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AUGUSTA, Ga. – After more than four years, Augusta still awaits its first glimpse of a proposed fifth downtown hotel.
At last report, Florence, S.C.-based Naman Hotels is preparing renderings to present before the Augusta Historic Preservation Commission for design approval, said Augusta Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Margaret Woodard.
There is no date scheduled yet for the presentation, Woodard said Wednesday.
Doing business as Naman Augusta LLC, the hospitality company bought about 1.6 acres of property at 1140 Broad St. in October 2016. Now one parcel, it used to be five parcels held by several different owners who had to agree to sell. The parcels sold collectively for just over $3 million.
The current assessed value of the property is $1,185,456, according to Richmond County tax records.
Most of the site housed the Sky City discount department store until it closed in 1989. The building’s most recent tenant, Broad Street Bazaar, closed several years ago.
Naman Hotels’ property portfolio includes 20 hotels in North Carolina and South Carolina, the closest being the Holiday Inn Express and Suites on Whiskey Road in Aiken.
The proposed downtown hotel likely will be an Embassy Suites, one of the many brands of Hilton Hotels. Of Naman’s current hotels, 14 are Hilton brands – five Hampton Inn and Suites, five Tru by Hiltons, three Hilton Garden Inns and a Homewood Suites. Five are brands of hotelier IHG – Holiday Inn, and Holiday Inn Express and Suites. Naman also operates one Hyatt Place in North Charleston, S.C.
Several calls and emails to Naman Hotels were not immediately returned.
Four hotels are in Augusta’s historic downtown, and none of them are Hilton brands.
The Ramada by Wyndham is at 640 Broad St., the Holiday Inn Express is at 444 Broad and the Hyatt House, which opened in 2019, is at 1268 Broad. The Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center is at the top of Tenth Street.


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Circle Internet Financial, a blockchain-based payments startup company which is backed by banking giant Goldman Sachs (GS) , on Thursday launched a no-fee international online money transfer service, Reuters reports.
The service allows people in the U.S. and Europe to instantly send money at no cost.
"The idea of cross-border payments is going to completely go away. ... Our vision is for there to be no distinction between international and domestic payments," Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire told Reuters.
Circle processed over $1 billion in transactions in 2016, but does not make any money from its payments service, and intends to keep it that way.
"We don't think there is any money to be made in payments anymore," Allaire said. "The entire business model of extracting a toll or having time delays around the movement of value is going away completely."
Circle makes its money by trading Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies.
What's Hot on TheStreet
Beware Tesla fanboys: Tesla (TSLA) burning money, but shareholders are the likely ones to blister and feel the pain. The standard 90-day corporate equity lockup period for Tesla, following its $402.5 million stock sale of March 16, ends Thursday TheStreet reports. As a result, Tesla will be free to conduct another stock offering as soon as Thursday, which is a real possibility given the electric car company's debt situation, partly due to its Solar City investment, and need for additional cash. Any new issuance the company may seek would likely need to take place before July, which is when Tesla issues its quarterly report on car sales. Alternatively, an offering could come in late August after Tesla issues its quarterly financial report.
Shares could start to come under pressure.
Mining stocks get whipped: Global mining stocks found themselves in a hole Thursday TheStreet reports, after South Africa's government said that at least 30% of domestic mining assets should be black-owned even if previous black owners sell their stakes. South African-exposed mining companies fell sharply in the wake of the announcement. London-listed Anglo American plc (AAUKF) tumbled 4.4% to 1,013 pence ($23.87) a share, South32 Ltd fell 4% to 158 pence, BHP Billiton plc (BHP) was down 2% to 1,155 pence, Rio Tinto (RIO) fell 2% to 3,079 pence and Glencore plc (GLNCY) fell 2.6% to 279.2 pence. South African gold producers were hit even harder. Sibanye Gold Ltd. (SBGLF) plummeted 6.7% to 1,562 South African rand ($121.38) and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU) fell 4.8% to 14,015 rand.
Amazon eyes a new prize: Amazon (AMZN) may be preparing a deal to buy Slack Technologies in a deal that could value the messaging startup group at more than $9 billion, TheStreet points out. With Microsoft's (MSFT) deal for LinkedIn being well-received, this deal seems logical for an Amazon that is aggressively expanding into the cloud.
One has to wonder though: why isn't Apple (AAPL) considering Slack or for that matter, Twitter (TWTR) . Each service would provide valuable insight into human behavior from which to build new products and services.
Worried about how to pay for your golden years? Ken Fisher, founder of Fisher Investments, and TheStreet's Jim Cramer will tell you what you need to know in a June 21 webinar on the market trends that are shaping retirement planning today. Register here for the event, which starts at 11 a.m. ET.

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By Corrie Driebusch and Ian Thomson
Stocks to watch this morning include Netflix, Hewlett-Packard and more.
Netflix said it agreed to raise about $400 million in cash from selling stock and bonds that can be converted into stock, a move seen by analysts as a sign that efforts to acquire video content are proving expensive. Shares shed 5.1% to $70.70 premarket.
Hewlett-Packard’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings dropped 91% on write-downs and continued weakness in its personal-computer business, though the company’s corporate services segment helped drive a better-than-expected core profit. Shares fell 1.3% to $26.50 in recent premarket trading.


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Ikea, John Lewis and The Body Shop are among the companies that are going beyond audits
The companies leading the battle against modern slavery are going far beyond auditing and working in collaboration with others to tackle it deep in their supply chains, anti-slavery groups say.
Phil Bloomer of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre says companies that perform audits where suppliers are given weeks to prepare will almost guarantee that any human slavery that exists will not be picked up by auditors. “More and more [announced audits] can only be seen as an excuse for turning a blind eye to the risks of slavery,” he says.
But unannounced audits are not enough. Bloomer emphasises that companies need to identify salient risks through research, develop action plans to address them, and send strong messages down their supply chains that slavery will not be accepted.
“Crucially, there has to be collaboration,” he told Ethical Corporation’s Supply Chain Summit last month. “Each company on its own at the second or third tier has very little leverage. They [the suppliers] are producing for everyone. But if there is collaboration between companies, that’s where they can take concerted action.”
Focus on recruitment fees
In the UK and wider afield, such platforms are starting to spring up. These include Stronger Together, a multi-stakeholder initiative to tackle hidden labour exploitation that involves all of the UK’s nine major supermarkets, and the Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment (LGRR). The latter is focused on eradicating the practice of workers paying fees to recruiters, which turns them into bonded labourers, by promoting the Employer Pays Principle, something that has been integrated into the electronics industry’s code of practice for suppliers. The LGRR is convened by the Institute for Human Rights and Business and has Unilever, Ikea, The Coca-Cola Company, HP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise as founding members.
“Our vision is a world where no worker has to pay fees to secure employment,” says Ikea’s sustainability policy manager and head of stakeholder engagement, Simon Henzell-Thomas. He adds that Employer Pays Principle builds on Ikea’s own supplier code of conduct IWAY, which looks to ensure that suppliers and sub-suppliers are respecting workers’ rights.
Asked how Ikea will be working with its own suppliers to enforce this principle in practice, Henzell-Thomas points to a recent project working with the International Organisation for Migration to map a recruitment corridor from suppliers in South-east Asia back to the workers’ home countries.
“We are using these findings to continue improving our standards and ways of working, and support our suppliers to do the same.”
Stronger Together was launched in 2013 to help supermarkets deal with human rights issues in their supply chains. Jantine Werdmuller von Elgg, who leads on strategy, policy, partnerships and communication, told Ethical Corporation that Stronger Together’s toolkits provide guidance on high-risk areas such as labour provision by third parties and its training sessions have been attended by 1,900 people from 1,000 businesses
“Later this year we will roll the programme out into the construction industry, together with the Chartered Institute of Building – that’s a key focus as construction has been identified as high risk for modern slavery. Plus international expansion of the programme because retailers have identified this programme as a model that could be used in other countries and we’ll be working with them to work out what the next steps are.”
Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Partnership, has used resources and toolkits from Stronger Together to educate employers and labour providers in its supply chain. Benet Northcote, John Lewis Partnership’s director for corporate responsibility, did not want to talk about how one of its suppliers in West Yorkshire was found guilty of using trafficked Hungarian workers but he told Ethical Corporation that the company did a detailed review of its approach to respecting human rights last year. This involved mapping potential risks in both the John Lewis and Waitrose supply chains, using a range of external insight and extensive stakeholder engagement to aid the process.
“Through this we identified the partnership’s salient issues and focused our business priorities and programmes accordingly. Two examples of the programmes that we are running are Waitrose’s collaboration with the Wilberforce Institute [for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation] at Hull University to better understand supply chain risks, and John Lewis pilot programme with the UK furniture supply chain to help suppliers improve conditions for workers.”
Asked how companies should respond if they do find evidence of modern slavery among their UK suppliers, Northcote replies: “My main advice would be to focus on the people within your supply chain and put their best interests first, don’t think about reputation. Discuss your strategy, activities and concerns openly with stakeholders and seek both advice and constructive feedback, including from experts, NGOs or multi-stakeholder groups like the Ethical Trading Initiative.”
He adds that John Lewis is a founding member of a new collaboration, called Fast Forward, which aims to measure and improve labour standards, drive transparency, prevent exploitation and provide access to remedy for vulnerable workers. “What is great about both of these initiatives is that they are raising awareness of labour standards and modern slavery. It also means that messages being delivered are consistent across the industry.”
The Body Shop
But seeking industry partnerships is not enough. Cindy Berman, head of knowledge and learning at the Ethical Trading Initiative, says companies need to see modern slavery as not just as a risk to be managed, but as a core part of how they conduct business.
The Body Shop has recently set up a modern slavery committee, recognising that human and labour rights issues need to be integrated across the spectrum of the business. “We’ve done a lot of training to raise awareness, the obvious one being with our buying team. But we’ve also done a few sessions on modern slavery at our distribution centres for example,” says the company’s ethical trade project manager, Audrey Blancart.
She adds that the committee will define specific action plans for different departments. These might task human resources with employee awareness raising, procurement with developing supplier/buyer workshops, and the legal department with external engagement on compliance matters.
Berman applauds this approach and says it is one that companies are increasingly taking. “We are starting to see a real sea-change, but I wouldn’t say by any means it is across the board.”


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Sweden's Minister of Social Security, Ardalan Shekarabi, has seen a series of new safer gaming and consumer protection initiatives supported by the Swedish government.
Addressing the media, Shekarabi remarked that “the gambling market is where many Swedish consumers are vulnerable and therefore the government is right to take back control”.
The minister recommended “new controls to limit aggressive advertising” as well as new licensing protections to protect the “gambling market from unlicensed companies”.
Shekarabi, backed by the Ministry of Finance, has recommended that third-party games and software companies supplying Swedish licensed operators be subject to obligatory licensing.
The Minister's draft recommendations maintained an emphasis on gambling advertising, about which he previously indicated that the Swedish market required a “drastic reduction in volume”
He urged a “ban on the promotion of illegal gambling and an extended ban on the promotion of unlicensed gambling in order to increase the possibilities of preventing illegal gambling activities”.
Further advertising changes saw Shekarabi accept “the requirement for the moderation of casino games” with Swedish gambling's riskiest product category assessed to require more safeguards to protect younger audiences and the vulnerable.
Finally, Shekarabi added that licensed operators must be required to reveal all information on their commercial activities as a condition of their license in order to assist the gambling inspectorate and other government agencies in tracking market changes.
Shekarabi's ideas have been endorsed by the government and sent to Sweden's Law Council, which will conduct a legislative review, with the proposed modifications anticipated to take effect on 1 January 2023.
In 2022, Swedish lawmakers will vote on numerous proposals aiming at revamping the country's gaming system. The 'Gambling Sector Inquiry' was tasked with examining Sweden's gaming market following its reform in 2019 to allow for legal online gambling.
By fLEXI tEAM


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financial results news
India is a bright spot for IBM.It was called out for its performance by CFO Martin Schroeter in the June and October quarters.And its most recent financials, filed with the Registrar of Companies, reinforces it.
The current fiscal may continue to be difficult for the Korean major with the company yet to make any major breakthrough in the e-commerce and smartphone markets.
Shares of the world's largest networking gear maker fell more than 4 percent in extended trading.
India's second largest telecom operator, Vodafone India announced its half year results (IFRS) for the six month period ended September 2016. The company said it has reached a subscriber base of 200 million .
Tata Communications' net profit surged by 41.56 per cent for the second quarter of 2016-17, a regulatory filing by the company said here on Tuesday.
Revenue rose to $6.18 billion from $5.46 billion.
Optical fibre maker Sterlite Technologies today posted 40% jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 56 crore in the second quarter ended on September 30, 2016.
The world's top smartphone maker said third-quarter operating profit was 5.2 trillion won ($4.57 billion), matching its revised guidance.
Shares of the company went up 2.25 per cent to end at Rs 318.05 on BSE. During the day, it jumped 3.76 per cent to Rs 322.75.
Norway-based Telenor’s operating loss widened to NOK 4043 million in the third quarter, negatively impacted by NOK 4.1 billion in impairments and write downs.
Apple's quarterly profit slumped on a widely expected drop in iPhone sales, but gains in services offered some optimism on its move to ease dependence on its smartphone.
Airtel sharply narrows quarterly loss in Africa as data consumption grows, currency fluctuation stabalises
The Sunil Mittal-led mobile carrier’s Africa revenue rose 3.7% to $898 million in the three months ended September from $866 million a year earlier. It grew by 4.7% when adjusted for divestment of tower assets.
Bharti Airtel's second-quarter net profit fell 4.9% from a year earlier, hurt primarily by intensifying competition in the face of Reliance Jio Infocomm’s entry and by higher interest costs, though the nation's top telecom company beat market estimates.
The company posted a net profit of Rs 1,461 crore for the three months ended September, topping the average estimate of about Rs 1,200 crore in an ET poll of analysts. Profit was little changed from Rs 1,462 crore in the April-June quarter.
For the July-September period, the standalone net profit of India’s No 3 carrier, crashed to Rs 4.3 crore from Rs 497.1 crore in the preceding three-month period.
Bharti Infratel, India's only listed telecom tower firm, Monday said its net profit rose 31% on-year in the fiscal quarter to September 2016
The firm made 12.7 million rials ($33.02 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, up from 10.2 million rials in the year-earlier period


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While the Hollywood hype machine is still largely confined to churning out bombastic trailers and overproduced websites, L.A.-based Ignition Creative has been busy creating worlds to promote some of the entertainment industry’s most- anticipated releases. Under the leadership of Chris Eyerman (left) and David Goodrich, the agency created the much-buzzed about fashion Tumblr for Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games” and the Webby-Awarded Capitol Tour, a partnership with Microsoft to show off the tech company’s IE9 browser.
Ignition also partnered with 20th Century Fox and Ridley Scott Associates on the fantastic “Prometheus” integrated push that included a TED talk from the future. And, more recently, it conceived “Arrested Development” character Tobias Funke’s online audition for James Cameron, just one of its efforts promoting the new Netflix series.
Ignition’s work is characterized by the seamless way it extends a show or film’s premise beyond the original frame. “The most interesting stuff in entertainment marketing is when you see someone trying to evolve the story outside the two-hour window, or giving characters life beyond the show,” said Mr. Eyerman. “The space is still pretty tough. It takes a lot of persistence to push it where you want to go, but we want to keep building better things.”


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Blog: Turn off, log out, shut down
Catherine Sleep | 23 January 2004
It’s a fairly safe bet that everyone who reads this blog, or visits the rest of just-food.com, has an email address. For the most part I expect you rely heavily on it to organise your professional and social life and keep up to date with other people’s activities and news.
So imagine switching it off and going back to snail mail and telephones for all your communication needs… This is exactly what one tech veteran from Silicon Valley is about to do.
However, since a friend is going to be posting his news in a blog, is he really cutting the tie that binds?
We hear a lot in the food industry about two interconnected trends: and social media and “foodie” culture....
Nestle, set to welcome a new CEO on 1 January, has announced more changes to the make-up of its senior management team....
Blue Bell Creameries is trying to win back the trust of consumers after a fatal listeriosis outbreak last year was linked to its products - but in recent days the US ice cream maker has issued another...
The UK's competition regulator has given the all-clear to Hain Celestial's bid to buy UK food and beverage group Orchard House Foods, nine months after the US group announced the deal....
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- Interview: Mondelez's outlook for China
- Aryzta FY results, outlook for 2017 - 6 takeaways
- What next for Bernard Matthews? - comment
- Interview: Mondelez eyes sweet success in China
- ConAgra acquires Frontera Foods' "gourmet" brands
- Nestle close to finalising Garoto deal
- Nestle revamps foodservice arm
- Aryzta FY profits fall
- Nestle launches Nesquik Protein Plus for adults
- The Big 15: Strategies and Priorities of Top Packaged Food Players in Comparison
- Global Chocolate Confectionery Overview: Challenges, Opportunities and Risks
- Redefining Snacks: From Conventional Snacks to Snack Replacements
- Global Foodservice Market 2016-2020
- Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review


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The “Misery Rate” — a Bloomberg index of government data combining consumer prices and the jobless rate — is over 10 percent in President Barack Obama’s home town, and under 7 percent in Republican Mitt Romney’s home town.
The rate reported today is 10.16 percent in Chicago, with consumer prices up 1.06 percent from year to year and the unemployment rate at 9.1 percent.
In Boston, it’s 6.95 percent, with consumer prices up 0.85 percent year to year and the jobless rate at 6.1 percent.
The index is compiled by Bloomberg, using data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Now, this isn’t likely to have much impact on an election in which both Chicago and Boston are true-blue cities in the Democratic Party’s column. But what about some other places?
Like Cleveland, Ohio — in the one state that Romney must win if he wants the White House.
The misery index is 8.68 percent — with consumer prices up 1.38 percent year to year and unemployment at 7.3 percent.
Or Miami, in the state that Obama won in 2008 and hopes to claim again in 2012.
Misery index: 10.51 percent, with consumer prices up 1.14 percent year to year and unemployment at 9.3 percent.
Or Detroit, heart of the auto industry that Obama boasts about saving and Romney wanted to follow a course of bankruptcy.
Misery index: 12.35 percent, with consumer prices up 0.45 percent year to year and unemployment at 11.9 percent.
The presidential election will play out on some important economic battlegrounds, some in better shape than others.


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Genetic testing giant 23andMe has finally revealed the full extent of the data breach that occurred in late 2023. In a legal filing, the company disclosed that hackers were able to access the DNA Relatives profile information of approximately 5.5 million customers and the Family Tree profile information of 1.4 million DNA Relative participants. Shockingly, the breach began in late April 2023 and persisted for months before 23andMe was made aware of the cyberattacks in September of that year.
The company’s legal filing also contained copies of letters that were sent to affected customers, detailing the nature of the security breach. According to the letters, the attackers employed a technique known as credential stuffing, which involved using previously compromised login credentials to gain unauthorized access to customer accounts on the 23andMe website. It was not until a user posted a sample of the stolen data on the 23andMe subreddit in October, and the information had been advertised on a hacker forum in August, that 23andMe became aware of the breach. The stolen data included customer names, birth dates, ancestry, and sensitive health-related information.
Following the disclosure of the breach, 23andMe advised affected users to change their passwords. However, prior to notifying customers, the company altered the language in its terms of service in a move that reportedly made it more difficult for those affected by the breach to pursue legal action against the company.
The breach has raised significant concerns about the security and privacy of genetic testing data. As genetic testing becomes increasingly popular, the protection of sensitive customer information is of the utmost importance. The fact that hackers were able to access such a vast amount of personal data for an extended period is deeply troubling and highlights the need for robust cybersecurity measures in the genetic testing industry.
In response to the breach, 23andMe has stated that it is taking steps to enhance its security protocols to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. The company has also reiterated its commitment to protecting customer data and ensuring the safety and privacy of its users.
The fallout from the breach may have far-reaching implications for 23andMe, as affected customers and privacy advocates express concerns about the company’s handling of the incident. The alteration of the terms of service, in particular, has raised questions about 23andMe’s transparency and commitment to accountability.
As the investigation into the breach continues, 23andMe’s handling of the situation will undoubtedly come under close scrutiny. The company will need to demonstrate a genuine commitment to address the concerns of affected customers and to implement meaningful changes to safeguard the privacy and security of customer data.
In the aftermath of the breach, it is clear that the protection of genetic testing data must be a top priority for companies in the industry. The 23andMe breach serves as a stark reminder of the potential consequences of failing to adequately safeguard sensitive personal information, and the importance of robust cybersecurity measures in protecting customer data.


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It’s safe to say that there are a lot of things people need right now more than merch. And yet, in this cursed month of March in these doomed United States, here it is — pandemic-inspired merch.
It was bound to happen. Merch has always served as reflection of the times — a memento of a certain moment or, now, a micromoment. It allows us to repackage big ideas in ways that are eye-catching and easily digestible and fast. For a while, we were making merch out of our own headlines. Now, everything has been merchified, including the name of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and our country’s current face of reason.
On Friday, it was brought to our attention that baseball caps with “Faucci” written in the Gucci logo font are now being sold for $32 online by a brand called Social Distancing Caps with the description: “Fauci, but make it fashion.” The good news is that all profits will be donated to Meals on Wheels, a program that delivers meals to individuals at home who are unable to purchase or prepare their own. The creator of the hats, who prefers to remain nameless, says he’s raised $6,000 in a week. That said, you can also just donate to Meals on Wheels directly and spare the manufacturing and shipping involved with buying and selling merch.
“I’m a guy quarantined at my girlfriend’s house who wanted to raise money for a good cause,” the creator told the Cut. “I’m proud that our hats are doing something to help.” It was an idea he had at his kitchen table one night, along with hats that say “Social Distancing.” He thought these would be something people could send to their parents and grandparents, “who needed to remind the folks around them to keep safely away.”
Of course, there’s other merch out there inspired by this current moment. Some of Etsy’s “best sellers” include wineglasses with quotes about drinking alone written in bridesmaid font. It’s hard to justify a purchase like this under normal circumstances, but especially when many Americans are putting themselves in harm’s way to deliver essentials.
It’s a weird time to be alive, and to be shopping online. It’s hard to know what to do, but it’s probably not this.
This article has been updated to include quotes from the creator of Social Distancing Caps.


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Last Friday (28 Jun), Senior Minister and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Chairman Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced at the 46th annual dinner of The Association of Banks in Singapore that it will now let non-bank fintech firms set up and operate digital-only banks.
This announcement comes after “a few months of studying its viability”.
Just like digital-only telcos we’re familiar with (like Circles.Life and the newest Grid Mobile) these digital-only banks will fulfill all their transactions and banking-related services online without any physical branches.
The MAS will be issuing up to five new digital bank licenses, and out of the five, two of them will allow licensees to serve retail customers through a wide range of financial services.
These firms will also be able to take deposits from customers.
However, only companies headquartered in Singapore and managed by Singaporeans can apply for these ‘digital full bank licenses’.
Foreign firms interested in a license will only be able to apply if they partner a local firm to set up a joint venture.
The remaining three licenses will be set aside for digital wholesale bank licences, which will enable licensees to serve SMEs and other non-retail segments.
This digital bank license will be introduced as a pilot, and MAS will observe to see if it’s feasible to offer more of them in the future.
Firms can begin applying “as soon as” August, with more details on eligibility and admission criteria to be provided later.
Razer, Singtel, Grab Express Their Interest
Following the announcement, Razer has applauded MAS “for being so forward-looking in liberalising the Singapore banking industry” and also expressed their interest in applying for a license.
Said Limeng Lee, Chief Strategy Officer at Razer: “This announcement is timely as Razer has been growing our fintech business rapidly in the SE Asia region. We already process billions of dollars in digital payments and our Razer Pay e-wallet is already one of the largest in Malaysia with the Singapore app coming soon.”
Just last week, Razer announced a new partnership with Visa which will see the firms working together to develop a virtual Visa prepaid solution via a ‘mini-app’ which will be embedded in the Razer Pay e-wallet.
With the partnership, Razer Pay users will be able to make payments at 54 million merchants worldwide that accept Visa.
“Our Singapore headquarters has the largest headcount of our 18 global offices. We will definitely consider applying for the digital bank license and are keen to help spur innovation in Singapore’s financial sector,” added Lee.
Another party that we might see applying for the license is (unsurprisingly) Grab, which has also been on a fundraising streak recently.
A few days back, the ride-hailing giant announced that it had received an additional investment of US$300 million from Invesco Ltd., effectively putting it on track to meet its aim to raise US$6.5 billion in funding between June 2018 and the end of this year.
On the new digital bank license, Mr Reuben Lai, senior managing director of Grab Financial Group said: “We will study the digibank licensing requirements closely, and are keeping an open mind as we assess how best to pursue this, including whether to work with suitable partners.”
According to an article on The Straits Times, a spokesperson from Singtel also revealed that they “are open to exploring the feasibility of such an opportunity and will be reviewing the licensing conditions”.
It is uncertain if more firms will soon come forward to express their interest, but watch this space for updates.


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- Businesses across the United States got a bit of a boost in the first quarter of 2019.
- That’s according to data that Yelp compiled based on store openings and closings and the preferences of its millions of users.
- The Yelp Economic Average found that salad restaurants are thriving, while grocery stores are feeling the pinch.
To compile its findings, Yelp drew on data from its 34 million monthly app users and its 75 million monthly mobile web users.
The Yelp Economic Average also takes into account seasonal fluctuations, business openings and closings, and consumer demand on Yelp. Consumer demand takes into account Yelp user engagement with different businesses, like page views, searches, ratings and reviews, and check-ins.
As a benchmark, the last quarter of 2016 was assigned a score of 100. Overall, the third quarter of 2018 received a score of 100.7 from Yelp, while the fourth quarter saw a drop down to 98.5. The first quarter of 2019 was given a score of 99.3.
Here’s a look at how different kinds of businesses did throughout the country:
Winner: The economy overall
Yelp’s data science editor Carl Bialik called the latest numbers “encouraging,” adding that the first quarter of 2019 is looking like “something of a comeback” for business overall.
“It’s a good sign for the economy and for all the millions of businesses big and small,” he said. “It shows that, on balance, more businesses are opening and closing relative to previous quarters. On balance, consumers are showing more interest in these businesses.”
Loser: Grocery stores
Grocery stores declined by 2.4 points, according to Yelp’s data. And Bialik said there’s probably a good reason that the business is in for a “struggle.”
“The groceries category is facing more competition all the time, from meal prep companies to the growing number of options for grocery delivery services,” Bialik said.
Nowadays, not all shoppers have to get out of the house, head over to the store, and pick out produce themselves.
“People have more options to just choose all those things at home and trust a service to pick the food out for them,” Bialik said.
Winner: Salad shops
Salad shops saw a big boost in the first quarter of 2019, jumping 6.1 points.
“There are trends towards healthier eating, greener eating, that would lead to strength in salad,” Bialik said. “More people are looking for salad places, and there are more salad places opening.”
The engine of the auto business appears to be sputtering. Bialik pointed out that auto shops have been “struggling overall in the two-plus years.”
Overall, automotive services declined by 2.1 points in this quarter, with gas stations dropping by 3.6 points and auto repair outfits dropping by 1.1 points.
Winner: Junk removal and hauling
Marie Kondo may have had a hand in this particular trend. Bialik noted that the junk removal and hauling category jumped 7.2 points.
Bialik said that some of those customers are likely “clearing out their homes of things they don’t need anymore.”
“We don’t know if that’s driven by Marie Kondo or if it more shows that Marie Kondo is onto something here,” Bialik said. “We’ve seen that trend for many quarters, which includes a period for when her book was out, before the Netflix show launched.”
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THIS weekend’s food appeal collected a whopping 225 tons in Malaga instead of the expected 150.
La Gran Recogida, organised by food bank Bancosol, took place at supermarkets and shops across the province on Friday and Saturday.
Shoppers gave generously – all keen to help out the thousands of families affected by unemployment and Spain’s current economic situation.
“Many shoppers donated and we received a very good amount of non-perishable foods,” said American volunteer Ron Adam who helped out at SuperSol in Nerja on Friday.
Across Andalucia 1.5million kilos were collected, almost double the 800,000 expected.


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China will intensify its measures to stabilize its pork supply and increase alternative meat production, according to a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Monday.
People buy pork in a market in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province on Tuesday. (Photo: VCG)
According to the statement, the Ministry is working to stabilize market expectation and encouraging the production of alternatives to pork, including poultry, beef, lamb and aquatic products.
China's consumer prices have been rising in recent months, largely driven by soaring pork prices as African swine fever ravages the country. In October, China's consumer prices rose at their fastest pace in almost eight years, with the price of pork more than doubling year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The government has introduced multiple policies to curb the rising price of pork, including higher subsidies for consumers and farmers, increasing pork imports as well as releasing frozen pork from the national reserves.
Pork imports rose 43.6 percent to 1.32 million tons in the first three quarters of the year, according to China Customs. As of the end of September, a total of 30,000 tons of pork have been released into the market from national reserves.
Pork is the most consumed meat in China. In 2018, pork production in China totaled 54.2 million tons, accounting for 48 percent of global production, with consumption per capita reaching 40 kilograms throughout the year.


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New device is set to demonstrate the disruptive power of Polygon Network (MATIC) solutions to no-coiners and crypto newbies.
Polygon is going to supercharge Nothing Phone with Web3 tooling
As per the statement shared by Nothing, a mobile start-up focused on new-gen Android devices, it has partnered with Polygon Network, a top-tier EVM-compatible blockchain.
This is Nothing Community Dots.July 5, 2022
We are all Nothing. Dots in the huge improbable scheme of everything. But let these seemingly small, insignificant dots connect. Then something begins.
See thread below. ⬇ pic.twitter.com/VKIDuEKSoM
Challenging use-case for Polygon ID
Besides applications and games, Polygon will also introduce its decentralized digital identity solution Polygon ID to the users of Nothing Phone. Polygon ID leverages Polygon blockchain nodes for personal data storage and transfer. This solution is set to replace existing centralized protocols like Google ID and Apple ID.
The upcoming phone - that is expected to be unveiled on July 12, 2022 - will also process retail payments through Polygon’s blockchain.
This isn’t the first time Polygon makes foray into the mobile segment: its instruments have already been integrated into HTC’s Desire 22 Pro, an overhyped ‘Metaverse Phone’ that also supports Ethereum (ETH) mainnet. In this collaboration, Polygon’s infrastructure - including Polygon dedicated nodes - will be used for various data transfer tasks.
GetBlock’s Polygon nodes are ready to fuel next generation of dApps
GetBlock, a flagship Blockchain-as-a-Service company, offers high-performance shared and dedicated nodes for Polygon (MATIC). GetBlock is ready to assist every startup in becoming a part of Polygon’s revolution with its ready-made strong MATIC nodes.
With its APIs’ stack, every dApp can get reliable and cost-efficient connection to Polygon (MATIC) nodes in a matter of days.


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We all watched as Beyoncé took a leap of faith leaning all the way back in her chair during her amazing Grammy’s performance on Sunday.
While only she could pull that stunt off while pregnant with twins, another stunt she pulled was right in the center of her dress. It was an embroidered portrait of none other than Queen Bee herself.
According to an interview with Vogue Runway, the creator of the dress, Peter Dundas, revealed that the dress did, in fact, feature Beyoncé’s face, as well as influences from Gustav Klimt, references to the African goddess Oshun, and lyrics from Bey’s song “Love Drought.”
“I like creating stories within a garment,” he said. “It was a fun way to celebrate the moment for her.”
The dress, which is said to have taken 50 people one week to embroider, is the first creation from Dundas since he went on his own venture after leaving a creative director post at Roberto Cavalli.
Dundas was also the brains behind the infamous yellow dress that Bey wore in her Hold Up video, as she smashed car windows with a bat.
“I think she wanted someone she trusted and connected with on several levels, and felt the Lemonade dress had particularly been that. She also knew I was going solo and liked being the first to wear my new collection. Also we both love yellow!”
In his interview with Vogue, Dundas said, “I like creating stories within a garment. It was a fun way to celebrate the moment for her.” The designer also made the gold chain that she wore during the opening of her performance and the stunning red dress after her performance.
Take a look at the sketches from Dundas and let us know what you are thinking!
A post shared by Peter Dundas (@peter_dundas) on


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AT&T announced it is bringing its powerful 5 G network to only a few cities to try out. Dallas, Atlanta and Waco with few other dozen markets by end of 2018. More news will be coming as AT&T plans out and puts their new 5G network in...Show More Summary
There is more bad news coming from one time big toy dealer Toys R US, as sales much lower than expected the past holiday season, there will be 200 more stores closing as a result of it. As well as corporate jobs loss to try to stop the...Show More Summary
As Walmart told stock holders their online sales has slowed down this quarter compared to last quarter, their stocks fell 10% as Amazon continues its trend of being the ultimate online giant. Even worse, Amazon just announced more Amazon...Show More Summary
You don't want the reason you have loyal retail employees to be because they don't ask for a raise or they've been there for a long time without challenging you. You want loyal retail employees who are passionate about your business and you are constantly working to develop.
As the whole world mourns the loss of 17 victims killed by a former student of that high school, there are reactions from politicians and Hollywood celebs on what will be the aftermath of this horrible shooting. As President Trump gave...Show More Summary
The days of trying to make shoppers buy something are gone. Even if you still try to use old school closing techniques, the world has changed.
Do you remember what it was like when you started your first retail sales job? The joy of finding out how you could do better, and especially sell better, was intoxicating.
As Black Panther starts roaring in the theatres this February, Another Movie that is coming full speed ahead that looks like another Marvelblockbuster in the making is Ant-Man and the Wasp. By looking at the trailer, it looks very much...Show More Summary
As a new year is rolling around and you must have started evaluating this year’s goal. Well, the very last thing that comes to your mind this year probably is issuing a credit card. However, let us tell you that this is the perfect time of the year to go for a credit card. Show More Summary
Last week I wrote a rather scathing review of my recent visit to The Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans.
I was standing naked, covered only in a towel and yelling down from the second floor of the men’s spa at the Ritz-Carlton, “Is anyone there? Get me out of here!”
The goal of any business, large or small, is to reach the largest audience possible. Regardless of whether you’re a niche brand only wanting to sell to likeminded people or you offer a product for the masses, accessing said masses is important. Of course, if your local market in the population of the US (323 […]
Good organizational skills are hugely important for the maintenance of any business but particularly for online ventures because your web assets could number in the dozens. Your web assets include your entire online presence so this means your social media profiles, an actual website, email accounts, and your hosting account. It is crucial to ensure […]
Selling restricted items like liquor, guns and medicine online creates huge challenges. We present some tips on how to do just that, because there is a way to succeed even as you face an ever-growing list of regulations in today’s e-commerce economy. Your task is even greater than most business owners face. Mindset Is A […]
Contributed By Sean Spector, CEO, Dropoff While January is typically a slow month for retailers following the holiday rush, Valentine’s Day can be a quick turning point for retail profitability. All of the gifts, cards and celebrations may seem effortless on the surface, but comprehensive logistics begin months in advance behind the scenes. Ultimately, that […]
Starting your own business requires thorough planning and, most importantly, enough capital to fund your project. When you’re a first-time entrepreneur, you start with a small amount of money, usually your own savings, so every business move is calculated. Marketing is one of your primary weapons in attracting customers and, of course, profit. That’s why […]
(Parker, CO – January 8, 2018) – The growing demand for sales associates to service and connect with shoppers – both online and in-store – was recently revealed in a study from Salesfloor, “The Evolving Customer: Connecting Today’s Shoppers with Store Associates”. Among the findings in the study revealed that today’s shopper is twice […]
2017 opened on an optimistic note for retailers, with Moody’s forecasting core retail sales increase of 5.4 percent, up from 4.2 percent in 2016. Analysts anticipated that higher employment and wages would drive higher sales. The preliminary results from the holiday shopping season are bearing this out so far, with Cyber Monday posting a 16.8 […]
Retail Minded will join the upcoming Halloween & Party Expo as part of an all-new retailer education program for 2018. Taking place from January 12-15, 2018 in New Orleans, attendees at the Halloween & Party Expo can learn from retailer panel discussions and retail roundtables led by Retail Minded’s Nicole Reyhle – with each experience aimed […]
Parker, CO (January 5, 2018) – Retail Minded is excited to announce that Founder Nicole Leinbach Reyhle has been recognized as a Top 100 Influencer by Vend for the fourth year in a row. Reyhle came in strong at #3 on Vend’s list of Top 100 Retail Industry Influencers, which includes industry professionals ranging from consultants to […]


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Music discovery app Shazam has always been a bit stylish by Android standards, but today's update adds both some more modern visual polish and notable usability upgrades. In particular, the auto-scrolling lyric function has been improved in version 2.6: it now supports a more natural portrait layout and much more readable text, doing away with the funky word art. Auto-scroll isn't universal, but when it works it's pretty neat. That should be a boon to your impromptu karaoke sessions.
We've all known the details surrounding the latest version of Samsung's flagship phone for several weeks, but now's the time to start getting our grubby fingers on one. Today Samsung has officially launched the Galaxy S5 in 125 countries across the globe, including areas in the US, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia.
To sweeten the purchase, Samsung is including an exclusive copy of FIFA 14 with the device and the chance to compete (in-game) against the Galaxy 11 team.
Somebody - let's call him Joe - loves for his point-and-shoot camera to be powered by Android. Nothing inspires Joe Somebody to go out and take photos like being able to crop out stray pedestrians, apply filters, and upload straight to several social networks without having to move images off his SD card beforehand. He loves his old Nikon Coolpix S800c, but that Gingerbread-powered device is looking a bit long in the tooth these days (after all, it was already two versions behind when he bought it).
Amazon wants to keep you spending money, and as a commerce company, it has the benefit of having no reason to hide this fact. Its recently announced FireTV set-top box marks a play for the television, but that's potentially small change compared to the money to be gained from locking in most of a person's grocery shopping.
The AmazonFresh grocery service is still only offered in parts of California and Seattle, but yesterday the company added support into the Amazon Android tablet app, and now it's rolling out a new product that goes even further to reduce the amount of time it takes to get an item into your virtual cart.
The Ides of March have come and gone, and the Android gaming scene is marching in step. Last month saw the inclusion of an impressive variety of both hardcore and casual games alike, including plenty with fascinating new ideas for gameplay. Here in no particular order are our picks for the top seven, plus a few honorable mentions. Just about everyone should be able to find at least one Android game they'll love among the following titles.
Another month has come and gone, which means a ton of app posts on Android Police to sift through. In point of fact, there were fewer notable apps released in March than in the last few months - that's why our primary picks are down to just six. But most of these should be useful to most users, with Per-App Modes and Pixl Preview applying only to root users and Photoshop owners, respectively.
Google won a lot of minds when it unveiled Android Wear, and Motorola made off with a ton of hearts when it followed up with the Moto 360. The thing is, not everyone wants a device that's so integrated with their Google accounts, and this leaves room for earlier smartwatch manufacturers to wiggle. The Sony SmartWatch brand has been around long enough to draw quite a few apps into its ecosystem, making it worth a look for some.
Our long national nightmare is over – AT&T has finally started pushing the KitKat update to Galaxy Note 3 owners. After updating, you'll see a new system UI, improved GPS, and an improved camera experience. It's all just a download away.


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US Copper Rod Prices Dwindles Amidst Economic Uncertainty and Banking Concerns
- 03-May-2023 12:13 PM
- Journalist: Emilia Jackson
During the final week of April 2023, the price trend for Copper Rods in the US market showed a downward trend, causing a reduction in market panic following the easing of banking discrepancies. Market players suggest that this decline in Copper Rod prices, though still historically high, occurred amidst an uncertain macroeconomic environment dominated by high inflation, rising interest rates, concerns about the stability of the global banking system, and questions regarding Chinese growth. Market players predict that volatility will persist despite the efforts of Western governments and central banks to facilitate a delicate decline in the market. This means that while adjustments may be required to reduce inflation, they should not cause a substantial economic slowdown. This soft landing lays the groundwork for sustained commodity expansion, notably Copper Rod, particularly in developed countries.
The recent surge in inflation and a series of banking problems that led to the collapse of two regional US banks and the acquisition of Credit Suisse by Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) have raised concerns about financing costs. So far, there has not been a significant impact on buyer demand, but the situation is being closely monitored as there are still some uncertainties, particularly on the banking side. Although disruptions in Copper Rod demand have not been a major issue, the prevailing uncertainty creates apprehension about financing access. It needs to be seen what the actual consequences of this situation will be. Furthermore, rising financing costs are beginning to have an impact on the domestic Copper Rod market.
According to our sources, the US dollar index has fallen after a rise in response to weak US economic growth in the first quarter of 2023. This setback, though, will be insufficient to deter the US Federal Reserve from hiking interest rates next week, as the market players anticipate. In terms of fundamentals, downstream consumption has remained active as the foreign Labour Day holiday approaches and Copper Rod prices continue to fall. Nonetheless, some enterprises have been cautious due to concerns over potential further declines in Copper Rod prices. Additionally, the reduction in imports has lessened the loss yet further increased the pressure on the inflow of imported goods. Market players express concern that if Copper Rod prices remain at low levels, demand is likely to grow in the short term.
Copper Rod prices are currently at relatively low levels due to the financial market's effect. As a result, ChemAnalyst anticipates that Copper Rod prices will not recover significantly in the next weeks following the Fed's interest rate raise meeting.


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THE cost of the UK’s most popular cars is to rise for the third time this year – and more price hikes may be on the way.
Ford, which makes the best-selling Ka, Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo models, says it is being crippled by the weak pound and has no alternative but to increase prices yet again if it is to survive.
The company is raising the cost of a new car by four per cent following a rise of 4.7 per cent in February and a further increase of 3.5 per cent in April. This latest increase will add as much as £650 to the price of a Ka, Fiesta, Focus, C-MAX, Kuga and Mondeo, rising to an additional £700 in the case of the S-MAX and £800 more for a Galaxy.
Ford boss Nigel Sharp says the weakness of the pound against the Euro means that the cost of making the average £15,000 vehicle has soared by £3,500, which with prices already at rock-bottom because of intense competition means the prospect of incurring a loss on every car sold.
The only respite for consumers is that dealers will probably have some stocks of unsold cars at pre-increase prices and if there is yet another rise it will help to maintain the value of cars bought now.
The latest round of rises will apply to any new Ford ordered after June 30.
This is the third rise in just five months so far this year.
The exchange rate had been stable for ten years through to the end of 2007 with the pound worth an average of €1.43. Recent exchange rates have been about €1.16 and the impact of this drop on a car priced at £15,000 is close to £3,500, which has to be absorbed by the business.
Mr Sharp says the cost to the company is in excess of £100 million and he warns that the need to recover this accumulated revenue loss could lead to further price increases.
He also fired a warning to consumers that other UK-based car companies will be forced to take similar desperate action, suggesting a round of substantial price rises from several major car companies.
“Price-inflationary pressure will continue to be an issue for all UK-based businesses whose costs are incurred in Euros,’’ he warns.


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Five Reasons Why You Should Probably Stop Using Antibacterial Soap
As the FDA recently noted, antibacterial products are no more effective than soap and water, and could be dangerous
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/five-reasons-why-you-should-probably-stop-using-antibacterial-soap-180948078/#eQp5IEKhI7xMTQtz.99
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few weeks ago, the FDA announced a bold new position on antibacterial soap: Manufacturers have to show that it's both safe and more effective than simply washing with conventional soap and water, or they have to take it off the shelves in the next few years.
About 75 percent of liquid antibacterial soaps and 30 percent of bars use a chemical called triclosan as an active ingredient. The drug, which was originally used strictly in hospital settings, was adopted by manufacturers of soaps and other home products during the 1990s, eventually ballooning into an industry that's worth an estimated $1 billion. Apart from soap, we've begun putting the chemical in wipes, hand gels, cutting boards, mattress pads and all sorts of home items as we try our best to eradicate any trace of bacteria from our environment.
But triclosan's use in home over-the-counter products was never fully evaluated by the FDA—incredibly, the agency was ordered to produce a set of guidelines for the use of triclosan in home products way back in 1972, but only published its final draft on December 16 of last year. Their report, the product of decades of research, notes that the costs of antibacterial soaps likely outweigh the benefits, and forces manufacturers to prove otherwise.
Bottom line: Manufacturers have until 2016 to do so, or pull their products from the shelves. But we're here to tell you that you probably shouldn't wait that long to stop using antibacterial soaps. Here's our rundown of five reasons why that's the case:
1. Antibacterial soaps are no more effective than conventional soap and water. As mentioned in the announcement, 42 years of FDA research—along with countless independent studies—have produced no evidence that triclosan provides any health benefits as compared to old-fashioned soap.
"I suspect there are a lot of consumers who assume that by using an antibacterial soap product, they are protecting themselves from illness, protecting their families," Sandra Kweder, deputy director of the FDA's drug center, told the AP. "But we don't have any evidence that that is really the case over simple soap and water."
Manufacturers say they do have evidence of triclosan's superior efficacy, but the disagreement stems from the use of different sorts of testing methods. Tests that strictly measure the number of bacteria on a person's hands after use do show that soaps with triclosan kill slightly more bacteria than conventional ones.
But the FDA wants data that show that this translates into an actual clinical benefit, such as reduced infection rates. So far, analyses of the health benefits don't show any evidence that triclosan can reduce the transmission of respiratory or gastrointestinal infections. This might be due to the fact that antibacterial soaps specifically target bacteria, but not the viruses that cause the majority of seasonal colds and flus.
2. Antibacterial soaps have the potential to create antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The reason that the FDA is making manufacturers prove these products' efficacy is because of a range of possible health risks associated with triclosan, and bacterial resistance is first on the list.
Heavy use of antibiotics can cause resistance, which results from a small subset of a bacteria population with a random mutation that allows it to survive exposure to the chemical. If that chemical is used frequently enough, it'll kill other bacteria, but allow this resistant subset to proliferate. If this happens on a broad enough scale, it can essentially render that chemical useless against the strain of bacteria.
This is currently a huge problem in medicine—the World Health Organization calls it a "threat to global health security." Some bacteria species (most notably, MRSA) have even acquired resistance to several different drugs, complicating efforts to control and treat infections as they spread. Health officials say that further research is needed before we can say that triclosan is fueling resistance, but several studies have hinted at the possibility.


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After a video went viral of TikTok user Madison Mulkey, explaining how she served Chilis at her wedding reception for under $20 a person, the restaurant now wants to give couples a chance to serve it at theirs for free!
The restaurant posted a TikTok explaining the details of a contest that invites couples to get engaged at Chili's.
"In light of recent events, specifically, a wedding in Savannah, Georgia, that was entirely catered by Chili's, we have decided collectively that we're just gonna lean into this whole wedding catering thing. The first three couples to propose marriage at Chili's, we'll pick up their entire catering bill for their wedding, in full.”
The prize winners will receive up to $2,500 each in catered food from Chili's.


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$COST opened 12 new warehouses and relocated two warehouses in 1H16 and plans to open up to 18 new warehouses and relocate up to two warehouses for the remainder of FY16. In 1H16, the company spent approx. $1.34Bil and expects to spend approx. $2.8-3.0Bil during FY16.
$NFLX a monster move, going up. Expect making some money on Monday.
$AMD down more than 6% even after posting above consensus third quarter results.
$MCD stock rose more than 2% after it posted better than expected 3Q16 results, driven by global same-store sales growth. Meanwhile, earnings and revenue were lower than last year, hurt by refranchising efforts.
$RAI has received a $47 billion take over offer from British tobacco giant British American Tobacco! This is huge!


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Burger King Corp. is serving an upgrade of SAP AG's business applications to its end users, joining a growing number of fast food companies that are standardizing their systems on packaged enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications.
The Miami-based company last month upgraded its installation of SAP's human resources and finance applications to Version 4.6c of R/3. That sets the stage for a planned continued upgrade of Burger King's existing SAP R/3 ERP application to the mySAP.com suite.
Rafael Sanchez, Burger King's CIO, last week said that during the next year, the company also plans to turn on treasury, real estate, budget management and self-service human resources applications as part of the migration.
The big appeal of mySAP to Burger King is the software's integration capabilities and technical maturation, Sanchez said. Between about 60% and 70% of the custom modifications in SAP's earlier finance and human resources releases will be replaced by mySAP functionality, he said. In addition, the real estate management application will replace a custom application written in SAP's ABAP programming language, Sanchez said.
Burger King was one of the first companies in the fast food business to forsake using a hodgepodge of homegrown applications so it could standardize on ERP software. In general, however, companies in industries such as fast food and retail have been slower to adopt ERP technology than manufacturers, said Peter Abell, an analyst at Boston-based AMR Research Inc.
Companies sometimes face considerable rollout challenges, especially if their corporate IT systems are linked to individual stores or franchises that have workers who are relatively unfamiliar with technology, Abell said.
Burger King isn't alone in turning to a third party. Chick-Fil-A Inc., an Atlanta-based fast food chain, ties its 1,000 restaurants in 34 states to its data center's core ERP system via a virtual private network. The data center uses Oracle Corp. financials to aggregate sales and daily business data, said Mark Brackett, director of information systems at Chick-Fil-A.
Additionally, Chick-Fil-A plans to add Oracle Internet Expenses to the ERP system within the next month.
Last August, Chick-Fil-A upgraded to Oracle's E-Business Suite 11i from version 10.7, installing human resources, financials and payroll applications while adding receivables, cash management and order management modules.
Brackett said the software, which runs on HP-UX servers, helped Chick-Fil-A automate its accounting, allowing it to open new stores without having to add a commensurate number of new employees to support them.


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When people go car shopping, they usually focus on the vehicle they want— not the loan that will pay for it. But good financing is the bedrock of a solid car deal, and missteps could cost you thousands. "Once you shake hands with the car salesman, you are not done," says Oren Weintraub, president of Authority Auto in Tarzana, California.
NEW YORK, July 12- Wells Fargo& Co is scaling back and remolding its auto lending business in response to growing stress in the market, as well as a bank-wide push for more centralized risk controls. Wells, which was the No. 2 U.S. provider of auto loans less than a year ago, has already cut quarterly originations by nearly 30 percent over the nine months leading into...
Only the Washington, D.C., metro area has median income high enough to afford the average new-car price.
Consumers may have more leverage in the used car market this summer, but that's not the only avenue to trim your bills.
WASHINGTON, June 12- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to widen the reach of a federal law targeting abusive debt-collection tactics such as harassment and threats, ruling it does not cover companies that buy debt, sometimes for pennies on the dollar, and then collect it. The four Maryland residents had defaulted on car loans and had sought to sue Santander.
Rick Rieder, global chief investment officer of fixed income at BlackRock, weighs in on students loans, consumer debt and the economy.
CNBC's Phil LeBeau reports the latest on the big drop in the number of subprime loans being written and if it could hurt car sales.
CNBC's Phil LeBeau has the details of a new report showing lenders are beginning to realize too much subprime lending is not good.
CNBC's Phil LeBeau reports on the climate for subprime loans for autos. Scott Adams, president of Adams Automotive Group, discusses the decline in loans for the industry.
The world’s banks have become safer since the crisis, but economic risks have spread elsewhere, said former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan.
Autosales are topping out, meaning they are well-matched for consumer incomes; U.S. economic growth is likely to disappoint in the next few quarters, says Wells Fargo's Margaret Patel.
SmartAsset.com ranked the top 10 U.S. states (and, in one case, federal district) whose citizens have the most personal debt.
WASHINGTON, April 18- The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared skeptical of widening the scope of who can be subject to a federal law targeting debt collectors' abusive practices by including those who buy debt, sometimes for pennies on the dollar. A lower court had dismissed the case brought by four Maryland residents who had defaulted on car loans.
Car sales slowed down in March, and it took economists by surprise.
April 10- U.S. consumers are taking out debt at a far faster rate than their incomes or the economy are growing, and just as we may be hitting a peak in employment. U.S. consumers have run up over $1 trillion on credit cards, hitting a level not seen since January 2009 and up 6.2 percent from a year ago. Student and auto loans are also at $1- trillion- plus levels and also...
America's college debt is touching new highs.
The latest subprime fear in the auto industry already has investors worried.
The global financial crisis is still looming but the latest subprime fear in the auto industry has already started to worry investors.
D.R. Barton, MoneyMorning.com, says an underlying reason for disappointing car sales could be overheated subprime auto loans.
DETROIT, March 27- As U.S. auto sales have peaked, competition to finance car loans is set to intensify and drive increased credit risk for auto lenders, Moody's Investors Service said in a report released on Monday. "The combination of plateauing auto sales, growing negative equity from consumers and lenders' willingness to offer flexible loan terms is a...


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A new Marks & Spencer's foodhall is set to open in Woking's Victoria Square development. Pictures and an opening date have both been released.
The store will be located in Victoria Place as part of the Henry Plaza extension. It marks the first store in the country with the new design.
Construction for the Victoria Square development in Woking town centre started in 2017. Originally, it was supposed to cost £460 million, to be finished by 2020.
However, the price rose to £700 million last year. The complex is due to open to the public this spring.
Italia Conti performing arts training, Gail's Bakery, Sketchers and Sports Bowl tenpin bowling are set to open as part of the complex. A large Marks & Spencer store that makes up part of the 125,000 square feet of retail space is another addition.
Alongside the plans, Woking Shopping is set to be renamed Victoria Place. Two residential towers with 400 apartments are also part of the plans.


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HYPEBEAST 100: The innovators from all realms of creativity in the spotlight.
With in-depth interviews, focused features and fashion-forward editorials, our print publication features long-form coverage of the topics valued by readers.
Explore and be inspired by the latest women's fashion news and trends.
adidas has unveiled a limited edition Tattoo design of the adizero F50 football boots. Both the
For those who prefer stealth to showboating, adidas’s new “Black Pack” boots have you covered. With
Lionel Messi is set to debut his new “Champions League” adidas adizero F50 cleat. The design of the
Coinciding with the debut of Real Madrid’s brand new Yohji Yamamoto-designed third kit is the
At the World Cup this summer, Lionel Messi took home the FIFA Golden Ball award. Though the
As international teams continue to gear up for the World Cup games this summer (kick-off begins
Inspired by the rainforests of Brazil is the upcoming “Earth” pack of soccer boots from adidas. Due
In celebration of Lionel Messi’s record-breaking performance over the weekend – his hat trick
Debuting this week is the lightest football boot ever produced: adidas’s 4.7 oz adizero F50
adidas continues to highlight Brazilian soccer culture ahead of this year’s World Cup festivities,
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As smartphone ownership continues to rise (175 million cellphones sold last year in the US), so too does smartphone theft. Take San Francisco, CA as an example, half of all robberies reported last year were phone-related. To help curb this trend, crime fighting agencies are seeking help from phone manufacturers in developing a smartphone kill switch.
You know that having a strong firewall is a key component to having strong network security, but do you how firewalls work? Firewalls take their name from the protective barriers that keep buildings and engines safe from fire. While it’s unlikely that your computer is in danger of incineration, a firewall does protect it from cyber-threats; here’s how!
Your company's information on your network is labeled as "sensitive" for a reason. The files on your servers contain the secrets to your success, along with financial records about you, your employees, and your customers. When trusting sensitive data to a third party, make sure that it is someone you trust.
The Windows family of operating systems (OS) have different power-saving modes for users to take advantage of if they find themselves away from their workstation or mobile computing device. Windows 8 features three: Sleep, Hibernate, and Hybrid Sleep.
In 2011, Ponemon Research surveyed 583 U.S. businesses and found that 90% of respondents reported that their company's computers had been breached at least once by hackers within the past year; 77% of these companies felt like they were attacked multiple times within the same year. If your SMB does not have any protection from hackers, then your sensitive data is at serious risk.
Facebook has recently achieved one billion active users. Being on top of the social media world comes with a price. Facebook has become one of the top 10 most hated companies in America, this according to a January 2013 study from news site 24/7 Wall St. This survey takes into account customer and employee satisfaction and, most of all, stock prices.
Have you ever stopped and wondered where the internet is housed? Maybe all the websites are on a skyscraper-sized router? Maybe the internet all fits inside your computer? Most of the information is actually stored in data center facilities all over the world, and the sheer size and complexity of these centers will boggle your mind.
The smartphone ownership rate for American adults increased to 46% in 2012, this according to a study by Pew Research. This study does not include other mobile devices like tablets, laptops, and notebooks, but the use of these devices is also growing, with worldwide sales for just smartphones and tablets projected to hit 1.2 billion in 2013.
The 2012 holiday online shopping season is shaping up to be the biggest yet. Harris Interactive conducted a survey regarding this holiday season, and found that 51% of Americans plan on shopping online this year. Everybody has different reasons to shop online, 71% of respondents thought they could find better deals, and 31% want to simply avoid the crowds.
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March 16, 2009
Two op-ed articles were published in The New York Times this past week by Nicholas Kristof in regards to the misuse of antibiotics in animal feed. Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health was in the NYT on Wednesday (3/11) and Pathogens in Our Pork appeared in Saturday’s (3/14) edition. It is encouraging to see such an often overlooked public health issue being brought to the attention of the millions of NYT readers.
Mr. Kristof brings up the point that any medical doctor can tell you: when you overuse and misuse antibiotics, resistance inevitably follows. With 70 percent of all antibiotic use in the United States going into animal feed (at sub-therapeutic levels), a pathway to antibiotic resistant bacteria is clear. And now for the really scary part, “These dangerous pathogens [antibiotic resistant bacteria] are now even in our food supply.”
Two studies done in the last year found MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in retail pork destined for human consumption. One study in Louisiana found MRSA in five out of ninety pork samples and the other found MRSA in one out of three hundred retail meat samples in Washington DC. MRSA was found in meat on the shelves of retail outlets where consumers purchase their food. As Kristof notes, this is a disturbing find: “Regardless of whether the bacteria came from the pigs or from humans who handled the meat, the results should sound an alarm bell, for MRSA already kills more than 18,000 Americans annually, more than AIDS does.” He goes on to say that even if people cook their meat thoroughly there is still potential cross contamination exposure to a deadly pathogen.
The misuse of antibiotics in food animal production is potentially degrading one of the greatest scientific and medical products of our time, and according to Kristof, “That’s an almost universal view in the public health world.” So while the public health community is adamant about stopping this activity, the politicians have not come on board. Kristof says this is mainly because of the political clout agribusiness has in Washington, “Legislation to ban the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in agriculture has always been blocked by agribusiness interests.”
Mr. Kristof ends his article with a bit of optimism and a sentiment shared by many about the direction the Obama administration may be heading. “Traditionally, the Agriculture Department has functioned mostly as a protector of agribusiness interests, but Mr. Obama and Mr. Vilsack have both said all the right things about looking after eaters as well as producers.”
Now that his public health issue has been brought to the attention of the millions of The New York Times readers, maybe it can gain some traction in Washington.


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London has solidified it’s position on fashion and it’s importance. After showing some breathtaking gowns on infamous models designed by infamous designers in the closing ceremonies, it was clear fashion is very much their focus.Read more!
Ryan Lochte graces the cover of Vogue America and tells what it means to be a sex symbol in the Olympic world.Read more!
The Olympic clothing is slowly being released to the public and here is the Ralph Lauren Olympic Kit for team USA.Read more!
Stella McCartney is the leading lady and designer when it comes to the 2012 Olympic costumes… And they look gooooooood.Read more!


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Germanys SolarWorld shipped 849 MW of solar modules and kits in 2014 a performance that greatly exceeded preliminary forecasts for the year despite a marked decline in the companys domestic solar market.
Last years figures represent a growth of 55% compared to 2013, when the company shipped 548 MW of solar modules. Indeed, 2014 exceeded the original forecast of 40% growth by a full 15%, thanks largely to strong growth in the U.S. market where shipments for the year nearly doubled when compared to 2013.
The French, British and Japanese solar markets all proved fruitful for SolarWorld last year too, but 2014 ended with the U.S. market accounting for 41% of all module and solar kit shipments, which have become the companys core business.
Consolidated revenue for SolarWorlds fiscal year 2014 was 573 million ($647 million), a 26% increase on 2013s revenue of 456 million ($515 million).
Operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose to 109 million ($123 million) in 2014, which when adjusted for one-off effects (resulting from the initial accounting of assets acquired from Bosch Solar Energy AG and renegotiated supply contracts) came in at 2 million.
Over the course of 2014, SolarWorld was able to raise liquid funds amounting to 177 million ($200 million), and CEO Frank Asbeck believes that further strong growth is on the cards for 2015, with the company eyeing a global shipment target of 1 GW.
Last year was a year of two halves for SolarWorld, particularly in relation to its performance in the U.S. solar market where the company is inextricably linked to the anti-dumping trade case with China and Taiwan. In July, the U.S. government imposed preliminary AD tariffs on solar products from China and Taiwan a decision that favored SolarWorlds sales strategy and helped boost second-half supply and revenue figures.
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Some Dutch telecommunications and Internet providers have exploited European Union laws mandating the retention of communications data to fight crime, using the retained data for unauthorized marketing purposes, according to a report by the Dutch Min...
The European Union is to put Google’s latest proposals to the marketplace in order to allow competitors and rivals to assess the search giant’s plans to avoid antitrust sanctions.
A new draft law on net neutrality and mobile roaming in Europe has caused division between lawmakers.
Google's rivals on Monday called for a second full review of the search giant's latest proposed measures aimed at avoiding a fine from the European Commission for allegedly breaking competition rules.
Europe’s data privacy watchdog said Friday that a plan to set up a massive database of every non-E.U. citizen entering and leaving the bloc was disproportionate.
Europe’s competition chief confirmed Wednesday that he has written to Eric Schmidt to ask for better assurances from Google in an ongoing antitrust investigation.
It emerged Thursday, that Europe’s top antitrust watchdog carried out unannounced raids on Telefónica, Deutsche Telecom and Orange on Tuesday.
A European Union team will arrive in Washington DC on Monday to assess how the United States is using data it receives from the E.U.
Europe's justice commissioner has given the U.S. attorney general until Friday to explain how far the so-called Prism program went in collecting European citizens' data.
European Union lawmakers have delayed a vote on what authorities can do with airline passengers' data following the revelations about the U.S. National Security Agency's Prism data collection system.
Digital Agenda Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, on Thursday called on the European Parliament to support her plans for an end to roaming charges and guaranteed net neutrality. Yet contrary to media reports, no concrete legislation has been presented.
The European Commission has sent a questionnaire to a number of mobile operators in the European Union, focusing on whether its distribution terms with these providers may put Apple at an advantage over other smartphone makers, according to a newspap...
Motorola Mobility abuses its dominant position in the E.U. by seeking and enforcing an injunction against Apple in Germany on the basis of its mobile phone standard-essential patents (SEPs), the European Commission said in a preliminary antitrust rev...
A coalition of international civil liberties organizations on Thursday said that some of the proposed changes to Europe's data protection laws would strip citizens of their privacy rights.
Google's rivals have been given one month to assess the search giant's proposed remedies, the European Commission announced Thursday.
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In time for Black History Month 2023, CRN is featuring a sampling of the achievements of Black Americans in the field of computer science and technology.
Some of the people featured on this list include:
*Frank S. Greene Jr.
*Shirley Ann Jackson
Some new names added to the list from last year include:
*Evelyn Boyd Granville
This list includes past and recent contributions to technology, whether by invention or business acumen.
While we celebrate these contributions in history, it’s important to remember that much more work remains to increase Black representation in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
A January report from McKinsey estimates that 40 percent of Black American households lack high-speed, fixed broadband compared to 28 percent of white American households. In cities such as Chicago and Baltimore, Black households are twice as likely to lack a high-speed internet subscription compared to white ones.
Black History Month 2023
Thirty-eight percent of Black households in the rural South lack broadband compared to 23 percent of white ones, according to the report. Sixty-nine percent of Black Americans have desktop computers or laptops compared to 80 percent of white Americans.
And about half of Black workers have advanced or proficient digital skills needed for the tech-driven economy compared to 77 percent of white workers. Black Americans are 13 percent of all workers but only 7.4 percent of digital workers.
Some steps for increasing broadband access and encouraging digital equity and inclusion for Black communities, according to the report, include surveying unserved and underserved locations to make sure they receive some of $425 billion-plus in federal funding available for closing the digital divide.
McKinsey also suggests seeking out partnerships among private enterprises, not-for-profit organizations, academia and government agencies to close the gap and partnering with local stakeholders to ensure households can access subsidies for internet subscriptions and devices.
Organizations that seek to increase diversity in the field include:
Here are some of the Black Americans that CRN is featuring for their achievements in technology.
Wade Tyler Millward is an associate editor covering cloud computing and the channel partner programs of Microsoft, IBM, Red Hat, Oracle, Salesforce, Citrix and other cloud vendors. He can be reached at [email protected].
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One of every five beauty purchases online is made via the Amazon marketplace, according to a new report.
The DMA says Congress’s reported agreement on Internet taxation fails to address the issue of the complexity of sales tax laws.
The Direct Marketing Association today reiterated its opposition to allowing states and localities to levy their sales tax rates on online retail purchases. “Congress would, in effect, abdicate its constitutional responsibilities to regulate interstate commerce by allowing state and local governments to determine how interstate commerce will be taxed," said H. Robert Wientzen, president & CEO of the DMA. "If the reported proposal is truly being considered, it would fail to solve the ongoing need for significant simplification of the nation`s 7,600 varying sales tax codes." Weintzen was reacting to press reports that Congress has reached an agreement on Internet sales tax.
In a statement, the DMA said: “The DMA continues to call on Congress to incorporate the following criteria, necessary to ensure a competitive and dynamic marketplace, into any sales tax simplification legislation:
-- One tax rate per state for all commerce, both remote and over-the-counter sales
-- Uniform definitions of taxable items
-- A collection allowance for all retailers
-- One audit form recognized by all states
-- Reaffirm a "physical presence" requirement for business activity tax nexus
-- One location to which to remit tax payments
-- Full and open congressional review prior to enactment of the legislation
-- Affirmative congressional approval that states have met all simplification criteria
"The proposal, if accurately portrayed, allows the states to come up with their own plan of simplification, which will amount to little or no simplification," said Frank G. Julian, operating vice president and tax counsel, Federated Department Stores, Inc. and chairman of The DMA`s Use Tax Steering Committee. "This is the job of Congress, as mandated by the Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court. This proposal described in the media fails to make the tough decisions; instead, it leaves the decisions to the very states that created the labyrinth system we have today."
The reported agreement would provide no congressional guidance at all as to how the states should simplify the nation`s antiquated, Depression-era tax system.
"If the media reports are correct, this proposed agreement does not move forward through reasonable compromise, but leaps backward. The long-time consensus -- that Congress must provide firm simplification criteria to the states -- was inexplicably jettisoned," Wientzen said. "This proposal makes out-of-state vendors the deputized tax collectors for every state, county, town, and even every mosquito district in the country."


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Travel Market Looks At Responsible Tourism In Africa
The conference and seminar sessions, featuring key industry figures, “will offer all visitors the best insight into the industry and focus on the exciting future prospects for this emerging region”, say the organisers, Thebe Reed Exhibitions.
On the programme are:
WTM Africa is expected to exceed all targets and expectations, say the organisers. “The response we have received from exhibitors for our second year has just been tremendous and we are still signing up new exhibitors as we speak,” said Carol Weaving, managing director of Thebe Reed Exhibitions.
“WTM Africa was a great success last year. I think our industry was mainly watching from the sidelines on how it would perform, and this year companies who are serious about meeting the right people, conducting productive meetings and getting a return on their investment, do not want to miss out.
“In addition, we are attracting not only buyers looking for African product alone. We are providing a holistic travel and tourism show that benefits all travel professionals from a wide variation of focus and this is exciting.”
WTM Africa was held for the first time in 2014. This year, there will be more than 400 exhibiting companies from over 60 countries around the globe, including other parts of Africa. There will also be debates and seminars, as well as topical and beneficial talks covering to-the-point topics that have a direct impact on the business of travel.
Exhibitors and visitors from the travel industry can expect to meet with hosted buyers on pre-set compulsory appointments and have access to Buyers Club members and other visiting travel professionals. There will be speed networking sessions, social engagements and events.
Source: World Travel Market


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United Biscuits (UB), the international manufacturer of biscuits, has signed a three-year partnership with a fellow international producer to focus on its sweet biscuits.
The deal means Cargill, producer of food and agricultural products and services, will supply all UB’s derived cocoa and chocolate products through its cocoa and chocolate business. It will also support UB with the delivery to its seven manufacturing facilities across the UK, as well as four in northern Europe.
The partnership also aims to “investigate new ways to use chocolate more effectively” and bring products to market.
The move reflects UB’s renewed commitment to innovation in the sweet category.
Nina Williams, group technical director at UB, said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with one of the world’s leading sustainable food ingredients providers. Many of our recipes use sustainable chocolate, making a contract of this size vitally important for us.
“Today’s announcement is also strategically significant. As the first partnership of its kind for UB, it will bring a step-change in our growth and competitiveness and deliver significant long-term value. Cargill’s strong sustainability credentials and ambition match the philosophy of our business, and will be a great fit as we continue to grow our presence in the UK and internationally.”
Emiel van Dijk, sales & marketing director at Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate, commented: “Our partnership with United Biscuits not only means we will supply high-quality cocoa and chocolate, but also allows us to share our deep cocoa and chocolate expertise and our broad food ingredients knowledge to support UB’s innovation and growth ambitions. We are convinced this long-term, transparent relationship means we will be able create the right solutions for UB even faster and easier.”
UB was earlier this month sold to international Turkish biscuit manufacturer Yildiz Holding, which owns chocolate brand Godiva.


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Presently, eight models are included in the recall, new examples of which are not currently being sold or produced until the fix can be implemented. According to the automaker, a friction device designed to add feel and resistance to the pedal is the culprit. The device includes a friction shoe that rubs against an adjoining surface, and those two components may begin to stick together, creating a throttle that is slow to close or — in the worst case scenario — stays fully open.
“We know what’s causing the sticking accelerator pedals, and we know what we have to do to fix it,” said Jim Lentz, president and COO of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. “We also know it is most important to fix this problem in the cars on the road.”
That fix, it seems, involves a piece of steel that is inserted into the assembly, which reduces surface tension that can cause the excess friction. Toyota intends on rectifying floor mat issues — subject of a different recall — at the same time as throttle repairs are being made, requiring only a single trip to the dealer for vehicles affected by both recalls.
“We are focused on making this recall as simple and trouble-free as possible,” said Lentz, “and will work day and night with our dealers to fix recalled vehicles quickly. We want to demonstrate that our commitment to safety is as high as ever and that our commitment to our customers is unwavering.”
Source: Toyota, NHTSA


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The recent rocky ride for China’s markets has helped the country’s currency take another step toward a bigger global presence.
In August, for the first time, the yuan moved ahead of Japan’s yen for fourth place in a league table of the most-used currencies for cross-border payments compiled by Swift, the international payments provider.
A “substantial” increase in usage of the currency in the final week of August was triggered by market volatility caused by concerns about the Chinese economy and Beijing’s devaluation of the yuan, Swift said in a report.
To be sure, the yuan remains a small player on the global stage—it was used in 2.8% of global payments in August, compared with 44.8% for the dollar, 27.2% for the euro and 8.5% for the British pound.
But the Chinese currency has been gaining traction. As recently as August 2012, the yuan was ranked No. 12 on Swift’s list with just a fraction of its current share of the global payments market.
Astrid Thorsen, head of business intelligence solutions at Swift, said volatile Chinese markets spurred greater use of the Chinese currency, especially toward the end of August.


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Leaked documents suggest that Apple has registered two new iPad devices with the Eurasian Economic Commission.
Apple is busy preparing for unveiling the next generation iPhones within two months, with several leaks hinting towards the same. It’s expected that Apple will launch a brand new 6.1-inch LCD ‘budget’ iPhone alongside the successor to the iPhone X. however, leaked documents have also suggested that we could be in for surprise with new iPad models slated to be unveiled soon.
According to leaked certification documentation submitted to the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), Apple could be readying up to seven new iPad models alongside the new iPhones. The documents unveil that two new iPad models have been certified for the region, alongside eleven new iPhone models and three new MacBook models. While two new MacBook variants have already been unveiled, the fate of the other devices is still unknown. All the iOS devices mentioned here have been registered as using iOS 12.
While no additional information regarding the specifications have been known yet, there’s a high chance that most of these models will different variants of two or three prominent models. Therefore, judging by the model numbers, there could be 3-4 new iPad models and up to three new models for the 2018 iPhone range. A new version of non-Touch Bar MacBook Pro could also be made available for sale. Apple could unveil the new iPad Pro models alongside the new iPhones at its September event. The new high-end iPad models could feature Apple’s FaceID system while eliminating the thick bezels. There could be a possibility of a new display size introduced in the iPad lineup as well.
Disclaimer: The above report is completely based on online rumours and leaks from the respective sources. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Deccan Chronicle and/or other staff and contributors to this site.


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Manager BIC-BUKC has participated as International Judge at “The Diamond Challenge” from University of Delaware, Horn Entrepreneurship Center, USA.
Engr Syed Rizwan Ali Assistant Professor / Manager (BIC- BUKC) has honored to become an International Judge and represented Business Incubation Center, Bahria University Karachi Campus and participated as a Virtual Judge at International Startup Competition on “The Diamond Challenge” organized by the University of Delaware, Horn Entrepreneurship Center, USA.
He judged five teams of students from around the (North America, Africa, & Asia) globe using evidence-based entrepreneurship methodologies in the two-month and identified the distinctive competence of startup proposes a novel, disruptive or unique business concept that will provide it with a competitive advantage.
Scored the market opportunity for the value created by the new product/services with a clear market need, and does the proposal suggest a viable way to meet that need with the analysis of the management team are the team well prepared to develop the startup company and positioned to manage the risks. Also, he acknowledged the viability of the proposed business has a realistic potential with technology to succeed and determined the financial strength of the startup team, fully understand the financial requirements of the proposed company with a two- or three-years plan and is there a need to raise funds.


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Penticton-based Structurlam Mass Timber Corp., a B.C. pioneer in turning plain lumber into engineered structural timbers, is taking its expertise stateside with a $120-million expansion into the southern U.S.
A decade ago, Structurlam was the cutting-edge producer of engineered-timber arches used in the roof of the Richmond speed-skating oval for the 2010 Olympics, with its daring wave-shaped ceiling.
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Now, mass-timber construction is mainstream enough that U.S. retail giant Walmart has picked Structurlam to supply the engineered timber components for a massive new home office complex in Bentonville, Ark.
Hence Structurlam’s announcement Dec. 9 that it will purchase, retrofit and equip a 288,000-square-foot former steel plant in Conway, Ark., about 50 kilometres northwest of the state’s capital Little Rock, to produce mass-timber components.
“This is still very much a nascent industry” in the overall scheme of commercial construction, said Structurlam CEO Hardy Wentzel, “but the critical-mass snowball is building.”


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Big brands get their game faces on
Super Bowl LVIII is poised to unfold in Las Vegas on Monday February 12th Adelaide time, and you know what that means. It’s time for the Super Bowl … commercials! Yes, the real main event is coming, when all of the companies in America put together their best minds and biggest budgets ($10.7m per 30 second spot).
In the age of the internet, however, commercials are encroaching on Grammys’ territory. Companies are debuting their ads weeks in advance and putting out teasers meant to drive the hype. Capitalism truly does breed innovation. Or endless nostalgic repetition.
The stage is set for an unforgettable game featuring electrifying touchdowns, top-notch entertainment, and impactful advertising… and let’s not forget Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback Travis Kelce’s girlfriend will be there!