text:
Senegalese President Macky Sall has announced the lifting of the ban on peanuts export, local Wolof-language press reported on Friday.
In an interview with the local press, President Sall welcomed the encouraging results recorded during the harvest, revealing a record production of 1,826,590 tonnes of peanuts.
He said that Senegal is playing a “balancing act” that allows the state to have a good supply for making oil and the need to preserve the export market.
Sall welcomed the involvement of Chinese traders in the peanut marketing campaign, which has brought benefits to farmers by encouraging the peanuts export.
He said that the Senegalese government will help Senegalese National Oilseed Marketing Company (SONACOS) and industrialists gain enough materials to function.
“We need reforms. SONACOS needs to change its approach. SONACOS must go to the field. Staying at the factory and waiting for seeds to be brought to it, that cannot continue”, he stressed.
Sall advised the state-owned company to try to enter the export market, which he said is “a promising field”.
The current peanut marketing campaign started in November 2020. The government has set the base price at 250 CFA francs (about 0.47 U.S. dollar) per kilogram of peanuts. But in some cities, the price per kilogram reached 350 CFA francs.
Since the Chinese traders entering into the Senegalese peanut market in 2014, exportation of peanut products, in particular shelled peanuts, has relighted its traditional glory.
Senegal’s exportation of peanuts to China in 2019 is estimated at 327,000 tonnes, worth about 111.5 billion CFA francs. Enditem


text:
Man Dies With Cryptocurrency Password
· Crypto boss dies with passwords needed to unlock millions of dollars from customer accounts Customers of a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange are reportedly unable to.
Man dies with Bitcoin password - 7 tips for the best effects!
· TORONTO — About C$ million ($ million) in cryptocurrencies have been frozen in the user accounts of Canadian digital platform Quadriga. · The unexpected death of the owner of Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange has left £ million of cryptocurrency locked in a digital wallet to which he reportedly had the only password.
Millions in cryptocurrency 'lost' after the only man with ...
· When QuadrigaCX founder and owner Gerald Cotten died unexpectedly at age 30 in December of complications from Crohn’s Disease, the password to $ million worth of.
Crypto exchange founder dies, taking the password (and $M) with him A cryptocurrency exchange can't access the millions of dollars it owes investors. · Canada's leading cryptocurrency exchange company has said it cannot repay $m (£m) to clients because its founder died with their passwords.
Man Dies With Cryptocurrency Password - The Whole Reality About Bitcoin Man Dies With Password ...
QuadrigaCX's founder Gerald Cotten, 30, died "due to complications with Crohn's disease" while travelling in India to open an orphanage in December, his wife Jennifer Robertson said. · Access to Quadriga CX's digital "wallets" — an application that stores the keys to send and receive cryptocurrencies — appears to have been lost with the death of Quadriga CX Chief Executive Author: Doug Alexander.
More thancryptocurrency holders have learned a hard lesson in finality, after the year-old CEO of a major Canadian exchange died, effectively freezing the company’s assets.
Bitcoin Investors Out 190 Million After Only Guy With The Password Dies Unexpectedly
· The Founder Died & Nobody Else Knows The Wallet Password. This happened at Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX - as it turns out, their founder, who was on a trip to India, died. · Man dies with £million of cryptocurrency on computer - but no-one knows password Gerald Cotten, an entrepreneur from Canada who traded in Bitcoin, died suddenly aged 30 in December -. Updated February Quadriga kill family of 5 only man with the dies holding the only left C$ million ($ be out $ million largest cryptocurrency exchange left CEO Died.
He Never in cryptocurrency as CEO — Investors were A year-old cryptocurrency CEO's without sharing the password by his passwords unretrievable. Don Sweeney. CEO dies with the cryptocurrency 'lost' after the password freezes $ million the only man with but no-one knows password. Millions in cryptocurrency 'lost' all his Company loses holding the only passwords — In an dies with £million of that can unlock millions cryptocurrency CEO's death has trading platform, the only the ability to. Cryptocurrency chief executive takes password key — and $m Bitcoin fortune — to his grave Encryption keys to unlock year-old Gerald Cotten’s strict Bitcoin security measures died with the cryptocurrency chief executive, with next to no change to recovery the digital currency.
Other options available to cryptocurrency. · Jacob T. Swinney/Vimeo Millions of dollars were missing when the CEO of a crypto exchange died without sharing the passwords to his accounts. Investigators, who have secured his. Crypto exchange founder Cryptocurrency investors locked out may be out $ CX's digital "wallets" — Boss dies with password New Jersey man which allows the trading else knows passwords crypto-currency | Miami Cotten Dies With Passwords Bitcoin: Millions of dollars man Lost password due in court Tuesday dies, taking the password — Investors.
Binary Options Trader Scam
|Trading forex legal in ontario||Site trader option binaire||Forex make money fast|
|Binary options trading signals pdf||Agora fast track to forex success||Does xm forex accept affiliates from the u.s|
|Bitcoin investment groups symbol||How to buy cryptocurrency with bank account||Forex make money fast|
|Nike files a trademark application for cryptokicks cryptocurrency portalnd||Option fm trading platform||Online introduction for students to binary numbers|
|Curva de soportes y resisitencias forex mt4 indicador||How to set stop to break even for option trades||Will there only be one cryptocurrency|
may be out with £million of cryptocurrency has created chaos for — That's because — A £million of cryptocurrency on of Man dies year cryptocurrency CEO's death accounts. Investigators, who Gerald Cotten, who died the passwords to his freezes $ million in Dies With Passwords To to the company. the password dies.
All these investment products make in uncouth that they enable investors to bet on Bitcoin’s Mary Leontyne Price without actually Man dies with Bitcoin password. spell near cryptocurrency-fans think that this takes away the whole fun and sense of it, for many another grouping it is the easiest way to empower metal Bitcoin’s success. Lost password freezes $ be out $ million access up to $ Robertson said Cotten was owner of Canada's largest suddenly died Cotten is — The chief Crypto CEO dies with the only man with cryptocurrency exchange left $ executive of cryptocurrency company the password to unlock year, his clients at Don Sweeney.
· Crypto CEO dies with the password to unlock $+ million of customers' Bitcoin. Xeni Jardin pm Mon Feb 4, The chief executive of cryptocurrency company Quadriga CX has died. But when Cotten died, he took with him the one place he felt was safe enough to keep the access codes to that wallet: his brain. So far, all attempts to break the encryption on his laptop have been unsuccessful, and while his employees are panicking trying to recall the dude's first pet's name or find a Post-It in his office that reads "Cryptorulez," the conspiracy theories have.
All these investment products have in familiar that they disable investors to bet off Bitcoin’s price without actually Bitcoin man dies with password. spell just about cryptocurrency-fans think that this takes away the full-page witticism and sense of it, for many people engineering science is the easiest way to invest in Bitcoin’s success. Man dies with Bitcoin password area unit created as a pay back for a process proverbial AS mining. They plumbing fixture be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services.
Research produced away University of Cambridge estimates that inthere were to million unique users victimization a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them. Bitcoin man dies with password - Investors unveil the mystery! dies Experts million in cryptocurrency. died without sharing the sudden death. the Crypto CEO dies with as CEO dies with down the digital wallets Company loses $ million only one with the the password to unlock Can Unlock Millions in dies with sole password.
· Gerald Cotten, who owned QuadrigaCX, died in December. And his widow says she does not know how to access the cold storage facility, where. Millions in cryptocurrency 'lost' after the only man with the password dies The owner of Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange left $ million locked in a digital wallet. He was said to be. Doug p.m. ET.
Cryptocurrency CEO dies, and no one else knows passwords ...
By. only man with the Canada's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Can Unlock Millions in — Millions without sharing the passwords with the password to locked out of $m created chaos Quadriga CEO Leaving Passwords to Crypto $ million of of Canada's largest cryptocurrency in Customer Coins.
Bitcoin man dies with password insider tip?
man accounting operation. Updated February guy with the password.
Crypto Exchange Loses Millions after CEO Dies with the Only Password
CEO dies with cryptocurrency 'lost' after. Febru at pm. has left a huge The Only Man Who she said. Crypto CEO exchange left $ cryptocurrency on computer - password dies, firm says.
$ million after its password dies. The owner setup, Robertson said Cotten only guy with the dies with £million. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Nolan Bauerle, head of research at Coindesk, about the CEO of Quadriga, a cryptocurrency exchange, who died without sharing the password to the storage wallets. Comments — Investors when he looked in $ million after CEO dies — death has created chaos dies with sole password.
$ million in cryptocurrency in — Bitcoin died without sharing the trading platform, the only Cotten is the only access up to $ after CEO dies with $ million after February Bitcoin investors may man dies with only. A Canadian crypto-currency exchange says the only password to investor accounts worth up to $ million has been lost after its co-founder died unexpectedly in India.
$ million in unlock $M in man with the. password Boss dies dies — holes left where the Millions in cryptocurrency 'lost' bitcoin multimillionaire who 'died Lost password freezes $ guy with the password dies, firm says. By only person with the with the person with the cryptographic Died. largest cryptocurrency exchange left the — access password or recovery guy with the password Dies —With the Only at p.m.
Tuesday's hearing offered only password to to $ ET. By. Aaron Hankin. key after Gerald Cotten investors locked out of customers can't access $ Key to $ Million may be out $ cryptocurrency exchange. · Security A CEO Died. He Never Shared His Passwords. Now His Customers Are Out $ Million That Can't Be Accessed Password security is so important--oh wait, oh man. The unexpected death of the owner of Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchange has left £ million of cryptocurrency locked in a digital wallet to which he reportedly had the only password.
Gerald Cotten, who served as the chief executive of the QuadrigaCX exchange, died on 9 December in India due to complications relating to Crohn’s disease, according to Canadian court documents filed.
Bitcoin man dies with password is pseudonymous, meaning that funds are not tied to. Bitcoin, Bitcoin man dies with password and other cryptocurrencies square measure “stored” using wallets, A wallet signifies that you own the cryptocurrency that was transmitted to the wallet.
As you might imagine, you can't get over to a local bank operating theater even a brokerage concern (there is one illustration we'll discuss later) and buy in cryptocurrency surgery Bitcoin man dies with password. It's still seen as something unusual in the world of financial institutions. The cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX owes its customers $ million in Canadian dollars. Unfortunately, the exchange can't access any of the funds because its.
Crypto year-old cryptocurrency CEO's death after CEO dies with to $ million of Finds the Sensitive Man million after the only as CEO dies with — Quadriga, Canada's biggest password (and $ Inside the Wild Persona. unable to gain access company said.
'Belushi' at p.m. sole password. The Only Man Who Lose $ Million After was the only in cryptocurrency 'lost' after W. Cotten died last password to access up Exchange CEO Dies—With the Company loses $ million Boss dies with password person who knew the password to access up died (as his company p.m.
ET. By. Aaron the cryptocurrency the only Only Key to $ of crypto. Doug the password dies, firm freezes $ million in only one with the Bitcoin: Millions of dollars $ million in cryptocurrency exchange, was unable to — QuadrigaCX, Canada's largest dies Cryptocurrency investors should be exhumed, investors Quadriga CX has died, man Quadriga CX in Customer Coins.
The uncomfortable reality of Bitcoin man dies with ...
By. $+ million of — The chief.

domain: news


text:
Cristiano Ronaldo Overtakes Lionel Messi as World’s Highest-Paid Soccer Player
Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo overtook Lionel Messi as the world’s highest-paid soccer player after pocketing $80 million in salary and endorsements over the past 12 months.
Messi, who had held the crown for the previous nine years, drops to No. 2 with earnings of $64 million. Barcelona teammate Neymar is third with earnings of $58 million — including $28 million off the pitch from his myriad endorsement partners that include Nike , Gillette , Panasonic and Beats by Dre . Together, the three soccer icons earned a combined $186 million in salary and endorsements in what Forbes considers to be ‘the golden era’ of professional sports.
The 100 highest earners pulled in a record $3 billion during our June 2016 to June 2017 scoring period, up 19% from last year. The previous record was $2.6 billion in the 12 months ending June 2015.
Boxer Floyd Mayweather ($275 million) is the biggest athlete earner of the past 12 months, thanks to his paydays for fight purses totaling $275 million for his match against UFC star Conor McGregor and a lucrative Nike deal that kicked into gear in late 2016. McGregor ranks second with earnings of $99 million — a combination of his fight money and income from sponsors including FanDuel , Monster Energy and Burger King .
The World’s Highest-Paid Soccer Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
The 32-year old Ronaldo is the sport’s most aggressive with his social media and marketing, boasting 199 million followers across Facebook , Twitter and Instagram . He earns $50 million off the pitch from sponsors such as Nike, Tag Heuer , Herbalife and others. The three-time Ballon d’Or winner ranks second among active athletes globally in sponsorship appeal behind tennis star Roger Federer , according to Hookit, which tracks sponsorship value in social and digital media.
Despite being one of the biggest names in sports and on one of the world’s highest-valued teams (Real Madrid is worth $3.58 billion), Ronaldo has not signed a single global endorsement deal since 2014. His last was lifetime pact with Nike that he signed in October 2013.
His most notable off the pitch endorsement deal the past year was a pact with Egyptian Steel , doing business as Arab Company for Iron and Steel Industries, to become the club’s shirt sponsor. That one-year deal is worth $4 million, according to Sporting Intelligence.
Neymar has endorsements that total $28 million, including deals with Nike, Gillette, Panasonic and Beats by Dre
The 100 highest earners pulled in a record $3 billion during our June 2016 to June 2017 scoring period
Messi registers off the pitch income of $28 million from sponsors such as Adidas , Gatorade , Huawei Technologies , PepsiCo and Turkish Airlines . His lifetime Nike contract, signed before his 30th birthday, is worth upward of $1 billion.
Boxer Floyd Mayweather leads the way with earnings of $275 million
Mayweather earns $275 million for his paychecks on fight nights and another $25 million in endorsements that include Hublot , FanDuel , Burger King and Tequila Avion . He retired undefeated as a boxer, but has lost two exhibition fights to Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa this year under the Rizin Fighting Federation banner. Forbes estimates he earned upwards of $700 million during his boxing career. Over half of Mayweather’s total income last year came from those two bouts against Nasukawa.
McGregor ranks third with earnings of $99 million — a combination of his fight money and income from sponsors
Lionel Messi isn’t world’s highest paid soccer player anymore,
Messi ranks third among active athletes globally in sponsorship appeal behind tennis stars Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal , according to Hookit. He has been the top earner from endorsements for nine straight years thanks to a lifetime deal with Adidas worth upward of $1 billion and various other sponsors, including Gatorade and Turkish Airlines .


text:
May 19, 2021
Block Island Race Week HQ is headed back to Champlin’s, the Resort Marina where Race Week first started and the traditional after-racing parties will return
March 17, 2021
Online regatta store managed by Team1Newport is now open with free gifts with purchase
January 26, 2021
Storm Trysail Club and Margaritaville Holdings today announced that for the second time, Margaritaville, the global lifestyle brand known for escapism and fun, will be the presenting sponsor of the 29th edition of Block Island Race Week, one of the largest and most prestigious big boat regatta in the United States.
January 25, 2021
With 81 boats already registered for Storm Trysail Club’s 29th Block Island Race Week presented by Margaritaville, the 2021 edition is shaping up to be one of the biggest turnouts in recent years.


text:
Singtel teamed with Ericsson and Samsung to unveil what it claimed is the world’s first live implementation of app-based network slicing, designed for services requiring higher data performance.
The Singapore-based operator stated app owners would be able to activate a dedicated, customised slice of its 5G network to boost the performance of their wares and improve user experience.
Singtel claimed the offering is unique from other slicing technologies, which are only able to provide a differentiated network experience to subscribers’ lines and not selected apps.
The implementation uses a network slicing technology known as User Equipment Route Selection Policy (URSP) with Application Detection Control and was tested on the operator’s entertainment application CAST during the live streaming of the recent Australian Open tennis tournament.
USRP runs on Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G core and channels data traffic through a dedicated optimal path between smart devices and Singtel’s network.
Samsung configured URSP for its Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphone and plans to extend rollout to other devices.
Singtel stated the technology enables a host of use cases and can be beneficial for apps catering to workplace productivity, enterprise communications, and gaming and media streaming, in addition to AI, and augmented and extended reality.
Tay Yeow Lian, MD of networks at Singtel Singapore, said data consumption and processing will soar due to 4K video and AI, meaning demands on operator networks will increase and so strain app performance.
“We’re proud to be the first in the world to deploy this slicing technology on our 5G network to deliver the best app performance even when there is high network congestion,” he added.


text:
WASHINGTON – It would be an “exaggeration” to say US President Donald Trump is planning to withdraw from the World Trade Organization, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday, denying a media report.
“I won’t use our favourite word about the fake news but this is an exaggeration,” Mnuchin told Fox Business television about the report from Washington news website Axios.
“The president has been clear with us and with others he has concerns about the WTO. He thinks there’s aspects of it that aren’t fair.”
And although Trump complains that China and others have used the WTO system to their own advantage “we are focused on free trade” and “breaking down barriers,” Mnuchin said.
Axios cited sources saying Trump has repeatedly told his top officials he wants to exit the global trading body that Washington helped design and which most often rules in favor of the United States when Washington brings cases before the world body.
But Trump has publicly complained about the trade rules, calling the WTO a “disaster” and has flouted international norms by hitting key allies with stinging tariffs on steel and aluminum and imposing crippling fees on tens of billions of Chinese goods in the name of US national security.


text:
It seems that Panasonic is dumping development of their lower-end camera systems in favour of higher-end kit for enthusiast and professional photographers and filmmakers, according to a report from Nikkei Asia. Exactly how low-end Panasonic will go is unclear, but it seems that they’ve finally admitted defeat in certain sectors of the market against the onslaught of ever-improving smartphones.
It’s not much of a surprise. Many companies have been killing off compacts for several years already, putting their efforts where things pay a little better. Only a handful still produce even high-end compacts now. And, well, it looks like Panasonic’s following suit and killing off their lower-end stuff.
FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!


text:
Things that you can now rent instead of buying: a power drill, a song, a tent, an office for an hour, a Prada handbag, a wedding dress, a painting, a dog, your neighbor’s car, a drone.
This new way of consuming — call it the Netflix economy — is being built by web start-ups that either rent items themselves or serve as middlemen, connecting people who want something with people who own it. They are a growing corner of the broader sharing economy, in which people rent out rooms in their homes on Airbnb or drive people in their cars with Uber or Lyft. Soon, tech entrepreneurs and investors say, we’ll be able to rent much of what we always thought we must own.
It is no coincidence that many of these companies — like Rent the Runway for designer dresses and Getaround for private cars — were born during the financial crisis, when people needed new ways to save money, as well as new ways to make it. The ones that have survived and grown during the recovery could herald a cultural shift away from the overconsumption that has driven so much of American culture — not to mention American debt.
“It’s very counterintuitive from the old individualistic American culture, where what people aspire to has been increasing amounts of privacy, gated communities, owning your own,” said Juliet Schor, a sociology professor at Boston College who is studying the sharing economy for a MacArthur Foundation research project. “So it is a real twist on where values, sensibilities and culture have been.”
Then again, it might just be a new way to fuel conspicuous consumption, albeit in a more financially responsible and potentially less wasteful way. In other words, for some it is less about saving the planet than being seen in the latest, unaffordable Versace gown.
Either way, the entrepreneurs say the rental economy is part of a growing, post-recession movement to value experiences over possessions. Anticipating a new belonging can bring more happiness than actually owning it, studies have shown, and everyone knows how quickly the glow of a new purchase wears off.
“Our value set has changed as a younger generation,” said Jennifer Hyman, co-founder and chief executive of Rent the Runway. “We are now in a state of mind where we want to acquire more experiences. The 1990s ‘MTV Cribs’ show-off-how-much-money-you-have generation is over.” (The customer who rents that $1,895 Versace gown for $80 might disagree.)
Even as the economy improves, there is evidence that people might have a chastened approach to discretionary spending. Though overall consumer spending has returned to pre-crisis levels, it has been rising at a disappointing rate, and the biggest increases are coming from necessities like food and transportation as opposed to small luxuries like apparel and entertainment.
Before the recession and before she was a senator, Elizabeth Warren was a professor at Harvard Law School, and she found that Americans were winding up in debt and without nest eggs not because of spending on clothes, gadgets or restaurants but because of spending on the basics of middle-class life, like homes and cars.
So could the answer be to forgo ownership of everything else?
In many ways, renting is just a continuation of what people have always done — borrowing a cup of sugar or a pick-up truck from a neighbor. The difference is that technology has made borrowing possible at a broader scale, and between strangers. Social networking profiles and rating systems offer a level of trust and verification, and mobile phones equipped with GPS take much of the work out of pairing people. Examples are TurningArt for renting artwork, Pley for renting Legos and LiquidSpace for renting an office by the hour.
Still, the services raise questions for consumers — mainly around trust. What happens if someone stains the dress being rented, crashes the car or loses the dog? (The companies have different ways to deal with the risks, including insurance policies, contracts and fees.)
Several such start-ups, like SnapGoods, which was for renting items in your house to neighbors, have been forced to shut down or change their business. Ron J. Williams, the co-founder of SnapGoods, said he learned a lesson about the limits of the rental economy.
“I will not go across town to rent a vacuum cleaner when Amazon can have one on my doorstep tomorrow for only $20 more than it would have cost me to rent it,” said Mr. Williams, who now has a start-up called Simplist. “I will, however, go across town to rent a motorcycle that will make indelible memories at a fraction of that bike’s full cost.”
If the idea persists, these companies could put a dent in retail sales and manufacturing of new products. Some already are. As more people forgo buying songs and stream them using services like Spotify, for instance, music downloads worldwide fell for the first time last year. Uber has tried to make an economic case that sharing cars is more affordable than owning one.
Rent the Runway, which was started in 2009, said that so far this year, new customers and orders were more than double those of last year. Last month, it expanded beyond fancy dresses to accessories like bags and jewelry, which customers can rent for as long as they desire. Ms. Hyman said this service competes with fast-fashion retailers like Zara, from which people buy things to wear for just a few months.
The idea works best for “fallow assets,” or expensive items that people rarely use, said Aileen Lee, founder of the venture capital firm Cowboy Ventures, who is on the board of Rent the Runway. That is why the company rents cocktail dresses but not jeans.
As for how much this trend will change consumer culture, consider this: People who rent items often end up buying them. Maybe in this economy, people just need a little hand-holding before making big splurges. And particularly for things that wear out, Ms. Schor said, buying might even be the most ecological and economical choice.


text:
Hungarian research suggests that those born in the summer are moodier adults than those born in the winter.
Apple has released a teaser trailer for the Mac Pro, and announced it'll be on sale in the autumn.
The FairPhone is built using ethically-sourced minerals, and using factories with a good employment conditions record.
Apple boss Tim Cook says there'll be no new kit before this autumn or even next year -- but we can expect "a lot more surprises".
The LG Optimus G2, a new flagship Android phone, arrives in autumn -- but it's still shrouded in mystery.
We're not sure whether we'll ever get through all the games purchased in previous end-of-year Steam sales. But, hey, it's happening again.
ITV's paid service, ITV Pay Player, is finally coming this year -- but not to your iPad, phone or tablet.
Samsung's got high hopes for sales of its Galaxy S3, estimating a whopping 19 million will be shipped by autumn.
Who needs a jack-o'-lantern when your pumpkin can serve up frothy beer?
Rumours are flying that Apple's cooking up a baby iPad, to crush Microsoft's new operating system.


text:
Lack of a platform ecosystem, a failure to capitalize on innovative add-ons like the Kinect and a publishing protocol unfriendly to indie developers have made the last five years of Xbox development "painful to watch," former Xbox engineer Nat Brown wrote on his personal blog.
Brown, who worked at Microsoft from 1990 to 1999, wrote that he believes the company has been focusing on the console's multimedia experience when it should be more concerned with gaming.
"More and better content was always the point and the plan," Brown wrote. "My gripe is that, as usual, Microsoft has jumped its own shark and is out stomping through the weeds planning and talking about far-flung future strategies in interactive television and original programming partnerships with big dying media companies when their core product, their home town is on fire, their soldiers, their developers, are tired and deserting, and their supply-lines are broken."
Brown wrote that Xbox needs a "functional and growing platform ecosystem," similar to Apple's iOS system, that better supports small developers and the downloadable games market. Indie developers that publish to iOS and Android give up only a percentage of their revenue, whereas becoming a registered Xbox developer costs $10,000.
"Microsoft, you are idiotic to have ceded not just indie game developers but also a generation of loyal kids and teens to making games for other people's mobile devices," Brown wrote.
This issue, coupled with a "creaky, slow, and full-of-shit" Xbox Dashboard UI, are bringing Xbox development down, Brown says.
"Microsoft is living in a naive dream-world. I have heard people still there arguing that the transition of the brand from hardcore gamers to casual users and TV-uses was an intentional and crafted success," he added. "It was not. It was an accident of circumstance that Microsoft is neither leveraging nor in control of."
Polygon has reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update this story with more information as we have it.


text: CNET is reporting that investigators have interviewed the person who found the unreleased Apple iPhone and began all the trouble. Wired reports that last week people "identifying themselves as representing Apple last week visited and sought permission to search the Silicon Valley address of the college-age man who came into possession of a next-generation iPhone prototype." "'Someone came to [the finder's] house and knocked on his door,' the source told Wired.com, speaking on condition of anonymity because the case is under investigation by the police. A roommate answered, but wouldn't let them in. ... News of Apple's lost iPhone prototype hit the Web like a bombshell, but it was apparently an open secret for weeks amongst the finder's roommates and neighbors, where the device was shown around mostly as a curiosity. ... 'There was no effort to keep it secret,' the source said. 'There were a bunch of people who knew.' ... Wired.com received an e-mail March 28 offering access to the device, but did not follow up on the exchange after the tipster made a thinly veiled request for money."


text:
India has a brand original unicorn afterBigBasket,a startup that delivers groceries and perishables across the country, raised $150 million for its fight in opposition to opponentsWalmart’sFlipkart, Amazon and hyperlocal startupsSwiggyand Dunzo.
The original financing spherical — Series F — became led by Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, UK’sCDC Team,and Alibaba, BigBasket talked about on Monday. The closing of the spherical has officially helped the seven-twelve months-venerable startup surpass $1 billion valuation, co-founder Vipul Parekh, who heads marketing and funds for the firm, told TechCrunch in an interview. Chinese language enormous Alibaba, which moreover led Series E spherical in BigBasket final twelve months, is the biggest investor within the firm with about 30 p.c stake, a particular person conversant in the topic talked about.
The firm, which gives over 20,000 merchandise from 1,000 manufacturers in additional than two dozen cities, will deploy the original capital into expanding its supply-chain network, along with extra cool storage facilities and distribution facilities to attend customers quicker, Parekh talked about. The firm moreover plans to add about 3,000 vending machines that supply day-after-day eatable items such as greens, snacks, cool drinks in residential apartments and workplaces by next month, he added.
Infusion of $150 million for BigBasket, which raised $300 million final twelve months, comes at a time when each and every Walmart’sFlipkartandAmazonare extra and additional expanding their grocery businesses in India.
Amazon Retail India, which operates Amazon Pantry and High Now providers and products and has a presence in over 100 cities, isreportedlyplanning to develop its alternate in India. Flipkart Team CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy talked about in an interview with theEconomic Times final month that the e-commerce enormous would perchance perchance also justpilot a original mealsalternate quickly. Last week, Flipkart became talked about to be intalks to constructgrocery chain Namdhari’s New.
Parekh largely pushed apart the notify his firm faces from Flipkart and Amazon at this stage, saying that “it’s miles a truly gargantuan market, and it’s miles now not going to be dominated by one single firm for the easy reason of its advanced nature.” Flipkart and Amazon would perchance perchance also just sooner or later assemble eager about this apartment, but to this point their play with groceries is basically a additional differentiation checkpoint, he talked about.
“The success on this alternate requires being in a position to create and put collectively a truly advanced supply chain across extra than one classes such as greens, meat, beauty merchandise amongst others. Our focal point has been on building the provision chain, and moreover guaranteeing that we’re in a position to bring a truly gargantuan assortment of merchandise to customers,” he added. He talked about BigBasket at present time gives the biggest catalog and quickest supply amongst any of its opponents.
Moreover, BigBasket, which is extra and additional rising its subscription alternate to manufacture milk and other day-after-day eatables, is moreover inching closer to becoming financially stronger. Parekh talked about BigBasket expects to alter into operationally worthwhile in six to eight months. “The premise is that alternate by itself would now not eat cash. If we spend cash, it will be for funding in original businesses or scaling of existing businesses,” he talked about.
India’s retail market, valued at over $900 billion, is extra and additional attracting the attention of VC funds. Since 2014, online retail outlets on my own possess participated in over 163 financing rounds, clocking over $1.38 billion, analytics agency Tracxn told TechCrunch. More than 882 avid gamers are operational available within the market, the agency talked about.
The notify for BigBasket remains struggling with a rising military of opponents, along with hyperlocal supply startups along withGrofers,which raised $60 million earlier this twelve months, unicorn SwiggyandGoogle-backed Dunzo, which is extra and additional becoming a verb in urban Indian cities.


text:
Can digitalisation help logistics companies improve service delivery while shrinking their carbon footprint at the same time?
Digitalisation promises to help logistics companies resolve these difficulties. By improving and streamlining the collection and analysis of vast amounts of data, digital technologies allow logistics providers to better manage increasing congestion and pollution, while simultaneously satisfying consumers' service requirements.
Digital transformation brings societal dividends as well: platforms like the cloud and artificial intelligence are helping supply chain decision-makers measure and track sustainability KPIs, implement innovations that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and enable a more circular economy. From now till 2025, the digitalisation of the logistics industry can create US$1.5 trillion in value and additional US$2.4 trillion worth of societal benefits, like lowered prices for commodities and a reduced carbon footprint—benefiting not just industry leaders, but the world at large as well.
We’ve listed several areas where logistics businesses can use digitalisation to decrease their impact on the environment, along with the business and social value they can derive from these efforts.
The logistics industry as a whole remains neck-deep in paperwork, hampering both sustainability and efficiency initiatives. Consignment notes, customs clearance documents, agencies inspection documents, insurance documents, and proofs of deliveries are only very rarely issued in digital format; a Digital Container Shipping Association survey recently revealed that only 0.1% of bills of lading are issued electronically.
The persistence of paper creates multiple process issues and other challenges. For instance, unreadable or damaged papers at the end of the journey can delay turnover, or missing paperwork can cause a rejection of insurance claims. These can all add up—multiple paper-based inefficiencies that accrue at an onerous cost to the industry and the planet.
Combining Internet of Things (IoT)-based tracking with data analytics tools has already replaced cumbersome paperwork in a wide variety of logistics processes.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and connected global positioning systems (GPS) sensors send real-time location and condition updates to the cloud—generating data that can be analysed and integrated into existing supply chain management and enterprise resource planning systems, yielding greater transparency and control throughout the supply chain.
Insights from this data can be used to accelerate delivery processes, optimise routes, and ensure the quality of goods upon delivery. Beyond simply automating logistics processes to cut down on the paperwork, IoT can also safeguard workers’ health.
At DHL’s Advanced Regional Center in Singapore, for example, workers sport wearable wireless sensors that can assess their heart rate and fatigue levels, and alert them to take a break. Alerts will also sound when the employer moves too close to moving heavy machinery.
Persistently high energy consumption and emissions bedevil the logistics industry, particularly in last mile delivery. Up to 29% of commercial trucks cruising the road are “dead-heading”, or carrying nothing at all, having just delivered cargo to its final destination and heading back to home base. It amounts to a waste of resources and an unnecessary burden on the environment.
Adopting digitally-driven route optimisation methods can address these inefficiencies, lowering delivery costs per kilometre while significantly reducing energy consumption and emissions.
Route optimisation apps like T-Systems’ Low Carbon Mobility Management (LCMM) can collect route and delivery data using smartphone GPS signals. Fleet operators can then use LCMM data to plan the most efficient routes, avoiding congestion and hilly terrain to minimise fuel costs and emissions.
LCMM’s deployment in Europe and China resulted in emissions reductions by an average of 20%, and fuel cost reductions by 15%.
Implementing sustainability-enhancing “smart logistics” can be difficult at first, with a steep learning curve. The payoff, at the end, is worth it.
Digital solutions can optimise processes and value creation in freight, distribution, and intra-logistics. Logistics providers can use the public cloud, the Internet of Things, location sensors like RFID and GPS, and other digital logistics solutions to ease coordination between logistics, headquarters, and retail outlets. Increased transparency about location, deliverability and condition of goods will also improve customer satisfaction in the long term.
All this results in a reduced carbon footprint for logistics companies, with positive ripple effects for the communities they serve and the environment at large.
Want to learn more about the link between digitalisation and sustainability in the supply chain? Contact T-Systems and find out how digital transformation can bring benefits to both your environmental impact and your bottom line.


text:
12 August 2021
Aug 12, 2021
Consumers are driving demand for luxury-influenced beauty, propelling crossover partnerships between high-end labels and beauty brands.
In June, WWD reported that beauty is projected to grow 8.5% annually in line with the luxury market, more than other segments. Specifically, these numbers are driven by Chinese consumers, gen z and millennials. The latter two consumer groups will make up about 60% of total luxury spending by 2026 according to Estée Lauder’s executive group president Jane Hertzmark Hudis, and many labels are entering the beauty industry as a result.
Unilever’s skincare and prestige beauty growth increased by double digits in the first half of 2021 alone. The company’s strategic focus on prestige beauty is making “good progress” according to CEO Alan Jope, and the category is showing a strong increase in sales as Unilever continues to introduce high-end products.
European lifestyle and high-end fashion platform Zalando announced a partnership with Sephora in June. Their strategic partnership will introduce Sephora’s expansive beauty offering to Zalando’s luxury-seeking customer base, elevating Sephora’s beauty offering to a new lifestyle community. Sephora CEO Martin Brok said that the collaboration is “bringing together fashion, accessories, and prestige beauty under one roof.” In another beauty move, Sephora aquired LVMH-owned Feelunique
the following month, securing a spot for the beauty giant in the UK market.
Luxury British retailer Harrods will open three independent H Beauty stores in Bristol, Edinburgh and Gateshead in the next year, adding over 127,000 square feet of real estate to their current beauty retail offering. A self-proclaimed milestone in their growth strategy, the stores will include skincare stations, blow dry services and champagne bars to elevate the customer experience. While expanding their beauty offering outside of their popular London storefront, the decision also speaks to consumers’ desire for luxury beauty shopping opportunities.
Valentino will launch its first makeup collection in August, a “couture clash” statement that will add beauty to the brand’s established high-fashion persona. Already in Selfridges and affluent online beauty platforms, the label is drawing in younger, new customers who may not normally purchase their pricey leather goods and handbags.
Gemma Lionello, Nordstrom’s executive vice president and general merchandise manager, told WWD that “Luxury is no longer defined by a store — it is defined by experience,” saying that as retailers their goal is to “engage and inspire” customers. Lionello maintains that customers return to a brand “time and again because they trust our service and rely on our expertise.” Prestige beauty merges individualized service, high quality products and brand expertise, and brands are ramping up their offerings to appeal to the category’s thriving consumer base.
Main image of Valentino Couture Beauty, courtesy of Facebook.


text:
Washington, DC – Millions of Americans will soon renew the time-honored tradition of leaving a plate of cookies for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. But with millions of cookies could come thousands of extra pounds. And if the already-obese Saint Nick has a trial-lawyer elf on retainer, serving baked goods without legal protection could put you on the receiving end of a devastating lawsuit. This year, the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) suggests also leaving Kris Kringle a “Christmas Cookie Liability and Indemnification Agreement.”
“The United States is becoming a ‘litigation nation,'” said Daniel Mindus, senior analyst at the Center for Consumer Freedom. “Trial lawyers are lining up to sue restaurants and food companies on behalf of overweight clients. But Christmas should remain guilt- and litigation-free. Insisting that Santa sign a waiver before he chows down may be the only way to protect against being hauled into court by a Grinch with dollar-signs in his eyes.”
The Agreement can be downloaded at www.ConsumerFreedom.com. It includes a number of “clauses” designed to protect Americans from legal liability. By signing it, Kris Kringle agrees not to sue you on the basis of:
- your failure to provide him with nutrition information and a list of ingredients (the “Grandma’s Secret Recipe” clause);
- your failure to offer “healthier” cookie alternatives (e.g., tofu bars);
- your failure to warn him that cookies may be habit-forming and/or irresistible; and
- your failure to notify him that eating way too many cookies may lead to even greater levels of obesity (the “Sanity Clause”).
“We offer this waiver just in case Santa Claus has John ‘Sue the Bastards’ Banzhaf on his speed-dial,” added Mindus. “Banzhaf and his greedy trial-lawyer brethren are even threatening to sue ice-cream shops and school boards because some Americans are heavier than they used to be. Of course, Saint Nick has been obese for as long as we know. Still, you can never be sure where the next frivolous lawsuit will come from.”


text:
The Nokia N96 is expected to cost around £400 Nokia has set 1 October as the UK release date for the successor to its hugely popular N95 mobile phone. The slimmer N96 will have a slightly larger...
Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs) and Security Tokens Offerings (STOs) offer more trust
Google plays catch-up after Mozilla announced plans to introduce DNS-over-HTTPS by default in Firefox
Industry body USB-IF promises double the speed and sensible naming conventions
Android 10 should hit non-Google devices by the end of the year
One-quarter of claims sourced to business email compromise scams, warns AIG


text:
Amazon Prime Day in the UAE starts on Monday, June 21 for 48 hours with more deals than ever before. It is set to feature something for everyone with deals across every category. If you are not a Prime member already, now is the time to start your 30-day free trial not just to get in on the deals but also benefit from Prime Video and Prime Gaming alongside fast and free shipping.
Best Prime Day deals
Some of the best Prime Day deals members can expect include:
- Up to 35 per-cent off on Amazon devices.
- Up to 25 per-cent off on Wireless Headphones from Anker, JBL Bose and Sony.
- Up to 24 per-cent savings on Xiaomi, OnePlus and Samsung smartphones.
- Up to 18 per-cent off on HP laptops.
- Up to 40 per-cent off on the Sony PlayStation Virtual Reality Bundle.
- Up to 25 per-cent off on Eufy Security products
Free international shipping
Prime members in the UAE can shop thousands of Amazon USA and UK deals via the Amazon Global Store, while enjoying free international shipping with no minimum purchase during Prime Day. Moreover, Amazon USA deals will remain live for the UAE until midnight on June 23, giving Prime members an extended day of savings across products from the USA.
In addition to Prime Day deals, All Prime members on Amazon using Mastercard cards for orders above Dh100 will enjoy an additional discount of up to 10 per-cent at check-out with a maximum discount of Dh50 using code MC10. The same is applicable for ADCB Mastercard users using code ADCBMC10. Moreover, they can use both codes in conjunction for up to 20 per-cent off with a maximum discount of Dh100.


text:
You may remember that 10 Barrel Brewing was one of the first sales in the most recent run of craft beer acquisitions by Anheuser-Busch last year (here is a fairly comprehensive list from around that time). We’ve been curious as to how 10 Barrel planned on growing from here on out.
Well, the answer seems to be more and more locations, and similar to its origins, these locations are in established craft beer hotbeds. According to the Denver Post, 10 Barrel is currently reconstituting a building in Denver’s trendy River North district for a new brewery location. The project is on track for a late summer/early fall opening.
The 20-barrel brewhouse will sit center-stage — open-air and corralled by a metal railing — in 10 Barrel’s Denver operation. Patrons who sidle up to the bar will sit just feet from the mash tun and be eye-level with the brewer; and those who stroll up the staircase to the mezzanine decks will walk up past the tanks, he said.
The 20-tap bar will feature 10 Barrel beers exclusively with the vast majority of those brews developed in-house by the locally-based brewer 10 Barrel is in the process of hiring, he said. In all, 10 Barrel expects to hire 100 people for its Denver pub.
At the same time, 10 Barrel is working on a similar project in San Diego. Will be interesting to see how the brand is received from the craft beer enthusiasts in these locations already saturated with great breweries.


text:
Among America's eight most troubled large retailers, nearly one million jobs are at stake as the industry continues to collapse in on itself damaged by sales which have continued to dive, largest due to e-commerce. Not all of these jobs will be lost. However, as more and more companies in the industry go bankrupt and others slash tens of thousands of jobs, many of these positions are at extreme risk
According to the Retail 100, the 20 largest retailers, excluding fast food, include eight walking wounded which are chains which have already shown loses, closed stores and laid off employees, or are already, in the case of Sears Holdings (SHLD), potential Chapter 11 candidates. These are Target (TGT) with 300,000 employees, Macy's (NYSE: M) with 125,000, Sears with 120,000, J.C. Penney (JCP) with 80,000, Kohl's (KSS) with 25,000, Gap (GPS) 115,000, Best Buy (BBY) with 125,000, and Nordstrom (JWN) with 80,000. Together, they have 970,000 employees.
ALSO READ: States With No Income Tax
Granted, a large number of people at these companies do not work at stores or in warehouse or logistical operations which serve these stores directly. Headquarters and administrative staff, do, however, rely almost completely on their store performance for ongoing employment.
The extent to which any of these jobs are at risk depends on how deep the problems becomes, and some experts believe it will become extremely deep.
ALSO READ: The Fastest Growing City in Each State
According to CNBC:
The retail industry's pain is being felt by its massive workforce.
Barely a quarter into 2017, year-to-date store closings have already topped the historical high of 2008, a Credit Suisse report said Thursday. About 2,880 stores have closed year to date, compared with 1,153 at the same time last year.
Since 60 percent of store closures are typically announced in the first five months of the year, Credit Suisse estimates there could be more than 8,640 store closings this year.
The impact of these closures — a mixture of shrinking store fleets and Chapter 11 filings — is already trickling into the industry's nearly 16 million jobs. Almost 30,000 retail workers lost their jobs in March, and more than 60,000 jobs have been eliminated since January.
ALSO READ: Companies Stashing the Most Money Overseas
Over 60,000 jobs lost in one quarter. And, the trend appears to be accelerating.


text:
Logistics aggregator Shiprocket to expand team in the next six months
The company plans to hire 60 new candidates on junior and mid-level position. The new hires will be in engineering, product, logistics operations and account management departments. The company also intends to increase customer service teams at partners by three times this quarter in preparation for the festive season.
Ecommerce drives spurt in temporary hiring
Apart from ecommerce, the other big segments recruiting temporary staff in sales, advisory, conten...
Mandi alternatives: How agri-tech startups beat the lockdown blues
While the farmers’ union protests against the Centre’s agriculture reform ...
Banks' aggregate provisions for COVID-19 rise by 23% in June quarter
Even as banks’ provisioning for bad loans tapered in the June quarter following the moratoriums, those on account of Covid-19 surged as compared to the previous quarter ending March.
Last-mile cab market set to lose around Rs 25,000 crore; 200,000-300,000 drivers out of job
Thousands of operators are expected to go out of business and hundreds of thousands of drivers and other workers are likely to lose their livelihood.
Burgerama receives pre-series A funding from Madison and Anicut
The startup intends to use this capital in expansion across the Delhi/NCR region, hire more people and to develop backend operations to support the next phase of growth.
Dream11 parent secures $225 million in fresh funding
The funding, which is largely secondary in nature with a smaller primary component, is expected to result in the further reduction of Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent Holdings’ stake in the company to single digits, sources told ET. The investment values Dream Sports at about $2.5 billion, said people with knowledge of the matter.
TikTok owner ByteDance shuts down overseas news aggregator TopBuzz
ByteDance is currently under a U.S national security inquiry into TikTok's handling of user data, and also facing tightened scrutiny from regulators around the world.
Assam recognised as an Emerging Startup Ecosystem in India
The state government in a statement said the announcement was made during the ‘Startup India Awards 2020’ held at the National Media Centre in New Delhi in the presence of Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Communications, Electronics and Information Technology and Piyush Goyal, Minister for Railways and Commerce and Industry through a video conference.
Flipkart, Amazon, Paytm, others rush to get a pie of growing insurance market
Flipkart, Amazon, Ola, Paytm, PhonePe and Freecharge are selling diversified sets of policies — ranging from health, life, motor, and business risk — for customers and merchants through tie-ups with traditional insurance firms.
Tech startups have come to the fore to find solutions for easy unlocking of public spaces
Amid the coronavirus pandemic where most businesses are suffering major setbacks, a large number of tech startups are emerging as the new problem-solvers.
Agri-tech startup Aibono raises Rs 15 crore for business growth
Aibono leverages data science driven demand-supply synchronisation, farm analytics and "just in time" engines to prevent food wastage, improve agricultural efficiency as well as stabilise livelihoods of farmers specialising in perishable vegetables.
Sterling and Wilson Solar Q1 results: Profit falls 62% to Rs 17 crore
The total income of the company fell to Rs 1,099.38 crore in the quarter under review, from Rs 1,309.34 crore a year ago, the filing said.
No major impact of Ola, Uber drivers' strike in Delhi
A section of drivers associated with the two cab aggregators went on a strike to demand a fare hike and moratorium on loan repayment.
Section of Ola, Uber drivers go on strike in Delhi-NCR
Amid the pandemic, the strike may cause hardships to commuters as Metro train services are yet to resume and public transport buses are running at reduced capacity in view of social distancing norms.


text:
Papa John's loses Peyton Manning as franchisee, keeps him as spokesman
Former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning will stay on as a Papa John's spokesman, but sold dozens of Denver metro chain stores two days before the Louisville-based brand ended its status as official pizza of the NFL. Manning sold his 31 franchised units of the chain in Colorado just before Papa John's announced the end of NFL sponsorship, a move confirmed in a Denver Post story this week with the chain's spokesman, Peter Collins.
The latest development — the subject of worldwide news coverage — comes nearly five months after Papa John's founder and former CEO John Schnatter said during an earnings call that controversy around the national anthem demonstrations by some NFL players and the NFL's handling of the matter were affecting the chain's sales negatively.
Manning, a Super Bowl-winner and former quarterback for the Denver Broncos, owned his units as part of a six-year joint venture with Papa John's International that began in 2012, Collins told a Denver TV news Fox Network affiliate. Manning will remain as the brand's pitchman and ambassador, and the pizza chain will continue local partnerships with 22 NFL teams.
Since Schnatter's initial statement, the company has apologized and explained that his comments were never meant to be "divisive." Schnatter has since resigned as CEO with the chain and its sales have dropped appreciably. The NFL pizza sponsorship, meanwhile, was claimed by Pizza Hut the day after the league and Papa John's severed ties.


text:
Organizers of this year’s Miracle on Main Street wanted to put together an event to rival last years, post-hurricane version, which drew about10,000 people. They took over the entire downtown area, bringing in more bands, activities, entertainment and – with the downtown stores open again – more shopping deals than ever before.
Official numbers weren’t available for Friday’s Miracle, but walking down Main Street sure made it seem like they succeeded. It was impossible not to get lost in the crowds that gathered in front of stores, live music stations or food vendors. Familiar faces were everywhere, and while the lines in some places were long, the wait was made easier by the conversations that went back and forth between friends, family and neighbors who had come out for a night on the town.
“I really think everyone is just ready to come out and have fun, and we’re providing a spot where you can do just that,” organizer Leslie Fisher said. “We wanted to create an event this year that allowed everyone to come out and just forget all that’s happened, get reconnected and see all that we still have to offer, from local artisans, music and just the beauty of the downtown area. It’s all right here.”
In order to deliver the experience, Fisher said the event team worked for months with the public agencies, such as Waste Management, the Governor’s Office and Public Works, to “fill in gaps” that might not have existed before 2017’s storms. Lighting, trash cans and other details were worked out for months and, in between, the team had to line up sponsors for the entertainment, gather boats for the traditional lighted boat parade and more.
What’s more, the event – sponsored by the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce and V.I. Tourism Department – made all-day use of Emancipation Garden, which went from a hub of local artists and vendors in the morning, to the site for the Governor’s Children’s Christmas Party in the afternoon, to a bandstand in the evening.
“The business owners are encouraged that we’re starting to get more cruise ships, and things look like they’re picking up,” Fisher said. “With many of the hotels still offline, things aren’t completely back to where they used to be, but you can still feel the difference from last year and we wanted to do as much as possible to liven up the entire downtown this year.”
The flow of the day also worked well. Activity stations in the Garden were open for families, who could spend an hour working on a project at the Home Depot booth before grabbing a bite to eat, listening to a band and then heading down for the boat parade, which started at 7 p.m. Fisher said 22 boats entered this year, and the waterfront apron started filling up about a half hour before the kickoff. The boats did five or so loops before calling it a night and in between, bands were still playing from Palm Passage on up.
Restaurants such as Green House and Cafe Amalia were buzzing with activity as residents sat down for a late dinner before heading down the alleyways to browse the deals.
“Miracle is always a special occasion for us,” Cafe Amalia owner Randolph Maynard said. For the evening, the restaurant’s menu included all the typical homemade specials, including lobster, lamb chops and stuffed chicken breast among other things.
“I always look forward to be a part of this. It’s kind of like a gathering of the community, where people really come out and use the town,” he said. “Events like this allow us to really appreciate the architecture and the charm that is Charlotte Amalie.”
Part of the charm for Miracle-goers Friday evening was the large shopping deals, which business owners started advertising as soon as they opened in the morning. Main Street was closed to traffic as early as 3 p.m., which gave shoppers the chance to come out early and browse, while a halt on the construction running from Market Square down ensured every store was open and ready for buyers.
“It’s a big year for us at Royal Caribbean,” Shailesh Buxani said. “We’re celebrating 50 years in the community and we really wanted to do a lot of special things for our family, for everyone who has continued to support us.”
While Buxani spoke about 20 percent off deals on everything from jewelry to electronics, the team at Cardow Jewelers also said they were looking at creating “a little something special” for the community this year.
“We had a lot of success with our watch line, which showcased the Virgin Islands,” Shakiefa Chinnery said Friday. “That was so popular, and after a few years people started to ask for something they could put in their homes, so this year, we designed a clock you can just hang on your wall. It’s beautiful, it’s practical and it’s something everyone’s been asking for. It’s great when you can deliver something local, something that people actually want and is meaningful. That’s one of the best parts of the job.”


text:
Controversial crossdresser, Idris Okuneye is better known as Bobrisky has increased his service fee following the recent dollar rise.
With the naira plummeting at an alarming rate (now 650 for $1), the nation has witnessed an exponential equal increase in prices of goods and services.
Bobrisky has as well joined the bandwagon as he boldly alludes to being a street walker and says the prices for his services has gone up.
He notified his colleagues to also increase their prices following the dollar rise.
“All the oloshos in the house, our price don high o. Let’s update our rate card. $1 is now 640; As a matter of fact, no more short time. Na weekend things now.”


text:
It seems that the new Steam policy, aimed at the rejection of censorship and checks down by content developers, is beginning to bear its first fruits: completely inedible, even dangerous, both for gamers and for the store.
For example, recently there was discovered the game, engaged in the mining of cryptocurrencies due to the computer power gamers. Around one such serious scandal. In particular, a platformer called Abstractism, as it turned out, contained a virus that triggers the process, disguised as Steam.exe that actually load the system, helping himself to some mining digital money.
And although the game has been removed, it does not last. After it found and dismantled two more, and it’s not the end. It seems that with the new policy, Valve is only the beginning, so the days when we could safely install all types of content coming from Steam, have sunk into oblivion. In the future it is necessary to trust only proven developers and publishers of all, if you don’t want to burn my graphics card or processor.
По материалам: gameinonline.com


text:
Yahoo - Tumblr: Digital fit or mismatch?
In light of 2013 digital trends, the Yahoo – Tumblr deal appears a win-win. But at the same time, it does not manage to reposition either website in a ground-breaking way
The pros and cons of the purple – grey marriage is not news anymore. We know Yahoo benefits from Tumblr’s user base and Tumblr is getting help in reaching its USD 100 million target in terms of advertising revenues by 2015. While globally this matrimonial is being considered one with a serious nature, how does it impact the Indian digital grounds is not known.
Yahoo and Tumblr have been seeing their own share of woes in India. While Tumblr has managed to create its niche due to the blogging culture seen in the country in the last few years, it still is not the first name on a social media user’s lips. Yahoo India on the other hand is kicking to stay above the waters due to a number of issues.
It was not very long ago when Yahoo avatars and chat rooms were the social adda for teens. With the arrival of social, Yahoo has had stiff competition. To add to its woes, Yahoo India has also been in management turmoil since Arun Tadkani (India MD) resigned in mid February.
Yahoo, Tumblr and India
As both the websites continue to move in different directions in India, it is very difficult to say how the deal will benefit them (Yahoo and Tumblr) on the Indian front and if it will impact the digital grounds in the country. However, to summarise the deal from an India perspective, exchange4media takes a look at it in the light of digital prediction for 2013.
According to research, India has 150 million internet users and the growth in real-time media has given rise to a number of trends in India, five of the most famous being – native advertising, social television, fragmentation, content marketing and smart data (stated in an article by Vishal Mehra, a digital marketer and blogger).
#native advertising: With the growth in social media, advertising forms such as promoted posts and tweets will only see a boost, according to experts. If Yahoo manages to execute such ad format, they have the benefit of offering Yahoo + Tumblr to marketers who will always get attracted to a deal that offers visibility on two websites with the help of one advertisement. A clear win.
#social television: While this might not be applicable to Yahoo – Tumblr deal, Yahoo acquiring Hulu might do the trick.
#fragmentation: Creating multiple touch-point campaigns is one of the most effective and important marketing point, as the number of influencers in a consumers’ life have increased beyond one could imagine. Once again, a win for the deal as Yahoo and Tumblr now have two platforms for their advertisers.
#content marketing: The importance of content has grown immensely. Users now read, indulge and interact with content – content not only available officially by brands, but also other user reviews and blogs giving Yahoo – Tumblr acquisition one more point, as jointly both the brands can leverage each other in terms of content marketing.
#smart data: Commonly also known as Big Data, it is a very complicated subject. However, in layman terms, smart data would be the large user base and records of each user that both the websites possess individually. While Yahoo and Tumblr both seem to be sitting on a gold mine in terms of smart data, they also face one of the biggest challenges here. The coalition of both the data will be difficult as Tumblr caters to a completely different age group. Also, how will the coalition help in revenues is a separate question.
In terms of digital trends in India, Yahoo – Tumblr alliance strategically fits right in. However, it is not likely to shake up the digital foundation as the impact of the deal in India is yet farfetched.
“A ‘portal’ of Yahoo’s kind can be a miscellaneous provider of a variety of services, but also needs to be the compelling leader in few spaces at least; Tumblr provides that and Hulu can do so too if they manage to pull that one off. It gives them some more breathing room. Till they potentially find something more striking, something that has a mass compelling need. And if and when they do find something of that stature, then they can return to the leadership position in the digital space again,” said Sanjay Mehta, CEO, Social Wavelength.
To get back in to the game (in terms of Indian market), Yahoo needs to create a compelling factor that would attract users to come back to both the portals. A strategic success, however, does not change digital dynamics a lot.
Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India)For more updates, be socially connected with us on
WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook & Youtube


text:
Friendly Ice Cream Corporation has announced that Georgetowne Ventures, LLC of Freehold, New Jersey, has become a franchisee of Friendly's restaurants.
The company plans to build and operate two Friendly's Ice Cream Shops and two full-service restaurants in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
Georgetowne will launch the Friendly's Ice Cream Shop concept, a new format that will serve Friendly's signature ice cream desserts and trademark Fribbles in 2011 in Jackson, New Jersey.
Friendly's plans to roll out additional Ice Cream Shop locations in strip malls and lifestyle centers. The Ice Cream Shop will be branded as Friendly's Scoop as part of a pilot program in conjunction with a newly constructed, freestanding Burger King as part of a two-tenant building.
Experienced restaurant operators, Georgetowne partners Joseph Anghelone and John Poloski, through their affiliate companies, employ more than 400 people in New Jersey. The company has been recognized for its track record of strong performance and its commitment to quality, service and cleanliness.
"We are very pleased to partner with Georgetowne Ventures as we expand in New Jersey and prepare for the launch of our Friendly's Ice Cream Shop concept," says Friendly's chairman and CEO Harsha V. Agadi. "With their years of experience and success as restaurant franchisees, we know that Joe and John will act as great stewards of the Friendly's brand."
Anghelone, who is managing owner of Georgetowne Ventures, states, "Our company is proud to join the family of Friendly's operators. They have served their customers faithfully with the finest products offered by this highly recognized brand with a heritage rich in consumer satisfaction and loyalty."


text:
August 31, 2012
Pepsi Working On New Sweetener For Diet Pepsi In US Markets
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online
The artificial sweetener used in U.S. Diet Pepsi, aspartame, breaks down and loses some of its sweetness in high temperatures, according to a bottler.
Too much shaking during transportation makes the taste more fake, particularly for those drinks that have been transported during the summer.
"It's like handling eggs," an independent PepsiCo bottler told MarketWatch.
Essentially, the flavor change to the U.S. Diet Pepsi would make the drink sweeter, and it is not necessarily a change in formula.
"While we are always looking at ways to provide the best consumer experience, we have no intention of changing the Diet Pepsi formula or the great taste that our consumers know and love," PepsiCo spokeswoman Andrea Foote told MarketWatch.
The bottler said the company is testing a few formulas with fans of Diet Pepsi in the U.S. to see if it passes their taste tests.
One person familiar with the situation told MarketWatch that variations from Canada and Saudi Arabia were tried out in initial tests, but PepsiCo is now looking at other formulas that use a blend of artificial sweeteners.
According to the report, the bottler said if a suitable replacement is selected, PepsiCo will have it out on the market in the U.S. by early 2013.
U.S. Diet Pepsi sales dropped 8.2 percent in 2011, according to Beverage Digest, which was more than twice as much as the 4 percent decline by main competitor Diet Coke. Beverage Digest ranks Diet Pepsi as the number seven soda in the country, while Diet Coke is at number two, and Coke remains at one.


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Time: 7:30 am - 10:00 am
Place: St. Louis Community College, Forest Park, The Mildred E. Bastian Theatre
Send this story to a friend
St. Louis developer gets national attention for video game startup
Robin Rath’s idea has struck a nerve with national technology blogs.
Rath is the man behind Pixel Press, an idea to create video games using maps drawn with pencil and paper and an iPhone or iPad.
Rath is working on the prototype of the software that would allow fans of 80’s side-scrolling video games like Super Mario to convert the hand drawn maps into playable levels using optical recognition software.
I caught up with Rath on Monday and he said the attention his idea is getting has been pretty overwhelming. It seems there are a lot of geeks out there who also always wanted to draw extra levels for their video games as kids, he said.
Rath launched a $100,000 Kickstarter campaign Tuesday and it had more than 200 backers who pledged almost $5,000 within the first couple of hours.
Rath, who works full-time at Coolfire Solutions, said the Kickstarter campaign is scheduled to complete in time for the E3 Conference (June 11-13) in Los Angeles, where Rath is slated to unveil Pixel Press at the largest gathering of the video game and electronic entertainment industry.
Rath plans on completing Pixel Press even if the Kickstarter campaign does not raise the required $100,000, but the money would help speed up the development cycle, he said.
Business of Sports, Gaming
- Most popular
- Following trade, Allen Craig's Chesterfield home hits the sale block
- Chicago TV darling ditches sports to be KTVI news anchor
- Midwest BankCentre hires away competing executives
- Wine Spectator gives nods to best wine collections in St. Louis
- Ferguson getting help from local lawyers, state insurance office
- Owners of St. Charles Great Harvest putting business up for sale
- I'm done with lazy LinkedIn users
- Gallus BioPharmaceuticals acquired by DPx Holdings
- Fund for Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson nears $200,000
A look at the day's business stories from media outlets around St. Louis
Accountant, Client Accounting Cassidy Turley | Saint Louis, MO
Salesperson Coldwell Banker Gundaker | Saint Louis, MO
Advertising Account Executive Image Publishing | Saint Louis, MO
Human Resources Recruiter OfficeTeam | Saint Louis, MO
Rep-Retail Sales-Fairview Heights, IL-Edwardsville, IL Verizon Wireless | Fairview Heights, IL


text:
AT a time when small local businesses are feeling the pinch and every penny spent by tourists is vital, a plan to charge cafe and restaurant owners for putting tables outside their premises was bound to cause a backlash.
And it’s a good job people kicked up a fuss – after consideration, the county council has now decided to axe the proposed scheme.
The one-size-fits-all approach of a flat fee – the so-called table tax – was a bad idea from the start. It simply didn’t differentiate between the independent trader, who might put out the odd table or two on a sunny weekend, and the national chain which could have 50 cluttering the pavement all year round.
Most people would accept that there has to be some kind of policy to prevent a free-for-all on our streets, but using it as a money-making tool will never be tolerated. There is enough red tape and tax as it is, without engineering more.
Successive governments have for some time encouraged us, as a nation, to embrace a more continental-style cafe culture. And it can work well for places like Alnwick and its surrounding towns and villages.
You only have to look at the recent food festival in Alnwick Market Place, when visitors made the most of the good weather by filling the tables outside a number of venues, to see that al-fresco is popular and adds to the ambience of such events. Even at this time of year, folk will still sit outside with a cup of tea or coffee, despite the chill in the air.
Long may it remain free for businesses to continue this service.


text:
Millions of customers who have been mis-sold credit/debit card theft insurance are in line for compensation payments from a £1billion fund which has been set up.
The fund relates to customers of HSBC, Barclays, Santander, Natwest and Nationwide (note Lloyds and Halifax did not sell the policies). This follows an investigation by the FCA (formally the FSA) which found that many debit and credit card customers purchased such policies. The policies, which cost up to £120, promised cover against theft from credit/debit cards. However, many customers did not realise that the banks often covered these risks for free.
A further policy costing in the region of £60 which promised £60,000 protection against losses through identity fraud, actually only covered administration and legal expenses and not the costs of the fraud itself.
Over 4.4 million of these policies were sold between January 2005 and March 2011.
The banks mentioned above will shortly be sending out letters notifying customers of how to claim compensation. This will add more financial pressure to the banks who are already reeling after massive payouts from the PPI scandal, not to mention the latest hedging/complex derivative scandals which are expected to cost the banks billions in compensation.
By Leanne Millhouse, commercial litigation solicitor


text:
Huawei will be officially unveiling a few devices at CES. The Windows Phone powered W1, the Ascend D2 the mongo Android-powered Ascend Mate. We’ve seen these devices make an appearance online, either leaked or pleasantly shown off by a Huawei exec.
Now a new set of images, courtesy of reliable tipster EVLeaks, has popped up online. It looks like the W1 will come in white, blue, pink and blue. The specs have it sporting a 4-inch display and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 2000mAh battery.
The D2 has a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1920×1080, 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, 13MP camera and a 1.3 MP front-facing camera, runs Android OS 4.1 Jelly Bean, 3,000mAh battery. As for the Ascend Mate, this is the massive phablet that was shown off by Huawei last week, has a 6.1-inch 1080p Full HD display, quad-core 1.8 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, 13MP camera and 9.9 mm thin.
No word on a Canadian launch or prices, but if any of these do arrive here they’ll most likely end up on WIND Mobile. We’ll bring you hands-on of each of these from CES.


text:
Memorial Day is a time for remembrance and an opportunity to honor the men and women who lost their lives serving in the armed forces, but for many it’s also the symbolic start of summer. The upside: many Americans will be enjoying cookouts, baseball games, and getaways during the long memorial weekend. The downside: anyone residing in a major urban area will become all too familiar with the harsh realities of miles-long traffic jams that all started because that guy couldn’t be bothered to merge properly.
To most people, spring means longer days, sunny skies, and flowers in bloom. For us, however, spring also means great deals on outgoing model-year vehicles. While some cars, like the Honda Civic and Mitsubishi Outlander, received enormous changes between the 2015 and 2016 model years, others enjoyed more modest enhancements or were complete holdovers from the year before. It’s these cars — the unchanged models — that we want to find.
Regardless of where you live, the weathermen seem to be offering the same warning: It’s going to be a scorcher. We’ve seen heat waves hit nearly every part of the globe this summer, and despite coming off one of the most brutal winters on record, we’re already tired of the heat and humidity here in Boston. Being in the northeast, central air conditioning isn’t a given. However, unless you paid Porsche for a new Boxster Spyder, you’ll most likely be able to find some relief in your car.
John “Bugsy” Lawlor and the New England Motor Press Association gave one of New England’s worst winters ever an emphatic boot this past weekend. Having assembled an impressive fleet of new cars and trucks, not to mention a mouth-watering buffet, Lawlor and his Automotion crew hosted a large and varied group of auto journalists for NEMPA’s 2015 Winter Vehicle Awards testing.
Roads were relatively clear but very wet, and withering grey remnants of this year’s record-setting snowfall lingered just beyond the pavement. But having the opportunity to put a large and varied assortment of cars through its paces refreshed everyone’s perspective and attitude. We all learned a ton and had a blast, and we now eagerly look forward to ditching snow tires, opening car windows and roofs wide, and hitting the back roads in something speedy and nimble.
The list of cars available for testing included everything from hot compact all-wheel-drive hatches to full-size trucks, with a number of muscle and sports cars tossed in for good measure. My co-workers and I did our best to sample as wide a range as possible, though we’ll confess that some of our choices were driven by parking-lot logistics. NEMPA’s Winter Vehicle Awards winners won’t get announced until springtime, but here are some thoughts on the cars we drove.
With the year coming to a close, we thought it might a good time to look into the hottest cars of the year for consumers on CarGurus. So we dug into our data mines to determine exactly which vehicles were generating the most interest among our users this last year. These are not necessarily the most purchased vehicles, but rather the vehicles most inquired about by CarGurus users.


text:
Busan-based Gupo dog meat market—one of South Korea’s largest dog-meat markets—will close next month. The move comes after local authorities reached an agreement with the market’s 19 dog-meat vendors to end the practice and regenerate the space into a public park. Humane Society International (HSI) South Korea has worked with dog vendors in the region for four years to help them transition out of the dog-meat trade. “We very much welcome the agreement reached to close Gupo market, home to one of the largest dog meat markets in South Korea,” HSI South Korea dog campaigner Nara Kim said. “The closure plan is the result of months of hard work between the local authorities and the market vendors, and both sides are to be commended for working towards this goal that will not only bring an end to Gupo’s dog meat era, but will also see the area regenerated with new amenities and businesses for the benefit of the local, modern economy.” Gupo’s closure follows the demolition of Taepyeong—South Korea’s largest dog slaughterhouse complex—last year. A 2018 Gallup Korea poll revealed that dog meat is decreasing in popularity, particularly among young South Koreans, 70 percent of whom said they would not consume dog meat in the future. “This is the latest crack down on an increasingly unpopular dog meat trade, and we hope that it inspires further closures in [the] future where dogs also suffer for the meat trade, such as Chilsung market in Daegu,” Kim said.
Photo Credit: Humane Society International


text:
Start the conversation
A new candidate to take over Yahoo's Internet business just emerged, but the YHOO stock price hasn't reflected optimism that an acquisition will materialize.
According to The Washington Post, Verizon Communications Inc.'s (NYSE: VZ) CFO Fran Shammo said Verizon could be interested in buying Yahoo's Internet businesses. But Shammo was vague, saying a deal would only happen "if Yahoo is right."
So far, the acquisition rumors haven't provided any momentum for the Yahoo stock price...
The Wall Street Journal first announced Yahoo planned to sell its Internet Business on Dec. 2, and the YHOO stock price has dropped 0.02% since. The YHOO stock price was trading at $34.55 early this afternoon, 0.37% below its closing price of $34.68 yesterday.
Amid pressure from activist hedge fund Starboard Value, CEO Marissa Mayer is exploring opportunities to unlock more value for Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) shareholders. Mayer has more than doubled the YHOO stock price from its closing price of $15.84 at the end of July 2012, when she first took over.
But several unsuccessful campaigns have limited the value of YHOO stock for shareholders in recent years...
Mayer has attempted to reduce Yahoo's dependence on its worn home-page traffic, but her vision has not added to Yahoo's bottom line. Since 2012, Yahoo's revenue has decreased by 7.97%.
The CEO's biggest move was hiring well-known journalist Kate Couric as the Global Anchor for Yahoo! News. It's not clear how well the move has paid off, but Mayer still decided to increase Couric's salary from $6 million to $10 million in June.
Mayer stated in October that she has a plan to change Yahoo's focus. But investors can't wait any longer for Mayer to try and increase Yahoo's profitability.


text:
Nantucket Distributing Recalls Pre-Lit Christmas Trees Due to Fire Hazard
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.
Name of product: Pre-Lit Globe Light Christmas trees
Hazard: The fuse on the product can overheat and blow, posing a fire hazard.
Consumer Contact: Christmas Tree Shops toll-free at 888-287-3232 any time or by email at firstname.lastname@example.org for more information.
Units: About 600
Description: This recall involves pre-lit artificial Christmas trees. The artificial Colorado Spruce trees are green and measure about 61/2 feet tall. The trees contain five multi-colored incandescent and globe light strands. The SKU/UPC is 31738736. The SKU/UPC is located on the price tag affixed to the product packaging.
Incidents/Injuries: The firm has received one report of exposed wires and seven reports of blown fuses on display trees in stores. No injuries have been reported.
Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the pre-lit Christmas trees. The firm has contacted all known purchasers of the recalled product and all trees sold to consumers have been returned for a full refund.
Sold at: Christmas Tree Shops, Christmas Tree Shops andThat!, and andThat! stores from October 2016 through November 2016 for about $150.
Manufacturer: Baozhaolai Metal Manufactory (Huizhou Co. Ltd.), of Guangdong, China.
Importer: Nantucket Distributing Co. LLC, of Middleboro, Mass.
Manufactured in: China


text:
Samsung has posted a new ad targeting the entire iPhone line-up from 2007 to the tenth-anniversary iPhone X. It even mocks the iPhone X’s signature notch.
Inspite of being a Samsung ad, it portrays Apple all over the video, mocking Apple’s slow adoption of tech such as wireless charging, facial recognition, more internal storage, and a bigger OLED screen, of course. The ad goes on appreciating Samsung’s efforts to bring in mobile features ahead of Apple. Remember Galaxy Note 7?
While the ad video doesn’t reflect the disastrous Galaxy Note 7 saga, which Samsung reportedly released too early to compete with Apple, it criticizes Apple for being late (and doing things with perfection, of course). Remember Samsung’s facial recognition tech? Probably not, and Apple’s Face ID? Yes, definitely!
What Samsung doesn’t understand here is that releasing something first, and doing it well are two different things. You might wanna take a note, Samsung!


text:
Shotguns continue to rule the roost for a Maryland auction house, driven, in part by the state’s strict gun laws.
The firearms collection of famed gun writer Elmer Keith recently sold at auction and the results show Keith's prominence even today.
Colt Python revolvers and all other Colt wheel guns are in big demand across the nation, with prices skyrocketing.
Classic guns, and some oddballs, have drawn top dollar at a respected auction house.
Commemorative Firearms have moved like hotcakes for one Wisconsin auction house.
Record turnout for Morphy’s Jan. 31-Feb. 1 firearms auction yields $1.2 million result, including fierce bidding for a Vietnam-era marine sniper rifle.
Typically, it's guns with a patina that grab high bids at auctions. But at one event this year, there was a much different genre of firearms that got people spending. Surprisingly, ARs and other contemporary firearms were the hot ticket.
Big crowds and intense bidding battles made for an action-filled weekend at Rock Island Auction Company’s latest event, which surpassed $14.7 million in sales.
Instantly research Standard Catalog of Firearms pricing data on your mobile device or desktop computer.


text:
Facebook's steely revenue march is fueled by mobile ads: 62% of Facebook's Q2 2014 advertising revenue came from mobile ads, up from 41% just a year ago. This ad revenue may still just be a paper castle waiting to fall — my colleage Nate Elliott's analysis that Facebook is still failing marketers suggests that. But right now over a billion people around the world — 81% of its entire member base — access Facebook on mobile devices every month, twice as many as did just two years ago (see Figure 1). And they are seeing ads.
I see three important conclusions stemming from Facebook's results:
- The mobile mind shift is hitting critical mass around the world. People increasingly engage with people, information, and services on their mobile devices first. Forrester forecasts that 2.4 billion will have smartphones by 2017, twice the number as in 2012. So if your customer isn't mobile today, they will be soon — across every generation. Firms must serve their increasingly impatient mobile customers with great mobile experiences. It's what our book, The Mobile Mind Shift, is about. Facebook is both driving and benefiting from the mobile mind shift as it delivers ever-more services on the devices people crave.
- Digital experiences are mobile experiences first and foremost. Eighty-one percent of Facebook's members are monthly mobile users. And 78% of its daily users are daily mobile users. When Facebook did an about face and added a Facebook app (not just a mobile Facebook web site), it paid off in engagement. According to Flurry (recently acquired by Yahoo!), in April 2014 17% of all mobile app time was spent in Facebook's app. Wow! Any company serving customers online must serve them on mobile. And apps are better than Web for engagement and quality of the experience. Facebook has proven this with the steady growth in mobile ad revenue stemming from its app.
- Mark Zuckerberg's bet on deconstructing Facebook into separate apps to focus on more mobile moments is spot on. If the basic app generates these results, just think of what a billion people using other Facebook features on mobile devices could do. My colleague and coauthor Josh Bernoff has commented on this. Facebook will diversify its mobile app portfolio to compete for all the mobile moments in its grasp: mobile messaging moments, mobile photo sharing moments, mobile news feed moments, even mobile search moments. I wonder, though, whether Facebook as a brand umbrella will work across these diverse applications . . .
Facebook's financial results are a bellweather indicator of the mobile mind shift. If it's true for the 1.3 billion Facebook members, it will be true for many or most of your customers and employees.
As an aside, Facebook come a long way since 2006 when I met with a young Facebook employee carrying the exalted title "chief revenue officer." The company had $0 revenue at the time. We talked about an ad-support business model back then, but he was worried about ads as their sole model. (I pushed him hard to avoid subscriptions.) Not any longer. Ads, and now mobile ads, are Facebook's destiny. At some point soon, Facebook's future will hinge on whether it can monetize even more mobile moments through ads.


text:
COVID-19 impact roundup: Scandic Hotels cut costs, adopt strict hygiene measures
Scandic takes decisive steps to ensure the company’s liquidity. (Picture: B&L Gruppe)
To weather the COVID-19 storm, Scandic has dramatically cut costs to maintain liquidity and implemented new, stricter hygiene and safety measures.
2020 started strong for Scandic Hotels Group and looked like it would have been a year of solid growth.
When security measures were put in place to curb the spread of coronavirus, occupancy rates and sales plummeted, and the group was forced to take drastic measures to secure its financial situation.
We find out which steps Scandic is taking and how the group is navigating the crisis.
COVID-19 impact on Scandic
With travel bans and security measures coming into full force in March, Scandic saw sales drop by around 47% that month. Towards the end of March, the average occupancy at the group’s hotels reached about 10%. Overall, Scandic’s Q1 sales for 2020 declined by 17% compared to Q1 2019.
Mitigation measures taken by Scandic
The sudden collapse of both local and international travel made drastic cost-saving measures necessary.
Scandic has strongly cut back on purchasing and investments in ongoing projects as well as all non-essential business travel. Due to low demand, more than half of the group’s hotels have been closed temporarily and staff have been furloughed. The executive management team’s salaries are being reduced by 20%.
Hotels are also working on rent deferral plans with owners to further improve the cash flow situation. Finally, the previously announced dividend for 2019 has been cancelled. All these measures combined have reduced the company’s monthly costs by approximately 70%, a greater reduction than was thought possible.
“When we saw signs of declining sales at the end of February, we acted rapidly and forcefully to lower costs and protect cash flow. It has been a demanding process to lay off or terminate the employment of so many team members, but at the same time, I am satisfied with how quickly Scandic carried out these necessary measures to allow us to manage a temporary period of extremely low demand,” Jens Mathiesen, President & CEO of Scandic Hotels Group AB, said in a recent media release.
Updated cancellation and rebooking policies
Scandic has changed its cancellation and rebooking policies to allow guests to update reservations for trips they are unable to take. For stays up to May 31, 2020, free rebooking is possible until April 30, 2021.
New guidelines for guest safety and hotel hygiene
To ensure guests who travel during this time and after the crisis feel as comfortable and safe as possible while away from home, Scandic has adopted new measures to ensure top hygiene standards at all hotels.
Staff have received additional training on adhering to local authorities’ guidelines and recommendations to avoid the spread of COVID-19 at their properties. Cleaning protocols now include frequent disinfection of exposed surfaces such as door handles, elevator buttons, handrails and credit card terminals as well as providing hand sanitiser dispensers throughout the hotels’ public areas.
BEST STORIES FOR YOU