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TEQ Acquires Fremont Plastics Extending Medical Custom Thermoforming Market
January 20, 2016 – TEQ, Thermoform Engineering Quality announced the acquisition of Fremont Plastics in Fremont, Indiana, a purchase which fits TEQ’s mold in a number of vital ways. “We’re very excited about acquiring Fremont,” said Randy Loga, President.
“Fremont has a long legacy of manufacturing high quality products for the medical packaging markets, this expands our largest market segment and our commitment to serving medical device manufacturers,” said Loga. “Customers will benefit greatly from the combined expertise of our two companies,” he added. Finally, “customers will appreciate increased TEQ capacity and redundancy with the addition of our plant located in Fremont, Indiana, famous for the Fremont Plastics company.”
Fremont is a mid-size custom-thermoforming company with a 40,000 sq. ft. facility housing two state of the art clean rooms that run six thermoforming lines. Fremont produces medical trays, medical packaging and light handle covers. “Fremont’s experience of manufacturing sterile light handle covers for major medical customers was of particular interest to TEQ.”
“We were attracted to Fremont because of their exciting and compatible product line,” said Loga, “especially the chance to add more thermoform medical products (like light handle covers) to the products we already manufacture.” TEQ also manufactures disposable probe covers for the Braun infrared ear thermometer—number one in the world.
“With the Fremont acquisition, the entire TEQ team is thrilled about new marketing opportunities for us in the custom thermoforming marketplace,” said Loga. “The fact that we can manufacture medical products and medical packaging puts us in a unique class and makes us better at both. It allows us the ability to sustain the exacting standards and quality TEQ demands for success with precision.”


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*I'd like to see *gasoline* made ethically. You think? No way.
MEDIA ADVISORY FOR:
March 15, 2010
Brett Abrams : (516)-841-1105 : firstname.lastname@example.org
APPLE USERS TO DEMAND WORKER SAFETY PLAN AT iPAD 3 LAUNCH
Consumers to gather at Apple stores in Washington, DC, New York City, and San Francisco, asking Apple for a new product release plan that stops worker abuse
Washington, DC– Apple users who have supported the explosive campaign on Change.org asking the company to stop worker abuse in their factories will demonstrate outside Apple’s Georgetown location this Friday.
Demonstrators will demand Apple create a worker protection strategy to prevent workplace abuse, injury, and death, including how to keep workers safe during labor-intensive releases of new products like the iPad 3.
When: Friday, March 16, 8:00am EST
Where: Apple Georgetown, 1229 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20007
What: Local consumers will join those waiting to buy iPads, asking Apple to commit to implementing a worker protection strategy with a clear timeline
Visuals: Brand-jammed banners; colorful, brand-jammed handouts, posters with comments from Apple users around the world
Background: Apple user Mark Shields launched the campaign in February after learning about poor working conditions in Chinese factories where the bulk of Apple products are manufactured, including the iPad. After Mark delivered 250,000 petition signatures to six Apple stores around the world, Apple announced the results of their factory investigations would be transparent, and Foxconn raised wages for workers.
"It's great to see Apple taking important steps like the factory audit this month, and pay raises for the factory workers," said Shields. "But Apple hasn't crossed the finish line yet. New product releases, like the iPad 3 this week, have typically been the most dangerous for workers because of the incredible pressure they are under to meet release production deadlines. That's why 250,000 consumers have signed their names to the petition asking Apple to release a strategy for protecting their workers during new product launches. We want them to use their trademark creativity to help make life better for their factory workers."
Live signature totals from Mark’s campaign:
CNN coverage of the campaign:
Washington Post coverage of the campaign:
Journalists interested in contacting Apple Inc.’s public relations staff should try:
Apple Media Relations
Contact information for petition signers in your area can be arranged upon request:
Organizing Director, Change.org
(202) 684 2552
For more information on Change.org, please visit:
# # # # #
Change.org is the world’s fastest-growing platform for social change — growing by one million new members a month, and empowering millions of people to start, join, and win campaigns for social change in their community, city and country.

domain: news


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Kawasaki is on the verge of a massive revamp of their operations in India after their split with erstwhile partner Bajaj. From 1st April 2017 Bajaj and Kawasaki officially announced that they are no longer partners in sales and service in India and this has specifically set Kawasaki back by many years since they can no longer continue selling (and servicing) their smaller capacity motorcycles through Bajaj’s widespread Probiking network.
Back then, they continued to assemble all their motorcycles at Bajaj Auto’s Akurdi factory in Pune. However, as was in the news Kawasaki has now moved out of Bajaj’s factory and has set up a new assembly plant in Chakan.
This was confirmed by Mr Yutaka Yamashita, MD of Kawasaki India at yesterday’s press event. He elaborated that they started operations at their Chakan plant from 1st July this year. This is a clear confirmation that almost everything between the two manufacturers is over! This will give Kawasaki complete control over their operations right from assembly, localisation etc.
The scale of investment and other details about the plant are not known at this point. Yesterday, the company dropped a bomb by launching the Ninja 1000 SKD (semi-knocked down kits) at just 9.98 Lakhs ex showroom pan-India. They have also announced that they are working on expanding their dealer network which should be their first priority since a lot of the existing customers are suffering terribly!
Next Read: Adventure Tourer Kawasaki Versys X300 India Launch This FY


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SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc (000660.KS) said global demand for cloud computing should underpin DRAM chip sales for the rest of the year, as it posted record second-quarter profit on Thursday despite worries over the weak flash memory market.
The world’s No. 2 memory chipmaker said American and Chinese internet data center providers would drive DRAM revenue in the months ahead, supporting earnings amid a broader slowdown in the chip industry following two years of strong profit growth.
“DRAM supply in the second half will not be enough to ease the supply shortage,” Myoung Young Lee, SK Hynix’s executive vice president, told an earnings conference call.
“Despite suppliers’ continued attempts to increase wafer capacity, production is not increasing fast enough due to growing complexity in tech migration.”
SK Hynix said operating profit for April-June grew 83 percent to 5.6 trillion won ($5 billion) from 3.1 trillion won a year earlier. That compared with a 5.4 trillion won Thomson Reuters StarMine SmartEstimate from a survey of 21 analysts.
Revenue rose 55 percent from a year earlier to a record 10.4 trillion won, the company said.
The DRAM business contributed 80 percent of the company’s sales during the quarter, while NAND accounted for 18 percent.
SK Hynix shares rose 2.4 percent on the result, after sliding more than 7 percent since Monday on analyst forecasts of a slowdown in DRAM sector performance.
The advent of 3D NAND chips, which are cheaper to assemble than outgoing two-dimensional chips, has seen output grow faster than demand this year and fueled fears that a so-called super-cycle of disciplined production and soaring demand is coming to an end.
NAND flash memory chips, used for longer-term data storage, are found in mobile devices as well as memory cards, USB flash drives and solid-state drives. DRAM chips help servers, gaming PCs and cryptocurrency devices process masses of streaming data.
While SK Hynix said it expected the new NAND technology to put downward pressure on prices in the second half, analysts said this should not hurt earnings too much.
“With NAND prices falling having little impact on its balance sheet, Hynix’s performance will be solid next year,” said Eo Kyu-jin, a senior analyst at Ebest Investment Securities.
The company said it would boost NAND production by more than 30 percent in the third quarter, a move analysts said was in line with expectations.
DRAM shipments would see high-single digit percentage growth over the same period.
Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Ju-min Park; Editing by Stephen Coates


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Ten ways to save the publishing industry with book publishing in crisis, colin robinson calls for a reformation colin robinson. How big data analytics can save publishing other bulge bracket publishing industry peers such as time inc, conde nast, and hearst, should. To the publishing industry ingenta is the world-leading provider of content solutions that transform business combining our unmatched publishing knowledge. Case study: will technology save the publishing industry by drew winkelman and john borash why are newspapers struggling so much internet has the same info but. The death of publishing has been place against a backdrop of hyper-accelerated technology and an uncertain traditional-publishing industry. Adotas — it’s no surprise that publishers are struggling these days with industry staple time warner selling off its publishing arm time inc and newsweek. Ad-blocking just might save the ad industry publishing, and tech companies, wants to save the advertising industry—by killing it the technology. 5 ways technology is transforming health care the same industry that introduced the advances in technology could help save money in health.
Technology (science of craft the use of science in industry, engineering, etc technofix: why technology won’t save us or the environment. Technology can save onboarding from itself keith ferrazzi march 25, 2015 harvard business publishing is an affiliate of harvard business school. My overall rating for the future of book publishing is a continuing modest decline in total sales volume, but certainly not an impending catastrophe. Looking back at the industry in the 1980s may help is the essence of the art of publishing for all that today's technology and must save the republican party.
The speed with which media and publishing enterprises are innovating and moving on from one technology to the next, keeps us wondering what’s next and on the line. Technology innovation has helped publishers save book publishing industry: keep up with the latest technology “book publishing industry net sales totaled. Printing industry in the digital age publishing industry can benefit from the internet and technology the technology can save the text industry.
Impact of technology on work and jobs in the printing industry implications for vocational curriculum publishing systems and color printing industry. Home interact & community blog new study shows the profound impact of technology on the australian publishing industry publishing industry technology has. The publishing industry is an industry which is segmented into the book, newspaper and magazine industry the publishing market is not simply a. Can parties save the publishing industry as the publishing industry faces a crisis due to declining print pages and the growing threat of digital ad blocking.
Cios in evolving industries can take a page from the digital publishing industry their technology paved the way for a huge network of independent contractors.
Answer to the publishing industry is grappling with disruptive technologies that may transform its business models and the way we. The book publishing industry just finished its annual convention, called bea (bookexpo america) for three days in new york city, publishers exhibited. Overview of the future of magazines to save and easily reference past newsletter which captures key articles on the publishing industry from. New research on the technology industry from harvard business school faculty on issues including managing research and development, user adoption, and digital disruption. The introduction of new technology has produced important changes which in turn demand the need to implement new strategies to integrate these new means. 5 how will ebooks impact the publishing industry one writer’s take this is a guest post by adam charles/ what does emerging technology mean for writing and.


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As all of the focus this month seems geared towards the Olympics and the world’s stage, BCS is pulling back from the global outlook to focus this week on our own local market. The Chicagoland area received huge news concerning our local logistics positions this week.
With a massive DHL investment, this week brings 50 jobs in a $1.3 million expansion on a 38,000 sq. ft. warehouse in McCook, IL. The warehouse can handle more than 2,500 shipments per hour, including small parcel, air cargo and palletized ocean cargo, and will focus mostly on deliveries to Chicago’s south and west sides and. Considering DHL launched a helicopter service to deliver urgent, early morning documents in 2015, this expansion will lengthen the hours available for deliveries and cut-offs. The new center will compliment the 80,000 sq.ft. DHL service center located near O’Hare Airport.
In other news, e-retailer Amazon.com will open a 750,000 sq.ft, warehouse to pick, pack and ship large items in Romeoville, IL that was originally designed to be a warehouse for the famed local retailer, Montgomery Ward. This warehouse will be the second Chicagoland location and third thus far in the State of Illinois.
Also coming, Radial, a company which handles order fulfillment, announced plans to hire 300 people to help with a tenfold increase in shipments it expects to move during the holiday season. According to Robyn Jordan, Radial’s senior director of North American operations, while the Radial jobs will be seasonal, the increase in business year-over-year, shows they may be ready to open more permanent positions if trends continue for them.
While we spend the start of August enjoying the dedication and sportsmanship of the world in the Rio 2016 Olympics, you can rest assured that BCS Placement is busy here at home finding the best positions for the most qualified candidates. We’re also eagerly awaiting an amazing autumn, and a nice hot apple cider!


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Amazon has been working on making its entry into the healthcare segment for quite a while now. In a major win for Amazon, UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is giving the company access to its data.
The data that will be available to Amazon excludes patient data. But the data available to it will make it possible for the tech/e-commerce mogul to advertise and sell its products.
A NHS spokesperson said: “No patient data is being provided to this company by the NHS, which takes data privacy extremely seriously and has put appropriate safeguards in place to ensure information is used correctly.”
NHS is one of the most recognized healthcare services in the world and availability of the data will allow Alexa devices to offer expert health advice to users. The development may help by reducing the pressure of the GPs and pharmacists. The deal between NHS and Amazon was negotiated and agreed upon earlier this year in July.
But Amazon is not the only leading tech company collecting healthcare data. It is believed that Google too is working with healthcare services in the U.S with similar ambitions.


text: Visiting Goa is set to get more exciting. Goa tourism is launching hot air balloons and amphibious vehicles in April 2015 to add a new dimension to travelling in the state. Initially six amphibious vehicles and two hot air balloons will be introduced. Each amphibious vehicle can accommodate up to 34 passengers per trip for durations of 30 minutes to an hour; this is expected to boost the 'hop on hop off' concept further along Goa's inland waterways. For the hot air ballooning, the initial plan is to introduce tours to Dudhsagar water falls. Chairman of Goa Tourism Development Corporation Limited, Shri Nilesh Cabral said, “Both adventure services will focus on highlighting Goa’s hinterlands and will give tourists an opportunity to explore the rich geography of the state via the sky and the waterways”.


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The Federal Trade Commission exposed and stopped the deceptive internet marketing methods of 2 various business, it revealed Monday.
The FTC discovered that social networks marketing service business Devumni apparently offered incorrect likes, retweets, and fans on social networks. Sunday Riley Modern Skincare, a cosmetics company, apparently published phony item evaluations that were composed by its workers on charm shop chain Sephora’s site, according to a news release.
Devumi consented to settle with the FTC. This was the commission’s very first problem challenging the sale of “fake indicators of social media influence,” according to the release.
after The New York Times reported that the business had actually offered countless . The business’s site presently specifies that it isn’t accepting brand-new customers, and reroutes visitors in other places.
Sunday Riley Modern Skincare likewise settled with the FTC. The company offered a range of items for in between $22 and $158 at Sephora, according to the release. While Sephora enables clients to leave item evaluations on its website, the FTC declares that the business supervisors and the CEO herself, Sunday Riley, published about their own items utilizing phony accounts, and stopped working to divulge that they were business workers.
“Dishonesty in the online marketplace harms shoppers, as well as firms that play fair and square,” Andrew Smith, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, stated in the release. “Posting fake reviews on shopping websites or buying and selling fake followers is illegal. It undermines the marketplace, and the FTC will not tolerate it.”
Neither celebration’s lawyers instantly reacted to an ask for remark.


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five November 2019
Sunshine Coast will simplest be one give up clear of New York after Air New Zealand introduced it’ll convey the enduring vacation spot onboard from October 2020.
The inside track signifies that native citizens will likely be a brief hop from the Giant Apple, utilising Sunshine Coast Airport’s current connection into Auckland then directly to New York.
Sunshine Coast Airport Leader Govt Andrew Brodie stated it makes the hot announcement at the New Zealand season extension much more thrilling.
“Successfully, Sunshine Coast citizens will be capable to benefit from the relationship from April 2021, as soon as the Auckland season commences out of Sunshine Coast,” Mr Brodie stated.
“New York is an iconic vacation spot which many of us have on their bucket record and the brand new Air New Zealand provider provides an incredible connection for vacation makers, trade travellers and exporters from our area.
“The New York addition will likely be Air New Zealand’s 6th continuous vacation spot into the United States, including to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Honolulu and Chicago, providing Sunshine Coast citizens thrilling go back and forth alternatives from their native airport with no need to fight the Bruce Freeway to Brisbane.
“The returning flights from Auckland can even supply a handy connection for much more North American guests to revel in the entire Sunshine Coast area has to supply, offering a vital spice up to the native tourism business,” Mr Brodie stated.
Consult with Sunshine Coast Leader Govt Simon Latchford stated the brand new course would additional open up the Sunshine Coast to its quickest rising customer marketplace.
“The united states is the Sunshine Coast’s quickest rising world marketplace, recording 29.1% enlargement within the closing monetary yr,” stated Mr Latchford.
“It is usually probably the most absolute best yielding, with American citizens staying longer and spending greater than many different inbound markets.
“With our nationwide points of interest and the high-profile of native personalities such because the Irwin circle of relatives actually resonating within the American marketplace, the better accessibility to the Sunshine Coast may just see the United States marketplace develop much more strongly as soon as the brand new services and products turn into established.”
Air New Zealand will fly its newest configuration Boeing 787-Nine plane between Auckland and Newark Liberty World Airport 3 times per week, year-round.


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California taxpayers will receive roughly $11.4 million through a nationwide settlement totaling $141 million with Intuit. The company was accused in a lawsuit of deceptively advertising TurboTax products as “free” online when they were not, the plaintiffs announced Wednesday.
The settlement includes $11.4 million for about 370,000 Californians and also prohibits Intuit from lying to taxpayers about the necessity of upgrading from its free product.
The lawsuit was filed by a coalition of 51 attorneys general, including Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer and California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
“We stood up for taxpayers who should never have been misled into paying for tax services they were entitled to get for free. But that’s what we allege happened here,” Feuer said. “Hundreds of thousands of customers now will get money back — and the practices we alleged at Intuit won’t be able to continue.”
Intuit released a statement about the settlement, saying that it “admitted no wrongdoing” but agreed to settle “to put this matter behind it.”
The lawsuit alleged that TurboTax offered two competing products labeled as free through TurboTax, which Bonta’s office said created confusion that helped it gained profits. One of the “free” products was through a partnership with the Internal Revenue Service and the other was a commercial product.
Intuit’s Freedom Edition product through the IRS Free File Program allows eligible filers to file for free, but in 2007 Intuit launched “Free Edition” that was only free for “simple returns.”
Fewer than 3% of taxpayers used the IRS Free File Program operated by Intuit and other companies in 2020, even though 70% of taxpayers qualified for it.
Meanwhile, Bonta’s office said that a large portion of taxpayers began the filing process using Free Edition and were later informed after spending hours filling out their information that they owed $59.99, and sometimes more than $200, to TurboTax because their returns were not considered simple.
“Every year, millions of hardworking Californians put their trust in online tax filing services like TurboTax, following their step-by-step guides that promise to find taxpayers the best deals for little-to-no cost,” Bonta said. “Our investigation found that Intuit repeatedly and deliberately broke that promise.”
Other conditions of the settlement require Intuit to “clearly and conspicuously” disclose in advertisements any limitations of its free product; requires Intuit to disclose to taxpayers at the earliest possible point in using a free product that they will not qualify for that product; and prohibits Intuit from requiring users to re-enter data when they upgrade from a free product and then return to the free product.


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Several celebrities have joined the boycott bandwagon launched by Elton John after fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana criticized same-sex parents and the use of in vitro fertilization in an Italian magazine, calling the resulting children “synthetic.”
“My D&G shirts are going in the bin- don’t want ANYONE to wear them,” tennis star Martina Navratilova posted on Twitter.
Murphy said not only will he personally cease to wear the brand, he won’t allow the characters in any of his shows to wear it, either.
Dolce & Gabbana has been popular on red carpets and TV and film screens for years. Channing Tatum and David Oyelowo wore the brand’s tuxedoes to the Oscars. “The Theory of Everything” star Felicity Jones chose one of D&G’s gowns for the Critics’ Choice Awards. Mindy Kaling recently donned a colorful frock from the designers on her show, “The Mindy Project.” Taraji P. Henson, as Cookie Lyons, has also worn Dolce & Gabbana on the Fox hit “Empire.”
Blogger Perez Hilton, who runs a website about fashion and celebrity, thinks the designers’ comments could hurt their Hollywood relationships.
“If a stylist or a celebrity has a choice of a designer to wear right now, I don’t think anybody will be choosing Dolce & Gabbana,” he said. “Because they haven’t just offended gay people, they’ve offended people across the board.”
Most shoppers wouldn’t be in a financial position to boycott the designers. A man’s pullover sweater costs $1,100; a cocktail dress could top $6,000.
Martin blasted the designers on Twitter Sunday, saying their voices are too powerful to spread such hate.
“Wake up, its 2015,” he wrote. “Luv urselves guys.”
Dolce and Gabbana are both gay and were previously in a relationship with each other.
“To see two very successful gay men with a large platform use that to promote small-mindedness infuriates me,” Hilton said. “We should be promoting openness and acceptance.”


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As part of an ongoing collaborative effort Pearson has integrated its MyLab/Mastering learning solution within the Blackboard learning management system.
"We know the current pricing of textbooks is discouraging students from purchasing the mandatory reading, but we are changing that," said Thomas Buus Madsen, chief operations officer of Bookboon.com, a company that makes its digital textbooks available free to college students.
Today, instructional designers at community colleges have exciting opportunities to improve instruction and service to students, as their toolkit has grown to include an amazing array of Web 2.0 tools and new media. CT asked Michael Medlock, the director of Instructional Design and Technology at Rio Salado College how instructional designers and a team of faculty, subject matter experts, and media developers follow instructional design principles and strategies that leverage technology and new media to create robust learning designs that advance instruction at Rio Salado College.
Thrust into online learning at scale in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina--a disaster that put 45 percent of its physical campus out of commission--New Orleans-based Delgado Community College experienced the aftershock of realizing that many of its students were not "online ready." Success rates--and therefore retention and completion rates--suffered just because of a student skills gap in online education. A self-guided online learning module, DORM, has made a big difference even as a doubling of enrollment since 2006 has put further pressure on available classroom space.
Trivantis has released ReviewLink 1.0, an online tool provided in Lectora Inspire and Publisher to share and review course materials with colleagues before publishing.
International education and learning programs provider Pearson has upgraded its Equella digital repository system to version 5.2 by enhancing key elements of the product designed to help users search, create, and manage material online.
A new iPad app feature tied in to Facebook is designed to help students with ADHD combat procrastination and stay on task.
According to Rice University's OpenStax College initiative, the key to open ed success lies in better access to quality, turn-key content.
UC Irvine OpenCourseWare is now offering courses in Public Health, Physics, and Chemistry on iTunes U.
Citelighter Pro, a premium version of Citelighter's information sharing platform, will launch in May thanks to a partnership between the company and Cengage Learning.


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Microsoft adds Touch Bar support to Office 2016
Microsoft has finally opened up the Touch Bar support to all the Office 2016 users, not just the ones registered in the Insider program.
1Password now has enhanced Touch Bar support
The Mac version of 1Password has just been updated and it now has enhanced Touch Bar support as well as a new monthly subscription system that lets people try it out for free.
Google's Gmail will soon support third-party add-ons
According to a recent announcement made by Google, third-party developers will soon be able to implement their add-ons directly into Gmail.
What's the fastest browser for Mac
Curios to find out which web browser loads web pages the fastest on a Mac device? Here you can find the answer to that question.
Monetize your Twitter and Reddit posts with Brave browser
The Brave browser will soon allow content creators to get tipped by the viewers for their Tweets or posts on the Reddit website.


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Almost 25% of consumers who experience financial fraud state they are “very” or “extremely” concerned about it happening again–a state of fear that causes brand abandonment.
To accurately assess and defend against fraud attacks, merchants must understand the nature of the Fraud Economy–they cannot disregard security in a bid to keep customer friction low, as limited fraud prevention will also contribute to lost customers.
Our new report, sponsored by Sift, shares new data from Sift’s survey of its global network of merchants to reveal the best ways to address payment fraud and the customer experience in 2022.
Read the report to learn how to:
- Discover fraud vulnerabilities before they can be exploited
- Communicate security integrations to consumers
- Build exceptional sales journeys that eliminate friction
Don’t miss out on this unique perspective on how to merge your in-store and online fraud data and teams—download your copy now!
Complete the Details Below and Download Your Copy Now!


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A Times investigation reveals missed signals, slow responses and a continuing underestimation of the seriousness of a campaign to disrupt the 2016 presidential election.
The digital content they consume, who they meet online and how much time they spend onscreen – all these factors will greatly influence children’s development.
Hend Ezzeddine, Director of Cyber Security for Expressworks, will be speaking at the OPI Global Forum. It isn't too late to register.Date: 13 November 2016 - 15 November 2016 Location: Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
On April 15, 2015, a network engineer noticed a strange signal emanating from the US Office of Personnel Management. That was just the tip of the iceberg.
I bought my dad an Amazon Alexa device for his birthday. He surprised me when he asked, “Aren’t these smart devices the kind of thing that brought the Internet down last week?” Now that cyber criminals are targeting connected household items, people that weren’t necessarily aware of the importance of [...]
The concept of “psychology of security” is often a foreign concept to IT professionals, yet they all acknowledge that users are the biggest challenge. When hackers are unsuccessful at exploiting technical vulnerabilities, they turn their attention towards users. They scan for responses to psychological triggers and cognitive patterns that can [...]


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Urban Land Institute: Number of the Week
According to Urban Land Institute:
“Occupancies at ‘A’-quality centers are at or near all-time highs, and market rents in such centers are increasing despite lackluster retail sales growth. A historic lack of new supply growth remains a key driver of retail fundamentals,” says Andrew McCulloch, managing director of real estate analytics for Green Street Advisors.
“Additionally, the healthiest retailers continue to seek out strong locations to establish brand recognition and awareness and are therefore migrating to the better centers. Because of their omni-channel strategies, retailers at ‘A’ centers are increasingly willing to pay rents not necessarily justified by sales out of the physical location.
“A sea change is occurring in consumer behavior, and e-commerce will continue to capture market share from physical retail,” says McCulloch. “E-commerce consumes about 20 percent of retail sales for malls and 10 percent for strip centers. The e-commerce drag on mall sales growth could be as much as 300 basis points annually in the coming years, which could essentially wipe out sale growth. Strip centers, on the other hand, are a little more protected as they have less exposure to threatened retail concepts and more tenants that are service providers,” he says. “You can’t buy a haircut online—not yet, at least.
“Better-quality retail outlets are adapting to the changing environment and should be fine, but lower-quality centers have been struggling and will continue to face increasing headwinds,” McCulloch says. “Operating fundamentals continue to bifurcate between the haves and have-nots.
“Tenant bankruptcies and closures of both individual stores and anchor stores have been a dominant concern for retail property owners, but for the best centers. the current levels are not overly problematic. Some landlords at better-quality retail outlets will even pay to get prime space back from a struggling tenant because oftentimes getting space back allows landlords to bring below-market rents to market.
“This divergence in property fundamentals between high-quality and low-quality centers is especially evident when looking at changes in asset values. For example, Green Street’s Commercial Property Price Index for high-productivity malls is about 50 percent above its prior peak, whereas values for low-productivity malls are not much different than their prior peak,” says McCulloch. “The operating environment for retail properties is far from uniform.”
To view the full article from ULI, click here.


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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (imagined here at a press conference, ahead of the G-20 conference in Bali on July 14), stated supply chain strength is a crucial focus of the Biden-Harris administration.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has actually restated the requirement for the United States and its relied on trading partners to increase supply chain strength through “friend-shoring,” however stated this does not imply the U.S. is pulling back from the rest of world.
In a speech made at South Korean corporation LG’s Science Park in Seoul on Tuesday, Yellen attracted assistance from allies of the U.S. to collaborate in sculpting up more durable supply chains amongst relied on partners through “friend-shoring.”
The term makes use of the ideas of “onshoring” and “nearshoring,” which describe the moving of supply chains back house or closer to house, instead of having them in foreign nations. “Friend-shoring” surpasses that however restricts supply chain networks to allies and friendly nations.
The U.S. has actually been promoting more security in its supply chains considering that the Covid pandemic begun. U.S. President Joe Biden signed an order in early 2021 to evaluate American supply chains with an objective to minimize dependence on foreign providers.
“Supply chain resilience is a key focus of the Biden-Harris administration. And the necessity of this work has been illustrated clearly by the events of the past two years, first by Covid-19 and our efforts to fight the pandemic and now by Russia’s brutal war of aggression in Ukraine,” Yellen stated.
“Together they have redrawn the contours of global supply chains and trade.”
“Working with allies and partners through friend-shoring is an important element of strengthening economic resilience while sustaining the dynamism and productivity growth that comes with economic integration.”
Those efforts, nevertheless, have actually triggered issues of a possible international financial decoupling, especially as the United States and other nations look for to prevent an overreliance onChina
Yellen stated these procedures do not suggest the U.S. is withdrawing from international trade. Rather, she stated, they reveal that friendly nations are taking a longer-term point of view on vulnerabilities in an effort to make economies more efficient.
“We do not want a retreat from the world, causing us to forgo the benefits it brings to the American people and the markets for businesses and exports,” Yellen stated, in referral to deepening ties with SouthKorea
“In doing so we can help to insulate both American and Korean households from the price increases and disruptions caused by geopolitical and economic risks … in that sense, we can continue to strengthen the international system we’ve all benefited from, while also protecting ourselves from the fragilities in global trade networks.”
Supply chain strength controlled this leg of Yellen’s check out to Asia, which followed recently’s journey to Bali, Indonesia, for the Group of 20 conference.
South Korea’s LG likewise declared its most current U.S. partnership, a $1.7 billion lithium-ion battery production growth in Michigan, while Yellen laid out Hyundai’s electrical automobile and battery production centers in Georgia and Samsung’s semiconductor chip plant inTexas
Other endeavors that support supply chain strength efforts consist of the just recently revealed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, Yellen included.
“With ‘friend-shoring,’ South Korea and the U.S. are in an ideal spot,” James Kim, chair of AmCham in South Korea, informed CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Tuesday.
“This is the most exciting phase I have seen in the past 18 years.”
Kim stated while there were more direct South Korean financial investments in the United States than vice versa, American interests in the Asian nation are growing.
A current study by AmCham reveals that for the very first time, South Korea ranks as the second-most appealing place for local head office in Asia, after Singapore, Kim stated.


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Olá and welcome to your digest,
Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 went to Sensei founders. Named João Vasconcelos Award, this award try to find the entrepreneur of the year and it is a very appropriate way to pay tribute to someone who was a key figure of the startup scene.
I think he would probably share a lot of concern about the way the Portuguese government intends to change tax law
and the serious impact it may cause to businesses angels and founders. A group of founders pretend to submit a letter to the authorities in order to reverse that. I invite you all to read it
. Portuguese government should be looking for initiatives and tax schemes to encourage more early-stage investments by the private sector and not the other way around. Most of the entrepreneurs started their businesses to create value, both in what they deliver to customers and what they build for themselves. They expect to make a financial profit from their endeavour but also the country will benefit from their investments and efforts.
The ‘Global Innovation Index 2021’ revealed the latest innovation performance of 132 economies. In addition, heads of state, ministers and business executives discuss how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the global innovation landscape. 7 of the top 10 countries in this year’s Global Innovation Index are in Europe.
Portugal ranks 31st among 132 countries; ranks 30th among the 51 high-income group economies and ranks 20th among the 39 economies in Europe. Science, technology, and innovation are getting stronger. Portugal produces more innovation outputs relative to its level of innovation investments. It’s converting that into scalable businesses that have been an issue. You can read the report @📖 Reads section.
Before we go, such a crazy story. The rapid demise of Ozy Media is a story for posterity, a story of the dangers of the fundraising and growth treadmill, on the risks of an over-reliance on buying growth. This will produce long-lasting effects. Full story @📖 Reads section.
Week highlights go to:
👉 ‘INVESTORS PORTUGAL’ Launch
👉 ‘From Start to Table’ Last call. 2 days left to apply!
👉 The biggest virtual week of 100% Portuguese entrepreneurship starts today
👉 Miguel Carvalho is the new Startup Portugal president
Don’t forget to give a look at the ‘Local & International Deadlines’ section to be sure to catch all the right opportunities for your startup.
Please let me know if you have events to suggest or a deadline to announce.
Enjoy the reading and the events for this week and beyond & go do great stuff!!


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Meet Tesla's unicorn
Jerome Guillen has had a hand in every from developing the Model S to designing the EV maker's unusual assembly line.
This article is drawn from the Transport Weekly newsletter from GreenBiz, running Tuesdays.
Startups that are valued at $1 billion are often referred to as unicorns. But there’s another kind of unicorn in the tech world — an employee who is an ultra-valuable, jack of all trades — and Tesla’s got one who has been going to bat for it for the past eight years.
Meet Jerome Guillen. He’s an engineer, salesperson, manager, product developer and, as of late, the creator of Tesla’s pop-up factory.
On Tesla’s earnings call early this month, Guillen was the person Tesla CEO Elon Musk credited with creating the Model 3 general assembly line that Tesla built from scratch in a tent (yes, a tent) next to its Fremont, California, factory. Guillen said on the earnings call that he designed the line to be, quite literally, just one straight line, and also on a slight slope (thank you, gravity) to make assembling Model 3’s as simple and efficient as possible.
That’s just not how traditional auto assembly works. Before Guillen — as Musk put it — "was pulling some pretty incredible rabbits out of a hat" with the tent, he created Tesla’s electric semi-truck division, led Tesla’s worldwide sales and helped lead Model S development.
These types of employees are crucial for the survival of tech startups. The same goes for a hybrid tech-company-meets-auto-industry firm such as Tesla. While Tesla is going head-to-head with Detroit, it’s got its pick of Silicon Valley’s top talent for its executive ranks. That’s arguably one of Tesla’s greatest — although undersung — assets.
Gaining access to this type of core (and occasional unicorn) talent is one reason that the big automakers such as General Motors and Ford acquired hot Silicon Valley autonomous vehicle startups. They also, of course, have Silicon Valley R&D centers, but sometimes those offer mixed results.
With such a profound transformation happening in transportation and mobility, unicorns such as Guillen could play a key role helping companies survive and outmaneuver the competition. It’s going to be a battle out there for quite a while.


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As a substitute the display blends into a luxurious auto function in Pontiac termed Motor Bella. The move is an instantaneous blow to Detroit, which relied on the believed $400 million in financial action the clearly show generated from hotel space rentals, dinners and other linked functions, and which held an auto exhibit in its metropolis restrictions given that 1907 until eventually 2019. (A federal ban on new automobile product sales all through Globe War II put the auto display on hiatus 1941-53.)
The problem on everyone’s mind is: Will the North The us Worldwide Car Present return to Detroit in 2022?
The solution is murky and complex, but it’s however likely certainly. You will find minimal evidence to advise it won’t. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan told reporters before this 7 days that “Ford, GM and FCA all made an definitely good determination that they will not be supporting nearly anything in Pontiac this 12 months except if there’s an unequivocal dedication for the automobile show to be back downtown following year.”
But it is not going to be the auto exhibit we recall. Detroit’s vehicle display was presently in flux for virtually a 10 years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers known as for transformation as the field slowly but surely deserted the significant-ticket reveals and media blitz of auto shows’ previous. Attendance hardly ever recovered soon after the 2008-09 fiscal crisis that led automakers, together with then-bankrupt Chrysler and Standard Motors, to scale again the multimillion dollar shows. Let us not forget about Chrysler in January 2008, right before the money crisis, led an more than-the-top rated 120-head cattle push by way of downtown streets.
The rise of social media in the 20-oughts proved a game changer for the car sector’s advertising system. The automakers no more time had to count on the capital-intense auto exhibits to achieve the extensive viewers of automotive journalists. Now, automakers could stop competing for print media space in just two times in Detroit and engage these similar journalists at their possess impartial event and observe people very same journalists distribute the news instantaneously throughout electronic channels.
Why unveil the most recent and biggest creation sport utility auto inside TCF Centre (formerly Cobo) less than thousands of fluorescent bulbs when an automaker can fly a cadre of journalists to Moab, Utah, and present journalists the vehicle’s real abilities underneath the brilliant desert solar?
Hell, in 2017, BMW deserted unveiling its M5 sports activities sedan in Frankfort or Detroit and alternatively allow the auto debut in the Digital Arts’ Have to have for Speed Payback video clip recreation. By 2019, all a few German automakers had abandoned the Detroit auto display.
Hundreds of automakers and suppliers moved offerings — now targeted on mobility, connectivity and autonomy — to the Customer Electronics Clearly show in Las Vegas, which also occurred in January and seriously reduce into the automobile show’s standing in the very last 10 years.
NAIAS attempted to recapture the now tech-centric auto sector in 2017 by launching a new exhibit and seminar program identified as Automobili-D. The new entry into the present plan was meant to showcase new marketplace tech and be autonomous- and electric-car or truck concentrated. But the new addition never ever blossomed into the CES-killer it had hoped.
This precipitated a new aggressive tactic in 2019: Transfer the exhibit from January to June in 2020 and make it a tech-major festival to showcase Detroit’s summer months vibes and permit these new technologies to be “knowledgeable” in its place of just observed. But COVID derailed that gambit.
If the exhibit does return in 2022, there will have been a roughly 40-month gap considering that the very last present in Detroit. That hole is providing automakers enough possibility to rethink the age-previous show process executives have been rethinking for extra than a ten years.
Permit me be crystal clear. Automakers don’t want one more North American International Auto Demonstrate. For now, it stays unclear no matter whether the field will forge ahead with its “pageant-like” strategy to Detroit’s major present or wholesale abandon it, leaving it as a hollowed-out regional demonstrate.
And let’s not dawdle listed here. You will find nothing at all erroneous with the Detroit vehicle exhibit reverting to a substantial regional display where car sellers merely experience the rewards of showcasing the newest automobiles consumers can obtain Right NOW. Additional than 800,000 prospective automobile consumers — it is really approximated as several as 55 per cent of attendees intend to acquire a car in the up coming 12 months — walk into TCF Centre each and every 12 months.
Glenn Stevens, executive director of Michigan’s car field advertising and marketing association MichAuto, reported the metropolis will make the show materialize by sheer will because of the bucks it generates.
“What’s essential to Detroit from a economic standpoint, we cannot eliminate this epicenter we have made,” he explained. “The establishments and the capability to gather individuals all over an event, which is a significant portion of the equation. We will need to determine that out.”
For that explanation by yourself, the Detroit Car Sellers Association that places on the clearly show will not allow it die. It shall return but it may possibly not be what we had predicted or even hoped for.
The North American Worldwide Vehicle Demonstrate is lifeless. All hail the car clearly show.


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I wonder what these cities where Starbucks is closing stores all have in common?
“Starbucks is shuttering 16 existing locations.
The company announced Tuesday, per The Wall Street Journal, that cafes in Los Angeles; Seattle; Portland, Oregon; Philadelphia; and Washington, D.C., would permanently close by the end of July following safety concerns.
“After careful consideration, we are closing some stores in locations that have experienced a high volume of challenging incidents that make it unsafe to continue to operate, to open new locations with safer conditions,” a spokesperson told Insider in a statement.
They continued, “We look forward to continuing to serve these local communities and encourage our customers to visit us at our other stores in these areas, which can be found on the Starbucks App or Starbucks Store Locator.”
Insider and Wall Street Journal report that Starbucks’ decision follows incidents regarding drug use by customers and other members of the public in certain locations.
A public letter from Starbucks senior vice presidents of U.S. operations Debbie Stroud and Denise Nelson shared the company’s desire to make its locations safe for its guests and employees.
“We read every incident report you file – it’s a lot,” the letter said, in part. “We want you to know that creating a safe, welcoming, and kind third place is our top priority.”
The letter said that the programs and benefits “to ensure you feel more supported and empowered” include “robust safety trainings for all partners” and the ability to modify operations, including “closing a restroom, or even closing a store permanently, where safety in the third place is no longer possible.” It also said that benefits to “support your mental health” and “help create emotional and financial safety” are available, among other support programs.”
Read the whole story here.
Such a shame. Our cities should not be closing stores due to local safety issues while trying to create a “planet positive impact” experience.
If kindness was all around us, why the need to close these stores? Respect and the desire for us all to thrive should be a priority.
Keep the faith that we can all Build Back Better Together at some point in the future.


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Sony reportedly looking for SmartWatch manufacturing partners in Taiwan
Daniel Shen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES
Sony Mobile Communications reportedly plans to expand its SmartWatch family line and is looking for OEM production partners in Taiwan, according to industry sources.
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FedEx Express South Africa, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), has been announced as the winner of the Customer Focus category at the 16th annual National Business Awards in South Africa. The awards recognize companies with outstanding performance in areas including sustainability, customer focus, innovation, and growth.
According to Top Media and Communication Director, Van Fletcher “Our judges were seriously impressed by the calibre of entries received this year,” said Van Fletcher, Director of Top Media and Communication. “Determining winners from the finalists was not an easy task, however, FedEx Express was a deserving winner in the Customer Focus category. Congratulations to FedEx for this achievement.”
“Our business is based on the relationships we have with our customers, andwe are extremely proud of the professionalism, dedication, and teamwork of our team members, who are recognized with this prestigious award,” said Mike Higley, vice president, Sub-Saharan Africa, FedEx Express. “Our purpose is to connect people and possibilities around the world, and we continue to champion solutions that redefine how Africa and the world are connected.”
For more information on FedEx’s National Business Awards journey, contact Lerato Moeletsi-Banda on email@example.com or +27 87 742 8327
FedEx is a proud Partner of the NSBC.
About FedEx Express
FedEx Express is the world’s largest express transportation company, providing fast and reliable delivery to more than 220 countries and territories. FedEx Express uses a global air-and-ground network to speed delivery of time-sensitive shipments, by a definite time and date with a money-back guarantee.
About FedEx Corp.
FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $67 billion, the company offers integrated business solutions through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world’s most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 425,000 team members to remain focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities. To learn more about how FedEx connects people and possibilities around the world, please visit about.fedex.com.


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Snapdeal, the Indian e-commerce company, is planning to acquire Shopclues, an Indian etailer. The talks are still underway as both the companies have not announced anything, anonymous sources told the international daily news, Bloomberg Quint.
The Gurugram-based company, Shopclues has been grappling in the industry since August and in turn, was unable to raise funds. In FY17-18, the etailers revenue leapt upward by 46 per cent alongside, reduced losses by 40 per cent. Further, the company slashed down its expenses over operations and reduced its employees benefit to INR 111 crore, as reported by the Indian daily news, The Economic Times.
Owing to the cut-throat competition prevailing in the e-commerce sector, the small etailer, Shopclues is opting for an exit and reached Snapdeal to buy out the firm, said aforementioned anonymous sources.
Even, Snapdeal, following a failed amalgamation with Flipkart, is now looking for small acquits ions. By acquiring smaller players, Snapdeal will be strengthening its foot in the sector.
If the business deal with Snapdeal and Shopclues finalizes then there will be money involved in the acquisition. More so, the current investors of the etailer, Shopclues will have a share in the new amalgamated entity, apprised the aforementioned sources.


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It’s common knowledge that holiday shopping is going to be challenging this year due to the broken supply chain.
Many favorite items—like game consoles, toys, clothing, and shoes—will be in short supply. And if you’re lucky enough to find the hottest toy on your child’s wish list, you will likely pay more for it. But what does the new year hold? Will 2022 be better?
The answer is maybe, but not right away, according to Panos Kouvelis, director of the Boeing Center for Supply Chain Innovation at Washington University in St. Louis.
In early February 2020—a full month before the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic—Kouvelis predicted that the coronavirus would wreak havoc on the global supply chain for two years.
His most recent prediction is a little more optimistic. According to Kouvelis, supply chain issues—including product scarcity and logistical bottlenecks—will continue through mid-2022. The automotive industry will not fully recover before 2023. His prediction is based on several factors, including:
- Corporate hoarding: Kouvelis believes that some of the orders currently bogging down systems are the result of corporate hoarding. Faced with long shipping times and fears of rationing, companies place extra orders in hope they’ll get the product and materials they need. Many larger companies with more resources have built up warehouses stocked with excess inventory, and some of their incoming inventory is waiting on large vessels trying to clear ports. These phantom and excess orders add pressure to an already vulnerable system, but he believes buyers will ease up in the coming months as logistical delays improve. “After a while, we realized our basement had a limit on how much toilet paper it can hold. The same is true for warehouse space,” Kouvelis says.
- The Chinese New Year: Chinese factories and ports will slow down for two weeks in early February, adding extra pressure on the supply chain.
- Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, ports have moved to 24/7 operations: In October, President Joe Biden, along with business, port, and union leaders, announced a plan to strengthen the resiliency of supply chains by moving toward 24/7 operations at these ports. Increased port operations, along with increased trucking and rail capacity, will help reduce the load that has built up at the ports. However, the shortage of truckers will delay the port recovery.
- Return to normal factory operations in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand: These countries, which produce the majority of garments, shoes, and toys in the US, were hit especially hard by the delta variant this summer, causing factories to reduce or even stop operations. The situation is improving, but the increase in production will not reach the US until after the holidays.
“We’re hoping that within the first six months of 2022, the port situation and efforts to increase capacity, both on the railroad and trucking, will improve substantially. If that happens and the demand on the system lessens, things will look better by summer,” Kouvelis says.
Energy crisis looming?
There’s one factor that could derail Kouvelis’ prediction, though: China’s energy crisis. Currently, rising costs have forced Chinese energy companies—that until recently could not raise energy prices due to government-enforced caps—to place restrictions on heavy manufacturing customers. As a result, manufacturers were forced to cut operations by as much as 40%. It doesn’t take long for these shutdowns to impact the quantity of products coming to the US. Now, the government has removed energy price caps for manufacturers—especially those that produce cement, steel, and paper—but that means the cost will be passed on to consumers, Kouvelis explains.
“The story that I’m not sure how it’s going to play out is the energy crisis in China,” Kouvelis says. “The energy crisis could resolve itself in the next month or two. But if China has an especially cold winter and energy demands remain high, they’ll have to cut capacity further.
“If that happens, 2022 will be driven by that crisis and the constraints that it creates.”
According to Kouvelis, the effects of China’s energy crisis have not yet made its way to the US due to the backup of products on ships outside the US. However, within the next month, American consumers will notice greater product shortages and higher prices.
What’s the US government doing?
“The government policies will be very important in addressing the long-term misuses of supply chain,” says Kouvelis, who also is a professor of operations and manufacturing management at Olin Business School. “The government is on the right track, but these problems cannot be resolved within a month or even six months.”
In addition to opening ports for 24/7 operations, Congress recently approved the $1 trillion infrastructure plan that will fund improvements for the nation’s roads, bridges, ports, rail transit, power grid, and more, which will ultimately help the supply chain for years to come.
According to Kouvelis, the government also is rethinking trade policies and tariffs with Europe that have created flow constraints. The trade situation with China has more political risks and could continue to affect trade in the future, though.
“Among the risks to consider is the role that climate change and carbon emissions negotiations might play out between the US and China, with the potential that quotas and tariffs be later tied with emission reduction requests,” Kouvelis says.
“The Xinjiang forced Uyghur labor situation is a sensitive point, and so far had negative sales implications for Western companies that took a position on it, like H&M and Adidas. And Taiwan’s sovereignty, with its tremendous importance for semiconductor capacity, will remain a ghost in all future trade talks.”
What’s in store in the future?
“The tremendous dependency of critical US supply chains like drugs, batteries, and semiconductors to long Asian-based producers and suppliers has become a vulnerability visible to all after the recent pandemic-related supply chain mess. This has been brewing for decades,” Kouvelis says.
Since the ’90s, the US and other developed countries have become increasingly reliant on global supply chains to source cheap labor and materials and keep prices down. When the World Trade Organization accepted China in early 2000 into the organization, the expectation was that the free flow of goods coming from Asia would benefit all economies, he says.
“That story held up to an extent until the pandemic, when the logistics broke down and the Chinese government was controlling what products left the country and we didn’t have access to critical PPE,” Kouvelis says.
That’s led to the realization that more regional supply chains are needed, especially for critical items. While not everything will be produced in the US, American companies will increasingly look to source materials from neighboring countries such as Canada and Mexico, he says.
The government has committed $50 billion to boost semiconductor production in the US, which will improve access to these critical computer chips over the long term. But Kouvelis estimates that it will take at least two years for the first factory to open.
“Some of the microprocessors—probably the low-end microprocessors—will come from Asia, but the more critical components will either be made in Europe or the US,” Kouvelis says.
“The same is true for pharmaceuticals. Right now, most of the critical components are coming from China and India. Expect the government to invest in our pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity.”
Of course, the US is not alone in its supply chain struggles. Europe, parts of Asia and Australia are all experiencing similar supply chain disruptions. The situation is even worse in the UK because of Brexit, Kouvelis says.
While no one knows for sure how or when supply chains will be fully operational, Kouvelis says this is for certain: The experience of the last two years will shape supply chain planning and operations for years to come.


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2022 is the year of a conscious symbiosis between brands & users: Anita Kotwani
It has been 2 years since we got hit by the single biggest transformative agent in our lives of all times – the Covid pandemic. This is not the post-pandemic world, but a co-pandemic world, where we are co-existing with the aftermath. The impact of it will continue to remain on the way we live, travel, shop and act says Anita Kotwani, CEO, Carat India.
Before we lay out the codes for our 2022 game plan, let us reflect on some of the striking trends of 2021 and how we were able to adapt ourselves to lend meaningful solutions for our partners.
Empathy over everything
For one, the consumers have changed by leaps and bounds in 2021. The second wave shook the country from its core. While this was not accounted for, it undoubtedly became a looming theme, further making a case for strong empathy from brands.
So, for Philips, we stepped away from the usual product-centric communication and joined in solidarity with the audience at large. A video asset was created just as a reminder for the audience to take care of their mental health in these testing times and that we are right by their side.
The campaign was received very well, as the spotlight was on a larger perspective. It highlights that sometimes all a brand needs to do is step away from its push strategy and just be the one with the audience.
Fast-tracked digital adoption
Secondly, as a result of most activities turning indoors, digital acceleration that would have otherwise taken 4-5 years happened in the last 1-1.5 years.
Skyrocketing adoption of digital payments
With most purchases happening from homes and increased skepticism of being in contact with physical cash, digital wallets received a huge impetus. Post COVID-19, 9 out of 10 Indians preferred online payments gateways.
The dawn of OTT
What started as an outcome of circumstance (live TV shooting suffering because of restrictions), became a habit for the masses. India opened to parallel entertainment, with platforms like ZEE5 growing by almost 200%. At the backdrop of this boom, we ended up creating true and tangible value for our clients. As the only agency with a bespoke tool in place that enable clients to sharp target users on OTT platforms, we stayed ahead of the curve in 2021. We deployed an OTT planner for Mfine in the brand launch campaign to ride on the OTT growth story in India in post-pandemic times.
In line with the growth of contactless media like QR codes, AR/VR, audio and voice commands received a big boost. While voice cuts through the language and literacy barrier in India, digital audio streaming has seen a steep spurt. There was a 155% growth in kid-friendly content, 20% growth in playlists dedicated to cooking and news podcasts saw a whopping 245% growth. We rode the wave in time with Intel through a voice-activated ad on Gaanaa, which led the users to know more about the 11th Gen processor.
Gaming and E-Sports boom
The home-bound year also led to a sizeable time being spent on e-games. Currently, India stands at the 5th position among the world’s top mobile gaming markets. Focus has shifted to game development, new gaming ventures entering the market and developers trying to constantly elevate the gamer’s experience. For Intel, we leveraged this to achieve a mammoth of momentum through IGD (Intel Gamer Days) Pro Invitational. It was a mega virtual tournament. We live-streamed 29 hours’ worth of content to mobilise the gaming and e-sports community and generated traction for Intel’s Gamer Days site hosting device and processor deals.
The upskilling upsurge
With schools and universities going online for the most part of the year, EdTech platforms saw a massive uptake. Interestingly, this wasn’t limited to students alone. People signed up for a lot of vocational, upskilling and reskilling courses as well. Capitalising on the boom, we partnered with CODE-A-THON, one of the most popular coding Olympiad hosted by Hindustan Times for Intel. Our timely association with them registered our brand as a leading tech player in the ecosystem.
Going into 2022, we cannot be sure if the year is going to be sans uncertainties, especially with the looming threat of the new variant. But we can be sure that this time around, we must be armed with cognizance and foresight to be one step ahead of the uncertainties.
We foresee some of the aforementioned trends to continue raking up momentum and some new ones to crop up as offshoots.
As mentioned earlier, this is not a post-pandemic world but a co-pandemic one. Thus, building on the existing digitisation, bridging the gap between virtual & reality, simulations and gamifications will be the way to go. Carat will strive to build relevant and effective gaming solutions in 2022 for our clients through our bespoke gaming vertical, as 44% of smartphone owners are touted to use their devices for gaming by 2022.
Empathy was not a temporary ask from brands. Going forward, brands will be expected to show a semblance of responsibility wherever possible and will be expected to use their power wisely. Post the pandemic, consumers will invest extra effort in making a brand a part of their ecosystem. Thus, enablement, betterment and empowerment of our target audience, that is, being ‘purpose-first’ rather than ‘profit-first’ will benefit brands in the long term.
Tighter Audience Identity
As a result of the increasing concerns towards responsible behaviour and adherence to privacy, etc., on behalf of brands, ecosystems are going to go cookie-less. In that case, 2022 will be all about tightening first-party databases for our clients to achieve efficient targeting. Engaging and rewarding users to interact with the brand and willingly provide data will be something to ponder upon in the next year. Needless to say, this will only happen when sufficient trust is built between the brand and its users.
2022 is the year of a conscious symbiosis between the brands and users. The pandemic has been instrumental in giving rise to a sentiment of ‘we’ over ‘me’. It will be upon us to amplify the sense of ‘we’ to truly create a win-win for everyone.


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Sweet scheme foiled
A PLAN hatched between two men for a shipment of cannabis was foiled when their $3000 purchase was swapped with two suit cases of sugar cane mulch after the shipment drew the attention of police.
Toowoomba District Court was told 41-year-old Damien Seears had paid the $3000 cash when ordering what he thought would be 1lb (0.45kg) of cannabis from a South Australian outlet in September last year.
Seears used the mobile phone of his Ipswich housemate, William Rolfe Herman Bettels, 44, who had his phone and Facebook page under the name “Justin Case” but the pair didn’t get what they paid for.
TWO men were left disappointed and charged by police after paying $3000 for a shipment of cannabis only to pick up two suit cases of sugar cane mulch.
Damien Seears had paid the $3000 cash when ordering what he thought would be 1lb (0.45kg) of cannabis from a South Australian outlet in September last year.
To make the order, the 41year-old had used the mobile phone of his Ipswich housemate, William Rolfe Herman Bettels, 44, who had his phone and Facebook page under the name “Justin Case”, Toowoomba District Court heard.
However, police became suspicious when two suit cases addressed to Seears at a Toowoomba address turned up at a South Australian postal depot, Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie told the court.
Police found inside the cases nine cryovac packages each containing 1lb of cannabis for a total of 3.91kg.
The cannabis was substituted for sugar cane mulch and the suitcases allowed to continue their journey to Toowoomba where Seears and Bettels collected them on September 9 – with police watching.
The pair was nabbed by police as they packed the suitcases into a car in the car park of the Withcott Hotel, Ms Petrie said.
Each pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cannabis in an amount above 500g.
The Crown accepted there had been no commercial aspect to the offence.
Barrister Steve Kissick, for Seears, told the court his client thought he was to get 1lb of cannabis for his own use but the other packages sent had been for other people.
Seears had a prescription for medical cannabis which he used for chronic arthritis but he found the cost of prescription cannabis prohibitive.
The 1lb supply would last his client six months, he said.
Barrister Geoff Seaholme, for Bettels, said his client’s only involvement had been to supply his phone and help Seears pick up the suitcases.
The only benefit his client was to get was to receive some of the cannabis with which he had been self-medicating.
Chief Judge Brian Devereaux SC sentenced each man to 12 months in jail but ordered the term be wholly suspended for 12 months.


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LG Electronics is expanding its line-up of Windows PCs with a number of new products, including the 13Z940 Ultra PC laptop, which has a 13.3-inch full HD screen and weighs 980 grams.
Buyers looking to purchase Lenovo's latest ThinkPad X240 laptop with a touchscreen will have to wait until December.
Hewlett-Packard is taking the heft and bulk out of its EliteBook and ProBook business laptops, and powering them with the latest processors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.
Consumers outside of China don't think of Lenovo much beyond laptops, but in that country the company has a wide reach including a growing line of mobile devices. Explore the hidden -- and larger -- side of Lenovo in this slideshow
Lenovo is bringing another Windows 8 tablet to market -- this one made with keyboard cover in mind -- along with five new touch-based laptops that are slated to arrive globally in July and August.
Samsung Electronics has launched the ATIV Q, a tablet-laptop hybrid with a 3,200 x 1,800 pixel resolution screen that runs Windows 8 as well as Android. The company also introduced the Windows 8-based ATIV Tab 3 tablet.
Nick Parker has one of the more interesting jobs in the PC business right now. As corporate vice president for Microsoft's OEM division, he manages the company's relationships with PC manufacturers, including sales and licensing of Windows.
PC shipments in Western Europe declined by 20.5 percent during the first quarter: The only vendors to see shipments grow were Lenovo and Apple, which returned to the top five.
Hewlett-Packard has kicked off a series of upcoming PC announcements with new ProBook 400 series laptops, including a 15.6-inch model with a touchscreen.
Intel's upcoming "Bay Trail" Atom processor is aimed at the low-end market, and promises to deliver convertible PCs and notebooks with all-day battery life at budget prices.
Touch-based Windows 8 notebooks have been selling well for Taiwanese PC maker Asus, but overall Microsoft's new operating system has yet to find a major following, the company said.
Fujitsu promises that although the new business laptops in its Lifebook E Line come in screen sizes from 13.3 inches to 15.6 inches, all will use the same standard components, including the main board, drives for the modular expansion bay, and AC ada...
Sony has started shipping two new Vaio ultrabooks with large screens starting at US$699 as the company expands its lineup of thin and light laptops.
Microsoft's Windows 8 OS failed to provide a spark to PC sales during last year's fourth quarter, with worldwide unit shipments falling by 6.4 percent compared to the same quarter in 2011, according to research by IDC..
Hewlett-Packard has priced its new Pavilion Touchsmart Sleekbook laptop at US$699, claiming it's the most affordable device in its category.
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GGG Evaluation Team
First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.


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Microsoft Joins The Internet Home Alliance
|Internet Home Alliance, the cross-industry network of companies advancing the home technology market, continues to gain momentum.
Internet Home Alliance, the cross-industry network of companies advancing
the home technology market, continues to gain momentum, announcing today the
addition of eight new members, including Microsoft.
The worldwide leader
in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business
computing, and SBC Communications Inc., one of the world's leading data, voice
and Internet services providers have joined the Alliance as Principal members
and been named to the board of directors.
"The efforts of the Internet
Home Alliance will enable Microsoft to work with other industry leaders to more
quickly deliver consumers the enhanced Internet products and services they
desire in the future," said Jonathan Cluts, director consumer prototyping and
strategy, Microsoft, and board member, Internet Home Alliance.
a broad range of products and services such as Windows XP, Xbox and MSN,
Microsoft already offers consumers great ways to make their lives more
entertained, better connected, and more productive."


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Strong trade growth in 2018 rests on policy choices, says WTO
World merchandise trade growth is expected to remain strong in 2018 and 2019 after posting its largest increase in six years in 2017, but continued expansion depends on robust global economic growth and governments pursuing appropriate monetary, fiscal and especially trade policies, World Trade Organisation (WTO) economists have said.
Indeed, the WTO anticipates merchandise trade volume growth of 4.4% in 2018, as measured by the average of exports and imports, roughly matching the 4.7% increase recorded for 2017.
Specifically, growth is expected to moderate to 4.0% in 2019, below the average rate of 4.8% since 1990 but still firmly above the post-crisis average of 3.0%.
The WTO’s trade forecasts are predicated on consensus estimates of global GDP, which have been revised upwards strongly in recent months. World real GDP at market exchange rates is projected to grow 3.2% in 2018 (up from 2.8% last September) and 3.1% in 2019.
However, there are signs that escalating trade tensions may already be affecting business confidence and investment decisions, which could compromise the current outlook.
“The strong trade growth that we are seeing today will be vital for continued economic growth and recovery and to support job creation. However this important progress could be quickly undermined if governments resort to restrictive trade policies, especially in a tit-for-tat process that could lead to an unmanageable escalation.
“A cycle of retaliation is the last thing the world economy needs. The pressing trade problems confronting WTO Members is best tackled through collective action. I urge governments to show restraint and settle their differences through dialogue and serious engagement,” said WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo.
Trade volume growth in 2017, the strongest since 2011, was driven mainly by cyclical factors, particularly increased investment and consumption expenditure. Looking at the situation in value terms, growth rates in current US dollars in 2017 (10.7% for merchandise exports, 7.4% for commercial services exports) were even stronger, reflecting both increasing quantities and rising prices.
According to the WTO, merchandise trade volume growth in 2017 may also have been inflated somewhat by the weakness of trade over the previous two years, which provided a lower base for the current expansion.
Until recently, Azevêdo notes that risks to the forecast appeared to be more balanced than at any time since the financial crisis. However, in light of recent trade policy developments they must now be considered to be tilted to the downside.
“Increased use of restrictive trade policy measures and the uncertainty they bring to businesses and consumers could produce cycles of retaliation that would weigh heavily on global trade and output. Faster monetary tightening by central banks could trigger fluctuations in exchange rates and capital flows that could be equally disruptive to trade flows.
“Finally, worsening geopolitical tensions could be counted on to reduce trade flows, although the magnitude of their impact is unpredictable. Technological change means that conflicts could increasingly take the form of cyber-attacks, which could impact services trade as much or more than goods trade.
“On the other hand, there is some upside potential if structural reforms and more expansionary fiscal policy cause economic growth and trade to accelerate in the short run. The fact that all regions are experiencing upswings in trade and output at the same time could also make recovery more self-sustaining and increase the likelihood of positive outcomes”, he added.
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Lawrenceville Highway is a major regional thoroughfare. It’s also one of the business corridors that drives Tucker’s economy. From the eastern end of Lawrenceville Highway at the Perimeter to the Hugh Howell intersection, the City of Tucker is witnessing several exciting redevelopment projects.
At Lakeside Center, which hosts a range of Class A office space, a new tenant is on the move. PREP Atlanta, providing dedicated commercial kitchens to expanding restaurants, food producers, and food trucks, is moving into the former Le Cordon Bleu building. Doug Marranci, the COO of PREP Atlanta, says there were a number of reasons that he was interested in expanding into Tucker.
“We found an ideal space for us with a building that was made to order,” Marranci explains. “The access to I-285 and US 78 is great, plus we’re bullish on Tucker. We have seen the teamwork and dedication that was put in by everyone to assist new businesses and that is just so important when choosing a site.”
Heading further east on Lawrenceville Highway, in what was previously the home to El Tapatio Mexican restaurant, there will be a new take on this popular cuisine with Bell Street Burritos.
Owner Matt Hinton told the Atlanta Business Chronicle, “We are moving the operation to a new location – our first shop outside the Perimeter – in Tucker. If you have been paying attention, you know that Tucker, Georgia is killing it right now and Bell Street is very happy to begin a new thing there.”
Hinton said the new shop located at 4053 Lawrenceville Highway will have a soft opening shortly and eventually a grand opening.
Over at the intersection of Lawrenceville Highway and Hugh Howell Road, the former Jack’s Package Store is being redeveloped into an 8,600-square-foot multi-level space. The owners of the property, which had sat vacant for seven years, are set to welcome Peachtree Immediate Care as the first tenant in the newly constructed retail building.
“Peachtree Immediate Care was attracted to the property due to the great demographics for patients seeking quality medical care in the surrounding Tucker community,” says broker Brian Chambers. “This new project will be just one of many upgrades to Tucker Plaza as the owners look to complete additional upgrades and refreshes of the existing shopping center which currently includes Staples, Dollar General, and Camp Woof among many others.”
Tim Knight, a commercial real estate developer who built the adjacent Tucker Village Shopping Center – which includes Chipotle, Wingstop and AT&T – is also sold on Tucker.
“Tucker is undergoing a renaissance,” Knight says. “This location was an A-plus site to develop, lease and, ultimately, sell.”
All of these developments entail significant capital investment and they speak to the fact that property owners, as well as large and small business owners, know that Tucker is a great location that supports its business community.


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SSENSE Flagship Store in Montrèal
Luxury lifestyle purveyor SSENSE has announced the opening of SSENSE MONTRÉAL, its brand new flagship store located at 418 rue Saint Sulpice.
Designed by world-renowned architecture firm David Chipperfield Architects, the 13,000 square-feet retail store is nestled inside a five-story historic 19th century building.
A fusty historic façade encases an entirely new brutalist concrete structure designed by architect David Chipperfield.
Spanning five floors, the retail behemoth includes four floors of change rooms and rotating art installations, as well as a lifestyle café
SSENSE Montreal functions as a glorified fitting room.
Foglizzo leather was chosen with the articles Suede SS069/013 color chocolate, h2o treatments, compliant al the security norms for public space.


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If you thought there wasn’t enough advertising in your life, iPhone users may see them in the Maps app in 2023 Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in a recent edition of his Power On subscriber-only newsletter.
MacRumors reports that Gurman stated, “I believe the technical work is already underway to launch search ads in the Apple Maps app, and we should start implementing them sometime over the next year.” The ads would reportedly appear in the form of recommended results. For example, searching for “burger” in the Maps app could show ads for nearby fast food places paid for by the franchise. This type of advertising is already featured in other map apps like Waze, Google Maps, and Yelp!
This isn’t the first time Gurman has predicted ads will appear for the Maps app. Earlier this month, he wrote that Apple’s VP of Advertising Todd Teresi is aiming to triple the company’s advertising revenue. The company has already started showing ads on the iOS App Store, allowing developers to showcase their programs at the top of search results. According to Gurman, the company has already started internal testing to integrate this advertising model into Maps.
With ads already in the App Store and possibly now in Maps, Apple may be signaling an end to the flawless Walled Garden experience of iOS. If that prediction comes true, you might start seeing ads on other popular Apple apps like books, podcasts and Apple TV, Gurman speculates.
This article was previously published on Source link


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Former Google executive Jessica Powell, author of The Big Disruption: A Totally Fictional But Essentially True Silicon Valley Story (Medium), is donating her share of the book’s print proceeds to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc), a nonprofit that provides a financial safety net for booksellers across the country.
“We are grateful to Jessica for donating to Binc and for supporting booksellers. This donation will immediately go to work helping booksellers during some of the most difficult times of their lives,” said Binc Executive Director Pam French.
The Big Disruption, online publishing platform Medium’s first print book, garnered more than 175,000 readers when it was published online this past fall. In Powell’s novel, something is fishy at Anahata — Silicon Valley’s premier tech company — and it’s not just the giant squid that serves as its mascot. An exiled prince with janitorial expertise is working as a product manager. The sales guys are battling with the engineers. The women employees are the unwitting subjects of a wild social experiment. The VPs are plotting against each other. The yoga-loving, sex-obsessed CEO is rumored to be planning a moon colony, sending his investors into a tizzy, and everyone is obsessed with Galt, their fiercest industry rival. Is it all downhill from here for the world’s largest tech company? Or is this just the beginning of a bold new phase in Anahata’s quest for global domination?
Powell previously donated proceeds from her work with Medium to #YesWeCode, a group that helps underrepresented groups access opportunities and achieve success in the tech sector, and to Book Trust, which helps children in low-income areas build their own home library.


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The speedy development of the cannabis business has been accompanied by issues about its social and environmental influence. For an business that typically bills itself as “progressive” and “people-focused,” these are main troubles that require to be resolved — and for some cannabis brands (and their CEOs), they also present possibilities to stick out in a crowded market place by displaying buyers they care about objectives other than pure profit.
This is not just a matter of morals, as a single could count on. According to a 2017 study from Sprout Social, socially-conscious cannabis companies could have a main edge in attracting — and retaining — a loyal client base. In a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. buyers amongst the ages of 18-65, 59 % of respondents mentioned it was “important for CEOs to engage with buyers and followers on social and political troubles on social media.” This aligns with earlier analysis, such as the 2015 Cone Communications/Ebiquity International Corporate Social Duty (CSR) Study that identified 80 % of respondents would be prepared to acquire a item from an unknown brand, so extended as it had a clear commitment to social and environmental duty.
The cannabis business surely has considerably to prove in each of these locations. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), the very first lady of colour to chair the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, has been outspoken on the challenge of diversity in cannabis — which is so far sorely lacking. Earlier this year, she introduced the RESPECT Resolution to Congress, which would make it less complicated for individuals of colour to access the nation’s health-related and recreational cannabis systems (each as buyers and entrepreneurs, regardless of any prior convictions for non-violent cannabis offenses) and pour tax revenue back into communities that have been devastated by the War on Drugs.
As she told Rolling Stone, “[ Marijuana] has actually been a driving force for mass incarceration. So we’re seeking at techniques to start to unravel this and bring some justice to these individuals who deserve justice.”
The developing environmental influence of the cannabis business has also been lead to for concern. Thanks to laws that call for substantial (some would say superfluous) security packaging and the developing recognition of disposable vape pens and other single-use cannabis goods, cannabis companies are now producing an massive quantity of waste — in 2018, the Washington Post unveiled just how damaging the business had been to the atmosphere of Washington state, with excess packaging littering the state’s streets and beaches and runoff from develop operations threatening to choke the state’s waterways.
As Danielle Rosellison, president of the nonprofit sustainability organization Cannabis Alliance, told the Post, “The historical cannabis neighborhood is environmentalist, but [ cannabis entrepreneurs] are not, necessarily.”
There are exceptions to each rule, even though, and a quantity of cannabis business CEOs have produced a concerted work to give back to their communities (and to be noticed although carrying out so). Right here are a couple of of the most notable examples.
How Cannabis CEOs Are Assisting These In Have to have
Jake Heimark of PLUS Items
Heimark, 31, is a former tech exec who co-founded the San Mateo, California-primarily based PLUS Items back in 2015. In the ensuing 4 years, he’s helped construct the business into a single of the state’s top rated-promoting edibles brands, according to BDS Analytics (the PLUS “Uplift” and “Restore” gummies are the #1 and #two finest-promoting edible goods in California). Now he’s utilizing some of that achievement to give back to marginalized communities about California.
To wit: To celebrate Pride month earlier this summer time, PLUS made a unique, restricted-edition item — its Rainbow Sorbet Gummies — with altruism in thoughts. For each and every unit sold, the business donated $1 to the San Francisco LGBT Center, with the final donation equalling almost $61,000. The brand mentioned on their web page that the move was a aspect of an ongoing “commitment to strengthening and supporting communities.”
“Our business was honored to have the chance to perform with the SF LGBT Center this year,” mentioned Heimark. “We care deeply about becoming a actually engaged companion and appear forward to getting a lot more possibilities to perform collectively in the future.”
Lisa A. Snyder and Samantha Montanaro of Tokeativity
Billed as “the International Cannabis Neighborhood for Girls,” this Portland, Oregon-primarily based business holds female-focused cannabis events across America, bringing collectively females of diverse backgrounds to “connect, study, and create” all factors cannabis-connected. Founded by Snyder and Montanaro in 2017, the business now has chapters in eight cities about the globe, and aims to add a healthful dose of feminism to the male-dominated cannabis globe.
Snyder, a media veteran with practical experience at organizations like MTV and Magnet Media, met Montanaro, who’d previously worked in the cannabis events company, via the cannabis neighborhood in Portland — and rapidly realized there had been couple of spaces or sources for cannabis-curious females. So, the two decided to take matters into their personal hands.
As Snyder told Her Canna Life, “I am obsessed with removing barriers for females of all sorts, assisting females locate their inner freedom, and becoming an activist in the consumption movement. I have noticed very first hand that the perform we are carrying out is liberating females, and my quantity a single priority is supporting women’s liberation.”
The company’s charitable perform contains donations to social activism organizations like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, as properly as environmentally-oriented projects like Close friends of the Columbia Gorge, which aims to maintain the huge canyon (which has been designated a National Scenic Region) in pristine situation.
Renee Gagnon of HollyWeed North Cannabis
Gagnon, 51, had worked in the tech business for two decades (carrying out what she described as “boring IT stuff,” in an interview with Lift) just before coming out as trans in 2015 and producing the jump to cannabis. There, she saw a troubling trend. As she told Lift, “ Cannabis was inclusive and diverse at very first due to the fact the underground was inclusive and diverse … More than the previous couple of years, as it is come to be a lot more corporately funded, we’ve noticed a huge demographic alter in the business and it is not excellent.”
As the very first transgender CEO in the Canadian cannabis business, Gagnon is now utilizing her platform as CEO of HollyWeedNorth — a British Columbia, Canada-primarily based enterprise that gives analysis, item improvement, and logistical solutions to cannabis organizations — to campaign for higher inclusion in the industry’s C-suite.
“[Women] from all sorts of backgrounds and industries with remarkable depth of understanding are slammed into their respective glass ceilings … HollyWeed was my way of solving this issue. I went radical. 11 out of 18 executives of my business are females. I decided to use my privilege to produce equity, by style.”
Gagnon has also sought to assist the neighborhood at significant by sponsoring The Saving Sophie Foundation, which gives educational and monetary sources to households whose loved ones are battling cancer.
Michael Ray of Bloom Farms
Ray, 39, founded the San Francisco, California-primarily based Bloom Farms in 2014 just after an up-and-down profession that integrated stints as a Wall Street trader, the CEO of a transportation company, and even a period exactly where he illegally grew cannabis with good friends in the Bay Region. These days, he appears to have hit his stride.
Ray and his business could give a line of CBD tinctures, vape pens, and cannabis flower, but they’re finest identified for their “1-for-1” plan, which borrows from the model of organizations like TOMS — for each item bought, Bloom Farms donates a meal to nearby meals banks. Considering that its inception, the plan has donated more than a single million meals to individuals in require.
The CEO also elaborated on his outlook in a lengthy interview with MG Magazine: “At our core, our mission is to enhance the high-quality of life for all individuals. No matter whether it is a kid who goes to bed hungry at evening or an individual suffering from chronic discomfort, if we can enhance their life just a small bit, then our mission is prosperous.”
In 2018, Bloom Farms committed to making sure that at least 50 % of its cannabis suppliers had been owned or operated by females.


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Unrecord, a bodycam FPS game developed by Drama, has just released its first gameplay video, and it is already causing a stir on social media. Late last year, early Unrecord footage that showed a police officer infiltrating an abandoned building from the perspective of their bodycam went viral.
It attracted comparisons to material found on websites like LiveLeak immediately. Because of this, many viewers found its uncanny reality unsettling. At the time, nothing was known about the game, leaving much to the imagination. But the most recent information clarifies what gamers might anticipate from the tactical first-person shooter game.
Bodycam FPS ‘Unrecord’ Unveils Gripping Gameplay Trailer
Unrecord, a supposedly bodycam first-person shooter that “tells the story of a tactical police officer from the perspective of his body camera,” debuted its first gameplay trailer on April 19 from developer Drama.
Users on Steam can currently wishlist the game. Additionally, the shooter will have dialogue options and difficult moral choices, all of which will be supported by the detective and tactical abilities players need to use when looking into criminal cases.
Co-director Alexander Spindler shares a tweet :
— Alexandre Spindler (@esankiy) April 19, 2023
Gameplay Trailer Sparks Debate on Social Media
Twitter users’ reactions to the trailer mentioned above are conflicting. Several people have praised the striking images and lighting, showing their enthusiasm for the realism on exhibit.
Others, though, question whether it is a “cop simulator.” One person commented, “So the game really is just an unironic copaganda Liveleak simulator?”
Hungrybox shares a tweet:
this is the first time I’ve ever seen graphics from a game that look IDENTICAL to reality 😳
you can tell it’s a video game when the gunfire starts but the first 10 seconds are actually indiscernible from a real life body cam
super clever game design, would love to try it out https://t.co/iV6U4WzwWf
— hungrybox (@LiquidHbox) April 19, 2023
Mutahar drops a tweet:
Nah this is bodycam footage https://t.co/Y2wNSrLWKJ
— Mutahar (@OrdinaryGamers) April 19, 2023
“Was more interested when it wasn’t explicitly a cop game, a horror/post-apocalyptic theme would’ve been better imo,” someone else wrote in the thread.
Many also couldn’t resist making fun of American police practices. Such a reaction has the following phrase: “This ain’t simulating a cop if I can’t turn my body cam off.”
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Similar remarks were made about traffic jams: “Looks amazing. Can you turn the camera off in the routine traffic stop mission?”
Drama, an Unrecord creator, has not yet said whether its bodycam game will be available on consoles. Its release window’s specifics are also unknown.