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TicketNews Archive: All News
Most Popular Stories
Cash and cash flow are critical elements to any successful business to include the business of purchasing tickets to sell them across distribution networks for a profit. Ticket Brokers use a variety of tools and methods to finance operations to include self-funding, credit cards, lines of credit, and outside investors.
Los Angeles-based Contender.com, a new online fan-to-fan ticket marketplace, has launched, with the purpose of helping buyers and sellers find an honest way to buy and sell tickets. The start-up has created a unique way for ticket buyers and sellers to negotiate ticket prices without the worry of hidden or tacked-on fees.
Recently an article on ticket scalping appeared in The Bulletin, a newspaper in Oregon that was not particularly remarkable in any way, but did highlight through its predictable reporting the lack of understanding, and sometimes pure deficient journalism on this subject.
When concerts are sold out minutes after going on sale, primary ticket sellers like Ticketmaster and artists themselves have been quick to point the finger at the secondary ticket market for buying the best tickets and pricing them above face value.
Country sweetheart Kacey Musgraves has announced that she will hit the road in the fall on her first headlining tour. The Same Tour Different Trailer outing will kick off in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Sept. 25 and will run through mid-October.
Folk-country rockers John and Jacob will join Musgraves on the 10-stop tour, which will wrap up in Savannah, Georgia on October 19.
Rock band O.A.R. has announced several shows for this fall, a series called The Rockville LP Tour. The tour is set to begin November 14 and ranges through November 29.
Singer Cee Lo Green had planned to make his first trip to Israel to perform in Jerusalem August 19, however this show has now been called off. Israeli show promoter Carmi D.
Dave Brooks, long-time journalist and live entertainment industry writer, is launching Amplify, a new media project covering the live entertainment industry.


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Will Pacifica Save Fiat Chrysler?
A vehicle often derided as a “mommy mobile” might save Fiat Chrysler (NYSE: FCAU) from oblivion. That vehicle is the Chrysler Pacifica minivan and soccer moms are not the ones who will propel its’ success.
Instead it is rideshare drivers; those hardworking immigrants and unemployed factory workers who make their living through Uber and Lyft that will make Pacifica a hit. As I noted last year the Pacifica seems designed for ridesharing. Some of its basic features include:
- A powered gate (backdoor) to make for easy loading and unloading luggage.
- Three rows of seating.
- 260.3 square feet of cargo space.
- An optional plug-in Hybrid power train that can get up to 84 miles per gallon in all electric mode.
- A $7,500 federal tax credit for those who buy the hybrid version.
- A 3.6 V-6 gasoline engine and two electric motors.
- Screens mounted on the back of the front seats to entertain passengers.
- A sleek stylish Italian inspired look that seems more at home on a city street than sitting in a suburban driveway.
What’s more I’ve recently seen some ads about “Chrysler Pacifica at work” popping up on my computer screen during web searches. It is obvious who the workers that Chrysler is going after; Lyft and Uber drivers.
That market is potentially vast, Lyft alone is in 61 cities in the United States alone, Rideshareapps reported. One company Uber has 14,088 vehicles just in New York City. Competition for drivers is also intense; Lyft was offering a $500 signup bonus in Denver in July 2017.
If that was not enough Uber offers an Xchange Leasing program to help its drivers buy cars. Chrysler is not in the program yet, but it’d make a lot of sense for the company to join it.
Will Waymo Save Fiat Chrysler?
Lyft and Uber is not the only opportunities that Fiat Chrysler is pursuing. It, Avis-Budget (NYSE: CAR), and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) are testing self-driving Pacifica’s in a rideshare experiment in Phoenix.
The effort is only the latest joint venture between Fiat Chrysler and Waymo; Alphabet’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) autonomous vehicle unicorn, that utilizes the Pacifica to test self-driving vehicle technology. Waymo engineers have been experimenting with self-driving Pacificas at a Chrysler facility in Michigan for some time.
The next obvious use of this tech will be to develop other vans that use it. Obvious choices would be the Ram Citymaster Pro and Promaster Cargo, (Fiat Ducato jn Europe) vans. If Chrysler would become the first to deploy a self-driving work van it would dominate the market. Obvious customers would be delivery services, GrubHub (NYSE: GRUB) drivers, Uber and Lyft drivers doing delivery, Google Express and delivery drivers for retailers such as Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Kroger (NYSE: KR) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT).
Even the US Postal Service; which is using Dodge vans for delivery is a potential customer. Beyond that there is the potential of the Dodge Grand Caravan which is already a popular taxicab. One use would be to try and deploy it as a police car or government fleet vehicle.
Minivan sales have exploded in recent years. During 2015 and 2016 sales of the Grand Caravan grew by 94% and the Chrysler Town & Country (Pacifica’s predecessor) grew by 42%, Seeking Alpha contributor Anton Wahlman noted last year. Such growth is likely to explode if self-driving cars succeed and rideshare and demand for delivery services increases.
Is Fiat Chrysler a Value Investment?
All this makes Fiat Chrysler a great potential growth investment in the auto industry but is it a value investment? I would say yes because Fiat Chrysler is definitely underpriced.
This is a company that was trading at $11.11 a share on July 7, 2017; yet it reported $123.05 billion in revenues on March 31, 2017. That gave the company a $21.262 billion market capitalization on July 7, 2017.
Some of the other numbers that shareholders get for investing $11.11 a share in Chrysler are pretty good too. They include:
- A net income of $2.153 billion on March 31, 2017.
- Assets of $109.4 billion on March 31, 2017.
- Cash and short term investments of $15.57 billion on March 31, 2017.
- $12.56 billion in cash from operations on March 31, 2017.
- An enterprise value of $28.75 billion on July 7, 2017.
- A return on equity of 11.06% on March 31, 2017.
There were a few bad things about Fiat Chrysler including a “free cash flow” of -$696.69 million on March 31, 2017 and no dividend. Yet I think the low price makes up for those defects.
If you are looking for a low cost auto play Fiat Chrysler is well worth a look. It is well poised to take advantage of coming trends in the auto industry with Pacifica and its’ relationship with Waymo has vast potential to add value. Some observers have estimated Waymo’s valuation at $70 billion (about the same as Uber before Travis Kalanick’s fall from power).
Fiat Chrysler is a value investment for today and tomorrow thanks to Pacifica. That value might grow if rumors of a Volkswagen buyout come true.

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10-30-2010, 01:23 AM #1
Akshay Kumar endorsed Micromax phone loses its 'bling'
There's some bad news for those of you who are in love with the Akshay Kumar endorsed Micromax Mobiles. The news is that, Akki will no longer be able to say "It twinkles!" in the ad, while his wifey dearest Twinkle Khanna flashes a 'Micromax Bling' phone.
Reason? Well, Delhi High Court has restrained Micromax, from selling or advertising the 'Bling' brand as it acceded to a trademark violation filed by Delhi-based mobile phone maker Bling Telecom. The order states that the court has restrained Micromax, including its employees, agents, representatives, or anyone acting on their behalf, from using the trademark 'Bling' or any other name confusingly similar till the next date of hearing, February 8, 2011.
The court order (dated October 19, 2010), restrains the said company from displaying the Bling ads on TV and print.
Hopefully, Akshay will cover up for the missing 'Bling' with his presence in the commercials....being a human...


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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — When it comes to back-to-school lunches, Food City has you covered.
According to Food City Registered Dietician, Nicole Pazdziorko, studies show that 60% of children do not eat enough fruit and 93% do not eat enough vegetables. She recommends prioritizing produce at every meal and snack.
Pazdziorko explains that most kids are exceeding their added sugar intake. This is any sugar added to a product as a sweetener rather than the naturally occurring sugar in that food; think honey, high fructose corn syrup, brown sugar, cane sugar, etc. Sugar from sources like milk or fruits is not considered as added sugar since these foods also provide vitamins, minerals, and fiber. She says it’s best to limit products containing added sugar.
Lastly, the dietician suggests swapping out full-fat dairy products for low-fat or fat-free options. She adds that this will help reduce the amount of saturated fat your child is consuming while still ensuring they are consuming calcium and vital minerals for bone health.
To learn more about where to get healthy back-to-school lunches, check out Food City’s Pick Well program on their website.


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Extraction companies looking to stay competitive in a sector growing more crowded by the minute need to consider how to keep costs as low as possible.
An extraction company executive looking for ways to save should think about:
- Automation to lower labor costs.
- Asking for bulk discounts from vendors.
- Streamlining packaging.
- Equipment quality.
- Facility design.
“The biggest problem we see in costs is in downtime and bottlenecks in the extraction process,” said AC Braddock, CEO of Seattle-based extraction company Eden Labs.
Automation Versus Labor
Labor costs are one of the largest expenses for an extraction company. Finding ways to automate processes can significantly cut down on the need for labor.
Patrick Mitchell, director of sales for Phoenix-based vaporizer manufacturing company Jupiter Research, recommends automating the hardware process.
“There are ways to work with automation and get more strategic in your operation,” he added.
For example, Jupiter Research collaborates with a company that offers a pre-rack filling solution that loads racks of cartridges straight into a filling machine, fills them in batches, then puts the racks into another machine for the cartridges to be capped.
A larger company producing 15,000-20,000 cartridges a month or more could save tens of thousands of dollars in that time period on labor costs, according to Mitchell.
“This is the biggest scalable solution we’ve seen to date,” he added.
As extraction companies scale up, they can use size of orders to leverage better deals with vendors, including packaging companies, solvent providers and marijuana flower producers.
At Sisu Extracts in Eureka, California, co-founder and CEO John Figueiredo recommends ranking costs of production, then determining if the vendors at the top of that list can provide
Asking for a bulk discount works especially well if the company amounts to a large portion of the vendor’s bottom line.
“Once you hit a certain size, you definitely can have concessions, because you’re a larger portion of a company’s client list,” Figueiredo said.
Extraction companies often have several products on the market at any one time.
Packaging all of those products in the same type of container, with discounts for bulk orders, can help save money, said Josh Rutherford, owner of Denver-based extraction company PurePressure.
“We have every single one of our SKUs come out in the same jar,” he added. That way, the packaging vendor can bring down the cost per jar.
The company’s products include live rosin, bubble hash, terp diamonds, wax and more.
Rutherford also recommends using packaging that can be easily altered—particularly in the event that state regulations change.
Using unalterable packaging could cost an operator thousands of dollars if the rules change and new versions must be ordered.
“It’s one of the biggest mistakes I see people doing time and time again,” Rutherford said.
To combat this problem, PurePressure uses a generic-style label that can be changed without too much hassle.
When it comes to extraction, buying the cheapest version of equipment could cost a company in the long run.
“Spend the money and do it right the first time or you’ll pay for it later,” Rutherford said.
Also, pick equipment that’s configurable and scalable so, as the company grows, the equipment allows for add-ons to increase throughput as well as add more SKUs to the product line.
Equipment is the main cause of downtime, according to Braddock. To avoid this bottleneck, she focuses on post-processing equipment as one key sticking point.
“There are a lot of extraction companies coming into the market, and they don’t understand that
this isn’t a single process,” Braddock said.
If a fledgling extraction company doesn’t understand the extraction process from end to end, a common mistake can be to buy quality processing equipment but fail to select the correct post-processing machines.
“The biggest bottleneck is in solvent recovery, so, for that, you need high-throughput capacity,” Braddock said.
When it comes to automating extraction equipment, Braddock recommends keeping a technician on hand who understands the machines in the event the computer breaks down and the system needs to be operated manually.
“If you have an operator and the system can be run manually and keep going, then you don’t have any downtime,” she added.
Both Rutherford and Braddock pointed to facility design as a key consideration regarding cost savings.
Braddock recommends facilities be designed with a safety mindset. That should lead to a good flow of product because the facility will cut down on inefficiencies that might be unsafe or slow down production.
She also advises that a lean production model—an approach to management that focuses on efficiency while maintaining quality—can help with your overall budget.
Rutherford suggests designing a facility around the building and the business’ needs, rather than buying a prefabricated room.
An extraction executive could save up to $40,000 by designing the room rather than buying a plug-and-play model, according to Rutherford.
Prefabricated extraction rooms are less efficient in terms of production flow and don’t use the space as effectively, he said.
With this equipment, a business ends up paying for space it’s not using, according to Rutherford. “Designing your space is going to be very important to the success of your business,” he added.


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This month, the gear that debuted at ETS-LDI in October migrates off the show floor and into use. Some of it will hit the road with the North American International Auto Show, which rolls in Detroit on January 15; and some of it will stay in Las Vegas, where it will help dress up industrials events at casinos, showrooms, and convention centers. The Production Resource Group has some scheduled for IBM. “Vegas,” says Martyn “Ferrit” Rowe, operations manager of concert touring for PRG Las Vegas, “is the playground for new technology. It gives you a great chance to strut your stuff and push the technology as far as it can go.”
The stuff that everyone's strutting is the newest wave of “convergent technology,” which companies like PRG and High End Systems have been emphasizing in their product lines for a while now, and which companies like Martin and MA Lighting have recently debuted. The word “convergence” has meant different things to different industry sectors over the past several years, but the buzz is currently centered on the union of lighting and video functions in a single unit.
In early November, PRG's senior management decamped to Dallas, where “convergence was at the forefront of the agenda,” say Tom Sorce, vice president of business development at PRG Burbank and a guru of the digital revolution. PRG has its two proprietary media servers, the Mbox™ and the EX1™, the latter acquired from its “convergence,” via corporate merger, with VLPS Lighting Services International last spring. HES debuted the third generation of its digital lighting line, the DL2™, at ETS-LDI and promoted software-only packages of its Catalyst™, a convergence utility (mixing lighting effects with digital media to create virtual scenery) that had previously only been available as part of a complete media server system.
HES notes that up until recently the phrase “media server,” with its high-end, high-tech ring, made a design community raised on analog ways of doing things hesitant. “But it's part of the vocabulary now and it's commonplace to see media servers at the FOH of a concert or corporate event,” says its marketing communications specialist, Debi Moen. “There was a learning curve to be overcome. Plus there were production companies, whose warehouses were loaded with old products, that didn't want to buy into the new technology, and two years ago, the economy was in more of a slump, so the adoption rate was slower than we predicted. But at ETS-LDI we noticed more of an acceptance and a familiarity with digital lighting products.”
Regarding acceptability, HES says that Catalyst and DL1™ are being used in many of the same places where an automated luminaire might have been used: TV shows for creating virtual scenery, and, besides concert and corporate shows, theme park rides, houses of worship, opera, and on Broadway. Provided that a designer is conversant with convergence, stunning effects are possible. “If you're leaning toward video servers, there are countless applications,” says Jason Goldenberg, technical services representative of PRG Las Vegas. “I just did an installation at the Rio Hotel here that uses a video server on 18 plasma screens to show footage depending on the mood the manager sets. I'm sure a Doremi video player would have sufficed, but being able to do effects on the fly makes it much easier to produce. It's also interesting, a really neat application, to use 3D models real time on some systems.”
There is, however, some talking left to do before the technology, and not just the terminology, makes greater inroads among designers. Simply making the technology less expensive and more accessible, as will happen over successive generations, won't do. Projection and video designer Sage Marie Carter participated in discussions about what the Catalyst might be when it was under development. “And what it's being used for is logos,” she says.
Carter, whose work with Watergate-era photographs and news images added insight to New York's Public Theater production of Dirty Tricks, a one-person show about Martha Mitchell, isn't being dismissive. It's just that one-half of what manufacturers are offering her at the top of the line these days doesn't meet her needs. “I don't have any interest in learning how to program a lighting board. And lighting people I know aren't really interested in learning projections.”
“Lighting people struggle with video,” Goldenberg says. “They aren't used to it. There are so many new terms, both on the software side and hardware side. Lighting people might now have to learn how to use Apple's Final Cut Pro®, or Avid®. They also have to know what kinds of video signals certain devices output or input: SDI? RGBHV? DVI? What about video distribution? Most lighting folk don't have any idea what a DA is. Now we're running all kinds of five-pair video cable. All this new terminology has to be learned, and practiced correctly. And how many lighting programmers or techs know how to use Maya or other high-end 3D modeling programs? So there's yet another tool for lighting people to learn.”
To get up to speed up on convergence, “I would recommend lighting folk learn as much as they can about video and content creation,” Goldenberg says. “I stress the second part of that, content creation. This is a huge part of it. Do you think lighting designers are good at creating content? I don't think I know one lighting designer who is good at Adobe® After Effects®. This is an amazing program that creates effects like they use on Sunday football. Those are the experts at it, and we have to get to that level.”
PRG and HES have training programs set up for their new technologies. Pat Little, general manager of lighting services at PRG Las Vegas, says he and his staff “just dove right in” when Mbox became available to them. “There's no wrong way to light a box in the center of a room.” But not every designer wants to light the box, or create the content. Specialization, and the thrill of working as part of a team, is more important than cross-training or being able to do everyone else's job.
Carter, who made projections by hand before moving on to computers, helped bring her mentor, Wendall K. Harrington, up to speed on the technology when she was Harrington's assistant. Says Harrington, whose work can be seen on Broadway in The Good Body, “People should do what they are good at and what they are trained to do. I think there are various skill sets for each discipline and I'm not sure everyone has them all. But that's me; I'm sure set designers who do their own costumes and projections would disagree. There is no way to settle this question; it really has to do with whether you want to be responsible for everything, or you enjoy collaboration.”
Carter worked closely with set designer Neil Patel on Dirty Tricks. While manufacturers assume that projection and lighting are closely related, making for a natural convergence point, both of these designers are more grounded in architecture than they are in illumination. “More set designers are doing projections than LDs, and I think it's partly because of time,” says Carter. “For the set designer, once the model has been okayed and sent to the shop they have a lot more time to do image research (which few LDs I know want to spend the time to do) and they use Photoshop and some of the digital tools that a projection designer uses.”
Patel, who has tinkered with virtual sets, says that he and his colleagues are still grappling with the “rapid changes” in the projection market, let alone convergence. “It was just a few years ago that an Ektagraphic was like a machine gun going off in the theatre. They've become brighter and more silent.” Before contemplating convergence, Carter (who also recalls the not-long-ago days when theatrical video projection was just “huge gray light”) puts on her PRG wish list a greater promotional push for the “absolutely fantastic” PIGI projectors, which she feels do a better job than a mixed-use lighting/video product.
Though industrials and theater designers may differ on how useful convergent technology is to them, one thing is certain: There's no end to the product stream in the digital realm. Moen says, “The traditional moving light company will still be around, and the automated fixture will successfully co-exist in a hybrid rig with the newer technology.” The Lance Burton Theatre in Las Vegas, for example, remodeled its rig with a range of HES moving yoke and moving mirror products as well as Catalyst and DL1s. “We still have an appetite for luminaires — after all, we introduced Color-Command™ and ColorMerge™ in the past year for the more traditional market — but the opportunities for another ‘same but brighter’ new fixture are not there. There is more opportunity in digital lighting products, not only for us, but also for the designer.”
“The moving light will be a moving projector,” Little foresees. “There won't be moving lights. Once you can shape the beam and put any image you want into that projector, there's fewer moving parts and less upkeep and the price will go down. We're not far from that.” Given advancements in digital lighting and LEDs, Sorce says today's IMAG projection “will be completely overrun by a lighter, more malleable, and less expensive delivery system.” Rowe says that perhaps “a WholeHog for audio, that can do lighting as well, is a possibility, and as a computer that can be tweaked and touched as you might handle a console.” Lest you think that industry members like Goldenberg and Carter are poles apart in their thinking about technologies, Carter, moving convergence in a different direction, says, “After Effects and Pro Tools, when opened up right next to each other on a screen, look exactly the same. The technology for sound and projection runs parallel, and they're easily integrated. That integration would take sound and projection designers very far.”
If convergent technology penetrates deeply into the marketplace, making multitaskers out of specialists, many will have to adapt, as some are naturally. Others can stick to what they know and mentor the next generation in the all-important creative element, as the new waves of hybrid units come ashore. “In smaller start-up theatre companies, the content — theatre, performance art, poetry — is blurred, to attract newer, younger audiences,” says Carter. “The designs cross all the boundaries as well.” It may be that the generation best able to manipulate convergent technology is using an Xbox before it gravitates to an Mbox, on playgrounds very different from the one that is Las Vegas.
Robert Cashill is a former editor of Lighting Dimensions.


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EASYMONEY, part of Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s easy family of brands, has called for low-interest-rate ISAs and savings accounts to carry risk warnings.
The peer-to-peer property lender said on Saturday that savers need to be alerted to the threat of value being destroyed by inflation.
Investment products require extensive warnings to make it clear that capital is at risk, but there is no such requirement for cash ISAs or simple savings accounts, EasyMoney said.
Recent research compiled by the P2P platform found that UK savers lost £32.5bn to inflation last year as a result of low interest rates.
Read more: Five things you need to know about IFISAs
Risk warnings would help people make better decisions about what kind of financial product is right for them, EasyMoney claims.
“People see cash savings as a ‘safe’ option, but one of the big risks for real returns is an excess of caution,” said Andrew de Candole, chief executive of EasyMoney.
“The reality is that the value of cash is being destroyed by inflation because it’s typically earning next to no interest in standard ISAs and traditional savings accounts.
“It’s imperative that savers with low interest bank accounts are made aware that their capital is at risk.
Read more: ISA allowance options for the new tax year
“What consumers need is much more information and more choice in the marketplace than traditional banks or even so-called challenger brands are providing.”
“Everyday investors in the UK have gone almost a decade without real interest rates,” said Haji-Ioannou, founder of EasyJet and owner of the easy brand. “With the EasyMoney IFISA, we’re offering something new and taking on the big boys.”
EasyMoney acquired the business of specialist short-term property lender Tower Bridging and makes loans to property professionals secured by a first legal charge over UK property.


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January 4, 2009
The sports-nutrition market may look like fun when you're watching from the sidelines, but for those in the game it's rough and tumble and no place for sissies. Here's what to look for in the coming season.
Good things, small packages
As the energy-drink category begins to plateau, manufacturers are looking for a replacement, and that may come in the form of ‘energy shots.'
The Japanese functional-beverages market has been delivering bioactives through 4-ounce (or less) portions for years, and it now seems these handy little products—such as Energize (iSatori), 5-Hour Energy (Living Essentials) and Jolt Endurance Shot (Wet Planet Beverages)—are all making headway in this developing area.
Flying in the face of Monster Energy (Hansen Natural Corp.) and mass-volume drinks, these convenient and long-acting beverages are going to find significant volume not only in the energy market but also as a delivery format across the board, including in beauty and weight loss.
Cutting back the buzz
Following a September 2008 study from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine that identified the potential dangers of caffeine intoxication, 100 scientists and physicians sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asking for more regulation of energy drinks marketed to young drinkers.
Although this is not a new area of research, the trial is one of the largest, and governments are watching the issue carefully. As an indication of tightening concern in this area, the European Union now requires that energy drinks have a ‘high-caffeine content' label. As such, 2009 may mark a turning point in the mass use of caffeine as the staple ingredient in such products or a change in delivery systems to enhance the effectiveness of lower-dose products.
—Mark J Tallon, Ph.D.
Natural Foods Merchandiser volume XXX/number 1/p. 31
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Two of the booming brand’s most popular vehicles have been recalled over an issue that could have major consequences if left unattended.
Kia has issued a recall for over 31,000 SUVs.
The safety recall concerns the Sportage midsize SUV and the Sorento seven-seater SUV, two of the South Korean brand’s most popular models.
The recall applies to Sportage models built between 2015 and 2021 and Sorentos models built between 2014 and 2020.
In both vehicles, a software problem could cause the heating element to operate at a higher than normal temperature, which could cause damage to the connector, resulting in a vehicle fire.
This increased risk of fire could lead to potential injury or death to vehicle occupants or other road users.
Affected owners can contact their local Kia dealership and make an appointment for the software update and free inspection and replacement of affected parts if damaged.
Kia’s sister brand Hyundai has also issued a recall for its revolutionary Ioniq 5 electric car.
More than 570 vehicles are affected by a software problem affecting the gearbox control unit.
This could cause the steering column mounted shift selector to fail when in the park position, which could result in the vehicle moving or moving away while in the park position.
According to the recall notice, if the vehicle moves away from the unattended parking position, it can increase the risk of an accident with injury to others and possible damage to property.
Interested owners are encouraged to contact their preferred Hyundai Blue Drive Authorized Dealer for the free software update.
Originally published as Kia Sportage and Sorento recall for safety risk


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Uber ties up with Standard Chartered to offer discounted rides
"We are confident that our customers will find value in this partnership as we continue to explore avenues to enhance our digitally enabled banking experience," Standard Chartered retail banking head
In India particularly, the cardholders will get a 20% cash-back on all Uber rides, subject to a cash-back cap of Rs 600 per month.
The partnership has also been activated in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia,
This is the first one-of-its-kind multi-market partnership for the two companies,
The bank said that the tie-up is a part of its agenda to deliver simple and convenient banking through digital channels for their increasingly tech-savvy clients.


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Mahira Khan has made Pakistan proud every now and then as the only true global representative. Post “Humsafar”, she is only making it bigger every year whether it be starring in Bollywood against the biggest Khan, to making it to the prestigious global film festival Cannes in 2018, the “Superstar” has got all the confidence, guts and glamour it takes to be global icon.
Adding another feather to her cap, Khan is currently in Paris to attend the biggest international fashion event, Paris Fashion Week as L’Oreal Pakistan’s ambassador. She will be walking the ramp under the iconic Eiffel tower, becoming the first Pakistani to do so.
Mahira Khan expressed her joy over the achievement saying,
“Representing the brand and the country at Cannes Film Festival last year was an incredible experience and continuing the same representation at Paris Fashion Week couldn’t be more exciting – it is after all THE fashion week to be a part of and I’m delighted for the opportunity to represent Pakistan at the world’s most coveted event, where beauty meets fashion – We are all worth it!”
Her added activities at the event include meeting the global spokespeople of the brand also participating in the “Unlock Paris Tour” where she’ll be touring Paris, as well as a Karl Lagerfeld workshop, which will also showcase Lagerfeld’s collaboration with L’Oréal Paris on a “rock-chic” make-up collection.
Here’s sending lots of love and luck to Mahira Khan for all the firsts she has and will keep bringing to her country.


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There is no shortchanging the pandemic’s impact on e-commerce adoption, but after living with COVID-19 for more than a year, it’s critical that brands understand that not all online shopping ends with an electronic purchase. And that’s precisely why omnichannel strategies can’t solely focus on the point of purchase.
According to research from NielsenIQ, COVID-19 fueled a 50% increase in U.S. omnichannel shopping last year, but less than half of the activity led to online purchases. Said differently, many omnichannel shoppers use digital channels for information rather than simply an electronic means to an end. That means that omnichannel marketing strategies that fixate on e-commerce buying exclude a significant portion of consumers—those whose shopping touchpoints include, but don’t end in, a digital one.
The needed adjustment is nuanced, but critical: Create seamless experiences from touchpoint to touchpoint instead of between on- and offline purchasing experiences. Omnichannel business and marketing strategies have grown increasingly important in recent years, but data collected for this year’s Nielsen Annual Marketing Report suggests that marketers need to focus more on creating holistic experiences for consumers.
According to the report, brands of all sizes rank customer acquisition as their top marketing objective for the year. While this should be expected given the need to think about sales growth after all that 2020 involved, survey respondents plan to increase their marketing in a few select channels rather than more comprehensively.
In today’s digitally amplified media landscape, it makes perfect sense to boost spending in channels like social media and search. But brands can’t afford to ignore the step in the consumer journey that follows those specific touchpoints. They need to invest in the other steps too if they’re going to be successful omnichannel marketers. And that, for many marketers, presents a different challenge: measurement.
Given the pull back in advertising last year, the pressure to prove return on investment (ROI) couldn’t be higher for marketers. That means measuring across all the channels brands allocate funding to, no matter how small the allocation. This is where we see a correlation between spending allocation and confidence in measurement: Brands plan to increase spend where they are most confident in their measurement ability. The caveat here is that confidence in measurement across channels is notably lacking.
The marketers we surveyed value owned and earned media tremendously, and they have a high interest in understanding cross-platform reach. Spend in digital channels will certainly increase going forward, particularly in a pandemic, but owned media (websites, email) need to be fundamental considerations as well. Given the reduced physical interaction between brands and consumers, each brand’s digital presence needs to work that much harder.
If marketers are truly looking to improve customer acquisition, they need to ensure that every communication channel serves a purpose in the journey. To do this effectively, they need the right data to personalize tactics and the ability to measure the impact of their efforts in order to act quickly. And that means marketers need to invest in the right tech while considering privacy and identity as they iterate on their strategies.
For additional insights, download the 2021 Nielsen Marketing Report: Era of Adaptation.


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We are delighted to announce the opening of INOVIT’s brand new factory in Suqian, strategically located between China’s two largest cities, Beijing and Shanghai. The grand opening ceremony, held on the 10th of September, was attended by the city mayor and was widely reported in local newspapers and television stations.
Due to the increased demand for INOVIT products across the globe, we felt it necessary to expand our current production. The establishment of our Suqian factory, alongside our manufacturing facility in Mumbai, will help support INOVIT’s continued growth, ensuring our supply keeps pace with the rising interest in our brand.
As a company founded in Europe, INOVIT’s primary focus has been on targeting the European market. Last year, however, as a result of the recent boom in the American aftermarket industry, the US outstripped Europe as the biggest consumer of INOVIT products. We’ve also seen a massive surge in interest in the Chinese market that we believe will continue to grow dramatically over the next few years. The establishment of INOVIT Suqian, therefore, is in order to support the growth in these two countries by adding an additional 480,000 wheels per year to our current production capacity.
We pride ourselves on our progressive, forward-thinking approach, which is why we’ve made it our mission to prepare for the future. While our previous manufacturing facility quickly proved incapable of coping with incoming orders for INOVIT products, we’re confident that our new factory will help support our production needs for years to come.
Furthermore, our 15m US dollar investment in the factory will offer a boost for the local economy through the creation of 180 new jobs and the training and skills development opportunities provided, which will not only help staff members progress within INOVIT but will also improve their employment prospects for the future.
Taking less than 18 months to complete, the project represents over 16 years of experience in the sector and is a testament to the skill and dedication of our expert construction team. The state of the art facility occupies a total area of 46,620m2 and boasts a range of cutting edge equipment and machinery, including nine casting machines with robotic arms and continuous T6 heat treatment, five CNC lines and four automatic painting lines.
As sole proprietors of the new factory, we are looking forward to seeing a significant expansion of our current operation and the opportunity to increase our brand’s global reach. Through the establishment of our new facility, we will be able to devote further attention to our R&D efforts, as well as continue to enhance our current designs in order to bring INOVIT customers the very latest in wheel technology and innovation.


text: President Donald Trump plans to ban the sales of flavored e-cigarettes this week. Following 400 cases of vaping lung-illnesses reported in 36 states including six deaths according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Alexis Perez a health educator at the health center for substance abuse says that the action is a good first step but more restrictions need to be put on these vaping companies. Students on-campus are saying that vaping companies need to decrease their nicotine content making them less addictive and quit advertising their products as a safer alternative to traditional smoking. Not enough research has been done to support that claim.


text:
Download the Bitcoin.com Wallet app for iOS, Android, Windows, Linux, or Mac; From the Home screen, tap the "+" in the Bitcoin Cash Wallets Menu to create a.
Bitcoin taxes are becoming a hot topic after the IRS has cracked down on cryptocurrency investors over the past year.
Gemini Review As we come to and move through the last week of May, it’s time to ready yourself for the seasonal shift ahead. With the. Bitcoin To Hit $50 26 Dec 2017. Bitcoin has now recovered more than 50 percent from a low of $10,400 hit Friday in an extremely volatile day of trading. Coinbase said
Crypto Twitter was ablaze Wednesday after the sale of some Bitcoin was reportedly linked to the account of the token’s.
Download Exodus mobile to secure, manage, & exchange your cryptocurrency from anywhere. Trade cryptocurrency in just a few taps.
Recent developments led by some smartphone manufacturers aim to use hardware to make the system more secure, but it won’t.
Goldman Sachs hosted a client call which re-ignited a long running dispute between the cryptocurrency and the banking.
Bitcoin News discusses a Russia Proposal to Crackdown on Bitcoin. People face seven years in jail and fines of as much as.
Download the Bitcoin Wallet by Bitcoin.com. A simple, secure way to send and receive Bitcoin. Available for iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux. Supports.
PRNewswire/ — Atomex, Non-custodial Multicurrency HD wallet, has launched its Atomic swap decentralized exchange (DEX) on three platforms: Windows,


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A Swedish company specializing in electrical motors and generators opened its first warehouse in the Lehigh Valley this week.
ABB, short for Asea Brown Boveri, announced it opened a $4 million Northeast distribution center in Palmer Township to meet increased demand for electrical solutions on Monday.
The new distribution center builds on more than $100 million in expansions and improvements made by the company since 2020 to increase manufacturing capacity and bridge distribution chain issues, the company said.
The warehouse occupies nearly 10 acres at 1000 Carson Court in Palmer Township. More than 100 jobs could be created by the warehouse, the company stated.
“As ABB experiences increasing product demand, expanding our U.S. distribution network broadens access to essential electrical solutions and cuts delivery times in half for a large number of our customers and distributors across the Northeast,” said Matthias Heilmann, president, ABB Installation Products Division.
The new 350,000-square-foot facility would increase inventory availability and reduce delivery times to many ABB products customers and distribution partners across the Northeast region by up to 50%, the company said.
ABB’s Northeast Distribution Center will stock $15 million in inventory and more than 5,000 high-demand products used to power, connect and protect electrical systems across a wide range of construction, industrial, infrastructure, transportation and utility applications, including Ty-Rap cable ties, Carlon electrical boxes, Color-Keyed lugs, Steel City commercial boxes, fittings, and Elastimold cable accessories, the company stated.
Lehighvalleylive.com last reported on the company’s intent to open its latest facility last year. At the time, the warehouse was expected to open in January 2023.
More than 5 million square feet of warehouses have sprung up within a short drive of the Route 33 interchange off Main Street and more are on the way.
The warehouse is located near two other high-capacity warehouses in Palmer Township, including the 1.1 million-square-foot Amazon Fulfillment Center and the 1 million-square-foot warehouse leased by UPS.
It’s unclear at this time what caused the company to postpone its initial opening date.
ABB has a U.S. headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, and its international headquarters in Zurich.
The company operates in more than 100 countries with over 200 manufacturing sites and more than 50,000 employees.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.
Glenn Epps can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or glenn_epps_on Twitter.


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After an understandable delay, a change of venue, and no small amount of prodding, four of the most recognizable business magnates in the U.S. are set to explain to lawmakers just how, exactly, they became so powerful. Yes, it’s a big deal, and not just because it will be Jeff Bezos’s first time being personally grilled by Congress.
Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Tim Cook (Apple), and Sundar Pichai (Alphabet/Google) have all previously answered for their infractions, real or imagined, in the past, before a variety of governmental bodies. Some of those hearings have been pure political theater; others have led to hefty if inadequately punitive fines. The purpose of Wednesday’s hearing, however, is to determine if these four companies, worth a combined total of some $5 trillion—and ostensibly tech giants generally—have grown too big, too fast, and to the detriment of smaller rivals and consumers.
How did we get here?
Investigations into potential antitrust enforcement against Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple began over a year ago. Announced by David N. Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat and head of the House’s Antitrust Subcommittee, on June 3, 2019, the purpose of the inquiry wasn’t merely to determine if Big Tech had been engaging in anti-competitive behavior, but to suss out “whether existing antitrust laws, competition policies, and current enforcement levels are adequate to address these issues.” (In this writer’s humble opinion: no, they are not.)
Between then and now, Cicilline’s investigation has gathered some 1.3 million supporting documents and reams of testimony, some of which is believed to be made public for the first time during the hearing. According to the Washington Post, “lawmakers plan to produce a report in coming months that some party leaders expect will find the industry has skirted federal competition laws.”
Is Jack Dorsey going to be there?
But Jim Jordan wrote that letter
Per Cicilline’s spokesperson: no. Although Republicans are almost guaranteed to bring up supposed bias against conservatives on social media as a distraction from the antitrust issues at hand. (Rep. Matt Gaetz, a committee member and pseudo-father to a large adult son, sent a letter to the Justice Department on Monday demanding a criminal investigation into Zuckerberg for allegedly lying to Congress in 2018 about anti-conservative content moderation, so buckle up for him yammering about that.) Did you have other questions? I do have other things to do today.
OK, OK. How are these rich guys going to wriggle out of this one?
Fair enough, their track record of facing meaningful consequences is less than ideal...
We can’t predict the future, and we don’t have opening statements from these CEOs just yet. However, sources told Bloomberg they believe Zuckerberg’s gambit will hinge on an appeal to xenophobia, essentially arguing that any weakening of U.S. tech companies will necessarily strengthen the position of Chinese ones.
Historically, tech giants often claimed to be an engine of innovation and economic growth for the country and will likely continue to flaunt those alleged bona fides, though those arguments ring more hollow every year the tech industry has ossified into the same few monopolies.
What kind of dirt does the Committee have on these guys, anyway?
Glad you asked! As mentioned, some of it is likely to come out day-of, but reporting suggests at least some of the offensive will focus on the propensity for tech giants to buy up or steal features from smaller upstarts. Take Facebook, for example, which used its financial advantage to purchase Instagram for $1 billion 2012 (last year the app raked in around $20 billion in ad revenue). It then deployed the second strategy of “borrowing” features to enhance Instagram, such as impermanent “stories” and face filters, from Snapchat, which had famously turned down purchase offers from Facebook, twice.
Amazon, too, has been accused repeatedly of reverse engineering rivals and integrating copycat products into the cloud suite of their web hosting, Amazon Web Services. Likewise, it’s been claimed the company uses the sales data from its ecommerce arm to inform which products it makes competing white-label versions of, under brands like Amazon Basics.
Not to mention the billions of dollars in less-familiar acquisitions these companies have made to buy up promising back-end tech or to “acqui-hire” talent. According to Crunchbase, those acquisition numbers are:
Seems hard to argue that buying up 500+ companies wouldn’t have some sort of impact on competition...
And that’s not even considering strategic investments, partnerships, and the myriad other ways these companies make themselves unavoidable.
What about Apple and Google?
Google is expected to face scrutiny about the iron grip it holds on advertising and search—an antitrust concern already shared by 50 attorneys general who are pursuing a case to that end. Apple is likely to answer for rent-seeking practices surrounding its App Store, a walled garden that currently takes a 30% cut of revenues from developers, while being the only way to install new software onto iOS devices.
Again, a lot of this is informed speculation and more is likely to come to light during the hearing itself.
Why isn’t Microsoft going to be there?
Honestly, I’m not sure, and neither is anyone else. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, gave testimony to the Antitrust Committee, according to reporting from The Information, some of which involved the company’s concerns about Apple. But for whatever reason, Microsoft managed to dodge this particular bullet.
Should I know anything about who’s doing the questioning?
Governance only really works if you participate in it actively. But to your point—here’s the members of the House Antitrust Committee.
- David Cicilline (D-RI, Chair)
- Joe Neguse (D-CO, Vice Chair)
- Hank Johnson (D-GA)
- Jamie Raskin (D-MD)
- Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)
- Val Demings (D-FL)
- Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)
- Lucy McBath (D-GA)
- Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI, Ranking Member)
- Matt Gaetz (R-FL)
- Ken Buck (R-CO)
- Kelly Armstrong (R-ND)
- Greg Steube (R-FL)
Worryingly, as Business Insider pointed out last week, Sensenbrenner owns stock in all four companies, at a combined value of over $98,000. This, for reasons inconceivable to me, is somehow not illegal. And at this time, it doesn’t appear Sensenbrenner intends to recuse himself from the hearing.
Yikes. But wait, they’re not going to all pile into a big room in DC, right? Last I heard there was still a pandemic.
We should be so lucky. Nope, the hearing will be conducted over teleconferencing software. This year doesn’t provide much hope in the best possible outcomes, but if all goes well, the virtual hearing will result in fewer bloviating interruptions, and at least one SCOTUS-style gaffe.
My bet is on Bezos forgetting to mute while loudly watching porn.
It’s your money. I can’t tell you what to do with it.
At least let a cat or a baby wander into frame. Literally anything. I’m so starved for dopamine.
Do you want to find out how to watch it or not?
Don’t sound too excited.
Here’s the YouTube stream. It’s scheduled to start at 9am Pacific/12am Eastern, Wednesday, July 29.
I feel tired now


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March 22, 2013
By Jim Moore
The black-and-white photo is sharp, but Tecnam was careful to keep most of their newest creation under wraps in a March 20 announcement of the coming Astore, named in honor of the company’s first production design and timed for the company’s sixty-fifth anniversary.
There was no word on the performance of this new light sport aircraft, but Tecnam promised it will be comfortable, and include an iPad Mini as standard equipment. A WiFi-capable Levil G Mini will allow the display of primary flight instrumentation on the iPad Mini, and pre-installed software will include a dedicated weight and balance application, checklists, and the operating handbook. Buyers can choose between three Rotax engines: the 912ULS, the fuel-injected 912iS, or the turbocharged 914.
Tecnam said the Astore will be unveiled in detail at AERO 2013 Friedrichshafen, Germany, April 24 through 27.
“We have built our reputation at Tecnam on producing aeroplanes that offer outstanding value, beauty and efficiency,” said Tecnam Managing Director Paolo Pascale, in the news release.
Primary Flight Display,
Aircraft and Avionics,
Frazzled? What if your airplane could sense you're overloaded and take some piloting tasks off your hands?
Though unrivaled in its capacity for scooping and dumping water on wildfires--nearly 30 tons of water can be released in a single drop, enough to make the ground shake nearby--work for the Martin Mars has dried up amid competition from newer aircraft.
AOPA is asking the FAA to withdraw a proposed airworthiness directive that could affect thousands of ECi cylinders.
AOPA thanks our members for their continued support in protecting the freedom to fly.


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US startup Ouya has launched a Kickstarter funding campaign for its Android-based games console, which will cost under $100 when it goes on sale in the first quarter of 2013.
The console – also called Ouya – has been designed by Yves Béhar, best known for his work on Jawbone's Jambox speaker, and the One Laptop per Child project. The Verge published initial details early in July, but the company has now gone public with its plans.
Ouya is aiming to raise $950k on crowdfunding site Kickstarter to complete development on the console, make the first production run and fund the development of some launch games. When it goes on sale, it will ship internationally.
"We think we're really going to disrupt the console market," says Julie Uhrman, Ouya's chief executive, in an interview with The Guardian. "It's inexpensive, all the games will be free to play, and it's open to any developer that wants to make a game for the TV."
The device will run Google's Android 4.0 software, with a customised user interface designed for TVs and its own curated app store.
By "free to play", Uhrman means that every game available on Ouya's store will have a free component: either demos where players can then pay to upgrade to the full version, or freemium games that make their money from in-app purchases.
"We've seen a lot of developers leave triple-A console development shops and do mobile gaming, which is why a lot of the creative and exciting games are going to mobile platforms," says Uhrman.
"Yet TV is still the best screen: the number one platform if you survey gamers. It's where the majority of gameplay happens and the majority of dollars are spent, and it's the best screen, from its HD quality to surround sound to that lean-back communal experience. We want to bring games back to the television."
Ouya will have a Tegra 3 quad-core processor inside, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of flash memory, and a 1080p HDMI connection. It will come with a wireless gaming controller with two analogue sticks, a D-pad, eight buttons and a touchpad.
Uhrman says the controller is key to Ouya: the physical buttons and sticks for twitch games like shoot 'em ups, racing and sports games, with the touchscreen used to play existing Android games designed for smartphones. Over time, she hopes new titles will take advantage of both.
Another key feature for Ouya is its openness. The company will actively encourage hackers to tinker with the device. "The console and controller are both openable, with standard screws," she says. Rooting the device won't void its warranty, either.
"People will be able to lift off the top, boost chips, add features and memory, and there's a USB port to add peripherals too. We'll publish the hardware design if enough people are curious about it."
Meanwhile, anyone buying an Ouya will get a software development kit (SDK) thrown in, and every unit is a debug console. "For the same price it costs to become an iOS developer, we'll give you a console and an SDK for free," says Uhrman.
Ouya's Kickstarter launch was accompanied by endorsements from several prominent developers, including inXile's Brian Fargo – which recently raised nearly $3m on the site for its Wasteland 2 game – and Canabalt creator Adam Saltsman.
Minecraft developer Mojang is also quoted in Ouya's launch materials, although – and it's to the company's credit that this is included – it's a more cautious welcome.
"If Ouya delivers on the promise of being the first true open gaming platform that gives indie developers access to the living room gaming market, yes that is a great idea. We will follow the development of Ouya and see how it resonates with gamers. I could see all current Mojang games go on the platform if there's a demand for it."
The first task is to raise that initial $950k on Kickstarter, although other recent crowdfunding examples – inXile but also Double Fine Adventure and the Pebble smart-watch – show it could smash through that target quickly and push on to a much greater amount.
Pledges run from $10 to reserve a username through $90 to get a console and controller; $225 for a console plus two controllers with their username etched on; $699 for a "Developer Special" first-run Ouya, early SDK access and a year's promotion of their game; and $1,337 for an "Elite Developer Special" that adds priority email access to the Ouya team, and tickets to its launch event.
30 backers who pledge $5k or more get a day hanging out with Behar and his company fuseproject, while 20 who pledge $10k or more get dinner with the team and their username etched into the entire first production run of consoles.
"VCs are still somewhat skittish when they come to hardware companies," says Uhrman. "They wanted to see more traction, so we raised a round of angel funding from friends and family, but now we've gotten to a point where it's time to get feedback from consumers and developers to help us take it all the way."


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Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) will beat Wall Street expectations of 170,000 deliveries for the first quarter and restore momentum for the company’s stock and electric vehicle sector, according to Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives.
The Tesla Analyst: Ives maintained his $950 price target and Neutral rating on the Elon Musk-led automaker.
The Tesla Thesis: The analyst said in a note Tuesday that Wedbush has updated its delivery model to reflect increased confidence in the first half of this year.
For the first quarter of 2021, Wedbush is raising Model 3/Y estimates to 160,000 units from 132,000 units. For Model S/X vehicles Wedbush revised estimates to 14,000 units from 12,500 units.
Ives revised the total Automotive delivery revenue to $8.79 billion from $7.67 billion.
See also: How to Invest in Tesla Stock
For the second quarter of 2021, Wedbush expects Model 3/Y deliveries to be 166,000 units compared to the earlier estimated 144,000.
For the Model S/X, Wedbush expects approximately 14,000 deliveries compared with the previous estimate of nearly 13,000 units.
Wedbush expects total deliveries in the FY 21 to be 830,000 compared with the prior estimate of 774,000 units.
Total automotive delivery revenue for FY 21 will be $42.7 billion compared with the previous estimate of $39.7 billion, as per Ives.
The revision of the Wedbush Delivery Method is a reflection of the firm’s belief based on its checks that despite the noise and chip shortage Tesla saw strength in China and the U.S. “with EV consumer demand patterns that continued to improve discernibly.”
The improvement, according to Wedbush, was seen since the beginning of January with strength seen for Tesla in the months of February and March, particularly in China.
From the point of view stocks, Ives wrote that the recent sell-off in EV shares “creates a massive buying opportunity in our opinion to own the Chinese EV players as well as the leader of the pack Tesla heading into this golden age of EVs.”
Click here to check out Benzinga’s EV Hub for the latest electric vehicles news.
Latest Ratings for TSLA
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See more from Benzinga
© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.


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FICCI organises business delegation coinciding with President of India’s state visit to Sweden
Sweden, renowned for being repository
of cutting edge technologies and processes and over 170 Swedish companies already invested in India across sectors, the country has firmly established its credentials as dependable investor and business partner for India.
In view of its rising economic stock, Pranab Mukherjee, President of India, undertook a state visit to Sweden on May 31June 2, 2015.
Sushil Kumar Jiwarajka, Senior Executive Committee member, FICCI, led the 57-member threechamber Indian business delegation to Stockholm coinciding with the state visit.
The business interactions of the delegation began on the evening of May 31, 2015 when the President met the Indian community in Sweden.
On June 1, 2015, Sushil Jiwarajka, on behalf of FICCI, signed a partnership agreement with Business Sweden in presence of Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India and Banashree Bose Harrison, Indian Ambassador to Sweden.
The delegation also had a detailed meeting with Oscar Stenstrom, State Secretary, Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation.
Sectoral sessions on smart cities, ICT, R&D and innovation, renewable energy, life sciences, and 'Make in India' were also organised during the course of two days. FICCI nominated speakers spoke eloquently during the sessions.
On June 2, a roundtable and a business dialogue between India and Swedish CEOs were organised.
Later, the main business forum in presence of the President and King of Sweden was also organised. In his capacity as the leader of the Indian business delegation, Jiwarajka spoke in detail about the business possibilities between the two countries during the Presidential forum.
B2B meetings in collaboration with Business Sweden were also organised following the conclusion of the forum.
The visit presented opportunities for Indian business delegates to have hands-on information about the business prepositions for them from their Swedish counterparts.
Sushil K. Jiwarajka, Senior Executive Committee member, FICCI and Leader of Indian business delegation, speaking at the Presidential forum in presence of Pranab Mukherjee, President of India (right) and Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden.
Sushil K. Jiwarajka, Senior Executive Committee member, FICCI and Leader of Indian business delegation signing the partnership agreement with Business Sweden in presence of Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India and Banashree Bose Harrison, Indian Ambassador to Sweden.


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Tenth and Blake — MillerCoors’ craft arm — today announced that it has acquired the 110,000 sq. ft. facility adjacent to its existing 10th Street Brewery in Milwaukee. The acquisition is expected to help the company make larger amounts of specialty releases under the Jacob Leinenkugel and Blue Moon Brewing labels. Those brands account for more than 2.5 million barrels of beer.
“As demand for our craft and specialty beers continues to increase, this additional space gives us the ability to expand our overall brewing and packaging capacity,” Tom Cardella, Tenth and Blake president and CEO said in a press statement.
Both Blue Moon and Leinenkugel have seen sales increase in recent years; Leinenkugel Summer Shandy proved to be a hit in 2012 — up 90 percent, according to some reports — and has garnered national advertising (the Leinenkugel brand was up only slightly overall for the first quarter of 2013, according to MillerCoors); meanwhile, shipments of Blue Moon Belgian White were up 11 percent in year-to-date IRI scans for convenience, supermarket, and Multi-outlets through May 19. Collectively, all Blue Moon brands were up 14 percent during that same period, according to Beer Marketer’s INSIGHTS.
The current 10th Street facility is just 30,000 sq. ft. and serves as an overflow production facility for Jacob Leinenkugel brands and specialty Blue Moon offerings. Less than 1 million barrels of beer were were produced at the brewery in 2012.
Tom Ryan, a spokesman with Tenth and Blake, told Brewbound.com that the added elbow room will allow for increased flexibility in brewing and packaging schedules, but the company has yet to determine how it will fill the new space.
“We are just getting into the space and taking a look to see how it would work logistically,” he said. “It is a little premature to get into the specifics on equipment purchases.”
Renovations on the nearly 90-year-old building will take place over the next several months and brewing operations could commence as early as 2014, according to the release. The final purchase price and investment figures were not disclosed.


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Control your TV simply by waving your arm
(PhysOrg.com) -- Consumers will soon be able to control their TV screens or home entertainment systems simply by waving their hand, thanks to technology developed by Toshiba's Cambridge Research Laboratory in collaboration with the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge.
The new gesture-based interface for flat panel displays was recently shown at a major consumer electronics show in Berlin (IFA).
Using the Toshiba experimental TV viewers are able to interact with the display system simply by gesturing with their hand. Once the viewer is in front of the display screen, the system will ‘see’ them and invite them to take control of the display simply by raising their hand. As the system can robustly track their hand even under different lighting conditions, the visitor can enjoy controlling the on-screen cursor.
“The gesture-control research is extremely exciting and is opening an array of possibilities for consumers, such as new interfaces for TVs and interactive displays in shop windows and information kiosks,” explains Professor Roberto Cipolla , who with Dr Bjorn Stenger at Toshiba and Tom Woodley at the Department of Engineering, has been pioneering the use of computer vision in human-machine interaction since 1992. All three of whom are Department of Engineering alumni.
“The gesture interface may not replace a remote controller, but can provide an alternative way to interact with a PC or display. Imagine never having to search for the remote controller to turn the TV volume down when receiving a phone call.
“Having developed the system, we are now working on expanding its capabilities to ensure an easy-to-use and reliable system for the consumer which will work in real word scenarios, such as shops or peoples’ living rooms.”
Another vision-based interface has also been developed, viewers will be able to switch the display’s language or contents simply by showing different picture cards. Identification interfaces like this offer the user the ability to personalise either the interface or the contents.
The system uses a single camera mounted on the top of the display and is started by the user raising their hand to initiate the interaction. The software then tracks the person’s hand using multiple cues including colour, motion and appearance. It can reliably recognise and track the user’s gestures even under rapid motion or changing light conditions. Since different cues are less reliable in different situations this multiple-cue approach is key to making a human computer interface work robustly.
The team’s current research focuses on how to deal with multiple users (in a living room setting for example), how to track with finer control and how to deal with difficult lighting systems.
For more information please visit Professor Roberto Cipolla's webpages here.
Provided by University of Cambridge


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Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center has a found malicious actor which has been constantly trying to ingress into organizations’ networks through IoT devices. Microsoft found this actor trying t... Read more
The Australian data integration company, Reekoh, has announced that it is expanding its product suite to increase possibilities and provide more opportunities for global customers and partners.
The an... Read more
PT Jasa Marga Tbk has started developing its own internet of things (IoT) laboratory in its past Jakarta-Tangerang branch office in Jakarta. This move is taken by the company to be part of Industry 4.... Read more
Cassette tapes were the only way to listen music in the 80’s and was popular in that era too. It was a great companion during happiness and healed us when we were sad. As everything became digit... Read more
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published a report outlining the risks posed by IoT devices and measures to be taken to overcome them.
The report says IoT device manu... Read more
A leading IT services, consulting, and business solutions organization, TCS, has been named a leader in the Zinnov Zones for Internet of Things (IoT) Services, for the third consecutive year. Accordin... Read more
China is preparing itself to bring out its own semiconductor industry on the backdrop of the U.S.-China trade war. The Chinese firms’ fear of being eliminated from using American technology henc... Read more


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Cadilllac Fleetwood Collection Review
The annual Concours d’Elegance held in Pebble Beach California is closing in and in case you're a gearhead and you have the possibility to attend, I reckon it would be a pretty excited Sunday afternoon for you. You'll get the chance to see today's latest super cars such as the brand new McLaren 12C Can Am Edition Racing Concept, but you'll also have the chance to gaze at some of the most iconic vehicles ever built, like the Cadillac Fleetwood Collection.
At this year's event two models of the Cadillac Fleetwood V-16 will be showcased by their manufacturers alongside the newest cars that are currently found in Cadillac's lineup. However, I reckon that the Fleetwood pair of vehicles will manage to draw more attention than the newer models.
These two particular cars were available for purchase during the Great Depression, but because of the pretty rough times these cars were never ordered by customers and remained unsold until this very day.
The pair consists in the rumbleseat Roadster model 5802 from 1934 and a Phaeton model 5859 from 1937. These two particular vehicles were part of Cadillac's made-to-order Fleetwood collection but unfortunately these two body styles were never sold. The good news is that Fran Roxas managed to build the Phaeton and the Roadster decades later from scratch, based on the original blueprints.
Both the Phateon 5859 and the Roadster were recently sold at auction at outstanding prices. The Phaeton sold for $962,500 whereas the Roadster managed to earn the price tag of $1,001,000. That's about the same price as 5 Bentley Continental GT 2013, so whoever bough these oldies but goldies must be one of the biggest car enthusiasts and a huge Cadillac fan.
Needless to say these two Cadillacs are somewhat of a legend and have managed to influence the design of newer concepts, such as the Cadillac Ciel Convertible that was first exhibited last year at Peter Hay Hill. The Ciel has been designed with the original drawings of the Phaeton and the Roadster in mind, so even decades after the Great Depression these two pieces of history manage to influence the automotive market.
If you would want to attend at this year's Concours d'Elegance at Pebble Beach you might want to consider buying the tickets in advance for $200. Buying them on spot will set you back $250. Enjoy if you attend!
DETROIT – A pair of one-of-a-kind Cadillac Fleetwood V-16s that were available but never ordered by customers during the Great Depression will be among the cars on display at the annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Carmel, Calif., this week.
Cadillac’s exhibit, open to the public Aug. 16-19 at Peter Hay Hill, features Cadillac’s newest cars, along with the two custom-built Fleetwood Convertibles from 1934 and 1937. Each has a historically significant pedigree.
A 1934 rumbleseat roadster model 5802 and a 1937 Phaeton model 5859 were part of Cadillac’s made-to-order Fleetwood collection, featured in the “build books” that customers used to select options for their cars. All other body styles were built for customers, but these two lavish models went unselected.
Decades later, noted automobile restorer and coachbuilder Fran Roxas built the Phaeton 5859 and Roadster 5802 from scratch, relying only on the original blueprints of Cadillac designer John Hampshire. Both have won best-in-class awards at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
The two one-of-a-kind models were rarely seen until being profiled in a recent Hemmings Classic Car article.
Each recently sold at auction. The Phaeton 5859 sold for $962,500 and the Roadster 5802 for $1,001,000. Both vehicles are powered by Cadillac’s legendary16-cylinder engine. Cadillac designers recently used the original drawings as inspiration for the Ciel Convertible concept car shown for the first time in the Cadillac exhibit at Peter Hay Hill in 2011. It will be on display again this week.
Held annually since 1950, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is a premier exhibition of pre- and post-war automobiles and motorcycles, as well as concept cars from manufacturers across the world. In order to be showcased, vehicles must be a well preserved or accurately restored model of the original and offer “historic value” in the form of engineering and design and craftsmanship among other factors from the vehicle’s time period.
“The Cadillac Phaeton 5859 and Roadster 5802 are literally unlike any other vehicle ever built,” said Clay Dean, Cadillac design director. “The Cadillac design team is still inspired by these two vehicles as we dream and conceive of future Cadillac entries.”
Cadillac will also showcase a 1953 LeMans at this year’s event. The LeMans, a relatively small and athletic design, is one of the famed Motorama show cars of the 1950s.
Cadillac has been a leading luxury auto brand since 1902. In recent years, Cadillac has engineered a historic renaissance led by artful engineering and


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In honor of Pride Month, Monumental Sports & Entertainment will be auctioning off various Capitals, Wizards and Mystics items to support SMYAL (Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders).
SMYAL is a nonprofit organization that works to empower LGBTQ+ youth in the Washington, D.C. area. The Capitals, Wizards and Mystics will be auctioning off nearly 30 items to benefit the organization.
The memorabilia includes primarily Capitals items such as autographed player-used sticks and pucks wrapped in rainbow tape or signed pride-themed shirts but also features select Wizards and Mystics signed items as well:
Monumental Sports & Entertainment routinely participates in Pride Month celebrations and has raised over $80,000 for LGBTQ+ charities through past initiatives.
The auction opens Thursday at 12:00 p.m. on Handbid and closes Friday, June 26 at 3:00 p.m.
MORE CAPITALS NEWS:
Coaches: How to prepare?
Parade Day: A look back two years later
Capitals, Wizards and Mystics to hold auction benefitting LGBTQ+ charity originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington


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Singapore Airlines is launching a consumer video contest that aims to drive brand loyalty.
The airline is inviting consumers to go to contest.flysingaporeair.com to submit their favorite things to see and do in Asia for a chance to win exclusive travel experiences.
Visitors to the site are invited to help the airline create a “best-of-the-best” video of their favorite things to see and do in Asia. They can share their favorite vacation spots, activities and memories for a chance to win. Entries are allowed once per month through Dec. 31.
The grand prize is a business class trip for two to Bali, Kota Kinabalu and Singapore, including hotel accommodations by Shangri La and the Four Seasons.
The grand prize winner and monthly call out winners will be selected by a panel of judges from Singapore Airlines staff, based on the aesthetic value and skill that they discern, in their sole discretion, in entrants' contributions.
The People's Choice award includes round-trip airfare for two to Asia. Each month, the submission with the most votes will become a finalist and eligible for the “People's Choice Voting Round.” Users will then vote between finalists to select a winner.
Each month the airline is giving away KrisFlyer Miles to one user. Visitors to the Web site are entered when they share the link to the contest or vote.
The contest was created by creative agency Managed Digital, which selected SendUs, which is the platform used to manage video submissions. The video platform enables Singapore Airlines to launch a video conversation about the brand that generates highly targeted audience responses.


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RENUKA COMMODITIES DMCC
MACD shows TCS, HCL Tech, Mindtree, Suzlon among 25 stocks readying to rally
The MACD is known for signalling trend reversals in traded securities or indices.
Narendra Murkumbi on why he is resigning as EVC & MD of Shree Renuka Sugar
The family stake will drop to 13% as promoters dilute stake to set...
Shree Renuka Sugars to merge UAE-based arm with itself
The amalgamation has been approved with a view to optimise the synergies of both the c...
Markets on a Sugar rush, stocks rise 2-10%
Mutual funds have been selling stakes in some sugar cos over the past three months.
Wilmar to buy 25% in Renuka Sugars
The Murkumbi family promoted company will issue fresh shares to Wilmar, and the deal is likely to be finalised at a price between Rs 30 and Rs 33 per share.
Indian Energy Exchange files IPO papers with Sebi
The IPO will see sale of 6,065,009 equity shares by existing shareholders.
Renuka Sugars plans overseas expansion
Sugar major Shree Renuka Sugars is mulling over various options, including a follow-on public offer (FPO), to raise funds in the coming months for its overseas expansion even as the company has earmarked Rs 230 crore for domestic expansion.
Renuka Sugars sells 7.5 per cent stake in NCDEX for Rs 66.54 crore
Of the 7.5 per cent stake sold by the sugar major, 5 per cent has been acquired by the NCDEX original promoter NSE.
FMC mulls centre-specific commodity forward trades
These contracts will allow traders to buy commodities like chana, rapeseed mustard, castorseed, etc, on commodity exchanges, where currently they can’t do so.
Import duty on sugar may be cut from 40%
India is the world's biggest aggregate consumer of the sweetener and often imports the commodity when local output falls, to prevent prices from soaring.
Sugar stocks turn mixed on increase in import duty
Import duty on raw sugar, refined or white sugar will increase to 50 per cent with immediate effect.
Shree Renuka Sugars to sell 25% in Renuka Brasil Holdings
Shree Renuka Sugars is in talks with several private equity companies and strategic investors to sell 25% stake to retire debt in Renuka Brasil Holdings.
Buy IGL, GMDC and Renuka Sugars: Ashwani Gujral
After the big day yesterday, market is now trying to make a range between 5500 and 5600.
Renuka strongest in comoodities: Ashwani Gujral, Market Strategist
Sugar has been consistently doing well.
Buy Renuka Sugar and Bajaj Hindustan: Ashwani Gujral
You could buy Renuka Sugar if it comes down further towards levels of 68-70 but their previous rallies have failed.
Copyright © 2020 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service


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Eat Drink Love Ponsonby 2022
Whether you're after a cheap-as-chips meal deal or to splurge on something special, the month-long celebration has something for everyone.
May 10, 2022
Ponsonby's annual month-long celebration of food and drink is back for its fourth year, to showcase the best of what the inner-city suburb has to offer.
Once again, more than 50 of the neighbourhood's venues — from long-standing institutions to new casual eateries — have jumped on board to serve up dish-and-drink pairings at the fixed price points of $30 and under, $30 to $50, and $50+.
If you're planning a cute date night or just want to take mum for a belated Mother's Day meal, check out Burger Burger's set date-night menu: for just $50 you and your dining companion both get a burger, a side and a glass of bubbles or a beer.
A dining institution, the Ponsonby Food Court is serving up a series of meal specials all for under $30, while Mexico is slinging their speciality Frida canned margaritas with their signature fried chicken for just $25. Feel like treating yourself? Wine bar Beau is serving up half a dozen oysters and two glasses of Champagne for just $60.
The festival is always a great chance to head out and support an old favourite, or maybe sample a newcomer you haven't gotten around to trying yet. Running until Saturday, May 29, the full range of menus can be found here.


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West Bengal Lockdown: Amid an extended lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic in West Bengal, local trains and metro services have been shut. As a result, farmers, traders and vegetable sellers have been unable to travel from the rural districts to capital city Kolkata. Vegetable prices have, as a consequence, nearly doubled with staples like potatoes and tomatoes being sold at up to Rs 80 a kg. Also Read - New Zealand Extends Lockdown in Auckland For 12 Days Due to Rising COVID-19 Cases
The sale has dropped, local vegetable sellers worried, due to fears of coronavirus, and most of the harvest is still in stock in bulk quantity because customers are not buying. Also Read - N1-STOP-LAMP: This Low-cost COVID Test Developed by Scientists Can Detect Virus in Just 20 Mins | Read Here
Potatoes, that were available at a price range of Rs 20-40 per kg has now doubled to Rs 80, while the price of tomatoes has increased from Rs 40 to Rs 80 per kg. Similar, staple Bengali vegetables like Brinjal, Bitter Gourd, pumpkin and lady finger, etc also cost Rs 60, Rs 70, Rs 50 and Rs 60, respectively, an India Today report stated. Also Read - Pranab Mukherjee's Condition Stable, Says Son; Observation Period Ends Today
Vegetable vendors said that the prices will not go down until the train services are resumed in the state, because transportation by trucks is much more expensive than the expense incurred by train.
Notably, farmers and wholesalers have already suffered immensely in West Bengal this year due to Cyclone Amphan and its aftermath. The high transport costs and low demand on top of that have proved to be a tough challenge for them to recover from.


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By: Alex Karnopp
As production consolidates around a few key players, larger economic growth in the video game industry masks underlying corporate concerns of securities fraud. Last year, the video game industry reached an important milestone, earning the title of “world’s favorite form of entertainment.” In 2017, the video game industry generated $108.1 billion, more than TV, movies, and music. While other entertainment industries saw revenue decline, the game industry increased 10.7%. This drastic jump in revenue has made investors happy. In 2017, most companies producing hardware or software for the industry easily beat the broader market. NVIDIA, a popular graphic card producer, jumped up 80% over the year. Nintendo, similarly, saw an 86% increase. Even more drastically, Take-Two Interactive shot up 117%.
Red flags in the industry, however, indicate changes are needed to sustain growth. For one, production costs and technological innovations hinder profitability as games take longer and cost more to bring to market. Making matters worse, game fatigue remains high, meaning an audience remains focused on a game only for a small window. High development risk has led to a pattern of mergers and acquisitions – large, publicly traded companies either acquire publishing rights or development teams altogether to diversify holdings and increase profitability.
This consolidation has had interesting impacts on video game development. Publicly traded companies face tremendous pressure from investors to uphold profitability – to the frustration of developers. Developers are constantly faced with unrealistic deadlines from executives looking to maximize profit, ultimately leading to the release of low-quality games. As large game publishers learn to deal with the interplay between profit and content, they may also face legal consequences.
What may seem like “corporate optimism” to some, looks more like fraudulent misstatements to investors. In 2014, the “disastrous launch” of Battlefield 4 (which was rushed to hit the release of the PS4 and Xbox One) sent Electronic Art’s stock plummeting. As both executives and producers claimed the title would be a success, investors brought lawsuits, claiming they relied on these false statements. Similarly, the recent split between developer Bungie and Activision has led to rumors of lawsuits. Constant frustrations over sales and content finally led to a split, dropping Activision stock by more than 10%. Investors claim Activision committed federal securities law by failing to “disclose that the termination of Activision-Blizzard and Bungie Inc.’s partnership … was imminent.” As large, publicly traded publishers begin dealing with the effects of a consolidated market on content and profits, it will be interesting how courts interpret executive actions trying to mitigate missteps.


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Various fried chicken restaurants have adopted cooking robots. Kyochon F&B, a fried chicken franchise operator, introduced a cooperative robot in the western port city of Incheon in August 2021 to cook fried chickens alongside human coworkers. Using cooperative cooking robots, Robo Arete, a food-tech startup, opened its fried chicken franchise in December 2019.
GS Retail, the operator of GS25, partnered with Robo Arete to adopt a fried chicken cooking robot that can interact with human counterparts. The first robot will be demonstrated at a selected GS 25 store in April 2022. The use of robots will be expanded to other stores based on the analysis of user satisfaction, productivity and economic feasibility.
"In the era where automation systems are rapidly developing, the adoption of cooperative robots will be the starting point for many different smart auto systems that will be introduced in convenience stores in the future," GS Retail head Kwon Young-hwan said in a statement on February 23. Data released by Grand View Research, a global market research firm, showed that the global market for collaborative robots would reach $10.1 billion by 2025.


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Here’s yet another indication that movie theater owners are making peace with the idea that their customers also want to spend time being entertained at home. This weekend 24 Cinemark theaters in five markets — San Francisco, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Chicago, and Cleveland — will charge $5 a ticket for matinee showings of Disney’s Lady And The Tramp, Peter Pan and Cinderella. It isn’t just for nostalgia’s sake. The exhibition chain will also sell Diamond Edition Blu-ray discs for each of the movies. Cinemark still sees an opportunity to lure buyers back. They’ll receive an unspecified “free offer from Cinemark and a special gift” tied to Disney’s upcoming Oz The Great and Powerful, Cinemark says. The company’s James Meredith calls it “a very exciting and unique program” to see the films on a big screen “before they return to the Disney vault.”
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China's 5G phone shipments surge nearly 80 pct in Jan.-Aug.
A staff member displays a mobile phone screen film that can generate 3D vision with phone applications during the 2021 World 5G Convention in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 31, 2021. (Xinhua/Ren Chao)
BEIJING, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Shipments of 5G phones in China surged 79.7 percent year on year to 168 million units in the first eight months of this year, data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) showed.
The volume accounted for 74.1 percent of the country's total mobile phone shipments during the period, said the CAICT, a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
According to the data, half of the 296 newly-released mobile phone models during this period were 5G phones.
In August alone, China shipped 17.69 million units of 5G phones, up 9.4 percent year on year, the data showed.
Copyright © 2021 People's Daily Online. All Rights Reserved.


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Nathan’s launches Bacon Cheddar Cheesy Burger, while Wayback offers BOGO on Classic Burgers
Nathan’s Famous introduced a new Bacon Cheddar Cheesy Burger for a limited-time starting September 18, which is being celebrated as National Cheeseburger Day. Wayback Burgers also launched a special BOGO promotion on its Classic Burgers that day, and a new Cheeseburger Hall of Fame. It pays homage to moments in pop culture defined by “performance, body of work, depth of career, cultural relevance, uniqueness and of course, overall cheesiness,” announced Wayback.
Available at Nathan’s Famous and through its virtual-kitchen partners, the limited-time Bacon Cheddar Cheesy Burger features Angus beef, Applewood smoked bacon, and Nathan’s hot, real cheddar cheese sauce.
“We continue to expand our menu based on our customers’ feedback and preferences, and this burger is no exception,” states James Walker, senior vice president, Restaurants. “This LTO will be one of the largest in the brand’s history as the Bacon Cheddar Cheesy Burger will not only be available through our franchisees but also through our ghost kitchen partners to expand it throughout the US and abroad. We can’t wait for our customers to try it!”
Expanding its marketing platform, Nathan’s Famous partnered with Punchh, an email distribution and digital engagement platform, to distribute Nathan’s Famous coupons to coupon club members, as well as launch a delivery specific website at wedelivertheflavorofnewyork.com to streamline customer ordering. As part of promoting the club, Nathan’s Famous will send customers who join the club a coupon for the Bacon Cheddar Cheesy Burger.
At Wayback Burgers, the formal induction period starts and ends on National Cheeseburger Day. Here are the inaugural inductees for 2021:
- Jimmy Buffet; Cheeseburger in Paradise
- Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell; Good Burger
- Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall and John Amos; Coming to America
- John Landis on behalf of John Belushi; Animal House
“As the saying goes, nothing beats a classic. Therefore, we’re excited to celebrate this National Cheeseburger Day with not only BOGO Classic Burgers, but with the inauguration of our very first ‘Cheeseburger Hall of Fame’ class,” said Patrick Conlin, Wayback Burgers, president. “Just like our Classic Burger, our 2021 inductees positively advocate the deliciousness and notoriety of America’s iconic meal, the cheeseburger. We feel our inaugural inductees embody memorable moments in pop culture where we, as a society, have also idolized the cheeseburger. We look forward to launching this yearly tradition and can’t wait to see where the class of 2022 will lead us.”
To learn more about the publisher of this restaurant news site, navigate here.


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Facebook’s ZunguZ and GetBucks launch world first social media credit offering for South African market
GetBucks, a local? virtual financial services provider (VFSP) offering online credit, has partnered with ZunguZ, the popular Facebook money transfer service, making loans accessible through the popular social networking platform and thereby launching the world’s first social media credit facility.
According to Gert Jonck, CEO at GetBucks, ZunguZ has taken the market by storm, offering a Facebook wallet whereby friends on the social networking site can transfer money to one another.
“ZunguZ has elected to expand its offerings to include online credit from GetBucks, so that a consumer can apply on Facebook for a quick and easy loan. The loan is disbursed to the consumer via the ZunguZ Wallet service,” adds Jonck.
Consumers can use the credit granted to purchase items such as airtime or iTunes vouchers within the new ZunguZ marketplace, withdraw the cash, or send the money to a relative or friend on Facebook within the borders of South Africa.
Jonck explains, “GetBucks is the first real online credit provider in South Africa using the Internet as a platform to extend credit to the consumer, without the need for brick and mortar distribution channels. Our online offering is intelligent and process driven with an integral decision making element. Most sites are lead generators and not actual fully functional processing sites. Social media is changing the way people interact and do business and we are proud to be associated with ZunguZ in taking VFSP into the social media space.”
Rob Sussman, CEO at ZunguZ, says that “Brining Getbucks on-demand loans via the ZunguZ transparent and non-evasive delivery mechanism, has resulted in these services being introduced into new markets and a further foothold for these services in social commerce. Not only can anyone now apply for a loan and receive the funds in minutes, but they can send this money to any of their Facebook friends or purchase an array of virtual vouchers, to include that of USA iTunes. With this success, we are now working jointly on the balance of Africa, after which we will introduce these services to other emerging markets”.
“In a fast changing world, as a result of the digital era, ZunguZ and GetBucks are prime examples of social media innovators. The companies’ individual and combined offerings are bound to influence e-commerce in the future,” concludes Jonck.
ZunguZ is a US-Delaware registered company, with offices in Palo Alto USA and Cape Town South Africa. The global business shares its name with its flagship platform, ZunguZ®, a multi-tiered cloud platform that has deep integration into social networks and financial services.
The company does not serve as a financial institution or similar regulatory body, but acts as a platform for global financial service providers, merchants and customers to connect at the point of transaction. By placing people at the centre and using analytics to understand the unique behaviour of people across diverse economies, ZunguZ is able to influence the purchasing decisions of approximately a billion users globally. ZunguZ can be activated through www.facebookpayments.co.za
See www.zunguz.com for more information.
Get Bucks is a Virtual Financial Services Provider (VFSP). The company offers online credit to individuals and employers for their personnel. GetBucks is a unique blend of combing one of the world’s oldest commodities – money – and the world’s latest technological innovation to enable a world class virtual financial services platform


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Analyst firm IDC (International Data Corporation) on Tuesday posted reports from its Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker wherein it observed that India recorded total smartphone shipments of 124 million units in 2017, with an annual growth of 14 percent over last year. This double digit growth makes India the fastest growing smartphone market in the world, among the top 20 global competitors. China recorded a decline, while the US market remained flat. Samsung maintained the lead in both the smartphone and feature phone segments in India for 2017.
The IDC report also revealed that India is the world's third biggest smartphone market and largest feature phone market. As a matter of fact, 2017 saw an annual growth of 17 percent year-on-year in the feature phone segment, owing majorly to Reliance Industries' 4G feature phone Jio Phone and its competitors. In terms of absolute figures, IDC recorded 164 million feature phone shipments in 2017 compared to 140 million in 2016. Notably, Q4 2017 recorded 56 million shipments making it the best single quarter in history. Hence, the category saw a huge 67 percent year-on-year growth and a 33 percent quarter-on-quarter growth.
On a quarter-to-quarter (QoQ) basis, Q4 2017 saw a sharp 22 percent fall compared to the Q3 2017 festive quarter. Shipments in Q4 2017, however, grew by over 18 percent year on year. This was due to weak sales in Q4 2016 as a result of demonetisation of Indian currency notes.
While Samsung held the paramount position in smartphone and feature phone shipments for 2017, its performance in Q4 2017 was dismal as it got demoted to second position in both segments. Xiaomi took the lead with a 26.8 percent market share, compared to Samsung's 24.2 percent. Reliance Industries took the lead in the feature phone category with 24.1 percent market share, compared to Samsung's 14.5 percent. "Xiaomi tripled its shipments year-over-year and sold more than 2 million units from its offline channel," said the IDC report.
Commenting on the key trends of Q4 2017, Upasana Joshi, Senior Market Analyst, IDC India said, "Xiaomi taking a lead over Samsung in the smartphone market and Reliance Jio emerging as the leading feature phone company in India were the two key highlights of the last quarter of 2017. Joshi adds further "The growth of both the vendors was propelled by their aggressive pricing. Xiaomi's offline expansion and higher marketing spends were other key factors for the vendor's high shipments in the seasonally low quarter."