text:
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Lithium said it will maintain the Austin, Texas, office of Social Dynamx, and all regular employees are expected to join Lithium, including CEO Mike Betzer, who will lead Lithium Social Web and report directly to Lithium President and CEO Rob Tarkoff.
Lithium clients include AT&T, BT, Best Buy, Indosat, Sephora, Skype, and Telstra, while Time Warner Cable, Dish Network, and Convio highlight the Social Dynamx customer roster.
The two companies said Lithium Social Web will offer companies a fully integrated social customer experience across social networks, websites, and mobile devices. They added that Lithium Social Web identifies relevant customer conversations on social channels such as Facebook, Twitter, communities, and the broader social Web, and intelligently routes them to company agents to maximize efficient responses to customers and reduce costs, allowing agents to easily embed suggested content from their Lithium-powered communities in response to customer issues.
Features of the complete Lithium Social Customer Experience Platform include:
- Lithium Communities, which enables brands to create vibrant, branded, peer-to-peer customer experiences on their websites.
- Lithium Social Web, which allows brands to deliver proactive customer care on social networks at scale.
- Lithium Mobile, which extends the reach of Lithium to smartphones and tablets.
- Lithium Social Media Monitoring, which provides insights, sentiment, and quotes from social conversations.
- Lithium Customer Intelligence Center, which measures the effectiveness of social programs across the entire portfolio.
Social media has radically transformed customer experience, yet 70 percent of complaints directed to brands via Twitter are ignored. This demonstrates the challenges brands face in responding to their consumers in a timely way, at scale, and cost-effectively. The addition of Social Dynamx to the Lithium platform reinforces and extends our ability to help brands drive down service costs and increase customer satisfaction and engagement by bringing community experts into the dialogue earlier.
We have always been 100 percent focused on helping brands build their relationships with customers. I’m incredibly proud that we have now delivered on an even stronger promise of enabling a superior, integrated customer experience across social networks, the Web, and mobile devices. Lithium is the one company that helps companies truly get serious about social.
Lithium and Social Dynamx set a new standard for scalable customer engagement through community. Combined, we have even more opportunities to drive real, meaningful business results for our customers.


text:
A Maryland gun shop owner just became the second dealer since March to offer smart guns for sale then immediately reconsider after facing a violent backlash from gun-rights activists who fear their Second Amendment rights will be tarnished.
Andy Raymond, owner of Engage Armament in Rockville, announced around the middle of the week that he would soon start selling the German-made Armatix iP1 smart gun, a.22-caliber pistol that employs a computer chip requiring a user to also be wearing an accompanying watch in order to fire it. Around that time, Raymond said, "If this gets more people, especially those on the fence, to go out and enjoy their Second Amendment freedoms, to go sport shooting and realize how much fun it is, then I am all for it. This is really not a bad thing."
But on Thursday, after fielding a rash of angry complaints and even some death threats that targeted not just Weaver but also his girlfriend and dog, his enthusiasm had been completely drained.
He told the Washington Post that at first he thought Maryland, which has strict gun-control laws, would more amenable for the sale of smart guns than the Los Angeles-based Oak Tree Gun Club, which encountered the same kind of backlash in March after beginning to sell them.
"If the same reaction happens here," he told the Post, "we'll be out of business." Plus, he added, "I didn't want my shop burned down."
Still, he's been outspoken about how misguided he thinks National Rifle Association members have been about protesting the sale of smart guns: "To me that is so fricking hypocritical. That the antithesis of everything that we pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment people should be. You are not supposed to say a gun should be prohibited. Then you are being no different than the anti-gun people who say an AR-15 should be prohibited."
What Second Amendment defenders are afraid of, however, is how a New Jersey law states that all guns in that state will have to be personalized within three years of smart guns going on sale anywhere in the country. California and even Congress are entertaining similar bills, according to an Inquisitr report.
In response to Weaver's decision, the New Jersey senator who sponsored that state's new gun-control law, Loretta Weinberg, said Friday she'd push state lawmakers to remove the personalization mandate if the NRA and its members would stop threatening every gun shop owner who tries to offer customers the technology as a safer alternative to other types of gun ownership. But the NRA, said its director Chris Cox, wants a "full repeal" of New Jersey's "misguided" law, according to Fox News.
In the video Weaver posted to YouTube that's available below, he apologizes to New Jersey citizens, promising that "you don't have anything to worry about from me." He also went completely off the hook by urging gun owners not to get violent with him but the legislators who pass gun-control laws. Shoot them, he said, not gun shop owners:
"If you're going to kill somebody, shoot the politicians who make these f**king laws. If that's who you want to f**king go at, shoot the people who make these laws. Take 'em out in the street, and gun 'em the f**k down. There's a goddamn reason why we got [guns]. There's a f**king reason why we got 'em. And that's to defend our f**king freedom."
[Image courtesy of Armatix]

domain: news


text:
Back in February, Marissa Nadler released her great album July. Now, Nadler is releasing Before July, a collection of demos and unreleased songs from the July sessions. The digital-only release is out today via Sacred Bones. Update: Bella Union will release it internationally.
Before July includes demos for two unreleased tracks, “Leave The Light On” and "The Rose City”. The latter provided the lyrical inspiration for July album tracks “Drive” and “Holiday In”, according to a press release. The EP also includes Nadler's cover of Elliott Smith’s “Pitseleh”, which she initially performed at a Brooklyn tribute show for the late songwriter last year. Check out the tracklisting below.
Before July: Demos & Unreleased Songs:
02 Dead City Emily (Demo)
03 1923 (Demo)
04 Leave the Light On (Demo)
05 The Rose City (Demo)
Watch Marissa Nadler's video for "Wedding" via Pitchfork.tv:


text:
Ever since the Do Not Call Registry passed in 2003, dinners have gone uninterrupted and most folks that signed up aren’t missing their old telemarketing friends.
A similar law, intended to help block the junk mail that fills mailboxes, has been proposed and failed in more than 20 states, including Illinois.
"We want a simple, fast, effective way that any American can put there name on a list and stop receiving the junk mail that they don't want," said Francisca Rivera, a volunteer with Forest Ethics in Chicago.
Forest Ethics is an environmental group based in California has started the Do Not Mail Campaign to help a Do Not Mail Registry law pass.
"A lot of other issues that affect climate change like the car you drive or energy efficiency improvements in your home are really expensive and difficult solutions, and that's why a junk mail registry is so popular because it's easy. That's the easiest thing you can do to affect climate change on a personal level," Rivera said.
That may be true, but according to the Printing Industry of Illinois and Indiana, such a law would be catastrophic for business.
"The printing industry employees 100,000 people in Indiana and Illinois. We need print jobs, especially today. It's not a good time to have anything decrease employment in this state," said Ed Rossini, the president of Palmer Printing in Chicago.
Rossini admits that as a consumer he gets frustrated with some of the credit card offers that he doesn't use, but he said he likes most of the direct mail he gets, knowing that it supports more than just his business.
"It helps small businesses that use the ad mail that cant afford other types of ad like TV and radio the only way to get their info and offers out to the community," he said.
That's where "going green" gets grey.
Rivera said industry logs at a rate of about two acres per minute, 24 hours a day "for junk mail."
And while that sounds sounds horrible, it provides jobs, Rossini countered.
"You hear a lot of people saying, 'Well, you should save a tree.' That's true, but you'd be saving a tree that is grown to make paper," he said.
Here are some other options on how to get rid of junk mail.


text:
UK-based graphene technology company Paragraf has announced the close of its £12.8 million (over $16 million USD ) Series A round led by Parkwalk. The round also included investment from IQ Capital Partners, Amadeus Capital Partners and Cambridge Enterprise, the commercialization arm of the University of Cambridge, as well as several angel investors. The funding will aim to see Paragraf’s first graphene-based electronics products reach the market, transitioning the company into a commercial, revenue-generating entity.
Paragraf sets out to deliver IP-protected graphene technology using standard, mass production scale manufacturing approaches, enabling step-change performance enhancements to today’s electronic devices. The company’s first sensor products have reportedly demonstrated order of magnitude operational improvements over today’s incumbents. Achieving large-scale, graphene-based production technology may enable next generation electronics, including vastly increased computing speeds, significantly improved medical diagnostics and higher efficiency renewable energy generation as well as currently unachievable products such as instant charging batteries and very low power, flexible electronics.


text:
The patch is here, and so are all the leaks!
CD Projekt Red has said Cyberpunk 2077’s long-awaited 1.2 patch is coming to PC, consoles, and Stadia “soon”. The announcement includes an enormous list of changes, including enabling raytracing on AMD graphics cards.
After teasing some of the patch’s changes earlier this month – including fixing police response time and driving problems – the 1.2 changelist includes hundreds of changes, ranging from the very minor (“After Boat Drinks Kerry will now hum his song while walking to his car”) to the fundamental (“Enabled Ray Tracing on AMD graphics cards. Latest GPU drivers are required”).The list includes sections covering gameplay, quests, open world, cinematic design, environment & levels, graphics, audio, animation, UI, stability & performance, miscellaneous, PC-specific, and console-specific changes.


text:
It’s 2019 and traditional bean and rice veggie burgers seem like a distant memory.
Food technology in recent years has pushed the limits of what we thought we knew about protein. By replicating the basic building blocks of meat protein with plants, scientists have been able to create foods that have the appearance, aroma, versatility, and satiety of meat without any animals.
Plant-based proteins are undeniably one of the hottest categories in the US food industry right now. Recent US grocery scan data from February shows refrigerated meat alternatives growing over 30% year-over-year, compared to animal-based meat growing at just 2%. The rapid growth has created a tidal wave of newsworthy events in the category, resulting in an amplification of awareness among Americans.
One of the most notable players in the plant-based protein space is Beyond Meat (NYSE: BYND), whose IPO is considered by Forbes to be one of the most successful of the year having increased 506% since May. Today, the market cap of Beyond Meat is $9.05B with annual retail sales of less than $100M and operating profit yet to break even demonstrating Wall Street’s high expectations for this growth category. In August, Beyond Meat partnered with KFC to test plant-based “chicken” in several Atlanta locations; the items sold out in just 5 hours.
The metaphorical “Pepsi” to Beyond Meats’s “Coke,” Impossible Foods is the notable rival entrant to the space. Primarily focusing on foodservice, Impossible sells their burgers at national fast food chain White Castle and rolled out nationally on Burger King’s menus in August. Impossible’s potential IPO has investors jostling for a piece of its massive $5B valuation, and rumors are swirling of a grocery retail launch in September pending FDA approval.
The plant-based meat category is rife with new entrants from surprisingly large players like Kellogg’s Morningstar Farms new brand “Incogmeato.” Even private label brands like Kroger’s Simple Truth are jockeying for space in the plant-based protein refrigerated case. Meanwhile other start-ups have also entered, like Meatless Farm hailing from the UK, who launched two items nationally in Whole Foods in August. Incumbent brands like Nestle’s Sweet Earth and Quorn are stepping up their own innovation to compete with their own raw meat-style burgers leveraging their existing technology expertise and brand equity.
Health is likely a lesser driver, given that many of the plant-based burgers contain an equal amount of fat, sodium, and calories as meat equivalents. Instead, increased concerns about environmental sustainability and animal welfare are predominant factors. Most experts attribute growth to a consumer segment called Flexitarians: consumers actively reducing their meat consumption without entirely eliminating it. Millennials are also driving demand with their increased consumer consciousness and environmental sustainability concerns. Or maybe it’s simply hype and curiosity compelling consumers to try these innovative, new foods.
While plant-based proteins are the largest category, other plant-based segments are growing as well such as alternatives to dairy, eggs, and seafood. Food technology and consumer interest are causing a paradigm shift in what were once stable commodity categories creating a new and exciting landscape for manufacturers, brands, and retailers in America.


text:
As pandemic accelerates digital transformation across the spectrum, a Dell Technologies report on Thursday said that 94.7 per cent of Indian organisations have fast-tracked some digital transformation programmes this year and 92.3 percent of those surveyed are re-inventing their business model.
The ‘Digital Transformation Index’ (DT Index) reported a modest drop since 2018 in the number of Digital Laggards (the least digitally mature group) by 0.8 percentage points in India.
Data privacy and cybersecurity concerns, limited resources and difficulty extracting insights from data identified as barriers to digital transformation.
“We are living in a data era, where constant investment in digital technologies to meet the barriers to progress is a must. This shift in approach by organisations here recently is the primary reason why there is a rise in digital leaders in the country” said Alok Ohrie, President and Managing Director, Dell Technologies India.
The DT Index survey included 4,300 business leaders (C-suite to Director) from mid-size to enterprise companies across 18 countries.
“Digital adopters in India (the second most digitally mature group) have grown from 33.5 per cent in 2018 to 55.3 per cent in 2020,” the findings showed.
Recognising the importance of emerging technologies, 93.7 per cent of respondents in India envision increased usage of Augmented Reality to learn how to do or fix things in an instant.
Despite this, only 22.7 per cent respondents in India are planning to invest in Virtual/Augmented Reality, just 50 per cent intend to invest in Artificial Intelligence and a mere 16.7 per cent plan to invest distributed ledgers in the next one to three years, the report mentioned.


text:
Tencent backs Reddit in $300 mln fundraising round
Chinese tech giant Tencent has invested 150 million U.S. dollars in American online forum site Reddit, with the social news aggregator confirming Monday that it attracted 300 million U.S. dollars in a fundraising round that values the company at more than three billion U.S. dollars.
Reddit, which calls itself "the front page of the Internet," has estimated 330 million monthly users and was the third-most-visited website in the U.S. as of February 2018, according to Alexa Internet.
Founded in 2005 by two University of Virginia students, Reddit has continued to attract a loyal user base despite its relatively simple format, where users are invited to discuss just about any topic on more than 150,000 "sub-Reddit" forums.
The company said in December that it had 1.4 billion video views per month, a 40-percent increase within just two months.
A cash injection in Reddit from Tencent highlights a shift in the Chinese company's investment strategy, after previous years saw it spend heavily on game developers like Supercell and Epic.
While Reddit is not currently available in China, Tencent will have noticed the emergence of Bytedance – the company behind news aggregator Toutiao and short video platform Tik Tok – as a new rival on China's tech scene.
Bytedance is, according to some estimates, worth as much as 100 billion U.S. dollars, thanks to the huge popularity of its platforms in China and elsewhere.
Reddit is not the first U.S. social media platform to court investment from Tencent. In November 2017, the Hong Kong-listed company purchased a 10-percent stake worth two billion U.S. dollars in Snap, the parent company of Snapchat.


text:
Ringing in a new era of technology in nutrition: Digital breakthroughs to kickstart healthcare revolution
07 Jan 2020 --- The last few years have seen the proliferation of technology in the nutrition space, with the new decade primed to witness a digital healthcare revolution. Breakthroughs such as artificial intelligence (AI) and increased access to data means that we are more in control of ourselves than ever before. US-based healthcare company Abbott flags key developments in this space including personalized medicine, electronic health records and implanted medical devices. This new technology has taken the form of everything from ingestible gas-sensing capsules that monitors gases produced within the gut in real-time, to in-store genetic tests to encourage shoppers to make healthier and more informed choices.
“Nowadays, we can track everything from our daily steps and hours we sleep to the nutrition we take in. Consumers love having more and more health information at their fingertips, which helps them feel more in control and informed about their health. However, it’s important to consider where you’re getting your information from and to always stay in touch with your healthcare provider for an overall analysis of your health,” Refaat Hegazi, Global Medical Director at Abbott, tells NutritionInsight.
Abbott points to healthcare access via remote monitoring as one major change. Virtual technologies can help remotely connect patients in rural areas with providers. One form of this technology takes the form of telemedicine, which lets people speak with doctors through a smartphone or other device. This is being used in Amazon Care, which launched in pilot form late last year. It is a healthcare service offering Amazon employees virtual and in-person care, including through video calls.
However, Abbott notes that the digital nature of future healthcare does mean that it will not be personal. Instead, this increased access to data and technology is giving doctors more time to interact with consumers one-on-one. Additionally, consumers are being given the tools to be able to monitor themselves in real-time, allowing for the level of personalization increasingly sought.
A cornucopia of technology
Last November, a collaboration between microbial sciences company Seed Health and Atmo Biosciences – a digital health company – saw an ingestible gas-sensing capsule measure the impact of probiotics in real-time. Meanwhile, Irish start-up FoodMarble produces a portable breath test and app used to measure and track digestive health. The company has partnered with Carbiotix to examine whether breath hydrogen can be used as a non-invasive, real-time measure of changes in microbiome composition.
Notably, shoppers at supermarket chain Waitrose and department store John Lewis in the UK can now take a quick, on-site cheek swab to generate a personalized DNA report revealing key nutrition-related health traits. DnaNudge’s pop-up services are set to inspire shoppers to make healthy choices based on their unique genetic makeup.
AI is also being used in a major way to ensure that consumers are receiving the best care possible. Earlier this week, L’Oréal unveiled Perso, an AI-powered, at-home system marketed as offering optimized beauty personalization. Meanwhile, Mayo Clinic and Viome are collaborating to explore the potential of the latter company’s AI-driven personalized diets in helping to manage disorders such as sleep apnea and obesity. Even in the pet nutrition sector, AI is being harnessed by Stonehaven Incubate and Nuritas to discover and develop advanced animal health solutions. The initial focus of the partnership will be on exploring animal feed ingredients.
However, regulation and safeguarding must keep pace with these new tools as opportunity for misuse also grow. In September, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued guidance on how it will regulate “novel, swiftly evolving” digital health tools, such as mobile health software and products that use AI. The FDA highlights that its approach “must foster, not inhibit, innovation.”
It remains to be seen just how far technology can go in revolutionizing the nutrition sector, but the breakthroughs of the previous year alone point to major advances to come.
By Katherine Durrell
To contact our editorial team please email us at firstname.lastname@example.org
Subscribe now to receive the latest news directly into your inbox.


text:
Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan aims to change the domestic routines of millions of people in water-scarce countries to help reduce water use significantly by 2020, by providing 60 million households with laundry products that deliver excellent cleaning but use less water.
As part of this plan Unilever launched Comfort One Rinse, a fabric conditioner which removes detergent foam in just one rinse, saving 20 litres of water every wash.
In 2013, Ogilvy & Mather Singapore created a campaign to promote the new product and its water-saving features. They developed two films which were released on UN World Water Day together with local activation events. In 2012, One Rinse products were used in 1.4 billion washes in 28.7 million households worldwide.


text:
SAIC Fashion Seniors Featured in RedEye
Chicago Tribune's RedEye asked six SAIC seniors in the Department of Fashion Design what trends to expect this winter and what you can find in their closets. RedEye reports that studying fashion in Chicago as opposed to New York or Los Angeles is unique in that it offers a community separate from a specific scene. Noa Loewald Hu (BFA 2016), a Brooklyn native, explains that at SAIC, “You’re focused on what your vision of fashion is—not what everyone else’s vision is.”
Anke Loh, an Associate Professor and the Sage Foundation Chair of the department, says that the diversity is her favorite part of working for the School. In addition to Hu, students featured in the two-page spread include Allison Shaftel (BFA 2016), Jacob Shanbrom (BFA 2016), Jungna Nana Park (BFA 2016), Jack Alexander (BFA 2016), and Eda Yorulmazoglu (BFA 2016).
“We are such a community within SAIC,” Loh says. “We are our own entity in the city. We’re reaching out into the community with different classes. It’s really a melting pot.”
Image from article


text:
The launch of the universal smart home standard Matter has been delayed yet again. This is the third delay since the standard – backed by Apple, Google, Samsung, Amazon, and others – was originally set to debut back in 2020.
The standards organization behind Matter claims that this latest delay is caused by the unexpected popularity of the protocol …
Matter is a new standard designed to bring exactly the same benefits to devices, not just on the Apple platform, but across other ecosystems like Google, Samsung, and Amazon. For Apple users, this means that if a device is Matter-compatible, then it is effectively HomeKit-compatible, too.
The standard was first announced in 2019, and was scheduled to launch in 2020 (under the previous branding of CHiP). The launch date was subsequently pushed back to 2021, and later to mid-2022. Now a third delay has been announced.
Matter delayed for the third time
The Verge reports that the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) has announced the latest delay, claiming that it’s partly due to greater interest from device manufacturers.
Expected this summer, the launch has been rescheduled for fall of 2022, Michelle Mindala-Freeman of the CSA told The Verge.
The delay is needed to finalize the software development kit (SDK) device manufacturers will use to incorporate their products into the Matter ecosystem. According to Mindala-Freeman, because of a larger than expected number of platforms adopting Matter, the code for the SDK needs more work to ensure everything will operate together smoothly – which is the overall promise of the Matter standard.
Additionally, she says that while the feature-set for the Matter specification is complete, more time is needed to work on a few key areas of the SDK “to stabilize, tweak, tune, and improve quality in the code.”
The initial rollout of Matter is expected to be 130 devices from 50 different companies.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.


text:
Per capita pork consumption, which stood at 50.5 pounds last year, will slip to 48.8 pounds, say USDA analysts. Beef consumption in 2007 was 65 pounds, and by 2017 it will be around 60.1 pounds. As for broilers, 2007 per capita consumption settled at 85.4 pounds but will grow to 88.1 pounds by 2017, according to USDA’s 110-page report.
In the end, the projected net decrease for all three proteins is 2.9 pounds. USDA analysts point out that the domestic declines reflect production adjustments in response to rising feed costs. It also accounts for rising
Digging deeper into the report, it shows total annual per capita meat and poultry consumption falling from 221 pounds in 2007, bottoming out at 214 pounds in 2012 to 2014, and then rebounding to nearly 217 pounds by 2017.
To check out the USDA report, click here.


text:
- About BJSS
- Our Services
- Your Industry
- Enterprise Agile®
By Ralph Robinson, Head of Retail & Consumer Markets, BJSS
Sadly, it’s a clear downward trend for UK retail so far this year. Despite a strong start in January, February saw volume growth decline by 0.5% month-on month and the latest March figures show yet another contraction, with volumes at 1.4% below February. Sales value is down by 0.2% month-on-month, but up a staggering 10.2% year-on-year. Especially against the backdrop of 6.2% year-on-year consumer price inflation, these results represent the worst of both worlds for consumers and retailers alike. Consumers are spending more, but due to higher prices rather than higher demand.
Whilst retailers would typically welcome double digit year-on-year value growth, when contrasted with the mere 0.9% volume growth over the same period, it’s clear that consumers are getting a worse deal and retailers know this makes for an unsustainable long-term growth curve. In fact, consumer confidence is at its lowest level since July 2008 according to GfK, seemingly due to the persistent, long-term, cumulative uncertainty from Brexit, Coronavirus, and now Ukraine.
Online pure players, especially in non-food, are feeling the pinch worse than those with a store-only or hybrid model, with online sales value down 6% month-on-month, well below the industry trend, which is relatively flat at -0.2%. For online retailers whose sales rocketed during this period last year when many physical stores were still closed, the -21.8% year-on-year decline will be the challenging figure in board rooms, as businesses evaluate how much pandemic spending behaviour will stick now stores are open and masks are no longer compulsory. In more positive news, however, online fashion and household goods stores have outperformed the general trend, with positive month-on-month growth and a smaller decline than the average year-on-year.
Rising costs, high consumer expectations and low confidence represent a triple threat to retailers’ profitability. Labour and cost price inflation are putting pressure on the bottom line, customers continue to expect better, more digitally integrated shopping experiences yet increasingly desire lower prices as the cost of living crisis grows. Ultimately, consumers want more for less, from retailers who are already feeling the pinch of rising labour costs and supply chain uncertainty.
The core retail sectors that saw a boom during the peak of coronavirus, such as food stores and online retail, experienced a month-on-month decline in March, but there is a glimmer of hope for non-food stores, which actually saw 0.5% volume growth month-on-month. This is driven primarily by sustained demand for DIY and furniture and lighting stores, as Britons continue to invest in their homes this spring. The fashion industry, whilst still in marginal month-on-month decline, still outperformed the industry average, which will be welcome news to a fashion industry suffering from a lack of investment in holiday wardrobes after years of pandemic staycations. As the weather improves and more consumers venture abroad this spring and summer, we’d expect to see fashion results improve further still.


text:
Australia has embarked on its initial strides toward reindustrialization as it shifts towards achieving a net-zero economy. Despite being among the top per capita consumers of solar energy globally, Australia only contributes one percent to the world’s solar panel production, with China accounting for 90 percent of manufacturing and exports.
However, on Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled a $1 billion initiative aimed at bolstering solar panel manufacturing within Australia. This commitment has garnered praise from environmental groups and industry bodies alike. According to John Grimes, CEO of the Smart Energy Council, this move could set the stage for further reindustrialization across other sectors crucial for a clean energy transition, such as battery manufacturing.


text:
The founder of a London social enterprise that gives free meals to refugees and the homeless has said it is at risk of closure because the cost of living crisis has led to a collapse in sales and donations.
Ruth Rogers, the founder of The Canvas in the East End of London, said there had been a dramatic collapse in trade in its cafe in recent weeks, with takings so low that one day she thought its tills were broken.
“At 3pm last Thursday, I had to ask my manager if the till system had broken because sales were at £57,” said Rogers. “We’d been open since 10am. Before the pandemic it would have been £300-400 by that point in the day.”
While the cafe’s sales were low after lockdown, they had started growing again in the early part of 2022, said Rogers of the community hub close to Brick Lane in Tower Hamlets, which has the highest child poverty rate of all the London boroughs.
“Once we’d got past Omicron, sales were rising month on month by an average of 17.5%,” said Rogers. “But April was 5% down on March and May is looking like 15% down on April. This feels like a direct impact of the cost of living issues people are facing.
“We’ve got a fantastic menu, our space is welcoming, our team are working their socks off but if people aren’t coming through the door because they feel they can’t afford to … how can any small business survive, let alone one like The Canvas? I know other places like us are already closing.”
‘We’ve got four weeks to turn it around’: The Canvas has launched a last-ditch crowdfunding drive with a target of £100,000. Photograph: Jo Thorne
Trade in the cafe used to be brisk with extra income generated from renting out its event space. Customers would “pay it forward” by adding the cost of a drink, snack or hot meal to their order “for someone who might not be able to afford their own”, enabling the cafe to hand out free food and drinks.
In January, however, the cafe gave away £1,700 of food and Rogers realised that, for the first time since it opened its doors in 2014, the pay it forward pot was drying up and would run out in a few weeks, forcing it to limit the quantity of food it was handing out.
“It was never a problem before,” she said. “Now we’re seeing 30% more need but suffering 60% less trade and because of that our donations are down. If people are not coming in the door, they are not donating at the till.”
The situation chimes with the experience of food banks, who report soaring demand but lower donations as rising living costs bite. This combination is creating a “perfect storm” for charities and social enterprises, according to recent research by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF).
Nearly three in five charity leaders were concerned about people having less money to donate, while a third were worried about their organisation’s future, according to a poll of 547 executives in April. Its consumer poll found 14% of people planned to cut back on charity donations in the next six months to help manage their bills.
The high street campaigner Mary Portas, co-chair of the Better Business Act campaign, said it would be “awful” if The Canvas shut. She added: “It’s a shining example of the better ways that businesses need to be operating to provide a more sustainable future.”
The Canvas has launched a last-ditch crowdfunding drive called Save Our Seats (SOS) with a target of £100,000. “We’ve got four weeks to turn it around,” said Rogers. “We need to buy time because I don’t know how long it is going to be like this. I need to find a new business model for this trading environment.”
The crisis has led to offers of help from its famous supporters, including the artists Gilbert & George who live nearby. In 2019, they donated designs to create art plates for it to sell and raise funds and have agreed to sign a limited number that are being offered as “rewards” for large donations. In a statement, they said: “Gilbert & George are happy to create their magic picture plates to help The Canvas in their campaign to help feed the homeless.”
Jason Williamson, the lead vocalist of English electronic punk music duo Sleaford Mods, said the cafe was helping people “directly with food and drinks but also friendship and respect. A place like this can’t close just as things are about to get worse for everyone.”


text:
WSJD - Technology
Pinterest Files Confidentially for IPO
21 Feb 2019 at 7:15pm
Pinterest has confidentially filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering, joining a parade of highly valued technology startups planning to list their shares in 2019.
U.S. Campaign Against Huawei Runs Aground in an Exploding Tech Market
21 Feb 2019 at 6:53pm
The Chinese company?s low prices outweigh spying concerns for many countries ramping up 5G spending, in particular the pivotal internet economy of India. ?The perception here is that the U.S. action is more a matter of foreign policy.?
Baidu Reports 50% Quarterly Profit Drop but Revenue Beats Projections
21 Feb 2019 at 4:01pm
Baidu reported stronger-than-expected revenue in the most recent period, driven by its search-engine business and artificial-intelligence initiatives.
Tesla's Model 3 Loses Recommended Status From Consumer Reports
21 Feb 2019 at 4:45pm
Tesla?s Model 3 has lost its recommended status from Consumer Reports, less than a year after the magazine awarded it the coveted designation.
New Samsung Phone Folds in Half, and Costs Nearly $2,000
21 Feb 2019 at 6:53pm
The world?s largest smartphone maker unveiled the industry?s first mainstream foldable-screen smartphone, in a radical design change that sends the industry?s pricing model soaring to new heights.
Apple, Goldman Sachs Team Up on Credit Card Paired With iPhone
21 Feb 2019 at 6:19pm
The companies hope to lure cardholders by offering them extra features on Apple?s Wallet app, which will let them set spending goals, track their rewards and manage their balances.
Apple to Chinese Consumers: Buy a New iPhone for Under $30 a Month, Interest ...
21 Feb 2019 at 7:21am
Hoping to revitalize sales in China, Apple has paired up with the world?s largest financial-technology company to give iPhone buyers an affordable purchase option.
Nintendo of America President Is Retiring
21 Feb 2019 at 8:45pm
Nintendo Co. said Thursday that Reggie Fils-Aimé, its longtime president of the U.S. division, is retiring in April.
The Life Story of Your Supermarket Chicken: Food Tracking Goes High-Tech
21 Feb 2019 at 7:13am
From poultry monitors to berry-tracking blockchains, the food industry is adopting technology to meet our growing demand for information about what we eat. Supply-chain expert Robyn Metcalfe investigates.
The Hot, Lucrative Market in IT Security Talent
21 Feb 2019 at 1:29pm
The cybersecurity talent shortage has driven up salaries. A look at who?s making what.
Nestlé, McDonald's, Others Pull Ads From YouTube
20 Feb 2019 at 5:31pm
Several companies suspended advertising on YouTube following a report documenting material on the video service that sexually exploits children.
The Tech Whiz Behind Vine and HQ Trivia Made Millions in His 20s. He Was Dead...
19 Feb 2019 at 1:29pm
Self-taught coder Colin Kroll shot to startup fame, allowing him to live life in a fast lane. Friends saw him as a gentle, endearingly awkward soul, but he also fought with colleagues, attracted negative press for his behavior at work and struggled with drugs and alcohol.
What I Learned From the Hacker Who Spied on Me
8 Feb 2019 at 3:04pm
Tech columnist Joanna Stern asked an ethical hacker to get into as many of her webcams as he could. Along the way she identified important tips for keeping our computers safe.
New Details of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Health Venture Emerge in ...
21 Feb 2019 at 12:33am
The health-care joint venture is looking at how to redesign health insurance, among other efforts, according to newly unsealed court testimony from an executive at the health startup.
New York Property Firm Hit the Jackpot. Then Amazon Pulled Out.
21 Feb 2019 at 10:01am
There may be nobody who lost more from Amazon?s pull out of Queens than the real-estate investors at Savanna.


text:
When you think of fast electric vehicles, the Tesla Model S and its “Ludicrous Mode” probably come to mind, and rightly so. With the equivalent of 762 horsepower in the Model S P90D and a 0 to 60 mph time of just 2.8 seconds, few supercars could even match the electric sedan’s performance.
But what about top speed? That’s been a tough nut to crack for electric vehicle manufacturers because while instant torque helps an EV rocket off the line, all that “electric juice” runs thin as the runway gets longer. That’s where Genovation Cars comes in.
The EV tuner took a 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and turned it into the “Genovation eXtreme Electric,” or GXE for short. While testing the reborn ‘vette at the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds/Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida, Genovation brought the sports car to a top speed of 186.8 mph. While even the regular Corvette can manage that feat these days, in the world of street-legal EVs, that figure is massive. In fact, it was nearly 10 mph quicker than the previous record holder at 177 mph.
Watch the video on Genovation’s Facebook Page.
The new record was certified by the International Mile Racing Association and the vehicle has earned the official title of, “Top Speed Street Legal Electric Car.”
The GXE capitalized on the Corvette Z06’s light body as a platform to incorporate an innovative electric powertrain good for over 700 hp and 600 pound-feet of torque. Genovation claims the prototype has a 50:50 weight distribution and a range of 130 miles during “normal driving operation.” I’m guessing drag racing doesn’t fall under that category.
“We are thrilled that the result of our development testing led to the setting of this record. Based on our experience so far, we believe the car to be extremely robust as we set the record on our first day of testing,” said Genovation CEO Andrew Saul. The company added that its work on the GXE isn’t finished and it expects the EV to reach higher levels of performance very soon.
- Apple’s rumored car could cost the same as a Tesla Model S
- The best EV charging apps help you find the right station for any electric car
- No mere EV, the sensor-stuffed EX90 is Volvo’s towering tech flagship
- Kia EV6 vs. Niro EV: Why you’re better off paying more
- GMC poured all of its truck-making expertise into the Sierra EV pickup


text: The leading business event for the solar industry!From June 13–15, 2012, Munich takes center stage in the international solar industry. he world’s largest manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, utility and service companies gather to showcase technical innovations and the latest market trends.2,400 exhibitors (expected) will be on hand to present their products and services across a 180,000 sqm exhibition space spanning 16 halls. 80,000 visitors from more than 150 ifferent countries are expected to attend the event this June. At tersolar,our slogan is our guiding principle: Connecting Solar Business. This is what makes Intersolar Europe the ideal platform to forge quality contacts in both your local market – and internationally. Begin planning your visit today to be a part of Intersolar Europe!2008 also saw the inception of Intersolar North America in San Francisco, with Intersolar India in Mumbai following in 2009 and at least 2011 the Intersolar China in Beijing.


text:
Jan. 27, 2021 - Audix is pleased to announce that Dave Garlett has joined the Audix team as Key Accounts Manager & Consultant Liaison.
Garlett recently departed from The Farm AV, one of the leading audio-visual solutions industry factory representative firms. Prior to The Farm, Garlett served in various management roles within the system integration industry, as well as manufacturers such as Lightspeed Technologies, and Carver Professional.
"I look forward to supporting integrators and consultants who want to use existing Audix products in their designs and to make sure their voice is heard in future product developments," says Garlett.
With an extensive manufacturing operation in Oregon, Audix offers integrators a wide range of microphone solutions that are TAA compliant. By establishing Garlett’s role, Audix is ensuring that consultants and integrators have the tools and support needed for successful installations.
"With his many years working in the install and contracting space, Dave is a strong and welcome addition to the Audix sales team," says Steve Johnson, VP of Sales and Marketing for Audix. "He’s already hit the ground running and will continue to fuel the impressive growth we’ve experienced in our contractor-exclusive products."


text:
He has been voiceless. Uchumi has no voice. How about the voiceless roars where there is no voice! Sounds a plan, where there is will, there is way.
Uchumi supermarket this week announced that they had hired the Equity Bank Chief Operating Officer (COO), Julius Kipg’etich technically second in command, as their new CEO. At Equity, outsiders thought he is being lined up to take over as the Equity Bank’s CEO once James Mwangi leaves, whether that is true or not, it may never happen.
The main problem at Equity is that James Mwangi is the only voice. All honor and glory is his. No other person is tangibly heard. Hence the perception has been that Kipng’etich has not had a tangible contribution to the company. Unfortunately since only James Mwangi makes public statements for the bank, any other person’s contributions are publicly muted.
At Uchumi as the boss, Kipng’etich has the chance to roar as he did while at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). While poaching was not wholly eradicated during his tenure, he soared the revenues of the organization and also ensured greater brand visibility.
A statement from the Uchumi board of directors said
“He brings on board a wealth of experience in leadership, business reorganization, turnaround management and strategy execution that are needed to get Uchumi back on track.”
Already he has stated that he will ban employees from doubling up as suppliers, something that messed up the company leading to losses. The conflict of interest meant that as suppliers and also employees, they could supply goods at whatever rate is favorable to them as they are guaranteed. In addition, quality is easily compromised in this scenario, something that affects the sales.
A week ago, Uchumi had poached Willy King’ara from Naivas supermarket to be the new Chief Operating Officer at Uchumi. These two top executives certainly have their work well cut out to turnaround the retail company.
A word of advice to Kipng’etich would be once the company is back to profitability, take off to go to a new challenge. Do not turnaround it then turn it again 360 degrees.


text:
Baristas at a West Hartford Starbucks successfully passed a union vote Thursday afternoon, making their coffee shop the first unionized Starbucks location in the state.
In an mail-in election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, 13 employees of the Corbin’s Corner Starbucks voted in favor of union representation under Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. Three employees voted no and five chose not to cast ballots.
Corbin’s Corner Starbucks follows scores of other U.S stores since the Starbucks in Buffalo, New York, became the nation’s first to unionize in December.
Kuzco Gong, a barista and union organizer, said that the next step will be for the Corbin’s Corner union to join forces with other Starbucks unions and begin the collective bargaining process.
“We’re definitely going to lean against the other Starbucks that have unionized in the region and in the Northeast region,” Gong said. “We’re moving on to collective bargaining, which means that we will be negotiating our contract.”
Higher pay, guaranteed hours and addressing staffing shortages are among the union’s top priorities, Gong said.
A representative from Starbucks said the company “Will respect the process and will bargain in good faith guided by our principles … We hope that the union does the same.”
As of June 8, the National Labor Relations Board said it had received 280 union petitions for Starbucks. So far 133 have voted to form a union and 92 unions have been certified. Additionally, the board said that as of May 31 it had recorded more than 170 unfair labor practice cases for the company.
Employees at a second Connecticut Starbucks located on Talcottville Road in Vernon are also working towards unionization. Ballots for that vote are due to be counted July 14.
Travis Glenney-Tegtmeier, a shift supervisor and co-union organizer at the Corbin’s Corner Starbucks, has worked for the company for 11 years. Glenney-Tegtmeier and Gong said that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated problems within the store, from unclear mask policies to belligerent customers. After seeing Starbucks workers unionize in Buffalo and Boston, Gong and Glenney-Tegtmeier decided to bring the movement to Connecticut.
“Everybody at Starbucks across the country was sort of experiencing something similar, and so I think it just took a few people to sort of strike the spark to get the momentum going,” Glenney-Tegtmeier said.
Gong and Glenney-Tegtmeier said that one of the challenges through this process was educating their coworkers about unions and their benefits.
They said that before the vote, employees had a one-on-one sit-down with either the Starbucks manager or district manager who explained why a union would not be in their best interest.
In May, the governor signed into law a provision prohibiting captive audience meetings, but that law does not take effect until July 1.
Glenney-Tegtmeier said that he would like to see the starting wage increase, noting that starting employees at the Corbin’s Corner location receive $14.50 an hour. On July 1, the state minimum wage will increase to $14 an hour.
“The pay rate is just not keeping up with what other companies are offering or the standard of living increases,” he said.
Gong said that another major issue is work hours and benefits. Part-time Starbucks employees must work a minimum of 20 hours per week in order to qualify for insurance and the Starbucks College Achievement plan, according to the company website.
Gong said that despite moments of understaffing, it was not uncommon for the store to schedule employees for less than 20-hours a week, despite their requests for more hours. Glenney-Tegtmeier said at times baristas would not appear on that week’s schedule at all.
Gong said that some employees had to take on a second job because their Starbucks hours were not enough.
“We really have just this feeling that the company doesn’t listen to us as baristas, even though we are the one doing all the heavy lifting on the floor, talking to people and doing everything in the stores,” Gong said. “We would like to have a say in how the company treats us.”


text:
23 January, 2018
We’ve just started working with Book Aid International, the UK’s leading international book donation and library development charity, on its campaign for World Book Day.
Book Aid International is one of the official supported charities for World Book Day, when thousands of children go to school dressed as a character from a favourite book. Book Aid International produces costume guides, with handy tips for busy parents, and recruits top children’s authors to help spread the word.
We will be supporting the Book Aid International team in the lead-up to World Book Day, helping to raise awareness and to encourage donations. Every year the charity sends around a million brand new books to thousands of communities around the world and World Book Day is one of its main fundraising campaigns.
Emma Taylor, Head of Communications at Book Aid International, said:
‘It’s great to have Amazon PR on board helping us to raise awareness about how schools can make us part of their World Book Day celebrations. World Book Day is a fantastic opportunity to involve UK pupils in reading while also fundraising so that people around the world can have the books they need. This year, we hope to reach out to more schools than ever before and beat last year’s fundraising total of £140,000!’


text:
One leading broker sees value in the Bunnings owner’s shares…
The post Is the Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) share price in the buy zone after its update? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia. –
The conglomerate’s shares ended the day with a 2% decline to $55.11.
Why did the Wesfarmers share price drop?
Investors were selling Wesfarmers shares after it provided an update on current trading conditions at its strategy briefing.
That update revealed that Wesfarmers’ retail businesses have been cycling the impacts of COVID-19 in the prior year from mid-March. This has led to significant volatility in monthly sales growth results.
Wesfarmers also revealed that online sales growth has moderated and that its Catch business has experienced a decline in sales since March.
Is this a buying opportunity?
One leading broker that believes the weakness in the Wesfarmers share price is a buying opportunity is Goldman Sachs.
This morning its analysts retained their buy rating and $59.70 price target on the company’s shares.
Based on the latest Wesfarmers share price, this implies potential upside of 8.5% over the next 12 months excluding dividends. If you include dividends, the potential total return stretches to almost 12%.
Goldman commented: “Wesfarmers hosted its strategy day today outlining the priorities for each division. From the group’s perspective, key priorities have been aligned towards developing a market leading data and digital ecosystem, investing in platforms and accelerating the pace of continuous improvement.”
“Most retail divisions have been trialing supply chain expansions with more details expected to be announced over the upcoming months. This is the clear theme coming out of the WES strategy day: digital investment and supply chain automation increasingly likely to soak up increased amount of management time and capital over the medium term.”
Goldman also notes that Wesfarmers has the balance sheet strength to make acquisitions.
It explained: “Management is looking to rightsize the balance sheet and hopes to do that in a tax effective way. However, a decision has not been made regarding the level or method to do so. The group continues to evaluate acquisition opportunities, although availability of capital has not increased the priority on this front.”
Overall, the broker remains positive on the future and continues to forecast robust profit growth in the years to come.
Goldman estimates earnings per share of $2.18, $2.25, and $2.44, respectively, between FY 2021 and FY 2023.


text:
In news that should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone who’s been following the industry even peripherally, Gartner notes in a new study that global PC shipments have continued to decline for a fifth straight year. The numbers mark a 3.7 percent year-over-year drop for the fourth quarter of 2016.
The analyst group notes that the consistent decline comes even as laptop makers have worked to push the envelope in the space, with convertible form factors and genuine hardware improvements, like battery life.
Interestingly, in spite of an overall drop in numbers, four of the top six manufacturers actually saw an increase, including Lenovo and HP, which maintained the first and second place spots, respectively.
Dell and Apple saw increases, as well, with the latter having recently released the most significant update to its high-end MacBook Pro line in years. Asus and Acer, meanwhile, both saw notable declines for the quarter, along with the “Others” category, which saw an 18.8 percent drop.
Here in the States, the numbers are largely less dramatic, save for an extremely sharp drop in Asus PC sales of 48.3 percent year-over-year, coupled with a 20.9 percent drop in others. Taken together, that’s enough to account for a 1.3 percent drop in shipments for the quarter, in spite of growth numbers from the rest of the top six.
Among other reasons, Gartner cites the growth of other electronics categories as holiday gifts, including VR headsets, Echo-like connected home devices and wearables, as a factor in the decline during the usually bustling sales season.


text:
Today, Johnson & Johnson, the pharmaceutical giant, published better than expected profit for the second quarter of the year. It was partially driven by the company’s recent acquisition of Actelion.
The total sales of the company rose to $20.8 billion for the quarter, a 10.6 percent increase as compared to the same period from the previous year. Meanwhile, the net earnings of the company stood at $4 billion, or approximately $1.45 per share.
The pharmaceutical business particularly stormed ahead by almost 20 percent to $10.4 billion. It represented half of the total sales of Johnson & Johnson for the quarter.
On Tuesday, the most recent results sent the shares of the company up by around four percent to $129.74 during trading.
The chairman and chief executive officer of the company, Alex Gorsky, stated: “Our strong second-quarter results reflect double-digit growth in our pharmaceutical business and the accelerating sales momentum in our medical devices business, driven by the continued growth of our market leading products and strategic new launches.”
He added: “We remain focused on investing in innovation and meeting the needs of our customers by delivering innovative products and solutions that position the company to deliver long-term, sustainable growth.”
Gorsky continued: “Our talented J&J colleagues are united in our efforts to address some of the most critical health and consumer needs of people around the world.”
Johnson & Johnson also slightly lessened its sales guidance for the full year 2018 to between $80.5 billion and $81.3 billion, down from the $81 billion to $81.5 billion. The company said that Currency Effects Earnings are anticipated to come in between $8.07 and $8.17 per share.
The report comes a week after a court in the United States awarded $4.7 billion in damages to 22 women who claimed that that the talc products of Johnson & Johnson had resulted to them developing ovarian cancer.
The firm is involved in around 9,000 legal cases because of its baby powder.
At the time, Johnson & Johnson said that it was “deeply disappointed” in the ruling and that the company planned to appeal the said decision.


text:
India support Apple: Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said the Centre will support IPhone maker Apple to set up manufacturing unit in the country and is awaiting a formal proposal from them. “Let us get a good proposal from them…We will be very happy to receive Apple, one of the top brands in the world. We are willing to find out if there is any difficulty they may face. We will be more than happy to resolve that difficulty. So we will await a formal proposal,” Prabhu told. He also said that the Centre is willing to call all state chief ministers who are willing to give them the best deal.Apple India had sought concessions, including duty exemption on manufacturing and repair units, components, capital equipment and consumables for smart phone manufacturing and service/repair for a period of 15 years. The company also wants relaxation in the mandated 30 percent local sourcing of components besides reduction in customs duties on completely-knocked-down and semi-knocked-down units of devices that are to be assembled in the country.Apple does not manufacture devices on its own but gets the job done through contract manufacturers. It sells its products through company-owned retail stores in countries like China, Germany, the U.S., the U.K. and France, among others.
For more news updates Follow and Like us on Facebook


text:
Earlier this week we mentioned how HK 2020, the annual heat treat exhibition in Cologne, Germany will have a different format this year because of COVID-19. We spoke with Sonja Mueller of AWT who is head of the organizing committee for the event and this is what she has to day.
“The executive board of AWT has decided, that HK 2020, the yearly big trade fair and congress event in Cologne on materials technology issues will not take place as a physical event. The trade fair is cancelled this year and the congress will be held as an online event.”
Dear Sonja, this must have been a very hard decision for you.
“Yes, and with a heavy heart. So far, we are aware of only some of the conditions imposed by the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia which will apply to the staging of events and trade fairs after 31 August. But these conditions are sufficient for us to draw up a scenario for the event and decide that we do not want exhibitors, visitors and also us as the organizers to meet under these circumstances. Can you imagine an exhibition hall with individual stands distributed throughout the hall? With distance rules of 1.5 meters from person to person around and on the stands? A reception without buffet and music? In addition, we expect that there will still be travel bans in companies and statutory travel restrictions for foreign countries in autumn.”
What are the plans for the congress this year?
“We did not want to cancel the congress with its high quality on lectures with information about the current state of science and technology. The program is already complete. So, the congress will take place at the scheduled time as an online conference. The participants of the congress can meet and chat at the online platform. A situation with home office or short-time work could also be used for further training. At the moment we create the technical basis for it. The program with 32 lectures includes two days. On 21 October a scientific congress will be held and on 22 October a practioners congress. The final program will be published on hk-awt.de at the mid of June.”
What information could we get about the exhibitors?
“The website of HK with a detailed exhibitor directory will be updated currently and the exhibitors can publish product information and press releases on the “marketplace”.
What are your plans for the upcoming events?
“We all learn a lot about new event techniques at the moment, which will also offer new possibilities for the coming years. I think, we will become more international in the future because we can integrate more and more tools for virtual meetings into our traditional “physical” concept of HK. Our colleagues at Cologne trade fair this year present the first virtual fair.”
You can’t really imagine this as a concept for HK?
“Of course, I know, that a virtual meeting does not replace direct contacts from person to person, it’s more a kind of additional information. In addition to the presence event in the exhibition hall, we can perhaps also design a virtual exhibition hall next year. It offers a platform for companies from abroad to take part at a German event at manageable costs. We will hopefully celebrate a lively and healthy reunion in Cologne next October at HK 2021!”


text:
- 1 of 2 Photos | View More Photos
NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. futures slid as the risk of economic contagion from Spain migrated to Italy in the form of higher borrowing costs.
An Italian debt auction Wednesday showed the country's borrowing rates have risen to the highest levels of the year, fast on the heels of Spain, which saw its rates jump dangerously close to 7 percent this week.
And new evidence Wednesday that consumer spending in the U.S. is losing momentum pushed futures further into negative territory.
Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 51 points to 12,463. Standard & Poor's 500 futures slid 7.6 points to 1,312.50. Nasdaq composite futures gave up 11.25 points to hit 2,533.75.
U.S. retail sales declined in April and May, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday before the market opened. Even excluding volatile gas sales, consumers barely increased their spending, suggesting that with weakening job growth and unsatisfactory increases in wages, consumers may be entrenching themselves once again.
Retail sales dipped 0.2 percent in May. That followed a revised 0.2 percent decline April, the first back-to-back declines in two years.
However, futures were already heading lower as debt auction in Italy revealed that the country's cost of borrowing money had hit the highest point since December.
A sale of 12-month bonds, a potential precedent for Thursday's weightier long-term debt auction, may suggest the rapidity in which one European country's problems, in this case Spain, can travel to another.
Over the weekend, Madrid acknowledged that its banks are under so much stress that a bailout is needed. What may be most telling is that Italy is in much better shape financially than Spain.
The perception of vulnerability appears to be overshadowing fundamentals.
Even though Italy's finances are sound, it is still a bad time to be stuck with harsher borrowing terms.
Italy paid an interest rate of 3.972 percent -- up from 2.34 percent in a similar auction last month -- to borrow $8.12 billion in 12-month money from bond markets.
France's CAC-40 dropped 0.5 percent to 3,033, while the DAX in Germany fell the same rate to 6,129. The FTSE index of leading British shares is down 0.1 percent to 5,469.


text:
The FBI is warning small and midsize businesses that spear phishing is becoming an ever increasing threat. Over $85 million has been stolen by cybercriminals and only around $45 million has been recovered. The scam starts with a spam campaign that delivers malware. The messages are targeted to individuals responsible for handling financial transactions within a company. Those that fall for the spam find their computers infected with malware that is designed to steal personal info and banking credentials. From there the fraudulent withdrawals begin, all under $10,000 to avoid reporting requirements. The stolen money is then sent to a money mule who is instructed to wire it to the criminals via Western Union.
This scam has two sets of victims, the companies that are being stolen from and the innocent people being used to do the dirty work. Most are recruited via phony “Work from Home” ads. Scammers prey on the unemployed and underemployed, often flooding sites like Craigslist and Monster with fake job openings and also scanning the site for job seekers who have posted contact info and spamming them. What makes this part of the spear phishing scam so sinister is that the mules aren’t just being scammed, they are money laundering, which is a serious criminal offense.
The FBI advises companies to confine their banking activities to a dedicated, locked down computer that is not used for any other purpose and isn’t allowed access email or everyday web browsing. A strong and constantly updated firewall is also a must.
Source: Sue Walsh November 2009


text:
Personalization firm RichRelevance raises $20 million
May 10, 2012 03:30 PM
RichRelevance, which provides personalization services to 28 retailers in the 2012 Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, said this week that it raised $20 million in a funding round.
RichRelevance will use some of the capital to fund expansion into new markets outside of North America, says chief marketing officer Diane Kegley. The company also plans to develop more personalization and digital marketing tools, beef up its consumer data analysis efforts and also add staff
RichRelevance first expanded internationally in 2010 in the United Kingdom by signing office supply merchant Viking Direct, a segment of Office Depot and No. 60 in the 2012 Internet Retailer Top 400 Europe. Now the company is moving into the European Union and Africa, Kegley says.
“It’s great to see [the capital],” says Cam Fortin, director of business development at Wine.com Inc., a RichRelevance client for more than two years and No. 248 in the Top 500. The web-only retailer uses RichRelevance personalization to suggest personalized products to shoppers—for example, not just showing a customer who bought a cabernet another cab at a similar price, but a variety of wine types she might like instead, Fortin says. The retailer competes with physical stores where customers can browse and discover new wines with the help of experts. Fortin hopes that improved personalization tools from RichRelevance—especially with the cash boost—will help Wine.com to grow its consumer base with less time and money by leveraging the power of social networks and referrals.


text:
It’s hardly a secret anymore that Google is going to launch the Pixel smartphones later today at their annual event along with a host of other hardware products such as Google Home, an upgraded Chromecast and DayDream VR. There are two Pixel smartphones slated to launch today. The Pixel brand was something that Google used for its top of the line Chromebooks that it made in-house, and now the same brand name is being used for smartphones. The Pixel phones have the entire tech industry interested but before we get more excited about them, it’s worth analyzing the kind of impact it would be able to make in the long run.
This isn’t Google’s first smartphone
The Pixel smartphones aren’t quite obviously Google’s first shot at the smartphone market. There have been lots of other attempts and many of them have hardly made much of an impact. let’s have a look.
The Nexus was probably Google’s first shot at the smartphone market. Initially, Nexus smartphones were positioned as premium offerings, then morphed into bang for buck smartphones and later on they were back as premium smartphones. It’s widely rumored that Google would kill the Nexus lineup this year and replace it with the Pixel smartphone lineup. Even if the Nexus lineup is to be killed this year, the Nexus has arguably been Google’s longest running bet at the smartphone market. From the Nexus One to Nexus 6P, there’ve been at least eight Nexus smartphones that Google has released.
Despite releasing eight Nexus smartphones, none of them ever had any significant impact on the smartphone market. Volume and market share wise Nexus was never really big. I don’t think Google has ever disclosed the number of handsets it managed to sell for any Nexus variant. The only information about Nexus sales we know is that the Nexus 5 was the best selling of them all. As far as I remember, Nexus 5 never made it to the top 10 selling smartphones worldwide in terms of volume even after a year after its launch. Needless to say, in terms of volume, the Nexus brand was never big.
Many would argue that the aim with Nexus was to never make it big but to represent Google’s vision for Android. I would agree with that but you would really have to think whether the Nexus brand has really helped spread Google’s vision of Android. To start with, the Nexus always received timely software updates and security patches. If Nexus were to have any impact, other manufacturers would have also improved their software update times, but the harsh reality is that it takes forever to come or in most cases, don’t see the light of the day. Similarly, Nexus phones only came preloaded with Google apps and stuck with the stock UI. But most smartphones today are still preloaded with bloatware and custom skins are still popular.
Google had bought Motorola to beef up its patent portfolio in defense of Apple. Although Google maintains that the primary reason behind buying Motorola was its patent portfolio, the smartphone unit also came along nonetheless. Initially, the smartphone unit of Motorola wasn’t that great. But later on, when Motorola released the Moto G, somewhere during late 2013, it turned out to be an unexpected hit. The Moto G had single-handedly set the trend of “online-only” smartphones in India and followed it up with the Moto E which took the same recipe of Moto G’s success and won as well.
I honestly feel that Motorola has had the maximum impact amongst all of Google’s smartphone initiatives, even though Motorola under Google lasted much lesser than Nexus, it actually managed to change the Indian smartphone market. With Moto G and Moto E being hits, Motorola had in a way proven that it’s possible to do well in the Indian smartphone market by just partnering with online e-commerce portals and not having any offline retail presence which takes years to build out thoroughly. Apart from this, the e-commerce portals were eager to boost their GMV metric and smartphones were the easiest way to do so. Considering that smartphones would play a pivotal role in boosting GMV, e-commerce firms were more than willing to throw in free marketing and in some cases go as far as to subsidize the smartphone’s price to some extent.
The Chinese manufacturers saw Motorola’s success with e-commerce in India and jumped on board. Soon Xiaomi launched in India and ever since then a slew of manufacturers like OnePlus and LeEco came to India using the “online-only” model. These “online-only” smartphone brands have increased competition to such an extent that even offline brands such as Samsung and Micromax were forced to provide better specs for lesser prices. Micromax in fact even spun out an online-only subsidiary in the form of YU televentures. All in all, Motorola had done a great job at improving the competition in the Indian smartphone ecosystem. Apart from Moto E and Moto G being run away successes, the Moto X was probably the first ever Android smartphone that prioritized user experience over specs.
Google had a great thing going on with Motorola and although Motorola was losing money, it isn’t uncommon for Google’s other divisions like Verily Life Sciences, Google Loon etc to lose a lot of money. But suddenly out of nowhere did Google decide to sell Motorola to Lenovo. Although Google kept the patents, the smartphone business was sold off to Lenovo.
Google has a money minting search advertising business, the company’s various divisions can afford to lose some money and try and experiment with things. For example, the decision to go “online-only” was mostly a bet by Motorola at India, no one knew whether the online market was big enough or whether people would buy smartphones from a brand that had unceremoniously exited India a couple of years back. The bet ultimately paid off and helped revive Motorola. Lenovo, on the other hand, is mostly a PC manufacturer that operates at razor-thin margins. Lenovo has already cut a lot of staff from Motorola and wouldn’t be able to afford to experiment much.
Google had a great thing going on with Motorola, it’s unclear why Google decided to sell it to Lenovo when Moto was at its peak. The only reasonable explanation is that with Motorola, Google became both a licensor of Android as well as a licensee. Motorola’s continued improvement in performance would have soured Google’s relationship with others like Samsung and LG which is why Google might have decided to sell it off.
Android One was Google’s attempt to bring a low end Nexus for emerging countries. When it started off, there were high ambitions for Android One. Unlike Nexus, it wasn’t limited to one particular smartphone manufacturer. Anyone interested could jump on board and be a part of the initiative. The biggest draw of Android One was arguably its timely updates delivered straight from Google. However Android One never made it big.
When the Android One initiative landed in India for the first time, it received a pretty good response. But for the second generation of Android One devices, only Lava came to partner up with Google. After the launch of Lava Pixel V1 in July 2015, no other Android One handset was launched in India. The project is considered pretty much dead in India, while barely surviving in other markets like Indonesia. Just like Nexus, even Android One wasn’t big in terms of volumes. And much like Nexus, it never had any material impact on the smartphone ecosystem. Low-end smartphones don’t get software updates most of the times and most Chinese companies like Vivo continue using custom skins that make it difficult to figure out whether the phone is running Android or iOS.
Project Ara was Google’s ambitious project to bring about modular smartphones. If your battery has stopped working, just swap it. If you need a better camera for the upcoming trip, just swap the module. The Phone feels slow? Add some extra RAM or swap the processor. The concept was very promising. It would put to an end the constant need to upgrade a smartphone every two years. It would reduce e-waste and no longer would you have to leave your smartphone at the service center for weeks when something goes wrong. Many people had expressed their doubts initially whether Ara would be successful, after all, smartphones are one of the most tightly integrated electronic devices and unbundling them was no easy task.
Some hope was given when Project Ara was demoed at Google I/O 2015. There was a developer version of Project Ara that was once again demoed at Google I/O 2016. People started having really high hopes that Ara might soon one day be a reality despite the initial skepticism surrounding the project. On 2nd September 2016, Google announced that it had axed plans to create a modular smartphone.
The loss of Project Ara was yet another setback in Google’s already troubled smartphone journey. The Nexus didn’t have any impact, same goes for Android One. Motorola was doing well but was sold off to Lenovo, and now Project Ara had also gone down the hill.
Pixel phones are launching at a time when almost all of Google’s smartphone initiatives in the past haven’t done well. Pixel just seems like yet another Nexus, to be honest. The only difference is that unlike Nexus where the OEM which Google partnered got to keep its logo on the smartphone, this will not be the case with Pixel. Some would argue that in the case of Pixel, Google has more control but honestly it wasn’t like Google had any less control on the Nexus.
So the only way where Google can exert more control in case of Pixel is the hardware. If the leaked specs of Pixel smartphones are anything to go by, then Google is pretty much using the same type of specs as everyone else. Everyone uses a Qualcomm processor. Everyone puts in 3GB-6GB of RAM in the device, the generic 32GB/64GB/128GB device storage option. In case of design, the Pixel smartphones have horribly big bezels and if that’s where Google has exerted “more control” then it has exerted that in a negative way considering that manufacturers like Samsung and LG have mastered the art of fitting larger displays in smaller form factors by having razor thin bezels, curved displays etc.
I have already detailed in a previous article of mine as to why it no longer makes sense to enter the smartphone market. In my opinion, no one should enter the smartphone market unless they have the required scale or have something totally unique. Pixel is a totally new smartphone brand and from the looks of it, is a “me-too” smartphone with the exception of updates delivered directly from Google, which honestly apart from the tech enthusiasts no one else cares about.
I honestly feel that the Pixel smartphones are unnecessarily hyped to some extent. Sure, they’ll be a delight for the tech enthusiasts who can stand nothing else apart from stock android and want the latest of android delivered as soon as possible. But that is the exact same audience that even the Nexus catered to. The needs of the core tech enthusiasts or Android enthusiasts would be served by Pixel but its effect on the smartphone market as a whole would be negligible at best. Pixel is essentially just another Nexus with the exception that whoever is manufacturing Pixel smartphones doesn’t have their logo on it.


text:
‘Cruise in’ to Penn Yan for bargains and fun
PENN YAN — It’s time for another busy weekend in the Penn Yan area, with the popular Cruisin’ Night — the 23rd annual street festival — set for Friday night, June 14 in downtown Penn Yan and the 15th annual New York Haiti Benefit Auction Friday evening and Saturday at the Yates County Fairgrounds.
The Cruisin’ Night committee has been planning another fun evening with lots of classic and antique cars, live music, a variety of food vendors in addition to the downtown restaurants, and more.
Pre-registrations will be accepted until Thursday, June 13 at 5 p.m.
Main Street in Penn Yan will close to vehicular traffic at 3 p.m. Friday and registration at the event begins at 4 p.m.
The Arc of Yates will set up their Family Fun Zone again in the Lake Street Park, which can be accessed from the Main Street bridge. Join them for real carnival games, hotdogs, face painting and more. They will be releasing their ducks for their Annual Fundraiser — the Duck Race — at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available at www.arcofyates.org/Events.
Haiti Benefit Auction
This annual event is a cooperative effort of many churches and individuals to raise funds for 12 missions that provide support for sustainable agriculture, provide water wells and clinics, assist in education, coordinate teaching ministries and provide disaster relief in Haiti.
The auction event begins Friday with a roast beef or fish fry dinner from 4 to 7 p.m. and a small farm related auction at 6:15 p.m. and cattle auction at 6:30 p.m. Friday evening is also an excellent time to browse through the items that will be sold Saturday.
Saturday’s agenda begins with breakfast from 6 to 9 a.m. and the auction begins at 8 a.m. Furniture items go on sale at 9:30 a.m. and quilts at 10 a.m. Large items go on sale at 1 p.m.
Lunch is served from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and a variety of other food items are available throughout the day.
To see some of the items that will be auctioned, visit the NY Haiti Benefit Auction Facebook page.


text:
British engineering was on display at the Houston Motor Club in City Centre last night when McLaren was on hand to unveil its new supercar to the Texas market: the 12C Spider.
The Spider sports a unique single piece "MonoCell" body made of carbon fiber with aluminum trimming in the front and around the rear-mounted engine. She has a low profile, sleek body lines, and vertical dihedral "Lambo" doors.
McLaren dropped in the M838T engine, a 3.8L twin-turbo V8 beast pumping out 616 hp and 443 ft/ lbs. of torque. It's supported by a 7-speed transmission with dual clutch Seamless Shift Gearbox technology.
If it all sounds familiar, it's because these are all the same specs pulled from the McLaren MP4-12C, a coupe supercar that the British manufacturer unleashed last year.
The difference for the 12C Spider happens in 17 seconds. No, that's not the car's quarter-mile run: that's actually estimated at 10.8 seconds. 17 seconds is how long it takes for the car's retractable roof to hide behind the pair of bucket seats.
According to Simon Crossley of McLaren Dallas at Park Place, the difference in performance between the two cars is almost non-existent. With the top down on the Spider, the coupe is quicker by mere milliseconds. With the top up, you can expect the same performance.
It's the old debate between car enthusiasts. Gear heads have always preferred coupes, looking for better performance; while convertibles were always made for those who just want the ride.
"The engineers at McLaren worked and worked to ensure that there wouldn't be a drop off in performance with the new 12C Spider," Crossley said.
The supercar on display at Houston Motor Club was only a prototype. McLaren plans to go into production for the 12C in November of this year, with the first racers finding homes in Late February to early March 2013. McLaren plans to produce more Spiders than coupes next year, as early demands indicate the convertibles will be more popular.
Don't expect to see much of these Spiders on road, though. The sticker on the 12C Spider starts at $260,000 - that's 15 grand more than the coupe. Leather upgrade and tint, obviously, are extra.
And if you want one more look:


text:
Blake Shelton will celebrate the grand opening of his new restaurant, retail space and live music venue with an Opry-style block party in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, on September 30.
Ole Red Tishomingo, located in Shelton’s adopted hometown, was inspired by one of Shelton’s earliest hit songs, “Ol’ Red.”
“For a song that meant so much to me to take this shape and come to life as Ole Red has is really mind-blowing,” Shelton says in a statement with News OK.
“Our community is in for a treat with the Opry bringing their famed broadcast to Tishomingo for this special show. It’s a proud day for us Oklahomans.”
The bar, restaurant and retail store will open its doors with an Opry-style performance and block party on September 30, with the outdoor stage hosting performances from RaeLynn and several Opry members.
Shelton will co-host the grand opening show, which will be livestreamed on Ole Red’s Facebook page at 8 PM ET.
Shelton will also perform an intimate, private concert from the Ole Red Tishomingo stage on September 29, with proceeds benefitting the non-profit J.C. Reaching Out, a local charity that provides financial assistance to family members of people battling cancer.


text:
It’s a lot more tolerable than it was before, but still pretty damn bad.
Sony’s announced streaming service for legacy PlayStation games, PlayStation Now, is slated to launch some time later this year in North America on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita, and it went into beta earlier this year, where users reported that they were running into ridiculous loading times, adding to the perception that latency makes streaming games an unviable proposition.
Now, DualShockers is reporting that the second phase of the beta has seen a substantial improvement in loading times for video games, which might make playing games on the service more palatable to the average user than it would have been before.
The list of loading times is:
Obviously, most of those loading times are still obscenely high, but they do represent a step up from where they were before, which should be a cause for optimism among players; however, with that said, it is also important to remember that the beta itself represents only a minuscule strain on Sony’s servers compared to how it will be when it finally goes live for the general public- so you can easily expect loading times to be worse in the final product.


text:
Apple launched its latest smartphone, the iPhone SE (2020) only last week. The phone was launched by the company with an "affordable" price tag and some impressive specs -- including the presence of its most powerful chipset, the A13 Bionic. And now, the iPhone SE (2020) has appeared on the benchmarking portal, AnTuTu, giving us a deeper understanding of its performance.
It is interesting to note that despite sporting a flagship chipset, one that has also been used by the company on the iPhone 11 series, the new iPhone SE hasn't managed to achieve the same kind of results as the flagship iPhones. In fact, the scores suggest that the chipset may just be the A13 Bionic in name, but in performance, it could be giving results closer to the benchmark results of older iPhones.
This is because the iPhone SE 2020 has been shown to clock a score of 492166 on AnTuTu, which is lower than what iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max have achieved -- all despite sporting the same chipset. The results are shown to be closer to the iPad Air 3. This could be an indication that the iPhone SE (2020) is running an underclocked A13 Bionic chipset which is simply not good enough to churn out the same kind of flagship performance as we've seen on the iPhone 11 series.
The difference could also be because the iPhone 11 comes with 4GB of RAM while the benchmark has revealed the iPhone SE 2020 to come with 3GB of RAM. But despite losing out to the flagships, the iPhone SE 2020 does do well enough overall, and its score on AnTuTu is quite favourable in comparison to the likes of the iPhone XS Max which for instance, scores 443,337 points.
To recall, the iPhone SE (2020) features some really impressive specs for its Rs 42,500 price tag. On the outside, the new iPhone brings a 4.7-inch Retina HD display, paired with Touch ID. It comes with a compact design, which appears to have been crafted with the idea of keeping costs down. It is water- and dust-resistant with an IP67 rating for water resistance up to 1 meter for 30 minutes.
For cameras, the iPhone SE (2020) features a single-camera with a 12-megapixel f/1.8 aperture Wide camera and uses the image signal processor and Neural Engine of A13 Bionic for computational photography to handle Portrait mode shots and six Portrait Lighting effects and Depth Control. There's also support for smart HDR which adjusts recognised subjects in a frame for more natural-looking images with better highlight and shadow details. iPhone SE 2020 also brings Portraits shots to the front camera.
The new iPhone SE will come running iOS 13 with features such as Dark Mode and an all-new Maps experience that delivers "faster and more accurate navigation and beautiful street-level imagery with Look Around." Interestingly, the phone will also support Qi wireless charging.


text:
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala backed Star Well being IPO: Star Well being and Allied Insurance coverage Firm, a medical insurance sector big, backed by inventory market Massive Bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, would quickly be launching its Preliminary Public Providing within the Indian market. Star Well being is predicted to launch its IPO within the final week of November. The corporate plans to lift Rs. 7,500 crore by this IPO.
IPO anticipated to open on November 30:
Star Well being has not but been capable of finalize a date on which they’d be launching their IPO. The corporate needs to launch the IPO on November 30. However funding bankers dealing with this IPO demand to launch it after wanting on the current market situations. Indian inventory markets have been on a gradual tumble for the reason that previous week, and all the businesses which have deliberate to launch IPOs have been exercising additional warning after Paytm’s IPO itemizing.
Rakesh and Rekha Jhunjhunwala maintain 17.26% stake on this firm:
Star Well being promoters personal 62.80% stake within the firm. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and his spouse Rekha Jhunjhunwala collectively maintain 17.26% stake. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala owns a complete of Rs 7.68 Crore shares in Star Well being, which accounts for 14% stakes. Whereas Rekha Jhunjhunwlala owns shares price Rs 1.78 Crore, which accounts for 3.26% of the stake. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala owned stake on the price of Rs 158.28 per share again in March 2019. The corporate’s second promoter, Safecrop Investments India LLP has a forty five.32% stake within the firm.
IPO valued at Rs. 7,500 Crore:
Stakes price Rs 2,000 crore might be issued beneath the ‘Contemporary Problem’ part, whereas stakes price Rs 5,500 Crore might be issued by ‘Supply for Sale’ by current shareholders. The corporate will make investments the cash raised from the IPO to broaden its capital base.
Third huge IPO of 2021:
To your info, Star Well being’s IPO would be the third largest IPO to date in 2021, after PayTM and Zomato. Paytm and Zomato had raised Rs 18,500 Crore and Rs 9,375 Crore respectively from the market by IPOs.


text:
The fabric is "inflecting positively for the first Fall since 2010," the survey said.
The bi-annual survey of more than 9,000 teens, with an average age of 16, revealed that teens are spending less at big brands, and moving towards finding boutique buys for things like fashion and cosmetics.
"Central to this shift is the rise of individuality over conforming to a crowd," Piper Jaffray said.
That said, big clothing brands still dominate teen spending, as this chart from the report shows:
The survey revealed a lot about what teens are excited about and what they want to spend their money on.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes second to the final installment of the Hunger Games in a survey of the most anticipated movies for the teen demographic this year, according to a report by US investment bank Piper Jaffray.
Divergent: Allegiant - part 1 is third in the list.
Web-based film and tv is outstripping traditional cable. Almost 40% use Netflix, while only 29% watch cable television. Starbucks and Chipotle are the preferred places to hang out and eat, while Michael Kors is the top handbag brand at 31%, beating Kate Spade at 15%.


text:
As seems to be the case with many games these days, Cellar Door Games has announced a delay for Rogue Legacy 2. The sequel to the beloved roguelite will now arrive in early access on Steam and the Epic Games Store on August 18th. Originally, it was set to release next week on July 23rd.
The reason for the delay is actually quite interesting (football analogies notwithstanding). The development team encountered some “minor setbacks” while preparing for the game’s launch. However, “more importantly, some features got so close to completion that we just absolutely had to see them through. This means more content, more stability, and more bang for your buck come launch day.”
Cellar Door Games originally touted the early access version as launching with two biomes (out of five to seven), four classes of 12, 35 traits, 25 skills with upgrades and 25 sets of equipment split into five sets. Furthermore, there would be 12 enemy types and one boss.
How much more content will be added on top of this remains to be seen. Either way, Rogue Legacy 2’s early access stint is currently planned to last one year with a full release sometime in 2021. We’ll see how much plans change down the line, as well as any potential console ports, so stay tuned for more details.
An update on the development of Rogue Legacy 2 pic.twitter.com/wjUIoEiiD4
— CellarDoorGames (@CellarDoorGames) July 16, 2020


text:
Dollar General appoints former Ahold exec to board
Goodlettsville, Tenn. – Paula A. Price, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and former CFO of Ahold USA, has been named to the Dollar General board of directors effective Aug. 26. The election of Price to Dollar General’s board will bring the total number of directors to eight.
Price, who has been designated an audit committee financial expert, will serve on the audit committee of Dollar General’s board. Price has been senior lecturer at Harvard Business School in the Accounting and Management Unit since July 2014. She was executive VP and CFO of Ahold USA from May 2009 until January 2014. Before joining Ahold, she held executive posts at CVS Caremark Corp., the Institutional Trust Services division of JPMorgan Chase and held several other senior management positions in the U.S. and the U.K. in the financial services and consumer packaged goods industries. Price currently serves as a director of Accenture and Western Digital Corporation. She previously served as a director of Charming Shoppes Inc.
Advance Auto winning in hot retail sector
Advance Auto Parts demonstrated strength in its second quarter performance in one of the retail industry’s hottest sectors.
The company said its sales increased 51.5% to $2.35 billion, reflecting the inclusion of the acquired General Parts business. Same store sale increased 2.6%. The operator of 5,289 stores said profits on an adjusted basis to account for non-recurring acquisition related costs for the second quarter ended July 12 increased to $153.2 million, or $2.08 a share, compared to $117.7 million, or $1.60 a share. The improvement came despite the fact that gross margins contracted to 45.2% of sales from 50.3% of sales as commercial customers accounted for a larger portion of Advance Auto’s overall business.
"We are pleased with our second quarter performance led by strong execution from our team members delivering comparable cash EPS growth of 30% and an increase in comparable store sales of 2.6% in the quarter," said Advance CEO Darren Jackson. "We remain on pace against our base business expectations, integration milestones and with our financial performance.”
CFO Mike Norona said the favorable second quarter sales performance and synergy savings related to the merger would allow the company to exceed earlier earnings estimates.
“We are pleased with the continued progress made during our second quarter delivering positive sales performance and approximately 34% growth in Comparable Operating Income dollars,” said Mike Norona, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
“We continue to stay focused on our base business while meeting our integration milestones to date and remain confident in achieving our full year synergy estimates,” Norona said. Given our performance in the first half of the year and the execution and integration momentum we continue to build, we are raising our full year guidance for comparable cash EPS to be in the range of $7.50 to $7.60.”
Loblaw names food processing exec to board
Brampton, Canada – Loblaw Companies Ltd. has named Pavi Binning as a director to its board. Binning currently serves as the president of food processing company George Weston Ltd. and has been a director of George Weston Ltd. since 2012.
He joined George Weston Ltd. in 2010 as the CFO after spending a year as a director of Loblaw Companies Ltd. Prior to joining Weston, Binning was at Nortel Networks Corp., where he held the role of CFO and subsequently chief restructuring officer. Prior to that, Binning held CFO positions at both Hanson plc and Marconi Corporation plc, as well as executive positions at Diageo plc.