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Street Fighter 25th Anniversary
World Series Tournament
As part of its year-long celebration to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Street Fighter series Capcom is pleased to confirm the first ever official European fighting games tournament featuring solely titles from this iconic series.
Taking place during Paris Games Week (October 31-November 4), The European Masters will provide a stage for the best fighting game players from across Europe to showcase their skills and compete for the opportunity to represent Europe in the World Finals this December in San Francisco.
Contestants in the European Master Series will battle it out on the following titles
-Super StreetFigherIVArcadeEdition ver.2012
-Street FighterIII: 3rd Strike – Online Edition
Ahead of the European Masters Series (EMS), a series of local qualifying tournaments will be held across 16 European countries where players will fight for the right to represent their country. A full list of these qualifying tournaments will be made available shortly athttp://www.streetfightercup.com
After five days of intense competition at the European Master Series in Paris, the top two fighters of the Super Street Fighter IV AE ver.2012 and Street Fighter X Tekken tournaments and the two first place finishers of the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike events will all win a spot to represent Europe and compete in the World Finals of The Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Tournament in San Francisco and a chance to compete for a huge cash-prize pool, including a limited edition custom Scion FR-S Sports Car!
The entire tournament series has a total prize pool worth of $500.000 of cash prizes, non-cash prizes and amenities.
Capcom will provide transport and accommodation for the World Finals in San Francisco to the winners of the European Master Series of Street Fighter.
All games will be broadcast over the Internet with a live commentary at http://www.twitch.tv/capcomunity
, don’t miss the show!
All the official information is available at:
Street Fighter 25th Anniversary website (English): http://www.streetfighter25.com
Master Series Europe website (French/English): http://www.streetfightercup.com
FOR MORE INFORMATION,PLEASE CONTACT:
Guillaume Dorison (Asenka)
Street Fighter Community Manager
Mob : +33 6 64 50 15 31
Fax : +33 1 39 73 16 15
Facebook : CapcomFrance & AsenkaStreetFighter
Mail : firstname.lastname@example.org
Aurélien Laureau (Kurama Tengu)
Facebook : aurelien.kuramatengu.laureauhttp://www.capcomeuro-press.com


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Renault Kwid Facelift to Launch Next Month: Report
The car was recently spotted featuring a host of styling tweaks mainly inspired from its electric sibling K-ZE that is sold abroad.
Renault Kwid Facelift. (Image source: Cartoq)
French automaker Renault has got its plate full with a busy schedule in the coming few months. The company launched the Duster facelift last month followed by the unveiling of Triber MPV. And fresh in its pipeline is the Kwid hatchback facelift that is soon expected to be launched in India soon.
We are still blurry on its mechanical reach and if Renault will retain its current figures. The recently launched Triber gets the same engine as the Kwid but in a different state of tune that produces 72bhp and 96Nm of torque. If so, the new Kwid could be close to the aforementioned figures if not the same. The engine will be BS-VI compliant and will be mated to the same transmission of 5-speed manual or AMT.
The Kwid on sale at the moment gets ABS, twin airbags, reverse parking sensors, seat belt reminder and speed alerts in order to meet Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program (BNVSAP) norms. This is expected to remain untouched. Given the engine compliant to the new norms, the car may get a slight price hike.
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The third-quarter financial reporting season kicked off last week, and early results are hinting that the cable advertising market may be starting to bounce back.
While domestic ad sales were down for most programmers — Discovery Communications was the lone gainer — those declines were better than the previous quarter, which fueled some optimism about the remainder of the year.
Viacom was first out of the blocks, reporting its third-quarter results last Tuesday, and though revenue was down 3% to $3.3 billion in the period, operating income rose 14% to $784 million in the period, driven mostly by its Media Networks and Filmed Entertainment divisions.
Revenue at Media Networks, which includes MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, was flat, but operating income increased 2%.
Domestic advertising revenue was down 4% in the period, an improvement over the 6% decline in the second quarter. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said on a conference call with analysts that there are continued signs that the ad market is improving.
“Over the course of the third quarter, we started to see the negative economic trends that we all have been dealing with begin to attenuate,” Dauman said, adding that while the road is expected to be bumpy, the moves that Viacom has made in the past to keep costs in line has the media giant moving in the right direction.
Discovery Communications kept its hitting streak alive in the period, reporting its third straight quarter of positive ad-revenue growth.
Domestic-advertising revenue was $261 million in the period, up 5% for Discovery.
For the period, Discovery reported total revenue of $854 million, a 1% increase over the prior year. Adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization (AOIBDA, a measure of cash flow) increased 17% to $364 million in the period.
Free cash flow fell $170 million to $29 million in the period, mainly because of $89 million in cash taxes associated with the sale of a 50% interest in Discovery Kids and the timing of $59 million in additional tax payments related to prior periods.
On a conference call with analysts, Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the company has positioned itself to capture a larger share of the available ad dollars through ratings growth and holding back some inventory from the upfront. He said that the Discovery networks held back about 15% of their upfront inventory for the scatter market. Scatter pricing is up in the high-single digits to mid-teens percentages.
Zaslav pointed to networks like TLC, which went from the 15th-highest-rated ad supported network at the beginning of the year to the eighth-largest today, and Animal Planet, which reported 12% ratings growth in the third quarter, as examples.
“Visibility is relatively limited, but demand is much improved,” Zaslav said, adding that the networks expect to deliver ad revenue growth in 2010 as well.
Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes rounded out the week, reporting a 1% decline in ad sales at its cable networks, including CNN, TNT and Cartoon Network. That was better than the prior quarter — when ad revenue declined 3% — but worse than the same period last year, when advertising revenue increased 1%.
On a conference call with analysts, Bewkes said scatter-market pricing is up in the high single digits compared with the upfront. But the company expected a decline in ad sales in the fourth quarter, he said, mainly because of lower ratings at some networks (which he called “anomalies”) and deals cut in the summer when pricing was lower.
At News Corp., the main driver for a 41% increase in operating income during the fiscal first quarter was higher affiliate fees (up 18%), but management said that cable ad revenue was getting better. Although no exact figure was released, chairman Rupert Murdoch said on a conference call that though cable ad sales were down in the quarter, they were nowhere near the declines in broadcasting and appear to be pacing better in the fiscal second quarter.


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FDA to medical-device makers: Prepare for hackers
The Food and Drug Administration wants med-tech companies to ensure their devices can withstand cybersecurity threats.
Regulators are concerned that hackers and viruses could cause medical devices to malfunction, The Wall Street Journal reports. The FDA isn't aware of such problems causing patient deaths, but the agency has received more reports of cybersecurity threats impacting radiological equipment.
The agency also told med-tech companies it wants them to address cybsecurity issues when they seek approval to sell devices.
Medtronic has acknowledged that hacker attacks pose risks to devices and has worked with firms such as Symantec to investigate security issues. Fridley-based Medtronic told WSJ that the "benefits of the therapy outweigh these risks."
Last year, Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) officials met with a computer security professional who demonstrated that insulin pumps are vulnerable ego hacker attacks.
>Click here to read the WSJ story.
Katharine Grayson covers med tech, clean tech, technology, health care and venture capital.
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It's, therefore, a super-premium product that trumps geopolitics. So, what is it? More clues. Cleopatra bathed with it, Alexander the Great used it to heal battle wounds, it adds that special touch to Indian biryani and Italian risotto, to super premium cakes and lavishly cooked kheer, and it enhances the quality of your skin as well as that of your sex life – if you can afford the Rs 2 lakh/kg price tag.
It's saffron, the world's most expensive spice. Its economics is made for super premium pricing and, when it intersects with global politics, it also produces a fascinating underground trade.
Iran produces 95 per cent of the world's saffron. India, along with Spain, Italy, Greece, Morocco and Ajerbaijan, produce the rest. Kashmir is India's only saffron producing centre and thanks to floods this year, is facing a possible 75 per cent shortfall in production of the spice. It takes 1 lakh flowers to produce 1 kg of saffron, and output is typically just half a kg per hectare.
That kind of production norm, plus the fact of Iran being the biggest saffron producer, means two things. First, there's always excess demand for saffron and prices always remain high. Second, given sanctions on Iran and high demand from the US, non-regular trade in saffron thrives. Saffron smugglers are called pigeons in the trade and the fact that metal detectors are of no use against this pricey spice is an incentive for non-regular saffron supply chains.
Those who know saffron trade say Iranian saffron is bought by traders in countries like Dubai and then shipped to other parts of the world, including Canada. Canada to the US, with country of origin masked, is an easy supply route for saffron. Washington-Teheran tensions, a regular fixture in international relations, haven't stopped American consumers from getting their hand on Iran's premium quality saffron.
Kashmir's agricultural officials and saffron growers say the valley's saffron is premium quality as well. But the saffron industry is divided about product quality of Kashmiri saffron. Some experts say Kashmir's increasing urbanisation is not good for maintaining saffron quality. But Srinagar's officials hotly deny this.
"Saffron grown in Kashmir commands premium in the market," says director of Jammu & Kashmir agriculture department Mushtaq Ahmad Shah. There may be debate on quality but on quantity everyone agrees – floods have wrecked Kashmiri production of saffron, prices have jumped by Rs 10,000 per kg in the last two days and traders expect prices to go up more and cross Rs 2 lakh/kg.
Even in normal years, Indian demand outstrips domestic production of 15,000 kg. This year, therefore, businesses that use saffron are worried. Snack and ice-cream makers such as Haldiram, Vadilal and Bikaji are big buyers of saffron. "We have not started procurement of saffron yet but there are reports about poor harvest this year," said Vadilal group MD Rajesh Gandhi. Bulk buyers like Gandhi will have a problem.
So, what of India's elite users of saffron, those who like the spice as an ingredient in fine food and fine living? Or what about big temples and gurudwaras, which are big customers of saffron?
Traders say top-end users of saffron are rarely deprived of their favourite spice. Last year, the super-wealthy Guruvayur temple inked an agreement with J&K Agro Industries Development Corp to procure 10 kg of saffron every month. Saffron is a key ingredient of the Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh faiths. Saffron and sandal pastes are often used to anoint idols and statues. It is also used in many rituals.
Recently, people thronged to the Chhoti Dadabari Jain temple in New Delhi's South Extension to observe a 'miracle' of saffron water flowing from a marble carving of a Jain saint's feet, known as 'charan pratishtha'. For other elite lovers of saffron, there will be other ways to get their hands on the world's most expensive spice. Price is no object for these customers, and there's always Iranian saffron.
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- Regardless of shedding over 200 million of its customers in India following the ban, TikTok continues to be the highest-grossing app worldwide.
- It took Fb and Instagram nearly a decade to get a humongous person base dimension; whereas it took TikTok barely 4 years.
TikTok, often known as Douyin domestically in China, all the time has its eyes set on international social media domination. The video-sharing app has been put in on gadgets over 2.6 billion instances worldwide. It handed the 1 billion-milestone in February 2019 and the two billion-figure in April 2020. It reached 2.6 billion by December 2020 and is undoubtedly nicely on the way in which to three billion now. Amidst such development, Fb is making an attempt its absolute best to catch up.
Regardless of shedding India, its largest abroad market, the ByteDance-owned app continues to be the top-grossing non-game app on the earth as of final yr. Sensor Tower’s month-to-month report reveals that TikTok hit US$102.5 million in income throughout the first half of 2020 — an 8.6x enhance in income over the identical time in 2019.
Each TikTok and Douyin amassed over 2 billion downloads and penetrated one-third of all social media customers on this planet in lower than 4 quick years. For the previous, a tempting 500 million customers had signed up final yr alone, and that’s half of all Instagram customers. TikTok is especially huge amongst youngsters, with almost 60% of all TikTok customers are of that age group – the video-sharing app already beats Fb’s personal social service in addition to Fb-owned Instagram in recognition amongst America’s youngest and largest technology. Such fast traction has after all caught the eye of the Fb social empire.
A story of two social media codecs
TikTok is the Chinese language short-video social app the place individuals create parodies and in any other case frivolous quick cell movies that contain both dancing, lip-syncing, or appearing out trending scenes, jokes, or songs. There may be much less concentrate on privateness and buddies, however relatively on attention-grabbing and even instructional quick video content material. Particularly for the reason that pandemic, TikTok is understood for its remixing of tradition: taking the audio from another person’s clip and reimagining the gag in a brand new context by layering it atop a video you file.
This can be a entire new social media format that has taken the eye of just about everybody who has heard of the idea. As Fb has completed up to now, if the social pioneer couldn’t purchase its competitors, it could attempt to replicate its hottest characteristic. That’s how Snapchat’s disappearing photograph/video characteristic ultimately appeared on Fb’s and Instagram’s residence screens (Fb-owned messaging service WhatsApp launched a nearly similar characteristic not lengthy after).
Mark Zuckerberg has been making an attempt to clone TikTok or taking it over, however all makes an attempt had been resisted by TikTok’s Chinese language proprietor Bytedance. Maybe, that makes TikTok distinct sufficient that will probably be very troublesome to shoehorn into the present variations of Instagram or Fb, even when they add the remixing performance. Most movies on these apps or options owned by Fb aren’t designed to be templates for memes, like TikTok’s are.
As an alternative, Insta and Fb’s social graphs are rooted in private connections and are supported by a well-established ecosystem – however don’t embody the brand new wave of Gen-Z newbie performers that TikTok elevates. If Zuckerberg and Co. have been to boil down the person expertise of TikTok into simply its primary characteristic, Fb will miss out on proudly owning the social leisure feed.
Fb’s reign as social media king in jeopardy
To recall, Fb made its first try to kill TikTok in 2018, after it hit 650 million customers. Then, America’s social media big launched a copycat app known as Lasso, however it didn’t draw a lot curiosity and Fb shut it down. For context, Lasso has been put in a complete of 425,000 instances because it launched, whereas TikTok has 640 million installs in the identical interval exterior of China.
It was the identical for Snapchat — with the launch of its disappearing tales, it began to explode with US teenagers. Fb’s makes an attempt to clone it in standalone apps like Poke and Slingshot by no means gained traction. In reality, none of Fb’s standalone apps have succeeded until they splintered off an already common piece of Fb-like chat and customers have been pressured to obtain them like Messenger.
It wasn’t till Zuckerberg caught his clone of Tales front-and-center atop Instagram and Fb that Snapchat’s person depend went from rising 18% per quarter to shrinking. There, Fb used the identical technique specified by Zuckerberg’s feedback on TikTok — push its good-enough clone in international locations the place the unique isn’t common but.
Then in November 2020, Fb’s Instagram launched a characteristic known as Reels, obtainable solely in sure international locations, together with for India’s 1.3 billion individuals after TikTok was banned in that nation. In a put up on its company weblog, Fb stated Reels lets customers file and edit 15-second multi-clip movies with audio, results, and artistic instruments.
Zuckerberg has even gone out of his approach to say that TikTok deserves extra scrutiny. “Whereas our providers, like WhatsApp, are utilized by protesters and activists in every single place on account of sturdy encryption and privateness protections, on TikTok, the Chinese language app rising shortly around the globe, mentions of those protests are censored, even within the U.S.,” Zuckerberg stated throughout a speech at Georgetown College final yr. “Is that the web we wish?” All stated and completed, TikTok is certainly an existential menace to Fb, which because the reigning high canine is underneath fixed strain to keep up person development throughout its providers.
Regardless of being one of many latest social media platforms, TikTok’s person base is rising quickly and it’s shortly changing into an amazing alternative for companies to achieve new, bigger audiences. The amount of customers and the speed at which it’s rising signifies that it may possibly present entry to an enormous viewers and it appears to be simpler than on different channels to create video content material that goes viral and reaches tons of or 1000’s of individuals.
Additionally, provided that TikTok is utilized in over 150 totally different international locations, viral movies on the platform can attain everywhere in the world. If a enterprise is taking a look at reaching worldwide markets, then TikTok is an efficient platform for connecting with new audiences in different international locations.
Whereas the development for video advertising isn’t going away anytime quickly, TikTok is an efficient approach to develop the attain of video content material. If a enterprise just isn’t already utilizing video then it gives a reasonably accessible approach to incorporate video into an current advertising technique.


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Wegmans: Everything you ever wanted to know about the Harrison store
Through the end of the year, reporters will be looking back at and following up on stories and topics that resonated strongly with our readers in 2018, according to metrics on lohud.com. This story is part of that series.
Wegmans is coming to Harrison. That much you likely know. But since December 2016 when the much-beloved grocery chain made the announcement, what has been going on behind the scenes? Here's a look at the past two years, plus everything you ever wanted to know about the store.
What has been going on?
December 2016: The announcement is made. Wegmans Food Markets signs a purchase agreement with Normandy Real Estate Partners for 20 acres at 106-110 Corporate Park Drive, off Interstate 287.
According to the announcement, the 100-year-old company plans to build a 125,000-square-foot store and an 8,000-square-foot retail building.
The two-story store will also include a cafe for customers.
"My first reaction was 'Oh my God," said Harrison Mayor Ron Belmont, who himself grew up in the grocery business. "It was very near-and-dear to me that we get a store like this in our town. I said a prayer or two that it all would work out, and it did."
May 2017: The town planning board unanimously votes to allow the grocery to skip a full environmental review process under the state Environmental Quality Review Act.
July 2017: The planning board gives Wegmans its full approval, moving the process to the town board, which has final say over all development projects.
August 2017: Paperwork signed. Wegmans receives its final planning approval for a 125,000-square-foot grocery, moving it a major step closer to construction.
December 2018: Boom goes the dynamite. The demolition of three vacant office buildings at 106-110 Corporate Park Drive is complete, and construction crews begin preparing to lay building foundations as asphalt and trees are cleared.
Spring 2019: That basic site work started in December work will continue through winter, said company spokeswoman Valerie Fox. Construction of the 125,000-square-foot market is expected to begin in the spring.
When will it open?
Good question. Unfortunately, the date remains a secret. Company representatives have not given an estimated opening date. Here's what we do know:
Seth Mandelbaum, a lawyer representing Wegmans, told the Harrison Board of Trustees at a meeting the grocery is expected to open one year after the building foundation is laid.
As for town officials, Harrison Mayor Ron Belmont had originally hoped for a July 2019 opening date, but said April 2020 may be more realistic.
What will the store sell?
At an average of 120,000 square feet, Wegmans can afford to draw large crowds. Wegmans stores are three times the size of a typical grocery store. And that means they can fit three times as much stuff, making room for a cheese selection that features 700 varieties, a kosher deli, enough bulk candy to make anyone squeal and a vast collection of wine. It should be noted, however, that grocery stores are not legally allowed to sell wine in New York State. Wegmans representatives have not yet given details on exactly what will be offered at their Harrison location.
Will traffic be bad?
Two traffic reports have been conducted, one by a town consultant and the other by Wegmans. The final conclusion of both: "The proposed action will not have a significant adverse impact on area traffic operating conditions," read the Wegmans' traffic study from February 2017.
The report's findings, echoed by the town's study, predicted only a "marginal increase" in weekday evening and Saturday afternoon traffic, while weekday morning traffic is expected to be less intense than if five recently demolished office buildings had remained standing.
Want even more Wegmans info?


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In 2020, Indonesia’s food delivery service accounted for USD 3.7 billion in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), making it the largest market in the region. Overall, the region’s GMV registered a 183% increase from previous year and exceeding the 91% growth rate from 2018 – 2019. Despite stern competitions, Grab contributed nearly half of the region’s GMV, followed by Foodpanda, Gojek, Deliveroo, LineMan and Now.
The rise of food delivery is driven by the Covid-19 pandemic as Indonesians experience series of lockdown that restrict mobility and food establishment’s occupancy and operational hours. Indonesian customers have now access to more than 20 million food and beverage items.
To solidify its position, Grab continues to push for innovation in the food business and recently announced a new partnership with Yummy Corp, a cloud kitchen startup. Merchants on Yummy will be integrated into Grab’s ecosystem. Besides Grab, other e-commerce players, such as Tokopedia and Sea Group’s Shopee have put up ready-to-eat food and beverage items on their platforms, although they depend on Grab and Gojek for last-mile delivery.
(Sources: The Jakarta Post; KrAsia)


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Though Apple first made a secret trademark filing for its upcoming IoT high-end speaker, the HomePod, back in May in Liechtenstein, a country that sits between Austria and Switzerland, the company has now made its first public filing for the speaker in Canada.
The trademark filing, which was made on June 5th following the tech giant’s WWDC keynote in San Jose, California, covers products like “audio speakers,” “audio amplifiers” and receivers, including “controlling and monitoring consumer electronics devices, lighting, appliances, thermostats, heating and air conditioning systems, alarm and home security and surveillance systems, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.”
The full filing, originally uncovered by PatentlyApple, can be found below:
“Audio speakers; audio amplifiers and receivers; music digital audio players and recorders; sound recording and reproducing apparatus; microphones; voice recording apparatuses, namely, digital voice recorders; voice recording and recognition apparatuses, namely, microphones for receiving voice data; radios, radio transmitters, and radio receivers; wireless communication devices for voice or data transmission; digital audio and digital video players and recorders; wireless communication devices for the transmission of voice, data, images, audio, video, and multimedia content; computer hardware for playing, organizing, downloading, transmitting, manipulating and reviewing audio files and media files; electronic devices capable of providing access to the Internet and for the sending, receiving, and storing of telephone calls, electronic mail, and other digital data; voice-controlled smart audio speakers with virtual personal assistant capabilities; personal digital assistant; electronic voice command and recognition and remote control apparatus and devices for controlling and monitoring consumer electronics devices, lighting, appliances, thermostats, heating and air conditioning systems, alarm and home security and surveillance systems, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, door and window locks and latches, and home automation systems; network communication apparatus; remote controls; accessories for smart audio speakers.”
Apple’s A8-powered HomePod is coming “later this year” to the U.S., U.K. and Australia, with a launch in other regions, presumably including Canada, at some point in 2018.
The HomePod is currently listed at $349 USD (about $470 CAD), putting its price significantly above the Amazon Echo and Google Home.
Source: Patently Apple


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The country’s two major cab aggregator services — Ola and Uber — are reportedly in talks for a merger and the deal is apparently being brokered by Japanese investment giant SoftBank. It is learnt that the talks have been on for some time and is spearheaded by SoftBank, and not the cab aggregators, that has substantial investments in both the companies.
When contacted by the IndianExpress.com, both, Uber India and Ola, denied that any merger talks were underway.
However, sources in the know of the developments suggested that any such merger will only happen if Uber holds a majority stake in the merged entity.
These merger talks come two days after Uber Inc agreed to sell its Southeast Asian operations to rival Grab for a 27.5 per cent stake in that company. Uber had operations in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will have a seat in the boardroom. In October last year, Uber ended operations in China, selling its service to Didi Chuxing. When asked what implications the Grab deal will have on its India operations, Khosrowshahi said the company will invest “whatever we have to in order to succeed in India”.
“The great news about our Grab deal is that it allows us to double down to invest aggressively in our core markets – and we consider India very much as core to Uber’s success… we will be more focused on organic growth in the markets that we are operating in,” Khosrowshahi told PTI. He said that India is among its top three markets after US and Latin America and it accounts for 10 per cent of its global trips. In 2017, Uber provided four billion rides worldwide. In October last year, Ola secured $2 billion in new funding from a group of investors including SoftBank and Tencent Holdings Ltd, giving it the upperhand in the $10 billion industry, 90 per cent of which is controlled by Ola and Uber.
On its part, Uber sold a 15 per cent stake worth a total of $9 billion to Softbank, making the Japanese conglomorate its largest investor. The deal also includes a direct investment of $1.25 billion into Uber.
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Image: Courtesy of the Obakki Foundation
What if you could actually help someone by shopping? Vancouver’s Obakki Foundation has started its Scarves For Water program, launching a new limited-edition ORCHID scarf ($29). Proceeds from the sale of each scarf will go toward building a water well in Ronga, a remote village in South Sudan.
Obakki Foundation founder Treana Peake visited Ronga recently and was inspired to do something to help once she learned that the people in this village have little to no access to clean, running water and have to get it across the border in another county: A conflict zone where retaliation killings and sexual assaults are all too common.
With every 500 scarves sold, a well is built in an identified village in South Sudan. One hundred percent of the net proceeds of each scarf goes toward building a well in its identified community and the Obakki Foundation gives 100 percent of all public donations directly to its projects. Now that’s the kind of fashion company we can get behind.
Image: Courtesy of the Obakki Foundation
To date, the Obakki Foundation has provided medical, educational and nutritional support to thousands of children living around the world. More than 703 water wells in South Sudan have been drilled or rehabilitated to help reach the charity’s goal: one million people with access to clean water.
To find out more, click here.
As language evolves, so does the dictionary, which is why Merriam-Webster is announcing the newest additions to its famed reference tome. Many of the new words refer to tech or Internet-related phenomena, including emoji, which we would have liked to see entered in the dictionary with actual emoji characters. But you know, baby steps.
Included in the selection of Internet words, clickbait, meme, photobomb, click fraud, NSFW and the humble WTF are among the 1,700 new entries added to the dictionary. Other additions include vocal fry (the Kardashians’ preferred tone of communication), macaron (fashion’s once-preferred snack), crema, chilaquiles, Lambrusco and oh, there it is: we’re hungry now.
Some of the words added don’t even sound like words we’ve ever heard, but perhaps we’re just not in the loop with all the cool kids hunting colossal squid or misappropriating phrases like “at a loss for words” for eggcorns like “at a lost for words.”
But at least you can go to bed tonight knowing that the dictionary has officially legitimized all the tech jargon you use every day. Photobomb away!
Forbes is all about the ladies today. The magazine released its list of 100 most powerful women in the world, which includes fashionable names like Anna Wintour, Diane von Furstenberg and Tory Burch. Forbes also highlights on a separate list, 50 of America’s richest self-made women, many of whom – surprise – made their fortune off fashion.
Coming in at #3 on the list is Gap co-founder Doris Fisher, who is worth $3.1 billion, followed by Forever 21 co-founder Jin Sook Chang, who is worth about the same amount. Sara Blakeley’s Spanx fortune puts her at $1 billion and #17, neck and neck with Tory Burch. Donna Karan comes in at #31 with a $450 million net worth, tied with another legend in fashion design, Diane von Furstenberg. Vera Wang’s $400 million net worth puts her at #34 on the list.
Though many of the people occupying the upper echelons of the business side of fashion are men, it is wonderful to see women in charge and building their companies into the powerhouses they are today. These ladies are sitting on fortunes they amassed on their own, which is definitely giving us some girl-power feelings.
Gucci is shedding all signs of Frida Giannini, a process that’s been sped up thanks to this epic Gucci sale happening in China. According to Business of Fashion, shoppers in China have been enjoying up to 50 percent off Gucci wares designed under Giannini’s direction. People have reportedly been lining up in front of the Italian label’s location at Shanghai’s International Finance Center in the wee hours of the morning to be first to pick up the coveted goods at discounted prices.
China recently decreased its import tariffs on clothes and shoes, presenting another incentive for shoppers to take advantage of the discounts – and part of the reason behind the feeding frenzy. The sale seems to come at a great time for the label, which is trying to move into a new era under creative director Alessandro Michele. “Bizzarri [Gucci’s CEO] is clearing inventory from the previous collection, as Gucci is looking forward to turning the page on Frida Giannini,” analyst Luca Solca told Business of Fashion. “Gucci needs a new direction and some correction — I consider this inevitable.”
But don’t be too jealous of the big Chinese Gucci sale. The rest of us can browse Neiman Marcus’ designer sale to get our hands on some discounted Gucci goodies.
[via Business of Fashion]
Actress, mother, budding lifestyle guru and now, designer. Blake Lively is joining the storied tradition of celebrities designing things, taking to Instagram to announce her latest collaboration. Lively has teamed with indie label Amour Vert, a San Francisco-based eco-conscious line Lively sells on her Preserve website.
Lively showed off her co-designed creation: a sleeveless silk sundress with a tie-front top attached to a pink printed skirt. “I may not be able to draw worth a lick, but I am proud of this dress I co-designed with Amour Vert for@preserve_us,” Lively captioned the post. The frock, called the “Champagne Dress” is already available for pre-order on the Preserve website for $230.
The dress isn’t shipping until early June, but that’s plenty of time to get your hands on it before the summer officially starts.
Forbes has released its list of the world’s most powerful women for 2015. Of course, you’ll find names like Hillary Clinton (#2) and Oprah Winfrey (#12), but one of this year’s newbies on the list is Taylor Swift, who has arguably been having the best year ever since releasing her 1989 album in October. Swift comes in at #64, with Forbes giving her props for being one of three artists to see their albums reach platinum status in 2014. It also doesn’t hurt that Swift has been quite savvy about her money and intellectual property, having removed her music from Spotify’s free streaming service.
Beyoncé, who inspires and influences us each and every day with her glorious existence, comes in at #21. No list of influential women would be complete without a few notable members of the fashion set. Anna Wintour (#28), Tory Burch (#73), Diane von Furstenberg (#75), Miuccia Prada (#79) and Sara Blakley (#91) round out this list of influencers. Ellen Degeneres (#50) also gets a mention thanks in part to the ED lifestyle brand she’s expected to launch soon.
Talk about ladies doing it all!


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The biannual event will shine a spotlight on British design, with the spring-summer collection from London-based Irishman Paul Costello first on the schedule.
And five months after royal wedding fever swept the country, styles and designers favoured by the Duchess of Cambridge are expected to create a buzz.
Among these is Montreal-born, London-based Erdem, in whose creations Kate stepped out on her summer visit to Canada.
Also showing this week is another Kate favourite, Issa, who, despite her Brazilian origins, names her ideal customer as the Queen of England.
When Miss Middleton, as she was then, wore Issa to announce her engagement to Prince William, again on the night before her wedding and also during her Canada visit, the designer was given a boost many can only dream of.
And fashion experts anticipate the so-called "Kate effect" may popularise more ladylike styles across the board, like those befitting a young, modern duchess.
The collections of British favourites Jonathan Saunders, Burberry and Christopher Kane are also eagerly awaited, and excitement surrounds the first on-schedule London appearance of American Tom Ford.
Style-watchers predict a flurry of print as well as the continuation of retro-inspired designs, with a fair amount of colour always a good bet for spring and summer collections.
Jane Bruton, editor-in-chief of Grazia magazine, predicted a vintage season.
She said: "Every season London Fashion Week raises the standard that it set six months before.
"It always seems impossible, but our home-grown talent manage it every time. I'm looking forward to seeing what Jonathan Saunders and Mary Katrantzou have to offer this season, as the print masters are currently our most talked-about designers not only here, but internationally too.
"Christopher Kane, Erdem and Roksanda Ilincic are already catering to high-profile clients such as the Duchess of Cambridge, Michelle Obama and Samantha Cameron so there will be a huge buzz around their collections."
And with the celebrities in the audience of the shows generally as much of a draw as the collections themselves, she tipped Burberry as the one to watch for its "A+++ list" front row.
She added: "The return of Tom Ford is giving London Fashion Week serious high gloss this season too, and Giles is always a personal favourite of mine. I have a feeling it's going to be a vintage season."
One of the highest-profile fashion events in the world, the shows are expected to generate orders in the region of £100 million and to contribute some £20 million to the London economy.
Visitors from many countries routinely flock to the city for fashion week, which features 50 or so catwalk shows on the official schedule alone and another 45-plus staged off-schedule.Reuse content


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M Holdings Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 55,278 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock, valued at approximately $12,381,000. Apple makes up about 3.8% of M Holdings Securities Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fulcrum Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC now owns 55,731 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,482,000 after buying an additional 2,844 shares during the last quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 11,485 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,572,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Strategic Wealth Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.0% in the third quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 212,149 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,170 shares in the last quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.1% in the third quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. now owns 5,948 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,332,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 2.7% during the third quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,267 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $732,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 59.19% of the company’s stock.
In other Apple news, Director Arthur D. Levinson sold 37,394 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.79, for a total transaction of $9,639,799.26. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,170,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $301,788,823.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 61,659 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.38, for a total transaction of $14,081,682.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 85,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,528,088.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 182,998 shares of company stock valued at $42,351,593 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.
Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Co increased their price objective on Apple from $215.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Cascend Securities boosted their target price on Apple from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Longbow Research upgraded shares of Apple from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Loop Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday. Finally, ValuEngine downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $246.46.
NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $270.71 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1,202.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.00 and a fifty-two week high of $268.25. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $256.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $218.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $64.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.86 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 53.82% and a net margin of 21.24%. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.91 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 13.18 earnings per share for the current year.
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.90%.
Apple Company Profile
Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets mobile communication and media devices, and personal computers. It also sells various related software, services, accessories, and third-party digital content and applications. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and Mac, a line of desktop and portable personal computers, as well as iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS operating systems.
See Also: What is the Coverage Ratio?
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German consumer sentiment rose to its highest
level in more than seven years in June , in contrast with Tuesday's downbeat Ifo
business confidence index.
GfK, the market research firm, said today that
the ECB's renewed cut of its key interest rate to 0.15% and its introduction of
a penalty rate on bank deposits placed with the central bank have provided an
important boost to the consumer climate in Germany and been a significant factor
in the indicator rising this month. This fiscal policy decision has had a strong
negative impact on the propensity to save. The improvement in willingness to buy
is also at least partially attributable to this factor. In contrast, there was
almost no change in income expectations, with the indicator only falling
Economic expectations: climb to three-year high:
The economic outlook of Germany is currently in brilliant shape.
In June, the indicator increased by 7.7 points to 46.2 points. This is the
highest value since June 2011, when it reached 50.3 points exactly three years
ago. The upward trend in the economic indicator has therefore been consolidated.
Following a robust start to 2014 for the German economy, the current focus of
consumers in view of economic developments is predominantly on general domestic
conditions such as labor market situation, propensity to invest and inflation.
There are clear positive signs in these areas and gross domestic product (GDP)
is expected to grow by around 2% this year. The recently published forecasts by
economic experts also suggest that this will be the case.
However, GfK says that the development of international crises, including in
Iraq, Syria and Ukraine, continues to be an unpredictable risk factor for the
economy. A distinct escalation of the troubles in these countries would also be
likely to affect the economic mood in Germany. Companies in Germany evidently
also fear a worsening of the international situation. Accordingly, the Ifo
Business Climate Index fell slightly in June.
Income expectations: almost unchanged:
Income expectations almost sustained its extremely good level in June.
The income expectations indicator only dropped by 0.6 points and is currently at
47.2 points. It is therefore only just over five points below the highest value
since reunification that was reached in April this year. When compared with the
same period of 2013, this equates to an increase of 11 points.
A key aspect supporting the income outlook is that collective wage agreements
have resulted in income gains, which equate to increases in real terms in view
of the falling rate of inflation. The continued positive labor market situation
also offers scope for salary and wage increases, which leaves German employees
with considerably more in their wallets than was the case over the last few
Pensioners are also benefiting from this good development in salaries. According
to information from pension insurance institutes, statutory pensions will be
increasing by around 1.7% in West Germany and around 2.5% in the new federal
states from 1 July 2014. After many years of freezes, meaning a cut in real
terms, this news is certainly pleasing to pensioners.
Willingness to buy: slight increase:
Following only a very slight rise in the previous month, willingness to
buy improved more markedly in June. After an increase of 3.7 points, the
indicator is now at 53.2 points. This marks growth of almost 17 points on the
same period of the previous year.
The propensity to consume is therefore sustaining its extremely stable
condition. The trend has currently even turned upward again. As in the previous
months, the good framework conditions in Germany, including employment, income
development and inflation, determine the consumer sentiment on an ongoing basis.
The decision of the ECB to once again reduce interest rates has been an
additional factor that stimulated willingness to buy this month. This move
caused the propensity to save to truly plummet in June, which has clearly been
to the benefit of the spending mood.
These findings are extracts from the “GfK Consumer Climate MAXX sur-vey”, which
is based on around 2,000 consumer interviews conducted each month on behalf of
the European Commission.


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New York — The Anti-Defamation League’s National Consumer Technology Industry divisio
New York — Amid its introduction of several new products today, Research In Motion officially changed its name to BlackBerry.
The name change is part of the company’s attempt to reinvent itself and present a unified marketing front, said CEO Thorsten Heins.
This TWICE webinar, hosted by senior editor Alan Wolf, will take a look at what may be the hottest CE products at retail that will be sold during the all-important fourth quarter. Top technologies, market strategies and industry trends will be discussed with industry analysts and executives.
Wakefield, Mass. - The NFC Forum, the industry association that promotes the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, has established five special-interest groups to drive NFC adoption in the consumer electronics, health care and other vertical markets.
The other markets are payment, retail, and transportation.
LAS VEGAS — Velocity Micro will introduce three new products this week, here.
The new models are the Cruz D610 and Q610 10-inch tablets and the Edge Mini computer.
The Cruz D610 will ship late in the first quarter; pricing has not been announced. It is being positioned as an ultra-thin tablet with a thickness of 8.7mm.
LAS VEGAS — ViewSonic today expanded its new Smart Display computer line, and added several new touchscreen monitors and a 4K Ultra HD display at International CES.
The 24-inch VSD240 Smart Display, which joins the previously announced VSD220, is a 24-inch display that shares many features with a very large tablet or an all-in-one PC. However, ViewSonic prefers to refer to these products as secondary monitors.
The VSD240 will carry a $499 price tag and ship in April. The 22-inch VSD220 shipped in October at $399.
LAS VEGAS — Qualcomm took total advantage of its first-ever pre-International CES keynote, with CEO Dr. Paul Jacobs introducing star after star and still finding time to unveil the company’s latest Snapdragon processor.
Jacobs’s address marked the first time someone from outside Microsoft has delivered the traditional kickoff pre-CES keynote address. Jacob took over the reins from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer who, in turn, took center stage when Microsoft founder Bill Gates stepped down.
LAS VEGAS – Netgear founder and CEO Patrick Lo spelled out his company’s plan to create the “Smart Home.”
Netgear’s mission for the next ten to 15 years is to have everything in a home that is powered by electricity connect to the Internet, said Lo.
“Going forward we want to extend beyond speeds and feeds to the start of the Smart Home,” Lo said during Netgear’s press conference at CES.
LAS VEGAS – Intel continued its drive into the smartphone, tablet and Ultrabook markets at CES today.
Intel unveiled its “Lexington” Atom processor for smartphones, the 7-watt Intel Core Z2760 processor for Ultrabook convertibles and its fourth generation Intel Core processors, formerly codenamed Haswell. Company executives also showed off a new 22nanometer quad core Atom system-on-a-chip processor that will be in products by the 2013 holiday season.
Las Vegas – Hewlett Packard introduced two new Sleekbooks along with several new PC monitors here this week.
The new Sleekbooks are based on a 15.6-inch display and will come in a touchscreen and non-touchscreen versions, said Kevin Wentzel, HP’s technical marketing manager.
Sleekbooks are laptops that don’t quite meet Intel’s specifications to be labeled an Ultrabook, but are much less expensive enabling HP to reach a larger audience.
Las Vegas –D-Link will introduce two new routers at International CES.
The Gaming Router 5500L and the SharePort Go Plus travel router.
The Gaming Router 5500L, $269, has a Gigabit AC data transfer speed of up to 1.3GB per second in 802.11AC with another 450MB per second in 802.11N mode. The router features intelligent bandwidth allocation and comes with access to mydlink Cloud services.
LAS VEGAS — Amped Wireless will exhibit at International CES its line of long-range Wi-Fi solutions for mobile devices, gaming, digital entertainment, personal computing and networking, in booth 35506.
The product line includes the RTA15 high-power dual-band AC 700mW Wi-Fi router, the REA20 high-power dual-band AC 700mW Wi-Fi range extender and the ACA1 high-power dual-band AC Wi-Fi USB adapter. All products feature the latest 802.11ac wireless technology, new high-power amplifiers and high gain antennas for unprecedented Wi-Fi performance and range.


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By Lindsay Baillie
Chicago—NeoCon, one of the largest commercial interior design shows in North America, concluded its 50th edition last month, drawing in more than 50,000 attendees—a 5% increase from 2017. The Mart in Chicago was bursting with 140 showrooms, where roughly 350 exhibitors showcased the latest and greatest in corporate, hospitality, healthcare, education and retail design.
According to show management, the show floor was completely occupied, which was in keeping with NeoCon trends seen over the past 10 years. What’s more, flooring was the second highest represented commercial industry. “The fact that this was our 50th edition added a lot of buzz and energy,” said Byron Morton, vice president of leasing, NeoCon.
The scores of A&D professionals in attendance echoed those sentiments. “We could tell from the energetic crowds at The Mart that the excitement of NeoCon was at an all-time high this year,” said John Hopkins, principal and design director, IA Interiors Architects’ Chicago office. “We loved that there was such a focus on acoustic solutions—it’s an undervalued component when it comes to privacy, workplaces and open environments. We also noticed there were a lot of natural materials and finishes, a welcome return after the influx of the cold, industrial materials of the past few years.”
Angie Lee, AIA, IIDA, principal, design director-interiors, FXCollaborative Architects LLP, New York, agreed. “I have attended NeoCon for the last three years and continue to be impressed by the immense energy and creativity of the manufacturers, designers and associations. I saw a range of products implementing unexpected, thought-provoking uses of color, pattern and texture.”
Vendors attributed much of that enthusiasm to three primary factors—the strength of key end-use market sectors, the bevy of new products that provide both aesthetic and performance solutions, and positive trends in non-residential construction spending.
“Traditional hard surface markets like retail and healthcare still are very strong, and non-traditional markets such as offices and hospitality are shifting toward hard surfaces in many areas they did not consider before,” Robert Brockman, segment marketing manager, commercial, Armstrong Flooring, told FCNews.
LVT in particular is driving commercial flooring consumption across several end-use markets as it continues to exceed the growth of the once-dominant broadloom sector. This is especially the case in hotels. “Most hospitality end users are also looking to make a change to something more timeless in terms of pattern and color,” noted Al Boulogne, vice president, commercial resilient business, Mannington Commercial. “That, coupled with the easier maintenance requirements, make it an ideal product for these environments.”
But it’s not just hospitality that’s driving LVT specifications. Observers say healthcare holds the biggest growth potential for LVT, especially in areas such as hotel lobbies, hospital corridors and senior living spaces. “Slip/fall issues help LVT vs. other hard surface options,” said Paul Eanes, vice president of new business development, Metroflor.
The vast array of innovative new products on display at the show reflected diverse requirements of architects, specifiers and designers. To keep up with demand, flooring manufacturers are developing new products across both hard and soft surface arenas that appeal to multiple commercial sectors at a time. In addition to developing products that fulfill “resi-mercial” demands, manufacturers are incorporating more pops of color to assist designers in creating unique, productive spaces.
In terms of hard surfaces, manufacturers continue to incorporate sustainable, biophilic design, with resilient flooring mimicking stone, cement, wood and other natural looks. Armstrong Flooring, for example, rolled out a heterogeneous sheet product called Mixers, which was inspired by the vibrant colors of different cocktails. Focused on its heterogeneous and homogeneous sheet lines, Armstrong presented attendees with new products that boast equal performance. “The update there is two fold,” Brockman stated, adding that designers can specify both sheet lines together without performance issues. “It’s not only new designs and patterns, but Diamond 10 technology has been added to the heterogeneous line.”
New to NeoCon, Cleo Contract—a Congoleum brand—highlighted its non-vinyl, non-PVC product. Made up of 85% limestone, Cleo has an ultra-low VOC, high-performance clear coating for durability and performance. What’s more, its visuals are digitally printed, which allows the company to produce custom looks. To help designers show what the product looks like after a complete install, Cleo Contract developed digitally printed papers that can be updated in real time with the current SKUs, according to Kurt Denman, chief marketing officer and executive vice president, sales, Congoleum.
Also riding the non-vinyl train is Mannington Commercial with its latest non-vinyl alternative resilient tile, Cirro. Offered in 20 visuals and four different sizes in tile and plank formats, Cirro can be installed using traditional resilient adhesives.
Also new from Mannington is Northern Wonders, which was inspired by a designer’s visit to see the Northern Lights. “Its colors and design are a culmination of ideas developed during the trip,” said Whitney LeGate, business manager, commercial LVT, Mannington. The product is available in nine colorways.
Over at the Karndean Designflooring space, the emphasis was on designer education as well as the seemingly endless options available through its Korlok, glue-down and loose-lay products. The company’s grout strips, available in 16 colors, were installed in the booth to show how to incorporate fake grout lines as well as pops of color to a SKU. “We’ve expanded our solid color offering to allow for both bold, saturated pops of colors and pastels to align with 2019 color forecasts, great for projects that require an elevated brand identity or to add a bit of whimsy,” said Jenne Ross, director of marketing. “We’re excited that these custom colors will be available on-demand and custom cut at our Pittsburgh facility.”
One of the products Raskin Industries showcased was Ceramix, a resilient tile with built-in grout lines that’s available in a variety of visuals, including stone, marble and concrete. “We have 36 x 36 tiles that give you a really clean smooth concrete look,” said Ted Rocha, vice president of sales. “It would be something that you’d see in an Apple store, for instance.”
Aspecta released its Aspecta 10 line, a premium multi-layer flooring with Isocore technology. The new offering features a 28mil wear layer and can be installed floating corner to corner—thanks in part to its innovative vertical locking system. “This is the Rolls Royce of multi-layer flooring,” said Marcel Kies, global CEO, Aspecta. “What we’ve tried to create is a good, better, best product.”
Shannon Specialty Floors displayed its new Naturescapes line, which was designed with the help of Jason McLennan, author, founder and creator of the Living Building Challenge. Naturescapes, he explained, is a resilient flooring product made with organic polymers. “It’s not vinyl, it’s free of all Red List chemicals and it’s the first Living Product Certified resilient flooring in the industry. This product class is highly sought after.”
Roppe highlighted multiple products at the show, including its Northern Parallels Chevron LVT planks available in a 9¼ x 59¼ format in three color ranges. According to Dee Dee Brickner, marketing manager, the line reflects strong demand for one of the most popular patterns—a directional pattern that’s often seen in real hardwood installations. “By offering a left and right design, these floors can also be laid in the same direction to create another unique look by using only one side.”
Looking beyond LVT, manufacturers in the rubber segment also looked to generate some buzz by showcasing products in on-trend, vibrant colors. Suitable for multiple applications, these manufacturers have developed customer cut and base profile programs to provide designers with greater options.
Then there was American Biltrite’s AB Pure, which features its signature Nfuse technology (Here, the coating that is applied directly into the flooring.) “Normally you would take [a rubber floor] out of the box, glue it down and then you’d scrub and clean it to release the mold agent,” Mark Tickle, director of marketing, explained. “With AB Pure, once you lay it down you use a damp mop on the surface. Then as soon as the adhesive has cured you can have people on it.”
Flexco is incorporating different wood-look visuals as well as new rubber plank sizes to its portfolio. “We’re also going to be launching some of our new base profiles, which is catching a lot of people’s interest,” said Haley Plank, marketing manager. “We’re also working on sustainability for our products. We have two new HPDs coming out for our rubber tile and treads.”
Procedo Flooring’s new Maxime rubber flooring line—available in eight colors in a 24 x 24 tile format—was designed to be installed across multiple settings, including educational facilities, sports facilities and retail areas. “We also started doing water jet cuts on the product for greater design options,” said Pierre Lefort, national sales manager.
All shapes and sizes
“Some of the coolest things in floor covering,” noted NeoCon’s Morton, “has to be the different shapes and textures” on display at the show. To that end, Tarkett showcased several products ranging from Pentagonals, which won a Best of NeoCon Gold, and Woven Fringe, a Best of NeoCon Platinum winner.
According to Terry Mowers, vice president chief creative officer, Pentagonals features rubber in a way that highlights a wide range of design possibilities. “You can get whatever color palettes you want within the system and a variety of shapes.”
Woven Fringe complements Tarkett’s rubber offering by providing a resi-mercial solution that is part of the company’s area rug program. According to Mowers, the product’s neutral color palette fits right in with current trends. “We’re seeing grays moving to healthcare in combination with other colorings. We’re also seeing grays getting warmer but we’re not seeing them move that far away.”
As hard surfaces continue to gain more share across various commercial markets, end users are incorporating more area rugs in their designs. At the same time, carpet tile is also gaining steam. New soft surfaces continue to follow sustainable, biophilic design while brightening up spaces with hints of color.
Case in point: Aquafil’s booth displayed clothing and carpet featuring Econyl fiber. According to Kathy Long, brand communications manager, the booth was designed to show how fashion and carpet flow together. “We’re trying to show the endless possibilities of Econyl,” Long said. “We have 28 new colors to the Econyl collection—new neutrals and pops.”
Patcraft highlighted Dichroic, a PET carpet tile made from recycled plastic bottles. “We’ve worked on two products to pull plastic waste out of the environment,” said Kieren Corcoran, director of performance markets. “We’ve taken the bottle chip that can’t be recycled and turned it into fibers. We can then recycle it again at the end of its life back into pellets.”
EF Contract, which made its NeoCon debut, highlighted several carpet collections, including Rust Dye. “What we did was take metals and went through the process of rust dying them and capturing what they leave behind as they decay,” Susan Curtis, vice president, design and marketing, explained. “We’re all about tile, skinny planks and giving the designer flexible to design their own patterns.”
New to Mannington’s broadloom products is Moire, a carpet tile offering developed in conjunction with installation artist Gabriel Dawe. Moire mimics an installation Dawe completed in The Mart, which featured 30 miles of colorful fiber organized in prism format. Interestingly, the installation changed its colors as attendees passed by.
Mohawk put the spotlight on several new soft surface offerings, including Sunweave, a collection of woven broadloom and rug products featuring Heathered Hues Duracolor premium nylon, and Crafted Convergence, which draws on influence from Native American pottery and baskets to everyday Japanese and African garments. “With Crafted Convergence, we’re starting to transfer more hospitality looks into the workplace,” said Mark Oliver, vice president, workplace and retail. “The other beauty is it’s broadloom, but we’re also offering it as a rug.”


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Twitter reported a 37% jump in third-quarter ad revenue despite the new Apple privacy updates and shipping disruptions.
The company announced on Tuesday that it had a revenue of $1.28 billion in revenue with ad sales up 41% from the same period a year earlier, reported The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
Facebook and Snapchat blamed the Apple updates for lower sales growth.
Twitter’s ad revenue is not as tightly linked to targetted ads compared to Facebook and others, according to the report.
The company launched a pilot shopping feature called Shop Module that allows companies to show their products on their profiles and allow users to buy products without leaving Twitter.


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Following its full reveal earlier this week, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate brought with it some questions. Among them, observers wondered if it was ultimately an enhanced Wii U update with an expanded roster and some new characters. However, Nintendo has confirmed that this is not the case.
“It’s definitely not an update,” Treehouse localization manager Nate Bihldorff tells USgamer in a conversation during E3. “It’s a brand new game built from the ground up. As far as it being a ‘sequel,’ I don’t really think of Smash Bros. games as being sequels, they’re just new Smash Bros. games. Everything has been built brand new. Of course you see returning characters and returning movesets, but that’s sort of the nature of a fighting game. You obviously want to bring in new players, but you have to satisfy core players. If I’m playing Mario and I don’t have a good Up and B, I’m going to be writing my local congressman to get it changed. It’s a tough balance, but yeah, it’s a brand new game.”


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Last updated on December 4th, 2018
The dangers of glancing at our phone while driving a car is not new to us.But a simple text can cause you to look at your phone momentarily rather than focusing on the road which can lead to death.
Apple plans on solving this problem by introducing the concept of “Driver Handheld Computing Device Lock-Out“mechanism which disables certain functions while the user is driving. Apple quoted that this mechanism wouldn’t require any hardware modifications on the existing devices,rather it would use the iPhone Motion Analyzer that would act as a sensor to detect high speeds based on the GPS data or phone signals to lock up the phone.
The Company also cited that “Texting while driving has become a major concern for the public”.Apple also surveyed that in April 2006, 80 percent of road accidents were caused due to consumption of eatables and using computing devices.Apple insists the people not to use cell phones while driving.


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It's been over two years since Amazon debuted the Echo, which kickstarted the current wave of voice-controlled, virtual assistant-powered speakers. And while the company has added more devices to the Echo family, with the tiny Dot, portable Tap and screen-toting Show, it hasn't touched the original model (aside from a white coat of paint for the UK). That's going to change later this year. Amazon is working on a new Echo that will improve on the first speaker in practically every way, a source tells Engadget. And, not surprisingly, it's aiming to take some of the hype away from Apple's HomePod.
The new Echo will be both shorter and slimmer than the original, almost as if it were three or four Echo Dots stacked on top of each other, our source claims. Amazon is also softening its design with rounded edges and a cloth-like covering, rather than the current Echo's plastic shell and flat ends. And yes, it should sound better, too. The company is packing in several tweeters this time around, instead of just relying on one large tweeter and a woofer (for low end). The HomePod, in comparison, features seven tweeters, which is big reason why it sounded better than the Sonos Play:3 and the Echo in our brief demo.
Amazon is also improving the new Echo's microphone technology, though it's unclear how it's doing so. The current model features an array of seven far-field mics, while the HomePod has six and Google Home has two. Amazon might be able to make improvements to the software and acoustic modeling — that's how Google's speaker manages to pick up your commands with far fewer mics. But given that Amazon helped to pioneer the use of far-field microphones in a home speaker, I wouldn't be surprised if it managed to cram in some new hardware innovations. A smart speaker is only useful if it can accurately hear you, after all.
As influential as the original Echo has been, it's not aging gracefully against smaller, sleeker and cheaper competition like Google Home. Even as an Echo devotee myself, I'm not a fan of its large, cylindrical footprint. Apple's HomePod is also significantly smaller, and it packs in plenty of new technology that the Echo doesn't. At this point, it's clear that you can design a solid speaker that doesn't take up a significant amount of room.
We still don't know what the new Echo will cost yet, but it would be nice to see Amazon drop the price closer towards the $130 Google Home (which is now on sale for $99). The company could conceivably stick with the Echo's current $180 pricing, which hasn't budged since it launched. Even then, it'll still have a huge advantage over the $349 HomePod, which Apple is also positioning as a competitor to expensive Sonos speakers.
We've reached out to Amazon for comment, but haven't received a response yet. Our source also notes that some design elements might change by the time the new Echo is actually announced. But given that they saw a working unit that looked pretty polished, and Amazon is planning for a fall release, we wouldn't expect any significant changes.


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WesCorp Deploys Digital Mailer's 'Snapshot'
DigitalMailer, Inc., an electronic statement and digital communications company, has deployed its electronic statement check image interface for WesCorp's check image product "Snapshot." The company said the first client to take advantage of this capability, the $540-million First Financial Credit Union, West Covina, Calif., launched its electronic statement service earlier this year, but added DigitalMailer's e-Check' check image access module in July, following WesCorp's launch of its expanded online history capability, which allows up to 24 months of online access. Along with electronic access to their statements via DigitalMailer's eStatement program, credit union members have Internet access to images of their checks via DigitalMailer's e-Check module. For info: DigitalMailer, Inc. www.DigitalMailer.com.


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For once, the attempt to expand is bringing benefits to the customers. Due to the banning of gaming consoles in China, Activision has decided to come up with a clever way to route the Chinese government, and spread its influence to Chinese gamers. Call of Duty online will be a Free to Play online First Person Shooter.
That’s right, you read correctly. It will be free to play.
Even though playing the game itself is free, gamers will have to dish out cash in game if they want to buy perks and weapon classes, but it is a small price to play for the potential of dominating the internet as the best CoD Online shooter. With the game being free to play, Activision will still need a way to pay for running its servers without sacrificing their ‘noble’ cause.
In a Game Rant article, they assure gamers that the online version won’t be too different from the multi-player modes on other Call of Duty titles.
Judging by these screen shots, players will still need a decent computer to play the games, as the graphics are not sacrificed for the online gaming experience.
For the original Gamerant article, click here.
Leave comments on why you chose the character below! And remember to subscribe, like and follow us on Twitter (@TheNerdNexus)


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Scalextric sales roar ahead thanks to Lewis Hamilton effect
Last updated at 23:52 09 November 2007
The firm attributes a surge in sales to the "Hamilton effect" after the 22-year-old homegrown Formula 1 star lent his name to a car in their range.
Many stores, including Hamleys, have sold out of the Hamilton range and are waiting for new stock.
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On the back of this success, brand owner Hornby posted half-year sales up 37 per cent to £24.6million.
It's great news for Scalextric, which was launched 50 years ago at the Harrogate Toy Fair. The innovative use of slot technology, which kept the cars on the track, caused a sensation.
However, modern kits are much more sophisticated, allowing players to switch tracks at the touch of a button - so they can attempt some Hamilton-style overtaking manoeuvres.
The cheapest Scalextric package sells for £29.99, while the most expensive is £250 for the World Champion Scalextric Digital.
A firm spokesman sad: "While the traditional aspect is great we recognised the need to innovate and bring Scalextric into a new era.
"People love all these new features."
Chief executive Frank Martin said Hamilton's success in his rookie season - he was pipped to first place in the World Championship in one of the most dramatic seasons for years - has inspired interest in car racing and Scalextric.
Scroll down for more...
"The fact that we have got a very young and very appealing British driver right at the top of the championship provides a focus for kids on to motorsport that they might not have had," he said.
"It is great to see a driver like Hamilton coming through.
"Scalextric is as close as you can get to the real thing - it is not as superficial as a video game, you can see and touch the car.
"We have seen demand for Scalextric significantly higher since the beginning of the F1 season this year."
Other Scalextric models include the Transformers vehicles, motorbikes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and rally driving.
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Biden’s presidential campaign spoke of many new ideas including ones to transform the economy and to reduce racial inequity. One of the ways to achieve this was a proposal to transfer the consumer credit ratings from three major rating agencies to a public registry.
There are many rating agencies across the U.S. The three major ones are Equifax, Experian PLC and TransUnion. Each one of them uses different formulas and criteria to rate consumers. Bringing them under the umbrella of a public registry could also bring it under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
These three agencies analyze consumer borrowing as well as repayment schedules and put forward scores based on these two factors. These scores are used by lenders to estimate a consumer’s credit worthiness. This score plays a huge role in a consumer’s ability to buy an apartment, to get specific jobs, to borrow money and even to ascertain interest rates.
These three public limited companies earn enough to be sustainable and yet are not transparent in their proceedings. They have different assessment methods. Errors are common and there has been evidence of racial biases. Consumers can get free copies of their reports once a year. If they want it more often they have to pay for their own reports.
Earlier, the Balance had reported that a paper published in 2019 by Demos, a think tank had mentioned that decisions drawn on credit data had the ability to reproduce and spread existing racial inequality. This made the goal of reaching true economic equity difficult and the paper suggested that a public credit registry was the way forward.
Dave Ueijo, new acting director of CFPB, has said that his two main priorities were relief for consumers facing hardships due to the coronavirus and the economic crisis that followed it and racial equity. His statement has not mentioned a public credit reporting agency.
Biden’s proposal has the potential to mitigate most if the inequities mentioned but can also face a few pitfalls when government change as that leads to changes in policies. Another factor is that there are many different credit agencies, including some specifically for those with bad credit. So, the standardization of credit bureaus under a public registry could prove to be a challenging and monumental task ahead.
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The Home Depot is hiring more than 80,000 associates nationwide across its nearly 2,000 stores.
There are 30 stores in the Tampa area and approximately 1,350 people will be hired across those local stores.
According to the company, spring is The Home Depot's busiest selling season and available positions range from sales and cashiers to operations and online order fulfillment. Approximately half of the positions are expected to become permanent.
All candidates must apply online.


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The Annual Canon Press Fall Sale is LIVE! Head to https://canonpress.com to get 30% off almost everything and all US orders over $25 get FREE Shipping.
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President Trump's shots at GM have left company insiders deeply troubled
General Motors and its CEO Mary Barra are in President Donald Trump's crosshairs more than most other companies and it has many inside the automaker and across the industry pondering why.
In a matter of 72 hours, starting Friday, the president chided GM for dragging its feet in getting lifesaving ventilators to the front lines in the battle against coronavirus.
Then on Sunday, Trump changed course, extolling GM after it announced its plans two days prior to make ventilators with Ventec Life Systems at GM's Kokomo, Indiana, plant. The FDA-approved ventilators will ship in mid-April. Also, GM will begin manufacturing FDA-cleared surgical masks at its Warren plant next week.
But after Trump castigated GM, then praised it, world headlines exploded.
- BBC on Friday: "Coronavirus: Trump orders 'time wasting' General Motors to make ventilators."
- Reuters on Sunday: "Trump's attack on GM over ventilators quickly turns to praise."
- Bloomberg on Friday: "GM’s Ventilator Effort Goes Haywire With Trump Turning on CEO Barra."
- Forbes on Friday: "Trump Invokes DPA After Attacking GM CEO Barra Over Ventilator Production."
Sold a lemon?
While Trump's scoldings make for spicy headlines, industry observers say they are counterproductive to achieving his goals.
"At some point, GM is going to understand that whatever they do, he’s going to beat on them and that takes away the effectiveness of threatening to beat you," said Erik Gordon, professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. "If you’ve learned that you could be beaten at any time for anything, then you also learn that there’s no point in making any effort to avoid the beatings."
Others believe Trump's battles with GM over the years, for everything from GM's overseas production to factory closings and making medical devices isn't rooted in any clever political play.
"I believe that Donald Trump is 100% reactive and zero percent strategic," said Jon Gabrielsen, auto industry consultant and economist. "The fact that it seems to me he attacks GM more is a coincidence versus a pattern and I definitely doubt it is strategic. One can speculate that he goes after GM because Mary Barra is a strong woman and that would not surprise me, but how can we know for sure?"
To be fair, one of Trump's biggest 2016 campaign platforms was to add more manufacturing to the United States and protect factory jobs. GM is a major U.S. manufacturer with 48,000 hourly workers across 10 states. When it announced plant closures in 2018, it became a target for Trump to push his agenda.
Or Trump's vitriol might lie in a more simple and humorous explanation.
"It makes me wonder if he ever owned an Oldsmobile 88 sedan and it was a clunker and he's never forgiven them?" Gordon said, half-joking. "That would be the most likely explanation.”
In Friday's string of tweets against GM, Trump took square aim:
"As usual with 'this' General Motors, things just never seem to work out. They said they were going to give us 40,000 much needed Ventilators, 'very quickly'. Now they are saying it will only be 6000, in late April, and they want top dollar. Always a mess with Mary B. Invoke 'P.' "
Last week, the New York Times reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was the holdup as it assessed the more than $1 billion cost for the ventilators. Several hundred million dollars would be paid up front to GM to retool the Kokomo plant, the Times reported.
But GM said Friday it will do the work at cost, an unprecedented move. On Sunday, workers were inside the Kokomo plant preparing it for production.
Trump also attacked GM Friday over one of his favorite subjects: The closure of Lordstown Assembly plant, tweeting, "General Motors MUST immediately open their stupidly abandoned Lordstown plant in Ohio, or some other plant, and START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!!!!!! FORD, GET GOING ON VENTILATORS, FAST!!!!!!"
GM sold the Lordstown plant to electric truck maker Lordstown Motors last year.
In a final tweet, Trump alluded to a threat to "Invoke “P” meaning the Defense Production Act.
Hours later, Trump did just that and activated the act, telling his administration to order GM to prioritize contracts to produce ventilators, even as GM announced its plans to do so.
But on Sunday, the president reversed his view and told reporters he is pleased with the company's efforts following his decision to activate the DPA.
"General Motors is doing a fantastic job," Trump said. "I don't think we have to worry about General Motors now."
All of it has left some GM employees confused and bitter.
"Why is the president only attacking us? What are other automakers doing? Who else has a plant ready to go? Strange he is attacking us," said a person inside GM who declined to be named for fear of repercussions. "We are, by far, ahead of anyone else. He is a master of diverting blame to others. We are not dragging our feet. And we are not negotiating with the government. We are a contract manufacturer for Ventec. Ventec is negotiating with the government."
A GM spokesman declined to comment on the president's Twitter attack saying the company is focused on making ventilators, not a war of words with the White House.
Another GM employee, Larry Foltran, a manufacturing integration engineer, posted on social media, "Our president feels we aren't working fast enough ... aside from being harsh words against my employer, it really bothered me on a deeper level."
Foltran outlined working 14- to 18-hour days for five days to "produce a device completely unfamiliar to us."
"What we've accomplished in five days is incredible," Foltran wrote. "So for those who've read the same tweets, don't believe them."
Trump's habit of calling out GM on Twitter goes back to at least 2018 when GM announced it would restructure and cut some 4,000 white-collar jobs and shutter four U.S. manufacturing sites: Detroit Hamtramck Assembly, Lordstown Assembly and transmission plants in Warren and Baltimore.
After talking to GM CEO Mary Barra, Trump scolded GM for the announced closures and said pressure would be brought to bear on the company.
Trump also criticized GM for its operations in China.
In late August 2019, Trump sent out an angry tweet erroneously slamming the company for having "moved major plants to China."
Taking on Lordstown
One of Trump's biggest battles with GM centered on pressing the automaker in 2018 to change its plan to idle the Lordstown factory.
Around this time last year, Trump took aim at GM and then-local UAW leader Dave Green in tweets.
The last Chevrolet Cruze compact car had just rolled off the line at Lordstown when Trump tweeted, "Because the economy is so good, General Motors must get their Lordstown, Ohio, plant open, maybe in a different form or with a new owner, FAST! Toyota is investing 13.5$ Billion in U.S., others likewise. G.M. MUST ACT QUICKLY. Time is of the essence!"
Trump was referring to Toyota's plans to expand investment in U.S. manufacturing plants. The Japanese automaker was bolstering its North American production due to concerns about tariffs.
The next day, Trump then tweeted: "Democrat UAW Local 1112 President David Green ought to get his act together and produce. G.M. let our Country down, but other much better car companies are coming into the U.S. in droves. I want action on Lordstown fast. Stop complaining and get the job done! 3.8% Unemployment!"
Later that same day, Trump tweeted: "Just spoke to Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors about the Lordstown Ohio plant. I am not happy that it is closed when everything else in our Country is BOOMING. I asked her to sell it or do something quickly. She blamed the UAW Union — I don’t care, I just want it open!"
In September 2019, days before the UAW's contract was due to expire, Trump took to Twitter again to tweet, "Here we go again the General Motors and the UAW workers. Get together and make a deal!"
On occasion Trump has targeted Ford, too. In 2018, he commented on Ford's overseas production plans, but the tone was commendation more so than criticism.
It’s hard to understand what Trump's motivation was behind the recent tweets against GM over the ventilators, Gordon said.
"GM got off to a bigger, faster start than anybody else on ventilators," Gordon said. "They flew engineers out to Washington state, which was a hotbed of coronavirus. They met with Ventec engineers. They put their global procurement system into high gear and managed to find a lot of parts from all over the world. I don’t know how they could move any faster.”
Gordon said GM has one of the best global procurement operations in the world.
"I’m not sure what the president’s thought process was and what happened between Friday, when GM was a bum, to Sunday, when GM was a hero, because what GM was doing all along was figuring out how medical ventilators get made," Gordon said. "It doesn’t seem to be driven by the president beating them or praising them.”
Gordon said the continuous pounding on GM will not serve Trump well in the end.
“The most likely effect the Trump beatings will have on GM will be to make GM workers resentful of the president," Gordon said. "Workers who think their company jumped to it. Workers who volunteered to get on a plane and go to Washington State will resent it.”


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Japanese manufacturing firms saw a decline in
output for the second month running in May alongside a continued fall in new
orders and new export orders according to the latest PMI (purchasing managers'
index) survey. On Friday, Japan's official industrial production data showed a
fall in factory output by 2.5% in April from a month earlier after a weak 0.7%
rise in March. Meanwhile consumer inflation in the deflation stricken economy
hit a 23-year high in April but real wages are expected to fall this year.
Consumer prices rose 3.2% in April compared with the same period last year but
there is no certainty yet that deflation has been beaten.
The government raised its sales tax rate from 5% to 8% on 1 April and spending
had been brought forward to beat the hike and as a result data released on
Friday showed that household spending dropped 4.6% in April, compared to a year
There was a 4.4% dip in retail sales during the month following an 11% surge in
"Consumer spending has declined as expected in
April, but this is likely to be minor blip and will not affect the ongoing
recovery," Martin Schulz, of Fujitsu Research Institute told the BBC.
"Both consumer spending and retail sales will start rising in the latter half of
But Schulz added the government needs to introduce reforms in key sectors of the
economy for the recovery to sustain in the long run.
Japan Macro Advisors
a commentary last week: "Japanese household will be suffering
severe decline in real income this year. We expect wage growth in 2014 to be
1.2%, well below the CPI inflation of 2.7%. Situations are even worse for
pensioners who now account for 25% of the whole population. From April 2014,
public pensions were cut by 0.7%. Stagnating stock market will also not help
Japanese pensioners. Policy makers tend to maintain that consumption would
recover from summer. We think such assumption are overly optimistic."
In March big companies such as Toyota in the
annual pay round raised monthly wages by the equivalent of the cost of a few
cups of Starbucks coffee - - without a rise in pay and
consequent spending, deflation will continue.
Markit today said rates of decline for both
new manufacturing orders and output eased from those seen in April. Employment
numbers grew in May for the tenth month running, albeit at a slower pace.
The headline seasonally adjusted Markit/JMMA PM - - a
composite indicator designed to provide a single-figure snapshot of the
performance of the manufacturing economy - - posted at 49.9 in May, up from 49.4
in April. This signalled a broad stabilisation in business conditions in the
sector, following the decline in April.
Output fell for the second month running in May. Similar
to April, panellists commented on a decline in demand due to the sales tax
increase. That said, the deterioration in output eased in comparison to the
previous month. Following a similar trend, new orders continued to fall with
panellists again blaming the sales tax rise. However, the decline in new orders
was only slight and weaker than in the previous month, with the seasonally
adjusted New Orders Index moving closer to the 50.0 no-change mark.


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Ad agency Lowe Lintas & Partners Worldwide unveiled its redesigned global identity by Carter Wong Tomlin this week, which sees the loss of the Lintas name. Carter Wong Tomlin has also revamped Lowe & Partners Worldwide’s website, www.loweworldwide.com, which goes live at the end of January. Meanwhile, Sedley Place has completed its refurbishment of the agency’s London headquarters.
The Mayor of London will install 20 water fountains across the capital and make tap water more freely available, in a social design project that aims to discourage the public
The new identity has been designed by Prophet, while the electric motorsport series has been brought to life on-screen by DixonBaxi.
WPP has merged together five of its design consultancies under the name Superunion, ditching individual brands in a bid to “create more opportunities” for clients and employees.
The £1.4 million New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize has announced its second round of winners, which includes five, recyclable or biodegradable packaging materials.


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Does Panama really import 3.46 barrels of LPG per person annually from the US? Sounds like nonsense, according to this blog.
Seems as though the propane is actually sitting on ships transiting the canal or being used as storage temporarily, and some of the cargo is being traded while it sits there. Most of it is probably going to Asia.
So we see an error introduced by a quirk in the big data being used to report.
however, it seems like any scrutiny of the data, such as regressing consumption on population, would have produced an outlier in Panama, and we would of necessity have to study the specifics of that data [point to include it or decipher what’s going on.


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Unedited news and product information from vendors.
Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs to Host Press Conference CTIA 2008, Las Vegas
Apr 01, 2008 (10:04 AM EDT)
LAS VEGAS, April 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WHO: Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, CEO, Qualcomm Dr. Sanjay Jha, Qualcomm COO and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies Len Lauer, Executive Vice President and Group President WHAT: Qualcomm Executives and Industry partners to unveil the latest news announcements on the Company's sustained momentum in mobile TV technology, mCommerce, and global mobile Internet access. You'll also benefit from hearing Qualcomm's future vision for what's next in the wireless space. WHEN: Tuesday, April 1, 2008 from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. PDT WHERE: CTIA Wireless 2008 Las Vegas Convention Center North Hall, Room N239 RSVP: By invite only. Please RSVP to Brittany Johnson at Brittany.email@example.com ** A live webcast of this conference will be available at on April 1 at 11:30 a.m. PDT
CONTACT: Brittany Johnson, +1-858-587-1121, Brittany.firstname.lastname@example.org, for Qualcomm
Web site: http://www.qualcomm.com/