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With so many products readily available on store shelves, it’s hard to know what to trust...which is why BrandSpark and Better Homes and Gardens enlisted the help of 80,000 American shoppers. From eggs to coffee to chips, participants in the 2015 BrandSpark/Better Homes and Gardens American Shopper Study survey were asked to name which brands they have come to depend on; topping this year’s list as America’s most trusted egg is Eggland’s Best.
“Brands earning the title ‘Most Trusted’ in the 2015 BrandSpark Most Trusted Awards Program are dedicated to providing their customers with high quality products,” says Robert Levy, President and CEO of BrandSpark International. “In fact, American shoppers cited that Eggland’s Best tasted better than other eggs, were better in nutritional value and appeared to be fresher in taste and appearance.”
Eggland’s Best attributes its product’s better taste, nutrition, and freshness to the brand’s strict quality assurance program and proprietary hen feed. Eggland’s Best eggs contain 25 percent less saturated fat, ten times more vitamin E, four times more vitamin D and more than double the omega-3 fatty acids than ordinary eggs. In addition, a recent study in the Journal of Applied Poultry Research showed that Eggland’s Best eggs stay fresher longer than ordinary eggs.
“At Eggland’s Best, our goal is to provide customers with the best tasting, most nutritious and freshest egg,” says Charlie Lanktree, President and CEO of Eggland’s Best. “We are proud that our efforts have led consumers to vote Eggland’s Best ‘America’s Most Trusted egg brand’ in the 2015 BrandSpark/Better Homes and Gardens American Shopper Study. And we are very thankful that consumers have voted for Eggland’s Best with their pocketbooks at the store…their support has allowed Eggland’s best to achieve 18 consecutive years of amazing growth.”


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The UAE is set to become one of Italy’s key international markets, as exports of Italian beauty and wellness products to the Middle Eastern country soared 34 percent over the last year – the largest growth rate witnessed by all of Italy’s international markets, according to a report published by Trade Arabia.
Overall, Italian beauty exports grew 11.3 percent in the first six months of 2015, according to the Italian National Institute for Statistics.
Saudi Arabia is also said to be a key market for Italian personal care and cosmetics companies, with some 82 exhibitors lining up to peddle their wares at Beautyworld Middle East in May.
“For a few years now, the Italian beauty industry has stressed the need to develop its international export markets, and to actively promote the high-quality beauty and cosmetic products for which Italy is famous for,” said Ahmed Pauwels, CEO of Messe Frankfurt Middle East. “It’s estimated that Italy makes approximately 65 per cent of the world’s make-up, and with the Middle East and Africa overtaking Latin America as the world’s fastest growing beauty and wellness market last year, now is the ideal time to target this high-growth region.”

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"The lines are blurring between PCs, tablets, phablets and phones," Mulloy said. "The idea is to accelerate the implementation and create some efficiency so that we can move even faster."
The new combined unit will be led by Kirk Skaugen, who currently heads the PC-chips business. Hermann Eul, currently in charge of phone and tablet chips, will stay on to help the transition and until a new post for him is announced in the first quarter of 2015.
Intel has struggled to make headway in the fast-growing market for phone and tablet chips.


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- The newest leaked Samsung Galaxy S22 launch date is February 9, 2022, at 15:00 UTC (10:00 AM ET).
- The leaked info comes from reliable tipster Evan Blass.
- This lines up with earlier rumors, but Blass’ intel is almost always reliable.
Recently, Samsung confirmed it would launch its next flagship smartphones and tablets at some point in February. Earlier rumors posited this date could’ve been February 8, 2022.
You can check out the image for yourself below.
Leaked Samsung Galaxy S22 launch date
Usually, Samsung’s digital invites give away some hints about what to expect. However, we can’t really deduce too many hints from this one. The only thing we see is the font used for “The Epic Standard” looks a lot like handwriting, which ties into the rumors that the Galaxy S22 Ultra could be a Note-esque device, complete with an S Pen storage slot.
This rumored Samsung Galaxy S22 launch should also be a showcase for the upcoming Galaxy Tab S8 series. Thanks to numerous leaks, we already know pretty much everything about those devices.
It is very likely Samsung would confirm (or disprove) this rumored launch date over the next few days. Stay tuned for the final confirmed date! In the meantime, you can let Samsung know you intend to pre-order a Galaxy S22 or Galaxy Tab S8 by hitting the button below.


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PETALING JAYA, Feb 10 — Chinese New Year celebrations will be a little different this year.
The re-implementation of the movement control order (MCO) has restricted family functions to consist of only close family members, meaning that celebrations will be muted, to say the least.
Despite the limitations with festivities this year, Touch ‘n Go (TNG) is keen to help Malaysian families keep the tradition of giving out ang pow alive, even if you can’t visit your loved ones.
To keep the tradition alive, TNG is bringing back its eAngpow feature on the eWallet app for the second year running in a bid to liven up festivities and also provide a convenient solution for users to transfer money to their family and friends, both near and far.
TNG Digital’s chief executive officer Ignatius Ong said in a press release that this “modern” way of gifting ang pow provides Malaysians with an accessible solution to maintain the tradition while overcoming the limitations of travel.
“CNY is a representation of the Malaysian culture. Though it is often associated with visits and gatherings with family members, it is different this time,” said Ong.
“But that does not mean Malaysians should disconnect from each other. Instead, switching to a digital platform such as TNG’s eWallet serves a similar purpose of connecting and reconnecting with your loved ones in a safer way.”
He added that with the eAngpow feature, Malaysians now have a safe option to maintain the tradition, albeit in a cashless manner.
Users may transfer their preferred amount to any friend or family member across the country, at any time of the day and without any hidden or added fees as well, via the eWallet app.
All you’d need to do is simply launch the app, tap on “transfer”, select your recipient, enter your preferred amount and type a greeting before hitting “confirm” to transfer the funds.
Greetings are available in multiple languages as well including English, Malay and Chinese to suit the different needs of TNG users.
The eAngpow feature will be available for Malaysians to use from now until February 27.
But that’s not all that TNG has to offer its users this CNY as consumers can continue shopping for groceries, clothes, decorations, food and gifts via the eWallet app.
With more transactions being conducted online due to the MCO, TNG eWallet users can also try their luck out winning cashback vouchers via the Goal Hunter CNY edition contest.
The contest reintroduces the Fatt Choy Angpow cashback vouchers which offer a wide range of vouchers up to RM288 and is available for users throughout the month of February.
To take part in the contest, users will have to collect “stamps” by making transactions on the app, with a transaction as low as RM10 earning them one stamp.
With two collected stamps, users may select a reward of their choice from a pool of over 20 vouchers and one user may claim up to five cashback vouchers a month, giving them five tries at the Fatt Choy Angpow’s largest denomination.
For users looking to complete their dinner spreads this CNY, TNG’s eWallet also offers an array of food and grocery items via its delivery partners including EASI (formerly known as Hungry), Runningman, The Lorry, Riding Pink, MULA Eats and BungkusIT.
The delivery partners also award free yee sang to lucky users as well as a chance to win a lucky draw valued up to RM888.
For more information, you can download TNG’s eWallet app or surf over to https://www.tngdigital.com.my/


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The 3Arts Village was officially opened last November with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by some of the Quibell family who are past owners of the Plumstead landmark. However, it wasn’t quite complete.
One year ago, developers of the shopping mall, Rapfund Investments, commissioned a visual display to tell the story of 3Arts through the ages.
That display, along with mounted images of old souvenir programmes from the time when 3Arts was theatre, were installed in the middle of last month.
“We wanted the piece to be more than just a simple history board and actually wanted it to be an art installation,” said Rapfund chief financial officer Trish-Lynn Riley. “So we spent much time researching, designing and reworking the story history board with the designer Taryn Gaylard, from Taryn Long Design Studio.”
The first shows at 3Arts Theatre were held in 1968, the year it opened, so anything from 1968 until it was last used for performances was what they were looking for.
“We went to the Western Cape Archives, the National Library and used materials provided by the Quibell family. We also invited the public to contribute and received a number of souvenir programmes from Ernest Bew, husband of the former Plumstead ward councillor; David Christopher Travis Smith; and Annette Elliott. We actually received so many that we felt it best to have them displayed separately on the ground floor columns at 3Arts Village,” said Ms Riley.
The timeline pays homage to the 3Arts Theatre, showing highlights of its heyday up to 2019 when the premises were sold and the shopping centre opened. It can be viewed on the first floor, between Pick n Pay and the upstairs toilets.
Ronald Lings, of Wynberg, said he found the display informative. “Some buildings you go into you don’t know what was there before. With this, you can see the transformation of what it was and what it is now.”


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ASEAN may lure 80 billion USD in FDI
ASEAN Deputy Secretary General Puspanathan Sundram made the prediction at a press briefing in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia right after the ASEAN Trade Ministers’ Dialogue with the Federation of Japanese Chambers of Commerce and Industry in ASEAN (FJCCIA).
He said by facilitating trade, connectivity and transport and focusing on human resources and skilled workers, ASEAN would draw in 3.4 percent of the current FDI in the world.
At present, Japan is ASEAN’s largest FDI provider, registering 5.2 billion USD in 2009 which made up 13.4 percent of the total FDI in the region.
The FJCCIA Chief said Japan considered ASEAN as a strategic market and a large production centre.
At the dialogue, participants discussed the implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area and measures to lift trade barriers to boost economic cooperation./.
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Nippon Express is seeking “halal” certification in Malaysia, with the aim of starting a food distribution business for Muslims in the Southeast Asian nation, reported Jiji Press.
The major Japanese distribution service provider said its local subsidiary in Malaysia has already submitted an application to the country’s government and is seeking approval by April 2014.
Halal means allowed or permitted by Islamic law. Items should not contain pork or alcohol, which are prohibited under Islam.
In Muslim nations, including Malaysia, trucks cannot carry food for Muslims together with pork or alcohol. In addition, delivery trucks that have carried pork must be cleaned in accordance with Islamic law.
Nippon Express’s move comes after the Malaysian government started in July accepting halal certification applications for distribution services. Halal certification was already available for foods, cosmetics and medicines there.
The company aims to expand halal distribution services to other Muslim nations, including Indonesia and Bangladesh, using the know-how it hopes to gain in Malaysia.
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Sales of digital set-top boxes, which went on sale last month in Kenya, have been sluggish. The boxes are required to convert digital terrestrial broadcasting signals so that that the East African country can switch off analogue broadcasts before the International Telecommunication Union’s mid-2015 deadline.
Kenya originally intended switching off its analogue signals at the end of last year, but this date was moved until after the country’s elections in March. This seems to have made consumers less concerned about buying the boxes.
Government has expressed concern that the lack of interest in digital migration may mean the country risks missing the union’s deadline and it could hurt broadcasters that have invested heavily in digital broadcasting.
Set-top boxes cost between R500 and R800 in Kenya and are readily available. South Africa, meanwhile, has yet to make boxes available or finalise how they’ll be subsidised for the poor. Kenya has decided not to offer subsidised boxes, but may reconsider this as the deadline approaches. Source: Business Daily
M-Pesa gets wings in Tanzania
Using mobile money transfer service M-Pesa, payments company PayGate has begun allowing consumers in Tanzania to pay for airline tickets in a move that’s intended to boost e-commerce activities.
Tanzanian airline FastJet is one of the first companies in the region to accept M-Pesa for online bookings. PayGate hopes to allow more merchants to receive such payments so that consumers can buy products like computer equipment and gift vouchers online. Source: PayGate
Banks thwart Zimbabwe’s EcoCash
Zimbabwe’s commercial banks have convinced the nation’s reserve bank to insist that mobile payment services be backed by funds held in banks. EcoCash was launched in late 2011 by mobile operator Econet and has more than 1,7m users. Because the company moves hundreds of thousands of dollars daily, analysts have said EcoCash could become Zimbabwe’s largest banking service, something existing banks would rather not see happen. Source: Mobile Money Africa
Tanzania cuts call costs by two thirds
The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has reduced call interconnection rates by 69%. Tanzanian consumers have long carried multiple Sim cards to take advantage of cheaper on-net calls. According to the TCRA’s director-general, John Nkoma, only 4% of the population makes off-net calls because of the excessive rates associated with making calls to users of other networks. The new rates will come into effect on 1 March. The TCRA intends to continue reducing the interconnection rate each year until 2017. Source: The Citizen


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"Brazil" Search Results
Amazon journalist and expert on murder are being held in connection to a new arrest
Italy's No. Brazil extradites the 2 most wanted mobster
Pope Francis' close friend, Cardinal Hummes, passes away at 87
Brazilian Amazon continues to search for missing men
Amazon found a pair of backpacks and a laptop that were missing from the Amazon Backpack.
Pair's disappearance from Brazil's Amazon is tied to the 'fish mafia.
Amazon disappearance family: "He is innocent"
Brazil police questioning suspect in Amazon disappearances
Brazil expert and British journalist still missing from Amazon
British journalist and Brazilian expert are missing from the Amazon
Bolsonaro uses medals to honor allies, his family, and himself
Ten Brazilian Business Giants Who Have Taken the Bitcoin, Crypto Plunge
A doll gives pride and identity to the Brazilian Indigenous woman
Brazilian man is allegedly gassed to his death in a police car boot
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Like other forms of entertainment, sports programming is shifting to the digital space. US sports leagues and broadcasters are streaming increasing amounts of content on their broadband and mobile channels, and consumers are responding by tuning in on multiple screens, according to a new eMarketer report, “Sports Video Streaming: More Like a Marathon than a Sprint.”
However, in comparison with other visual media, such as full-length TV programming and short-form professional clips, most US sports content is priced above what all but the most fervent fans are willing to pay for. Further, many sports streams are inaccessible in teams’ home markets, which is where most of their fans live. And streams are often blocked for viewers who happen to get their cable, satellite or internet service from nonparticipating providers. The result is a mixed bag of programming and a series of obstacles that many sports fans simply choose to avoid.
From an advertising standpoint, the picture is also mixed. On one hand, many brands that actively support sports broadcasts on linear TV are extending their participation to the digital space. On the other, the amount of ad revenue generated by broadband and mobile is a fraction of the billions of dollars that flow to traditional channels, and digital streams are rife with unsold inventory. It is not uncommon for a live game stream to recycle the same ads over and over, resulting in a poor experience for both brands and consumers.
comScore’s ranking of top sports sites by monthly unique visitors over a two-year period showed Yahoo! Sports in the lead, with 52.75 million unique visitors in September 2013. Other top properties included ESPN, FOX Sports, NFL and USA Today.
The sports streaming panorama is likely to improve as more content owners and broadcasters move to fill consumer demand for instant access on multiple screens. But lucrative, long-term contracts between leagues and broadcasters will act as a counterforce to progress on the digital front. As long as the lion’s share of ad revenue comes from traditional media, the migration to digital will feel more like a marathon than a sprint.
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Bovard slams Google’s IP theft in Breitbart interview
April 9, 2020
Internet Accountability Project (IAP) senior fellow Rachel Bovard told Breitbart News in an interview in February that the Oracle case serves as a “poster child” for Google’s anticompetitive practices. You can read more here.
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Unlike the Big Tech monopolies, the Internet Accountability Project pledges to never sell or share your personal information, which is your property.


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iKAST.io, the most secured and fairest premium video rewarding ecosystem, will attend to one of the major Asian blockchain events, and will take center stage at the conference.
The event will be held from 15thAugust to 16thAugust 2018 in the Cyber Port, Hong Kong China and will focus on the dramatic development of blockchain. More than 200 guests and institutions from nearly 20 countries and regions around the world, including relevant government department leaders, global outstanding blockchain elites, global regional blockchain alliances, worldwide famous experts and scholars, well-known venture capital firms and media representatives.
As an expert in the Entertainment & Media industry, also iKAST’s CEO, Cedric Monnier was invited to chair a special keynote to discuss the disruption brought by the blockchain for video content providers and viewers. Especially, he will share his vision about how our decentralized ecosystem, such as iKAST.io, will solve crucial entertainment industry problems including lack of promotion & visibility for independent video contents, lack of distribution channels and consequently a lack of monetization.
Presenting iKAST.io, which uses a public blockchain with smart contracts, and innovative features such as Proof of Rights, Proof of eXperience and Proof of SHare, Cedric will explain how a new token economy is possible allowing a secured and fair ecosystem for content providers, viewers and advertisers.
About the Speaker, Cedric Monnier
Evangelist of connected products and social TV and specialist on big data and AI, Cédric Monnier has 22 years of experience in several key companies of digital TV/Web (Canal+ technologies, Cisco, NDS, Irdeto) and Canadian mobile startup (Bluestreak). Specialized in strategy and product, he has managed R&D teams and launched several leading solutions in Europe, Asia and the USA. Cédric is the CEO and co-founder of FlameFy.
As an expert in big data for media industries, with a deep understanding of blockchain technology, Cedric will describe what will be the future of Entertainment and online video.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]


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It was long believed that Facebook would do something like this, and it puts it in direct competition with Groupon and LivingSocial. Deals is launching in five test cities: Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego and San Francisco.
Here's what's special about Facebook Deals:
- While you'll be able to receive offers by email, they will mostly show up in your Facebook news feed. Most group buying services rely on email first to send deals, but Facebook won't.
- You'll be buying the deals with Facebook Credits. This is pretty huge, as it's the first time Facebook's payments system will be used to buy physical goods and services and not just virtual goods. A lot of people are wondering if/when Facebook will go directly after PayPal and offer an online payments service; if it's planning that, this is a good first step toward doing that.
- Facebook is partnering with other services like OpenTable. It will also rely on its own sales force to sell deals but it also partners with other companies that also have relationships with merchants, which is smart.
There are many questions here.
The first one is can Deals work? Group buying services rely on curation, with humans picking attractive deals, and huge salesforces and, more generally, a sales-driven culture. This is a far cry from the engineering-driven culture at Facebook (and Google, which is also working on its own group buying service), where they like that stuff to be done by computers as much as possible.
The second one is what will the impact be on the group buying market?
Groupon and LivingSocial are spending a ton on Facebook advertising to gain subscribers. Will they cut that off in retaliation or will they feel forced to still spend on Facebook ads? That in itself will be a test of the attractiveness of Facebook ads.
Will Facebook prove the bulls wrong? If so that might have a huge impact on Groupon and LivingSocial not just from lost marketshare but also from establishing that group buying is really a "feature" that most media sites can replicate and not a "company." That might make the difference between Groupon being worth $5 billion and $50 billion. Conversely, if Facebook gives it its best shot and fails, that will be huge for Groupon as it will show that it has, indeed, built a huge, defensible asset.
Don't Miss: What Groupon Must Do Now →


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Photo: J.B. Spector/the Museum of Science and IndustryNext time you compliment a woman at a party that’s she glowing, it may literally be so. Two London-based designers have created a dress embroidered with 24,000 full color LEDs .
Called the ‘Galaxy Dress’ it claims to be the largest wearable display in the world and will be the center piece of an exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/fastforward/
“We used the smallest full-color LEDs, flat like paper, and measuring only 2 by 2 mm,” say designers Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz in an email. “The circuits are extra-thin, flexible, and hand embroidered on a layer of silk in a way that gives it stretch so the LED fabric can move like normal fabric with lightness and fluidity.” The duo run an interactive clothing company called CuteCircuit.
To diffuse the LED light, the dress has four layers of silk chiffon and a pleated silk organza crinoline skirt. The extra-thin electronics allows the dress to follow the body shape closely like with normal fabric.
Instead of having one large and heavy battery, the dress is designed to run on many tiny iPod batteries hiding in the crinoline, says Rosella. “They are not visible or uncomfortable,” she says.
With the batteries, the Galaxy Dress wearer can walk around–all lit up–for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.
The areas without LEDs are decorated with more than 4000 hand-applied Swarovski crystals that range from clear crystal to bright pink. “The dress looks good even when it is switched off,” say the designers.
See a video of the LED Dress that, according to the designers, consumes about the same electricity as two household bulbs. (Warning...the video is mesmerizing!)


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HP DreamScreen price in India, HP DreamScreen launch by Shilpa Shetty
HP launched HP DreamScreen a digital device. HP DreamScreen price in India is Rs. 19, 999 which is quite reasonable. It is icon-based and also has a touch interface. The HP DreamScreen launch took place in New Delhi and was embraced by none other than Bollywod star Shilpa Shetty.
The HP DreamScreen price in India is Rs. 19,999 and is said to be available from the beginning of the 25th of November in India. The HP DreamScreen price in India is exclusive of the taxes and the final MRP is yet to be known as it has just release yesterday. HP DreamScreen price in India is slightly low at Rs. 19,633 if you plan to buy online.
The Hewlett Packard or HP DreamScreen enables users to access news, music, movies, education, video chat, browsing and along with the special feature of temple darshan.
In HP press release for HP DreamScreen, the Company is said to have tied up with India Today for media content and an e-book on wedding fashion. Music Today is also an integral part of this deal for music content as it is mentioned by the press release.
It is assumed that the HP DreamScreen model will have more impact on the non PC owners which will influence them to adapt the technology and enhance the day to day working of the user of the product. HP announced its partnership with iSKIP. The social venture which has been signed by HP with iSKIP aims to instill economic security through skills training and facilitating enhanced access to livelihood opportunities.
HP DreamScreen Features
HP DreamScreen features both Hindi and English languages to get information in the users preferred language. Few other languages will be included to this device in future but as of now only English along with Hindi will be available for information purposes.
Tags: HP DreamScreen price in India, HP DreamScreen price in India at retail stores, HP DreamScreen price in India at onlien portals, HP DreamScreen price in India after discount, HP DreamScreen price India, HP DreamScreen price and Features, features, DreamScreen launch in India, HP DreamScreen launch and price


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When Pallavi Shrivastava was working with the World Bank and International Finance Corporation, she realised the retailer segment had a complete lack of access to credit, specifically working capital.
“I was fascinated by the concepts of micro-finance and patient capital that used the power of innovative financing structures to be a force for good, and how well-structured financing products can propel the growth of underserved individuals and businesses alike,” Pallavi tells YourStory.
Pallavi says there are over 15 million retailers in India and majority of them face the same challenges in accessing credit. It got her thinking of how to address this massive gap.
Meanwhile, Himanshu Chandra, a banker, had been driving the supply chain finance portfolio at Standard Chartered Bank. The duo decided to fix the problem with Progcap.
Funding and numbers
The duo had realised that existing financial products and the traditional banking approach would not be able to service the requirements of these customers.
The duo decided to start Progcap in 2017, in Delhi, to formalise and digitise access to credit to this segment. The startup aims to be a full-stack retailer-focused digital bank.
“We do this by partnering with the brands whose products the retailer is selling and through them, we onboard the customers,” Pallavi explains.
The team has now raised $25 million Series B funding led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital. The funding will be used to enhance its services and expand the brand's presence across existing geographies.
The firm will also use the capital to scale up the team, strengthen the technology differentiation and diversify into new product offerings to fortify its vision of building a full stack digital platform for last mile retailers.
Since its inception in 2017, Progcap has boarded more than 50 corporates, 300,000 retailers on the platform, and disbursed over Rs 1,500 crore of loans on the back of its unique supply chain-driven business model and its award-winning risk-scoring engine.
Scott Shleifer, Partner, Tiger Global, said, “We are thrilled to partner with the Progcap team as they help small and mid-size businesses get access to financing. We believe Progcap has an exciting path ahead as they continue to innovate in this underserved market.”
The startup had earlier raised $9 million Series A funding.
“Progcap has built a unique product to cater to the working capital needs of small Indian retailers who serve much of India’s USD 800 billion retail market. As supply chains in India get formalised with GST, the company will play an important role in serving the financial needs of such retailers.
"Since Sequoia Capital India’s Series A investment, Progcap has scaled the business with exceptional credit quality and high capital efficiency, the team is excited to strengthen the partnership with this financing,” said Ashish Agrawal, Principal, Sequoia India.
The field visit
Pallavi says the idea truly crystallised during a field visit with retailers for the pilot. Having met a diverse set of traders across many industries, the product, technology, and some key elements of the business model took shape following the experience of travelling across Maharashtra.
Today, Progcap is a team of over 150 people. The startup’s core platform runs on last-mile technology, which plugs into systems, accesses data relevant to underwrite the borrowers, and creates outputs.
From onboarding to disbursal and collections, the journey is completely digital using in-house systems. Most of the technology is proprietary.
“This helps us work with and service customers far away from our operating locations. The product takes into account the current terms of trade of the ecosystem, and we embed ourselves within the ecosystem to help fuel business. Our business is 100 percent digitally delivered and monitored,” says Pallavi.
She explains that working at the intersection of software and financial services, Progcap aims to be the first full-stack retailer focused digital bank that digitises, automates, and eases capital movement across the supply chain to SMBs that have remained excluded from the formal financial ecosystem.
Speaking of the market and its challenges, Pallavi says that India has over 15 million retailers, routing over $800 billion in sale.
She adds that though this customer segment is an important growth driver for the overall economy, over 90 percent of the retailers do not have access to the right kind of capital to grow their businesses because they do not have the right kind of data, and information that a traditional financial institution would require to underwrite them. Moreover, reaching these traders across the breadth of India is expensive.
However, that was not the only challenge; building the product was a task as well.
Pallavi says they had to learn how to structure the right product that fits the requirements of the retailer segment. The kind of financial products retailers have so far been using to finance their purchases are completely out of sync with their cash conversion cycles, so when Progcap came in, they found that there was a massive demand.
“Secondly, we had to build risk safeguards and structures around a segment that was used to working in an informal manner. Finally, building early traction and onboarding the first set of brands...but the response we got was encouraging,” Pallavi says.
She adds that given the informal nature of these businesses, getting access to the data to underwrite was tough but they built the right technology, completely in-house, to get going and also created a business model that made it easier to reach the retailers.
The technology play here is huge – right from accessing data and underwriting to service delivery and dashboards.
“In lending businesses, it’s also about asset quality, underwriting, and cost of acquisition. For first-time entrepreneurs, it takes a little longer to get investor convinced but since we came from this industry, getting business traction was easier. COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdown stress-tested our model and we stand vindicated with the practically NIL write-offs. We are now on a path to scale up significantly from here,” Pallavi says.
The MSME sector is growing at a fast pace, and its contribution to India’s GDP continues to soar. According to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), MSMEs contribute 6.11 percent to the manufacturing GDP, 24.63 percent to the GDP from service activities, and 33.4 percent to India's manufacturing output. Despite the huge contribution, the sector is considered laidback.
Others in the lending segment include LendingKart, NeoGrowth, Vivriti Capital, Shubh Loans, Happy Loans, KhataBook, IndiFi, and OkCredit.
“We work with the Indian arms of many Fortune 500 companies. The combined turnover of these entities in India is $60 billion. We have disbursed over $100 million so far and are growing at close to 25 percent MoM. We are now 8X of the volumes we were doing just before lockdown and expect to be 5X of our current size by December 2021,” Pallavi says.
She adds the next three to five years for the company are all about growing at a breakneck speed.
“By helping retailers purchase, stock, sell, and digitise, Progcap is slowly becoming a core engine of their growth and profitability. The size of the market is expected to cross $1.5 trillion by March 2026, and Progcap is well positioned to be a leading player in supporting the growth of a small retailer,” Pallavi says.
She adds their broader mission is to be an end-to-end service provider for all retailer transactions. Progcap is aiming to impact over five million enterprises by the end of 2023.
Edited by Kanishk Singh


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I’ve been extremely fortunate to have access to Spotify for a couple years now and for the past several months have been paying for the premium service. Now… I can FINALLY stop biting my tongue (or making friends jealous): Spotify opened for business in the U.S. last week! Hit me up with an email if you’d like an invite for the free, ad-supported version. Or go ahead and sign up here if you’re ready to dive in (can’t go wrong trying it out for a month) at $4.99 or $9.99/month for the fully featured desktop streaming or fully-featured mobile syncing respectively.
Pro Publica has published a database that makes it easy for you to compare your access to quality education and at what cost in an effort to provide insight into the opportunity gap demonstrated by economic difference in the classroom.
The data for L.A.-area school districts indicates that the higher the percentage of students who get free or reduced-price lunches the lower the percentage of students who take at least one AP course. For example, 76 percent of LAUSD students receive free or discounted lunches and 16 percent take at least one AP course. The data flips, however, for Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified: 1 percent get free/reduced priced lunch, and 41 percent take at least one AP course.
Strong sales of new releases from the top ladies in song and multiple reissues of classic albums made the first half of 2011 the best 6 months for album sales since 2004, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The one percent increase in sales is little more than a tiny bright spot for an industry which has gone into a tailspin over the past decade. The major labels failed to capitalize on emerging digital distribution models early on and do not look to be in a position to recover any time soon.


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If You Think Wireless is Competitive Now, Just Wait Until the Apple, Samsung ‘8s’ Launch
At this year’s Mobile World Congress, the topic on everybody’s mind is the hotly increasing competition between U.S. wireless carriers—as evidenced by the rush to unlimited data plans unfolds.
That being said, things could, and most likely will get hotter. The two largest smartphone manufacturers will soon release their new devices—and both vendors seem to have something to prove.
The race to unlimited data has been on for some time. T-Mobile and Sprint have long offered unlimited data at excellent price points, but T-Mobile burst ahead when it launched T-Mobile One unlimited plan for everybody.
T-Mobile’s risky bet on unlimited data may have ushered in Verizon’s recent unlimited data plan. Not to be left in the dust, both U.S. Cellular and AT&T dropped their unlimited pricing.
While the race to unlimited has been exciting, the real battle is set for the fall, when Apple launches its iPhone 8. The device is expected to be curved and sport a new, faster charging system. Apple’s 2017 iPhone will mark the tenth anniversary of the original iPhone launch. The iPhone 8 represents another test of CEO Tim Cook’s vision and leadership.
In other words, there’s a lot riding on the iPhone 8.
Still, don’t count Samsung out yet. It, too, has a lot riding on the launch of its S8. Sure, the S7 debacle and recall are certain to have an impact on future sales, which is why Samsung didn’t launch its S-line model at the Mobil World Congress. And to be certain, Samsung’s top executives aren’t helping the brand with charges of bribery and embezzlement.
In the end, this divided and volatile market offers a wealth of opportunities for Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Major device launches often erupt into elevated levels of consumer switching. As a matter of fact, the iPhone 7 launch last year sparked U.S. wireless operators to launch unprecedented promotions to customers who would sign a two-year contract.


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Sunday, April 29, 2012
Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Pune, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Patna, Ranchi, Bhubaneshwar, Panaji, Gandhinagar, Trivendrum, Cochin, Shimla, Dehradun, Pondicherry, Lucknow and Agra
Will the Information Technology outsourcing market double in 2016? What are the key factors in growth of Business process outsourcing? What's the scope of Business process outsourcing industry? These and many more questions will be answered at the 26 Business process outsourcing conferences being organized across India, which promise to give an insight into leading issues relating to the development sector. Starting in New Delhi on May 23, the Bharatico Business process outsourcing Conference, being jointly organized by Business process outsourcing Association, brand specialist Promozz Media and event management firm Alpcord, is aimed at bringing to the fore interesting and inquisitive facts concerning the Business process outsourcing industry. Siddhaarth Sharma, vice president, Promozz Media, says "The Bharatico Business process outsourcing Conferences will have 26 keynote sessions and workshops along with over a 1000 senior professionals of the Business process outsourcing industry as speakers and over 10,000 Business process outsourcing experts as well as government officials presenting and discussing the growth and scope of the Business process outsourcing industry.” The conference draws significance as the the Business process outsourcing industry is set to hire over 230,000 people in Year 2012.
According to a recent survey by Ma Foi, ITES is one of the most optimistic sectors for hiring and they are among the top job generation sectors, with most of these leading from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities of the country. “The skill set for Business process outsourcing is shifting from urban towns to Tier 2 and 3 cities and that is where lies the answer to the near 400 per cent attrition that is plaguing the sector,” said Sandeep Jain, president of the Business process outsourcing Association. The conferences will be held at Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Pune, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Patna, Ranchi, Bhubaneshwar, Panaji, Gandhinagar, Trivendrum, Cochin, Shimla, Dehradun, Pondicherry, Lucknow and Agra. “While India is best equipped to capitalize on the available opportunities, efforts should be made to ensure that these opportunities are not lost to other offshore destinations,” said Mr.Manan Vashisht, senior vice president, Bharatico Infomedia Ltd.
Source: CIOL World


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GIC is known for its warehouse fixation, and the $100 billion Singaporean sovereign wealth fund has jumped back into logistics once again, acquiring P3 Logistic Parks for €2.4 billion ($2.6 billion) from TPG Real Estate and Ivanhoé Cambridge. The deal is the largest European real estate transaction in 2016 to date.
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund will get 163 warehouses in 62 locations with 3.3 million square metres (355 million square feet) of space across nine countries in continental Europe. P3 also has 11 new sites under construction with 300,000 square metres in the pipeline and a land bank of 1.4 million square metres.
“We believe P3’s strong growth will continue given its diversified, income-producing portfolio and substantial land bank,” Lee Kok Sun, Chief Investment Officer at GIC Real Estate said. “We are confident of the long-term potential of the European logistics sector, and look forward to expanding this attractive platform.”
TPG Real Estate and Ivanhoé Cambridge purchased P3 in 2013 from then bankrupt Arcapita Bank BSC. At the time of the sale, P3 had 44 warehouses with 1.46 million square meters under its control.
Will European Warehouses Replace Asian Assets?
GIC’s acquisition of Czech-based P3 and their collection of warehouses comes one week after details emerged of CIC’s reported interest in acquiring Global Logistic Properties and its 52 million square metres of warehouses.
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund holds a 37 percent stake in GLP and is the firm’s largest shareholder. A deal for the warehouse developer valued at $6 billion would rank among Asia’s largest corporate takeovers in history, but leave GIC short on sheds, an investment they have taken a liking to.
GIC Keeps the Flame Burning for Distribution
Warehouses might not be all that exciting to some, but logistics is where the magic happens for GIC. In late October, the firm teamed up with Indonesian warehouse provider PT Mega Manunggal Property to invest S$1 billion ($720 million) during the next three years on distribution facilities in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.
The fund also stepped up its exposure in South Korea’s logistics sector by investing in a fund managed by ADF Asset Management that purchased the Hyundai Logistics Distribution Center. GIC was also one of the earliest backers of logistics players Logos Property Group.
GIC made quite the shed splash in 2014 when it helped fund GLP’s purchase of US warehouse owner IndCor Properties Inc from Blackstone Group for $8.1 billion. The warehouse portfolio featured 117 million square feet (11 million square metres) of space located at facilities across the US.
Sovereign Wealth Funds Start Touring the Continent
With Brexit raising doubts about the UK market, GIC has made a significant investment in the continental Europe for a second straight month. The fund partnered with global student accommodation specialists GSA to invest in student housing in Germany.
China’s largest sovereign wealth fund has also been looking at the continent for deals. In September, CIC teamed up with private investment manager AEW to buy two French malls for €188 million ($206 million) from Grosvenor Europe. The deal saw the fund increase the number of retail complexes it owns in France to 10.


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Company’s Ultra-Low-Power AI Chips Put Deep Learning Processing Into Almost Any Consumer Device
Irvine, Calif., March 3, 2020 – Syntiant, an award-winning AI chip company providing custom always-on voice solutions at the edge, today announced it was named to the fourth annual CB Insights’ AI 100 ranking for the second year in a row. The listing showcases the 100 most promising private artificial intelligence companies in the world.
Syntiant's ultra-low-power AI processing solution enables always-on voice control for most any battery-powered device, from earbuds to laptops, offering highly accurate wake word, command word and event detection, free from a cloud connection and with near-zero power consumption.
“We’re thrilled to be listed again in the CB Insights’ AI 100 ranking,” said Kurt Busch. “Custom built to run neural workloads, our technology continues to be recognized as a leading deep learning solution for today’s consumer devices, providing 10x the performance at one-tenth the power, compared to any existing or proposed MCU alternative.”
Through an evidence-based approach, the CB Insights research team selected the AI 100 from nearly 5,000 companies based on several factors including patent activity, investor quality, news sentiment analysis, proprietary Mosaic scores, market potential, partnerships, competitive landscape, team strength, and tech novelty. The Mosaic Score, based on CB Insights’ algorithm, measures the overall health and growth potential of private companies to help predict a company’s momentum.
“It's been remarkable to see the success of the companies named to the Artificial Intelligence 100 over the last four years. The 2019 AI 100 saw 48 companies go on to raise $4.9B of additional financing and nine got acquired,” said CB Insights CEO Anand Sanwal. “It has been gratifying to see that CB Insights' data-driven approach to identifying the top AI companies using patents, customer traction, investor quality, market sizing and more has become so effective at picking the AI winners of tomorrow."
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Irvine, Calif., Syntiant Corp. is moving artificial intelligence from the cloud to edge devices. Syntiant’s advanced chip solutions merge deep learning with semiconductor design to produce ultra-low-power, high performance, deep neural network processors for always-on applications in battery-powered devices, ranging from hearing aids to smart speakers and mobile phones. The company is backed by some of the world’s strongest strategic investors, including Intel Capital, Microsoft M12, Bosch Ventures and the Amazon Alexa Fund. More information on the company can be found by visiting www.syntiant.comor by following Syntiant on Twitter @Syntiantcorp.
About CB Insights
CB Insights helps the world’s leading companies accelerate their digital strategy and transformation efforts with data, not opinion. Our Emerging Tech Insights Platform provides companies with actionable insights and tools to discover and manage their response to emerging technology and startups. To learn more, please visit www.cbinsights.com.
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OPPO F5, the first full-screen smartphone of the OPPO, set for Asian launch on October 26. The report has confirmed by the Company. The Event of launch will be hold in Philippine and six more countries will get it as well including Indonesia, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The Company has sent invitations to the press media to join the occasion. It is possible that after the Asian launch OPPO will be unveiled its new F5 smartphone in other regions but the Company has not yet revealed anything about it. Moreover about a new selfie tech of F5, OPPO said “The A.I. will self-learn and enhance each shot, as it takes more and more selfies.” It means the selfie expert OPPO F5 is carrying a ‘ground breaking A.I. Beauty recognition technology’ which offers you to experience more. The A.I tech adds beauty in selfies and uses artificial intelligence.
As per the specs listing, the OPPO F5 is rumored to have dual 12MP + 12MP selfie shooters, 20MP rear camera, a 6.0 inch full screen display, FHD+ resolution, and a 4000mAh powerful battery. The RAM and ROM will be 6GB and 64GB respectively. It will be based on Android Nougat OS. Sorry there is no info about the price but we will provide you as early as official.


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Apple has once again reiterated that, despite rumors to the contrary, the company did not intend to have a Touch ID fingerprint sensor embedded in the display of the iPhone X, and that Face ID was developed to be a full, permanent Touch ID replacement.
Dan Riccio, senior vice president of hardware engineering with Apple, was asked by TechCrunch about rumors that persisted throughout 2017 about Touch ID being embedded in the iPhone X display. They were all bogus, he said.
"I heard some rumor [that] we couldn't get Touch ID to work through the glass so we had to remove that," Riccio said. "When we hit early line of sight on getting Face ID to be [as] good as it was, we knew that if we could be successful we could enable the product that we wanted to go off and do. And if that's true, it could be something that we could burn the bridges and be all-in with. This was assuming it was a better solution.
"And that's what we did. So we spent no time looking at fingerprints on the back or through the glass or on the side, because if we did those things — which would be a last-minute change — they would be a distraction relative to enabling the more important thing that we were trying to achieve — which was Face ID done in a high-quality way."
Apple's Face ID technology introduced in the iPhone X is made up of four components including an infrared camera, a flood illuminator, a dot projector, and the front camera. The combination of sensors generates a 3D map of the face that it compares to the mathematical models of the stored face, utilizing the new A11 Bionic neural engine.
AppleInsider's own tests with the iPhone X Face ID have found that it is a near-immediate and reliable way of securely unlocking the handset.
Up until this summer, reports suggested Apple might offer some combination of Face ID facial recognition and Touch ID fingerprint scanning. But Apple has repeatedly said since announcing the iPhone X that Touch ID was never a consideration so late in the development of the device.
The latest rumors have gone in the opposite direction. Now, it is said that Apple is planning to implement Face ID in all new iPhones scheduled to arrive in late 2018, expediting the retirement of Touch ID.


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The Last Of Us Standalone Multiplayer Game Confirmed
The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann says creating a standalone game was the only way the team could "do justice" to the popularity of the original game's multiplayer mode.
A standalone Last of Us multiplayer game is on the way, Naughty Dog has announced. The news was shared during Summer Game Fest Live, as TLOU director Neil Druckmann took to the stage to also confirm the leaked Last of Us PS5/PC remake from earlier in the day. That leak led fans to wonder if the enhanced version of the 2013 game would include its multiplayer mode, and now we know that, while it will not include multiplayer, Naughty Dog is working on a standalone The Last of Us multiplayer game with a brand-new story and cast of characters.
According to Druckmann, the game will offer Naughty Dog's "biggest online experience," seemingly corroborating reporter Jeff Grubb's belief that the game will be a live-service title. Apart from that statement and the concept art below depicting a San Francisco setting, Druckmann didn't share any additional information about the game. However, additional details will be coming sometime next year.
SGF Live also brought news on the Last of Us TV show bringing back key actors from the games.
This isn't the first time news regarding a The Last of Us multiplayer game began to circulate. Back in 2021, Naughty Dog posted multiple job listings shedding a bit more light on what the studio was looking to accomplish with their next title. Not long after, a dataminer discovered evidence of a battle royale mode being included in the multiplayer game. The dataminer also found files indicating that several locations from The Last of Us Part II's single-player campaign, like Adler Plaza and Camallito, would be used to make "one big map" in the multiplayer title.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.


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For Honor's Assassin's Creed event gives players a chance to square off against Ezio and plenty of opportunities to spend Steel.
Ubisoft continues its recent trend of crossover events with its more melee- and history-focused franchises.
A new year means a new load of content for dedicated For Honor players.
For Honor's biggest expansion ever is now live, and you can get a glimpse of what's in store.
Just ahead of the release of For Honor's biggest update yet, the game has reached a new milestone.
For Honor's new mode is perfect for casual players like me, but its entry price might be too much of a barrier.
New content and game adjustments continue to keep For Honor firmly on its feet.


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Thirty local chefs and more than 600 guests helped Sustainable Food Center celebrate its 40th anniversary year at SFC's 8th annual Farm to Plate fundraiser at Barr Mansion. SFC also presented the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Suzanne Santos, SFC farmers’ market director, with the Changemaker award at the event. The Changemaker award honors individuals and organizations that have contributed to SFC’s mission in a significant way.
See snaps from our annual fete presented by Simon G. Fine Jewelry.
We partnered with Swift Fit Events to host a free yoga class with our 2023 Most Eligible Singles.
Nearly 600 guests came out to the Long Center on April 8 to devour the best of everything under the bun.


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If you're unaware of just what a terrible mess BlackBerry has turned into - starting way, way back in its Research In Motion days - you clearly haven't been paying attention. A catastrophic collapse in market share, the failure of its PlayBook tablet, and the seemingly endless delays in launching BlackBerry 10 have devastated the company in recent years, as has the slow but steady rise of Windows Phone, which is now firmly entrenched as the third smartphone ecosystem.
The announcement three months ago that BlackBerry plans to share one of its key differentiators, BBM, with its Android and iOS rivals has apparently done little to change the company's prospects, although it's worth noting that BBM still hasn't launched on either platform. Even so, the BlackBerry 10 products that have launched so far have apparently failed to meet sales expectations.
BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins
It's perhaps no surprise, then, that BlackBerry's board of directors issued a press release today, revealing that the company is now conducting a review of its situation, and how best to move forward. In the release - in which the company is referred to as "a world leader in the mobile communications market" - it was announced that the board has established a Special Committee to review strategic options for the company.
It said that the committee will consider "alternatives to enhance value and increase scale in order to accelerate BlackBerry 10 deployment". Among the alternatives listed are joint ventures, strategic partnerships or alliances and, crucially, a sale of the company.
Remember this BlackBerry ad campaign from last year...?
The news release appears to be an implicit admission by the board that BlackBerry no longer envisages a future in which it is able to operate entirely independently, with two of the scenarios mentioned involving a second company being brought in to, at the very least, support BlackBerry's efforts. It's certainly telling that the board would so openly discuss the possibility of a sale too.
Even so, there remains the possibility that the committee may simply recommend that the company do nothing at all, as the final paragraph of the press release makes clear. One other possibility, which surfaced last week, is that BlackBerry may go private.


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Boasting agenda-setting debate on the research, technology and ingredients setting new trends in nutrition and functional foods, industry insiders cannot afford to miss Food Matters Live 2018.
The three-day, free-to-attend event at London's ExCeL brings together hundreds of influential speakers from across the food and drink sector to discuss the biggest challenges, key trends and innovations in the health and wellbeing market.
Thought leadership on everything from progress on cutting sugar and calories, the best ways to bring about dietary change to the future of food technology and how food design affects what we eat, will be heard on the main conference stage from 50 influential conference speakers, including industry leaders, food innovators and nutrition experts.
Confirmed speakers include neuroscientist Nick Lesica, Starbucks R&D vice president Sara Bruce-Goodwin, Bosh founder Henry Firth, WHO technical officer Jo Jewell, Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge and Public Health England chief executive Duncan Selbie.
Meanwhile practical insight, case studies and advice from 80 cross-sector experts will be on hand in a series of seminars grouped around key health and wellbeing themes, from tackling obesity to the future of the free-from market.
Of particular interest to the nutraceutical community will be the wide-ranging seminars on nutrition for health and wellbeing, focused on the latest ingredients and research.
From what the latest nutraceutical innovations, food trends and research mean for bones and joints, heart, immune and digestive health to the role of probiotics in sports nutrition, the impact of data privacy on personalised nutrition and emerging trends for boosting cognitive health, these sessions will offer insight into the latest research and development.
Away from the debates, on the exhibition floor, visitors can get expert advice about the latest innovations in dietary supplements, functional foods and sports nutrition in the Nutraceutical Showcase.
With participants including Lamberts Healthcare, DCC and BetterYou, it is also supported by the Council for Responsible Nutrition UK, with experts advising on the safety and quality of food supplements and regulations around them.
And an exciting new attraction for 2018, the Innovative Ingredients Live theatre, will examine the science behind some of the most exciting new functional ingredients set to change the nutrition sector.
Ingredient companies demonstrating their solutions for the nutra industry will include manufacturers such as DSM, Lonza, Astareal and Friesland Campina as well as distributors including i-ingredients, Protec Nutra, Brenntag, and Univar
Among those taking part, DSM business manager Marieke Overeijnder will discuss the natural flavours and yeast extracts being used to provide great taste and texture in meat substitutes while Tiger Nut Company co-founder Ani de la Prida will discuss the benefits of and exciting new products made from this tiny root vegetable.
Other ingredients discussed will include plant protein powder Lentein Complete, functional ingredients from the small insect species Alphitobius Diaperinus and bioactive collagen peptide Tendoforte, targeted at tendon and ligament health.
The UK's largest gathering of ingredients companies will also be hosted on a dedicated platform offering visitors the chance to sample their goods. Ingredient companies demonstrating their solutions for the nutra industry will include manufacturers such as DSM, Lonza, Astareal and Friesland Campina as well as distributors including i-ingredients, Protec Nutra, Brenntag, and Univar.
They are just part of a comprehensive curated exhibition, involving 800 businesses from major food and drink manufacturers to innovative start-ups, arranged in zones according to key growth areas from healthy snacking to sports nutrition and free-from food and drink.
ESSNA and the Health Food Manufacturers Association return as key supporters for 2018.
And an enhanced match-making service will enable exhibitors and visitors to identify potential business partners among innovative product and ingredient suppliers.
Briony Mansell-Lewis, Food Matters Live Director, said: "Food Matters Live is fast becoming an annual education and business opportunity for many in the industry.
"We’re delighted once again to welcome so many experts to share best practice, forge collaborative relationships, find solutions to challenges and explore new ways of working with colleagues across the food, nutrition and health sectors."
Food Matters Live is free to attend, including entry to the conference, seminars and all visitor attractions. Register at www.foodmatterslive.com


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January 2017, Sloane Magazine
Go back 20 years and 50 was considered the age at which you began to ‘wind down’. If life began at 40, for women espe...
January 2017, Michelle Heaton Loves
Michelle Heaton, Celebrity and Fitness Expert has been sharing her love for Studio 10's Hydra Lift I-Corrector on s...
January 2017, Black Hair and Beauty Mag
Black Hair and Beauty Mag have featured Grace Fodor and Miracle Effect Priming Serum, in an article aimed at women as...


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Business and financial news company Bloomberg|Quinthas launched a WhatsApp service for decision makers and executives on the go. A first-of-its-kind offering in the business space, the service will connect subscribers to Bloomberg|Quint’s daily coverage of global and domestic business news, market movements and views from corporate leaders. This service follows the recent launch of Bloomberg|Quint’s BQ Live, India’s first digital live streaming business news service available across its site, the bloomberg terminal and leading social and video platforms.
Bloomberg|Quint has launched this service to deepen its engagement with users and augment its distribution footprint. Subscribers to the service receive Bloomberg|Quint’s “All You Need To Know” morning podcast, alerts and updates on the economy, corporate and markets news. Users can also interact through hashtag-based search to consume content of their interest such as markets, opinion, business and politics.
To subscribe, users have to click on this link and save the number as a WhatsApp contact, and message ‘Start BQ’ to initiate their subscription.
Within days of launch, the service has garnered a strong positive response from users.
Bloomberg|Quint provides business news and insights to India’s decision-makers, executives and entrepreneurs. Its content spans engaging and mobile-friendly formats, including live video streaming and produced video, published articles, op-eds, data infographics and charts, social content, newsletters, polls and live chats, photo essays and contests across its own and partner platforms, including The Quint, Twitter, Yahoo and Facebook.
Bloomberg|Quint reaches to over 2 million monthly users across its on-site and partner platforms. More than 50% of its audience comprises C-level executives and entrepreneurs.
In partnership between Bloomberg Media and Quintillion Media, Bloomberg|Quint is a multi-platform business and financial media company. It harnesses the unrivalled global resources of Bloomberg with Quintillion’s deep market experience in its platform straddling broadcast, digital, live events to serve high quality business news, insights and trends to consumers.


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State of Japan and Korea’s eCommerce markets- What are the trends shaping these huge digtial markets and how can you benefit? Japan is the world’s third largest— and one of the fastest growing—ecommerce markets in the world. The growth rate has become stable over the past few years, with annual growth estimated at 8.7%. With Internet penetration estimated at 91% of the population, Japan represents a significant market opportunity.
Due to strong technological and mobile adoption, South Korea is one of the biggest e-commerce markets worldwide. Industry figures suggest that the retail e-commerce volume in the country will grow to 32.56 billion U.S. dollars by 2021.


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KHLOE Kardashian looked unrecognizable when she appeared with blue eyes for new Christmas ad with mom Kris, grandma MJ & daughter True, 3.
Last week, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians alum debuted the new look for a make-up video ad.
Kris, her mother MJ Shannon, Khloé and True donned the Christmas pajamas and partnered with The Children's Place and Afterpay on The Children's Place 2021 Holiday Matching Family Pajama Collection.
Kris told People: "One of our favorite family holiday traditions is dressing up in matching pajamas.
"It's the fun of waking up on Christmas morning. The Children's Place has such a huge selection and we were excited to get to choose our favorite ones."
For the pic, Kris sported the Winter Bear Collection, while Khloe and True modeled the Thermal Buffalo Plaid Collection, and MJ appeared in the We Are Family Collection.
Kris told People, True "loved" wearing matching pajamas for the shoot and had fun with the "holiday set with the Christmas tree and presents."
Kris told the magazine her family "always choose[s] someone's home to celebrate Christmas morning and we bring all the gifts to that home."
Most read in Entertainment
"Christmas is such an important holiday for us to be all together.
"We hope to have our holiday party back this year – last year's was a smaller version so we'll have to see as we get closer."
Kris added her favorite part of Christmas with the famile is "seeing their faces when they wake up Christmas morning. That never gets old!"
Last week, Khloe changed up her look, this time to promote a three-step body-shaping kit from a cosmetics company she said she’s been using for a couple of months.
She appeared with blonde hair, plumped lips and blue eyes.
She accentuated her icy irises with a sparkly black-and-gray smokey eye, which popped against her rosy cheeks and pink pout.
Showing off her hourglass figure, Khloe wore a bright pink, low-cut sports bra, revealing her ample cleavage and toned tummy and shoulders.
“Just like every other girl, I love beauty products,” the star, who just revealed her hair fell out during her Covid battle, told fans.
Khlo continued: “I love to try new things, I love to see how they respond to my body, and I’m always looking for that little extra umph that you can get from beauty products.”
Khloe also recently opened up about her hair "struggles" during a Twitter Space Chat.
The reality star told fans that her "hair really fell out with COVID," admitting "it was really a struggle for a minute."
Previously, Khloe was of photoshopping a pic of her posing in a skintight black and red catsuit overlooking a balcony.
However, New York City professional photographer and photoshop expert Ruthie Darling said: "Khloe appears to have warped the photo to make the waist smaller and the butt bigger with the liquify tool."
The 37-year-old was also spotted filming the famous family’s new Hulu show as their $150M KUWTK contract ends.


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iPhone 15 Rumored to Lack SIM Card Tray in France and Likely Other Countries
As rumors continue to circulate about the potential release of the iPhone 15, new information has emerged about one of its potentially most controversial features – the lack of a physical SIM card tray.
According to a report from French blog iGeneration, the iPhone 15 could be the first Apple handset to do away with the physical SIM card tray in favor of an all-digital eSIM. This would mean that users in France (and potentially other countries) would have to rely on their carrier’s eSIM in order to use their phone.
While this would certainly be a controversial move on Apple’s part, it’s worth noting that the company has been increasingly moving towards an all-digital future. For example, the company recently replaced its physical iPod Touch with the all-digital iPod Nano.
So far, there’s no word on whether or not this rumor is true. However, if Apple does indeed release an iPhone 15 without a physical SIM card tray, it would be a major shift in the company’s strategy.


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Silicon Dragon’s annual NYC forum explored the growing connections between the U.S., China and Israel for venture investment, technology innovation and deals. Plus, Silicon Dragon launched its pitch contest.
Category: Events 2016
Venture capitalists Jenny Lee, Melissa Guzy and Anna Fang discuss their view of the global startup and funding scene. Join us June 2 eve in Hong Kong.
Silicon Dragon’s series of tech innovation and venture programs lands in Sydney — the 3rd time since 2013 — to discuss fintech innovations and hear from the Australian winners in the Forbes Asia 30 under 30.
A Tipping Point for China’s Founders and Venture Investors
Silicon Dragon’s 5th annual forum in Hong Kong puts a spotlight on the rising stars of Asia and their investors.
Taiwan is entering a new era of cool and well-funded tech startups of all kinds — no longer known only as the semiconductor capital of the world.


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Coleman Milne has welcomed guests from across the UK funeral industry to experience its highly anticipated, all-electric Etive hearse based on the popular Ford Mustang Mach-E platform. Taking place at the British Motor Museum in Warwickshire on 1 March, the event gave guests the opportunity to see the new hearse up close and learn more about its development.Head of Sales, Graham Clow, and Head of Engineering for Coleman Milne, Ross Garner, gave a unique insight on the vehicle’s inception almost three years ago, and detailed the innovative manufacturing techniques needed to deliver a lightweight, practical and robust all-electric funeral vehicle. He also explained how, following the event, the Etive hearse would begin an accelerated 40,000 mile durability testing programme at world-renowned vehicle validation facility, UTAC Millbrook, in Bedfordshire.
Guests were also able to learn about the new Etive limousine, the first of which is currently in production, and will join the Etive hearse on a tour of UK customers in May. Further details on the Etive customer tour will be announced in due course, while more information on Coleman Milne’s Etive range can be found here


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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Mobile commerce sales grew 29% to $153 billion in 2017 from the prior year, making up one-third of online retail revenue, a new report reveals.
A report from Forrester Research estimates the rate will gradually slow as the market matures, growing by 13% a year to make up half of U.S. online retail sales growth by 2022, Mobile Marketer reported.
“More than two-thirds of today's online buyers are already mobile buyers, leaving less room for growth. About half of online adults in the country shopped on their phone at least once in 2017,” Mobile Marketer said.
Forrester forecasts the U.S. will add 53 million smartphone shoppers in the next five years to make up 82% of online shoppers buying through a mobile device. The next wave of buyers consists of late adopters of mobile shopping technology.
Retail sales made on tablets continue to lose momentum, with 6% annual growth projected between 2017 and 2022, outpaced by smartphone retail sales growth of 16%, the study shows.


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AT&T's debut of the iPhone 3G in July was a huge hit with consumers and big boost for AT&T in terms of subscribers, but the subsidies on the iPhone 3G wreaked some havoc on company's margins. The company said today that it sold 2.4 million iPhone 3G devices in the third quarter, and its total net adds were 2 million, bringing AT&T's total wireless customer base to 74.9 million. However, iPhone 3G subsidies reduced pretax third-quarter earnings by $900 million or 10 cents per share. AT&T's wireless operating income margin was 22.8 percent vs. 26.4 percent in the year-earlier quarter. AT&T wireless revenues were up 15.4 percent to $12.6 billion and wireless service revenues were $11.3 billion.
During this morning's call with investors Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility and consumer market, said that the iPhone 3G will provide substantial long-term value for the company and said that already it has caused same-store traffic to increase, and contributed to strong data revenue growth. Here's breakdown of the third-quarter metrics:
Subscriber growth: Total wireless subscribers increased 2 million, with retail postpaid subscribers increased 1.7 million, which is the largest quarterly postpaid subscriber increase in company history. The company sold 2.4 million iPhone 3G devices and 40 percent of those activations were for customers that are new to AT&t.
Churn: Churn was 1.7 percent--the same as the year-earlier quarter. Postpaid churn was 1.2 percent, down from 1.3 percent in third quarter 2007.
ARPU: Average revenue per user was $58.99, up 2.6 percent vs. third quarter 2007.
Data: Data revenue increased 50.5 percent over the previous year for a total revenue of $2.7 billion. MMS volumes were more than double third quarter 2007 volumes. AT&T's UMTS/HSPA network is in 324 cities and will expand to 350 by year-end.
Devices: About 22 percent of AT&T postpaid wireless customers have an integrated device, up from 10.5 percent a year ago. About 17 million AT&T customers have 3G devices. Nearly 5.9 million customers use 3G LaptopConnect cards and broadband-speed integrated devices with a Qwerty or touchscreen keyboard.
- see this press release
AT&T adds 1.3M subs; wireless data revenue surges
AT&T will subsidize 3G iPhone


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Huawei has just launched a new version of its fold screen phone. The year-old Mate X is now refurbished under the name Huawei Mate Xs. The phone is more Gahar supplied with the Kirin 990 5G chipset. Other updates are better hinge structures and upgraded cooling systems. But in design there are no changes. Similarly, the screen and the camera remain the same as Mate X. Quoted … [Read more...] about Huawei Mate Xs Kirin 990 5G – User Guide
Huawei P40 and P40 Pro, Huawei finally confirmed the presence of their latest flagship smartphone, the Huawei P40 and P40 Pro. Both of these phones will be released in Paris in March 2020 next year. The information was revealed by the Head of Huawei Consumer Division, Richard Yu in an interview. Richard said that both of his latest smartphones would have a design never before … [Read more...] about Huawei P40 / P40 Pro release March 2020 – User Guide
Huawei Y9s reviews - Huawei announces its latest mobile phone in the intermediate segment, which is Huawei Y9s. As reported from the GSM Arena page, the phone is wrapped in 6.59 inches of 1080 pixels and no notch or bangs. As a result, the screen to body ratio extends to 91 percent. Instead, Huawei placed the front camera with a 16 MP resolution pop-up mechanism. While the rear … [Read more...] about Huawei Y9s – Manuals Online
Huawei Nova 5z reviews - Huawei announces smartphone sixth series of Huawei Nova 5 series. This latest mobile phone was named Nova 5z. Huawei posted a picture on the Chinese social network Weibo to reveal the design of the phone and some specs. As you see, Huawei Nova 5z looks similar to Nova 5i Pro. On the front, the screen is marked with a punch hole where the camera and on … [Read more...] about Huawei Nova 5z – User’s Guide
The Huawei Mate 30 Pro and Huawei Mate 30 are predicted to have a lot of cameras. This is due to Huawei P30 Pro equipped with four rear cameras. However, the layout of the lens and its shape seems to be different from the Huawei P30 Pro. Reported from Tech Radar, Tuesday (9/7/2019) An image was leaked and shared by a Weibo account @ichangezone showing the back of the Huawei … [Read more...] about Huawei Mate 30 bring 4 cameras with circular shapes?


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CARDIOVIT AT-102 G2: Decision makers about the advantages
After the launch of the latest SCHILLER ecg device
With the launch of CARDIOVIT AT-102 G2, SCHILLER is releasing the latest generation of ECG devices. Dr. Michela Perrini, Global Product Manager at SCHILLER in Baar, Switzerland: "In the CARDIOVIT AT-102 G2 we have implemented our many years of experience, customer wishes and optimization possibilities. Our developers have used the latest and best technologies. The device makes a quantum leap in electrocardiography in one fell swoop“. The first 300 units CARDIOVIT AT-102 G2 have already been shipped. The decision makers of Mehiläinen in Finland reveal the devices key qualities they wanted to adopt in their nationwide institution.


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Samsung Used An iPhone To Tweet Their New Phone, And Everyone's Reactions Will Make You Laugh
Someone who handles Samsung's Twitter page made a big, hilarious mistake yesterday.
While promoting a new phone's video on the micro-blogging website, the Samsung post was actually posted from an iPhone Twitter client. A fact that people noticed and made fun of aplenty, obviously.
The act didn't miss the watchful eyes of MKBHD, as he shared an image of the embarrassing Samsung tweet. Earlier this year, he had caught a similar funny update from Anushka Sharma when she promoted Google Pixel through an iPhone.
This is what MKBHD tweeted out -- the first image showing the original accidental tweet by Samsung, and later they clearly disabled that account by pull its plug. Over-reaction much?
In classic internet fashion, people responded to Samsung's misery over the iPhone tweet with hilarious reactions. Here are some pick of the bunch:
C'mon Samsung. pic.twitter.com/9kI5sUB5Ka— Tomas (@tomas_villegas) December 2, 2018
Man ... this is too much ... This is the best advertisement iPhones can have. I feel disappointed in how they always end up doing it.— Piyush Soni (@piyush_soni) December 2, 2018
And after the account was disabled, this is what followed:
You can't tweet from the wrong phone if you don't have an account. pic.twitter.com/0SORcpCRaX— Kaustubh Debnath (@kdcloudy) December 2, 2018
How Samsung Mobile NG dealt this "via Twitter for iPhone" issue... pic.twitter.com/MzIjCp2JsC— 🐺 Efo Dela 🐐 (@Amegaxi) December 2, 2018
Dude u just got someone fired— Praveen Uduweriya (@prav_u) December 2, 2018
Besides all the jokes and laughs, we seriously hope someone at Samsung hasn't really lost their job. But maybe they need to be extra careful while posting on social media -- not from an iPhone, for starters.


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A Lossiemouth woman’s campaign to save the town’s Royal Mail delivery office has reached an “unfortunate” end – following an announcement the building will close within days.
Fran Mitchell launched a petition against plans to relocate the town’s High Street collection point to Elgin which would leave residents facing a 12-mile round trip to pick up items.
And after circulating the appeal she attracted the support of more than 1,500 backers who shared her opposition to the proposal.
Moray MP Angus Robertson and MSP Richard Lochhead also supported her drive.
Ms Mitchell had claimed the relocation would “really hit” pensioners and young parents on a low income – and inconvenience those without personal transport.
The outraged shop worker said the loss of the service compounded her fears that Lossiemouth was becoming a “ghost town”.
But, despite the public outcry, Royal Mail has progressed plans for the collection point’s closure and confirmed that it will shut for good on Monday, June 6.
Last night, Mr Robertson said: “With concerns being raised in the local community about the closure of the Lossiemouth delivery office, I raised these issues with the Royal Mail and also sought the views of the union.
“Unfortunately, the campaigning efforts in Lossiemouth and my own efforts to support them have not been heeded.”
Royal Mail has moved to ease residents’ worries about the relocation.
Representatives from the organisation said the move is part of an “ongoing transformation of the business” that will increase its efficiency, and that the Lossiemouth office was no longer fit for purpose.
A spokesman for Royal Mail said they had investigated establishing a new delivery base in Lossiemouth, but said it could not identify a suitable location.
He said: “As a commercial business, Royal Mail is operating in a market where letters are in structural decline and where there is competition in letters and parcels.
“The Lossiemouth office is no longer fit for purpose, as we now deal with many more parcels.
“All services, including picking up mail, will transfer to Elgin delivery office, which has increased opening hours and improved facilities for customers.”
The firm also stressed that arrangements can be made to leave undelivered post with neighbours.


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Four months ago, Amwaj Mohammed could have been arrested for driving in Saudi Arabia. Now, she earns money driving for Careem — thanks to a royal decree that allowed Saudi women to drive.
Saudi Arabia in June became the last country to grant women driving rights, and it's the only one to do so in the age of ride-hailing apps. Uber and Careem, in the latest example of their regional rivalry, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on initiatives to attract female Saudi drivers to their platform. Four months later, Careem says it has over 2,000 female drivers on the road, and Uber says it has "a handful."
An Uber spokesperson said that many women who have indicated interest in Uber are still in the process of obtaining a license. When asked about Careem's success in recruiting licensed drivers, the spokesperson expressed having "no clue" about "what they [Careem] are doing or how they've done it."
Uber has pulled out of several international markets with tough local competition, such as Russia, China and Southeast Asia, aiming to trim losses ahead of an anticipated 2019 initial public offering of its stock. Yet Uber continues to compete in the Middle East against homegrown rival Careem, which announced $200 million in fresh funding on Thursday. Saudi Arabia holds particular significance: Its sovereign wealth fund became Uber's largest single-buyer investor when it bought a $3.5 billion stake in 2016.
Before the ban, women accounted for 80 percent of Uber's customers and 70 percent of Careem's. Now, with social and market tides changing, Careem may be beating Uber to the new market of potential drivers.


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SOUTH Wales Central AM Chris Franks has pledged to give up non-Fairtrade chocolate as part of this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight.
The aim of the fortnight, themed “The Big Swap”, is to get 1,000,000 pledges from consumers and businesses across the UK to swap one non-Fairtrade product for its Fairtrade alternative.
Following a meeting with Sri Lankan tea producer Dushantha Delwita, Plaid Cymru member Mr Franks made his own pledge and urged others to do the same.
He said: “I would encourage more people to do the same and make a switch to Fairtrade goods. Wales has become a fair trade nation which is an important step in creating a fairer world.”
He also added his signature to the world’s biggest Fairtrade tablecloth, made from patchwork pieces from 100 schools in Wales.


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Mark Zuckerberg is set to answer your questions in a Facebook Live Q&A
Mark Zuckerberg has announced his first public Q&A session, which will take place on the 14th of June through Facebook Live.
Ever had a burning question for the man who co-founded the world’s largest social network? Sure you have, and here’s your chance to ask them: Mark Zuckerberg is set to host is first public Q&A session in a promotion bid for Facebook Live.
Zuckerberg has made no secret that he believes Facebook‘s next major foray will be in live video streaming – most recently, Facebook announced a partnership with Blizzard to bring live video streaming capabilities directly into the latter’s newest title, Overwatch. Read: Facebook Live video streaming dips into gaming with Overwatch
In typical fashion, Zuckerberg made little fanfare of the event, simply announcing the Q&A session through a video clip which features a typed-out message on a black background, naming the time and date of the event.
Facebook’s CEO is set to answer questions from 11.30am PT (20:30pm UTC+2) on the 14th of June, which leaves just over six days for interested participants to craft their questions.
Since that post, over 5,000 comments have arrived sporting myriads of questions, likely leaving Zuckerberg (or a social media team) with a great deal of filtering work on their hands.
Citing his excitement to interact with Facebook’s online community, Zuckerberg said that “with Live I can hear from more of our community at once and it‘s a lot more interactive… We can cover all the big areas you‘re interested in “” connecting the world, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, live video, entrepreneurship, philanthropy and more.“ Read: Facebook‘s DeepText AI will analyse everything you write
What do you plan to ask Mark Zuckerberg, and what are your thoughts on the Facebook founder’s first online Q&A session? Be sure to let us know your opinion and questions in the comments below!
Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA


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BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
Bulawayo City Council says infrastructure such as road traffic signs worth $300 000 was destroyed in last month’s deadly protests, piling more woes on the financially hamstrung local authority, a latest council report shows.
Traffic signs, kerbings and shops were destroyed during the protests triggered by hikes in the price of fuel, while the burning of tyres and use of boulders to block roads resulted in potholes.
The general municipality’s purpose committee estimated costs of damages caused by the protests to have reached $296 835.
“BCC was affected through damage to road furniture, traffic signs, traffic lights, City Hall benches, and kerbings. There was also damage to road markings while the damage to road pavement included burning of carriageway surfacing (road tarmac) and damage to surfacing resulting from the removal of kerbing.
“There was damage to schools and health facilities experienced in some areas,” the report read.
A survey in Bulawayo yesterday showed that the local authority is battling to replace the destroyed traffic signs, robots, kerbings and direction signs, owing to a biting financial squeeze.
In a related matter, the local authority has introduced temporary shop trading permits allowing businesspeople, whose properties were destroyed in the protests, to operate from caravans, and homes, among other places.
The temporary permits, ranging from six months to a year are, however, subject to traders complying with minimum health requirements applicable for goods set for trade at the said premises.
“The situation is now a humanitarian crisis since people have no shopping facilities and are not able to buy low order goods. Most people might not afford to travel to the city centre to buy daily necessities.
“This has left the shop owners with no premises to operate from and also the residents with no shops from which to buy their daily necessities,” a council report justifying the temporary permits reads in part.


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Angels' Mike Trout rookie card sells for record $3.93M at auction
Trout's card surpassed the previous $3.12 million 1909 Honus Wagner T-206 card in 2016
Not only is Los Angeles Angels superstar Mike Trout the best player in baseball, but his one-of-a-kind rookie card is now in a stratosphere of its own as well.
Trout’s autographed 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Superfractor rookie card sold for a record $3.93 million on Saturday, making it the most expensive trading card in history, surpassing the previous $3.12 million 1909 Honus Wagner T-206 card in 2016.
Trout’s rookie card had a mint 9 rating by Beckett Grading, which is the third-highest grade a card can get. The autograph was graded a perfect 10 for a 9.5 overall rating. Goldin Auctions sold the card online and released a statement on the sale.
Trout saw one of his cards sell for $923,000 back in May. At the time, it held the record for the most expensive modern-day card.
“This event was somewhat of a perfect storm as we had a remarkable collection of historic memorabilia supported by incredible marketing and publicity during a great market for sports collectibles,” Goldin Auction’s Ken Goldin wrote in a release.
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Most recently, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James saw one of his rare rookie cards sell for a record $1.8 million at an auction in mid-July. James, who played for the Cleveland Cavaliers at the time, signed the card, and a patch from one of his jerseys was featured as well. Only 23 of the items were ever made.


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The 13th staging of Guinness Sounds of is a generic pill for levitra Greatness Competition (GSOG) returns later this month, albeit virtually.
Eight sound systems will do battle for a cash prize of $1m, when the competition begins to unfold May 28-July 9.
During the launch which took place yesterday, Brand Manager for Guinness, Lyshon Davis, notes how the brand aims to keep the dancehall culture alive throughout the pandemic, as well as some of what to expect during the competition.
Meanwhile, she shares how viewers and consumers can get involved.
Guinness Sounds of Greatness Competition will be aired via the brand’s social media pages.


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Kohl’s and Capital One, National Association, a subsidiary of Capital One Financial Corporation, today announced a multi-year extension of their credit card program agreement. This is the second contract extension, with the most recent one occurring in 2014, and will allow the companies to continue to build on their relationship and provide industry-leading experiences and highly compelling products to Kohl’s millions of customers.
The contract extension with Kohl’s enables consumers to have expanded buying power and further solidifies an already strong partnership. Kohl’s high product standards and the company’s focus on customer service extends through its private label credit card program, Kohl’s Card, which offers cardholders access to exclusive offers, guaranteed savings and online payment services. The two companies have also agreed to a co-branded card product piloted as early as 2023.
“The Kohl’s credit program is an invaluable piece of our loyalty program and we are pleased to continue this important partnership with Capital One to bring the best value to our customers,” said Greg Revelle, Kohl’s chief marketing officer. “For many years, Capital One has been a strong partner and we look forward to building upon our work together to innovate and drive excellence in the customer experience.”
Kohl’s loyalty offerings include Kohl’s Card, Kohl’s Rewards and the Company’s iconic Kohl’s Cash coupons. The Company recently announced plans to roll out enhanced rewards for Kohl’s Card cardholders this spring. Kohl’s Rewards members will earn 7.5% when they use their Kohl’s Card — delivering 50% more in rewards for Kohl’s Card members who are also Rewards members.
“From the start of our partnership with Kohl’s in 2011, our shared focus on innovation and growth has allowed our organizations to strategically invest to deliver exceptional value to customers,” said Buck Stinson, SVP of Card Partnerships at Capital One. “This extension is a testament to our commitment to building long-standing, mutually beneficial partnerships and demonstrates how we build relationships and deliver results over the long-term.”


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The Union government has directed pharma companies not to withdraw coronary stents from the market on the pretext of relabelling.
It has rolled out a notification to tackle the sudden scarcity of stents at hospitals, Union Minister for Pharmaceuticals H N Ananth Kumar said on Friday.
On Wednesday, a day after a price cap came into force, hospitals said manufacturers were taking their stents back. Stents are tube-like devices that improve blood flow to the heart.
DH was the first to report the shortage and what Dr Devi Shetty, chairman of Narayana Health, described as ‘commotion’ at the hospitals.
The Centre’s notification directs manufacturers to continue making stents in the same volumes as the last three years.
Speaking on the sidelines of an event, Kumar said manufacturers needn’t withdraw stents just to relabel them. “But they must sell them at the capped prices,” he said.
The minister contended price restrictions would not adversely impact the device industry.
“The average MRP in the market was Rs 45,000 for bare metal stents and Rs 1.21 lakh for drug-eluting stents. This is now Rs 7,623 and Rs 31,080. Patients will get an average benefit of Rs 80,000 to Rs 90,000 per stent, resulting in a gross relief of Rs 4,450 crore in a year,” he said.
According to a health ministry report, more than 3.5 lakh procedures were performed in 2015 using 4.73 lakh stents.
In 2016, the numbers must have touched five lakh, he said. The market for stents made in India is roughly 30%.
Dr C N Manjunath, director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, and Dr Devi Shetty have criticised the government’s decision to regulate prices.
Warning on price
Hospitals and manufacturers caught flouting the price restriction on coronary stents will attract punishment, Union Minister Ananth Kumar warned.
“Violations or deviations will attract criminal charges and cancellation of licences. The excess cost will have to be returned to the buyer with 15% interest,” he said.
In a statement, the Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI) said member companies had only recalled their products for relabelling with slashed prices.


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Electronics Giant LG is Testing R3’s Distributed Ledger Software
A subsidiary of multinational electronics firm LG has announced it intends to investigate blockchain use cases in finance.
Electronics giant Samsung is adding dapps to its online store in a bid to outpace its competition.
Tech giant Samsung Electronics is joining six other major South Korean firms to develop a blockchain-based certificate and ID authentication network.
Korean media organization Chosun also said LG has completed market research on dapp and blockchain providers.
LG has experimented with blockchain since 2017 through its many subsidiaries. This is the closest its gotten to releasing a wallet.
South Korean telco LG Uplus is to trial a blockchain-based mobile payment service aimed to let travelers save fees when shopping abroad.


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The cause of cleaner vehicles has been addressed in past Budgets in different ways. In some years, through Customs duty on few electric vehicle (EV) parts, so as to encourage local manufacturing. Last year, it was the brief announcement on a scrappage policy for commercial and personal vehicles. This year, it is the declaration that the government will promote a shift to use of public transport in urban areas led by EVs, as well as the announcement of a battery swapping policy.
Public transport and battery swapping
The focus on public transport and in that the use of clean tech, bodes well for listed e-bus manufacturers such as Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and JBM Auto. The announcement is also a continuation of the streamlining announced in the procurement of e-buses in mid-2021 so as to remove roadblocks in e-bus adoption among states.
Since then, under FAME II scheme, demand for e-buses from States are being aggregated through the government run Energy Efficiency Services. For manufacturers who in the past had been grappling with widely varying terms and conditions for bidding across states and cities, the presence of a nodal agency has helped in bringing about a standard eligibility criteria for bidding as well as in payment terms and in other technical and functional requirements. With city buses plying fixed routes with set timings, announcement on battery swapping will provide an impetus to greater e-bus adoption too, as the turnaround times in swapping is expected to be much lower than time taken for charging. According to a statement by the Transport Minister in October 2021, India is expected to have 40 per cent EV penetration for buses by 2030 and these moves are a step forward towards achieving this goal.
Data from Bloomberg NEF shows that the volume weighted average price of an EV lithium-ion battery (pack & cell) has come down for $684/kwh in 2013 to about $132/kwh as of 2021. Still, batteries and associated components constitute at least one third of the cost of an EV if not more and hence, ability to bring down this cost by any means, will help higher adoption. Considering that batteries are also an imported component, the government earlier announced the ₹18,100 crore PLI Scheme for Advanced Chemistry cell batteries in mid-2021 to encourage local manufacturing.
Among listed players, Amara Raja Batteries, Exide Industries, Lucas –TVS, M&M and others such as Reliance New Energy Solar, Ola Electric, have submitted bids under this. Following this, the announcement on a battery swapping policy provides further boost to adoption of EVs in vehicle segments other than buses, if battery standardisation can be achieved and if the cost of the battery can be de-linked from the cost of the vehicle. It also opens up bigger opportunities for domestic battery manufacturers who can benefit from economies of scale as adoption increases. While swapping does have its critics in equal measure as it may not suit all vehicle segments, this move can help small commercial EVs used in last mile delivery thrive, as standardisation of batteries might be easier in these segments where range may not be an issue. Listed players in the small commercial EV segments include Bajaj Auto which is coming out with its e-three wheeler shortly. Mahindra Electric Mobility is a bigger player in this space too.