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- Heinz’s recyclable paperboard sleeve will replace shrink-wrapped multipacks of Heinz beanz, Heinz soups and Heinz pasta varieties on supermarket shelves
- Developed by WestRock, the recyclable, renewable, responsibly sourced and carbon neutral paperboard sleeve is part of Heinz’s £25 million investment in sustainable packaging solutions
- Following a successful trial on Heinz to home, the new sleeve will roll out across supermarkets nationwide from September 2021
Heinz has announced today that it is continuing its mission to remove plastic from supermarket shelves with the UK roll-out of the Heinz Eco-Friendly Sleeve Multipack, a new, convenient, super skinny paperboard sleeve for all its multipack canned products.
Made with WestRock’s PEFC-certified CarrierKote® paperboard, the Heinz Eco-Friendly Sleeve is recyclable and comes from sustainably managed forests. The innovative wrap design uses no glue and 50 percent less material than a fully enclosed wraparound box and 10 percent less than a traditional paperboard sleeve design.
In addition to selecting renewable, responsibly sourced material and optimizing the design to minimize the footprint, Heinz is also advancing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the manufacturing and transport of this new innovative sleeve is 1carbon neutral. The Heinz Eco-Friendly Sleeve 4-pack design has a nearly 20% (18.7%) lower CO₂ footprint compared with the equivalent shrink-wrap design.
Following a successful trial on Heinz to Home, the Heinz Eco-Friendly Sleeve will be available across the whole Heinz multipack canned range, including Heinz Beanz, Heinz Soups and Heinz Pasta varieties, in major retailers in the UK from September 2021.
Heinz’s innovative, recyclable packaging solution is an industry first for the food and drink world and part of a three-year, £25 million investment and installation at the Heinz Kitt Green factory near Wigan. It’s designed to provide convenience and value to shoppers, while offering a more sustainable solution to single-use plastic shrink-wrap packaging.
The robust and convenient to handle pack design enables people to carry multiple cans of Heinz Soups, Beanz and Pasta products. The design underwent rigorous consumer and pack performance testing to ensure it’s comfortable, secure and convenient for shoppers while also reducing the amount of material required to the absolute minimum.
Offering a more sustainable solution as well as improved shopper convenience, the Heinz Eco-Friendly Sleeve Multipack will be rolled out across all UK supermarkets, thereby removing 550 tonnes of shrink-wrap packaging.
Jojo de Noronha, Kraft Heinz Northern Europe President, said:
“It is clear that convenience is important to shoppers – research has found that 59% of UK shoppers say that if a package is easy to carry or transport, it is impactful to their overall satisfaction with the product. And sustainable packaging has a significant impact, too, with 71% of UK shoppers agreeing that they are more satisfied with a product if it is easily recycled or composted. Grounded in shopper insight, we feel this new recyclable and easy-to-carry paperboard sleeve ticks both of those boxes and is the perfect eco-friendly solution for our multipacks.
“Our packaging innovation team continues to work hard to develop further sustainable solutions across our business as we make a £25 million investment over three years to implement the infrastructure needed to ensure this roll-out is a success, which will be a win for the environment as well as shoppers across the UK.”
“We’re extremely proud to leverage the world’s most comprehensive portfolio of sustainable paper and packaging products to create customized, consumer-centric solutions like Cluster-Wing,” said Patrick Kivits, WestRock’s president of Consumer Packaging. “Our team worked in close collaboration with Heinz stakeholders to deliver a solution that would enable Heinz to achieve its sustainability goals and resonate in the UK market, while managing the cost and risk of this transition.”
This latest news follows an announcement from Heinz in early 2020 that it was removing plastic shrink-wrap from multipacks of Heinz Soup, Beanz and Pasta across Tesco stores nationwide, instantly removing 175 tonnes of plastic from shelves, (and consequently landfill).
Heinz is working to make further positive steps to reduce its impact on the planet – the company has made its 100% recyclable steel cans a lot lighter over the years through continued investment in the way the cans are designed. Heinz cans are one of the most sustainable packaging options on the market, being lightweight and widely recycled across the UK.
As part of Heinz’s pledge to aim to make 100% of its packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025, the company is also working on broader sustainability initiatives, such as a partnership with waste-free online shop Loop to collect, clean and refill used Heinz Tomato Ketchup glass bottles. What’s more Heinz Europe is on track to deliver its first circular Tomato Ketchup squeezy bottle to the market in 2021, a year ahead of plan, which means it can be made back into food-grade packaging.
For more press information, please contact:
WestRock (NYSE: WRK) partners with our customers to provide differentiated, sustainable paper and packaging solutions that help them win in the marketplace. WestRock’s team members support customers around the world from locations spanning North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Learn more at www.westrock.com.
 Carbon neutral manufacturing and transport
 Compared with standard 2x2 400g format
 Lower CO₂ footprint of 18.7% on the Heinz Eco-Friendly Sleeve 4-pack design, while the CO₂ footprint is reduced by 11%, based on weighted average annual volume 2020 for all Heinz multipacks. As verified by an independent LCA study that has been externally reviewed and which follows the ISO guidelines.
 Packaging was tested with 165 consumers in February 2020
 Based on an internal Heinz study, it’s estimated that the new Heinz Eco-Friendly Paperboard Sleeve Multipack will prevent using up to 550.217 tonnes of plastic.
 Source: WestRock Consumer Survey 2020 surveying over 3,000 consumers in US, Germany, UK, France and Spain.


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Diablo 4's Nightmare Dungeons Will Be Getting A Big Efficiency Boost Ahead Of Season 1
More XP and less travel time will make Nightmare dungeons way more efficient for farming.
Diablo IV's Nightmare dungeons will be receiving a major buff ahead of the game's first season, Blizzard has announced.
In the first "fireside" chat for Diablo IV on Twitch, game director Joe Shely discussed recent hotfixes that made farming normal dungeons less efficient when it came to leveling up and gaining items. In order to make Nightmare dungeons, which are intended to be a key part of Diablo IV's endgame, more appealing, Blizzard will be improving the amount of XP rewarded by Nightmare dungeons.
Part of making Nightmare dungeons more efficient overall is to reduce the amount of time it takes to travel to the dungeons themselves. As it stands now, players have to travel to the nearest waypoint and then manually run to the dungeon entrance. Blizzard in the near future will be making it so Nightmare Sigils will create a waypoint for the corresponding dungeon that players can travel to, greatly reducing travel time and making Nightmare dungeons more efficient to farm.
The current plan is for those changes to roll out ahead of Diablo IV's first season, which is currently slated to arrive in mid to late July. Changes that will be coming later alongside the release of Season 1 will be account-wide map and Altar of Lilith progress. Once those changes are live, players creating new characters will automatically have earned the Renown associated with uncovering the map and unlocking Altars of Lilith on a previous character.
Additional changes coming to Diablo IV, like adjustments to the game's resistances (a stat high-level players have described as currently not being worth using) and having gems be treated like currency rather than items that take up inventory space , will be coming later closer to the release of Season 2. Blizzard is planning on releasing new seasons for Diablo IV every three months. Each Diablo IV season will include new gameplay features and a seasonal questline.
Diablo IV has been a smash-hit for Blizzard. It passed $666 million in sales in five days, and became the fastest-selling game in Blizzard's over 30-year history. In addition to new seasons, Blizzard has already confirmed that two Diablo IV expansions are in the works.

domain: news


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2017 Canton Fair will be held in April 15th. Fair spokesman declares that it’s expected that the number of buyers will continue to increase and this year's scale of exhibitors will also expand.
In a press conference held on the 14th, the Canton Fair spokesman Chen Chaoren said: "This exhibition shows that China's foreign trade situation is improving, this year will get better export performance, which will boost the Chinese economy.”
2017 Canton Fair will be held in three phases as usual. The phase 1 exhibits machinery and electronic products; the phase 2 exhibits consumer goods, gifts and home accessories; the phase 3 exhibits textiles and clothing, medical care, food and stationery. This year, there will be 60,000+ standard booths, and the total exhibition area is 1.13 million square meters.
Among them, the number of export booths reaches over 50000 with a total exhibition area of 1.115 million square meters. There are total 24,553 enterprises coming to the fair from home and abroad
The Canton Fair will continue to facilitate export enterprises to explore the domestic market and broaden the sourcing channels for enterprises engaging in domestic trade in an appropriately adjusted manner. Instead of setting up the Domestic sourcing center, we will continue to put special signs on the stands of those exporting enterprises that are willing to sell products in domestic market so that domestic trading enterprises can come for on-site negotiations. Qualified domestic buyers can also have access to these exhibitors.


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The belly of Soham Ajmera's business smells of warm garlic and sounds like a million motorized hamster wheels.
The factory floor hums and squeaks as a series of chain-mail conveyor belts roll, stretch and bake endless rows of teardrop naan. The machine will churn out 20,000 pieces of the flatbread today, made to order under private labels for supermarket shelves.
Around the corner, dozens of trays of tins filled with morning-glory batter are transferred to slowly rotating vertical ovens before they're shipped off to fancy coffee shops across the country.
The Ajmera family's FGF Brands has grown since its 2004 inception as a maker of almond-flour muffins to a baking behemoth, provider of President's Choice naan and Starbucks muffins.
Forget the struggling automotive industry: This is Toronto's industrial heartland.
In 2010, Ontario's manufacturing sector added jobs for the first time since 2004 and grew in GDP for the first time since 2005, according to a study released Dec. 29.
But even Jim Stanford, a CAW economist and vice-chair of the Ontario Manufacturing Council, admits the hard-hit manufacturing industry has a long way to go if it hopes to return to pre-recession levels.
The food manufacturing industry, however, seems an exception to the rule.
Southern Ontario may be better known for the cars it used to turn out by the thousands, but by 2008, Greater Toronto's food-manufacturing sector had already eclipsed the area's automotive industry: 58,460 employees to 45,830, according to Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey data.
The GTA's food-processing sector is the second-largest cluster in North America, beating out Chicago but behind Los Angeles, which carries the continental title for greatest number of people employed slicing, pasteurizing, baking, juicing and packaging.
And it's still growing - as it has been steadily over the past 15 years - even while many of the region's blue-collar jobs have disappeared. Toronto's proximity to key markets in Canada and the U.S., combined with a renewed focus on local food and the home-team advantage when it comes to pumping out diverse cuisine, have helped keep companies competitive and profitable.
So while the hard-hit manufacturing industry struggles to return to its pre-recession levels, its food-sector cousin can savour a different success story.
Michael Wolfson, the city's food and beverage sector specialist, says businesses are taking advantage of incentives to move back to Toronto. Long criticized for its disproportionately high commercial-tax rate compared to other municipalities, the city has been trying sweeten the deal for industrial developers with grants and waived fees: A tax increment equivalent grant in select areas of the city waives building permit and planning fees over a specified period; industrial developers who invest at least half a million dollars in new or expanded development or retrofits are eligible for rehabilitation grants.
And the city's apparently counterintuitive planning tactics might be paying off. In an economy where housing development is in high demand, Toronto kept some sites zoned industrial, kiboshing condo development on land developers saw as prime residential real estate that would bring in more money than a factory in the midst of a manufacturing slowdown.
But Build Toronto spokesman Bruce Logan says the city has gotten "a lot of interest" in one city-owned property, a 10-hectare industrial-zoned piece of surplus land near Lakeshore Boulevard and Islington in Etobicoke they hope will go to a company developing it for food-processing purposes.
But Build Toronto spokesman Bruce Logan says the city has gotten "a lot of interest" in one of those designated properties, a 10-hectare industrial-zoned piece of land near Lakeshore Boulevard and Islington in Etobicoke they hope will go to a company developing it for food-processing purposes.
Even investors and private-sector giants are buying the hype: George Weston Ltd., owner of grocery giant Loblaw, bought artisan Ace Bakery for $110-million in November. And Premium Brands, based in Richmond, B.C., bought a majority share in Torontonian Maximum Seafood in July - the company's first Central Canadian acquisition.
The municipal government's tax-break carrots aside, it makes sense (especially in an economy bracing for triple-digit oil) for businesses to set up shop nearby the people they're selling to, the people they're buying from and the people who are working for them.
"The food industry is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week industry. So you need access to labour, you need access to transit to get people to the midnight shifts," Mr. Wolfson says.
When Quebec-based Lassonde Beverages wanted to expand elsewhere in Canada, a Toronto location was a must. Now more than six years old, their Toronto plant - the company's largest outside Quebec - pumps out 53 million litres of juices and fruit cocktails a year.
"We're located close to the airport and the highway system. … If you look at the corridor between Toronto and Niagara Falls, that's 7 million people, roughly. So it's a big chunk of our market," says plant manager Daniel Marcoux. "Your major suppliers are within driving distance."
"And we've got the work force."
That isn't to say things have been easy: The recession, a high dollar and renewed scrutiny on the food-processing industry thanks to such high-profile health scares as the 2008 listeria outbreak have meant it can be challenging to scare up enough capital to get started or expand, says Stewart Metcalfe, vice-president of Colliers Food Facilities Group.
And with global food security increasingly top of mind, Mr. Metcalfe argues, outsourcing food production becomes less palatable an option.
Mr. Ajmera relocated to Toronto for reasons both practical (to fill an unmet flatbread need) and sentimental: He says he fell in love with Toronto while passing through as a business student in Detroit. Toronto's vitality reminded him of his native Bombay.
He stays, he says, because it's home: His Canadian-educated sons live here, as do his grandchildren. But there's also a compelling business case to be made. If there weren't, there's no way FGF Brands, which he founded with friend Jim White, would be not only surviving but expanding in an increasingly competitive market.
"I'm in the baking business, and this is the best place to be based," Mr. Ajmera says. So he learned to roll with the punches: When retailers seeking to target recession-weary consumers asked for cheaper products this year, he rolled out "tiers" of naan - some without expensive buttermilk and ghee - to keep prices down.
FGF Brands has grown steadily after opening at his sons' behest, a decade after Mr. Ajmera sold his first baking company, Dough Delight. And after upgrading three times to larger buildings, the company plans to add a second plant on the other side of Steeles, a few blocks away from their headquarters on the Concord side of the Vaughan-Toronto border. It's a base he plans to pass on to his sons Tejus and Ojus Ajmera, who work with him now.
"They are the future. They are the business. And I'm the proud father."


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Music’s newest — and most mysterious — couple is making their red-carpet debut. Selena Gomez and The Weeknd arrived arm-in-arm to the 2017 Met Gala, honoring Rei Kawakubo.
Gomez opted for a pale pink embellished gown by Coach with bright pink eyeshadow, showing off her recently chopped locks. The 24-year-old singer is the face of Coach, and shared a front-row view with Anna Wintour at the brand’s fall 2017 show. Last week, she hosted WE Day in California — an annual one-day event that promotes youth advocacy for social issues. She appeared on her first Vogue cover for the April issue and launched her passion project, “13 Reasons Why,” on Netflix in March.
The Weeknd appeared in H&M’s Spring Icons campaign, which featured a selection of jersey T-shirts, denim jeans, pleather motorbike jackets and zip-up work shirts in faux suede. Ahead of his fall tour, he unveiled a capsule collection, for which he collaborated with graffiti artist Futura 2000. His Puma sneaker collaboration is due out soon and will feature his signature XO label.
Gomez and The Weeknd have kept their relationship hush-hush, save for the occasional Instagram and paparazzi snap, though her tight-lipped approach to the romance is to be expected. Gomez told Vogue in her April cover story that she would never talk to the press about her love life again.
Want the Met Gala inside scoop? See WWD’s 5 (unspoken) rules for attending in the video below.
More from WWD.com:
The Way They Were: Former Couples at the Met Gala
Rihanna’s Met Gala Style Evolution
3 Things You Didn’t Know About Beyoncé’s Most Popular Met Gala Looks


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Loyal Our Yorkshire Farm fans have proclaimed a star for a “sell-out” after posting numerous sponsored ads on their Instagram.
Despite only posting one ad on social media, the Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen has been attacked by fans for taking the business move.
Most celebrities with a large online presence are approached by companies to promote their products through their social media – they often pay large sums of money to advertise.
Other companies allow the celebrity to use their product for free as payment for viewing.
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Now in an attempt to make money, as has been the case with other reality launches, Amanda Owen posted a snap with son Miles promoting the use of Crave Pet Food protein strips and chunks for her German Shepherd, Midge.
But the fans quickly commented and wrote: “No, don’t sell to these companies, stay real!”
Another added, “It’s sad to see that you have started supporting Amanda products.
“Part of the appeal of your program has been your isolation from the commercial rat race. Please don’t let them pamper you and your lovely family.”
Still others were quick to defend the star, as many realized that Amanda and Clive have nine children to feed and keep the farm going.
One hit back at those who slammed the farmer and wrote, “Stop telling her not to advertise. There’s nothing wrong with making a little extra cash to run the farm and keep the animals and family healthy.
“Keep it up, Amanda, you and your family and farm deserve all the greatness these little things bring.”
Another wrote: “You sell, sell, girl. Make as much money as you can while you can.
“Ignore the others. You have a family and a life to build. “
Amanda had told that Mirror online: “I know a lot of people will think, ‘Well, your life as a shepherd hasn’t changed much,’ and while it may look like this in the country, the pandemic is so far away, but in fact it is not .
“First and foremost, we have diversified as a farm and are very dependent on tourists.
“The first six months of the year are busy with the sheep all winter, but at the end of the lamb season we instead tend to the people and tend tourists.
“Of course that never happened last year – people never came.”


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Ah the New York Times. Not just all the news that’s fit to print but lavish supplements, fashion magazines on glossy paper and, last Sunday, even a supplement about luxury watches.
Just in time for your holiday watch-buying needs, no doubt, but scanning the advertorial insert offered up all kinds of timely bits and pieces:
—Seiko, the Japanese watchmaker asserted that its Astron GPS Solar Chronograph was the only watch with a low-energy consumption GPS receiver.
—Hublot: Last year the Swiss brand sold more than 40,000 watches, an increase of 12 percent over last year.
—Jaeger-LeCoultre, another Swiss watchmaker, uses the slogan, “You deserve a real watch.”
–In 1957, Omega, yet another Swiss company, introduced the Seamaster 300, developed especially for professional divers.
–The Swiss brand, Zenith, offers the El Primo Chronomaster 1969, a tribute to the Rolling Stones. You can have time on your side for a mere $9,800.
–Want more information about fancy watches? Try Europa Star, a magazine that’s covered the industry since 1927.
–Celebrity endorsements are big in the watch game. Tennis great Roger Federer serves for Rolex while other associations include Cameron Diaz (Tag Heuer), Hugh Jackman (Montblanc) and Nicole Kidman (Omega).


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Meet Amazon's Completely Refreshed Lineup of New Echo Devices
30 September, 2017, 04:31 | Author: Alicia Barber
The TechCrunch report comes after Amazon, earlier in the week, said that its Echo Show devices were no longer able to play videos from YouTube because Google stopped supporting the service. Using Spot you can use all the features of Alexa (like ordering a pizza or requesting an Uber, controlling your thermostat or lights, or asking questions) and ask her to show you news flashes, the lyrics to Amazon Music songs, your calendar, the weather, etc.
Amazon debuts a second-gen Echo for $99 which goes on sale today. Google reportedly had been working on products with larger screens that would compete with full-sized televisions, but has since made a decision to hone in on this Manhattan device.
Now one of the advantages that Alexa has over the Google Assistant, is the fact that there is a whole section on Amazon's website for products that work with Alexa.
The new additions include a bigger Echo Plusspeaker device, Echo Connect, Echo Spot and new Echobuttons to control all your Echo devices. You can watch over 500,000 TV episodes and movies from Netflix, Hulu, HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, Amazon Video, and more. Both it and the cheaper, new Echo will be available for pre-order starting on Wednesday and start shipping next month.
The launch of the peculiar Amazon Echo Show on 9 May caused alarm bells to ring at Google. For one thing volume is now controlled with an additional two buttons on the top (much like the existing Echo Dot outlined below), and the matt plastic exterior has been ditched in favor of fabric, wood, and metallic finishes. The device will also serve as a command center for Nest and other smart home products.
This new wave of Echo products is sure to entice a lot more people into the Alexa ecosystem and build upon Amazon's sizable lead in the space.
The all-new Echo Plus is more expensive at $149.99 (Rs.9,800 approx.) as it integrates a built-in smart home hub, allowing users to connect it to compatible smart home devices easily.
Google's version, reportedly codenamed "Manhattan", will be around the same size as the Echo Show.
The Echo Spot boasts a new microphone array with a new far-field technology that promises better noise cancellation so you can shout at it even in a loud room. Instead, you're more likely to use the small screen to read messages, show virtual clock-faces, or conduct video calls.
Eubanks did not permit her husband Tim to keep weapons in their home, according to a woman identified by U.S. media as her sister. The other child was shot in the shoulder was also taken to hospital where it is in a stable condition, CBS Detroit reports .
Users of the Echo and other Alexa-enabled devices can test their knowledge about coffee, doughnuts and Dunkin' Donuts trivia. In honor of National Coffee Day on Friday, some coffee shops and bakeries are offering customers a free cup of joe.
Some say that Meghan's attitude has even rubbed off on Prince Harry and has helped him open up more in interviews, too. After that, succumbing to Emily's charms, Prince Harry chose to share his popcorn with the adorable toddler.
The shopping unit would remain part of Google , but would not be integrated with the search business as it is today. The EU hit Google with the fine in June for favoring its own comparison shopping service in search algorithms.
Last night, the chairman of the American Maritime Partnership told CBS4 News, shippers were not in favor of waiving the act. John McCain claimed that the Jones Act made shipping supplies for Puerto Rico's recovery twice as expensive, CNN reported .
They get a disapproval margin of 63-29. 39 percent approve of Trump's performance on North Korea; 55 percent disapprove. White voters are evenly divided, African Americans say by an incredible 94-4 percent that he is not fit.
Price has defended his use of private jets and a department spokeswoman said Price tries to fly commercial whenever possible. "It is clear to me that in this case, I was not sensitive enough to my concern for the taxpayer", Price said .
The company also says it has scrapped plans to bid for bankrupt Italian airline Alitalia to focus on addressing its own problems. Average fares are also expected to be slightly lower over the next two months as it promotes seat sales, it added.
She asked US President Donald Trump to act quickly on hurricane relief and urged him to deal with the island's debt crisis. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the lead agency responding to the storm's aftermath, is a part of DHS.
Fonda is starring in a new film, Our Souls at Night , and went on Megyn Kelly's Today show with costar Robert Redford . We got Tomi out in NYC and asked her why she thinks Megyn's morning show is making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Airports as far flung as London's Gatwick, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Melbourne and Baltimore Washington have all reported issues. Air passengers across the globe are suffering delays and disruptions after commonly used check-in software crashed worldwide.
Community reacts to Saudi women drivers
The biggest issue may be winning the approval of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi clerics, the most conservative of the Islamic faith. President Trump has commended the kingdom's decision to affirm the right of women to drive in the country.
Jason Day seeking redemption at Presidents Cup
The Americans were euphoric, the worldwide team of players from around the globe outside of Europe gutted. It's a special time to, in a way, pay respect and remember what a great country we get to live in.


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14 August 2001
Concern over Scots veg processer
By FWi staff
FARMERS leaders in Scotland have expressed “grave concern” at news that a major processor of fruit and vegetables has called in the receivers.
The announcement by Montrose, Angus firm Esk Frozen Foods will cause uncertainty for many farmers said, NFU Scotland vice president John Kinnaird.
Esk Frozen Foods purchases thousands of tonnes of produce worth millions of pounds, much of which comes from local farmers, said Mr Kinnaird.
“Scotland has already lost vital processing capacity and if we lose yet more, farmers will have to send their produce longer distances,” he said.
High fuel costs create a huge competitive disadvantage and there are practical problems with delivering produce, especially peas, long distances.
“Scottish farmers will be hoping a buyer can be found and ensure local processing capacity in a vital sector of the food industry,” said Mr Kinnaird.
The NFUS vice president said local processing capacity is essential for farmers to access a marketplace undermined by the relative weakness of the Euro,
This allows cheaper European imports to undercut fruit and vegetables from this country.
Compliance with the EUs Waste Water Directive also burdens processors with increasing costs which undermines their viability, said Mr Kinnaird.
FREE NEWS UPDATE


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The Japan-set open world title is reportedly facing development issues, while Project HEXE allegedly moves closer to full production.
The open world stealth title has been allegedly hit with a second delay, pushing it back to an August 2023 launch.
Each title will receive cosmetics from the other, like Saint-14's armor in Valhalla and an Assassin-themed armor set in Destiny 2.
Players will receive a free Assassin's Creed 2 outfit on December 21st, while the next free weekend runs from December 15th to 19th.
A new report has claimed that after 15 years of production, Ubisoft's frequently delayed sequel is still years off from launch.
Eivor works with Basim's mentor Roshan on a new quest. It's part of Title Update 1.6.2, which also adds The Last Chapter.
Originally meant to launch on December 6th, The Last Chapter concludes Eivor's story. Title Update 1.6.2 is also available.
The free trial includes all the Isle Santuario missions for free, with progress carrying over on purchasing the full game.
The expansion retails for $19.99 standalone and sees Dani exploring alternate dimensions called Rifts for a mysterious being called Fai.
A new video by Ubisoft Blue Byte outlines various changes based on feedback. The strategy title is also coming to consoles and Amazon Luna.
The new expansion reportedly involves portals and the multiverse and is currently included with the $120 Game of the Year Edition.
The franchise finally returns to Steam, just in time for the release of The Last Chapter. Anno 1800 and Roller Champions are also coming.
The team also wants to "give the player a few more opportunities to de-escalate some situations," says senior game designer Andy Schmoll.
Ubisoft is celebrating two years of Assassin's Creed Valhalla in a new blog post, alongside giving us some details on the game's final update.
"We want to make sure that we absolutely nail the game, we actually do everything in the right way, and produce an absolutely stellar-quality experience," says creative director Chris Auty.
The company reiterates that the remake is in development at Ubisoft Montreal, but it still doesn't have a release date.
The first of three expansions, Tower of Doooom, will launch in early 2023, with the remaining two launching later in the year.
The newest Crisis Event in Rainbow Six Extraction, titled After Effect, has gone live. It features new enemies, and new REACT tech, among other things.
The acclaimed open-world action RPG celebrates a new milestone. It launched in November 2020 for current and previous-gen platforms.
Lead game designer Oliver Albarracin and creative director Justin Swan speaking with GamingBolt about Rainbow Six's jump to mobile.


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Australians who wish to purchase cryptocurrencies will have to first provide identity documents and open an account with the digital currency provider in question, a spokesperson for Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security, Angus Taylor (below, right), says.
The current value of the digital currency bitcoin is estimated at US$180 billion, exceeding the total cash in circulation in the UK and a number of other countries including Australia, it has been claimed.
Users of the Las Vegas-based digital currency trading platform Bittrex have been unable to withdraw money from the company, and are complaining that they have no idea why. Bittrex trades in a number of digital currencies, including bitcoin.
More like Google asserted it was not willing to commit a sufficient budget to clean up Youtube, nor to address[…]
The CVC must go.
As we can see from the political rhetoric - tariffs are good for business and America, right?!!!A classic example of[…]
Why is the author acting like no other fighter jet has ever had a list of issues that needed to[…]
I'm guessing the story header line typoed F-16 instead of the intended F/A-18?, but this story is solid nonetheless -[…]


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The opportunities for indirect tax leaders to add value to their business has never been greater. The 7th Annual Strategic Indirect Tax & VAT Compliance Summit will focus on themes including digitization and AI, e-invoicing, cross-border transactions, compliance framework and many more.
Join us for our session:
ViDA: A deep dive in the evolving European VAT landscape
In December 2022, the European Commission published details of one of the biggest reforms to the European VAT regime in almost three decades, known as VAT in the Digital Age (VIDA). The legislative proposals that entail a colossal reform across three main pillars, being digital reporting, the single VAT registration for trading across the EU, and the platform economy, will be impacting businesses operating in the EU and beyond.
This session will focus on the Single VAT Registration with a deep dive into the proposed legislative changes impacting the current OSS schemes, movement of own goods within the EU and the expansion of the domestic reverse charge mechanism, enabling businesses to prepare for the near future


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Established in 2008, the Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) has been serving as the unified voice of the industry to the Government, statutory bodies, taxation authorities and private licensing bodies.
The Association is back with the fifth edition of its annual convention EEMAGINE, which will be held in Delhi over three days on July 28-30, 2012. The theme for this year is ‘Time for Change’ and signifies a vision to take the industry to the next level of success and prosperity.
The main aim of EEMAGINE is to highlight the achievements and milestones of the events and experiential marketing industry over the year and discuss the future of the fast growing industry.
Commenting on the theme for this year, Brian Tellis, President, EEMA India, told exchange4media, that ‘Time for Change’ signifies a move from a sense of routine and rhythm to a time for introspection. “We need to stop and look at where we are headed. Also, that the industry is open to improvement and change.”
EEMAGINE 2012 will see several firsts in its history. For the first time, there will be a live webcast of the entire event in partnership with 24 Frames.
Also, for the first time EEMAGINE 2012 will see the launch of a White Paper on the events and activation industry. The White Paper has been prepared by Ernst & Young. Speaking on the White Paper, Tellis said, “The events and activation industry is not an industry yet, but still remains part of the media and entertainment pie. Though the sector is evolving and growing at a fast pace, there is no comprehensive report on this sector – how big is it, what are the spends involved, the key growth drivers and so on.”
The White Paper will throw light on the nuances of the events and activation industry, the growth potential, the unorganized and organized areas, systems and processes, challenges as well as taxation issues, Tellis added.
This apart, for the first time the ID cards for EEMA members would have integrated RFID chips, which will be given during registration. Post registration, members can validate their ID cards onto their respective Facebook IDs.
Ten Facebook ‘Like’ boxes will be placed at strategic locations in the convention area with customised messages like “I am loving the sessions at #eemagine 2012”. Each time a member taps his/her ID card at box, an automatic update will be posted onto the member’s Facebook wall.
Meanwhile, EEMA will also show its green side with its CSR initiative called Small Steps Towards Sustainability. This is a report a report on practical day-to-day solutions towards environmental sustainability in the Indian events and experiential marketing industry. The report will be compiled through feedback from diverse stakeholder groups of this industry, vetted by EEMA for practicality and validated by CSR India.
Small Steps Towards Sustainability will be an ongoing project and will manifest in the form of an annual ‘proposal’ every year at EEMAGINE. While the initiative will evolve to take various forms, the immediate objective would be to arrive at a proposal document through industry engagement with a culmination at EEMAGINE 2012. Year one will set the basic framework within which the annual engagement will evolve.


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Came across an alert about the troubled reputation of feta cheese on HomeboyMedianews . As I have mentioned previously in this blog, reputation issues are now universal.
After many years of negotiations, the European Commission awarded Greece the rights to the feta name. To my surprise, there have been ongoing skirmishes over feta cheese for nearly a decade since I also found this article on the Internet — “Pan-European War for Feta Cheese.”
The reason feta cheese is now in the news is that its quality is being questioned by farmers and industry experts. In case you did not know (I did not), feta cheese should be 70% sheep’s milk and 30% goat’s milk. As noted in the HomeboyMedianews blog, “According to the Agricultural Ministry, there are 8.7 million sheep in Greece and 5.3 million goats.” Sounds to me like Greece has the right proportion of sheep and goats to rightfully claim the title of feta cheese capital of the world. Obviously not that simple or countries would not be fighting over feta cheese.
After some more feta-searching, I learned that Wisconsin was in danger of being dethroned as the cheese capital of the world and handing over rights to the crown to California. Another cheese war.
Reputation is always worth fighting over.


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– With a growing number of Americans using mobile devices, the White House said
that it has released its own application for Apple’s (NASD: AAPL) iPhone.
The free program,
known simply as "White House App," allows users to see content from
the WhiteHouse.gov website, including live video feeds, through their iPhone or
iPod touch devices.
The app provides access to White House public events,
speeches and press briefings, and will even carry a live feed of President
Obama’s State of the Union address next week.
The administration also plans to
launch a mobile version of WhiteHouse.gov in the coming weeks.


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Little Athens has to cope with the crisis, too
Share Now on:
The Greek debt crisis has consequences for businesses outside of Greece too. In the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York — also known as Little Athens — some store owners have higher prices for many products, which is hurting business.
Dianna Loiselle of Telly’s Taverna says the products she buys from Greece have spiked since the economic crisis began.
“The olives we buy were about $28, $29, and now they’re $52,” she says.
Antony Fidanakis of Titan Foods has also been experiencing price hikes at his store.
“We used to be a store that was known for bargains,” he says. “We’ve actually become more and more expensive because all of those exports we’re buying from Greece have become less and less competitive.”
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The Who - The Moving On Tour
Published Monday, January 14, 2019 10:30AM PST
The Moving On Tour
Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena
The Who The Moving On Tour is coming to Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena on October 21st, 2019!
For WHO fans everywhere, the announcement of a brand new tour means only one thing: the world’s most untameable rock band is about to deliver the goods once again. Never ones for nostalgia, singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend will be unleashing the combustible force that is The Who, with syphmonic accompaniment this summer and fall in 2019.


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Mercedes unveils self-driving 2025 Concept truck
Self driving cars are the future and most big manufacturers are actively developing autonomous vehicles. Mercedes-Benz however has just conducted a fully unmanned test drive of an autonomous truck on a 30km stretch of autobahn near Magdeburg in Germany
The Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025
The 'Future Truck 2025' uses a system Mercedes calls Highway Pilot that enables it to drive fully autonomously up to speeds of 85kmph. The company says that Highway Pilot can be best described as an autopilot for the road. Like autopilot, the system can be manually overridden when the truck comes up to overtake another vehicle. The system also has what Mercedes-Benz calls 'Predictive Powertrain Control' that scans the road ahead to keep the engine and gearbox primed for what lies ahead. This feature joins technology that is already available in current Mercedes-Benz trucks like proximity cruise control, automatic braking, stability control and lane-keeping assistance systems for a more autonomous experience.
Mercedes-Benz plans to have a further developed version of the Highway Pilot technology ready for production heavy vehicles by 2025.


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C4B Com For Business AG is putting its "XPhone Up2Date" software assurance on a new footing. The aim is to optimise the payment terms for both customers and the channel itself. To this end, in future C4B will offer resellers and customers an annual payment option.
UC manufacturer C4B bridges the gap between communication and CRM for its customers. Six new dashboards are now available for Salesforce Lightning. When a call comes in, key Salesforce data is displayed via dashboard. In addition, actions can be started in the CRM system directly from the XPhone client, with the caller's data transferred automatically.
Last year, the bottleneck for home offices was the shortage of headsets and laptops. Today, most companies have the hardware problem under control. Instead, they're struggling with the fact that hunt groups generally can't be managed from home. UC manufacturer C4B has a solution for this: with XPhone Connect, the communications specialist brings the hotline to the home office.
Spades and diggers instead of bits and bytes: instead of a new software release, UC specialist C4B Com For Business AG is building its first office complex. The location remains Germering in the west of Munich. But apart from that, a lot is set to change with the move at the end of 2022...
UC specialist C4B Com For Business has expanded its management board: since the beginning of the year, Bernd Woköck, one of C4B's founding members and long-time CEO, has been joined by Stephan Krä. Krä has extensive specialised knowledge and many years of experience in management positions in medium-sized companies. At C4B he is responsible for the areas of sales, marketing, HR and finance.
In many companies, Microsoft Teams 2020 has established itself as a collaboration solution. The problem: because a different platform is often used for telephony, the phone starts ringing merrily even during important video sessions. UC specialist C4B promises help: its communications solution XPhone now offers bidirectional presence syncing with Teams.
For eight years, Dieter Neumann headed sales for UC specialist C4B Com For Business. After Neumann retired in December, Anna Schleipfer-Chakhchoukh, a member of his team, is now taking over as Sales Director
UC specialist C4B focuses on cross-company communication: With the latest release of XPhone Connect, C4B enables federation with Microsoft Teams. XPhone users can now chat with team users and exchange their presence status.
Whether external service or internal helpdesk: hardly any company can do without hotlines. Unified Communications specialist C4B now offers a feature that closes the gap between simple group calls and complex call center solutions. With XPhone Connect TeamDesk, calls can be optimally distributed to a team and availability can be increased.
Whether laptop or headset: the market for home office hardware is virtually empty. Companies that would like to send their entire staff to the home office are failing to do so due to long delivery times. At least headsets are not a must: With the right solution, the private landline or mobile phone can also be used in the home office.


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Leaving the iconic Times Square clean and sparkling is a huge job, but somebody's got to do it. A 25-person "Mr. Clean Team" worked alongside the New York City Department of Sanitation and the Times Square Alliance on Jan. 1 to give the area a thorough scrub down following the massive New Year's celebration.
A search is underway for a new CEO at Crocs following an investment by private equity firm Blackstone and ongoing sales and profitability challenges which could see the funky footwear maker open fewer stores.
Supermodel Gisele Bündchen’s flowing mane will be seen a lot in the coming year as Procter & Gamble signed the Brazilian beauty to serve as the worldwide representative for its Pantene hair care brand.
Cabot Creamery is honoring 50 volunteers from across the United States with what it’s calling a “trip of a lifetime.” On Jan. 11, the volunteers will board the Celebrity Cruises Summit for an all-expense-paid, six-day, seven-night Caribbean cruise organized in their honor, courtesy of the 1,200 farm families who own Cabot Creamery Cooperative.


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Jordyn Woods has recently upped her fitness game.
“I look back to videos of me working out five months ago or two months ago and I’m like, ‘Wow!’ ” Kylie Jenner’s BFF told E! News. “Because I do it every day, so much has changed so fast,”
The curvy model recently tweeted that this is the “happiest been in a long time,” and says she’s fully committed to her new lifestyle — even if it’s not always easy.
“I have a love-hate relationship with cardio…weights, squats, I feel like it all plays an important role,” said the 20-year-old, who attended the New Era All Star Weekend party over the weekend.
RELATED VIDEO: Kylie Jenner Steps Out for the First Time Since Welcoming Daughter Stormi
Woods — who posts her exercises on Instagram in an effort to inspire others to “get up and do something” — has said she’s “become addicted” to working out with celebrity trainer Mack, who also trains Ariel Hunter and Tess Holliday.
As for the key to her success, she revealed it’s “just staying consistent and doing something every day, whether it’s walking, jogging, squats, weights at home or going to the gym. I feel like a little bit of something every day is very helpful.”
Woods’s passion for fitness is also crossing over into fashion.
“My workouts have inspired me to make an activewear line because it’s so difficult to find supportive clothing and clothing that’s cute and actually inspires you to get up,” she said. “By the end of this year, I’m going to have my own activewear line!”


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LONDON – Pakistani fashion industry has proved its worth internationally. Despite of unfavorable circumstances Pakistani designers are working hard to raise the standard of their work and earning a very positive feedback from the world.
In the list of the names of top class Pakistani designers, Ali Xeeshan has his standing among the first class.
Now he has crossed another land mark, Ali Xeeshan is going to design an outfit for Rihanna.
According to sources, Pakistani designer has been approached by the stylist of Rihanna to make a dress for her.
Because of her recent participation and astonishing work in several International fashion weeks, Ali has grasped the attention with his creative aesthetics.
His aesthetics hit the right spot and found the favor overseas.
His latest achievement is a dream come true for most designers.
Being approached by Grammy award winning singer’s stylist to style Rihanna’s wardrobe is no ordinary thing.
One of the favorite dresses of designer was the cheeky and high end eye-wear presented at ramp by Ali in Fashion Parade London, earlier this month.
His unconventional and creative collection was a bright affair on the runway. Monochrome floral prints fused with rich gold embellishments and paired with extravagant eye wear were a feast for the eyes.
Do you have information you wish to share with PakistanTribe.com? Email our News Desk to share news tips, reports and general feedback. You can also email the Blog Desk if you have an opinion or narrative to share. Follow PakistanTribe on Twitter Follow @PakistanTribe and Join us on Facebook


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Now, as Facebook has begun selling ads in a different, much more lucrative way that others have been doing for years, it feels like Facebook's tactic has put the company years behind schedule.
How Facebook has sold ads for most of its history: Advertisers tick off a bunch of boxes on the type of people they'd like to reach and then Facebook shows their ads to these people.
That's the "old-fashioned way," because that's basically how advertisers have been buying TV ads for decades. Advertisers have a group of people to whom they would like to market their products, and they look for the TV shows that have that audience.
In other words, they look for inventory that is targeted to an audience based on data a publisher provides about its audience.
For the past five years or so, Facebook has sought to improve on this old-fashioned model by giving advertisers more detail about the type of people they can market to.
Instead of just knowing where those people are located, their gender, and their age, Facebook can tell advertisers where the people viewing ad inventory work, their marital status, and what their "interests" are.
All this extra data was supposed to be a gold mine for Facebook, and Facebook built up a huge ad sales apparatus to sell ads targeted with it.
Eventually, Facebook's ad business grew to annual revenues of just under $5 billion per year.
That sounds pretty big but …
It turns out this whole tactic may have been a big waste of everyone's time.
That's because in recent weeks, Facebook has begun selling ads in a new way that makes its massive inventory much more valuable—three times more valuable, according to one company buying the inventory and reselling it.
This new method is called re-targeting. It has been used by ad-sellers outside of Facebook for years now.
Facebook, however, only began selling re-targeted ads this summer, when it opened something called the Facebook Exchange, better known as FBX in the industry.
FBX is what it sounds like: an exchange. Facebook has selected a dozen or so companies that will buy Facebook ad inventory and sell it to marketers using re-targeting.
How re-targeting works: You visit Warby Parker, the online glasses seller. You look at a pair of glasses you might like to buy. You decide not to buy them right then. You leave the Warby Parker website. Later, on other Websites you see ads with the pair of glasses you liked.
You see those ads because when you visited warbyparker.com, your browser downloaded a tiny piece of software, called a "cookie," that told the ad servers on sites using re-targeting that you had previously gone to warbyparker and looked at a certain pair of glasses.
Ads that are "re-targeted" in this way are clicked on a lot, and it's pretty obvious why. Unlike most ads in banners on the Internet, re-targeted ads are ones that you may actually want to see because they are based on your demonstrated interest in a product.
Because they are clicked on so much—and because those clicks so often lead to sales, re-targeted ads are valuable, and publishers are able to charge advertisers steeper rates for them. That's good news for Facebook.
Zach Coelius, CEO of Triggit, one of the ad-reselling companies Facebook has invited onto FBX, says that return on investment for advertisers buying through FBX is so good, that if all of Facebook's ad inventory were sold with re-targeting, instead of user data targeting, Facebook would be able to charge 3X the price it charges for ads right now.
What's truly remarkable is that inventory sold through FBX re-targeting uses ZERO Facebook profile data, and yet it is much more valuable. This has to make you shake your head about Facebook's strategy for the past few years, and we'll get to that in a second.
Coelius has a stake in seeing FBX do well, and having business news outlets write stories about how Triggit is getting great ROI for its clients. So you have to take his claims with a grain of salt.
That said, his claims make intuitive sense.
The most valuable inventory for re-targeting until now has been Yahoo Mail, because:
- It has huge scale.
- It's engaging enough that you'd only want to click on an ad to leave if you really wanted to leave.
- The people who use it tend to leave it open as a tab in their browser all day.
In all three ways, Facebook.com is very similar to Yahoo Mail.
So, when Coelius says that 18 months from now, most of Facebook's ad inventory will be sold through re-targeting, and that rates will have gone up by a couple multiples, we find him to be credible enough.
On a basic level, of course ads targeted to me based on my demonstrated commercial intent will be more valuable than ads based on what I put in my Facebook profile.
OK, I "like" the British Open golf tournament, and that probably means aspirational brands could do well to market to me, but that seems like a lot of guesswork compared with showing me an ad for a pair of glasses I almost bought two days ago.
Because it knows what marketers drooling-ly call "intent," re-targeting feels a lot closer to search than Facebook's profile data targeting does, and Google has shown us how great an online ad business can be when it is built around intent and massive scale.
The frustrating thing for Facebook shareholders, especially the ones who bought in on the IPO, has to be this: Facebook may be new to re-targeting, but re-targeting isn't all that new.
As noted above, Yahoo has been doing it, and doing it well for years.
It's ironic—and a little tragic—that Facebook spent so much time chasing a "new and improved" form of advertising, when an existing online tool works so well.
The good news is that re-targeting should be a growth engine for Facebook, which desperately needs one, even if we don't think (ahem!) FBX meaningfully boosted Facebook revenues in Q3.
WATCH: iOS 6 Debuts New Maps And Facebook Integration On iPhone


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Tavant, a Silicon Valley-based provider of digital products and solutions, including front-end mortgage origination solutions, recently established a technology innovation center in Dallas that will focus on product development and providing new age digital experiences to lenders via “digital factories.”
To support its growing customer base in the area, Tavant reports that it is increasing its staff and capabilities in the new location.
The new location is in close proximity to many of Tavant’s customers, as well as prospects. This will help ensure that the company is meeting client needs while at the same time enabling it to attract top talent.
The new location serves as a hub for four what Tavant calls “digital factories.” These factories consist of small but specialized teams of factory managers, product owners and full-stack developers, who focus on configuring, building, modeling, simulating and evaluating technologies and solutions to further the business goals of Tavant’s customers.
Each team will be tasked with developing a minimum viable product that will have new digital features and enhancements that align with the customer’s business goals.
The delivery center will operate many “digital factories” to serve customers across the U.S., regardless of time differences.
“Today’s businesses are not a one-size-fits-all,” says Prashant Kumar, vice president of Tavant’s fintech vertical, in a release. “We need to be nimble in our offerings so that we can work with our customers to meet their individual business requirements.
“Our teams will focus on building personalized solutions that are in line with their business outcomes and goals,” Kumar adds. “We will be developing real, purpose-driven MVPs on new technologies related to cloud, AI/ML or other customer experience portals as per client’s need.”


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Jul.20.16 - Fried Chicken Thursday Special
The UC Dining Hall is offering a special summer Fried Chicken Thursday event on July 21st. Sign up online by 3 p.m. on July 20 to receive a $2 discount.
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Please update to the newest version


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According to the latest reports, Sony has laid out its sales and profit forecast for the entire year on February 3, 2021. The tech giant from Japan “Sony” has revealed that it predicted the sales/profits for the full year following the sales it hit during the holiday quarter.
As per the figures, Sony was able to generate around 4.5 million sales for the new Sony PlayStation 5 console units in the 4th quarter of 2020 during holidays.
The company reported that it managed to generate an operating profit of 359.2 billion yen in the Q4 of 2020 (October to December). At the time of publishing, the 359.2 billion Japanese yen figure translates to $3.4 billion.
The workforce and analytics team at Sony has confirmed that the sales from the 4th quarter of 2020 far exceeded the sales it managed to generate in the same quarter for 2019. As per figures, the company generated 20% more profit in 2020 than it did in the same period for 2019.
Sony has also confirmed that the total revenue is generated for the fourth quarter of 2020 was 2.7 trillion yen, which is up by 9% and is growing year-on-year.
Based on the recent sales, Sony has increased the forecast of the profits that it is expecting to generate in the 12 months. The company is now expected to generate up to 940 billion yen until the end of March 2021. The new profit predicted by Sony is 34% more than what it had predicted for the same period. Prior to the 940 billion yen mark, Sony had predicted to hit around 700 billion yen.
In addition to the profit, Sony has confirmed that for the entire fiscal year, it is now expected the revenue will go up to 8.8 trillion yen. The 8.8 trillion yen figure is now 4% more than what was initially predicted (8.5 trillion yen) by Sony back in October of 2020.
Sony revealed that the gaming division of the company managed to out-perform all other divisions. It confirmed that the games division’s sales went up by 40%, which is a total of 883.2 billion yen. One of the main drivers of the surge in sales for the gaming division was the launch of the PS5 console. As soon as PS5 was launched in November 2020, and started hitting the market, Sony’s sales went sky-rocket.
It has been revealed that Sony alone earned 80.2 billion yen worth of operating income for the particular period. This showed that the company was able to generate 50% more sales than it did back in 2019.
In addition to the above, Sony’s America depository receipts (ADRs) that are listed by the United State also climbed by 10% in the fourth quarter of the year 2020.


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Basics Buoy Third Quarter at Dollar General
January 24, 2012,
Rick Dreiling, chairman and ceo, said during Dollar General's earnings call earlier this month that in the home department, bedding and bath towels performed well - especially fashion-color towels - thanks to a recently implemented strategy.
"Part of our strategy is that we need to turn our non-consumables more frequently," he said. "Our customer comes in once a week or once every two weeks, and she needs to see something different [in our stores]. And so [new fashion home products] are starting to turn a little faster."
New collections of bath towels represent an example of a faster-turning category recently, he explained, as "we're fashion relevant there in terms of color."
The new beer and wine selection that recently began rolling out to stores represents another discretionary category starting to make strides. To date, about 40% of Dollar General 9,813 stores offer beer and wine, "and when beer and wine are in the basket, those stores have about a 1% higher comp."
For the most part, Dollar General's core customers remain focused on necessities, as third quarter results showed.
"Non-consumables that are less discretionary are doing much better," Dreiling said, citing that socks, underwear, and plain pocket Tees are better off in sales than jeans.
"I would not attribute this to the warmer weather," he added. "It is an example of a discretionary purchase our customer can hold back on. More fashionable things in apparel won't get better until we see a change in macro-economics out there."
Dollar General said its consumables sales continued to increase at a higher rate than non-consumables in the quarter.
For the third quarter ended October 28, net income jumped 34% to $171 million, or 50 cents per share.
Sales climbed 11.5% to $3.6 billion, and same-store sales increased 6.3%, representing Dollar General's third consecutive quarter of accelerating same-store sales growth "demonstrating our ability to balance the challenges of pricing and rising input costs," Dreiling said.
Contributing to the comp increase were gains in customer traffic and average transaction.
Year to date, the company reported a 17% net income increase to $474 million, or EPS of $1.37. Sales rose 11.2% to $10.62 billion, including an increase in same-store sales of 5.9%.
Based on its third-quarter results, Dollar General is raising its full year adjusted earnings per share guidance to the range of $2.29 to $2.32.
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1200 Suppliers are Ready for You at Intertextile Shanghai
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See the August 2017 issue of Home & Textiles Today. In this issue, we look at the Top 50 Retailing Giants Report, plus Manufacturing: Made in the USA gaining ground; International: Portugal ramping up exports; New products: NY Now home textiles introductions; Outlook: Commentary from H&TT's editors; and Planning: Trade show calendar.


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Apple announces iPhone 13 launch event to take place on September 14
- The iPhone 13 launch event is titled "California Streaming.” Apple hasn’t revealed what’s coming but here's what we can expect.
Apple has finally announced the iPhone 13 launch event. While several leaks have hinted at what we can look forward to. Apple is expected to introduce a number of new features, including a higher refresh rate to better cameras on the 2021 iPhones. The iPhone 13 launch event is titled "California Streaming.” Apple hasn't revealed what's coming in the invite. However, we can expect it to announce the next-gen iPhones -- the iPhone 13 series. The Apple event will take place online on September 14at 10 am PDT, or 10.30 pm IST.
Apple is tipped to introduce a 120Hz ProMotion display on the iPhone 13 series at the launch event. The current Apple offerings are stuck in the past as they come with a 60Hz refresh rate. If the rumours are to be believed, Apple is adopting an LTPO display to offer a 120Hz high refresh rate on the iPhone 13 Pro series. Hence, the vanilla iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini are said to miss out on the feature. Moreover, the latter two devices are expected to offer a better battery life, while the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max battery life might take a hit due to the 120Hz refresh rate.
The iPhone 13 series is rumoured to come with a new ProRes video-recording feature that will let users capture clips in a higher-quality format. Hence, giving editors more control during post-production. Additionally, you could better control the look of colours and highlights in your pictures. The feature will differ from standard filters. For the unaware, portrait mode allows you to put a person in sharp focus while blurring the background.
Further, we could see a smaller notch on the iPhone 13 series. Apple is rumoured to shrink the notch size on the iPhone 13 lineup. It is said that the TrueDepth camera will be shallower. It is because the receiver at the top of the display is tipped to be relocated to the edge of the case.
Aside from the iPhone 13 lineup, Apple is also tipped to launch the Watch Series 7, new iPad and AirPods. This is all we know ahead of the September 14 Apple launch event.
Catch all the Latest Tech News, Mobile News, Laptop News, Gaming news, Wearables News , How To News, also keep up with us on Whatsapp channel,Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. For our latest videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel.


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Halliburton has resolved a U.S. Justice Department criminal probe of its role in the 2010 Gulf oil spill by agreeing to pay a $200,000 fine and admitting it destroyed evidence, but the company still has a powerful incentive to cut another deal with businesses and residents.
The company that wants to build a $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in either northern Iowa or eastern Illinois has offers of incentives from both states and plans to choose a site in 30 to 60 days. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed economic legislation Thursday that includes incentives to try to convince Cronus Chemical LLC to build in the state.
More than a year after Japan's Supreme Court ordered camera and medical-equipment maker Olympus to stop punishing a whistleblower and reinstate him to his regular job, Masaharu Hamada is still fighting his courtroom battle. On Monday, he got company.
Toyota says it will boost production of the Highlander SUV at its southwestern Indiana plant and add 200 jobs there next year. The Evansville Courier & Press reports Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana Inc. announced Friday that it's increasing Highlander production by 15,000 units at its Princeton plant as part of a $30 million investment.
Engineering students taking part in the Formula Student racing car project at the University of Liverpool have benefited from a donation of several torsion springs from Lee Spring UK. Formula Student is an international competition that sees student led teams around the world design, build, and race single seat racing cars.
A labor rights group Monday accused a Chinese company that makes iPhones for Apple Inc. of abuses including withholding employees' pay and excessive working hours. China Labor Watch said it found violations of the law and of Apple's pledges about working conditions at factories operated by Pegatron Corp., a Taiwanese company.
Work will continue at Firestone's tire manufacturing plants in Iowa, Arkansas, Illinois and Tennessee thanks to a tentative contract agreement the company reached with its steelworkers union. Steelworkers at the Des Moines Firestone tire manufacturing plant tentatively agreed to a contract Friday, averting a strike, The Des Moines Register reported.
Boeing Co. has expanded inspections of emergency locator beacons made by Honeywell International to include five more aircraft types after problems were discovered with the transmitters on 787 jets. Boeing's marketing vice president Randy Tinseth says in a blog dated Sunday that the aircraft manufacturer is asking operators to inspect the battery-operated beacons which activate in a crash to help rescuers find a plane.
Tennessee is, for a fourth consecutive year, ranked No. 1 in automotive manufacturing strength in the nation. Economic development publication Business Facilities has released its annual ranking, showing Tennessee the top state. Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty called the ranking "an impressive distinction."
The Europe Union and Chinese solar panel exporters said Saturday that they had reached a settlement in their long trade dispute, with the exporters agreeing to sell their products at a minimum price in the EU market. The agreement ends one of the biggest-ever trade disputes between China and Europe — a row that threatened to escalate into a full-blown trade war involving European wines and to disrupt EU-China relations.
Ford Motor Co. is recalling 33,021 C-Max hybrid cars because they may not adequately protect occupants' heads in a crash. Vehicles involved were made between Jan. 19, 2012, and June 25, 2013 and don't have panoramic roofs. C-Max hybrids with panoramic glass roofs aren't involved in the recall.
Just as General Motors is getting a handle on its troubles in Europe, the automaker faces a new challenge in another part of the globe. GM says Japanese automakers are using the weak yen to cut prices in Southeast Asia and Australia, taking a bite out of GM's profits there. Sales tailed off in India as well.
Halliburton Energy Services has agreed to plead guilty to destroying evidence in connection with the 2010 Gulf oil spill, the Department of Justice said Thursday. Federal officials said in a news release that a criminal information charging Halliburton with one count of destruction of evidence was filed in federal court in Louisiana.
China will spend $275 billion to tackle air pollution over the next five years, highlighting how the issue has become a priority for the leadership. The amount is more than the total economic output of Hong Kong last year and underlines how the government is eager to bring about a visible improvement in China's bad air, which has caused discontent among its citizens and tarnished the country's image abroad.
A federal workplace-safety agency has cited Echo Lake Foods for alleged safety violations at its Burlington and Franksville frozen food plants. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed fines of $150,000 against Echo Lake Foods for 27 alleged violations.
Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp. is expanding its plant in the southeast Missouri town of New Madrid, an expansion expected to create 29 jobs. Gov. Jay Nixon joined Noranda officials on Friday in New Madrid for the announcement. Noranda will spend $45 million on the expansion.
With the discovery of shale gas reserves in Brazil and plans to auction drilling rights there, a delegation is visiting Pennsylvania to see how its drilling boom has turned the state into one of the leading natural gas producers in the U.S. The group of Brazilian business and energy industry professionals hopes to learn from the state's experience and to explore the possibility of exports to Brazil during meetings Wednesday and Thursday.
Bombardier has delayed again the first test flight of its much-touted CSeries single-aisle airliner. The world's third-largest maker of civilian commercial aircraft had been aiming for the first flight by the end of July but said Wednesday it will occur "in the coming weeks" without giving a target date.
Toyota shrugged off China sales woes to stay the world's top selling automaker for the first half of this year, outpacing U.S. rival General Motors Co., which boasted such bragging rights for seven decades until 2008. Toyota Motor Corp. sold 4.91 million cars and trucks around the world for the January-June period, down 1.2 percent from the previous year, according to numbers it released Friday.
Japan's All Nippon Airways has found damage to wiring on two Boeing 787 locator beacons, a device suspected as the cause of a fire on an Ethiopian Airlines 787. ANA spokesman Ryosei Nomura said Friday that Boeing Co., the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Japanese regulators had ordered checks of the beacons.


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Describing his five-day bilateral visit to China as fruitful and productive, Vice President Hamid Ansari has said that the Chinese leadership is keen to establish personal-level contacts with India`s new leadership.
The US said that it has raised the issue with the Chinese leadership at the highest level.
The Chinese leadership should accord top priority to spending more of the government`s massive savings to facilitate its transformation to a consumption-driven economy, said a daily.
Pakistan expressed hope that the new Chinese leaders would "solidify" the all weather friendship and continue the close economic and trade cooperation.
Day in Pics: 31st January
Showbiz World - January 31, 2015
Playboy Super Bowl XLIX Party


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Hewlett-Packard launched a slick-looking tablet computer on Wednesday based on a new release of its webOS, but the question many are now asking is, has HP done enough to steal some business from Apple's trailblazing iPad?
HP today introduced two new webOS phones, the HP Veer and the HP Pre 3. The Veer, targeted more at the everyday consumer, will be available this spring. The Pre 3, designed for professional and entertainment use, will be available this summer.
Picking up where the Palm Pixi left off, the HP Veer is smaller than your average high-end smartphone. But not everybody wants--or needs--a monolithic 4.3-inch phone so it is nice to see HP come up with some alternative form factors.
The tablet landscape just got a bit more crowded: Hewlett-Packard's WebOS event here in San Francisco launched both the new HP Veer and the HP Pre 3 and the company's first consumer tablet. Due out this summer, the HP TouchPad appears set to stand ou...
While the HP Veer is targeted at first-time smartphone users, the Pre 3 is for the person who wants to do everything on their phone. It has a nice mix of business and multimedia features with the horsepower to do it all. I was only allowed to use the...
Hewlett-Packard rolled out its debut entrant into the red-hot tablet market, the HP Touchpad, as well as two new smartphones -- all running the latest version of the webOS acquired last year when it bought Palm.
As it promised last year, on Monday the world's biggest bug bounty program released information about nearly two dozen unpatched vulnerabilities, including five in Microsoft Office, after deadlines expired.
Hewlett-Packard has delayed plans to launch new laptops with Intel's latest Core processors, just a few days after HP stopped making PCs that previously paired the chips with Intel's faulty chipset.
Hewlett-Packard is trying to bridge the gap between mobile devices such as tablets and desktops with its new desktop PCs, an effort that could help the company ease data flow and standardize the deployment of applications among devices.
Some PC makers are halting sales of PCs with Sandy Bridge processors as they try to work out issues related to Intel's faulty chipset, companies said on Wednesday.
Intel Capital and IBM are investing a combined US$350 million in a new effort by President Barack Obama's administration to encourage entrepreneurs and mentor new businesspeople.
IBM, Intel and Hewlett-Packard on Monday said they would invest in an effort led by the White House to create jobs and promote growth in emerging technology areas such as cloud computing, health care and mobile applications.
The Think Tank Cafe in the Smart Villages hi-tech park in Cairo. (Image: Smart Villages) WASHINGTON -- Egypt has been aggressively attracting tech companies to its wired office parks to help create jobs for its young, educated and often English-speak...
When is a tablet not a tablet? When it's a PC.
Apple was the world's third-largest PC vendor during the fourth quarter last year if iPad shipments are included, research firm Canalys said in a study released Wednesday.
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GGG Evaluation Team
First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.
For work use, Microsoft Word and Excel programs pre-installed on the device are adequate for preparing short documents.
The Fujitsu LifeBook UH574 allowed for great mobility without being obnoxiously heavy or clunky. Its twelve hours of battery life did not disappoint.
The screen was particularly good. It is bright and visible from most angles, however heat is an issue, particularly around the Windows button on the front, and on the back where the battery housing is located.
My first impression after unboxing the Q702 is that it is a nice looking unit. Styling is somewhat minimalist but very effective. The tablet part, once detached, has a nice weight, and no buttons or switches are located in awkward or intrusive positions.


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The U.K. will be the fastest-growing of the major European economies this year and next, according to the European Commission, which Tuesday more than doubled its growth forecast for Britain.
In its autumn forecast, the European Union's executive arm said the economy of the U.K.--the largest non-euro-zone country in the EU--would grow 1.3% in 2013, considerably higher than the 0.6% growth it projected in May.
The commission also raised its growth forecast for 2014 to 2.2% from its previous estimate of 1.7%, and expects growth will continue to pick up, reaching 2.4% in 2015.
In comparison, the commission expects Germany to grow 0.5% in 2013 and 1.7% in 2014, while France is expected to grow 0.2% this year and 0.9% next.
The commission said its improved U.K. forecast was based on a pick up in consumer spending, as inflation gradually falls towards the Bank of England's 2% target. The annual rate of inflation stood at 2.7% in September.
The commission also expects growth will be boosted as firms start investing as credit becomes more easily available and confidence improves. But it warned that weak wage growth could damp consumer spending and that companies could postpone investment plans, posing a risk to its forecast.
"The expectation is for consumers to dip into their savings and continue spending with the outlook for real wage growth to turn positive at the end of 2014 and into 2015," the commission said. "However, the debt burden of households remains a distinct risk to private consumption."
The commission lowered its forecast for the U.K.'s unemployment rate to 7.7% this year from its previous forecast of 8%. It expects the jobless rate will be 7.3% in 2015 -- above the 7% threshold that the BOE has said it must reach before it considers raising its benchmark interest rate.
The improved economic conditions also led the commission to lower its estimate for the government's budget deficit over the coming years. The commission now expects the budget deficit will be 5.3% of gross domestic product by 2014/2015, compared with 6.1% in its May forecast. It expects the deficit to fall to 4.4% of GDP by 2015/2016.
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Camarillo vendors find holidays slow
While merchants may have been clearing their shelves of the last remnants of holiday cheer and its accoutrements, the crowd at the Camarillo farmers market was for the most part taking it easy, with many vendors taking the week off.
At the Underwood Farms booth, Laura Harris explained that they usually don't bring as much to market during the fallow holiday week. "It's usually quiet if it's rainy or anytime after a holiday. Our regular people are out of town, and we don't get the normal traffic," she said as she presided over her half-empty cart. "The guys packing for the market don't put as much out for us to take."
At McGrath Farms booth, pea tendrils and beans are back in a sign of the season, alongside a colorful assortment of carrots and beets.
Gabriela Rodriguez was snipping some cheery daisies that will be just the ticket to replace holiday finery when the halls are undecked as she noted the postholiday crowds. "It's pretty quiet. We need people to come out and support their local farmers," she said, adding that she figured that most people were too exhausted from the holiday to do their weekly farmers market shopping.
Finding the markets
Sundays: 8:30 a.m. to noon Sundays, College of the Canyons (parking lot 8 off Valencia Boulevard), Santa Clarita (529-6266). 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 300 E. Matilija St., Ojai (698-5555). 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Agoura Hills City Mall, Kanan Road (818-591-8286). 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Harbor and Channel Islands boulevards (includes a fish market), Oxnard (643-6458). 10 to 2 p.m. Village Glen Plaza, between Agoura and Townsgate roads, Westlake Village (818-591-8286).
Wednesdays: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Pacific View mall parking lot facing Main Street, Ventura (529-6266).
Thursdays: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Plaza Park at Fifth and C streets, Oxnard (483-7960). 1:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Saturdays: 8 a.m. to noon, 2220 Ventura Blvd., Camarillo (482-1507). 8 to 11 a.m., fish market behind Andria's Seafood Restaurant, 1449 Spinnaker Drive, Ventura (644-0169). 8 a.m. to noon, Moorpark College, Parking Lot G1 at Campus Park Drive (529-6266). 8:30 a.m. to noon, Palm and Santa Clara streets, Ventura (529-6266). 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Oak Park Plaza, 706 Lindero Canyon Road, Oak Park (643-6458).
— Anne Kallas
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When LG leaked their dual-core phone we knew Motorola would do the same too and that’s just what happened this morning. A tipster just sent pics of a new Motorola phone to Gizmodo and while the site isn’t too sure what phone it is, I can tell you this is the Olympus aka Terminator.
At first we thought the Olympus was a Verizon exclusive, but it turns out that it is coming to multiple carriers and AT&T will actually launch the phone first around the last week of January. The Motorola Olympus is rumored to feature NVIDIA’s dual-core Tegra 2 processor, a 4.1-inch display, 8 megapixel camera with 1080p video record, front-facing camera, HDMI out, and is currently running Android 2.2 with Motoblur.
We all know that Gingerbread is around the corner so hopefully Motorola updates this phone to Android 2.3, but we aren’t too sure of that given the company’s history of shipping Android phones with an outdated OS.


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Indianapolis, IN, August 16, 2007 --(PR.com
)-- TCLogic, a leading provider of inventory optimization solutions, was featured recently in the American Fastener Journal discussing the ‘ups and downs’ of overseas sourcing and how companies can ‘ride these waves’ for improved inventory management and optimization, ultimately coming out on top.
According to the article sourcing products from overseas suppliers can reduce costs. “More companies including those in the fastener industry are turning this direction to lower the costs of goods, reduce the amount of working capital needed to run the business, or simply find an available supplier for their products.”
“There are significant advantages to sourcing material from overseas,” the article explains. “And the rewards of overseas sourcing naturally come with risks. As companies begin navigating the waters of overseas sourcing, they can be successful by knowing what to expect and how to best manage those risks. Risks that include longer and more varied lead times, increased purchasing, changes in customer service levels, variable shipping components, and more.”
So how does a company that is sourcing overseas take into account the increase in variability on factors, including lead-times, higher volumes and stocking strategies, while improving their performance?
Thomas Uhrig, president of TCLogic, an inventory optimization software provider based in Indianapolis, sees the need for companies to improve their inventory management. “As companies deal with increased volumes of overseas products, they must do a better job of managing the rest of their inventory or potentially risk running out of warehouse space or, even worse, draining their lines of credit,” said Uhrig.
“Inventory optimization can be a very effective solution to come up with the right mix,” added Uhrig. “Companies utilizing inventory optimization software solutions are far more capable of maintaining higher service levels for their customers, but doing so without overstocking their locations. And they are much more able to work through the longer and varied lead times and increased volume that comes with sourcing overseas. The results they can see are better business results, especially in markets where their peers are struggling to compete.”
To view the entire article, visit the American Fastener Journal at www.fastenerjournal.com.


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LITTLE ROCK, AR - LM Glasfiber today showed off the first windmill blade it produced at a temporary facility in Little Rock. The company will build a $150 million factory to produce the windmill blades and is operating at a temporary site.
The company has hired 190 workers at the temporary plant, and they will move to the new factory once it is complete. The Denmark-based company has one other U.S. location, in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
LM Glasfiber says it has orders for more than 1,000 blades. The blades are used in wind turbines.


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Connections: Debating so-called "clean meat"
What is all this buzz about "clean meat?" The idea is to eat meat that is grown in a lab, from stem cells -- no animal slaughter; no animal confinement; no carbon footprint associated with animal-based agriculture.
Memphis Meats showed off a meatball made from cultured meat, and they have Bill Gates and Richard Branson investing millions. So if this is the future of meat, why are so many people pushing back? Our guests explain:


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Instagram will soon let you create posts on desktop
Most of Instagram's features have been exclusive to its mobile app, including one of its core functionalities - the ability to create and edit posts. Well, there has been a trend for the past year or so to expand the desktop Instagram site. According to a developer and tipster on Twitter, Instagram is about to let you create and edit posts from the desktop site.
He also posted a couple of mockups of how the feature would work. Supposedly, the desktop site will let you drag and drop photos and videos, crop, apply filters, tag people and locations, and the overall UI looks quite similar to the app's.
There's still no word on when we can expect the long-awaited functionality but it's currently being tested internally. Also, by the time of release, some details may change.
Instagram had built their own unique platform where users can only post on mobile devices, and now they're destroying it by letting users to post on desktop. If I can post on desktop, then it's no longer an instagram.
- 28 May 2021
Every graphic designer/ marketing profesional uses desktop pc/mac for work with photoshop/ilustrator/indesign and then need to share the work on social media. You don't know what you'r talking about.
- 21 May 2021
CTRL+SHIFT+I and then F5 for refresh and you get the upload functionality
- 21 May 2021


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Royal Enfield is rigorously testing its BS-VI range, and we have seen several test mules of the 2020 models in the past via spy photographs. The new version spotted testing, although retaining its classic style, has inevitably been modernised and appears to take some clear ‘learnings’ from its recent 650 twins.
For a start, the engine is brand new, with an external appearance much closer to that of the 650 twin.
Given the company’s requirements for smaller displacement machines, particularly for the vast domestic Indian market, we imagine capacity has remained at 500cc but it’s likely the new single will be oil-cooled just like the twins.
The bottom end of the new engine also appears to be brand new with the final drive now on the left suggesting it’s a complete redesign rather than an update of the existing engine. While another change that will upset some is the lack of a kick starter.
The current 500cc engine already has fuel injection, and this should make it easier for Royal Enfield to make the motor comply with the BS6 norms. As for the 346cc unit construction four stroke engine, it is likely to get a capacity bump up to close to 400cc, and also fuel injection. The extra displacement is likely to make the Thunderbird more powerful, and faster.
Cradling the new engine is a brand new frame that again appears to take heavily from the new twins. This appears to be a double cradle, rather than the old single tube frame, which should be significantly stiffer. The rear of the chassis, including twin shocks, appears to be largely unchanged.
Video Credits: Respective YouTube Page


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The European Commission made the comments in a report on the 15th round of negotiations of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) which were conducted in New York earlier this month.
According to the Commission “The state-of-play and the organisation of the evaluation of the US and the EU GMP inspectorates were discussed. In light of the progress achieved, the conclusion of a mutual recognition agreement of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) inspections, by January 2017, is under consideration.
The EC cautioned, however, that a number of matters still to be agreed discussed, notably the scope of the information exchange and whether confidential information about manufacturing processes will be exchanged.
EU officials put forward the idea that US regulators could accept good manufacturing practice (GMP) compliance certificates issued by the EMA and vice versa in April. The rationale was to eliminate duplicate inspections of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and drug manufacturing plants.
They EU also suggested certificates issued to manufacturing facilities outside Europe and the US could be accepted as proof a plant is up to code by the issuing regulator’s counterpart on the opposite side of the Atlantic.
What is TTIP?
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a free trade agreement being negotiated between the EU and US. It will open up their export markets, eliminating all tariffs and other barriers on trade for pharmaceuticals, among other products.
It will also standardise many regulations, and – a sticking point for many dissenters – enforce very strong IP protection.
15 rounds of negotiation have taken place so far, with implementation expected by the end of the year
To facilitate such mutual recognition the EU team suggested EMA and FDA drug approval requirements should be more closely aligned – everything from preclinical testing through to production – adding that guidelines would need to be developed in collaboration.


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Britney Spears to star in mobile video game app
Pop star Britney Spears is the latest celebrity to feature in a mobile video game application.(Source: Reuters)
Pop star Britney Spears is the latest celebrity to feature in a mobile video game application.
Glu Mobile, the app game developer responsible for Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, announced that it would be developing a game featuring Spears, 33, reported People magazine.
Due out in 2016, the game will be the first product released as part of a five-year deal between Spears and Glu to feature Spears’ likeness, voice and creative influence.
In February, Glu Mobile announced that it was making a Katy Perry game, and in March it announced an app game starring Kendall and Kylie Jenner.
Source:: Indian Express


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Darden Restaurants, the world’s largest full-service restaurant group, has taken lobster off the menu.
The owner of restaurants Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and The Capital Grille announced Friday that it was selling its poorly performing Red Lobster seafood chain and related real estate assets to investment firm Golden Gate Capital for $2.1bn.
Darden has been considering a sale of the 700-strong restaurant chain for sometime. The company has been under pressure from shareholders and Red Lobster has performed poorly compared to its sister restaurants. In the three-months period ending 23 February, Red Lobster's sales fell 8.7% from a year ago to $611m, more than the 5.4% decline at Olive Garden. Sales at LongHorn Steakhouse rose 0.3%.
In a statement Clarence Otis, Darden's chairman and CEO, said the sale had come after “extensive conversations with our shareholders about Darden and the company's strategic direction”. He said the sale would better able the company to concentrate on its 800 Olive Garden restaurants, which account for 45% of Darden’s sales.
Red Lobster, a casual dining restaurant primarily found in suburban and rural markets across America, will join a growing portfolio of restaurants owned by Golden Gate Capital. The private-equity firm also owns California Pizza Kitchen and has invested in On the Border, a casual-dining Mexican-food chain.
"Red Lobster is an exceptionally strong brand with an unparalleled market position in seafood casual dining," said Josh Olshansky, managing director at Golden Gate Capital. "Red Lobster is exactly the type of company in which we seek to invest given its great brand profile and strong management team.” He said there were “significant opportunities for future growth” at the company.
Shareholders have accused the company of trying to rush the sale and have called for a bigger breakup of the restaurant group. This week New York-based Starboard Value wrote to Darden calling for a special meeting to discuss the sale and a shareholder vote on the sale.
“Your unwillingness to date to either call the special meeting or commit to requiring shareholder approval of a Red Lobster separation increases the skepticism around your intentions for Red Lobster and raises serious doubts as to whether you are representing the best interests of your shareholders,” wrote Starboard.


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Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. Reports April 2010 Sales Up 11% Over April 2009
Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. (AMEX: TLF) reported today that sales for the month of April were $4.9 million, up 11% from $4.4 million in April 2009. Year to date sales are up 10% to $19.6 million in the current year compared to $17.8 million last year.
Retail Leathercraft’s sales rose 16% to $2.6 million compared to April 2009 sales of $2.2 million. The 74 comparable stores’ sales were up 15% for the month compared to the same period last year. The two stores opened since April 2009 added April sales of $38,000. Year-to-date sales for Retail Leathercraft are $10.2 million this year, a 16% increase over sales of $8.8 million for the same period of 2009. For the year, the 74 comparable stores’ sales were up 14% compared to sales reported for the same period in 2009.
Wholesale Leathercraft posted sales of $2.2 million for April, up 7% from April 2009 sales of $2.1 million. Within the Wholesale Leathercraft division, the wholesale stores’ sales were up 7% for the month and the National Account group’s sales were up 8% against April 2009. For the year to date, Wholesale Leathercraft sales are $8.9 million compared to $8.4 million in 2009, up 6%. As of the end of April, the wholesale stores’ sales were up 7% compared to the same period last year while the National Account group’s sales are down 4%.
International Leathercraft’s sales rose 39% to $125,000 in the current month compared to April 2009 sales of $90,000. Year-to-date sales are $506,000 this year, a 32% increase over sales of $383,000 for the same period of 2009. International Leathercraft consists of one store located in the UK.Chief Executive Officer and President, Jon Thompson, commented, “All three divisions are producing positive sales results and we are very happy with that. As we indicated last month, keeping that trend going in the last half of the year is going to get more challenging as the numbers get tougher to beat.”
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