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Amazon has rolled out free one-day delivery to Brazilian Prime members in 50 cities across the Latin America hotspot.
With the offering, Amazon stays in the lead in its battle for retail customers across the region with would-be rivals like Mercado Libre and Magazine Luiza.
Free one-day shipping for Prime customers in Brazil comes about two years after Amazon rolled out Prime in that country. The offering joins similar ones in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Before the new program, Brazil Prime customers could get free two-day shipping or pay for one-day delivery. About 105 million people in Brazil shop using eCommerce tools.
Amazon ranks fourth in monthly website visits across the country, behind Mercado Libre, among others, according to Ebanx rankings. Mercado Libre has been experimenting with same-day shipping in some Brazilian cities since June.
“In the last year, we’ve developed better infrastructure, especially in the country’s capital cities with new distribution centers, and this is what helped make one-day delivery possible,” Mariana Roth, head of Amazon Prime in Brazil, told Reuters in an interview.
Based on surveys of more than 2,000 consumers and 500 merchants in the country, PYMNTS’ Global Digital Shopping Index: Brazil Edition, a Cybersource collaboration, reveals the extent of the digital shift in a smartphone-saturated economy that’s gone decisively digital since 2020.
“The use of mobile-native and cross-channel options surged 36 percent in Brazil,” a dramatic departure from the other studied markets, where online channels have been favored over mobile ones, per the study. “Online shopping has also increased dramatically in popularity in Brazil, although consumers there are far more inclined toward online-native journeys, which grew by 42 percent, versus cross-channel ones, which grew by just 4 percent.”
The Brazil edition adds that “this tendency to take a digital-first approach is reflected more broadly in Brazilian consumers’ inclination to start shopping journeys digitally: An average of 41 percent are ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ likely to use digital-first features to make purchases across product categories, surpassing the level of interest found in other studied markets.”


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Quincy Punx - Dumpster diving at the abortion clinic
Some People Are Born Java Junkies
Research identifies genes linked to the body's response to caffeine in coffee.
By Dennis Thompson Jr., HealthDay News
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Folks who chug lots of coffee may have their genetics to thank for their java cravings, a new study says.
Researchers have linked six genes to a person's coffee consumption. All of the genes are related to the body's response to caffeine, according to the study.
"These are genes that we previously would not have implicated with coffee, and they show that there is some genetic basis for our coffee consumption behavior," said lead author Marilyn Cornelis, a research associate in nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.
These genes could help explain why some people enjoy coffee more than others. "My response to a cup of coffee might be very different to someone else's response to the same cup," Cornelis said.
They also could explain the popularity of energy drinks and other products that contain caffeine, said Rachel Poole, a postdoctoral fellow at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, a nonprofit scientific institute dedicated to research on the senses of taste and smell.
"In the past coffee and tea were the primary sources of caffeine worldwide. Now, there are many more products that contain caffeine -- energy drinks, flavored waters, gums," Poole said.
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Consumers are being urged to buy digital TV sets now rather than wait for switchover, in a £7m advertising campaign from Digital UK.
The “Why Wait” campaign, which has been created by Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO, aims to remind people that they do not have to wait to enjoy the benefits of digital TV.
The ad will feature robot character Digit Al, animated by Aardman Animation and voiced by Little Britain star Matt Lucas. It will run across commercial channels, BBC1 and BBC2 and there will be a particular focus on the Granada region, which is due to switch over in 2009. It breaks in the first week of October and will run until Christmas.
Digital UK, which is overseeing the change from analogue to digital, says that although two-thirds of the population are aware of the switchover, too few people are doing anything about it.


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The release said SMBs from India to Iceland can more effectively reach their target audiences on Twitter in 15 languages. In addition, Twitter also announced the total active advertisers, including SMBs to be approximately 100,000.
"Small and medium-sized businesses face the most challenges and are least resourced to promote the good work they do," said Emily Huo, SMB lead for Asia Pacific at Twitter. "With the expansion of the Twitter self-service ads platform, we are excited to help SMBs level the playing field with digital advertising to increase their sales,” said the statement.
There are 51 million SMBs in India, according to research firm Zinnov, said the statement. Start-ups registered in India are projected to go up a whopping 11,500 by 2020, independent consultancy KPMG reports. Anyone with a small business, from tech start-ups to retail, F&B establishments, and even mom and pop shops, can now use our platform to target and engage in real-time with more than 316 million active Twitter users worldwide and increase sales, stated the release.
ETPrime stories of the day
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Android users who fancy owning an iPhone 6 will have an added incentive if Apple extends its trade-in programme to accept rival smartphones.
Reports are emerging that the company is planning to offer in-store credit for Android users turning in their old smartphones. Not a bad option if you're sick of your Samsung Galaxy Note Edge or Nokia Lumia 930.
Currently, anyone looking to upgrade to a new iPhone can put older Apple devices towards the cost of the purchase. Apple, in turn, will safely recycle, re-purpose or dispose of old gadgets.
Apple has run the iPhone Reuse and Recycle trade-in programme since 2013 and enjoyed a comfortable boost in sales as a result. It introduced an iPad equivalent last year.
Until now the initiative has been limited to Apple devices, but accepting the likes of Samsung, Nokia or BlackBerry smartphones for credit is a relatively easy way to start getting iPhones into even more hands.
According to Apple site 9to5 Mac, the company will start the programme in the coming weeks once Apple store employees are up to speed.
Apple's retail staff will determine the trade-in value of each device by considering how much wear and tear it has.
This wouldn't be Apple's first attempt to coax non-iPhone users into choosing its devices over competing Android and Windows Phone models.
In September last year, Apple posted a guide on its website explaining how to move content over from an old Android device to a new iPhone. The detailed guide included information on swapping contacts, mail and calenders as well as photos, music and videos.
Mirror Online has contacted Apple for a comment on this rumour and we will update this story when we hear back.


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Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky looked into typical privacy risks and cyberthreats that its users face every day. Upon checking using Kaspersky Security Cloud’s Account Check feature, 85% of users found their email addresses were compromised and available in public domains.
Kaspersky’s special report for International Privacy Day 2020 (Jan. 28) shows that anti-phishing technologies prevented at least one phishing attack on 15% of Kaspersky users’ computers.
In Southeast Asia, Kaspersky has blocked phishing attempts in 22.36% of users in the Philippines, 20.47% in Malaysia, 16.65% in Indonesia, 15.63% in Vietnam, 15.33% in Thailand, and 6.15% in Singapore.
Have you read “Cybercriminals mask malware as coronavirus info files”?
Another popular attack vector, which has become increasingly common, is password stealers. In 2019, there was a 72% rise in the number of users (two million in total) hit by malware designed to harvest consumer’s digital data. Password stealers infiltrate browsers and steal stored passwords, leading to users’ private data being accessed via online accounts without their permission and being raided by malefactors.
“Technology has improved online communications and continues to build a closer, more integrated world. While ordinary consumers benefit from open opportunities these new technologies bring to them and enjoy the value, it is still important to be proactive in protecting the personal data that this technology relies on,” said Marina Titova, Head of Consumer Product Marketing at Kaspersky.
“Today, there are many tactics to prise personal information from people, like password stealers or phishing. However, there are some simple steps anyone can follow to safeguard their digital privacy,” adds Titova.
- To keep sensitive information protected from privacy threats and ensure personal data remains secure, Kaspersky recommends:
- Avoiding any suspicious links or applications. If you have been shared a link or document from an unknown source, or are not sure what it may contain, check with the sender
- Remaining vigilant while using the internet by reading links and service agreements carefully. Only use certified and secure programs and websites
- Keeping your internet security services up-to-date by installing the latest patches and product updates. This way, your device remains protected against the latest threats
- Start using “Privacy Checker,” an online tool that was created to help people set up their social media accounts securely
- Installing a reliable security solution – such as Kaspersky Security Cloud – that can protect your account details and notify you should any of your personal data be compromised


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Edible insects first sparked international attention in 2013 when the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published a report referring to them as one way to solve the global food shortage.
At that time, FAO noted that insects as food and feed emerge as an especially relevant issue in the twenty-first century due to the rising cost of animal protein, food and feed insecurity, environmental pressures, and population growth.
The organization added, thus, alternative solutions to conventional livestock and feed sources urgently need to be found, adding that the consumption of insects could play such a role.
The European Union (EU) was among the first to respond. It designated in 2015 insects as “novel foods.” Accordingly, authorized insects began to be distributed and sold throughout the EU.
Many businesses, including start-up companies, also began to up and run by recognizing the trend as a business opportunity.
According to BugBurger, a Swedish website that introduces a list of edible insects, there are 270 companies in the world that handle such insects as of end-July.
Meanwhile, market research firm Meticulous Research says the world edible insect market is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of 24.4 percent, reaching USD 7.96 billion by 2030, with North American countries showing the fastest growth.
Southeast Asia’s emergence as production base
Amid such a trend, there is an increasing number of companies that have decided to set up their production bases in Southeast Asia.
Cricket Lab, based in Thailand’s Chiang Mai, is one of them. The company produces about 16 tons of crickets every month on average, and most of them are exported to Europe, North America and Australia.
About 1 kg of crickets produced at the factory is sold at USD 18. It is up to USD 60 cheaper than those produced in Europe.
This is possible thanks to cheap labor and low management costs for factories, according to Nicolas Bery, Co-Founder & CEO at Cricket Lab.
The ideal temperature to breed edible insects is between 30 and 32 Celsius. Many production facilities in Europe must spend extra resources on maintaining such temperature, while it is not the issue in Southeast Asia.
The increasing number of players in the region resulted in the creation of the ASEAN Food and Feed Insects Association in 2016.
Among its founders are brands including Smile Bull Marketing and Bugsolutely in Thailand, as well as Malaysia’s Entofood, Vietnam’s Entobel and Eawag of Indonesia.
Can Laos join?
The farming of edible insects is a relatively new phenomenon in Laos, although insects have been consumed in the country for centuries.
FAO noted that insect marketing is challenging to analyze in the country since the vast majority of Lao households collect and consume edible insects, but only a small proportion of the total insect supply is offered for sale, and unlike in neighboring Thailand, they are not generally traded by vendors.
FAO believes, however, there is a good reason to believe that promoting insect consumption can help not only combat malnutrition, alleviate food insecurity but also generate new sources of income in Laos as most people the country consume insects at least occasionally.
In particular, the organization focused on the profitability of farming such insects.
“Capital investment is approximately USD 760 for a breeding area of 60 square meters containing 61 concrete enclosures. Annual costs for food and other consumables at a typical cricket farm are approximately UDD 1,100 and revenues from the sale of the insects, and their eggs can reach USD 2,350 for a net income of USD 1,250 or roughly USD 21 per m2 per year,” FAO estimated.
“Taking into account the ease of setting up a cricket farm and low running costs, it is no wonder that cricket breeding has become popular in Laos. Moreover, there is potential for exporting excess supply from Vientiane. The conversion of excess crickets into food additives [insect flour or paste] could also be explored,” the organization added.
As of 2013, it was estimated that there are around 27 cricket farmers who can produce approximately 19,000 kg per year across Laos, mostly centered in Vientiane province, and many are mainly small scale with low investment, according to FAO.
In December 2010, FAO and the Faculty of Agriculture, National University of Lao PDR (NUoL) teamed up to establish the Edible Insect Demonstration Unit to develope edible insect farming
technologies appropriate for Lao conditions.
The unit’s main goal was to test and optimize low-cost production methods for edible insect farming in the country.
Meanwhile, Japanese NGO International Support and Partnership for Health is currently supporting residents in Pha Kon village near the city of Thakhek in breeding edible insects.
With an initial investment of USD 10 to set up a small “farm” to breed such insects, residents can generate about 1 kg of insects in five weeks time, which can be sold at the market at about USD 11.
Many residents in the village now use insect farming to financially support their livelihoods, although they were skeptical about it at first, according to the NGO.
[…] firm classified duckweed as an “emerging alternative protein” along with insect, algae, and lab […]


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When Denver-based Alpine Access wanted to provide a place for its home-based customer service representatives to trade ideas, it turned to a method generally reserved for college students and other young people.
Social networking, made popular by websites such as MySpace and Facebook, is finding its way into corporations. They’re looking to use it to help employees connect with one another and with consumers.
“To meet the needs of our employees, we wanted to provide a watercooler in a virtual way,” said David Parkhurst, director of client operations for Alpine Access. “It’s a trend where people use technology to get what they need from one another rather than the traditional, institutional organization.”
Alpine has about 7,500 home-based operators in the U.S. who take calls for a number of corporations, such as Office Depot and J. Crew. Parkhurst said the company wanted to unify all its workers, offering them a common online space to trade ideas and socialize.
Community builds morale
So it enlisted the help of HiveLive Inc., a Boulder-based company that develops social networking platforms for businesses. Within 45 days of launching the Web-based HiveLive application at Alpine last year, more than 1,500 people were using it. Now employees are trading photos and recipes, and have even set up a classified marketplace to buy and sell items.
Internally, a social networking platform helps create community among employees. That’s good for employee morale and retention, and it also allows employees to share knowledge or best practices with others in the firm, thereby strengthening the company.
“Web 2.0 and social networks, blogs, wikis, tags, all shifted the way we can all connect and share with each other,” said John Kembel, co-founder and chief executive of HiveLive. “Either from a competitive point of view or the effectiveness of doing business with each other, people realize they need to bring different communication tools to the business.”
For Kara Hartley, team leader for Alpine, who works from her Parker home, using the HiveLive application has brought her closer to her colleagues across the country.
“It makes our virtual world more of a reality,” she said. “It’s kind of like walking into someone’s office or cubicle, where you can see pictures and other things about them.”
In addition to using the site to casually interact with her colleagues, Hartley uses it to disseminate company and team messages to those she supervises.
“I can post that information rather than have five team leaders send out the same message,” she said. “Employees like to see a different format other than e-mail.”
Tenfold increase expected
The number of companies with software or Web-based tools — like HiveLive — is growing. Microsoft offers tools embedded in some of its collaboration software to enable some of these social interactions.
According to a report by technology research firm IDC, the social networking application market totaled $46.8 million in 2006. That market is expected to grow to $428.3 million by 2009, “establishing social networking as a new communications tool used for many purposes other than consumer socializing.”
Social networking sites can also be used to boost a brand.
“Success in the mind of the consumer is the value of connecting to others that share their brand affinity and the services provided,” said Jonathan Mendez, founder of OTTO digital, a marketing strategy and online metrics company. “This value can be delivered as simply as providing a fun place to waste time or actually adding important layers of interaction to a core product or service.”
Kimberly S. Johnson: 303-954-1088 or email@example.com


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|Day Low/High||239.80 / 247.24|
|52 Wk Low/High||224.43 / 368.83|
The Chanel group is now the sixth largest owner of Ulta, with a 3.4% stake in the cosmetics company, whose market is millennial women.
TheStreet Quant Ratings provides fair and objective information to help you make educated investing decisions. We rate over 4,100 stocks daily and provide 5-page PDF reports for each stock. These ratings can change daily and today's changes are reflected in the email below. If you are looking to check-up on the stocks you currently own or are looking for new ideas, you can find our full database of password-protected ratings reports in our proprietary ratings screener: http://www.thestreet.com/k/qr/flat/stock-screener.html Upgrades: ADM, HOME, NTUS, OSS, PQG Downgrades: AGTC, CPA, EPM, LIND, ULTA Initiations: AMTB, AMTBB Read on to get TheStreet Quant Ratings' detailed report:
`Despite Target's strong stock run, with [the] shares up more than 63% year-to-date, we are incrementally more upbeat following strong recent results and an improved margin outlook,' the firm wrote.
I like the recent insider buying on SBH. Even more so, I like the chart.
Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ: ULTA) today announced that the Company will present at the 2019 Wells Fargo Consumer Conference & Beauty Forum on Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 4:40 p.
Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) today announced that Mike Smith, President and Chief Operating Officer of Stitch Fix, Inc.
Ulta stock may have stopped dropping but it needs more than cosmetic repair.
Jim Cramer says don't try to game the Fed. Instead, take the long-term view and watch for developments on trade and global markets.
A look at the action on several stocks -- Chipotle, Shopify, Nucor and even Ulta Beauty -- shows this market is kind and offering up some juicy discounts.
GDP and corporate earnings trends are not favorable and increasingly indicate slowing economies here and abroad.
Jim Cramer says it's amazing the market didn't fall on this oil shock. The U.S. is very different than it was a decade ago, he explains.
Jim Cramer takes a look at McDonald's, Ulta Beauty, DaVita, Coupa Software, Valley National Bancorp, Cliffs Natural Resources and more.
Take a half position in this name and wait for the relative strength to climb back up.
High Fed rates, tariffs and China trade wars are all just distractions as long as there is some momentum. But that is in short supply right now.
Ulta Beauty is a proven long-term winner, and its 10-year numbers are spectacular, even after figuring in the newly reduced estimates for fiscal 2019.
It’s harder and harder to make a bullish case, so let’s check the other side of the ledger.
Stocks end the last trading day of August mixed on Friday as declining consumer sentiment chips away at U.S.-China trade war optimism.
Ulta Beauty stock is getting hammered after missing on earnings and cutting guidance. Here's how to trade Ulta now.
Hopefully you did not get caught wrong footed on ULTA.
Ulta Beauty cites "anticipated industry-wide sales headwinds" in cosmetics for drop in comparable-store sales growth estimates.
Ulta Beauty is a top cosmetic company with more than 25,000 beauty products. But, how much do you really know about the national beauty retailer? Learn more, watch this video from TheStreet's Behind the Label series.
U.S. stock futures rise as Beijing and Washington appear willing to work toward resolving their ongoing trade battle; Marvell Technology and Ulta Beauty both lower guidance and their shares sink; Dorian strengthens to a Category 2 hurricane.
Company cites "anticipated industry-wide sales headwinds" in cosmetics for drop in 2019 comparable sales growth estimates
Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ: ULTA) today announced financial results for the thirteen week period ("Second Quarter") and twenty-six week period ("First Six Months") ended August 3, 2019 compared to the same periods ended August 4, 2018.
U.S. stock futures jump after China says it won't immediately retaliate against the latest tariff increase on China-made goods announced by Donald Trump last week; the economic calendar Thursday includes the second estimate of second-quarter GDP; Dollar Tree, Dollar General and Best Buy report earnings.
U.S. stock futures jump on Monday after Donald Trump says China contacted U.S. officials on Sunday and said 'let's get back to the table'; durable goods orders for July will be released Monday; Walt Disney and Target to create 'shop-in-shop' Disney stores at 25 Target locations.
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Awesomenauts PS4 Port Release Date Set for Next Week on PlayStation Network
Awesomenauts, Ronimo Games' MOBA platformer that released on Steam in the Summer of 2012 is finally headed to the PlayStation 4. Originally announced as a potential PlayStation 4 launch title, the game's port took longer than expected for the developer and will now be releasing in March.
With the help of Abstraction Games as porting team, Awesomenauts Assemble! will be released on the PlayStation 4 on March 4 in North America and March 5 in Europe for $9.99 / €9.99, respectively.
Awesomenauts Assemble! has fifteen playable characters that can be taken online in 3v3 player matches. Couch co-op allows for three friends to take on another group of three online. Drop-in/drop-out matchmaking is also allowed, so players can jump into matches whenever they want to with no extended waiting time.
"Releasing Awesomenauts Assemble! on Playstation 4 feels like we're bringing the Awesomenauts home. We originally created Awesomenauts as a console experience, so what better place to release it than the PlayStation 4? It's the only MOBA you can play together with your buddies on a couch!" Fabian Akker, designer and co-founder of Ronimo Games stated in the press release.
"On top of that, there is a lot of cool new stuff for fans who've played Awesomenauts during the previous generation of consoles: Awesomenauts Assemble! brings 7 all-new characters to the console, a boatload of skins to customize your characters, a new map, improved controls, and a lot more upcoming content! In short, it's bigger, it's better, and it's more awesome!"
Awesomenauts Assemble! will be available next week on PlayStation Network.


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It looks like the VW up! GT has been approved for production. Great news!
Unveiled as a show car alongside the production Up! at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year, the GT Up! concept pictured above incorporated 17-inch alloys to fill those little wheel wells, a new front end with wider grille, bigger brake ducts and integrated LED accents, as well as a diffuser, spoiler and twin exhaust pipes installed around back.
According to PistonHeads, the production Up! GT is tipped to get a three-cylinder turbo driving around 110 horsepower through a six-speed gearbox to the front wheels.


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There’s going to be a block party in downtown Marion. On Thursday (August 15), South Main Street, between Center and Church streets, will be temporarily transformed into a pedestrian mall replete with pop-up stores, an art gallery, and local restaurants spilling out into the street. The event is part of a national effort known as Better Block.
“We want to re-imaging what our streets and community spaces could feel like if they were more focused on people and not vehicles,” said Erin Creeden, Health Policy Specialist with Marion Public Health.
Marion’s version, called “We Are a Better Block,” has been organized by Downtown Marion, Inc., Marion Public Health, and the Marion Regional Planning Commission. It will be held in conjunction with–and directly adjacent to—August’s 3rd Thursday event and farmers’ market, taking place from 4-9 p.m.
The Better Block event will feature exclusively local businesses that will set up booths street-fair-style for the evening event. Marion businesses who have committed to participate include: Main Squeeze Juices and Smoothies, Topped, Baires Restaurant, The Candy Shack, Attaboys Comfort Cuisine, Brave Woman Boutique, Hope Crossing Christian Books & Gifts, Southern Accents Boutique at Charleston Place, The Explore-It-Torium, Marion Brewing Co., Curiosity, and Willy + Wade. Additions are welcome.
Because Better Block will be going on during 3rd Thursday, presented By McDaniel Automotive , attendees will also be able to enjoy live music by local rock band Cherry Blonde and peruse the food and craft offerings of the Marion Ohio Farmers Market.
Activities will be going on all over downtown Marion during this event. The Guild will be doing chalk art with a small additional art gallery. Willy + Wade will be debuting a vintage truck they have made into a mobile retail store for their clothing and leather goods. One of the newest downtown stores, Brave Woman Boutique, will have a pop-up store on site with their ladies’ clothing and accessories. Main Street restaurants, Baires and Topped will add outdoor seating and be joined by The Candy Shack and Main Squeeze to provide a selection of food offerings throughout the evening. Downtown restaurants and businesses will be staying opening late, until 9 p.m.
“It will be a fun night, combining the final 3rd Thursday of the season, the farmers’ market, and the Better Block event,” said Clarissa Myers, manager of Downtown Marion, Inc.
The Better Block project started in April 2010, when a group of community organizers in Dallas, Texas, gathered to revitalize a single commercial block in an underused neighborhood corridor. The area was filled with vacant properties, wide streets, and few amenities for people who lived within walking distance. The group brought together resources from the community and temporarily converted the block into a walkable, bikeable neighborhood destination for people of all ages, complete with bike lanes, cafe seating, trees, plants, pop-up businesses, and lighting.
Better Blocks have a two-fold purpose: they show community members that they have the power to make changes in their neighborhoods, and they show how these changes would work. The movement is promoted by the Better Block Foundation and has been adapted to communities all over the country and throughout Ohio, including Akron, Copley, and Lorain.
The downtown block of South Main Street will close at 11 a.m. on Thursday morning and re-open shortly after the event.


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- Ford’s July sales totaled 180,865, up 9 percent versus a year ago
Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday announced July sales totaled 180,865, up 9 percent versus a year ago. Ford brand auto sales were up 13 percent while Lincoln sales were 40 percent up.
“We are encouraged to see the stronger pace of auto sales, along with continued customer demand for our fuel-efficient cars, utilities and trucks,” said Ken Czubay, the company’s vice president for U.S. marketing, sales and service, in the sales report.
Fiesta sales totaled 5,296, up 58 percent, and Fusion sales were 19,318 – a record for the month of July. Ford’s other small car, the Focus, saw a 3% drop in sales because Ford is having a manufacturing problem: a shortage of dashboard parts.
“Fiesta, Focus and Fusion have put Ford back in the car business,” Ford marketing executive Ken Czubay said.
Moving to utilities vehicles, Ford’s best-selling utility is the Escape, which set an all-time monthly sales record of 24,411 models. Year-to-date, Escape sales totaled 147,018, up 29 percent.
Explorer sales totaled 9,897, up 108 percent versus a year ago, and Edge set a July record with sales totaling 9,731 models, up 4 percent.
Lincoln : Up 40 Percent
Ford’s premium brand, Lincoln posted a 40 percent sales increase in July. The MKZ sedan is Lincoln’s top seller with July sales of 2,869, up 80 percent. Sales for the MKX crossover totaled 1,915, up 33 percent. Sales for the MKS sedan and Navigator SUV also were higher.


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2018 is promising to be a banner year for TimberHomes’ trailhead/information kiosk business. January and February were noted by an unusually large amount of sales, already totaling 50% of the total 2017 sales. Both repeat and new customers can be thanked for this phenomena. Especially noteworthy are sales to new states and to the US Government.
While TimberHomes has sold its timber frame wayfinding kiosks in the South before, the recent sale of a Classic Kiosk to Longs, South Carolina marks the first to that state. The unit is part of a project at the former Conway Bombing and Gunnery Range being overseen by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Texas can also now be added to the list of states where it’s possible to find a TimberHomes’ kiosk. The city of Dalworthington Gardens will be receiving soon a double sided Classic.
One of the Winter’s larger orders of three Classic Kiosks is going to Philadelphia. While TimberHomes has sold wayfinding kiosks to Pennsylvania on a few occasions, this particular sale is worthy of celebration because it’s going to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. With any luck they too will become regular, repeat customers.
Repeat customers have been instrumental in this early uptick in kiosk sales. The towns of Medway and Franklin, MA and the Essex Land Trust (CT) will all be soon receiving more Classic and Mini Kiosks. Burlington’s Local Motion will also soon see some more of TimberHomes. Thanks to all of TimberHomes’s new and repeat customers. We enjoy making and take great pride in producing our products, Made of local, rot resistant materials and with designs that have been refined in over ten years if production, they are durable yet elegant. If you are considering using one in a future project, please do reach out!


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With approximately 90 employees in Hagerstown, Hub Labels is a name you may not have heard of, but one whose products you’ve more than likely held in your hand.
The pressure sensitive label manufacturer is a leader in the industry, producing custom labels for food and produce, beverages, bath and beauty products, direct mailers, and more. Rather than using a paper label, the main advantage to using Hub’s pressure sensitive labels is the durability.
The company’s innovative product line produces labels to survive getting wet, withstanding cold temperatures in a freezer, or being ruined in transport. If a product’s label falls off, unsticks, or dissolves, the item will not make it to store shelves. Hub Labels provides a solution for many of the products and industries we purchase from on a daily basis.
A second-generation family-owned and operated business, Hub Labels was founded by Bud and Mary Dahbura in 1978. While their son Thomas now runs the day-to-day operations, Mary still comes by occasionally to check on the employees and the workplace.
But Mary Dahbura is not the only long-standing member at Hub Labels. As of August 1, two employees have celebrated 40 years with the company—to put that into perspective, the company has only been open for 42 years.
With a focus on workforce development, the company began a multifaceted program for internships and apprenticeships to help prepare the future workforce. The company partners with the Washington County Public School System and their guidance counselors to offer student training, where students from various high schools finish class in the morning and visit Hub Labels in the afternoon, with some even working on the manufacturing floor.
So far, the company has trained two apprentices. The first became a full-time employee upon graduating high school, and the second apprentice is working part-time as he continues his education.
“He’s a great employee and is pursuing higher education as he’s working here, so that’s a win-win for the community, the company, and him,” said Carrie Aaron, human resources manager at Hub Labels.
The company also works with local colleges, such as Hagerstown Community College, where they participate in a manufacturers roundtable with other local businesses to brainstorm and discuss what’s working and what’s not.
“The more we can educate folks on how manufacturing has transformed – such as its good paying jobs and good careers – the better it is for everyone,” said Carrie.
Thomas Dahbura has continued the investment in the company’s workforce, by encouraging use of the gym on site; having medical staff visit the facility to take the team’s blood pressure; and providing healthy snack options in the break rooms. Dahbura understands if his employees aren’t happy or healthy, it is detrimental to the business, and he makes sure to put in the extra effort to allow workers to achieve goals inside and outside the workplace.
Additionally, by committing to sustainability, the company recently became 100 percent landfill free and practices environmentally friendly printing practices. Hub also promotes employee recycling throughout the building and encourages the maintenance staff to find new ways to re-use equipment and supplies.
A strong partner in the local manufacturing community, Hub Labels is a member of the Regional Manufacturing Institute (RMI) of Maryland, the Maryland World Class Consortia, the Maryland Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), and the Brewers Association of Maryland. The company works with many familiar names in Maryland’s brewing industry, including nearby Antietam Brewery and Flying Dog, as well as Union Craft Brewing.
With other big-name clients such as Perdue and Dairy Maid, as well as several nonprofit organizations across the region, it’s no surprise the company has expanded its facility four times and currently has more than 20 working presses and converting machines.
And even with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, these presses haven’t slowed down. Hub Labels has continued operating throughout 2020 and even teamed up with the Maryland Department of Commerce to begin producing “Proud to be Safely Open” window clings for businesses throughout the state. Maryland Commerce Secretary Kelly M. Schulz recently visited the Hagerstown business and had the honor of sticking the first cling with Hub Labels’ president Thomas Dahbura.
“We were part of the fortunate few who were able to stay open as we supply/support the food supply chain,” said Carrie. “We have shifted and continue to shift with every change that is happening.”
To learn more about the company, visit hublabels.com.


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As part of the new partnership, Grip will launch its innovative meetings algorithm in an APAC in-person event first, matching connections between AIME attendees using over a billion AI data points to unite preferences.
Through its custom functionality, the AI Scoring Matrix, meetings will match through a series of criteria, including meeting preferences, profiled data from buyers and exhibitors, preferences against similar delegates at the event, and meeting ratings between similar users.
Silke Calder, AIME’s event director, said the advanced technology will help revolutionise the way domestic and international delegates conduct business.
“This really feels like a natural partnership with both our organisations committed to excellence in all that we do,” she said.
“As the world looks forward to a more open post-COVID environment, AIME 2022 is set to hypercharge real demand for important business events in the years to come. We can’t wait to reconnect with you all.”
With capabilities to an unlimited number of meetings, the new platform will give delegates and exhibitors more predictive and accurate leads when it comes to potential business partners.
“After so much change in the business events industry, organisers are being pressured to get ahead of the curve,” said Tim Groot, CEO of Grip.
“The best way to do that is by networking with people in your community, fully understanding the challenges ahead and becoming aware of the solutions available. AIME provides the perfect space to do exactly that.
“Our platform will allow participants to have a seamless experience in making connections and building new relationships that will move the business events industry forward. We can’t wait to see the amazing business opportunities created at AIME 2022.”
AIME will take place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on March 21–23 in-person and online March 28–April 1.


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“OpenSSL Patch Now Undisclosed at High Severity Vulnerability this Thursday”
System Admin and anyone relying on OpenSSL should be done to switch to the newer version of the open-source cryptography library that will be launched or released on this Thursday 9th July.
OpenSSL is an widely open-source tool that library provides encrypted connection with an Internet using SSL/TLS for majority of websites, as well as other secure services.
The Latest version of OpenSSL crypto library, version 1.0.2d and 1.0.1p, address a single security vulnerability classified as “High Severity” the OpenSSL Project Team has Announced on Monday.
They Announced high alert has got the nearly entire industry talking because of 2014 version OpenSSL-Heartbleed connection. At the 2014 Codenomicon, the security engineers found a bug that would give attacker an access to all of your personal passwords, but that is will not be the end of story, the bug could allow attacker to trick the user into using fake versions of popular websites (Phishing).
That bug was then called Heartbleed
. It affected most of the Internet.
The IT security and risk strategy at the advanced threat protection firm Tripwire says:”A huge part of the heartburn with Heartbleed came from the scramble to identify where organizations were vulnerable and how to apply patches. In this case, a little organization can go a long way to a smoother patching cycle”.
Heartbleed, discovered in April last year, was a bug in an earlier version of OpenSSL that allowed hackers to read sensitive contents of victims’ encrypted data, including credit card details and even steal crypto SSL keys from Internet servers or client software.
Erlin further said “Software vendors who use OpenSSL can be prepared to patch their code and shop new versions faster, and end-users can inventory where they have OpenSSL and set up appropriate testing environments ahead of time”.


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Kojima Productions just announced a delay for the PC version of Death Stranding. Death Stranding on PC is being published by 505 Games on Steam and Epic Games Store. It was set to release on June 2 alongside an expensive physical edition but the release date has been delayed. The delay is due to the work from home orders in place thanks to the global coronavirus pandemic that has caused many developers and publishers to shutter their offices and work remotely. The new release date will also allow the team more development time. Watch the trailer for the PC version of Death Stranding below showcasing some of the PC release features:
Death Stranding PC Day One Edition India release date
As of this writing, specialist retailer Games The Shop has not updated its listing to reflect the new release date. It will likely release in India on July 14 as well.
Death Stranding is available on PS4. It now releases on July 14 for PC via Steam and Epic Games Store. Read our review of the PS4 version here.


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Critics and games industry do battle Stateside
As you might have read earlier in the week, influential New York senator and former first-lady Hillary Clinton has decided to tackle the growing issue of games ratings stateside head on with a new piece of legislation. The federal law she intends to propose will legally enforce regulation of the sale of 'adult content' games to minors, in a fashion several states have already attempted individually. Proposed age restrictions on certain products have thus far failed at state level, despite strong backing at times, the 'freedom of expression' amendment in the US constitution being used by games industry bodies in court cases challenging the laws. You may not be aware, though you probably could have guessed, that the National Institute on Media and the Family has also launched an assault on the games industry this week, summarily awarding the entire industry a D+ rating for the increase in games containing sex and violence. The 'rating' will stand for ten years, apparently. The ESRB's content rating system was also derided as 'beyond repair', according to GameSpot's report on the stir.
"There is now a continuum of tools from the store to the home enabling parents to take charge of the video games their kids play," Entertainment Software Association president Douglas Lowenstein responded in reaction to Clinton's proposals. "It is now up to them to do their jobs as they see fit, not up to government to do it for them."
Lowenstein added that the proposed bill would probably be unconstitutional, not only upon freedom of speech grounds, but because the bill would utilise the ESRB's existing ratings system, effectively giving government powers to a private organisation - another unconstitutional move, according to Lowenstein. Clinton however has yet to reveal the exact words and specifics of her bill, so all this seems somewhat academic at present anyway. Industry bodies have been attempting to assure the masses for sometime that the existing situation affords minors sufficient protection, with greater parental responsibility the only approach they back.
Whilst ESA's response to Clinton's law and the damning NIMF report was generally restrained and highly diplomatic, the ESRB ratings board were less limber with their reply: "The call to issue more AO ratings has little to do with rating accuracy and more to do with NIMF's real agenda, which is to destroy the commercial viability of games it deems objectionable," read a quick-fire response. "Unlike NIMF, ESRB's job is to be a neutral rater, not a censor."
"Their silence is an unmistakable indication that this is not about working cooperatively in the interests of video game consumers, but rather is about NIMF imposing its own narrow values and morality on the rest of the country, regardless that it has little evidence to show that parents agree with their point of view," the statement concluded. More on this controversy as we get it.
- Possible dates for the Steam Summer Sale appear online
- Rise Of The Tomb Raider on Xbox 360 doesn't appear in Square Enix's financials for this year
- The Iron Banner returns to Destiny next week with new gear and rewards
- Titanfall developers Respawn won't be at E3 this year
- Destiny: Xur's location and stock for May 28th
- Destiny's Trials Of Osiris declared a success, Bungie bans cheaters
- FIFA 16 will throw women's teams into the mix
- New The Elder Scrolls Online trailer shows off the expansive world of Tamriel
- Batman: Arkham Knight gets a new 7-minute gameplay trailer


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Lotto wanted to get people moving in a fun way. We realized their vision.
Veikkaus supports Finnish sports every year with 148 million EUR. According to research, most Finns still live without engaging in any physical activities. Most often, the easiest way to increase activity is to walk more.
As a part of their social responsibility, Veikkaus decided to use their Lotto brand to promote a healthy and active lifestyle. Lotto is a 46-year-old Finnish institution. Every Friday, people would go to the corner shop to get their lottery ticket for the Saturday night draw and a chance to live the life of a millionaire.
Nowadays, Veikkaus, the national gaming company, receives 48 percent of its 2.1 billion EUR revenue from online games. Yet local sales points continue to be important to many customers. People still use them to pick up their lottery tickets and scratch cards, to place bets on horse races and football, and of course to cash their winnings.
"Lotto wanted people to walk more. Because Lotto had already gotten people to walk to the nearest corner shop for 46 years already, it was time for them to get people to walk also in today’s modern, digital world."
Satu Nikula, Marketing Executive
We had previously created a mobile application for the new Veikkaus, which was founded in January 2017 as the merger of three national gaming companies; Veikkaus, RAY and Fintoto. The new application came to be in just a few months using React Native software development.
Following the successful collaboration, RND Works was chosen to execute the Mobile Walking Finnish Championships – a month-long event within the Veikkaus app. Valentin Kononen, the 1995 world champion of racewalking, acted as the face of the Mobile Walking campaign. The goal was to gamify physical activity, i.e. normal walking, in an attractive way.
Lotto wanted Mobile Walking to be challenging and rewarding for all participants. The idea was to include the right places, such as Veikkaus sales points and sports fields, in the app as locations the player could visit. The app would measure the user’s physical activity, as well as enrich the experience with augmented reality.
The RND Works Mobile Walking included over 8,500 places of interest in a map covering the entire country. By walking at least a thousand steps, the player would get a key to a virtual mystery box at each location. By visiting the location, the player could open the mystery box and reveal a surprise reward or a specific Lotto ball, which gave added possibilities to win. Weekly challenge limits were set for three levels ranging from 45,000 to 70,000 steps per week. The Finnish Championship of Mobile Walking was awarded to the best walkers. The chance to win the championship was open for everyone who could keep up with a daily pace of at least 10,000 steps for two consecutive weeks.
RND Works managed to implement the Mobile Walking feature in the Veikkaus app very fast by using React Native development. The fast iteration cycles helped to reach development goals particularly quickly.
Interesting branding and a great user experience made Lotto’s Finnish Championships of Mobile Walking an immediate hit. In only a month, the feature was taken up by 7,000 users, out of whom 4,000 took part in the walking challenges. The participants altogether took almost 200 million steps, which means approximately 81,000 kilometres. Together we walked twice around the globe! Mobile walkers visited Veikkaus sales points over 89,000 times and Lotto charity locations over 14,200 times. The event collected a vast amount of positive feedback, and many players even said they had lost weight during the campaign.


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By Nehaa Bimal
Future-Thinking and Forward Looking: Future EDge’s Indigenous Entrepreneurship Program on Supporting Indigenous Entrepreneurs on their Startup Journey
CU Future EDge’s Indigenous Entrepreneurship Program (IEP) is a four-to-five-week leadership program developed by CU Future EDge and the Innovation Hub at Carleton University.
Not only does IEP provide training on leadership development, finance, and project management, amongst other business skills, but it also plans to provide support for Indigenous entrepreneurs after the program has completed.
IEP Director Richard Tuck is a Métis serial entrepreneur who has helped launch around 150-200 organizations, from environmental non-profits to multinational tech companies.
“The Indigenous Entrepreneurship Program looks at social entrepreneurship through an Indigenous lens through talking to Elders, Knowledge Keepers, Indigenous community members and entrepreneurs,” said Richard.
“We are combining Indigenous ways of knowing and being with the new entrepreneurial process.”
Future EDge’s Indigenous Entrepreneurship Program and the New Entrepreneurial Process
According to Richard, the new entrepreneurial process which is featured in the Indigenous Entrepreneurship Program is more efficient. Instead of relying on a business plan, new business owners are advised to invest small amounts of money into their companies as a tester.
“This process increases the chance of success while decreasing the amount invested in things that fail,” said Tuck.
Some of the Indigenous entrepreneurs who have joined IEP are first-time business owners.
They are often inspired by their families or Indigenous heritage to launch their start-ups, like Daphne March, founder of the ShaMaSha Centre, an Indigenous wellness retreat. Others help fill a gap in the industry, such as Tye Galley and Cody Lystiuk who launched Emergency Rush Logistics, a First Nation logistics company dealing in emergency shipments.
For them, this is the more sustainable, cost-effective way forward for their start-ups, ensuring a higher success rate.
Future-Thinking and Forward Looking: IEP Embraces the Seventh Generation Principle
According to Richard, who was the 2021 Sprott Alumni Good Business Award winner and a 2001 graduate of Carleton’s Bachelor of International Business program, CU Future EDge’s IEP and Carleton’s Innovation Hub are both impressive because they are “future thinking.”
Their vision of entrepreneurship looks to the future and this aligns with the decision-making process in some Indigenous communities called the Seventh Generation Principle. According to this principle, people should consider the impacts decisions made in the present will have on the next seven generations.
Barbara Dumont-Hill was the Elder-in-Residence at the final presentations where the IEP’s Indigenous entrepreneurs presented their businesses after the program’s conclusion. She led the attendees in a prayer which mentioned the importance of the Seventh Generation Principle.
“We would learn what people from seven generations past knew. This was knowledge that would help us sustain and care about the seven generations to come. Today, there is a worry and a sadness in our hearts that there might not be resources for the next seven generations,” she said.
CU Future EDge’s Indigenous Entrepreneurship Program thus focuses on sustainability, with sessions on environmental entrepreneurship and innovation. The program is sponsored by Eco Canada, which works with and for environmental professionals in regards to job creation and wage funding.
In that sense, the program has helped Indigenous entrepreneurs like Jordan Dooley, the founder of Vearthy which sells sustainable textiles, learn more about the intersection between business and environmentalism.
CU Future EDge’s Indigenous Entrepreneurship Program Provides a Support System for Indigenous Entrepreneurs
Cohort based programs are difficult for Indigenous entrepreneurs who do not have the luxury of devoting a majority of their time to the five-week process since many of them have full time jobs and are single parents.
“There are a bunch of barriers to completing a program like this. The Indigenous Entrepreneurship Program navigates that arena so that we can get Indigenous entrepreneurs the resources and ability to make it to the next stage of their business process,” said Richard.
The program allows participants to have access to mentorship and coaching via Carleton’s Innovation Hub for up to four months after the program’s completion. They are also awarded a professional certificate in Indigenous entrepreneurship from CU Future EDge.
IEP’s goal is to build a community network and internal support system where Indigenous entrepreneurs can learn from each other and grow their businesses together.


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Independent developer Artificial Mind & Movement has announced its hiring of longtime video game industry executive Jamie Leece as its new senior business development VP.
Most recently, Leece held a business development VP position at inXile Entertainment. Over his two-decade history in the video game industry, he has also served as president of defunct Take-Two label Gotham Games and a director at Interplay, and was the founder of game consultancy firm Rainmaker Games.
"I'm thrilled to be joining Artificial Mind & Movement at this exciting time," said Leece in a statement. "I look forward to helping the company extend and expand its relationships with our current publishing partners, as well as looking for new strategic relationships in all aspects of the interactive industry."
Montreal-based A2M recently completed work on its first original game property, the third-person action game Wet
, published by Bethesda Softworks. A2M president and CEO Remi Racine said that, with Leece's help, the company hopes "to strengthen our position as one of the world’s top independent studios."


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A smartwatch collection from watchmaker Movado, powered by Google’s Android Wear 2.0 operating system, is to launch later this year, adding Android Pay capability to five new watches. “Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss, two brands in the Movado Group portfolio, are also partnering with Google,” Movado says. “Collections will launch fall of 2017.” Google unveiled Android Wear 2.0 with support for Android Pay last month.
- From the high street to the handset: How banks can stay connected to consumers in the smartphone era
- British Airways owner IAG launches mobile pay on new airline Level
- Heat become first NBA team with mobile-only entry
- What code is running on Apple’s Secure Enclave security chip? Now we have a decryption key…
- Digital payment platforms primed to topple cash


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Hyundai Motor India's CSR arm Hyundai Motor India Foundation today announced the name of the winner of the second edition of H-Social Creator. Bhagwati Prasad of Graphic Era Hill, Dehradun, has won the H-Social Creator 2020 award for his road safety idea -- Accident Alert System for Blind Turns.
A social innovation programme, H-Social Creator first began in Korea in 2015 and made its debut in India in 2019. The H-Social Creator is aimed at encouraging graduate and post-graduate students to develop a novel idea based on four categories, namely Road Safety, Environment, Clean India and Health.
According to Hyundai Motor India, Prasad's road safety idea -- Accident Alert System for Blind Turns -- involves capturing data at blind turns and transmitting it on a real-time basis to the drivers to avoid accidents. Additionally, the display boards will indicate to the drivers about the incoming vehicles. Hyundai Motor India Foundation will invest Rs 15 lakh in the winning idea.
"Embracing the vision 'Progress for Humanity', we are working towards creating an amicable ecosystem to realise the dreams of mankind. With the 2nd edition of the H-Social Creator programme, Hyundai Motor India Foundation aims to engage the youth of India and future leaders to ideate, develop, and implement practical solutions to fathom social change," Hyundai Motor India MD and CEO S S Kim said.
"We congratulate the winner, Bhagwati Prasad, and all finalists of H-Social Creator 2020 for giving ideas to bring social change. The steadfast spirit of all participants and the zeal to unleash their full potential to develop ground-breaking ideas will further craft a better world," he added.
As per Hyundai Motor India, the second edition of H-Social Creator got over 520 registrations virtually from 200 educational and technical institutions. As many as 401 ideas were received, out of which 135 were from the Road Safety domain, 116 were related to Environment, 101 were for the Health category and the remaining 49 ideas were for Clean India.


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Every January, the Federation Of The Swiss Watch Industry FH publishes its figures for the previous year, broken down by markets, price, export value, and pretty much everything else you could imagine. You might think that things are a little tough for business right now and if we were talking about 2020, you'd be right, but hold onto your knickers, Gertrude – according to the Federation, 2021 was the best year ever for the Swiss watch industry.
The total export value of Swiss watches for 2021 was CHF 22.3 billion, beating the previous all-time record of CHF 22.25 billion, which was set in 2014. The United States was the leading market – somehow, we managed to absorb CHF 3.1 billion in Swiss watches, which represents a 55 percent increase over 2020 (and maybe even more astonishingly, given that it was a pre-pandemic year, up 28 percent over 2019).
What's at least as interesting as the overall increase in revenue, though, is that it happened on significantly fewer watches than have been exported in previous years.
In 2020, the total number of watches exported was an anemic 13.78 million. The year before, however, which is much more representative as production and shipping were not impacted by COVID, Switzerland exported 20.646 million watches. And in 2021 – again, a record year for revenues – the total number of watches exported was up over 2020, but much lower than 2019 – 15.725 million.
How can you make more money producing and exporting fewer watches? There's a hint in the breakdown of watches sold by price category. I mentioned in a story earlier this month that premiumization of pricing is an engine pulling the revenue train pretty hard. While it's true that total exports by units fell, most of the drop in production was at the lower end of the spectrum. For 2019, for instance, 11.627 million watches were exported in the CHF <200 range, while in 2021 only 8.03 million were exported in the same category.
Of the price categories listed, the only place there's been an actual increase in units shipped is in the CHF >3000 price category, where we went from 1.688 million watches exported in 2019 up to 1.787 million in 2021.
It's hard to know exactly what the numbers mean as you get towards the higher end, because the Federation has been breaking down price categories the same way since 2000 – CHF <200; CHF 200-500; CHF 500-3,000, and CHF >3000, which it seems to me ought to be subject to revision – 3000 CHF and up can't possibly mean the same thing in 2021 as it did in 2000.
With demand at such an all-time high, and with many luxury watch brands showing no signs of increasing output, it seems that fine watchmaking is going to keep getting more expensive and more exclusive. François-Henry Bennahmias, CEO of Audemars Piguet, has said that the company has no plans to increase production much above a ceiling of 50,000 pieces per year, and the company states that the steel version of the new 16202, will have a total production run of just 1,000 watches total in 2022.
In 2019, HODINKEE founder Ben Clymer observed from Baselworld that demand was already dramatically outstripping supply, citing unprecedented demand for Rolex professional models as an example. "You know," he said, "you can't get a steel GMT, you can't get a steel Daytona, it's hard finding Rainbow Daytonas, it's hard to find half the stuff in the catalog that came out over the past three years." And this from a company that produces, reportedly, something like a million watches per year when production is at full capacity.
Since then, of course, opportunities to actually buy a premium or luxury watch at retail have gotten even thinner on the ground. Scarcity is no longer scarcity when it's the new normal – it's just (very profitable) business as usual.


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Epic Games posted a brief update on the future of Fortnite Crew, which includes a gift emote to all members due to hitting a few snags in its first months.
"Ahead of dropping details on what’s coming to Fortnite Crew in February, we’d like to give an update on where we’re at after the first month. It’s been great seeing players jump in with new Outfits like Galaxia and Green Arrow, and we’re working to make your subscription an even better experience month in and month out", Epic wrote.
That said, Epic acknowledged that some Fortnite Crew members have had issues with picking up their rewards. They also said that some early attempts to unsubscribe on Xbox may have been "tricky", and decided to do something about it.
And by that, they mean giving Fortnite Crew members past and present the exclusive Members Only emote . Players can pick it up by simply logging in anytime from now to February 15, and we can only hope this one is easier to pick up, wink wink.
Jokes aside, Epic wrote it may take up to 48 hours for Members Only emote to show up in your locker. Also, the emote may return in the future but it will remain exclusive to Fortnite Crew members.
It looks like the dev team was quite busy addressing these issues, although they're close to announcing February's Fortnite Crew star.
"As part of our commitment to deliver Fortnite Crew members the best experience possible, our team is working hard to eliminate current issues, prevent future ones, and bring more cool content and features. We’re not quite ready to announce who’s in February’s Crew Pack just yet, but we can say it’s a new face from the world of Fortnite that players should look forward to", they wrote .


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Skyrim Anniversary Edition Will Break Special Edition Mods, Dev Warns
The Anniversary Edition of Skyrim will break mods despite serving as an updated rerelease following the recent Skyrim Special Edition. Developer Bethesda is celebrating Skyrim’s 10th anniversary by releasing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition, an updated version of Skyrim Special Edition – the latter of which already includes many additional features with over 500 Creation Club mod elements. Bethesda also announced that Skyrim Anniversary Edition will include a new fishing mechanic for the Dragonborn to use along bodies of water. Anniversary Edition will integrate these new additions on top of the graphical updates introduced with Skyrim Special Edition.
Mods are a huge part of why Skyrim has remained relevant almost a decade later. Vanilla Skyrim already offers hundreds of hours of content, but mods have propelled that figure into the thousands. Because of the quality of some of these mods, Bethesda has hired their mod authors for positions at the company. Other creations have taken a life of their own outside of the game. Examples include The Forgotten City, a quest mod, and Enderal, a standalone game built within Skyrim.
According to Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE) developer extrwi on Reddit, Skyrim Anniversary Edition will break many of Skyrim Special Edition’s mods – and they will remain broken for an unknown amount of time. The SKSE is a tool that aids Skyrim mods by increasing scripting capabilities and game functionality, and has been frequently used for native code modding Skyrim since its release around four years ago. As a result, many of the game’s mods use this code; and if Skyrim Anniversary Edition isn’t compatible with the SKSE, then these mods won’t function properly. The issue lies with the code of Skyrim, which Bethesda updated for Skyrim Special Edition and will be updated again for Skyrim Anniversary Edition. While the code switch updates the game’s compiler, it also eliminates hundreds of readable functions for Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE) – meaning that modders must rewrite from scratch if their mod uses SKSE.
A vast majority of Skyrim mods on Nexus use SKSE – or another script extension mod called “Address Library” – to function. Seeing as those mods will become unusable once the Skyrim Anniversary Edition releases, extrwi said they have been in contact with Bethesda since the announcement of Anniversary Edition. According to them, the developers have not offered any solution yet. As a result, extrwi suggested players stop automatic updates on Steam or elsewhere to prevent the mod-breaking update next month.
Forcing the rewriting of mods again is likely to frustrate both players and modders. Additionally, it is possible some mod authors have already moved on from modding or aren’t willing to update their creations. As it stands, Bethesda could potentially eliminate thousands of Skyrim mods or more with the new update; and fewer mods could potentially hurt the appeal for some players to return to Skyrim yet again.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition will release on November 11, 2021 for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC.


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As more smartphones, tablets and mobile devices enter the workplace, employees and decision makers must work to embrace methods to ensure security doesn't actively interfere with usability. Just five percent of companies use biometric authentication currently, but that is expected to increase up to 30 percent by 2016, according to the Gartner research group.
Complex passwords are sometimes required for mobile devices, though Gartner believes interface activity, voice recognition, face topography and iris structure, for example, will prove to be more secure.
"Mobile users staunchly resist authentication methods that were tolerable on PCs and are still needed to secure access on mobile devices," said Ant Allan, Gartner Research VP, in a statement. "Security leaders must manage users' expectations and take into account the user experience without compromising security."
Many casual consumers are only beginning to understand mobile security issues, though companies embracing 'bring your own device' (BYOD) remain confused on how to best protect devices. As biometric authentication solutions advance, there is great potential of significantly more secure products for companies to choose from - and that will only advance in the future.
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You've read about the Lenovo Yoga 910 and its thinner bezels and lighter design and always beautiful watchband hinge, but now it's time to just feast your eyes upon this beautiful Lenovo design. If there's one thing to say about Lenovo, it's that they've dramatically upped their design game in the past few years, and the Yoga series has always led the way for them. The Yoga 910 is the latest refinement of that design language, and it's simply a gorgeous machine.
Seriously, just look:
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Derek Kessler is Special Projects Manager for Mobile Nations. He's been writing about tech since 2009, has far more phones than is considered humane, still carries a torch for Palm, and got a Tesla because it was the biggest gadget he could find. You can follow him on Twitter at @derekakessler.


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Groceries will be a $10 billion business for Amazon (AMZN 3.10%); it's just a matter of when. Amazon made that pretty clear when it acquired Whole Foods Market for about $13 billion last summer. That acquisition helped spur Amazon's online grocery sales to $2 billion last year, according to estimates from One Click Retail.
Overall, Amazon took 18% of the online grocery market in the U.S. last year, twice as much as its next closest competitor, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT 0.43%). The big-box retailer has taken steps to rapidly expand its online grocery ordering availability, now reaching over 1,000 stores. If Amazon wants to turn online grocery shopping into another one of its $10 billion businesses, it will have to take further steps to expand its offering.
Online grocery sales are exploding
Online grocery sales were somewhere around $13 billion in 2017, according to various estimates. That number could rise to $41 billion by 2022, according to Packaged Facts. And by 2025, the online grocery industry could generate $100 billion in sales, representing 20% of all grocery sales, according to FMI and Nielsen.
The vast majority of those sales will come from so called "center store" items. Supermarkets place fresh produce, meat, dairy, and baked goods around the perimeter of the store, but shelf-stable items fill the aisles in the center. Consumers are most comfortable purchasing those items online. FMI and Nielsen expect 40% of "center store volume" to shift online by 2025, double the overall market share of online grocery sales.
That's not stopping competitors from trying to win sales of fresh items online. Wal-Mart's online order and pickup system is well designed for customers to pick out fresh food. With around 4,000 retail locations in the United States, Wal-Mart has a huge advantage in distributing fresh groceries to online customers. Amazon, meanwhile, is (extremely) slowly expanding its AmazonFresh service offering same-day grocery delivery.
How Whole Foods spurred growth in 2017
The biggest contributor to Amazon's 59% growth in U.S. grocery sales during 2017 was the acquisition of Whole Foods. The acquisition brought attention to the online retailer's grocery products even before Amazon closed the deal. One Click says Amazon Fresh sales increased shortly after the announcement.
More importantly, Whole Foods lent its 365 Everyday Value private label products to Amazon's online marketplace. That proved to be key, driving Amazon Fresh sales higher still after the acquisition closed in August. The 365 label alone drove $11 million in sales, Amazon's second-biggest private label across its retail operations after AmazonBasic. The Whole Foods brand affinity combined with Amazon's broad reach made the move a success.
What Whole Foods brings to the table going forward
The key to the Whole Foods acquisition is that Amazon becomes a big buyer for grocery items, giving it buying power on the scale of other major grocery chains. On top of that, Amazon is now receiving grocery shipments at about 450 locations. That's a recipe for the expansion of AmazonFresh to more markets.
That's a step Amazon will likely have to take if it wants to maintain its lead over Wal-Mart and the rest of the competition. Wal-Mart is already planning to nearly double the number of stores offering online grocery pickup this year. Smaller grocers are looking at partnerships and acquisitions in e-commerce to compete as well.
The next $10 billion business?
By the sheer fact that online grocery sales are booming and Amazon has a tremendous lead in online retail already, Amazon will get to $10 billion in online grocery sales in the near future. Even if its share falls to 10%, it could reach $10 billion by 2025, according to the estimate from FMI and Nielsen.
I think Amazon will get there much sooner. Whole Foods provides the brand recognition and the infrastructure to expand online grocery sales through mechanisms like online order and pickup or launching AmazonFresh in more markets. Amazon is also experimenting with meal kits, representing yet another avenue to drive grocery sales. And as Amazon works to draw more customers to its brick-and-mortar grocery stores, it will build up brand equity that could translate into online sales as well.
The online grocery market has the potential to become a $10 billion business for Amazon by the start of the next decade if it takes steps to expand quickly. Considering the growth of the overall market, it would certainly behoove Amazon to keep improving its online grocery offerings.


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Whether we’re talking about the iPhone 14, the iPhone 14 Pro, or the iPhone 14 Pro Max, this year’s update focuses on the cameras.
Yes, the Pro models have always-on displays and an oh-so-very-Apple approach to replacing the controversial screen notch. But as nifty as those perks are, they shouldn’t be the reasons you buy these phones.
The cameras are now so prominent—in the Pro models especially—that it’s starting to feel like we should call these devices "smartcameras" rather than smartphones.
The smartphone has been more or less perfected over the years; there aren’t many new frontiers to explore in that space. But in ways both big and small, Apple (along with its competitors) keeps finding new ways to improve the amateur digital photography experience.
As a result, the iPhone 14 models are some of the best smartcameras you can buy—even though they're not a revolutionary upgrade over the devices that came before them.


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Starbucks to Triple Its Store Count In China ; Starbucks Corp. plans to more than triple the number of stores it has in mainland China in the next five years, the company said Wednesday. Starbucks plans to make China its largest market outside the U.S. Right now, Canada is the company's second-largest market. The Seattle-based coffee chain currently has 406 stores in China and plans to have more than 1,500 by 2015, the company said at an investor conference in New York.
The company, which has recently enjoyed a turnaround in the U.S., is trying to focus on expanding its international business, with plans to open 400 new stores around the world next year. Starbucks will continue rolling out its Via instant coffee, customizable frappuccino drinks and Starbucks rewards cards internationally,Starbucks International President John Culver told investors Mr. Culver said the chain plans to penetrate its 53 international markets more deeply, with an emphasis on China, where store operating profits are higher than they are in the U.S.
Most of its business in China comes in the afternoon and evening and Starbucks is trying to create a morning coffee ritual for Chinese consumers, Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz said.


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The post Nvidia Prioritizes Gamers Over Cryptocurrency Miners Amid Card Shortages appeared first on CCN Nvidia, the company that has long catered to gamers, has recently requested retailers to restrict graphics cards availability to the non-gaming community. Specifically, away from cryptocurrency miners. According to ComputerBase, Nvidia’s spokesperson Boris Böhles stated that gamers will always be their […]
U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R.-Fl) and Robert Menendez (D.-NJ) have denounced Venezuela’s planned cryptocurrency in a new letter.
In a newly published paper on the use of bitcoin for illegal activity, researchers from the University of Sydney, the University of Technology Sydney and the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga indicate that a quarter of all bitcoin users are associated with illegal activity. The use of bitcoin for illicit purposes has long been the […]
We met with the four co-founders of Crypterium– Gleb Markov, Steven Polyak, Vladimir Gorbunov, and Austin Kimm – and asked them six questions about their ICO, which recently wound up having reached its hard cap. Q: What are the three big takeaways from Crypterium’s successful ICO? Austin Kimm – Number one is the size of […]
The post 10% of $3.7 Billion in ICO Funds Lost or Stolen: Ernst & Young Report appeared first on CCN New research by Ernst and Young claims that over 10% of the funds raised in initial coin offerings have been stolen or lost. The findings come alongside a report detailing what Ernst and Young believes […]
The price of bitcoin is down more than 10% today, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).
The SEC is investigating companies that have made recent waves in markets with their public pivots toward blockchain.
The absolutely new technology becoming popular in the world of cryptocurrencies, and making its own huge impact on it is called Blockchain. As much as the Internet was the complete transformer of entertainment, media, government, technology, investments, hospitality, energy, sports media and many more fields since the 90’s, the Blockchain became the decentralized technology allowing […]
Multiple forks of Bitcoin blockchain created over last years has made it popular among the cryptocurrency community. The same trend is now happening with the second most popular network, Ethereum. According to a team of anonymous developers (who only have their names listed in the white paper), the EtherZero fork occurred on January 19, 2018, […]
The post Low Volatility on Wall Street Leaves Investors Turning to Bitcoin for Decent Returns appeared first on CCN Low volatility on Wall Street is forcing investors to look to less traditional asset classes like bitcoin in pursuit of better returns. And perhaps some more excitement. There is a dramatic increase in the correlation between […]


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Wearable technologies guarantee to be one of the technology traits of 2015 that will get a great offer of consideration from the mainstream technology push thanks in massive portion to the significant corporate players hunting to enter that area, such as Apple and Samsung. The very first series of applications that will be obtainable for the Apple Observe, which will strike marketplaces in mid-April, was recently introduced by Apple only a single of these 24 packages is related to overall health and health and fitness. We have talked about the potential buyer positive aspects of wearables in the previous few months right here on IPWatchdog which mentioned that the business is nonetheless in an early stage. Wearable technology still enjoys a novelty position between tech aficionados which is making it possible for some businesses like Apple to money in with gold versions of its smartwatch which approach a retail value of $10,000 USD. For mainstream buyers, nonetheless, wearables are gaining a higher profile but have but to be fully realized in most sectors, which we noticed in our protection of the 2015 Consumer Electronics Display.
At the same time, weâre looking at a fantastic offer of issue on behalf of companies and consumers alike about the expanding security risks threatening several technologies that are becoming created right now. Info breaches at financial institutions and key retail stores alike have expense people organizations hundreds of thousands and thousands of pounds in the blended value of responding to threats, reissuing bank cards and establishing cybersecurity steps. The problems posed by cyber assaults on networks and communications programs has even prompted federal governmental agencies to operate in live performance for the advancement of cybersecurity suggestions that gives a framework to properly address dangers for any business.
Consumers are extremely interested in realizing that their info is safeguarded, and not just their financial account information. However, as wearable systems and the carefully connected Net of Items proceed to turn into far more sturdy, there have been queries raised over the privateness of knowledge created and transmitted by these units as well as the ability of others to acquire unauthorized distant accessibility by means of a cyber assault. Systems created to provide physical fitness monitoring could have the unintended consequence of giving a social gathering gaining unauthorized entry to that knowledge the potential to track their movement. Although the planet awaits the advent of the Apple Watch, we considered weâd emphasis a broad lens on the wearable tech business to better recognize the different info protection and privateness hazards they pose as effectively as pursuits meant to mitigate individuals threats.
Fears above the privateness and protection pitfalls connected with wearable devices is undoubtedly being felt by wearable device house owners and could even sluggish down the adoption of these technologies by buyers. A buyer report designed by PricewaterhouseCoopers on the topic of The Wearable Future located that eighty two per cent of respondents anxious that wearable tech would invade their privacy. A full 86 % felt that the use of wearable technologies would make them much more vulnerable to information stability breaches. These concerns are a massive explanation why about a single-3rd of people individuals who have purchased a wearable gadget inside the past 12 months no more time use them on a standard basis.
These gadgets converse by way of the use of wi-fi networks that do not have many information protection standards which are intrinsic to individuals interaction techniques. Recently, one security researcher from Internet security application developer Kaspersky Lab talked about how he was able of carrying out an unauthorized scan of Bluetooth LE networks utilised to hook up health bracelets and smartphones that would have enabled him to gain access to dozens of products in his nearby vicinity this experiment was productively recurring in Moscow, Cancun and Bellevue, WA.
As soon as a hacker gains access to a wearable system, what they’re able to do with that obtain is pretty a lot only limited to the functions of the system. There have been really few information stories about actual hacking activities involving wearables but imagined threats run the gamut from hackers manipulating system capabilities to extort cash to bosses gaining unwanted insights into an employeeâs day-to-day lifestyle outdoors of perform. This latter scenario could grow to be a lot more of a worry as wearables are far more commonly incorporated into enterprise environments in coming a long time. Firms themselves will want to take into account very best techniques regarding company incorporation of wearable products in an hard work to safeguard their own sensitive information.
Cybersecurity professionals and builders will have to be vigilant in purchase to adequately handle threats and assaults as they come up. Despite the fact that a lot of fitness trackers and other standard wearables do not contain a person interface run by a computer software functioning system, the significant item releases coming from Apple, Samsung and others use methods that are mainly based mostly on the Android or iOS cell platforms. The concern listed here is that there are already 4.37 million mobile applications that are both destructive or pose substantial cybersecurity hazards, an boost of sixty eight p.c more than the earlier year.
Coming up on April 23rd will be a key patent auction brokered by ICAP like 34 different plenty of Internet of Items technologies. A number of of the patent portfolios that will be auctioned offer straight with protection techniques that have applicability to wearables, which make up an critical subset of items and services inside of the broader classification of the Net of Things. One particular lot up for auction bargains with malware sections programs and one more with automated fingerprint identification. Yet yet another of the plenty that will be available for purchase relates to knowledge transfer and community safety for transportable devices, like wise watches and other wearable units. Provided the privateness considerations connected with wearable systems the type of improvements embodied in these portfolios could be incredibly critical relocating ahead.
A single portfolio Mobile Unit Data Communication, Stability & Backup – specifically caught our interest thanks to the incredibly early precedence dates. The patents in this portfolio generically discuss moveable storage products, cellular units and portable devices. With priority dates as early as July 18, 2001, these innovations were conceived nicely ahead of the term âwearablesâ was popularized, and ahead of the time period âInternet of Thingsâ was coined. However, at its quite main a intelligent watch is unquestionably a transportable gadget, and wise watches have storage and communications back links. With the modern announcement of Apple intelligent watches action on this portfolio could be well worth seeing.
The aforementioned cellular device safety portfolio contains three issued U.S. patents, five issued overseas patents, one pending U.S. patent application and another 9 pending foreign patent applications. The portfolio was at first produced to defend towards system and info decline upon separation of the mobile system from the consumer, but also has the gain of masking two way wireless communication amongst cellular device and one more device, this kind of as a wearable device. This portfolio also protects improvements that avoid the potential reduction of a cell phone and/or any moveable data storage system. The patents also protect wirelessly backing up the stored data on portable products onto a independent unit the user could have, this sort of as a observe. The portfolio is even more relevant to other market sectors this sort of as m-commerce, wellness and health care, access and authentication programs, and telematics and telemetry.
Patent statements in the aforementioned patent portfolio address protection steps involving fast notification to the community provider that a reduction has transpired to instantly apply additional security and recovery steps, i.e. to keep track of, block, and get better misplaced information wealthy portable units. Which seems reminiscent of factors of Locate my Iphone, which is provided by Apple.
The earliest U.S. precedence date in the aforementioned portfolio relates to U.S. Patent No. 7,054,594, and goes all the way back to July eighteen, 2001, which can make this wearable security gadget patent potentially very attractive. The 594 patent exclusively promises a technique of safeguarding against reduction of data stored in a mostly portable information storage gadget and operates by continually communicating to a secondary backup gadget and alerting the person of a decline in the function the interaction link is damaged for a predetermined volume of time.
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In the first 10 months of 2012-13, DRI has seized gold worth `60.17 crore and cracked 36 cases of smuggling
Mumbai: Gold smugglers have stepped out of 1970s’ Bollywood potboilers into present day reality with the government raising taxes to curb the import of the yellow metal.
According to data from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), an agency that monitors economic offences, the incidence of gold smuggling in the current fiscal year has zoomed at least eight times compared with the corresponding period the previous year.
As the government struggles to rein in a raging current account deficit that is likely to cross 4% of the national economic output this fiscal, it has increased the import duty on the precious metal thrice since last year.
India’s gold imports, next only to oil imports in terms of value, were responsible for a current account deficit of 4.2% of the gross domestic product in 2011-12, a 30-year high.
The increase in import duty on gold has clearly led to a price differential between Indian and international gold, and that, in turn, has led to an increase in smuggling. Spot gold prices here are as much as 5.7% higher than in Dubai, compared with a difference of 0.1% in 2008. Typically, gold is smuggled into India from Dubai.
In the first 10 months of 2012-13, till January, DRI has seized gold worth ₹ 60.17 crore (200kg at the current price of gold) and cracked 36 cases of smuggling. In the corresponding period in 2011-12, it had seized gold worth ₹ 7.42 crore and cracked 15 cases.
To be sure, the number is almost insignificant when compared with the value of India’s gold imports—$38 billion (around ₹ 2.03 trillion today) till December.
And it refers only to seizures and the gold smuggled into India could be much more; DRI officials admit that they detect about one in every 10 cases.
“The duty rate hike in phases, from ₹ 100 per 10g to 6% (about ₹ 1,800 at the current price) now, has not really dampened the demand. In fact, raising of duty has only enhanced the profit margin of smugglers," said a senior DRI official who did not want to be identified.
According to a Reserve Bank of India report on gold imports and gold loans, released in January, while the average gold price in 2012 was 2.4 times that of 2008 at ₹ 29,302 per 10g, the demand was up by 1.6 times during the same period to 1,079 tonnes.
While the government’s actions are intended at discouraging import of physical gold, DRI and customs officials say the recent 2 percentage point increase in the import duty on the precious metal will make it difficult for enforcement agencies to contain bulk gold smuggling in India.
On 22 January, India raised the import duty on gold to 6% from 4%.
After restrictions were lifted on gold imports and a few commercial banks were allowed to import gold and sell the yellow metal to jewellers and exporters in 1997, the spread between international and local market prices shrank dramatically, but with the rise in import duty, it is now widening.
Explaining the modus operandi of gold smugglers, the DRI official said most of the smuggled gold is brought into India through air mostly from Dubai and Thailand, concealed in either cabin baggage or different parts of the body. People carrying this gold are called carriers, or mules, and they work in pairs. Going by the data collected by DRI, on average, each mule carries at least 5kg of gold per trip.
According to the DRI official, the return on investment for a smuggler in a year amounts to as much as 200% for such trips.
Here’s how the math works: At the current price, it costs ₹ 1.44 crore to buy 5kg of gold in Dubai. The cost of an air ticket, hotel expenses and the commission of the mule plus hawala fees to send the money to Dubai after the gold is sold in India comes to another ₹ 2 lakh. The same gold can be sold in Mumbai for ₹ 1.51 crore, netting the smuggler ₹ 5 lakh for a single trip.
Such an operation typically takes four days. Theoretically, this means a smuggler can churn his initial investment seven times a month. Over a year, that means a profit of ₹ 4.2 crore on the original ₹ 1.5 crore investment.
“As of now, gold smuggling is limited to air passengers and carriers, which has limitations in terms of volume and cost. The bulk smuggling channels (by sea and land) have not revived, but the recent increase in customs duty will provide the profit differential to revive it," said a senior customs official who too did not want to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue. This person added that it would be impossible for enforcement agencies to contain smuggling through these routes.
Customs officials also claim their job has been made tougher by a 2011 Supreme Court ruling under which individuals arrested for violating the Customs Act can be released on bail. The apex court’s decision, both officials mentioned above said, has taken away the powers of the customs department to deter smuggling.


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InComm, a prepaid product and transaction services company, has released internal 2013 holiday data that demonstrates the rising popularity of digital gift cards and the success brands can have by opening up gift card sales through all channels.
The data includes the overall ecommerce sales of digital versus physical cards throughout the month of December, as well as peak sales days for each. InComm also released figures showcasing customer shopkick’s highly successful Black Friday sales, which prove that in addition to online shopping, the rising role of mobile in commerce is also driving demand for digital gift cards.
Digital Cards Extend Sales Cycle
Data was aggregated from the InComm Digital Solutions (IDS) platform on sales of digital and physical gift cards from IDS customers’ ecommerce Websites throughout the month of December. Highlights on the purchasing behavior of consumers shopping on these websites include:
· 57% of consumers purchased digital cards in December
· 43% of consumers purchased physical cards in December
· 80% of consumers purchased digital cards in the six days leading up to Christmas
· 20% of consumers purchased physical cards in the six days leading up to Christmas
· Sales of physical cards peaked on Dec. 17, with sales decreasing every day after that
· Sales of digital cards began a marked upward trend beginning on Dec. 17, with sales increasing after that and peaking on Dec. 24
The results show that retailers who sell both physical and digital cards from their ecommerce sites versus those who sell only physical cards saw similar sales in the first half of the month. However, sales of digital cards spiked significantly the six days before Christmas, allowing those offering both cards to extend the sales lifecycle by almost a week and drive significantly higher sales overall.
Boosting Digital Gift Card Delivery on Black Friday
Shopkick, a widely used real-world shopping app, enables users to earn reward points, known as “kicks,” for walking into participating retailer stores, scanning certain product barcodes or making purchases. Users redeem those kicks by choosing from a robust rewards library, including digital gift cards. Shopkick leverages the InComm Digital Solutions platform to instantly connect shopkick users with their digital gift card of choice to be scanned at the retailer’s point of sale. InComm’s platform provides a unique portfolio of digital gift cards, giving users a variety of brands from which to choose. During Black Friday alone, shopkick employed the InComm platform to deliver nearly seven times shopkick’s usual daily volume of digital gift cards. These numbers, along with a recent InComm survey http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/incomm-research-proves-digital-gift-cards-rising-in-popularity-for-this-holiday-season-and-beyond-234402611.html , reveal that digital gift cards are rising in popularity with consumers who increasingly like to receive and store these cards on their smartphones for personal use.
“We’re thrilled to be shopkick’s partner and to have helped them successfully address such high demands on Black Friday,” said Mike Fletcher, senior vice president of sales and marketing for InComm Digital Solutions. “In a recent consumer survey conducted by InComm, nearly 70% of consumers stated they are more interested in purchasing digital gift cards now than they were two to three years ago. Further, our own internal holiday data reveals the increased sales opportunities created by offering digital in addition to physical cards. These numbers demonstrate how brands benefit when they open up gift card sales through all channels.”


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Any hopes that the HTC One would lead to a rapid turnaround for struggling electronics manufacturer HTC have apparently vanished. Unnamed sources have told The Verge that HTC is in a state of chaos and that high-profile employees are fleeing left and right. Among the recently departed at HTC are former chief product officer Kouji Kodera, former vice president of global communications Jason Gordon, former global retail marketing manager Rebecca Rowland, former director of digital marketing John Starkweather and former product strategy manager Eric Lin. The Verge’s sources say that morale at HTC is very low because employees see that the company is in “utter freefall.”
It seems a bit dramatic, but one reason for this “freefall” has been the abject failure of the HTC First, which BGR exclusively reported has already been discontinued at AT&T just one month after its debut.
According to this new report, the First was originally supposed to have a period of exclusivity as the only device to have Facebook Home, the heavily modified version of Android based around the popular social network. But Facebook apparently scotched this plan by releasing Home for free on Google Play at the same time as the First launch, thus taking away a key aspect of the device’s appeal. The result, one source said, has been “a disaster.”
UPDATE: CNET reports that HTC Asia CEO Lennard Hoornik has left the company as well.