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Report Highlights Include:
The report says that the consumer segment of the economy is looking healthier than it has since 2007, before the Great Recession. Retail spending has set new record highs almost every month, unemployment has hovered around the near full employment level of 5.6 percent as of December 2014, and there even appear to have been some gains in real wages in industries such as leisure and hospitality and information. Further, the recent decline in oil and gasoline prices offers a great form of stimulus to many lower- and middle-income families that will no doubt translate into increased consumer productivity.
“We expect the first half of 2015 to be slightly more robust than the second half, as pent up demand is satisfied and the economy starts to temper. This trend should likely persist throughout 2016, when our absorption forecast moderates to a net gain of 206 million square feet,” said Dr. Joshua Harris, University of Central Florida and a NAIOP Distinguished Fellow and study co-author, along with Dr. Hany Guirguis, Manhattan College.
“A great deal of the demand for industrial space to come from firms that produce and distribute consumer goods, and that’s why commercial real estate is seeing such a boom in e-commerce fulfillment and distribution facilities,” said Thomas Bisacquino, NAIOP president and CEO. “Another leading sector is automotive, which has grown considerably [auto sales are up 6.03 percent in 2014] and is strongly recovering from the recession.”
Guirguis and Harris note one gloomy sector of industrial demand will likely be oil and gas producers and their servicers, contractors and suppliers. The fall of oil prices to below $50 per barrel is assuredly going to translate into reduced oil exploration activities in the U.S. and elsewhere as supply outshoots demand. On net, the authors believe losses in space due to energy price weaknesses will be more than made up by gains in consumer-serving industry demand, but regional differences are nonetheless likely to occur.
Source: NAIOPBACK TO LATEST NEWS


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A FAST food chain has lodged plans to open its first Scottish restaurant at a holiday park.
American franchise Slim Chickens is hoping to build a new branch at Craig Tara Holiday Park, near Ayr.
Plans have been submitted to South Ayrshire Council, with the firm hoping to change the holiday park’s existing reception area into a restaurant.
Applicants Haven said in the proposals: “The existing reception area within the main complex building at Haven Craig Tara is to be turned into a Slim Chickens restaurant.
“To make this possible a new entrance has been proposed which connects the internal customer area to the main external pathway which runs past the building and to the other site facilities.”
The chain says it offers customers a “fresh, diverse menu that includes hand-breaded chicken tenders, perfectly fried wings, and delicious craft sandwiches.”
It added: “We started with a mission to bring a dose of that southern hospitality to a fast, casual setting—serving fresh handmade food to the communities we serve.”
Slim Chickens has a number of restaurants in the UK, in locations including London, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Newcastle.
South Ayrshire Council will now consider the application.
We recently told how a major law shake-up could see drive-thru McDonald’s and KFC banned in Scotland.
The Scottish Government revealed its proposals in the revised draft of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4).
Under the plans, restrictive approaches would be taken against drive-thru developments, recommending a “town centre first” approach.

domain: news


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As the natural wine movement goes mainstream, people are demanding more transparency and accountability from their favorite wine brands. It’s now common to hear consumers ask about a winery’s eco credentials, production practices, and farming philosophy: Does said winery spray its vines with harmful pesticides and herbicides? What kind of equipment is used to till the soil and harvest the grapes? Are chemicals added in the cellar?
What’s noticeably absent from many of these conversations is the same level of scrutiny toward labor practices—that is, whether workers are paid fairly; given adequate job training, equipment and housing; provided social benefits such as healthcare; and afforded equal opportunities.
Here at VIVANT, we believe in a holistic view of sustainable winemaking that puts the safety, wellbeing, and livelihood of workers first. We thoroughly vet our producers to ensure our values align and make certain there’s no history of workplace abuse and exploitation.
To understand why fair labor practices are important, consider the following: by one estimate, a quarter of Europe’s agricultural labor is illegal or undocumented. Without legal status or protection, workers are vulnerable to exploitation, in some extreme cases being paid only in alcohol. According to a 2014 study, in Italy alone, “About 400,000 workers are estimated to be at risk of exploitation by caporalato,”—Italy’s agricultural mafia—“of which 80% are migrants.”
In an industry as fragmented as wine, consumers are faced with a sea of options, many of which seem indistinguishable from one another. A less-savvy buyer might reach for the $9 bottle of Chardonnay over the $25 bottle, not questioning why or how the one is much cheaper than the other (or what corners have been cut to allow for such competitive pricing).
And because wine is a luxury product, there’s never been much pressure on producers to abide by certain standards or be totally transparent with consumers. Writes Eric Asimov in the New York Times: “Romanticizing wine as a natural, pastoral product often results in omitting the human labor that goes into its creation.”
In recent decades, a wave of developments has laid the groundwork for the rise of worker exploitation in the wine industry. According to a recent study, some of the contributing factors include the rise of international wine production, climate-related disasters, the 2008 stock market crash, and the deregulation of the EU wine sector. States the report: “These developments demanded new strategies to cut costs and increase international competitiveness, in particular for the (small) less favored grape growing areas at risk of further depression and possible abandonment.”
In the absence of universal standards and sweeping fair-trade certifications, the most impactful choice consumers can currently make is to buy organic and biodynamic wine. While doing so is by no means a guarantee your wine comes from a farm that supports fair and dignified working conditions (unless you shop VIVANT), it is a step in the right direction. For one, producers of organic and biodynamic wines are naturally more vocal about their values, which corresponds to more transparency and accountability. Further, with the climate crisis being one of the issues contributing to worker exploitation, organic and biodynamic winemaking—which is tied to more naturally resilient vines—is one of the best defense the wine industry has against extreme weather patterns.
To learn why organic and biodynamic wine is better for the environment, save a spot in this VIVANT Experience.
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Missouri Senate passes local vehicle sales tax bill
- Staff St. Louis Business Journal
A bill that would allow cities and counties to resume collecting taxes on cars not purchased at Missouri dealers is making a comeback in the Missouri Legislature.
The Missouri Senate voted 28-0 to send the bill to the House on Monday, KMOX reports. Last year, a Missouri Supreme Court decision prohibited local governments from collecting sales taxes on cars bought from out-of-state dealers or through a private sale between Missouri residents.
The new legislation would allow counties and cities to immediately collect local tax on those types of sales. The measure would require a vote in cities and counties on whether the tax should be kept, with the vote to be held between November 2014 and November 2016. Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed a version of the bill last year that would not have required a public vote.
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Hard-drive makers push fundamental limits News & Analysis 6/29/2000 Post a comment Recent talk of approaching fundamental limits in hard disk storage have fueled the hopes of those pushing such alternative approaches as optical storage, holographic storage, perpendicular recording and atomic probe storage. The market involved is huge. More than $40 billion worth of hard disk drives and subsystems were sold last year. Prices per megabyte have been falling by a factor of two per year; capacity per disk has risen at the same rate. Any roadblock to continued progress in this techn
Europe gains as consumer electronics leader News & Analysis 6/28/2000 Post a comment The pull for mobile connectivity is tugging the center of activity of consumer electronics design from Japan and the United States to Europe. In enclaves like Lund, small university town 300 kilometers south of Stockholm, engineers like Michel Saboune of Ericsson are brewing up concepts for families of wireless gadgets in which beefy CPUs take a backseat to clever design in RF, miniaturization and user interfaces.
Battle-hardened veterans of the electronics industry have heard of the “connected car” so often that they assume it’s a done deal. But do we really know what it takes to get a car connected and what its future entails? Join EE Times editor Junko Yoshida as she moderates a panel of movers and shakers in the connected car business. Executives from Cisco, Siemens and NXP will share ideas, plans and hopes for connected cars and their future. After the first 30 minutes of the radio show, our listeners will have the opportunity to ask questions via live online chat.


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By working closely with real estate, infrastructure and construction companies, building-material suppliers, and construction workers, Bandhoo is set to make the labor market more transparent and efficient. With this, Unitus Ventures completes its twelfth investment in the job-tech category. Bharat Innovation Fund and other angel investors participated in this round, Unitus said in a press release.
The startup is based out of Gurugram and Bengaluru. Founded by Prashant Gupta, CEO, and Sridhar Sundaram, CTO, in 2020, Bandhoo brings the ease of e-commerce to construction by enabling the value chain using technology. Bandhoo is a 15-member team based out of Gurugram and Bengaluru.
Gupta said the funds will be used to expand the engineering team, invest in building new features and functionality, and scale up operations. "We aim to onboard several large real estates and infrastructure companies, about 25,000 SME construction contractors and more than 150,000 construction workers by 2022–23. With such dramatically increased scale of supply, getting workers and labor contractors to any project site anywhere in India will be far easier and cost and time effective," he said in the press release.
Unitus senior partner Surya Mantha said: "Bandhoo delivers impact at scale for this segment of workers and enhances the productivity and business results of SMEs by connecting them with workers and large builders and contractors alike. This will put India back on the global map in the coming decades as Bandhoo formalises a labor-intensive market like India.”
ETPrime stories of the day
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East Yorkshire manufacturer Timloc Building Products is to become the latest in a string of big-name companies to move to Ozone Business Park in Howden.
The company, which is part of Alumasc Group PLC, joins national operators Warburtons, TNT, Image Data Group and DPD on the park which is being brought forward by leading property developer, Horncastle Group PLC.
They are relocating from Rawcliffe Road in Goole to a purpose-built, 88,000sqft two-storey unit to facilitate the expansion of its manufacturing capacity. The move will also provide better access to the motorway network than its current location, as Ozone Business Park lies less than a mile from Junction 37 of the M62.
Michael Leaf, divisional managing director at Timloc, said the move was fantastic news for the company and will support the company’s future growth plans.
Mr Leaf said: “Timloc is a well-known and trusted brand in the building products sector, supplying the UK’s leading national and independent builders’ merchants. To ensure our success continues, we are looking to expand our manufacturing and warehouse operations”.
“To facilitate that, we need a modern, purpose-built building with better access to and from our site, but also to the motorway network. Ozone Business Park fulfils all those requirements, but crucially, is close to our current base in Goole, so the move will not impact negatively on our workforce.”
Mr Leaf added that Ozone Business Park was the perfect size for Timloc’s requirements.
“On a really big business park it would be easy to lose your identity,” he said. “So, while Ozone Business Park hosts some excellent national companies, it is not so big as to make finding individual businesses difficult or for customers, suppliers or logistics companies to negotiate their way around, which is a huge asset.”
Ian Hodges, managing director of Horncastle Group, said he was delighted Ozone Business Park continued to attract well-known, successful companies.
He said: “Timloc Building Products is a fantastic local company whose success means it is in need of premises that truly befit its future development requirements”.
“We are very pleased Timloc has found that at Ozone Business Park, as this means the company will remain as dedicated as ever to the local area, further strengthening the local employment hub.”
Work has started to prepare the site and construction is expected to be finished by October 2017. Once completed, the building will be retained by Horncastle Group and leased to Timloc on a long-term basis.


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Cuban, billionaire sports club owner and technology entrepreneur, has invested an undisclosed sum in Catapult, producers of GPS tracking devices for professional sportspeople.
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(L-R) Dr. Adir Shiffman and Marc Cuban / Getty
Mark Cuban, the Dallas, Texas based super entrepreneur, owner of the National Basketball Association‘s Dallas Mavericks knows a thing or two about sports and technology. That’s the reason why Cuban has decided to make a serious investment in Melbourne, Australia-based, Catapult Sports, one of the world’s leading pioneers of GPS tracking devices designed for use by professional sportsmen and women.
Cuban first became aware of Capital Sports when they succeeded in convincing the coaching staff at Dallas Mavericks to try their GPS tracking devices while the players were performing on the parquet.
In recent years GPS tracking devices have become an increasingly important 8 to sports coaches, allowing them to measure player movement and levels of fatigue not only during matches but also whilst training. Information feedback from the GPS tracking devices is capable of measuring the most important of statistics, including–how rapidly an athlete can accelerate, how their hearts will be affected by different levels of physical exertion among a number of other vital physical characteristics. With this information at their disposal, team coaches will become more rapidly capable of improving game strategy as well as training programs.
Dallas Mavericks were Capital Sports first major customer in the United States, but since then they have gone on to sell the product to clubs in the AFL and NHL , as well as across the world, even reaching the bullrings of Spain and the soccer stadiums of Italy.
Dallas Mavericks v Phoenix Suns / Getty
Catapult’s GPS devices are under a player’s clothes and a specially designed harness. When in operation the GPS monitors over 100 parameters including distance, velocity, changes in direction, heart rate, acceleration and deceleration. The data collected is wirelessly transferred to a receiving device on the sidelines.
Announcing Cuban’s investment, Catapult’s chairman Dr. Adir Shiffman, explained that Wearable analytics is liable to become a critical advantage in pro sports and eventually as the device shrinks in size, it will help to make teams smarter and allow them to keep players on the court more.
“Through its ability to detect abnormal heart patterns Catapult’s GPS tracking device may save a career or even a life on the way.” summed up Dr. Shiffman.
Mark Cuban’s investment in Catapult is the first that he has made in an Australian firm, and while terms of his investment have not yet been released, it is believed to be in the region of 5% of the company, and around a few million dollars. What is especially appealing for Dr Shiffman and Shaun Holthouse, who co-founded the company in 2006, is that it will add considerable credibility to Catapult’s plans to undertake an IPO sometime later in the year.
As well as his investment, Mark Cuban has made an undertaking to help in promoting Catapult’s export business in an advisory role.
According to Dr Shiffman, just there are more than 4000 professional sports teams around the world with, as well as hundreds of college teams in the US, all of which could be capable of using Catapult’s GPS technology. Catapult has recently opened US office in Dallas.
Mark Cuban graduated from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1981. .During his college years, Cuban continued to display his strong entrepreneurial spirit involving himself various business ventures, including a pub, disco lessons, as well as a highly lucrative chain letter scheme.
After leaving university, Cuban moved to Dallas, Texas, where he found a job as a salesperson for one of the first PC software retailers to open in the city.
Driven on by his success in the computer sales Cuban started his own company, MicroSolutions, a system Integrator and software reseller. The company rapidly made its new name for itself due to a combination of Cuban’s larger-than-life personality as well as their expertise in the early software technologies. Cuban expanded MicroSolutions to a level where he sold them for the considerable sum of $6 million, walking away with approximately $2 million after taxes.
Much of that money was plowed into Cuban’s next venture, a sports reporting internet site Broadcast.com which he sold to Yahoo! in 1998 for $5.9 billion, which was paid for in Yahoo Stock.
With the Yahoo stock becoming a regular dripping roast Cuban began to diversify his own business activities, acquiring the NBA franchise for the Dallas Mavericks, as well as establishing the Landmark Theaters chain, the Magnolia Pictures production company, and becoming chairman of AXS TV, an HDTV cable network.
Dr. Adir Shiffman is an Australian founder and investor specializing in technology and healthcare companies.
A registered medical practitioner, Dr. Shiffman is regarded as being one of the foremost experts in the online marketing in Australia, having founded, built and sold a number of rapidly growing Internet-based enterprises in addition to Catapult Sports.


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Evanston, IL “ 05/28/2008 “
AVATRAIT GALLERY, Second Life's premier site for
"Digital Impressionist"art, has recently undergone
a major renovation as part of the on-going upgrades
to the Simuality sim. Their monthly features resumed
in May with an exclusive showing of images by noted
artist Corbett Howard.
Regarding the show, he wrote: "Corbett Howard exists
within the confinesof a virtual world. He is piloted
by a rather nondescript fellow, who has drawn and
painted as far back as he can remember, scratching
a living, as we all do, in the day-to-day grind,
occasionally selling a piece here and there, but
always compelled through ability and imagination to
paint and create. Upon finding this new virtual world
he saw its possibilities for creative expression. Artists
have a certain responsibility, as a place holder in
society, to reflect life - whether that life is the Real
or Second Life."
Corbett is going to have to re-think the "occasionally
selling a piece" part of that, as, for the first time
ever, an artist sold out the entire stock of "exclusive"
one-of-a-kind images in an Avatrait Gallery show!
Avatrait offers three types of images, unique "originals"
of which only one virtual copy exists, standard "virtual
prints" which many people can purchase and enjoy, and
real-world high-quality framed prints that are shipped
world-wide, and every one of Corbett's "originals" sold
in this exhibition. Another first is the "stage set"
of Corbett Howard's poster image where visitors to the
gallery can take pics of themselves, and enter them into
a contest! Come see what's happening at Avatrait gallery,


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The Carb-Counting Continues
By George Anderson
Even those not following Atkins or the South Beach diet are limiting their intake of carbs, says a newstudy.
Morgan Stanley surveyed 2,500 adults and conducted focus groups to determine the impact of low-carb dieting on the food industry.
The study suggested consumers’ interest in the benefits of following a low-carb diet may negatively impact the sales of products such as candy and soda over the longer term.
William Pecoriello, Morgan Stanley’s beverage analyst, expects both regular and carbonated soft drinks will lose share to water as consumers lose their taste for sweet drinks.
He does not see the mid-calorie and reduced-carb sodas being introduced to have an appreciable impact on consumer purchasing.
Moderator’s Comment: What are the implications of Morgan Stanley’s consumer survey findings for food manufacturers,
retailers and restaurants?
A close friend of ours has told us some fast food operators were not all that interested in selling chocolate or other milk in the past because it didn’t
carry nearly as much profit as selling soft drinks from the fountain. We wonder if that will change? – George
Anderson – Moderator


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The hybrid smart factory platform PosFrame+ is to be a combination of steelmaker’s PosFrame smart factory platform alongside GE’s representative smart factory solution Asset Performance Management.
“Developing smart technology for facilities will serve as a momentum-triggering smart solution business in the global market,” said Posco Chairman Kwon Oh-joon.
The signing took place at Posco Center in southern Seoul on Monday in the presence of Kwon, Wouter Van Wersch, CEO of GE’s Asia-Pacific region, Posco ICT President Choi Doo-hwan and Matthias L. Heilmann, chief digital officer of industrial service company Baker Hughes, a GE Company.
|Posco Chairman Kwon Oh-joon (left) attends a photo session with related officials after signing a memorandum of understanding for hybrid smart factory platform development in Seoul on Monday. (Posco)|
PosFrame compiles and analyzes information gathered while producing steel products, the company said.
GE’s Asset Performance Management system sends early warnings based on a failure prediction system, helping maintain optimal facility condition and operation rate.
The system restarted a combined cycle power plant in Turin, Italy, which had been shuttered for two years on low profitability.
Posco said, it expects PosFrame+ to boost efficiency and safety of steel factories.
By Kim Bo-gyung (firstname.lastname@example.org)


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PUBG Mobile may have been banned earlier this year, but it is still finding its way to the top-10 lists in India.
One of India’s fastest-growing markets is mobile gaming. The reason for Mobile Gaming’s exponential growth in India is the 4G revolution and the “Make in India” initiative.
In 2016, the country saw a steep decrease in data rates with a higher cap with the introduction of the 4G internet. Because of the Make in India program, the smartphone industry has also benefited from tax rebates. App analytics company App Annie has now released its study of the top mobile games of 2020 in India.
India’s most downloaded mobile games in 2020
1 – Ludo King
2 – Carrom Pool
3 – Hunter Assassin
4 – Free Fire
5 – Bubble Shooter
6 – PUBG Mobile
7 – Subway Surfer
8 – Subway Princess Runner
9 – Temple Run 2
10 – Hill Climbing Racing
Launched in 2016, Ludo King by Gametion Technologies is leading the downloads charts, led by Carrom Pool. Ludo and Carrom are both popular indoor games that have been enjoyed by Indians for decades.
The fourth most downloaded game in the country is Free Fire. In 2020, with over 266 million downloads, it is also the most downloaded game worldwide. The game received the Esports Awards Mobile Game of the Year Award.
PUBG Mobile in India is the sixth most downloaded game in 2020.
PUBG Mobile, another battle royale, is in 6th place in India’s overall downloads despite the ban. Before the ban, India made up more than 24 percent of the game’s total downloads.
The game was also the 4th most downloaded game in the world with 232.5 million downloads, according to Sensor Tower. For PUBG Mobile, the year 2020 was excellent as it created more than USD 2.6 billion in revenue in the year, making it the highest-earning mobile game of the year.
Subway Surfer, a running game launched in 2012, is still popular in the country and in the overall downloads it sits at 7th position.
The other famous games that have made it to the Top 10 list are Hunter Assasin, Temple Run 2, and Hill Climbing. On low-end computers, all three games run smoothly, which makes them famous in the region.
Players will hope that PUBG Mobile will finally make a comeback.


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The man behind American heritage and fashion, continues to lead the fore front in menswear. Tommy Hilfiger announced that he will be presenting his 2016 Men’s Collection at London’s Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week. “I look forward to continue supporting men’s fashion in both cities this season”, said Hilfiger. The collection will showcase an array of pieces that include sportswear, suiting and underwear, which have kept the American brand going strong for almost 30 years.
The Tommy Hilfiger brand has been a global leader in the fashion industry. It’s a staple when it comes to American culture and an inspiration all across the world always pushing the boundaries of men’s fashion.
Story By: Tony Madrid
Images By: Tommy Hilfiger


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Report: Kodak Prepares to File Chapter 11
January 5, 2012 10:33 AM
comment(s) - last by
Firm could sell patents under Chapter 11
Kodak has been on a downward spiral with profits falling greatly in the face of the digital photo revolution that has all but killed the film camera. Kodak is in such a bad place that it had
of its board of directors jump ship in one week.
is reporting that Kodak is now rumored to be preparing to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a bid to save the company.
The photography firm is said to be in talks with lenders to bring in debtor-in possession financing to the tune of $1 billion. The Chapter 11 filing could come as quickly as February. Kodak had previously said that it could raise a lot of cash by selling off some of its patent trove.
The patents Kodak holds have been estimated to be worth as much as
the market cap of the company. That gives the company the option of selling some patents to stay afloat if the financing it is seeking doesn't come through. Kodak has warned previously that it will need to raise at least $500 million in funding to stay afloat in 2012.
If the report is accurate and Kodak files Chapter 11, it could then sell off the patents it holds as part of the court supervised auction. Kodak also warned this week that its stock might be removed from the New York Stock Exchange if the share price doesn't grow in the next six months.
The full financial details for Kodak's fiscal Q4 will be reported on January 26. An official announcement that it will file Chapter 11 could come during the financial disclosure.
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: Long Lived
1/5/2012 8:28:32 PM
Refocus nyuck nyuck..
It's too bad because I thought the early Kodak digital cameras had the perfect interface for my technology inept mom. Farewell Kodak, hopefully all the innovative brains there get reborn into another company.
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March 15, 2020 1 min read
[Following last week's awesome news that Nightdive Studios is remastering the 1997 Blade Runner video game, here's Destructoid's previous look at Westwood's underplayed point-and-click classic. Originally published in October 2017.]
In the wake of Denis Villeneuve's astounding sequel, Blade Runner 2049, people are once again speaking in excited tones about the potential for a new Blade Runner video game experience.
I remember back around 2010, when some mysterious art was leaked for an alleged "in the works" game based on Ridley Scott's original sci-fi classic. Sadly though, nothing came of this. Thus, fans got sad and went back to their hopes and dreams of unicorns, wishing that a dedicated and faithful recreation of Los Angeles 2019 would one day surface.
But, this has already happened, albeit twenty long years ago.
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July 4th is just around the corner; do you know how you’re going to celebrate America’s Independence Day this year? If you’re like many Houstonians, you’ll be at the annual CITGO Freedom Over Texas celebration held at Eleanor Tinsley Park and Sam Houston Park. This year, the event features some new surprises in addition to the usual hallmarks of any great Fourth of July celebration: live music, food, fun for the little ones, and plenty of fireworks. Admission is just $8 when you buy online until July 4th (tickets will increase to $10), and tickets are on sale now; what are you waiting for?
Headlining this year’s CITGO Freedom Over Texas event will be Jake Owen and Kellie Pickler. Owen topped the Billboard Top Country charts in 2011 with his breakout album Barefoot Blue Jean Night and his new hit “Down to the Honkytonk” looks to be another Billboard chart-topper. Pickler, meanwhile, rose to fame on the fifth season of American Idol and has produced three hit singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.
In addition to live music, the event features the Walmart All-American Kids Zone which offers performances from local norteño band Los Luzeros de Rioverde, aerial arts demonstrations, storybook characters and superheroes, carnival rides, a rock wall, an obstacle course, games, and more. Dozens of food trucks and vendors will be serving up a wide range of treats and meals, and the Bud Light Bayou Beer Garden will be serving up ice cold beer to keep everyone 21 or older refreshed.
Need to cool off? Stop by the Dr Pepper Zone for a little shade, tastings, and family-friendly fun, like interactive painting with local artists.
This year, CITGO Freedom Over Texas will honor the 50th anniversary of one of the most defining moments in both American and Houstonian history: the Apollo 11 moon landing. “CITGO Freedom Over Texas is my favorite signature event of the year, and it is an honor to be back and partnering with NASA’s Johnson Space Center to launch a month-long celebration, leading up to the anniversary date of the Lunar Landing. This anniversary also marks 50 years of a beneficial and successful partnership between the City of Houston and NASA, a true inspiration for America,” says Mayor Sylvester Turner.
To honor the Apollo 11 lunar mission, this year’s CITGO Freedom Over Texas celebration will offer visitors the chance to meet real astronauts, take virtual reality tours of the International Space Station, watch demonstrations of NASA robots, and more.
The 2019 CITGO Freedom Over Texas celebration kicks off on July 4, 2019 at 4:00 PM at Eleanor Tinsley and Sam Houston Parks and along Allen Parkway. The West Gate is at Taft at Allen Parkway; North Gate at Sabine at Memorial; and East Gate at Bagby at Dallas.
See the event’s official website for more information. Or download the MOSECOH app on your mobile device for even more info — the FREE “Mayor’s Office of Special Events” MOSECOH app can be downloaded today at Google Play for Android devices running 4.1 and higher, or at the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad devices running iOS 8.0 or later.
This is a sponsored post. We only accept sponsored content that we believe offers a great value to our loyal readers in the greater Houston area. Sponsored content allows Houston On The Cheap to manage the expenses of running this website and to work tirelessly to bring you extensive coverage of the area’s best deals and events. If your organization is interested in sponsoring content on our site, click here to learn how you can advertise with us.


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Today I am looking at two London stocks expected to deliver delicious returns.
Cigarette maker set to soar
The tobacco sector has long been a happy hunting ground for those seeking dependable dividend growth year after year. The terrific earnings visibility associated with their defensive operations has made the likes of British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS) a strong performer for income seekers, and I expect this trend to continue well into the future.
The company’s portfolio of market-leading brands like Pall Mall and Lucky Strike carry formidable pricing power that enable the business to keep revenues growing irrespective of wider pressure on consumers’ wallets.
On top of this, British American Tobacco’s decision to enter hot growth segments like e-cigarettes also provides the firm’s revenues outlook with plenty of ammunition.
The business has already entered the market through its Vype technology, and its decision to ink a technology-sharing agreement with Reynolds American earlier this month could push its vapour-related sales onto the next level.
My positive take is shared by the Square Mile’s fleet of number crunchers, and British American Tobacco — shrugging off a marginal earnings decline — is expected to lift the dividend in 2015, to 156.2p per share from 148.1p last year. Consequently the business offers a market-mashing 4.1% yield for the period.
And supported by a 7% bottom-line improvement in 2016, the cigarette play is anticipated to lift the dividend yet again, to 164.3p and thus pushing the yield to 4.3%.
Electronics play on the back foot
I believe the dividend outlook over at electronics manufacturer Premier Farnell (LSE: PFL) is far less assured than that of its FTSE peer, however.
The Leeds-based business advised on Thursday that group sales per day in the third quarter grew by a meagre 0.5% between August and October, although revenues would have dipped 2.3% had it not been for the success of its Raspberry Pi budget computer systems.
Consequently Premier Farnell advised that “operating profit [this year] is expected to be in line with previous guidance, albeit towards the lower end of the profit range.”
The company said that sales in Europe and the Americas continued to fall, adding that “a more challenging trading environment in the industrials space” in the latter territory — a region from which a third of revenues are generated — remains a headache.
The City expects Premier Farnell to fork a full-year dividend of 6.2p per share for the years ending January 2016 and 2017, down from 10.4p in recent years although still yielding an eye-watering 6%.
But given that conditions in its all of its markets bar Asia remain difficult — Premier Farnell elected to cut the interim dividend by more than 40% in September in light of these issues — I believe current payout projections could fall well wide of the mark.


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Members from animal rights group, Animal Rebellion, have recently caused significant disruption for fast-food chain McDonald’s…
The vegan activists turned up at distribution centers in the United Kingdom in order to stop them from moving meat goods.
The 4 places that were targeted, Basingstoke, Coventry, Hemel Hempstead, and Heywood, are said to supply food to approximately 1,300 chains around the country.
Using trucks and structures made from bamboo, they blockaded areas to prevent lorries from leaving the premises.
Multiple stores were left without adequate ingredients so were forced to close temporarily while the protest continued.
In a tweet aimed at the bosses of the fast-food joint, the leaders of the Animal Rebellion movement have threatened to stay put if they don’t get what they want.
And what they want is for Mcdonald’s to move to plant-based alternatives to replace all the meat options.
A spokesperson for Animal Rebellion, James Ozden, said this:
“The meat and dairy industry is destroying our planet: causing huge amounts of rainforest deforestation, emitting immense quantities of greenhouse gases and killing billions of animals each year.”
“The only sustainable and realistic way to feed ten billion people is with a plant-based food system.
“Organic, free-range, and ‘sustainable’ animal-based options simply aren’t good enough.”
Not only are they using trucks to block exits, but some members of the group have also put their bodies on the line.
In a video posted on the Animal Rebellion Twitter feed this morning, one protestor said “it’s absolutely the right thing to do.”
They also added this:
“I’m absolutely thrilled that we’ve managed to do this today, because what’s going at the moment, what McDonald’s are doing, is absolutely horrendous.
“We’re in the middle of a climate and ecological emergency and we’re still consuming huge quantities of meat on a scale that is just not sustainable for our planet.”
“We need a diet that is plant-based and not reliant on industrial farming, not reliant on the suffering of animals and the exploitation of workers.”
The public stunt has divided audiences.
Some people supported the controversial move…
However, a lot of others were not on board…
McDonald’s have now spoken out about the fiasco, in a statement that reads as follows:
“Our distribution centers are currently facing disruption. We are assessing the impact on deliveries to our restaurants and to menu items.
“We apologize to our customers for any disappointment caused.”
Nothing has been mentioned about the group or if they are planning on hearing them out.
But the likelihood of that happening is little to none.
I mean, I’m all for making impactful statements but this is just annoying, rather than influential.
And it sure as hell does not make me want to switch to the vegan lifestyle. Quite the opposite really.
Watch one of the videos from the movement here:
Or for more news, keep on scrolling…


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December 4, 2009
The 13th Texas Tech University ornament is a beautiful replica of the official class ring. The ring, which marks its 10th anniversary this year, is a universal symbol of academic achievement. Its iconic images of the Double T, Masked Rider, Administration Bell Tower and the University Seal are faithfully reproduced in the ornament.
A new ornament is designed each year and depicts something unique to Texas Tech. Past designs have featured the Masked Rider, the Double T, and the Administration Building bell tower.
The ornaments are sold year-round.
Purchase this year’s ornament or the whole set at www.ornaments.ttu.edu or contact the Office of the President at (806) 742-2121. The ornament sells for $20 plus shipping and tax.
Learn more about the Texas Tech University official class ring.


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Automotive News was reporting Monday that Tata Motors will be bringing the Nano subcompact to the U.S.
Ratan Tata, chief of India’s Tata Group, said the world’s cheapest production car would be redesigned for the new market. There was no immediate word if the vehicle would hit Canadian streets.
Debuting in India three years ago, the Nano sold for roughly $2,500. Tata told the news outlet that target price for a U.S. version would sit somewhere under $10,000.
He went on to say that despite a target sales date of 2015, it was premature to discuss a distribution network.
Tata Motors is India's largest automobile company. Through subsidiaries and associate companies, Tata Motors has operations in the U.K., South Korea, Thailand, Spain and South Africa.
It also owns the Jaguar and Land Rover brands.


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Electronics company LG joined Hedera Hashgraph’s Governing Council on Wednesday, becoming its 14th member.
LG, a South Korean home appliance manufacturer, is the first such business to join and only the second based in Asia after the Japan-based Nomura.
Those attributes add a fresh perspective to Hedera's telecom-heavy and Asia-light council, said Hedera CEO Mance Harmon. He said members “vote on just about every part of the business” of the limited liability corporation.
“For that to be done well, we want to make sure that we have that really broad representation, not just across verticals but also by geography,” Harmon said. “LG is bringing diversity and further decentralization to the council in the way that we haven't had before. That's part of the excitement here.”
LG did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Harmon claims the Hashgraph beta can handle 10,000 transactions per second – “way faster” than blockchain-based public ledgers running Ethereum and Bitcoin. It follows a proof-of stake model in which users pay via tokens for network services.
CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.


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As expected, India’s new crop of startups is taking off. Some of them are just a week old. But the ones that are in the limelight already are the most innovative.
The most obvious of these is Microsoft’s new Surface Pro. Microsoft is the biggest seller of the Windows Phone, and as such, it’s a great way to spend most of the day. Microsoft is a huge success in the business world, and as such, if you live in India, you should probably follow their lead.
Microsoft has been around for a while, but it’s only recently that it has become a household name in India. It’s already a major player in the world’s No.1 software company (in the software and services space), and this is one of the main reasons why. Microsoft is a company that can take on any other company in the world and beat them in marketing, branding, and sales.
Microsoft has been around for a while, and its been a huge success in the business world, but its only recently that it has become a household name in India. Its already a major player in the worlds No.1 software company in the software and services space, and this is one of the main reasons why. Microsoft is a company that can take on any other company in the world and beat them in marketing, branding, and sales.
This is the type of success that Microsoft can achieve by focusing on its core competency – software and services. The last thing it needs is a company called “the Indian software company” to take its place in the top 10. Instead of focusing on some software that is only useful to a relatively small circle of users, Microsoft needs to focus on its software that is so popular that no one else can copy it.
In the next five years India will be the tenth most populous country in the world, and its software industry will be the third largest. This is because India will spend $3 billion on software in the next five years, the third fastest growing revenue stream in the world. The Indian market is a mess and Microsoft is a part of it. It can’t stay on the sidelines and not help to fix it.
Microsoft wants to copy the Indian market because they need to do so to stay competitive. They need to dominate the Indian market to stay in business. India is their largest market and a significant reason to become the dominant software company in the world.
Microsoft is very aware of the Indian market. In fact, they hired the best Indians in development because they want to be the ones to build the next Windows. They want to build the next Windows so that their competitors dont have the ability to innovate. When we talk about India, we mean India. We mean India. With the new Indian government coming in which wants to give everybody free Internet, they are going to be very aggressive about changing the Internet and software in India.
I was on the list for the part of the time-looping, but it was a long one. When I first started picking up my computer for the first time, I was pretty excited by it. For a few days I was like, “Oh my god!” I was excited because I had heard about Microsoft. They were the biggest market in India and they wanted to be the one to do it. They had a huge market.


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The danger of fraud continues to climb for organizations of all sizes as the most recent information reveals third-quarter spikes in enterprise electronic mail compromise and ransomware scams. This week’s B2B Knowledge Digest takes a have a look at the numbers behind these spikes, discovering small companies to be significantly at-risk. Plus, the most recent allegations of fraud hit the PPE provide chain, and the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee points a dire fraud warning.
30 cyber alerts have been issued by the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee in October alone because the SEC warns that cyberattacks in opposition to firms are on the rise. More and more, the priority has turned to ransomware and credential compromises, with authorities urging companies to implement multi-factor authentication measures to guard their information. “Cyber dangers haven’t gone away with the unlucky, unexpected dangers we have confronted with COVID and different uncertainties in our financial system,” SEC Chairman Jay Clayton stated to CNBC. “They’re nonetheless there, they usually’re there greater than ever.”
155 % extra instances of bill and fee fraud hit organizations from Q2 to Q3, the most recent evaluation from Irregular Safety has discovered. Enterprise electronic mail compromise scams spiked 15 % in the course of the interval, too, with researchers discovering that BEC assaults elevated throughout 75 % of the industries surveyed. The retail/client items and manufacturing sectors have been significantly prone to bill and fee fraud, with manufacturers together with DHL, Dropbox and Amazon rating the most-impersonated by cyber attackers, researchers stated.
$21,000 was reportedly fraudulently charged to a company card by a former Financial institution of America analyst in India, Enterprise Insider India reported not too long ago. Based on a criticism, the person misused his firm bank card for private purchases and has did not pay the corporate again. The person claimed that he misplaced the cardboard, nonetheless, and that he was not the one making the purchases in query. The case raises the difficulty of business bank card safety and issues that come up whether or not an worker deliberately misuses the cardboard, or whether or not it’s misplaced and at-risk for fraudulent misuse.
$150,000 was allegedly stolen from the College of Otago in New Zealand, native studies stated, with a pair accused of organising a false software program firm and establishing it as a provider to the college. The people are then stated to have submitted fraudulent invoices to the college from the faux firm, routing the funds to their private accounts. Whereas the couple has averted jail time, native studies stated the people have been sentenced to 10 months’ dwelling detention.
$233,817 is the typical ransomware fee a company pays to regain management of its techniques, in line with new information from Coveware. Researchers examined instances of ransomware assaults within the third quarter of 2020 and located that the typical payout rose 31 %. Additional, the typical enterprise interruption time is now 19 days, up 19 % quarter over quarter. Companies with as much as 1,000 workers made up 73 % of ransomware targets. Based on analysts, there’s an more and more troubling pattern of companies not regaining entry to information or management of techniques even after a ransom is paid. Because of this, Coveware is urging organizations to assume diligently about their response methods.
$59 million value of medical masks are lacking as a U.Okay. authorities procurement deal collapses, and authorities suspect fraud, in line with The Guardian. The U.Okay. Division of Well being and Social Care had procured the PPE gadgets from provider Purple Surgical, with fee made upfront. Nevertheless, in line with studies, the provider has not offered the gadgets ordered, and Purple Surgical is claiming fraud from its personal vendor, a provide chain concern that studies stated highlights the complexities of the worldwide PPE provide chain.


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Hyundai and Kia were the unintentional beneficiaries in September sales of the a long-running dispute between China and Japan over the territorial claims over the Diayou/Senkaku islands, Bloomberg is reporting. The private sale giving Japan de-facto control of the islands, which has claimed administrative control over the islands since the end of World War II, resulted in protests in China in which Japanese-branded cars were vandalized and dealerships were set on fire.
Official sales figures will be announced on October 10, but preliminary figures show a combined gain for Hyundai/Kia of more than 10,000 units for September. Hyundai’s best-selling model in China is the Verna sedan, similar to the U.S. market Accent, and the Langdong, similar to the Elantra.
Toyota reportedly saw sales drop by 50 percent for the month, with Mazda sales falling 35 percent. Nissan, which has the highest market share of any Japanese brand in China, has not yet reported September sales.
The largest passenger car maker in China is FAW-Volkswagen, selling 114,700 units in August. All foreign automakers that wish to manufacture in the country are required by law to partner with a local affiliate.
Last month, Japanese manufacturers with a presence in China advised employees, especially those from Japan to keep a low profile, and not to speak in public to ensure their public safety.


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The strange tale of Volkswagen and its Bosnian supplier.
What do brake parts, yachts, couches, shoes and Volkswagen have in common? Top marks if you answered the Prevent Group, a little known company of Bosnian origins and many interests that has played a big part in the recent history of the German automotive giant.
For many years, the Prevent Group has supplied Volkswagen with various car parts, from gearbox components to seat covers, often via various other supply companies they bought up over the years.
Two years ago, that supply suddenly stopped. Apparently unhappy with decisions made by Volkswagen in the wake of the Dieselgate scandal, two Prevent companies – Automobilguss and Car Trim – dramatically halted supply to VW without warning.
Volkswagen has now cancelled the majority of its contracts with parts and material supplier Prevent Group following a series of supply problems affecting production in Brazil between 2015 and 2016. The carmaker said the problems had cost it a total of €250m ($307m).
Since the 1990s, Prevent Group, based in Bosnia, has bought a number of global parts subsidiaries that have traditionally supplied VW. It owns ES Automobilguss, which supplies metal parts for transmission assemblies; and also Fameq, which supplies body parts as well as seats and seat covers through its Car Trim and Keiper companies, amongst others.
Volkswagen said the disruption to supply in Brazil two years ago, which involved various parts including seats, incurred 160 days of production stoppage at its Brazilian plants in Taubaté, São Jose dos Pinhais (Curatiba), São Carlos (which makes engines) and Anchieta. The halt to production meant a loss in output of 140 000 vehicles between March 2015 and August 2016. It also meant 18 000 employees were placed on restricted work schedules.
The German carmaker ended its business with Prevent Group there in 2016 and subsequently accelerated production to meet the shortfall to its dealer network.
There was also disruption to supply based on a shortage of parts that affected six of VW’s plants in Germany, including its largest global assembly plant in Wolfsburg, as well as its main engine and transmission plants in Salzgitter and Kassel. VW said it was forced to take out an injunction against ES Automobilguss and Car Trim to resume supply in that case, though it still did not receive the parts and materials. Emden, Braunschweig and Zwickau were also affected.
“At all times, Volkswagen depends on reliable cooperation with suppliers in a spirit of trust,” said VW in a statement.
“Existing business relationships are regularly reviewed accordingly, with the aim of minimising the adverse impact of any supply chain disruptions on our own production in the interests of our customers, workforce, dealers and other suppliers.”
VW has cancelled most of its contracts with Prevent Group companies, a move expected to have a significant impact on the supplier, given that 70% of its orders were from the OEM.
The carmaker has secured a number of contracts with alternative (so far unnamed) suppliers but has retained its contract with Neue Halberg-Guss, which Prevent Group bought back in January this year and which makes crankshafts, blocks and cylinder heads.
Prevent Group has put out its own statement suggesting that VW’s decision to cancel its contracts with just one day’s notice was without legal basis or economic reason and contradicts the principles of commercial good faith.
“Long-term contracts with ES Automobilguss from Schönheide and the two other companies were terminated on March 21 2018 without notice,” said Prevent Group in a statement.
“As a result, short-term work will be required at the sites in Schönheide, Plauen and Stendal, as well as layoffs for many of the approximately 700 employees.”
Prevent said the action taken by VW would require complete replacement of a delivery structure that would cost the carmaker a sum in the three-digit millions. It added that while it was investigating legal measures to avert greater damage, it remained ready for constructive dialogue.
Prevent Group is separately involved in legal action concerning the supply of seat covers to Daimler.


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Meet ASSIST Software at NXTAsia 2019
Thu, 06 Jun 2019
The transformation of the future is made possible at NXTAsia.
For the second year in a row, ASSIST Software will be attending NXTAsia, which is Asia’s platform for the global industry to showcase specialized technologies to help enterprises from across industry verticals in their digital transformation journeys.
This event will take place from the 18th to the 20th of June 2019 in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
During these three days, ASSIST Software will showcase its entire portfolio of outsourcing software services including projects in web development, mobile applications, product design cloud, quality assurance, IoT, AI, blockchain and many other digital solutions that have been tailored to fit the needs of our clients.
NXTAsia2019 is part of ConnecTechAsia2019, an annual Summit that will have a total of 27 group pavilions this year, providing Singaporean companies with opportunities to network with international small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from Australia, Canada, China (6), EU Business Avenues in SEA, France, Germany, India (2), Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Singapore (2), Taiwan, Thailand, UK, USA and Vietnam.
At the ASSIST Software stand, you will find displays and information about the following:
- mobile applications
- web development
NXTAsia 2019 will showcase the latest trends in AI, Blockchain, Big Data, Cloud, Cybersecurity, IoT and more. The event will also feature the dedicated Disrupt+ zone where start-ups can put forth their innovations.
Make sure to book a meeting with our team to explore the advantages of software development outsourcing to Romania. Send an email to email@example.com to see how we can help in solving your digital challenges.


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Follow Himalaya Oxford Farm on Gettr/Twitter
Translator: Himalaya Oxford Visionary-boylatin1L
Elon Musk said on Friday (13 May) that his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter was on hold, citing details of spam and fake accounts pending.
“The Twitter deal is on hold pending details to support the calculation that spam/fake accounts only make up less than 5% of users,” Musk said in a tweet.
Shares of the social media company fell 20% in premarket trading. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company estimated earlier this month that fake or spam accounts accounted for less than 5% of its profitable daily active users in the first quarter.
It also said it faces several risks until the Musk deal closes, including whether advertisers will continue to spend on Twitter.
The world’s richest man and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have said that one of his priorities will be to remove “rubbish robots” from the platform.
Edited by: MikeHua
Posted by: Peter Chen
For more information, please follow us on:
Himalaya Oxford Visionary Farm: Twitter
Himalaya Oxford Visionary Farm: Gettr
Himalaya Oxford Visionary Farm: Discord


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Insanity’s Blade is a cool looking platformer that’s heading to the PC and Wii U at some point — but according to a new developer update, that “some point” probably won’t be anytime soon.
According to developer CasualBit Games, the game is completed outside of a few “minor glitches.” But people have been playtesting the game, and have made a number of suggestions that the developer agrees with — so until these issues are rectified, the game is on a TBA status.
All Kickstarter backers will be getting a private build of the game to compensate. That’s a pretty rad solution — much better than the vast majority of developers that make backers wait months to see anything tangible.
Insanity’s Blade is being pushed to TBA status [CasualBit Games]


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Friday, Samsung announced the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, an upgraded version of the 7 inch Galaxy Tab that was launched last year. The newest version of the device will run a Honeycomb version of Android designed for tablets, and is powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and support for 21 MBps HSPA+ networks. The new tablet will retain the 3 megapixel rear facing camera from the original but will have a 2 megapixel front facing camera, which will aid in its 720p video recording and 1080p video playback.
The Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus will feature a 7 inch IPS LCD display locked at 1024x600, eschewing Samsung's Super AMOLED Plus screen technology. It is currently slated for release in Indonesia and Austria at the end of October and will slowly roll out to the rest of the world later this year.


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Wineries pouring it on to lure upscale clients
Welcome to the Napa Valley. Not you, Bubba.
Long a destination for visitors wanting to picnic in California's idyllic Wine Country and then cap the day off with a little winery hopping, the bucolic region of rolling vineyards, romantic estates and boutique wineries saw 4 million tourists in 2005.
But today, many vintners are making it clear: There is no more room at the inn for the Bermuda shorts crowd, who drive from tasting room to tasting room with Aunt Betty and belly up to the bar for another swig of Sauvignon Blanc. Now, some wineries charge as much as $25 for tastings, offer pricey VIP packages and, in many cases, require appointments and credit card numbers for visits. No-shows get charged if they fail to cancel 48 hours in advance.
Valet parking, intimate tours, wine tasting with famous cheesemongers and elaborately set tables can all be part of the experience -- for a price.
"There was a time that the tastings were free because wineries were just so glad that people were taking an interest," said Larry Stone, the general manager of Rubicon Estate in Rutherford, a winery known for its Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant wine. "Then wine got very popular. Now, we're trying to be creative about how to attract the real wine enthusiasts and not the partygoers."
It was about 10 years ago that some of the wineries began charging a nominal fee for pourings. These days, it's hard to find a winery in Napa that doesn't charge, and the custom is catching on in Sonoma, considered the Wine Country's casual cousin. But what is decidedly new is the trend toward selling sophistication -- a lifestyle of expensive wines, fine foods and luxury service.
In the last 20 years, American consumers have more than doubled the amount of money they spend on wine, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks household expenditures. During that time the number of bonded wineries in the U.S. tripled. In 2004, the last year for which figures are available, Americans bought $23.2 billion worth of wine -- $15 billion of which was from California -- an increase of 4 percent from the previous year, according to the Wine Institute in San Francisco, a lobbying group for the industry.
Experts predict that the 2005 figures will be up 5 to 9 percent, said Barbara Insel of MKF Research in St. Helena.
Although Napa Valley produces just 4 percent of the state's wine, it is the No. 1 Wine Country destination, and it sells some of the country's priciest wines.
For that reason, wineries just can't afford to pour for free any more, said Terry Hall, a spokesman for Napa Valley Vintners, a professional association, adding that $5 to $10 tastings can still be found.
Fewer than half of the valley's 391 wineries even have tasting rooms, Hall said. And the county has an ordinance that limits the number of wineries with open-door policies, as a matter of crowd control. For those wineries, entry is by appointment only.
But even the wineries that are allowed to have walk-ins like the exclusive feel of reservations.
With the soaring popularity of wine, proprietors of Napa Valley's tasting rooms believe they can be more discriminating about who visits their wineries. They say they want people who are ardent about the wine, so they're weeding out the folks who are looking for the freebies and, at the same time, vying for the consumers who will be loyal to their product. And they're doing it by selling an "experience."
"For a long time wineries just looked at their tasting rooms as a form of hospitality and not as profit centers that could be used for branding. But that is changing," said Nancy Light, a spokeswoman for the Wine Institute.
Insel agreed, saying, "Research is showing that people will buy more wine if they have to pay for it. It is also showing that people are looking for a special experience."
So vintners are rising to the occasion.
Darioush, a winery fashioned to look like the Persepolis palace in ancient Iran, towers over rows of vineyards on the Silverado Trail in Napa. Giant stone pillars topped with lions flank the walkway into the tasting room. The furnishings are opulent, the fireplace is grand, gurgling fountains and luxurious accessories are everywhere you turn. All that's missing is the voice of Robin Leach, host of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."
"We've designed our winery so that it's more than a tasting room," said Dan de Polo, president of Darioush. "We wanted it to be like a small hotel lobby."
For $15, a visitor can sample four wines. For $35 and an appointment, there are private tastings with cheese pairings. Once a week and by prior arrangement, the winery offers an "artisan wine and cheese intensive" for $65 per person. The event is hosted by the owners of Marin County's Cowgirl Creamery.
De Polo said the winery doesn't make money off the tastings, but the fees do help offset the cost.
"We now have an opportunity to do more than just pour the wine and say, 'What do you want to buy?' " de Polo said. "We can give visitors more of an authentic experience. And there is a large part of the population who wants individual attention."
For those people, a Darioush host is on hand to explain the history of the winery, which opened in 2004 -- the dream of Darioush Khaledi, a Los Angeles grocery store magnate, who left Iran before the 1979 revolution. The visitor also gets a spiel about the wine and how it's stored, takes a short tour and then is ushered into a private room for wine and cheese.
De Polo said the winery is recommended to many of its guests by high-end hotels like the Four Seasons in San Francisco and Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford.
"These people are spending $500 to $700 a night for a room," he said. In other words, these aren't the types to be content with a Ritz cracker and a piece of American cheese.
At Rubicon Estate, formerly Niebaum-Coppola, busloads of visitors -- sometimes several thousand people a day -- descend on the Rutherford winery. Many come for a taste of Hollywood rather than a taste of wine, hoping to catch a glimpse of the estate's famous proprietor, film director Francis Ford Coppola. Or they want at least to see two chateau floors jammed with movie memorabilia -- Coppola's Oscars, the score from the "The Godfather" and photographs of the director and his celebrity family members, including his daughter, Sofia, and nephew, Nicolas Cage.
Last month, Coppola and his staff decided it was time to take the winery in a different direction. They began charging a $25 fee for each visitor to get onto the property. The cost of admission also includes a basic tour and five tastings, including a sample of the signature $110-a-bottle Rubicon Estate wine.
A gatekeeper advises patrons of the charge before they have a chance to step foot on the grounds. If they decide to stay, a valet parks their car and a host hands them a "passport," a small notebook that is stamped every time a purchase is made. The stamps are tallied up at one of three French kiosks at the estate's exit, where the visitor pays.
In addition to the $25 fee, there are private tastings available with appointments, as well as five special tours that range from $15 to $45 per person and give visitors enough information on the winery and the wines it produces to sound knowledgeable at a cocktail party.
But for Rubicon, the move to do away with easy access is not just about money and marketing.
"For us, a lot of it was a crowd-control issue," said Rubicon's Stone, who said that in addition to the rubberneckers, there were a fair amount of party revelers visiting the estate.
"They were drinking, but not spitting. It wasn't fair to our neighbors. These people were getting on the roads and driving from one winery to the next."
So Rubicon's strategy is to move the Hollywood museum to its new digs in Sonoma County, where Coppola bought Chateau Souverain in Geyserville. At the new site, he plans to take over the existing restaurant and produce his value-priced Diamond Collection he sells at stores like Trader Joe's and Safeway.
Todd Stichler, a recent visitor to Rutherford with his wife, Stephanie, and two other couples from San Diego County, said they've been coming to Napa Valley for years and have noticed the changes.
"You have to have money to come here, for sure," said the construction company CEO. "It's no longer accessible to everyone."
The Stichlers and their friends took a chauffeured limousine from their hotels in San Francisco to taste wine in the valley. They shelled out $55 each for tastings at the Swanson Vineyards chateau, which according to its Web site is "fashioned after a Parisian salon of the mid-1800s, where a handful of diverse and fascinating callers were graciously entertained with libations and sinful chocolates."
The winery advertises the experience as "decadence with a wink" and says, "We wanted each guest to feel as though they were coming to a little party held in their honor."
Swanson doesn't even put its name on the gate -- just an address at the driveway and a sign that reads, "Open by Appointment."
The three couples oohed and aahed as they sat at a finely appointed dining table, complete with Riedel crystal stemware and a French candelabra, swirling their Pinot Grigio and sipping it with aged Gruyere cheese. A platter of caviar served on crispy potato chips was passed around the table.
"This is so perfect for the pool," one of the women gushed about the wine.
One of the couples volunteered that they were already members of Swanson's Harvey wine club, which for a $190 annual fee covers the cost of 12 bottles shipped to their home.
"It's a no-brainer," Jeff Skelly told the others who, after the tasting, joined the club, too.
Loraine Fowlow, an architecture professor at the University of Calgary in Alberta and co-author of "Wine by Design," said the San Diegans exemplify the link between tourism and "the whole lifestyle interest."
"I think that this is a generation that was so busy accomplishing in their professional life that they learned that there was something missing in the quality of their personal life," she said.
So now, they are making up for lost time by buying high-end luxury items, including fine wine and food. She attributes the influence of Martha Stewart, the Food and Fine Living networks, and Home and Garden Television for the movement.
The Napa Valley, with its gourmet restaurants, specialty shops and world-famous wines, certainly helps create a feeling of that sumptuous lifestyle.
"It's not just the French Laundry anymore," acknowledged Darioush's de Polo about the renowned restaurant. "It's Dean & Deluca (a specialty food store). It's dozens of other world-class restaurants. It's like being in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
"It's the golden age to be a wine enthusiast."


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It looks like the smooth arrival that the Bolt is hoping for is not going to happen now that Chrysler has proof that their Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid is going to be a real threat and people should take it seriously.
The numbers are out for the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid and according to EPA, the new hybrid model will be able to offer about 33miles of electric range and has a fuel efficiency rate of 84MPGe. Chrysler is able to do all these thanks to the 16kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery pack that is powering both the electric motors. The motors will be working with the 3.6 liter Pentastar V6 engine. The combination will give the vehicle 260hp in total.
The Bolt, on the other hand, will come with a 20hp engine that will be powered y a 60kWh lithium-ion battery. It will have a range of 238miles in total. Who do you think will win the hearts of the green car drivers?


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Since its inception, the GST Council is scheduled to have its 21st meeting today at Hyderabad. The Council, headed by the finance minister Arun Jaitley along with state finance ministers, will primarily look on matters that include fixation of quantum of cess hike on luxury goods including cars, SUVs. Tax anomalies concerning some two dozen common usage items shall also be discussed upon. It is expected that tax rates of these items which include idli/dosa batter, custard powder, dried tamarind and kitchen gas lighters is likely to come down.
Also, the Council will work on devising a way to deal with enterprises which are deregistering their brands in order to avoid taxes under the new GST. As per the GST taxation rules, unbranded food items are exempt from GST tax net whereas branded and packaged food attracts 5% tax. The committee set up for the purpose of overseeing the issue has proposed to consider May 15, 2017 as the cut off date for considering the brand as registered to be eligible for GST pay-out.
"Our (Telangana) government is going to raise the issue of tax concession for government projects, besides other subjects such as concession for beedi and granite industries, among others", Somesh Kumar, state principal secretary (revenue) said.
The hike on cess which in the previous meet was approved at up to 25% for mid- and large-sized cars, SUVs, hybrid and luxury ones shall also be finalized today. This shall come up even though auto companies are demanding deferment of cess hike
Also,, the return filing date for GSTR-1 has been extended in view of the high rush for invoice uploading to September 10. Various other issues of traders and businesses confronted after the nationwide implementation of GST shall also be put forth in the meet today.


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AG Slatery Sues Food City for Unlawful Sales of OpioidsThe company sold 206 million prescription opioids; 25% at one store in Bearden
Nashville- Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III announced today that he sued Food City Supermarkets, LLC and K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc. in Knox County Circuit Court. The State’s lawsuit alleges that for well over a decade, Food City pharmacies in Tennessee unlawfully sold tens of millions of prescription opioids, in particular immediate release oxycodone 30mg (Oxy 30), and intentionally profited from the ongoing opioid epidemic. The State asserts that Food City’s conduct and its failure to maintain the required effective controls against abuse and diversion have directly contributed to the ongoing opioid epidemic.
Specifically, the State contends that Food City violated the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, violated the Tennessee’s public nuisance statute at three Knoxville-area stores, and created a common law public nuisance by endangering the health of Tennesseans and interfering with the commercial marketplace.
“Food City made a lot of money from filling opioid prescriptions. In itself that’s not a problem. The problem is how they did it.” said General Slatery. “The company knew its customers were addicted. It knew the pill mills writing the prescriptions were some of the worst actors at any level of the opioid crisis. But Food City did virtually nothing that would disturb that income stream. It stoked the market with the most diverted and abused opioids, pushed its pharmacists to sell more and more, and ignored the most alarming evidence - overdoses and illegal sales taking place right outside the pharmacy door.” The Attorney General is going to pursue businesses that knowingly welcome, turn a blind eye to, or closely align themselves with suspect clinics or providers. Remember four to five people die each day from opioid overdoses in Tennessee.
The allegations in the State’s 208-page Complaint provide stark detail about Food City’s opioid sales and conduct. Among other things, the State alleges that for more than a decade the Company:
- Sold more than 206 million prescription opioids, almost 25% of which were sold by Food City # 674 in Bearden;
- Sold more than 42.5 million Oxy 30 pills—44% of which were sold at Food City # 674 in Bearden;
- Ignored or watered-down reports of suspicious prescribers, allowing its pharmacies to continue selling opioids even after these doctors, nurses, and physician assistants were raided, disciplined, arrested, or indicted;
- Routinely sold huge quantities of dangerous “high risk” prescription combinations, in particular the “Holy Trinity” of an opioid, a benzodiazepine (e.g., Xanax), and a muscle relaxer (e.g., Soma);
- Sold Oxy 30 and other prescription opioids to criminals involved in drug trafficking rings;
- Purchased more Oxy 30—one of the most diverted and potent immediate release opioids—from AmerisourceBergen between October 2011 and January 2012 for Food City # 674 than all of AmerisourceBergen’s other pharmacy customers in 38 entire states and the District of Columbia;
- Sold opioids with more morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs), a common unit to evaluate potency among different opioids, at Food City # 674 than all pharmacies in 81 Tennessee counties;
- Created a prescription savings card program that allowed customers to obtain additional price discounts on all opioids, including Oxy 30, making it a hot spot for criminals looking for the cheapest oxycodone in the area;
- Established a policy of having its pharmacies hoard opioids and other controlled substances by ordering as many as its supplier would send to each store;
- Actively solicited secondary suppliers of Oxy 30 when its main supplier reduced thresholds to its highest volume pharmacies in Knoxville;
- Pressured employees to increase sales of opioids and to fill suspicious opioid prescriptions, threatened pharmacy employees if sales did not improve, and retained employees at its most lucrative opioid-selling stores despite policy and regulatory violations;
- Illegally and secretly transferred numerous opioids among Food City pharmacies to ensure a steady supply and get around supplier thresholds;
- Continued selling massive quantities of opioids even after multiple instances of overdoses at its stores or in store parking lots;
- Pushed back forcefully against public and private reports that Food City had compliance issues concerning controlled substances; and
- Sold large quantities of opioids to individuals from foreign countries, including Poland, Venezuela, the UK, Australia, and Canada, and from far-away states within the U.S., including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington (state), Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
The lawsuit is part of a series of actions the State has filed against companies for opioid-related misconduct. The State has previously sued manufacturers Purdue Pharma L.P. and Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. as well as AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation, one of the largest distributors of opioids in Tennessee. Tennessee also continues to lead a multistate group of Attorneys General who are investigating various manufacturers and distributors and seeking to hold them accountable and recover funds to abate the opioid epidemic to which they contributed.
In all efforts, the Attorney General’s Office continues to work toward a resolution that will provide funds and other assistance to address opioid abuse prevention, treatment, and education in every community—particularly those hardest hit by this epidemic.
To read the complaint, click here: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2021/pr21-06-complaint.pdf


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AVWeek 349: Disney has unveiled a prototype device that provides haptic feedback in a virtual reality environment. The system is very similar to “Ready Player One”. Our panel discusses the ways that the ProAV industry can use these and other sensory devices to create exceptional experiences.
Wrapping up InfoComm 2018
In part 2 of our InfoComm 2018 special, we discuss end-users experiences, manufacturers’ feedback from the show, and a look to the future of the audiovisual industry.
GAFA to take Over?
This week we discuss post-Avixa Infocomm 18 observations, Look at Inimate’s low-cost control offerings, Sonos launches Beam, and Amazon releases the transformative Fire Cube.
From resi to commercial and back again
We are coming to you from the AVNation studios at InfoComm 2018. Apple’s WWDC developer conference was this week and they were talking smart home and Siri evolving. AVIXA heald their first ever “Integrated Life” all-day class at InfoComm. What the insights from Parks can tell us about the residential and commercial spaces.
A Battle of Security versus Convenience
The FBI is asking consumers to reboot their routers due to a security flaw. It’s a good time to remind ProAV dealers to stop using consumer-grade switches and routers. A hacker group claims there’s a security issue with ZWave devices. ZWave clarifies the situation. What IT managers need to know about AV over IP technology.
ADA and hearing assist standards
AVWeek 347: A new UK hearing assist standard has been released based on the EU standard. Mike Tomei, Dawn Meade, and Victoria Ferrari join George Tucker to talk about how standards can help both audiovisual integrators and their clients create more inclusive spaces.
IT AV 16: Control4’s PCNA certification program has just celebrated their anniversary. Our panel discusses whether manufacturer-specific certifications like the PCNA make a difference when bidding on an audiovisual install in the corporate or residential environment.


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Covid-19 has dramatically changed the way restaurants operate and the way customers eat, while accelerating some pre-existing trends. Despite the .. Read more turmoil, the lockdown offered an opportunity for pause and innovation. New trends in consumer habits, the development of delivery and take away, have become the new normal, as a result, companies need to modify their way of operating, planning and aesthetics to achieve this. The hospitality industry is anxious to return to a sense of normalcy, but what will the "next" day look like? Flexibility and creativity are the key to overcoming the crisis.
- Share your Experience


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Well, it took long enough!
IsAnyoneUp?, the infamous hateful revenge porn website where internet users could anonymously post nude pictures of people they wanted to publicly humiliate has finally been shut down.
This vindictive, malice driven, DISGUSTING website was seriously wearing out its welcome. Anderson Cooper campaigned to shut it down. Even Facebook tried, but failed.
Finally, it was announced that the anti-bullying website Bullyville paid the original website creator, Hunter Moore, an undisclosed sum of money for the rights of the domain name, and the intention to shut the website down forever.
Here's what Hunter Moore had to say about it:
"I'm just done with looking at little kids naked all day. I'd get at least 50 or 60 underage kids a day. It wasn't just 17-year-old girls. It was 12-year-olds and 9-year-olds. It definitely got old looking at that stuff every day."
This website was absolutely deplorable!
But we are glad that Moore has taken the necessary steps to rehabilitate his life.
It will take a long time for all the pain and suffering he caused to go away, but this is a good start.
We truly hope Moore dedicates his time and energy to worthwhile causes instead of hurting people.
Here's what Moore said about his website shutting down:
"Anybody that was ever posted, where it's been ruining your life or your job, everything is completely wiped. You're good."
[Image via Twitter/HunterMoore.]


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HAWAII – Meadow Gold Dairies has been ordered to stop its distribution and sale of two-percent reduced fat milk.
The Hawaii Department of Health issued a Cease and Desist Order to the company today (Feb. 27) after laboratory results from routine milk samples exceeded standard limits for Coliform bacteria, officials say.
Samples of two-percent reduced fat milk taken from Meadow Gold Dairies on Jan. 19, Feb. 6, and Feb. 22 of this year revealed excessive Coliform counts of more than 150/ml, 130/ml and more than 150/ml, respectively.
The maximum allowed Coliform limit for pasteurized milk is 10/ml.
Coliform is used an indicator of post-pasteurization contamination, health officials say.
UPDATE: Meadow Gold Dairies is a brand of Dean Foods Company, which issued a statement today on the situation.
Meadow Gold Dairy is committed to producing the highest quality products available and is taking this situation very seriously. We test our products regularly before, during and after processing to ensure quality, and it’s important to understand that product being sold in stores is not affected. We have not received any consumer complaints.
We are quickly and carefully reviewing all the available information and completing a very rigorous battery of tests, assessments and analyses. We will work with the Department of Health to understand their test results and identify a proper course of action.
All our current internal testing indicates no quality or safety concerns, yet until regulatory testing confirms the same, we have been asked to stop production of 2% milk at our Honolulu plant. In order to continue supplying milk to consumers in Hawaii, we are moving the production of 2% milk to other facilities, including our processing plant in Hilo on the Big Island. As the Department of Health has said, no other milk products are impacted at this time.
“Milk production is regulated with routine testing both at the farm and after packaging to ensure a safe product,” said Peter Oshiro, program manager of the DOH Sanitation Branch. “Department of Health inspectors will work with Meadow Gold Dairies to investigate the possible source of contamination, approve a plan of correction, and conduct further testing to confirm the company meets the standards to resume two-percent reduced fat milk distribution and sale.”
Hawaii Administrative Rules Title 11 Chapter 15 states that the Department of Health may suspend the distribution and sale of a particular milk product produced by a milk plant, whenever the product is in violation three times out of the last five consecutive samples for three Critical Control Point (CCP) standards listed below:
- Temperature: 45°F or less
- Bacterial Limits: 10,000/ml or less
- Coliform: 10/ml or less
- Phosphatase: 1mcg/ml or less
- Antibiotics: No Positive results on drug residue detection
DOH conducts monthly testing of samples of all Grade A raw and pasteurized milk produced at dairy farms and milk plants in Hawaii, officials say. “State and Federal regulations require that samples be taken a minimum of four out of every six months, though most jurisdictions in the nation, like Hawaii, conduct sampling every month,” the DOH said in a media release. “DOH may also accelerate routine sampling of a specific product whenever product samples do not meet required standards.”
“To resume distribution and sale of two-percent reduced fat milk, Meadow Gold Dairies must pass health inspections and undergo additional testing of product samples. All other milk products from Meadow Gold Dairies meet state and federal standards required for distribution and sale,” DOH says.
by Big Island Video News
HAWAII (BIVN) - Distribution and sale of the company's two-percent reduced fat milk has been halted due to Coliform bacteria.


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The tourism and hospitality industry is of massive importance to West Cork, providing thousands of jobs, and bringing substantial revenue to the local economy. Lately we have seen a lot of press coverage on the topic of small cafés and restaurants going out of business due to the ever-rising cost of essential supplies and services. Sadly, for people working in this industry, this is something they have been warning about for some time, but they have been ignored by government.
The closure of a restaurant or café is not just a loss to the proprietor, but to the whole community: staff lose jobs; local farmers and suppliers lose customers; our towns and villages become less appealing to tourists, and our accommodation providers lose bookings; more jobs are lost, less money is spent in the local economy – it becomes a vicious cycle. We can’t afford to lose these businesses. I fully stand behind the campaign to have the VAT rate on food service dropped back from 13.5% to 9%, so these businesses can afford to stay open, and so we can all afford to support them.
Well done to Jamie at Budds Ballydehob, who I had the privilege of joining today on the Cork’s 96FM Opinion Line with PJ Coogan. Jamie has taken the brave step of sticking his head above the parapet to take a stand for small hospitality businesses that have been absolutely hammered financially over the past 3 years. Please sign his petition for the return of the 9% VAT rate on food in the hospitality industry so these businesses can afford to stay open, and so we can all afford to support them.
Furthermore, if elected, I will call for an overhaul of the commercial rates system. At present businesses are charged rates by the County Council based on the value of their premises, a matter largely determined by the size of the building they occupy. This system penalises businesses like cafés and restaurants since they require a far greater amount of floor space to comfortably accommodate their customers than a shop typically would. Our commercial rates should take into consideration the turnover/profitability of the business, and not just the size of the building it occupies.
This change could not only make small hospitality businesses more viable, but could also help to prevent vacancy of commercial buildings in our towns and villages. As mentioned above, these small businesses provide much more to their communities than just the odd meal or cup of coffee; they provide a place for friends and neighbours to meet, a place to take a break while shopping and running errands, and another reason for tourists to visit a town or village. A café’s customers typically go on to visit at least one or two other businesses while they are in town; restaurant customers will often call to a nearby bar for a drink after their meal; tourists will often factor in the selection of local food and drink options when choosing their accommodation…
Cafés and restaurants, whether large or small, generate enormous amounts of local business, investment and employment. It is my intention to do all that I can to ensure that they have a future in West Cork.
As well as the commendable “buy local” campaigns that we are reminded of every Christmas, we need to see more support from all levels of government, local and national.
- Energy prices are still at extortionate levels; in the short-term grant aid needs to remain in place and the criteria for qualification need to be broader so all struggling businesses can avail.
- Grant supports for business development, expansion, training and promotion need to be more widely available and as easy to access as possible.
- Our regime of taxes, rates and charges needs to be assessed under a fairer system, that looks at the reality of operating a small business, and not the current system which favours larger operations and national/international chain retailers over small independent Irish businesses.
Small businesses are the beating heart of West Cork, and without them, we all suffer.


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As providers battle for dominance in the rapidly growing payments space in India, they continue to rely on different strategies to carve out their own footholds in the market.
This week, payment facilitator MobiKwik announced that it has turned a profit (excluding interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for the first time, a landmark that still awaits some of its competitors, according to TechCrunch.
To reach this point, the company said, it has pivoted away from pursuing a direct, head-to-head competition with the likes of fellow PF Paytm to attract users with promotions such as cashback deals to do so.
“We have been in an ecosystem where we have seen a lot of high-growth and several regulatory changes in the payments domain. But what we realized was that payments alone is likely not going to be a very profitable business,” Bipin Singh, co-founder and CEO of MobiKwik, told TechCrunch.
Instead, MobiKwik said, it has turned to adding other financial services – such as insurance and lending – to its app to increase value for its users and bring in more revenue. The company’s core business – mobile wallet and payments processing – pulls in about 75% of its revenue, with the added financial services accounting for the rest.
Paytm, which reported 350 million users earlier this year compared to MobiKwik’s 110 million, is not profitable at this point, the article said.
For its part, Paytm is pursuing an aggressive growth strategy that includes expanding into different markets.
Last week, the company announced that it was planning to increase its educational services offerings to include insurance for tuition fees and a co-branded debit card for educational institutions, looking to double or triple its gross merchandise value from this space to $2-3 billion, according to Livemint.
And just a couple of days earlier, the same publication reported that Paytm was looking to increase its user base within healthcare payments, enabling doctors to receive fees through Paytm.
“Paytm has to create more use cases for its customers and get more people on its platform. It’s not just about doctors. It could soon create something for handy men such as carpenters. This seems to be the right way to go forward,” Harish H.V., managing partner for ECube, an environmental, social and governance fund, told Livemint.


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IGowise Mobility iGowise BeiGo X4 Bike Price, Mileage, Specs, Images and Features
- latest news of IGowise
- Electric Bike Features
- Engine and Transmission
- Features and Safety
- Electricals bike
- Motor & Battery
- bike maintenance tips
- motorcycle loan
Latest News Of IGowise
Bangalore-based EV start-up iGowise Mobility is gearing up to launch its new electric scooter in the market. The launch date of this electric scooter and details about the scooter can be seen in full in this news.
Peyko X4 electric scooter is equipped with Life P.O4 batteries which are fire resistant. Designed with 3 wheels, there is no shortage of space in this electric scooter. Not only is there ample legroom for the driver, there is also around 60 liters of space under the seats.
The long awaited RX100 bike is back on sale! Do you know how much it costs? Will Honda Activa 7G scooter give 100 km mileage? Plan to launch soon! A footrest is fitted as standard for the rear seat passenger to rest their feet on. The most important feature of this scooter is the triple-disc anti-skid brake system. The scooter is equipped with a power-train technology to provide power to both wheels at the rear. This technology allows the scooter to stand on its own without any grip.
With self-balancing, you don't need to take your feet off the footboard while riding the Peyko X4 electric scooter, and you can ride without putting your feet on the road even when going uphill or in reverse, according to i-Covice. i-Covice plans to introduce a zero-down-payment monthly subscription plan to make it easier for customers to own this electric scooter. No information about the prices of Peyko X4 electric scooter has been released yet. As far as we know, we are expecting an introductory price of Rs.1.1 lakh. i-Gowise Mobility will offer customers a 5-year/1 lakh km warranty on this electric scooter. The Peyco X4 electric scooter will be manufactured in Bangalore. i-Covice Mobility has a factory in Whitefield, Bangalore.
The relatively small factory can produce 30,000 electric scooters per year. In a statement, i-Covice said it will soon invest in automated equipment and testing equipment. The chief design officer of i-Govice recently gave an interview about the launch of the Peyko X4 electric scooter. In it he said, "In an effort to create a self-balancing scooter, the engineering team at i-Covice has come up with such a product without any compromise on functionality and agility, without the use of expensive/power-intensive technical equipment. Smart PMS, ADAS, collision detection "Our strengths lie in identifying riding style through alarms and data," he said. Drivespark Tamil website providing instant automobile news, sharing news with readers instantly through all social media. Join WhatsApp and Telegram channels to get latest car, bike news, test drive reports and videos.
Electric Bike Features
Instrument Console Digital. Tripmeter Digital. Odometer Digital. Seat Type Split. Body Graphics Yes. Clock Digital. Passenger Footrest Yes.
Engine and Transmission
Starting Push Button Start.
Features and Safety
Odometer Digital. Tripmeter Digital. Clock Digital. Riding Modes Yes. Passenger Footrest Yes. Display Yes.
Head light LED. Tail Light LED. Turn Signal Lamp LED. LED Tail Lights Yes. Low Battery Indicator Yes.
Motor & Battery
Drive Type Hub Motor. Transmission Automatic.