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Though snowflakes didn’t fall in Athens on Saturday, Emily Banta pretended it was Christmas for a few hours during a downtown visit with her husband and two sons.
Banta, of Athens, joined hundreds of residents to see decorations, devour sugar cookies and catch a glimpse of Santa during the city’s Christmas Open House.
The historic downtown buildings, still surrounded by fall foliage, took on a winter feel with holiday wreaths, glimmering lights and Christmas trees in the windows.
Banta’s 2-month-old son, Ty, slept through their visit with Santa at Athens State University’s Center for Lifelong Learning, but her 2-year-old, Jake, was too afraid to enjoy it.
With Thanksgiving days away, Banta considers the Christmas Open House an annual tradition among family and friends.
“It’s about the music and entertainment, and the big thing is running into people you know,” she said. “It’s a good way to get out and do something with the family.”
Athens resident Cindy Patton, who lives two blocks from downtown, said the open house Saturday and today helps her kick off the holiday season each year.
“I love to take advantage of anything downtown,” she said. “The shops are decorated beautifully, and it’s very inviting. It’s just a part of my regular Christmas activities.”
Sponsored by the Greater Limestone County Chamber of Commerce and Spirit of Athens, the event is held each year to promote locally-owned, independent businesses and encourage shoppers to spend money downtown.
The open house will offer $5 carriage rides in the downtown square, holiday music through the streets, shopping specials and other Christmas activities from 1-5 p.m. today.
Tammy Stickland, owner of Trinity’s Gifts and Interiors on West Market Street, reported more than 500 shoppers had visited her retail business by early Saturday afternoon.
“A lot of people come in because it’s a tradition,” she said. “It’s been going on so many years and is very festive.”
Reruns Resale owner Mike Hill operates his thrift shop just off the downtown square, but said the open house attracts customers who typically rely on big-box retail stores for their holiday shopping.
Hill offered refreshments and embellished the building with red and green to entice more shoppers to his 2-year-old retail store.
“Things like this help bring in people who normally wouldn’t shop on the square, who would just keep walking by,” he said.
Want to go?
- Christmas Open House downtown Athens, 1-5 p.m. today.


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Ray Price was famous for his innovations in motorcycle engine performance. During this week’s 75th Daytona Bike Week, his mechanical prowess will be immortalized with the Ray Price Award going to the best engine builder at “The Masters III” custom bike show, presented by Misfit Industries and GEICO Motorcycle. Known as the world’s largest motorcycle event, Daytona Bike Week runs from March 4 to 13, 2016.
The Masters III custom bike show will take place on Wednesday, March 10, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Riverfront Park in Daytona, Fla. Elite professional builders from across the country will compete for $25,000 in prizes, including the Ray Price Award for “baddest motor.” The team at Ray Price, Inc. has custom designed and fabricated the trophy to be presented that day.
“It’s a tremendous honor to have Ray’s impact on the custom bike building community recognized with an award in his name,” said Mark Hendrix, general manager, Ray Price, Inc. “The 75th annual Daytona Bike Week is a special event, and The Masters III custom bike show with Misfit Industries and GEICO Motorcycle has become one of the year’s very elite builder competitions.”
Ray Price passed away in December 2015 after living his life with the throttle wide open, earning worldwide fame as a motorcycle drag racer and “Father of the Funnybike.” Price won 46 national events and set 51 speed records, including the IHRA nitro-fuel record of 6.36 seconds at 224.21 mph. He is an inducted member of six motorcycle racing halls of fame and was distinguished for his innovations in the racing garage as well as his generosity and community service.
“Ray was a sought after expert in high-performance engines. His wisdom and willingness to help other race teams and engine builders is legendary,” said Chris Eder of Misfit Industries. “It’s only appropriate that the top power plant in our show receives the Ray Price Award for baddest engine.”
For more than 30 years, Ray Price Harley-Davidson and Ray Price Triumph have made Raleigh, N.C. a top motorcycle destination. The knowledgeable staff has decades of riding experience to provide award-winning customer service and education programs for beginners-to-expert riders.
Founded by motorcycle racing legend Ray Price, the dealership actively supports nonprofits and also hosts one of the nation’s largest downtown motorcycle festivals, Capital City Bikefest. Last year, the N.C. Retail Merchants Association named Ray Price “Retailer of the Year.”

domain: news


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As of late, each automaker is offering large weight deals realized from redecorating traditionally heavy vehicles using much more lightweight elements. Land Rover claimed to get shaved as much as 926 pounds from the latest Range Rover-our scales revealed perhaps 50 percent that savings-and Ford has trumpeted the 2015 F-150’s aluminum body as economizing 700 pounds versus its predecessor. Today Audi’s all-new Q7 Sports utility vehicle arrives touting the curb weight that’s 717 pounds lighter then previous to.
That’s a lot of fat to trim, but simplifying the task has been the truth that the last-gen Q7 was veritably overengineered. It sat for the platform distributed to Volkswagen’s Touareg and Porsche’s Cayenne, underpinnings developed to produce big-time off-road capability; as a result, a bones was heavier and also beefier than important for those vehicles’ day-to-day functions.
Magnificent Expensive Sports utility vehicle 2016 Audi Q7 Review Comprehensive Newest


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Artificial intelligence will soon be used in Copenhagen to help companies avoid losing customers, employing similar algorithms to those used to predict where traffic accidents are most likely to occur, claims an expert at the Alexandra Institute according to di.dk.
The institute is a non-profit company charged with overseeing the Danish Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence (DCAKI), which opened last Friday at Univate, a new co-working space at the University of Copenhagen’s South Campus.
Professor Anders Kofod-Petersen, the Alexandra Institute’s head of data science, contends that AI “is not invisible hocus-pocus, but a new, wonderful toolbox” that Danish business can hugely benefit from.
The institute could, concurs the industry, help Denmark become one of the leading AI countries in the world.
A focus on business
Artificial intelligence has many uses such as diagnosing diseases and controlling driverless cars.
However, the DCAKI will focus less on the science fiction and more on the humdrum reality of the business world, assisting small businesses and public organisations that already have their foot in the digital door, according to the Alexandra Institute’s website.
The DCAKI hopes to make companies in Denmark more data-driven by giving them the tools to gather insight on their customers’ needs.
Optimising working practices
“It can help give companies real-time insight into customer demands: for example, so that they can come up with new products or optimised production methods,” explained Kofod-Petersen.
“We look at how prepared the company is to develop its business using data. We then develop a plan and help to implement it in collaboration with our experts, just as we offer companies’ big data consultants a three-hour course with presentations and assignments.”
Christian Hannibal, the head of DI’s Digital Taskforce, is excited by the centre’s potential.
“We hope it can help attract the best minds and most innovative companies to Denmark,” he said.
“We have a high knowledge level and are far ahead digitally. That is the way forwards now, because the world is facing a revolution in the use of AI, in which companies can seriously employ the technology to do lots of things smarter.”


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May is, appropriately, National Military Appreciation Month. What’s that have to do with gaming? Aside from the obvious military tie-ins of game franchises such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, and even Mass Effect and Doom, there’s the simple fact that a lot of military folks are gamers. Gaming has also become a valuable tool for people coming back from deployment to use as a way of dealing with stress, PTSD, and other issues, as we’ve seen before in our article about Stack-Up! Now our friends over at GUNNAR Optiks have partnered with Outperform, Serve, & Develop (OSD) to launch Pendleton, a set of limited-edition blue light blocking glasses.
During the month of May, every Pendleton purchase is available with a special patriotic glasses case, which customers receive for making a $5 donation during their purchase. GUNNAR will match every donation and give OSD 100% of the proceeds to support their award-winning veterans’ programs.
“We’re humbled to have the opportunity to support OSD in their efforts to help service members and veterans as they transition from active duty to civilian life,” said GUNNAR Optiks, Director of Marketing – Gaming, Georgina Petrie. “The design of Pendleton was inspired by our military, so it’s only fitting that we partner with a charity like OSD, who’s focus on gaming is a core vehicle in their outreach that aligns with our position as No. 1 in gaming glasses.”
In addition to the charitable donation option when purchasing a pair of Pendleton glasses, individuals can nominate a military veteran for a chance to win a pair of Pendleton glasses plus the patriotic case each week in May.
“We’re thrilled to once again partner with GUNNAR in support of our military and veterans,” said Glenn D. Banton, Sr., CEO of OSD. “They have been supportive of OSD’s mission since we began in 2010 and the launch of the Pendleton glasses are an amazing way to honor our troops and continue supporting the military community through positive and impactful programs.”
For more information about Pendleton, GUNNAR Optiks, and any of GUNNAR’s other products, be sure to visit their website at GUNNAR.com, or follow them on their Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook channels. For more information about OSD, visit weareosd.org.


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While many members of Congress celebrated Christmas in their home districts, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) celebrated the holiday from Oslo, Norway, along with some reindeer on a plate.
From Oslo, Merry Christmas season to my Scandinavian friends. "Enjoyed" a meal of lutefisk, reindeer, & lefse. pic.twitter.com/sG9E2l07zK
Story Continued Below
— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) December 25, 2013
Reindeer, lutefisk (cured cod) and lefse (a type of flat bread) are traditional foods in Norway.
Although King elicited some less-than-pleasant reactions on Twitter, reindeer meat is “totally normal considering where he is,” wrote CNN’s Eatocracy blogger Kat Kinsman. “People eat this whenever it’s in season, and Norway is host to a pretty robust wild reindeer population.”
King was in Oslo on his way back from the Middle East on a tour with the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare.


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The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has proposed revisions to its anti-money laundering (AML) requirements for bitcoin exchanges, according to Zhou Xuedong, director of the National People’s Congress an... Read More
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has revealed that only a small number of people are declaring their bitcoin profits or losses in their yearly tax returns.
Documents, filed Thursday, by the IRS i... Read More
Chinese exchanges have begun requiring customers to provide details of the source of cryptocurrency funds and where they will be withdrawn to. The information, a first for the Chinese... Read More
The extent of CIA spying on consumers through their devices has become the subject of active research following the release of WikiLeaks’ Vault 7 data. After revelations, the US security agency... Read More
China’s banking system has officially overtaken the Eurozone to become the world’s largest, figures released this month show. Research data from the Financial Times reveal Chinese bank assets to... Read More
You’ve Never Seen a Bluetooth Speaker Cuter Than the UE Wonderboom
People always ask me to recommend a portable Bluetooth speaker, and I reflexively mention the same one every time: the UE Boom. The latest version of this portable powerhouse, the UE Boom 2, provide
Digital Currency Exchange ShapeShift Raises $10.4 Million Series A
Digital currency exchange startup ShapeShift has closed a $10.4m Series A.
Led by Berlin-based Earlybird Venture Capital, the round included participation from Lakestar, Blockchain Capital, Pan
The real story of bitcoin
You donât have to look far to find a death knell for bitcoin. In fact, thereâs a whole site dedicated to trackingÂ such proclamations. These prognostications are loud and frequent but each is
Stellar Announces Second Round of Lumen Giveaway to Bitcoin and Ripple Communities
Stellar, the cryptocurrency platform with global financial inclusion as its mission has announced the upcoming Bitcoin-Lumen giveaway program. The program that strives to increase the participation


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BMW Munich Plant Will Only Produce EVs By The End Of 2027 (image for representation)
BMW Group's Munich plant is undergoing a significant change, moving exclusively to all-electric vehicle production by the end of 2027. Starting in 2026, the plant will begin manufacturing the Neue Klasse sedan, leading to the exclusive production of electric models within a year.
German luxury carmaker BMW has today announced that the company’s Munich facility is set to have a shift in production in the next few years. Making this announcement the company has stated that the BMW Group’s Munich plant commenced production of the hybrids alongside ICE vehicles back in 2015, later this facility boasted the production of the all electric BMW i4 back in 2021. Now the company has announced that this facility will commence production of its all new Neue Klasse sedan from 2026 and by the end of 2027 this facility will only produce electric vehicles.
The company has also revealed that by the end of 2027, BMW Group's Munich plant will become their first in the global production network to produce only electric vehicles. Also the Neue Klasse will not only be manufactured in Munich but also in Debrecen, Hungary, Shenyang, China, and San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
Shedding light on how the company’s Munich facility is adapting, the company stated that to accommodate this shift, the plant is undergoing extensive modifications, with a €650 million investment in four buildings, including a new assembly line and logistics areas. Notably, traditional engine manufacturing has been relocated to Hams-Hall in Great Britain and Steyr in Austria. Despite ongoing construction, the plant maintains its production momentum, with approximately 1,000 cars, including the BMW 3 Series and BMW i4, rolling off the assembly line daily.
In order to make this facility future ready the company is ramping up its digitalization efforts at the Munich plant to align with BMW iFACTORY principles, emphasizing flexibility, streamlined processes, and integration across the production network. This approach involves data science, artificial intelligence (AI), and virtualization to optimize processes and support employees in their work.
Commenting on the occasion Peter Weber, Director BMW Group Plant Munich said, “Munich is the beating heart of BMW. The plant in Munich is innovative and adaptable. As in the 1960s, a Neue Klasse is again laying the foundation, on which our plant is reinventing itself. The fact that this comprehensive transformation is taking place at the same time as roughly 1,000 vehicles per day are currently being manufactured is common practice in Munich and is possible thanks to the outstanding performance of all our employees. We are delighted to be guiding the Munich plant into a fully-electric future – starting with the Neue Klasse sedan”.


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On the heels of recent spy photos of the upcoming Porsche 911, we now have these images of the 911 convertible in cold-weather testing.
As with the last 911 we saw, the convertible appears to be a little bit longer, making the back seat a little closer to being usable. The headlights are rasied a bit from the previous generation, and we can see the LED indicators and running lights in these photos. These shots give us a better look at the updated rear lighting, too, though somewhat masked by snow.
As before, expect two- and four-wheel drive versions of the new 911, with direct-injected engines and PDK gearbox. One change will be the electronic parking brake, which replaces the handbrake we were used to.
Check out the Porsche 911 convertible in the gallery, or scroll down for comments from the photographer.
Some weeks ago we showed you some photos of the upcoming Porsche 911 Coupe, called 991 internally, with less camouflage then before. And now it’s time for the convertible version of that new 911 to be tested in the cold and snowy Scandinavia.
And as everybody can see, the classic 911 styling will be kept, greenhouse is very like the current version, but seems slightly longer to make the backseat roomier. Front will keep the headlamps that got back with the 997 but they will more raised due to safety regulations. In the rear, we will see the biggest changes with new radical designed rear lamps.
The new 911 will come in both two-wheel-drive and 4-wheel-drive, and the engines will further updated versions of the new direct-injection engines from the 997. Of course there will also be that great PDK-gearbox, and we guess that most Porsche buyers will get that rather than the manual gearbox. The good old handbrake will be changed into a modern electronic version.
Expect the new 911 Coupe to be unveiled first, and then six months after that the Convertible. The Targa enthusiasts will probably have to wait another six months for their model.
Among the highlights was a tantalizing tease of a new three-row electric SUV, which looks to be similar in size to the Ford Explorer model.
BMW’s latest creation has made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival, stealing the limelight from other premieres – meet the BMW Icon Yacht.
Spec MX-5 headed to the Pacific Northwest this weekend to join the SCCA Hoosier Super Tour at Portland International Raceway for Round 6.
Set in the rolling hills of southern Virginia, the scenic and courage-testing VIR provides the perfect venue and an ideal location for the culmination of Spec MX-5 Challenge’s biggest season yet.
The brand has announced its ambitious plan to launch four new electric Subaru models by the end of 2026, in aim to push electrification.


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Let’s hope they don’t lose the receipt. American Express has plunked down $251 million to buy a 13 percent share in automated T&E platform provider Concur Technologies, as both companies announced a marketing alliance that will have each firm exclusively co-promoting corporate card and expense management services to their respective client base.
By partnering up, Concur will “exclusively” promote AMEX corporate cards to its 7,000 clients, while AMEX’s corporate card unit will pitch the Web-based, on-demand Concur platform to its roster of members. AMEX’s investment in Concur was for 6.4 million shares of newly issued stock, along with an agreement allowing AMEX to purchase an additional 1.28 million shares (at $39.27 per share) over the next two years.
The deal does not effect the consumer-data sharing agreement with AMEX customers that use competing expense-reporting systems, not does it impact Concur users which opt for rival corporate card programs. About half of all current Concur clients use the American Express corporate card, according to a release.
“We’re seeing growing demand from corporations for solutions that offer additional savings and control by automating labor-intensive expense management processes,” said Anré Williams, President of American Express Global Commercial Card, in a statement.


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The Idea: Edelman, the world’s largest PR agency, has recently published their annual trust survey and the results are gloomy, at best. The research shows that public trust in the U.S. government remains near historic lows, although somewhat higher than during the October 2013 government shutdown. Only 24% said they trust the federal government in Washington. We are experiencing a crisis in leadership. Furthermore, only 50% of respondents said they trust business to do what is right. Trust has been violated and we are all vulnerable.
Consumers don’t trust their government leaders and they do not trust mass media and public adverting campaigns. Only 66% of consumers trust CPG brands, and trust in CEO’s has fallen to 43%, which means less than one of two people trust corporate leadership. In fact, 72% of Millennials believe on-line search engines are now the portal of choice for assessing information, which is why “Crowd-Sourcing Companies,” like Yelp and Amazon, with their product reviews, have grown tremendously at the hands of this surge in distrust.
Edelman’s research highlights that a lack of trust affects everything, including overall sales. And a lack of trust dramatically hinders brand performance. Six out of ten consumers will not buy a product or service they do not trust. And more than one of two consumers will share negative brand feedback with friends. Trust matters!
So how do we improve trust that has been broken?
- Honesty: people don’t buy brands, they join them. And they return to brands that don’t disappoint and brands that always tell the truth. Even if the truth isn’t pretty.
- Experience: a brand is a promise, creating an experience and an emotional connection. The ultimate experience is one centered in 360 consumer services. We all want to engage with brands that keep serving until we are delighted.
- Purpose: all research shows that people will go the extra mile and will pay more for products and services that are bigger than a transaction. Most people follow purpose driven organizations. They will invest heart and soul with brands and companies with a cause.
We must all start rethinking what trust actually means. How it is earned, and how it can be lost. This is not open for debate.


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Organised by IFEMA, the first event of the year of Spain's leading fashion showcase will take place from 28 January to 2 February.
Plans are underway for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Madrid, Spain’s leading fashion showcase, organised by IFEMA, which will take place from 28 January to 2 February 2020 at IFEMA-Feria de Madrid and other venues in the city.
The coming edition of the most important display of Spanish design in the world, MBFWMadrid, will be a six-day extravaganza featuring both top established creators and the hottest new talents. The organisation is currently putting together the schedule of catwalk shows for the next edition, which will be announced at a later date, as well as all the other activities.
At the last edition, from 5 to 10 July, the catwalks hosted collections and presentations by 42 outstanding creators and brands, attracting a total of 40,372 visitors.
Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Madrid: under new management
Nuria de Miguel has taken over management of the fashion shows organised by IFEMA: MBFWMadrid and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Ibiza. De Miguel has extensive professional experience in the fashion world, which started when she joined IFEMA in 1991 as head of communication for the fashion shows that were being held at the time. Since 1996 these have included what was formerly Pasarela Cibeles and now Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Madrid. Since then she has been at the helm of communications for this event, as well as of the fashion, beauty and lifestyle shows organised by IFEMA, providing her with a huge amount of expertise in this sector.


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As demand for the cold chain continues to increase, so does the desire to control costs, say refrigerated freight experts.
While all-electric transport refrigeration units might seem a relatively new development in the refrigerated transportation segment, the technology has developed over the last 20-plus years.
Morgan Truck Body announced a new electrified refrigerated concept truck body.March 18, 2022
ORLANDO, Fla. – American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council said its upcoming report on refrigerated trailers can help fleets stay competitive and regulatory-compliant.
American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council announced the start of a study with eSMARTT on the use and adoption of intelligence products and services in the refrigerated transportation sector.October 27, 2021
The technology for cooling transported goods is moving further into electrification and other means to spur deployments of zero-emission transport refrigeration units, manufacturers said.
XL Fleet Corp. announced an agreement and an investment in eNow Inc., a provider of solar and battery power systems that enable fully electric transport refrigeration units for commercial vehicle trailers.July 23, 2021
Thermo King announced the launch of the Advancer series, which it called “a re-imagining” of the trailer refrigeration unit.June 23, 2020
KLLM Transport Services has added 610 domestic intermodal refrigerated containers that use Carrier Transicold’s thin-profile Vector 1550 refrigeration systems.June 15, 2020
The real-time data and telematics revolution in trucking is helping to drive a new era of innovation and improved performance in the refrigerated trucking market.May 24, 2019


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Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman calls on leaders
of cities to use delegated authorities and tools as a result of decentralization
for the development of local economy. He announced this during the
International Mayors Congress dedicated to considering issues of global development
of cities on Monday.
"The resource, the powers and the tools we have today provide
the opportunity to develop local economy. I'd prefer you to be effective and
use these opportunities to create new jobs, to improve the process of the
administration of taxes," said Volodymyr Groysman.
"I wish that an issue of development of the local
economy was included into a priority list of your agenda," he said.
The Government has recently established an Investment
Support Office that will monitor problematic issues of making business in
Ukraine, told the Prime Minister.
"We want to have the map of Ukraine for us to
understand key indicators for each region of how the business feels. We want to
see whether they are returned VAT timely, whether they get permission on time, or
whether they are suffering from additional inspections," said Volodymyr
"We believe that it is crucial to ensure comfort of
business on the ground. Businesses need good environment for their development.
This means that each location will have a chance to create new jobs,
competition, produce products of better quality, we will be able to develop our
national economy at last", he stressed.
In this regard the Head of Government urged local
authorities to support, protect, and help businesses, to ensure timely
provision of necessary services, as well as partnership with the newly set up Investment
Support Office that will allow us to "attract business, create normal
conditions, so that business could invest in Ukraine".
Apart from that the Prime Minister stressed the need for
legalization of the local economy, which in particular will be possible due to the
recent decision of the Government to raise from 2017 the minimum wage twofold -
up to UAH 3200, he said.


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Nominations close Oct. 28 for next year's Michigan Small Business Awards.
The U.S. Small Business Administration presents the awards, which cover 10 categories including Small Business Person of the Year. (See box at right for categories and contact information.)
Submissions should be in the form of a one-page letter, in any format.
The awards are part of the broader annual Michigan Celebrates Small Business awards, which recognize successful early-stage and second-stage businesses. The awards include the Michigan 50 Companies to Watch, organized by the Edward Lowe Foundation and the Michigan Small Business Technology & Development Center to recognize second-stage businesses. Nominations close Nov. 10 for 50 Companies to Watch.
The eighth annual Michigan Celebrates Small Business awards event is scheduled April 26. More information is available at www.michigancelebrates.biz.
Another looming deadline — one week from tomorrow, on Oct. 21 — is to register for the fall cycle of the Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest Business Plan Competition.
Rough ideas are welcome at the registration stage, said Executive Director Diane Durance, since the point is to get budding entrepreneurs in touch with coaches who can help polish the ideas into executive summaries, which are due Dec. 9.
The competition is split into two categories: one for new business ideas and one for emerging companies, or companies less than three years old. Three winners in each category will be given $1,000 to $5,000 and will be awarded at a Jan. 31 event in Ann Arbor.
The event is more about fun competition for entrepreneurs, vetting the ideas to help entrepreneurs avoid wasting precious startup money, and bringing exposure to resources and knowledgeable people, Durance said.
It also helps open the door to the larger spring cycle of the GLEQ business plan competition, at which larger cash prizes are awarded.
More information is available at www.gleq.org.


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UPDATE 21/2: The HTC Vive is said to be shipped as early as April 1st. Since pre-orders should go live on February 29th, customers should be able to get their hands on HTC's VR device pretty quickly.
Original: Japanese website S-Max reports that HTC will announce the HTC Vive price during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona this month.
Mobile World Congress, or MWC, is an annual gathering for the mobile industry and related industries, organised by the GSMA, and held in Barcelona, Spain, the Mobile World Capital.
The MWC 2016 will be held from February 22 till February 25th in Barcelona, and according S-Max, HTC will be opening up pre-orders for the Vive at their digital shop on February 29th.
Roughly translated by Neogaf user ArtHands, HTC allegedly acknowledged that the high price tag of the VIVE will be an issue with install base penetration, and HTC seemingly has tried to revise the price tag so that the price gap with other VR devices wont be too big. If correct, Japan will be one of the countries where the HTC Vive will launch first.
HTC Vive price possibly priced as high as $ 1500
Back in January of this year, we reported that the Vive could be priced as high as $1500. This was reported by Taiwanese website, Focus Taiwan. According the report, the VR headset from HTC uses advanced spatial recognition features resulting in a more expensive price, compared to its rivals. On top of that, its wireless controllers will allow consumers to have a level of immersion not seen in VR headsets.
Commenting on the forecast pricing for the HTC Vive, some netizens in Taiwan said that they have doubts about how the HTC’s VR gear will compete in the market as the pricing is still high for many young consumers, who receive an average monthly salary of NT$22,000.
But other netizens said Taiwanese consumers should lend their support to HTC, which has made a lot of effort to develop the VR device, and recognize the Taiwanese firm’s achievements in research and development.
The report from Focus mentions, that due to the high price, that the Vive will sell no more than 1 million units this year at most.
We’re eager to learn the price tag of the Vive, and we’ll keep you updated when we learn more.


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This week’s top story on CoinGeek Pulse is Tesla’s recent announcement that it bought US$1.5 billion dollars’ worth of BTC.
CEO Elon Musk has been actively tweeting about digital currencies in recent weeks, driving his followers to buy them. Because of this, the billionaire has been attributed for the price spike of alt coins like BTC and Dogecoin. Tesla also announced, it would start accepting BTC as a payment method for its products. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the automaker clarifies that the move will be “subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis”.
While many digital currency enthusiasts welcome the news, others have expressed apprehension. Gary Black, a Tesla shareholder, private investor and former Goldman Sachs executive said he is unloading his shares citing investing in BTC is risky. He tells his over 50-thousand Twitter followers that Musk’s action is “hubris.”
2/ I have no problem with $TSLA accepting #bitcoin as payment for new Teslas, or keeping some #Bitcoin on hand as working capital for customer refunds, etc. But to invest $1.5B as a speculative intangible asset after raising $5B in a secondary in December? That’s hubris.
— Gary Black (@garyblack00) February 10, 2021
CoinGeek historian Kurt Wuckert Jr. also weighs in on the issue. He says, “Elon has BTC. And if he wants he can spend it one day just as long as the rest of the planet isn’t also trying to broadcast more than 6 megabytes per hour at the same time. Then he can’t spend it, because that’s just how BTC works now.”
Meanwhile in Asia, China’s Beijing has intensified its digital currency trial by handing out online “red packets” worth a whopping 10 million yuan. That’s equivalent to US$1.5 million. Some 50,000 locals received 200 yuan in digital red packets this week via lottery. The move aims to increase local consumption and encourage migrant workers to stay in the city for the Lunar New Year festivities. It is also a part of a wider test that will eventually see digital yuan being used in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Now, here’s a story of two companies showing how blockchain technology can be used to help our planet. Gillette partners with blockchain-powered recycling firm Plastic Bank to use digital tokens to incentivize plastic collection and track the recycling through blockchain.
In a report by McKinsey & Company, sourcing sustainable materials is becoming a top priority for lifestyle and fashion companies. That’s why TextileGenesis, a company based in Hong Kong and India is also using blockchain technology to create a permanent record of every stage of its clothing production. The result, fashion brands are now more transparent by tracking the production from raw materials to the finished product. Blockchain technology is earning the trust of many companies because of its stable and secure system as a public ledger of truth.
TextileGenesis was awarded in the past for innovations promoting a greener fashion industry and running a pilot project with global fashion brand H&M.
New to blockchain? Check out CoinGeek’s Blockchain for Beginners section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about blockchain technology.


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Nicola Reindorf and her husband Orlando Reindorf own The Standard Store on Crown Street in Surry Hills, Australia. They had their best December sales in 2021 during lockdowns when parties and restaurant reservations were cancelled, and people wanted to give a nice gift instead.
“A lot of customers had connections to someone with Omicron and were very wary about how their Christmas would look. I think that is why they wanted to make sure their loved ones would have something under the tree to open,” Nicola said.
However, things changed after the Christmas holiday. They began to experience staff issues and a significant drop in foot traffic, prompting them to close their store.
“When January arrived, it was a whole different story… the street was dead; it was a shadow lockdown. Following the Christmas spending period, it was very quiet, and many of our staff were also sick and unable to work,” she added.
“There were also no tourists around. In early January, we had to shut the store against regular trading hours due to a staff shortage from COVID.
“With restrictions continuing to ease, case numbers falling and travel returning; we’re feeling cautiously optimistic about the year to come. I am currently on a buying trip in New York City, and it does feel as though things are going back to normal, which is incredibly reassuring.
“I do think consumers overspent in the last quarter of 2021, and now with travel back on the cards, they’re beginning to think ahead. We have new deliveries in-store, which always helps; it feels like we are coming out the other side. It would be great to see more tourists, though!”
Nicola and Orlando are not the only ones bearing the brunt of the year’s sales decline. According to a new Xero report, despite the highs of Christmas trading in November and December, Australia’s small businesses saw a decline in sales growth in January 2022. Still, employers are looking to pay more as they struggle to find staff.
The Index fell six points to 86 points in the first month of 2022, owing largely to an increase in Omicron cases across the country. The drop is significant from the peak in November (107 points). After two months of strong sales growth, small businesses took advantage of reduced lockdown restrictions and festive season spending.
The Xero Small Business Index, developed in collaboration with Accenture and released as part of the Xero Small Business Insights program, provided the most recent data on the health of Australia’s small business economy in January.
According to Joseph Lyons, Managing Director Australia and Asia at Xero, the January decline reflects the increased volatility that many small business owners have experienced in recent months.
“Xero’s data tells us that small businesses can bounce back from tough times, and with COVID-19 restrictions easing, case numbers falling and national and international travel returning, there’s cause to be optimistic.”
Dynamic business spoke with Louise Southall, Xero Economist, about the volatility that small businesses faced in January and why there is reason to be optimistic about a rebound.
“The latest Xero Small Business Index data reveals just how hard small businesses were hit by Omicron this summer,” Louise said.
“Small business jobs fell 1.5 per cent y/y in January as illness and the need to isolate saw a dramatic fall in the number of people who recorded at least one hour at work in January. This result is consistent with the decline in working hours seen in the latest ABS Labour Force publication.
“Sales growth also slowed to 5.7 per cent y/y in January, after a strong December (+15.1 per cent y/y). This reflects the ‘shadow lockdown’ as people avoided going out to restaurants and other potentially crowded venues to limit their chance of catching COVID-19.”
“Looking ahead, with many health experts saying case numbers are now past their peak, we should see small business jobs and sales start to recover in the coming months.”
Sales growth slows after December highs
In line with Christmas spending, sales increased by nearly double their average rate in December, rising 15.1 per cent yearly. Following the holiday season, sales growth slowed to 5.7 per cent year on year in January, which was expected given the significant increase in Omicron cases.
Sales in NSW ( up 6.4 per cent year on year) and Victoria ( up 4.3 per cent year on year) were well below the growth rates recorded in December (14.8 per cent year on year and 15.4 per cent year on year, respectively) as rising COVID-19 cases impacted small businesses and customers.
Queensland sales have also slowed, falling from 14.6 per cent year on year in December to 7.4 per cent year on year in January. Despite rising COVID-19 cases, the state’s strong tourism focus may have helped it maintain a higher sales growth rate than NSW and Victoria.
Job recovery stalls
Jobs actually fell 1.5 per cent year on year in January, compared to a 1 per cent year on year increase in December. Increases in COVID-19 cases across the country and isolation requirements and summer vacations resulted in fewer people recording the one hour of work required to be classified as working in the Xero series.
NSW was the hardest hit of the major states, with jobs falling by 2 per cent year on year, followed by Victoria, which fell by 0.8 per cent year on year, and Queensland, which fell by 0.7 per cent year on year. Education jobs fell 13.9 per cent year on year, the largest drop in the sector since May 2020, when the pandemic’s first wave hit.
Louise Southall, Xero Economist, said: “The fall in jobs for the education sector could reflect the still comparatively low numbers of international students in Australia as Omicron delayed the border reopening schedule.
“However, as Australia’s borders reopen, we’re likely to see more of these students return to Australia, which should support future jobs growth later this year.”
Wages continue to grow
Wages rose 3.4 per cent y/y, up from 2.5 per cent y/y in December, with hospitality ( up 4.9 per cent y/y) and retail (up 4 per cent y/y) sectors seeing significant growth.
“The rise in hospitality wages is a direct reflection of the shortage of overseas staff that this sector normally heavily relies on. With borders gradually opening, we’re expecting to see these figures stabilise over the year as small businesses have access to more workers,” said Southall.
To download the full January results, including industry and regional breakdowns, go to the website here.


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Amazon’s Buy with Prime feature will now be available for U.S.-based merchants by the end of this month. The feature lets sellers offer Prime members benefits through apps and storefronts that aren’t controlled by Amazon. The retail giant tested the option last year by invitation only.
The venture proved to be a success, resulting in a 25% increase in shopper conversion rates for third-party participants. Moreover, Amazon reports that brands like Epic Water Filters and Great Circle Machinery are already utilizing the streamlined functionality of the new feature.
Prime members using websites outside of Amazon can now make purchases while accessing Prime benefits like free delivery and returns. “Conversion on our site has increased over 40% since we started using Buy with Prime, and we expect that number to go up,” said Oliver Crane, chief operating officer of Epic Water Filters. “Being able to offer Prime shopping benefits and reach more customers interested in our products—that’s huge for a small business like us. The Buy with Prime badge shows customers they can buy our products directly from us, with the backing and trust of Prime.”
Buy with Prime also gives members access to convenient two-day delivery and the opportunity to post reviews on merchant’s items within their app.
Like their Amazon Pay feature, which occasionally popped up on other sites here and there, the Buy with Prime button acts as a more efficient time-saver for eager shoppers because their payment and shipping details are automatically available.
The eCommerce giant also launched Reviews from Amazon, allowing merchants to display ratings and reviews from Amazon customers on their own sites for no additional cost.
In a statement to Gizmodo, an Amazon representative explained, “Pricing is based on a service fee, a payment processing fee, and fulfillment and storage fees that are calculated per unit,” the spokesperson said, adding, “With no fixed subscription fee or long-term contract required, merchants can expand their selection or cancel at any time.”
Following the launch, Amazon experienced another massive victory. BigCommerce announced that it would be integrating Buy with Prime into its offerings. BigCommerce plans to make Buy with Prime available for its customers in Q1 2023, allowing brands built on its platform to easily plug Buy with Prime into their sites. BigCommerce, as its name suggests, is one of the most prominent eCommerce platforms on the market, so this is no small feat for Bezos’ brainchild.
However, according to Rick Watson, founder and CEO of RMW Commerce Consulting, Amazon is fully aware that it could take a number of years to know if the project will scale.
More from SUMO Heavy
If you’d like to learn more about SUMO Heavy, drop us a line, give us a call or contact us on social media.


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Accelerating Sales Growth
Snap stock received a major boost in extended trading yesterday after the tech company said it lost $287 million, which is better than a loss of $306 million a year ago. On an adjusted basis, the Snapchat operator had a break-even quarter, again better than a loss of $0.06 per share expected from Wall Street.
“We began 2021 by achieving our highest year-over-year revenue and daily active user growth rates in over three years during the quarter, and delivering positive Free Cash Flow for the first time in Snap’s history as a public company,” said Evan Spiegel, CEO of the social media business.
“The strength of our business underscores our relentless focus on product innovation and is a testament to our team’s ability to execute well together over the long term.”
Business sales in Q1 came in at $770 million to top the consensus of $743.8 million. Snap stock has also been boosted by the fact that Snapchat recorded a beat on two key metrics measures in the social media business sector.
Global daily active users (DAUs) soared 22% year-over-year (YOY) to 280 million to beat the 274.62 million consensus, according to data provided by FactSet. In Q2, the social media business expects to add 10 million new daily active users globally. Similarly, the average revenue per user (ARPU) was reported at $2.74, which is higher than the $2.72 that Wall Street was calling for.
For the ongoing quarter, Snapchat operator expects its adjusted EBITDA to come in a range between negative $20 million or break even. A better-than-expected guidance comes in on the back of the business sales growth of more than 80%, the company said. In Q1, business revenue soared 66%.
One of the reasons why Snap stock has moved higher in early trading Friday is that the company reported positive free cash flow (FCF) for the first time as a public company. A year ago, Snap had a negative FCF of $5 million, compared to $126 million reported for Q1 this year.
Spiegel said that Snapchat now appears more popular on Android as the user base on this operating platform is now bigger than the one on Apple’s iOS operating system. This represents “a critical milestone that reflects the long-term value of the investment we made to rebuild our Android application,” he said.
Snapchat is preparing for a much-awaited iOS 14 privacy update that will be introduced by Apple soon, which is expected to change how the social media company targets ads to users. The Q2 guidance included these potential impacts, said Spiegel.
Snap stock is up nearly 14% year-to-end (YTD) after it printed the highest ever level earlier in April. The social media business has a market capitalization of almost $88 billion.
Snap stock soared over 5% in pre-market trading Friday after the social media company behind the Snapchat app topped Q1 expectations for a loss, business revenues, and other key business performance metrics.
About the Author
As an analyst of global affairs, Adriaan has an MSC from Oxford, with diverse interests in the digital economy, entertainment, and business. He is a specialist trainer in Advanced Analytics & Media.


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The government and the newspaper industry have formed an ongoing advertising partnership.
The “All together” campaign idea was developed by the newspaper industry as a way of delivering government communications in an intimate, human and compassionate tone that readers can relate to.
Below you can find all the latest news, blogs and creative related to the campaign.
If you would like to know more about this campaign or how we could help you, please contact client services & strategy director Niki West.
Latest campaign news & opinion
We take a look at the making of the government’s ‘All in, all together’ advertising campaign. Last Friday…
The government and the newspaper industry have formed a three-month advertising partnership to help keep the public safe…


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Sony Studio Liverpool is reported to resume its work at LittleBigPlanet, announcing the termination of development for the PSP by September 2007.
LittleBigPlanet is an upcoming platformer and world creation game for the PlayStation 3, first announced on March 7, 2007, by Phil Harrison at the 2007 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California. It is being developed by Media Molecule, a British company founded in part by Rag Doll Kung Fu creator Mark Healey.
A demo version of the game was planned for release on the PlayStation Network in the fourth quarter of 2007, but the demo was delayed until the new year.
Original announcements pointed to a release early in 2008, but recently Sony has confirmed that the game has indeed been delayed and is now aiming for a September release for the UK.
It has long been understood that the West has been trying to subject Russian borders to total control. We have not seen such activity even during the Cold War
The co-author of this disaster is the Dutch government, which did not find either strength or desire to save the lives of its citizens who were flying on that plane. The Dutch authorities did not demand Ukraine to comply with international aviation regulations


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SHANGHAI: Chinese telecom gear maker Huawei
will work with its partners to build one of five major clouds in the world, Guo Ping
, the company's Rotating CEO said. The top executive said that the gear vendor has made strategic investments in the public cloud domain, it and will provide long-term public cloud services.
"The cloud is a cornerstone of the intelligent world," he said. "Society is experiencing a tangible Matthew effect in digital technology development. Because of this, as well as economies of scale in investment, clouds around the world will begin to converge – becoming more and more centralized. In the future, we predict there will be five major clouds in the world. Huawei will work with our partners to build one of those five clouds, and we've got the technology and know-how to do it."
The top executive said that Huawei will monetize technology and services, and not data. He said, "Huawei's Cloud DNA is made of a unique combination of technology, security, services, and shared success."
The company has already partnered with Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica and Orange as part of its cloud alliance.
Huawei said that it has worked with its partners to build a cloud network that has global coverage, providing complete solutions that help Chinese companies go global, and that also help companies outside China
enter the Chinese market.
At the ongoing Huawei Connect 2017 in Shanghai, the company also launched its new Enterprise Intelligence cloud services, which it will provide with a platform of general and scenario-specific solutions. The combination of Huawei Cloud and EI will help create greater industry value with new advancements in technology, the company said.
Huawei's public clouds and private clouds have a unified architecture, support smooth evolution, and deliver a consistent experience. Companies can efficiently and freely deploy their services on public or private cloud platforms, which readily support service migration and expansion. To prevent vendor lock-in, Huawei offers hybrid cloud solutions that enable integration with third-party public cloud platforms, including those from Amazon


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CVB set to eat-up November
The three-course meals that participating restaurants will specially prepare for the inaugural Grand Rapids Restaurant Week will cost diners $20.10 this November, and next November, and the November after the next November.
As a matter of fact, the meal charge will still be $20.10 when Restaurant Week turns 10 years old in 2019 because the price was chosen to commemorate the very first year of what restaurant owners and the Convention and Visitors Bureau hopes becomes a popular and well-publicized annual event.
“What the restaurateurs said is, it’s nice to have that (price) tie-in,” said Doug Small, president of the CVB, the group driving the event.
“That (price) actually was suggested by a restaurateur. When that came up I said it was OK as long as they are committed. I don’t want to change it every year because there could be confusion in the marketplace. Plus you can use it as a marketing ploy, sort of speak. If nothing else, we’re hoping this will go on for years and we will know when the inaugural year was,” he added.
The 10-day event will run from Nov. 4-13 and each restaurant that participates will be required to offer at least a three-course meal, but can exceed three courses. The number of courses isn’t important to the bureau as is the number of restaurants that participate. So the guideline isn’t so restrictive that it would eliminate the casual restaurants that normally don’t charge that much for a meal.
“Let’s look at HopCat. Some people say they don’t have a $20.10 item. But what it can do is have a really nice beer-tasting dinner where every entrée has a beer. Some did four courses in Denver. It’s up to them. The three-course is just a minimum,” said Small.
“We’re encouraging this almost to the point where it becomes a competition, if you will. We’re not going to say it’s a competition. But we want the restaurateurs to approach it with their chefs that way; be creative and offer something that’s very unique to what their standard menu is. We made it clear that they’re not going to make their profit all in one week. This is more about driving new visits and building destination appeal. I saw that happen in Denver,” said Small, who came to the bureau from the Mile High City, where that first event charged $52.80 for a meal to celebrate that it is 5,280 feet above sea level.
Small said each restaurant wanting to participate will have to submit a menu prior to the event. Each will be reviewed by a committee that is likely to be comprised of culinary experts from the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education at Grand Rapids Community College, which will receive $1 of every meal sold for a new scholarship program. The committee can accept or refuse a menu. One menu that won’t make the cut is a cheeseburger, fries and two beers. Certain two-for-one deals may also be rejected.
The idea behind having the committee make the decision of who gets in and who doesn’t is to make sure that participation isn’t only limited to the city’s fine-dining establishments. Small wants the event to include places that offer good food but aren’t thought of as being fine dining.
“I don’t want this to become so arrogant and pompous that becomes what everyone thinks Restaurant Week is about. I think it’s more about a celebration of all restaurants, especially those independently owned restaurants and HopCat is a great example. It’s gotten some great attention,” he said.
Small said the next steps involve getting the restaurants on board, building the event’s Web site that will list the menus and allow diners to make reservations, and find sponsors for it. Sally Littlefair Zarafonetis has been hired to coordinate many of those tasks for the bureau.
Marketing for the event is expected to get underway after Labor Day and piggyback on the city’s second annual ArtPrize competition, which begins on Sept. 22. Small said one idea being considered is to have the participating restaurants hand out a small brochure about Restaurant Week with every food tab given to every customer in September and October.
At first blush, the thought was to schedule Restaurant Week so it would end on the same weekend that the Convention and Arena Authority and Showspan Inc. hold the Grand Rapids Wine & Food Festival at DeVos Place. This year the festival’s dates are Nov. 18-20. Restaurant Week will close five days before the festival starts so that idea has been pushed aside.
“More and more of (the restaurants) are starting to engage in the Wine & Food Festival and they just felt that it would put too much pressure on their kitchens to have that going on and have Restaurant Week going on. We sat down with (Showspan Vice President) Henri Boucher and some Wine & Food Festival people and we’re going to do some dual collaborative efforts to publicize both events.”
Small said his bureau could have something special to sell to tourists and meeting planners by having both events go back-to-back in the same month. “The only reason that the CVB is putting what I would call a lot of traditional funding in above and beyond the DDA’s [$25,000] is for that destination-appeal piece,” he said.
“If I can celebrate November as wine-and-food month, there’s the chance of getting some good press out of it to start to show this community as a true city that has a great dining experience — then that’s where we win.”


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As interest in international public relations increases, knowing the communication laws that affect other countries is all the more important. Nowhere is this more important than China. In April 2015 the Chinese government passed new communications laws that will go into effect in September 2015. These laws represent the latest Chinese effort to protect consumers from deceptive promotions. The practical implications of these laws is that communication practitioners will have to carefully craft content to avoid civil penalties and sanctions.
To fully appreciate how these laws work it is important to understand the Chinese legal system and its previous regulations on promotional messages. China officially has constitutional protections for the freedom of speech and the press according to Chapter 2, Article 35 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China. However, the legal regulation of promotional materials has evolved in the past twenty years. In 1995 China created specific advertising laws that detailed regulations of promotional content. These laws reflect some of the same expectations found in American Federal Trade Commission regulations. These laws are rooted in the idea of consumer protection and include provisions that prohibit “false information” or “misleading consumers.” There are also provisions that require certain disclaimers about price and quality of products (Advertisement Law of the People’s Republic of China, 1995).
However, these laws also contain provisions unique to China. For instance, no promotional materials can make use of Chinese national symbols or make references to the State. The law also prohibits negative commentary on competitors, forbids the use of words such as “best” or “highest grade,” and bans any use of “information suggesting pornography, superstition, terror, violence or hideousness” (Advertisement Law of the People’s Republic of China, Article 7, 1995). Sanctions for violating these laws include fines and mandatory retractions. Fines are particularly expensive ranging from one-to-five times the cost of the promotion for both the organization releasing the content and the individuals who created it.
These communication laws were created in a pre-Internet era and did not anticipate the role of social media. The new laws slated for September 2015 are meant to be an update on these older policies. Some of these new laws provide more severe penalties for violations including the wholesale prohibition of working in China.
These new laws have prompted a flurry of analysis by lawyers and businesspeople. Hogan Lovell, an international law firm, notes that the new regulations show that China is interested in regulating product quality, particularly baby food products. This is in sync with other Chinese regulations on cigarette promotions and public banning of smoking.
Perhaps the most important aspect of these new laws is their regulation of online content. These new laws restrict online criticisms, regulates use of company produced news content and exposes Internet service providers to greater liability. While it is unclear exactly how these laws will affect communication in China, PR practitioners need to know three things:
- China’s new law limits social media promotions. In these new laws there is an explicit prohibition for so-called “Black PR” (Rosenfeld et al., 2015). This type of public relations is done when a social media site contains criticisms of other organizations. The problem with this type of regulation is that it directly affects how social media platforms can operate. China currently bans most Western social media sites, most notably Facebook. However, if sites like Facebook and Twitter were allowed in China they may not present the same opportunities for social media campaigns. In many social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, followers can re-tweet and comment directly on other users’ sites. While users can control the content on their social media sites it is difficult to regulate re-postings and re-tweets, especially when the material goes viral. In fact, the number of re-posts is part of the new Chinese laws. If the material is visited by over 5,000 visitors and causes mental and physical harm to an individual the users may be subject to criminal penalties. This is significant for PR practitioners who may use social media platforms to generate attention for a particular campaign. Because user interaction is paramount in an effective social media strategy the openness of a site is essential. However, China’s laws that tie sanctions to views of a site could spell disaster for a viral campaign or even a post if that content is deemed legally derogatory or offensive.
- China’s new laws may limit native advertising and content marketing. Promotional content taking the form of editorials is all the rage. Sometimes this is referred to as native advertising or content marketing. Basically these terms refer to online content that promotes an organization through the form of the platform. This creates a seamless experience for the user. Social media and online clearinghouses, such as Amazon, have revolutionized this form of promotion. However, China’s new communication laws seem to limit or even ban this type of promotion. According to these laws, disclosing personal information about users and the use of deceptive promotional tactics are forbidden. Because online native advertising and content marketing rely on user profiles to generate content this may qualify as illegal disclosure and deception. PR practitioners are gaining new opportunities in digital PR because of content marketing. However, if China’s new laws are more restrictive in regulating online content, practitioners may be limited in their PR strategies.
- China’s new laws provide for more severe sanctions. In the 1995 Advertisement Law of the People’s Republic of China, sanctions mainly included set fines. These fines were sometimes specific or sometimes were based on the cost of the promotional campaign. These new communication laws now include penalties that require violators to pay legal fees and court costs. According to Eugene Low (2015), a Hong Kong based attorney, the new law also includes sanctions that ban endorsers of messages from engaging in communication for up to three years. Perhaps most significantly, criminal libel exists in China. If convicted a person can spend up to three years in prison for criminal libel according Article 246 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China. If content is deemed harmful to an individual or group, practitioners and organizations could face criminal punishment in addition to civil damages. If practitioners unwittingly violate one of these laws, they and their client can be subject to economically debilitating consequences.
While it is impossible to tell the true effect of these laws until they are implemented, it is undeniable that they are important. Western, particularly American, professionals frequently view the world through the lens of Western legal traditions. While practitioners acknowledge that international practice means respecting the norms, values and conventions of other countries, it is sometimes difficult to remove the subconscious understanding of Western legal rights. However, to have an effective international PR practice, practitioners must know the contours of communication law wherever they practice. Because China’s economy and population are so large it is difficult to image an organization or PR firm not conducting business there. This means practitioners, clients and management need to know these new laws and expectations. Knowing how to work within these legal boundaries not only protects the practitioner, but also allows them continued opportunities in international markets.
Advertisement Law of the People’s Republic of China (1995, February 1). Retrieved June 4, 2015.
Low, E. (2015, April 30). China’s new Advertising Law sees the light of day. Lexology. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
The National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China. (2004, March 14). Retrieved June 4, 2015.
Rosenfeld, J., Wang, V., Doren, A., & Huang, A. (2015, March 22). Taming the “Wild West” in the Far East. Media Law Monitor. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
Cayce Myers, Ph.D., LL.M., J.D. is the legal research editor for the Institute for Public Relations. He is an assistant professor at Virginia Tech’s department of communication where he teaches public relations.


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Realme C3 Software Update:
Realme has started rolling out the September 2021 security patch for Realme C3 with optimizations in the camera quality and system stability improvements.
Recently it got the Android 11 update, as well as the August 2021 Security Patch, And it is nice to see budget devices of Realme getting latest security patches, unlike other OEM who struggle to deliver security patch even for their Flagship devices.
The Realme C3 was released in February 2020 with an Android 10 out-of-the-box.
Realme C3 recently got upgraded to Android 11 update with stable Realme UI 2.0 with minor system improvements.
- Device: Realme C3
- Android: Android 11
- UI: Realme UI 2.0
- Build number: RMX2027_11_C.06
- Update type: Software/Security
- Update size: 128 MB
- Region: India
This update was released on 11th October 2021.
- Android Security patch: September 2021
- Optimized system performance and improved system stability.
- Fixed freezing issue of Instagram.
- Optimized the camera quality and improved camera stability
How long did Realme take for the update?
|Android OS||Update||Release Date/Status||Estimated Months|
|Android 10||Out-of-the-box||February 2020||Nil|
|Android 11||First OS update||August 2021||11 months|
|Android 12||Second/Last OS update||Eligible||Unconfirmed|
How long will it get updates?
The Realme C3 was released with an Android 10 in February 2020. Therefore, Android 11 is its first major OS update.
Hence, it is eligible for the upcoming Android 12 update and it will be its second/last major OS update. However, it is expected soon.
- Out-of-the-box>>> Android 10
- First update>>> Android 11 [First Update]
- Second update>>> Android 12 [Eligible] [Last update] [Unconfirmed]
How to install the latest update on your Realme device?
Once the update is available on your device, you can head over to Settings >> About Phone >> Software Update section to update your Realme device with the latest update.
How To Check Software Update On Any Realme Smartphone?
- Open Settings.
- Scroll Down and Find Software Update; Tap On It.
- And If There Would any Update available it will appear there.
- Then Hit Download and this is how you can check Software Update on any Realme Smartphone.
More on Realme from us
- Realme Narzo 30: September 2021 Security Patch
- Realme C25s: September 2021 Security Patch
- Realme C25: September 2021 Security Patch
- Realme X7 October 2021 Security Patch
- Realme C21: Android 11 update with Realme UI 2.0
For more Realme Android updates please download our Android App – Available on the Play Store


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Airlines: Boeing’s Dreamliner is grounded
All Boeing 787 Dreamliners were ordered grounded this week by the Federal Aviation Administration, said Terry Maxon in DallasNews.com. A day earlier, Japan’s two largest airlines grounded their Dreamliner fleets after a domestic flight between Ube and Tokyo was forced to make an emergency landing because of battery trouble and an “unusual smell” in the plane’s cockpit. That incident came in the wake of a recent series of embarrassing technical glitches involving Boeing’s newest commercial plane, including a battery fire on the ground, fuel leaks, and a cracked cockpit window. “The FAA will work with the manufacturer and carriers to develop a corrective action plan to allow the U.S. 787 fleet to resume operations as quickly and safely as possible,” the regulator said.
Boeing shares were slipping even before the announcement in Washington, said Mayumi Negishi and Tim Kelly in Reuters.com. “I think you’re nearing the tipping point where they need to regard this as a serious crisis,” said industry analyst Richard Aboulafia. “This is going to change people’s perception of the aircraft if they don’t act quickly.” A Boeing spokesman said the company was working with its customers and “appropriate regulatory agencies.” United Airlines is currently the only U.S. carrier that operates Dreamliners.
Markets: Apple’s stock price falters
Apple is in a slump, said Juro Osawa in The Wall Street Journal. The company’s stock fell this week amid rumors that Apple slashed its orders for iPhone 5 parts due to weaker-than-expected demand. The company’s stock price dipped below $500 per share this week, hitting a nine-month low and down from its all-time high of $702.10 in September. The sell-off escalated after analysts warned that the iPhone’s profit margins were “unsustainably high.” Some market watchers suggested the supply cuts reflected iPhone fatigue, while others cited stiffer competition from smartphone rivals Samsung and Nokia.
Retail: Walmart’s all-American pledge
Walmart announced plans this week to increase its sourcing from domestic suppliers and to hire more than 100,000 veterans, said Anne D’Innocenzio in the Associated Press. The company’s president and CEO, Bill Simon, predicted that Walmart would spend an additional $50 billion on U.S.-made products over the next 10 years, and would partner with federal agencies to train and employ returning veterans. In a statement, First Lady Michelle Obama praised the discounter’s hiring drive, calling Walmart’s efforts “historic.”
Tech: Facebook unveils social search function
Facebook unveiled a major new feature this week, said David Lee in BBC.com. The new tool, called Graph Search, allows users to easily search their friends’ Facebook content, “such as photos, status updates, location data, as well as the things they have ‘liked.’” Early speculation suggested that Facebook was mounting a challenge to search stalwarts such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg insisted the new feature was designed to help users make new connections, not to tackle the search engine juggernauts.
Banks: Chase slashes CEO Dimon’s pay
JPMorgan Chase’s top executive is facing a pay cut, said Andrew Tangel in the Los Angeles Times. The bank will slash CEO Jamie Dimon’s pay by half, after an embarrassing $6 billion loss that the firm’s directors called “a serious mistake.” Dimon, who took home $23 million last year and was the highest-paid U.S. bank executive, will receive $1.5 million in salary and $10 million in stock awards for 2012. The trading blunder also roused bank regulators, who slapped the bank with sanctions and ordered it to tighten its risk management procedures.


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Remember BK Burger Shots, Burger King's attempt to roll out mini hamburgers? Well, the fast food chain has announced today that it's bringing them back, along with other finger foods, like petite-sized breaded chicken sandwiches.
The press release positioned BK Minis as perfect during mini golf or on a minibreak. But I'd like to know: what's the real reason behind this new fast food trend of all things mini? After all, Burger King's simply the latest of a slew of chains to roll out graze-worthy offerings to fast food diners.
Maybe it's just me, but I'm somewhat bewildered by this sudden surge of snack options. It's not often that I pop into Burger King when I'm craving an afternoon snack; I'd be much more inclined to grab a bag of pretzels from the corner bodega instead. Are fast food snacks going to catch on, or are they destined for failure?


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The financial forecast predicts continued growth for women's sports in 2024
The GIST: The financial forecast for 2024 is looking a little stormy as experts foresee a moderate economic slowdown on the horizon. For sports, that means leagues will have to work hard to bolster demand and reduce ticket prices to maintain 2023’s high attendance numbers. Women’s sports, however, seem uniquely ready to weather the storm.
The why: The U.S. economy seems strong based on current GDP and unemployment levels, yet meaningful indicators like credit card balances, debt delinquencies, and inflation are all on the rise. These signal a tough time ahead for American consumers, especially for the average sports fan.
- There’s even a special term for increased prices in the sports and entertainment space: “funflation.” The numbers are not so fun — the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that sports tickets rose 25.1% YoY this October. Ouch.
The outlier: On the other hand, women’s sports fans should expect more sold-out stadiums next year. As one of the industry’s fastest-growing sectors, women’s leagues are garnering bigger crowds and higher revenue. StubHub recently revealed that the NWSL and WNBA both saw double the ticket sales YoY.
- And certain clubs saw an even higher jump, like the NY Liberty’s 462% sales boost YoY and the Portland Thorns’ 326% spike in tickets YoY. Plus, the PWHL’s Toronto outfit has already sold out season tickets for its 2024 inaugural season. All highs, no lows.
The takeaway: Even if the sports landscape sees tumbleweeds, Deloitte expects women’s leagues to break the billion-dollar revenue threshold in 2024. That’s partly because women’s sports fans will be there no matter what — they’re loyal to their teams and the brands that support them. Plus, women’s matches are often better priced and more affordable, further encouraging fans to show up.


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Facebook will unveil next week a new internet-based email service designed to compete directly against Google’s Gmail product, according to a new report.
The social networking giant will showcase the new email service — allegedly referred to, inside Facebook, as the “Gmail killer” — at a Monday special event at company headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.
Facebook currently offers internal messaging and chat services within its website, but the new product is expected to be “more than just a…refresh” of the existing platforms, technology news blog TechCrunch reported today.
The company is said to be building a fully-developed webmail client that may be intertwined with its popular photos and events applications.
Under the plan, TechCrunch said, Facebook users would receive personalized email addresses ending with “@facebook.com.”
Rumors about a possible Facebook email service have swirled around the blogosphere for months — TechCrunch reported back in February about a secret “Project Titan,” which was reportedly the early stages of the new email service.


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Davos 2018: climate leadership and circular economy
25 January 2018
It’s time again for the World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) annual meeting in Davos, where leaders from governments, corporations and society get together to try and improve the state of the world.
ING is once again present with CEO Ralph Hamers, Head of Wholesale Banking Isabel Fernandez and Sustainability Head Leon Wijnands.
Climate finance champion
ING believes banks have a duty to see how their financing can help support the energy transition and combat climate change. Ralph Hamers will take on the role of ‘climate finance champion’ in the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, announced in a session in Davos this week. Six other CEOs will take on ‘champion’ roles in other areas.
This Alliance is an informal network of CEOs that was established and strengthened with the help of the World Economic Forum ahead of the Paris Agreement in 2015. The climate finance leadership role means that Ralph will be more visible and vocal on financing climate action from now on, a topic that’s part of ING’s approach to sustainability.
Circular economy accelerator
The circular economy remains a hot topic at Davos and beyond – shifting from a ‘take, make, waste’ model to ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’. This transformation is often especially challenging for medium-sized companies.
Last year at Davos, ING volunteered to lead the set-up of a ‘circular supply chain accelerator’ as a member of WEF’s Platform for Accelerating Circular Economy (PACE). The accelerator is meant to help medium-sized companies in the supply chain of large multinationals to speed up their development of circular business models.
Since financing is only part of the answer, we teamed up with Accenture and Circle Economy (an organisation dedicated to accelerating circularity) and collaborated with public and private stakeholders such as the European Investment Bank to develop the concept.
Now, at Davos 2018 we announced that we’re ready to start the first round of the accelerator, in the building and construction sector.


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Far from backing away from the kind of same-sex imagery groups like One Million Moms have protested against in the past, JCPenney is embracing gay couples once again with a new ad featuring two dads and their kids for Father’s Day.
The ad features Todd and Cooper and their kids, Mason and Claire, in the midst of what seems to be a fun family moment, with the text “First Pals” and the family’s names in the right hand corner. The caption reads:
“What makes Dad so cool? He’s the swim coach, tent maker, best friend, bike fixer and hug giver – all rolled into one. Or two.”
Cooper told the Dallas Voice that they were asked by a casting agent to be in the June catalog after the agent saw his family’s Christmas photo on Facebook. They agreed and did a photo shoot.
“The photo is just a one-second photo of our life,” he said. “It’s a candid moment of how we interact with each other.”
He adds that they were told about the OMM situation — the group briefly boycotted JCPenney over its hiring of Ellen DeGeneres as a company spokeswoman, and also spoke out against an earlier ad featuring two moms — but that it wasn’t an issue for them.
“Obviously we’re not ashamed of our family,” he said. “It’s very tastefully done.”
OMM responded to the Father’s Day ad on Thursday on their web site, urging people to return the catalogs, avoid shopping at the store for Father’s Day, and write to JCPenney. Their statement reads, in part:
“It is obvious that JCP would rather take sides than remain neutral in the culture war. JCP will hear from the other side so they need to hear from us as well. Our persistence will pay off! One day we will answer for our actions or lack of them. We must remain diligent and stand up for Biblical values and truth. Scripture says multiple times that homosexuality is wrong, and God will not tolerate this sinful nature.”


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A British aerospace company, Faraday Aerospace, has revealed an innovative electric airplane prototype that is set to revolutionize the aviation industry. The company aims to develop a zero-emissions electric airplane, with the goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the aviation sector.
The prototype aircraft, named the Faraday Arrow, is designed to accommodate up to nine passengers and travel up to 200 miles on a single charge. With a range of this capacity, the electric airplane can compete with many regional airlines and connect city pairs.
The Faraday Arrow’s electric propulsion system is powered by a proprietary battery pack developed by Faraday Aerospace. The company claims that the battery pack will provide the aircraft with the necessary power and energy density for the airplane to travel long distances.
The new electric airplane’s design incorporates the latest aerodynamic technology to improve efficiency and reduce drag. The airplane’s wingtip-mounted motors are designed to generate thrust and lift, providing the aircraft with greater stability and control during takeoff and landing.
The Faraday Arrow’s cockpit features advanced digital displays and intuitive controls that make flying the airplane effortless. The airplane’s design also incorporates advanced safety features, including a parachute system that can deploy in case of an emergency.
The Faraday Arrow’s unveiling has been met with excitement and anticipation from the aviation industry. Many experts believe that electric airplanes will be the future of air travel, with zero-emissions electric planes becoming more viable as battery technology continues to advance.
The Faraday Arrow represents a significant milestone in the development of electric airplanes and showcases the cutting-edge technology that is driving the aviation industry forward. With the airplane’s exceptional design and advanced features, it is poised to revolutionize the aviation industry and usher in a new era of sustainable air travel.
Faraday Aerospace’s groundbreaking electric airplane prototype is a significant step forward in the aviation industry’s quest for sustainable air travel. With the airplane’s exceptional design and advanced features, it is poised to revolutionize the way we travel by air and pave the way for a more sustainable future.


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How Bliss tapped into TikTok for its Gen-Z evolution – Shiny
Three years after the more youthful rebranding, the body and skin care label Bliss doubles on TikTok.
On Friday, the brand launched its second annual campaign with the youth-focused nonprofit LGBTQ project The Trevor Project. The campaign started with a cyberbullying conversation between beauty influencers Hyram Yarbro and Manny Gutierrez and Trevor Project spokesman Chris Bright on a TikTok livestream. The talk, titled PepTok Live, also helped promote Bliss’s fundraiser. For every positive comment marking the brand, $ 1 (up to $ 100,000) will be donated to The Trevor Project. The campaign is being promoted on TikTok by other influencers, including Chris Olsen, Avery Cyrus, and Markell Washington.
The brand ran a similar campaign with Instagram Live last year, but chose this iteration because of its relevance to TikTok’s live streaming platform.
“TikTok has been a really wonderful platform for the brand,” said Tina Pozzi, Bliss chief brand officer. “We grew very quickly and saw a lot of commitment. We thought it was the most culturally relevant place. It felt right to choose TikTok to talk about creating affirmative spaces and mental health because there were so many influencers who were so open on the platform. “
Bliss has been active on TikTok since February 2020 and. It currently has over 171,000 followers and has benefited from TikTok influencers and the viral music campaign’s playbook. The #ThisisBliss campaign was created by Agency Movers + Shakers received 6.8 billion views of the hashtag in September 2020 and hired top TikTok influencers for a #FindYourBliss campaign for its vitamin C serum earlier this year.
The former premium spa brand, founded in 1996, reunited in 2018, cutting prices and changing the retail model, with a focus on large retailers and drugstores. This accessible positioning has attracted younger consumers; The main age of the age is currently between 18 and 34 years old, Pozzi said.
“The ability for us to move into the bulk market with retail launches at Target and Walmart and lower prices,” “has lowered the age demographics,” said Pozzi. This coincided with new investments in product categories aimed at younger buyers, such as Acne in July 2020. The new Acne line was “where we really have invested heavily in media, [as well as] Influencer Marketing, knowing that this franchise was definitely going to be younger, ”said Pozzi.
The brand’s retail expansions were a big part of promoting Gen Z. “Amazon is a very important channel to them, it’s convenient,” said Pozzi. “You demand this comfort factor. And they are still very much [strongly] also shop at Target and Walmart. “
She added that big box distribution isn’t an issue for brand equity when it comes to younger buyers. “There is no longer that stigma at all,” she said. “These retailers have focused on establishing themselves as beauty destinations.”
Overall, Bliss will continue with its strategy that it adopted during the pandemic. “We’ve definitely seen a lot of consumer behavior,” said Pozzi. “ÖYour consumer is a little younger so she is definitely shopping online. This behavior is here to stay. “


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PARIS — There are early signs that substantial incentives and trade-in bonuses could help cushion the blow to European auto sales from the coronavirus crisis, officials, dealers and analysts say. Some industry experts, however, question the effectiveness of the government-backed subsidies.
France, which has introduced some of the most incentives ever to encourage buyers to return to showrooms and clear out automakers’ inventories, rolled out a plan on June 1 that provides up to 13,000 euros for the purchase of a new electric vehicle, including trading in an older higher-polluting model.
“We expect that sales will be back to normal in June,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told broadcaster RTL this week.
Analysts have been revising downward their 2020 European sales forecasts as governments imposed lockdown measures to stem the coronavirus outbreak. Estimates now range from a drop of 25 percent to 32 percent, but Fitch Ratings said in a June 11 report that European sales could fall as little as 9.3 percent this year.
“We believe that the rebound in sales within Europe will be stronger than that of Asia in part due to the wage guarantee policies that most European countries have implemented to prop up the consumer bases, and partly due to the massive incentive policies that the European governments will offer the automotive industry over the remainder of 2020,” Fitch said.
Other analysts are more skeptical that incentives will have that much of an impact.
“I think a lot of people are hoping that [incentives are] going to be some kind of white knight showing up, and I don’t think this is going to happen,” Pete Kelly, managing director of LMC Automotive, told Automotive News Europe.
Kelly said that fewer countries were offering incentives now compared with the recession of 2008-09, largely because there are other sectors of the economy, such as tourism, that need aid more desperately. Environmental considerations also play a role, with incentives in France and Germany skewed toward bringing down the price of costly electrified vehicles.
“That’s where the real incentives are,” Kelly said, noting that incentives a decade ago were more broad-based and focused on smaller, less-expensive vehicles.
Le Maire expects French auto sales would bounce back quickly after falling 72 percent in March, 89 percent in April and 50 percent in May. Showrooms in France reopened on May 11 after being closed since March 16.
The package of incentives introduced by President Emmanuel Macron at the end of May “will drive buyers to return to the showrooms,” Le Maire said.
Unlike Germany, France is offering a trade-in bonus for buyers who turn in an older car and buy a new-generation diesel or gasoline car, even a used one. Le Maire said it was almost as important to lower the overall CO2 emissions of the French fleet as it is to drive purchases of new EVs.
France expects to fund the scrapping of 200,000 cars under the plan, and French dealers say the target could be reached as early as the end of July.
Jean-Patrice Bernard, the director of a dealership group based in southwest France, said buyers in his showrooms were very specific in their demands. “We see customers arriving who had to postpone their purchase, and who have had the time to figure out exactly what they want,” he told financial newspaper Les Echos.
Bernard added that another factor driving showroom traffic, in addition to the government incentives, was a need to renew leasing contracts that had expired during the lockdown.
Francois Roudier, spokesman for the French auto industry group CCFA, agreed with dealers who believe the trade-in program financing could be used up by late July. “The conversion program is moving very fast,” he told Les Echos.
But Bernard and other dealers noted that the criteria to receive the full benefits were relatively narrow. They also said that September would be a critical month, following initial enthusiasm in June and July for incentives and an expected slowdown during the August holidays.
“September is totally unknown,” Bernard said.
The European suppliers group, CLEPA, criticized incentives as insufficient to restart mass production because they focused on the relatively small electrified vehicle sector.
“Regrettably, the various support packages agreed so far at the European level and in major automotive countries such as France and Germany have not brought the immediate impulse to kick-start widespread automotive production, which we had jointly advocated for,” the group said June 10.
In the 2008-09 recession, similar incentives in Europe and the U.S. (where the plan was known as “cash for clunkers”) propped up sales temporarily, but led to a sharp decline in vehicle demand in some countries in 2010-11 before volumes normalized in 2012.


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Economist’s Corner – New Jersey’s Small Business Landscape
As we head into Small Business Saturday, the charts below help us understand COVID-19’s impact on small businesses, a sector of the New Jersey economy that has been hit especially hard by the pandemic. The good news for local small businesses is that COVID-19 presents a double-edged sword in terms of local spending. The pandemic has created challenges for small businesses, but it has also caused most NJ residents to stay close to home and enticed new residents into the state, which means a larger portion of these residents’ consumer dollars are also staying closer to home and supporting local businesses. In addition, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) has created new programs to provide small businesses with much-needed financial support and technical assistance to help get them through these rough times.
Indicator 1 – Small Business Revenue
Source: Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker
This first economic indicator shows New Jersey small business revenue for all industries and revenue broken out by two specific areas of industry: retail and transportation, and leisure and hospitality. Here, small businesses are defined as businesses with annual revenue below U.S. Small Business Administration thresholds. The chart depicts changes in revenue relative to where it was right before COVID-19 arrived in New Jersey to give a picture of how small business revenue has been impacted by the pandemic.
There are a few readily apparent narratives illustrated in the chart. One is that small business revenue has taken a huge hit. As of the first week of November, small business revenue was down more than 30 percent relative to January. This revenue decline actually represents a significant recovery from the depths of the economic shutdown, when revenue was down nearly 60 percent. But after recovering a good portion of lost revenue through the summer, small business revenue levels have been relatively stagnant, signaling a lack of momentum in the small business economy. The chart also shows that, as the COVID-19 new case rate has risen back to levels seen in April, small business revenue is suffering another downturn. Since late October, small business revenue has deteriorated from around -24 percent to -32 percent.
A third and clearly apparent narrative is that COVID-19 has had differential impacts on several industries. For instance, the pandemic has had an especially large impact on the leisure and hospitality industry, where revenues are down more than 50 percent, while in retail and transportation, revenue had essentially recovered to pre-COVID levels. Unfortunately, as virus cases are rising sharply, retail and transportation revenue is again declining sharply.
Indicator 2 – Cash on Hand
Source: US Census Bureau
In the context of this latest surge in virus cases, it is important to consider the breadth of small business cash levels as indication of how prepared these businesses are to weather another demand decline. This chart shows the percentage of small businesses that report having cash levels that can cover one month or more of expenses. The data is pulled from the Small Business Pulse, which is a survey that measures the effect of changing business conditions during the pandemic on small businesses.
As the chart shows, coming into May, a little more than 30 percent of small businesses in New Jersey reported having cash levels to cover a month or more of expenses. Then, as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) provided much needed cash to small businesses, cash levels improved markedly. According to the survey, approximately 70 percent of New Jersey small businesses received PPP loans. At its high point, almost 55 percent of small businesses reported having cash levels to cover one month or more of expenses. But as PPP becomes more of a distant memory, cash levels have deteriorated. In the latest weekly survey, only 43 percent of small businesses reported having one month or more of cash in reserve. And as COVID cases are on the rise and activity slows, we’re almost certain to see cash levels deteriorate further. This will create a pressing need for additional funding support for small businesses. At the time of this publication, the NJEDA in 2020 had approved over $150 million in grants to New Jersey’s small businesses, of which over $85 million were approved since the beginning of November. This recent surge in funds will help provide much needed resources to the small business community.
Indicator 3 – Small Business Ownership by Race, Ethnicity, and Sex
Source: US Census Bureau
Small Businesses provide significant economic opportunities to more economically marginalized groups. These businesses are more likely to be minority- or woman-owned than larger businesses, which means the drop in small business activity has had an outsized economic impact on minorities and women. This is especially true in the accommodations and food services industries, where significantly higher shares of businesses are minority- and woman-owned (approximately 37 percent and 33 percent respectively). Unfortunately, accommodations and food services has been amongst the hardest hit industries, with revenue down more than 50 percent from pre-pandemic levels. This has an outsize impact on historically marginalized groups and creates an even more pressing need for economic assistance that specifically supports these communities. Once again, the NJEDA has been working to help these communities. Of the over $150 million in grants approved this year, approximately 24 percent has been to minority-owned businesses, 26 percent to women-owned businesses, and 30 percent to small businesses in opportunity zones. Note these are non-mutually exclusive shares that have a significant amount of overlap.
April 15, 2024
NJEDA Establishes New Jersey Green Bank to Advance Climate Goals
TRENTON, N.J. (April 15, 2024) – Last week, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) Board approved the creation of the New Jersey Green Bank (NJGB), which will make investments in the clean energy sector that will help advance the state’s efforts to make an equitable transition to 100 percent clean energy.
April 12, 2024
NJEDA Board Approves Anchor Tenants for Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Center
TRENTON, N.J. (April 12, 2024) – The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) Board on Wednesday approved three anchor tenants to lead the Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Center (MIHIC) in Trenton.
April 11, 2024
NJEDA Approves Creation of $7M Green Workforce Training Grant Challenge
TRENTON, N.J. (April 11, 2024) – The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) Board approved the creation of the Green Workforce Training Grant Challenge.