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Spooky season is upon us — and it appears that Americans are gearing up for an epic Halloween celebration this year.
According to CandyStore.com, Halloween chocolate and candy sales have hit $324 million so far this year, which is an increase of 48% compared to the same time period in 2020 — and an increase of 59.8% since 2019. That means not only are candy sales back to normal, but they're booming. But it's not just candy, Halloween gear — everything from costumes to decor — have increased 26.9% versus the same time period in 2020, according to data gathered over an eight-week period ending October 4.
But what kind of candy is everyone stocking up on? The answer varies in different areas of the country, but certain Halloween treats seem to reign supreme nationwide. According to sales data, some of the most popular candies are Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Skittles, and M&Ms.
While these are generally classics and don’t come as much of a surprise, regionally there are a few candy curve balls. CandyStore’s interactive map of the United States shows that in North Dakota, it’s Hot Tamales that are, well, hot, while New Mexico is all about the Jolly Rancher. Louisiana loves Lemonheads and Wisconsin is partial to the Butterfinger.
“Chocolate and candy sales have come roaring back during the 2021 Halloween season as excitement continues to grow and consumers tell us they’re ready to celebrate,” John Downs, president & CEO of the National Confectioners Association, said in a statement. According to Downs, 82% of Americans have plans to celebrate Halloween — and those figures include 93% of millennial parents. Up from 80% in 2020, 87% of people say they will purchase the same amount of — or more — Halloween candy this year. Which all makes sense, because what would the Halloween season be without chocolate and candy?”
One thing is certain — everyone knows what they want in their Halloween bucket this year!


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CANADA: Investing in Moose Jaw Pork Company
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food's Agri-Food Equity Fund (AFEF) has invested $1 million in the World Wide Pork Company Ltd. of Moose Jaw.Agriculture and Food Minister Clay Serby made the announcement while touring the facility today."This investment is just another example of AFEF's work in promoting value-added diversification, economic growth and jobs in Saskatchewan's agri-food sector," Serby said. "Since its inception, the Agri-Food Equity Fund has approved investments in small and medium-sized Saskatchewan companies totalling more than $16 million." World Wide Pork specializes in hog slaughtering and specialty cuts for the Japanese and other Asian markets. The company employs over 150 workers and has been fully operational since May, when it was purchased from Tai-Wan Pork."We plan to expand our staff and capacity over the next year or two. Once full production is attained we expect to be slaughtering over 300,000 hogs annually which will be sourced primarily from the prairie provinces," World Wide Pork President Tom Cheng said.Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food established the Agri-Food Equity Fund in 1994. The Fund invests in viable agricultural value-added Saskatchewan businesses and co-operatives by purchasing equity, in addition to offering business advice for start-up or expansion.
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Odontoprev Rallies in Sao Paulo on Dental Plan Joint VentureDenyse Godoy
Odontoprev SA, a Brazilian dental benefits company, soared the most in two weeks after signing a deal with Banco do Brasil SA and BB Seguridade Participacoes SA to create a joint venture to sell dental plans.
The shares rose 2.9 percent to 9.92 reais at the close in Sao Paulo, the biggest one-day gain since May 28. They surged as much as 9 percent intraday. The benchmark Ibovespa retreated 3 percent.
Odontoprev will have a 25.01 percent stake in the new company, to be named Brasildental Operadora de Planos Odontologicos SA, according to a regulatory filing from the dental benefits company today. Banco do Brasil and its subsidiary will hold the remaining 74.99 percent. About 40 percent to 50 percent of Odontoprev’s six million clients came to the company since 2009 through a partnership with Banco Bradesco SA, Chief Executive Officer Randal Zanetti said.
“The deal with Banco do Brasil has the potential to bring as many clients as the partnership with Bradesco did,” Zanetti said in a phone interview from Sao Paulo.
The main focus of the new venture, Brasildental, will be selling to retail customers and small companies, according to the CEO.
The press offices of Banco do Brasil and BB Seguridade didn’t respond to phone calls seeking comment.
Odontoprev’s profits have trailed analysts’ estimates in six of the past eight quarters, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The shares declined 7.5 percent this year, while the Ibovespa dropped 18 percent.


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Electrical Safety First has launched a new Amazon Alexa app to help slash the number of electrical fires in UK homes.
Using voice technology to easily access information on product recalls, consumers can effortlessly discover if they have a recalled electrical item – simply by giving Alexa the item’s brand name.
Currently, product recalls achieve a success rate of just 10-20 per cent, leaving a host of potentially unsafe electrical items still in use and presenting a significant risk of fire. In fact, research by the charity indicates almost 270 million unregistered electrical products are still in UK homes.
As only those consumers who register an item can be easily contacted in the case of a product recall, this means that there is a significant proportion of the population who won’t know if one of their appliances is a safety risk. Electrical Safety First’s new Alexa app aims to boost those recall rates, preventing electrical fires caused by faulty devices.
“Electricity is responsible for over half of all UK domestic fires,” explained Emma Drackford, Director of Communications for Electrical Safety First. “In 2017, almost 5,000 fires were caused by faulty electrical appliances and leads, including recalled items – the equivalent of 13 fires per day across the UK.
“We are committed to using every advantage provided by new technology to reduce this risk. We hope that by launching the Alexa app, people will use it to make ad-hoc checks while doing chores around the house, without having to open a website. It’s all about removing barriers and giving our audience the tools they need to use their electrical products more safely.”
Electrical Safety First worked with Manchester-based digital agency, Absurd, to develop and build the app.


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Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Strengthen synergies in a promising move for the business world. The leading company Warranty Smart Indonesia under the auspices of PT. Mitra Guarantee Indonesia announced a strategic partnership that aims to bring new innovations to the car dealer market throughout the City of Tangerang through the Tangerang Dealers Owner Association (DOT).
It is hoped that this partnership will combine the expertise and resources of both to create better and more efficient solutions for all of their customers.
This collaboration emerged in the midst of increasingly fierce competition in various industrial sectors. By joining Warranty Smart and DOT, both of them hope to take advantage of each other’s strengths to overcome the challenges and opportunities that exist in the automotive market today.
Warranty Smart, a company known for its warranty coverage, provides the leading warranty service in recent years. By inviting all car users to pay only IDR 4,000/day, all warranty smart car warranty users can experience warranty service from warranty smart.
Warranty Smart’s flagship services include replacement car facilities, roadside assistance (towing, battery jumpers, petrol delivery, tire replacement), a network of workshops throughout Indonesia, a 24-hour hotline.
On the other hand, Paguyuban DOT, which has been in the automotive industry for a long time, has an extensive distribution network throughout the city of Tangerang to market various types of cars with guaranteed quality to its consumers. Their expertise in car sales has made them a key player in responding to the growing market demand around the automotive world, especially cars.
With this collaboration, Warranty Smart and the DOT Association plan to develop a joint business with every car purchase in all Tangerang dealers who are members of the DOT association. Later, every customer who buys a car at a Tangerang Dealer will be able to feel comfortable driving with a car guarantee from Warranty Smart as a guarantee for the safety of the car.
This step is expected to accelerate the development and launch of more widespread smart warranty products to the market in a shorter time.
Director of Warranty Smart, Susy Kurniawan, said, “We are very excited about the potential of this collaboration. With this collaboration, we are confident we can create solutions that will change the way business is in the world of buying and selling cars.”
Meanwhile, the Head of the DOT Association, Alvian, added, “This partnership is a step that makes sense for both of us. We have the same vision to provide driving comfort to all our customers so that we will create added value for the cars we sell to our customers.”
The partnership between Warranty Smart and Paguyuban DOT will be the latest example of how collaboration between the two can make a positive impact in the car buying and selling business. With a focus on the importance of car warranties, this partnership has the potential to bring significant positive change to the global car buying and selling market.
Sales Optimization Tricks Using Advertising Agency


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Recent automotive trends, reviews, test drives and the latest news from the world of cars
Although the Volkswagen Polo GTi have suffered minimal aesthetic changes in the United States, the model should gain considerable mechanical changes in his version in 2015, such as the inclusion of a manual transmission because of complaints from consumers who felt the lack of this option.
Daimler is willing to maintain partnership with Renault-Nissan in the coming years. Speaking at the Automotive News website, Dieter Zetsche, CEO of the company, said that work together need not be restricted to a model or a segment.
BMW scrapped for now, offer CSL versions (made with lighter materials) of the newly launched M3 and M4. Speaking to website Top Gear, Matt Collins, product manager of the brand, explained that the current models are already light enough.


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Andy Rubin, Director of Mobile Platforms today posted on the official blog debunking any ideas of a GPhone being launched in the near future; however he did announce that they have collaborated to build a mobile platform for wireless devices that will support all its mobile applications and services in the future.
Google have joined up with T-Mobie, HTC, Qualcomm, Motorola and over 30 more companies to build the Android platform.
Andy comments " Despite all of the very interesting speculation over the last few months, we're not announcing a GPhone. However, we think what we are announcing - the Open Handset Alliance and Android - is more significant and ambitious than a single phone.
In fact, through the joint efforts of the members of the Open Handset Alliance, we hope Android will be the foundation for many new phones and will create an entirely new mobile experience for users, with new applications and new capabilities we can’t imagine today.
Android is the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. It includes an operating system, user-interface and applications - all of the software to run a mobile phone, but without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile innovation.
We have developed Android in cooperation with the Open Handset Alliance, which consists of more than 30 technology and mobile leaders including Motorola, Qualcomm, HTC and T-Mobile. Through deep partnerships with carriers, device manufacturers, developers, and others, we hope to enable an open ecosystem for the mobile world by creating a standard, open mobile software platform.
We think the result will ultimately be a better and faster pace for innovation that will give mobile customers unforeseen applications and capabilities.
We see Android as an important part of our strategy of furthering Google's goal of providing access to information to users wherever they are. We recognize that many among the multitude of mobile users around the world do not and may never have an Android-based phone. Our goals must be independent of device or even platform.
For this reason, Android will complement, but not replace, our longstanding mobile strategy of developing useful and compelling mobile services and driving adoption of these products through partnerships with handset manufacturers and mobile operators around the world."
And the first promo for the Open Handset Alliance is below


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Do you eat chocolate daily? If yes, then a new study has given an another reason to eat chocolates as craving for chocolate might be good for health. According to a new study eating chocolate can prevent type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance which further reduces the risk of the cardiovascular diseases.
A team of researchers from the Luxembourg Institute of Health, the University of Warwick Medical School, the University of South Australia and the University of Maine conducted a study to unravel the benefits of eating chocolates.
For the study, researchers involved 1,153 people aged between 18 and 69 years. Participants were divided into groups and each group was asked to eat a different amount of chocolate each day. Later it was found that people who ate more than 100g of chocolate a day had improved liver enzymes and reduced insulin resistance.
Participants were asked several question on their chocolate eating habits. After analysing the data it was found that people who regularly ate chocolate from their childhood were relatively younger, more physically fit and more interestingly, obtained higher education levels than those who do not like eating chocolates.
Study authors said that cocoa-based products might be beneficial for cardio-metabolic health. Chocolates are made up of cocoa, and this might be the reason behind improved cardio health and reduced insulin resistance,
However, study authors further added that clinical trials are needed to confirm the findings as the study is still in its nascent stage.
“Potential applications of this knowledge include recommendations by healthcare professionals to encourage individuals to consume a wide range of phytochemical-rich foods, which can include dark chocolate in moderate amounts. However, it is important to differentiate between the natural product cocoa and the processed product chocolate, which is an energy-dense food. Therefore, physical activity, diet and other lifestyle factors must be carefully balanced to avoid detrimental weight gain over time.”
Dr Ala’a Alkerwi, Principal Investigator of the study at LIH said: “It is also possible that chocolate consumption may represent an overall marker for a cluster of favourable socio-demographic profiles, healthier lifestyle behaviours and better health status. This could explain, at least in part, the observed inverse associations with insulin and liver biomarkers.”


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Levee officials: We could have a Ferris wheel and more
LAS VEGAS - It has been a year since Newport on the Levee officials announced the possibility of adding a large observation wheel to attract tourists to the riverfront site.
That project is still in the works, according to general manager Harold Dull. But there's also an opportunity to add other elements to the 15-year-old destination to help ensure it remains competitive with other regional entertainment attractions.
Last year, the Levee's owner, Price Group, based outside San Diego, had a letter of intent with St. Louis-based Koch Development to build a 180-foot-high SkyWheel.
Dull said the development team has had to wait for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to approve the plan.
"They’ve been given construction plans and we're waiting for an OK," Dull said. "We really don’t know when we’ll see that approval. We’re very hopeful. We think it would be another great regional attraction."
The Levee made the switch to Jones Lang LaSalle last year to help recruit retail tenants. Brokers from that firm are representing the destination at the International Council of Shopping Centers' RECon conference in Las Vegas to help recruit businesses to Newport.
"There's a lot of good things happening," said Tim Murray, a vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle's Midwest retail division. "There's some announcements that could be made soon."
The Levee features office tenants, retailers and more than a dozen restaurants and bars and entertainment attractions such as the Newport Aquarium. Dull said the destination has to add more dining and entertainment options to remain relevant.
Although the aquarium opened in May 1999, the site's grand opening was October 2001. The site, developed by Columbus-based Steiner & Associates, was envisioned to attract between five and six million visitors a year. Now, Dull said the Levee's attractions get about 3.5 million visitors a year.
The Levee has had several bittersweet developments in the last few years. It has had exits of retailers and entertainment venues. The annual Newport Jazz, Arts & Wine Festival was scrapped this year after a four-year run. The Funny Bone, one of the original Levee tenants, closed down for renovations earlier this month, but it's not immediately clear if and when the venue will reopen.
"Certainly there’s been a lot of change in the competitive environment," Dull said. "The Banks has been successful. We're glad for their success. We look at it complementary not competition. Then you have the success of Newport Pavilion, Oakley Station, there’s been a lot of change.
“Entertainment and dining, that’s what our strength is,” he added. “That’s where we’ll continue to see evolution. Additional attractions and new-to-marketplace restaurants, that will hopefully keep us vibrant and top of mind for customers.”
The Levee is waiting an adjacent $80 million project to wrap up, which is adding 239 upscale apartments, a 144-room Aloft hotel, an 800-space parking garage and 8,200 square feet of retail space in Newport. Louisville-based Musselman Hotels is developing the Starwood lifestyle brand Aloft and Downtown Cincinnati-based Capital Investment Group is developing the apartments.
Apartments units are being pre-leased now and the first residents are expected to move into the building in late June. Dull said the hotel is expected to be open by year's end. The hotel helps fulfill a vision established for the site nearly a decade ago. A Hilton Garden Inn was planned to open the site in 2003, but it never started construction.
Longer-range goals for the Levee include repurposing the vacant Imax theater and analyzing the potential of infill and further waterfront development.


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Move made in effort to keep domestic market stable
Algeria has suspended duties on animal feed imports until the end of 2015 in an effort to keep its domestic market stable amid rising world market prices.
“The exemption from customs duties has come into force and will continue to be implemented until Dec. 31,” an official said in a Reuters report.
Algeria imports almost all of the soy and corn it uses. In the first quarter of 2015, it imported 1.16 million tons of corn, which was up 801,197 tons from the same period a year ago.


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tonda55 - Fotolia
NetApp has refreshed its entire FAS storage array range with improvements to controller hardware and upgrades to its Ontap operating system that boost performance and capacity.
The announcement comprises six FAS arrays: the entry-level FAS2600 series with base units of 12- or 24-drive capacity that scale to 576 drives; the midrange FAS8200 that scales from 12 drives to 480, and; the high-end FAS9000 that goes up to 1,440 spinning disk HDDs and 480 flash drives or a combination of the two.
NetApp also announced two All Flash FAS arrays, the AFF A 300 and AFF A700, which scale to 70PB and 88PB respectively and promise “double the IOPS at half the latency of previous AFF arrays”, according to NetApp products manager Laurence James, although the NetApp spec sheet provides no figures on this.
Drive types accommodated range from nearline-SAS for less access-sensitive data to flash drives, including 15TB SSDs that can allow customers to pack a petabyte into a 2U shelf.
Also new to these arrays is NetApp Flash Cache with NVMe connectivity.
NVMe is a recent advance in the PCIe interface. It significantly reduces the overhead suffered by PCIe SSD hardware that uses SAS/SATA protocols and allows them to take advantage of the parallelism of the latest PCIe 3.0 specification.
Previously, Sata drives were limited to around 500MBps throughput and even the latest SAS drives to around 1.5GBps. NVMe potentially more than doubles this and allows the speed of flash media to operate almost unrestricted by the PCIe connection.
NetApp upgraded its operating system to Ontap version 9 earlier in summer 2016, with a focus on flash read and write optimisation, as well as addition of data compaction as a method of making more efficient use of disk space resulting from data deduplication and compression.
Ontap 9 also brought Flexgroups, which are a single addressable NAS namespace that scales to 20PB and 400 billion files. This, said James, will allow NetApp to “compete with [EMC] Isilon” for clustered NAS customers.
The FAS range of block and file access flash and HDD storage arrays are aimed at enterprise users, with a full range of storage features such as replication and snapshots, encryption and quality of service.
Meanwhile, NetApp’s Solidfire all-flash arrays are aimed at service providers with stricter quality of service requirements in multi-tenancy environments, while the company’s E-series hardware is for those with no need for storage features, usually in high-performance database cases.


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The Centre of Awareness (COA) Global Peace Mission, manufacturers of COA Food Supplement, has been given authorisation to market the product as herbal medicine for general well-being.
The product, which despite its popularity and acclaimed efficacy by many was taken off the market in May, this year, after the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) asked the producers to do so, has come back on the market as herbal mixture.
The FDA, on April 18, directed the manufacturers to recall from the shelves 692 boxes of the food supplement, COA FS, from a batch, when it was detected that some samples of the product had been found to be contaminated and they were subsequently destroyed by the FDA in Cape Coast.
Last Wednesday, however, the FDA gave COA, the manufacturer of the drug, now known as COA mixture, the market authorisation to market the drug after satisfying all issues relating to the quality of manufacturing of the product.
The new COA mixture
At the relaunch of the product last Wednesday, the Executive President of COA, Professor Samuel Duncan, said the level of efficacy was even better.
He stated that the company in furtherance of ensuring safety was key had established the COA Research and Manufacturing Company that would explore the world of medicine and produce efficacious medicines to support the health sector both nationally and internationally.
He indicated that the company lost GH¢1,689,000 in destroyed products after FDA ordered the recall and destruction of the products.
GH¢10 million project
However, he said, the factory had undergone a GH¢10 million expansion to improve production efficiency and check possible contamination.
The FDA has also trained workers of the company to improve their competencies for enhanced output.
Prof. Duncan said the safety and quality of their product was paramount, adding that together with the FDA, the company had worked to ensure strict adherence to regulatory guidelines to prevent future occurrence of possible contamination.
From 2005 to 2012, through scientific research, the COA product was developed and registered as a food supplement by the FDA in September, 2016.
COA-FS gained both national and international recognition due to how it supported the treatment of many diseases.
Prof. Duncan said the recall incident was a huge loss considering the fact that COVID-19 had already had its toll on the economy.
He said COA had in furtherance of safety measures, purchased and installed a new automated equipment to reduce human contact and improve quality.
He said the new product also had security features to prevent possible contamination.
Prof. Duncan pledged to work harder to support efforts at resolving the world’s medicinal needs.
The President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Nana Dr. Appiagyei Dankawoso I, in his address expressed the hope that the company would explore both local and international opportunities to bring in foreign exchange.
He urged regulators to work with manufacturers to ensure that local businesses were successful, saying if there were no manufacturers, there would be nothing to regulate.
The Deputy Central Regional Minister, Mr. Thomas Adjei Baffoe, said the efforts made by the company were commendable and urged them to work closely with the FDA to meet internationally acceptable standards and explore the international market.


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ATM, online fund transfer most favoured payment platforms among bankers: Survey
06 March 2014
A CII-PwC Banking Tech survey has found that out of all the payment platforms in use, ATM and Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), national electronic clearing service (NECS) were the most popular among the banking fraternity, with all the banks using these in great measure.
According to a CII-PwC survey report titled 'Connecting the dots: Wiring business, technology and operations', ''Banks will invest in platforms such as integrated payment hubs which supplement existing core banking systems and provide a consolidated view across all payment channels. Big data use in payments or unstructured areas like social media, customer care and internal communications will mature.''
According to the report, the sector would likely see increased use of mobile specific features such as geo location, camera or scanning and voice identification.
Small to medium banks would start looking for entire core banking platforms as a service, even as more established banks enhanced cloud adoption in non-core areas such as HR.
Much opportunity also existed in the social media domain to target customers, garner their interest and cater to their specific requirements.
The report further added that banks were well-prepared to deal with various types of frauds and had an efficient system in place to save them from such risks, says a report.
"The domestic banks seems to be well-prepared and equipped to deal with fraudulent activities, taking suitable measures and initiatives to secure themselves from risk," the report says.
According to the report, which was based on the responses from 24 public, private and foreign banks, almost all the respondents had a strong and resilient regulatory compliance framework in their banks.
"Majority of the respondents confirmed that they have in place an analytics driven fraud prediction and automated fraud reporting system," the report said.
As many as 63 per cent of the respondents said they were technologically prepared to tackle risk and compliance requirements.
The report said challenges that banks faced as regards fraud detection were related to huge volumes of data aggregation and integration to cull out the relevant data.
The report said 63 per cent of banks were fully compliant with the RBI-mandated automated data flow requirement and had their implementation plans in place.
According to the report, banks had faced some operational challenges in their NPA automation process and three-fourths of banks were in the process of implementing NPA automation.


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Go Digital, Grow Digital
Hyderabad-based Suven Life Sciences has received a patent from New Zealand for a drug utilized for treatment of neuro-degenerative diseases.
Sheela Foam, creators of the Sleepwell mattresses, has filed for a patent for its in-house built idea called `Perfect Match', which expects to give personalized sleep experience.
Blueair is set to launch a new series of air-purifiers at lower price points. The first product in the series called the Blueair Joy S is set to be launched exclusively on Amazon later this month.
Growth trajectory for the pharmaceutical industry is likely to be moderate, in single digit, according to rating agency Icra.
Miller’s presentation will highlight a patent-pending technology that PPG has developed using an ultra-low...
FLEXLIFE have been granted a European Patent for 'Corrosion Protection of Pipes Suspended in Seawater', this Patent relates to the use of Flexlife's FlexGel product.
Merck announced that the Korean Intellectual Property Office and the Israel Patent Office have each issued notices granting Merck’s patent applications for the company’s CRISPR technology.
Novel Cms1 CRISPR Nuclease Portfolio Available to Partners to Drive Crop Improvement.
Solvay announced on behalf of its wholly owned subsidiary, Cytec Industries Inc., that it has filed a patent...


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This is the executive summary of the AIER report “The Trade War: A One-Year Assessment.” Read the full report here.
“I am a Tariff Man,” tweeted President Donald J. Trump on December 4, 2018, putting a strange exclamation point on a year in which the President followed through on the protectionist rhetoric he cultivated since the 2016 campaign. Making good on this campaign promise, however, harmed virtually all Americans while failing to positively impact the industries supposedly being protected.
President Trump’s aggressive use of tariffs in 2018 made clear that he did not view international trade through the lens of commerce, where thousands or even millions of individuals and firms do business. Instead, world trade was about negotiation, with world leaders using carrots and sticks to regulate commerce between their citizens and the strongest and shrewdest leaders coming out on top.
Anyone who maintains that a $75 billion income tax cut helps the economy must also agree that a tariff hike of $45 billion or more must harm the economy. This study looks back on the unprecedented developments in international trade that happened in 2018.
While economists across the political spectrum often disagree on the most fundamental policy questions, they almost uniformly oppose protectionism. At the time of this writing in March 2019, the data showing the damage this trade war has done are starting to come in.
Amiti et al (2019) report statistical evidence that the 2018 tariffs and retaliatory measures taken by U.S. trading partners have increased both input and final consumer prices, disrupted global supply chains, and resulted in deadweight loss of billions of dollars over and above the tens of billions of dollars in new taxes filling government coffers. Fajgelbaum et al (2019) reach similar conclusions about the volume of global trade and losses to the U.S. economy.
We take a higher-level view to understand in the most basic terms the mechanisms by which the 2018 tariffs have directly harmed American consumers and firms. After a summary of the actions taken by the Trump Administration and foreign governments in retaliation, we turn to what has been lost due to the tariffs, and what if anything has been gained. We find that:
- The 2018 tariffs directly claw back a quarter or more of the savings American households and firms realized from the 2017 cuts in individual and corporate tax rates.
- U.S. importers passed a large portion of the new tax burden they directly faced onto consumers.
- While protectionists claim that tariffs are necessary to shield important domestic industries from competition, data from the steel and aluminum industries provide no evidence that these sectors have realized any gains.
Tariffs are sometimes politically easier to swallow than other tax increases because the costs seem indirect and diluted throughout the economy while the supposed benefits seem more direct and carry a degree of sympathy. Our analysis shows that this intuition is flat wrong. Tariffs cost American households and firms billions, and fail to provide help to ailing industries promised by their proponents.


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Microsoft recently announced the new Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL but did not share much information about Windows 10 Mobile. However, an update regarding the same was spotted on Microsoft Facebook’s official Lumia page.
The company has revealed in a comment on the the Lumia page that Windows 10 Mobile will begin rolling out to existing Windows Phone devices in December. The news came in response to a question about when Windows 10 will be available to devices like the Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL. “Broad availability of Windows 10 on other devices, including mobile phones, will begin rolling out in December,” Microsoft told fans on its official Lumia page on Facebook.
In one of the comments, Microsoft said that it is its “ambition to make an upgrade available for majority of Lumia smartphones running Windows Phone 8.1.” However, 8GB of internal storage is a must, which means that entry-level handsets like the Lumia 530 will not get the update. The Microsoft support page further says that only handsets running Lumia Denim will be able to upgrade, and “not every phone will support all possible Windows 10 features.”
The exact date of the Windows 10 roll out in December is not known yet. It is expected that the company will make it as a gradual release and not all the phones will receive the update at the same time. Microsoft has already clarified which 10 Lumia phones will receive Windows 10 upgrade.


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Scotland Yard is to sell its world famous name to a variety of merchandise including clothing, toys and souvenirs to fill a funding gap after years of austerity under successive governments. The Metropolitan Police Service [MPS] announced its plans earlier in the week.
The practice is common in the United States where forces such as the New York Police Department (NYPD) have been selling merchandise for over a decade.
Scotland Yard said that, as well as frontline policing, any money raised by the licensing project would be used to train staff and improve the image of the Metropolitan Police Service [MPS] in the eyes of the public.
It will license the use of its logo, the New Scotland Yard sign and the MPS’s font and colour palette, as well as imagery of its officers on patrol.
A contract has been signed with branding firm The Point.1888, which has worked with the Tate galleries and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
The MPS said it was not yet clear how much money it was likely to make each year as a result of the project, which will run until May 2021. The force added that no products that look like MPS uniforms would be produced and Scotland Yard would have to sign off any licensed product made by external companies.


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Small fry taunt Big Food Group
THREE exiles from troubled retail and wholesale company Big Food Group have set up their own business, cheekily titled Big Fish Group.
Malcolm Walker, ousted as chairman nearly four years ago in a dramatic boardroom coup, has joined forces with two former colleagues to buy a business distributing fish to hotels, pubs and restaurants.
They are buying Openshaws, a company based in Bolton, Lancashire, which processes and distributes more than 4,500 tonnes of fish each year. Financing for the deal comes from Lloyds TSB.
The deal was done using a company with the unremarkable name Netgroove. But unable to resist the temptation to have a dig at their former employer, the trio have now changed its name to Big Fish Group - BFG for short.
Meanwhile, the other BFG, Big Food Group, is expecting a takeover offer from its 22% shareholder, the Icelandic company Baugur
Baugur has signalled that it may bid 110p a share. BFG has three arms - the chain of 750 Iceland High Street shops, Booker cash-and-carry and catering supply business Woodwards.
Industry sources say Baugur is in talks to sell Woodwards to South African-controlled Bidvest, which already owns catering supplies operator 3663, if the BFG takeover goes through.
Bidvest has made no secret of its desire to buy other businesses to merge with 3663. Two years go, the group signalled that it wanted to buy catering industry food supplier Brake Brothers. It scrapped the idea after the Government said a deal would trigger a Competition Commission inquiry.
Woodwards lost £6.4 million last year on sales of nearly £120 million.
BFG had hoped to be able to announce a deal with Baugur by the time it unveils interim results, due this month. But Baugur has not yet finished scrutinising BFG's books.
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Last week, the wholesale giant Costco issued an apology for selling a Black doll cuddling a stuffed monkey with the label “Lil Monkey” on the doll’s hat. That effort has done little, though, to quiet the anger and frustration of Black customers still deeply offended by the words on the doll’s outfit and packaging.
Viral e-mail chains complaining about the doll – some even calling for a boycott of the Washington-based company – have been making their way around the Web and into inboxes.
“I can’t believe this,” wrote one self-declared former Costco customer who forwarded the e-mail and photos of the doll to her e-mail listserv. “Well, I will go and see for myself and then cancel my membership. Wow, I can’t believe what companies think they can get away with. Hidden racism.”
In its damage-control attempt, the company claims it was a simple oversight. "We are sensitive to any complaint that a product we carry would cause discomfort to any segment of our membership," said Costco CEO Jim Sinegal in an official press release. "As soon as it became clear to us that this toy item was offensive to some of our members, we decided to remove it from our warehouses. We don't believe there is room for argument in matters of this type, even though it was an honest mistake, made while we were attempting to do the right thing.
What was the right thing Costco was attempting to do? The Lil' Monkey doll has a White counterpart cuddling a panda. Her name is "Pretty Panda.
What’s worse than Costco selling a doll many of its Black customers find insulting is the fact that the company’s decision comes off as completely thoughtless and provocative.
The association of Black people with monkeys, apes and gorillas over the years – sometimes subtle, other times bold – has been widespread and frequent. You can find examples everywhere: in pop culture, the media, our collective imagination and in many corners of art and the academy. Any pairing of the two immediately arouses racist suspicion or discomfort. So Costco's explanation defending its decision appears disingenuous at best and dishonest at worst to its Black customers.
Black children ingest critical perceptions of race in their formative years. One of the most-quoted research findings on race is psychologist Kenneth Clark’s 1954 study that proved an overwhelming number of his subjects – all Black children – chose White dolls over Black dolls when asked which they preferred. The study’s findings were used to help argue Thurgood Marshall’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case. Looking past this oft-repeated truism and not recognizing the potential psychological damage a doll like this could affect makes Costco appear even more clueless.
Only about a month ago, during the Gates-Crowley-Obama drama, the whole country was embroiled in a conversation about race. One hot topic was the Boston cop who in an e-mail described Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates as a “banana-eating jungle monkey.” That story was followed by a number of commentaries detailing the racist history of equating Black people to primates. Did Costco miss out on this conversation, too?
In order to make this into yet another "teachable moment," let's ask ourselves this question: Why didn't someone notice that it might be offensive to refer to a Black baby as a "lil' monkey?" Syracuse University professor Boyce Watkins suggests, “One possibility is that the company does not truly embrace diversity in its management ranks, leading to incredibly flawed and insensitive upper level decisions. So, the individuals deciding how to produce, market, finance and distribute this product could be, as with many corporations, completely ignorant about how to do business with other ethnic groups.”
As messed up as that is, let’s hope this is the case.
But even if it is, Costco still has some making up to do with its Black customers. From all indications, this controversy won’t just simmer down as many cases like this do. As more e-mail forwards land in more customers’ inboxes so grows the disappointment with the popular retailer. There is no organized campaign around the “Lil Monkey” yet, but dissatisfaction with the company is high and growing. Costco’s half-hearted apology has not connected with Black customers still scratching their heads trying to figure out how an error like this could happen in America in 2009.
Are you offended by the doll (see pic above)? Would you join a boycott of the store? Sign in to comment.


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Chick-fil-A is heaven on earth. The menu at the chain is pretty steadfast at this point in life, though the powers that be are gifting us with a new summer sandwich at the chain that looks like a gift from the munchie heavens. It’s bacon BBQ chicken sandwich that’s smothered in a tangy sauce, along with a nice slice of colby jack season.
I’ve never wanted something more in my life than I want that sandwich right now. via Business Insider:
“This is the first time we have tried what were are calling a seasonal approach to an entree,” David Farmer, Chick-fil-A’s vice president of menu strategy and development, told Business Insider. “We wanted to do something different for the summer.”
Chick-fil-A developed the sandwich more than two years ago with Atlanta restaurateur and a James Beard Award-nominated chef Ford Fry.
Farmer says the key ingredient in the sandwich is the “lose-your-mind” bacon that’s seasoned with brown sugar and black pepper in restaurants and then roasted in an oven.
“Lose-your-mind” bacon is the best kind of bacon I’ve ever heard of in my life. All bacon *kinda* already makes me lose my mind, so this better be next-level.


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Wines of Great Britain (WineGB) has unveiled new branding to support the UK wine industry body’s new name and identity, along with an announcement of its 2018 events and activities.
The much-anticipated logo has been the result of extensive design work, from agency Irving & Nichols, to try and create a branding and style to reflects the leadership of the industry body that represents Great Britain’s growers and wine producers.
While critics took to Twitter to question the use of the word ‘British’, which could infer poor quality wine produced from imported grape must, and to voice their opinions of the ‘unfinished’, ‘jingoistic’ branding, WineGB said that the ‘roundel’ logo has been styled to be easily recognisable and incorporates key elements of the industry (grapes and wines) together with the prominent use of the union flag to highlight the growing international reputation of English and Welsh wines.
A rebranding of the UK Wine Awards competition, now named the WineGB Awards, and the organisation’s English and Welsh Wine Week initiatives will follow shortly.
“We are proud and delighted to launch our new branding,” said Julia Trustram Eve, WineGB’s marketing director. “It was important to us to have a device that is memorable and recognisable, authoritative and adaptable. We wanted the branding to be contemporary and stylish, to reflect the quality and heritage as well as the exciting future of our industry and its wines, and with this design we have it.”
WineGB’s events this year will highlight the new initiatives and projects now underway since the United Kingdom Vineyards Association and English Wine producers merged to form a unified industry body.
The annual general meeting of the membership of WineGB on 25 April 2018 will be followed by an afternoon of seminars covering topics of wide-reaching interest. Talks from experts in their field and industry leaders will include wine tourism, training and education. Tickets to the afternoon sessions are open to trade as well as industry members and will be on sale in the near future.
The Wines of Great Britain trade and press tasting, on 26 April, is moving to a new and larger venue in RHS Lindley Hall, London to accommodate the growing number of producers now taking part.
This year a series of seminars and panel discussions will be taking place during the tasting and will include an announcement of figures outlining the current position of the UK wine industry and its forecast for future growth. Another session will include a debate on the opportunities that Brexit will bring to the GB wine industry.
While last year’s English Wine Week campaign saw the highest ever uptake of trade participants, as well as record-breaking social media coverage, plans are already underway for this popular campaign in 2018. Taking place from Sunday 26 May till Sunday 3 June, this year there will also be a focus on the vineyards themselves, encouraging consumers to get to know them better.
“The trade plays a key part in introducing English and Welsh wines to their customers, inviting them to discover just what is being produced on the doorstep,” said Julia. “We love working with an ever-enthusiastic trade and supporting all that they do, helping to provide opportunities to highlight the wonderful wines and vineyards in the UK.”


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In 1907, Joel Russ had only a barrel from which to sell his pickled herring. More than 100 years later, his great-grandchildren are selling it (and a smorgasbord of other foods) at four locations, including a restaurant, under a name that has become integral to New York City history — Russ & Daughters.
The shop, which has been on East Houston Street for 105 years, is the subject of its own exhibit that opened Friday, Sept. 13 at the Center for Jewish History called "Russ & Daughters: An Appetizing Story," which takes visitors through the history of the beloved store.
The American Jewish Historical Society worked with fourth-generation owners Niki Russ Federman and Joshua Russ Tupper to dig through the family’s records and stories to present a narrative that traces the company’s beginnings from J. Russ Cut Rate Appetizing to today’s Russ & Daughters.
"You rarely have a moment when you’re running a business to literally get the historic perspective on the impact our family has had and the way in which this small shop has been so much a part of the life of New York and for so many generations of people," Russ Federman told amNewYork on Monday. "It’s incredible that Russ & Daughters and our archive will sit alongside Emma Lazarus’s manuscript of ‘The New Colossus’ and these fundamental pieces of the Jewish American experience, and that we’re considered part of that is a huge honor."
As you walk through the small exhibit, which was produced by the American Jewish Historical Society at the Center for Jewish History, you see black and white family photos of the original daughters — Hattie, Ida and Anne — get to hear them share their memories and see a poster from the former Yiddish Art Theatre featuring performers Molly Picon and Aaron Lebedeff, who were regular customers. (In fact, the store used to stay open until 1 and 2 a.m. so that it could feed the rush of theatergoers from Second Avenue.) There are also letters from customers from the 1960s-70s ordering from afar.
Notably, the museum points out the importance of Joel Russ renaming his shop to include his daughters — it just wasn’t done then (in 1935). Russ acknowledged that his daughters were crucial to the business and should be partners. Besides, he wasn’t exactly the king of customer service, according to Russ Federman, who started "working" at the store by the age of 5.
Russ had a habit of telling rude customers to "listen to me, why don’t you forget the address," she said with a laugh.
The exhibit has a fun photo opportunity, where you can take a number, get "behind the counter" and don a Russ & Daughters’ white coat and stand next to the shop’s wrapping paper.
And while there is currently no babka or rugelach sold at the Center, there are plans to bring some in for purchase for those who want the Russ & Daughters experience. And if you have your own story or memory about the store, the AJHS will collect and include them in their archive.
"I’ve been teaching history for a long time and I find people think of history as a textbook or a quiz, but it’s a story and when we learn about history, we learn more complexities and nuance," said Annie Polland, the executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society. "Today the historical profession has come a long way and food is a part of that — people really relate to food and stories and Russ & Daughters not only has good food but it’s filled with wonderful stories."
If you go: The exhibition is open through January 2020 at the Center for Jewish History (15 W. 16th St.) from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is free. For more information, visit ajhs.org.


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Konami announced a new Suikoden installment coming to PSP, Genso Suikoden: Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki, at Tokyo Game Show today. The new title has a website, trailer and Twitter account, one of which you can watch right here. You could watch the other two if you really wanted to, but we d...
Posted on Jan 27th 2015 8:15AM
Posted on Jan 26th 2015 11:00AM
Posted on Jan 26th 2015 10:00AM


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Punjab’’s hotel industry holds promiseDecember 15th, 2008 - 3:15 pm ICT by ANI
By Karan Kapoor/Sunil Sharma Ludhiana/Chandigarh, Dec.15 (ANI): The global economic slowdown not withstanding, the hospitality industry of Punjab is continuing to prosper.
Corporation Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Indian Hotels Company Limited, launched its GenNext `Smart Basics” Hotel in Ludhiana recently. With its 99-room Ginger Hotel in Punjab’’s industrial town, the company is trying to sustain its growth.
The purpose behind Ginger hotel was to create a unique `space” which should be conducive not only for guests” to relax and enjoy comfort but also for their work requirements. “With this category of pricing, we feel that we are able to attract corporate customers, people who are working junior to middle executives in companies, we are able to attract business segment, people who travel for work with companies, vendors, suppliers, lawyers and auditors. And, also we are able to attract a category of customers who are traveling on leisure and who wanted a neat, clean and good quality accommodation at a very low price,” said Prabhat Pani, CEO and Director, ROOTS Corporation Ltd. With the increasing influx of tourists and businessmen in Punjab, there is demand for more hotels here. Despite global slowdown, the hospitality industry in Punjab is doing well. And, this is attracting big developers.
Already, players like the Sarovar Hotel Group are in the process of developing three new hotels in Punjab and Chandigarh. The hotels in different star categories are offering their best facilities and services to their clients. The projection of Chandigarh as a tourism hub is helping in the growth of the hotel industry. “Tourism gives a multiple effect to economy and every penny, which the tourists spend in terms of accommodation, transportation, eating-out and shopping. So, I think that is got a good future here and all this recession trends will go back and tourism will be on the high agenda of the foreign tourists as well as of the domestic tourists,” said A. K. Malhotra, General Manager for Marketing, CITCO. Tourists visiting Punjab from different parts of the world appreciate the culture and cuisine available in the State.
“It is probably typical of what I would expect in the city of this size in Punjab and nothing is artificial about it. I think it’’s a genuine Punjabi and Indian Punjabi hotel that is appealing to me as a tourist,” said an Australian tourist. The music, food and robust culture have made Punjab a favoured state with tourists. The non-resident Punjabis visiting home spend handsomely, helping expansion of the hospitality industry. Considering the prevailing condition, the time looks ripe for entrepreneurs to optimize the opportunity to invest in Punjab. New York based hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal, who hails from Faridkot in Punjab, has plans to set up a 7-star hotel in his home state - Punjab. (ANI)
Tags: business segment, businessmen, company limited, corporate customers, corporation ltd, global economic slowdown, global slowdown, hospitality industry, hotel group, hotel industry, influx, karan kapoor, ludhiana, prabhat, punjab, quality accommodation, s industrial, smart basics, star categories, tourism hub


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Satya Nadella — who took over as CEO from Steve Ballmer six years ago — is the best thing to happen to Microsoft investors since Bill Gates departed as CEO.
It took me until April 2018 to figure out why: Nadella created a culture that focused Microsoft on supplying customers what they wanted rather than forcing Windows products down their gullets.
Since then Microsoft stock has soared 90% from $90 to almost $175 — nearly three times where Gates left it when he handed the CEO slot to Ballmer in January 2000. I think those shares have further to run.
(I have no financial interest in the securities mentioned in this post).
Before exploring the power of Nadella’s cultural transformation, let’s look at Microsoft’s latest boffo earnings report that beat expectations for earnings and revenue and hiked revenue and margin guidance — sending its shares up nearly 4% in morning trading on January 30.
Here are the highlights of Microsoft’s report:
- Beat Q2 EPS expectations. Microsoft’s $1.51 per share EPS, excluding certain items, was 19 cents above analyst expectations, according to CNBC.
- Beat Q2 Revenue target. Microsoft’s revenue rose 14% to $36.91 billion — $1.23 billion more than analysts expected.
- Raised Q3 Revenue guidance. Microsoft’s CFO said it will generate between $34.1 billion and $34.9 billion in the current quarter — the middle of the range implies 13% growth which would exceed the analyst consensus of $34.14 billion. On a cautionary note, Microsoft widened its range of guidance for its More Personal Computing segment — to a range between $10.75 billion and $11.15 billion — due to “uncertainty related to the public health situation in China.”
- Raised 2020 Operating Margin Guidance. For fiscal 2020, Microsoft raised its operating margin guidance by two percentage points to 36%.
Microsoft’s growth has been coming from its Azure public cloud business and Office 365 productivity suite. According to CNBC, Goldman Sachs estimated that Azure growth slowed down but not as much as Goldman had predicted. While Azure grew 76% in the second quarter of fiscal 2019, Goldman estimated that Azure grew a slower 62% in Q2 2020 (which ended last December). The good news is that was four percentage points more than Goldman had expected.
Azure won a high profile contract — the up to $10 billion, 10-year JEDI deal with the Defense Department — which Amazon is contesting. CNBC reports that Microsoft also won a contract with SalesForce to run its Marketing Cloud service.
Nadella’s Cultural Revolution
What’s behind this success? Surely, there are many factors — including Microsoft’s products, service, marketing, and sales skills. But, as I wrote in April 2018, cultural change has improved how all the talented people in those jobs focus their energies.
In March 2018, I spoke with a long-time Microsoft executive who made that case.
As I wrote in Disciplined Growth Strategies, culture is turning specific values into criteria for hiring, promoting, and firing people. Some cultures — those that attract and motivate the most talented people to create world-beating products and deliver excellent customer service — promote growth.
And that’s what Nadella’s cultural change has achieved.
How so? Nir Tenzer, who until July 2019 was CEO of cybersecurity firm, nsKnox Technologies, worked for Microsoft from 2006 to 2017. Tenzer — who spent the last four years of his Microsoft career as chief operating officer of its South Africa operations — explained that before Nadella became CEO, customers did not trust Microsoft so they were not eager to buy.
Nadella changed Microsoft's culture in a way that made current and potential customers feel that Microsoft cared about their success. As Tenzer said, "Nadella created a North Star to motivate millennials and unite its 170 subsidiaries. The new culture answered for everyone in the company — of different ages and from different countries — 'Why are we here?'"
Nadella made that change in the face of significant challenges at Microsoft. Microsoft not only had to improve the way it interacted with customers but also how it created "new products and services to existing customers. The main challenge, given the new markets and new products and business model, was how to grow and to scale and how to transform while [continuing to] perform," he said.
Overcoming these challenges required Microsoft to change the way it developed products, earned its revenues, and managed its people. As he explained, “We had to introduce and to promote new products and business models ([software as a service] vs. perpetual [licenses]). We had to drive our employees to interact with new corporate decision-makers – business vs. the original technical ones. We had to scale our employees to master new advanced products. In order to be successful, new skills were needed. We had to promote and to support learning. Nadella's solution was a new culture dubbed the “growth mindset.”
The new culture, encourages "learning, trying and even failing. The new concept made employees enthusiastic about learning and [tackling] areas outside of their comfort zones. That of course boosted sales while also helping partners and customers. The new products and services also opened new opportunities with new groups of customers," said Tenzer.
Indeed Nadella cited the growth mindset — which in his book, "Hit Refresh," he defined as "take nothing for granted and always be willing to check your assumptions as new data comes in," — as a key to Microsoft's success.
But as Business Insider reported, there were plenty of people at Microsoft who used growth mindset as an excuse to complain. To tackle this problem, Nadella issued an ultimatum at a meeting of his 150 top executives, saying: “Once you become a vice president, a partner in this endeavor, the whining is over. You can't say the coffee around here is bad, or there aren't enough good people, or I didn't get the bonus. To be a leader in this company, your job is to find the rose petals in a pile of shit. You are the champions of overcoming constraints.”
I think Nadella’s cultural transformation can help Microsoft exceed investor expectations which — if achieved each quarter — will keep its shares rising.
If you look at Microsoft from another perspective — its valuation relative to forecast earnings growth, its shares look expensive. For example, Microsoft’s price-earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio is 2.22 — based on a twelve months’ trailing PE of 32.4 on earnings expected to grow at a 14.6% rate over the next five years, according to YahooFinance.
If Microsoft keeps beating and raising, investors will ignore the high valuation and keep buying.


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Last week saw Financial Times issue a report alleging that PayPal was about to leave Facebook’s Libra crypto project. Now, it would appear that this report was telling the truth. Specifically, PayPal is now confirmed to have left the Libra Association group. PayPal leaves Libra Association Facebook sought to attract a large number of notable […]
The post Confirmed: PayPal Cancels Its Association With Facebook’s Libra Association appeared first on Toshi Times.


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Apple Inc is close to paying a record $3.2 billion for Beats Electronics, two people with knowledge of the matter said, an expensive foray into music streaming and headphone gear that would mark a departure for the usually cash-conservative iPhone maker.
Both companies are hashing out details and the envisioned deal could still fall through, one person told Reuters on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.
A second source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Apple was in the market for a subscription-based music service to complement its “iRadio” ad-based offering, launched in 2013 as part of an attempt to jump into a music-streaming arena then split between a handful of startups such as Pandora Inc.
Founded by rapper Dr. Dre and legendary music producer Jimmy Iovine, Beats Electronics is best known for its “Beats by Dr Dre” line of trendy headphones that vie with the likes of Skullcandy Inc, Sennheiser Electronic and Bose Corp. This year, it launched a music service that has won plaudits for its slick design and human music curation, versus the computer-algorithms that determine playlists for most of its rivals.
But analysts on Thursday questioned whether Beats, valued at just $1 billion during its last funding round in September, was worth that price. Apple had more than $130 billion in cash as of the end of March, but the vast majority of that is parked abroad and investors have called on the company to return more cash in the form of dividends and buybacks.
Apple-watchers have speculated that the company that upended the music industry – and today is the single largest seller of tunes – was contemplating a Spotify-like on-demand music service to go with iRadio service and iTunes.
“This is really puzzling,” said Forrester analyst James McQuivey, who said there was huge overlap between the two companies’ customer base. “You buy companies today to get technologies that no one else … or customers that no one has.”
“They must have something hidden … under the hood,” he said.
In two of the largest deals this year, Facebook paid $19 billion for WhatsApp and its half-billion users, and it paid $2 billion for Oculus VR and its cutting-edge virtual reality headset.
Apple declined to comment on the report. Beats Electronics did not respond to requests for comment on the news, which was reported first by the Financial Times.
Apple has not made a billion-dollar acquisition in at least a decade. The company prefers to develop and design its products in-house, though it has tended to pay several hundred million dollars for small but important bits of technology to propel its core consumer electronics business, such as the acquisition of PA Semi in 2008 that led to the processor now found in all iPhones.
The company has been under pressure to try to revitalize growth as iPhone sales slow in a rapidly maturing market. Critics have also accused the company of slowly “losing its cool” and innovative edge to new and upcoming technology companies, and missing the music-streaming bandwagon.
Technology giants Google and Amazon began jockeying for position in music last year, looking at ways to make streaming profitable and to develop a service seen as crucial to retaining users in an increasingly mobile environment. For Google and Apple especially, the endeavor was critical to ensure users remain loyal to their mobile products.
They realised they had to stake out a place or risk ceding control of one of the largest components of mobile device usage. Analysts estimate roughly half of smartphone users listen to music on their device, making it the fourth most popular media-related activity after social networking, games and news.
Apple launched its own streaming music service last year, hoping to jump into the fast-expanding arena as growth of its iTunes service falters.
Apple’s Chief Executive Tim Cooks met with Iovine, the Beats CEO, last year on a potential partnership involving Beats’s planned music-streaming service, Reuters reported in March, citing sources.Dre – who guided the careers of a string of rap artists such as Eminem and 50 Cent – compared his company with Apple in 2011.
“We’re trying to eventually be second to Apple. And I don’t think that’s a bad position,” Dre told The Fader music website.
Beats Electronics received a $500 million investment from Carlyle Group in September that valued the company at over $1 billion. It also bought back in September a 24.84 percent stake held by Taiwan smartphone maker HTC Corp, which once held as much as 50.1 percent of the company.


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7 Swiss Initiatives Shaping The Future Of Food For Good
Food. We buy it, cook it, eat it, store it, day in, day out. But what do we really know about our food. And more importantly, our food’s impact on our environment.
If you’re reading this, you most likely have an interest in environmental news. You’re probably aware of our earths rising temperatures and most recently that this July was the hottest month ever recorded. You’re definitely concerned with the environmental damage from the palm oil industry, the oil companies and our excessive vehicle use. And you’re committed to reduce your own environmental footprint however possible.
But are you aware of our foods impact on the environment?
We’ll be the first to admit, that before we started organising FoodHack Geneva, we didn’t know anything about food-related emissions or food waste. We weren’t aware that in Switzerland we waste 2 million tonnes of food per year. We had no idea that our food choices are responsible for 30% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions (that’s more than all of the exhaust from transportation). We didn’t know that 1kg of pork causes as much CO2 as producing 80kg of potatoes. And we didn’t know, that most alarmingly, we let one-third of all the food we produce to go to waste worldwide, despite the fact that 870 million people go hungry every day.
It seems, when it comes to our food, we’re so focussed on it’s impact on ourselves, our body, our health, our weight, our lifespan that we forget about it’s impact on our environment.
Luckily for us, there are others out there who have taken the initiative to look where others choose to turn a blind eye, to research fields that are under researched and to build solutions to our lesser known ecological problems.
These initiatives, some founded by passionate university students and others spreading all the way into our governmental organisations are all actively working to shape the future of food for good. Let’s take a look at our top 7 picks from Switzerland.
Grimiam — Edible insects for human consumption
With a growing interest for the use of insect protein in the human diet, Grimiam and the director, Jürgen Vogel are the driving forces behind establishing Switzerland as the front-runner of edible insects. The non-for profit organisation founded in 2013 is dedicated to convincing Swiss policy makers and the general public to regulate insects as food for human consumption.
Jürgen from www.grimiam.org 🐛
With over 1,900 edible insects such as, worms, caterpillars, crickets, grasshoppers, larvae, beetles, termites and claims that some taste like nuts or even bacon(!) how could we turn a blind eye to this environmentally friendly and affordable source of food.
Find out more about the association and the insect eating facts through Grimiam’s website and apply to join Food Hack Geneva, where Jürgen and Grimiam will be running an insect tasting session with a number of delicacies for you to try. Don’t worry they’ll be cooked and spiced up before they even reach your mouth!
Foodways — Consultancy team growing Swiss food projects
The masterminds behind United Against Waste, Our Common Food, foodwaste.ch, MyFood30 and more. This innovative team of 6 work with the biggest organisations and businesses in Switzerland to create successful and sustainable projects focussed on shaping the future of food.
João, Co-Managing Director at Foodways
Founded in 2012, their diverse, multidisciplinary team gives them a unique cross-sector understanding of today’s food sector challenges. This has led them to deliver impact in a variety of ways — from encouraging restaurants to offer their customers food boxes, through working with professionals in the meat industry to realise the potential of nose-to-tail approaches, to presenting report findings in the form of an international youth flash mob at CFS 42!
Luckily for you, the team at Foodways will be taking part at FoodHack Geneva, offering their expertise and advice on your projects and João (pictured) will be joining our judging panel to select the winning teams. Find out more about them and their awesome projects at www.foodways.ch.
Eaternity — Spreading the idea of climate friendly meals
The perfect example of combining food and tech together to create scalable change across the food industries. Eaternity have developed an innovative software to establish climate friendly meals, allowing restaurants and individuals to automatically track and measure the global footprint of all meals and purchases leading to more responsible decision making.
Aurelian, Manuel and Judith from Eaternity
With food choices responsible for 31% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, Eaternity claims that anyone, with a bit of help from their software, has the potential to reduce food related emissions by at least 50% through smart diet choices.
Itching to get your hands on their software and see what you can build with it? Eaternity will be at FoodHack Geneva offering their API’s for all developers to play around with and Aurelian (founder & head of technology, pictured up) will be joining our expert judging panel. Apply to attend now through www.foodhack.ch
Oggi — Fresh meals with local ingredients prepared and delivered daily
Food waste takes place all across the food chain, from production, to transportation and all the way up to restaurants and households. Oggisimangia, are focused on tackling Switzerland food waste at the end of the chain, with restaurants and households. Their tactic? Implementing a Zero-Waste-System.
Oggi’s kick-ass team, Luca, Sixteen and Patrick
Established in early 2016 by Founders Luca and Patrick, the two economists identified the importance of the food industries role in the fight to save the planet. Oggi’s zero-waste-system stars from their produce, sourcing local and in season ingredients from nearby farmers. Inside the kitchen Luca and Patrick are just as focussed, ensuring they have minimal waste and taking full potential of their produce. Lastly, it’s their sustainable glass jars which are used to prepare and distribute their tasty mediteran style meals and that can be returned by the consumers to start the cycle all over again.
Starting to feel hungry? Then you’d be happy to hear that Oggi are our official food partners at FoodHack Geneva and will be feeding you at their newly opened kitchen at Seedspace, La Praille. Expect flavour-packed, nutritional and environmentally friendly meals.
Too Good To Go — Purchase food destined for the bin, direct from the restaurants
In a country where an average lunch out will set us back 20CHF or more, Too Good To Go (TGTG) are a welcoming face. Their app lets you order cheap food from restaurants that would otherwise be thrown in the bin. Originally founded in Denmark, TGTG have seen tremendous growth and now have operations in over 6 countries, including, Germany, UK and Switzerland
Flore from TGTG’s Switzerland team
With 5,500 users already on board since their launch here, clearly the public are happy to jump onto any money saving initiative. To grab a cheap bite near you, download their app and enter your location, from there you’ll have a number of restaurants and cafe’s to choose from along with their address and pick up times. A successful visit to TGTG’s app can result in anything from leftover sandwiches to prime sushi, fried chicken or more, all at a fraction of the price.
Excited to meet the team and find out more? Flore (pictured) and TGTG mentors will be available over the weekend at FoodHack Geneva to provide their expertise and help guide your projects.
Partage Association — Food bank collecting and distributing food and goods to people in need.
Created in 2005 by L’Armée du Salut, Le C.A.R.E., Caritas Genève, les Colis du Cœur et Emmaüs, the Partage Foundation has since become the main food bank in the canton of Geneva. With a mission to collect and sort unsold produces from shops and food companies in Geneva, and redistribute it for free to social associations and services that support feeding people in need in Geneva.
Partage Association in Geneva
Through it’s actions, Partage fight to reduce food waste, support professional reintegration and act in favor of the environment by using eco-friendly transportations through their electric scooters.
Partage will be joining us at FoodHack Geneva as mentors to immerse themselves with the growing entrepreneurial Food tech scene of the Romandie area and provide their expertise as mentors over the weekend.
Aess-Bar — Bakery re-selling unsold bakery products that are edible for consumption
Ever wonder what happens to those tasty goods leftover in your local bakery at the end of the day? Well, most of the time they get thrown away! That’s where Aess-bar step in. Another money saving, food waste fighting initiative. With most of the unsold products from bakeries still edible for consumption, Aess-Bar collects these items destined for the bin and resells them at their locations for a fraction of the price. It’s a win-win for everyone and makes for a perfect and affordable breakfast, lunch or snack for consumers.
Bakery from Aess-Bar.ch
You can find their shops in any of the following locations, Zurich, Bern, Winterhur, St.Gallen and Fribourg. Since we discovered them, Aess-Bar have become a staple of the FoodHack teams daily schedule and a normal visit to their location leaves us with crispy croissants for 0.50CHF, succulent roast beef sandwiches from as cheap as 2.50CHF along with fresh and healthy juices at only 3CHF.
That completes our list of the top 7 initiatives Swiss based initiatives shaping the future of food for good. To find out more details about each of them check out the links to their websites and follow them on their social channels. For even more awesome swiss-based food initiatives, check out a few of our honourable mentions below!
With the support from these business, associations and people, we as the consumers have the power to make smart purchase choices, to eat more climate friendly meals, to reduce the amount of food we waste, to half our CO2 emissions and to save our environment.
Want to get involved? Take action today and apply to attend FoodHack Geneva, the first hackathon in Switzerland dedicated to tackling food waste and food-related emissions.
Climate-KIC — Europe’s largest public-private innovation partnership for climate change.
WWF Switzerland — The largest environmental organization in Switzerland.
Slow Food Switzerland— A global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions.
Zum guten Heinrich — Zurich-based foodbike selling sustainable lunch meals.
Thought For Food — A movement dedicated to tackling the global challenge of feeding 9+ billion people.
Illustration by Camille Bossel.
Written by Arman Anaturk


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17 November 2013
ADCB launches new brand identity
The new look ADCB to provide a more customer-focused experience
Abu Dhabi, 17th, November 2013: In a bold reaffirmation of its commitment to its customers and their ambitions, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) is embarking on a comprehensive rebranding initiative. The effort encompasses all aspects of the brand, including an updated identity, a redesigned branch experience and a new advertising campaign.
“Today more than ever, our customers’ ambitions are in constant motion. As a bank that believes in the power of ambition, we are committed to keeping pace with their needs,” said Ala’a Eraiqat, Chief Executive Officer of ADCB. “We feel it’s important to invest not only in the brand, but the complete banking experience, as providing an unparalleled service to our customers is our top priority, no matter how they prefer to bank.”
ADCB’s ambitious undertaking includes a redesigned branch experience that is being rolled out over the next 24 months, starting with its Abu Dhabi Mall Branch. The new concept will be unlike anything else in the UAE. Made to be more intuitive, accessible and welcoming, the design uses bespoke lighting, textures and finishes to put customers’ needs centre-stage. “We are committed to giving our customers a world-class banking experience. In recent years that has meant significant investment in mobile technology and our award-winning internet banking. Updating our brand and redesigning our branches is the next step in this evolutionary process of innovation” said Arup Mukhopadhyay Head of Consumer Banking and Executive Vice President of ADCB.
The new look of ADCB also comes to life through a powerful new advertising campaign and an updated brand identity. The campaign carries the tagline “Money can’t buy ambition.” “What we are saying with this campaign is that money is nothing without the people who do great things with it.” said Martin Scott, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of ADCB. “The work is a celebration of our customers and the important role their ambition plays in achieving a better life for themselves and the people around them. At ADCB, we appreciate that although we are in the business of money, it is the ambitious people of the UAE who do great things with it that create the unassailable difference, and it is our job to help them on that journey. Thus, we are actually in the business of service.”
The fully integrated campaign comprises Print, Online, Outdoor, and In-branch communications. Campaign executions will appear in both English and Arabic. Visit www.adcb.com for a special preview.
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On Monday, Comcast, NBCUniversal and Sky held what is believed to be the first ever developer conference, ONE21, hosted by a major TV media network group. This milestone event marked the culmination of one of the largest transformations in the history of U.S. media. The evolution, which has been in the works for over a decade; began with Comcast's announcement in December 2009 of their intent to acquire a majority stake in NBC from GE. The next phase took shape in 2014 as the NBCUniversal Ad Sales team, led by now Chairman, Global Advertising & Partnerships Linda Yaccarino, began to lean into the privacy-compliant use of Comcast's data to help define audiences for marketers and their agencies. In 2020, NBCUniversal launched their single TV and digital ad buying/management platform, One Platform, the core of their tech stack.
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A Fargo hockey team has unveiled a jersey designed to honor fallen officer Jason Moszer.
Moszer was shot and killed while responding to a call in February.
The Fargo Force released an image of the jersey – which was designed by the Fargo Police Department, Moszer's family and the Fargo Force – on Monday.
There's a police crest on the front of the jersey with Officer Mozser's call number E143 on it. The team notes the number has been retired following his death.
The jerseys also have the police department's logo embroidered on the shoulders and the phrase "Heroes are never forgotten" at the bottom.
They'll be worn during Heroes are Never Forgotten Night on March 11, honoring the fallen officer. The Force will take on the Des Moines Buccaneers at Scheels Arena. That's also where the officer's public funeral service took place.
Fans will have a chance to bid on the jerseys beginning at 7:05 p.m., when the game begins.
Bidding will start at $125 per jersey and the bids must go up in $10 increments. The auction will run until March 17 at 2 p.m. Winners will have a chance to get their jersey autographed.
All proceeds from the auction will go back to the Moszer family. Additionally, there will be a silent auction at the game in the upper lobby, and the Force will donate $3 of every game ticket sold.
Moszer was married and had two children.


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Photo of the Week: Improving Livelihoods Through Cocoa
April 15, 2011
Frederick Phillips (left) of TechnoServe consults with a cocoa farmer as he removes beans from a cocoa pod in the village of Akyem Takyiman in Ghana.
Frederick Phillips (left) of TechnoServe consults with a cocoa farmer as he removes beans from a cocoa pod in the village of Akyem Takyiman in Ghana. TechnoServe is helping thousands of Ghanaian cocoa farmers to improve the productivity of their farms and increase their incomes.
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2018 was a milestone year for TechnoServe. Not only did we mark a half century of impact, but we built upon this legacy by working with thousands of farmers, entrepreneurs, and partners around the world to create opportunity and prosperity. Here are a few of our favorite stories from the year.


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Not surprisingly, October’s product trends have been dominated by inspirations from Halloween and the ultra-popular TV show Stranger Things as well as ongoing trends like mobile phone accessories, subscription services, and innovations in food packaging.
Here are 10 most important product trends in October based on a multitude of resources including crowdfunding sites and trend reports:
1. Halloween-themed products and marketing
Of course, October is Halloween and with it comes thousands of brands seeking to capitalize off the hype surrounding the festivities—always a smart marketing decision. This year, some of the best examples included an Xfinity home-security ad that a burlap sack-masked home invader, a bubble tea cafe in Toronto selling red fruit tea in a blood bag, social media character costumes like Snapchat’s dancing hot dog, VR World’s near-death VR experience based on a true story, and Krispy Kreme’s free doughnut giveaway for customers dressed in costumes.
2. Stranger Things-inspired products and marketing
Just like the hype around Halloween, it’s always a great opportunity for brands to take advantage of the buzz surrounding popular entertainment, especially of the kind like Netflix’s Stranger Things that is nothing short of a cultural phenomenon at this point. In fact, just having “Stranger Things” in a branded email’s subject line increases engagement by 74 percent, according to a recent report. The best season two inspired Stranger Things marketing and products include a Chicago pop-up bar based on the TV show’s incredible sets; hotel rooms, river cruises, and retreats that offer the most binge-able atmosphere; a Reebok and Stranger Things shoe collaboration; and Lyft’s app redesign that offered a Stranger Things twist.
3. Mouthpieces toothbrushes
Without a doubt, one of the most monotonous aspects of daily life is brushing our teeth. But now, brushing your teeth in fewer than 10 seconds is becoming a reality thanks to two popular automatic mouthpiece toothbrushes making huge waves on crowdfunding sites. The first of the two, and by far the market leader at this point, is Amabrush. The mouthpiece, which is branded as the “World’s First Automatic Toothbrush,” brushes teeth in 10 seconds flat and has already raised over $7 million in funding on Kickstarter and Indiegogo combined. The second toothbrush, the Unico Smartbrush is a more recent addition to the mouthpiece toothbrush market but is also making a significant splash, raising over $200,000, which is more than double its initial goal. The Unico Smartbrush’s 3-second brushing time sets it apart from the competitors.
4. Zero waste food packaging
As consumers and, in turn, brands become more and more eco-friendly every year, so does our food packaging. In fact, eco-conscious food packaging has been a major continuing trend for the last couple years and doesn’t look set to slow down. Brands are reimagining how food is packaged for delivery, takeout, storage, and even for grocery shelves. A few of the more innovative examples include edible food packaging made of seaweed, hemp takeout boxes, biodegradable seagrass packages, compostable bamboo fiber containers, beeswax food wrap, and wrapper free grocery shopping experiences.
5. Stylish smartphone cases
The days of bulky, oversized protective smartphone cases are thankfully over. Not only are consumers demanding smaller and equally durable cases, they also want them to look fashionable. Rather than the typical futuristic look, these trending smartphone cases are going for a more chic, refrained, and vintage look—think toned down colors and classy materials like leather and suede.
6. Masculine subscription deliveries
Ever since subscription delivery services like healthy-ingredient meal-kit packager Blue Apron and male-focused Dollar Shave Club and MeUndies hit the scene, it’s no doubt been a trend that’s here to stay. Taking these ideas one step further in terms of niche is Bespoke Post, which is delivering boxes of goods specifically curated for guys. The themed care packages focus on making any guy’s day easier and life more stylish by sending products tailored to male grooming, artisan mixology, and other manly endeavors.
7. Interactive mirrors
A very recent trend is touchscreen, app-stored enabled interactive mirrors that look straight out of a science fiction movie. Yes, they’ve been around for a few years now but the earlier models tended to be basic and weren’t user-friendly, to say the least. Now, products like the Eve Smart Mirror will allow customers to download 500+ apps to their mirrors and essentially enable it to do many of the same functions their smartphone and tablets can do. Accessing social media, messaging a friend, calling an Uber, checking the weather, or adjusting the temperature from your bathroom’s mirror is right around the corner.
8. Functional photography outerwear
Photographers often visit rugged, rough locations where they must constantly battle the elements to get the perfect shot. Functional photography outerwear specifically designed to help camera carriers to best extreme conditions is blossoming niche trend at the moment and shouldn’t be ignored. One product, the Pixentu Jacket, was created to help professional photographers weather conditions by coming with an extended hood to protect the camera from rain and many other specially designed compartments for photo enthusiasts.
9. Mobile workstation bags
For many of us, working on the go is a reality of life. But sometimes finding a proper workspace isn’t possible and completing your assignment, job, or project can be uncomfortable to say the least. Mobile workstation bags are a new niche product trend seeking to solve this problem. The bag’s built-in folding design easily creates a mobile workstation to accommodate your laptop and other essential items to increase productivity like pens, notepads, and coffee.
10. Millennial tech accessories
Much like the stylish phone cases mentioned above, consumers—especially young ones—are seeking out trendy and fashionable alternatives to the often bland and boring accessories we use every day. Urban Outfitters has read the tea leaves and is currently leading the charge with their new UO_TUNE_IN tech accessory line that showcases a range of eye-pleasing products, including a Bluetooth cassette boombox, beautifully designed iPhone chargers, and pastel power strips.


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Tommy Hilfiger is shaking up the New York Fashion Week schedule.
The designer, who typically shows his women’s runway collection during the Sunday time slot at 8 p.m., is moving to Monday, Sept. 9 at 11 a.m., following Carolina Herrera’s fashion show. He plans to show his women’s collection at Pier 94 on 12th Avenue and 55th Street, several blocks from Lincoln Center.
In addition, Hilfiger has decided to cancel his men’s runway show during fashion week.
“We’ve made a strategic decision to focus our attention during New York Fashion Week on our women’s business. Men’s wear remains at the heart of the Tommy Hilfiger brand, and we will continue to develop innovative ways to present our men’s collections through channels that speak directly to consumers,” said Avery Baker, chief marketing officer for the Tommy Hilfiger Group.
RELATED STORY: Calvin Klein Collection Show Moving to TriBeCa >>
Baker noted that the company has always invited U.S. and international retailers to the women’s show and will continue to do so. “We expect our emphasis on the women’s runway collection to have a halo effect on our women’s wear business overall,” she said. In recent seasons, Hilfiger’s Sunday night shows were held at the High Line and the Park Avenue Armory. The move to a new daytime slot is expected to allow the company to put more emphasis on the women’s runway collection, which seeks to expand its presence globally.
Hilfiger will take over the time slot from Belstaff, which has shown on Monday at 11 a.m. for the past two seasons. Hilfiger is an investor in Belstaff and a friend of its chief executive officer, Harry Slatkin. Belstaff plans to have a presentation and cocktail party on Sunday, Sept. 8 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Four Seasons Restaurant, said a Belstaff spokeswoman.
Currently, Hilfiger’s women’s business accounts for 40 percent of global retail sales, while men’s wear generates the remaining 60 percent. The women’s runway collection is sold exclusively in 26 Tommy Hilfiger stores globally, with plans to expand. There are more than 1,200 Hilfiger freestanding stores around the globe.
Simon Spurr, who had been men’s creative consultant for the Tommy Hilfiger runway collection, is no longer working on the collection. The parting was reportedly mutual and amicable. Spurr’s final collection was for fall. Hilfiger continues to work directly with the company’s in-house men’s and women’s design teams.
RELATED STORY: Tommy Hilfiger Fall 2013 >>
Many major men’s wear designers have found the September fashion week to be too late to show their collections, which have already been on sale for several months. While there are still men’s wear companies that continue to show during the September fashion week, such as Nautica, Perry Ellis, DKNY, Billy Reid, Duckie Brown and Michael Bastian, several major American designers opted to show their men’s lines earlier this summer, either in Europe or New York, such as Michael Kors, Rag & Bone, John Varvatos, Thom Browne and Calvin Klein. Ralph Lauren will show his men’s wear collection later this month. When Kors made the decision to show his men’s wear in July rather than wait until September, he told WWD, “That’s the women’s calendar. We’re opening the line for sale now. Showing the clothes in September doesn’t make sense.”
Rather than a runway show, Hilfiger plans to focus its efforts to reach the men’s consumer via its seasonal marketing programs. The programs engage directly with the consumer and are aimed to bring the brand to life through both digital experiences and physical installations. These have included Icon Collection, a collection of 25 American classics inspired by Hilfiger’s favorite style icons of all time; Prep House, an environment that embodied the “preppy roots” of the Hilfiger brand; Millennium Promise, a digital program that encouraged consumers to engage with the brand around its global philanthropy program, and Surf Shack, which was Hilfiger’s take on surf-prep.


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Despite the previous Steam sale ending just a few weeks ago, the PC platform owner is gearing up to offer another massive set of discounts. Needless to say, the next Steam sale will launch in time for Black Friday. If you are looking to save big on a bunch of PC games then you should definitely check out the next Steam sale, which runs November 24-30. Likewise, if you want to top up your Steam wallet in time for the big day, check out the links below for Steam Store credit.
Unlike the previous sale – which kicked off in time for Halloween and primarily focused on horror games – the Steam Fall Sale is expected to have a much wider selection of game discounts.
There’s no way to know exactly what will be on sale before the November 24 launch, but it’s fair to assume that there will be thousands of titles on sale.
Steam users can expect discounts on Valve games like Half Life Alyx, Left 4 Dead and its sequel, Portal 2 and more.
Likewise, there is a good chance that in-game content for free games will be reduced as part of the sale.
Even the most recent versions are likely to get some sort of discount, so it’s worth checking to see if some of this year’s best games are held up.
It’s also worth going through your wishlists with a fine comb, adding any games you might have missed.
Luckily, even if you miss the next round of discounts, another Steam sale will take place in time for Christmas.
The Steam Winter Sale is slated for December 22 and will run until January 5.
Steam isn’t the only gaming platform to have a big sale in time for Black Friday.
The Nintendo eShop sale began last week, with savings on over 1,000 games.
This includes proprietary versions such as New Super Mario Bros, Hyrule Warriors 2, and Xenoblade Chronicles.
Sony would follow up with a PlayStation sale just a day later. As part of the PlayStation Black Friday sale, customers can save on everything from controllers and merchandise to physical and digital games.
Microsoft has also launched a sale of Xbox games, which can be found on the official website.


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Celebrity fitspiration Matteo Guidicelli is the newest face of Santé, a provider of premier organic health and wellness products and services. He joins TV host and weatherman Kim Atienza as Santé’s ambassador.
“Aside from being an actor, singer, and a triathlete, Matteo embodies healthy living,” said Santé CEO Joey Marcelo. “As a company, this is what we, at Santé, are passionate about. We are glad and excited to welcome Matteo to the Santé family and, we hope that he will serve as a true fitspiration for everyone.”
As a multifaceted personality, Matteo knows how important it is for him to stay healthy so he could live and do more. With so many exciting developments in his career and personal life this year, the need to stay healthy has become even more important to him.
“Ever since I started joining triathlons, I have seen and raced along with the Santé Barley TriTeam, Kuya Kim, and Sir Joey. I also have always dreamed of being part of the Santé family,” said Matteo. “Santé, as a brand, also just talks about the importance of living a healthy and active lifestyle. It is very positive. And so, I am excited and honored to represent the brand.”
Ten years strong and healthy
Meanwhile, Kuya Kim is also ecstatic about Matteo joining the organic health and wellness brand. The weatherman has been the brand’s ambassador for ten years. He said that he started taking Santé Barley, the company’s flagship product, after learning about the health benefits of organic barley grass. Santé Barley is made from organic pure barley grass, an effective antioxidant, rich with vitamins and minerals that not only detoxifies the body but also aids in digestive health. This product is also certified by BioGro, New Zealand’s leading organic certification agency.