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US television ratings provider Nielsen Media Research has unveiled a raft of plans for electronic measurement of TV watching, wherever and however it is viewed.
The company has pledged to modernize its methods, providing panelists with portable 'solo meters' that can monitor TV viewing via cellphones and iPods.
It also seeks to eliminate its paper diary system by 2011 and roll out its electronic 'people meter' across all markets.
The A2/M2 manifesto is the VNU unit's response to the increasing diversification of TV viewing, including the rapid expansion of internet video streaming.
Nielsen ceo Susan Whiting says the modernization "is the result of extensive consultation with clients, who told us clearly that we should 'follow the video'."
She adds: "A2/M2 recognizes there is no one-size-fits all approach to measuring television, while launching the most extensive research and testing program in the company's history."
Nielsen will begin rolling out technology to measure ratings for programs streamed on the internet this summer and hopes to fully deploy it for the 2007/2008 TV season.
The networks welcome the advances. Comments Mike Mellon, svp of research at ABC: "We will finally start getting credit for an awful lot of eyeballs that aren't getting counted."
Broadcasters hope the new methopdology will provide ammunition to increase commercials airtime rates.
Adds Brad Adgate, from ad buyer Horizon Media: "What marketers really want is some sort of single-source measurement, to find out what a day in the life of a media consumer is: what they're watching on cellphones, what they are watching on iPods, what they are watching on linear TV and when they are watching."
Data sourced from Wall Street Journal Online; additional content by WARC staff


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FDA Orders New Warning Labels for Tanning Beds
"The risk increases with each use, which presents a serious health public health problem for children under 18," Stade said.
According to the FDA, one required warning will read: "Persons repeatedly exposed to UV radiation should be regularly evaluated for skin cancer."
One skin cancer expert applauded the FDA's move.
"Hindsight is 20/20, but what we need is foresight, something that most teenagers do not have with their skin," said Dr. Joshua Zeichner, director of cosmetic and clinical research in the department of dermatology at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
"I support this legislation as it will help protect the health of youth, who may feel invincible, but in reality are at the most risk because they are not properly protecting their skin from the harmful effects of UV light," he said.
Under the new rule, manufacturers will now have to apply for FDA approval prior to marketing indoor tanning devices, which until now were exempt from premarket review. They will have to show that the devices meet basic standards of performance and product design.
The FDA's final order reclassifying tanning beds and sunlamps follows the recommendations from a panel of outside experts convened in March 2010. The panel evaluated the risks of sunlamp products, and recommended that FDA increase regulation of these devices. Certain members of the panel recommended that children and teenagers not use the products.
The agency released a proposed order on indoor tanning devices in May 2013, and received comments from industry, patient groups and professional societies before issuing its final order a year later.

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The big economic news over the weekend: China has posted a massive trade deficit for February.
Via Nomura's Zhiwei Zhang and Wendy Chen, here are some key numbers:
- February's trade deficit was $31.5 billion. That's far bigger than the previous record $7.9 billion.
- The cause was very weak exports, which fell 23.6% month-over-month. The Lunar New obviously had a lot to do with that.
- For the combined January-February period -- which attempts to blend out the impact of the Lunar New Year crossing two weeks and coming at different times each year -- export growth of 6.8% since the year 2000 (excluding 2009, of course).
- On the bright side, import growth of 39.6% year over year was far better than the decline of 15.3% in January... this may be a harbinger of a new pickup in exports.
In light of the Chinese trade deficit, the Aussie trade deficit, and the Japanese trade deficit, you might be asking as some are: Who has the trade surplus? The answer, we're guessing, is: The oil states.


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The hike, which will cost the exchequer an additional Rs 14,724.74 crore annually, will take effect from January 1, 2016, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters.
Head of India operations, Manu Kumar Jain, recently posted a series of images showing the employees celebrating, but here’s a colourful one of him at his work station.
‘Chhutti Pack’ priced at Rs. 83 in Delhi provides not only an extra talk time of Rs. 90, but also credits the user with 5 minutes of free incoming calls every day while on roaming on Aircel/Vodafone network, the telco said in a statement.
The company said that the cash back amount will be offered upfront to all consumers who walk in to a retail store starting February 20.


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Jamie Ross, Portfolio Manager of Henderson Eurotrust, provides an update on the Trust highlighting factors affecting the market and areas where he is finding opportunities.
October has been a disappointing month and there are two primary reasons for our underperformance.
First, we have been hurt by a small number of high growth companies in which we have reasonable sized positions in. Our two payments companies (Worldline and Nexi) cost us significantly and this has been our single biggest issue this month. The abrupt sell-off in these shares was triggered by a soft Q3 from Worldline and medium-term guidance that was marginally ahead of consensus expectations. Investors are nervous about the sector at the moment due to concerns that a handful of small, fast growing businesses (Adyen, Stripe) are gaining share from the traditional payment processors. Worldline should still be capable of growing revenues by >10% per annum into the medium term and we also see more M&A to come which will help, however, we acknowledge that the competitive situation is worsening to some extent. Worldline and Nexi now trade on around 13 x 2022 EBITDA which seems too cheap to us.
Second, we have positioned ourselves in a number of companies which we see as likely to benefit from an easing in global supply chain issues, especially centred around the auto sector and the consumer sector. Although we feel strongly that this positioning is correct on a 6-month view, during October, the situation didn’t improve quite as much as some had hoped and so the share prices of these companies (Danone, SKF, Beiersdorf for example) suffered. We are seeing promising signs of an easing in supply chain issues and expect to see these share prices react positively over the next 6 months or so to reflect this. To be clear, we are not playing this as a macro theme, I have simply grouped together the companies within the portfolio that have been negatively impacted by this theme during October.
In summary, we are confident in our positioning and will continue to retain balance in our exposures by considering two types of business for investment; those where we see high and sustainable returns that are undervalued by the market and those companies where we can see a material improvement in medium term business prospects.


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PARIS, May 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Based on available data for the first quarter of 2022, Artprice by Artmarket.com can confirm that the art-NFT phenomenon has become a durable part of the global art market on all continents, with an acceleration in sales and transactions in the second quarter of this year, primarily in response to the implementation of a more favorable legislative framework in the United States.
In an article published in Le Monde on May 11, 2022: “The Art Market, despite a disastrous economic situation (editor’s note: all sectors combined), is extremely resilient”, says Guillaume Cerutti, Chief Executive Officer of Christie’s, who applauds the auction in New York on May 9, 2022 where a portrait of Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol becomes the most expensive 20th century painting in the world, reaching 195 million dollars and bought by the famous art dealer Larry Gagosian.
Artmarket.com confirms that the analysis of Q1 2022 shows solid growth and suggests an exceptional year 2022, despite the economic situation.
All of the art market’s market-makers – notably the bulk of the planet’s art auction operators – now have specialized NFT departments preparing cataloged and online sales on a permanent basis. Similarly, all the major museums and art galleries are creating and offering their own NFTs.
The digital art created in the 1980s is finally coming of age with over a billion art-NFT enthusiasts actively pursuing creations in this medium at prices that are now very accessible.
Artprice has already identified over 54,000 artists who are directly producing NFTs for their buying public, and this is only the very start of a major paradigm shift.
According to sociologists, art historians and analysts, we are in the midst of major evolution that will definitively modify the structure of the art market as it has developed since the 1950s. This change is clearly confirmed by Artprice’s art market analysts, particularly its econometricians.
In its various reports on the Art Market, Artmarket.com has always indicated that it is impossible to understand the exponential growth of the NFT market without understanding the technological background to their existence. This ‘history’ includes Blockchain, cryptocurrencies and their cultural origin in the Cypherpunk community (period of data encryption – type PGP – at the beginning of 1990s).
However, all players in the art-NFT market – OpenSea, Rarible, LooksRare, Nifty Gateway, Superare etc. – agree that the NFT revolution will ultimately take place in the Metaverse. In other words, it is illusory to envisage growth and a sustainable future for NFTs without the development of the Metaverse.
The Metaverse is a set of virtual worlds. The term is regularly used to describe the future version of the Internet where virtual, durable and shared spaces are accessible via 3D interaction.
Similarly, the Metaverse can be conceived as a set of virtual worlds connected to the Internet, which are perceived in augmented reality.
Experts from the financial, economic, scientific and academic spheres are unanimous in considering the Metaverse as the natural extension of the Internet (Web 3.0).
Ninety-five percent of the multinationals in Fortune’s Global 500 ranking have Metaverse projects under development.
These Metaverse projects now represent an economic and scientific equation that will either raise their business turnovers in a spectacular manner, or become a financial abyss, depending on the R&D choices they make.
While Meta (Facebook) and Microsoft have retained colossal budgets for writing and coding virtual worlds, certain groups, and in particular Artmarket.com, are taking a different route which should make it possible to radically reduce the development costs of their Metaverses and become operational relatively quickly.
Artprice by Artmarket.com’s principal and founding shareholder is Server Group, an Internet pioneer since 1987, but also one of the pioneers of CGI hardware and software as of 1985.
Server Group has owned a multitude of subsidiaries over the past 35 years and has acquired deep knowledge in the field of immersive video games and cinematic and televisual post-production. Appearing in the mid-1980s, the technologies in these areas are considered by the scientific community as the very first Metaverses.
Artmarket.com’s Metaverse project is built in its world-famous headquarters located in the heart of the Organe Contemporary Art Museum which manages La Demeure du Chaos, or the “Abode of Chaos” (as baptised by the New York Times).
This Metaverse is revolutionary because it minimizes production costs and times and is based on the knowledge acquired by the Server Group from video game multinationals and film and network producers over the past 35 years (Studio Lumiere999® Paris/NY).
An open-air Museum of Contemporary Art occupying nearly 9,000 square meters, the Abode of Chaos is a unique museum circuit designed from its origin as a large-scale ‘escape game’ with elements of augmented reality.
Among the nearly 6,300 distinct artworks there are 4,500 sculptures in raw steel – some weighing several hundred tons – as well as paintings, street art, engravings, installations, digital artworks and land artworks. The museum is equipped with a very powerful electronic network (optical fiber over 9000 m2, wifi 802.11ax, idO connected works of art, etc.).
The Abode of Chaos and the Contemporary Art Museum that hosts it receives 180,000 visitors a year, of whom 25% come from outside France.
Over the past 23 years the Abode of Chaos has been the subject of nearly 3,600 written and audiovisual press reports in 72 countries. It has also been exquisitely reflected in a major tome, Opus IX, a 504-page bilingual reference work that can be consulted free of charge online in PDF format as well as on the Issuu website, where it has been downloaded 37 million times (figure officially confirmed by a French HuissierSCP Mamet-Pons).
In the international press, the Abode of Chaos has been described as an ensemble of distinct Œuvres and as an unavoidable and unique “Factory” with a place in Art History as one of the most significant artistic projects of the early 21st century.
The Server Group and the Organe Museum have invested several million euros in this successful project, financed exclusively from equity capital after a solid IPO project (see Artmarket.com’s universal registration document filed with the AMF, chapter 3.2.23).
thierry Ehrmann – CEO and Founder of Server Group and Artprice by Artmarket.com – followed the example of major video game creators and film directors/producers to build the group’s Metaverse based on 25 years of world famous physical creations.
For the construction of its Metaverse, over the past three years Server Group has formed a number of alliances, notably with one of the main European spatial geometry groups, creating a European dream-team for 3D Design, Engineering, 3D Lab and Scanner Surveys.
Whereas Meta (formerly Facebook) is starting to build its Metaverse from scratch, Artmarket and Server Group is starting from the fundamental reality of 6,300 original art creations in reference to the contemporary art world – on a 9,000 m² site.
This history has given us a substantial head start, saving both time and money, because the approach is completely different when you have undeniable global recognition for nearly 25 years.
The technical specifications included the use/production of Faro Lidar 3D Scanner, Navis VLX, drones, Polygonal Ground Photogrammetry in a single reference and development system, and Augmented Intelligence processing to reveal the singular characteristics of the works and their architectural ‘formativity’.
Specialized spatial data engineers and surveyors scanned and digitized the 9000 m² of the Organe Contemporary Art Museum, including its multiple basements and elevations, and all of the 6,300 artworks. The result weighed 45 To and including the 27 years of post-production and digital production conducted by Server Group and its subsidiaries.
The Group’s Metaverse was therefore generated from a vast physical medium of which it is the both author and owner. This represents a huge asset in terms of intellectual property. Similarly, the explosion of avatars and the proliferation of virtual multitudes® are part of a narrative already written and scripted by thierry Ehrmann, and known throughout the world.
While this ultra high-tech industrial process involving geometricians and spatial data experts required three years of field work (taking advantage of the COVID period), this approach is very different from the interminable challenges facing Meta (Facebook) of building its Metaverse from lines of code.
To understand the route taken by Server Group and Artprice by Artmarket.com, an analogy can be made with a well-known video game publisher whose Metaverse – based in medieval times – was constructed via an extremely detailed 3D scanning of several existing medieval European cities.
The results of this work were excellent: with radically reduced production costs, top ranking in box office all over the world – its video game version substantially dwarfed its competitors positioned in the highly-prized ‘medieval’ segment.
It is essential to specify that Artprice by Artmarket.com’s Metaverse, whose head office is located in the heart of the Organe Contemporary Art Museum (which manages the Abode of Chaos) is practically complete. This work has required very substantial investments which have been entirely borne by Server Group and its subsidiaries and which have had no impact on Artmarket.com’s balance sheets.
Artprice by Artmarket.com’s founding shareholder is Server Group, which is still by far the largest shareholder with 30.16% of the capital and 45.78% of the voting rights (Ehrmann family not included). Server Group took the industrial risk of investing in its Metaverse based on its confidence in Artmarket.com after 25 years as World Leader in Art Market Information.
Under the regime of regulated agreements covered by Server Group at Artmarket.com, whose Metaverse project’s profitability will be assured by low user costs because the costs associated with its R&D, and production are infinitely lower than those facing the multinationals who have started coding their Metaverses from scratch. Moreover, their projects are still to be concluded.
Artmarket.com’s upcoming NFT Marketplace will have an undeniable competitive advantage because the principal existing NFT platforms are facing time constraints, financial constraints, but also copyright constraints. As a result they do not really have successful Metaverses and may well be tempted to join Artmarket.com’s metaverse. Artmarket.com which will aim to integrate them into its NFT Marketplace by providing them with its precious imprimatur.
Indeed, OpenSea, the world’s leading NFT platform, has itself declared that 80% of the primary issues of art NFTs are likely to affect the intellectual property rights of third parties. Faced with this observation, Opensea has announced it is considering solutions to counter this scourge and protect sellers and buyers. We firmly believe that the logical solution to this problem is the certification of the primary market by Artprice through its blockchain and its smart contracts.
It is precisely in the primary issue of art NFTs that Artprice by Artmarket.com can achieve an extremely substantial turnover and profit.
We are proud to say that Artprice by Artmarket.com is the only company in the global art market that can veritably ensure the certification of primary NFT drops, bearing in mind all the underlying parameters and associated data.
The ability to certify primary issues of art NFTs is based on Artmarket.com’s position as the global leader in art market information and as the owner and creator of databases containing a quarter of a century of art market data. This databank commands global respect and authority and is backed up by the world’s largest collection of notes, manuscripts and sales catalogs (going back to 1700) which guarantee the authenticity and historical credibility of its databases.
Lastly, the study report from Dynata, the world’s largest data platform for insights, activation and measurement, surveyed more than 62 million panelists and 4 billion insights (reactions from a consumer in the form of data) in 11 countries (United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, China, Japan and Australia) and published its “New Experience Economy” report.
The report highlights a very favorable conclusion for Artmarket.com and for its Metaverse, and for its shareholders: 51% of respondents indicated that their favorite virtual (i.e. online) destination is a visit to a museum, an art gallery or an art exhibition.
With its Metaverse, which is the ultimate and unavoidable consequence of the NFT revolution, Artprice by Artmarket.com aims to be the most successful and highly competitive art NFT platform. Its Metaverse represents the assurance of an exponential and continuous growth of the art-NFT market. It will be accompanied by Artprice by Artmarket’s Blockchain and its smart contracts, thereby allowing a fair remuneration for artists in tendum with copyright societies such as ADAGP to which Artprice has long been one of the main contributors.
In addition, the long-standing registration of the artpricecoin.com DNS (.net .org…) and its trademarks demonstrates Artmarket.com’s overall strategy, which naturally includes the creation of a specific cryptocurrency after regulatory approvals.
The Artprice by Artmarket.com blockchain will mainly use Ethereum for its smart contracts but will remain open to payment in Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies.
Artmarket is a global player in the Art Market with, among other structures, its Artprice department, world leader in the accumulation, management and exploitation of historical and current art market information in databanks containing over 30 million indices and auction results, covering more than 770,000 artists.
Artprice by Artmarket, the world leader in information on the art market, has set itself the ambition through its Global Standardized Marketplace to be the world’s leading Fine Art NFT platform.
Artprice Images® allows unlimited access to the largest Art Market image bank in the world: no less than 180 million digital images of photographs or engraved reproductions of artworks from 1700 to the present day, commented by our art historians.
Artmarket with its Artprice department accumulates data on a permanent basis from 6300 Auction Houses and produces key Art Market information for the main press and media agencies (7,200 publications). Its 5.4 million (‘members log in’+social media) users have access to ads posted by other members, a network that today represents the leading Global Standardized Marketplace® to buy and sell artworks at a fixed or bid price (auctions regulated by paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article L 321.3 of France’s Commercial Code).
Artmarket with its Artprice department, has been awarded the State label “Innovative Company” by the Public Investment Bank (BPI) (for the second time in November 2018 for a new period of 3 years) which is supporting the company in its project to consolidate its position as a global player in the market art.
Mogul Productions, the decentralized platform that seeks to promote NFTs and DeFi in the movies and entertainment sector, is going big on the move with a new partnership.
As announced on Friday, the firm has signed a major partnership with Trace Network Labs to help bring the movie experience to the metaverse.
Growth in the NFTs and Metaverse sector
Blockchain technology has completely changed the landscape when it comes to digital avatars, whose growth trajectory, to state the least, has been on an upward trajectory since the 70s.
Today, digital avatars and the non-fungible token (NFT) and metaverse space are shaping interactions virtually across every aspect of life.
According to an industry expert’s observationhighlighted by CoinJournal, “The metaverse will bring true value for digital assets, mainly in the form of NFTs. It will give people the ability to recreate themselves in any shape or form they would like and to reinvent their identity altogether. It will bring to life digital pets of all kinds.”
Mogul Productions and Trace Network want to drive the next level of growth in this sector through their partnership. Essentially, Mogul wants to bring the movie experience and movies to the metaverse.
Use NFTs to experience the Metaverse
Some of the most popular NFT collections in the world today have seen millions of dollars in sale volumes, with the creators of blockbusters such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, and Azuki helping unlock a whole range of success stories.
Alongside this, there has been the steady drive towards the reality of the Metaverse, a virtual world where real-life humans can interact and do pretty much everything else via avatars.
While tech giants such as Meta Platforms, Apple Inc and Google are all working on delivering the metaverse, the entertainment space is already seeing events in the virtual world.
Mogul wants to use its partnership with Trace to help drive this to the next level, with NFTs at the heart of it. Notably, the platform wants to allow individuals to mint their own avatarsand use them in the metaverse to experience events such as film premieres.
The collaboration will also see Mogul’s Cinematic Metaverse expand to provide users with new features such as branded wearables and other Mogul products.
With these, users can unlock several exciting experiences, including access to exclusive “Behind The Scenes” events – all in the metaverse.
As a small but growing number of Indian users of the Metaverse– a virtual three-dimensional world that is termed as the next frontier of the internet–report cases of assault and sexual violation of their digital avatars, it is stoking consternation amongst legal experts confronted by new-age crimes that are not covered under existing laws.
Earlier this year, a young woman based in one of the country’s top metros sought legal recourse for what she termed as “violation” of her avatar on the virtual reality platform. But criminal and judicial systems in India, and even world over, are still not ready to handle the challenges thrown up by the Metaverse, according to lawyers being approached to handle such issues.
Avatars represent the virtual identity of individuals while on the Metaverse with all actions conducted through these digital representations.
“There is a need for a new legal framework,” said cyberlaw expert Pavan Duggal, who is a part of the Metaverse Law , a global body working towards bringing in common guidelines on how to manage such virtual conflicts.
Pointing out that “the current law doesn’t recognise (digital) avatars,” Duggal said the problem is exacerbated by the Metaverse being a “global ecosystem, which makes it hard to litigate.”
“Attribution of identity and jurisdiction are some of the challenges at present,” he added.
Discover the stories of your interest
While still at a nascent stage, there is rising interest in the virtual 3D platform that combines social interaction with virtual and augmented reality, allowing users to live different experiences virtually.
Gartner reports that 25% of people will spend an hour per day in the Metaverse by 2026 for work, shopping, education, and entertainment, while 30% of organisations will have products and services ready for metaverse. Late last year, Facebook renamed itself Meta Platforms and said that it would invest $10 billion in the business, given the huge potential it sees in the space. Several brands and individuals have started investing in buying land virtually and building their virtual worlds.
Goldman Sachs predicts the Metaverse market size will be worth $1-12 trillion, while not specifying a time period for the same.
This influx of activity is drawing brands and consumers to the virtual world and is also leading to instances of cyber bullying and harassment, as well as financial crime, point out industry experts.
Mukul Shrivastava, Partner, Forensics and Integrity Services, EY said “this is a very fragmented space with no centralised set up. Several of the platforms are not based in India so that makes it harder when trying to litigate.” he said.
The inability to apply the same regulations applicable to such crimes in the real world is a major challenge, as well. “In the case of non-economic crimes, you have to prove that you are connected to the avatar that was harmed in the virtual world,” said Abhishek Malhotra, founding partner of TMT Law Practice. And when it comes to financial or economic crimes, it is still a grey area since the foundation is cryptocurrency, which is still not legal in India.
Noting that prevailing laws cannot be invoked to deal with virtual crimes of assault and molestation, Supreme Court advocate NS Nappinai said one must “look for remedies based on the mode and manner of commission of crimes.”
“ For instance, in a case of rape of an avatar on Metaverse, or even in an online game, whilst Section 376 IPC will not be applicable, other offences such as hacking and tampering with source codes and even publishing and transmission of obscene or sexually explicit content punishable under IT Act can be invoked,” she said.
However, the first step, is to take it up with the platform itself according to Nappinai who also runs the CyberSaathi Foundation,
Platforms strengthen screening
Rajat Ojha, Founder & CEO, Gamitronics, which runs the PartyNite metaverse platform said that they have set up predefined emotes and movements to ensure that the system is protected for any ‘physical or sexual’ gestures.
At a recent public event, PartyNite mandated users to undergo a KYC to go to a bar area, as it helps to associate digital identities with real world identities. “That gave us enough insights and adoption metrics and we are currently working on our learnings from that,” said Ojha.
Some Metaverse platforms offer built-in safety features like safe zones, or methods to not allow strangers within a certain radius of your avatar.
“At this moment, every public event has our policing, and we warn the person if an issue is raised. We have features to kick the offender out, but we know it’s not sufficient, so we focus a lot on letting our attendees know how to reach out to us and we then go case by case basis,” Gamitronic’s Ojha said.
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity may be in person this year for the first time since 2019, but that hasn’t stopped brands and agencies from thinking virtual. Not only are some marketers making Cannes sessions available in virtual real estate platforms, but parties and activities outside of the normal programming are also being offered in the metaverse.
A common theme running through many of these activations is democratizing what has hitherto been an inaccessible event for many in the industry. The ticket price for Cannes is steep, not to mention fees for transportation and a hotel. But through virtual experiences, which can be accessed from anywhere using only a desktop or sometimes a mobile phone, more of adland can celebrate creativity in the industry.
Of course, not all the metaverse activations at Cannes are designed specifically with this goal in mind, yet the democratizing effect is still there. Marketers may be realizing that the virtual tools they use to reach consumers can also help them reach each other.
Here are some of the ways that marketers are activating in the metaverse during Cannes.


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Pittsburgh, PA, May 07, 2014 --(PR.com
)-- Last week, after a string of consecutive awards,Seegrid, maker of automated guided vehicles (AGVs), was awarded a prestigious 2014 Edison Award for the Seegrid automated GT10 tow tractor in the Applied Technology, Industrial Productivity category. The GT10 tow tractor automates the movement of flatbed cars, trains, or carts using Seegrid’s patented vision-guided technology. Attach the load to the GT10, type in the route on the keypad, and the flexible AGV travels without wire, laser, tape, or magnet. No facility or environment changes are required for Seegrid robots to navigate. The vision-guided technology allows the GT10 tow tractor to use the existing infrastructure to map its guidance.
Seegrid’s Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Horbal, was very pleased and commented, “Seegrid is honored to receive the prestigious award. It is our mission to provide superior game-changing products that deliver customers with a competitive advantage to rapidly increase profitability and improve the overall efficiency, safety, and productivity in their operation. Receiving this award is a testament to the entire team’s dedication to delivering innovative products.”
Frank Bonafilia, Edison Awards’ executive director, shared, “It’s exciting to see companies like Seegrid continuing Thomas Edison’s legacy of challenging conventional thinking. Edison Awards recognize the game-changing products and services, and the teams that brought them to consumers.”
Seegrid Corporation (www.seegrid.com) provides simple, affordable, flexible vision-guided automated guided vehicles (AGVs) to the material handling industry. Seegrid robotic industrial trucks, flexible AGVs, are revolutionizing the movement of materials in manufacturing and distribution environments. Seegrid automated pallet trucks, tow tractors, and walkie stackers optimize workflow processes by increasing productivity and reducing costs, creating economic and operational advantages. Seegrid vision-guided AGVs deliver a rapid return on investment, improve facility safety, and reduce equipment and product damage. In addition to the 2014 Edison Award, Seegrid was also recently named Manufacturer of the Year, and awarded the Gold Medal Award at the WBT Innovation Marketplace 2013 competitive event. Seegrid was named to the Food Logistics Top 100 software and technology providers. Based in Pittsburgh, PA, the company is quickly expanding its global presence, and will be seen at CeMAT at Hall 27, Booth H12. CeMAT 2014 runs from May 19 to May 23, 2014, in Hannover, Germany. Follow Seegrid Corporation on Twitter at @Seegrid.
Seegrid Corporation - USA


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The OnePlus 8 is one of the most anticipated devices of 2020 and speculation has been rife over just when it would be announced with many expecting it to be pushed forwards, earlier than in previous years. A new poster has leaked showing the release date to be April 15.
The folks at ITHome have gotten their hands on a leaked poster which apparently shows the launch date of the OnePlus 8 series. The poster not only shows the date, 15 April, but also the curved hole-punch display. Just where this leak has come from is uncertain at this stage but it fits with all the rumours we have seen and heard in recent time — which does not make it true of course.
The OnePlus 8 is expected to arrive in two (or possibly three) variants, a normal and a Pro model, as it did last year. The displays are expected to be the same as that in the Find X2 Pro with 120Hz refresh rate at 2K resolution. Expect 5G support in all of their phones as well which will hopefully work on our 5G networks as well for those looking to import one.
The camera on the Pro is also expected to be a quad camera and yesterday we saw Robert Downey Jr show off one (accidentally of course……) confirming as such. The photo confirms three main lenses just as in last year’s model but also the presence of what looks to be a ToF depth sensing lens.
It is good to see a person who is paid to endorse a product actually using said product — it shows he believes in what he is endorsing. So many times celebrities have been caught out accidentally showing off something other than their endorsed product. But then why wouldn’t he. I cannot think of many (if any) smartphones I’d rather be endorsing than a OnePlus flagship.
Hopefully this is the year OnePlus finally make it to our shores. Their success in just about every other market of the world surely dictates that one day soon they will venture into our market in a meaningful way. Hopefully 2020 is that year. Stay tuned as we track the OnePlus devices now expected to arrive in just four short weeks.


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LONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - British soft drinks group Britvic posted an 18.8 percent rise in annual operating profit and said it would further expand its Fruit Shoot brand in the United States.
The maker of Robinsons squash and Tango said on Tuesday operating profit in the year to Sept. 29 was 135 million pounds ($218.08 million), up from 112.7 million a year ago and in line with company guidance.
Revenue rose 4.4 percent to 1.32 billion pounds, helped by a strong fourth quarter when a hot summer and the recovery of its Fruit Shoot brand after last year's recall boosted trade. Its operating margin rose 120 basis points to 10.4 percent.
Having rejected an improved proposal from Irn-Bru maker A.G. Barr for an all-share merger in July, Britvic has ramped up its expansion in the U.S., moved into Spain and will launch Fruit Shoot in India in mid-2014 to help grow its business.
On Tuesday the firm said it had signed a new 15-year bottling agreement with PepsiCo Americas Beverages for further manufacturing and distribution in the U.S., which will see Fruit Shoot rolled out to 41 states during 2014, up from 32.
The firm has also outlined a cost cutting drive, which it said was on track to deliver 30 million pounds of cost savings per annum by 2016.
Britvic said trading in the new financial year had started ahead of its first quarter a year ago, and added that it was confident of delivering operating profit of between 148 and 156 million pounds for the new fiscal year.


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Worldwide smartphone sales to end users accounted for nearly 52 per cent of mobile phone sales in the second quarter, surpassing feature phones sales for the first time as a result of growth in Asian countries like China, Gartner said.
After a closed beta for a few months, Lenovo has opened for public preview its Reach consumer Cloud service, which is a "Cloud desktop" service through which applications can be launched without downloading and installing them locally on mobile devic...
Lenovo will open its Reach consumer Cloud service beta to anyone who wants to sign up later this quarter in North America, which could boost the Chinese company's hardware sales by tying that portfolio to the cloud service.
Lenovo has discontinued sales of the Yoga 11 convertible with Windows RT on its website, which analysts said was a sign of PC makers moving away from their commitment to the struggling OS.
Lenovo is expanding software partnerships as it tries to break into a server market dominated by Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Dell.
Weakness in the global economy, component shortages, sluggish demand for Windows 8 and the popularity of tablets all contributed to another double-digit percentage decline for the global PC market in the second quarter.
Lenovo is bringing another Windows 8 tablet to market -- this one made with keyboard cover in mind -- along with five new touch-based laptops that are slated to arrive globally in July and August.
Lenovo will enter the cloud storage market with a service that offers a single sign-on ID to access social networks, favorite applications, as well as a file manager with a search engine to help users find files, photos and other digital media.
Lenovo is in preliminary negotiations to start a joint venture with an unspecified party, the company said, setting off speculation that the company could be looking to bolster its expanding smartphone business.
PC sales in China and high growth in smartphones shipments helped boost Lenovo's net profit for its fiscal fourth quarter by 90 percent year-over-year.
PC shipments in Western Europe declined by 20.5 percent during the first quarter: The only vendors to see shipments grow were Lenovo and Apple, which returned to the top five.
Apple retook its spot as China's fifth largest smartphone vendor in the first quarter, as the country's market grew to triple the size of the U.S.'s.
Hard on the heels of the news that the Linux kernel itself has now added Chromebook support, other reports this week suggest that the ongoing popularity of devices that use Google's Linux-based Chrome OS operating system will likely continue unabated...
Any deal by IBM to sell parts of its server business to Lenovo is likely to focus on low-end commodity x86 hardware, not higher-end x86 systems such as IBM's PureSystems and iDataPlex servers, an industry analyst said Thursday.
IBM is in "advanced discussions" with Lenovo over a possible deal for it to purchase IBM's x86 server business, according to two news reports.
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There’s contention in your morning cup of milk.
Or at least, there is for university students who follow the Instagram account @umn.milk, an account with over 600 followers that posts photos of University of Minnesota students drinking milk in the dining halls, purchasing gallons at the local grocery store or enjoying a swig in the comfort of their dorm room.
The account, which publicly shares user-submitted photos of students drinking milk, joins the swath of Instagram accounts made by college students across the country publicizing their peers’ dairy habits. The University of St. Thomas has one (with a bio that reads: “Exposing the ‘people’ of UST that drink milk”). Northfield’s St. Olaf College also has one, with a more cordial Instagram bio that proclaims to their followers they are “lactose tolerant.”
Dartmouth, UCLA, University of Wisconsin Madison, Texas A&M University. East to west, north to south, college students are finding comradery and comedy in their repulsion or reverence for dairy milk.
Milk haters unite
Sky Dube, a first-year student at the University of Minnesota and a follower of @umn.milk, was a self-declared “avid milk drinker” when she was younger. “I used to drink glasses of milk on their own. Like, I wouldn’t need anything else,” Dube said.
That all changed two years ago after Dube watched a Netflix documentary called “The Milk System.” The documentary, which exposes the malpractices and environmental impacts caused by the dairy industry, was enough to make her quit dairy milk. “Ever since that day,” Dube said, “I have not drunk a glass of milk—I’ve definitely had foods with milk in them.” She prefers oat milk in her lattes, but still eats cream cheese on her bagels and doesn’t actively avoid dairy products at large. She isn’t a vegetarian. So why milk?
“The act of pouring yourself a glass of milk — just straight up milk — is just horrendous,” she said.
Dube’s repugnance for dairy milk fits in with her generation’s attitudes towards the beverage itself and a growing interest in dairy-free alternatives. According to the Good Food Institute, young and diverse groups are increasingly consuming plant-based products.
Plant-based milks are carving out a substantial spot in the milk market. They accounted for 15 percent of total retail milk sales in 2020, totaling $2.5 billion, per the Good Food Institute. Experts predict that alternative milk sales are projected to account for 30 percent of all milk sales by 2026, the New York Times recently reported. Since 1975, milk consumption in the United States has declined by 40 percent causing over 2,700 dairy farms to close between 2018 and 2020, according to World Population Review.
“(Plant milk) is one of the fastest-growing areas in the modern food industry,” said David Julian McClements, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a food scientist of 20-plus years.
McClements has recently dedicated research to plant-based foods, and believes there are three driving factors of the plant-based milk boom: consumer ethics, environmental sustainability and health. Underlying these is a burgeoning improvement in food technology that has allowed companies to replicate the taste and texture of milk into plant-based alternatives. “Now you’ve got these really good alternatives that you don’t have to sacrifice taste in order to meet your ethical or environmental needs,” McClements said.
The milk industry at large has switched messaging in the past few years to highlight the health benefits of dairy, focus more on the stories of both how milk is made and of the farmers behind the beverage to appeal to younger consumers, as well as sharing farmers’ missions and plans towards “being a part of the environmental solution,” according to Anne Warden, who runs Dairy Management Inc.’s marketing program.
As more dairy drinkers convert to plant-based alternatives or ditch the beverage altogether, cow’s milk’s cultural standing in the United States as the everyman’s beverage is on the brink of an alternative milk-induced collapse.
The advent of the milk Instagram
“The account is genius,” says first-year University of Minnesota student Wyatt Halvorson, a follower of the @umn.milk account. “It got a lot of warranted attention because it’s funny, close to home and is a controversial, non-harmful topic,” he said. Halvorson is pro-dairy milk, though not a religious milk drinker himself. “I am for supporting the dairy industry, but I am also for supporting personal choice. I think it’s more so funny to watch people make a fuss about how they do or don’t like milk when it is really not that big of a deal,” he said.
Not all milk varieties are scrutinized equally by these accounts. Chocolate milk, according to many commenters, is kosher. So is a dash of cream in your morning cup of coffee. But whole milk? “God forbid you bring whole milk to the table. You’re going to get made fun of,” said Henry Dissell, the creator of the @stolafmilkdrinkers Instagram account.
Dissell found out about the existence of college milk accounts through TikTok. A friend of his showed him a TikTok of a University milk account, and “thought it was kind of interesting slash funny slash whatever,” so they created their own account for St. Olaf milk drinkers.
Dissell is a milk advocate himself, unabashedly drinking, to his math, around 20 cups a week. One per meal. He detested milk as a kid, but picked up the beverage in his late teens to put on some extra pounds. “There is a stigma around drinking milk, for sure. I don’t know exactly what the reason is, but it happens all the time. And it always happens to me and my friends so we decided to embrace it,” Dissell said.
The St. Olaf milk account is more reverential than it is shameful, Dissell told me. “There’s a lot of shame around milk drinking. It’s kind of a joke,” he explained, “but the milk account is us mocking the fact that it’s shamed.”
Most milk accounts I’ve come across aren’t as meta-ironic. Where St. Olaf’s milk account mocks the mocking of milk drinking with photos of students flashing their cups of calcium with thumbs up or silly faces, other accounts post photos of students in the dining hall sipping on milk without any awareness that they’re being photographed. Since these accounts rely on user-submitted photos, rarely does it seem to matter who the user submitting the photo is — or how they captured the photo.
More than just milk
The milk account isn’t its own anomaly. Local social media accounts dedicated to publicly sharing photos of people hunching over in bad posture (@eagan_bad_posture), wearing beanies that improperly fit their head (@umn_hats), falling asleep in class (@sleeping_tworivers) or passed out drunk on the side of the road (@comopassouts) exist with substantial followings on Instagram. These accounts’ follower size ranges from 200-600, which is fairly big considering the sizes of these schools and the amount of eyes on these accounts.
“I feel like you could make an account about literally anything and people would get behind it just because it’s comedic — and college freshmen can find anything to bond over,” said Dube, the avid-milk-drinker-turned-milk-hater.
Dube spends her and her friends’ time at the University of Minnesota dining halls snapping photos of unaware milk drinkers. “Some of those pictures are a little embarrassing, I’m not gonna lie,” Dube said. The day we had spoken, Dube sent 20 photos of milk drinkers to @umn.milk. It’s become a game among Dube’s friends to see how many photos they can take of milk drinkers while they’re at the dining halls. To avoid the awkward confrontation of someone realizing they’re being photographed, she’s become quite stealthy with her milk-drinking photography, she told me.
“It’s not meant to hurt people. It’s more just to get a quick laugh, look at it for five seconds and then keep scrolling,” she said. Dube brought up how other, more insidious social media posts have gotten traction on accounts like @barstoolgophers and @barstoolsuperblock. In September, a photo of two students having sex in a residential hall’s laundry room surfaced and spread among students. These accounts share school-related memes and document students’ debauched behavior, and a lot of the accounts run on user-submitted photos, videos and edits.
These accounts don’t exist in a vacuum. Followers of such accounts justify posting something innocuous, like a student drinking milk, because other damaging photos and videos run rampant on social media platforms. Some students’ worst moments, like being caught drunk, wrapped in cling wrap and lying on the floor of a shower, are captured on camera and exposed to hundreds of eyes. What harm will a picture of someone drinking milk do? “I would never find it OK to post a picture of someone that’s gonna hurt them in the future, whereas the milk account, like if an employer were to see that you were posted on the @umn.milk account, they would not [care],” Dube said.
The owner of the @umn.milk account did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“We don’t really think about [sharing photos taken of others] as a bad thing. But if you really think about it a little harder, we, like, probably should be asking these people if it’s okay to post pictures like this,” Dube said. “That’s one of the problems of our generation is that we don’t have enough media literacy, and that is something that should be practiced a lot more — putting ourselves in other people’s shoes. Like asking ourselves, ‘If I were to get that picture taken of me and it was posted, like, how would I feel?’ I think a lot of people need to think about that first.”


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These 15-cm figures, above, are climbing up a wall of the 41st floor fitness at THE REGENT HOTEL SHANGHAI (they are by a Balinese artist, Jeffrey Lee). Plea to whoever, please introduce similar smile-inducing elements to all gyms, as a matter of coures… The hotel’s overall designer, by the way is Cedric Jaccard of Wilson & Associates. Looking at Lee’s lean-lithe figures show they do not have a surplus kilo between them: good news, especially when the World Health Organization WHO currently claims obesity caused 2.8 million deaths worldwide in 2021, and the justly-derided O requires 13% of all healthcare expenditures.
There will be lots of concentration on wellness this coming week in Miami Beach, when IHRSA hosts its annual conference, 22-24 June. Apparently IHRSA is the leading fitness industry association but Google also suggests it stands for the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association. Oh well. What is clear is that one of the keynoters will be Susie Ellis, CEO of the Global Hotel Institute GWI. She will present eight future trends in fitness (Girlahead hopes she repeats, with updates, at GWI’s own really important annual gathering, starting 31st October in Tel Aviv). Speakers then will include Levi Shapiro, founder of mHealth, Israel’s largest community of health-tech innovators: Aradhana Khowala, chairwoman of the Advisory Board for Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Project, the world’s most ambitious, largest regenerative tourism project: Michelle Williams, Dean of the Faculty at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Rick Stollmeyer, founder of the nearly $2 billion wellness experience platform, Mindbody
At any time, GWI research findings are esssential reading. Right now GWI says the global wellness economy is HUGE. Fitness alone is a $77 billion industry. Sports and active recreation add $200 billion. Mindful movement is $30 billion, fitness technology is $49.5 billion, sports and fitness equipment is $105 billion, and sports apparel and footwear constitutes $293 billion. Interestingly, during the main pandemic period, 2020, the fitness segment (gyms, studios, classes) saw the biggest hit at 37% revenue drop, while fitness technology soared up by 29%.
Today’s total physical activity market is $738 billion and the future is bright – revenues will nearly double 2020-2025, to reach $1.2 trillion. GWI predicts three major shifts in physical activity: 1) The “why” of physical activity will pivot to mental wellness, 2) a growing at-home fitness market will further attract big tech and big media, and 3) physical activity will become a right and an essential health service.
That ‘at home’ element can be adapted, just as WFH is, to ‘at hotels’. Some groups, says 25hours, Hyatt (some brands) and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, always include yoga mats in room essentials. At CAESARS PALACE DUBAI, top suites also have weights and stretch bands, all delightfully colour-coordinated in dayglo pink. Let’s listen to Caesars Palace regional boss, Tony Costa, here:


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Taxi ride app Uber has noticed a big drop in the number of drivers available in Paris at evenings and customers have seen the cost of their ride home jump. There's a simple explanation.
You don't normally have to wait too long in Paris for your Uber driver to turn up, even in the evening.
But since last Saturday that's changed slightly.
Users of the taxi ride app have noticed how drivers are much harder to come by and even bosses of the company have seen the change.
"Yes we have observed this trend," Uber told Le Parisien newspaper.


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Diplomats’ Day organised by TRIFED at Tribes India Aadi Mahotsav at Dilli Haat
Diplomats’ Day organised by TRIFED, M/o Tribal Affairs and M/o External Affairs at Tribes India Aadi Mahotsav at Dilli Haat
Keeping in line with the Prime Minister’s vision for Vocal for Local and a self-reliant India, and introduce the rich tribal heritage to international audiences, A Tribes India Conclave was organized in association with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India at the Tribes India Aadi Mahotsav yesterday. The event was attended by over 120 diplomats from more than 30 foreign missions in India besides senior officials from the Ministry of External Affairs also visited the Aadi Mahotsav. The dignitaries included diplomats from countries such as Taipei, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bolivia, Zambia, Finland, Poland, Brazil, Egypt, Costa Rica, Cambodia, Kenya, Malta, Philippines, Laos, Tunisia, Croatia, Togo, Afghanistan, USA, Ghana, Turkey, Uzbekistan, UK, Iran, France to name a few. There were delegates from international organizations such as UNHCR and UNDP as well.
The dignitaries took a look at the stalls of the tribal artisans from across the country and showed their keenness to learn more about the unique handicrafts and traditions. With about 200 stalls on display which showcase products ranging from traditional weaves to jewellery and paintings and toys, the dignitaries were given a glimpse into tribal arts and crafts. In addition, there were live demonstrations by artisans on how to make Longpi pottery, Lac bangles and Gond paintings. Tribal artisans also performed a live puppet show at the event.
In a brief presentation to the delegates, Shri Pravir Krishna, MD, TRIFED said. “This is a mini tribal India in one place where you can buy the best of tribal handicrafts and produce and sample the best of tribal cuisine and culture. TRIFED is working to bring these tribal artisans and forest dwellers into the mainstream and provide them access to larger markets. 500 such events are organised in an year – some on a smaller scale.”
The presentation dwelled further the visiting delegates to the world of tribal artisans and forest dwellers and gave them some insight into the tribal artistic traditions and TRIFED’s initiatives in empowering them and bringing them into the mainstream. This session was then followed by a lunch for the delegates, where they sampled some exotic tribal dishes such as Mutton Seekh Kebab from Jammu and Kashmir, Fish Pakoraa from Odisha, Chaman Paneer from Jammu and Kashmir, Besan ki gatte ki sabzi from Rajasthan, Mutton and Chicken Banjara Biryani from Telengana, Bajra and Makke ki Roti from Madhya Pradesh, Mahua laddoo from Jharkhand, Moong ka halwa from Gujarat.
Bigger and brighter than the editions before and with about 200 stalls and 1000 participating artisans from across the country, the Aadi Mahotsav, a mini-India all under one roof, is a one-stop gifting destination that caters to different types of needs. From the natural and immunity-boosting tribal produce such as dry amla, wild honey, black pepper, dalia, chilli, ragi, triphala, and lentil mixes such as moong dal, urad dal, white beans, to artefacts such as paintings be it in the Warli style or Patachitras; from jewellery handcrafted in the Dokra style to bead necklaces from the Wancho and Konyak tribes of the North-East to the rich and vibrant textiles and silks, namely Eri silks and chanderi silks; from colourful puppets and children’s toys to traditional weaves such as Dongria shawls and Bodo weaves; Toda embroidery and Kota-doria dupattas; from iron craft from Bastar to Longpi stone pottery; 1500 such items have been identified from which people can choose from.
There is a separate GI products stall also which features renowned, exquisite items such as Rajasthan’s blue pottery, the Kota Dariya fabric, Madhya Pradesh’s Chanderi and Maheshwari silk, Bagh print, Odisha’s Pattachitra, Karnataka’s Bidriware, Banarasi silk from Uttar Pradesh, Darjeeling tea from West Bengal, Kala jeera from Himachal Pradesh, the extremely spicy Naga chilli, and the large cardamom from the North-east. Geographical indication tagging has acquired a greater significance ever since the focus has shifted towards Vocal for Local and building an Atmanirbhar Bharat. TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs has been facilitating the promotion of GI Tag products along with tribal products and transform them into a brand, symbolizing empowerment of tribal artisans. These initiatives will also help recognize and promote age-old tribal traditions and methods that in danger of being lost due to urbanization and industrialization
Depending on the requirements and budget, these products can customised into gift hampers. Packaged in premium organic, recyclable, sustainable packing material, designed by renowned designer Ms. Rina Dhaka exclusively for Tribes India, these make for ideal gifts for any occasion.
The Aadi Mahotsav- A Celebration of the Spirit of Tribal Crafts, Culture and Commerce is on at Dilli Haat, INA, New Delhi till the 15th February, 2021 from 11 am to 9 pm. Visit Aadi Mahotsav and further the “Vocal for Local” movement! #BuyTribal


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Vintage fashion in the service of society's underprivileged
Proceeds from a website selling clothing collected from older people go to an NGO that helps seniors and Ethiopian families in need.
At first glance, the new Israeli fashion website Roots brings to mind Bedford Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg. At every corner people above 50 are selling garments and other objects – in one of New York's hipster neighborhoods. What could they have to offer the young people passing buy?
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ZH: Luxury housing bust – Chicago's most expensive mansion taken off market
Zero Hedge writes: “Chicago’s most expensive mansion was abruptly taken off the market last week ...
People / Taylor Oliver to head new Flexport office in Chicago, as it eyes expansion
Following the recent opening its second European office in Hamburg, disruptive US freight forwarder Flexport ...
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Jaguar Land-Rover exports have triggered two new freight services out of the UK. Last week, Emirates ...
Recommends / How to get 3,000lbs of beef jerky from Reno to Seattle
Chicago Magazine has published a fascinating insight into CH Robinson and its trucking operation. It’s ...
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Panalpina’s move last year to serve its air freight customers from its large Chicago office, ...
Shippers shift to Rickenbacker as freighters tire of busy Chicago
A “crazy” first quarter for Rickenbacker International Airport (Columbus, Ohio) has seen air cargo throughput ...
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The US is having a tough time of it in freight transport. Businessweek is warning ...
- 1.Panalpina shareholder hits out over decision to reject DSV takeover bid
- 2.Grab some popcorn and watch the Panalpina-DSV-Agility soap opera
- 3.Arrival of first gearless containership a turning point for DRC supply chains
- 4.Supply chain radar: don't wake me up right now – 'DHL Global Forwarding, Freight + DB Schenker being considered'
- 5.Fire-stricken APL Vancouver Singapore-bound after general average is declared
- 1. Jeffrey Jarvis on Carole Walker appointed CEO of Hermes Europe
- 2. email@example.com on Flexport expands air network to Chicago as it looks to raise another $500m
- 3. Alex Lennane on Manston row escalates as consultant slams potential for profitable freighters
- 4. Bannerman62 on Manston row escalates as consultant slams potential for profitable freighters
- 5. Andrew on US developer's latest bid to buy Manston Airport just a 'sponsored land grab'


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Fractured Prune Doughnuts plans 50 new stores
Ocean City, Md. — Fractured Prune Doughnuts has announced a national expansion projecting 50 new store agreements in the next six months. The next Fractured Prune will open in St. George, Utah, on Sept. 24.
The brightly colored doughnut shops promote always hot doughnuts, available all ways and offers 15 glazes and 15 toppings.
Papyrus parent company opens second Niquead.D location
New York — Schurman Retail Group, owners of Papyrus North America, announced the opening of the first Niquead.D flagship in New York City. It is the brand’s second location to date, with the first opening in December 2012 in Danville, Calif. A second Manhattan location is scheduled to open later this fall, and will be the first to share an entryway with a full-sized Papyrus store.
The new, 900-sq.-ft. store features women’s jewelry and accessories, clothing, scents, home décor, and a wide range of paper and gift products. With a mixture of antique furniture, eye-catching, one-of-a-kind chandeliers, and hand-painted rich blue damask walls, this store captures the textural, stylish, and indulgent design that is reminiscent of stepping into a Parisian boutique
“We believe that the new Niquead.D Flagship boutique will be a welcome addition to the retail landscape in New York City,” stated Dominique Schurman, CEO for Schurman Retail Group. “This store offers a truly magical shopping experience that will indulge the senses of each client, and is a space where they can wander, discover and, be inspired by everything there.”
RMC has leased 430,000 sq. ft. YTD
Tampa, Fla. — From January through August of this year, the RMC Property Group has leased 430,000 sq. ft. of retail space. Approximately 200,000 sq. ft. of that volume was leased during the three-month period of June through August, indicating a strong uptick in growth over the summer.
Notable deals include:
- Bailey’s Powerhouse Gym and Fitness Center leased 16,024 sq. ft. at Putnam County Center in Palatka, Fla.
- Big Lots renewed its 31,714-sq.-ft. lease at Putnam County Center in Palatka, Fla.
- Harbor Freight Tools leased 16,605 sq. ft. at Buccaneer Square in Tampa, Fla.
- DTLR, an urban lifestyle apparel retailer, leased 4,500 sq. ft. at Seville Square in Tampa, Fla., and 5,000 sq. ft. at Temple Terrace Shoppes in Temple Terrace, Fla.
- Bealls Department Store renewed its lease for 35,541 sq. ft. at Seville Square in Tampa, Fla.
- Big Lots renewed its lease for 36,464 sq. ft. at Gulf Point Square in Fort Myers, Fla.
- Rainbow Apparel renewed its lease for 10,800 sq. ft. at Marion Shopping Center in Ocala, Fla.


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This week marks the 17th annual Hoedown fundraiser that benefit’s the Dallas Farmers Market Friends who actively promote and service the 70-year old market. This year’s event is particularly special as it also serve as a tribute to its founding member, Ida Papert, who passed away this past January.
IDA Papert was considered the Queen Mum of the Dallas Farmers Market, and saw to many behind the scenes functions that keep the market running smoothly. Though Mama Ida can’t be at the event in person, her spirit and her love of good, fresh food and the people who brought it to her will always be with us. For that and her efforts, her five decades of support and friendships with the farmers and vendors and for never swaying from her commitment to the Market, the Dallas Farmer’s Market Friends are proud to dedicate the 2011 Hoedown to the memory of ‘Mama Ida’ Papert.
For the uninitiated, the Hoedown is a particularly special event that features chef stations, local art, auction packages and live music as performed by The Lil’ Blue Pills, a classic rock band. There will also be a large selection of Texas wines, spirits and beer avaialble.
To purchase tickets online and learn more event information or updates, visit the Dallas Farmers Market Friends.
The annual event will be held this Thursday, November 3, 2011, 6:30 to 9PM at the Fair Park Food and Fibre Pavillion.


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Apple Unveils Macbook Air at MacWorld Expo 2008
Tue. January 15, 2008 12:00 AM by GayWebMonkey.com
The new aluminum-cased Macbook Air is less than an inch thick, weighs 3 pounds and boots up the moment it is opened. The notebook comes standard with an 80 gig hard drive, 13.3 inch screen and a full-size laptop keyboard. Planned to go on sale in two weeks, the Macbook Air will retail at about $1,800. Apple is already taking pre-orders for the new notebook through their web site.
One thing the computer doesn't have, however, is the ability to play CDs or DVDs, though consumers can purchase an external drive for $99. Apple claims buyers won't be disappointed by the lack of internal media drives, however, as the Macbook Air can be connected wirelessly to access drives on other Macs or PCs.
The notebook will come equipped with Apple's first mercury & lead-free display and will contain no bromide or PVC, a concession to environmentalists who have criticized the company for its lack of environmental-friendly construction in its products.
Jobs also announced a new video rental service from Apple launched this week. The rental service will provide more than 1,000 films for online rental through iTunes by the end of February. Movies can be downloaded and stored for up to 30 days and users will have 24 hours to finish the film once it is started.
The movie rental service will work on Macs, Windows-based PCs, iPhones, video iPods or Apple TV boxes. Apple has partnered with Warner Brothers, Paramount, Universal and other studios to provide film rentals. Movies newly released on DVD will download for $3.99 and rental library films will cost $2.99.
Apple also announced a new update release for the iPhone with new features such as sending text messages to multiple people at once, a user location map and customized home screens.
Written By Ann Turner
Serving the Chicago gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. ©Copyright 2019 GoPride Networks. All rights reserved.


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Apple ain’t kidding with this one!
We got to witness the M1 chipset MacBook Air in the year 2020. What came after was MacBook Pro with M1 Max and M1 Pro chipsets next year in 2021. We got to witness the MacBook lineup shifting to Silicon in its full glory.
We were not even recovered from this and rumors started coming about the baffling MacBook Air M2 that was supposed to arrive last year. But sadly that did not happen and now it is being rumored that this might be the year we finally get to witness the M2 chipset.
The rumors about the MacBook Air M2 are nuts! The up-and-coming MacBook Air is supposedly going to be a love child between MacBook Air 2020, 24-inch iMac 2021, and the all-new MacBook Pro 2021.
What’s more, it is going to be powered by the all-new powerful M2 chipset which will completely overtake the performances of both the M1 in MacBook Air as well as the M1 chipset in MacBook Pro of entry-level. Nuts right?!
Without further ado, this is what we know from leaks and rumors about the extremely powerful MacBook Air M2:
Apple MacBook Air M2 Specs
The name of the device has not been confirmed yet but the M2 chip present is supposed to make it the MacBook Air M2. The most common and most exaggerated rumor about it is that the device will be ultra-thin and extremely light weighing around 6 pounds.
Some renders of the MacBook Air M2 suggest that it will have a notch. The speakers will be made louder and better. The webcam will be 1080p, the keyboard will get thinner and might be white this time.
MacBook Air 2022 with M2 chip Concept
— Appley (@AppleyPro) December 5, 2021
The super-powerful M2 chipset is also rumored to be present and it will have the same number of cores as the M1 but will offer faster performance. The MacBook will be having a LED display like the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro.
All these features are based on rumors so it is best to take everything with a grain of salt.
MacBook M2 Expected Release Date and Price
Since it did not release last year, the chances of the MacBook release this year are extremely likely. If tradition follows, then the device will be introduced in the Spring Festival that takes place in March or April every year.
As for the price, the rumors are somewhere around $1200, which is somewhere around 89, 500 Rs. Yikes! That sounds extremely costly but considering all the rumors, Apple will certainly be giving it the specs worthy of the price.
So clench your jaws and prepare your purses as the all-new MacBook Air is coming soon.


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French retail chain Carrefour has suffered a major blow in Kenya after the Competition tribunal held that it abused its market power in what is set to be a big relief to more than 700 local suppliers.
The decision comes weeks after the retail giant suffered similar fate in its own home country after it was fined Sh230 million in March by a Paris Commerce Court for unfairly pressing suppliers for discounts during its annual contract negotiations.
The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) welcomed the decision noting that it goes further to attend to the persistent problem of abuse of buyer power in the retail sector, which Parliament identified following the collapse of some major players with suppliers' unresolved payments.
"The Authority is of the opinion that this Ruling will go further to provide suppliers in this sector with a credible position to negotiate for better terms with buyers, thereby ensuring continued supply of goods and services to the ultimate benefit of consumers," Ms Priscilla Njako, the Manager, buyer power department at CAK said.
Carrefour has been on the crosshairs of the CAK for the last two years after Orchards Limited, a dairy processer that sells yoghurt, filed a complaint with the competition watchdog, accusing the retailer of abuse of buyer power.
Carrefour went ahead to remove the firm's products from its shelves when the two companies were still negotiating the 2019 contract.
What is worse, the dairy processor was left with a stock of packaging materials that were procured to satisfy Carrefour's standards, and therefore could not be utilised elsewhere.
Carrefour has also been demanding free samples of merchandise from suppliers and proceeds to sell them.
To have products on the retailer's shelves, suppliers are required to pay a rebate as a listing fee or what they also call a support fee of Sh50,000 for every listing of their products.
Then they are required to pay an additional seven to eight percent discount.
To get products into its new branches, suppliers are also required to part with another 10 percent discount upon delivery of their products.
That is not all. Orchards revealed that it was also required to part with an additional discount of 1.25 percent on all annual sales.
In 2018, Carrefour introduced a 'progressive rebate', which was to be calculated from the annual sales or turnover of the supplier.
Carrefour would unilaterally make the deductions of the various rebates from the invoices of the suppliers.
Carrefour also requires suppliers to deploy their own staff to its shops, further transferring a cost that it should take.
Pain for suppliers
What was also causing pain for suppliers was that these discounts are paid on top of the agreed margins per the price list agreed upon, which means that the retailer makes money from both the supplier and the shopper.
Carrefour also refused to accept a new price list from the supplier and on various occasions refused to take full delivery of goods it had ordered.
In cases where goods were nearing expiry, the retailer returns them to the supplier, thereby transferring the full commercial risk to the suppliers.
"There was no provision in the contract allowing this kind of returns and neither had the supplier been pre-warned about such action," the ruling by the competition tribunal reads.
The Competition Authority ruled in February 2020 in favour of the company and ordered the retailer to amend its supply agreements within two months.
It ordered the French retailer to expunge all offending clauses that proved for, lead to or otherwise facilitate abuse of power.
This required the firm to scrap application of listing fees, rebates and requirements on suppliers to post staff to Carrefour hypermarket stores except for circumstances approved by the authority.
It also wanted the retailer to end the practice of transferring the commercial risk by returning deliveries to suppliers as well as stop refusing products ordered except in circumstances approved by CAK.
It also wanted the retailer to refund the rebates deducted from the invoices of the firm, in a decision that opened up the firm to similar actions by other suppliers.
Abused market power
This forced the retailer, through its parent company, Majid Al Futtaim Hypermarkets Limited, to file an appeal at the competition tribunal. But the tribunal, in its ruling dated April 20, 2021, also found that the retailer had abused market power.
"In conclusion, by virtue of the evidence before this tribunal, we are of the considered view that the 1st respondent's (The Competition Authority) finding, that the appellant (Majid Al Futtaim Hypermarkets Limited) abused buyer power based in evidence and the law," the tribunal ruled. The tribunal has now given the retailer 30 days to amend the offending clauses in the contracts.
Buyer power refers to the influence exerted by a business over a weaker trading partner in the upstream market with the intention of securing more favourable terms at the other party's expense and which would not be possible in a competitive market.
The Competition Act does not make it a contravention to possess buyer power, but it is illegal to abuse it where it exists.
Abuse of buyer power exists when a buyer delays payment without justifiable reasons in breach of contractual terms, unilateral termination (or threat of termination) of a commercial agreement without notice as well as a buyer's refusal to receive or return goods without justifiable reasons.
Transfer of costs that should ordinarily be borne by a buyer to its suppliers by imposing a requirement on them to fund the cost of a promotion as well as demanding preferential terms that are unfavourable to suppliers or demanding suppliers limit products sold to competitors is also an abuse of buyer power.


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We detail slight earnings disappointments from Under Armour and 1-800-Flowers.com, as well as Vintage Stock’s announcement of new openings this week and their future brick-and-mortar growth plans. Our interview guest is Nicole Lasky, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Northeastern State University, who discusses at length how shoplifters use “body gloss” to appear like a normal customer inside a retail store.
Genesco, the company behind mall staples Journeys and Lids, releases sales updates for the holiday shopping season—some positive, some negative. Additionally, we discuss earnings for eBay and a potential brick-and-mortar expansion by Warby Parker. Our interview guests are Kylee Leonetti and Christian Jensen, the producers of a documentary detailing the final ten days of an Alco store in South Dakota.
After hand-wringing about potential store closures, JC Penney surprises many by announcing a new in-store partnership with Nike. Additionally, Target and Tuesday Morning announce executive shuffling, Limited enters Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, and a new study finds that e-commerce retailers experienced lower margins in 2016 compared with the prior year.
After growing through acquisition over the last five years, western wear retailer Boot Barn spies future areas for growth in their latest presentation. We discuss changes Aeropostale is making as they re-open over 500 stores and prep for a new ad campaign. Also, we talk disappointing earnings from grocer Supervalu, expansion at Sportsman’s Warehouse, and changes at Walmart.
Sears Holdings hits the news twice this week with more store closures and more money coming from ESL Investments. Also, we discuss a study that potentially foreshadows a better-than-expected sales season for mall retailers, and look back at the retailers declaring bankruptcy in 2016 and what we can glean from their cautionary tales.
In the final Retail Focus Podcast of 2016, we take a quick glance at the latest from Bed Bath & Beyond and the dynamics of post-holiday returns in retail. We cap off the year by revealing our top five and bottom five retailers from an execution standpoint in 2016, and passing along our list of five retailers for whom 2017 may be an extremely pivotal year.
The Walgreens acquisition of Rite Aid inched closer to becoming a reality this week, as fred’s stepped in to purchase over 800 Rite Aid locations. We discuss the challenges ahead for fred’s and the idiosyncrasies of the deal. Meanwhile, Finish Line sprints backwards, German grocer Lidl begins the hiring process for their U.S. locations, and GNC plans a makeover.
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet once again shows growth on all fronts—revenue, earnings, and same store stores—and we discuss their business model and expansion plans. Also, Pier 1 Imports releases earnings as well, CVS hosts their annual investor day, and Casey’s General Stores raises food prices in an effort to boost their overall margins.
Ulta once again astounds the retail community with their same store sales metrics, Five Below displays another quarter of growth, and Big Lots reveals a mixed Q3. Meanwhile, we caution against the media exaggeration surrounding Amazon Go, and talk about why it is important to evaluate their pilot with some restraint.
After a thorough recap of the numbers we have so far from the holiday shopping weekend, we discuss the increasing strength of Cyber Monday and how brick-and-mortar retailers fared on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Additionally, we take on Shoe Carnival’s earnings report and news that 84 Lumber has secured financing in part to expand their reach.
Retail Focus 11/23/16 – Foot Locker and Hibbett Sports Report Earnings, Looking Ahead to Black Friday
In an abbreviated Retail Focus, we look at the different directions Foot Locker and Hibbett Sports are headed, and more bad news for the Abercrombie brand. We also take a look ahead to Black Friday, and discuss why it is important to wait before passing judgement on Black Friday sales reports.
We take a trip through department store financials, talking about positive signs at JC Penney, some better news regarding Kohl’s, and split news from Nordstrom—their brick-and-mortar is driving growth, but their e-commerce acquisition Trunk Club is weighing financials down. Additionally, we discuss American Apparel’s re-entry into bankruptcy, and Kenneth Cole’s outlet shutdown.
Mixed earnings reports from Sprouts Farmers Market come out alongside reports of front office movement at competitor Whole Foods. Additionally, Lowe’s rolls out a limited cash back program to drum up pre-Black Friday sales (and compete with Menards), while Toys “R” Us makes only slight adjustments to their Black Friday approach. Sydney Anselmi joins us to discuss the AmEx-fueled “Small Business Saturday,” and what small retailers are doing to take part.
Retail Focus 11/2/16 – Amazon & L Brands Eye International Growth, Tuesday Morning Looks Toward Holidays
A bevy of earnings calls gives us an excuse to talk about where analyst expectations of Lumber Liquidators may be unrealistic, Tuesday Morning’s inventory growth after supply chain issues, and an international focus for Amazon and L Brands. Additionally, how much longer will Office Depot be profitable in their current state?
We talk mixed earnings from Sketchers and Sherwin Williams, and more on the proposed Walgreens buyout of Rite Aid that has now been postponed to 2017. Additionally, the NRF releases positive projections regarding Halloween seasonal sales, and early data backs up the optimism. Finally, will anyone follow REI’s lead and shun Black Friday this year?
Private equity firm Onex strikes a deal with Supervalu for Save-A-Lot, entering the U.S. off-price grocery market for the first time. Additionally, eBay and Tractor Supply Company announce mixed quarterly earnings, and The Tile Shop continues to thrive. Our guests are Kay Hilgenkamp and Erin Swanson Russell of Goodwill (Eastern Nebraska and Southwest Iowa), who discuss the unique nature of thrift and consignment retail.
Cabela’s enters into a tentative agreement to be taken private by Bass Pro Shops…we’ll discuss the impacts of the deal on outdoors retail. Also, Walmart shrinks their expectations for brick-and-mortar growth while investing heavily in e-commerce, the NRF releases expectations for the holiday shopping season, and more on grocery e-commerce from Amazon and Meijer.
After Costco released their latest quarterly earnings, the retail world gets more perspective on how the switch from AmEx to Visa may have been beneficial for the bulk goods retailer. We also explore Whole Foods’ deepened partnership with Instacart, and more clarity on the Walgreens-Rite Aid proposal. Our interview guest is Drew Ann Long, creator of Caroline’s Cart, who discusses the process behind re-designing the modern shopping cart for the special needs population.
Finish Line releases more strong earnings, and we ponder where the company can improve on last year’s dismal third quarter. Additionally, Vineyard Vines continues to open additional retail stores (and outlets) in the U.S., Target ends their “kiddie cart” pilot, and the major brick-and-mortar office supply retailers make moves.
Sears Holdings moves to close around 7% of their remaining Kmart stores by next January, and we go beyond the headlines to diagnose what this could mean for the company and their REIT. We explore whether or not there is room in the U.S. grocery market for Lidl, seasonal hiring for Kohl’s, and future prospects for Ascena Retail Group after an earnings miss.


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SACMI joins Propak Philippines
Source：Plastics News Asia
Date Published：1/2/2019 05:01:24 PM
SACMI to play a key role at the first edition of Propak Philippines (Manila, January 24-26, 2019)
The SACMI Group aims to play a key role at the first local edition of Propak Philippines. The international Propak fair is held for the very first time in Manila, at the World Trade in the Philippines from January 24-26, 2019, to give the local packaging and processing industry a boost.
In particular, SACMI (stand D11) is set to bring its technology for the food, drink and pharma industries to the Philippines, whose dynamic local packaging and processing industry (World Trade Center Metro Manila, 24-26 January 2019).
SACMI will be there with a comprehensive solutions range: from the compression technology that has made it a leader in plastic cap manufacturing to the new SACMI CBF, a revolutionary solution for the container-making industry that incorporates the very best of alternative technologies in terms of flexibility, precision and low running costs.
The fully integrated, all-round SACMI range also includes development and production of complete plants that handle everything, from cap and preform to blowing, bottling, filling and labelling. SACMI also offers a comprehensive range of inspection systems for all its machines to enhance efficiency and productivity while ensuring total quality control.
A sharp focus on customer satisfaction, with full assistance before, during and after the sale, gives the SACMI range a clear edge on international markets, due to its far-reaching Global Network – which includes nearby SACMI Thailand – and the new high-added-value services provided by the SACMI Customer Service Division.


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US: Glazer’s re-shuffles regional post
Glazer's Distributors has announced the reorganisation of a regional post that sees Scott Rawlings, currently president for Louisiana and Mississippi, relocate to Dallas, Texas for a corporate leadership position overseeing the Louisiana market.
Glazer's president Jerry Cargill said: "What Scott Rawlings has accomplished during his tenure as Glazer's president of Louisiana goes well beyond the exponential growth and market share leadership position we have attained during his five years there."
His replacement as president of Louisiana will be Andy Halpern, who will be responsible for all facets of the Louisiana business. Halpern has 25 years drinks industry experience, recently having joined Glazer's from Canandaigua Wine Company, where he was the director of sales for California and Hawaii.
Cargill said: "Andy has done an outstanding job since coming to Glazer's in 2003, and he brings a tremendous amount of broad-based industry experience and leadership capability to the president role."
Both organisational appointments will be effective from 1 June this year.
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Jacksonville, Fla.-based Brightway Insurance Inc. — which sells home, auto, business and life insurance — intends to expand in Texas soon.
Brightway wants to open up to 110 Texas insurance franchise stores in the coming years, and it believes Austin should be served by 15 offices and up to 200 Brightway insurance agents.
But first the company needs to recruit entrepreneurs and licensed insurance agents who can open offices. Brightway does not require a franchisee to have any past insurance experience but they must be a licensed insurance agent in Texas.
This is part of a nationwide expansion made public earlier this month.
Brightway is also opening franchised insurance stores in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Brightway’s annual sales grew 56 percent from 2010 to $168 million in 2011, and CEO David Miller expects annual sales to grow to $240 million this year, according to a report earlier this month in the Jacksonville Business Journal. By 2016, Miller said, annual sales could top $750 million.


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Holy Name Medical Centre is leading a technological revolution in the New Jersey-New York metropolitan area, becoming the first hospital to implement digital monitoring technology for continuous tracking of patients’ vital signs.
The technology, called The ViSi Mobile, is a wrist worn device about the size of a business card that provides continuous real-time monitoring of a patient’s vital signs. Running on the hospital’s wireless network, it continuously transmits crucial information to clinicians.
According to Holy Name officials, it is the first body-worn monitor to non-invasively measure all core vital signs, including blood pressure, heart or pulse rate, electrocardiogram or heart rhythm, blood oxygenation, respiration rate and skin temperature. Read full article >


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The virtual and augmented reality industries are booming—and Vancouver is emerging as one of the frontrunners. The medical, mining, and gaming industries are all thriving in the city, with lower mainland companies being recognized internationally for their creative output.
Over the past two years, the number of local VR and AR companies has exploded from 15 to over 150, with the headcount of employees mounting as each continues to grow. As a result, companies have been forced to scour the globe to find developers with the talent to build their products.
Local establishment VRAR.academy, however, aims to bring that search closer to home.
The first VR and AR-only educational establishment in the city, the academy trains Vancouverites in virtual and augmented reality design and development. Led by Jordan Brighton and Lee Brighton, the pair behind successful local startup Virtro, the institution will offer part-time classes commencing in April, and full-time education from May.
Both streams offer the opportunity to work on real projects—some of which are in commercial production. The establishment's full-time courses provide the chance for the students’ names to be presented in the game credits, which remains an important factor in securing a job after graduation, while the part-time classes let pupils specialize in topics such as UX and UI. Scheduling evening and weekend sessions as well as a daytime program load, VRAR.academy caters to all those with coding skills looking to carve a niche in the virtual and augmented reality space.
“The VRAR.academy differentiates itself by offering a full-time experiential learning course based around agile student development teams who build apps and games to release commercially,” establishment founder and CEO Lee Brighton says. “Jordan and I have been educating students and adults in coding and new technologies since the 1990s, as one of the world’s first SaaS web businesses. We are delighted to be launching a new program in Vancouver that focuses on our passion—virtual and augmented reality”.
The academy’s key selling point is its tie to Virtro. A VR/AR game development platform, the company has released five new titles in the past few months, and is currently working on a second Playstation VR game for release in the fall. Virtro will partner with the VRAR.academy to offer hands-on experience to its students, and let individuals experience the realities of working with a local firm.
The establishment is committed to encouraging under-represented groups to join the industry. Offering discounts to minorities and women, the VRAR.academy aims to create a diverse set of graduates who can shape the future of the technology.
VR, AR, and 3D development is, as the Straight first reported, one of Vancouver’s fastest growing industries, and has already led to the creation of 17,000 jobs, as well as more than $2.3 billion in revenue for the province. By helping fill the talent shortage in the city, the VRAR.academy hopes to help drive the industry forward.
Follow Kate Wilson on Twitter @KateWilsonSays


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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is in talks to open a Walmart Express convenience store in River North, according to real estate sources.
The world’s largest retailer is eyeing a location at 225 W. Chicago Ave. at the corner of Franklin Avenue, which formerly housed Pearl, the discount art supply store.
Wal-Mart unveiled its small store Express format earlier this year, and plans to begin rolling them out later this year. These mini stores, typically under 15,000 square feet, allow Wal-Mart to move into dense, urban markets.
The pending deal was first reported by Crain’s Chicago Business.
Wal-Mart officials declined to comment on the River North site.
“While it’s no secret that we are evaluating opportunities across the city to create jobs and improve access to affordable food, we don’t have any new sites to announce,” said Wal-Mart spokesman Steven Restivo.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based discount chain is pushing into northern cities in an effort to jump-start sales and turn around a record sales slump.
Wal-Mart has announced six stores in the city, including three supercenters, a 27,000-square-foot Walmart Market grocery store at Presidential Towers apartment complex in the West Loop and two other Express stores.
Another Walmart Market grocery store is under consideration in Lakeview.


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JAKARTA - PT Buyung Poetra Sembada Tbk (HOKI) recorded an increase in revenue in the first quarter of 2018 amid the implementation of highest retail price (HET) policy for rice.
Throughout the first quarter of 2018, HOKI recorded an increase of 9% in revenue to Rp 380,42 billion from Rp 348 billion in the same period last year. HOKI has also bagged a net profit of Rp 26,61 billion or an increase of 10% year on year (yoy).
Bahana Sekuritas analyst Michael Setjoadi asserts that as a premium rice producer, the HET policy largely affects HOKI positively. "The common perception is that HOKI's rice is expensive. But the price is cheaper now thanks to the HET implementation," Setjoadi said to Kontan.co.id.
According to him, the projection that HET implementation would grind the company's margin has not been proven in HOKI's performance throughout the first three months of 2018, an improvement from last year's profit margin in the same period at 6,9%.
However, Mr Setjoadi remains sceptical towards HOKI's strategy to sell its products online through e-commerce. "Even in developed countries the sales of staple goods online are not fully developed yet. Traditional and modern markets are still the most popular choices," he explained.
In his view, online sales of rice will be hampered by the expensive delivery cost because of the weight of rice. "Not all e-commerce businesses can provide free delivery incentives to customers," Setjoadi said.
Still, he remains confident that HOKI will continue to perform well throughout the year especially after it adds its production capacity with five-kilogram packages. He believes that the sales of HOKI rice will be dominated by the particular package. (MS)


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The UK government will spend half a billion pounds on new green technology, including £400 million to develop rapid charging infrastructure for EVs.
The money is part of the Strategic Priorities Fund, which supports important research and development projects.
The first £70 million will go towards the creation of 3,000 new electric car rapid charge points, doubling the number available in the UK.
A review is underway to explore the distribution of charge points across the road network. The government also hopes charge times could be cut by half. For a typical electric car, 40 minutes could thus turn to 20 minutes – just time for a coffee.
“We are driving ahead with plans to make travel greener while backing British innovation and technology,” said exchequer secretary Simon Clarke.
“Britain already boasts one of the biggest networks of charging infrastructure in Europe and soon we will have the fastest thanks to this investment.
“This is the latest in our proud record on climate change –having slashed emissions by over 40 percent since 1990, whilst simultaneously growing our economy, and setting an ambitious target for net zero emissions by 2050.”
In addition to the £400 million for charging infrastructure, £31.5 million is being put into technologies that remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.


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OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Oklahoma’s largest theme park is getting in the holiday spirit with its ‘Holiday in the Park.’
Frontier City is celebrating the holidays with twinkling lights, festive entertainment, merry treats, and family rides at ‘Holiday in the Park.’
Visitors can get warmed up next to wood-burning fire pits and treat themselves to delicious s’mores and hot chocolate.
Organizers say there will be Instagrammable photo opportunities and four immersive festive wonderlands like Candy Cane Lane, Merry Mistletoe, winter Wonderland, and Gingerbread Village.
This year, Special Olympics will be the beneficiary of Frontier City’s ‘Holiday Friend’ plush toy campaign.
Frontier City is also teaming up with several organizations like the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and Young Women’s Christian Association.
Guests who donate six non-expired, non-perishable food items and/or new or gently used household items on Dec. 3 and Dec. 10 will receive discounted admission into Holiday in the Park.