text:
by Linda Dulicai
It is fairly common knowledge by now that in the United States, most animals used for meat are treated with antibiotics, and not just for illness. Animals raised for meat are given antibiotics to make them meatier. It has been done for decades, and there’s no indication the practice will stop anytime soon, though consumers and activists have been raging about it. The hope is the United States will wake up at some point and at least cut down on using medication to promote growth in meat production.
Antibiotics administered to animals for growth purposes are done so on what’s called a “sub-therapeutic” level. This means the amounts administered don’t match the amounts that would be given if the animal were sick. However, even that amount affects the consumer. After a time, consumers and pathogens can become antibiotic resistant.
Why does that matter?
Jane Black of Prevention writes, “Calls to curb the use of antibiotics in agriculture are growing louder the world over, with many experts concerned that we're careening toward a global public health crisis brought on by bacteria that do not respond to antibiotics. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, has said that if we don't change course, we could soon live in a world where ‘things as common as strep throat or a child's scratched knee could once again kill.’”
The challenge is and will always be the war of which is ahead, the pathogens or the antibiotics. The antibiotics are losing, which is why things like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are such big threats. The challenge is, too, that once medicine got into a one-cause-one-treatment mentality, we were doomed. It was only a matter of course that other industries would get wind of how easy it was to access antibiotics and start using them for other purposes, such as those we see in the meat industry. (See the discussion in Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.)
Here’s some hypocrisy. Black says, “In 2011, drug manufacturers sold 29.9 million pounds of antibiotics for use on industrial farms, the highest amount ever reported and four times the amount sold to treat sick people. Critics contend the FDA has turned a blind eye to the problem, but a Natural Resources Defense Council report released in January tells a more damning story: The FDA buried research revealing that 18 types of antibiotics currently in use on farms are considered high risk for increasing antibiotic-resistant bacteria outbreaks in humans. In total, 30 drugs did not meet the FDA's own safety standards.”
There has been some positive action recently: this week McDonald’s, in response to loss of business, changed its CEO and announced that it will stop buying chicken given human antibiotics. (There is a little hair splitting here as they will still allow ionophores.) While this is a step in the right direction, it’s still a small step.
As you can see, this is a complex issue, but one consumers need to pay attention to. Stay tuned for Part II of this discussion. If you have questions before then, contact me today.
A practitioner for more than 38 years, Linda Dulicai is a Certified Natural Health Professional and an Advanced Loomis Digestive Health Specialist educated in more than 25 modalities of wellness. She is CEO of The Healthy Zone.


text:
HCL, India’s third largest software services firm is set to acquire software products from historical software giant IBM for $1.8 billion. It is the largest acquisition by HCL yet and the deal is expected to close by mid-2019, Economic Times has reported.
The products which will be acquired include, Appscan for secure application development, BigFix for secure device management, Unica for marketing automation, Notes & Domino for email and low-code rapid application development, and Connections for workstream collaboration, Commerce for omnichannel eCommerce, Portal for digital experience, and represent a potential market of over $50 billion.
IBM and HCL have an ongoing IP Partnership for five of these products with CEO and President HCL Technologies, C Vijayakumar commenting that HCL is strategically acquiring products in large growing areas such as security, marketing and commerce.
“The large-scale deployments of these products provide us with a great opportunity to reach and serve thousands of global enterprises across a wide range of industries and markets,” he added.
Senior Vice President of Cognitive Solutions and Research of IBM, John Kelley said that IBM’s priority in the last four years was in the areas of AI, hybrid cloud, blockchain analytics, cyber security and supply chain. And industry-specific platforms such as health care, IOT and financial services.
“We believe the time is right to divest these select collaboration, marketing and commerce software assets, which are increasingly delivered as stand-alone products." said Kelley.
Further he added that the products are good strategic fit for HCL and well suited to drive innovation and growth for customers.
As you are no doubt aware, Swarajya is, all in all, a reader-subscription-backed business model and in order to make sure we build a media platform with only the best interests of India at heart, we need your backing.
And in challenging times like this, we need your support now more than ever—to continue bringing you stories that are often shrugged off.
For us to invest in quality reporting and continue bringing you the right stories, it takes a lot of time and money.
Partner with us, be a patron or a subscriber. We need your support, throughout.

domain: news


text:
Riot Games recently disclosed that a hacker had broken into their networks and taken the League of Legends source code. Additionally, the evil person escaped with the source code for Teamfight Tactics and information about Riot’s anti-cheat systems. This is a very worrying development because it leaves room for brand-new cheats to appear in both games and possibly in the Riot game library, including VALORANT.
While Riot quickly pointed out that no player information had been taken or exposed as a result of the attack, its internal systems were severely damaged. The gaming sector has recently experienced numerous cyberattacks that resulted in significant data exposure. Grand Theft Auto 6 was recently made public to a considerable extent following the theft of more than 100 GB of data from Rockstar Games and its internet distribution.
A Social Engineering Attack Compromised Riot Games Servers
Riot Games has generally maintained transparency throughout the problem, telling gamers precisely what they’re going through right now. According to reports, additional elements from Riot Games’ catalog of games, including unpublished, experimental ones, were stolen in addition to the League of Legends source code and specific anti-cheat software. Strangely, things worsened when Riot Games received a ransom email that money be delivered to the hacker.
On the other hand, Riot Games was unwavering in its determination to comply completely with such demands. The statement from Riot Games clarifying the current state of affairs is as follows:
To determine the full scope and depth of the harm done, both now and in the future, Riot Games has employed advisors and enlisted the help of legal teams. Riot Games is equipped to handle the challenges ahead, even if there will probably be several overhauls and some planned content may be dropped. Although improvements in the security of the League of Legends and TFT platforms have been made, much work still needs to be done.
Burning Leaks Upon Burning Leaks
Although some gaming industry segments thrive on leaks, others can have disastrous effects on developers. A studio’s highly sensitive, crucial information and content are taken out without prior notice in situations like these, as opposed to the simple leak of a release date or an image.
Maps and game modes from Call of Duty: Warzone, skins from Fortnite, and the full source code of Grand Theft Auto V from Rockstar Games have all been stolen and leaked in the past year. The problem is unlikely to get any better soon as the world becomes more digital and hackers become more skilled.
Do technology companies and developers need to step up their efforts to strengthen their defenses against prospective hackers?


text:
Xiaohongshu, an e-commerce platform backed by Alibaba and Tencent, is looking to add up to $500m in funding to its coffers from investors including SoftBank Vision Fund.
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Novel Group-backed luxury goods marketplace The RealReal will raise $300m in an initial public offering in which it will float above its range.
TCL Venture Capital took part in the $14.5m series B round, which will enable F5 Future Store to expand its network of cashier-free convenience stores in China.
GV returned for consumer goods stock exchange StockX’s $110m series C round, which valued the company at more than $1bn and brought its total funding to $150m.
Chernin Group took part in a series B round that increased the total funding raised by celebrity message video service Cameo to nearly $66m.
Pablo Moro Casquete has left his head of innovation role at Mutua Madrileña to join Telefónica’s Innovation Investment arm, having previously worked for the telecoms firm for over a decade.
The fast fashion retailer has invite banks to apply for roles in the offering, having raised its first external financing in a Tencent-backed round last year.
CureFit had held discussions with SoftBank Vision Fund over a $200m investment, but Unilever Ventures has instead stepped up as part of a $120m round.
Industrial e-commerce platform Zhenkunhang raised a $160m corporate-backed series D round, which forms part of the emerging e-commerce space


text:
The Chrome Ball Incident got a Nike SB Colorway, if you hadn’t figured that out. If you’re in the Burgh next Friday, stop by OneUp and be part of the festivities.
Nov 13 2012
Nike ‘Made For Skate’ 10 Year Party
Jun 07 2012
Jose Rojo Shoe Release Skate Jam
Aug 16 2010
Don Pendleton Interview at Chrome Ball
Jul 07 2010
T Pud Shoe Release Party
Mar 09 2010
Omar Salazar News
Feb 10 2010
The Goat and Friends Record and Shoe Release
The crew at Politic Skateboards want to give you some free stuff! Head inside and sign up.


text:
Skillful monetary policy can help offset a negative demand shock, but can do little or nothing to offset a supply shock caused by adverse trade developments.
The world is in a trade war, and there is no sign of peace breaking out anytime soon. By now, the disruption to trade appears extensive enough to factor negatively into forecasts for economic growth. Does that mean the US Fed should stop gradually raising interest rates? The answer is no. Monetary policy cannot mitigate the damage done by foolish trade policies. The biggest trade conflict is between the US and China. In January, the US was scheduled to raise recently imposed tariffs from 10% to 25% on Chinese imports worth $250 bn and had also threatened to impose new tariffs on the rest of Chinese imports, worth $267 bn. Donald Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the recent G20 summit in Buenos Aires. Some had hoped that the two leaders would achieve a major breakthrough in the trade impasse. But that seemed unlikely, partly because the US demands are either beyond China’s capacity to deliver (such as a substantial reduction in the bilateral imbalance) or are too fuzzy to be verifiable (such as ending forced technology transfer). At the G20 meeting, the US agreed to postpone raising the tariffs till March 2019.
It is a truism among the economically literate that there are no winners in a trade war. But it is also true that even relatively large statistical effects for individual economic sectors tend to have a relatively small impact on quarterly GDP, at least in the short-run. The discrepancy partly reflects the dominant share of services in modern advanced economies, relative to manufacturing and agriculture. As the trade war broadens and deepens, however, economic-growth forecasts around the world are darkening. The OECD just became the latest international agency to downgrade its global growth forecast, from 3.7% to 3.5% in 2019 and 2020.
The trade war appears to be amongst the reasons for a renewed slowdown in China. The Chinese slowdown, in turn, will have spillover effects on other countries, especially commodity exporters. The EU has also slowed in 2018, with Germany even reporting a surprising contraction in Q3. Trade is amongst the reasons: Reduced demand from China, uncertainty about US trade policy, and the prospect of a “hard” Brexit in which the UK leaves the EU’s single market and customs union.
Of course, trade is just one of many factors driving economic growth, which has been strong in the US this year, largely owing to late-cycle fiscal stimulus. But the effect of the tax cuts and spending increases implemented since December 2017 is expected to fade soon. The forecasts show US growth slowing from 2.9 % in 2018 to 2.1 % in 2020. Not everyone agrees that protectionism is bad for the economy. If one focuses on net exports, following Keynesian or even mercantilist arguments, might one not expect to find that the tariffs stimulate US economic growth, with others’ losses being its gains? The experience of the last year indicates the opposite. The monthly trade deficit reached $54 bn in September, exceeding in nominal terms the deficits recorded every month from 2009 to 2017. The tariffs are having a negative effect on US imports, but negative effects on exports are also large.
This was predictable. When income growth amongst trading partners slows, they buy less from the US. Moreover, China and other countries have retaliated against US goods with tariffs of their own. Meanwhile, because of the rapidly rising US budget deficit, an excess of spending power has spilled over into imports. And the USD has appreciated against most currencies, undercutting US exporters’ competitiveness. But while some commentators seem to presume that slower growth calls for monetary easing, protectionist measures also increase prices, which has the opposite implication for monetary policy. True, the effect on inflation has been small so far. But there is more to come. Goldman Sachs forecasts a base case (with the 10% tariff on the rest of Chinese imports taking effect early in Q2 2019) in which the impact on US core inflation reaches 0.17% by June. If Trump follows through on his threats to impose tariffs on all car imports and to apply the 25% tariffs to all imports from China, the impact on US core inflation is to reach 0.3% by September 2019. Adverse trade developments are a negative supply shock. Skillful monetary policy can help offset a negative demand shock, but can do little or nothing to offset a supply shock. Slower growth and higher prices are inevitable effects. The Fed understands that if it were to apply monetary stimulus in an effort to prolong the current expansion artificially (as Trump has pressured it to do), the result would be to fuel inflation.
Trade is not the biggest factor in the US economy. But it is dominant in the UK these days. Many believe that Brexit’s feared negative effect on UK growth has not yet materialised, partly because the Bank of England (BoE) eased monetary policy. But it is also because the supply shock did not hit when the 2016 vote took place. Arguably, the only impact so far has been on demand (owing, for example, to lower investment in anticipation of the coming rupture). Such a fall in demand is something that monetary policy can offset. Next time could be much worse. The actual Brexit is set for March 2019. Perhaps the UK and the EU will conclude a deal, or, better (though less likely), hold another referendum and call the whole thing off. But if Britain “crashes out” of the EU with no arrangements to preserve open trade across the British Channel, monetary policy cannot shore up GDP, as BoE Governor Mark Carney has warned. Current trade policies are working to reduce real incomes in the US, Britain, and many other countries. But monetary policy cannot counteract the effects. Only voters can do that.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018.


text:
G2 Esports is incredibly excited to announce a global partnership with global luxury fashion brand leader Ralph Lauren.
Made to Win meets Made to be Worn. We’ve always been known for winning in style and now we’ll confidently be wearing in style. We are proud to announce our partnership with global luxury fashion brand leader Ralph Lauren as they join the #G2ARMY as our exclusive fashion outfitter.
Sharing a pursuit of excellence, G2 and Ralph Lauren will collaborate together in 2021 across multiple campaigns and events while also launching a series of digital-first activations on platforms such as TikTok and Twitch, in addition to global campaigns and events.
One such campaign is the Ralph Lauren Wimbledon campaign, which celebrates Ralph Lauren’s 16th year anniversary as the official outfitter of The Championships, and sees our League of Legends star, Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson, feature among some of the biggest global athletes.
Discussing the announcement, Ralph Lauren Chief Digital & Content Officer, Alice Delahunt, said:
“Our partnership with G2 will further the progress we are making to bring our powerful heritage brand to life in authentic ways across new platforms. It also underlines our commitment to engage new consumers – including a generation of digital-natives who participate in gaming as a world-class sport and for entertainment”
Carlos ‘Ocelote’ Rodriguez, Founder, and CEO of G2 Esports expressed his excitement about the partnership:
“Today is one of the most special days in my life and G2’s history. A brand I have loved for many years is now part of the G2 family. Ralph Lauren has entered the world of gaming in partnership with G2, and nothing makes us happier and prouder than to be able to execute on their strategy while doing our thing. With their support, we will continue to thrive and elevate the way we entertain you. As a lifelong gamer and proud founding CEO, seeing Ralph Lauren enter this industry is an incredible moment I will never forget. I could not be more excited to share with all of you what’s coming.”
Watch the full Ralph Lauren x G2 Esports announcement video below!


text:
PRESS RELEASE: Strength in March Single-Family Building Permits
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2020
Strength in March Single-Family Building Permits
Indianapolis, IN – The Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis (BAGI) announced that in the Greater Indianapolis nine-county area, single-family building permits are up 20% with 680 permits compared to 566 in March 2019. Thus far in 2020, permits have increased by 24% over last year.
“March permits continue to indicate a strong demand in our market,” says Steve Lains, CEO of the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis. “However, the strength in March permit numbers is primarily made up of the prior month’s sales. We still anticipate healthy April numbers as well, due to the success of the market prior to mid-March when communities and builders began transitioning to remote permitting in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19). We expect to have a better gauge of the virus’s impact on our market after evaluating May’s permit numbers,” says Lains.
BAGI Board President, Todd Pyatt adds, “The local industry continues to innovate in helping to meet the market demand for new homes. With today’s technology, builders have been able to quickly transform their businesses to a virtual selling platform. Offering virtual appointments using Facetime or chat communication tools and offering 3D tours that allow you to virtually walk through a floor plan design are ways new home builders continue to operate, stay open, and offer consumers a variety of safe options.” Pyatt continues, “Another example is the conversion of First Internet Bank Indy Rama, BAGI’s downtown home tour, into a virtual tour starting Friday at indyrama.com. This adaptation allows the consumer to see the latest trends and features in today’s new construction from the safety and comfort of their computer.”
2020 permits issued in the Greater Indianapolis Nine-County region have already created a total economic impact of $328,797,863 in local income, $74,642,558 in local taxes, and 5,567 local jobs so far in 2020 (see chart below).
PER HOME IMPACT ON LOCAL ECONOMY
The Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis is a professional trade association representing residential homebuilders, associates and remodelers. For more information, call 317-236-6330; or visit www.BAGI.com/permits/ for permits numbers from 2000-2020.


text:
Intel has unveiled its chip focused on tablet systems, the Atom Z2760, revealing it'll launch after Windows 8 becomes available next month. Formerly known as Clover Trail, the system-on-a-chip design...
Attackers placed Brewery job ads on recruitment sites worldwide to provide cover for their phishing emails
Worldline CIO Ryan Bryers has been on a mission to build a high quality offshore DevOps team at low cost
James Kitching, Solicitor - Corporate, Coffin Mew, examines the phenomenon of decisions being made by machines in the justice system
The company has 30 days to audit its data practises, or face the maximum £17 million fine


text:
PVR, India’s leading multiplex chain, has signed over 40 advertisers, including long-time partner Paytm and FMCG major RB for ad films as well as other innovative branding opportunities.
“Wonder Woman is going to be a big starter for us after ‘Tenet’. The kind of response we are getting on footfalls, advance bookings and from the advertisers, is very heartening,” Gautam Dutta, group CEO at PVR, told ET.
He shared that the multiplex chain will air 14 minutes of ads during the film’s screenings.
“Pre-Covid-19, most of the blockbuster films had 18-20 minutes worth of ads. In that sense, we are very happy with the response,” he said.
Among the advertisers, Paytm has decided to advertise in the lobby and other areas of the theatres too.
“We already have naming rights of one IMAX screen and we are doing innovative branding with PVR,” said Madhur Deora, president and CFO at Paytm.
He added that movies are one of the most affordable forms of high quality outdoor entertainment, which allows high return on investment.
“With more and more filmmakers getting ready to release their films, this might be the cusp of recovery and it does look like people are starting to get comfortable. While it will take some time to be back to pre-Covid levels, in the next 45-60 days, we will be back to spending at least half of what we were spending in cinema advertising earlier,” Deora said.
RB, which had announced partnering with PVR Cinemas earlier in July, will be offering Dettol sanitizers and other products across its properties.
“We are glad to partner with PVR Cinemas… through this partnership we aim to create a safe, hygienic, and enjoyable movie viewing experience for its customers with Dettol range of products,” an RB spokesperson said.
Experts feel that while the top multiplex chains will see advertisers coming back, single screens and smaller chains may not have such a smooth ride.
“Single screens will take much longer as consumers will have a lot more trust in big brands like PVR, Inox Leisure, Cinepolis etc,” said Ajay Mehta, managing director at Interactive Television, one of the largest cinema on screen advertising companies, now owned by GroupM.
According to Mehta, cinema advertising is all about impact, as it offers a captive audience.
“There are no distractions and ads are playing on a large screen, in the dark, so the recall is very high.”
He added that in 2020, cinemas were open effectively only for four months, so 2021 will see an extremely sharp recovery on a lower base.
“Cinema advertising will be the fastest growing medium in 2021, I expect it to be in excess of 100-120%. The recovery will be led by south India, as it’s the first region where cinemas are back. From the second half of 2021, volumes will pick up dramatically across India and the last quarter of 2021 should be close to last quarter of 2019,” Mehta added.
ET had earlier reported that Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet’ had collected Rs 4.5 crore in the first weekend, with many of the shows being sold out up to the 50% permissible capacity.
Theatre owners and advertisers feel that once films like ‘Sooryavanshi’ and ‘83’ will hit the theatres, film buffs will also start coming back.
Read More News on
Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
ETPrime stories of the day
6 mins read
8 mins read
10 mins read


text:
Information on clients from Adultfriendfinder.com, Cams.com, Penthouse.com, Stipshow.com and iCams.com had been exposed
In what could be certainly one of biggest cheats of 2016, the moms and dad business of adult ‘dating’ internet site Adult FriendFinder has had significantly more than 400 million customer details stolen.
The e-mails and passwords of Adultfriendfinder.com, Cams.com, Penthouse.com, Stipshow.com and iCams.com are accessed making on sale in dark internet areas according to hacking notification solution LeakedSource.
Need to know if you have been hacked? Troy search has got the details
The firm states buddy Finder system Inc, which “operates an extensive array of 18+ services” such as the internet sites, had the important points accessed during October 2016. Continue reading “339 million Adult Friend Finder accounts exposed in information breach”


text:
Uber's CEO is spending millions on shares as Travis Kalanick cashes out (UBER)
Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Fortune
- Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi spent $6.7 million on shares of the company on Monday, November 18, SEC filings show.
- Khosrowshahi now holds 1.53 million Uber shares, roughly 0.09% of the stock outstanding.
- The purchase comes as co-founder Travis Kalanick cashes out. The former CEO has sold $882 million in Uber stock since the company's post-IPO lockup expiration on November 6.
- Watch Uber trade live on Markets Insider.
Just as cofounder Travis Kalanick cashes in his Uber stock, the company's new CEO is buying more shares.
Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber's chief executive, spent $6.7 million for 250,000 shares of the ride-hailing company at $26.75 per share on Monday, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He now holds 1.53 million shares of Uber, roughly 0.09% of the shares outstanding.
Uber declined to comment on the share purchases.
Kalanick, on the other hand, has sold more than $882 million worth of Uber shares since the company's post-initial public offering lockup expiration on November 6. He's done this in three separate installments, with the most recent concluding this week. Even after the sales, Kalanick still owns more than 65 million Uber shares, of 3.82% of total outstanding stock.
The expiration date, 180 days after Uber listed on the public market, prompted a massive sell-off that sent the company's shares to record lows. And, insiders continue to sell, including soon-to-be former Chief Product Officer Manik Gupta, Chief Accounting Officer Glen Ceremony, and co-founder and board member Garrett Camp.
Since Khosrowshahi purchased the extra shares, Uber stock has risen roughly 10%, including gains during the day Thursday. Khosrowshahi, who left Expedia in 2017 to take the top job at Uber, owns other shares of the company acquired through awards of restricted stock units that have not all vested, according to Barron's.
Uber has lost roughly 38% year-to-date through Wednesday's close.
SHARE THIS POST
|Uber Technologies (UBER) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know Zacks 4h|
|: Race has played a large role in Uber and Lyft’s fight to preserve their business models MarketWatch 4h|
|Uber reportedly wants to sell off part of its air taxi unit, casting doubt on the company's plans for flying vehicles in Australia Business Insider Australia 1d|
|Uber Eats Japan offering strange discount just for people who don’t really need Uber Eats EN, Japan Today 1d|
|SKT-Uber alliance Korea Times 2d|
|Report: Uber Exploring "Strategic Alternatives" for Elevate Unit MotleyFool 2d|
|Instacart IPO: The Next Big Unicorn You Can BuyInvestorPlace 3d|
|7 Earnings Reports to Watch Next WeekInvestorPlace 4d|
your MARKET VIEW
Your Personalized Market Center


text:
These campaigns had been despatched to subscribers around the world from United States companies and nonprofits using Campaign Monitor. Starting Sept. 30, industry GDP statistics might be issued on the same day – and in the identical information launch – because the third estimate of nationwide GDP. To download monetary information and comparable company valuation multiples at selected dates, click here.
5G, AI, and VR may not have the present revenue stream, but channel companies are excited in regards to the future potential of these fields. Four out of 10 corporations say that fostering workforce diversity is a excessive precedence for 2020. Training stays a popular option, though it’s imperative that the principles from training are additionally found in company tradition...Read More


text:
KENT ISLAND, Md. — D'Alesio's Wood-Fire Pizza opened in June of 2017 on Kent Island. Things were going gang busters the first two months and then a tornado hit Kent island in August.
That slowed business for about 8 months and things picked back up. Then the Bay Bridge construction started and the debilitating backups on the Island made it impossible for anyone to get to his business at all, that wasn't a slow down, that was a shut down. Then, the pandemic hit.
It actually boasted their sales.
That's because about 75 to 80 percent of their business was carry out. Cronin believes a big influence on that was the stimulus checks. After that sales slowly declined as the pandemic set it. Things were looking real tough and then thoughts at night crept into his head.
That wasn't an option. Even though they went from a dozen or so employees down to four, Cronin felt committed to them as well as his new business. So it was full steam ahead in very rough waters, some days are OK, some days are abysmal.
"You used to be able to predict patterns. Now, it's just everyday you just don't know," he said.
Since this pandemic began, the economic impact here at D'Alesio's had been significant, they're making less money and they have o spend more.
" It's not good that's why it's month to month. That's why we don't know what we are going to be doing next month," he explained.
His food is fresh and not processed, that is more labor intensive. The fires are burning hot in these ovens, between the ovens and the pressure barring down from the virus, this kitchen is hot. He can't stand that heat but Cronin can't "get out of the kitchen". He must continue to fight for his business before the fire goes out.


text:
Honda Brings Kushi E-Bike to UK Market
Bike and Batterys, Peterborough e-bike specialist, is bringing Honda’s Kushi electric bike to market at a price it says is 'ultra competitive'.
The simple singlespeed lead acid battery-powered, twist-and-go electric bike is aimed at the 50-plus e-bike
buyer, and comes with a significant two year warranty.
Bike and Batterys, sole importer of the Kushi, said: “With many of the new electric bikes being offered in the market ranging in price from £1,200 to £2,400, and replacement batteries anything from £400 and up, we’ve introduced the Honda Kushi electric bike to the UK market at an ultra-low retail price of £695, and replacement batteries for less than £150.”
IMPORTANT NOTICE: To read this Bike Biz news story, click the READ COMPLETE ARTICLE link above. This will launch a separate window to the original news source. To comment on this story use the Reader's Comment form below.
|<< PREVIOUS||NEXT >>|
blog comments powered by Disqus


text:
NEW DELHI: Modern retailers in India are estimated to invest Rs 13,668 crore by 2017 to deploy technology solutions at stores for cost control, opportunity assessment and risk minimisation, according to a survey.
According to a survey by Retailers Association of India (RAI) and market insight firm Nielsen, while a cumulative number is not available for the sector at present, on an average a retailer spends around Rs 1.55 crore on IT solutions annually.
"The retail sector is primed for growth and is looking at actively investing in information technology to support this growth," Nielsen India Director Subhash Chandra said.
At this juncture, it is extremely important to efficiently deploy technology across the retail industry whether it is cloud computing, virtualisation, social networking or mobile shopping, he added.
The RAI- Nielsen report - 'IT in Retail:Trends & Potential 2012', explores the relationship between retailers and the use of technology, from making investment decisions to deployment and management.
With a sample of 115 retailers, with revenues ranging from less than Rs one crore to over 200 crore, the survey conducted between December 2011 and March 2012, represents varied categories and retail formats.
According to RAI CEO Kumar Rajagopalan, modern retail is expected to constitute 10 to 12 per cent of total retail by 2015.
At present the retail sector in India is estimated to be around USD 450 billion with the modern trade accounting for less than 5 per cent.
"As the second most important enabler for retail business, information technology is becoming a critical factor in driving this growth," Rajagopalan said.
At present over two out of five respondents claimed that IT is primarily used for cost control and operations management target, as against 38 per cent, who said they use it for business opportunity assessment and risk minimisation.
"However, amongst retailers, with greater than Rs 100 crore revenue, nearly half claim to use IT as a strategic partner and growth enabler," the survey said.
The most prominent solutions used by larger retailers are those for ERP (enterprise resource planning, 52 per cent) followed by store inventory management (49 per cent), it said.
"Over half of the respondents claimed that IT has enabled them to grow their business 39 percent claim it has somewhat helped in growing their business," it said.
For 55 per cent of respondents, IT works at an operations level, helping gain efficiencies and cost cutting.
The topmost challenge faced by the respondents in deploying IT within their systems was getting the right talent, skill and training (48 per cent) for retail companies at both the stages of the deployment and management.
Over two in five respondents cited difficulty in searching and identifying a right vendor for specific needs as a challenge, it said.


text:
With as much as 39 grams of sugar in just one of these babies, you already knew a soft drink wasn't the best for you — and they're even worse for your kids. Well, now health experts are really chiming in about just how bad. And, as a result, doctors want sodas and other sugary drinks for kids to come with some additional limitations and restrictions.
As USA Today reported, the influential American Academy of Pediatrics has just joined with the American Heart Association in advocating for an additional tax on sugary drinks, with the intention of making it harder for kids and teens to get their hands on the beverages.
The two organizations announced the news with a joint policy statement outlining exactly why they feel it is more important than ever to limit the accessibility of this category of drinks to kids.
The groups wants healthy beverages such as water and milk to become the "go-to menu" item for young people on children's menus, in hospitals and at vending machines, and is also advocating for taxes and other policies that would make choosing a soda more of a deliberate — and costly — decision.
"This is a call to policymakers to take action," Natalie D. Muth, MD, lead author of the new paper wrote, said, as per USA Today. "Enough is enough. We really need bigger changes, more changes."
The new statement additionally notes that families receiving help from federal nutrition programs and those receiving school meals should be offered additional nutrional information and warnings about such dietary choices, and that federal and state efforts should bolster individual laws to limit consumption.
The groups noted that the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends children and teens consume fewer than 10 percent of calories from added sugars... except that kids and teens are currently up to 17 percent of their calories coming from added sugars, nearly half of which comes from just drinks.
"On average, children are consuming over 30 gallons of sugary drinks every year. This is enough to fill a bathtub, and it doesn't even include added sugars from food," Muth said, per the AAP. "As a pediatrician, I am concerned that these sweetened drinks pose real — and preventable — risks to our children's health, including tooth decay, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease."
"We need broad public policy solutions to reduce children's access to cheap sugary drinks."
The AAP also noted the issue greatly affects youngsters from minority and low-income communities, in which sodas and sugary drinks including sports beverages are low-cost and readily available.
The idea of a tax on something that's not super healthy for you is hardly new. Fast Company noted that when individual municipalities such as Berkeley, California passed its own soda tax in 2014, consumption of sugary drinks plummeted a full 21 percent. Wow.
Meanwhile, Science Daily added, another new study shows that when the Berkeley tax was instituted, the effect was even more profound on low-income residents: A 52 percent drop in soda intake among such community members in three years.
And while USA Today noted that soda industry reps say a tax is not the answer, the Baltimore Sun, citing numbers from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, detailed that most teens see one or more soda ads a day.
Further, the paper noted that beverage companies spend major bucks ($866 million in 2013, for example) to market to young customers.
So clearly, this is a huge problem and the beverage industry may need to be curbed with more efforts to make its products pricier and harder to get.
Such a strategy worked to curb tobacco use, USA Today added, and the AAP and AHA clearly know that.
Meanwhile, other cities and states are mulling related measures, including several ideas in California such as banning soda displays near checkout stands, Fast Company noted.
Seattle and Philadelphia have also given the idea a try, USA Today added in another story — this despite legal challenges from beverage retailers and distributors in Philly's case.
I, for one, have zero problem with interventions at public-policy and governmental levels to make unhealthy things less available. As a mom, if I finally break down and let my kids have some sugar-soaked drink one hot summer day, I truly won't mind paying a tad more. I'm sure I can't be the only one.


text:
There are many fans who have been waiting for quite sometime now for the grand launch of the Corvette C7. It has nothing to do with being hardcore Corvette fans, nor will the next Corvette be drastically enhanced in terms of technology or aesthetics. But the key thing is that with our growing awareness about our environment and its effects on our financial condition – all that we are curious to know is whether Chevrolet will get the hint and stop using the trade mark V8 engine. Tadge Juechter, the chief engineer at Chevrolet had revealed in a video a few months back of the Corvette being the company’s most favored product. This had led many to speculate that the next generation Chevrolet will continue its reliance on the V8 engine that made them famous, albeit with some modification that is necessary to keep pace with the times.
The 2013 Chevrolet Corvette – and not the 2011 edition as was earlier planned will have a 5.5 liter small block V8 engine under its hood in its front engine, rear wheel drive setup. The engine though will be more powerful in spite of its smaller volume, capable of churning out 440 hp. This is about 5 hp more than the 6.2 liter and 7.0 liter engines that the previous Corvettes dished out. The Corvette will now also have a better economy in terms of fuel performance while the engine will also feature a revised combustion system and aluminum block and heads.
We can say for certain that the engine will not be the only change about the new Corvette. For there are also rumors that the Chevrolet will at last raise the quality of the materials that is used in the sports car, which means an end to the almost incessant complains about poor quality of materials used for generations might finally comes to an end. The new Chevrolet sports car will see higher end seats that resemble bucket seats. If Chevrolet wishes to keep up with the times then they should definitely consider putting in high-tech features in the new Chevrolet. After all, if the Ford Focus is able to get technologically updated then we may expect better things from the Corvette as well.
Latest details about the new edition Corvette suggests that the car will have a European styled, small block, turbocharged V8 engine. The new engine will be a little bigger than the 3 liter displacement and will be of an overhead-cam design instead of the conventional overhead-valve design. A dry sump oil system that is friendly to the high performance road courses and not straight line acceleration capabilities will be used. We can expect to see an output of 125 Hp per liter and an overall of 400 HP. Seems like the Porsche 911 and the Lamborghini Gallardo have got a competitor.


text:
For years, we have known next to nothing about “Project Ragtag.” It was a game set in the Star Wars universe. It was being developed by Visceral Games, best known for the Dead Space series. Amy Hennig, a director, and scriptwriter who has worked on titles including the Legacy of Kain, Jax and Daxter, and Uncharted franchise, was attached to the project. EA made the ultimate decision to pull the plug on the project. And that was all until now.
Zach Mumbach, who was to produce the canceled game, spilled some secrets in an interview with the MinnMaxShow. He revealed that the team was creating quality work and that he believed that the title could have been “the greatest Star Wars game ever made,” comparing it to a fusion of Star Wars and Uncharted.
He also revealed that the game’s protagonist had already been designed. Mumbach referred to the character as a “rogue,” likening him to “a cross between Robin Hood and Star-Lord.” Also, several levels were nearing completion, as was a major chase scene in which the rogue protagonist was forced to evade a massive AT-ST on foot.
Unfortunately, the game was canceled before the team could get any further. Mumbach explained that EA executives had seen the growing popularity of titles such as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and decided that there was no longer a market for single-player third-person games. The game was shut down after two full years of development, with Mumbach and many others ultimately leaving EA as a result.
Now, single–player Star Wars games are in vogue again — Jedi: Fallen Order, which released in 2019, received high praise and won multiple awards. Mumbach found this extremely frustrating, believing that “Project Ragtag” could have achieved similar success had it been allowed to continue.
What sort of Star Wars games would you like to see released in the future? Let us know!


text:
Tightness in products still trumps talks of recession
Last month we wrote about the fears of recession versus the tightness in product markets and that tightness in products was definitely ‘winning’. Another month on and it’s oil products that are again driving VLSFO prices even higher! Recession is often mentioned, with obvious higher energy and food costs, central banks hiking interest rates and economic forecasts being downgraded, but the lack of supply and low levels of stocks for key oil products has the overwhelming focus for most oil industry players at the moment.
Source: Integr8 Fuels


text:
Bandai Namco’s mid-April press event didn’t have too many surprise announcements or knock-you-on-your heels demonstrations, but one upcoming PC game seems promising. It’s called Rise of Incarnates, a free-to-play, four-player fighting game where you control half of a team of superheroes battling it out in a ruined city.
All items tagged with "fighting"
One of my first favorite portable video games was a boxing game on — of all platforms — a Casio calculator (that’s right — you think your life’s tough, try living in a world where the most entertaining handheld a kid can play with is a calculator). The third-person perspective of Manny Pacquiao: Pound for Pound, a new iOS title that’s expected to be released soon (pending approval by Apple), reminds me of that game. But with features like swiping for attacks, customizable outfits and being able to level attributes, it’s bound to be, well, a knockout.


text:
Burger King’s veggie Whopper comes with a fine print you need to read
A global fast food chain has introduced a new burger to its menu, but if you don’t read the fine print, you could be in for a nasty surprise.
When McDonald’s unveiled its “vegetarian” burger last year it confused a lot of people – and the same thing is now happening to global fast-food chain Burger King.
The fast-food chain, known in Australia as Hungry Jacks, added a new plant-based burger to its menu in New Zealand.
The only problem is, but it’s not actually suitable for vegetarians.
Even though the $8 Rebel Whopper isn’t made with any meat (or animal by-products), it is cooked on the same grill as meat burgers, the chain has said.
Instead, just like the Macca’s McVeggie burger, the product is intended for “flexitarians” rather than vegans or vegetarians.
“The Rebel Whopper is not vegetarian due to the plant-based patty being cooked on the same grill as beef patties,”a disclaimer on the Burger King site states.
It does however feature a plant-based patty, flame-grilled just like the classic Whopper, giving it a similar smoky, barbecue flavour.
“It’s 100 % Whopper, 0 % Beef. You’ll have to taste it to believe it,” the site reads.
Burger King New Zealand head of marketing Andrea Spearman told Stuff, the burger was 100 per cent plant-based but cooked on the same equipment as beef patties, so was not vegan or vegetarian.
It was an option for “flexitarians” and people looking for an alternative to meat that still tasted like a burger, she said.
Vegetarians are yet to give their verdict on the burger but if Macca’s version is anything to go by — it will generate some mixed reviews.
When McDonald’s unveiled its meat-free burger in November, many vegetarians were left “disappointed” while others saw it as a “step forward”.
“I would be happier if it was prepared vegetarian. But it’s progress. The more vegie junk food the better lol,” one Twitter user said at the time. “It’s a positive for less meat consumption. Any step in that direction is a positive,” another said.
When Burger King US introduced its version “Impossible Whopper” in November last year, it was sued by a vegan for cooking it on the same grills as traditional beef Whoppers.
It was rendered “unfit” for people who don’t eat animal by-products, according to the court case.
The man from Georgia in the US, Phillip Williams, said when he bought the burger, he believed it conformed to his “strict vegan diet”.
He alleged that the Burger King where he purchased his meal had no signs indicating that Impossible Whopper patties were cooked on the same grill as meat items on the menu or that asking for a non-broiler cooking method was an option, the Washington Post reported.
The case noted there had been “numerous consumer complaints posted online” from others also angry at the cooking method.
On its website it states the plant-based burgers as “100% Whopper, 0% Beef,” and in smaller print below the description, the company says customers who want a “meat-free option” can request their Impossible Patties not be prepared on the broiler where beef and chicken products are cooked, the publication reported.


text:
Content marketers need to deliver a high-quality, personalised experience during the buying cycle in order to drive engagement and maximise their online sales revenue during the upcoming holiday season, according to a new report and infographic published by ecommerce-tech enterprise Radial.
Brands and retailers are currently gearing up for the busy festive period, and Radial has published its Holiday Shopping Spree resource to highlight exactly what shoppers want and need when purchasing a product online in the coming weeks. It found that tailored content and experiences are crucial, while convenience trumps all when browsing and buying products.
Social media is a key outlet for customer feedback and content in the digital age, but just two per cent of respondents said that they posed questions about products and orders on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter this year, though 70 per cent expect an almost immediate response if they do make contact via social accounts.
“These findings provide a holistic view of the modern-day consumer and his or her ever-changing expectations ahead of the busy holiday rush,” Radical Chief Product and Strategy Officer Stefan Weitz said. “Marketers and advertisers should take note that consumers expect convenience, exceptional customer service and a personalised experience at every stage of the purchase funnel.”
Personalised digital marketing
A separate survey by Signal has noted that digital marketers should focus on one-on-one engagement rather than mass appeal during the festive period. It found that 43 per cent of holiday shoppers are influenced by digital ads on a website, while 27 per cent said that these ads give them new gift ideas.
When looking at specific channels. 55 per cent of shoppers claimed that they would take advantage of tailored product recommendations via email, which was slightly ahead of retailer websites (52 per cent) and mobile ads (42 per cent). Personalisation again is the key trend for marketers to take note of if they want to attract and retain customers.
Signal SVP of Marketing Kathy Menis concluded: “People consistently shop across desktop, mobile and in stores as it suits their needs. By continuously recognising customers across touchpoints throughout their shopping journeys, marketers can cross-sell, upsell and provide offers and messaging that actually benefit consumers and encourage them to remain loyal to a particular brand.”


text:
Dussehra is already over now people are eagerly waiting for Diwali and Dhanteras in November.
There was a good number of sales happened in the week of Dusshera and now the jewellery shop owners can’t wait for Diwali.
Indian jewellers are very much happy and now they are deciding to stock the jewellery.
The supply started to make its way into Singapore and Hong Kong as dealers navigate around COVID-19 also.
Aditya Pethe, director at Waman Hari Pethe Jewellers. said that retailers are also trying to manage the huge prices.
Zvika Rotbart, South East Asia business development executive at J. Rotbart & Co. said as everybody have to adjust with the new normal people are getting back to work.
He also said the flights are not properly working and because of that there is an extra we have to pay for shipping.
Lot of demand of the jewellery id from India and China and because of the restrictions mostly people are not allowed in Singapore.
Fewer supply disruptions and weak demand over the past month have led to increased supply.
The people are very excited to shop for Diwali.
And more than happy is the jewellery shop owners because their business is going to flourish this festive season.
Check all Recent News Updates & Share Market Updates


text:
The acquisition of British semiconductor firm Arm by Nvidia is to be scrutinised by the UK's competition watchdog.
In a press release, the Competition and Markets Authority said it will launch a formal investigation later this year, looking at "the deal's possible effect on competition in the UK." Since Brexit came into effect on January 1, the CMA has taken over a role that was under the authority of the European Commission until now.
Now the CMA said it's likely to consider "whether, following the takeover, Arm has an incentive to withdraw, raise prices or reduce the quality of its IP licensing services to Nvidia's rivals."
At this stage of the investigation, any "interested party" is invited to comment on the case's page until January 27, ahead of the start of the formal probe.
Graphics card giant Nvidia announced the acquisition of Arm from Japanese group SoftBank for $40 billion back in September 2020. The UK company designs and manufactures chips and CPUs that are used in most smartphones by firms such as Apple and Samsung, but also in consoles such as the Nintendo Switch.
Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, commented: "The chip technology industry is worth billions and critical to many of the products that we use most in our everyday lives. We will work closely with other competition authorities around the world to carefully consider the impact of the deal and ensure that it doesn't ultimately result in consumers facing more expensive or lower quality products."


text:
Uniworld is offering savings of up to 20 per cent on many of its Danube river cruises in 2021 for agents who tune in to Channel 5’s Cruising with Jane McDonald this Bank holiday Saturday, which will be showcasing the itinerary.
Agents who quote the name of the show when booking will receive a 10 per cent saving for their clients, on top of a 10 per cent early booking discount that is already available on all 2021 bookings made before 30 June 2020.
The additional 10 per cent saving is available on Uniworld’s 8-day Enchanting Danube between Budapest and Passau, the 8-day Authentic Danube between Vienna and Nuremberg, and the 10-day Highlights of Eastern Europe between Budapest and Bucharest.
For example, couples could save anywhere between £450 and £1,540 on the Enchanting Danube itinerary, depending on the date and cabin type.
The Enchanting Danube usually starts from £2,449 per person sharing, but will cost £2,024 per person sharing if booked before 30 June, representing a saving of £450 per couple.
A saving of 10 per cent is also available on Uniworld’s India itineraries in celebration of its recent reappearance on Cruising with Jane McDonald last month.
Viewers of Saturday’s programme will watch Jane McDonald as she travels Uniworld’s SS Maria Theresa ship, sailing through cultural cities, pretty villages, hillside vineyards and dramatic scenery on the Enchanting Danube itinerary.
UK MD of Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection, Chris Townson, is optimistic of a boost in bookings for the luxury line’s 2021 Danube sailing on the back of the Channel 5 show.
“We are already seeing strong bookings for 2021 coming through, and are optimistic that confidence will return to the market soon.
“We recently saw a good number of 2021 bookings for our Ganges cruise on the back of Cruising with Jane McDonald in India, which was repeated on Channel 5 during this lockdown period, so we hope that Saturday’s programme will have similar results.
“Our trade partners have been really supportive, and have taken the opportunity to watch the programme themselves and to encourage their clients to do the same, as it’s such a fantastic way of familiarising with the product and fuelling that wanderlust for when we can all get travelling again.
“We’re very grateful to the trade, and we’re offering some great pricing on our Danube and India cruises to help them capitalise on interest from the programme and convert it into sales.”
Cruising with Jane McDonald: The Danube will be broadcast on Channel 5 on Saturday 9 May at 6.55pm.
Visit uniworld.com for more information.


text:
News by Topic : Retail
DDR, Blackstone to acquire 76 shopping centers in transaction worth approximately $2 billion.
Federal Realty CEO Donald Wood aiming to double company’s earnings in 10-year time frame.
New York REIT president Michael Happel sees rent growth, appreciation potential for portfolio.
In a video interview from REITWeek 2014, Scott Craig of Eaton Vance explains why he likes the multifamily, mall sectors and talks about trends in REITs' capital structures.
DDR's Daniel Hurwitz explains the favorable supply dynamics in the retail REIT property sector and discusses his company's efforts to “simplify” its story.
In a CEO Spotlight video interview with REIT.com, CEO Michael Glimcher reflects on Glimcher Realty Trust's 20th anniversary of being listed on the NYSE.
Camden Property Trust, Glimcher Realty Trust, Starwood Property Trust receive gold awards.
Retail REITs are adopting new tactics to keep customers coming to their properties and staying longer when they're there. Trips to local shopping centers are becoming experiences for visitors.
After a year on the job, four REIT CEOs discuss lessons learned and obstacles overcome. John Case, Joseph Coradino, Raymond Gellein, Jr. and Doyle Simons say culture, communication and capital structures have been focal points in year one.
First U.S. REIT to issue bonds that exclusively target investment in sustainability.


text:
-$1.25 EPS Expected for Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE:SMG) This Quarter
Wall Street brokerages expect Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE:SMG) to report earnings per share (EPS) of ($1.25) for the current fiscal quarter, according to Zacks Investment Research. Four analysts have issued estimates for Scotts Miracle-Gro’s earnings. The lowest EPS estimate is ($1.34) and the highest is ($1.18). Scotts Miracle-Gro posted earnings of ($1.39) per share in the same quarter last year, which suggests a positive year over year growth rate of 10.1%. The business is scheduled to issue its next quarterly earnings report on Wednesday, January 29th.
On average, analysts expect that Scotts Miracle-Gro will report full-year earnings of $5.02 per share for the current fiscal year, with EPS estimates ranging from $4.95 to $5.10. For the next financial year, analysts forecast that the firm will post earnings of $5.49 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $5.35 to $5.55. Zacks’ earnings per share calculations are an average based on a survey of research firms that follow Scotts Miracle-Gro.
Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE:SMG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported ($0.91) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of ($0.87) by ($0.04). Scotts Miracle-Gro had a net margin of 14.59% and a return on equity of 41.87%. The business had revenue of $497.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $451.49 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.75) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year.
In related news, EVP Denise Stump sold 2,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.92, for a total transaction of $238,214.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,187,469.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Michael C. Lukemire sold 9,788 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.26, for a total transaction of $1,040,072.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 45,321 shares in the company, valued at $4,815,809.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,537 shares of company stock valued at $1,548,237. 30.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,943,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $388,396,000 after purchasing an additional 121,764 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,715,918 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $366,019,000 after acquiring an additional 51,091 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,618,470 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $257,920,000 after acquiring an additional 65,413 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 705,605 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,502,000 after acquiring an additional 10,549 shares during the period. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Scotts Miracle-Gro by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 508,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $50,054,000 after acquiring an additional 8,778 shares during the last quarter. 66.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Shares of NYSE:SMG opened at $101.65 on Friday. Scotts Miracle-Gro has a 12 month low of $57.96 and a 12 month high of $114.63. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $101.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.11. The firm has a market cap of $5.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.78.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s payout ratio is currently 51.90%.
About Scotts Miracle-Gro
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company manufactures, markets, and sells consumer lawn and garden products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: U.S. Consumer, Hawthorne, and Other. It offers lawn care products, such as lawn fertilizers, grass seed products, spreaders, other durable products, and outdoor cleaners, as well as lawn-related weed, pest, and disease control products.
For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com
Receive News & Ratings for Scotts Miracle-Gro Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Scotts Miracle-Gro and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.


text:
FORTUNE — Private equity firm Sun Capital Partners last week agreed to sell kitchen and bath company American Standard Brands to Japan’s LIXIL Corp., in a $542 million deal that more than doubles Sun’s original investment. Not exactly what too many folks would have imagined six years ago, when Sun was the only thing standing between American Standard and an “Out of Business” sign.
American Standard has been a ubiquitous name in America’s kitchens and bathrooms for more than 140 years, but it used to be part of a much larger conglomerate that also included large HVAC and vehicle controls divisions. By early 2007, however, the company listened to the Wall Street sirens and launched a breakup plan that would include the sale of its kitchen and bath unit to the highest bidder (the vehicle controls unit became publicly-traded WABCO, while the HVAC unit was sold to Ingersoll-Rand).
Prospective bidders quickly learned that the kitchen and bath unit was “American” in name only, losing a bundle stateside while growing rapidly in Asia and Europe. In fact, it was expected that the ultimate winner would effectively shut down the American operations.
Sun Capital had been paying careful attention to the process, in large part because it already owned a pair of much smaller U.S. fixture-makers: Crane Plumbing and Eljer Plumbingware, both of which Sun acquired in 2005. When Sun learned that the American Standard process was down to just Bain Capital and SAC Capital, it went to Bain with an offer.
“We contacted them on a Friday when final bids were due on a Monday,” recalls Sun Capital co-CEO Marc Leder. “They were valuing the American business at zero, or maybe even a bit less because of what it would cost to shut it down. So over that weekend we agreed to pay $130 million for a majority stake in the Americas business, which Bain took and added it onto its bid for the global business and outbid SAC. We have them an ironclad agreement that if they closed on the larger deal, we’d close simultaneously on the Americas piece.”
Bain won the overall deal for $1.75 billion, and would rename the Asia and European business Ideal Standard. The $130 million carve-out of American Standard was structured with $50 million of equity — of which Sun put in slightly more than Bain for a 51% ownership stake. The remainder was debt.
Sun’s investment thesis was that American Standard had a lot of excess capacity, making the right products in the wrong places. For example, it was making certain low-volume, high-margin products in Mexico that would be better made in the U.S., and some higher-volume, lower-margin products that it thought should be made in Mexico. Sun also felt that the company was not doing nearly enough with product innovation, particularly when compared to market leader Kohler.
So Sun made major changes, some of which included layoffs. In 2008, it folded Crane and Eljer into American standard — opting not to do so earlier because each of those businesses were in rough shape when originally acquired by Sun.
“Both were heavy turnarounds, and it’s almost impossible to merge two of those businesses while fixing them,” Leder explains. “It’s better to merge once everything is doing well, so you can really benefit from the synergies.”
Two years later in merged in a small portfolio company called Decorative Panels, and also acquired a complementary business called Safety Tubs. And when the bond markets returned in 2011, Sun completed a $187 million high yield offering that repaid all of American Standard’s debt.
Much more quietly — as least to the outside world — Sun also was slowly accumulating ownership in American Standard. Not only via the Crane and Eljer mergers, but also through the add-on acquisitions that Bain wasn’t interested in helping to finance. Maybe because its Ideal Standard purchase hadn’t gone as well as expected –with Bain selling off the Asia operations for just $150 million in 2009, and also choosing to restructure the remaining European group.
By the time Sun began talking with LIXIL about a sale earlier this year, the firm held more than a 75% interest.
The final sale price of $542 million represents well over a 2x return on Sun’s original investment (including the merged portfolio companies), and a 13x EBITDA multiple.
“We think we’re very early in what will be a long and signifciant period of building product and housing growth in the U.S.,” Leder says. “So we asked LIXIL to pay us today what it will be worth in a couple of years, or we would wait and later hire an investment banker of take it public.”
LIXIL chose the former, valuing American Standard at a 40% premium to where Sun had valued the company at year-end 2012. But Leder’s prediction may have come true, since American Standard’s EBITDA actually grew by 20% between the time LIXIL signed its letter of intent and the time it signed the actual acquisition contract.
Sign up for our daily email newsletter on deals and deal-makers: GetTermSheet.com


text:
There were no immediate reports of financial damage or leaking of confidential national information, according to the Korea Information Security Agency. The attacks appeared aimed only at paralyzing Web sites.
Home / World Business
Fri, Jul 10, 2009 - Page 10 News List
South Korea on high alert for renewed cyber attacks
‘ORANGE’ LEVEL Intelligence officials in Seoul believe cyber attacks in the US during the July 4 weekend and in South Korea on Tuesday originated in Pyongyang
AP , SEOUL
This story has been viewed 1646 times.
Comments will be moderated. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned.
Listing from 2016-04-24 to 2016-05-01
- Most read
- Most e-mailed
1Tainan mayor reproves speaker
2China plans to build on Scarborough Shoal: report
3US opposes Chinese coercion
4US senators urge more operations in South China Sea
5Groups call on US to support Taiwanese sovereignty


text:
Via's Epia N-Series Nano-ITX is based on the Eden-N processor running at speeds of up to 1GHz, the Taiwanese company announced Friday at the CeBit computer show in Hannover, Germany.
at the Computex trade show in Taiwan in 2003, saying it was geared for rather than standard PCs.
Intel aims its XScale processors--competing chips that are not compatible with Pentium--at embedded computing tasks such as handheld computers, but Via believes the software compatibility of x86 chips will give them an edge.
Via also announced that a retailer called has signed on as a customer. The retailer will begin selling in the second quarter of 2004 a digital entertainment device called Nanode that uses the tiny motherboard, Mini-ITX.com said.
The Nanode has video and audio outputs, USB (Universal Serial Bus) connectors, and ports for Ethernet and a keyboard.
The Nanode was designed by Hoojum Design, a United Kingdom-based firm.


text:
Digital TV News: Eurofins
ATSC 3.0 test suite launched by Eurofins
Mar 27, 2019 – Eurofins Digital Testing has announced that it will be showcasing a new conformance test suite at NAB. Arreios for ATSC 3.0 enables the certification and testing of ATSC 3.0 features via a suite of automated test tools.
News categories: Eurofins Digital Testing, Johan Craeybeckx, Lynn Claudy, Anne Schelle, ATSC 3, Digital TV, NABShow, QoE, Set Top Box, Smart TV, USA
GDPR device conformance testing service launched by Eurofins
Feb 20, 2019 – Eurofins Digital Testing has announced that it has launched a GDPR testing service to assess data protection capabilities, and ensure CE devices and their associated businesses and processes are conforming to the GDPR.
News categories: Eurofins Digital Testing, Johan Craeybeckx, EU, QoE, Worldwide
Vestel adopts Eurofins Digital Testing's 4K HDR Ultra HD logo
Dec 20, 2018 – Eurofins Digital Testing has announced that Vestel has committed to using Eurofins' 4K HDR Ultra HD logo on its latest range of TVs. The logo indicates HDR, UHD and WCG support over broadcast, broadband and HDMI.
News categories: Eurofins, Vestel, Johan Craeybeckx, Digital TV, Europe, Smart TV, Turkey
Panasonic commits to Eurofins' 4K HDR Ultra HD logo scheme
Sep 5, 2018 – Eurofins Digital Testing has announced that Panasonic has committed to using Eurofins' 4K HDR Ultra HD logo on its latest range of TVs. Eurofins' logo identifies TVs that have been proven to receive and display HDR, UHD and WCG content simultaneously.
News categories: Eurofins, Panasonic, Johan Craeybeckx, Yasushi Murayama, Digital TV, Europe, IBC, Smart TV
Eurofins to provide testing and validation for Com Hem's Android TV STB
Jun 12, 2018 – At ANGA COM 2018, Eurofins Digital Testing has announced that it has been selected by Com Hem to provide automated testing and service validation for Com Hem's Tv Hub. Tv Hub is an Android TV Ultra HD/4K Hybrid STB.
News categories: Eurofins Digital Testing, Com Hem, Johan Craeybeckx, Thomas Helbo, Android TV, ANGA COM, Digital TV, QoE, Set Top Box, Sweden
Akamai to use Eurofins to test and measure video QoE
Feb 28, 2018 – Eurofins Digital Testing has announced that it will provide Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) with extensive research into OTT quality-of-experience (QoE), giving both Eurofins and Akamai customers an objective dataset to help inform OTT workflow decisions.
News categories: Eurofins Digital Testing, Akamai, Johan Craeybeckx, Ian Munford, Content Distribution, OTT, QoE, Worldwide
Hisense joins Eurofins' 4K HDR Ultra HD logo scheme
Dec 13, 2017 – Eurofins Digital Testing has announced that Hisense has committed to Eurofins’ 4K HDR Ultra HD logo technical requirements in its products. Eurofins Digital Testing’s logo scheme identifies devices that deliver the highest picture quality currently available.
News categories: Eurofins Digital Testing, Hisense, Johan Craeybeckx, Han Jianmin, Digital TV, Europe, Smart TV
Eurofins selected by RiksTV for DTT testing
Nov 8, 2017 – Eurofins Digital Testing has announced that it has been selected by RiksTV, a leading Norwegian digital terrestrial TV (DTTV) provider, to automate monitoring of service availability of RiksTV digital TV and HDTV services.
News categories: Eurofins Digital Testing, RiksTV, Johan Craeybeckx, Jérôme Franck-Sætervoll, Digital TV, Norway, QoE, Terrestrial
Eurofins Digital Testing acquires U.S.-based My Eye Media
Oct 19, 2017 – Eurofins Digital Testing has announced that it has acquired My Eye Media to strengthen its ability to help serve multiplatform TV and video service providers, including studios, programmers, broadcasters, OTT providers and operators around the globe.
News categories: Eurofins Digital Testing, My Eye Media, Johan Craeybeckx, Michael Kadenacy, Digital TV, MandA, QoE, USA
- Carbon Trust releases white paper on CO2 impact of streaming
- Vewd offers ATSC 3.0 integration options
- Broadpeak's CDN and Multicast ABR power Megacable's Xview+
- TEGNA selects TVSquared for ad measurement and attribution
- Lünecom deploys IPTV solution from ocilion in Northern Germany
- Gigared chooses Appear to deliver to TVs in Argentina
- Kabelnoord extends service to Samsung and LG TVs with 24i
- First football match broadcast over 5G in Portugal
- HD PLUS operator app available on Samsung Smart TVs in Ghana
- More than 11 million addressable TVs for VIZIO in the U.S.
- Viant ad platform integrates TiVo TV viewership data
- WarnerMedia trials national addressable TV with Comscore
- UK broadcasters launch ad campaign measurement tool
- Síminn creating TV bundles using Red Bee Channel Store
- MetaX launches Smart TV commercialization platform
- Only 20% of streaming subscribers content to stay with providers
- Sky NZ selects Intertrust ExpressPlay DRM cloud service
- Evolution Digital Android TV box selected by TDS Telecom
- Sappa selects Appear to deliver live TV in Sweden
- Accedo supports Telecine Play Smart TV app development


text:
Cracker ban hits livelihood of Farrukhnagar village
Firecracker manufacturing units in Farrukhnagar-Asalatpur village wore a deserted look on Saturday after the Supreme Court banned the sale of fireworks in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) to mitigate air pollution.noida Updated: Nov 26, 2016 23:22 IST
Firecracker manufacturing units in Farrukhnagar-Asalatpur village wore a deserted look on Saturday after the Supreme Court banned the sale of fireworks in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) to mitigate air pollution.
Sixty-nine-year-old Maqsood Ali, sitting idle in front of his shop, said that his last sale was on Friday, for ₹200. He said that sales were already low due to the demonetisation of ₹500, ₹1,000 notes, but the SC decision has robbed him of his livelihood.
“Usually, we make sales worth ₹50,000 to ₹2 lakh in this period, but sales this time were negligible. We procure stock from south India, but did not order due to the demonetisation,” Ali said.
“Now, the ban on sale will directly affect us and our workers, who come from Bihar, east and west UP, and also those working in factories in south Indian cities. We know only the craft of making fireworks. Generations of our family have been doing this, but all this will stop now. We don’t have agricultural land or skills for other professions,” he said.
Ali’s 22-year-old grandson, Bilal, who has followed in his grandfather’s footsteps, said, “During Diwali, there was hardly any wind in the region that could disperse the air. As a result, there was dense smog and pollution, but other factors contribute to air pollution on a daily basis. Now, we face an issue of rehabilitating ourselves. There is a big question mark hanging over our heads.”
According to local estimates, there is a sale of products worth ₹4-₹5 crore during Diwali and wedding season. Villagers said that their representatives are in Delhi for a meeting of fireworks manufacturers.
Manufacturers said they have suspended work. “We will also call a meeting in Loni, where manufacturers and wholesalers from western UP will decide on the course of action. Besides the business itself, the ban will affect activities of allied sectors — transportation, labour and retailers. Nearly 250 families have been doing this business for generations and don’t know another trade,” Asif Ali, a fireworks manufacturer, said.
According to official statistics, there are 64 licensed sellers and manufacturers of fireworks in the area. Nearly 350 temporary sales licences are also issued during Diwali.
Sellers shut shops and godowns on Saturday. The area, where there are mammoth crowds in the wedding season, was vacant. “I still have stock worth ₹ 5-₹7 lakh, but I cannot sell it. If authorities are serious about curbing pollution, they should ban the sale of cars and diesel fuel. There is hardly any check on the rampant pollution due to construction activities. Other industries outside NCR will also be affected if we cannot sell our product,” he said.
Besides Farrukhnagar, there are many fireworks manufacturers in villages of Hapur and Meerut districts as well.
Nidhi Kesarwani, the district magistrate of Ghaziabad, said, “We are yet to receive the court order and subsequent directions from the state government. We will implement the orders immediately after receiving them.”


text:
OLYMPIA — Buyers of state hunting and fishing licenses whose personal information might have been compromised by a data breach will be notified and will receive identity protection services, officials of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife announced.
Active Network, the department’s online hunting and fishing license sales vendor, has agreed to mail information as soon as possible to an estimated 1.5 million people who created customer profiles in the license system before July 2006, said Peter Vernie, licensing division manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, on Friday.
Personal information for approximately 2.4 million license buyers might have been compromised in the breach, but fewer people than that will be notified, he said.
For example, some former customers have died while others’ profiles do not include enough information to enable the vendor to contact them, he said.
Vernie said Active Network also has agreed to provide a customer call center and identity protection services to those whose data was potentially compromised. Details of those services will be provided in the notification letters, according to Active.
About two weeks ago, fish and wildlife agencies in Washington, Idaho and Oregon received messages from a person who claimed to have accessed customer data in the three states’ systems, which are all operated by Active Network.
Investigation confirmed that Washington’s system vulnerability had been exploited to access personal information provided by customers who bought licenses before mid-2006.
Information added to those accounts since then is also vulnerable, investigators reported.
Vulnerable information for Washington customers includes names, addresses, dates of birth and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers. Some customers’ driver’s license numbers also were accessed, but there is no indication that credit card or other financial data was exposed, state officials said.
At this time, investigators do not believe personal data is at risk for customers who made their first license purchase after June 2006. About 60 percent of the 6.6 million license customers fall into this category, the state said.
Active Network told the state that within 15 hours of learning of the breach, the vendor conducted a security sweep of the system and released an update to address the threat. The company said it also arranged for a review by an independent cybersecurity firm.
The state halted online license sales Aug. 22 and suspended all license transactions the following day and restored sales through its network of about 600 retail vendors Aug. 27. Telephone sales were resumed last Monday.
The investigation into the data breach is ongoing, and online license sales remain suspended.
For more information, see http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/wild_system/.


text:
Copyright © 2015
Tag - Venue
Dell has made a surprise return to the Android platform with its latest tablet introductions, the Venue 7 and Venue 8. Not to be confused with the Venue "Pro" variants, which run Windows 8.1, the basic Venue tablets are powered by Intel's latest Atom processors and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.
Dell's new Venue 7 and Venue 8 tablets mark the company's return to the consumer tablet arena, after a long hiatus following an unsuccessful attempt with the Streak series. The new Android tablets will be sold alongside the company's Windows 8.1-powered Venue "Pro" tablets. Electronista had a chance to try out the new tablets at Intel's Developer Forum conference last month in San Francisco.
Dell in a statement confirmed that it had backed out of smartphones in the US. At least at present, the Android-running Venue and Windows Phone-based Venue Pro had "run their course," PCWorld paraphrased a Dell representative as saying. There would be mobile devices later into 2012, but Dell was unclear if there would be more than tablets at the time.
Dell's Venue Android smartphone has followed in the footsteps of the discontinued Streak 5 tablet from the company in earning US government approval for use by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). It has thus become the first Android phone to get the honor following RIM's BlackBerry devices, as revealed by a DISA document. Department of Defense employees will get limited access to the device's features however, with no access to the Android Market and web browsing done only through a DoD proxy server.
Dell on Monday confirmed that it had stopped selling the Streak 7. The tablet is no longer available online and is withdrawing just months after Dell axed the Streak 5. In a statement, it said it would still be involved in the mobile space but conspicuously referred to the Streak 7 in the past tense, suggesting it was being phased out.
Dell is whittling back one of its staple practices at CES in a sign of a reduced focus on the home for 2012. New leaks Wednesday hinted to AllThingsD that the company would drop its near-traditional occupation of a whole floor at The Palms off of the Las Vegas strip in favor of the hotel suite invites and meeting rooms common to companies that don't have major products to unveil at the show. If would instead attach itself to a keynote from one of its partners, implying Intel or Microsoft.
Dell's founder Michael Dell used his own Dell World conference as an unusual platform for talking down Android while putting faith in Windows 8. While he pledged loyalty to Microsoft and said the company was "very aligned" with it, he said Google's OS had "not developed to the expectations" Dell had. Steve Felice, president of the consumer division, tried to minimize the company's lack of success, claiming that the Streak tablets, Aero, and Venue phones were shipped in small numbers to "see customer reaction and behavior."
Dell may be backing out of its plans for Windows Phone if not all of mobile for the near future. Claims passed on by a "higher up" alleged to WPCentral that a sequel to the Venue Pro, the Wrigley, has been cancelled along with any plans for Windows Phone 7 hardware in 2012. The smartphone might not have even gone beyond planning.
An industry rumor on Monday claimed that Apple was developing mobile devices with curved glass. The company has supposedly given part suppliers help by buying glass polishing hardware, Digitimes said. Three companies have been identified supplying cover glass, with Fuji Crystal and Lens Technology focusing on iPhones and G-Tech handling iPads.
Apple may borrow a cue from earlier iPod nanos and even Dell for the display of the next iPhone, insiders claimed Monday. Component suppliers have heard Apple would implement a curved glass cover and had been pushing to overcome the cost barriers to the technology by buying the glass cutter machinery itself. The company had reportedly left the machines in storage and would bring them out once economies of scale worked out, Digitimes said.
Now AAPL Stock: 96.04 ( + 1.05 )
Google starting phase-out of Flash ads
Search engine and advertising giant Google will shortly no longer accept Adobe Flash-created ads for its AdWords network. Starting June 30, ads in the once-ubiquitous format will no longer be accepted. Additionally, after January 2, 2017, the network will no longer serve Flash-based advertisements, and the network will be completely HTML 5 based. http://bit.ly/1PNx1uc
Sonos now works with Apple Music
Wireless music system manufacturer Sonos has announced that its systems worldwide will gain compatibility for streaming the paid Apple Music subscription service starting today, February 10. "Music fans worldwide will have access to Apple Music features like For You, New, Radio, and My Music, and will also be able to stream the entire Apple Music catalog through Sonos smart speakers tuned for great sound in every room of their homes," the company said in an email to journalists. Apple Music's streaming service costs $10 per month, with a free three-month trial. http://bit.ly/1Wdi2Ko
Apple want ads hint at future Watch faces
An Apple job listing for a dedicated clock face team may suggest future fashion-brand partnerships, possibly in time for the updated watchOS updates that are likely to be revealed at this spring's Worldwide Developer Conference. Since the introduction of watchOS 2, there has only been four new watch faces, but three of them were left over from the first release, with only one truly new one -- the co-branded Hermés face exclusive to that edition. There is a rumored March 15 event, but if that takes place it will likely focus on new band options as regards the Apple Watch. http://apple.co/1O1TbTI
Microsoft may end Office Support Professional prog
Microsoft appears to be either ending or seriously revamping its "Accredited Support Professional Program" for training on Microsoft Office for Mac and iOS it has offered at MacTech conferences since 2013. The program is not on offer at the upcoming MacTech tour, which begins on March 16 in San Francisco and includes a number of other cities. Microsoft has released a statement that it is "evaluating options for 2016, but don't have anything to share at this time." http://bit.ly/1KDz3MQ
Office for Mac v15.18 released
Microsoft has issued an update for the Mac version of its productivity suite, Office 2016. The v15.18 update offers improvements for all of the included apps, such as bringing full screen support to Outlook and allowing Word to save PDF files to flash drives. In addition, a new selection pane has been added to PowerPoint and Excel for keeping track of objects, and shapes can now be added to OneNote notebook pages. The update is free for all users, but requires a Mac running OS X 10.10 or later and a valid Microsoft Office 365 subscription. http://bit.ly/1Q7pAzW
Apple to open new south Florida mall store
According to real estate trade papers in south Florida, Apple has signed a lease for a new retail space in Miami, at the forthcoming Brickell City Centre (yes, the UK spelling is used) open-air mall, which is set to open later this year. The center will feature a five-story shopping area, condominiums, a hotel and office buildings, along with a "climate ribbon" in the shopping area to keep visitors cool, eschewing traditional air conditioning. The exact location of the Apple Store within the plan is not yet clear, but the destination already boasts 75 confirmed stores. http://bit.ly/1Q7n7Wd
Filemaker provides free custom app guide
FileMaker announced today the release of the first in a three-part series of free how-to guides that will lead teams through the process of building a custom app using the FileMaker Platform. FileMaker's new how-to guides provide a step-by-step process that starts with a planning cycle covering goals, requirements, functionality and usability, and run all the way through identifying user scenarios, defining requirements, addressing integration, providing security, and deployment of the final product. http://bit.ly/1o08wQh


text:
A new face is not the only thing BMW’s fully revamped 4 Series has to offer, although that has grabbed a lot of media attention. It also has a bigger interior space and more powerful driving performance.
The vertical grille on BMW’s new 4 Series has attracted some unkind nicknames, like the beaver’s tooth. It has polarized opinion of critics and the car-loving public at large.
BMW Korea will invest 60 billion won ($54 million) from 2021 through 2023 to expand its logistics center located in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi.
Blockchain is slowly making its way into the mainstream, with major automakers adopting the technology to manage in-car payment systems.
BMW vehicles are being recalled after reports of vehicle engines shutting down while traveling and concerns over a fire risk related to batteries.
With nobody touching the steering wheel, the face-lifted BMW 6 Series reversed out of a narrow alleyway, with the driver only controlling the accelerator and brake. The steering wheel spun to the right and left on its own as it drove backward.
BMW Motorrad released the new R 18 in Korea on Friday, which comes with the strongest engine ever from the German motorcycle maker.
Prosecutors raided BMW’s Seoul office on Sept. 16 in order to secure evidence on allegations that the German automaker covered up mechanical defects related to a spate of engine fires which broke out in 2018.
German carmaker BMW became the No. 1 car importer in Korea during the month of August for the first time in more than two years.
YONGIN, Gyeonggi — In a transparent dome-shaped pavilion temporarily pitched on an unassuming campsite in Yongin, Gyeonggi, on Wednesday, MINI introduced the updated version of its Countryman crossover SUV to the world for the first time.


text:
Two huge funding announcements show exactly why investors are going crazy over generative AI.
- Inflection AI just raised $1.3 billion in a fresh fundraising round led by Microsoft, Reid Hoffman (who started LinkedIn), Bill Gates, and NVIDIA…
- Runway, which builds generative AI tools for creators, announced a $141 million extension to its Series C funding round from companies like Google, NVIDIA, and Salesforce Ventures…
And it’s because they’re building the future of generative AI in very unique ways.
Why it matters: The size of generative AI’s potential impact cannot be overstated. McKinsey estimates that generative AI could add $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion in annual value to the global economy. That kind of market impact has investors salivating. Whoever bets on the right generative AI horse stands to make a killing.
Connecting the dots: In Episode 54 of the Marketing AI Show, Marketing AI Institute founder/CEO Paul Roetzer shared with me why these companies in particular are important—and how to think about the generative AI investment landscape.
- There are three broad types of investable generative AI companies. First, you have the infrastructure companies that provide the chips and cloud capabilities on which all generative AI relies to function. (Think: NVIDIA, Google, AWS, and Microsoft.) Second, you have foundation model companies—the companies building the base models that power generative AI apps. Third, you have the application layer companies themselves—companies like Writer and Jasper building on top of models.
- Inflection and Runway play in the foundation model and application spaces. Inflection is building its own massive, sophisticated large language model, then running its Pi app on that model. Runway’s Gen-1 and Gen-2 image models power a range of apps in its creative suite. So, both companies straddle the foundation model and application layer categories.
- Building and training models is expensive. The reason these companies are raising so much money is because they need to invest massively in infrastructure like chips/GPUs and cloud services, says Roetzer. For context, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman estimated it cost $100 million to train GPT-4 alone. Foundation model companies are trying to outgun OpenAI, so they need very deep pockets.
- Because of this, there are only a handful of foundation model companies. Given the high barrier to entry, there are only a handful of foundation model companies, such as Inflection, OpenAI, and Cohere. For investors, betting on a handful of foundation model companies appears to be a better bet than guessing which of the thousands of apps built on top of them will win the market.
How to take action: Let’s face it: None of us are probably writing checks for $1.5 billion anytime soon. So how can you use this information?
Well, you’re probably thinking about how to bet on AI companies in other ways. For instance, which AI companies should you be including in your tech stack? How can you be sure the AI tool you onboard your team to will be around in 12 months? Roetzer has some advice, based on Marketing AI Institute’s work advising companies on their AI tech stacks.
Understand that you’re probably going to take two paths in parallel, especially if you’re a large enterprise:
- In the short term, you’re likely moving forward with a few affordable AI tools for core use cases. (For instance, onboarding your marketing team with AI writing apps like Writer or Jasper.)
- In the long term, you’re developing a larger AI strategy and vision. For enterprises, that might look like figuring out your play with large language models, since you’ll likely need to customize an existing one to your needs or build your own. For these types of needs, look at the technology you already use. If you’re a Google, Microsoft, or AWS customer already, they’re your first call when it comes to bigger AI transformation.
Don’t get left behind…
You can get ahead of AI-driven disruption—and fast—with our Piloting AI for Marketers course series, a series of 17 on-demand courses designed as a step-by-step learning journey for marketers and business leaders to increase productivity and performance with artificial intelligence.
The course series contains 7+ hours of learning, dozens of AI use cases and vendors, a collection of templates, course quizzes, a final exam, and a Professional Certificate upon completion.
After taking Piloting AI for Marketers, you’ll:
- Understand how to advance your career and transform your business with AI.
- Have 100+ use cases for AI in marketing—and learn how to identify and prioritize your own use cases.
- Discover 70+ AI vendors across different marketing categories that you can begin piloting today.
As Chief Content Officer, Mike Kaput uses content marketing, marketing strategy, and marketing technology to grow and scale traffic, leads, and revenue for Marketing AI Institute. Mike is the co-author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence: AI, Marketing and the Future of Business (Matt Holt Books, 2022). See Mike's full bio.


text:
EVGA launches DIY Configurator service
Some major caveats to heed, though.
Selected 1KW and 1.3KW models only.
Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg has commented that the worst of the Xbox 360 hardware failures are behind us now.
Rock, a UK-based specialist notebook manufacturer, has gone into administration. It has appointed Deloitte & Touche to try and sell the business.


text:
Lu Hao, the spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, was asked at a conference on November 10 about which countries signed a cooperation agreement with Huawei. In response, the Minister said that the list of nations that signed a 5G trade agreement was already past 20 names; something that is not surprising, with the trustworthy reputation of the Chinese giant.
Regarding the new connection technology, the Huawei 5G commercial contracts which already has predictions that 40% of the world population will use it in six years. And Huawei expects to be one of the big names in the upcoming market, already making deals with big companies in the partnered region.
Despite the agreements with several countries, the relationship with one of the world’s largest powers, the United States, is getting worse. After Trump’s announcement, the commercial war did not stop and appears to fall for some time, with the daughter of the owner of Huawei being arrested on American land.
There is also a serious discussion about the reliability of Huawei, with some people always accusing the Chinese giant of being a threat to their national security. Lu Hao himself, however, says that despite the allegations, no one has yet brought an indictment with valid evidence or arguments. Therefore, the external image of the company has not yet been damaged and continues to relate well to several countries.


text:
(KTNV) -- It's tax time but don't expect a call from the IRS.
If you get a call from someone claiming to be with the IRS, be suspicious. Federal authorities are trying to get the word out about what they are calling the largest nationwide phone scam ever.
Officials said more than $1 million has been stolen from thousands of unsuspecting people.
The calls involved an IRS imposter who will tell you that you owe taxes that must be paid with a pre-debit card or a wire transfer.
Authorities said the scammers threaten arrest, deportation or even loss of a business or driver's license for those who do not pay up.
According to the Inspector General, real IRS officials typically reach out by mail first and don't demand immediate payment by debit card, credit card or wire transfers.
The IRS asks anyone who has received a phony call to report it. They said they have already received 20,000 reports about the scam.