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The National Audit Office (NAO) has called on the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) to improve its quality of service to customers.
The NAO report said CCS has failed to provide integrated or standardised services and “couldn’t demonstrate to its customers that its deals are always the best available”.
CCS was set up as a way of centralising all purchasing, eliminate duplication and act as a single entity for all central government procurement.
Earlier in 2016, it went live with the second iteration of its technology products and services framework – a “one-stop shop” for public sector organisations going out to tender for technology products. CCS is also responsible for the Digital Marketplace and G-Cloud.
Although using CCS frameworks saved organisations £521m in 2015 and 2016, the NAO said the procurement agency is not yet achieving the value for money originally envisioned.
The report said only seven out of 17 departments have so far transferred its responsibility for buying common goods and services to CCS, totaling £2.5bn spend, which is “well below the £13.4bn envisioned”.
“Although CCS customers can save money by using CCS deals, we would have expected more savings would have been delivered if CCS had been set on a sounder footing,” the report said.
“As a result, central government has not yet achieved value for money from its central buying.”
Cabinet Office criticised
The report also criticised the Cabinet Office for underestimating the difficulty of mandating and implementing joint buying across government departments and organisations. It was also slammed for not being detailed enough in its implementation strategy and for failing to track net costs and benefits.
NAO head Amyas Morse said it wasn’t surprising that CCS ran into difficulties and had to reset its plans “without a sound overarching business case or a detailed implementation plan”.
“It is particularly disappointing that the Cabinet Office has not tracked net costs and benefits. Because of this, it is not possible to show that CCS has achieved more than departments would otherwise have achieved by buying common goods and services themselves,” he said.
The report said although central buying is the right way forward and should achieve “very large savings”, it’s not clear what spending should be centralised.
“The strategic argument for joint buying, however, remains strong,” it added.
Quality improvement needed
In December 2015, CCS set out its strategy for “smart tech buying”, aiming to grow the supply chain, increase and improve buying power and “support open data expansion and open source creation”.
Part of this includes better engagement with suppliers and customers. However, one of the main criticisms in the report is that “CCS’s management of services has not supported consisteny value for money and quality”.
“For example, CCS’s services were not integrated or standardised, and CCS could not demonstrate to its customers that its deals are always the best available,” the report said.
“Some customers complain that CCS’s services can be poor quality. Although CCS has helped its customers to save money, customers have consistently reported that they are not satisfied with CCS’s performance. Customers have reported issues including poor communication, unreliable services and the way CCS has managed procurement frameworks.”
The purchasing organsiation was also criticisised for increasingly extending its frameworks, but the NAO added that CCS has “shown clear signs of improvement in governance, risk and internal control”.
One of the frameworks that have been extended is the Contingent Labour One (CL1) framework, which was due to expire in June 2016, but has been extended until June 2017.
The contract for sourcing temporary staff across government has faced controversy, particularly Lot 1, where Capita was contracted to manage sourcing the higher value, more skilled requirements.
A consortium of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) said they had lost millions of pounds in revenue as a result of the framework and accused the supplier of breaching the terms of the contract.
Some suppliers also accused CCS of attempting to undermine their relationship with government and to pursue a policy to cut them out of the supply chain in direct contravention of official Whitehall policy to increase the amount of public spending put through small businesses.
However, frameworks such as the technology products and services framework aim to make it easier for SMEs to sell to government, with more than 90% of the suppliers on the framework being SMEs.
In an interview with Computer Weekly in 2016, Kelvin Lee, CCS category director for technology products and services, said the new framework is more focused on quality than its previous iteration, with a 90-10 split on quality and price.
Read more about CCS
- More than 50% of the 68 suppliers awarded a place on the Crown Commercial Service’s £4bn technology products and services framework are SMEs.
- The Crown Commercial Service’s £4bn technology products and services framework opens up for SMEs and moves focus to quality rather than price.
- The government’s procurement agency has plenty of critics, but its technology lead insists that IT and digital purchasing is improving fast.
Read more on IT for government and public sector
CCS sets G-Cloud 12 live with more than 5,000 suppliers making the cut
G-Cloud 11 goes live with 4,200 suppliers securing a place on the framework
Crown Commercial Service to procure £360m online benefits system
Competitive threats: What the growth in new public sector cloud frameworks means for G-Cloud


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Today, it is more apparent than ever; the fact that we live in the age of technology. In particular, this has brought on changes to the advertising industry. Most notably, we can observe this in the increasing demand for digital marketing. Amongst other factors, what has prompted these cultural and economic shifts? The answer is […]
SEO provides a number of challenges for companies who are looking into building an empire online. The obstacles are worthwhile once companies have overcome them. SEO will assist business owners in developing a sustainable source of traffic for their website in the long run. Different search engines have their own distinct algorithm, and most aren’t […]
The popularity of Siri, Google Now, and Cortana are causing businesses to face the challenge of optimising their websites for voice searches. According to Google, 55% of teens and 41% of adults talk to their smartphones when asking for directions or doing other activities like watching television, exercising, or cooking. Hence, websites need to make […]
New apps seemingly pop up every second. Virtually every business category has one, from multinational firms to neighbourhood shops. Whatever need you envision, “there’s an app for that”, so goes the popular saying. If your business has yet to catch on to this trend, chances are you’re already lagging seriously behind in the digital race.
Is Your Website Mobile Friendly? Its official, Google finally launches its mobile-friendly algorithm update that they had been warning about for the last couple of months. The Google Mice update putting mobile-friendliness as a major ranking factor for mobile search results. If your website is not mobile-friendly, then you are about to lose a huge […]
Businesses that make use of Apple iOS mobile apps as part of their marketing strategies cannot afford to ignore updates to this operating system. Consequently, mobile app developers in Perth always keep an eye out for the latest developments to help clients remain competitive in a busy, dynamic market. Apple recently obtained a patent for […]
The current popularity of smartphones and tablets cannot be stressed enough, and it is mostly due to the heavy and trendy use of apps. While apps may vary in use and in function, one thing is certain about them: people love using apps for the entertainment and convenience they afford. If used correctly, apps can […]
When Penguin first rolled out in 2012, it shook the foundations of online marketing. Business websites left and right saw their rankings plunge deeper than Lake Macleod. As an English-speaking country, Australian websites were among those hit hard, making up part of the 3.1 percent of all English search queries.
In a time when more and more compact mobile phones are offering something more interactive than just text messaging, technology for mobile apps is slowly edging out web browsing—this, according to high-profile developer and programmer Tim Bray. Speaking at the Goto Conference for software developers in Denmark, Bray suggests that mobile apps are slowly but […]
Proper search engine optimisation for Perth websites starts from the ground up. Blunders in web design and marketing can lower a company’s search engine ranking, and once its website is up and running, it could take a complete overhaul of the webpages to start drawing traffic to the site once again. This is why you’ll […]

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A limited-edition of this year’s UCB Christmas pudding has been made with a coconut-based beer from Burning Soul, brewed within ‘hopping’ distance of the University. Every year, students from UCB’s bakery courses roll up their sleeves, don their pinnies and produce hundreds of delicious traditional Christmas puds made with Guinness or a similar stout to … Read more UCB Team Up with Burning Soul for Perfect Puds!
The Chair of the Jewellery Quarter Business Improvement District (JQBID) is to stand down after four years at the helm. Nicola Ridler, who has been BID Chair since 2016 is to stand down with Henrik Skouby, Director of electroplating company, E. C. Williams, replacing Nicola as successor. The Jewellery Quarter Business Improvement District, which is … Read more Jewellery Quarter BID Chair steps down after 4 years
Natural HR’s COO and Co-Founder, Sarah Dowzell fought off stiff competition at the West Midlands Tech Awards last Thursday to be crowned the 2019 West Midlands Woman in Tech. The West Midlands Tech Awards were launched in 2018 and celebrate everything the West Midlands has to offer as a burgeoning hub for technology; from FinTech … Read more Natural HR Co-Founder Wins West Midlands Woman in Tech Award 2019
The Perspex screen covering Banksy’s newest artwork is set to be auctioned at Fellows in Birmingham, with proceeds going to charity. The plastic-covered the stunning design of two reindeers pulling a bench, raising awareness for homelessness. The artwork was created in Birmingham’s historic Jewellery Quarter on Thursday 5th December. The screen was then placed over … Read more Perspex screen covering new Banksy masterpiece to be auctioned at Fellows


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PepsiCo Inc. has Jenner & Block to thank for its big win on Friday. The international soft drink maker relied on Dean Panos, a partner with Jenner in Chicago, to beat back a $1.26 billion default judgment in Wisconsin state court in a trade secrets case. The company had originally failed to appear in the case, but claimed it never received proper notice. PepsiCo argued that it deserved a chance to defend itself against allegations that it stole the idea to sell bottled water.
Jenner Partner Rescued PepsiCo From $1.26 Billion Mistake
The National Law Journal
November 10, 2009


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CNBC's Bob Pisani looks ahead at the early market action, including what helped department store earnings.
CNBC's Jim Cramer has a lot of hope for retail stores after Nordstrom, Kohl's and Macy's released their quarterly reports.
Some of the names on the move ahead of the open.
JC Penney, Nordstrom and Gap are making headlines this Friday morning before the opening bell.
Dana Telsey, Tesley Advisory Group, breaks down J.C. Penney's quarterly results and shares her outlook on the stock.
Inventories are finally under control, says Stacey Widlitz, SW Retail Advisors, providing insight to the retail sector as earnings show better-than-expected quarter results.
Check out the companies making headlines after the bell on Thursday.
Nordstrom joined the department store rally Thursday.
Earnings are out for Nordstrom. CNBC's Courtney Reagan reports the details. Liz Dunn, Talmage Advisors; Stephanie Link, TIAA Global Asset Management; "Fast Money" trader Brian Kelly; and David Katz, Matrix Asset Advisors, discuss.
The "Fast Money Halftime Report" traders and Yana Barton, Eaton Vance portfolio manager, discuss their take on the retail sector.
U.S. stock index futures indicated a higher open on Thursday as traders digested retail earnings and awaited economic data.
Earnings from Macy's and Kohl's and weekly jobless claims data roll out ahead of Wall Street's opening bell Thursday.
With no signs of a bounce back any time soon, retail earnings this week are poised to paint an ugly picture.
Michael Kors will no longer participate in department stores' friends and family sales, or accept coupons for its products there.
It's about to get a lot harder to snag a discounted handbag at your local department store.
U.S. equities close slightly lower, despite a rise in oil prices, as investors awaited key retail sales data due later this week.
With some of the biggest retailers reporting this week, "Halftime Report" expert Jim Lebenthal weighs in on what you should be watching
When department stores kick off the bulk of retail earnings season this week, you may be tempted to panic. Don't.
Jim Cramer outlined the stocks and events he will be watching next week, and has his eye on one cohort.
The S&P 500 is creeping back up to new record highs. Here's what's quietly fueling the rally.


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At its IO conference today, Google announced Android Wear 2.0, the biggest update to its wearables platform yet.
First up, any watchface will now be able to show information “from any app.” Basically, it’s Google’s take on the Apple Watch’s complications.
Google is also including two keyboards; you can use either handwriting or a full-fledged QWERTY keyboard. It also implements Smart Reply to provide contextual answers to messages without requiring you to type anything.
Finally, Google is untethering your watch from your phone with standalone apps. That means LTE-enabled watches will let you run apps without having your phone nearby – like the Samsung Gear S2 – and even regular smartwatches can connect to apps on their own if there’s a Wi-Fi connection nearby.


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Spotify partners with Sprint for new customer deal
As the streaming music business continues to heat up, Spotify is taking another step to stay ahead of the competition. The service is one of the more popular, but staying at the top is not as easy as it seems.
Now Spotify is teaming with mobile provider Sprint to bring a new deal to potential customers -- of course, you'll have to be on the mobile network in order to take advantage of this new offering. "Starting from May 2nd, all existing and new postpaid Sprint customers can get a 3 and 6 month free trial for Spotify Premium. This offer will launch in all channels on all compatible Sprint postpaid devices", says Spotify's Candice Katz.
The deal offers Sprint family plan customers (which includes one to five people) six months free -- $7.99 thereafter, or six to ten people at $4.99 after the six month free trial expires. For all other customers, there is a free three month trial, which is followed by a $9.99 per month plan. Those prices are per user.
While the deal opens online on May 2nd, customers can also take advantage of the offer in-store, but you'll have to wait until May 9th for that to kickoff.


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According to a BBB article, consumers should ask lots of questions and consider several providers before buying or planning funeral services.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is advising consumers to ask lots of questions and consider several providers before buying or planning funeral services.
Americans spend billions on funerals every year, but the funeral or burial services don’t have to be costly. A funeral can be a simple internment or an elaborate affair with music, speakers, customized caskets and refreshments for mourners. Family, religious or personal preferences are important, but cost and convenience should be considered as well.


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Shortly after the iPhone 14 event concludes in September, Apple is rumored to have plans to unveil the updated M2 iPad Pro, along with the iPad 10, in October, according to the latest info. Instead of launching a multitude of products next month that can take some of the spotlight away from other offerings, Apple is reportedly playing it smart by branching out these launches.
M2 iPad Pro Expected to Retain Older Design, Whereas the Affordable iPad 10 Will Likely Receive an Upgrade in Several Areas
On the Korean blog Naver, a prediction from the username ‘yeux1122’ claims that an October event from Apple will see the M2 iPad Pro and iPad 10 materialize. However, the individual does not state how many iPad Pro models we will see, though it is likely Apple intends on launching two versions, one sporting a 12.9-inch display while the other featuring an 11-inch panel. It is important to know that the screen sizes are expected to remain unchanged from the M1 iPad Pro series, with the only possible difference being the SoC upgrade.
As for the affordable iPad 10, the specifications mentioned in the post match those of a previous report, stating that the low-cost tablet will ship with Apple’s A14 Bionic, will have 5G support and will ditch the Lightning port in favor of USB-C. However, the ditching of the Lightning port means that users will no longer have access to the 3.5mm audio jack, so they will have to rely on accessories purchased from Apple directly or third-party sources.
Previously leaked renders also revealed that the iPad 10 would resemble the iPad Pro series with flatter edges and a quad-speaker setup paired with a rear camera bump. Whether or not Apple intends on re-purposing an iPad chassis that was released previously to save on production and design costs is still unknown, but budget-friendly consumers should brace themselves for an aesthetic makeover as far as Apple’s tablets go.
As for the M2 iPad Pro, we believe that only the 12.9-inch version will exclusively ship with mini-LED, while the smaller variant will tout LCD technology. Both slates will get Apple’s ProMotion technology, though the viewing experience on the bigger device will be vastly improved.
News Source: Naver


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Huawei is ramping up its presence in the United States, and that doesn’t just mean porting over its devices spec-for-spec. Well, in the case of the GX8, it actually does.
Updated on 02/08/2016 by Julian Chokkattu: Added news of the GX8 becoming available for purchase in the U.S.
It features the same aluminum build as the Nexus 6P, and like the G8 it has a fingerprint sensor — a feature usually seen on higher-end flagships.
Again, the specs are nothing new — the 5.5-inch display has a 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution, and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor. It has 3GB of RAM, a MicroSD card slot, and a big 3,000mAh battery, but it’s not removable. The device has a 13-megapixel rear camera, and a 5-megapixel front-facing one. The only new addition is presumably support for U.S. bands.
Unfortunately, though Android 6.0.1 has been out for about a month now, the device will ship with Android 5.1 Lollipop, and of course will be layered with Huawei’s Emotion UI 3.1.
The GX8 was only one of a number of major announcements that the company made at CES. In addition to the budget-friendly smartphone, the company also announced two new Huawei Watch models — the Jewel and the Elegant — which the company is marketing as the first smart watches designed specifically for women, as well as a new tablet, the MediaPad M2 10.
- Razr 2022: Everything we know about Motorola’s next foldable
- Oppo’s latest Apple Watch clone has an important spec under the hood
- I tried OxygenOS 13, and it’s everything I feared it would be
- I’ve used an iPhone since 2007, but the Galaxy Z Fold 4 makes me want to switch
- The iPhone 14 Pro may be more expensive than we expected


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HyperVerge Raises $1 Million In Seed Funding From American VCs
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In 2010, while he was in second year at IIT, Kedar Kulkarni, CEO and co-founder, HyperVerge, co-founded his first company, Lema Labs, which has become a leading robotics education company in South India. In IIT-Madras, he represented India at the International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC) in 2009 and 2010.
In 2014, he teamed up with four other IITians (IIT-Madras) Vignesh Krishnakumar (CTO), Kishore Natarajan (User Growth), Saivenkatesh Ashokkumar (Engineering) and Praveen Kumar (Product) to develop artificial intelligence which deals with teaching computers to mimic the behaviour of the human brain.
The Seed Funding
HyperVerge, a deep-learning startup by IIT-Madras graduates, announced that it has raised $1 million in seed funding from several US venture capital firms, including NEA, Milliways Ventures and Naya Ventures.
In 2014, HyperVerge went to US to do a Kickstarter campaign, where people made them realized the prominence of their product.
"We didn't visit US for seed funding, our intention was to do a kickstarter campaign in the US. We were hoping to raise about $50,000 through crowd-funding. We thought it will be just enough to build a basic app. Through conversations with mentors from IIT Madras Alumni community, we realised that the technology developed by the team was a lot more valuable than we earlier thought. It also became very clear that HyperVerge will need backing of strong and supportive VCs for us to be a serious contender in the space of deep-learning".
Silver, the first smartphone application developed by the company helps users automatically organise their photos, eliminate poor quality photos and duplicates, and share their best photos. Optimized self-learning algorithms produce results that are real-time and highly accurate to ensure users find the photos(s) they are looking for within just a few seconds.
Kittu Kolluri, General Partner at NEA, said, “They have strong ambitions and the potential to achieve them—the technology developed by the company can span out as useful applications for consumers, enterprises and developers. We are thrilled to partner with HyperVerge to bring innovative deep-learning solutions to users and prospective partners.”
"Working with a budget of under six lakh, we were able to create classifiers for identification of people, scenes, events and unique patterns in images", said Kedar Kulkarni, CEO and co-founder of HyperVerge. "We believe that our image recognition technology can be the foundation for several breakthrough consumer applications in the near future".


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Dry-van truckload line-haul rates could fall into negative territory in 2016, dragged down by persistent deterioration in noncontract, or spot, pricing, according to a report issued yesterday by investment firm Avondale Partners LLC and freight bill audit and payment firm Cass Information Systems Inc.
The firms said van truckload line-haul pricing for the year will come in at between minus 1 percent and 2 percent, with continuing weakness in demand and a corresponding rise in capacity keeping rates firmly in check. Yesterday's announcement represents a downward revision from last month, when the firms forecast that rates in 2016 would rise between 1 and 3 percent. They added at the time, though, that the risks to the forecast were to the downside.
In February, the truckload rate index rose 0.5 percent year-over-year, compared with a similarly modest 0.4-percent rise in January, the companies said. The gains in the index are due to a firming in contract pricing based on negotiations during the same time frame in 2015. Contract pricing applies to more than 95 percent of the freight hauled by publicly traded truckload carriers. By contrast, spot rates, which account for about 25 to 35 percent of the vast truckload market, including public and private carriers, has declined decisively into negative territory, the firms said. The dilemma for carriers—and conversely an opportunity for shippers and third-party logistics providers—is that contract pricing tends to follow spot-market trends with a few months' lag.
The pricing weakness is even more acute in intermodal, where demand for rail services have declined as low diesel prices continue to drive freight back to the highway. The intermodal index prepared by the two firms fell in February by 3.8 percent year-over-year, marking the 14th consecutive month of year-over-year declines. Intermodal rates will continue declining through 2016 as low diesel prices take its toll on domestic demand, the firms forecast.
According to Avondale analysts, any gains in domestic container traffic, which accounts for the vast majority of U.S. intermodal business, will depend on whether demand in the longer lengths of haul in the western U.S. can offset declines in the more densely populated eastern half of the country, where stage lengths are shorter and where trucking services are more cost-competitive with intermodal.
Spot truckload rates have been weak for more than a year. With demand flattish and a plunge in diesel-fuel prices propping up capacity by keeping marginal carriers in business, there has been relatively scant appetite on shippers' part for spot-market services. In addition, truck users may be looking to capitalize on attractive contract rates to lock in prices ahead of what many observers believe will be a capacity contraction in 2017 and 2018 due to the cumulative impact of government regulations. However, soothsayers have been predicting a sharp capacity shortage for years, only to miss the mark virtually every time.
Ben Cubitt, senior vice president, engineering and strategic carrier management for Dallas-based 3PL Transplace, which works extensively with truckload carriers, said in an e-mail today that capacity is "amazingly loose" and that rates remain "very, very soft." But in a contrary view, Mark Montague, industry rate analyst for DAT Solutions, a Portland, Ore.-based spot-market load-board operator, said that van and flatbed rates have recently stabilized after a long period of weak demand. DAT's load-to-truck ratios, which measure the number of dry van loads per available truck, are showing signs of recovery, a trend which usually points to higher spot rates in the near future, Montague added.
"It may be premature to forecast negative rates increases for contract rates in 2016," Montague said in an e-mail. "A lot depends on how the next three months shape up."


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BENTONVILLE, Ark.–(Organization WIRE)–Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) currently declared its government group will host a virtual conference with the Financial investment Group on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. The meeting will start at 7 a.m. CST and Walmart’s executive administration group will examine the company’s fourth quarter money results for fiscal 12 months 2021 and deliver an update on its strategic priorities. Government presentations will be adopted by a concern and solution session.
The movie party will be webcast stay and accessible on the company’s corporate web-site by logging on to https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/economic-gatherings and picking out the 2021 Financial commitment Community Meeting occasion. A replay and transcript of the webcast will also be archived and out there starting at approximately 4 p.m. CST on Feb. 18.
At approximately 6 a.m. CST on Feb. 18, the firm will launch its fourth quarter and entire-calendar year fiscal 2021 monetary benefits and linked elements.
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) will help men and women all over the globe preserve income and stay much better – anytime and anywhere – in retail shops, online, and via their mobile units. Every single 7 days, above 265 million clients and associates visit somewhere around 11,400 suppliers below 55 banners in 26 international locations and eCommerce internet websites. With fiscal year 2020 revenue of $524 billion, Walmart employs around 2.2 million associates all over the world. Walmart carries on to be a leader in sustainability, company philanthropy and work possibility. Supplemental information about Walmart can be uncovered by going to http://corporate.walmart.com, on Fb at http://fb.com/walmart and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmart.


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Today's durable goods report tells investors at large what we've warned you for months: There is no soft landing, so put on your crash helmets!
The huge drop in new durable-goods orders last month will further cripple company earnings.. Weak earnings have already hobbled most industries, especially the tech sector, and this just adds to the pain.
The decrease in new orders and shipments means that fewer businesses are investing in equipment or developing new products. Even Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan is concerned that less spending on new equipment will further delay any economic recovery.
So far this year orders are down 11.6%, and the 2% drop in June was twice what was expected. The fact that business spending fell this dramatically in one month clearly shows that the economy is not rebounding. And with consumer spending falling in tandem, we don't expect a turnaround for some time to come.


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Go to any major sporting or entertainment event and one of the first people you will encounter is an entrepreneur seeking to mine profit from the secondary market for tickets — a scalper asking if you have extra tickets or want to buy one.
At that level the practice mostly is harmless or even beneficial to consumers — providing them with a ticket they otherwise might not be able to get, at a price they are willing to pay.
Technology, however, changes the equation. Due to the ability of scalpers to use the internet to buy huge numbers of tickets as they are issued, the secondary market for many events has eclipsed the primary market.
Secondary market price explosion
For example, The New York Times recently studied ticket sales for the Broadway hit, “Hamilton,” as several of its top stars announced that they would leave the show. The average face value of a “Hamilton” ticket was $189 at the time of lead actor Lin-Manuel Miranda’s announced departure; the average price on the secondary market was $850. When Miranda announced his departure, the price of a ticket on the secondary market soared as high as $10,900. That, in turn, perverted the primary market. Producers raised prices to try to recapture some of the profit from scalpers.
“Hamilton” producers have worked to prevent mass purchases by scalpers, but many of them responded by operating multiple ticket-purchasing “bots” that bought a few tickets through each of hundreds of servers.
New York lawmakers are considering ways to deter the practice, but reform should be universal. Congress should outlaw ticket “bots,” require secondary sellers to report sales just as primary sellers do, and establish penalties for, in effect, stealing many Americans’ fair-market access to sports and entertainment.


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In a first for the 101-year-old grocer, Wegmans said it will open a two-level store, at Natick Mall, Natick, Mass., with direct access to the shopping center.
For all the clamor and controversy over being “cruelty-free,” little attention is paid to the animal derivatives used in the products themselves. There is a small but growing band of thought leaders — brands, bloggers and activists — who are determined to raise awareness and create a market for those who want to lessen the environmental impact of animal agriculture by offering vegan beauty products.
According to Mintel’s new report, “2017: Back to Basics,” the industry is starting to see a backlash to heavy Instagram-style makeup. Sixty-nine percent of women spend 20 minutes or less on makeup each day, and consumers are looking for achievable beauty. Enter non-touring.
Cosmoprof North America delivered a robust beauty trade fair featuring resources for every aspect of business, from packaging and filling to finished product. Read about the top five products and companies Drug Store News saw at the show.
Drug Store News talks to Foundation Consumer Healthcare’s chief marketing officer Steve Howards about how the company is bringing both venerable OTC products and new opportunities to market.
One OTC category expected to emerge in the coming year is hearing aids, which, when paired with in-store hearing aid service centers, will become a powerful solution set.
One of the category opportunities that Drug Store News has seen emerge in the past year is fertility, with products that support the health and wellness of mom — before and during her pregnancy.
No longer a dormant category, sales of sleep aids continue to climb at a rate of 3.9% for the 52 weeks ended June 11 across total U.S. multi-outlets, according to IRI.


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Huawei confirmed that the HarmonyOS NEXT is ready to release and HarmonyOS native applications will be launched in full force with this new software. Yu Chengdong, the CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group said during the recent flagship product launch conference that a new chapter of mobile applications is about to begin.
He emphasized that the company has trained millions of HarmonyOS talents. The tech maker also laid a plan to invest billions of dollars to support the developer community, build a developer developer-friendly environment, and get new partners.
The company has aimed to launch apps in over 18 categories. To conclude, Yu Chengdong mentioned that these native HarmonoyOS applications will be smoother, smarter, and safer for the future generation of HarmonyOS.
At the Huawei Developer Conference 2023, Huawei announced: “HarmonyOS NEXT”. It is a pure version of the HarmonyOS operating system without Android libraries. Once developed, the current version of HarmonyOS will be replaced by this pure HarmonyOS NEXT experience.
Since its release in 2019, HarmonyOS featured open-source Android project libraries to support its app ecosystem. It means that Android apps could work on the HarmonyOS. The company took this step due to the initially weak native HarmonyOS app ecosystem.
After its unveiling in 2020 for smartphones, Huawei aggressively promoted HarmonyOS in China. And most of the Chinese developer community has become aware of this operating system.
Huawei made the HarmonyOS code open source, which expanded the HarmonyOS beyond the domain of Huawei itself. This action allowed HarmonyOS to reach many industry players to participate in ecosystem development.
Over the past four years, Huawei developed a strong HarmonyOS ecosystem with top developers and an open-source community in China. Now, cutting ties with Android support won’t be a big challenge for HarmonyOS NEXT and to deliver a full native HarmonyOS app experience.
Huawei announced at HDC 2023 that the HarmonyOS NEXT will start official developer beta activity in early 2024. This will be followed by a closed and public beta test ahead of the full release in public. However, Huawei has not shared any upgrade plans at the moment.


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Baird downgrades Nortel (NT) to Neutral and $2 target from $3. The downgrad is based on a more challenging outlook for the company's North American CDMA wireless business.
SanDisk (SNDK) agreed to buy Msystems (FLSH), another supplier of data-storage technology. The deal is the latest sign of consolidation among companies associated with flash memory, a chip technology that is popular for storing data in digital cameras, phones and music players. The deal is negative at the margin for SNDK/FLSH’s competitors in the flash market, including Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Micron (NASDAQ:MU), Samsung, Spansion (SPSN), and Hynix, as they will face a stronger competitor. Benefits to SNDK: 1) makes undisputed leader in fast-growing handset market; 2) gives access to FLSH’s x4 tech; 3) increased scale in USB drive business; 4) cost benefits; 5) exposure to solid state drive business for PCs.
CIBC upgraded SanDisk to Sector Outperformer with a $60 target following the above-mentioned acquisition proposal. The firm believe this merger is a perfect complement.
First Analysis downgrades Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) to Equal Weight from Overweight based on valuation.
BWS Financial upgrades Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS) to Buy and raises their target to $22 based on an attractive entry point to their target. The firm says they continue to estimate the total damages to RMBS to be approximately $750 million to $1.25 billion. Other memory manufactures might look at their options in settling with RMBS since all ten patents in the Hynix trial were ruled valid.
Soleil says that despite weak 2nd quarter results for the P.N.D. group, they are expecting a strong 2nd quarter from Garmin (NASDAQ:GRMN). The firm attributes the disappointing results so far from the P.N.D. group to company specific issues that shouldn't impact GRMN and in fact, they believe the key datapoint from these reports is that key customer NAVTEQ (NVT) reported 40% sequential growth in 2nd quarter P.N.D. unit volume.
LA Times reports at one time limited to pilots, boaters and the military, G.P.S. units have become more commonplace as prices have come down and user-friendliness has gone up. Research firm Strategy Analytics estimates that the number of G.P.S. devices sold worldwide — including personal navigation units and applications built into cellphones and hand-held computers — will grow from 18 million last year to 88 illioln in 2010. Garmin owns the U.S. title for personal navigation devices not built into dashboards, with more than 50% of the mkt. Sony (NYSE:SNE) introduced its first G.P.S. device this spring and Royal Philips Electronics has said it plans to get into the navigation game this year. After-market auto parts manufacturers like Pioneer Electronics, Kenwood and JVC Americas have followed suit. The company plans to defend its position by continuing to roll out scores of new products — an expected 66 stand-alone models this year, compared with 55 last year, expanding the number and types of features. But it's the driving segment that has really taken off for the company, pushing sales past $1 bln last year for the first time. CFO Kevin Rauckman said all of the compnay's market segments will see double-digit rev increases this year, but driving-related units now make up half of sales.


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Press Release No. : 14/2017
Date : 28 June 2017
Following its monthly meeting on 28 June, the Reserve Bank of Fiji Board agreed to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate at 0.5 percent.
In conveying the decision, the Acting Governor and Chairman of the Board, Mr Ariff Ali stated that, “the dual monetary policy objectives remain intact with no risk in the immediate term.”
On price stability, the annual inflation rate fell to 2.5 percent in May 2017, the lowest rate since March 2016. The lower inflation outturn was underpinned by declines in the food & non-alcoholic beverages category and also reflected the fall in prices for fresh fruit and vegetables from the high levels prevalent immediately after TC Winston. Barring any major changes in the National Budget, the year-end inflation forecast for 2017 remains at 3.0 percent.
With regards to external stability, as at 28 June, foreign reserves stood at $2,279.7 million (sufficient to cover 5.7 months of retained imports of goods and non-factor services) and are expected to remain comfortable until the end of the year.
Against this background, Mr Ali stated that, “the Fijian economy is on target to achieve a broad- based growth forecast of 3.8 percent this year, on account of higher aggregate demand coupled with strong performances so far in the tourism and electricity sectors as well as anticipated increases in manufacturing, construction and cane and sugar output. In addition, business confidence remains strong as indicated by the acceleration in private sector credit which rose by 14.1 percent in the year to May 2017.”
While risks to the world economy remains, recent assessment confirms firm global growth and positive performances expected for most of Fiji’s trading partner economies in 2017. Consumer and business confidence remain strong, contributing to the pick-up in global trade so far this year.
The Acting Governor concluded that the Reserve Bank will continue to closely monitor international and domestic developments, in particular the impact of the 2017/2018 National Budget which will be announced on 29 June, and align monetary policy accordingly.


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Customers will also be able to order from their favourite Loblaw Companies retail stores for delivery from the DoorDash Marketplace app
TORONTO, ON–DoorDash, Inc. and Loblaw Companies Limited announced a collaboration that will bring a new and innovative grocery delivery service to customers in Canada. Starting this August, PC Express™ Rapid Delivery will make grocery and convenience items available to customers in an expected1 express delivery time of 30-minutes-or-less.
“Customers have come to expect the very best online grocery shopping experience from us, whether they choose curb-side pickup or delivery to their door,” said Lauren Steinberg, SVP Loblaw Digital. “Collaborating with DoorDash on rapid delivery services enables us to enhance our already existing PC Express™ offering by adding 30-minutes-or-less delivery to meet customers’ growing interest in on-demand delivery options.”
Kicking off in major cities across the country, including Vancouver, the Greater Toronto Area, Calgary and Kitchener, the express rapid delivery offering will include grocery and convenience items supplied by Loblaw.
“Our goal is to bring convenience to customers in Canada, with the selection and speed they want,” said Shilpa Arora, General Manager, DoorDash Canada. “Through this collaboration with Loblaw, we are addressing consumers’ need to “get it now,” in addition to our existing Marketplace and Drive channels and furthering the value we bring to consumers and partners alike.”
Customers can shop for grocery and convenience items to be delivered through express rapid delivery by visiting the DoorDash Marketplace app and selecting “PC Express™” Rapid Delivery, or via PCExpress.ca.
Additionally, starting in July, customers will be able to order on the DoorDash Marketplace app from their favourite Loblaw Companies retail stores, including Loblaws®, Real Canadian Superstore®, Atlantic Superstore®, Provigo®, Maxi®, Shoppers Drug Mart® & Pharmaprix®.
DoorDash will also power same-day delivery for grocery and convenience items from all Loblaw banner stores on Loblaw’s own pcexpress.ca through DoorDash Drive, DoorDash’s fulfilment platform that powers direct delivery to customers for any business.
Rapid Retail Canada, Inc., a DoorDash subsidiary, will be the retailer operating under the PC Express™ Rapid Delivery brand.
DoorDash is a technology company that connects consumers with their favourite businesses in 27 countries across the globe. Founded in 2013, DoorDash enables local businesses to address consumers’ expectations of ease and immediacy and thrive in today’s convenience economy. By building the logistics infrastructure for local commerce, DoorDash is bringing communities closer, one doorstep at a time.


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By David Cohen
Facebook’s acquisition of immersive virtual reality technology company Oculus VR officially closed earlier this week, and Co-Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg took some time during the social network’s second-quarter earnings call Wednesday to discuss how the combination of the two companies could impact the future of computing.
Responding to a question from Colin Sebastian Analyst Robert Baird, Zuckerberg said:
I can talk about Oculus. So we’re really excited about this the acquisition that just closed earlier this week and we’re really excited to welcome that team. They’re extremely talented, and they’ve pulled off something that people have been talking about for a really long time, and now it’s possible, given the technology that this team has developed. And this hits on a different part of our strategy, which — the way that I organize my remarks every quarter are around these 10-year goals and themes that we have for the company, connecting everyone, understanding the world, helping to build the knowledge economy and these future platforms. So when I’m talking about how I think things like the businesses that we’re talking about are further out than you think, I think that this stuff is actually even further out than that.
Read the whole story here.


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We’re celebrating a milestone this week with 500 RTX video games and purposes using NVIDIA DLSS, ray tracing or AI applied sciences. It’s an achievement anchored by NVIDIA’s revolutionary RTX know-how, which has remodeled gaming graphics and efficiency.
The journey started in 2018 at an electrifying occasion in Cologne. In a metal and concrete music venue amidst town’s gritty industrial north aspect, over 1,200 avid gamers, breathless and giddy, erupted as NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang launched NVIDIA RTX and declared, “It is a historic second … Pc graphics has been reinvented.”
This groundbreaking launch, set in opposition to the backdrop of the world’s largest gaming expo, Gamescom, marked the introduction of the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, 2080 and 2070 GPUs.
Essentially the most technically superior video games now depend on the methods that RTX applied sciences have unlocked.
Ray tracing, enabled by devoted RT Cores, delivers immersive, lifelike lighting and reflections in video games.
The approach has developed from video games with solely a single graphics factor executed in ray tracing to video games corresponding to Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Minecraft RTX and Portal RTX that use ray tracing for all the sunshine within the recreation.
And NVIDIA DLSS, powered by Tensor Cores, accelerates AI graphics, now boosting efficiency with DLSS Body Technology and bettering RT results with DLSS Ray Reconstruction in titles like Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.
Past gaming, these applied sciences revolutionize inventive workflows, enabling real-time, ray-traced previews in purposes that after required intensive processing time.
Ray tracing, a way first described in 1969 by Arthur Appel, mirrors how mild interacts with objects to create lifelike photos.
Ray tracing was as soon as restricted to high-end film manufacturing. NVIDIA’s RTX graphics playing cards have made this cinematic high quality accessible in real-time gaming, enhancing experiences with dynamic lighting, reflections and shadows.
Excessive engagement charges in titles like Cyberpunk 2077, NARAKA: BLADEPOINT, Minecraft with RTX, Alan Wake 2 and Diablo IV, the place 96% or increased of RTX 40 Sequence t avid gamers use RTX ON, underscore this success.
To commemorate this milestone, 20 $500 Inexperienced Man Gaming reward playing cards and unique #RTXON keyboard keycaps are up for grabs. Contributors should observe GeForce’s social channels and adjust to the sweepstakes guidelines.
Keep tuned for extra RTX 500 giveaways.
NVIDIA’s development from the primary RTX graphics card to powering 500 RTX video games and purposes with superior applied sciences heralds a brand new gaming and inventive tech period. And NVIDIA continues to guide, providing unparalleled experiences in gaming and creativity.
Keep tuned to GeForce Information for extra updates on RTX video games and enhancements.


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A jet liner with a Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba design will take to the skies at the tail end of January 2022. Tanjirо̄, Nezuko, Zenitsu, and Inosuke will adorn the sides of the plane, called the “Kimetsu no Yaiba Jet One” (written exclusively in Japanese with kanji and hiragana characters as a nod to the anime’s historical setting). Its flight route has not yet been determined.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) announced the collaboration and opened its promotional website on Friday. To commemorate the announcement, ANA will offer Demon Slayer items for domestic in-flight service starting from December 1. Customers will be able to purchase exclusive Demon Slayer paper cups for regular passengers and menko cards for children. The TV anime and its accompanying soundtrack will also be available as part of the in-flight service’s video and audio programming.
This is not the first time ANA has taken anime to the skies. In 2010, the Gundam franchise celebrated its 30th anniversary by launching a Boeing 777-300 jumbo jet. The airline also collaborated with the Evangelion series in 2012.
#Demon #Slayer #Kimetsu #Yaiba #Jet #Liner #Takes #Skies #January


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Samsung GamePad Bluetooth controller finally launches; better late than never?
Mobile gaming – or more specifically, hardware made with mobile gaming in mind – has been an exceptionally tough nut for the industry to crack. Devices like the Sony Xperia Play or even the new NVIDIA Shield have failed to catch on in any appreciable way, and add-on gaming accessories continue to remain a very niche product. A big OEM just might have the muscle to do something about the latter one there, and we’ve been hoping to see Samsung take a stab at the market ever since it introduced its Bluetooth GamePad accessory when announcing the Galaxy S 4. You might remember the controller from when we used images on Samsung’s site to speculate about the size of the then-still-unannounced Note 3, but even months and months later, the GamePad still wasn’t available for sale. Samsung sure took its sweet time in doing so, but the GamePad is finally hitting retail, as we get news of its European launch.
Samsung’s GamePad works with phones with screen sizes from 4 to 6.3 inches, connecting over Bluetooth 3.0. Of course, Samsung just had to optimize things for its own devices, and recent Galaxy models will be able to quickly pair with the GamePad over NFC and support a “play” button for speedy game launches. The controller gives users two analog thumbsticks, two shoulder triggers, four face buttons, and an 8-way d-pad (though the design has changed since the last look we had, dropping the cross).
Beyond Europe, Samsung says that the GamePad is coming to “additional regions in the coming weeks;” we’re still waiting for info on pricing.


text: The show has been a tentpole for Netflix since its late October debut, Satanist lawsuits notwithstanding. On top of the splashy premiere, Netflix lined up a holiday episode and, as you can see, a short wait for more episodes. It’s not completely surprising. The show had a good head start thanks to Riverdale‘s success, and has generally been well-received since its premiere. Netflix no doubt wants to capitalize on that early success and keep viewers engaged while Sabrina is still fresh in their minds.


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Published on October 1st, 2007 | by Daniel David
Wii won't meet holiday demands
Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America has confirmed that the company still won’t be able to meet demands for the Wii this year. This is what Reggie had to say:
â€œWe’re working very hard to make sure that consumers are satisfied this holiday, but I can’t guarantee that we’re going to meet demand. As a matter of fact, I can tell you on the record we won’t.
What I can tell you is that typically, our inventory is lasting a dayâ€¦ The issue is not a lack of production. The issue is we went in with a curve that was aggressive, but the demand has been substantially more than that. And the ability to ramp up production and to sustain it is not a switch that you flick on.
The only other pragmatic advice is that we’re aware of the situation, and we’re working very hard to address it. Believe me, I’m constantly pushing for more capacity and more volume.”
I find this kind of hard to believe because while the Wii is still highly sought after it has been decreasing in sales each week. Whether Nintendo is doing this on purpose or not this is only going to hurt them this holiday season. There are too many games coming out and if I was looking for a Wii I wouldn’t look hard because the 360 and PS3 can more then easily fill that gap.
For their sake I hope they figure out a way to ramp up productions but my holiday schedule for games is already full. I was looking to make an attempt to get the Wii for Mario and Smash Bros but with this news, I’ll save that money and use it elsewhere.
Source: Next Generation


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from the Volvo-durch-iPhone dept.
The press release speaks of the advantages (in sales-speak) of integrating a large portrait-oriented touch screen with an advanced voice control system like Siri.
This comes at a time, where Switzerland is contemplating of moving against large built-in screens in cars, as they are distracting for the driver http://readzer.com/."
In February, Volvo had announced that in 2017 it would test 100 autonomous cars on certain roads in Gothenburg, Sweden.
At this week's Los Angeles Auto Show, Volvo showed its prototype of what the interior of an autonomous car might look like. It features a folding tray table built into the driver's door, a 25-inch video display in the glove compartment, and a tablet-like screen in the center console.
The Chinese-owned automaker demonstrated three different configurations of the interior: "Drive," in which a person drives the car; "Create," in which the occupants occupy themselves with reading or using a laptop computer; and "Relax," in which the driver's-side seat reclines and the occupants look at videos on the 25-inch screen.
Björn Annwall, a senior vice president at the company, said that its planned autonomous cars would be developed together with Microsoft, and that the two companies are "exploring a number of different collaborations."
[Additional Coverage After the Break]


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sennder raises $160m to accelerate digitalization of European trucking and drive expansion
You can read this article in 2 minutes
German digital freight forwarder sennder has raised $160m in Series D financing. The round was led by an unnamed party, but round participants included Accel, Lakestar, HV Capital, Project A and Scania, reports Techcrunch. With this injection, sennder has raised more than $260m so far.
Through its digital technology, sennder directly connects enterprise shippers with trucking companies, providing transparency and efficiency to both carriers and shippers.
The European logistics and freight sector has a market size of $427bn. sennder plans to capitalize on this opportunity by investing $100m of its Series D financing into growing and developing its innovative technology. The investment will expand the 200-person technology team and accelerate research and development into the automation, digitalization, optimization and decarbonization of road freight, comments the company on the news.
Additional funding will be channeled towards driving expansion into new European markets. sennder will focus on replicating the success it has had with Poste Italiane where, through the Italian joint venture, sennder has helped the business save 6% of its €100m annual spending. sennder is also enjoying successful working partnerships with Scania and Siemens.
Supplying transport services to over 10 organizations listed in the German DAX 30, and 11 companies comprising the Euro Stoxx 50, sennder is well-positioned to connect small and mid-sized trucking companies with established shippers – providing them with access to loads.
Photo credit @ sennder


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NEW DELHI: Indian commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland
has sold a total of 12,057 CVs for the month of September 2016 as against 14,783 units during September 2015, thereby registering a de-growth of 18 percent.
Its Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicles (M&HCVs) sold 8,963 units last month and witnessed 26 percent year-on-year decrease. The company's Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) sales grew by 17 percent and stood at 3,094 units. During September 2015, Ashok Leyland sold 2,637 LCVs
The company is expecting to achieve 25 percent sales growth in tractors in 2016. Last year, the company had a market share of 23.8 percent, out of the total 41,000 tractors sold in India.
The company's year-to-date (April-September, 2016) total sales stood at 64,611 units, 924 units less than same period last year. It thus witnessed negative growth of 1 percent.
Ashok Leyland's M&HCV sales de-grew by 4 percent, while LCV sales grew by 7 percent during April-August, 2016, respectively. While 49,373 M&HCVs were sold, LCV sales stood at 15,238 units.


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HITB GSEC Singapore (August 21st - 25th)
Register Online Now!
AMD shakes up x86 CPU world with two new designs
Companies rarely make big news at financial analyst day events, but AMD bucked that trend Wednesday by unveiling details of its newly revamped roadmap, its two brand-new processor architectures, and its plans for CPU/GPU integration. (AMD and Intel also made some other news together). Rather than attempt a comprehensive overview of what was announced, I'll walk you through the two new processor architectures, leaving the CPU/GPU "Fusion" revelations and roadmap specifics for a second article.


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Crowley: Commercial Cargoes to Puerto Rico Picking Up
united state delivery business Crowley Maritime stated today that by the end of the week it will certainly have unloaded greater than 9,500 tons of business and also federal government alleviation freight in Puerto Rico given that Hurricane Maria ruined the island in late September.
As component of its continuous feedback to the tornado, Crowley has actually included 6 U.S.-flagged flat-deck barges to its fleet offering the Jones Act profession in between Jacksonville, Florida and alsoSan Juan With the added vessel capability, Crowley will certainly be supplying 6,200 business freight ports each month in November and also December, a boost of 40 percent contrasted to typical.
Crowley stated in an upgrade on Wednesday that FEMA alleviation deliveries to the island stay solid, while business freight deliveries are likewise boosting to even more typical degrees.
“Given all that the island needs, we view all cargo – government and commercial – as vital to our recovery,” stated Jose “Pache” Ayala, vice head of state, Puerto Rico solutions. “We are encouraged to see commercial customers slowly beginning to get back up and running.”
Crowley has a cruising on a daily basis today from the united state landmass toSan Juan More than 900 business tons were placed on vessels in the last 72 hrs, consisting of greater than 100 chilled containers, and also all remain in transportation to the island, according to the business.
As among the major Jones Act delivery firms offering the united state landmass to Puerto Rico profession, Crowley remains to function very closely with FEMA on behalf of its objective. So much the business has actually handled transport and also logistics of virtually 2,600 FEMA tons, with reservations to transfer an additional 1,700 tons to Puerto Rico in the following numerous weeks– a considerable initiative extending greater than 40 vessel cruisings.
In Wednesday’s upgrade, Crowley kept in mind that its Isla Grande Terminal in San Juan remains to experience uncommonly high quantities of freight on the incurable, though the price of tons being sent off is going back to near the typical price of 500 each day.
“The increased terminal throughput has reduced the significant backlog resulting from on-island disruptions due to the hurricane, but additional volumes of commercial and relief cargo reaching Puerto Rico still leave unusually high loads awaiting dispatch,” the upgrade stated.
Upon getting to Puerto Rico, alleviation freight is being dispersed partly by Crowley Logistics, which has greater than 375 vehicles on the island. By Thursday, Crowley stated it will certainly have finished greater than 1,200 distribution goals for FEMA with its on-island supply chain solutions. The business is sustaining FEMA with local circulation in Ceiba, Aguadilla, and also the Luis Mu ñoz Mar ín International Airport in San Juan.
By completion of recently, Tote Maritime, which likewise runs the Jones Act Puerto Rico profession, stated it will certainly have actually provided greater than 5,200 containers of products to the island given that Hurricane Maria struck. As of October 11 TOTE’s incurable in San Juan got to 87 percent efficiency, with greater than 330 tons of alleviation and also business products leaving the terminal.
Pasha Hawaii and also Seacor Join Relief Efforts
On Tuesday, Honolulu- based Pasha Hawaii introduced that it will certainly be offering the Jones Act- certified vessel Horizon Spirit to deliver thousands of containers from the West Coast on behalf of cyclone alleviation and also reconstructing initiatives inPuerto Rico The Horizon Spirit works as a drydock book ship in Pasha Hawaii’s container solution in between the landmass and also Hawaii.
Pasha stated it has actually partnered with country’s biggest governmental mineral water vendor to bring about 800 containers loaded with over 15 million containers of water to the island. The Horizon Spirit will certainly pack the mineral water at the Port of Los Angeles and also pass through the Panama Canal en path to Puerto Rico; the vessel will certainly be offered in the Puerto Rico solution afterwards.
Florida- base SEACOR Holdings (NYSE: CKH) introduced today that 3 of its entities have actually been granted agreements to assist speed up Puerto Rico’s healing.
“Our shipping group’s SEA-CHEM 1 vessel has been on station in San Juan for 15 days delivering diesel oil directly into trucks which ferry the fuel to critical care facilities, such as hospitals and dialysis centers,” stated Eric Fabrikant, Chief Operating Officer.
Seacor’s CLEANCOR joint endeavor is likewise in the procedure of setting up 21 tank-trailers which lug alcohol consumption water, according to the business. “They are being loaded on vessels bound for Puerto Rico tomorrow. These units carry 120,000 gallons of potable water, which will service local communities. We were able to place these containers on our Trailer Bridge affiliate’s regular weekly sailing to ensure prompt delivery,” stated Fabrikant.
Seacor will certainly likewise offering the touchdown craft, Bahamas Express, in assistance the Virgin Islands healing initiative, providing generators and also materials in difficult to gain access to areas on the islands.


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Galway, Ireland – September 26, 2018 – Wayfair Inc. (NYSE: W), one of the world’s largest online destinations for the home, marked the 10th anniversary of its multi-lingual European Operations Centre in Galway, Ireland with the announcement of plans to expand its workforce across the country. Through the launch of a virtual workforce to include more than 200 new jobs, Wayfair is reinforcing its longstanding commitment to the region. The company plans to add both virtual and office-based roles in Ireland as it scales its team to keep pace with the rapid growth of its e-commerce business in Europe.
“Wayfair’s success is deeply rooted in our commitment to creating an exceptional experience for our customers,” said Liz Graham, vice president of sales and service, Wayfair. “Over the past ten years, as we expanded our Galway workforce from a few employees to more than 400 today, the team has continuously delivered exceptional support for our customers in Europe. There is no doubt that the excellence of our Galway team has been a key driver in our tremendous business growth across the region. We are now delighted to further expand the team with the launch of a virtual workforce in Ireland that will enable us to tap into an even broader talent pool and provide new employment opportunities to a wider range of highly qualified candidates.”
With the launch of its new virtual workforce in Ireland, Wayfair is committed to creating a best-in-class virtual employee experience. To do so, the company has instituted a dedicated virtual leadership team and developed trainings and career development programs to ensure employees are equipped with tools to succeed. Focused on attracting and retaining top talent, the virtual program provides employee flexibility while also allowing the company to expand its talent pool and optimize staffing. These growth efforts are greatly supported by the Irish government through IDA Ireland.
“The expansion by Wayfair in Galway reflects the wealth of skills, including language and ICT, in the West of Ireland,” said Sean Kyne, Minister of State. “That companies like Wayfair have chosen Galway as a hub for their European operations is a boost not only for Galway but for the West and the Atlantic Economic Corridor. The launch too of a virtual workforce at Wayfair will ensure the benefits will be felt across the country with team members working in their communities. I wish the Wayfair team continued success in Ireland and globally.”
“I am delighted that Wayfair is expanding its operations in Galway, and adding an additional 200 jobs across Ireland,” said Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland. “As a global leader in e-commerce, Wayfair’s customer-centric culture has created a compelling business environment which continues to attract top talent. Our ability to support the expansion of major companies like Wayfair illustrates how regions can provide businesses with the relevant expertise required for such operations.”
Wayfair’s international sales and service organization was recently recognized for customer service excellence, earning the Silver Stevie® Award for Customer Service Department of the Year.
Wayfair offers full-time positions with a wide range of benefits including equity, bonuses, tuition reimbursement, medical insurance, tax saver commuter benefits and discounts on employee purchases. The Ireland team includes roles in customer service, inbound sales, finance, supplier operations, business analysts, recruitment and training. For more information on hiring and career opportunities in Galway, visit www.wayfair.co.uk/careers.
With more than 9,700 full time employees globally, Wayfair currently operates customer service centers in Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Utah, Texas, Germany and Ireland.
Wayfair believes everyone should live in a home they love. Through technology and innovation, Wayfair makes it possible for shoppers to quickly and easily find exactly what they want from a selection of more than 10 million items across home furnishings, décor, home improvement, housewares and more. Committed to delighting its customers every step of the way, Wayfair is reinventing the way people shop for their homes - from product discovery to final delivery.
The Wayfair family of sites includes:
• Wayfair - Everything home for every budget
• Joss & Main - Affordable discoveries for gorgeous living
• AllModern - Unbelievable prices on everything modern
• Birch Lane - Home of classic designs and fresh finds
• Perigold - The widest-ever selection of premium home
Wayfair generated $5.7 billion in net revenue for the twelve months ended June 30, 2018. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts with operations throughout North America and Europe, the company employs more than 9,700 people.
Wayfair Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary of European Operation Centre in Galway, Ireland, Announces Plans to Add 200+ Jobs in Ireland with Launch of New Virtual Workforce https://t.co/8eqzaxlUSX #ireland #wayfairatwork pic.twitter.com/lt6SQIkG4M— WayfairAtWork (@wayfairatwork) September 26, 2018


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( Trinidad Guardian)..Two business chambers say the Government’s plan to involve the private sector in the proposed intra-regional ferry service could result in a sustainable operation that will benefit several industries across T&T.
At a media conference at the Piarco International Airport on his return from Guyana on Wednesday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said there are plans to involve the private sector in the ferry service“in a big way”and the Government’s role is to create an enabling environment.
Responding to the news, Couva/Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce (CPLCC) president Mukesh Ramsingh said the entire business community would welcome the move as it would increase trade between the countries.
“I believe the private sector would be able to run it and manage it properly as a proper business and based on what we see taking place in Trinidad right now, we need more private influence in State-owned companies,” he said.
Ramsingh added that the State should move away from certain companies and let the private sector take over. He suggested privatising electricity and water distribution and pointed out that private internet and cable providers sometimes provide better service than State-owned companies. He said Petrotrin should have been privatised instead of closed down.
“Those are just examples whereby you do not want a State-owned company constantly being a burden on the State, and the State has to keep using taxpayers’ money to keep a particular company alive when that money could go to better use,” he said.
Ramsingh said CPLCC would like to see the fair acquisition of licences for the ferry service so that certain companies do not get preferential treatment. He also advised that it would be in the best interest of the business community to operate the ferry service and prevent State influence that could make it susceptible to corruption.
He said it that might cost more to customers as the government might not subsidise it but as an incentive, the Government could give a tax break and ease the bureaucracy to whoever gets involved so they can build the service to a sustainable level.
“I think there may be companies that can do it. Sometimes in business, you need to start small and get bigger, but I believe there are people in the business world that can do it for Trinidad and possibly Guyana.”
Greater San Fernando Area Chamber (GSFCC) of Commerce president Kiran Singh said private sector involvement would ensure an efficient service and with the San Fernando Waterfront Redevelopment poised to become a première attraction, the ferry service could increase the number of tourists visiting the city, boosting the tourism and retail sectors.
Singh said the GSFCC supports boosting intraregional trade within the six geographically close countries as it would enhance trade for SMMEs since the ships can move pallets of goods. It could also increase foreign exchange.
Furthermore, he believes the service will also grow export opportunities in the food and beverage sector, clothing and accessories and labour exchange, especially with Caricom agreements.
He said the private sector might require some support from the Government in the initial stages.
“This is a multimillion-dollar initiative. We have a strong conglomerate presence in Trinidad. In Guyana, the sector is growing. We will need some input from the Government to initialise the service, certainly within the short-term,” he said.


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Sony is rumored to schedule an event for November 12. The event will be in Shanghai and will see the launch of the Sony Xperia Z1S as well as a device codenamed Xperia Taichi.
An official press image of the Sony Xperia Z1S leaked recently. The smaller brother of the Xperia Z1 already undergone several benchmark tests and showed that it will be the best performer in the mini league.
Take this rumor with a pinch of salt, as Sony hasn’t mentioned anything about an upcoming smartphone-related event.


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During the COVID-19 pandemic, Airbnb hosts have been dealing with unprecedented cancelations and concerns over the long-term viability of their investment. Obviously everyone's focus needs to be kept on physical distancing … [Read more...] about Airbnb Host Checklist for Condo Conversions
The COVID-19 outbreak has presented a big challenge for Airbnb and its legion of hosts. We're now in year 3 as hosts and despite the pandemic, we remain cautiously optimistic. At this point in 2020, our Airbnb is profitable … [Read more...] about Is Airbnb Profitable for Hosts?
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The latest episode of Qore placed Heavy Rain’s US release date way before the game’s presumed European release, but Sony has now come out to correct these rumours with the PS3 game’s official launch date.
HMV and other retailers pinned the game’s UK release date on February 26th, with the rest of Europe falling on 24th February. As for the US, you lucky goomba’s will be getting your hands on the game before the rest of the world on February 23rd.
At least Europe exclusively gets the game’s collector’s edition, with HMV handling the edition in the UK. Well, actually, the US already has this edition’s included dynamic theme and will get the first episode of The Heavy Rain Chronicles by pre-ordering their the game. That leaves only Heavy Rain’s official soundtrack for Europe’s “exclusive” special edition.
And you won’t have to wait until February 23rd to get your hands on the game, with a pre-release demo planned but not yet detailed.


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On February 2, 2023, Ambassador Fu Cong met with Mr. Dewit, Chairman of the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce (BCECC), and had a friendly exchange on topics of common concern. Minister Peng Gang of the delegation was present as well.
Ambassador Fu said that the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has made a comprehensive and systematic strategic plan for China’s economic and social development in the next five years and beyond. China will unswervingly promote a high level of openness to the outside world, adhere to the right direction of economic globalization, continue to promote the building of an open world economy, and expand the convergence of interests with other countries. A more open Chinese market with more friendly policies will provide a broader platform for cooperation and development for enterprises from all countries.
Ambassador Fu pointed out that the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce (BCECC) is an important force in promoting Sino-Belgian and Sino-European friendship and cooperation, and Mr. Dewit and the former Chairman Mr. Lederhandler have made important contributions to the cause of Sino-Belgian and Sino-European friendship. At present, the world is in a period of turbulent changes, so the more it is necessary to focus on the positive role of the business sector. Mr. Fu Cong hopes that the BCECC will continue to send out a strong voice of objectivity, rationality, pragmatism and cooperation, and inject more stability and positive energy into China-Belgium and China-Europe relations. China is willing to work with the European side to create a favorable atmosphere for business cooperation between the two sides, to ensure the stability and smooth flow of the supply chain, and to oppose decoupling and protectionism in the name of security.
Mr. Dewit congratulated Ambassador Fu on his new position and said that the BCECC has always attached great importance to the Chinese market and is willing to make more positive contributions to strengthening the practical cooperation between Belgium and China and deepening the economic and trade relations between Europe and China.


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Australian media agencies didn’t manage to take home the Grand Prix or any Gold Spikes in the Media category at Spikes Asia, with OMD Sydney scoring the only Australian awarded Silver Spike for its work on Penny the Pirate for OPSM.
China’s HHMedia Guangzhou picked up the Grand Prix for its work on Eyes on the Road for Volkswagen.
PHD Melbourne grabbed a Bronze Spike for ANZ GAYTMs, with Grey Melbourne also taking home a Bronze Spike for Ungiven Gifts for the Transport Accident Commission.
The union representing journalists has denounced proposed laws giving more powers to security agencies, but which allow journalists to be jailed for up to ten years, as an outrageous attack on press freedom in Australia.
The federal secretary of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) Chris Warren today criticised the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill arguing it had been rushed through parliament without sufficient debate.
“This Bill has been rushed through in undue haste without proper discussion or debate of the implications it has in denying long-held freedoms in Australia,” said Warren. Read more »
BWM Group Melbourne has created its first work for The Royal Automobile Club of Tasmania (RACT) with a campaign which focuses on the ‘royal’ treatment of its customers.
Five TV ads have been produced showcasing the RACT umbrella brand, its insurance covers and roadside assistance with the campaign kicking off tomorrow with a 30-second commercial airing ahead of the AFL Grand Final.
BWM Melbourne group managing director Mark Watkin said the campaign, which includes press, outdoor, online, social, in-store and radio, pushes the message that customers receive a ‘right royal service’.
“It’s easy to overlook the fact that RACT stands for the Royal Automobile Club of Tasmania. No one else can promise that level of service,” he said. “The campaign proves that whether it’s roadside assistance, car, home or health insurance, Tasmanians can count on the RACT to deliver it, every day.”
Ted Royer told delegates at the event in Singapore: “It’s a scary thing to push back against a client. But even if we don’t always win the battle, at least we get more respect. Then you will soon find that you become seen as a partner, not a vendor.”
“The power of no is amazing. We hardly ever say ‘no’ an industry. But if we do, we will no longer be treated like cheap, easy people.” Read more »
Leo Burnett has created a new TV ad for Bundaberg Rum as alcoholic beverage giant Diageo continues its strategy to step up its focus on high profile television campaigns.
The 60-second slot, featuring a rag-tag group of would-be sailors building a ship and singing “Men Like us like Bundaberg Rum” before the ship sinks, is designed to “make Australia fall back in love with the brand,” Diageo marketing and innovation director Adam Ballesty told Mumbrella last month.
“I think one of the misses of our media strategies over the last few years is that you have not seen a lot of our brands on TV. We have walked away from it but TV is still one of the more powerful screens,” he said.
The panel has been created by the Department of Finance and will operate for three years with the possibility of being extended until 2018 or 2019. It will replace the existing Panel of Telecommunications Commodities, Carriage and Associated Service (TCCAS) in driving the development of mobile technology.
Among the companies selected for the panel are digital content firm Reddo Media Services, internet service provider iiNet and Mediabrands agency Mnet Mobile
Reddo chief executive Shane Mitchell said it will help the government to look for opportunities for mobile apps and digital content.
Read more »
Beachwear brand Seafolly has collaborated with Australian band Panama in a music video inspired by The Monkeys to showcase the swimwear brand’s 2014 collection.
Set to Panama’s song Stay Forever, the story follows a group of girls living in the Northern Hemisphere who are suddenly drawn into the water, where they make a “magical underwater migration” back to a secluded Australian beach.
The Monkeys approached record label Future Classic with the idea which was then developed byDaniel Askill, the director behind Sia’s recent ‘Chandelier’ song.
The Monkeys c0-founder and project creative director Justin Drape said: “We’ve worked with the team at Future Classic before so we were fortunate to hear a demo of Panama’s new song, ‘Stay Forever’, and we thought it was perfect for Seafolly.
The company has previously done much of its media buying in-house, while also using Omnicom agency M2M for some services.
“Due to the continued growth and evolution of the iSelect business, we felt now was the right time to assess the full scope of media-buying resource in the market, including best talent, analytics and strategy,” said Geraldine Davys, iSelect marketing director. Read more »
Under anti-siphoning law the free-to-air TV network is required to broadcast the game on its main channel, but it can also choose to simulcast the game on its HD channel Gem.
Asked if the network would broadcast the game in HD a Nine spokeswoman said: “We are working through some technical issues on the NRL broadcast and cannot confirm whether it will be transmitted in HD at this stage.” Read more »
McCann Melbourne’s Dumb Ways to Die – the game for Metro Trains was shortlisted alongside Leo Burnett Melbourne’s Seek Volunteer for Seekand Iris Worldwide Sydney’s Christchurch Reimagined for Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism.
Havas Worldwide Australia and One Green Bean Sydney’s How Doug Pitt’s Bro Helped Virgin Mobile Punch Above its Weight and Clemenger BBDO Melbourne’s Reinventing a Once Loved Aussie Icon for Carlton & United Breweries rounded out the Aussie contenders.
Australia has led the Integrated shortlist at Spikes Asia, with DDB Melbourne seeing two campaigns shortlisted.
DDB Sydney’s Radiant Return for PZ Cussons made the cut alongside their Minute of Silence for RSL Australia, while Leo Burnett Sydney’s Safe Driving Program for Samsung’s S-Drive and McCann Melbourne’s Phubbing for Macquarie Dictionary rounded out the Australian contenders.
Construction firm Simonds has created a brand campaign to mark its 65th year and launched a new positioning as ‘The Great Australian Builder’.
A 60-second TV slot takes viewers on a journey through the years as the firm looks to promote its Australian history and heritage. The slot finishes with founder Gary Simonds saying: “This is Simonds”. The work is by T20.
Simonds national manager of marketing and R&D Daniel Senia said: ‘The Great Australian Builder is a big statement, but as we enter our 65th year we believe we have the history, size and ambition to back it up.”
T20 director Rod Curtis added: “This is Simonds draws on Simonds’ homebuilding heritage and takes a nostalgic journey through six decades of family life. The commercial has big hair, a rumpus room, even an Apple LC2. It speaks to people of all ages.”
The Footy Show performed very strongly in certain states last night drawing a metro audience of 979,000 two days before the AFL grand final, while the finale Seven’s of the Amazing Race drew a lacklustre 416,000 viewers in response.
The AFL version of the program, which was screened at 8.40pm in the code’s heartland cities, drew 535,000 viewers in Melbourne, 110,000 in Adelaide and 97,000 in Perth. Sydney and Brisbane had 159,000 and 77,000 viewers respectively at 9.40pm, with the NRL grand final still a week away.
With fans tuning in for football audiences were well down for Nine’s reality series Big Brother with only 310,000 viewers watching the program in Sydney and Brisbane where it screened in the 8.40pm slot, while in the other states the show was screened on multi-channel Go! where it drew less than 100,000 viewers with 57,000 people in Melbourne, 20,000 in Adelaide and 18,000 in Perth. Read more »
Honda MPE has kicked off its spring-summer lawnmower marketing campaign with creative by Melbourne agency Accelerator.
Two TV ads have been created which will be supported with metro and regional online and print executions.
In the 30-second TV slot, a homeowner takes exception to a landscape gardener who tells him to build a large patio “so you’ll never have to mow again”. In the 15-second slot, he reveals to his wife the savings he has made on Honda purchases.
The campaign retains the established ‘Love my Honda’ theme and ‘brand evangelist’ characters.
Cadbury has launched a new $3million marketing campaign as it continues to develop its Marvellous Creations brand in collaboration with Saatchi and Saatchi Sydney.
The push is being led by a 15-second TV slot, out of home advertising and in-store activity with three new “carnival-themed” Marvellous Creations flavours at the heart of the campaign.
The TV ads will run until the end of the year with out-of-home active until October.
The TV ad follows the same Willy Wonka-style format as previous commercials with an “added touch of carnival-themed creativity”.
Packaging has also been refreshed with a design to “increase visibility on shelves”.
- DDB global creative chief Amir Kassaei: stop categorising ideas by discipline
- FCB bosses say there are no plans for brand to return to Australia
- Digital production company MediaMonks eyes Sydney and Shanghai as launch targets
- CUB takes aim at alcohol awareness group after Drinkwise ad is criticised
- Spikes Asia Film Craft shortlist dominated by Aussie production houses
- Australia lead the way in Direct at Spikes
- Cancer Council “I touch myself’ campaign among Aussie contenders for branded content at Spikes
An office worker freaks out, then goes on a trippy daydream journey into the world of vegetables when his new love interest announces she’s vegetarian in this quirky spot from New Zealand supermarket chain New World. In the film, by Colenso BBDO and directed by Nick Ball via Finch, our protagonist imagines being sucked into his fridge and then floating through the supermarket aisles, where he is addressed by a creepy smiling yam.
Diet Coke wants you to “get a taste of what life would be like if it tasted as good as Diet Coke” — and it turns out it’s exactly like an A-list party in the first-class cabin.
Google has hit back at the claim by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp that it is a platform for piracy, arguing that it does more than “almost any other company” to fight illegal online activity.
The online search company responded to News Corp’s open letter to the European competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia last week in a post titled “Dear Rupert” on its Google Europe blog on Thursday.
Marriott International, the hotels group, is seeking an agency to develop a global brand campaign for the JW Marriott brand.
The New York-based intermediary Joanne Davis is running the pitch and contacted shops with a brief earlier this month. Agencies were asked to answer initial questions by the middle of last week.
Sources said the winning shop would develop a campaign to promote JW Marriott, which operates more than 50 hotels globally, including 22 in the US and Grosvenor House on London’s Park Lane.
The review does not affect WPP’s MEC, which has overseen media for all of Marriott International’s brands since it beat ZenithOptimedia to the business in 2011.
Speaking at the Spikes Asia advertising festival, Amir Kassaei, the global chief creative officer of DDB Worldwide, said that the industry needed to stop pigeonholing ideas by communications discipline.
“Stop categorising ideas,” he said. “It’s not about a traditional, digital, direct or experiential, but the most innovative marketing solution.”
“If we refocus on the main purpose of the industry we’ll have a future,” he said, referring to the need for agencies to prove themselves in the “art of salesmanship.” Read more »
Newly rebranded creative agency FCB has no plans to re-enter Australia or Hong Kong; an agency’s market presence should not be swayed by the “ego” of putting flags on a map, the agency’s APAC executive creative director James Mok said today.
Talking to Mumbrella at the Spikes Asia event in Singapore, the New Zealander said: “Where agencies have a market presence should not be about ego, it should be about smart business. The flags on a map strategy is dangerous, because it forces you to spend money when you don’t have to,” Mok said.
FCB, which dropped the ‘Draft’ from its name in March to restore the 141 year-old agency brand, closed its Melbourne operation in September 2012after losing lynchpin client Honda to Leo Burnett. It pulled the brand out of Sydney, bringing to an end two decades of operations in Australia, at the start of July this year. All clients and staff were transferred to AJF Partnership.
“Clients do not care whether an agency is branded FCB or not. They care about relationships with the right partner. Our partnership with AJF makes good business sense,” he said. “We have a brilliant partnership with them.” Read more »


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Legalizing cannabis edibles in Canada
On June 14, 2019, Health Canada published an initial News Release on the legalization of cannabis edibles. For a number of reasons, legal edibles on sale before Christmas 2019 might prove to be a stretch. If that is the case, there is also the possibility that edibles in Canada will face a slow grind toward legalization. Here is what we know so far.
The amended Cannabis Regulations will be published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, on June 26, 2019 and a copy can be requested at email@example.com.
As required by the Cannabis Act, the amended cannabis regulations will come into force on October 17, 2019.
However, Federal license holders must provide 60-days notice to Health Canada of their intent to sell new products. Notice cannot be given before October 17, 2019.
Health Canada advises that federally licensed processors will need time to become familiar with the new rules.
They add that provincially and territorially authorized distributors will need time to obtain new products to make them available for sale.
60 days from October 17th will be mid-December. Given the possibility of delays, to expect edibles on sale by Christmas is an aggressive forecast.
I will add my own wild card which is a Conservative government might be in power after the October 21st election and a new Health Minister might be appointed.
If the Conservatives replace the Liberals in the October 21, 2019 election, there could be a sea change in the Federal Government’s attitude from a strongly pro-cannabis position that saw Canada become the first G7 country to fully legalize cannabis to one that ran an equally anti-cannabis campaign in the last election just four years ago.
Conservative leader Andrew Scheer stands a better than average chance of being the next Prime Minister of Canada. Some backroom boys speculate that Scheer is a puppet and one of his masters is former Prime Minister Stephen Harper. You might recall Harper and the Conservatives were so against cannabis in the last election, they spread what ranged from a negative exaggeration of the truth to outright misinformation. So a change in government from Liberal to Conservative will result probably result in a total slowdown in the pace of reform.
As we have said in the past, the cannabis genie is out of the bottle and won’t be put back in. It is my opinion that a reversal of legalization is inconceivable. The pension plan of Alberta has already disclosed they have invested in the cannabis industry but the amount is probably still relatively small. But the billions that have been invested in the industry in the good faith would be lost and it would be absolute political suicide.
However, one can only speculate what the stock market’s reaction would be if a new Conservative government appointed a Royal Commission on the legalization of cannabis. It would fit in the general definition that Royal Commissions only investigate matters of great importance and often of some controversy. Generally speaking once started a Royal Commission can last for years and cannot be stopped even by the government that initiated it. But it wouldn’t even have to be that drastic. They could simply order a two year study on the legalization of cannabis with a two-year deadline to report back. The market price of shares of companies operating under Canadian cannabis laws would crash and burn.
Finally, a Canadian federal government has to be really inept to last only one term. So a new Conservative would be an odds on favourite to win a second term by just avoiding scandal and controversy. If the Conservatives win in October, we could be facing eight years of an anti-cannabis government.


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Revised Trade Agreement With Korea Good For U.S. Red Meat Producers
Courtesy of kla.org
Meat industry organizations praised the Trump administration following an announcement earlier this week that a revised free trade agreement with Korea had been signed. U.S. Meat Export Federation President and Chief Executive Officer Dan Halstrom called it “reassuring news for the U.S. beef and pork industries.”
Under the original Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), most U.S. pork enters Korea duty-free, with the tariff on U.S. beef reduced from 40% to 21.3% and scheduled to phase out by 2026. Korea has become the second largest market for U.S. beef and fourth largest for U.S. pork since the original agreement went into place. U.S. red meat exports to Korea set a record of $1.7 billion last year.
NCBA President Kevin Kester said KORUS is a prime example of how U.S. producers benefit from trade agreements that reduce tariffs and eliminate non-tariff trade barriers.
“We know that a modernized KORUS will allow U.S. producers to continue focusing on what we do best: providing safe, high-quality beef for Korean families to enjoy,” Kester said.


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Philips announced in a press release that Ubisoft's combat flight simulation will support the Ambx technology.
Tom Clancy's HAWX will support Ambx.
Fans of flight simulations hope Tom Clancy's HAWX to boost the genre. Now they can look forward to another interesting feature, because Ubisoft wants to integrate Ambx support. With this you will, if you have the appropriate hardware, have the surroundings of your computer illuminated according to the game situation.
Philips' Ambx is, in very simple words, a system that creates an even more intense gaming experience with the help of illumination, Force Feedback and sound effects. In connection with this annunciation Philips will also lower the prices for the Ambx systems.


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The Importance of the Right Funding
With business performance improving and the economy showing signs of a stable recovery, business confidence is on the up. Evette Orams, Managing Director of invoice finance broker Hilton-Baird Financial Solutions, uses the results from the latest SME Trends Index to explore the importance of businesses securing the right type of funding.
The economy has been steadily fighting its way back to recovery. It has been a clear theme for a few months now that the recovery is continuing to pick up across Britain and, underlining this, recent figures from the Office for National Statistics have revealed that the UK recorded its third successive quarter of growth in Q3 2013. This comes as no surprise, with Hilton-Baird’s SME Trends Index showing that there is much to be positive about as we head into 2014.
In December George Osborne presented his Autumn Statement, assuring us that a ‘responsible recovery’ is now on the agenda for Britain and that small and medium sized enterprises are at the heart of it. They have been highlighted as one of the main contributors of the growing economy, with Osborne stating:
“Businesses have already created three jobs for every one lost in the public sector.”
With the UK at the top of the recovery league table, and the potential good news of lower rates for small businesses and start-ups being announced, now may be the time to seek expansion.
Our SME Trends Index questioned business owners and finance directors on a range of subjects in September and found that the financial health of UK businesses increased for the second successive year to its highest level since the survey began three years ago. It showed respondents in a confident mood, with 51% expecting their business to expand in the next six months. Yet it seems apparent that there are a number of challenges facing many businesses that are holding them back from reaching their full potential, and one of these is the ability to access the right sort of funding.
While the proportion reporting they were most concerned about generating new business, the rising cost of fuel and raw materials and general cash flow management all fell, there was a 4% rise in the number most worried about access to finance.
Given the evolving commercial finance landscape it is encouraging to note that 63% of the business owners and finance directors questioned in the survey had reviewed their existing finance arrangements within the past six months. What remains concerning is that almost one in five admitted to not reviewing them inside the past year (19%).
It is vitally important that businesses are always monitoring the changing lending landscape and it is a good sign that many seem to be doing this. However, the survey shows that the perceived high cost of finance is driving many British SMEs to seek out cheaper facilities when they come to review their existing funding arrangements.
When doing so, 45% of businesses said that securing lower costs is the primary objective, which makes up almost half of the respondents. Fewer than one in ten are on the hunt for something more suitable, with only 16% looking for better service levels from their funding provider.
This is of particular concern due to the fact that the commercial finance industry never stands still and, particularly when combined with the improving economic picture, what might have been right for a business six months ago might no longer be the best solution. It is important that businesses consider the overall value of any facility rather than simply focusing on cost. Accessing the right sort of funding for your business is vital for it to achieve results and reach its potential growth.
The survey found that business credit cards (used by 45%), bank overdrafts (42%) and bank loans (23%) are all widely relied upon, as are loans from family and friends, use of which increased by 8% year on year to 19%. Encouragingly however, the use of asset finance (28%) and invoice finance (22%) both increased as well.
What particularly stood out from the survey was the fact that businesses currently benefiting from asset finance and/or invoice finance facilities are significantly more optimistic than those using any other forms of business finance at present – with 68% expecting to expand in the next six months.
It is obvious that these solutions instil the confidence required for businesses, and the economy as a result, to keep growing. Now is surely the time for the rest to sit up and take notice too.
Evette Orams is the Managing Director of Hilton-Baird Financial Solutions, an independent invoice finance broker with expertise across the wider commercial finance market. For more information on how invoice finance could help your business, visit www.hiltonbaird.co.uk/FS.