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Think about some of the world’s most successful companies. What do they have in common? They might be from different industries, different nations or different time periods, but they share one important quality: innovation.
Innovative businesses have offered the market a product it hasn’t seen before or a novel way of providing a service. Some innovators develop new ways to engage with their employees, while others find better ways to communicate with their customers.
Even established companies seek innovative ways to remain competitive if they want to continue attracting new customers and employees. In the modern world of ever-evolving technology, consumers don’t just appreciate innovation, they demand it.
“Leading companies make innovation a standard, but winning, part of their business approach,” Active Minds chairman and non-executive director Stewart Black told Spencer Stuart.
“In always acting like innovation leaders, they are able to simply exhaust their competition. These competitors spend and waste valuable time and resources first trying to understand the specifics of any given innovation, then working out what it means for them and how they might take action. In the meantime, the innovation leader has already enjoyed the benefits and is working up the next initiative.”
2020 brought with it a heightened need for innovation as companies around the world struggled to continue profitable operations during unprecedented shutdowns and quarantines. In fact, McKinsey & Company found that 90 percent of executives agree the COVID-19 crisis “fundamentally changes the way they do business over the next five years.” But only 21 percent of those surveyed said they had the “expertise, resources and commitment to pursue new growth effectively.”
Innovative response to a medical crisis is complicated, however, because innovation generally requires time for development and planning. According to tech innovator John MacFarlane, who has led companies including Software.com and Sonos, Inc., the secret is encouraging teams to take chances.
“Innovation takes a little bit of room and time,” MacFarlane also told Spencer Stuart. “You mustn’t have a culture where people are penalized for trying something and not being successful. You have to have a culture where you agree in the beginning that you’ll take a risk but you may fail.”
Of course, the chance of failure also brings with it the chance for great success. Companies have responded to the changed environment with innovative products, services, communications and planning.
When Boston Consulting Group determined its top 50 most innovative companies of 2021, it chose companies that prioritize and support innovation through both money and talent, while also transforming those investments into actual results. Likewise, Fast Company selected its list of the world’s 50 most innovative companies by looking “for organizations that embody creative problem-solving and fearlessness in the face of crisis.”
BCG research indicates that when companies continue to invest in innovation during economic downturns – including the kind caused by global pandemics – they outperform the market during periods of recovery. For example, the 50 companies comprising BCG’s most innovative list in 2007 delivered their shareholders 4% higher returns compared to the market during each year through 2012.
The following seven companies are crushing the future of work:
Online shopping options saved a host of brick-and-mortar retailers when the pandemic led to lockdowns. Even those who remained open saw the traffic coming in and out of their business staggeringly drop.
Shopify offered these small businesses the opportunity to launch their online operations overnight when it converted point-of-sale terminals into e-commerce stores. Shopify even went a step further in helping these entrants into the online marketplace succeed when it spotlighted them in its Shop app, allowing users to support their local businesses from the safety of their homes.
When it comes to prompt and timely innovation, Salesforce leads the pack. The tech platform responded to the pandemic by launching its Work.com option in May 2020, just three months after the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency.
The online service helps companies determine the safest ways to return to the office, and it includes an app offering manual contact racing, shift scheduling, employee wellness checks, an employee learning platform and even a command center for business leaders to visualize the data and make insightful decisions for their organizations, their employees and their customers. Later, Salesforce expanded the service to offer tools for improved employee productivity and better communication with remote workers.
The world continues its transition into what is becoming known as the Age of Analytics, and 59% of businesses now use analytics in some way, whether it’s to enable better decision making, predict consumer behavior or better partnerships with other enterprises.
Of course, without ample data and programs to analyze it, there’s nothing from which to draw insights. Snowflake’s innovative platform allows businesses in any market to unlock the power of data. Organizations no longer must rely on complicated and tedious file-based processes to send and receive their data. With Snowflake’s data cloud, users gain secure access to third-party or personalized data from which to draw insight and make better business decisions.
The free PowerPoint-alternative presentation software is changing the way the world presents with innovative tools that help even amateur designers create professional-level slide decks in a fraction of the time.
Users can choose to customize a variety of specialized presentation templates, or they can design their presentations from scratch using Beautiful.ai’s smart slide templates, where artificial intelligence automatically adjusts the design of each slide when content is added, based on the principles of good design used by the pros. Plus, because the software is cloud-based, users can access their decks from anywhere and invite their team to collaborate.
Netflix began its journey as pure innovation. After all, before the grandfather of streaming made its debut in 1997, movie lovers hadn’t imagined they’d leave behind the storied shelves of Blockbuster and local movie rental locations, nor had they considered physical DVDs, BluRay disks or other mediums would become practically obsolete within just a few years.
Now that Netflix has strong competition, how is the company innovating? Netflix made our list of innovative companies thanks to its focus on reaching its Black audiences. In the wake of George Floyd’s death and following nationwide protests, Netflix’s Strong Black Lead marketing team featured content specifically targeted toward Black voices and experiences. The company now offers the largest selection of Black programming of the top streaming services.
Asana was named an innovative company of 2021 because its SaaS platform helped remote teams improve their collaboration efforts, while managing projects and tasks. Teams can use both web and mobile applications to create projects, assign tasks to team members, set deadlines and even communicate with one another all from a single platform.
In 2020 Asana launched Asana Goals, which helps teams prioritize their most important tasks as they track and manage goals. Asana also offered 12 free months of its Asana Business service for qualifying nonprofits that were battling the pandemic from the front lines.


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A former chief financial officer for Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, a maker of premium ice cream, will be getting a taste of life behind bars.
Stuart Wiles, who served as CFO from May 2000 to May 2004, was sentenced to 27 months in prison and two years of supervised release after embezzling nearly $300,000 from his former employer, according to Reuters. He will also make restitution to the company.
The wire service, citing a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont, explained that Wiles issued company checks for charitable contributions, unspecified legal settlements and other nonexistent expenses.
The former finance chief reportedly used the money to pay for vacations, car repairs, clothing, electronics, gifts, entertainment expenses, and an addition to his home.
According to Vermont’s Rutland Herald, the embezzlement was uncovered by an internal audit at Ben & Jerry’s. Wiles eventually pleaded guilty to a federal charge of wire fraud, the newspaper added.
Ben & Jerry’s was acquired by Unilever in 2000.

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Sony and Google have shown off a new Google TV set top box at a recent event in Palo Alto, CA, and whilst they didn’t reveal any specifications on this new Google TV box, we do know that it will come with Sony’s new Google TV remote that we saw previously.
The video below gives us a quick look at this new Sony Google TV box, although you don’t really get to see much, it is expected to go on sale some time this summer.
As soon as we get some more information on this new Google TV box, including some actual specifications, pricing and a launch date we will let you guys know.
Latest Geeky Gadgets Deals
Disclosure: Some of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, Geeky Gadgets may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy.


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The Great Remorse
2022 has been nothing if not a year of buzzwords. From the continued embrace of 2021’s ‘The Great Resignation’ to the new phenomena of ‘quiet quitting’, ‘quiet firing’ and the new if less snappy ‘quiet constraint’, these movements/memes/buzzwords indicate an ongoing examination of the value of a good employee experience.
And yet, there are more epithets to come. After the ‘Great Resignation’ and the ‘Great Return‘, more recently we have also seen the ‘Great Remorse‘ – employees who wish they hadn’t quit. For a certain percentage of leavers it was always going to happen – not least because there’s an economic downturn on the way.
(SIDEBAR: A recession, in its technical sense, is defined as two consecutive fiscal quarters without any economic growth. Put that way, it sounds less disastrous. Maybe we should stop fetishizing recessions? Anyway, back to the numbers…)
Quit rates have been such that the ‘Great’ tag is justified, and as per a Harris poll in March of this year, 70% of leavers say it’s been harder than they thought to find a new role.
It’s been a rollercoaster for employees in the last two years, and now it feels like the pendulum has swung back in favor of employers, with plenty of larger tech orgs in the middle of laying off thousands of employees.
Let’s find an upside – according to some, more startups are founded in a recession than in an economic boom, so perhaps in a decade we’ll see even more innovation in AI, genetics, payroll tech and elsewhere? Here’s hoping…
Digital skills – where are you?
Another struggle for businesses is the never-ending challenge of upskilling. Does your organization have the digital skills it needs? And is the ever-decreasing half life of skills relevance/efficacy going to make things difficult? Perhaps it’s time for more businesses to lean into the WFA way of life.
As Jacques Du Bruyn, managing director of Flume told UNLEASH recently: “Recruitment can be particularly difficult for agencies. Many are small-to-medium sized enterprises – so if they’re struggling to fill even a small percentage of their workforce, it can really affect their ability to deliver for existing clients or take on new work. If you’re having difficulty sourcing 10-20% of your workforce, that can have a significant impact on the sustainability of your business.”
As crucial as upskilling is, when all options are exhausted and your business needs to grow, and quickly, it might be time to look outside the four walls of your virtual office.
Age ain’t nothin’ but a demographic cohort
A recent promotion of Fortune’s 40 under 40 list caught my eye. Maybe I was mildly incensed because I’m no longer in that age bracket (and haven’t been for four years), but I think it triggered something else in me, something I’d watched recently.
The C Suite understandably skews older in most companies as it usually takes time to get the breadth of experience needed (through several failures you’d hope) to run a successful company.
This trend is mercifully tempered by the tech sector. While I think it’s great to highlight the next generation of dreamers and doers coming through, I also appreciate the rhetoric of entrepreneurs like Gary Vaynerchuk who often talk about the importance of realizing how long ‘you have left’ – a crucial message of empowerment to anyone who thinks they’ve missed the boat.
Celebrating younger entrepreneurs is critical to planning our future, but so too is spotlighting the 60 over 60, the 80 over 80 who might have that next revolutionary idea up their proverbial cardigan sleeve.
We are living longer – retirement as we know it now may not be a viable option for that many in the decades to come. Perhaps a four day week (or less) could help make a multi-generational workforce achieve more than we first thought.
(Cautionary) tales from the crypt(o)
A quick comment on the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and the rise and fall of its founder Sam Bankman-Fried (widely known as SBF).
I didn’t know his name, nor was I familiar with his business until last week, but I was very familiar with the lessons that could be learned in this story of another financial Icarus. While cryptocurrency is not directly related to HR, we can learn lessons about trust, leadership, financial precarity, and hubris. It seems ‘SBF’ had some noble goals within crypto and the wider finance world so, sad to see them not to come to fruition.
Instead, let’s focus on the semantics. Too many people will read the story of this man’s financial demise and think ‘blockchain is a Bad Thing in Bad Space full of Bad Actors.’ True, there are plenty of bad actors amidst the crypto gold rush but it’s worth reiterating that the general use of the blockchain has very little to do with this particular episode of misfortune.
As more and more HR tech companies with the blockchain in their product sets, let’s not confuse our Bitcoin with our DAOs with our NFTs, or any of the other distinct but overlapping elements of the web 3 lexicon. There is innovation to be embraced here. Keep your mind open and view the possibilities of Web 3 with the rational consideration it deserves.
And remember – never bet more than you can afford to lose.
The International Festival of HR is back! Discover amazing speakers from the world of HR and business at UNLEASH America on 26-27 April 2023.


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate Finance Committee voted on Wednesday to renew an expiring trade benefit that has helped create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the African clothing industry over the past industry.
“A timely extension of this provision will help stem the tide of job losses in Africa and it will ensure that U.S. retailers will have the certainty they need to help their businesses succeed and grow,” Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said.
The landmark African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), first passed by Congress in 2000, allows eligible countries in sub-Saharan Africa to ship thousands of goods to the United States without paying import duties.
A provision that expires September 30 waives duties on clothing from most AGOA countries, even if the yarn or fabric is made in another country such as China, South Korea or Vietnam.
President Barack Obama’s administration had hoped to win renewal of the provision ahead of an annual forum with AGOA beneficiary countries in June.
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said at that event the delay was already hurting African producers because clothing importers place their orders months in advance. He promised Obama would sign a bill as soon as it reached his desk.
Supporters hope Congress will pass the bill before the month-long August recess.


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Blockchain data confirms that the NFT influencer lost at least 19 Ether, worth nearly $27,000 at the time, a Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT with a current floor price of 16 ETH ($25,000), and multiple other NFTs.
An NFT influencer with the Twitter handle @NFT_GOD claims to have lost thousands of dollars worth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and crypto in a Google Ads-delivered malware attack.
On 14th January, NFT God, also known as Alex, shared on Twitter how his “entire livelihood was violated.” In the thread, he explained how his online accounts, including Twitter, Substack, Gmail, and Discord, were hacked into and his crypto wallet compromised after he accidentally downloaded malicious software from Google Ad.
This should not come as a surprise since malicious hackers have a history of exploiting Google Ads to spread malware through the Google search engine. In February 2018, hackers managed to steal over $50 million in Bitcoin after using Google Ads to buy the top result slot on the Google search engine.
More Google Ads and Malware News
- Royal Ransomware Uses Google Ads and Cracked Software
- Nitrokod Crypto Miner Hiding in Fake Google Translate Apps
- Google AdSense Abused to Drop Malware on Android Devices
- Fake Brave browser site dropped malware, thanks to Google Ads
- Google Drive accounted for 50% of malicious Office docs downloads
The pseudonymous influencer has more than 80,000 followers on Twitter and thousands of followers and subscribers on Substack.
Alex said he used the Google search engine to download OBS, an open-source video streaming software. But instead of downloading the software by clicking on the official website, he used the sponsored ad for what he believed was the same thing.
After being informed of the series of phishing tweets posted from his two Twitter accounts, Alex realized that he had downloaded malware with the software he had installed.
Blockchain data confirms that he lost at least 19 Ether, worth nearly $27,000 at the time, a Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT with a current floor price of 16 ETH ($25,000), and multiple other NFTs.
On the other hand, the attacker moved most of the ETH through multiple wallets before sending it to the decentralized exchange (DEX) FixedFloat, where it was swapped for unknown cryptocurrencies.
Alex believes that the hackers were able to gain access to his crypto and NFTs because of a “critical mistake” where he set up his hardware wallet as a hot wallet by entering its seed phrase “in a way that no longer kept it cold,” or offline.
Alongside his crypto wallet, the hackers also breached his Substack account and sent phishing emails to the 16,000 subscribers on his account, compromising the trust he had built with his community. At the same time, Google’s lack of security and scrutiny is also questionable.


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After months of speculation that ABC television could be sold off in whole or part to other parties, the Walt Disney Company’s CEO Bob Iger affirmed this week that the company was more interested in keeping the broadcast network for itself.
The comments were made Wednesday during a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times at its DealBook Summit, in which Iger said he was simply thinking out loud when he told CNBC months ago that ABC may not be “core” to the future of Disney’s business.
“Sometimes, when I’m looking for a reaction to my own thought process, I like to test that process in public — particularly in ways that I might be able to get a reaction from the investment community,” Iger said. “So, my thought was, at the time, I might be public with some of that thought process…and that was a means of my saying to Wall Street that our heads were not in the sand that those businesses were having.”
He asserted that his comments never went so far as to specifically say ABC was for sale, and complained media reporters had spun his words in their coverage that suggested otherwise.
“No, it is not for sale,” Iger said definitively.
Like other broadcast television businesses, Disney has faced challenges with ABC and some of its core cable networks — including sports-centric ESPN, which it operates as a joint venture with Hearst Television — as cable and satellite customers flee skyrocketing bills.
The trend of “cord-cutting” — consumers moving away from pay television toward cheaper online options — has benefitted and hurt Disney. While its broadcast and cable networks are still profitable, the loss of revenue from affiliate fees charged on a per-subscriber basis to cable and satellite companies means that part of the business has and will erode significantly over the next few years.
To that end, Disney has been focused on building out its three streaming services: The flagship movie streamer Disney Plus, general entertainment brand Hulu and over-the-top sports network ESPN Plus. The company has also laid out plans to bring its ESPN multiplex network from cable to a standalone streaming solution within the next two to three years.
To that end, Disney still needs its traditional broadcast and cable networks to keep the streaming part of its business afloat. While cord-cutting might be chipping away at affiliate fee revenue, the broadcast and cable networks are profitable, while Disney’s streaming business is not.
In May, Disney said it lost $659 million on its core streaming products, despite pulling in $5.514 billion in revenue. Disney blamed a number of factors, including outsized content spending and some subscriber churn, for its streaming problems.
Disclosure: The author of this story worked for the Disney-ABC Television Group in 2011.


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Everyone knows that the cannabis industry is a boom market: it’s worth $7.3B in the U.S., and expected to reach $24.5B by 2020. Closer to home in Canada, sales are expected to reach $5.7 billion by 2020 creating cannabis challenges as a result.
Banks like BMO are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in cannabis companies, and publically-traded producers like Aphria, Aurora, Canopy Growth Corp, MedReleaf and others are spooling up massive operations ahead of legalization in October 2018.
So as a recruitment agency focused on Supply Chain across a number of industries, we think it’s time to weigh in on Supply Chain challenges – and talent needs – in the cannabis field. (Just a warning, there will be puns like that one).
On first blush, (or bud), the Cannabis Supply Chain seems relatively straightforward. You’re getting one species of plant to market, after all. But this multibillion dollar industry is set for a flowering of product SKUs across a number of diverse categories, from cannabis-infused candies and chocolates to extracts to consumer propagation supplies like cookies weed seeds and equipment for growing personal plants.
According to a recent report in Procurement trade publication Spend Matters, these are some of the most booming categories in the burgeoning industry.
People who can understand the rapidly changing regulatory environment and help set up complicated distribution networks – not to mention rapidly scaling production – will be in extremely high demand.
With legalization around the corner, it feels like a gold rush – but there are tons of challenges in bringing cannabis to market profitably. As a major National Post feature about Colorado’s cannabis boom described last year, a vertically-integrated cannabis operation is a capital-intensive enterprise with lots of risk and regulatory requirements. And even companies that only focus on one part of the value chain face difficulties specific to this market.
In lots of growing cannabis companies, purchasing and inventory are still done on an ad-hoc basis. Spend Matters outlines how lots of growing cannabis businesses conduct inventory management and procurement using fax, emails, and spreadsheets instead of more sophisticated supply chain software.
It opens up opportunities for cost savings and operational efficiencies – as well as risks for companies that grow too fast without solid supply chain processes and people in place. The blank slate state of these supply chains also stateopens up exciting possibilities for true pros who won’t have to disrupt any existing ways of doing things.
Innovative supply chain practitioners love Greenfield opportunities, and the cannabis industry represents – if you’ll forgive the pun – the greenest field of all.
We’ve written in the past about the importance of hiring solid supply chain managers to scale startups, and those principles also apply for growing companies in the cannabis industry as well.
It’s important to stay lean when scaling a business, but skilled supply chain practitioners are worth it: they tend to pay for themselves by improving efficiency, lowering risk, and navigating complex logistical situations that can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars of excess costs if left unaddressed.
So from our perspective, what are the biggest challenges in the Supply Chain of cannabis, especially from a talent perspective? Rapidly-scaling cannabis companies in Canada need:
- People who can scale businesses and ramp up supply chain operations without letting costs run out of control. These include people to set up logistics networks, build and negotiate with supplier bases, manage contracts, drive efficiency in warehousing and distribution, and other key skills. In some cases, companies would be well-served by bringing on high-skilled contract (contingent) employees to build out supply chains as other growing companies have done.
- People who can navigate the regulatory environment around packaging, labeling, etc. Regulation and legal matters are especially complicated in the American market, where cannabis is still illegal on the federal level. They should be easier in Canada following legalization, but facility with complex regulatory environments is still a key skill in Canada. People with these skills could come from the pharmaceutical industry or other highly-regulated spaces such as the beverage industry.
- People with specific skills for different niches of fresh products with particular shipment needs, including an understanding of cold chain distribution. These people could come from the food industry, or pharmaceutical as well.
- People on the commodity management side who can negotiate the still wildly-fluctuating commodity prices in the industry – prices that fluctuate much more than other agricultural products.
Whether you agree with legalization or not, whether you’ve ever dabbled in the product, or never have and never will, it’s becoming obvious that legal cannabis is one of the major growth areas of the Canadian economy.
Big players are emerging – with huge funding – across the country, and sound Supply Chain Management strategies could determine which companies thrive, and which ones die on the vine.


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The National Logistics Policy (NLP) aimed at developing a technologically enabled, integrated, cost-efficient, resilient, sustainable, and trusted ecosystem for accelerated and inclusive growth, is giving a push to real estate and infrastructure. Vinod Behl
For the past 8 years, the Modi government had been working relentlessly towards improving connectivity through systematic infrastructure development with trailblazing schemes like Bharatmala and Sagarmala. However, high logistics costs have been a hurdle for economic growth. In the works for the last 3-4 years, the NLP has been designed to complement PM Gati Shakti Plan to maximise its impact for speeding up economic growth.
NLP has three basic targets: reduce the cost of logistics and be comparable with global benchmarks by 2030, improve the Global Logistics Performance Index ranking; and create a data-driven decision support mechanism. The target is to place India among the top 25 nations by 2030 - up from the 44th ranking of 2018.
In a country like India, where road transport forms the backbone of logistics, integrated infrastructure under NLP will enhance seamless connectivity across all modes of transportation, and connected infrastructure will usher in cost-efficiency. NLP, combined with Gati Shakti, is set to bring down logistics cost to single digits from the current high 13-14% of GDP. At the same time, digitisation and Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) will enhance cargo movement with better accessibility of available data.
Investments, besides warehousing and manufacturing are a major driver of the logistics and industrial segment. Significant investments from domestic and global investors are coming in logistics and warehousing. Furthermore, $1.4 trillion Gati Shakti Investment, supporting Logistics Infrastructure and massive investments into Atam Nirbhar Bharat Programme, according to Rahul Pandit, CEO, Horizon Industrial Parks, will be a major support to NLP to drive logistics.
India’s move towards becoming a global manufacturing hub will be a key driver in accelerating the development of logistics, according to Arindam Guha, Leader & Partner, Government & Public Services, Deloitte India. He believes that a mix of additional infrastructure investments through National Infrastructure Pipeline and prioritisation of projects through Gati Shakti Initiative would give a thrust to logistical efficiencies.
NLP will spur the growth of commercial real estate including warehouses and industrial parks across both established and emerging logistics parks. In 2021, warehousing space saw net absorption of 39.2 msf, surpassing 2020’s absorption level of 22.1 msf as well as the level of 36.3 msf registered in the pre-pandemic year of 2019. Considering the impending transactions, the net absorption of warehousing space is set to touch 42.5 msf in 2022. The boost to warehousing will in turn push retail. Since NLP will considerably cut down the transportation cost, it will thus result in the reduction in the cost of building materials thereby making real estate more affordable.
The path-breaking NLP that will redefine and transform the logistics sector, has many positives. But the key to its desired success will depend on effective participation of states. Many states have already formed their own logistics policies and others are in the process of doing so. For its successful implementation, not only does NLP need to complement various infrastructure programmes undertaken by the central government, especially in the transportation sector, fostering real partnerships with and among states, it will have to align itself with the states’ logistics plans.
According to Roads and Highways Minister, Nitin Gadkari, the improved mobility provided by the web of highways and expressways is expected to spearhead the change, lowering logistics cost to below 10%. A multimodal approach of including roadways, railways and airways is the effective way forward in this direction. According to experts, this is to be achieved through reorganising the multimodal mix of freight movement, raising the current share of freight movement through railways from 28% to 40%.
Currently, roads have a dominant share of 60% in freight movement in India. In efficient economies, modal mix is just the reverse of India.- 50-55% railways and 25-30% roads. The upcoming Dedicated Freight Corridor will help raise the share of railways freight. And as a whole, NLP will facilitate the transformation of modal mix to focus more on railways, taking NLP on a successful path.
The progressive road map of the policy to accomplish seamless last mile connectivity with an integrated platform and approach will scale up India’s global manufacturing hub, boosting industrial real estate. The multi-modal logistics corridor launched last year will help cut logistics cost to GDP to nearly 8%, making India globally competitive. The improved time and cost efficiencies, together with inter-ministerial collaboration to elevate ease of doing business, will provide a big push to real estate and infrastructure sector.
The much-needed National Logistics Policy is in line with the PM Gati Shakti Plan. It is expected to increase the pace of growth in the logistics and warehousing segment by way of integration of supply chains.
One of the most important policies, the National Logistics Policy is a fine example of inter-ministerial collaboration. This policy will further help integrate the supply chain, making it more efficient, driving down logistics and inventory costs, besides reducing bottlenecks to make it more agile and responsive. The Multi-Modal Park, which identifies 35 locations, covering the length and breadth of the country, will be instrumental in creating new centres of growth.
The newly announced National Logistics Policy (NLP) assumes significance as it stands on the dynamic pillars of co-operative federalism, where all logistics stakeholders come together to ride technology platform like ULIP and e-Log to reduce redundancy, increase speed and efficiency to be globally competitive.
The coming together of seven ministries under Nation Logistics Policy, will directly benefit key sectors like manufacturing, transportation, warehousing, and exports. With LEADS (Logistics Ease Across Different States) and Ease of Logistics (E-logs), the movement of goods will be faster and all industries including real estate will derive commercial benefits.


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January 27, 2011 (Burlington, VT) – Dealer.com, the global leader in online marketing solutions for the automotive industry, today announced that it has acquired selected assets of EpikOne, Inc., a Burlington-based digital consultancy specializing in metrics strategies, media measurement and user experience optimization. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
As a trusted partner in Google’s AdWords, Analytics, Website Optimizer and Search programs, EpikOne developed an unparalleled understanding of the Google product suite and built one of the world’s leading consultancies with this expertise. Clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies have relied on EpikOne to deliver the latest in digital metrics and web analytics and – more importantly – to turn metrics into actionable information for marketers.
EpikOne has worked with leading global brands across a wide range of industries, including Bulgari, Conde Nast, Eurail, GE Healthcare, Harvard, Intuit, Mattel, Morgan Stanley, the National Hockey League, Sony Music and Travelocity.
“The acquisition of EpikOne is a case where the whole will definitely be greater than the sum of the parts,” said Rick Gibbs, President and Chief Technology Officer at Dealer.com. “We have already strategically redeployed EpikOne’s employees throughout Dealer.com – to maximize their immediate impact on the business and expedite product development.
With these new capabilities to support metrics and intelligent dashboards tailored specifically to the automotive space, we believe we’ve leapfrogged many of our competitors who continue to rely on more generic solutions.”
Dave Winslow, co-founder of EpikOne and now Intelligence Chief at Dealer.com, added, “We are very pleased to join forces with Dealer.com, the clear leader in automotive digital marketing. We built EpikOne as generalists working with some of the world’s best-known brands, but now look forward to focusing on the auto industry, where the opportunities and rewards for those who truly excel online remain very substantial.”


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The numbers: A survey of consumer sentiment rose slightly to 51.1 in July from an all-time low, but Americans were still deeply worried about high inflation and talk of a possible recession.
One bit of potentially good news: Americans expect high inflation to persist for a while but eventually subside. They see prices rising 2.8% over the next five years, down from 3.1% in June. That matches the lowest reading in 16 months.
The Federal Reserve cited the increase in inflation expectation in the June report as one of the reasons it raised a key U.S. interest rate last month by 0.75 percentage points.
Big picture: Americans are upset about the highest inflation in nearly 41 years . They are paying more for food, gas, rent and most other goods and services.
The Fed is raising interest rates aggressively to try to cool off the economy and tame the surge in prices, but the central bank risks triggering a recession if it raises rates too high, adding to the angst of consumers.
Key details: A gauge that measures what consumers think about their own financial situation and the current health of the economy rose to 57.1 from 53.8.
One worrisome part of the report: some consumers said they are buying certain things now to avoid paying higher prices in the future.
Yet another measure that asks about expectations for the next six months slipped to 47.3 from 47.5, signaling that Americans are worried about a deterioration in the economy toward the end of the year.
Looking ahead: “Confidence is still very, very, low, illustrating that surging inflation and the damage it is doing to their purchasing power is a big issue for households,” said chief U.S. economist Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics.


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The active development of sustainable energy creates demand on the introduction of micro-grid systems in Ukraine, and growing popularity of electric cars creates demand on the installation of superchargers. A representative of the company Andriy Panchenko described the new trends at the Swedish-Ukrainian business forum held in Kyiv recently. According to him, the company has already built 25 MW solar power plants under an order of Ukrainian energy companies.
Panchenko told Interfax-Ukraine that ABB on the market of solar power plants offers complex solutions, supplying everything, except solar cell arrays and cables. He estimated ABB’s market share at about 10%.
The representative of the company said that this market is growing, and this year the volume of construction will exceed 30 MW.
With regard to the superchargers, Panchenko said that the company has already installed 15 devices with a capacity of 50 kW, and the largest customer was DTEK. In his opinion, this market will continue to grow rapidly, as Ukraine is now the fifth market in Europe for importing cars, and the number of high-speed charges on the market is still very low. In general, Panchenko said that the ABB business in Ukraine began to grow, and if in 2014 its staff decreased from 200 to 100, now it has about 120 employees.
The share of Artwinery, a large producer of sparkling wine in Eastern Europe, of the Ukrainian sparkling wine market totaled 20.6% compared with 19.4% in 2016, the company has reported. “The volume of production of sparkling Artvineri over the past year amounted to 10.26 million bottles against 12.3 million bottles in 2016. The average annual volume of export sales of sparkling wines of the company is about 15% of the total figure,” Marketing Director of Artwinery Yevhenia Stadnyk told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to her, EU countries (in particular Germany), the CIS countries (Russia, Azerbaijan) and the countries of Asia are promising directions for the company’s export development.
The marketing director pointed out that the wine materials for the production of sparkling wines come to the enterprise from the wine-growing enterprises of the Odesa, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. In addition, there are wine materials of the Crimean peninsula of the 2012-2013 harvest in the reserves of the enterprise.
“The entire production cycle is located at a depth of more than 72 meters in underground gypsum tunnels, which keep the temperature and humidity constant all year round. The total area of the underground galleries used by Artwinery is over 25 hectares,” Stadnyk said.
She said that until now, there is no need to count on restoration of the sparkling wine market in Ukraine to the indicators of 2013, when the volume was 69 million bottles. Artwinery seeks to strengthen its positions on the Ukrainian market and further expand export geography.


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Hoping to grab the maximum eyeballs at the CES 2012 event, Lenovo came up with a host of new products including a 10-inch tablet called IdeaTab S2. However, the Lenovo product that managed to create maximum buzz at the event was its Android TV – Lenovo K91. The new 55-inch 3D 240Hz IPS LCD HDTV from Lenovo runs on the latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich. Lenovo says that the K91 is the first smart TV to run on the ICS platform and has access to “unlimited TV apps”.
No, no. It's not a Google TV. This 55-inch HDTV runs full Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), and I got to spend some time with a prototype set today in Lenovo's CES trailer. What's the difference between a Google TV and an Android TV, you ask? With an Android TV, you can better integrate all the elements of the UI, and add more customization, Lenovo said. The K91's "Sandwich" user interface brings three key elements together: on-demand video, apps, and, traditional television programming. And the good-looking, well-designed UI does so well.
Cool. Except Lenovo has no immediate plans to sell the set in the U.S., though it will be available in China in April. No pricing information was revealed, but there will be a 42-inch version as well. The K91 is built around a Qualcomm 8060 Snapdragon dual-core processor, and embeds a 5-megapixel webcam into it's top bezel for video chat, and face recognition, so you can set parental controls on the content. The set itself is nicely designed with a shiny black bezel with silver accents and a swiveling base. The panel itself isn't LED-thin, but it's certainly not bulky (see the slideshow for a profile shot). Ports are well positioned and aplenty.
The included remote, which I found particularly impressive (despite an inability to read its keys, which were in Chinese), has a pad you can swipe, to move between elements of the interface. And there's a microphone on the top panel, so you can speak into it to, say, search for your favorite gritty crime drama. Just like with Google TV, your results will come from the Web, VOD content, and traditional programming. The remote embeds an accelerometer and gyroscope for motion-based gaming. I played a Nintendo-Wii-like version of Tennis, and the remote did a fine job of sensing movement. For more intense games, there's also a bundled horizontal game controller. If you have a Lenovo phone or tablet, you can control the TV with an app as well.
Since this is a full Android TV, apps are a big deal. There are more than 100 pre-loaded, and there's a curated Lenovo Apps Store on-board. Lenovo reps couldn't confirm the number of apps in that store, since more will be added before the K91's launch in the spring.
Copyright © 2010 Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc.


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LAKEVILLE, Minn. — The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns significantly impacted retailers in 2020, and through it all, new tobacco regulations continued to be considered by the FDA, as well as state and local governments.
New Graphic Cigarette Warnings
In March, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a rule requiring 11 new text warnings with graphic color images on cigarette packs, cartons and advertisements beginning June 18, 2021. Two lawsuits were filed against these warnings, claiming the warnings violated free speech, exceeded the FDA’s authority and were adopted under a flawed process. In one lawsuit, the plaintiffs and the FDA jointly asked the court in May for a 120-day effective date extension to Oct. 16, 2021, citing the disruptive effects of COVID-19 on both the regulated community and the FDA. Then, in December, the court postponed the implementation date of the new cigarette warnings yet again to Jan. 14, 2022.
Manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers that create or produce their own cigarette advertising must submit a warning rotational plan to the FDA. The FDA announced that it strongly encourages entities to submit rotational plans as soon as possible, and in any event by March 16, 2021.
Both lawsuits continue, so it is not known if the new graphic warnings will ultimately be struck down or required in their current form, further delayed or amended.
California Flavored Tobacco Ban Law
California’s legislature passed, and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed, Senate Bill 793, banning the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including vapor products, except shisha, premium cigars and loose-leaf tobacco, effective Jan. 1, 2021.
The California Coalition for Fairness was formed to collect voter signatures on a referendum petition to have the state’s voters decide whether the law goes into effect or is repealed. The coalition needed 623,212 valid voter signatures by Nov. 30. On Nov. 24, the coalition submitted 1,023,529 signatures. On Dec. 7, the California Secretary of State issued a notice that as the raw number of signatures exceeded the number required, county election officials must verify the signatures, a process that would extend beyond Jan. 1, 2021.
A lawsuit was then filed to suspend the law pending signature verification. On Dec. 10, the court suspended the law unless it is determined there are not enough valid signatures or the voters approve the ban in the November 2022 election.
Local Flavor Ban Ordinances
In February, the FDA made most flavored cartridge- and pod-type vaping products illegal. Then, in September, it became illegal to sell some other vapor and tobacco products for which a required Premarket Tobacco Application (PMTA) was not filed with the FDA. Despite this, local governments continue to propose flavor bans, claiming they want to address youth vaping, yet extending the bans to traditional tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, flavored cigars, pipe tobacco and flavored smokeless tobacco. This also includes newer tobacco products, including some the FDA has determined to be “modified risk,” expected to benefit the health of the entire population.
In 2020, NATO monitored or opposed more than 160 such local flavor ban ordinances, most in California and Massachusetts, both of which states had also passed statewide flavored tobacco ban laws. Minnesota and Colorado also had multiple local bans Opposition by local retailers has been fundamental in modifying, delaying or stopping many proposed bans, notably Kansas City, Mo., which dropped its ban for now, and Missoula, Mont.
Also, during 2020, six lawsuits were filed against local flavor ordinances, two in Philadelphia and others lawsuits were filed in Palo Alto, Calif.; Edina, Minn.; and Los Angeles and San Diego counties. In Los Angeles County, the court upheld the ban, but a Philadelphia court preliminarily enjoined its ban.
Thomas A. Briant is the executive director of NATO, a tobacco retailing association based in Lakeville, Minn. Reach him at email@example.com.
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We’ve been hearing rumors about Apple’s exploration of a foldable iPhone for years now, but the Cupertino company is also experimenting with other foldable form factors, including a larger-screened foldable iPad.
This guide covers everything that we’ve heard about the possibility of a future foldable tablet from Apple.
According to Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) analyst Ross Young, Apple is developing foldable displays that are up to 20 inches in size, and while he said that this was for a “foldable notebook,” it’s possible that could refer to a foldable iPad device.
‘s Mark Gurman has also said that Apple is working on larger-screened iPads, so combining these two rumors, we could see a future foldable iPad with a large display.
We’ve heard other foldable iPad rumors, with a 2019 rumor from analyst Jeff Lin suggesting that Apple would launch a foldable iPad as soon as 2020. That didn’t happen, of course, but it certainly seems like foldable technology is on the horizon.
In fact, a recent rumor suggests that Apple is working with LG Display on foldable OLED display panels for future iPads and MacBooks.
The technology that Apple is allegedly working on with LG Display will see the company using an ultra-thin cover glass instead of polyimide, which is what other foldable displays use today.
Apple is testing electronic paper display (EPD) technology that could be used in future foldable devices, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Apple could use color EPD displays from Chinese company E Ink, as this technology would be much more energy efficient than other forms of display technology.
At somewhere around 20 inches, the foldable device that Apple is working on could feature a 4K or higher resolution.
Display analyst Ross Young said in July 2022 that Apple could bring some kind of foldable notebook to market in 2026 or 2027, and it is as of yet unclear if such a device would be classified as a Mac, an iPad, or something in between.
Conclusion: So above is the Apple’s Work on a Foldable iPad: What We Know article. Hopefully with this article you can help you in life, always follow and read our good articles on the website: Doshared.com


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Bayern Munich will be suiting up in, well, a rather unorthodox look when next season rolls around.
According to the good people at Footy Headlines, Bayern’s new home kit will be a stark departure from tradition. The biggest change is that the kit will be predominantly white. Not red, white. The club’s traditional red will be present, just on the sleeves, not the whole kit. Footy Headlines is describing the look as a “reverse Arsenal,” a palette swap with Arsenal’s usual look of white sleeves on a red backdrop.
Although no exact details regarding the design have emerged yet, this prediction should give a decent impression of what the kit might look like. Needless to say, it’s not great.
Bayern's home kit for next season will be mainly white with red sleeves. The exact look is not known yet, but the prediction below should give a good impression of the shirt. It is the first time in history that Bayern get a mainly white home kit [@Footy_Headlines] pic.twitter.com/2F2XearGnF— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) December 31, 2022
Who in God’s name thought of this idea, and who in God’s name thought it was a good one? We can’t be sure, but the fans will most likely be outraged by the change. Remember, we’re talking about a fanbase who forced the club to change its blue home shirts to red back in 2018. Back then, the club released a statement saying that all Bayern home kits from then on would only be red and white. So the new kit isn’t entirely against the new rules, since it does feature both colors, but…we’ll see what the fans say.
Contrary to popular belief though, this isn’t the first time Bayern wore a predominantly white kit. Way back in the 1930s, Bayern wore white shirts with burgundy sleeves when they won their first ever German championship. A similar kit was released in 2020 to celebrate the club’s 120th anniversary, and was worn in one Bundesliga game.
The new home kit will most likely be released in late May, as per Bayern tradition to wear the new season’s kits in the last home game of the season.


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It was recently reported that Suzuki Cars UK product manager Ed Norman revealed an all-new automatic transmission will be made available for the first time on the diesel-powered SX4 in the summer. This new transmission is said to carry a £1,000 premium on the current cheapest diesel in the range, which costs £16,999.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) was unable to say what proportion of the 53,295 diesel SUV C-segment vehicles sold so far in 2015 were mated to automatic transmissions, but the overall total for automatics sold in the segment was 18,880.
Reports also suggested that the model will receive a few other light revisions this year, including making its engine range cleaner, with Euro6 compliant units – which it claimed will be done without the use of AdBlue (a technology used by some German manufacturers to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides).
However, Suzuki told AM this has yet to be confirmed. Confirmed edits to the model include the discontinuation of the Bright Red paint option, and the replacement of the spare wheel with a temporary repair kit, in line with the Celerio model and the new Vitara.
For customers that prefer having a spare wheel, it is still available as an optional accessory.
Robin Luscombe, managing director of Luscombe Motors, which has the franchise, said: “The red ones didn’t sell very well, so no problem there, and the recent addition of 0% finance has outweighed the removal of the spare wheel.”
Dealers’ faith in the brand is growing, according to the National Franchised Dealer Association’s Winter 2015 satisfaction survey, which saw Suzuki jump from fifth to third.
If the reported revisions do take place, it is said to go on sale in July.


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Photo by Heather Kaplan
In the name of animal rights, Morrissey once instructed New York’s Madison Square Garden to prohibit the sale of any meat-based products during his show. Riot Fest Chicago, where the singer performed over the summer, fell in line as well, halting the serving and cooking of meat for the entirety of his set. Now, as the Detroit Metro Times points out, Moz is hoping he can get another big name to back his activist ways: General Motors.
Just a day before he’s set to play at Detroit’s Royal Oak Music Theatre, The Smiths frontman has addressed a letter to the carmaker’s CEO asking that GM offer their customers the option of having vegan leather interiors. Specifically, the English musician wants the manufacturer’s Bolt and Volt models — which already are promoted as eco-friendly — to feature the vegan materials.
Perhaps to make his request seem doubly serious, Morrissey reminds the CEO that PETA is currently investigating the Detroit company for its possible connections to cattle ranches, where “animals are branded on the face, electro-shocked, and beaten before they’re slaughtered and used to make leather interiors for car companies, including yours.”
Read the full letter below.
Mary T Barra
Chair and CEO
General Motors Company
21 November 2016
Dear Ms Barra,
As I head to Detroit to play the Royal Oak Music Theatre, I’m writing to ask GM to make Chevy’s Volt and Bolt more eco-friendly by giving buyers the option to choose vegan leather interiors – including steering wheels and gear shifts. GM is named in PETA’s brand-new investigation of cattle ranches, on which animals are branded on the face, electro-shocked, and beaten before they’re slaughtered and used to make leather interiors for car companies, including yours.
More and more people are opting for vegan leather for the sake of both cows and the environment. A staggering 51 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture. Animal skins also have to be treated with a toxic soup of chemicals in order to keep them from decomposing, and runoff from leather tanneries poisons vital waterways.
Given that the Volt and Bolt are being marketed to eco-conscious buyers, entirely vegan options would only broaden their appeal. I look forward to your reply.


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DEPUTY MAYOR OF LONDON AND THE ECONOMIC SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY HEADLINE IMPRESSIVE SPEAKER LINEUP AT FINTECH WEEK LONDON
Fintech Week London, the must-attend event for the fintech industry, has announced an impressive line-up of speakers for its flagship conference on 19 to 20 June, with Rajesh Agrawal, Deputy Mayor of London for Business, and Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Griffith MP, among the influential voices taking to the stage.
Taking place at the innovative Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the forward-thinking two-day conference will bring international leaders from the worlds of fintech and financial services together in London, a primary global hub for both sectors.
Now, the first batch of exciting, world-class thought leaders from a wide range of leading companies and organisations has been announced for this year’s event, which includes:
● Rajesh Agrawal (Deputy Mayor of London for Business)
● Tom Bentley (NatWest Mettle)
● Joel Blake OBE (GFA Exchange)
● Simon Boonen (ING)
● Charlotte Crosswell (CFIT)
● Craig Fox (Silicon Valley Bank)
● Andrew Griffith MP
● Matthew Long (FCA)
● Silvia Mensdorff-Pouilly (FIS)
● Betsy Samuel (Thredd)
● Louise Smith (Innovate Finance)
● Sabine VanderLinden (Alchemy Crew)
● Sam White (Freedom Group)
Keynote speakers and panel discussions will put the spotlight on the hot topics of Embedded Finance, ESG, Crypto, Metaverse, Insurtech, Data Risk and Fraud, Trending in Fintech and Fintech for Good. Following the two-day conference, the week will continue with the Fintech Awards London ceremony on Wednesday and further exciting and thought-provoking events and talks till Friday.
Fintech Week London has developed a reputation as a must-attend event for anyone in the fintech industry. This year’s event has the inspiring theme of 'From Flux to Flow: Evolving the future of finance’, with a focus on how fintech can respond to a challenging year that has been dominated by funding concerns and talent shortages, as well as broader geopolitical tensions and conflicts.
In addition to dealing with ongoing sector issues, Fintech Week London will also focus on other relevant discussions happening across fintech right now, including the rise of embedded finance solutions, the growing importance of fintech for good and the ever-expanding role of cryptocurrencies across our daily lives. In doing so, the event aims to go further than ever before in delivering a landmark event for those working in the sector.
Raf De Kimpe, CEO of Fintech Week London commented: “With just weeks until the start of Fintech Week London, we are thrilled with the calibre of speakers that has been announced today. This distinguished lineup features senior decision-makers from top fintechs, banks, investment firms, regulatory bodies, and even representatives from the UK and regional governments. Their presence underscores the exceptional value and insights that attendees can expect from this year's event.
“One of the things that makes Fintech Week London so unique is the emphasis it puts on discussions and networking. Our amazing speaker line-up will add incredible value in this area. Those who visit this year’s event will find a conference full of high-stakes discussions, as well as individuals and businesses who want to effectively tackle the most salient issues affecting fintech and financial services right now.”
Tickets for Fintech Week London are now available to book, to find out more information please visit: https://www.fintechweek.london/


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Jun 1, 2016
Giorgio Armani sales growth decelerates as luxury sector slows
Jun 1, 2016
Italian fashion group Giorgio Armani reported slower revenue growth of 4.5 percent at current exchange rates for 2015 and said its core profit had remained broadly unchanged.
Revenue totaled 2.65 billion euros ($3 billion), placing Armani just behind Italy's biggest fashion group Prada which had sales of 3.55 billion euros last year.
Last year's sales increase compares with a 16 percent rise Armani reported for 2014, showing the brand is not immune from the sector slowdown driven by China's economic deceleration, security threats hurting tourism and emerging countries' woes.
Armani, whose products range from apparel to cosmetics and furniture, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reached 513 million euros last year, compared with 507 million in 2014.
The group said its cash reserves of 640 million euros at the end of December gave it the opportunity to make increasing investments in its brands.
The company founded by Giorgio Armani in Milan in 1975 is seen as a prime candidate for a stock market listing. The 81-year-old designer, still actively involved in the business, has not yet disclosed any succession plan.
© Thomson Reuters 2023 All rights reserved.


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2022 Chevy Corvette C8 Colors, Review, Release Date – The story from the 2022 Chevy Corvette C8, as a result far has become one of ups and downs. The sports vehicle has obtained masses of essential praise, and it has long gone on to become the fastest promoting vehicle within the U.S. for three consecutive months. That said, delays along with other production troubles have ongoing to plague the mid-engined Corvette effectively into its 2nd revenue yr, which has still left some buyers discouraged with Standard Motors.
As the 2021 design 12 months attracts around it conclude, there is certainly all over again a renewed hope that the 2022 model calendar year will sleek out these prolonged dental problems. Thanks to the new report from CorvetteActionCenter, we now possess a better idea concerning when 2022 C8 Corvettes may start to roll off the assembly line.
Wrapping Up The 2021 Design Year
Dealerships across the U.S. obtained consensus notes from GM yesterday detailing C8 Corvette allocation figures for May and June. The number of specific allocations is often primarily based on the dealership’s sales amongst the 2018 and 2021 calendar a long time—the exterior of just breaking down the number of automobiles every dealer is anticipated to get. The observe also provided a timeline as to when recently ordered vehicles must be developed. General Motors noted that cars purchased during the next two months must-see production throughout the seven days of August 6. Interestingly ample, this date arrives following the 2022 design year is reportedly slated to start in mid-July. Additionally, it is worth noting that GM was hesitant to ultimately affirm allocation figures for the thirty days of June because the existing global provides chain concerns could impact the vehicle. For other informations about this models click here.
2022 C8 Corvette: Manufacturing Starts September 6
Should the provision chain situation not rear its head, it’s most likely that the automaker will need the remainder of August to complete generation. GM has officially confirmed that after the 2021 design yr autos, the 2022 C8 Corvette generation will kick off on September 6. The automaker, even more, observed the updated Develop and Price tool would stay within the same working day. This could include updates such as three new paint colors to pick from because of the new low-profile rear spoiler. Before this, clients will have access to the 2022 Chevy Corvette C8 purchase e-book starting June 28 and also the visualizer tool on June 29.
With the production of the 2022 Chevy Corvette C8 lineup officially kicking off in September, the rumored summertime debut on the impending Z06 design looks as if an inevitability. That’s relatively thrilling, as being the auto promises for being single on the most intriguing functionality vehicles GM has ever introduced. The Z06 will pack a C8.R . derivative flat-plane V8 engine, which can be slated to become probably the most strong N/A V8 ever suited to a creation automobile. We’ve acquired an opportunity to hear the issue, many thanks to some modern spy footage, and it’s enthralling, to state the least. When you think that GM is additionally benchmarking the Corvette Z06 towards the Ferrari 458 and the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, we could certainly be in the shop for anything unique. However, here’s to hoping that 2022 would be the caress ideal yr at Bowling Inexperienced Assembly.
There exists a new low-profile spoiler that will be approaching the new and refreshed Corvette. Again, the sources are in the Corvette staff in the Chevrolet alone. They usually incorporate Executive Corvette Main Engineer Tadge Juchter, Merchandise Supervisor Harlan Charles, and Corvette Chief Engineer Josh Holder.
2022 Chevy Corvette C8 Price And Release Date
Numerous were disappointed after understanding the news last seven days that GMwon’tt aid tuners crack the C8Corvette’ss Eu. Despite a scarcity of aftermarket assistance and the announcement of price raises for 2021 models, demand for the mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette is insanely high. However, that does not indicate that the 2022 Chevy Corvette C8 receives a reprieve from price hikes. Corvette Motion Heart has to stumble upon pricing about the Chevy vendor Buy Operate Bench system. It has uncovered the C8 is acquiring a $1,000 price enhance throughout the variety, and the vacation spot fee has long gone up from $1,095 to $1,295.
The new low-profile spoiler can be accessible within the 2022 Corvette Stingray even if you opt-out on the Z51 Overall Performance Package, along with the selection will even contain the front splitter. Additionally, around the design that is certainly on sale at this time, you can add a higher wing spoiler choice that’s $1, a hundred and fifty.
Moreover, the prevalent Z51 Performance package deal has swelled in price to $6,345. In addition, the E60 Entrance Carry option is much more pricey (now $2,260), Black Trident wheels will now cost you $2,995, and the Higher Wing has become priced at $1,250. Luckily, not all possibilities have gotten more expensive because the 5VM floor effects package has been discounted from $4,895 to $4,445. There will also be a new lower profile spoiler available to buy, using this proving a lot more cost-effective compared to High Wing at $595. Even with these raises, we’re confident that the C8 will carry on to fly off supplier plenty, especially since the 2022 design calendar year sees the addition of the IMSA GTLM Championship Version. This is a $6,595 selection that may be added to the 3LT trim with the Z51 bundle.


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Berlin, 27 September 2018. As part of its 2018 initiative to cut down on the use of single-use items where feasible, or to substitute them with more sustainable alternatives, the Parliament of the United Kingdom has rolled out a new range of bio-based, certified compostable catering items, such as coffee cups, soup containers and salad boxes in the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
New waste bins will be installed to capture used compostable items. The waste will be sent to an organic recycling facility, which will create high quality compost from it.
The introduction of compostable products is one of several measures to be realised in the Houses by 2019. The first phase of the Parliament’s plan, for example, saw the introduction of re-usable coffee cups earlier this year. On top of that, plans to stop selling bottled water in the Parliament will come into effect in October.
’The UK Parliament is leading the way with its initiative, showing that certified compostable plastics have a role to play in our efforts to improve sustainability’, states Hasso von Pogrell, Managing Director of European Bioplastics. ’The concepts of prevention, re-use, single-use and sound waste management need to be optimally combined to make sustainability and circularity happen’.


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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Federal Trade Commission proposed this week that consumers should have a "do not track" option for the Internet, similar to the "do not call" list that exists to block telemarketers.
But the FTC's proposal faces fierce opposition, from both the tech industry and many lawmakers. And if a were adopted, it could open a Pandora's box of unintended consequences.
The FTC's plan calls for a universal add-on piece of software that surfers could install on their Internet browsers to block websites from collecting information about them. The proposal would need congressional approval before it could be enacted as an industry-wide mandate.
On the surface, a "do not track" option sounds like an elegant solution to a growing problem. It's increasingly difficult for consumers to know who is collecting their browsing history and personal information, and what is being done with it. Shifting the privacy-protection burden from consumers to the companies who track information is attractive.
But those in the industry warn that such an overarching policy would put billions of e-commerce and advertising dollars at risk. It could also unleash all kinds of unintended and undesirable effects on the very consumers the FTC is trying to protect.
That's because companies like Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) and Facebook make money by targeting ads to people. It's not the only way those companies make money, but it's a growing aspect of their business model. Marketers are willing to spend lavishly to get their ads in front of people who are likely to buy their products. (See clarification below.)
Though highly targeted ads can spook some consumers, they also serve as the mechanism that make it possible for many websites and applications to be free, including Google's Gmail and Facebook (and, yup, CNNMoney.com).
The FTC's proposal recognized that some targeting is acceptable, and seeks public comment on how to achieve that. But if enforced too broadly, a blanket "do not track" plan would change the way consumers use the Internet. Many take for granted the fact that Amazon.com (AMZN, Fortune 500) stores your credit card information, Yahoo Mail stores your username and password, and Facebook keeps you logged in when you navigate away from the site for a minute. Those handy features would disappear if consumers enabled a blanket "do not track" option.
The Obama administration has a very different privacy solution. The Commerce Department is expected to soon release a framework that Internet companies would voluntarily adopt, but that the government could choose enforce. Its goal would be to map out standards and best practices for using and collecting personal data online.
Internet privacy is a serious issue that captures significant attention every time Facebook IDs are tied to a user's browsing behavior or the e-mail contacts of millions of people are revealed. The fact that the FTC has released a set of guidelines shows that regulators are getting serious about giving consumers more control over their online privacy.
"The FTC's intent was go to after companies that use consumers' data without them being aware of it, but a blanket statement won't be effective," says Debbie Williamson, senior analyst at research firm eMarketer. "It would bring e-commerce to a halt, and consumers aren't going to like the results. There's not much chance that these specific proposals would be enacted."
Clarification: An earlier version of this story referred to targeted ads as a "a critical aspect" of Google's business. It's a closely watched growth area, but it is not a large part of Google's current revenue stream.
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text: Amid buzz about a possible Google Phone, today the Internet search giant revealed its plans for a move into the mobile world. (See “Why Did Google Buy Jaiku?”) The bad news is that there is no Google Phone, according to Andy Rubin, the company’s director of mobile platforms. The company’s good news is that Google does have a plan for mobile–and a far-reaching one at that. The company announced that it is launching Android, a platform for mobile devices that includes an operating system, a user interface, and applications. The system is designed to combat the problems that developers face with mobile phones: that every phone is radically different in terms of its specifications, and applications usually have to be redesigned for each individual model of phone. (See “Making Your Phone Smarter.”) If phone carriers and manufacturers adopt the Android platform–and Google seems to have already lined up some who say they will, in the form of the Open Handset Alliance–phones could get much more powerful as developers become able to concentrate their resources on building applications rather than on rebuilding them. Google’s strategy also seems to involve improving Web services to mobile phones. Rubin’s entry on the Google blog gives the impression that Android is only a small part of the company’s strategy in that arena.


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Global macro events have always shaped and shifted consumer behaviour and the past few years have been no different. Technological advances have accelerated and changed the way we shop and recent notable themes that are taking shape are how consumers are further filtering their purchase behaviour through layers like privacy, safety, convenience, and price.
Offline shopping has picked up across Africa. However, online shopping remains popular across all three surveyed countries, with 84% of consumers in South Africa1 and 85% in both Kenya2 and Nigeria3 saying they will stick to their changed behaviours.
Despite a slight dip in certain categories like house and garden, and consumer electronics, where consumers experience problems shopping online,4 online purchases remain higher than before the pandemic.5 This demonstrates a shift away from offline-only shopping. For retailers, it’s imperative that the online experience is frictionless and the offline experience is worth the trip in-store.
First discovery via online touchpoints is a key trend with online research6 dominating as an upper-funnel discovery and awareness step. Consumers across all three regions are thoroughly researching products online (74% in South Africa,7 83% in Kenya,8 and 85% in Nigeria9) and for many, the experience serves as their introduction to a brand. Search engines are the main source of research,10 however, social media and retailer websites and apps have also been added into the research mix.11
And when it comes to consumer pain points, in all three countries, it’s price that’s determining whether a purchase is made - particularly in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) category (61% in Kenya,12 54% in Nigeria,13 28% in South Africa14).
While there are several consumer behaviour insights in the research, we’ve identified three we think are developing into levers marketers and brands might pull to drive long-term success and inform future campaigns.
Kenya: Don’t forget the over 50s
Brands naturally want to reach this enormous market, but in Kenya people aged 55 and up are more likely to actually make a purchase online.15 Some 41% of Kenyans in that cohort said they’d shopped online, compared to 30% of 18- to 24-year-olds.16
Older shoppers have more purchasing power in Kenya. So, when designing campaigns, marketers need to resist the temptation to focus exclusively on the larger, younger demographics.
Shoppers of all ages researched their purchases online in roughly equal measure.17 But with the over-55 crowd most likely to follow through with an online purchase, marketers need to remember to help them turn their online browsing into buying.
Allowing shoppers to buy without needing to register an account is one of the easiest ways to do that.18 Struggling with returns and battling to find independent reviews were also top of the pain points cited by shoppers in their retail journey.19
Nigeria: Cash is king
Nearly one third of Nigerians said they paid cash for their most recent purchase.20 About one in four used a credit card, but only 4% had bought something with an online-payment service.21
This trend held up in Kenya as well,22 despite its well-known success as an early adopter of mobile money.
Convenience is crucial to online success, especially around payments. Shoppers want a variety of ways to pay, including simple but effective solutions based on text messaging.
South Africa: App purchases soar
But for the first time, app-based purchases overtook purchases made via websites.24
App-based purchases have been growing steadily and in 2022 mobile purchases via websites (42%) was trumped by app purchases (52%).25
As customers adopt different shopping behaviours, retailers are following suit, seeing the opportunity of apps to build powerful connections with their consumers. Successful apps move people from awareness to the “embed” stage – at which point the app is so firmly entrenched it’s hard to imagine life without it.
Throughout the user journey, the app needs to build an emotional connection powered by inspiration and personalisation. User-friendly navigation that showcases the best categories and special offers, and filters that personalise the user experience rewards the user’s intent to purchase. The result is a loyal ambassador.


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Automotive seating manufacturer Lear Corp. has told the Unifor (the Canadian automotive trade labor union), that it plans on closing the doors of it’s seating plant in Ajax, Ontario. Workers have been on strike since the weekend at the plant. The plant currently makes seats for the Dodge Charger, Dodge Challenger and Chrysler 300, which are assembled at the FCA Brampton Assembly Plant just outside of Toronto.
“Due to the resounding rejection of the tentative agreement by the membership on May 1, 2018, and other recent developments from our customer regarding the future work, the company is announcing a closure of the Lear Ajax plant,” the company said in a memo to Unifor leaders.
There are currently about 320 Unifor membership workers, that work at the plant in Ajax, Ontario.
Failure of negotiations to secure a new collective agreement on pay and conditions, halted production at the Brampton Assembly Plant earlier this week.
According to a memo to Unifor leadership, the plant will be closed “as soon as practical”. However, not before the current vehicles made in Brampton are replaced. The Dodge Charger and Challenger are to be expected to replaced with the next generation of those cars coming in the 2020 calendar year.
Lear Corp. has announced that it has withdrawn the tentative offer that was overwhelmingly rejected by the workers on Monday.


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Young fans on May 11, 2018 flocked to the World Trade Center as early as 10 a.m. to catch their favorite creators hours ahead of a creator event held in Manila.
To entertain the crowd with their own brand of humor, young global smartphone brand Vivo tapped online video creators Rozel Basilio, Luigi Pacheco, Jomie Hospital, Arah Virtucio, and Lloyd Cadena during the pre-main show.
|YouTube star Lloyd Cadena delighted fans with his humor and energy.
Vivo’s first segment was a live skit directed by Lloyd and starred by Rozel, Luigi, Jomie and Arah.
For the second Vivo segment, the creators shared their thoughts on the new Vivo V9 and its 24-megapixel AI selfie camera and its 16MP+5MP dual rear camera.
The last branded segment before the show featured the classic game Pinoy Henyo played by the content creators and the winners of the Vivo online contest. The creators then ended the segment with a seflie with the crowd using the Vivo V9.
One for the books! Top online video creators took a selfie using the Vivo V9 Velvet Red.
After his pre-main program segments, Lloyd dropped by the Vivo booth to meet his adoring fans. Other notable video content creators also visited the Vivo booth and tried each of its station.
The booth featured a Game Station, a Studio Recording Station, and an Open Mic Stage.
The Game Station was where the crowd can use the Vivo V9 as a console while taking a break from the festivities at the World Trade Center.
The Studio Recording Station, meanwhile, was an instant hit to music-loving Pinoys. It was an enclosed room that includes recording equipment. The recording was then published live on Vivo’s YouTube page.
Finally, the Open Mic Stage was a small stage in the middle of the booth where young performers can show off their talents. The stage included a microphone, a bass guitar, an acoustic guitar, a keyboard piano, and a beatbox.
With all these, the Vivo booth at the fanfest became an instant hit among young and up-and-coming online creators.
A global smartphone brand focused on introducing perfect sound quality and ultimate photography with cutting-edge technology, Vivo develops innovative and stylish products for young people. We now have over two hundred million users and are one of the preferred brands of young people around the world. As an Official Sponsor of the FIFA World Cup™, Vivo believes in the importance of encouraging young people to embrace self-expression and an energetic lifestyle. In the Philippines, Vivo is the top 3 smartphone brand in terms of market share with 1.5 million users nationwide.
For inquiries about Vivo, visit the Vivo website at vivoglobal.ph or check out their Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/vivophil), Instagram
(https://www.instagram.com/vivo_philippines/), and Twitter (https://twitter.com/vivo_phil)


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By BRANDON JOSPHAT
THERE are concerns that the recent steep increases in administered prices — those charged by the Zimbabwean government and its agencies — could unbalance the economy and once again see long-suffering consumers facing fresh hikes in the prices of basic goods.
This comes after the prices of fuel, electricity and road toll fees went up significantly, at a time that both the economy and prices of basic goods were experiencing relative stability owing to a raft of measures that were implemented by authorities in the past three months.
It also comes as both black market foreign currency rates and month-on-month inflation have been holding steady, with the Zimbabwe dollar now almost nearing convergence with the greenback on parallel markets.
Economic experts who spoke to the Daily News On Sunday yesterday warned that the latest stiff increases in administered prices could erode the economic gains that had been made in recent months — with business likely to pass on the costs to consumers.
The president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), Kurai Matsheza, said the latest increase in administered prices would significantly raise the cost of doing business in the country.
“We have seen some price stability over the past three months and month-on-month inflation has been coming down.
“However, with some of the parastatals increasing their prices, this will militate against bringing down inflation. Thus, the fear is that we might start to see some prices ticking up again,” Matsheza told the Daily News On Sunday.
The president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR), Denford Mutashu, also said the new hikes in government charges were likely to affect the economic stability which which had been witnessed in recent months.
“There is a general trend to increase prices in local currency only by both the private and public sectors, which is driven by the supply chain and slight movements in the exchange rate.
“This can lead to an increase in the prices of basic commodities, which we hope won’t happen,” he said.
Economist Prosper Chitambara also said while the statutory price increases were necessary, as they had become uncompetitive, they were going to affect businesses and result in more price hikes.
“The reason for the increases is probably that they are experiencing huge pressures in terms of their input, for example, labour.
“With Zesa, their pricing was sub-economic compared with other regional countries and global peers. Our purchasing power in real terms has been on the low side. So, l am sure they are trying to make sure that their pricing is cost reflective,” he said.
All this comes after both Zesa and the Zimbabwe Regulatory Energy Authority (Zera) reviewed the prices of electricity and fuel — at the same time that the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) also announced further hikes in toll fees.
Consumers will now have to pay $17,21 per unit of electricity for the first 50 units. The figure for between 51 and 100 units has now been increased to $34,50 per unit, while for 101 to 200 units, it is now $60,44 per unit.
For anything above 200 to 300 units, consumers would now be required to pay $86,29 per unit, and those breaching the 300 unit mark will have to pay $103,09 per unit.
With regards to fuel, diesel now costs $1 084,08 per litre, up from $1 057,55 — while petrol has risen to $971,21 a litre from $951,85.
In US dollar terms, the price of diesel went up from $1,69 to $1,73 — while petrol is now pegged at $1,55 a litre, from $1,52.
Motorists are now also paying more in toll fees, less than two months after Zinara announced similar fee hikes.
“Under the new fee structure, motorists will pay $1 300 for light motor vehicles, minibuses $1 950, buses $2 600, heavy vehicles $3 250 and haulage trucks $6 500. Toll fees in foreign currency remain unchanged,” Zinara said when it hiked its charges.
All this also comes at a time that there was some optimism that the prices of basic goods would remain stable on the back of the measures that were being implemented by authorities.
A survey by Daily News on Sunday crews last week in both Harare and Bulawayo had showed that the retail prices of many basic consumer goods, including bread, laundry soap, cooking oil, mealie-meal, flour, salt, sugar, rice and milk had remained relatively stable over the past few weeks despite the ongoing power cuts in the country.
That stability once again prompted shoppers and business representatives to implore authorities to maintain the current economic measures in place credited with steadying the economy.
The spokesperson of the National Consumer Rights Association (Nacora), Effie Ncube, warned then that the current stability would be short-lived if authorities did not maintain a beady eye on the activities of the parallel forex market, which he said had been the main driver of inflation in the country.
“The authorities have managed to reduce the liquidity in the market that was driving the speculative rates.
“There were too many Zimbabwean dollars circulating in the market and the measures that were introduced managed to reduce this liquidity. Secondly, the high interest rates are also making it difficult for people to borrow money.
“These measures have given consumers some relief. But if they are not followed up by additional measures, this is going to be a temporary solution.
“There is a need for the economy to perform and generate foreign currency that will be able to stabilise the exchange rate sustainably,” Ncube told the Daily News on Sunday then.
Matsheza also told the Daily News On Sunday at the time that authorities needed to hold the line on the current economic measures, to avoid upsetting the relative stability that was prevailing throughout the economy.
“The stability is mainly because of the improvement in the forex rate on the parallel market. Now, things will depend on what happens with the exchange rate going forward.
“If the parallel market rate goes up again, this stability will disappear. We hope that the factors that are reigning in the parallel market rate will continue so that prices can remain stable.
“The lack of local currency on the parallel market and the introduction of gold coins has helped to thwart the inflation madness which we saw in the past few months, which has all contributed to price stability,” Matsheza said.
Mutashu also said authorities needed to maintain the current economic momentum, while also helping to create more demand to allow spending by consumers.
“Prices of basic commodities have stabilised owing to both government measures and declined demand. The liquidity situation in the market has affected spending, driving down demand.
“The spending patterns have lately been concentrated on essentials and the hope is to work with the government to work on measures that stimulate demand to avoid serious economic contraction.
“We think this will continue into November when both the private sector and the government pay bonuses, if they can both afford it. Then, more Zimbabwean dollars will be injected into the market,” Mutashu said. – Daily News


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New panoramic video camera makes major viewing experience and technology breakthroughs with the potential to change video and web conferencing
April 28, 2015, Cupertino, CA – Altia Systems® – a Gartner® Inc. 2015 Cool Vendor in Unified Communications – today announced that it will unveil a new industry-first panoramic video camera at the first-ever Microsoft Ignite at McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, IL. May 4-8, Booth #362. The new panoramic camera will be the first of its kind to achieve human visual perspective, delivering a natural human visual experience that feels like being there in-person. While details will be revealed when the camera is announced on May 4, the company said that it will break new ground in size, resolution and ease of use, giving people in a variety of walks of life (from business to education, healthcare and even family web conferences) a “plug-and-play” conferencing experience as if they were all in the same room together, with the potential to transform how people see and connect electronically.
“The ability to see a panoramic view of the meeting room dramatically enhances the overall video conferencing experience,” said Ira M. Weinstein, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research. “The new PanaCast camera promises a compelling combination of plug-and-play operation, support for popular applications including Skype and Skype for Business, and a small and unobtrusive form factor. We can’t reveal more until the official announcement at Microsoft Ignite, but we believe a visit to the Altia Systems booth for a demo will be worth your time.”
“Our new PanaCast video camera makes major viewing experience and technology breakthroughs in the world of panoramic video cameras,” said Aurangzeb Khan, President and CEO of Altia Systems. “We believe it will make video and web conferencing more collaborative and productive.”
In addition to the new PanaCast® camera, Altia Systems will also be demonstrating its recently announced PanaCast® Experience service. Used in conjunction with a PanaCast camera, it is a disruptive video solution that gives Microsoft® Lync®/Skype® for Business users a fully immersive video perspective from all the PanaCast cameras in a Lync®/Skype® for Business meeting, letting them see everything in the meeting rooms as if they were there in person. Participants can virtually “look around” the room by navigating through the PanaCast® video streams with familiar multi-touch gestures on their personal devices to create their own views from anywhere there is an Internet connection. In real-time, they can scan across the room to see who is there or focus in on the whiteboard or speaker – just as they would do if they were physically present in the meeting.
The inaugural Microsoft Ignite is expected to bring together more than 20,000 senior decision makers, IT professionals and enterprise developers alike to grow their technical expertise. As a new unified enterprise technology conference, Ignite is purposely designed for those who’ve previously attended Microsoft Exchange, Lync, Project, SharePoint, MMS, or TechEd conferences. For more information visit http://ignite.microsoft.com.
For more information about PanaCast and Altia Systems, visit getpanacast.com or see a demonstration video at getpanacast.com/solutions. To read the Gartner 2015 Cool Vendors in UC Report, visit getpanacast.com/cool-vendor-2015. Follow @PanaCast1 on Twitter® for updates.
About Altia Systems®, Inc.
Altia Systems® (getpanacast.com) is a venture-backed company based in Cupertino, California, and creator of the PanaCast® Experience. The award-winning PanaCast® solution is the first and only video and desktop collaboration system that enables anyone with a desktop or mobile device to communicate interactively, in real-time, through a 200° field-of-view video which replicates the natural human panoramic perspective.
PanaCast® and Altia Systems® are trademarks of Altia Systems®, Inc. All other trademarks, trade names, brand names, company names and/or logos appearing on this news announcement are the property of their respective owners.
Belinda Young, +1 206-932-3145
Erin Cowles, +1 408-996-9710


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In a reversal of its earlier stance, Microsoft officials confirmed that customers will be able to downgrade from Windows 7 to Windows XP for a year and a half after the new system ships, or until the first Service Pack drops — whichever comes first.
While some industry observers the modified downgrade policy is a change for the better, at least one analyst says Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) still hasn’t enough to provide options for enterprises.
The downgrade option is also not available to all Windows 7 users: Downgrade rights apply to purchasers of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate, so the option isn’t available to customers who buy Windows 7 Home Premium.
Additionally, customers who have either Software Assurance subscriptions or Enterprise Agreements with Microsoft can continue to get the downgrade as long as they want.
Microsoft first disclosed that Windows 7 customers would have downgrade rights to XP— instead of just to Window Vista — back in April.
Previously, the company had set the cutoff date for downgrading to XP at six months after Windows 7’s ship date, which is currently set for October 22. That would have cut off availability of XP downgrades on April 30, 2010.
Now that’s been extended. The latest that Microsoft will enable XP downgrades will be the end of April 2011.
“Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate customers will have the option to downgrade to Windows XP Professional from PCs that ship within 18 months following the general availability of Windows 7 or until the release of a Windows 7 service pack (SP), whichever is sooner and if an SP is developed,” a Microsoft spokesperson told InternetNews.comin an e-mail.
Rolling back the clock
There are reasons why customers might want to weigh their options when it comes to keeping Windows 7 or downgrading to XP. One significant shortcoming: mainstream support for XP expired on April 14. Microsoft’s “extended support” is still available for the operating system, although that includes only security patches for free — other support requires payment. That offering runs until August 8, 2014.
While the newest policy change may please some customers, it doesn’t address the needs of many, according to Michael Silver, research vice president at Gartner.
“It’s still bad … they didn’t fix it right,” Silver told InternetNews.com. “There’s still no firm end date, so companies won’t know when downgrade rights expire.”
That can play havoc with companies that need to meticulously plan, make preparations for, and deploy Windows 7.
So what should Microsoft do?
“They can give a firm date that’s far enough out that organizations can get their applications tested,” Silver said. “A date would be better so that customers would be able to deploy Windows 7 by the time downgrade rights expire.”
Paul DeGroot, research vice president for channels and licensing at Directions on Microsoft, takes a different view on the latest change.
“The six-month timeframe doesn’t fit anybody’s time scale,” DeGroot told InternetNews.com. “With 18 months, a lot of the problem has been removed.”
Still, the new policy’s uncertainty is a problem for him, too.
“I would have liked to have seen Microsoft say [expiration] is whichever comes later, because we don’t know when SP1 is going to come out,” DeGroot said.
Article courtesy of InternetNews.com.


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LONDONChocolate and wine lovers have another reason to celebrate. A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition found eating high levels of flavonoids, including anthocyanins, and other compounds found naturally in berries, red wine and chocolate may help ward off the onset of type 2 diabetes.
The findings suggest high intakes of the dietary compounds are associated with lower insulin resistance and better blood glucose regulation. The researchers also found that those specific food groups lower inflammation associated with diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and King's College London investigated the benefits of eating certain sub-groups of flavanoids. They focused on flavones, which are found in herbs and vegetables, such as parsley, thyme, and celery, and anthocyanins, found in berries, red grapes, wine and other red or blue-colored fruits and vegetables.
For the study, researchers studied almost 2,000 healthy women volunteers from Twins, UK, who had completed a food questionnaire designed to estimate total dietary flavonoid intake as well as intakes from six flavonoid subclasses. Blood samples were analyzed for evidence of both glucose regulation and inflammation. Insulin resistance was assessed using an equation that considered both fasting insulin and glucose levels.
"We found that those who consumed plenty of anthocyanins and flavones had lower insulin resistance. High insulin resistance is associated with type 2 diabetes, so what we are seeing is that people who eat foods rich in these two compounds, such as berries, herbs, red grapes and wine, are less likely to develop the disease," said lead researcher Aedin Cassidy from UEAs Norwich Medical School.
We also found that those who ate the most anthocyanins were least likely to suffer chronic inflammation, which is associated with many of today's most pressing health concerns, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer."
The researchers also found those who consumed the most flavone compounds had improved levels of the protein adiponectin that helps regulate a number of metabolic processes including glucose levels.


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Government fund for black entrepreneurs faces collapse
The NEF says it requires R1bn immediately, and a further R1bn per year for the next five years
The government fund that provides capital for black entrepreneurs has warned that it is likely to collapse if government does not immediately supply a R1bn cash injection to recapitalise it.
The National Empowerment Fund (NEF) told parliament’s appropriations committee that its collapse could leave many black-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in key sectors such as construction, retail and franchising in the lurch. ..