 2.4 percent this year, but that's less than the 3 percent jump retailers saw last year.


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Sony has announced LittleBigPlanet's Sackboy will be joining the cast of drivers in the upcoming ModNation Racers.
Sackboy will be available to US purchasers who pre-order the game from Amazon, Best Buy, Gamestop or Game Crazy, as well as day-one purchasers who buy specially marked copies on 25th May.
No word yet on how European racers can get their steering wheel hands on Sackboy, but a Sony representative told Eurogamer, "We'll be announcing how you get Sackboy in Europe soon."
The blog also revealed that US pre-orderers at the four retailers listed above will get one of four additional sets of kart and racer accessories on top of any retailer-exclusive packs announced last month. Which specific mod pack players receive is dependent on the "luck of the draw", according to the post.


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SaskTel no longer accepting in-person bill payments starting next month
REGINA -- Eleven SaskTel stores across Saskatchewan will no longer accept payments from customers in-person, starting next month.
Around 600,000 bills are paid this way annually, but SaskTel said that represents only five per cent of all payment transactions.
Only the Prince Albert bill payment counter will remain open.
“Customers can pay online, they can set up e-bill, go to mySaskTel.com, they can pay at a financial institution. There are so many other payment options,” said Michelle Englot, a SaskTel representative.
The stores themselves will remain open to sell phones, and staff that used to accept payments will be redeployed to those duties.
"That's what the store is all about and that's what we want the reps to be focused on rather than taking bill payments,” said Englot.
SaskTel also accepts bill payments on behalf of SaskPower and SaskEnergy, but those programs will also end as of December 16.


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Mumbai, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/25/2013 -- The Globe and Mail reported citing unnamed sources that John Sculley, the former Apple Inc. CEO, is exploring a bid for the troubled BlackBerry Ltd. with Canadian partners. According to the newspaper, Sculley said “I think there's a lot of future value in BlackBerry, I’ve been a long-time BlackBerry fan and user”.
While BlackBerry has already accepted Fairfax Financial Holdings’ chief Prem Watsa’s deal, who would buy the BlackBerry maker at $9 a share, recent rumors also say that Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd. has also shown interest and could be a potential buyer of BlackBerry.
BlackBerry’s share price continues to drop and with the Nov. 4 deadline for Fairfax deal approaching fast, Investors are probably hoping that the bidding war would start soon since BlackBerry is also in talks with Cisco, Google, LG and Samsung, among others.
If Fairfax is having trouble lining up financial backing for the $4.7 billion deal, it is going to be likely that BlackBerry gets split up as few of the tech. giants are rumored to be interested only in parts of the company. Segmenting BlackBerry would still be good if the segments get picked up by tech giants. Whether the original deal with Fairfax goes through or not, BBM is still desired all over the world.
BlackBerry today has a market cap of $4.19 billion, after closing at $8.15 on Wednesday.
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