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Drones currently play a large role in private and a state surveillance around the world. However, according to JARED HIGGINS of the Arcfyre Group, these devices can be easily hacked and used to access state information and spy on those protecting the public.
Drones currently play an invaluable role in surveillance conducted by both private and state security forces across the world. However, they can just as easily be utilised – or even hi-jacked – by terrorist organisations and used to access state information and spy on those protecting the general public.
And while drones have traditionally been associated with hobbyists for recreational use, their potential to drastically enhance and streamline the processes of delivery, movement and observation has seen them pique the interest of many organisations, governments and terror forces alike.
The increase in drone-jackings recently highlighted in the media, means that security and protective service organisations need to look beyond the traditional threats and be ever cognisant of the growing body of tech savvy cyber criminals. These individuals, whether for political, social or economic gain, are finding increasingly sophisticated ways of hacking into the operating systems of these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
When it comes to the risks associated with drone-jacking within the security sector these vary, ranging from the potential loss of highly confidential surveillance footage, to the destruction of property and even the loss of human lives.
Travel in today’s volatile, politically charged global landscape is already fraught with multiple risks, and the advent of drone technologically adds another dimension to the security risk mix.
Although a relatively new concept, with the losses from reported drone-jacking cases being largely limited to the financial loss of the drone itself – which still comes with a hefty price tag, it is nevertheless a risk that all security and protective services organisations will need to incorporate into their risk mitigation strategies going forward.
Organisations that understand the importance of ensuring the safety, security and ultimately safe passage of their clients, expect their protective services provider to be on top of the latest technologies and trends.
As such, industry experts need to gain understanding and thorough insight into the implications of drone usage and what measures they can take to minimise it as a risk.
While front runners in the sector will perhaps – in time – invest in drone intelligence to stay better informed, the onus ultimately remains on drone owners to ensure that they invest in adequate cyber security measures.
At the end of the day there is only so much we as a protective services firm can do to mitigate the risk of drone-jacking. We have no control over what security measures have been deployed to protect the overall operating system.
It really comes down to the cyber security sector ensuring it continually develops solutions that make attacks, not only more difficult – but also costly – to carry out.
* Jared Higgins, CEO of leading protective and risk consulting firm, the Arcfyre Group
As selfie cameras rise, so must selfie etiquette
Selfies were once a sign of narcissism or self-obsession. Now they are the new normal, writes ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK.
You can blame Oxford Dictionaries for making the “selfie” respectable. After all, being named Word of the Year, as it was in 2013, does tend to soften some of the self-consciousness in this most self-conscious of actions.
Once seen as a symbol of narcissism and self-obsession, it is now the new normal, to the extent that most smartphones are sold on the basis of the front camera. Or, as that feature is now almost universally named by manufacturers, the “selfie camera”.
I was one of the hold-outs, having a near-allergy to the selfie. I still resist, but succumb more often than I would like. The reason for continued resistance is that it remains a big leap from the word becoming respectable to the action itself shedding its narcissistic image.
For most, it’s already happened, and for that you can blame Ellen DeGeneres. She choreographed the most famous group selfie yet at the 2014 Oscars, when she roped a bunch of actors into a group selfie, using the then-new Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone. Her tweet of the photo became what was then the most retweeted posting ever on Twitter, and was estimated to have been worth a million dollars in marketing value to Samsung.
Ironically, it was Samsung’s up-and-coming challenger, Huawei, that came up with a new word for this type of selfie: the “groufie”. Thanks to an 8 Megapixel front camera on the new Huawei Ascend P7 camera that year which took the highest quality selfies – and groufies – possible on a smartphone at the time.
It didn’t end there, and selfies and groufies have morphed into variations like selfscapes (selfie in a landscape), skyfies (selfies from the air, using remote controlled devices) and jerkies (selfies to make an idiot out of yourself). I invented all of those on the fly, so it’s easy to imagine a new word emerging for every type of selfie.
Continue reading about selfie improvements through the years.
Mickey’s 90th for SA
Disney Africa announced the local launch of the Mickey the True Original campaign, joining the global festivities honouring 9 decades of Mickey Mouse, his heritage, personality and status as a pop-culture icon.
As 18 November 2018 marks 90 years since his first appearance in Steamboat Willie in November 1928, a series of world-wide celebrations will be taking place this year and South Africa is no different.
The campaign will come to life with engaging content and events that embrace Mickey’s impact on the past, present and future. The local festivities kick off in earnest this month, leading up to Mickey’s 90th anniversary on 18 November 2018 and beyond:
- An exclusive local design project where ten highly talented South African artists will apply their own inspiration and artistic interpretation on 6-foot Mickey Mouse statues.
- Once revealed to the public, the statues will form part of the Mickey the True Original South African Exhibition, inspired by Mickey’s status as a ‘true original’ and his global impact on popular culture. The exhibition will travel to 3 cities and delight fans and families alike as they journey with Mickey over the years. Featuring 4 sections highlighting Mickey’s innovation, his evolution, influence on fashion and also pop culture, the exhibition is in collaboration with Samsung and Edgars, and will visit:
o Sandton City, Centre Court: 28 September – 14 October
o Gateway Theatre of Shopping, Expo Explore Court: 19 October – 11 November
o Canal Walk Shopping Centre. Centre Court: 16 November – 26 November
- Samsung continues their collaboration with Disney as they honour Mickey’s 90th anniversary nationally at all Samsung and Edgars Stores. Entitled Unlocking the Imagination, fans are encouraged to visit these stores, take a selfie with a giant Mickey plush toy using their Samsung Galaxy Note9 and stand a chance to win not only a giant Mickey plush, but also an international family trip. Visit www.Samsung.com for more information
- Mickey’s 90th Spectacular, a two-hour prime-time special, will be screened on M-Net 101 later this year. The elegant affair will feature star-studded musical performances, moving tributes and never-before-seen short films. Superstars from music, film and television will join the birthday fun for the internationally beloved character.
- In addition, look out for special programming on Mickey’s birthday (18 November) across Disney Channel (DStv, Channel 303), Disney XD (DStv, Channel 304) and Disney Junior (DStv, Channel 309).
- In retailers, Edgars will be stocking a complete collection of trendy fashion, accessories and footwear for the whole family, inspired entirely by Mickey Mouse.
- Mickey will be the central theme of an in-store campaign nationwide this November and December, with brand new products, apparel, toys, as well as titles from Disney Publishing Worldwide, including books, arts & crafts and comics
- Discovery Vitality and Disney are celebrating healthy, happy families this festive season by offering helpful and exciting tips and tricks on how to eat nutritious, yet delicious, foods, all inspired by Mickey. There’s also a trip to Disneyland Paris up for grabs. Log on to www.discovery.co.za/vitality for information.
- And much more – check the press for updates
“Binding generations together more than any other animated character, Mickey Mouse is the “True Original” who reminds people of all ages of the benefits of laughter, optimism and hope,” says Christine Service, Senior Vice President and Country Manager of The Walt Disney Company Africa. “With his universal appeal and ability to emotionally connect with generations all over the world, no other character quite occupies a similar space in the hearts and minds of a global fan base and we are thrilled to be sharing these local festivities.”
Mickey’s birthday is celebrated in honour of the release of his first theatrical film, Steamboat Willie, on 18th November 1928, at the Colony Theatre in New York City. Since then, he has starred in more than 100 cartoons and can currently be seen on Disney Channel (DStv, Channel 303) in the Mickey Mouse cartoon series and on Disney Junior (DStv, Channel 309) in Mickey and the Roadster Racers.
South African fans are encouraged to share their Mickey Mouse moments on social media using the hashtag#Mickey90Africa.


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LLamasoft Recognized as a World Class Team Supplier to Northrop Grumman Corporation
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Dec. 16, 2013) –LLamasoft, the global leader in supply chain design software solutions, has been recognized as a World Class Team supplier to Northrop Grumman Corporation. LLamasoft was one of 32 suppliers honored for their outstanding performance in support of Northrop Grumman’s Socio-Economic Business Programs (SEBP).
The award is based on a wide range of qualifications including engineering and technical capabilities, experience, quality, on-time delivery, cost affordability and proven performance.
“We are honored that LLamasoft is one of the few businesses singled out for this award among the thousands of Northrop Grumman suppliers,” said Don Hicks, President and CEO of LLamasoft. “The award is a testament to the exceptional work of the LLamasoft team and the important role of supply chain modeling in global security.”
“We recognize the critical role our small business suppliers play in helping us meet our aggressive SEBP goals, and in applying innovation, affordability and top performance to meet the increasingly more challenging global security needs of our customers,” said Harry Q. H. Lee II, vice president, Corporate Contracts, Pricing and Supply Chain, Northrop Grumman. “The awardees demonstrated superior business support and made outstanding contributions to our service-disabled veterans’ outreach, mentor-protege programs, Historically Black Colleges/Universities goals, AbilityOne program, and other initiatives.”
About Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.Media Contact
734-418-3119 ext 1400

domain: news


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English-speaking and western Persona fans have long awaited news about Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers‘ localization and western release. While Atlus and Koei Tecmo remain quiet, retailer listings suggest a 2021 launch window is on the cards.
Twitter user @LocalizeP5S noticed that a number of Asian retailers have created listings for Persona 5 Scramble’s English version. An Indonesian retailer, PS Enterprise, explained the move on its Facebook page, claiming to have heard word from a supplier that a 2021 launch is indeed the plan. Elsewhere, Pakistani retailer Toy or Game lists the title’s “English with Japanese or English voiceovers” version for Q1 2021. The listing from Qisahn, a storefront in Singapore, boasts a placeholder date of March 31, 2021. This seems another hint at a possible Q1 2021 release.
As always, fans should probably keep their hopes in check until Atlus or Koei Tecmo confirm their launch plans. Still, this all appears to indicate that the English version may not be too far away.
Persona 5 Scramble originally released in Japan on the PS4 and Nintendo Switch in February of this year. Other Asian territories received the Omega Force-developed RPG in June. Though, official details about an English release remain under wraps, both Koei Tecmo and Atlus have previously confirmed the action-RPG will come west. Atlus hinted at as much earlier this year in a survey. Koei Tecmo shared confirmation of its own in a financial report over the summer. However, website Persona Central notes that mention of the western launch was later excised from the company’s second quarterly report.


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If you stop and think about it, you use a lot of electronics everyday. Your computer, your phone – even your garage door opener. Did you ever think about how green those electronics are? Greenpeace just released their quarterly Guide to Greener Electronics, which ranks companies by the environmental impact of their products. Want to know who you should buy your next phone from? Check it out:
1. Nokia. The Japanese manufacturer held its spot as number one from last quarter’s guide. The company does not use brominated compounds, chlorinated flame retardants, and antimony trioxide – all harmful to to the environment and humans – in any of its new products.
2. Sony Ericcson. Sony comes in second for wins points for skipping use of PVC or brominated flame retardants (BFRs), which can be harmful to people and the environment.
… And who not to buy from? Toshiba’s ranking took a nose dive from third place to 14th because they failed on their promise to make all new consumer products PVC and BFR-free by Aprils 1. Nintendo came in dead last, again, and they don’t seem to have any plans to become greener in the near future. Dell, who jumped four places since the last issue, came in 10th place. Dell is still producing electronics that contain PVC and BFRs, which they said they would stop by the end of 2009.
Does a company’s eco-friendly ranking affect how likely you are to buy their products? Let us know in the comments section, below.
via Fast Company


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CloudTweaks Featured Writers...
CloudTweaks Featured Writers...
Cambridge, Mass, April 6, 2011 — Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM),the leading provider of cloud optimization services, today announced that the Akamai HD Network is the first global video delivery network to have its HTTP dynamic streaming implementation certified by Adobe. The certification validates that the Akamai HD Network delivery of live and on-demand streaming
Novell Ships Cloud-Based Social Collaboration Platform WALTHAM, Mass.April 5, 2011 – Novell today announced the general availability of Novell Vibe™ Cloud, the first secure, real-time, web-based social collaboration platform for the enterprise. Novell Vibe Cloud is offered as an online service and comes in two editions – basic, with all the functionality needed to demonstrate
Call Center Services and Solutions For Your Business On The Cloud Global Response Global Response is a leading provider of outsourced customer contact solutions and call center services for multichannel retailers, direct response advertisers, healthcare and insurance providers, government and higher education. Global Response offers many IVR applications: Lead generation, NACSZ capture,
Amazon Cloud Drive Windows Integration Amazon Cloud Drive is secure and reliable cloud storage from the same company that created Amazon S3, which hosts over 262 Billion objects. Amazon Cloud Drive used from Windows Explorer as a local drive with a drive letter is even cooler. This article shows how to integrate Amazon Cloud Drive
Box.net, Amazon Cloud Drive – The Future Of Cloud Storage And Sharing… The online (or cloud) storage business has always been a really interesting industry. When we started Box in 2005, it was a somewhat untouchable category of technology, perceived to be a commodity service with low margins and little consumer willingness to pay. All
Security Whitepaper – Google Apps Messaging and Collaboration Products The security of online services is a topic of increasing interest to enterprises as the number of third party hosted service offerings has expanded in recent years. The emergence of various “cloud computing” concepts and definitions has highlighted not only questions about data ownership and protection,
IT Security is Integral to Cloud Policy Planning You’ve seen the movie version: a crack team of hardened (but lovable) thieves exercise their wits and prowess to break into a super-secure facility in order to steal a computer with data that will put away even worse bad guys and save an orphan or two as
Salesforce To Buy Social Media Company Radian6 For $326 Million Salesforce.com (CRM) said it is buying social media monitoring firm Radian6 for about $326 million in stock and cash, continuing its aggressive push to keep up with social media trends through its cloud computing platform. Salesforce.com shares were up 0.7% to $128.28 in light premarket
Introduction: The reality of cloud services Thirty-five percent. By 2014, analysts believe that thirty-five percent, or over one-third, of global enterprise IT budgets will be spent on cloud services. While today the percentage of organizations investing in these types of offerings is small, the implication is clear: “the cloud” is not another industry buzz word,
Intel’s Cloud Access 360 Leads the Way In an exclusive interview with Intel on Friday, March 25th, Cloudtweaks.com spoke with Vikas Jain as a follow-up to Intel’s announced Expressway Cloud Access 360 at Cloud Connect. Vikas Jain is the Director of Product Management for Application Security and Identity Products with Intel Corporation and has over
SOURCE: Stoneware, Inc. Jul 15, 2010 10:30 ET STONEWARE, INC. Announces the Release of webNetwork 6.0 INDIANAPOLIS, IN–(Marketwire – July 15, 2010) – Stoneware, Inc., a leader in private cloud computing, announced the release and immediate availability of webNetwork version 6.0. webNetwork 6.0 provides customers with the ability to create their own private cloud platform and
SAN ANTONIO, Jul 19, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Rackspace(R) Hosting (RAX 16.64, -0.66, -3.82%) today announced the launch of OpenStack(TM), an open-source cloud platform designed to foster the emergence of technology standards and cloud interoperability. Rackspace, the leading specialist in the hosting and cloud computing industry, is donating the code that powers its Cloud Files


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Futurists can dish out some thrilling and downright scary visions for the future of machines and science that either improve or change actions and merchandise close to and dear to us. At this time’s infographic from The Zebra looks on the good dwelling inventions helping to define the way forward for the nascent dwelling IoT market. Here are some technologies and situations predicted by science fiction writers, futurists, expertise specialists, me and you.
On the leisure entrance, it is value noting that one of the most influential units in this category — the Jibo social robot — has gone belly up. Regardless of this, it is commonly speculated that the robot was well earlier than its time, and there at the moment are a variety of firms working on related methods to bring AI and robotics to the house.
New products will probably be responding to tendencies pioneered by most of the above products, such as voice control, homeowner data sharing, appliance connectivity, AI integration, sophisticated safety programs, and smart kitchen gadgets. Future Technology Devices Worldwide, Ltd.
For example, Washington Reuters stated that “practically one-third of American Internet users surveyed stated they go surfing only for fun slightly than to check e-mail, learn Information, or use a search engine, a pointy enhance from a year in the past,” (Reuters, 2006, p 1). Hence, because of this as a society, though there was a rise in software program engineering of games and applications, society has saved up when it comes to spending time on the pc in order to use these software program and applications.
SanDisk is likely one of the many corporations that’s embracing USB-C as the long run, however it would not believe the time is but right to build and sell accessories with solely a USB-C connector on them. Future Applied sciences affords web service throughout seven states with the greatest protection in Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois.


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Paint mixing is a good way to think about the one-way nature of hash functions, but it doesn’t capture their unpredictability. If you substitute light pink paint for regular pink paint in the example above, the result is still going to be pretty much the same purple, just a little lighter. But with hashes, a slight variation in the input results in a completely different output:
According to the Internet Watch Foundation, a UK-based charity, bitcoin is used to purchase child pornography, and almost 200 such websites accept it as payment. Bitcoin isn't the sole way to purchase child pornography online, as Troels Oertling, head of the cybercrime unit at Europol, states, "Ukash and paysafecard... have [also] been used to pay for such material." However, the Internet Watch Foundation lists around 30 sites that exclusively accept bitcoins. Some of these sites have shut down, such as a deep web crowdfunding website that aimed to fund the creation of new child porn.[better source needed] Furthermore, hyperlinks to child porn websites have been added to the blockchain as arbitrary data can be included when a transaction is made.
Ultimately, Bitcoin mining is becoming an arms race. In the early days, anyone with a decent PC could generate Bitcoins through Bitcoin mining. Today, you need to collaborate with other Bitcoin miners in pools, strategically choose the location of your Bitcoin mining operation, and purchase ASIC-powered computers that are specially designed to handle Bitcoin mining.
In December, 2013, Techcrunch published an interview with researcher Skye Grey who claimed textual analysis of published writings shows a link between Satoshi and bit-gold creator Nick Szabo. And perhaps most famously, in March 2014, Newsweek ran a cover article claiming that Satoshi is actually an individual named Satoshi Nakamoto – a 64-year-old Japanese-American engineer living in California. The list of suspects is long, and all the individuals deny being Satoshi.
The concept of a virtual currency is still novel and, compared to traditional investments, Bitcoin doesn't have much of a longterm track record or history of credibility to back it. With their increasing use, bitcoins are becoming less experimental every day, of course; still, after eight years, they (like all digital currencies) remain in a development phase, still evolving. "It is pretty much the highest-risk, highest-return investment that you can possibly make,” says Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group, which builds and invests in Bitcoin and blockchain companies.
Generally speaking, every bitcoin miner has a copy of the entire block chain on her computer. If she shuts her computer down and stops mining for a while, when she starts back up, her machine will send a message to other miners requesting the blocks that were created in her absence. No one person or computer has responsibility for these block chain updates; no miner has special status. The updates, like the authentication of new blocks, are provided by the network of bitcoin miners at large.
Although there are no guarantees that Bitcoin will continue to rise in value, the future does look bright for this exciting cryptocurrency. Unlike leveraged instruments, you can rest assured that your exposure to Bitcoin is limited to what you pay for it. (This does not apply to Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency derivatives that may be leveraged or shorted).
Bitcoin prices were negatively affected by several hacks or thefts from cryptocurrency exchanges, including thefts from Coincheck in January 2018, Coinrail and Bithumb in June, and Bancor in July. For the first six months of 2018, $761 million worth of cryptocurrencies was reported stolen from exchanges. Bitcoin's price was affected even though other cryptocurrencies were stolen at Coinrail and Bancor, as investors worried about the security of cryptocurrency exchanges.


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During the campaign, Barack Obama promised his cheering crowds that, when he rolled up his sleeves to work on health care, he would have “insurance company representatives and drug company representatives at the table. They just won’t be able to buy every chair.” Now is the time to look at what kinds of seats special interest groups are having at Obama’s table and what they’re doing to bring the public around to their ways of thinking. This is the sixteenth of an occasional series of posts that will analyze their activities and how the media are covering them. The entire series is archived here.
Last week, The Coca-Cola Company ran a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal. There’s nothing unusual, of course, about full-page corporate ads appearing in newspapers. This one, though, caught my eye, both for its tone and for its timing. It ran as part of a noisy back-and-forth about soda taxes as a means of subsidizing health coverage for the uninsured, a proposal the Associated Press reported was all but dead.
In the ad, Coca-Cola—whose products have come under fire for contributing to the obesity epidemic—said it would soon be listing the number of calories per serving and the number of servings on the front of all packages in the United States. (Coke entering the age of food labeling modernity after other companies have been doing that for years?) Next year the soft drink king would also introduce ninety-calorie slim cans. (Perhaps a throwback to the days of the pony bottles prevalent before cola creep brought its humongous offspring to the corner store?)
The ad said Coca-Cola had helped bring national school beverage guidelines to American schools and, starting three years ago, had voluntarily removed full-calorie sparkling beverages from schools. (Does that take the steam out of efforts to get all soda out of the schools, period?) The ad was pure image building, following up on one that the industry ran earlier this year, highlighting an agreement to gradually lower calories in beverages sold in schools.
The same day, the Journal ran an op-ed by the company’s CEO, Muhtar Kent, headlined “Coke Didn’t Make America Fat.” The op-ed was a blatant lobbying tactic, designed to appeal to politicians who might be inclined to tax Coke. Its message: It was unfair to single out Coke and slap heavy taxes on the beverage. Kent argued that “we need to take a hard look in the mirror and acknowledge that it’s not just about calories in. It’s also about calories out,” he wrote. He presented a bunch of facts, like how two states that tax soft drinks—West Virginia and Arkansas—still have the nation’s highest obesity rates. The money line came in the last paragraph:
Policy makers should stop spending their valuable time demonizing an industry that directly employs more than 220,000 people in the U.S., and through supporting industries, an additional three million.
Appeal to jobs, a business lobbyist once told me. It works every time. Kent urged business and government to join forces to encourage increased physical activity and sensible eating and drinking, “while allowing Americans to enjoy the simple pleasure of a Coca-Cola.”
A couple days later, a very effective commercial that also mentioned the pleasure of sipping a soft drink appeared on ABC. A bodiless hand snatches away ice cream, pie, hot dogs, and soda from people who seemed to be slim. A little boy cries. A man is taken aback when his soda is pushed out of his hand. “Everywhere you turn,” says the narrator, “Somebody is telling us what we can’t eat. It’s getting harder just to enjoy a soft drink.” The narrator ends with: “Find out who’s driving the food police at ConsumerFreedom.com.”
Was the soda tax being actively considered as a revenue source to finance health reform? I was puzzled: The AP had reported in mid-September that the Baucus blueprint did not call for a soda tax; neither did the bills coming out of the House of Representatives. The AP noted that a “golden opportunity for enacting a national soda tax apparently slipped away” when the Senate Finance Committee didn’t include it in its draft.
Thursday, The Oregonian offered its readers a comprehensive account of the soda saga, warning that the tax may still come up in debate. “I don’t think it’s at all settled,” said Oregon senior senator Ron Wyden. Kevin Keane, a vice-president at the American Beverage Association, told reporter Charles Pope that “You’re not going to solve the complexities of health care reform and obesity with a tax on soda pop.”
The soda companies, clever marketers that they are, want to ensure they will escape blame for the obesity scourge, and that there will be no tax on pop that might deter consumers from buying it. So a front group, the Center for Consumer Freedom, has been running the food police ads which reinforce the lobbying messages of Coca-Cola’s heavy hitters. The group’s Web site claims it promotes personal responsibility and protects consumer choices. “We believe the consumer is King. And Queen,” it says.
The Center says that more than one hundred companies and thousands of individual consumers contribute to its financing. According to Source Watch, the group has previously received money from food companies and restaurants such as Coca-Cola, Cargill, Tyson Foods, Wendy’s, Applebee’s, Outback Steakhouse, and Monsanto. The Center has also been active in waging campaigns against the anti-obesity movement, and has worked to rebut claims that link obesity to junk foods.
The group clearly admits that it is biased:
Yes! We believe that only you know what’s best for you. When activists try to force you to live according to their vision of society, we don’t take it lying down.
It’s equally clear that the group is not lying down, and here’s where the press comes in. Apparently, one of its tactics is to place op-eds and letters to the editor in strategic newspapers. In September, the Detroit Free Press published an anti-soda tax op-ed, identifying the author, J. Justin Wilson, as a senior research analyst at the Center for Consumer Freedom—a “nonprofit coalition supported by restaurants, food companies, and consumers to promote personal responsibility and protect consumer choices.” A week or so later, the New York Daily News ran a similar op-ed and similarly identified Wilson and his group. A separate Daily News news story, which featured a quote from Wilson, said the center “gets money from food and beverage companies.”
But the Baltimore Sun slipped up. About the same time as the op-eds appeared, the Sun ran a letter to the editor penned by Wilson, arguing that the soda tax shouldn’t be used to punish people for the food they choose. The paper identified Wilson as a senior research analyst at the Center for Consumer Freedom. Sounds kind of benign, doesn’t it?
If media outlets choose to accept op-eds and letters from outfits like this, full disclosure please.


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Google on Thursday vastly expanded the scope of Google Apps, its online productivity suite, by adding access to over 60 of its other online apps.
These include services like Google Voice, Picasa, YouTube, Google Maps, Blogger and Google Translate, among others.
"We're basically opening up the gates to all these services that are available to Google Account personal users," said Dennis Troper, director of product management for Google Enterprise, in a phone interview.
Google Apps users could use these other Google applications previously by logging in through a personal Google Account. As of today, they can use the additional applications under a Google Apps account. This allows businesses to offer employees access to an expanded array of applications under the oversight of a Google Apps administrator.
"Google Apps is bringing very dramatic IT cost savings to the enterprise," said Troper. Beyond lowering management costs and alleviating the need to purchase servers, Google Apps makes employees more productive, he said.
To back up that claim, Troper cited a recent Forrester Research study that found that switching to Google Apps resulted in a 2.5x productivity increase and 300% ROI.
"These are radical productivity gains," he said, noting that 9 of the top 20 requests Google receives related to Google Apps are requests for access to the services available to personal Google Accounts.
The additional services are not covered by the Google SLA or telephone support, but Google says it will consider feedback about this.
Troper anticipates that organizations may want employees who have been using Google services outside of IT department oversight to migrate business data in personal accounts to Google Apps accounts. He says that Google provides data migration tools to facilitate that process.
In addition to expanding access to its services, Google has simplified its Google Apps branding. Google Apps Premiere Edition is no more. Instead, the product line breaks down as follows: Google Apps, free for groups of up to 50; Google Apps for Business, $50/year for 25GB of Gmail storage, 99% uptime, data migration, phone support, security and management tools; Google Apps for Government, FISMA certified for local, state and federal agencies; and Google Apps for Education, like Google Apps for Business but at no cost for qualified educational and non-profit organizations.


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The 2-cent-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks proposed in a number of House and Senate bills this year has been discussed in the media in terms of the revenue it will raise: an estimated $65 million per year.
The focus on its revenue-generating potential is understandable at a time when the state coffers are not seeing the kind of collections that our tourism-based economy normally delivers. But the real value of hearing and passing these bills lies in the fact that it has the potential to deliver real and lasting benefits to the health of the people of Hawaii, not least our keiki.
Here are some facts that should prompt us to give the idea of a tax on sugary drinks serious consideration, especially in the middle of a pandemic.
We already know that heart disease, hypertension and diabetes disproportionately affect Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders. It is worth noting that Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders report higher rates of daily sugary drink consumption — nearly 16%, and almost 20%, respectively.
The data on our children is equally sobering. Teenagers in Hawaii consume more sugary drinks than any other age group — on average, more than one drink per day. We should be alarmed and moved to action by the fact that seven in 10 Hawaii third-graders are affected by tooth decay. Families in need often cannot afford to seek dental care, so it is not surprising that one in four suffer from untreated tooth decay.
Liquid sugar is the single largest source of added sugar in the American diet. A sugary drinks tax could help us reduce the multi-million dollar burden on our health care system by putting our Hawaii residents on a path to wellness.
The public supports a tax on sugary drinks. Lawmakers will have voters on their side if they step up and get this done. Recent polling shows that 72% support providing healthier foods and beverages in our communities — that’s up from 60% in 2019. Providing healthier foods and beverages in our schools enjoys even higher support, with 81% strongly supporting, up from 74% the year before.
As a grocer, I wholeheartedly welcome any tax on beverages with added sugar. No one loses any sales — stores and restaurants will sell the same amount of beverages, just different healthier ones. There is no harm to retailers, restaurants and even beverage producers. Large beverage producers have already developed product lines without added sugar.
There’s data to support introducing a tax on sugary drinks. In 2014, Berkeley, Calif., became the first city in the United States to pass a sugary drink tax. It generated revenue of $1.5 million in 2018 and reduced sugary drink consumption by 21%.,
In 2017, Philadelphia became the second city to pass a similar tax. That has generated revenue of $85 million to date. Within two months of implementation, consumption of sugary drinks was 40% less than in comparable cities.
In Philadelphia, overall sales at chain stores did not suffer due to the tax, and in Berkeley, the tax did not result in lower store revenues or higher grocery bills for consumers.
Taxes and surcharges have been proven to help change behavior. The recycling of beverage containers and the cigarette tax are good examples of this.
Instead of spending time debating the merits of something like gambling that we know will harm our society, let’s at least hear from the public about their readiness to accept a tiny tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.
As a businessman, as a parent and as a resident of an island where I see too many families grappling with avoidable, costly health care challenges, I urge lawmakers to give SB 541 or SB 1148 a hearing.
Let’s do this to improve the health of our communities and make them better able to weather the pandemic.
Russell Ruderman retired from the sate Senate in 2020. He owns the Island Naturals stores on Hawaii Island.


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Google is planning to introduce a competitor to Amazon Prime that will be cheaper and offer same-day delivery, according to a report. TechCrunch reports that the service, called Google Shopping Express, would offer such delivery via retailers like Target, Walmart, Walgreens and Safeway. Google Shopping Express would also be $10 to $15 cheaper than the $79 annual fee that Amazon charges for Prime, which offers expedited shipping, but not same-day delivery.
Ecommerce (or electric commerce) refers to the buying and selling of goods and services via electronic channels, primarily the Internet. Online retail is decidedly convenient due to its 24-hour availability, global reach and generally efficient customer service.


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While March's 44.4% registrations decline did not reveal the full extent of the automotive retail sector's COVID-19 coronavirus lockdown decline, Auto Trader has insisted that car buyers are still researching their next purchase.
The Motor Ombudsman has upgraded its online Knowledge Base with a new category on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) to help motorists answer frequently asked queries on car ownership, vehicle maintenance and dispute resolution.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) may allow businesses to defer their subscription fees as they battle to minimise outgoings during the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis, the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) has said.
Car retail groups with revenues of up to £500 million are now eligible to apply for funding from the Government's Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans (CBIL) scheme in a bid to drive support during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Arnold Clark, Simon Bailes Peugeot and TrustFord have shown their support to the NHS through the donation of 20,000 disposable car seat covers and the provision of vehicles and vital maintenance support to keep essential healthcare services moving.
Dealers will need cashflow to bridge the gap until the Government’s business and employee support funds drop in, however they must resist a fire sale of stock, ASE Global’s chairman Mike Jones has warned.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed a three-month temporary payment freeze on loan and credit card repayments to help consumers cope with the “unprecedented financial shock” triggered by the COVID-10 coronavirus lockdown.
TWO days of insightful, engaging content that Automotive Management LIVE is known for whilst enabling our audience to connect with the full range of suppliers to motor retail, learn and share industry best practice, and discuss how to prepare for the future of motor retail.


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Photos around South Africa reveal that South Africans have joined long queues at liquor stores just to purchase liquor.
Recall that due to the lockdown, the sale of liquor was banned.
Today marks the first day of level 3 of the national lockdown.
Since it allows the sale of alcohol at certain times, many people are taking advantage.
Alcohol is allowed to be sold from 09:00 until 17:00 from Monday to Thursday.
Here are some photos;


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Stories about Russia from October, 2015
Ukraine's New Banned Websites Registry: Security Measure or Censorship Tool?
Ukraine's new cyberpolice say they want to protect Ukrainians online, but a banned websites registry is causing Internet users to worry about adverse effects on free expression.
New Leak Details Kremlin’s Plans For a Russian ‘National Internet’
The leak by Anonymous International reveals plans for the concept of a “national information platform” in Russia, which effectively describes the creation of an alternative Russian Internet.


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The popular children’s TV show Pup Academy is getting its own NFT collection thanks to Air Bud Entertainment and ZigZoo. A family-friendly, school-based NFT, called ‘PUPtastic Fan Pass’, lives on the Zigazoo platform, a safe social network for kids created by teachers and parents! The first NFT drop is live on the Flow blockchain and coincides with back to school.
Pup Academy NFTs teaches kids about blockchain in a safe environment!
Air Bad Entertainment, the company behind the Netflix show Pup Academy, wants to give kids a safe place to have fun and learn.
Additionally, this new addition will be the first live-action drop on the ZigZoo platform and aims to help kids and parents learn about web3 technology and blockchain applications using familiar characters.
Using the ZigZoo platform, they use the show’s characters, videos, singing songs, character sounds and digital dog tags to create an immersive Pup Academy content experience for kids.
Additionally, there will also be some great and fun activities to use in the Pup Academy NFT collection. Real-life events, trading platforms, and other methods help children understand the world of NFTs.
“Zigazo is an exciting destination where kids can safely express their creativity as part of a connected community,” said Robert Vince, CEO of Air Bud Entertainment. The ZigZoo platform allows us a great new way to extend our brand mission of connecting families to celebrate the global themes of friendship and teamwork.
Zigazoo – a social network suitable for children
Zigazoo also helps companies provide a new means of communication to their young fans in a safe environment. Significantly, the platform is kidSAFE COPPA certified, meaning it has passed strict child safety regulations.
Finally, Pup Academy NFTs are the latest addition to our growing collection of family-friendly NFTs. They have also worked with Moonbug Entertainment, creators of the Blippi and CoComelon brands.
All investment/financial opinions expressed on NFTevening.com are not recommendations.
This article is educational material.
As always, do your own research before making any investment.


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Jeep buried in sand dune for 40 years is finally unearthed
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2nd-seeded Thiem reaches semifinals of clay-court Rio Open
Lionel Richie has postponed his tour with Mariah Carey so that he can...
I don’t, as a rule, watch network TV.
It can feel like everywhere you turn the financial industry is shouting at...
Hamilton restaurateurs gear up for Mardi Gras
Michael De Adder: This way to Canada
Feb. 22 editorial cartoon
Editorial cartoon for Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017.
Feb. 16 editorial cartoon
Editorial cartoon Feb 10
Theo Moudakis: O’Leary wigs
Theo Moudakis: Wynne wall
Editorial cartoon for Monday, Feb. 6, 2017.


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Boohoo supplier was hit with a £15m bill after failing to pay its staff the national minimum wage
Staffline has supplied agency workers to Boohoo’s warehouses for around four years
A supplier to Boohoo was hit with a £15million bill after failing to pay its staff the national minimum wage.
Staffline, the UK’s biggest recruiter, underpaid agency workers at several food production plants because the time spent putting on work clothes had been excluded from their hours.
It has now confirmed that in February and March it paid around £10million in back payments and another £5.1million in fines and legal costs for the breaches between 2013 and 2018.
The listed firm has supplied agency workers to Boohoo’s warehouses for around four years.
But the £15million in back payments and fines did not relate to its work for Boohoo.
The latter has been rocked by claims that suppliers packaging its clothes paid workers in a Leicester factory as little as £3.50 an hour.
Staffline, which also works for retailers Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer, said: ‘Staffline confirms that it has been fully compliant with national minimum wage regulations in its provision of services to Boohoo.’
Boohoo’s shares fell a further 5.7 per cent, or 13p, to 217p yesterday as it struggled to win back confidence in its supply chain.


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Consider our hopes dashed.
The new business sandwiched between Connie’s Ric Rac and Teri’s bar – which we wished aloud that it could provide the third link to a nightlife anchor on the southern end of the Italian Market – will be a nail salon. Damn.
The storefront at 1128 S. 9th St. that previously housed a medical uniform store called MIA Scrubs is being renovated for a nail salon, according to a worker who came to the door last week. A permit on the door says “personal services” are now allowed.
There’s still hope. That empty lot across the street is still slated for redevelopment, which would include about 32,000 square feet of retail space if owner Midwood Investment and Development stops taking their sweet time. We’re starting to think they’re just speculating. Who would want to build only one story there anyway?
For a much more modest retail space, there’s also a building for sale right next to the lot.
But what about this whole premise of this being a good location for a couple decent late-night places? Are we beating a dead horse?


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The TSX Composite has seen a 10.3% value erosion in the last eight months due mainly to growing economic concerns and geopolitical tensions. But that doesn’t mean all stocks are performing poorly this year. Shares of some fundamentally strong companies are continuing to inch up, despite global economic worries.
A top TSX stock for monthly passive income
Whether you’re investing in stocks to get rich or create a reliable source of passive income, you must avoid taking unnecessary risks by betting on stocks with too lofty valuations. However, this doesn’t mean you should stick only to shares of large companies. In fact, small-cap stocks with strong fundamental growth potential can significantly outperform the shares of large companies in the long term.
Keeping the current economic environment in mind, Mullen Group (TSX:MTL) could be a reliable small-cap TSX stock to consider right now. It’s an Okotoks-headquartered logistics firm with a market cap of $1.5 billion. Despite the broader market selloff, MTL stock currently trades with solid 34.5% year-to-date gains at $15.64 per share. At this market price, the stock offers an attractive annual yield of 4.6% and distributes its dividend payouts on a monthly basis. Now, let me explain why I find this stock attractive to buy today.
Key reasons to buy this dividend stock now
In 2020, the global pandemic forced countries across the world to take precautionary measures by shutting down non-essential businesses and imposing strict travel restrictions. These rules led to massive global supply chain bottlenecks. As these supply chain disruptions continue to haunt businesses, even today, companies are willing to pay higher prices for logistics, boosting the profitability of logistics companies, including Mullen Group, despite high inflation and fuel prices.
In the five years between 2016 and 2021, Mullen Group’s total revenue rose 43% from $1 billion to $1.5 billion. During the same five-year period, its adjusted earnings grew positively by 44% from $0.52 per share to $0.75 per share. As the demand for its services continues to remain strong, Bay Street expects the company’s financial growth to accelerate further in the ongoing year. According to analysts’ estimates, Mullen Group could report a 35% year-over-year increase in its total revenue in 2022 and an outstanding 86% growth in its adjusted earnings to $1.40 per share.
Moreover, its management’s continued focus on acquiring small companies and striving to improve their performance should help Mullen maintain strong financial growth trends in the long run and drive this TSX monthly dividend stock higher.
|COMPANY||RECENT PRICE||NUMBER OF SHARES||DIVIDEND||TOTAL PAYOUT||FREQUENCY|
|Prices as of Dec. 15, 2022|
If you buy about 5,000 shares of Mullen Group, you can expect to earn $300 in monthly passive income from its safe dividends. To purchase these many shares at the current market price, however, you’ll have to invest about $78,200 in the stock. While this example gives you a good idea of how you can earn reliable monthly passive income by investing in even small-cap TSX dividend stocks, you must consider diversifying your stock portfolio by adding more such stocks to it instead of pouring such a big sum of money into a single stock.


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Rita Goldberg, founder and CEO of professional swim lesson franchise British Swim School announced that she has sold the business she started over 35 years ago to multi-brand franchise company Buzz Franchise Brands.
Goldberg started the business in the basement of her Manchester home in 1981 and since then, turned the brand into a franchise that has grown to nearly 200 schools in 21 states and has an international presence.
“I’ve been in this business almost 40 years now, and I could not be prouder of what we have accomplished in the past eight years growing this into a business that provides almost 17,000 swim lessons for children each week. Through this work we are teaching vital water survival skills and combatting the many lives lost to drowning. For this to continue, and for British Swim School to leverage its growth opportunities, it was time to bring in some partners to support that growth,” says Rita.
This is the first franchise acquisition for multi-brand franchisor Buzz Franchise Brands, led by CEO Kevin Wilson. “I have worn many of hats in the franchising industry, and I am thrilled to leverage that experience to lead this reputable brand’s growth in the years to come. The mission of British Swim School is powerful, to save children’s lives by teaching water survival skills, and I am proud to be a part of that,” says Longe.
Copyright © FranchiseWire. All rights reserved.


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Customers affected by the collapse of Crown Currency Exchange (CCE) are likely to recoup only a “small percentage” of their losses administrators have warned.
The company went into administration on October 11th this year, with administrators MCR revealing 8,000 people have made claims totalling £16.5 million.
While it remains in close contact with these claimants, the firm has said the case would take some time to “unravel”.
The business, based in Hayle in Cornwall, was established six years ago.
While operation, CCE allowed individuals and business customers to pre-order foreign exchange at a set price up to a year in advance.
It provided travel money in 80 different currencies, as well as travellers’ cheques and money transfers, sometimes for people to buy property.
“The value of the transactions typically ranged from £100 to around £20,000. However there are several transactions in excess of £100,000,” said Paul Clark, of administrators MCR.
When it collapsed at the start of October, customers were warned it could take up to six months before they heard if they would get any cash back.
CCE was not covered by the FSA compensation schemes.
Joint administrators SPW and MCR received nearly 9,500 e-mails and 3,000 phone enquiries from customers.
An action group has also been set up, representing about 2,000 creditors.


text: Based upon a recent industry study released, brick homes are currently experiencing a resale value of 5 to 10% more than siding or stucco homes. However, according to specialists in the field, the problem comes for homeowners who are looking to sell older brick homes. Says an industry specialist Mike Bruno of Bruno's Tuckpointing, "Even though brick is very strong, it is still susceptible to weathering, and cracking. That means that even new homes may require maintenance to ensure the overall integrity of the home. The longer you wait, the worse the damage to your stone or brick will become."


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Online domestic appliance retailer AO World says its revenue continued to grow across all categories in the three months to December 31.
The Bolton-based firm, who were pleased with their Black Friday performance, saw revenue increase 35 per cent year on year and overall UK revenue by 24 per cent.
In Germany the exit run rate revenue for December gives an annualised revenue of €77m, up from €61m in September.
AO World continue to deliver against their long-term strategy, with the development of the Audio Visual and Small Domestic Appliances categories in the UK, while continuing research in further categories.
The launch in the Netherlands remains on track for Spring 2016 and Group performance remains in line with expectations.
Steve Caunce, chief operating officer, said: "AO World continues to make progress on its long term plan; delivering sales growth across all categories and more customers enjoyed our excellent proposition.
"In Germany we made further progress and are proud of how our culture has translated and thank the German team for continuing to delight customers with the ao.de experience.
"Looking ahead, we remain confident that we will deliver for the benefit of both our customers and our investors and remain on track to deliver our long term strategy."


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Renault and the city of Paris will launch a new mobility service with electric vehicles in the French capital city this September, which will serve to promote electric vehicles and to substantially reduce the amount of exhaust gases.
The plan predicts short- middle- and long-term measures in the introduction of electric vehicles in the city and will also serve as a platform to develop a net of electric, connected and autonomous cars in the future . The first part of service will involve mobility service with driver "Marcel", which will around the clock be available to order or reserve. The second part will be car sharing and the third will be rental cars for longer journeys, which will be available at certain stations in the city.
By 2019 there will be a total of 2.000 Renault electric vehicles available around Paris, which will involve Renaults Twizzy and Zoe for personal use as well as Kangoo Z.E. and Master Z.E. for transport of larger groups.
There will also be a second phase of the project, in which Renault and Paris will form a working group, which in collaboration with similar groups from other cities will research means of sustainable mobility in urban spaces.


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Garth Brooks announces Notre Dame Stadium concert date
Observer Staff Report | Monday, August 27, 2018
Country musician Garth Brooks announced Monday he will be performing at Notre Dame Stadium on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. in a press release sent to local media. The concert falls on the second Saturday of the mid-term break, according to the Office of the Registrar’s calendar.
Brooks has been awarded the CMA Entertainer of the Year award six times and currently holds the title, the release said. The RIAA-certified musician is “the #1-selling solo artist in U.S. history” and has been inducted into several halls of fame. He announced his plan to perform at Notre Dame in a July press conference, marking the first-ever concert at Notre Dame Stadium.
Ticket sales will open Sept. 14 at 10 a.m. and seats will cost $98.95. Each person can purchase up to eight tickets for “in-the-round staging,” according to the release, and the concert will be sponsored by Amazon Music. Tickets will be available by visiting www.ticketmaster.com/garthbrooks or by calling Ticketmaster Express at 1-866-448-7849 or 1-800-745-3000.


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1. Maruti Suzuki Seeks the Premium Tag with Nexa: Maruti Suzuki has created a lot sensation in the automobile market since the time it launched its automotive retail brand Nexa. It is a first-of-its-kind modern retail channel with a network of new age automotive showrooms across India that aims to meet the rising aspirations of emerging Indians. These showrooms host the premium cars from Maruti Suzuki, which at present include S Cross and Baleno.
2. LinkedIn India’s Nishant Rao is Headed to Freshdesk as COO: LinkedIn’s India head Nishant Rao is quitting the professional social networking giant to join cloud-based customer support software firm Freshdesk as its Chief Operating Officer.
3. Fork Media acquires equity in Wi-Fi ad network Spid: Ad tech company Fork Media has recently invested in Wi-Fi ad network Spid Info Media. The partnership is in line with Fork’s vision of becoming the leading player in the alternate ad inventory space and is synergistic with its vision of broadening its core offerings. Fork Media will leverage Spid’s technology for advertisers and publishers by offering them one of the largest audience platforms, targeting on-the-go consumers.
4. CenturyPly Heroes: Celebrating the unsung heroes: Through its ‘CenturyPly Heroes’ campaign, the brand aims to pay tribute to the carpenters behind the scenes at Bengal’s Durga Puja and at the same time evolve from being a commodity to a consumer brand.
5. Videocon bats for #HindustanKiJeet this Dussehra: In a special festive campaign for Dussehra, Videocon brings together different facets of life to celebrate the victory of good over evil. The underlying thought behind the video is that the evil within us divides us as a society and a country at large, and hence it must be defeated to assure #HindustanKiJeet this festive season.
6. Sony LIV to launch two new online shows: Buoyed by the response to its recently launched original content online show, Multi Screen Media (MSM’s) digital video entertainment brand Sony LIV is all set to roll out its two new exclusive digital web series.
7. eBay rolls out digital ad to educate consumers on refurbished products: eBay India, which had launched its ‘ebay Choices’ campaign in August to bring refurbished supply on its platform www.ebay.in; today launched a digital advertisement to educate consumers on the ‘refurbished’ category.
8. SVG Media’s DGM enters digital TV advertising: Digital advertising network DGM India has entered the digital television ad business, as it looks to tap into an opportunity created by the growing popularity of online streaming.
9. Viacom18 to launch OTT platform early next year: Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd plans to launch an online video streaming platform early next year, as the broadcaster plays catch-up in the over-the-top (OTT) content business.


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Netizens Trolls Sonam Kapoor's Accent and Speech at King Charles III's Coronation Concert
Sonam Kapoor, a renowned Bollywood actress, has gained immense popularity over the years for her impeccable fashion sense and her active presence on social media. She has recently made headlines for attending the historic King Charles III coronation, where she gave a speech in his honor. While the event was graced by many celebrities, Sonam's presence and speech have been the subject of much discussion on social media platforms.
Sonam Kapoor has carved a niche for herself in the world of fashion with her innovative and daring style. She is often spotted in stunning designer outfits and has even been called the "Fashion Queen" of Bollywood. Her love for fashion and creativity has also led her to launch her own clothing line, Rheson, with her sister Rhea Kapoor.
Apart from her love for fashion, Sonam Kapoor is an active social media user, where she shares her daily life updates, opinions, and thoughts with her followers. Her Instagram profile boasts a massive following of 34.9 million, making her one of the most influential celebrities in India.
Recently, Sonam Kapoor was one of the attendees at the historic King Charles coronation, where she gave a speech in honor of the King. While many celebrities graced the event, Sonam's presence and speech have garnered attention on social media for various reasons. Some netizens have expressed their disappointment with Sonam's enthusiasm for the Commonwealth, given its colonial past and its impact on countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Despite the mixed reactions to her speech, Sonam Kapoor remains proud to represent South Asia on the world stage. Her presence at the event is a testament to her rising global influence and her commitment to making her mark on the world.
In other news, Sonam Kapoor and her husband Anand Ahuja are celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary. The couple tied the knot in 2018 after two years of dating. Sonam took to Instagram to share pictures of their special moments together, along with a heartfelt message for her husband.
Sonam Kapoor is a force to be reckoned with in the world of fashion and entertainment. Her rising global influence and her commitment to making her mark on the world have cemented her status as one of the most influential and inspiring celebrities in India. Whether it is her fashion choices or her thoughts on social issues, Sonam Kapoor continues to captivate and inspire her fans with her creativity and passion.
- PTC PUNJABI


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Ferrero to Acquire Nestle's U.S. Confectionery Business
VEVEY, Switzerland — Just weeks after announcing it expects to sell its U.S. confectionery business in the first quarter of 2018, Nestlé has agreed to sell to Ferrero for $2.8 billion.
The all-cash transaction is expected to close near the end of the first quarter following completion of customary approvals and closing conditions.
"With Ferrero we have found an exceptional home for our U.S. confectionery business where it will thrive. At the same time, this move allows Nestlé to invest and innovate across a range of categories where we see strong future growth and hold leadership positions, such as pet care, bottled water, coffee, frozen meals and infant nutrition,” stated Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider.
In 2016, Nestlé’s U.S. confectionery sales reached $900 million and represent about 3 percent of U.S. Nestlé Group’s sales, according to the Swiss company. Nestlé’s U.S. sweet treats include popular chocolate brands like Butterfinger, Crunch, BabyRuth, 100Grand, Raisinets, Chunky, OhHenry! and SnoCaps, as well as sugar brands such as SweeTarts, LaffyTaffy, Nerds, FunDip, PixyStix, Gobstopper, BottleCaps, Spree and Runts.
Nestlé announced in June it was exploring strategic options for its U.S. confectionery business, including a possible sale. The review covered the U.S. confectionery market only and was completed by the end of the year, as CSNews Online previously reported.
The sale to Ferrero covers the U.S.-focused confectionery brands only and does not include Nestlé’s iconic Toll House baking products, or its global Kit Kat brand. The acquisition will make Ferrero the third-largest chocolate confectionery in the world, according to London-based market research company Euromonitor International.
“We are very excited about the acquisition of Nestlé’s U.S. confectionery business, which has an outstanding portfolio of iconic brands with rich histories and tremendous awareness," Ferrero Group Executive Chairman Giovanni Ferrero said in a statement.
Ferrero — which is known for its Ferrero Rocher chocolates, and is owner to the Nutella and Tic Tac brands — bought Fannie May Confections Brands from 1-800-FLOWERS in May for $115 million, and in October announced plans to buy Ferrara Candy Co. — best known for Brach's, Trolli and Lemonheads — from private equity firm L Catterton for an undisclosed amount, reported USA Today.
With sales of $27 billion in 2016, the U.S. is Nestlé’s largest market. The company employs 50,000 people in more than 120 locations across the U.S., including 77 factories and 10 R&D centers.


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INSTAGRAM NOW HAS AN 'EXCLUSIVE CONTENT' SUBSCRIPTION FEATURE
Instagram has been doing a lot of changes to its social platform over the last couple of months, but now there is an entirely new way fans can consume content from their favourite creators.
Instagram is launching a new subscription feature that will allow users to consume exclusive content from creators at a fee of course. This idea is clearly copied from the concept of the internet application Only Fans where you have to pay to consume content. However, no word has been announced as of yet as to what kind of content this new Instagram feature will consist of but rumours have suggested that there will be a far less strict ban on the kind of content so it is probably safe to assume there will be no limitation of explicit and adult content within these limitations.
Fans will be able to consume content by means of supporting a creator through purchasing Instagram Badges as well as Subscriptions.
Take a look at the video below by the YouTube channel: Later Clips on Instagram Has An Exclusive Content Feature...


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Shake Shack (NYSE:SHAK) is a young and very ambitious company. The "better burger" chain operator is undergoing an expansion program to widen its footprint considerably. However, recent fundamental weakness has sapped the value of its shares, which were on rocket fuel just after its 2015 IPO.
Just maybe, however, that decline makes the stock a buy. Let's take a peek under the bun.
Now isn't the ideal time to be in the food service industry. The "restaurant recession" is still in effect; many chains have seen their customer counts and sales drop over the past two years or so.
Shake Shack has caught that bug. Its "same-Shack" sales (in its case, restaurants open for two years or more) fell by 1.2% in 2017. Although this wasn't as steep a drop as management had projected, it was still in the minus column. And that figure has been diving; in 2015, the metric grew by just over 13%, while the following year it rose by slightly more than 4%.
Meanwhile, other famous names in the fast-food and fast-casual segments managed to increase their comparable sales recently, in spite of the overall industry slowdown. Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) posted a 6.4% rise for 2017, while a resurgent McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) saw a 5.3% improvement.
True, Shake Shack has continued to deliver impressive revenue growth; the top line for all of 2017 advanced by 34% to just under $359 million. Yet if we peer behind the counter into the kitchen, we see this isn't as hot as it appears to be. A great deal of that growth came from newly opened restaurants -- those same-Shack numbers tell a truer story.
On the bottom line, adjusted net profit rose by 25% to $21 million. That's a juicy percentage, but it's much lower than in the two previous years.
It's encouraging that the company is ambitious in its growth plans. Its restaurant count stood at 159 at the end of 2017, well up from the 114 the year before. By 2020, it aims to double the former count.
But we should keep in mind that Shake Shack started from a core of restaurants located within dense urban areas such as its first location, New York City. It's now fanning out to less populous sites. That's one reason the average annual revenue for the company-owned stores was down in 2017, to $4.6 million from 2016's $5.0 million.
We should also consider that tastes and trends are fickle in the restaurant business. Up to and a bit after its IPO, Shake Shack was a hot place to eat, and its stock reacted accordingly. When a location opened near me in the micro-city of West Hollywood almost two years ago, it was impossible to get near the place for months. Nowadays, at certain off-peak times there's barely a line.
Meanwhile, the "better burger" concept isn't unique to Shake Shack, and others are piling in. The upcoming switch at McDonald's to fresh, rather than frozen, beef for its meat patties in around 14,000 of its locations should worry Shakies; it narrows the quality gap between the upstart and the fast-food veteran.
Skip the meal
Shake Shack's strategy to grow by building is a sensible one. It will certainly lift the top line and, assuming costs are managed reasonably well, profitability. Yet even with its recent share price weakness, the stock price remains quite rich in relation to the company's anticipated growth. It trades at a five-year forward PEG ratio of 4.9, while popular foodies Chipotle (1.7) and McDonald's (2.4) are far cheaper.
Also, I'm not yet convinced that Shake Shack as a concept has legs. America has been over-burgered these past few years, and there's plenty of competition in the upscale patty segment. On top of that, I doubt the company will significantly build out its international presence anytime soon.
Lastly, while the company's restaurants have a cool look and an appealing menu, it's not really exploring new culinary territory -- burgers in general feel like yesterday's retro food trend to me. Therefore, I wouldn't say the company's stock is a compelling buy just now.


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Dec 29, 2012
Acer, Asus reportedly discontinuing netbooksAcer and Asus will cease production of netbooks soon, according to a report by Taiwanese industry tracker DigiTimes. Both of the remaining major netbook...


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By Tim Groves
Brits are having to prepare themselves for the fact that their holiday money will not go as far as they might have hoped as the Pound continues to struggle.
The Post Office has reported that Sterling is now at its lowest level this year against every major European currency except the Icelandic krona and the UK currency has plummeted against the Bulgarian lev, Swedish krona and Swiss franc in particular.
The Pound is worth eight per cent less than it was in January against the Euro and the situation is not much better if you are travelling to the US or the Caribbean but Andrew Brown from Post Office Travel Money says it isn't all bad news.
While it may have become more expensive for people to visit Europe, he insists that "there are many destinations where they can get more for their money than a year ago".
The strength of the pound has increased against 12 long-haul destination currencies. It is 14 per cent stronger than a year ago in Japan and has also improved against the Brazilian Real and the Argentinian Peso.
British travellers can also get 11 per cent more Rand than they would have been able to a year ago in South Africa and Sri Lanka is another destination that currently represents good value for UK tourists.
Mr Brown also added that the plight of the Pound may be positive news for anyone who may happen to be "hoarding leftover foreign currency" at home after previous trips abroad.
He says that they "could find they will get more pounds in their pocket" now if they choose to take it in and exchange it rather than keep it in a safe place ready for their next trip overseas.


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The Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong has partnered with Production Q to launch The City Book, where travel stories featured will be told through artwork created by selected artists with strong links to Hong Kong.
In 2016, what art enjoyments can we expect? The Paper selected a batch of most representative exhibitions worldwide that are going to feast our eyes in 2016, which covers fields of photography, archaeology, fashion and others.
Gwenaelle Chassin de Kergommeaux, a French designer and artist, wanted to create something for China, where she has lived since 2007.
While the country's art market has seen a decline due to an economic slowdown and the crackdown on graft, the Internet seems to offer a ray of hope, Deng Zhangyu reports.
The discovery of an important cache of Buddhist sutras in Dunhuang, in 1900 had a profound influence on Chinese fine arts in the 20th century.
No stone evokes China like jade. Lately, 4,000-year-old pieces found in Hubei province are shedding new light on an ancient industry.
Leaders and People, a permanent exhibition was recently unveiled at the National Museum of China in Beijing.
Five ink paintings that portray socialist constructions in the country in the 1950s are displayed at an ongoing exhibition at the National Art Museum of China.
One of the finest Chinese porcelain collections in history will be put up for auction, with an overall estimated price of over 20 million pounds.
Performances and cultural events to be expected
"The Wall Power — Wallpost Artist Exhibition", a joint show of young artists, was inaugurated at Beijing's Today Art Museum on Jan 7. The works on display are selected from submissions by more than 100 emerging artists.
At 73, Donald Stone has been an avid collector for nearly six decades.


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President Obama wants to close dozens of loopholes that let some companies pay little or nothing in taxes. But he also wants to open new ones for manufacturers and companies that invest in clean energy.
To some analysts, the new loopholes risk upending the level playing field Obama says he wants to create.
Some also fear that companies could game the system to grab the new tax breaks.
"The administration is not making sense," says Martin Sullivan, contributing editor at publisher Tax Analysts. "The whole idea of corporate tax reform is to get rid of loopholes, and this plan is adding loopholes back in."
Economists across the political spectrum support a kind of grand bargain: cut corporate tax rates while deleting tax breaks that benefit a favored few.
The plan the government rolled out Wednesday goes a long way toward doing that. It lowers the official corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent. And it eliminates many tax loopholes.
But the plan gives manufacturers new tax breaks, which would cut their effective tax rate to no more than 25 percent.
Other economists oppose a separate plank of the Obama plan: a minimum tax on foreign earnings of U.S. multinational companies. No other country imposes such a tax on its companies, they note. U.S. businesses would face a competitive disadvantage.
Just about everybody agrees something has to change. When Japan enacts a corporate tax cut in April, the United States will be left with the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world.
That puts the U.S. companies that actually pay the official corporate tax rate at a disadvantage against their foreign competitors. (Many U.S. companies effectively pay lower rates because of tax breaks.)
The loophole-riddled U.S. tax code now benefits numerous industries over others. One tax break, for example, lets oil companies write off drilling costs immediately instead of over time, as most businesses must.
In the end, different industries can pay far different effective rates. The Treasury Department says U.S. utility companies pay an average effective tax rate of 14 percent. By contrast, retailers pay an average 31 percent.
The administration says the point of its tax plan is to give corporations a more competitive tax rate and to make the system fairer and more efficient -- not to squeeze more overall tax revenue from corporations.
The White House argues that tax breaks for manufacturers could ultimately pay off for the economy. When factories expand, for example, the benefits tend to spill into other businesses: Shipping companies and warehouses must add jobs, too, to transport and store the goods that manufacturers are producing.
Economists also note that manufacturers account for a disproportionate amount of the research and development that create innovative products and new ways of doing business. The National Science Foundation has found that manufacturing companies are nearly three times more likely to introduce a new or significantly improved product than other companies are.
"Does manufacturing deserve special treatment? This is a hot debate," says Elisabeth Reynolds, executive director of the Industrial Performance Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "A case can be made that there's a reason to encourage more manufacturing in the United States because of its links to innovation."


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From what we’ve seen over the years, subscription services like Netflix tend to increase their prices over time. It’s kind of to be expected, especially when these companies invest a lot into their own TV shows and movies. So it’s no surprise that it looks like Disney+ will be undergoing a similar price hike of their own.
The company has confirmed that starting on the 8th of December, 2022, the price of the service will be going up from $7.99 a month to $10.99 a month. This is quite a huge jump and we’re sure that there will be some customers who will not be too happy at this unfortunate news.
Disney will also be launching its cheaper ad-supported tier which will come in at $7.99, essentially replacing the previous tier but now with ads. To be fair, $7.99 is cheaper than what you would find from other subscription services. Netflix is also said to be working on its own ad-supported tier, so if Netflix could price it lower, it might be able to edge out Disney+. According to Kareem Daniel, Chairman, Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution:
“With our new ad-supported Disney+ offering and an expanded lineup of plans across our entire streaming portfolio, we will be providing greater consumer choice at a variety of price points to cater to the diverse needs of our viewers and appeal to an even broader audience.”
Source: The Walt Disney Company


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The dealer says every buyer has selected the gun, “except one guy from Canada and an old guy”
By Paul Westcott
Clear Channel Online
A Missouri car dealership is offering a free gun with every car purchase. Max Motors is offering customers the choice between a $250 gas card or a hand gun. Most have chosen the gun.
Owner Mark Muller said: “We’re just damn glad to live in a free country where you can have a gun if you want to.”
The dealership sells used and new cars mostly GM models and has a logo of of a cowboy holding a pistol.
In the past three days the dealership has sold 30 cars and trucks, an increase which the owners say is due to their promotional offer.
Muller recommends a Kel-Tec .380 pistol, which he describes as “a nice little handgun that fits in your pocket”. He added that the promotion was inspired by recent comments from one of the Democratic nominees for the presidential election, saying: “We did it because of Barack Obama.
“He said all those people in the Midwest, you’ve got to have compassion for them because they’re clinging to their guns and their Bibles. I found that quite offensive. We all go to church on Sunday and we all carry guns.”
The website advertisement for the offer, which continues until the end of the month, mentions that an approved background check on gun ownership is required.
I see the Obamessiah really did offend a lot of people in flyover country. There have been a number of similar giveaways I’m aware of, but the ones I can remember here in Tucson have usually been a Marlin lever-action rifle or something similar, not a handgun suitable for concealment.
All I can say is, I bet the firearm industry is looking at this election with a combination of hope and fear. If the Democrats win, their sales will likely skyrocket.
For a while.
Also, there’s a survey! “Do you think offering a free gun with the purchase of a new car is a good idea?” Of the 4600 people who’ve responded so far, 65% say “Yes.”


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Veritas drills into disk with new NetBackup
Veritas is getting down and dirty with data management, rolling out a new version of NetBackup and a host of complementary products that can scan deep into a customer's data stockpiles.
The centerpiece of Veritas' latest product dump is NetBackup 5.0. The most immediate gain customers will see over the 4.5 product is a 50 percent reduction in backup times and better restore speeds. Customers can now preform a synthetic backup that combines smaller, incremental data changes into the full backup without taking any systems down.
In addition, Veritas has added a desktop and laptop option for the NetBackup product. Admins can set a user's PC or notebook to perform automatic backups of data on the hard drive, or let users perform these backups manually on their own.
"There is tons of data out there such as a new presentation or business model that does not get backed up by the IT department today," said Brenda Zawatski, vice president of product marketing at Veritas. "Our product sets aside some cache on the hard drive and sends the backups to the server."
Rest of Story: The Register


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Mid-Size Pickup Truck Drag Race: Honda Ridgeline Vs Hyundai Santa Cruz
There’s something to be said about a drag race between pickup trucks. Straight-line performance is not really the main selling point of these types of vehicles, but it still gives you an idea of how good the powertrains are at propelling them. Last time, Sam CarLegion had a RAM 1500 TRX vs Ford F150 ROUSH drag race, instore. This time, it’s the Honda Ridgeline vs the Hyundai Santa Cruz, and here’s what happened.
2022 Honda Passport TrailSport Rugged Roads Project
Honda unveiled the new, 2022 Pasport TrailSport, and now a new project vehicle was announced. It is called Passport TrailSport Rugged Roads Project, and, as you probably guessed, it is based on the TrailSport.
It was designed by Jon Tuico - you probably know him if you follow YouTube channel JonDZ Adventuring - and will be firstly presented at the Overland Expo West in Flagstaff, Arizona from Sept. 24-26, 2021.
Honda’s Latest Trademark Hints at The Company Fighting The Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler?
The latest chapter of the Bronco vs Wrangler story has a new twist. A rather unfamiliar automaker in this segment has decided to step up and challenge these two Americans.
According to CarBuzz, Honda has filed for the “Trailsport” trademark that suggests the automaker wants a share of this ever-growing pie. The trademark doesn’t explicitly specify that it’s for off-road purposes, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out its intended use. Will this serve as a ‘passport’ for Honda to fly into the off-road segment?
It may not be immediately apparent, but the Honda Open Air Vehicle Concept is actually a Ridgeline-based study that looks like an oversized buggy. Honda doesn’t intend to put it into production, but it does want us to picture ourselves ripping across sand dunes in one of these, and we’re more than happy to oblige because it’s actually a pretty awesome idea.
2018 Honda Pilot Rebelle Rally
The Honda Pilot Rebelle Rally is a mid-size SUV that doubles as an off-road adventure marauder. Created to compete in the 2018 Rebelle Rally, the modified Pilot competed in the Crossover Class, finishing fifth overall behind the driving and guidance of the “Desert Dreamers” team that’s made up of Honda product planner, Ariel Jen, and senior fabricator, Melanie Morimoto. The Pilot Rebelle Rally is headed to the 2018 SEMA Auto Show where Honda plans to showcase the aftermarket possibilities that can happen with its mid-size SUV.
Every fall, dozens of journalists from all over Texas and around the country gather to compare, test, and crown the winner of the “Truck of Texas” competition. It’s a coveted award from the Texas Auto Writers Association that signifies Texas’ collective approval of a truck. And not only are trucks involved, awards go out for the SUV and CUV of Texas.
I already touched on the topic in the preview piece, but awards are also given to the winner in each vehicle category and for various things like “best connectivity” and “best powertrain.”
This year’s competition was fierce. There were 84 vehicles present from 21 automakers entered into 17 different categories. Evaluating the field were 69 TAWA members comprised of journalists and social media influencers.
So let’s get down to the results. Keep reading for the full breakdown.
Continue reading for the results of the 2015 TAWA Truck Rodeo
I’ve already given the introduction to how much Texans love their trucks and how every year the Texas Auto Writers Association gathers to crown the winner; the coveted “Truck of Texas” award. Now let’s get down to some results.
Besides the main award, there were 17 other categories that each of the 75 vehicles fell into. These consisted of titles like “Midsized Crossover Utility Vehicles” and “Luxury Pickup Trucks.” Awards were also given for best connectivity, best powertrain, and best technology.
Each vehicle was subjected to a battery of tests that measured its ability to perform its intended function, whether that be towing, going off road, surrounding its occupants in luxury, or proving a great all-round family hauler. The vehicles were all competing within their respective category for the win.
So which truck, SUV, or crossover took home the Truck of Texas award? Continue reading to find out.
Not much goes together quite like Texas and trucks. It’s the U.S.’ largest truck market by a long shot and it’s plain to see as you peruse any given parking lot. Texans love their trucks. That’s why the Texas Auto Writers Association crowns a Truck of Texas winner every year after an extensive evaluation process.
As a member of TAWA, I spent the better part of a week in the dusty hills outside San Antonio testing 75 contenders vying for the prized top spot. Eighteen automakers from around the world were in attendance, the majority bringing more than a handful of vehicles.
Ground zero for testing was the famed Knibbe Ranch, with hundreds of acres of sprawling across the Lonestar state. Muddy creek crossings and rocky hill climbs, combined with twisty country roads and newly paved highways provided the test beds. Those trucks, SUVs and crossovers brave enough to tackle the off-road section were subjected to rock-strewn dirt roads that punished suspension parts and underbody skidplates. More road-biased crossovers were thrown around narrow roads and up steep hills. The new pavement along the Texas highway was still covered in loose asphalt with orange caution cones proving a tempting (yet highly illegal) slalom course. Thankfully no one attempted that obstacle.
The 60 journalists judging the event had a huge decision to make. What truck, SUV or crossover would be crowned the Truck of Texas? Well, you’ll just have to stay tuned to find out. We’ll announce the top winner and the winners of sub-categories on Wednesday.
Click past the jump for a full photo gallery


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The mobile subscriber base of the leading telecom companies in India has topped its record. It has increased by 5.68 million to around 895.25 million in the month of March. The company data have presented this report. This data is of the subscriber base of 7 telecom service providers like Idea, Vodafone, and Bharti Airtel.
The numbers also include that of the recent entry into the telecom industry “Reliance Jio”. The subscriber base stood at 823.10 million in March 2017. This is after excluding the user base of Reliance Jio.
The reports were issued by the COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India). It claims that the total mobile subscribers have shown a rapid increase in March this year. The net rise in the user base is 5.68 million during March.
Bharti Airtel has topped the list with the largest number of the subscriber base. It has added three million new customers during March. This has taken the total customer base to around 273.65 million subscribers.
Airtel had the largest share in the market at 33.25 percent. Vodafone follows the same. It recorded with around 209.06 million subscribers. Idea Cellular stood at 195.37 million subscribers. And then, Reliance Jio is at 72.158 million subscribers.
COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said that the telecom industry is undergoing greater financial stress. This is even on the rise in the user subscriptions has shown a drastic increase. This indicates that the customer base is widening. The RPT (Requisite Interventions) are developed at the front of the policy regulatory. This would ensure a secure and long-term system in the telecom industry.
Andaman and Nicobar and West Bengal have added the greatest number of customer base. The number of mobile subscribers stood at 0.86 million during March from these states.


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TV personality Scott Disick made his way out in Calabasas, California on March 28, 2011 wearing a flashy suit. Scott did some shopping at the Calabasas Commons before heading back home.
Age is just a number for Kylie Jenner.
We all know Taylor Swift likes to dance. But, did you know she could break it down like THIS?


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~Launches GAME ON – a 360 degree integrated gaming initiative to connect with urban teenagers~
Mumbai, 9th October 2015: Sprite, India’s reigning soft drink brand in the clear lime segment, known for its no nonsense, honest and cut-through attitude, kick-started its latest initiative targeted at gaming enthusiasts. ‘Game On’ – a 360 degree integrated campaign, seeks to build multiple touch points with the youth by offering them a fresh gaming experience – the Sprite way. Gaming is the new-age passion of the urban youth and with this new campaign, the brand is set to take forward its “Clear Hai” message to them, leading them onto the path of spontaneity and fresh thinking as they compete with others to stay ahead of the game.
The clear lime drink which has created mind space across the country as a bastion of “ingenuity” and “clear thinking” is taking the proposition further with its association with gaming, thereby depicting a refreshingly competitive side to the youth. Gaming in India which started with retro games like Pacman, Tetris and Contra has today evolved to include console based games and mobile/tablet app based games. The mass availability and adoption of smartphones in the country has further accelerated this growth and as per a recent KPMG-FICCI study the Indian gaming market is forecasted to reach $800 million by 2017. With Game On, Sprite will seek to build touch points with consumers through both on-ground activation and on-line engagement and offer them a chance to compete with one another to win cool Sprite Gaming merchandise & XBOX consoles.
Speaking about this unique platform, Debabrata Mukherjee, VP – Marketing & Commercial, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia said, “Sprite is seen as an edgy youth brand that does not shy away from pushing the boundaries. It hence enjoys a great connect with the young consumers in India. Standing for spontaneity and fresh thinking, it brings alive the spirit of an ingenious ecosystem that our young consumers love to thrive in. With gaming emerging as the new-age passion for the always-on urban youth, we aim to deepen our connect with them by providing a platform where they can engage and enjoy.”
Game On will be amplified through various on-ground activations, starting with Comic Con in Hyderabad. Post the campaign kick-off in Hyderabad, it will reach out to other markets including Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Participants will have choices between retro games, console games and mobile/tablet based games. The on-ground activations will take place through the existing partner channels including modern trade accounts, malls, colleges, etc.
In addition to on-ground activities, a dedicated website for consumers will also go live in October along with mobile adaptability to amplify and create a gaming community through live scoreboards along with exclusive Sprite gaming merchandises.
The 360 degree integrated campaign will kick-start Sprite’s gaming journey and build multiple touch points for customers through on-ground activation, on-line engagement and traditional media over a three month period starting September 2015.
Coca-Cola India is one of the country’s leading beverage companies, offering a range of healthy, safe, high quality, refreshing beverage options to consumers. Over the last 22 years, ever since its re-entry in 1993, the company has gone on to establish an unmatched portfolio of beverages; refreshing consumers with its leading beverage brands like
With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, support active, healthy living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our associates, and contribute to the development of the communities where we operate. Some its Company’s flagship community development programs include the “Support My School” program, the “Parivartan” retailer training program, women empowerment program as a part of the global 5BY20 campaign etc.
For further information on the company’s India operations and its products, please visit:


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The most influential Megatrends set to shape the world through 2030, identified by Euromonitor International, help businesses better anticipate market developments and lead change for their industries.Learn More
Click and collect has become a major trend in retailing, as operators seek to circumvent delivery costs and convert online purchases into brick-and-mortar visits. Meanwhile, restaurant chains are experimenting with maximising convenience and bringing on-demand immediacy into restaurants. In this podcast, Strategy Analyst Elizabeth Friend will interview Retailing Analyst Michelle Malison about what operators can learn from retailers who have already found success with click and collect.
Download as an MP3


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Toronto Red Metallic BMW X5 M Competition. Credit: BMW
It’s a milestone no one likely expected to make wearing masks in the age of COVID-19. Earlier this month, BMW produced its five millionth vehicle built in the U.S. The big moment occurred at its Spartanburg, South Carolina plant on June 4th, just one month after BMW resumed production post-COVID-19 shutdown.
The car that made history is a special one: a Toronto Red Metallic BMW X5 M Competition equipped with a 617-horsepower M TwinPower Turbo V-8 engine, Silverstone Full Merino Leather interior and 21/22-inch M Star-spoke bi-color wheels. Due to its historic significance, BMW says it will remain at the factory and become part of the BMW historic collection.
“You cannot be successful in business if you do not have great products and great people. This BMW X5 M Competition is a symbol of the success of our products and the commitment and dedication of our associates and supplier network,” said Knudt Flor, president and CEO of BMW Manufacturing. “Every BMW X5 in the world comes from Plant Spartanburg. We are proud to call South Carolina home!”
“More than half of the BMW vehicles we sell in the U.S. are built right here in the U.S., so we cannot overstate the importance of Plant Spartanburg to our sales network,” said Bernhard Kuhnt, president and CEO, BMW of North America. “BMW Group has long considered the United States to be our second home and we are proud to say that the U.S. is in fact home to the biggest BMW plant in the world. We congratulate our colleagues on this historic achievement.”
“BMW changed the very fabric of our state’s economy when it decided to locate in South Carolina nearly three decades ago,” said South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster. “That this great company built its five millionth American-made vehicle in Spartanburg should be a source of great pride for our people and a reason for celebration.”
This is the latest milestone at BMW’s South Carolina Manufacturing plant. Others include:
1 Millionth BMW – February 28, 2006 – Z4 M Roadster
1.5 Millionth BMW – September 8, 2009 – BMW X6 xDrive35i
2 Millionth BMW – January 12, 2012 – BMW X3 xDrive35i
2.5 Millionth BMW – September 17, 2013 – BMW X5 xDrive50i
3 Millionth BMW – March 24, 2015 – BMW X5 M
3.5 Millionth BMW – May 18, 2016 – BMW X4 xDrive20i
4 Millionth BMW – September 8, 2017 – BMW X3 xDrive M40i
4.5 Millionth BMW – March 7, 2019 – BMW X7 xDrive40
5 Millionth BMW – June 4, 2020 – BMW X5 M Competition
Last year, Plant Spartanburg celebrated 25 years of production and a record year of 411,620 vehicles built. In 2019, it led the nation in automotive exports by value for the sixth consecutive year, with a total export value of approximately $9.6 billion. Nearly 70 percent of the plant’s total production was exported from 2010 – 2019.
My trusty sidekick is out of town this Saturday, so I am doing something we did last year for the first time: Giving you a chance to find out what your car is truly worth. As you have heard me say, a ... More ›
It’s a reveal that certainly has our Facebook fans excited and for the record, we are too. We’re of course talking about the newly unveiled all-new 2021 Ford F-150 (you can watch its online reveal her... More ›
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I posted a comment on this story several days ago but it is not showing?
June 26, 2020 @ 7:16pm
The Car Pro
Hi Philip! Sorry about that, it should be posted now. Best, Amy
June 19, 2020 @ 3:29pm
So what about the person that had ordered that X5 and had likely been closely following its production progress and counting down the days until they'd take delivery? Do they now have to wait untold weeks for a replacement to be built because BMW decided to grab their ride? Actually I could see them suing the factory - that was going to be THEIR CAR, and a valuable one at that had they decided to turn around and sell it as a collectable. It would have been a far classier move to have BMW fly out the new 'owner' and present the keys to them in person along with some ceremony to make the occasion.
June 26, 2020 @ 7:14pm
The Car Pro
Nobody can order a particular vehicle number and the odds any consumer would even have a clue how many vehicles have been built are slim and none, mostly none. At the rate vehicles roll off the assembly line, the delay because of ONE vehicle would be at the most, minutes.