text:
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is expected to stop over in the U.S. on Friday on her way back from visiting diplomatic allies in the Caribbean, a move that's sure to make...China Politicsread more
Regional stability, oil prices and potential for war will all depend on what Iran does with its nuclear program in the event of the deal's termination.World Politicsread more
Libra and bitcoin are different in a lot of ways, from the technology behind them to the way they're used.Technologyread more
Stocks in major Asia Pacific markets made strong gains on Friday, as comments from a U.S. Federal Reserve official led to rising expectations the central bank could ease...Asia Marketsread more
Boeing will take a nearly $5 billion charge in the second quarter to compensate 737 Max customers as the planes remain grounded.Airlinesread more
Earlier, Williams delivered a speech at the annual meeting of the Central Bank Research Association in which he said, "It's better to take preventative measures than to wait...The Fedread more
The base version of the sports car will punch out 495 horsepower, 40 more than the seventh-generation car and enough to launch it from 0 to 60 in "less than three seconds"...Autosread more
Animation fans and Kyoto residents gathered at the site of Japan's worst mass killing in 18 years on Friday, offering flowers and prayers for the 33 people who died in an...Asia Newsread more
Trump said the USS Boxer destroyed Iran's drone in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday in a "defensive action."Politicsread more
Microsoft beat on top and bottom lines, and guidance was just ahead of expectations, but the company's Azure growth is slowing down.Technologyread more
"We've seen Netflix stumble before, especially maybe after a price hike, but not quite like this," Jim Cramer says.Mad Money with Jim Cramerread more
It's about time consumers caught a break.
After months of bundling up against below-average temperatures, residents of the Midwest and Northeast are finally thawing out—spurring delayed demand for spring merchandise that's already hit the shelves.
As a result, March is shaping up to be significant month for retailers. Following a sluggish February, in which companies from Gap to L Brands said extreme weather took a bite out of sales, retailers are hoping the five-week long month will drive shoppers off of their couches and into the stores.
But while analysts sounded an overall positive note on the month—which should also benefit from a healthier consumer and an early Easter—trend reports and store checks indicate that certain names are better positioned for the season than others.
"The trends are not as innovative as we would all like," said Jane Hali, head of Planet Retail's financial services team, on a call with BMO Capital Markets. "However, we are in a much better position this year than last year."
Many of the season's biggest trends are continuations from last year. Key themes include a 1970s vibe; festival looks, a la the Coachella music festival; and a sport influence. Popular items include jumpsuits and dresses—which give shoppers an entire outfit with a single price tag—tunics and jogger pants.
One of the biggest changes for the season comes from the color palette, Hali said. Whereas spring 2014 was full of neutrals, this year's set is already shaping up to be more colorful. Pastel blues, pinks and yellows, and brights including orange, are more prevalent on the selling floor.
"The customer does respond to color," Hali said.
Another big change is a shift in focus back onto denim, a category that's lost much of its luster among comfort-driven shoppers who prefer leggings. For spring, Hali said denim is powder- or acid-washed, marking a "major change from all the dark denim that we've been wearing." It's also coming with a wider leg.
Still, Hali emphasized that athletic influences are not abating. The category is particularly important during the transitional months, when temperatures are warm but not yet hot.
"One of the reasons why… 'athleisure' has been so important is because this customer can buy today and wear today," she said. "That is one of the major problems in apparel. We ship so early that in February we're seeing shorts and most of us can't wear them until the summertime."
Kelly Carroll, client services manager at Planalytics, said transition pieces such as ballet flats, three-quarter-inch sleeve shirts and light jackets also tend to sell well during these seasonal shifts. But because consumers have been cooped up inside for so long, she added, shoppers will likely gravitate to warm-weather items such as flip flops, even if they can't wear them right away.
"I think anyone, especially in the eastern half of the country, is grasping onto anything they can that shows signs of spring," she said. "I think we're going to see a surge just because consumers have been waiting for it."
There are a number of tailwinds that should boost March sales. For one, an earlier Easter should move some sales forward from April. For another, last year's prolonged cold spell left many retailers with a relatively low bar for the month's comparable-store sales, Carroll said.
Those two factors are combining with a more sound economic backdrop, which includes a lower unemployment rate and consumer confidence that's returned to prerecession highs.
Still, there are certain stores where the floorset appears more on-trend than others—boding well for their spring season.
Hali noted Urban Outfitters' new capri jogger as an innovative take on the item, and said the tunic trend should benefit the company's more upscale Anthropologie brand. H&M has tapped into the festival trend for a few seasons now, and is launching an official line with the Coachella music festival this month.
Hali added that contemporary brands—which typically cost less than a true luxury label and target a younger shopper—are often overlooked, despite the share they've stolen from teen retailers. She expects their strength to continue, naming BCBGeneration as a beneficiary of this trend.
Along those lines, Janney Capital Markets analyst Adrienne Yih-Tennant said that young adult and contemporary retailers are well-positioned, calling attention to Bebe, Express, Francesca's, PacSun and Urban Outfitters. On the flip side, she expressed concern about product misses at Ann Taylor, Gap and Loft.
"In our opinion, both Ann Taylor and Loft are based in neutrals, black and white, with minimal color and print pops," she wrote in a note to investors.
Among the ailing teen names, analysts agreed that American Eagle is resonating best with its target demographic, while Abercrombie & Fitch's efforts to evolve from logo-driven to fashion-forward has yet to gain traction.
Hali also expects accessories to perform well, as emerging trends including the shrunken handbag are bringing newness to the category. As such, Kate Spade, Michael Kors and Coach are well-positioned, she said.
That's not to say spring will be without challenges. Among them, a backlog at the West Coast ports, which will cause some of the season's deliveries to hit the floor later than usual. This will likely lead to discounts on merchandise that could have sold at full price.
"It's really going to take effect later in the season," Carroll said.


text:
Toyota and Google+ Come Together to Make Something Great
Some combinations just work peanut butter and jelly, popcorn and movies, et al.
The latest of these perfect-pairs comes in the form of Google+ and Toyota who recently launched a new program called Toyota Collaborator.
The way Toyota Collaborator works is that it allows Google+ users to join a Google Hangout with a friend or two, and then customize every aspect of a brand-new 2014 Corolla to suit their wants and needs.
Choosing from interior and exterior options and trim grades is just the beginning, too. In addition, shoppers can virtually test drive their new auto through their local streets and even connect with a rep from a nearby dealership to check out the availability of their choices.
Want to learn more about the Toyota brand? Feel free to stop into Walser Toyota in West Bloomington, MN, any time.

domain: news


text:
Ouya has announced the first devkits for the Android-based console will start shipping on December 28. The SDK will be made available via its web portal when the kits ship. A team is also working on optimizing search and discovery, and on the kit’s UI. The dev consoles are an early version of the Ouya console and controller designed for developers to test their games on Ouya. The firm’s Kickstarter developers will be the first to get the consoles in the post. More on the official blog. Thanks, Gamasutra.
Overwatch players are warned to play nice and play fair.
Fortnite is a free-to-play game but you can spend money on it to jump the queue.
Nioh's Defiant Honour DLC adds Sanada Yukimura as the toughest baddie yet - it's out now, so go kick his ass
Nioh honours one of the legendary warriors of the Sengoku era by having him beat the snot out of you.
After earlier reports of indie developers for the Ouya losing out on promised funds, Razer has promised to honour financial agreements made between Ouya and the teams affected.
Ouya has allegedly reneged on thousands of dollars promised to independent developers.
Ouya Dev Kits


text:
West Haven man accused of larceny scheme at Milford Lowe’s
MILFORD — A West Haven man is accused of using a tricky scheme to bilk an area Lowe’s store out of more than $3,000 in stolen goods.
According to the Milford police,officers arrested Orlando Berrios, 54, on a warrant June 23 for allegedly making 23 fraudulent purchases at Lowe’s, 311 Old Gate Lane, between Sept. 16 and Nov. 4 2018. Police said Berrios would select an item from the store floor and use a pre-printed bar code in the amount of $3.68 to purchase an item of a higher value. Police alleged that Berrios made $3,400 in fraudulent purchases this way.
He was charged with 23 counts of sixth degree larceny, held on a $7,500 bond and is next scheduled to appear in court July 22 to answer these charges.


text:
To understand why Zynga Inc. is among the tech industry's hottest companies, consider how it gets people to buy a bunch of things that don't exist.
Last year, Zynga product managers for a videogame called "FishVille" discovered something intriguing while sifting data that Zynga collects when people play its online games. Players bought a translucent anglerfish at six times the rate of other sea creatures, using an imaginary currency people get by playing the game.
The "FishVille" managers had artists whip up a set of similar imaginary sea creatures with translucent fins and other distinctive features, says Roger Dickey, a former Zynga general manager who left the San Francisco company recently. This time, they charged real money for the virtual fish, and players snapped them up at $3 to $4 each, says Mr. Dickey.
Zynga is transforming the game industry. Traditional videogame companies create games they think players will like, then sell them. Zynga offers free games through Facebook Inc.'s social network, then studies data on how its audience plays them. It uses its findings to fiddle with the games to get people to play longer, tell more Facebook friends about them and buy more "virtual goods." At the heart of the whole process is Zynga's ability to analyze reams of data on how players are reacting to its games.
"We're an analytics company masquerading as a games company," said Ken Rudin, a Zynga vice president in charge of its data-analysis team, in one of a series of interviews with Zynga executives prior to the company's July filing for an initial public offering.
Over 95% of Zynga's players never spend a nickel on its games. But its audience of 150 million unique monthly users is so large that the small percentage that buy $5 imaginary chickens in "FarmVille" and $3 imaginary skyscrapers in "CityVille" generate big bucks for the company. Some players spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month—they're called "whales" inside Zynga, the same term casinos use for high rollers.
Zynga's revenues rose to nearly $600 million last year from $121 million in 2009, according to the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings for an IPO. While many tech upstarts are money pits, Zynga made a $91 million profit last year.
Recent stock-market turbulence has created uncertainty about IPOs and could force Zynga to delay and lower the valuation of its offering. When it filed for its IPO, the company was planning to seek a market value of as much as $20 billion, say people familiar with the matter. That would be nearly the combined value of veteran game publishers Activision Blizzard Inc. and Electronic Arts Inc.
Sales of traditional games are flat in the $10-billion-a-year videogame industry. And Zynga's success is attracting a wave of companies that develop free games supported by the sale of virtual goods. Walt Disney Co. and Electronic Arts both acquired Zynga rivals for hundreds of millions of dollars each. Electronic Arts launched a free Facebook version of "The Sims," a top-selling traditional game, a few weeks ago. The game already has nearly eight million active daily players.
No one expects traditional games to disappear. But momentum is shifting. Total virtual goods sales in the U.S. are expected to jump 50% to $2.22 billion this year, while retail sales of games are likely to rise only 1% to $9.7 billion, estimates brokerage firm ThinkEquity.
Whether Zynga's virtual creations will continue to be hits with fickle American consumers isn't clear. The retailing landscape is littered with products like the Beanie Babies dolls and Tamagotchi virtual pets that saw sales soar and then wither. Zynga has one big advantage: Because its creatures exist only on a computer, it's much easier for Zynga to keep coming up with new ones.
Facebook provides the social substrate that gives Zynga games much of their appeal: Players use friend connections on it to find other players. To complete the construction of a City Hall in "CityVille," people must send messages recruiting Facebook friends to staff administrative jobs in the building.
Zynga's dependence on Facebook for nearly all of its revenue is also a potential liability. Last year, the social network cracked down on the ways in which companies like Zynga could send messages to Facebook members, many of whom had come to despise the come-ons to play various games as forms of spam. By the time of that change, Zynga had a large audience of players to whom it could promote future games in ways still permitted by Facebook.
"Zynga is a close partner and a great example of a developer that has built games that millions of people play with their friends every day on Facebook," a Facebook spokesman said.
By building its business on Facebook, Zynga has access to a deeper well of data about its users' online activities than ordinary websites do. When people install a game from Zynga or another Facebook developer, they give the companies permission to record their names, genders and lists of Facebook friends, among other information. Zynga can then use that information to figure out tactics to get people to invite friends to play its games, something a company with mostly anonymous players can't do.
Zynga co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Pincus, 45 years old, has used the measurability of Facebook activity to shape games in a way that hasn't been possible in the past. He calls data the "operating system" of Zynga.
Game industry executives salivate over Zynga's growth rates. But they sneer at the quality of Zynga's games, which they criticize for having crude graphics, lacking originality and requiring little skill beyond clicking a mouse button to feed chicks in "FrontierVille" and to harvest corn in "FarmVille." Zynga has been the target of lawsuits by rivals alleging the company copied their games, and Zynga has initiated similar lawsuits itself.
Many say Zynga's focus on data analytics lacks the artistry of good game-making. "Analytics would have taken Bambi's mom dying out of the movie," says John Vechey, a cofounder of PopCap Games, a Seattle games company recently acquired by Electronic Arts.
Zynga executives respond that they design games to attract a broad audience, not just hard-core gamers that form the backbone of the traditional games business. In most of Zynga's games, players don't "win" by blasting away an opponent with a gun. Instead, they seek status and fulfillment by having the most abundant farms or well-developed cities.
"We're making mass-market entertainment everyone can play," says Brian Reynolds, Zynga's chief game designer and a veteran of traditional games companies.
All of Zynga's games go through what amounts to a giant ongoing lab experiment involving players. Zynga conducts hundreds of "A-B tests" within its games, in which two sets of players see virtual goods on sale with, say, subtle color differences to see which color sells better.
A former Zynga employee who worked on "Mafia Wars"—a game in which players work their way up to mob kingpins from low-level thugs by committing various crimes—says Zynga experimented heavily with different types of merchandise, including weapons and pets, that it thought would appeal to players.
When Zynga added gold borders to weapons, sales shot up, this person says. The "Mafia Wars" team changed the color of tiger pets to white, and the same thing happened.
Sizhao Yang, a former Zynga executive who helped create its virtual farming hit "FarmVille," says his development team figured out by analyzing virtual-goods-sales data that "people buy animals a lot more than tractors and other inanimate objects." The findings led the "FarmVille" team to more prominently feature animals in its online store, he says.
Another way to juice sales, the "FarmVille" managers discovered, is by offering limited-edition merchandise, especially items connected to holidays: stars-and-stripes tractors for Independence Day, for instance, and heart-covered cows for Valentine's Day.
Kim Kennedy of Tulsa, Okla., is one of the many "FarmVille" players who can't resist buying such items to decorate her farm. The 52-year-old estimates she spends close to $40 a month buying Clydesdales, mustangs and other horses, paying about $5 to $6 each for the steeds. Ms. Kennedy says she has bought special-occasion horses for Christmas, Mardi Gras and Valentine's Day.
"FarmVille" players can also buy horses in the game without spending real money by using a form of currency acquired by "grinding"—a term used at Zynga and elsewhere for performing repetitive game actions, like harvesting crops and tilling fields. Ms. Kennedy won't touch those "FarmVille" horses though. "They're the cruddy ones no one wants, not the spectacular, awesome ones with fairy wings and gypsy stallions with big manes," she says.
Zynga was founded in 2007 by Mr. Pincus, occupying a former potato-chip factory he owned in an industrial neighborhood in San Francisco. Mr. Pincus was a serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur who had a mix of hits and disappointments in his career. His company at the time—a social network called Tribe Networks—was among the bombs.
Mr. Pincus says he "built the wrong products" at Tribe, in part because he used too much guesswork in trying to figure out how to improve the site. "I wanted to have a different approach to product development," he says.
He found that different approach after starting Zynga. The company launched its first title, a poker game, on Facebook in 2007, along with versions for other social networks like MySpace. While there were other poker games on Facebook at the time, Zynga was the first to let people play with friends.
Stealing from the playbooks of Asian online game companies like Korea's Nexon Corp., Mr. Pincus sought to make money by letting players purchase virtual goods within the poker game, including chips or a round of drinks for others at their card tables
Zynga didn't make data analysis a priority, though, until Mr. Pincus hired Cadir Lee in late 2008. Mr. Lee convinced Mr. Pincus to give him six months to build a system for collecting data from players, analyzing it and using those insights to quickly shape Zynga games.
Last year, Zynga's Mr. Reynolds discovered a neat way to boost the visibility of a game while he was examining player data from "FrontierVille," the company's virtual homesteading game. He and colleagues noticed players were sending one message to their Facebook friends at far higher rates than others: a canned message commemorating their success in corralling a sheep.
Those friends then clicked or commented on the message far more frequently than normal. The reason: the message's artwork showed a cartoon girl pushing a sheep with bulging eyes, beads of sweat sprouting from the girl's head. Facebook users went wild over the image. "Someone would post, 'What is that girl doing to that sheep?'" says Mr. Reynolds. "All of a sudden there would be four comments on it."
In response to its findings, Zynga created a series of new illustrations referencing various barnyard jokes that got similar responses from Facebook members. That attracted more people to download and play "FrontierVille," propelling the game to become one of the most popular games on Facebook.
The growing emphasis on data hasn't sat well with some inside the company. A group of nearly a dozen designers with traditional game backgrounds left Zynga in 2009 after clashing with data-analytics advocates within the company about how to make games, according to Messrs. Dickey and Yang, both former employees.
"There was huge tension," says Mr. Yang. "Basically the game designers were constantly saying, 'This isn't the right user experience.' The analytics people from a traditional Web background would say, 'This is the data.'"
Zynga executives last year decided that the pendulum had swung too far inside the company towards analytics and that it needed to bring in people with stronger game-industry credentials, according to several current and former employees of the company. The company hired heavily from Electronic Arts, including Steve Chiang, who oversaw many of its sports titles such as its Madden NFL franchise. Still, Zynga considers data to be its secret weapon.
"We are totally disrupting the traditional videogames industry," says the company's Mr. Rudin. "A huge portion of that disruption is the ability to use data."
Write to Nick Wingfield at firstname.lastname@example.org


text:
LeBron James made a statement with his footwear during the season opener between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics.
The NBA superstar wore a pair of black Nike sneakers with the word “equality” emblazoned on the heels with gold stitching.
LeBron James has always been outspoken about President Trump and always shows support for NFL players choosing to take a knee during the national anthem to protest against inequality. He recently criticized the president for his ourage against protests in the NFL.
The NBA prohibits players from kneeling during the anthem, but LeBron James and his teammates locked arms in solidarity during the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.
James’s shoes show solidarity with NFL players who are protesting against police brutality and racial injustices happening around the country.
Although it was subtle, LeBron James’ message received plenty of reactions on social media. Many people were in support of James’ peaceful protest, while others were critical of him wearing the “equality sneakers.”
LeBron wearing sneakers tonight that say “EQUALITY” in big bold letters.
Appreciate him kicking the season off with a meaningful statement. pic.twitter.com/Yf3TmA3UBI
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) October 17, 2017
— johnjwillard (@johnjwillard) October 18, 2017
Some were critical of the NBA super wearing the sneakers.
So multi-millionaire LeBron James wears gold-embroidered Nike “Equality” sneakers. Anyone see the irony in that?
— Bob Barr (@bobbarr) October 18, 2017
The Nike Basketball Twitter account retweeted a photo of LeBron James’ equality sneakers, but if you can remember, Nike also launched a campaign in February with the same name.


text:
Yesterday over 250 Entrepreneurs, Tech Geeks and Investors attended the TechConnect 2012 event that was held by Slattery IT. The whole success of the event relies on the support from Australia’s entrepreneurial community – with top their founders and business owners etc give up their time and come and share their experiences in tech with the audience.
Developed by 28-year-old entrepreneur Lisa Nouh, the idea for Tuffys and Tuffetts was born in 2009 following the closure of Bonds’ Australian manufacturing operations. With the help of her mother, an ex-Bonds supervisor, Lisa purchased a number of ex-Bonds sewing machines and set about designing the men’s and women’s ranges.
Behind every success there is a story and Creswell’s is one of determination and resilience. A part time role with a small muesli company led to her purchasing the company off the owners when it was about to close, along with a business partner. The entire transaction cost Creswell $1000 and instantly transitioned her from employee to business owner.
Australia’s first Social Gifting Platform delivers real gifts to your friends smart phones virtually.
A team of University of New South Wales students have been chosen to attend the finals of the LES Foundation competition; a prestigious competition globally.
This year Australian Company, Bubble Gum Interactive were honoured twice in both the Games and Youth Categories for their game “Little Space Heroes”. To get named twice is kind of a big deal for Bubble Gum Interactive and the Aussie Internet and Gaming industry, given Little Space Heroes only came out of beta production three months prior and is already being recognised alongside offerings from companies like Disney and the Cartoon Network.


text:
Cebu, Valenzuela, and Baguio among safest cities in Southeast Asia
Davao and Makati made the cut, too
Apr 9, 2018
Global online database Numbeo has named Cebu, Valenzuela, Baguio, Davao, and Makati among the top 10 safest cities in Southeast Asia.
Based on the survey, Valenzuela City ranked second, followed by Davao (4th), Makati (5th), Baguio (6th), and Cebu (8th). Also on the list are Bali (7th), Penang (9th), Bangkok (10th), and Singapore, which bagged the top spot.
According to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, the city’s police force, as well as other key personnel, was a big help in maintaining peace and order. Maximum deployment of personnel and police visibility is part of the city’s preventive measures against all forms of illegal activities.
In fact, Cebu’s crime index significantly dropped to 2.8 percent in the first quarter of 2018 compared last year.
If you’re looking for new cities to explore (or revisit) this summer, you can start with these.
Header courtesy of Inquirer.net
Read more from Bea Llagas:
Cavite-Manila to only take 15-40 mins with new “water jeepneys” and it’s free till Jan 2020
You can now take a trip to Los Baños via Japanese tourist train
The Nolisoli gift guide for foodies
Where do all these plastic really do after you discard them?
Are we doing sustainable fashion right?


text:
By Tiernan Ray
Here are some things going on this morning in your world of tech:
Shares of Yelp (YELP) are up $4.26, or almost 5%, at $93.67, after the company this morning said it would partner with Yahoo! (YHOO) to enhance local listings in Yahoo!’s search engine results, as reported by Reuters’s Karl Plume. Yahoo! shares are up 9 cents at $37.32.
Shares of Apple (AAPL) are up $6.22, or 1.2%, at $526, after Carl Icahn this morning issued an open letter to shareholders saying that in light of remarks made by Institutional Shareholder Services over the weekend, and given what he characterized as Apple’s “aggressive” repurchase of $14 billion of stock under CEO Tim Cook in the last two weeks, he sees no reason to pursue his agitation for an immediate $50 billion buyback plan. That plan was set to go to a vote at Apple’s annual shareholder meeting at the end of this month, and was listed in the proxy statement for the meeting.
Scott Stringer, New York City’s comptroller, who also opposed Icahn’s proposal, went on CNBC this morning to talk with David Faber about how Icahn’s proposal was “risky and unnecessary.”
Speaking of Apple, Needham & Co.’s Charlie Wolf this morning reiterates a Buy rating on the shares, but cut his price target to $590 from $595, while leaving his estimates unchanged but changing individual segments of his Apple model. Wolf puts a $42.03-per-share value on the Mac computer business, given that prices have remained flat even as Apple took share, showing Apple’s pricing power.
He thinks iPad is “arguably the most intriguing product in Apple’s portfolio,” but he still cut its value to $53.23 per share from $61.58 to reflect the incursions of “cheap knockoffs in Asia Pacific.”
The iPhone business represents $271.70 per share, up from $261.06, even though he thinks the iPhone will slip to just 10% of the smartphone market by 2013. Shipments last year were higher than he’d expected.
Shares of Sprint (S) are down 38 cents, or almost 5%, at $7.64, following a report last night by Ryan Knutson of The Wall Street Journal stating that the company is re-thinking the notion of acquiring T-Mobile U.S. (TMUS) given potential anti-trust objections by the U.S., citing multiple unnamed sources.
The stock also got an initiation of coverage at Equal Weight from Barclays’s Amir Rozwadowski this morning, with a $9 price target.
Rozwadowski writes that “the combination of having better tools at its disposal, improved spectrum assets and SoftBank’s execution expertise provide the necessary ingredients to optimize its cost structure, potentially reduce subscriber losses and set the company to go after share in the long term,” though “Sprint’s premium EV/EBITDA multiple seems to reflect expectations for successful cost cutting and our limited visibility on the pace of its subscriber recovery.”
BMO Capital Markets’s Tim Long this morning updates his forecast for the handset business, noting that last year, growth of 37% in smartphones was well above the 28% he predicted. He now sees total handsets rising 4.3% annually, compounded, from 2013 through 2018, with smartphones in particular rising 14.3%. Smartphones will help average selling prices rise 1.4% as they displace sales of cheaper “feature phones.”
Shares of Beijing-based mapping and navigation outfit Autonavi (AMAP) are up $4.08, or almost 25%, at $20.62, after it disclosed that Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding offered to pay $21 per share for the company. Autonavi said that its board “intends to promptly form a committee of independent directors (the “Independent Committee”) to consider the Transaction.”


text:
Johannesburg - After having two weddings – one traditional and the other white, Minnie Dlamini-Jones is also celebrating her wedding anniversary on two different dates.
Taking to Instagram to honour her special day, Mrs. Jones who is currently in France with champagne brand, GHMUMM, posted an image from her white wedding where she can be seen holding Quinton’s hand while facing the crowd.
“I’m such a weirdo .It’s my 1st Anniversary y’all #TheJoneses#MrsJones ,” she captioned the picture.
Minnie Dlamini-Jones and her husband Quinton Jones had their white wedding on 8 July in a fairy-tale ceremony which was later televised in a three-part series on Vuzu.
In July, Mrs Jones also took to Instagram to celebrate the anniversary for her traditional wedding.


text:
Billerica, Massachusetts Broadcast Pix¢ today announced Version 2.0 of its popular iPixPanel app for Apple iPad, which can control any Broadcast Pix integrated production system to provide an intuitive wireless control surface for the operator. V2 adds a three-axis virtual joystick, rotary knobs, additional mnemonics, and enhanced connectivity. Priced at $9.99, it is a free upgrade for V1 customers and is available now from the Apple Store.
Our first generation iPad control surface was ahead of its time, said Broadcast Pix CEO Steve Ellis. By combining the iPad app with a touch screen, you have what I would describe as next generation workflow. Version 2 takes the art of live studio production one step further. The iPad is a dramatic and cost effective way to enhance your end-to-end production needs.


text:
HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnamese technology firm FPT Corp FPT.HM agreed to pay at least $30 million for 90 percent of U.S.-based consulting firm Intellinet Corp, FPT said on Thursday.
The acquisition by FPT, one of Vietnam’s top technology firms, reflects the company’s goal of adding consultancy to its information technology services, alongside its telecommunications, retail and education sectors.
FPT chairman Truong Gia Binh said in a joint statement the acquisition would allow FPT to offer comprehensive services and elevate Vietnam’s position on the global technology map.
Intellinet’s value is estimated at $40-$50 million, said Nguyen The Phuong, FPT’s vice general director. FPT will initially pay $30 million for the stake and then supplement that price depending on the business performance of the consulting unit. FPT declined to give further details.
Unlisted Intellinet has a client base of 200, was founded in 1993, and had revenue of $30 million in 2017, the companies said in a statement.
Both FPT and Intellinet want to take advantage of each others’ existing client base. FPT wants to utilize Intellinet’s existing 150 advisors to expand its businesses and attract more deals.
FPT’s first-quarter net income rose 21 percent from the same time last year to 653 billion dong ($28.3 million), the company’s financial statements showed. Its key markets are Japan, the United States and Europe.
Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Alexandra Hudson


text:
Considering that the initial Website of Boca Raton, FL-based Boston Proper was little more than an online order form, the $60 million-plus women’s apparel marketer cataloger/retailer has come a long way in the six years since.
“Before, our Website could handle only the basics,” says director of e-commerce Margaret Moraskie. Even the second- and third-generation sites, though e-commerce-enabled with a fully functional shopping cart, couldn’t handle extremely busy periods during peak hours.
But that’s in the past. In February, the company relaunched its Website (now in its fourth generation), and it has already seen an 8% increase in online sales. The Web now accounts for 42% of Boston Proper’s sales; the catalog accounts for the remaining 58%.
What’s more, the average online order is 2%-5% higher than the average catalog order, which the company attributes to the Website’s cross-selling and upselling functions. Using an e-commerce package from Petaluma, CA-based Web development firm MarketLive, Boston Proper’s e-commerce team can select and post product cross-sells and promotions in seconds without the help of the IT department.
Boston Proper used to modify its apparel collection online twice a year; the new e-commerce program enables it to react faster to emerging fashion trends. Products from any category can easily be grouped into a new category or to create a theme. So when Boston Proper sees that peasant skirts are hot sellers, for instance, it can quickly group complementary products within minutes rather than hours.
“We can now make changes in 15 minutes without bringing down the site,” Moraskie says. “That was near impossible in the old Website.” Previously Boston Proper had to wait till late at night, when traffic was lightest, to modify the Website.
Boston Proper’s staff aren’t the only ones to find the new site easier. Customers can now get to products with fewer clicks, Moraskie says, thanks to more-specific categories, such as “sleeveless shirts” rather than one category that brought up all the shirts.
Boston Proper licenses the software from MarketLive, paying an annual licensing fee based on online revenue. Boston Proper also pays the vendor for Web hosting and related services, such as security audits and daily backups. Pricing for the services depends on the number of servers and shared or dedicated firewalls and databases.
Next on Boston Proper’s e-commerce agenda: affiliate marketing and search engine optimization, both of which it plans to implement later on this year. Before, other than e-mail marketing, Moraskie says, “we couldn’t do any Web advertising at all.”


text:
Over the weekend, an update to the Google app beta accidentally broke weather for the At A Glance Widget, affecting Pixel owners, some third-party launcher users, and anyone who manually added the widget since that became an option. Thankfully, an update (v9.0.4) which is rolling out today fixes the problem.
Again, I'd like to reiterate that only those who were in the beta program for the Google app were affected. And even then, based on reports, it seems a some running v 9.0.2 never saw an issue on their devices.
Left: Version 9.0.2, Right: Version 9.0.4.
I've tested across all of my previously affected phones, and in every case installing this latest beta update to the Google app results in weather returning to the widget in mere seconds. This applies to both first-party implementations, and third-party launchers. If Version 9.0.4 doesn't itself contain the fix, it's at least the switch.
It would appear that the update is also rolling out as we speak via the Play Store, as 9.0.4 was available for all of my devices. As always with rollouts, YMMV. If you don't see a Google app update available for the beta program, you can always sideload this latest version thanks to those fine folks at APK Mirror.
- APK Mirror


text:
"What have your STEM CELLS done for you lately?" reads an advertisement for StemEnhance, a nutritional supplement that promises to pull stem cells out of bone marrow and into the bloodstream. The manufacturer, STEMtech Health Sciences, sells 50,000 bottles a month; users tell of remarkable physical restorations; and experts say compounds in the drug, which has’t been tested by the FDA, may not be safe, and that a system-wide stem cell boost could do more harm than good.
And if the product does what it says, it may not be safe, according to Frishman. One of the risks of taking a stem cell enhancer is that it could activate dormant cancer cells, he told The Scientist. There are other stem cell enhancing drugs that target particular cell types, such as granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, which elevates white blood cells after chemotherapy. "Here [with StemEnhance] you’re giving a general stem cell booster," Frishman said. "Some people might have occult malignancies and all of a sudden you’re giving them a stem cell booster."
For Sale: Stem Cell Enhancers [The Scientist]Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.


text:
Following in the footsteps of competitors Hermès and Gucci, Louis Vuitton is seeking to make its footwear more sustainable. The luxury brand is launching an updated version of its LV Trainer — a design created by late menswear artistic director Virgil Abloh — now crafted from 90 percent recycled and bio-sourced materials. In line with its new build, the sneaker also boasts Louis Vuitton’s sustainable development logo.
LV’s new take on the Trainer arrives a year after the brand introduced its first unisex and eco-friendly sneaker. Dubbed the Charlie, the silhouette is also made of 90 percent recycled and bio-sourced materials, with a goal of appealing to a more mindful consumer market. As a Forbes report highlights, both Millennials and Generation Z shoppers prefer to buy from sustainable brands — meaning luxury labels have to offer something other than flashy motifs if they want to make sales. Louis Vuitton’s Charlie and reworked LV Trainer are likely just the beginning of what the label has planned for sustainable styles.
A greener sneaker — Red, black, and green color schemes of the updated LV Trainer will be available, with each flaunting the same recycled materials. Ninety-four percent of the shoe’s outsole has been built from recycled polyurethane, improving not only the sneaker’s sustainability but also its lightness and comfort. Recycled cotton makes up the Trainer’s lining, while its insole is made of 100 percent recycled polyurethane.
Recycled polyester has been paired with biodegradable corn plastic to make up the upper. The tongue is constructed from recycled polyester, and plastic waste has been given new life as the sneaker’s laces.
With a notorious eye for detail, Louis Vuitton hasn’t limited its sustainable efforts to just the LV Trainer. The shoe’s packaging has also been designed with the environment in mind, boasting a box made of 10 percent recyclable cardboard. Inside the packaging, unprocessed kraft paper protects the sneakers, while Louis Vuitton’s logo has been printed using vegetable ink. Overall, the box’s materials have been reduced by 70 percent, the brand stated in a press release.
Coming this fall — All good things take time, and the revamped LV Trainer won’t be available until September. When the sneaker is eventually released via the Louis Vuitton website, however, expect its price tag to match its ultra-green design.


text:
Lisbon, Portugal, 25 Nov – Trade between Portugal and China increased between Portugal and China between January and August of this year, with the growth in value of Chinese imports greater than that of Portuguese exports, according to recent figures from the Portuguese statistics institute (INE).
Up to August this year Portugal imported 363.8 million euros of Chinese products, 24.2% more than in the same period of 2004.
The percentage increase of Portuguese exports to china was greater, 29.4%, but lower in value terms, totaling 95.9 million euros in the period.
Thus the balance of trade between the countries was negative by 267.9 million euros for Portugal, an increase of around 25% on 2004.
Imports from Portuguese-speaking African countries doubled from 2004 to almost 49 million euros, while exports to them totaled 633.6 million euros, a 12.2% increase year-on-year.
Significant increases in imports were made from countries within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of 71.5% and South Korea, 27.2% mores.
In export terms, OPEC recorded the largest increase, 46.5%, followed by China, Singapore and Turkey.
The main export goods were machines and apparatus (1.14 billion euros, an increase of 15%), fuel and textiles. The largest increases were of chemicals, and plastics and rubber, both categories having increased around 20%.
Imported goods that increased most this year include mineral fuels (40.3%), and plastics and rubber (more than 26%).
In total Portuguese exports increased 2.3% in the period to 3.85 billion euros, while imports increased 16.1% to 7.56 billion euros, boosting the trade deficit by 35.1%. (macauhub)


text:
Foxtons puts up £400m for sale sign as it is to float on the stock market
Foxtons, the estate agency synonymous with the property bubble of the 1980s, will this week look to take advantage of the new surge by announcing a £400million stock market flotation.
The price it aims for will be a key indicator of investors’ faith in a revived property market. London prices have leapt recently, especially in the centre, where wealthy foreign investors have been buying in the smartest districts.
The chain, based in London and the South East, is known for its brash approach and brightly branded Minis. Founder Jon Hunt sold it to a private equity group in 2007 for £375million.
Brash: The estate agent chain, based in London and the South East, is being floated
Reports have suggested that a stock market flotation could see that value beaten, with suggestions that the chain will be valued at up to £400million.
BC Partners, which bought the chain, had to hand a large chunk of the shares to the group’s lenders after profits fell. It bought back a majority stake in March last year.
Accounts released last month showed that in 2012 Foxtons was relying more on rentals than on sales than it had done traditionally. Half of its revenues came from lettings, compared with just a third before the crisis. Turnover reached £118million, up from £115million the previous year.
It is believed that the owner could sell the business outright rather than opt for a flotation.
Rival Countrywide, which owns Hamptons and Bairstow Eves as part of a portfolio of 46 estate agency chains, floated in March with a valuation of £750million.
Estate agents hope that the Coalition’s Help to Buy scheme will boost property sales. The Government offers partial guarantees on home loans, allowing buyers with small deposits access to bigger mortgages. Critics of the scheme say it risks artificially inflating the property bubble.
Most watched Money videos
- Range Rover races through the 99-turns of the Tianmen Road
- New Jaguar I-Pace takes on Tesla in race against the clock
- Tips to invest your Isa - and why it is worth doing
- Should you buy a petrol or diesel car: Here's how to decide
- Take a look at the brand new Jaguar I-Pace prototype
- Jaguar I-Pace prototype smart cones driving test in Geneva
- Where are the best places to invest in 2018?
- Can emerging markets continue to climb? We ask a top manager
- Big Money Questions: What is diversifying?
- Jack Whitehall stars in Jaguar I-PACE promotional video
- A look at Nissan's electric Ecosystem for sustainable future
- Big Money Questions: Does tax have to be so complicated?


text:
News Browse all news ›
Fast Charging: For Some, It's a Way of LifeMost electric cars are still getting juice from 240-volt power, but embryonic 480-volt networks (Tesla and both CHAdeMO and SAE) are starting to take off—and get used regularly. For some drivers, quick charging has become the norm.
Fuel Cell Cars Take Limelight at Los Angeles Auto ShowFive years ago, major auto shows were dominated by unveilings of battery electric vehicles. Carmakers that had new plug-in models and concepts to show were considered in the vanguard, and those without them were left scrambling to shoehorn a battery pack in any existing model. Now that electric cars are on the road, and selling at relatively steady rates, it appears that the magic words in auto show marketing has become: hydrogen fuel cell.
Is BMW Positioned To Become the Leader in Electric Vehicles?BMW is barely out of the gate with sales of its i3 and i8 battery-powered cars. Yet, it has already established a leadership role in the electric car world—putting the company in the top echelon of EV-makers along with Tesla and Nissan. As news emerges of more BMW EVs and plug-in hybrids in the works, the German automaker appears to be moving faster than Tesla or Nissan toward an entire suite of plug-in cars.


text:
Wed, 09/04/2014 - 15:46
Author Tracy Chevalier said authors and publishers needed to get beyond their “adversarial relationship” at the “How to Get the Best from Your Publisher” seminar at the London Book Fair (9th April).
Society of Authors c.e.o Nicola Solomon, who also spoke at the seminar, warned authors against agreeing contracts...
Fri, 28/02/2014 - 15:42
What have publishers ever done for us? The question, a variation on the Monty Python joke about the Romans, is an important one. In an age when authors can bypass publishers, how do we recognise the value of the “publishing” process, and how do we talk about it?
The current online debate around publishing online is not an...
Mon, 23/09/2013 - 09:15
Publishers are gearing up campaigns for some of the biggest celebrity books of the autumn. National tours and online interviews being lined up to spread the word.
Super Thursday, a date which sees a number of the biggest titles released, falls on 10th...
Fri, 13/09/2013 - 09:12
Publishers have been urged to prepare for the sweeping changes to tax which will be introduced in 2015.
From 1st January 2015, the way VAT is dealt with across Europe for e-services, including e-books, will change, with the tax applied in the country where the consumer lives rather than where the supplier is based.
Tue, 06/08/2013 - 09:30
Publishers need to work more closely with academic libraries in developing countries, a report by Sage has concluded.
The academic publisher commissioned a six-month research study with institutions in 12 developing countries to explore how teaching and research staff valued their academic libraries and how their value could be better...
Thu, 30/05/2013 - 15:19
A new chapter has been opened in the long-running fi ght for survival of one of Germany’s best-known literary publishers.
On 27th May Suhrkamp initiated insolvency protection proceedings similar to Chapter 11, shielding it from its creditors, at a Magistrates’ Court in Berlin. Spokesperson Tanja Postpischil said the...
Thu, 09/05/2013 - 14:44
Scale. That is the buzzword du jour, or, rather de l’année—at least since the Penguin/Random House merger was announced last October. One of the underlying strategies of the Penguin/RH link-up—emphasised by their respective bosses, John Makinson and Markus Dohle, in emails to staff after the announcement—was...
Wed, 17/04/2013 - 09:45
UK trade publishers are becoming increasingly concerned about how Amazon.co.uk is policing territorial rights on its website, with some publishers claiming that US print editions of certain titles are being preferred in the retailer's online listings and supplied to UK customers direct.
The issue, believed to have become an...
Mon, 15/04/2013 - 06:42
In The Uses of Enchantment, Bruno Bettelheim suggests that parents are better telling, rather than reading, fairytales to their children because in that way the child will better know the parent.
Listening to the stories being told about publishing at the Bologna Book Fair, where they know a thing or two about telling tales...
Tue, 26/03/2013 - 16:13
Book production in the UK took a downturn in 2012, despite a continuing rise in the number of publishers, early figures released by Nielsen Book show. The figures also show the rise in the e-book format, with the number of new e-books issued now 34% of the total output figure, compared with 23% in 2011.
The number of new titles and...


text:
|site info||Lucy Bullivant Communicating Architecture||contact details|
Video excerpts from the B&B Italia event, 21 Sept 2011
› changing space
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of leading design producer B&A Italia's London showroom, an event was staged at the V&A during the London Design Festival, with the firm's longstanding designer Antonio Citterio, in conversation with Lucy Bullivant. They discussed implementing design since the 1960s to the present day, the shifting identities of work, domestic and leisure spaces, and being responsive to new materials and technologies. Citterio's architectural practice works with B&B Italia's Contract division on numerous projects including the Bulgari Hotel Knightsbridge, opening 2012. He designs B&B Italia's Maxalto collection.
Lucy also interviewed Giorgio Busnelli, CEO of B&B Italia, at the London showroom for a commemorative video the firm made.
See an excerpt from the conversation with Antonio Citterio here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE-Zj_RW6SM
See the interview with Giorgio Busnelli here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pELmqvWhScc
|← back to index|


text:
TrustWave Corp., an Annapolis-based information-security company, will be acquired by a Chicago company for about $63 million, suitor Patron Systems Inc. announced yesterday.
Patron said it was buying TrustWave and another company to help it achieve its goal of becoming a player in the burgeoning market for information-security products and services.
"We are really excited about" the buyout by Patron, said Joseph L. Patanella, TrustWave's founder and a veteran of the National Security Agency. "We have been thinking, for quite some time, about growing an entrepreneurial information-assurance firm. We have all the components to do that now, plus the resources" and financing to pursue that objective.
In addition to acquiring Trustwave, Patron Systems is buying Entelagent of Aliso Viejo, Calif.
For TrustWave, Patron Systems agreed to pay $20 million in cash and 8.85 million shares of parent company Patron Holdings Inc. common stock - worth $43.01 million at yesterday's closing price of $4.86 per share.
For Entelagent, Patron said, it will assume debt and other obligations, and will grant 1.8 million shares of its stock, worth $8.75 million at yesterday's trading close.
Ryan E. Kirch, a Patron Holdings spokesman and director of investor relations, said the company hopes to close both deals in about 60 days, although TrustWave's Patanella said the companies hope to have purchases completed by the end of this year.
Once that buyout is finished, Chicago will serve as the company's corporate headquarters, Kirch said. TrustWave will continue to maintain its New York and Annapolis offices. The Annapolis office is important because of its proximity to Washington, home to such key customers as the Department of Defense and other security-related agencies.
In addition to the government, TrustWave has served the health care and financial services industries.
Initially, Patron Systems' overall corporate employment will stand at about 100 - including the 35 TrustWave employees - although that number could easily grow as the business expands, Kirch said.
Patron Holdings was formed earlier this year and then acquired an existing public company - avoiding the long and costly initial public offering process - and refocused its business on the fast-growing market for information-security products and services.
Spending on information-security products and services is expected to reach $50 billion in 2005, as increased worries about terrorism and other potential problems have prompted companies to accelerate their efforts toward tighter security, according to IDC, the technology-research group.
With the deals complete, Patron said yesterday, it expects "minimum" revenue next year of $40 million, though sales could be higher depending on how many of the contracts it is currently negotiating reach fruition.
TrustWave was the first company to be certified by NSA to ensure that networks comply with the agency's stringent standards. It can also help other companies that wish to get into that business become certified, Patron said.
Entelagent markets e-mail security and surveillance products.
TrustWave was founded by Patanella, 40, an 18-year NSA veteran who said he saw the need for "information assurance" in the late 1990s, when the Internet was gaining widespread attention. At that point, studies showed that security was so poor that companies faced potential losses of $2 billion a day from misuse or theft of proprietary information, Patanella said. "I realized how vulnerable corporate America was," he said.


text:
On April 29, Facebook announced the winners of the third annual Facebook Studio Awards -- Facebook's way of recognizing brands and agencies from around the world creating great campaigns.
With 1.28 billion monthly users and access to a trove of consumer data, companies of all shapes and sizes have integrated the social media platform with their marketing in an attempt to attract and engage today’s digital consumers.
The winners of this year's Facebook Studio Awards were selected based on three criteria:
1) Craft & Execution
- Quality of visuals, aesthetics, and copywriting
- Impact in peoples’ News Feeds
- Relevance to audience and brand
2) Scale & Execution
- Did the campaign reach the intended audience?
- Did you reach people where they spend the most time on Facebook's News Feed and mobile?
- Use of Facebook marketing products to extend campaign reach
- Campaign impact on overall business goals
- The ROI of the campaign
So, without further adieu, here are the companies and agencies who created the most engaging and successful campaigns on Facebook in the past year ...
Blue Awards: The Best of the Best
1) If We Made It
Client: Heineken USA
This year, the average 30 second advertisement slot during the Super Bowl cost four million dollars. The “If We Made It” parody campaign was Newcastle Brown Ale's creative way of stealing the spotlight at a fraction of the cost. Newcastle's "If We Made It" Campaign satirically showed the world what their Super Bowl campaign would have looked like, if only they could have afforded to actually create it.
The campaign featured teasers for the ads they would have made. They announced actress Anna Kendrick and football Hall of Famer Keyshawn Johnson as the stars they would have used in their commercials. Newcastle even released the storyboards and the footage of the focus groups that would have been, for the campaign that never was.Facebook Stats
- Over 5.6 million impressions
- Over 1.3 million engagements
- 1.16 million video views
- 69,000 Likes
- 16,000 shares
- 8,000 comments
The Big Picture
- Brand awareness grew 5%
- Purchase consideration grew 19% among their target
2) Facebook for Good Blue Award: Trial by Timeline
Company: Colenso BBDO
Client: Amnesty International
Amnesty International is a New Zealand-based human rights organization committed to the civil liberties of every person on Earth. The purpose of the Trial by Timeline campaign was to highlight that a person's civil liberties should never be taken for granted.
Trial by Timeline analyzed Facebook users’ personal profiles, looking at who you were friends with, everything you had ever Liked, posted, or written, as well as all of your personal information. Then, taking into account everything that you had ever said or done on Facebook, Trial by Timeline sentenced Facebook users to hundreds of punishments that they would have received in various parts of the world.
The campaign has attracted 340,000 unique visits with an average visit duration of 7:27 minutes, and increased the Amnesty International New Zealand Facebook community more than 500%.
Gold Awards: The Best of the Rest
1) Facebook for Good Gold Award: Bentley Burial
Company: Leo Burnett Tailor Made
Client: ABTO -- Brazilian Association of Organ Transplant
The Bentley Burial campaign was designed to draw attention to the problem of burying healthy organs that could be used to save lives. In order to achieve this goal, Brazilian millionaire, Count Chiquinho Scarpa, posted on his Facebook Page that he was planning to bury his half-million-dollar Bentley. Scarpa then used his Facebook page to convince Brazilians he was serious by posting pictures of the preparation for the burial.
The campaign drew remarkable media coverage. On the day of the burial, Scarpa announced in front of all of Brazil's major media outlets that he would not actually bury his car. He then used the opportunity to draw parallels with the car burial, and organs being buried when they could be used to save lives.
The campaign reached more than 172 million people through social media and organ donations increased by 31.5% in a single month following the Bentley Burial campaign.
2) Try My Hybrid
Company: Saatchi & Saatchi Norway
Client: Toyota Norway
Try My Hybrid is a service featuring real Norwegian Toyota hybrid owners who allows strangers to test-drive their cars at no cost. Toyota then turned to their Facebook page to promote the campaign and to recruit hybrid owners to take part in the Try My Hybrid service.
The campaign resulted in 1.65 million unique visitors to the Try My Hybrid website as well as hundreds of PR stories and a number of awards.
Silver Awards: Tier Three
Company: Clemenger BBDO
Client: National Australia Bank
The NAB, a major sponsor of the Australian Football League, noticed that despite being the third most multicultural country in the world, their biggest sporting events were still only being broadcast in one language.
FootifyFM culminated in a live broadcast of the 2013 AFL Grand Final in Australia's 10 most popular languages. The site used Facebook to find commentators for each of the 10 languages and to build awareness of their initiative to bring Australia's national sports everyone.
2) Léon Vivien
Company DDB Paris
Client: Musée de la Grande Guerre (Museum of the Great War)
The Léon Vivien campaign was carried out entirely using a Facebook company page. However, rather than create a typical company page, the page focused on telling the personal story of Léon Vivian, a man who lived through WWI. The page was treated as if it were 1914 again and Léon was updating the page himself discussing his thoughts and sharing images with the world.
The Facebook page attracted 50,000 fans in just two weeks as well as 7,500 shares and 6,500 comments. The Museum of the Great War saw a 45% increase in museum visitors following the Léon Vivien campaign.
3) Social Flyer
Company: North Strategic
Client: FGL Sports Ltd.
For decades, Sport Chek's promotions were featured exclusively on their paper flyer. The company realized that people were no longer reading the paper flyer and that their target market of 18-34 year olds was consuming most of their media online. In order to reach this demographic, Sport Chek created the Social Flyer -- a digital version of the paper flyer -- on Facebook.
Sport Chek has engaged an audience of more than 700,000 fans and saw a 1.6x positive return on their Social Flyer campaign.
4) Facebook for Good Silver Award: The Most Powerful Arm
Company: Finch, Havas Worldwide Australia
Client: Save Our Sons
To raise awareness about Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a disease suffered by young males that results it loss of motor function in the arms and legs before the age of 13, Save Our Sons created "The Most Powerful Arm Ever Invented."
The mechanical arm signs signatures on a petition to the government asking them to match all donations dollar for dollar.
Anyone can sign the petition by going to TheMostPowerfulArm.com and allowing the website to access their basic Facebook information. People can then watch as the robotic arms signs their name on the petition via live stream. A picture of their name is then immediately posted to their Facebook timelines to help spread awareness about the campaign and to encourage others to sign the petition as well.
The campaign generated over 6.5 million Facebook impressions and, more importantly, resulted in over 32,000 signatures.
5) The Smart Phone Line
Company: Colenso BBDO/AIM Proximity
Client: Samsung New Zealand
Samsung used Facebook and Twitter in order to get their fans to launch the new Galaxy S4 smartphone for them. Rather than have customers wait in line outside of their stores for the new product, Samsung had their fans wait in a virtual line on Facebook and Twitter.
Every day for the last two weeks leading up to the launch, Samsung gave people who had signed up for the virtual line features of the new product to promote via their social media accounts. The more engagement people's posts generated, the further ahead they would move in the virtual line.
The campaign resulted in 51,728 Facebook stories and the total number of people reached through organic sharing on social media was 15,345,413.
6) Wendy's Bacon Portabella Melt on Brioche
When tasked with selling the new burger, the advertising agency realized that the biggest problem would be to convince people to order the new burger despite its challenging name.
To spark conversations and awareness about the new burger online, the agency decided to butcher the pronunciation of the bun in their own advertisements. As expected, the ads received thousands of comments from people eager to criticize the advertisers for their mistake.
The campaign resulted in 1.7 million total engagements and Wendy's attracted more than 50,000 new Facebook fans.
Bronze Awards: Tier Four
1) Made By You
Client: Worldwide Media
The magazine Femina India created the first fully crowd-sourced magazine issue by giving Indian women the chance to run the magazine themselves.
The 'Made By You' Facebook application was then launched and focused on the simple idea that the magazine offered women the space to share their own stories. The application was used to collect basic information about the women and their personal stories. The company also used Facebook ads and promoted Facebook posts to grow awareness.
The campaign reached a total of 2.97 million Facebook users, 12.1 million Facebook impressions, and resulted in 41,435 new fans.
2) Playland Hot Seat
Company: Rethink Communications
Playland sent eight teenagers to Vancouver's premier amusement park for free. The catch: Playland's Facebook fans controlled their experience, selecting the rides.
All of the action was captured using GoPro cameras and relayed to the Facebook audience via live stream. By engaging with the Playland site and content, fans were given more control over the teens and fans could also play trivia games to win prizes.
The campaign reached 266,775 Facebook users and generated 566,914 total impressions and 28,961 fans in the process.
3) Reclaim Your Angus
When McDonald's discontinued their angus burger, their customers took to social media to voice their discontent. Carl's Jr. & Hardee's saw this as an opportunity to go after some of the McDonald's customer base.
The company created videos featuring CKE's CEO responding directly to fans and uploaded them to Facebook as sponsored stories. CKE also used the Facebook Power Editor to target angry McDonald's fans.
4) The Hornbach Hammer
Company: HEIMAT Berlin
Client: Hornbach Baumarkt AG
Hornbach announced on its Facebook page that it had purchased a tank, but did not reveal what the tank was actually for. Through Facebook posts highlighting the transformation, Hornbach slowly revealed that the tank was being transformed into a new product, the Hornbach Hammer.
There were only 7,000 Hornbach Hammers created and the first sales were limited to Hornbach Facebook fans. The awareness created on Facebook caused the hammer to sell out just two hours after it officially went on sale in stores and online.
5) The Longest Bench In The World
Client: SO Appenzeller Käse GmbH (Appenzeller cheese)
Appenzeller cheese advertises their famous Swiss cheeses with three herdsmen on a bench in Appenzellerland Switzerland. The company used their Facebook page to invite their fans to participate in the attempt to break the world record for the world's largest wooden bench.
Through Facebook, Appenzeller fans could reserve their own personal seat on the bench and view step by step images of the construction. Within just a few days, 660 meters of seating on the virtual bench had already been reserved by fans.
Throughout the course of the campaign, Appenzeller attracted more than 6,000 new fans, a 150% increase, as well as half a million people from 66 countries around the world that became aware of Appenzeller cheese as a result.
Which of these campaigns is your favorite?


text:
Trade Desk Inc. TTD, -3.32% shares surged in the extended session Thursday after the ad-tech company topped Wall Street estimates. Trade Desk shares rallied 13% after hours, following a 2.1% rise to close the regular session at $93.29. The company reported second-quarter net income of $19.3 million, or 43 cents a share, compared with $18.8 million, or 43 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were 60 cents a share. Revenue rose to $112.3 million from $72.8 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated 44 cents a share on revenue of $104 million. Trade Desk estimates revenue of $116 million for the third quarter, and $433 million in revenue for the year. Analysts expect revenue of $109.2 million for the third quarter, and $436.5 million for the year.
Trade Desk shares rally on earnings beat


text:
Why is there a crisis?
Back in 2019, when no one had heard of Covid, the world seemed a small and well connected place.
Consumers took lightning fast deliveries from across the globe for granted - with everything from French cheese to Japanese electronics available in days at the click of a button.
But the pandemic crisis has revealed how fragile that decades-old model has become. Today, as economies across the world reboot, the system is seizing up. Workers are in short supply, energy markets in chaos, prices are surging and all those goods sit in shipping containers, stacked in their thousands at ports from the Tyne to Tokyo.
Ultimately, this is a crisis driven by a mismatch between supply and demand. When Covid hit, consumers shut their doors and stayed at home. Overall consumer spending fell 27pc in the UK, 17pc in China, 13pc in Germany and 11pc in the US.
In a bid to avoid bankruptcy, businesses rapidly dialed back their output of goods. Car factories shut when vehicle sales plunged - with a 97pc collapse in sales in the UK alone - while every restaurant and pub also closed their doors, firing or furloughing staff by Government order in a process repeated all over the world.
Sales of the raw materials on which these companies depend also plummeted. Brent crude oil prices fell 69pc and US oil even briefly made an unprecedented move into negative territory when demand plunged so low that there was no more room to store the unwanted fossil fuel. Copper and zinc, metals heavily associated with global economic activity, suffered heavy falls.
At the depths of this crisis, no one could foresee how fast demand would recover - but when lockdowns lifted and the world began to move again, the bounce back was fast.
Online spending surged rapidly to replace what was missing from physical stores, more than doubling in the UK in the first months of the crisis.
In April this year, overall consumer spending rose back above pre-Covid levels for the first time in Britain according to Barclaycard.
But suppliers have been slow to catch up, and logistics companies slow to hire the staff they need to cope with this boom. In the UK, manufacturing output was still 2pc below pre-pandemic levels as of August according to the Office for National Statistics - a position mirrored in many countries across the world, meaning factories simply are unable to keep pace with the orders being placed with them.
Goldman Sachs analysts estimate that about two thirds of the delays at global manufacturing suppliers have been caused by a rise in demand.
Much of the chaos playing out across the world is simply a result of companies struggling to play catch-up.
Why has everything got worse this year?
As goods surged in, Western ports buckled. Major players like Los Angeles and Rotterdam have been left snarled, unable to handle the sheer quantity of products coming in. In LA, the typical wait time for a vessel to beach has increased fivefold from last year, rising to 10 days.
That creates problems at both ends of the supply/demand equation. On the demand side, the initial problem is clear: importers and businesses don’t receive the goods they need as quickly as they want – or at all, in some instances.
But supply chains flow both ways. At the supply end (take China as the clearest example), ports have been running low on containers as they stack up in the West. Usually, containers would be returned – empty or filled with different goods – in due course.
The blockages at ports have broken that relationship. Containers sent across the ocean full of goods aren’t making the journey back anywhere near as quickly – they are waiting to be unloaded, and the ships that would usually bring them back aren’t making return journeys. An estimated 500,000 boxes are lying on the LA harbourside alone.
Where there has usually been a steady back and forth, there is now gridlock at one end. Not enough ships are free, and not enough containers. Supply is severely constrained, demand is still high, and prices are going up as a result.
The cost of sending a 40 foot container from East Asia to the US West Coast is now $16,000, according to data from Freightos - roughly ten times its pre-Covid level.
When things are already so tender, every extra blow hurts all the more. A sustained disruption to the volume of goods coming in might be enough to let ports catch up, but it’s hard to see what could make that happen.
New plans to operate the Port of Los Angeles, the US’s biggest import hub, for 24 hours a day, aim to let it clear another 3,500 containers per week.
Those problems might be manageable if demand was steady, but it isn’t. Demand appears to have grown over the summer, with indications that consumers across the world are opening their wallets to spend their pandemic savings. Retail sales in the UK are up by around 5pc on pre-Covid levels. American consumer spending on goods is up almost a quarter.
The problem will not go away: demand for goods is here to stay. The International Monetary Fund estimates this year’s total goods exports will $21.2 trillion (£15.5 trillion), up almost 15pc on the $18.5 trillion in 2019.
That is forecast to rise again to $22.8 trillion next year, meaning the disjoined global trade system is trying to process almost one-quarter more goods than it was before Covid before the logistics industry has had a chance to catch its breath. Businesses have also come out of stasis, renewing their levels of investment.
Why is the world short of workers?
Labour figures released in the UK earlier this week were a head-scratcher: even though payroll numbers have returned to pre-pandemic levels, there were 1.2m vacancies, the highest number ever recorded. Every industry has more vacancies now than it had at the start of 2020, as demand for workers in health and social care, the digital economy and logistics surges. At the same time, companies with sluggish demand are reluctant to let their staff go because they hope a recovery is just around the corner. The result is more demand than ever for workers.
Has the pandemic, despite causing the worst collapse in output in a century, somehow caused the UK’s possible workforce to grow? The answer is complicated, but it is becoming more clear: yes it has.
This impact in the UK can also be seen elsewhere. The pandemic left cracks in the global economy that are now beginning to open.
Britain needs another 100,000 lorry drivers. The situation in the US is expected to reach a similar scale, businesses have warned. As many as 60,000 are estimated to be needed in Germany. Poland is short of almost twice that, according to Transport Intelligence.
Efforts to plug the gap with new drivers have been hindered by Covid rules which interrupted training, and in Britain a strike at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has delayed the issue of new licences.
Similarly, training times in the US are reported to have more than tripled.
Growth data suggests developed economies became increasingly resilient to lockdowns as the pandemic went on. During April 2020, the first month of lockdown in the UK, output dropped 18.8pc. In January 2021, as the tight winter lockdown kicked in, the fall was just 2.4pc. That shows the level of adaptation that had occurred: people found new ways to produce demand (online sales make up more than one-quarter of all retail in Britain now, up from less than one-fifth at the start of 2020), and some businesses found new ways to supply (by adopting remote working and other practices).
This has created winners and losers. Some companies are still operating as ‘zombies’, pulled back from the brink by government support like a cardiac arrest victim after receiving an adrenaline shot. Their business models may be broken. Others are flourishing, trying to adapt and grow. But the labour market, partially frozen in time by the furlough scheme and its international equivalents, hasn’t entirely been able to adapt: workers are wanted, but they’re still trapped in jobs that may no longer have a future. More than 1m were still thought to be furloughed when Britain ended its scheme at the end of September.
The pandemic also changed things for workers. It may be a while before we truly understand this phenomenon, but Covid-19 appears to have triggered career shifts. Workers in tough industries such as hospitality have seen the light and sought out a regular warehouse shift or office job – and may never look back. Even after lockdowns, something seems to have changed. In the US, the phenomenon has been dubbed the “Great Resignation”. More than 4.2m Americans quit their jobs in August. Until July, the number had never risen above 4m.
In the UK, job-to-job moves are back up to almost 800,000 per quarter, returning to pre-Covid levels. In each case, a company filling one vacancy leaves another with a hole.
Unfortunately, supply chains are a particularly visible area for such shortages. There is a global shortage of haulage drivers, and the pandemic has only made issues more acute by driving people out of the workforce and delaying the rate at which new people can join.
Why are energy prices so high?
During the early stages of the pandemic, oil prices briefly turned negative and gas prices plunged. Markets anticipated a total collapse in demand as the virus spread. But reopening has triggered the opposite effects.
Gas prices have risen five-fold in the past year - currently standing at 233p a therm - with movements exacerbated by last year’s cold winter, which ran down Europe’s gas storage reserves. Efforts to restock clashed with rebounding demand in Asia, which accounts for 70pc of global liquified natural gas imports and has been outbidding Europe for supplies.
Russia has also been accused of turning the screw on gas supplies to secure support over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline into Europe that it wishes to develop.
The squeeze has pushed Brent crude to three year highs of $86 a barrel. The International Energy Agency has warned that the energy crunch could boost oil demand by 500,000 barrels per day and slow the world's recovery from the Covid pandemic. And at a time when the COP 26 summit is attempting to move the world away from fossil fuels, China is expected to increase coal production by 55 million tonnes in the final quarter of the year.
With other inflationary pressures mounting, Britain’s problems are especially acute. British Gas owner Centrica closed Rough, the country’s largest gas storage facility, in 2017, increasing reliance on imports and leaving the UK with just four to five days of winter storage compared to Europe, which can store a fifth of its annual consumption.
The flaws of this approach were made crystal clear last month when a fire knocked out a power cable linking the UK with the Continent, making winter blackouts a possibility. The UK has also been hit by freakishly calm weather slowing turbines. Wind accounts for 20pc of the nation’s generation capacity.
What will the impacts be?
Shortages of products and workers, and a rise in energy prices, add up to one thing: inflation.
A two-year view of inflation, stripping out the base effects, shows prices up around 7pc from 2019 levels, the biggest jump since the run-up to the financial crisis.
In its latest World Economic Outlook, released on Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund said inflation risks are “skewed to the upside”. It expects inflation to reach 2.8pc on average this year across advanced economies, and 2.3pc in 2022. Both forecasts have been hiked since July.
In China, producer price inflation figures released on Thursday – a gauge of prices paid at the factory gate – showed a 10.7pc annual rise, the highest on record.
Most concerningly, inflation has a tendency to feed on itself. If the cost of living goes up, workers will demand higher pay. If they get higher pay, companies' margins will be squeezed and they will increase prices. And so it goes on.
Capital Economics puts the likelihood of the US shifting into a so-called high-interest regime, in which yearly price growth is consistently above 5pc, at about 20pc.
Eventually, higher prices (and delays) will hit growth. And that creates a situation of ‘stagflation’ – stagnant growth and high inflation – that would degrade living conditions.
The best hope for the global economy is that – bit by bit – the current issues can be overcome, taking the wind out of price rises and giving supply chains time to normalise.
How long will this last?
At present, economists expect a normalisation in demand to mean supply chains can catch up at some point next year. Exactly when is unclear. Likewise, the adjustment in the labour market - for example, training in shortage occupations - may take years, rather than months.
Economists expect the disruptions to put a dent in the global recovery this year and fear turmoil will last until at least mid-2022. A full recovery to pre-Covid output in the UK could be delayed beyond the end of this year by the shortages, economists warn, with GDP still 0.8pc below normal levels.
The IMF downgraded its global economic forecasts last week, trimming 0.1 percentage points off its 2021 growth prediction. It now expects world GDP to rise 5.9pc this year. The US suffered the biggest downgrade, with the IMF cutting its previous growth forecast by 1 percentage point to 6pc. The UK is expected to expand 6.8pc in 2021, 0.2 percentage points fewer than expected.
While supply chain chaos may ease, the aftershock of disruptions to inflation could last for longer if it causes price rises to become more persistent.
The IMF expects inflation to return to pre-pandemic norms by mid-2022 but some economists are far more pessimistic. Whether inflation expectations and wages begin to soar will be key to whether prices threaten to run out of control.
In an extreme scenario envisaged by the IMF, the inflation surge in advanced economies lasts until 2024. The UK was identified by the IMF alongside the US as at particular risk from looming inflationary pressures.
Markets are pricing in a surge in UK inflation to 6pc by next spring and are bracing for three interest rate rises at the Bank of England in the next 12 months to combat price pressures, including one before Christmas. But a faster pace of rate rises to rein in inflation would slam the brakes on the UK’s recovery, worsening the economic blow dealt by the current shortages.


text:
Tokyo stocks plunged Friday, the first trading day of 2019, with the Nikkei index falling over 2 percent, as investors worried about the global economic outlook following heavy losses overnight on Wall Street amid a profit warning from Apple Inc.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 452.81 points, or 2.26 percent, from Dec. 28 at 19,561.96. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 22.93 points, or 1.53 percent, lower at 1,471.16.
It was the first time since 2016 that Tokyo stocks ended lower on the first day of the year's trading. Japanese markets were closed from Monday to Thursday for holidays.
Decliners were led by precision instrument, electric appliance and machinery issues.
Tokyo stocks tumbled with the Nikkei index briefly dropping nearly 4 percent, or 750 points, in the morning following a plunge in U.S. shares on Thursday after Apple the previous day cut its sales forecast for the final quarter of 2018 due partly to slower iPhone sales in China.
The yen's temporary appreciation against the U.S. dollar to the upper 107 yen range in the morning from the lower 110 yen level seen late last week also hurt exporter issues, brokers said. Shares later recouped part of their losses in tandem with rising Chinese stocks.
Apple's weaker sales forecast fueled risk aversion that had already spread among market players on weaker-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data for December released earlier this week, said Shingo Ide, chief equity strategist at the NLI Research Institute.
"Investors also refrained from actively buying stocks ahead of the releases later in the day of U.S. nonfarm payrolls data for December and U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech," Ide added.
(Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso, 2nd from R, rings the bell at the Tokyo Stock Exchange to mark the first trading day of 2019)
On the First Section, declining issues outnumbered advancers 1,475 to 598, while 56 ended the day unchanged.
Apple suppliers and other technology shares met selling on the U.S. company's announcement. Electric component maker Taiyo Yuden plummeted 160 yen, or 9.8 percent, to 1,476 yen while Murata Manufacturing also tumbled 1,465 yen, or 9.8 percent, to 13,490 yen.
Growing concerns about the Chinese economic outlook weighed on companies highly exposed to the world's second-largest economy. Industrial robot maker Yaskawa Electric sagged 180 yen, or 6.7 percent, to 2,518 yen, with cosmetics maker Shiseido dropping 376 yen, or 5.5 percent, to 6,516 yen.
Bucking the downward trend, utility issues perceived as relatively immune to external conditions gained ground. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings climbed 45 yen, or 6.9 percent, to 698 yen.
Trading volume on the main section rose to 1,551.30 million shares from 1,195.06 million shares on Dec. 28.


text:
Vevo CEO Erik Huggers has confirmed that the company is working on a subscription service.
The chief exec was speaking at Code/Media yesterday and said that the paid-for Vevo could launch as soon as this year.
"We believe in a dual revenue stream. We've got a phenomenal sales force who knocked it out of the park in 2015, the biggest year in Vevo history," Huggers said. "We want to build on that strength. The second piece would be a pay ...
Register for a Music Week trial to access this article.
Sign up for your digital free trial to Music Week, the no 1 weekly trade magazine for anyone who needs to understand the business of music. For four whole weeks we will provide you with great, in-depth journalism that gets right inside the business of music.Start your free trial


text:
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said today, Oct. 4, that the United States will negotiate with China on its compliance with the phase one trade agreement, including the failure to not honored their commitments to buy American agricultural products.
In a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Tai said, “I will outline the starting point of our administration’s strategic vision to realign our trade policies towards China in order to defend the interests of workers, businesses, American farmers and producers, and strengthen our middle class.
“First of all, we will discuss with China its performance under the phase one agreement. China has made commitments that benefit certain American industries, including agriculture, that we must uphold.
Tai also said she intends to “realize President Biden’s vision for a worker-centered trade policy in the US-China trade dynamic.”
“We have to show that trade policy can be a force for good in the lives of ordinary people. “
She did not say that the United States intended to enter into a phase two trade agreement with China.
Tai later added in the speech, “Although we have seen more exports to China in recent years, market share is shrinking and agriculture remains an unpredictable sector for American farmers and ranchers who rely heavily on it. this market. Chinese regulatory authorities continue to deploy measures that limit or threaten market access for our producers – and their bottom line. “
Asked at a press conference today about Tai’s comment that China has been “an unpredictable sector” for US exports, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said “US agriculture has benefited purchases made by China “but that the relationship with China is so complex that it is essential for diversifying US export markets.
Vilsack also said that China was missing $ 5 billion in its commitment to buy American goods, and although it has fulfilled 50 of the commitments it made to change its policy, it has not resolved seven. points, including its positions on biotechnology.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., Said Tai “presented a clear and comprehensive strategy for US-China trade relations in a way that supports American workers while developing and strengthening the US economy “.
“China, over the years, has increasingly resorted to non-market and anti-competitive practices to the detriment of the global trading system,” Neal said. “It is essential that we use all of our tools, and in some cases create new tools, to hold China accountable for its actions. In partnership with our allies around the world, we must clearly affirm our commitment to democratic values and fair competition while trying to continue constructive engagement with Beijing. American products, workers, industry and farmers will see the best results if our actions are thoughtful and deliberate, not thoughtful and blind. “
Representative Kevin Brady, R-Texas, the most senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said, “Ambassador Tai is a talented US trade representative who understands the importance of developing an aggressive strategy and ambitious to level the playing field with China. “
“Due to President Biden’s de facto moratorium on new trade deals which sadly leaves America on the sidelines while our overseas competitors share customers around the world, it is more important than ever that the USTR go beyond – beyond just implementing the phase one agreement with China, ”Brady said.


text:
Apple has challenged hackers all over the world to hack its iPhone, reveal how they did it and earn $1 million.
This was announced by the iPhone maker during the annual Black Hat hacker convention in Las Vegas. Apple limited its bug bounty program to a restricted list of friendly hackers in the past, but it has now opened up the reward to everyone.
Hackers who can show that they can gain remote access to the very core of Apple’s iOS software without needing the target, the phone’s user to take action will get the top prize for only very specific task.
These kinds of bug bounty programs in which companies invite hackers to find vulnerabilities in their system have become increasingly popular in recent years as a way of preventing criminals from finding and exploiting those flaws first.
Apple’s $1 million reward is in line with what hackers would likely be paid for uncovering such a bug.


text:
Expand the Single-Use Plastics BanFeatured
HEJSupport joined more than 60 organizations calling on the Canadian federal government to expand the list of banned single-use plastic by adding new categories. They request Canada include a more comprehensive list of problematic plastics and substances.
The current ban covers only about 3 percent of the plastic waste generated nationwide. To meet this goal, the production, distribution, sale, import and export of problematic and unnecessary plastic must be phased out through stronger regulatory action.
See the letter below.


text:
NEENAH, Wis. — Horseshoe Beverage Co., maker of Black Stag coffee, is introducing a new ready-to-drink (RTD) brew: Black Stag Lattes.
The drinks will be sold in October at retailers nationwide including grocery, drug and club stores, as well as La Crosse, Wis.-based Kwik Trip convenience-stores.
Black Stag Lattes are made with 100% Arabica coffee and quality ingredients and have 40% less sugar than the leading brand, according to the company. They come in four flavors: Mocha, Vanilla, Caramel and Original.
“Consumers told us they want a lower-sugar latte without sacrificing great taste,” said Pete Sawin, vice president of marketing and general manager of Horseshoe Beverage. “We are proud to provide these delicious, craft-quality coffee beverages, made in the heart of America’s Dairyland, to customers throughout the country.”
The lattes come in 13.7-ounce single-serve glass bottles and 12-pack cases.
Horseshoe Beverage, Neenah, Wis., is a manufacturer of ready-to-drink coffee and shelf-stable beverages. Its focus is on creating quality in its vertically integrated facility, according to the company.


text:
Thor Equities has struck a deal with Salvation Army to buy its prime corner spot at 176 Bedford Avenue, the developer announced today. The price was not disclosed, but sources tell us it is $36,000,000.
The deal is in contract and has not yet closed. The intersection is perhaps the most heavily trafficked spot in red-hot Williamsburg. It sits over the Bedford Avenue L station.
The site could potentially support 14,400 square feet of “rentable” space, said a press release. It fronts North 7th and Bedford for 120 square feet.
“In addition to undergoing an extraordinary amount of residential and commercial development in recent years, Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg has become a major shopping and dining hub, with strong demand and limited availability of new, high-quality retail space,” Thor Equities Joseph Sitt said in a prepared statement.
Salvation Army closed its store a couple years ago, demolished the existing building, and started construction work at the site, pictured above. It said it planned to build a new store that would also be a Salvation Army, and had no plans to sell the property. Plans changed as prices in the area rose and global retailers such as Jcrew, Urban Outfitters, Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks moved in.
Apple and Whole Foods are building new stores a few blocks away on Bedford, as we have reported. The official address of the site may change to 180 Bedford, as that is the address Thor Equities used in its announcement.
176 Bedford Avenue Coverage [Brownstoner]


text:
Mobilize Conference -- San Francisco -- The main topic of conversation here at Mobilize 2010 is apps. Mobile apps. That being so, quite a number of app developers are here networking with venture capital people and press, and showing off their apps a...
Samsung is dropping support for Symbian from its Mobile Innovator developer support program, it said in a letter sent out on Thursday.
Panasonic is expanding its Lumix digital camera brand to cell phones and will unveil its first "Lumix Phone" at next week's Ceatec electronics show in Japan, the company said Friday.
BenQ launched its second-generation e-reader on Friday, a device able to download e-books via Wi-Fi or 3G networks and take notes using the touchscreen.
Google has expanded the number of countries where paid applications are offered on Android Market. Developers in 20 more countries will be able to sell their applications, and users in 18 additional countries will be able to purchase those apps, the ...
MetroPCS, with a customer base of just 7.6 million, doesn't seem the most likely mobile operator to launch the first commercial LTE networks in the U.S., but its small size actually was one of the reasons the carrier jumped on the new technology, Met...
One of the elements of Android that is often touted over iOS and other mobile platforms is that it is open source. The open nature of Android means that vendors can build on and extend the platform, or that developers are free to create apps unfetter...
Hardware and software enhancements could transform future smartphones into full-fledged gaming consoles or even weather stations, attendees at a processor conference said this week.
Be careful what you wish for, it might come back to haunt your wallet.
One year ago, if you told an average person you were thinking about buying an Android, they'd have thought you were some sort of robot-mongering madman.
iPass unveiled an application Thursday designed to give Android smartphone users secure connections to 150,000 Wi-Fi hotspots globally.
Despite what had been growing excitement about the semiconductor market this year, one research company is lowering its chip revenue forecast for 2010.
Online banking is about to get even more convenient for PayPal users who will soon be able to deposit checks via their iPhone. Simply sign the back of your check, take a picture of the front and back of the check, and hit send on the PayPal iPhone Ap...
Nokia announced that its highly anticipated N8 smartphone started shipping this week, amid reports last week of delays in shipping the device to those who preordered the phone. The N8 is Nokia's latest attempt to regain its share of the smartphone ma...
The Web page once reserved for Google's Nexus One phone is now a monument to Android phones in general -- or at least the ones Google likes best.
Most Popular Reviews
- 1 HTC One Mini 2 android smartphone
- 2 Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Windows 8.1 tablet
- 3 Medion Akoya E4110 (MD 8239) desktop PC
- 4 Samsung Galaxy Tab S (10.5) 4G review
- 5 Dell Inspiron 11 3000 Series convertible laptop
Best Deals on GoodGearGuide
Latest News Articles
- Virgin Atlantic picks Gogo for in-flight connectivity
- Twitter patches vulnerability that could have impacted advertising accounts
- Cisco buys private cloud provider Metacloud
- VMware gives desktop admins more control with Mirage update
- Open document formats campaign backed by EU's digital commissioner
GGG Evaluation Team
First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.


text:
AR platform Threedium launches partnership to help brands enter metaverse
3D and AR platform Threedium has announced a strategic partnership with web3 advisory RarerThings to provide its clients with a suite of metaverse ready products and services.
The partnership will initially focus on providing existing Threedium clients with strategic web3 advice and offering RarerThings clients access to Threedium’s products, with additional plans to launch metaverse entry packages.
Threedium said it has seen an enormous surge in interest from its clients taking their first step into web3 in recent months and has extended its 3D product capabilities to cater to the demand by including NFT and metaverse compatibility into its product suite. A recent example was Decentraland’s Metaverse Fashion Week that was held in March, with Threedium helping multiple clients create experiences and 3D wearables for the event.
Mike Charalambous, CEO of Threedium said: "Having worked with RarerThings in an advisory capacity ourselves for the past year, it made perfect sense to deepen our relationship by extending the cutting edge web3 strategic services that RarerThings provide to our client base."
Stefan Kovach, Founder and CEO of RarerThings added: "There is no better 3D provider than Threedium. Given their push into NFTs and the metaverse, many of their blue-chip clients are also looking for help shaping their holistic web3 strategies, which is why the partnership is a natural and powerful fit.
"Amongst the opportunities, we are actively pursuing is metaverse ready packages that will enable brands to quickly run meaningful and on-brand proof of concepts, with full support from strategy, land provision, build, marketing and community management."


text:
In a speech at the New York Economic Club earlier this fall, Trump said over-regulation costs our economy $2 trillion a year and reduces household wealth by $15,000 dollars. A study released in 2010 from the SBA Office of Advocacy came to similar conclusions.
The entrepreneurs and small business owners CNBC spoke to across the country generally agree that U.S. regulations can be costly and cumbersome. Some gripe that staying in compliance with the many layers of local, state and federal regulations is a task that requires constant attention. But others shrug off regulation as the cost of doing business. They call it a minimal annoyance, one that's not overly intrusive. They respect the government's need to protect consumers.
What are regulations, exactly? What purpose do they serve? How do actual small business owners feel about them? Here's what CNBC found.